Meet Some of The Top African Angel Investors

Meet Some of The Top African Angel Investors

As a startup founder, one of the undeniable needs is to have some fund to help you do some initial run of the company; and this fund can be so helpful as it can determine if you will ever get to some market fast enough.

And you do not want to test the waters as a startup with huge investment, in fact it is almost impossible to get venture capitalists to invest in your startup without any traction and for you to get this traction you need another kind of fund – ‘early stage funds’.

And you can get this early stage fund in various ways including government grants, foundations grant and from angel investors.

This article talks about angel investors and investing, and share profile of some  angel investors in Africa.  They are sometimes referred to as private investors, angel funders, seed investors or business angel. What

So, let’s start by identifying who is an angel investor.

Taking our definition from Investopedia.com;

“Angel Investor is someone (usually a person) who invest in small or early stage startups or entrepreneurs."

They are affluent individuals who inject capital for startups in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debts.  They also provide mentorship to startup founders.

Usually the capital an angel investor provides may be a one-time investment to help the business propel or an ongoing injection of money to support and carry the company through its difficult early stages.

 There are few reasons why you should seek out angel investors as a startup founder to grow your startup:

-       They provide more favourable terms compared to other lenders

-       They usually invest in the entrepreneur starting the business rather than the viability of the business

-       They are focused on helping startups take their first steps, rather than the possible profit they may get from the business

Some angel investors invest by building angel investors network to pool in capital.

Meet 46 angel investors accessible to African startup founders and how you can reach them –

     1.     Rebecca Enonchong, Cameroon Angels (@africatechie)
2.     Kola Aina, Ventures Platform, Nigeria (@kola_aina)
3.     Olatunji Ajani, ANDE, Nigeria (@ANDEWestAfrica)
4.     Baybars Altuntas, WBAF, Turkey (@baybarsaltuntas)
5.     Andrea Bohmert, Knife Capital, SA (LinkedIn)
6.     Leticia Browne, Intelligent Capital Group, Ghana (@LeticiaBrowne)
7.     Chris Campbell, SABAN, SA (LinkedIn)
8.     Abu Cassim, Jozi Angels, SA (@ABCassim)
9.     Llew Claasen, Newtown Partners, SA (@LlewClassen | newtownpartners.com)
10. Brett Commaille, Angelhub Ventures, SA (@BrettCommaille | angelhub.co.za)
11. Tomi Davies, ABAN, Nigeria (@TomiDee)
12. David van Dijk, ABAN, The Netherlands (@VC4Africa)
13. Ike Eze, Lagos Angel Network, Nigeria (LinkedIn)
14. Alexandra Fraser, Silicon Cape, SA (@anfraser  @SiliconCape | fraserconsulting.co.za)
15. Daniel Guasco, Team Africa Ventures, SA (@dguasco | danielguasco.com)
16. Stephen Gugu, Viktoria Ventures, Kenya (@stephengugu)
17. Thomas van Halen, VC4A, The Netherlands (@VC4Africa)
18. Maya Horgan, Ingressive, Nigeria (@mayahorgan | ingressive.co)
19. Khaled Ismail, Algebra Ventures, Egypt (LinkedIn)
20. Candace Johnson, EBAN, France (LinkedIn)
21. Yemi Keri, Rising Tide Africa, Nigeria (@YemiKeri | LinkedIn)
22. Steven Koltai, Koltai & Co, USA (@skoltai | koltai.co)
23. Andile Masuku, African Tech Roundup, SA (@MasukuAndile | andilemasuku.com)
24. Mixo Mayimele, Pepperfield Ventures, SA (@mixomayimele)
25. Sanjay Mungar, Angel Investor, Mauritius (
26. Simunza Muyangana, Bongo Hive, Zambia (@simunza | @bongohive)
27. Lexi Novitske, Singularity Invest, Nigeria (@anovitske @SingularityInv | singularityinvest.com)
28. Sean Nowak, Zephyr Acor, Kenya (@sean_nowak)
29. Charles Ojei, HYBR, Nigeria (LinkedIn)
30. Dotun Olowoporoku, Starta, Nigeria (@drdotun @PotentialVC | the starta.com)
31. Collins Onuegbu, Lagos Angel Network, Nigeria (@collinsonuegbu)
32. Stephen Ozoigbo, Lions Africa, USA (@Innovate_Africa | africantechnologyfoundation.com)
33. Vuyisa Qabaka, Entrepreneur Traction, SA (@vuyisak | uprise.africa)
34. Yehuda Raff, iPartners Africa, SA (@yehudaraff)
35. Aun Rahman, The World Bank, USA 
36. Anna Samake, AHL Venture Partners, Mali (LinkedIn)
37. Chris Schultz, Voodoo Ventures,USA (@Cschultz @voodoo)
38. Charles Sidman, ECS Capital Partners, USA (LinkedIn)
39. Boldewijn Sloet, Africa Tech Ventures, Kenya
40. Justin Stanford, 4Di Capital, SA (@JustinStanford | justinstanford.com | 4digroup.com)
41. Leonard Stiegeler, Ringier Africa, Nigeria (LinkedIn)
42. Dotun Suleiman, Lagos Angel Network, Nigeria (LinkedIn)
43. Bertil van Vugt, VC4A, The Netherlands (@brutuz | service.vc4a.com)
44. Ben White, VC4A, The Netherlands (LinkedIn)
45. Marek Zmyslowski, Angel Investor, SA (@marekchinedu)
46. Keet van Zyl, Knife Capital, SA (@KeetvZ @KnifeCap | knifecap.com)

If you are thinking and asking yourself if you need the angels’ money to scale your business, the answer is relative. It is not a rocket science kind of thing. There are measures and you must have it in your startup mind that angel investing does not mean throwing money away into the thin air or beating the air like a blind man who is in the dark.

Angel Investors do their own due diligence before the money gets to your account. And how long does it take? That depends on a lot of things from verifying your IP to checking out your founding team before they will draw up a term sheet. And this term sheet doesn’t automatically means they are investing. It is like a ‘notice’ given; because you, as the startup founder, can still walk away from the deal so also the investors. 

So, as you plan on getting an early seed fund, we have supplied some 46 contacts to you that you can start with. 

We will write on how you can contact these angel investors and get their attention to at least look into your pitch or proposals.

There is an event coming up for angel investors and if you think you have what it takes and want to join the folds, see event information below:

4^th Annual African Angel Investor Summit

15 – 17 November 2017

Cape Town, South Africa

Visit www.vc4a.com for more info