Closing the funding gap for African tech startups

The Tony Blair Institute and Ventures Platform like to invite you to a roundtable discussion on the importance of investing and closing the funding gap for African Tech Startups for public and private stakeholders.

Today the technology sector plays a vital role in unlocking opportunity, economic growth, and development across all sectors from agriculture to health. Innovation is driven by a healthy start-up ecosystem. But the environment for tech start-ups remains challenging across Africa with limited access to capital, government support, international markets, and skills.

22% of African youths are starting businesses with EasT-African startups becoming world leaders in the fintech sector. Africa is also the world’s largest free trade area and is fast becoming the tech leader in the world. There however remains a wide funding gap between Africa and the world and this conversation would bother on how to close this funding gap.

The Discussion

This virtual panel session is a collaboration between the Tech Policy Program at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) and Ventures Platform. TBI’s Tech Policy team supports political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive, and prosperous societies by developing policy recommendations centered around mastering the technology revolution in an increasingly digital and globalized world. Check out our latest work at techpolicy.io and follow us on Twitter @InstituteGC.

Ventures Platform is a leading source of capital, capacity building, support, and advocacy for under-served entrepreneurs, communities, and institutions, enabling them to enhance the creation of wealth and development in Africa.