The Grand Summit Spotlight: Every year, AfricArena invites the key tech investors in Africa to connect and workshop around their main challenges. More than 100 investors, from Africa, Europe and Asia decent upon Cape Town to attend our annual Grand Summit.

 Since its inception in 2017, AfricArena has been a platform dedicated to supporting the creation of market access and investment opportunities for its ever-increasing community of founders, angels, corporates, and VC investors. Designed with a digital approach in mind, AfricArena consists of a series of investment deal flow events and interventions and an open-source platform for all stakeholders, all based on principles of open innovation and entrepreneurship.   The AfricArena brand has rapidly gained enormous credibility in the tech startup ecosystem with alumni startups having raised over $450million in the past 5 years. This year, AfricArena will again host its sixth annual Grand Summit in Cape Town from the 8th - 9th of November 2022. The Grand Summit will be preceded by 2 events, the Founders Bootcamp and the VC Unconference Weekend. The AfricArena Summit events are broken into 3 segments as follows:  Investor Unconference, Founders BootCamp, and the main Summit Event. The summits provide open innovation challenges, research, and deal-flow services to help accelerate the work of founders, investors, and corporates, At AfricArena, we strongly believe in the power of providing a platform that fosters bright and forward-thinking minds to network, get inspired and co-build a stronger tech startup investment ecosystem for Africa. 

 The Unconference is an annual event that takes place in Cape Town, South Africa the two days before the Summit. It brings together local and international investors with the aim to enhance the way that investing is done in the continent. This year it will be held from the 5th - to 6th of November 

 Our Startup Bootcamp is a  private workshop dedicated to selected startups from across the Countries will be pitching at the AfricArena Summit. It aims to create strong connections, peer-to-peer learning between the entrepreneurs, training and equipping startups with the necessary tools and knowledge to prepare them to showcase and effectively deliver high-quality, concise and engaging pitches to the right audience. In partnership with incubators, accelerators, investors and our alumni community, we are able to spot promising companies tacking some of the biggest challenges of the continent. Taking part in AfricArena is free for the few selected startups and most of them manage to secure new partnerships, funding or business contracts through the meetings and exposure they receive during the Summit. 

 AfricArena presents an opportunity to explore tomorrow’s trends today by showcasing some of Africa’s most innovative startups and connecting them with investors, corporates and enablers to accelerate their growth.  We strongly believe in the power of providing a platform that fosters bright and forward-thinking minds to network, get inspired and co-build a stronger tech startup investment ecosystem for Africa. 

This episode is a showcase episode on one of our ecosystem partners FMO, the dutch entrepreneurial development bank about their Ventures Program - a EUR 200 million investment program supported by contributions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and a guarantee from the European Union with a 4-year investment period. We caught up with Robert Haynie and Marike Roestenberg at our Dakar Summit to see what brought them to Senegal and what they're up to.

Hello beautiful people, welcome to Season 6 of the AfricArena Podcast, and what an epic journey its been. To kick off this season, I’m going to take us back to Dakar, to the beautiful conference space at hotel Terrou bi where we hosted our latest West African Summit. Throughout the conference I chatted various stakeholders in our ecosystem to gather their insight into on what’s happening on the ground in this exciting frontier tech ecosystem, of Dakar. Massive thanks to our partner's DER, La Délégation Générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide, International Trade Centre, Amazon Web Services, and our greater partner network for making this summit happen. If it wasn’t for all of you, we wouldn’t be sharing this all with you today. In this episode we’re going to unpack what it is that makes the West African ecosystem so exciting and specifically what is happening on the ground in Dakar. I chatted to Tidjane Deme, Mareme Dieng, Zachariah George, Mohamed Karar and Hangwi Muambadzi. We’re going to deep dive into what made them come to Dakar, why they’re excited about it. If you’re curious about this region, perhaps this episode will give you some further insight into why it’s worth taking seriously. So let’s get stuck in shall we.

