Author -[Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku](https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdotun/)

----
*"Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity*
*To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment*
*Would you capture it or just let it slip?"*
         -  EMINEM, Lose Yourself


On a sunny day in 2001, four men walked into the spacious office of a bank's CEO to pitch him an idea. The idea had the potential to revolutionise Nigeria's banking and financial services operations and pave the way for the fintech innovation we see today. The man they were pitching to was Bernard Longe, the charismatic CEO of First Bank Nigeria Plc at the time. Bernard was known for investing in technology projects that streamlined his bank's operations, such as introducing the first International Money Transfer System in Nigeria. The idea they presented, however, had broader implications beyond his bank's balance sheet. If successful, it could fundamentally change the wider banking industry in Nigeria with a significant positive impact on the economy.

At the time, Nigeria's banking industry operated like a group of isolated islands, with each banking system completely disconnected from the other. It was impossible to use a debit card from one bank in an ATM of another bank. Even more bewildering, with the exception of a few banks like Standard Trust, Guaranty Trust and Zenith, one could not withdraw money from a different branch of the same bank they belonged to. Transactions were often cash-based, and the lack of interoperability limited market access to transactions that could be done only within close proximity.

Then, four men walked into a bank, and everything changed. They proposed building a central switch that would connect all banking operations, enable interoperability, and authenticate transactions instantly. Leveraging existing technology, such as GSM connectivity and daily settlement, they needed $2 million to bring their dream to life.

The pitch was led by Dotun Sulaiman, then the Nigerian MD of Accenture. He had the charisma, expertise, and credibility to sell a grand vision. Joining him were Mitchell Elegbe, Akeem Lawal, and Charles Ifedi, the trio who had been working on the idea for Telnet Limited, but leveraged Dotun's network to get an appointment with Bernard Longe. Bernard listened intently and recognized the paradigm shift the idea represented. He committed the majority of the capital needed for the project and immediately called up the CEO of Union Bank to join the syndicate. The four men walked out of the room with commitments that catalysed their oversubscribed funding round.

That project became Interswitch. The company not only unified Nigeria's banking operations but became the country's first unicorn, facilitating billions in transactions and creating a revenue powerhouse that extended its operations across the African continent.

Interswitch enabled new markets, carved out opportunities for ambitious entrepreneurs and product engineers, and fueled Nigeria's economic development in a significant way. Bernard's decision to invest in Interswitch that afternoon did not only facilitate an innovation for his industry but catalysed new markets and ideas with positive impacts on the economy.

When four men walked into his bank, he caught a glimpse of the future and committed capital to make it happen.

**Investing in innovation as a catalyst for unlocking societal prosperity**

I often find myself in amusing situations when trying to explain my job as a VC to my curious 6-year-old son. I sometimes simplify by telling him that I’m a bit like a treasure hunter, searching for hidden gems and magical ideas that can change the world. Reflecting on my role, I realise the profound impact it has on shaping not only the future of the businesses we invest in, but also the very fabric of the nations in which they operate. To me, this is not just a job, but a career and a calling.

I have had the privilege of supporting startups that enable financial inclusion through fintech, ensure food security through innovation in the agricultural value chain, increase life expectancy through healthcare, facilitate sustainable growth through renewable energy, and provide accessible, affordable, and quality education through technology. All of these play a vital role in addressing the unique challenges that Africa faces.

As a venture investor, I actively participate in building the foundation of tomorrow's economies, fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that transcends borders and impacts the lives of millions. In many ways, I see myself as a nation builder. By identifying and supporting innovative startups, I draw a direct line between my job as an African VC and my contribution to economic growth, job creation, and prosperity on the continent.

In the book “The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty”, Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon, outlined the importance of investing in market-creating innovations that can act as catalysts for economic development. They argued “that for many countries prosperity typically begins to take root in an economy when we invest in a particular type of innovation—market-creating innovation—which often serves as a catalyst and foundation for creating sustained economic development”

For many countries, prosperity typically begins to take root in the economy when they invest in innovation which often serves as a foundation for transforming labour, capital, materials, and information into products and services of greater value. By challenging conventional norms and pushing boundaries, innovation becomes a powerful catalyst for unlocking prosperity. This typically involves the creation of entirely new markets and value networks rather than mere product improvements.

For Africa, this approach is especially pertinent, given the continent's unique challenges and opportunities. By prioritising investments in startups that develop solutions tailored to local needs and high-growth ventures,  Africa can nurture homegrown innovations that can stimulate job creation, attract foreign investments, and diversify its economic base. The resulting innovation-driven growth will position Africa as a global player in the technology and business landscape, enhancing the continent's competitiveness on the world stage.

Africa's development journey is at a critical juncture, with challenges spanning healthcare, education, clean energy, and financial services. Innovation presents a pathway to surmount these barriers and unlock the continent's vast potential. With its young and dynamic population, abundant natural resources, and untapped opportunities, Africa holds the promise of a prosperous future. VC funding emerges as a transformative force, offering the means to leapfrog traditional development hurdles and unleash market-creating innovations.

**VC's Ascendancy in Africa's Innovation Landscape:**
![Orange-and-White-Vibrant-Modern-Brushstrokes-Beauty-YouTube-Thumbnail.jpeg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1691071895/Orange_and_White_Vibrant_Modern_Brushstrokes_Beauty_You_Tube_Thumbnail_bd3b6b360a.jpg)

In recent years, VC funding in Africa has experienced remarkable growth, driving innovation and economic development on the continent. In 2020, VC funding in Africa reached near-record levels, raising a remarkable $1.1 billion in a year that was challenging for private investment globally. Although the volume and value of venture capital in Africa is relatively small compared to other regions such as North America and Asia, it has been growing steadily in recent years and shows potential for further growth in the future.

Venture capitalists play a pivotal role in translating R&D activities into commercial outcomes, and are therefore credited with a catalytic role in innovation. Empirical evidence suggests that VC financing is correlated with faster firm growth and an acceleration of the innovation and commercialization process.
Between 1980 and 2020, over a third of all initial public offerings (39%) were venture-backed, with eight of the largest 10 firms in the world by market capitalization being built with the help of VC firms, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, Tesla, Tencent, and Alibaba. Researchers have also found that the stocks of VC-backed companies grow more than twice as fast as their non-VC-backed peers over a ten-year horizon.

A report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found that VC-backed companies in emerging markets grew at a rate of 26% annually, compared to just 12% for their non-VC-backed peers. The report also noted that VC-backed companies in emerging markets were more likely to create jobs, with a 36% higher job growth rate than non-VC-backed companies. These numbers highlight the potential of VC as a driver of economic growth and job creation in emerging markets. As VC funding continues to grow in these regions, we can expect to see more market-creating innovations that generate economic growth and social progress.

**Investing in innovation as a catalyst for unlocking societal prosperity**

One of such standout market-creating innovation examples is Paystack, a Ventures Platform portfolio company, which exemplifies the transformative power of market-creating innovation.

Paystack disrupted the traditional payment landscape in Nigeria, simplifying and streamlining online transactions initially for small businesses and startups, and now a wide ranging type and size of businesses across Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa. Prior to Paystack's emergence, online payments in Nigeria were akin to a patchwork solution, inhibiting the growth of e-commerce. For years, online payments in Nigeria closely resembled the country’s electricity grid: when things worked, merchants and their customers were pleased; when things didn’t, they shrugged and found personal workarounds.

In the same way portable electricity generators are a home and office staple, Nigerian consumers pay cash or via bank transfers for goods purchased over the internet. Inefficient technology and high regulatory barriers, all reinforced by apathetic incumbents and a risk averse banking industry meant that seamless online payments were impossible – until Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi founded Paystack.

Paystack's innovative payment platform provided secure and seamless transactions, transforming the online commerce experience for businesses and consumers alike.

The Paystack revolution triggered a domino effect. By unlocking access to secure online payments, traditional brick-and-mortar stores expanded their revenue streams through digital channels. Moreover, a new generation of entrepreneurs emerged, engaging in online commerce ventures that were previously inaccessible. This market-creating innovation spurred job creation, empowered small business owners, and ultimately contributed to economic growth. In essence, Paystack's strategic VC-backed solution acted as a catalyst, igniting prosperity for countless entrepreneurs and shaping Nigeria's digital economy.

A similar example in a different industry is Andela whose solution of building a network of talented African developers and connecting them with global companies, led to increased earning potential for technical talent on the continent. The company created a new market for tech talent and software outsourcing in Africa.

The tech industry often faces a shortage of skilled software developers, hindering the growth and expansion of tech companies worldwide. Andela saw an opportunity to tap into Africa's vast talent pool of software developers, many of whom were underutilised due to limited opportunities in their home countries. By creating a market for African tech talent, Andela not only unlocked economic opportunities for its developer workforce but also elevated Africa's presence in the global technology landscape. Andela's model provided its clients with access to a vast pool of highly skilled and cost-effective developers, helping them achieve their growth objectives and remain competitive in the fast-paced tech industry.

Andela contributed to a cultural shift in how technology and innovation are perceived on the continent. Its success story inspired a new generation of African developers to pursue careers in technology and empowered them to drive progress and positive change in their own communities.

