Opportunities in East Africa

Paul Bragiel: PartnerMbwana Alliy: Africa Lead

i/o ventures• Angel Investment firm founded in 2009/2010 • Heavy on mentorship with a great network • A funky space in the Mission district, San

Francisco

“Backed by I/O Ventures, the San Francisco café houses startups that get seed money, mentoring, four months of office space—and discounts on all the goodies”

Paul Bragiel Aber Whitcomb Ashwin Navin Jim Young

i/o ventures Accelerator (2010)• $25,000 for 8%, 4-6 month program• All secured follow on financing, 2

acquired.

What does this have to do with Africa?

Source: WSJ interactive series Jan 2011

• Talent exists everywhere: The Silicon Valley Link

• International scope– Singapore (Oct 2010)– Brazil Trip (Nov 2010)– Tanzania, Kenya (Aug &

Dec 2010)

Africa Economic Picture (2008)

East Africa Tech Overview• Market: 150M, Over 60M mobile users in the regions with

about 5M+ internet users. (EAC union)• Talent: Raw engineers and students• Lack of Expertise: Inexperienced entrepreneurs, A serious

lack of Angel investing despite VC/PE presence

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 -

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

Mobile Users in East Africa

TanzaniaRwandaKenyaUganda

• Mobile Financial Services as a foundation for formalizing the economy

Mobile Money

Over 15M mobile banking users in Kenya alone and spreading across Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda

http://www.slideshare.net/mpayconnect

Kenya as the regional innovator• Significant pool of engineering talent and the region’s

first open incubator workspace• Leader in Mobile banking transformative and force

in sectors not limited to Financial Services– Education– Healthcare

Tanzania: Meet & Mentor• Meet Govt officials at the

highest levels• Successful Businesses• Mentoring students &

entrepreneurs • Local press generates

awareness & excitement for tech

Tanzania Plans & i/o ventures • Dar Teknohama Incubator (May

2011)- Govt subsidized/PPP.– Incubator support– Mentoring & “Capacity Building”– Accelerator program & Seed Fund

• Tech Park + Outsourcing (2012+)• Data Center (2012+)

http://www.datacentermap.com/

Tanzania: local partners

• Commission for Tech & Economic Advisor to the president

• InfoDev /World bank: Funded over 80 incubators worldwide

• Finland is a major Donor– €3M/year in technology– Nokia innovation lab

Key Opportunities• Mobile Applications on emerging platforms • Emerging web services in key verticals and proven

business models to scale across emerging middle class across East Africa– Emerging Ecommerce (marketplaces, key services)– Social Media, Content Inc. advertising (Mobile Web & SMS)– Entertainment (local)– Small business SaaS

• Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) + Leapfrog– Payments and remittance services– Crowdsourcing– eLearning and Education– mHealth– Energy & Cleantech

Energy & Cleantech• 10-15% of the population in East Africa does have

access to electricity… but it will grow• Billions needed to fix legacy infrastructure and

benefits won’t flow to emerging lower/middle class • Leapfrog opportunities & new consumption models