Afrifunding.com is an online community platform where entrepreneurs who have plans for starting or expanding a business in Africa meet with global investors who want to invest in Africa. The idea is to provide a service whereby private investors from around the world and entrepreneurs with focus on Africa can connect easily online.

Afrifunding claims to be the premier Africa business investment network and venture capital funding portal that matches serious and active private business investors with entrepreneurs’ seeking investment capital and business funding to start-up their new venture or expand their existing business within Africa.

The service acts as the “meeting point”, essentially allowing entrepreneurs who want to build up a business in Africa to showcase a brief synopsis of their business or business ideas in order to seek contact with potential global investors who could bring investment and expertise.

The online service, which has just been launched, has already registered investors through a new start-up angel network called AfricaBAN with substantial amount of capital available (over $1 million) and ready for investment into the right innovative business ideas in Africa.

Hillary Obomighie, Director of Business Development at Darrell-Hill Limited, a UK-based private company that owns Afrifunding.com and also provides online web publishing services with special interests in Africa said:

Afrifunding is simple and cost-effective. It links people seeking finance for an investment in Africa with those who want to invest in businesses in Africa. Afrifunding offers both entrepreneurs and investors a solution to their investment needs, and is the first global afrocentric service”. 

Darrell-Hill’s primary goal is to contribute to the economic development of Africa by connecting customers, entrepreneurs, business intermediaries and marketplaces within the B2B and B2C arenas that have special interests in Africa. They hope to achieve this aim by building a world class portfolio of titles that assist individuals operating within the business transfer, franchising, business start-up, and business opportunity marketplaces.

I had the opportunity to meet with Hillary Obomighie to discuss the opportunities around the service for both entrepreneurs and investors. Hillary showed me how the service works on both the investors’ and entrepreneurs’ dashboard on the site. I thought it was quite organized and professional.

Contrary to my initial thoughts, the site is an entrepreneur-investor matching service similar to Indian Investment Network or UK’s Angel Investment Network where African entrepreneurs meet potential global investors interested in African businesses.

Afrifunding is not a venture capital firm, seed investor or an angel investor that provides seed capital to African entrepreneurs and their businesses. Rather, it’s a community that allows entrepreneurs to submit their business plans or proposals for free which is only accessible to registered private investors on the site.

But how can entrepreneurs provide a business plan when they haven’t met with or spoken to a potential investor?

As much as this might seem like a huge challenge to some entrepreneurs since they might feel that their business ideas could be used by someone else, Afrifunding.com’s Privacy Policy states:

The information submitted to us will be used primarily for the purpose of creating successful matches between entrepreneurs and investors…The company will not sell, share or rent your confidential information to any independent third parties without your prior consent. As an investor, at your request only, we will provide your preferred method of contact information to any entrepreneur that you specifically request contact with.

Again, how can a potential investor be certain of a potential investment? Does Afrifunding guarantee the credibility of the investment opportunities listed?

According to Afrifunding’s Terms and Conditions:

Afrifunding.com provides an information exchange platform to allow investors who are committed to funding high-risk opportunities in Africa to independently connect with entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs of early stage companies. No action or service provided by Afrifunding.com constitutes or implies the endorsement, recommendation, or appropriateness of a particular investment opportunity for any investor or entrepreneur.

How Does AfriFunding Work?

Entrepreneurs can go to www.afrifunding.com and upload a summary of their business concept and complete plan for FREE. You will be directed to the Entrepreneur Console, where you can post and monitor your business plans.

Investors will contact you once they have an interest in your business idea or proposals. Investors have already specified the regions, industries, funding levels, and stage of company development they wish to fund. Private investors are able to view business summary and can request a more detailed business plan for a subscription fee of $99 for a whole one year.

If you are an investor looking to fund early-stage companies in Africa, you might want to read this article by Simon Wilson, who writes for MoneyWeek. Simon thinks that “Africa may seem an unlikely investment opportunity, but with its markets growing at a clip, the continent looks increasingly attractive.

“In the long term, Africa’s best chance for prosperity and stability is not from dependency on foreign aid, but from sustained private investment and enterprise.” So why invest in Africa? Simple: “To help Africa help itself and make profits in the process.”

If you are an African entrepreneur, you may benefit from this article on How to Position Your Startup for VC Funding. Whether you’re an investor interested in African businesses or an African entrepreneur, you can benefit from this article on Why Nigerian/African Startups Are Left Out of VC Funding. 

My Take

Perhaps the first online community portal that connects African entrepreneurs with investors, Afrifunding is probably the answer to early-stage companies in Africa. One thing the site doesn’t have is a forum-like participation that allows entrepreneurs to post ideas, advice and tips and interact with other entrepreneurs. But is that necessary for a site like that? Maybe not.

Again, I think that the name seems somewhat misleading, as most people (like me) would think its a venture capital firm providing funds to early-stage companies. Perhaps the phrase found on the site ‘Funding for Africa’s Best Business Ideas’ suggests that it’s a VC firm?

However, when you visit the site you would think differently. Trust me. And my guess is that it wouldn’t discourage people from using the site to exchange information for possible investment opportunities. Finally, I’d say I love the concept and think the site could grow to become the largest community of African entrepreneurs if managed very well.