Andela's impact goes beyond just connecting African tech talent with global companies. Many Andela alumni have gone on to found their own startups, leveraging the skills and experience gained from their time at Andela. These startups are tackling various challenges in fields such as education, healthcare, and fintech, among others. Notable examples include Flutterwave, the Nigerian digital payment platform that is currently valued at over $3B, and Talstack founded by Seni Sulyman and Kayode Oyewole, an all-in-one platform that enables businesses to upskill their employees with tools, content, courses and insights from top African professionals and entrepreneurs. By empowering individuals with the skills and experience needed to build successful businesses, Andela has contributed to the growth of Africa's tech ecosystem and the continent's economic development.

**The Broader Impact of VC-Backed Market-Creating Innovation in Africa:**

Paystack and Andela are not the only startups in Africa that are enabling prosperity through innovation. There are actually several other VC-backed startups that are making significant strides in transforming various industries and creating new markets. For instance, in the agriculture sector, Thrive Agric, which is also backed by Ventures Platform, is utilising innovative tech solutions to enhance supply chain efficiency and promote inclusive agriculture. By leveraging technology, the startup is able to improve the productivity of farmers and empower them to reach a wider market. In healthcare, Remedial Health and Reliance HMO are revolutionising access to medicines and healthcare services through digital platforms. These examples underscore the profound impact of VC funding in fostering market-creating innovations that generate economic growth and social progress, ultimately leading to a better quality of life for all.

The success of VC-backed startups in Africa provides compelling evidence for VC as a crucial asset class that can enable economic development on the continent. By investing in market-creating innovation, VC funds play a pivotal role in unlocking untapped opportunities, creating jobs, and addressing societal challenges.

VC-backed market-creating innovation represents the key to unlocking prosperity in Africa. By fostering an environment that encourages VC investments in transformative ventures, Africa can position itself as a global player in innovative and transformative business models. Embracing VC as a strategic asset class will empower African entrepreneurs to drive economic development, create societal impact, and shape a brighter future for the continent and beyond.

Although my son may not fully comprehend the complexities of my work, I hope that he will recognize the impact of what I am doing through the companies we have funded. I want him to understand that my job goes beyond listening to pitches and frequent meetings. As an African venture capitalist, I shouldn’t be satisfied with investing in incremental changes that move the needle. My primary job is to find and fund market-creating innovations that will revolutionise entire industries and drive the prosperity of nations. It involves identifying visionary entrepreneurs and collaborating with them to build a better world, create new markets, and provide opportunities for others. Ultimately, my job is to fund innovation that lifts African nations out of poverty.

—-------------

![300357 Olowoporoku AB-16 (1) Large.jpeg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1691077411/300357_Olowoporoku_AB_16_1_Large_4f722f1ec4.jpg)
[Dr Dotun Olowoporoku](lhttps://twitter.com/DrDotun) is a General Partner at Ventures Platform


Credits: "*Thanks to Cynthia Adekanye, Damilola Teidi, Emeke Ishiekwene for their support with this article*.

large_a-109-vci-borg.png

medium_a-109-vci-borg.png

small_a-109-vci-borg.png

thumbnail_a-109-vci-borg.png

a-109-vci-borg.png

Funding Prosperity: Venture Capital Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty in Africa


Today, Remedial Health announced the successful completion of a $12 million equity and debt funding round. Ventures Platform co-led the $8 million Series A equity funding, alongside key partners such as QED Investors and Tencents, while the $4 million debt funding was led by a consortium of local and international financial institutions.

This investment in Remedial Health holds a unique and significant milestone for us, as it is the first Series A financing we will be leading, especially in a company that we had consistently backed from the pre-seed stage. Beyond its financial value, this investment truly captures the essence of our core commitment - to support visionary founders who are shaping the future of Africa, right from their early stages to their Series A and beyond.

When S[amuel Okwuada](https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelokwuada/) and [Victor Benjamin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-benjamin-4212b088/), the co-founders of Remedial Health, first shared their vision with us, we were captivated by their compelling ambition to make healthcare accessible and affordable for all Africans. Their insights into the challenges facing Nigeria's healthcare sector, with fragmented supply chains, counterfeit medicines, and high prices, presented an opportunity for innovation that aligned perfectly with our investment philosophy.

Healthcare plays a pivotal role in upholding and protecting the welfare of citizens, and in Nigeria, this responsibility is magnified by the nation's growing population and diverse healthcare needs. With over 200 million people to serve, the Nigerian healthcare sector faces unique challenges in ensuring accessibility and quality care for all. Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) and pharmacies are huge contributors to bridging the healthcare infrastructure gap in the country but also significantly contribute to the proliferation of substandard or counterfeit medicines. In Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) claims that up to 15% of medicines in circulation are fake, excluding medicines that have lost their efficacy due to poor handling, storage, and expiration. In addition to this, the price of medicines, compared to the average monthly income of a Nigerian household, is relatively expensive.

The high cost of medicine in Nigeria is a significant barrier to healthcare access. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the average monthly income of a Nigerian household is around $165, while the cost of essential medicines for treating common illnesses can be as high as $20 per prescription. This makes it difficult for many Nigerians to afford the medicine they need, leading to a high rate of untreated illnesses and preventable deaths. Additionally, the World Health Organization reports that Nigeria has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world, with just one doctor for every 5,000 people. This shortage of healthcare providers makes it even more challenging to ensure that all Nigerians have access to quality healthcare services.

![IMG_3977 Large.jpeg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1690880673/IMG_3977_Large_1fd55156c7.jpg)

Remedial Health is transforming the pharmaceutical supply chain by providing a tech-enabled platform that empowers Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs), hospitals, and pharmacies with an efficient procurement and inventory management solution. The company's digitalization of the pharmaceutical supply chain encompasses both local and international pharma manufacturers, promising to bring about positive changes to healthcare accessibility and affordability in Nigeria.

Sam and Victor leverage their complementary skills and a strong personal and professional bond. Sam's strategic acumen, honed through four successful ventures as a founder, allows him to spot opportunities and forge invaluable partnerships for the team. On the other hand, Victor's operational expertise, earned as a two-time founder, plays a pivotal role in driving Remedial Health's nationwide expansion.

The company has achieved significant milestones, empowering more than 5,000 hospitals, pharmacies, and PPMVs across 34 Nigerian states. The company's remarkable revenue and ARR growth serve as a testament to its exceptional ability to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the healthcare industry in Nigeria, solidifying its position as a force to be reckoned with.

The Remedial story exemplifies our dedication to providing catalytic value to our portfolio companies beyond the capital. Since our initial investment, we have provided support to the founders, addressing various aspects of their needs, including fundraising and operational guidance. We facilitated vital connections between the founders and providers of debt capital. Additionally, we played a pivotal role in getting our partner - QED to make this their 3rd Africa investment.

As we celebrate this remarkable milestone, we reaffirm our commitment to fueling the growth and success of startups like Remedial Health, which possess the potential to plug infrastructural gaps, eliminate barriers to access, and reduce the costs of delivering goods and services.

Read more on Remedial Health’s future plans [here](https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/31/remedial-health/)

large_IMG_3976.WEBP

medium_IMG_3976.WEBP

small_IMG_3976.WEBP

thumbnail_IMG_3976.WEBP

IMG_3976.WEBP

A Milestone Investment: Remedial Health Series A Funding

[Ayomide Awe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayomide-awe/), [Atinuke Idowu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/atinuke-idowu/), and [Gbolade Emmanuel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gboladeemmanuel/) met during their undergraduate days at the University of Lagos, in a bustling city set among an active entrepreneurial community. They quickly discovered their shared passion for leveraging technology to solve real-world problems.  As they nurtured their friendship, they recognized each other's unique strengths and abilities. Years passed, and their individual journeys led them to diverse projects and ventures. However, their bond remained solid. One day, as they brainstormed ways to harness the power of mobile communication to empower businesses across Africa, the vision of [Termii](https://www.termii.com/) was born.

The trio envisioned [Termii](https://www.termii.com/) to be Africa's leading communications platform, enabling businesses to leverage mobile channels for customer verification, engagement, and support. With determination and belief in their mission, they poured their hearts into building a robust infrastructure capable of transforming communication on the continent.

![345shots_so (1).jpeg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1687537464/345shots_so_1_fbbd7c4c5e.jpg)

[Termii](https://www.termii.com/) allows businesses across Africa to use messaging channels to engage, verify and authenticate customer transactions. It enables communication across SMS, email, voice, and instant messaging channels and Integrates communication APIs into third-party applications in less than 60 minutes. It impressively provides a 95% delivery rate for customers and over the years, they’ve processed more than 400 million message transactions for 10,000+ businesses like Sterling Bank, Piggyvest and Paystack. One of Termii's customers told us:

> *“I have no issues using Termii, they have an excellent product which we rely on as a business, if they go down, it is a major problem for us as we rely on them for all our authentication and transaction OTP.... We previously used a cheaper alternative but due to their failure rate, we had to switch to Termii as it was making us lose customers as transactions did not go through”*
										                
When we met the team, we were captivated by the disruptive potential of Termii and the unique value proposition it brought to the market - their ability to save costs for businesses by detecting ported numbers, restricted contacts, and network changes before sending OTP messages was a game-changer.  The message deliverability of Termii surpasses that of local competitors, guaranteeing that businesses can reach their customers timely and maintain seamless communication channels.

