The Launchpad: AFFC’s First Fireside on Powering High-Growth Female Ventures
“We are not here to tweak Venture Building. We are here to reimagine it, through women.” That spirit powered the room on February 20th, 2024, as we officially unveilied the Africa Female Founders Collective (AFFC), a bold new initiative to accelerate equity, access, and visibility for high-growth, female-led ventures across Africa.
The inaugural convening, themed “In Black & White: A Conversation on Powering High-Growth Female-Led Ventures in Africa,” featured a deeply candid, future - forward fireside chat that brought together leaders across finance, policy, and entrepreneurship to spotlight what it truly takes to unlock the next generation of transformative women entrepreneurs.
Rewriting the Playbook: Highlights from the Conversation
Three remarkable voices anchored the event:
- Jumoke Olaniyan, SVP, Business Development at FMDQ Securities Exchange, unpacked the capital market and demystified investment instruments. She emphasized, “Numbers don’t lie, but they do need to be told by those who understand the game. That’s where we must invest in knowledge.”
- Efe Braimah, Managing Director at CrossBoundary, introduced Blended Finance as a game-changer. “It's not just about getting capital, it’s about structuring it to work for the realities of women founders,” she noted. She stressed the need for DFIs to align financing with development outcomes, and for founders to articulate their social impact clearly.
- Omotade Alalade, Founder of Moobi Baby, brought the founder's lens- real, raw, and relatable. Her entrepreneurial journey resonated with every woman in the room: “You can’t scale a business in Africa as a woman without grit. But grit alone doesn’t pay bills or fund growth, we need structures that believe in us.”
Key Insights: Barriers and Breakthroughs
- Access to Funding Remains Unequal: From unconscious bias in deal sourcing to the burden of personal responsibilities and investor readiness gaps, the room acknowledged the systemic hurdles female founders face.
- Alternative Capital is Crucial : Debt instruments, green bonds, and concessionary capital from DFIs are underutilized resources that could shift the tide for women-led businesses.
- Investment Readiness is a Priority: Female founders need more than passion, they need the tools. Financial fluency, clarity of impact, and robust reporting mechanisms emerged as critical success levers.
Where AFFC is Headed Next...
The fireside chat set the tone for an ambitious path forward. Here’s what’s coming:
- Community Platform & Resource Hub: Through AFFC Website, you can access house tools, templates, research insights, and a growing Founders Directory hosted on our first-ever product ‘Africa Female Founder Monitor’
- Policy Advocacy & Research: Through ecosystem data, we'll shape policies that challenge bias, unlock capital, and spotlight why investing in women is investing in Africa’s future.
- Financial Literacy & Investment Readiness Bootcamps: We'll be launching practical learning opportunities to break down financing models, teach pitch development, and build confidence around the boardroom table.
- Investor–Founder Matchmaking Directory: We will provide a curated list of gender-lens investors across Africa, because access starts with visibility.
A Final Word
This was just the beginning. AFFC is not another support program. It is a movement to challenge systems, reimagine capital, and rewrite who gets to build Africa’s future.
If you’re a female founder with a vision, an investor with courage, or a policymaker seeking impact, you belong here....
Welcome to the Collective!