The Africa Business Angel Network (ABAN) has announced the launch of two new thematic angel networks with the intention of aiding start-up companies in the development of solutions for the smart cities and digital trade sectors on the African continent.
The Network (ABAN), which was established in 2015, is the most comprehensive pan-African organization for angel investors. More than 65 business angel groups, with a total of 1,400 investors from 35 African nations and the diaspora, are represented by this organization.
The Smart Cities and Digital Trade angel networks’ primary focus will be on finding solutions to the challenges that are posed by the metropolitan areas of Africa. To this end, they will direct their investments in new businesses towards those that offer potential solutions.
Angel networks for climate-smart agriculture and clean technology are two of the four thematic networks that ABAN and AEDIB|Net announced as the last two in December of last year in conjunction with one another as the final two.
The Digital Trade Angel Network will be led by angel investor and OneCart developer Lynton Peters, while the Smart Cities Angel Network will be led by Serge Ntamack, a founding board member of the Cameroon Angels
Network. Both of these men are part of the Cameroon Angels Network. Both Tomi Davies, President of ABAN, and Fadilah Tchoumba, Secretary General of ABAN, are in favour of the two separate projects.
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About ABAN
ABAN started out as a consortium of independent investor networks, such as the Lagos Angels Network (LAN), the Cameroon Angel Network (CAN), the Ghana Angel Investor Network (GAIN), Venture Capital for Africa (VC4Africa), and Silicon Cape.
This consortium was facilitated by the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), and it was supported by the LIONS Africa Partnership and DEMO Africa. The need to establish a Pan-African association of Angel Investor networks and other early-stage investors became apparent, which led to the formation of ABAN.
This was done with the intention of connecting these African networks, assisting new investors and networks in maximizing their impact, and connecting African investors to their counterparts in other parts of the world.
ABAN’s interest in Angel Investment
Because angel investing is a tool for economic development, ABAN, as an organization, considers itself to be duty-bound to ensure that its Angel Networks give value-adding human and financial resources to African companies. This is because ABAN views angel investing as a tool for economic development.
ABAN accomplishes this through the provision of capacity building, insights into cross-border investing, opportunities for networking and mentorship, and other essential resources, all of which are geared towards assisting their member Angel Networks in maximising their effect on African startup ecosystems.
ABAN’s primary mission is to educate angel investment groups, stimulate the formation of new Angel Investor networks, establish a contact point for developing and established networks, and provide members with support as they construct African early stage investing ecosystems. In the same vein, the African Business Angel Network (ABAN) engages policymakers who serve as a source of thought leadership on angel financing on the African continent.