Adeolu Adewumi-Zer

🗨 Moky Makura, Executive Director of Africa No Filter, reflects on the cost of global media bias in her contribution to the 2025 Ibrahim Forum Report: Financing The Africa We Want. Drawing from the report The Cost of Media Stereotypes to Africa, she highlights how global perceptions are inflating Africa’s risk premium, raising the cost of borrowing by up to $4.2 billion each year. Key insights include: 📊 88% of global articles about Kenya and 69% about Nigeria carried a negative tone during election periods, compared to just 48% for Malaysia. 💸 Persistent negative coverage leads investors to demand higher interest rates, inflating debt servicing costs. 🌍 If Egypt were covered as positively as Thailand (a country with a similar risk profile), its bond yields could fall by almost one percentage point, saving hundreds of millions annually. Her analysis underscores the urgent need for Africa to reclaim its narrative, strengthen data transparency, proactively engage with investors, and support African storytellers with global reach. 📖 Read her full piece on the Mo Ibrahim Foundation blog: https://lnkd.in/enrtbmPw

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"Africans must fund Africa." That’s Fadilah Tchoumba, CEO of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), making the case for why robust domestic investment ecosystems are essential for the continent’s future. "Local capital is key to building resilience and ensuring that wealth created through innovation fuels the continent," she adds. Over the last decade, ABAN has built a formidable movement with impressive results: • A community of 5,000+ angel investors organized in ~80 networks across 35+ African countries • $35 million mobilized in early-stage investments that laid the foundation for larger VC funding • 200+ women angel investors activated across seven female-led networks • Support for iconic African startups that later attracted global investment "There would not be a Flutterwave or Paystack or Affinity Africa without the participation and contribution of African business angels from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt," Tchoumba emphasizes. "Africans across the continent have been the driving force towards attracting the global capital we’ve received on the continent... Africans operating within Africa are the only instrument that can set that base." "[We] must commit the first and initial capital to build traction and make it viable for VCs and other funders to come on board. If it’s not driven from the inside, outsiders can’t participate." ABAN puts this into practice with initiatives like the Catalytic Africa matching fund that doubled investor commitments and mobilized $2.5 million from 200 business angels in just 12 months. ABAN has also created practical infrastructure for cross-border investing. Their Rwanda-based facility lets investors keep funds in hard currency while backing companies continent-wide. This proved crucial when global VC funding disappeared overnight during the recent market downturn — local networks kept deals flowing while foreign capital fled. ABAN’s various initiatives are building toward something bigger: "The next decade is about African Business Angels becoming market-makers, not just funders," Tchoumba says. "By leveraging local knowledge and networks, African investors can de-risk frontier sectors like AI or health-tech where global capital remains cautious... ABAN’s role is to keep equipping investors to seize these opportunities because ultimately, Africa must fund Africa." What’s your take? ✦ Is focusing on angels operating on the ground the key to building truly sustainable innovation ecosystems across Africa? ✦ What role should governments play in creating incentives for local capital participation? ✦ How might diaspora investors better collaborate with local investors & angel networks to increase investment flows? ✨ Read the full, multimedia version of this post on Afridigest.com ➜ http://bit.ly/4pDuNmn —— 🚨 Afridigest is building the most valuable platform for entrepreneurs in #Africa, starting with ideas, analysis, & insights. Subscribe today: afridigest.com/subscribe

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