Our investment in Termii was not just a commercial transaction but a testament to our commitment to backing market-creating innovations that plug infrastructure gaps. The company's cross-platform communications infrastructure empowers businesses in sectors such as healthcare, education, fintech, and logistics. By reducing communication barriers and enhancing digital transactions, Termii was making a tangible difference

Termii's recent funding round of $3.6 million will fuel the launch of their mobile app and scale their customer engagement business to new heights. With the founders foreseeing further innovation by migrating businesses from the conventional one- way messaging to a 2-way messaging channel and launching the Termii Go App to enable notifications from all social channels on one app, Termii is set to build a connected Africa where businesses could engage customers seamlessly. 

We are excited to be a part of the Termii story and look forward to witnessing their continued growth and impact on businesses in Africa and beyond.

Termii Elevate Conference 2023 is on Saturday, the 24th of June, 2023.  The annual event brings businesses and professionals together to discuss the importance of communication concerning customers, product users and brand placement. Register [here](https://tix.africa/buy/termii-elevate-2-0) to attend. 

large_VEN_0743-Edit (1).jpg

medium_VEN_0743-Edit (1).jpg

small_VEN_0743-Edit (1).jpg

thumbnail_VEN_0743-Edit (1).jpg

VEN_0743-Edit (1).jpg

large_345shots_so (1).jpeg

medium_345shots_so (1).jpeg

small_345shots_so (1).jpeg

thumbnail_345shots_so (1).jpeg

345shots_so (1).jpeg

Building Africa's Leading Communications Platform: Our Investment in Termii

*“The true wealth of a nation lies not in its natural riches but in the knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurial spirit of its people.”*

For far too long, the popular narrative surrounding Africa has revolved around its vast natural resources - minerals, oil, and agriculture. While these resources are undoubtedly important, Africa's human capital, its people - remain the continent's greatest but most underutilised asset. 

Standing in the way of this population dividend is the massive skills gap that is the reality across our continent today. Employers face a talent shortage due to poor education investment, shallow corporate mentorship pools, lack of experience, outdated workplace methods, and rapid technological advancements. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for upskilling programs as work becomes increasingly digitised, with 50% of employees worldwide requiring new competencies by 2025. Though tech skills have rightly received significant attention across Africa in recent years, the availability of resources and platforms focused on developing soft skills and functional skills across various domains to compete on a global scale has been limited until now.

We have long recognized the immense potential of Africa's human talent and their ability to drive innovation, economic growth, and create prosperity. This is the core of our thesis which is to invest in founders who are building businesses with differentiated and defensible market-creating innovations that solve for non-consumption, plug infrastructural gaps, and democratise prosperity in Africa. We see Talstack’s mission of enabling African professionals with the skills they need to build businesses that can compete globally and build a better future for our continent as a bold expression of our thesis. 

[Talstack](http://www.talstack.com) is a platform that enables companies to identify learning gaps or growth areas, upskill their employees and develop their essential soft and functional skills with tools and courses from Africa’s best operators. Talstack leverages design principles from consumer social products, offering an engaging interest-based, and gamified learning experience. Employees can access tailored, relevant learning content, connect with peers and experts in their field, and participate in leaderboards and live Q&A sessions.

![DSC01848 Large.jpeg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1686820224/DSC_01848_Large_887bd3255b.jpg)

Here's where it gets even more exciting! [Kayode Oyewole](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayodeoyewole/) and [Seni Sulyman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/senisulyman/), the founders of  Talstack, are no strangers to Ventures Platform. Kayode was an early part of Ventures Platform, a former Partner, and a trusted member of our community for years. While at Ventures Platform, Kayode worked with founders at the earliest stages of their company development in various areas, including product and distribution, coaching, capacity development, and building culture - getting a front-row seat at the challenges companies face with the skill gap Talstack solves.  Seni has also been a part of our journey at Ventures Platform, where he was a Venture Partner offering our portfolio companies expert advice on scaling, operations, and managing high-performing talents - leveraging his experience as an executive at Andela. Today, because we know their work ethic, values, and passion for human capital development, we have full faith in their ability to drive Talstack's success. 

We are proud to welcome [Talstack](http://www.talstack.com) into our portfolio. 

Businesses seeking a modern solution for career growth and development can [sign up](https://talstack.com/) to get early access to Talstack.

Experienced professionals (operators) who want to share their insights as instructors, and individuals who are excited to join the Talstack team and help build the infrastructure that will shape the future of Africa's workforce, are welcome to send a mail to builtwithlove@talstack.com.


large_logo_black.png

medium_logo_black.png

small_logo_black.png

thumbnail_logo_black.png

logo_black.png

Partnering With Talstack: Upskilling Africa's Workforce 

**Lagos, Nigeria | 15 December 2022.**

[Ventures Platform](https://venturesplatform.com/), the pan-African VC firm championing the next generation of African technology entrepreneurs, has today announced the final close of its early-stage and intercontinental fund, at $46M. Surpassing its initial $40M target, the oversubscribed fund from one of the continent’s most prolific investors sees new participation from global investors with an array of top-tier commercial banks, corporates, DFIs, global institutional investors and HNIs, including [Standard Bank](https://www.standardbank.com/), [International Finance Corporation](https://www.ifc.org/) [IFC], [British International Investment](https://www.bii.co.uk/en/), [A to Z Impact](https://atozimpact.org/), [Proparco](https://www.proparco.fr/en) with [FISEA](https://www.proparco.fr/fr/actualites/choose-africa-deploie-la-facilite-fisea-une-nouvelle-capacite-dinvestissement-de-210), [AfricaGrow](https://africagrow.allianzgi.com/) a Fund of Funds backed by BMZ (German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, DEG and Allianz, managed by Allianz Global Investors), and others.

The new fund will see Ventures Platform double down on backing a cohort of category leading companies across the continent and will also allow for follow-on investments for portfolio companies, up to Series A. In a bid to better support the companies it invests in, Ventures Platform has also established an innovative “platform and networks” practice that will provide scalable and world-class post investment support and value creation to its portfolio companies. 

Since the first close of the fund late last year, the early-stage “discovery” venture capital fund has deployed new capital and follow-on capital into companies across various verticals and regions on the continent, such as [Remedial Health](https://remedial.health/), [Moni](https://www.moni.africa/), [Notto](https://nottoafrica.com/home), and [Chargel](https://chargel.me/fr/). To further consolidate its pan-African reach, Ventures Platform is actively seeking opportunities in regions such as Kenya, Egypt, and French-speaking West Africa.

In addition to the close of the fund, Ventures Platform has made a series of strategic team additions at partnership and senior management level. The VC firm has added accomplished entrepreneur, investor, and former Principal at pan African VC firm, Novastar Ventures, Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku, as Managing Partner. Dotun's addition to the partnership brings expertise and new opportunities across areas such as investor relations, corporate governance, international expansion, M&A, and growth marketing to the Venture Platform fold. Prior to joining Ventures Platform, Dotun Olowoporoku had played key roles as a consultant or board observer in Flutterwave, Turaco, TeamApt, among others. He was, up to recently, the Chief Commercial Officer at TeamApt.

In addition, Ventures Platform has appointed another notable new member to further enhance its expert network as it brings onboard renowned technologist and investor, Desigan Chinniah, as a Venture Partner. Having spent his career as a venture capitalist, serving in leadership and advisory roles across a blue-ribbon range of companies, Chinniah will  harness his expertise in product innovation, sales intelligence and developer relations to support Ventures Platform portfolio companies.

Since launch in 2016, Ventures Platform has leveraged its on the ground presence on the continent and expertise in corporate partnerships, talent, growth, regulation and operations to strengthen the venture capital ecosystem in Africa, acting as a key partner and conduit for international funds and stakeholders. The pan-African VC firm has over 60 active investments, including [Nomba (formerly Kudi)](https://nomba.com/), [Reliance HMO](https://www.reliancehmo.com/), [Brass](https://www.trybrass.com), [MarketForce](https://www.marketforce360.com/), [Mono](https://mono.co/) and [Piggyvest](https://www.piggyvest.com/) to add to the successful exit of [Paystack (acquired by Stripe)](https://paystack.com/). Whilst focussing on funding market-creating innovations that optimise for non-consumption, Ventures Platform has accrued one of the largest technology start-up portfolios on the continent. Investing from pre-seed stage up to Series A, the fund invests in startups across multiple sectors, ranging from Fintech, Insurtech, Life Science and Health Tech, Edtech and Digital talent accelerators, Enterprise SaaS, Digital Infrastructure Plays, Agritech and Food Security. 

**Kola Aina, Founder and General Partner at Ventures Platform**, stated, ‘We are honoured to have the breadth of both local and global investors who have bought into our vision and who equally are bringing immense value to our portfolio. This is a crowning close to an eventful year in which we made substantial advancements both in the tactical and the proprietary interventions that catalyze our portfolio companies. Dotun’s hands-on pan-African experience, from working with both start-ups and institutional investors, brings an invaluable perspective that will help with our continued growth. We look forward to helping our portfolio companies maximise their full potential whilst also consolidating on our position as a key and dependable business partner for investors in Africa.

“We recognize the tougher macro economic climate at present and whilst we remain cautious in terms of market dynamics and remain grounded in our long standing belief in proper due diligence and corporate governance, we are also acutely aware that with our investment thesis, which is centred on market-creating innovations that thrive when value-chains and markets are restructured, there continues to be incredible opportunities across the market. As it’s been said, a true test is not how one handles moments of comfort and convenience but rather moments of adversity, and so we are glad to be partnering with  often highly experienced, mission-driven founders who are positively impacting the livelihoods of their local communities even in these trying times.”

**William Sonneborn, IFC’s Global Director of Disruptive Technologies and Funds**, said: “IFC is the largest global development institution focused on boosting private sector investments in emerging markets. Championing tech innovation, digital talent, and connectivity are key to succeeding in our mission. We are also one of the largest tech investors in Africa. Like Ventures Platform, we believe that the power of technology, combined with the scale and reach of entrepreneurship, can help solve some of the most pressing challenges of our time. We are delighted to partner with Ventures Platform to help emerging, talented entrepreneurs scale their innovations across the continent and beyond.”

**Babacar Seck, Senior Investment Officer for Venture Capital at PROPARCO**, added, “We are thrilled to partner with Ventures Platform in their journey backing early-stage African startups creating new markets and jobs, while accelerating the continent’s digitization. This ground-breaking partnership reflect the deep commitment of Proparco to African entrepreneurship in line with the Choose Africa initiative, and is being funded  through FISEA, an investment fund of the Agence Française de Développement, that finances African startups and small-medium enterprises through innovative fund managers”

**Martin Ewald, Lead Portfolio Manager Allianz Global Investors, Impact Investments**, also stated “The investment strategy of AfricaGrow is funding Private Equity and Venture Capital funds domiciled and active in Africa, which is both challenging and  very rewarding. In Ventures Platform we have found an excellent partner generating real impact on the ground by building successful companies utilising their deep experience, network and local expertise. We are looking forward to a fruitful cooperation."

“We feel that start-ups, technology and innovation are central to catalysing Africa’s economic potential. We are particularly excited to be contributing towards building a digital and self-sustaining continent and believe that Ventures Platform is well placed with a great leadership team and a solid investment thesis to help achieve these overarching objectives’ added  **Akash Maharaj of the Standard Bank Group**.

Ventures Platform’s portfolio companies have to-date gone on to raise more than $1b in follow-on funding. 

-ENDS-


For additional information or interview requests with Founder and General Partner at Ventures Platform, Kola Aina, please contact **Yemi Kuti** | yemi@wimbart.com or **Chineze Ademola-Aina** | chineze@wimbart.com

**About Ventures Platform** 

Ventures Platform Fund is a discovery fund that invests early in mission-driven founders that are building capital-efficient platforms that democratise prosperity, plug infrastructural gaps, connect underrepresented communities, and improve livelihoods in Africa. The firm provides smart capital and growth support for Africa’s boldest entrepreneurs, investing in pre-seed to Series A startups across several sectors, but is particularly bullish on Financial Services and Insurance, Life Science and Health tech, Edtech and Digital Talent Accelerators, Enterprise SaaS, Digital Infrastructure Plays, Agri-Tech, and Food Security.

**About IFC** 

IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2022, IFC committed a record $32.8 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of global compounding crises. For more information, visit [www.ifc.org](http://www.ifc.org/).

**About PROPARCO**

Proparco is the private-sector arm of the French Development Agency (Agence française de développement – AFD). Proparco has been promoting sustainable economic, social and environmental development for over 40 years. It provides funding and support to businesses in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Its action focuses on key development sectors, particularly healthcare, education, renewable energy, agribusiness and financial institutions.

Proparco’s operations aim to strengthen the private sector’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To this end, Proparco finances companies creating jobs and decent incomes, providing essential goods and services and combating climate change. For a World in Common.

For further information: [www.proparco.fr](http://www.proparco.fr/) and [@Proparco](https://twitter.com/Proparco).

**About Standard Bank Group**

Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 20 African countries and 5 global financial centres. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB. Standard Bank has a 160-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s.

Our strategic position, which enables us to connect Africa to other select emerging markets as well as pools of capital in developed markets, and our balanced portfolio of businesses, provide significant opportunities for growth.

The group has over 46 000 employees excluding Liberty, more than 1 143 branches and over 6 600 ATMs on the African continent, which enable it to deliver a complete range of services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth management. 

Standard Bank Group Limited (SBG or group) headline earnings for the twelve months to 31 December 2021 (FY21) were R25.0 billion, Return on equity (ROE) was 13.5%. Standard Bank’s market capitalisation as of 31 December 2021 was R228 billion (USD14 billion).

The group’s largest shareholder is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 20.1% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets. For further information, go to [http://www.standardbank.com](http://www.standardbank.com/).





large_E12EE31F-4734-4FDF-AA97-5791D80AE2B5.jpeg

medium_E12EE31F-4734-4FDF-AA97-5791D80AE2B5.jpeg

small_E12EE31F-4734-4FDF-AA97-5791D80AE2B5.jpeg

thumbnail_E12EE31F-4734-4FDF-AA97-5791D80AE2B5.jpeg

E12EE31F-4734-4FDF-AA97-5791D80AE2B5.jpeg

Ventures Platform Closes its Pan-African Fund above its initial target - at $46M

**Founders**: [Mayowa Okegbenle](https://ng.linkedin.com/in/mayorbrain) and [Opeyemi Shokunbi](https://ng.linkedin.com/in/opeyemishokunbi)

**Company Name**: PressOne

**Website**: [www.pressone.africa](https://pressone.africa/)

Voice calls remain a popular means of communication between people but they can be fraught with severe connectivity issues, poor call quality, and most importantly can be quite expensive. Growing internet penetration rates, falling costs of data, and 4G adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa enables an increasingly standard way to make voice calls - Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP is essentially internet calling; the caller's voice is recorded, converted into binary code, sent over an internet connection to the receiver’s address. On the receiver’s end, ones and zeroes are received, in real-time, decoded back into an audible sound, and played back. VoIP calls can be much cheaper than regular voice calls because they rely on an internet connection and they work well in areas with poor cellular coverage.
 
[PressOne](https://pressone.africa/) offers smarter phone numbers that help business owners do more with less. It offers entrepreneurs VoIP-based phone numbers that allow them to receive calls over the internet, monitor and store call history over extended periods, implement operating hours outside which callers receive pre-recorded voice prompts, record calls; all without a SIM card.

Quite simply, companies that offer great customer service are not only more successful than those that don't, they're also happier and more productive. And yet, there's still a lot of skepticism about voice as a way to interact with customers: "It's just too much work," "It won't scale."

When we first met Mayowa Okegbenle and Ope Shokunbi, Pressone’s co-founders, we were immediately struck by their technical expertise and their singular mission to enable businesses to listen to their customers. Mayowa had previously built Precurio with Shola Akinlade, and Ope was Head of IT at Nestlé Nigeria.

With PressOne VoIP-based phone numbers, small businesses can receive calls over the internet anywhere they are in the world, monitor and store call history over extended periods, implement operating hours outside which callers receive pre-recorded voice prompts, and record calls; multiple users can share a single line with multiple people enabling collaborative work processes and monitoring which is especially useful as businesses embrace hybrid work environments, all without a SIM card. 

We believe that the most compelling technology solutions on the continent will empower small and medium businesses with tools and services that enable them to reduce churn, increase their user base, and ultimately help create distinct value for their customers. 

PressOne is building a new communication infrastructure that enables customers and businesses to leverage the most sophisticated tool we have for communicating ideas and emotion—voice. In our conversations with one of their existing users, the business owner specifically lauded the crystal-clear quality as far ahead of any other solution they had tried.

When compared to existing traditional call solutions, PressOne provides businesses with a more reliable, robust and superior solution. With phone numbers that can be used for more than just receiving calls, these businesses can now review their stored calls and respond to their customers’ needs faster. PressOne helps these small businesses communicate with their callers as the big companies do, all at an affordable price. On the other end of the spectrum, digital solutions like WhatsApp are tailored towards messaging and lack an extensive suite of features to manage significant volumes of critical customer conversations.

In time, Pressone will enable tomorrow's most successful and beloved brands and businesses to unlock deeper, more personal relationships with their customers. We’re at a tipping point in the evolution of customer service and businesses that will thrive within this new paradigm will be those who can listen deeply and attentively. They will use [PressOne](https://pressone.africa/).

We are excited to be backing Mayowa and Ope as they enable millions of businesses in Africa to stay more connected to their customers. 


small_PressOne.jpg

thumbnail_PressOne.jpg

PressOne.jpg

Enabling Small Businesses Succeed: Our Investment in PressOne

**Founders**: [Moustapha Ndoye](https://www.linkedin.com/in/moustapha-ndoye-ab0973165) and [Alioune Ndoye](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alioune-ndoye-184671230)

**Company Name**: Chargel

**Website**: [www.chargel.me](https://chargel.me/)

Emerging markets with fragmented and inefficient logistics sectors can experience food losses of 30 to 40 percent compared to losses of 10 to 15 percent in OECD countries due to logistics failures. [Chargel](https://chargel.me/) connects carriers with shippers, making it easier and more efficient to transport goods and track shipments. This benefits both parties involved by reducing costs and increasing earnings while being more environmentally friendly. By improving the coordination and collaboration between carriers, shippers, and other relevant parties, Chargel will reduce empty miles traveled, minimize deadhead percentage, and lower fuel consumption. 

But the logistics industry is a famously difficult industry to disrupt. It’s a complex system characterised by high levels of fragmentation, complex regulations, demand-supply mismatch, lack of transparency, manual processes and documentation and volatile rates. Today, these inefficiencies plague the trucking industry in Africa; fragmentation makes it difficult to standardise processes and best practices across the board. The industry’s heavy reliance on manual processes and paper documentation leads to errors and delays. And finally, the lack of transparency around pricing and freight costs makes it difficult for customers to make informed choices when hiring a trucking company or negotiating rates with one.
 
Moustapha Ndoye and Alioune Ndoye are both exceptional founders who have spent years solving problems across Africa. Moustapha helped build Wave into a unicorn and Alioune has extensive experience building innovative technology across multiple industries. Both co-founders have a deep understanding of the trucking industry and the problems that need to be solved to make it more efficient. 
Besides the fact that Chargel’s proprietary technology solves real problems for those who rely on freight services – and those who offer them – we also like that the company has already grown quickly since its founding. In just 2 months after it launched, Chargel signed up over 3,000 trucks and nine shippers in its pipeline, accounting for ~50% of traffic in the Port of Dakar. And while there are other similar companies on the continent, we’re particularly interested in this blue ocean opportunity within a hugely underserved region – Francophone Africa, and with second-time founders that dedicated two years to studying the market and aggregating trucks on the platform.

We’re excited to be partnering with Chargel on their mission to make freight more efficient and help businesses move goods around Africa more easily and affordably. We believe in Moustapha & Alioune’s vision for the future of trucking and we’re proud to be a part of their journey.

large_Chargel.jpeg

medium_Chargel.jpeg

small_Chargel.jpeg

thumbnail_Chargel.jpeg

Chargel.jpeg

Digitising Africa’s Freight Network: Our Investment in Chargel

We are delighted to announce 4 new investments through our new fund. This fund is aimed at finding, funding and supporting groundbreaking market-creating innovation opportunities to create prosperity and position Africa as a formidable force in global markets.

Our new portfolio companies have developed innovative solutions to solve critical societal problems such as access to financial services for the unbanked, creating borderless trade opportunities for African merchants, enabling Africans to make digital payments without internet connections, and providing access to credit for middle-market African businesses.

Our newest portfolio companies include:

[Topup Mama](https://www.topupmama.com/) – a restaurant management platform for African restaurateurs to unify and optimize the fragmented food and beverages supply chain. We invested in Topup Mama because the founder understood the problem deeply, having grown up as the son of a restaurant owner and experiencing the daily challenges and constraints to growth. The founders are ideally suited to disrupt this billion-dollar market. *Restaurateurs can start shopping [here](https://shop.topupmama.com/en/).*

[Fluna](https://www.fluna.co/) – a B2B SaaS treasury management and financing platform leading the charge to close the $5 trillion total credit gap in developing and emerging economies. We believe the Fluna founders have a deep understanding of the barriers to private credit, and they are building a comprehensive product that enables African businesses to grow into and surpass their potential. *Companies can get started [here](https://www.fluna.co/request-access).*

[Shekel](https://shekel.africa/) – a dealership management system that enables auto dealerships to access to financing, enabling millions of Africans to own vehicles. We invested in Shekel because it will redefine mobility as an accessible need for most Africans, and we are excited about how Shekel will evolve into a critical rail that underpins the urban mobility sector. *Auto dealers can signup [here](https://shekel.africa/) to get started.*

[Catlog](https://www.catlog.shop/) – a social commerce platform that enables merchants on social media platforms reach massive audiences with cutting-edge sales and marketing tools. We believe that social commerce is a strong contender for the dominant form of online commerce within highly dynamic African markets, and Catlog is well-positioned to unlock tremendous economic opportunity for millions of small business owners. *Merchants can create a free store [here](https://www.catlog.shop/app/sign-up).*

These companies join the portfolio of six existing VP Fund IV investments in startups transforming how Africans access financial services through [lowered barriers to banking services](https://blochq.io/), [innovative Point of Sale tools](https://tractionapps.co/), [mobile money agents](https://www.moni.africa/), [borderless trade](https://plumter.com/), [offline payments](https://vendy.money/) and [card issuance APIs](https://union54.com/).

We know that founders often need more than just money to succeed. That's why we're here with a platform of services designed to support our portfolio companies at every stage of growth: from co-iterating on go-to-market strategy, partnerships, fundraising, to helping our founders find exceptional talent—and just about everything else in between.

If you are building a company that solves a critical problem for society,  we would love to learn more, please reach out to us [here](https://www.venturesplatform.com/apply). 
 

large_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

medium_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

small_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

thumbnail_front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

front-view-woman-with-face-mask-market Large.jpeg

Announcing our Latest Investments

As we reflect on our activities in 2021, we are grateful to our team, investors, community, partners, and, more importantly, the founders we've been fortunate to back, who have made this a fantastic year. 


Some highlights of the year that was;

1. This year has been our most active; we made our first investments in Egypt and Zambia. We invested in 28 new companies in 2021 across four countries, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Zambia. 

2. Eleven portfolio companies got into some of the best accelerators globally, nine into Ycombinator, one into Techstars, and one into Ondeck.

3. We hosted a day-long retreat for founders within the portfolio with participation from a few veteran founders and executives such as Sim Shagaya, Adia Sowho, Ugodre Obi, and Odun Longe. 

4. Over $150M in follow-on capital was raised across the portfolio in announced and unannounced deals. Overall, our startups recorded strong growth across key metrics and also returned capital to our investors. 

5. We co-hosted a webinar with the London Stock Exchange on Going Public on the LSE as an African company.

6. We announced the first close of our $40M Pan-African fund, with participation from local and global investors such as Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), United Africa Company of Nigeria (UAC), VFD Group, Michael Siebel (CEO Ycombinator), Adam Draper, Shola Akinlade (Co-founder Paystack, early portfolio company), and other high-profile institutions and individuals. This new fund will enable us to double down on supporting the best entrepreneurs, building products, tools, and services aimed at moving Africa forward; we would also be investing more in our portfolio support function and participating in follow on rounds in portfolio companies. Read more here. 



![Screen Shot 2021-02-27 at 9.25.05 AM.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2t9wgu2/image/upload/v1640182732/Screen_Shot_2021_02_27_at_9_25_05_AM_cdc6d6c9a8.jpg)



We believe the internet is still in its early stages in Africa; individuals and businesses are increasingly discovering the “magic” created on the Internet. We are seeing; an acceleration in the adoption of digital tools by individuals, businesses, and government institutions; growth in the creator economy, social commerce, remittance, health, payment, and several other verticals.

Over the next decade, we will witness an increase in the adoption of digital tools by individuals and organisations across all sectors, including; Education, Health Care, Finance, Government, and more. Technology will drive changes and improvements in education and cross-border trade delivery while introducing new efficiency and accountability in governance. It will improve how we access and consume health services, help organisations manage their processes, and increase employee productivity. Technology will be critical to Africa’s economic growth, and technology companies will emerge as some of Africa’s most valuable companies.  

Our mission remains the same; we will be right there at the centre, funding, supporting, and cheering these founders building market-creating innovations as they solve for non-consumption and build the future of Africa.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has been a part of our journey, and we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.


large_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

medium_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

small_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

thumbnail_959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

959a9061-b338-4607-ae61-74314282cf8b.jpg

Ventures Platform 2021: Year in Review

Can you believe it? It’s been FIVE glorious years. How time flies, right? 

Honestly, we thought we knew all about entrepreneurship, but boy, we were wrong. 

The events of the last five years, notably the COVID-19 pandemic, have served as an eye-opener to many organisations worldwide, Ventures Platform inclusive. 

Now more than ever, we firmly believe that entrepreneurship is the most sustainable path to creating economic prosperity. So while we may just be five years old, we have learnt a lot. Through our work in that time, we have seen entrepreneurs innovatively tackle some of Africa’s biggest problems, leveraging technology. Their strategies led to better results than other non-entrepreneurial approaches.

For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when countries and organisations were in disarray, and many had to shut off operations, we, on the other hand, viewed it as an opportunity for growth by quickly embracing a three-pronged approach. This involved digitising our processes, partnering with NSIRF to provide business advisory services to startups, and driving engagement through the Policy Dialogue Series.

This approach enabled us to work with startups in recognising and capturing new business opportunities presented by the pandemic, thereby enabling them to stay profitable and expand their impact within their community. 

Between when we kicked off in 2016 and where we are now, there have been significant changes - mainly for the better. Here’s a brief recap of our achievements as captured in our 2020 Impact Report.

### The last five years at a glance.
In the last five years, Ventures Platform has:
- Held 44 Startup Programs
- Supported startups that have created 283,976 Jobs 
- Trained 8,300 people 
- Championed12 Policy Initiatives
- Supported 314 female entrepreneurs 
- Supported 636  entrepreneurs
- Invested in 60 startups (equity)
- Provided $588,811 equity-free funding

### What lies ahead: 2021 and Beyond.

Our key takeaway from our experience so far is the reaffirmation that, indeed, innovation and entrepreneurship is the best way to deliver on the promise of a prosperous Africa. 

Our survey observed that mission-driven startups have greater chances to stand the test of time and have the most effects in terms of job creation and access to essential goods and services. These startups have also been successful in developing solutions that address critical value-chain gaps and create new markets. 

For these reasons, Ventures Platform will be transitioning from solely supporting startups through time-bound programs to creating a continuous support system. We believe this will encourage entrepreneurs to use creative, inclusive, and long-term business strategies to produce goods and services that increase access, create employment, and boost economic success.

### You made it possible!

In retrospect, we know that none of these would be possible without our resilient team, unwavering and supportive partners, founders, mentors, advisors, and family and friends. You all made our vision a reality.

Thank you for making the last five years epic!


large_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

medium_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

small_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

thumbnail_WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2021-09-24 at 12.07.21.jpeg

5 Years, and the Journey's Just Begun: Ventures Platform Foundation 2020 Annual Impact Report

Over the last few years at Ventures Platform Fund, we have backed 60+ companies, working with some of the best founders building the future across Africa. As we scale our work going forward, we are growing our team and looking to add rockstars to support our work of investing in the future of Africa. 

Working with us at Ventures Platform Fund means supporting founders with a  deep-rooted desire to win. Founders envisioning what the future of Africa would look like and building products, tools, or services that drive Africa towards that future. Being on our team also presents a rare opportunity to help founders through their various levels of growth in building and scaling their companies and offers unparalleled insight into the broader startup ecosystem in Africa. 

If all of these resonate with you, please apply, share and spread the word.

Head, Fund Operations -[ https://bit.ly/3jIXFtC](https://bit.ly/3jIXFtC)


Head, Portfolio Support - [https://bit.ly/3DJE4RR](https://bit.ly/3DJE4RR)


Head, Engagement and Community - [https://bit.ly/3zMdtB6](https://bit.ly/3zMdtB6)


medium_VPF Is Hiring.jfif

small_VPF Is Hiring.jfif

thumbnail_VPF Is Hiring.jfif

VPF Is Hiring.jfif

Ventures Platform Fund is Hiring!!

I recently met an aspiring entrepreneur who was pitching me this brilliant idea for a mobile app he was working on and he was super pumped about it. He went on and on about all the features they were going to roll out and why there is currently nothing on the market like what he was building.

This happens all the time, so I asked him two questions: what problem are you solving? Who are you solving the problem for? He apparently didn’t have an answer to either. So, my advice to him was simple; rather than waste time, effort and money building tech nobody is going to use (he was non-technical). He should identify what problem he is solving and validate if the problem exists.

[Rather than waste time, effort and money building tech nobody is going to use, you should identify… Click To Tweet](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://www.venturesplatform.com/?p=7140&text=Rather%20than%20waste%20time%2C%20effort%20and%20money%20building%20tech%20nobody%20is%20going%20to%20use%2C%20you%20should%20identify%E2%80%A6&via=VPlatformHub&related=VPlatformHub)

### So, two quick lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
- Identify and validate the problem: go out there and talk to people, figure out if they have that problem, and find out how they currently solve it. You can either build a product that solves a problem or build a product then go search for the problem your product can solve. I recommend you do the former

- Build a Minimum Viable product: Don’t be quick to think that an MVP is an app or a website. It’s basically anything that allows you to validate your assumptions. E.g. If you want to solve the problem of finding schools for parents, rather than spend money or time building an app with search functionality, why not create a google form for parents to fill in the type of schools they are looking for and send out to all the parents you and your friends know. When the responses come in, manually look for those schools and send 3 matching schools to each request and ask the parents to allow you to handle the booking process and pay you a small fee. This is just an example of how you can test the proposed solution.

### Whatever you are doing now or intend to do, make sure your startup idea solves a problem. Don’t start a business to build an app but rather to solve a pain people are experiencing.




large_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

medium_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

small_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

thumbnail_Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

Quick Lessons for Aspiring.jpeg

Two quick lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

My phone vibrates as a WhatsApp message gets in from a friend who now works at a startup accelerator. ​ “Do you intend on starting a start-up?”.

“Just like that?” ​I mutter underneath my breath as I exhale heavily.

If you — like I am — develop software for a living, you probably receive different morphs of the same question all the time. One thing they forget is that we don’t all have the same paths. If we all started going door to door making pitches for funding, who will build the products?

The problem is a simple one when you put some thought into it. There is a percentage of people out there that think one needs to understand the nuances of developing software to build a tech start-up. Similarly, there is a percentage of people that believe every software developer is cut out for building and running tech companies. They are right and are wrong at the same time.

Admittedly, they are lots of great software developers with the drive for entrepreneurship and the ability to execute — ​Looking at you Mark Essien ​- and it’s great when these skills come together. Should that become a yardstick to measure everybody’s success? No, for many reasons. A good percentage of software developers enjoy what they do and just want to build great solutions. No one needs to be a CEO to be a part of something great.

No investor hands the money over to a founder just because they say so. A very simple question has to be answered every time -​ **Why?***italic text*

**Why***italic text*​ the burning desire to go through with this?

**Why***italic text*​ do you think your solution will work.

**Why***italic text*​ would you keep going when no one else believes.

While it’s really exciting to daydream about running a company and posting a billion-dollar valuation after a short period, it’s not all petals of roses on that walkway. You must be ready to deal with the thorns to pick the flowers. The tech start-up scene has seen a lot of growth over the last year. A side effect of this magnitude of growth in any sphere is that a lot of people begin to see the glam and the basic principles (problem-solving in this case) that have caused that growth to begin to die off. I’m just a software developer with no experience running start-ups but I have been around start-ups and founders just enough to give this a lot of thought.

The bottom line, everyone with solutions to problems should be encouraged to put them out. A lot of the infrastructure to help is being built and built well too with hubs and accelerators being set up to aid founders. A scary thought is that the system begins to fall for what I like to call “the buzzword syndrome” with everyone jumping on ideas just because they seem cool.

Entrepreneurs need to keep in mind that building a company from scratch is difficult and every company needs to stand for something or it’ll fall for anything.

Michael Obi is a software developer that’s enthusiastic about community-driven growth.
He’s always looking to share and listen to ideas.
He currently works at [Crackle](http://crackle.ng/) Nigeria, an Abuja-based Software company.
Michael can be found [here](https://twitter.com/twisted_myk).

thumbnail_where is your startup.jpeg

where is your startup.jpeg

You’re a software developer. Where’s your start up?

I have worked with/tons of smart people over the years, and one thing that eventually happens is they see opportunities for business everywhere. The tough job of picking one idea aside, they are then faced with the reality (read as “almost impossible task”) of getting from the idea stage to the business dynasty they imagined it will become.

Most times they don’t.

Ideas typically start out as something that you stumble on, then it begins to nag you, and comes back to you even when you ignore or discard it. Sometimes, even others close to you will realize that you are the best person to solve a particular problem. Some other people might have even attempted to run with it, but you will feel personally insulted at the way they attempt to solve the problem.

[Google’s I/O 2017 video](https://youtu.be/BEtPCT7ZcE0) below is very visual about how ideas can work.

You once had an idea, right?

That’s why you’re reading — but that’s all it was an idea. The process of transforming an idea to a business can seem daunting if you don’t start.

#### The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now! — Chinese Proverb

All our lives we have been taught about business this way;
- get a brilliant idea
- work out a perfect 20+ page business plan
- find investors
- build business
- get rich (or die trying)

But building a business is hard — so hard that often, passion and talent are not enough, you have to be sure that there is a business in the first place before sinking your savings and your inheritance in a non-starter.

Here’s a more practical way to go about it;
- get a brilliant idea (to be done by you, typically in the shower)
- think of whose problem you’re solving — i.e. customers* (to be done by you alone or with a smart friend)
- talk to these people to confirm that you are solving the problem right (to be done outside your house with said people — never done alone)
- create an MVP — a small version** of what your solution will look like, offer customers and ask them to use and possibly pay (to be done alongside prayers and fasting)
- apply learnings and build product when you are certain your product fits the market (to be done by you and smart friend(s))
- please don’t die trying, accept failure, learn from it, and move on (to be done by you)

Do I imply that you throw caution to the wind and not plan? No. Please plan, but do not spend all month, or year, planning — there is no point in writing a business plan that is unusable or written on the premise of things your customers don’t need. So rather than write, act. Rather than postulate theories of what customers want, go out and interact with them.
[PS: Not sure how to approach customers? Read this.](https://medium.com/@fola/2ba04367ba08)

                                                                       ***************************

Notice that there is no direct mention of investors in this approach I suggest. That’s because investors are not there to help you start a business, they are there to help you grow it.

You once had an idea, now go build the business!

