On Friday July 31st, Lagos kicked off the Series of Angel Investor Bootcamps leading up to the ABAN Investor Summit at DEMO Africa. The Bootcamps are organised by the newly founded African Business Angel Network (ABAN) in partnership with VC4Africa, US State Department, Intercontinental Trust and the LIONS Africa Partnership. The Lagos edition was hosted together with the Lagos Angels Network (LAN) and Lagos Startup Week.
At the Lagos Oriental Hotel an audience of both experienced as well as aspiring angel investors gathered to share best practices and learn from local and international angel investors. It has been very inspiring to experience the intrinsic motivation of all these individuals to turn angel investing into a more structured asset class on the African continent.
After a warm welcome by the Chairman of the Lagos Angel Network Dotun Solaiman, the President of ABAN Tomi Davies stressed the importance of angel networks. Especially, these local initiatives are a driver of economic activities and job creation.
In an interactive masterclass Candace Johnson, President of the European Business Angel Network – an organization representing 20.000 angel investors – shared her story with the involved audience. Her best practices and way of thinking inspired us all to think big. On her first question about who has made investments the large majority of the attendants raised their hands. Interestingly not only in Lagos but also in other cities like Abuja where new angel networks are coming together.
During the break the attendees were enjoying network opportunities and discussing the future of angel investing.
While presenting the trends and insights from the Venture Finance in Africa report – annual research conducted by VC4Africa, I once again discovered positive feedback from the audience about the potential in the market. The numbers backed by increasing average investment sizes, growing job creation and year-on-year results from the entrepreneurs active on the VC4Africa platform. Tomi Davies concluded the bootcamp with his strong believe in achieving success in a group: “Start to form a syndicate to reach further. We can wait till the cows come home, but write that first cheque together”. For people that were not able to join we offer the opportunity to watch the event below.
We invite all angel investors to attend the upcoming bootcamps in Nairobi (August 13) and Cape Town (August 27). For more information and to register for the events please visit the ABAN website. Seating is limited.
Watch the first part of the Lagos Angel Investor Bootcamp:
Watch the second part of the Lagos Angel Investor Bootcamp: