For decades, Africa has been treated like a waiting room for foreign investment. Our brightest founders are told to pitch their ideas not in Lagos, Nairobi, or Accra but in London, New York, and Silicon Valley. And when the deals come, they are often shaped by outsiders who neither understand our deepest challenges nor share our urgency to solve them.
This model is broken and not sustainable. Africans must fund Africa.
The Case for Local Capital
Let’s start with the numbers. In 2022, African startups raised over $6.5 billion in venture funding, but more than 65% of that came from foreign investors. Compare that to Asia or Latin America, where the majority of early capital is increasingly local. What does this mean? It means that the wealth created from Africa’s innovation economy, generated by African founders solving African problems, too often flows out of the continent.
And when global capital grows cautious, as we’ve seen in 2023 and 2024 with the funding winter, African founders are left stranded. This dependence makes us fragile. It makes our ecosystem reactive, not resilient.
But the hard truth remains that resilience cannot be imported. It must be built from within.
Who Really Understands Our Problems?
Who better to back startups solving Africa’s most pressing challenges than those who have lived them?
- Power shortages which cripple small businesses and hospitals.
- Healthcare gaps where millions die not from rare diseases but from treatable conditions.
- Financial exclusion that locks out young people from opportunities, simply because they lack collateral.
- Gender barriers that choke the potential of half our population.
Can a foreign investor in San Francisco truly grasp the pain of losing a loved one because oxygen tanks didn’t arrive on time? Can a European VC feel the frustration of students unable to study because the lights went out again?
No. Only Africans who grew up in these realities can invest not just with their wallets, but with their hearts.
Local Investors Must Step Up
This is not about rejecting foreign capital; it has a place. But foreign capital should complement, not dominate. For Africa to rise, local investors must lead.
Local capital does three things foreign money rarely does:
- It stays: Wealth generated recirculates within Africa, strengthening local economies.
- It de-risks: By leveraging networks and knowledge, local investors can confidently back frontier sectors, such as AI, health tech, or agritech, where foreign investors often hesitate.
- It dignifies: It sends a message that African ideas do not need foreign validation to be valuable.
Look at ecosystems like India, where over 50% of VC activity is now led by local funds. Or China, where local investors fueled a tech boom that reshaped global power dynamics. Africa cannot afford to keep outsourcing its future.
Profit With Purpose
Some will say, “But venture is about returns, not charity.” And they’re right. However, here’s the paradox: the biggest opportunities in Africa lie in addressing the most pressing problems.
Energy access.
Affordable healthcare.
Climate-smart agriculture.
Digital inclusion.
These are not just impact-driven projects; they are multi-billion-dollar markets waiting to be unlocked. Purpose and profit are not opposites in Africa; they are twins.
A Call to African VCs and Investors
So here’s the challenge and a call to African VCs, stop waiting for foreign validation. Stop trailing behind Silicon Valley trends. Stop treating African startups like risky charity projects.
While we acknowledge that more African-led funds are springing up, we also know that more can be done.
Instead, step up. Fund boldly. Build conviction in your people. Back the founders who dare to dream beyond survival.
Because if Africans do not fund Africa, who will? And if not now, when?
History will not remember us kindly if we hand over the future of this continent to outsiders, just like we have accused the generation before us of doing, while we sit helplessly and watch from the sidelines. The next wave of wealth creation, resilience, and independence in Africa will not be written by foreign VCs. It will be written by Africans who dared to invest in their own.
The world is watching. The future is waiting. The question is: will African investors rise to the call?
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