Are the African Tech CEOs in the Room With Us?

Welcome to The Afro Pivot Point

Showing You What’s Art and What’s Not in African Tech

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Before we get into today’s edition, here are a few details that would be helpful while reading this article:

1. Before I am anything else, I am an African woman in technology. My views on a lot of things are fuelled by the fact that I wholeheartedly believe in African exceptionalism.

2. I am a 2x AFRICAN founder. My views are based on my own experiences navigating this scene (But clearly so many founders agree).

3. I have nothing against the specific individuals in the photos. Nothing against their companies either.

4. The goal of these opinion pieces is to prompt you to welcome new ways of thinking (That’s why we are called The Afro Pivot Point).

5. Do not forget to subscribe if you like my writing (Or me as a person. A win is a win).

Enjoy!

What exactly comes to your mind when you hear or read “African Founder”? For me at least, the visual I’ve had in my head was clearly a bubble that keeps bursting with every new announcement, new press release, and closed funding round. To be more specific, I came across a post a couple of days ago—and my jaw dropped to say the least.

I wasn’t exactly sure what about this photo made me feel uncomfortable, so I decided to check the comments—maybe someone had vocalized what I couldn’t at the time.

And I was right!

Here is the post in question:

I’m more than certain that the original caption before editing read “11 African Tech Founders”

And I think is exactly what bothered me. Because this surely can’t be the visual people have when they think about African tech founders and leaders. Granted, 3000+ jobs and $700m+ in cash is no small fete.

What is an African founder?

I would assume it’s someone of African descent­—who has started a company within the continent. But it seems the VCs have a different idea of what an African founder is—because make no mistake, African VC capital is very sexist, racist, and bigoted in nature.

Just look at the numbers:

• From 2012 to 2022, only about $3.2 billion (around 24%) of the total funding in Africa went to startups with at least one black co-founder.

• 24% of white founder-led startups secured over $70,000 in funding. Only 2.5% of black African founders achieved similar funding levels.

• White tech startup founders are 50,000% more likely to receive funding in Kenya than in the US.

It gets worse:

•  As of June 1, 2024, 17.3% of African tech startups had at least one female co-founder, with only 11.1% having a female CEO.

•  Between January 2022 and June 2024, African tech startups raised US$6.2 billion.

• In that period, only $747 million (11.9%) went to startups with female co-founders, and $289 million (4.6%) to startups with female CEOs.

Now If I didn’t know any better, I would conclude that VC funding, based on the numbers shown, is just neocolonialism on steroids. But I’ll try being mature and get to the root of this.

See, this is a tale as old as time.

African founders have complained for ages about how it is easier to go to space than get a VC check without having a white cofounder. In a recent interview, Tonee Ndung’u of Nailab even recalled how he would literally be asked to leave the room when the VCs were discussing “money stuff” with his white cofounder. Maybe things aren’t as severe now, but there are definitely micro-aggressions in the VC space that just remind you of your place as an African founder.

Key among those is what is widely being accepted as an African founder by the power players. You do not automatically become an African founder simply because you are building on the continent. Just like I would not magically identify as an Asian tech CEO if I moved to Japan and started a tech company.

There’s a pretty good reason why you don’t think of Justin Bieber FIRST when you listen to Afrobeats no matter how many chart-topping renditions he has.

There’s also a pretty good reason why you think of Aliko Dangote when you think of African business leaders.

Or why South Africa is synonymous with Mandela, not Elon Musk.

Or why you think of Eliud Kipchoge first— and not Oscar Pistorius, when you think of African sports.

How confusing would it be to outsiders if that was the case? Yet, that’s exactly what African tech is—confusing.

Who tells your story?

The innovations that come from our continent are as important as the faces associated with them. And it is a very bad look if the face of innovation is predominantly white and male.

These misplaced notions about Africa will continue as long as VCs are trying to recreate Silicon Valley parallels—and prioritizing white boys to be the face of African tech. Most of the time, these VC-funded ideas aren't even very groundbreaking. The founders just have more access to capital.

I would bet that Black African founders would also create 3000+ jobs and raise $700m+ in cash if they were given more chances—but they’re not.

Case in point? M-pesa. You can write a million think pieces about why we will never have another unicorn like M-pesa in the continent— but the real reason M-pesa is successful is coz it was born out of a deeply personal experience. In Africa at least, you simply can't execute something that isn't a lived reality (Re: Kune Foods).

And you can’t bring long-term value to the continent if you’re solving non-existent problems when people are literally dying of hunger and diseases, living in war-torn areas, and struggling with basic things like menstrual hygiene and illiteracy.

Believe me, in such a demographic, another fintech isn’t what’s needed. But VCs would rather fund another shiny fintech— even when more than half the African population has no access to money that warrants “seamless cross-border transactions”.

They need seamless access to decent living. And in case you’re still confused about what problems to prioritize, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are a good place to start.

Racism-But make it a pitch deck

Maybe this explains the life cycle of African startups. Launch with pomp and color, close rounds, and then close shop in 3 years max. 5-10 years if you’re lucky. And you have nobody else but your non-existent problems and deep-pocketed VCs to blame.

We can't even celebrate the 3000+ jobs you’ve created because the script is way too familiar. Mazel tov!

But it’s not just a VC problem

It’s just how the ecosystem is set up. It’s our own internalized self-hate. It’s desperate African founders giving up equity too quickly—and in the process giving up their autonomy.

It’s white founders being better at packaging, pitching, and selling their ideas.

It’s our policy makers dancing to the colonizer’s tune. So much that they conspire with the colonizer to frustrate the African founders to a point of giving up their companies. It’s the Africans with the ability to invest in African tech but would rather invest in Tesla stock (And I kinda get them).

It’s us failing to clearly define what a successful African tech founder is and should be.

As long we aren't writing the checks we will keep dancing to their tune. We will keep recreating Silicon Valley frameworks that can't work here.

We can change the African tech founder visual if we diversify which founders have access to resources—and if we locally source a lot of those resources.

 So maybe, subscribe if you haven't so I’m a step closer to getting billionaire status. I'll spend it all African tech founders. Pinky promise!

 A new era in VC funding

African politicians already sold us to the highest bidder so we can’t count on them to help rectify this. And we are already witnessing African political revolutions in real time­—my bet is that an economic revolution is next.

I wish more VCs would take note of this and change their investment playbook. The African Pride and nationalism is alive more than ever. And I would bet that those guaranteed to have good returns are those that will strive to take more chances on local founders and change this status quo. 

Those who have practical approaches to solving the continent’s most pressing problems while changing their funding requirements to favour ESG-focused African companies will be better-positioned to create unicorns. If nothing else, trust patterns. Numbers can lie sometimes—but patterns seldom lie.

Only time will tell. But we keep building in the meantime.

So to my fellow African founders, I would urge you to just keep pushing. An African Tech Founder is not a buzz word. It's a badge of honor. So wear it with pride. And remember to throw the rest of us a lifeboat when you make it.

There’ll be better days.

Yours truly,

An African (female) tech CEO.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s edition. Did it make you happy or did it piss you off?

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Till next time, cheers!