Today we caught up for a brief chat with Kohei Muto, the CEO, Founding Partner at Double Feather Partners one of AfriCArena's partners for the investor unconference part of the grand summit. Double Feather Partners is a corporate finance & strategic advisory firm with a VC Investment arm providing comprehensive support to innovative African companies with strong social impacts. We managed to catch Kohei after the unconference to get his views on the ecosystem and hear what they are up to/.

Today, we're sitting with Sacha Haider who is an investment associate at Global Ventures. Global Ventures is an international venture capital firm, investing in founders and ideas across emerging markets. They back global-minded founders that are leading growth-stage companies and using technology to transform emerging markets and the world. Global Ventures is made up of a super great team of a diverse, collaborative, talented, and curious group of professionals who, combined, have years of experience and expertise building and scaling companies. We caught up with Sacha at our Grand Summit in Cape Town to unpack her latest developments on the continent in regards to their Africa-focused funds and get her to take on the ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Papa Amadou who is the Minister, General Delegate for Entrepreneurship in Senegal, an initiative called the DER. The DER is a fund of 30 billion FCFA ($50 million USD) launched by the President of Senegal to catalyze entrepreneurship all around [Senegal](https://www.ictworks.org/tag/Senegal/), targeting youth up to 40 years and women from 18 years old and up, with no age limit. Announced in Sept 2017 and formally launched in April 2018, the fund offers four main types of [entrepreneur financing](https://www.ictworks.org/funding-sources-african-entrepreneurs/). The most innovative are the latter two: 1. Small Financing: focusing on “smaller, simple economic projects” 2. Incubation funding: funding incubation, empowerment, or training programs for young entrepreneurs 3. Equity financing: a corporate finance fund that will offer capital in exchange for equity in a young company, that is validated by external DER partners 4. Low-interest loans: at 4-5% interest rate with a specific focus on certain clustered economic activities or certain value chains

Today, we're catching up with Grace Legodi the Africa Director of Grindstone Ventures as well as Philippe Mourrain, founder of Amiliros, a consulting and investment co, and professor of Psychiatry, Behavioural & Neural Science at Stanford University. First up we chat to Grace, from Grindstone Ventures - a female-led fund that invests in and supports post-seed, pre-series A equity (incl. quasi-equity) investments. Our focus is on early-stage innovation-driven and/or technology companies with strong intellectual property, evident growth potential, with the aim of delivering capital growth and sustainable cash yields over the long term. Next, we catch up with Phillipe on his first impressions of the ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Zachariah George, the founder, and partner of Launch Africa Ventures and Startup Bootcamp. Launch Africa Ventures is Africa's leading venture capital fund that solves the significant gap in Seed to Series A investments across the continent. They back startups across multiple regions, sectors, and products, all of whom tackle the most meaningful challenges on the continent through technology and innovation. When he is not launching African ventures, or on an adventure, he can be seen leading Startup Bootcamp, the first and largest multi-corporate backed tech venture accelerator on the African continent with a portfolio comprising several of Africa's most successful and iconic technology ventures. We caught up with Zach at our West African summit in Dakar as well as our grand summit in cape town to unpack his latest developments on the ground, her work so far, and to unpack his view on the current lay of the land within the ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Yasmin Larbi who is the communications officer at Expertise France as well as Wassiem Ben Larbi, the well-known radio presenter, TV host, and entrepreneur from Tunis. Expertise France is a public agency and a key actor in international technical cooperation. It designs and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in developing and emerging countries. Governance, security, climate, health, education… It operates in key areas of sustainable development and contributes alongside its partners to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. We caught up with both Yasmin and Wassim at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack their latest developments on the ground, their growth so far, and to unpack her perspectives on the North African ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Matsi Modise - a lady of many hats and but for this interview, she is the founder who is the founder of Furaha Afrika Holdings. Established in 2013, Furaha Afrika Holdings is a progressive Pan-African organization dedicated to enabling and leveraging growth across the African continent. By forming strategic partnerships with like-minded dynamic organizations that seek to move Africa forward, they unearth opportunities for meaningful investments – both in the continent’s infrastructure and in its human capital services. Meaning ‘happy’ in Swahili, Furaha Afrika Holdings is founded on the vision of a progressive and prosperous Africa where the richness of our continent is celebrated and amplified. Propelled by their values of doing things differently, working towards inclusivity, and valuing collaboration, their various subsidiary companies play to their unique strengths, while nurturing Africa and its potential. We caught up with Matsi at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack their latest developments on the SA startup Act, her latest projects and perspectives, and to unpack her view on the North African ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Hiba S Sharief who is CxO & Startup Advisor | Global Thought Leader | Intersection of Innovation & Humanity | Investor and Board Member She is a lady of many hats and but for this interview, she is the founder and chief strategy officer at Elevoro. Elevoro is an inclusive community of global leaders that elevate human potential and drive positive change. We orchestrate connections between companies, experts, and investors with common values and goals. We cultivate a culture of continuous development, empowerment, and innovation while genuinely seeking to improve lives. We caught up with Hiba at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack their latest developments on the ground, her work so far, and to unpack her view on the North African ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Salma Baghdadi who is the Startup ecosystem director at Smart Capital the operator of a fantastic initiative called startup Tunisia. Startup Tunisia is the name of the national program aiming to make Tunisia a country of Startups at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, the MENA region, and Africa. This program is powered by Smart Capital, the company in charge of developing the Tunisian entrepreneurial galaxy by implementing all the components of Startup Tunisia. We caught up with Salma at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack their latest developments on the ground, their growth so far, and to unpack her view on the North African ecosystem.

Today/s featured start-ups are all startups we met at our North African summit who are each doing some incredible work in their respective countries. First we will chat with Hassan Haider who is Data Analytics Manager at Tirhal, a ride-hailing app en route to becoming a super app in Sudan. Then we chat with Alex from Shipzer, SAAS software company to manage empty container depots. Lastly, we catch up with Ida, from Mytindy a marketplace in North Africa that connects buyers to the many artisans across the region who have traditionally never sold online. We caught up with all 3 at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack their latest developments in Sudan, Morocco and Tunis respectively, find out about their growth so far and get their view on the North African ecosystem.

Today, we're sitting with Dr. Fawaz and Namek Zu bi who are the managing partners at Silicon Badia. They are a venture capital firm that partners with passionate, bold entrepreneurs to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. We caught up with Dr. Fawaz and Namek at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack their latest developments on the continent in regards to their Africa-focused fund and get their take on the North African ecosystem. Please excuse the sound quality of this interview, unfortunately, this was the only space that was private and quiet enough but being a glassed walled room the echo is present but the interview is audible and packed full of insights.

Today, we're sitting with Cyrine Ben Fadhel who is an investment associate at Global Ventures. Global Ventures is an international venture capital firm, investing in founders and ideas across emerging markets. They back global-minded founders that are leading growth-stage companies and using technology to transform emerging markets and the world. Global Ventures is made up of a super great team of a diverse, collaborative, talented, and curious group of professionals who, combined, have years of experience and expertise building and scaling companies. We caught up with Cyrine at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack her latest developments on the continent in regards to their Africa-focused funds and get her take on the North African ecosystem.

Welcome back If you're joining us for the first time, this podcast is a series of conversations and debates where we unpack the latest trends & insights within the African Tech ecosystem. Our mission is to capture the many stories that are shared, the lessons learned, and to openly chat about both the challenges and the vast opportunity that exists within the major tech ecosystems on this incredible continent of Africa. Each year, we travel to West, East, North, and Southern Africa to chat to key ecosystem players so we can dive deep into what's happening, as it happens when it happens. So ladies and gent's welcome to Tunis, the capital of magnificent North African country of Tunisia. The temperature is a mild 23 degrees and right now I'm sitting in the foyer of the majestic Movenpick hotel about to welcome our first delegates to our first-ever North African summit here in Tunis thanks to our partners at Smart Capital and Startup Tunisia, Expertise France, The Dot, GIZ Tunisie, and Fondation Tunisie. If it wasn't for them we, wouldn't be here, and if we weren't here, we wouldn't be able to share what we discover with all of you. Today, we're sitting with Ben Marrell, the founder of Breega. Breega is a founder-friendly VC, with €260M under management, investing in promising European and soon African, high tech start-ups at Seed and Series A stage. Breega is more than just a normal investor. Built for founders by founders, Breega supports its portfolio companies through each phase of their development, providing them with free-of-charge operational expertise (talent, biz dev, marketing & legal) and international development opportunities. We caught up with Ben at our North African summit in Tunis to unpack his latest developments on the continent in regards to his Africa-focused fund and get his take on the North African ecosystem. So let's get stuck in shall we!

This conversation with Thierry Barbaut was recorded at the AfricArena West African Summit in June 2021, held at The Raddison Sea Plaza hotel in Dakar. Throughout the conference, I chatted to as many stakeholders as possible to share with you as much insight on what’s happening on the ground in this exciting tech ecosystem. So be sure to check out all the micro episodes from this West African Summit Series, following this one, you can understand the perspectives and ideas coming out of this exciting region. Massive thanks to our partners' DER, La Délégation générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide, The International Trade Centre, Thé French Embassy in Senegal, Amazon Web Services, Orange Ventures, and our greater partner network for making this summit happen. If it wasn’t for all of you, we wouldn’t be here today. Right now that’s out the way, let’s get stuck in shall we.

This conversation with Lin Dejean Yun was recorded at the AfricArena West African Summit in June 2021, held at The Raddison Sea Plaza hotel in Dakar. Throughout the conference, I chatted to as many stakeholders as possible to share with you as much insight on what’s happening on the ground in this exciting tech ecosystem. So be sure to check out all the micro episodes from this West African Summit Series, following this one, you can understand the perspectives and ideas coming out of this exciting region. Massive thanks to our partners' DER, La Délégation générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide, The International Trade Centre, Thé French Embassy in Senegal, Amazon Web Services, Orange Ventures, and our greater partner network for making this summit happen. If it wasn’t for all of you, we wouldn’t be here today. Right now that’s out the way, let’s get stuck in shall we.

This conversation with Tosin Adelowo was recorded at the AfricArena West African Summit in June 2021, held at The Raddison Sea Plaza hotel in Dakar. Throughout the conference, I chatted to as many stakeholders as possible to share with you as much insight on what’s happening on the ground in this exciting tech ecosystem. So be sure to check out all the micro episodes from this West African Summit Series, following this one, you can understand the perspectives and ideas coming out of this exciting region. Massive thanks to our partners' DER, La Délégation générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide, The International Trade Centre, Thé French Embassy in Senegal, Amazon Web Services, Orange Ventures, and our greater partner network for making this summit happen. If it wasn’t for all of you, we wouldn’t be here today. Right now that’s out the way, let’s get stuck in shall we.

This conversation with Zachariah George was recorded at the AfricArena West African Summit in June 2021, held at The Raddison Sea Plaza hotel in Dakar. Throughout the conference, I chatted to as many stakeholders as possible to share with you as much insight on what’s happening on the ground in this exciting tech ecosystem. So be sure to check out all the micro episodes from this West African Summit Series, following this one, you can understand the perspectives and ideas coming out of this exciting region. Massive thanks to our partners' DER, La Délégation générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide, The International Trade Centre, Thé French Embassy in Senegal, Amazon Web Services, Orange Ventures, and our greater partner network for making this summit happen. If it wasn’t for all of you, we wouldn’t be here today. Right now that’s out the way, let’s get stuck in shall we.