*Customers used very loosely here — is typically 1 or more different customer segments
**small version is relative — [read about MVP’s here](lhttp://scalemybusiness.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-minimum-viable-products/)

Drop a line in the comments or reach me [@folasanwo](https://twitter.com/folasanwo) on Twitter





small_A Business Idea - Ventures Platform Foundation.jpeg

thumbnail_A Business Idea - Ventures Platform Foundation.jpeg

A Business Idea - Ventures Platform Foundation.jpeg

You Once Had A Business Idea

According to a survey carried out by NetCraft, the number of websites on the internet has approached about one billion; while this is good for the information technology sphere, it is getting harder for startups, who are new entrants, to get visible in the already saturated space on the internet. To entice people to visit your site, you must have great content — and your information must be helpful enough to retain them. The best way to do this is by blogging. We’ll look at 5 reasons why blogging is great for your startup.

Customers like to believe they are closely knitted with founders, it gives them some form of confidence: writing articles and blog posts create a connection between the writer and the reader — therefore, while you build an amazing company, you should build an amazing blog too!

Let us journey through five benefits of blogging;

#### Blogging can interest investors
Venture Capitalists and Investors are constantly searching for potentially great businesses to invest in — aside from the fact that blogging helps give you a lead through search engine optimization, it gives the investors’ confidence in your startup when they see how much information and mastery you have in your industry.

#### It can help you build a customer community
Blogging will help you build a brand — a brand's customers will get attracted and glued to, and it will further heighten expectations about your product or service offerings. Once you have a community that seems ‘loyal’ to you, you rest assured of some form of followership.

#### It can define you as a thought leader
Customers are not only looking for products or services; they are also looking for information about your offerings. People will come to your blog because they are looking to find answers to their questions. You then become trusted and respected.

#### It can help you get that co-founder and employee
People with the skills you need are also on the lookout for founders who need their skills. Blogging helps to build a form of relationship between potential co-founders and employees before they begin to have detailed conversations about their potential engagements

#### It can generate organic traffic with content marketing
People will naturally tilt to your startup when they know that they would get relevant information on your blog. This is a sure way to build trust within a selected industry. Content marketing will help you draw in and retain traffic.

Some founders cannot write, or they are not dedicated and consistent enough to blogging — nevertheless, the benefits of getting a blog up as a start-up is tremendous. In fact, blogging is at the centre of all your digital marketing endeavours. Do you see why you should start a blog today?

Let’s get to work!

[Lamide](https://twitter.com/lamidejohnson)

large_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

medium_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

small_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

thumbnail_pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

pexels-cottonbro-5076520.jpg

5 Reasons Why Blogging Is Great for Your Startup

I probably spend more than 90 percent of my time reviewing products and talking to startups. One of the things I find myself saying most often is: “your product needs to be 10x better than the closest alternative.” Okay, great, but is it ever that simple?

Do you have what it takes to build a product that’s ten times better than what currently exists? How do you even go about that? We can assume the products we use today were not built by idiots — they are often really smart people. So, building something exponentially better than its closest alternative requires a fundamentally different way of thinking. Elon Musk puts it [nicely](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3sBlRgzTI):

“I think it is important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is … we reason by analogy. We are doing this because it’s like something else that was done or it is like what other people are doing… it’s like slight iterations on a theme.”

According to Musk, First principles “is a physics way of looking at the world…what that really means is that you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there…that takes a lot more mental energy.”

When solving a problem, entrepreneurs often look at competing products or existing ways of doing things and try to make it all “better”, by adding features to what already exists. But this rarely leads to success. Those competitors can just as easily add those features, and there will be no real reason for users to even try your product. Worse still, you may come off looking like a clone with added features.

One way to get around this is to consider the outcome you want to achieve, and ask yourself, “How would I think about this problem if these existing products did not exist? How would I build this solution if nothing else was doing the ‘job’ before? What’s the best way to solve this problem without any preconceived ideas?” I‘d argue that the car was invented using the First principle thinking because an improvement to a cart is not the car — it’s a faster horse!

Rest assured, this is difficult and uncomfortable: our thinking processes are bound by convention and analogy to prior experiences. Those are safe. But often, the best way to solve a problem is not to improve on what exists, it is to create an entirely different (better) solution. And often, the largest rewards are reserved for those who solve the hardest problems.

large_ventures platform 10x.png

medium_ventures platform 10x.png

small_ventures platform 10x.png

thumbnail_ventures platform 10x.png

ventures platform 10x.png

## Eighteen days ago, @vplatformhub turned One!

While the party heads on the [VP team](http://venturesplatform.com/#meet-the-team) planned to stage a party to celebrate the journey so far, the sombre and more serious ones on the team prevailed. : — ) We didn’t have a party. What we did do instead was individually reflect and conclude that while we had come so far, there was more work to be done.

Since we commenced operations in 2016 a lot has happened. Earlier this year we graduated our first cohort of six companies, more on that here. Happy to say; [Jalo](http://www.jalo.com.ng/), [Mobile Forms](https://mobileforms.co/), [Wesabi](https://www.wesabi.com/), [Payconnect](http://www.payconnect.ng/), [Proteach ](https://proteach.ng/) and [Lizzies Creations](http://www.teseem.com/) are all kicking ass and taking names.

We also restructured the business; spinning off our co-working/co-living infrastructure operation — and essentially became a rent-paying tenant at Ventures Park. Additionally, we began laying the foundation to enable us to make more social impact and do non-profit work. All of this further helping us hyper-focus [Ventures Platform](lhttp://venturesplatform.com/) on funding and supporting early-stage companies.

More recently, on May 15th we commenced the second cycle of the Ventures Platform acceleration program with [six exciting companies](http://venturesplatform.com/2017/06/19/ventures-platform-begins-second-accelerator-cohort/) in the batch.
It is an amazing learning experience and we keep experimenting, remembering we are but a start-up, helping start-ups’.
. . .
### Here are some hacks we recently implemented.

1. To further support our alumni we began offering quarterly business review sessions that allow us to spend periodic time with alumni founders, review progress, play devil’s advocate or simply just catch up. 

2. We standardized reporting expectations from all current and alumni companies to ensure accountability and measure progress. We are in this for a “haul”.

3. We developed and shared with our founders a useful but simple start-up [corporate governance](https://www.slideshare.net/kola2gs/recommended-corporate-governance-accountability-framework-for-vp-companies) framework. Please share your comments below, we would love to hear what we have left out.
. . .

### We also learnt a few lessons.

- While there are legit reasons for employed people or entrepreneurs to pursue projects as side hustles, we have learnt for a fact that the ideal VP founding team need to be completely sold out to the idea and work full time on it.

- Getting all companies in a batch to grow at a similar pace towards a showcase like a demo day is not necessarily practical. Some ideas just take more time.

- Build a process and trust the process. In doing this we have since incorporated a very strict investment selection committee constituting of our investors, board and core team to make the final call on the selection of accelerator companies as well as outside accelerator investments.

- We also learnt to trust our instincts and that investing really is an art not much of a science.

- The chemistry and health of the founding team are superior to the idea.

- There are more people talking about investing / angel investing/startup investing and the likes — than there are people writing checks. Sad!
. . .

In the coming months, we look forward to learning and sharing more.
- 
Kola Aina

small_pexels-photo-4389643.jpeg

thumbnail_pexels-photo-4389643.jpeg

pexels-photo-4389643.jpeg

A note on Hacks & Lessons @ 1

## (Unit Economics)
Unit economics is extremely critical to the survival of any business. I will attempt to keep this as simple as I can. I hope it passes the “Moms test”.

One of the biggest lies startups can ever tell themselves is, “we will lose a little money on every customer, but we will make it up in volumes”, it’s as good as pouring more water into a leaking bucket hoping it would hold, cos now we have poured a lot of water into it. If you are losing money at a smaller stage, it amplifies when you are bigger if the holes are not fixed.

Unit economics is the method used to determine whether a business model can be successful or profitable. It looks at the direct revenues and costs associated with that revenue acquisition.

2 questions at the core of understanding unit economics are:

### i- How much does it cost to acquire a customer?
E.g. If Accounteer provides accounting services to companies on a subscription basis, let’s assume companies pay N10,000 annually for access to this service. Sounds good? But for them to get companies to pay N10,000, the companies need to have heard about them, so they do several ads on Facebook, Google, and maybe newspapers, they spent N250,000 doing all that. They got 20 companies from this exercise. In essence their CAC (customer acquisition cost) is N250,000/20 customers =N12,500.

### ii- How much is a customer worth?
Here, there is a concept called LTV (lifetime value), simply put, it means how much you can make from that customer over the lifetime of their relationship with your product.

Bullshit Alert: Startups are usually quick to say the customer is going to use their product forever. That’s not true, as there would be competing options, the company might go out of business, or they build the same solution internally the list goes on and on.

So let’s assume each customer stays for 2 years here. So you make N10,000(annual subscription fee) x 2years= N20,000, whereas you spent N12,500 to acquire them. So in an actual sense, you are making N7,500 from the customer.

This is a simple way to understand Unit Economics. As long as the customer gives you more money than what you spent on getting that customer, you have a deal (LTV > CAC). If your CAC is higher than your LTV, that’s a death alert. You need to stop whatever you are doing and head for your war room and figure out a way to acquiring customers for cheaper or maybe charge customers more (this works if customers really want your product) or both.

General advice, you should be making at least 3 times what it cost you to acquire a customer.


medium_pound-iso-color.png

small_pound-iso-color.png

thumbnail_pound-iso-color.png

pound-iso-color.png

How to think through your Business

### In 2016, we had lots of fun and got some stuff done. Some stats;
- 3850 cups of coffee
- 755 Visitors
- 204 Start-up founders
- 103 Co-workers
- 63 office hour sessions
- 12 Techpreneurship events
- 7 Incubated companies

### VP Hybrid-Incubation Program
On June 3rd 2016, Ventures Platform Hub was officially opened by the Honourable Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, with a mission to *“become the most ideal community in Africa for nurturing disruptive and financially sustainable technology ventures that also have a social impact” *— long for “becoming the most awesome start-up Launchpad.”

The incubation team immediately swung to action and opened the applications for the first cohort #VPHub1. Combing through well-over 500 applications from across Africa was interesting. After 2 application stages, including video pitches, final interviews were held in Lagos and Abuja.

- 7 start-ups were selected for Cohort 1: Jalo, Lizzie’s Creations, Mobile Forms Africa, PayConnect, ProTeach, Wesabi, DriversNG.

- The program officially started on the 19th of September 2016. During the program, we provided work & living space, invested in, coached, shared with, challenged and stressed the hell out of the very incredible founders in Cohort1. We also learnt a lot from them to make the program better.

- We were very fortunate to have 20 amazing mentors and 5 advisors be an integral part of the program, sacrificing their scarce time to support the founders. We owe our mentors and advisors everything; they are the true MVPs!

- As of today, all our start-ups have shown healthy traction and are making good revenues. 2 of the 7 startups have gained international recognition, representing Nigeria in SLUSH Global Impact Accelerator in Finland (PayConnect) and at the African Entrepreneurship Awards in Morocco (Wesabi). Together, our start-ups have now cumulatively reached 8,756 new customers and counting.

### VP In the ecosystem.
Between working with our 7 companies, we also found some time to do good in the ecosystem.

- Working with SLUSH Global Impact Accelerator (Europe’s leading start-up and technology event) was a fantastic experience culminating in one of our incubated companies — Payconnect and Adaeze Sokan of Ventures Platform representing Nigeria in Helsinki, Finland.

- We hosted the Aso Villa Demo Day (AVDD) boot camp. This was an interesting one!

- An august-visitor, Michael Seibel — CEO of Y Combinator, came calling while on his international tour and held office hours at VP for the startup community in Abuja and beyond. Michael was gracious enough to share their experiences at YC.

- We collaborated with the American Embassy in hosting a round table discussion with selected entrepreneurs during the visit of Macon Philips — Coordinator of the United States Department of State, Bureau of International Information. Macon is the former White House Director of New Media and worked on digital strategy for the Obama campaign.

- Techpoint embarked on their Innovation tour engaging with the startup community in North Central Nigeria and made a stop at VPHub for a few days, complete with a super-cool tour bus.

- VP Office Hours was opened for entrepreneurs to get free business advice from our pool of business experts, with over 60 startups getting help in 2016.

- We began working with Microsoft to foster a vibrant developer community in Abuja. We met regularly at the hub to share ideas, opportunities, engage and hang out in an informal setting, tagged: “Developers Hangout.”

We kick-started an Early-stage/ Angel Investor Meet Up series in Abuja/Northcentral Regional and had the pleasure of Mr Adedotun Sulaiman, Mr Kyari Bukar, Lexi Novitske, Yemi Keri and Bankole Oloruntoba at the first edition as speakers.

### You made it possible.
Looking back now, one realises that none of the baby steps we took this year would have been possible without the support of so many people like; [Micheal Sibel](https://twitter.com/mwseibel?lang=en), [YCobminator](http://www.ycombinator.com/), the [SLUSH team](http://slush.org/), The United States Embassy, [Macon Philips](https://twitter.com/iipcoordinator), Microsoft, [The office of the Vice President of Nigeria — Prof. Yemi Osinbajo](https://twitter.com/ProfOsinbajo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), [The Honourable Minister of Communications Technology — Barrister Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu](https://twitter.com/hmadebayoshittu), [Starta](https://twitter.com/startahq), [MEST](lhttps://twitter.com/mestafrica?lang=en), YALI, June, Longe Practice, [SLA](https://twitter.com/SheLeadsAfrica?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), [OO Nwoye](http://oonwoye.com/), Danjuma Enebi, Victor Ehikhamenor, Bunmi Okunowo, Afolabi Imoukhuede, Wole Olabanji, [Techpoint](https://twitter.com/techpointdotng?lang=en), Techcabal, Techloy, all our partners, service providers, investors, co-workers, founders, mentors, advisors, friends, family, the EP Team, the VP Team and most importantly You!

Thank you for making 2016 awesome!

### 2017 & beyond.
In closing, we are happy to announce that we will be hosting our first Demo Day on the 27th of January 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Spaces are limited, but if you would like to join us as an investor or learn more about the startups to be featured, please drop us a line at demoday@venturesplatform.com.
Applications for cohort2 will also open in January 2017, so keep an eye out on our website.
If you haven’t visited Ventures Park yet, please do so in 2017. till then, you can take a virtual tour by clicking here.
Know how we can be better? Please drop us a line at feedback@venturesplatform.com.

May you take flight in 2017!

Thanks to you; 2016 was awesome!

For most SaaS company founders, the ability to source, retain new clients, and increase the spending of current customers is essential to success. Every month companies gain and lose customers — this is a natural part of the business growth process. For early-stage companies, Churn has make-or-break effects and is an active part of the SaaS experience. However, losing more clients than you gain can signal an inferior product or an inability to define your target market. Founders, particularly at the early stages, need to be obsessed with acquiring and retaining customers.


When looking into churn, SaaS companies may have to peer a little deeper than the simple churn calculation covered in our last edition of Series V. Founders can look at churn from a subscription, revenue, and customer perspective. From the customer angle, look at the customers who leave your product or cancel their subscription entirely. The loss of 5 customers might seem inconsequential, but for B2B SaaS companies, those customers might be your most significant contracts, and that loss in revenue can damage your company. Keeping track of your customer churn can help you better understand revenue changes.

You are trying to determine the percentage of customers who move from one subscription level to another from the subscription level. Understanding why customers upgrade or downgrade their subscription plans can help you understand the value of more expensive subscription plans compared to more affordable options. You want to look at the revenue lost from users switching subscription levels or cancelling their subscriptions from the revenue perspective. These factors work in tandem to give you a clearer picture of how customers react to your product. For example, your company could lose 50% of its customers and not lose any significant revenue. This could be tied to subscription level shifts or free user declines. Looking at customer loss without nuance might cloud your judgment and force you to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

Regardless of how well your company tracks churn, the real work requires using the data gathered to create products users love and reducing churn. Here are some ways you can reduce churn for your SaaS startup:

**Product updates**: Always be talking to your customers, you can’t provide a solution to every customer problem, but you can focus on the issues users care about. If a sizable number of customers face a problem your company can solve, consider adding this feature to your update pipeline. If the benefits of adding this feature to the product outweigh the development costs, then it is a worthwhile endeavour. By consistently listening to your users and meeting their requests, you can create an exceptional product.

**Review supporting factors:** If your customer base is diverse, look into the unique characteristics that promote churn for each group. Do customers in a specific industry, vertical, or country have a higher churn tendency? If a pattern is forming, look into product modifications that can improve their experience and secure continued use for users in that segment.

**Long-term partnerships**: Most SaaS companies work with clients through a monthly payment agreement. Another option would be to secure long-term contracts ranging from 6 -18 months. In this time frame, the companies that take advantage of this offer will get familiar with your product and incorporate it into their operations. This familiarity with your product will reduce the likelihood of churn.

**‘Sticky” Factor**: Build features around user needs that can become a part of their everyday process. Once your product becomes an integral part of a client’s operations, you can achieve “stickiness”. The more embedded your product is in your client’s operations, the less likely they will leave your product. Always aim to make the switching cost from your product high.

**Best foot forward**: Working with corporate clients takes skill. If you have a customer about to churn, having your best representative manage conversations with this client might be valuable. Having an expert manage and maintain high-value partnerships can go a long way.

**Survivor Bias**: Survivor Bias in this context is the misconception that you should only focus on and learn from the customers that continue to use your product. But there is a lot to learn from the customers you lost along the way. The issues that forced those customers to leave might be you need to solve to ensure future customers remain satisfied. Consider creating a list of customers and compare their activity today from a year ago. Were there any changes in user behaviour before they stopped using your service? Taking into their fluctuations might give a more accurate picture of how users interact with your product. You might also benefit from surveying this group to find out what issues they faced.

Churn is inevitable, but the goal is to get to a point where your customer base is growing faster than it’s churning. Managing churn for your company takes time, effort, and a user-focused approach. If you focus on improving your product and customer satisfaction, you can reduce your churn rates.

Series V will continue to cover how churn impacts other business types and relevant topics to support founders on their entrepreneurial journey.

Unpacking SaaS Churn