Isadora Bigourdan : “Africa is full of talent. Let’s give them the tools to shine!”

By Isadora Bigourdan

In Cameroon, for example, entrepreneur Alain Nteff is using mobile phones to save the lives of pregnant women and infants. Giftedmom gives pregnant women and new mothers instant access to medical advice to keep themselves and their babies healthy.

Around 56 babies die each day in Cameroon before they reach  a month old and 45 stillbirths occur every day, according to UNIECF. The app, which now has more than 200,000 users, has helped increase the number of moms going to the hospital by over 60 percent.

This has made a real difference to the country’s infant mortality rate. And there are many more examples in education, access to financial services and agriculture.

We are witnesses and allies to an Africa where dynamic, engaged and connected young people are the driving force behind a future full of opportunities

At Digital Africa, we are committed to a digital transformation that boosts the real economy through job creation, entrepreneurship and productive activity to empower Africa. We believe in the power of its technology leaders to transform it. We have chosen to focus our strengths on the riskiest segment, seed capital, to accelerate the emergence of champions. We are the catalyst for this bold vision. We are witnesses and allies to an Africa where dynamic, engaged and connected young people are the driving force behind a future full of opportunities.

Our experience with technology ecosystems across the continent has shown that the success of digital innovation hinges on three interrelated challenges: providing high-potential startups with the resources they need; finding financing before the critical stages of scaling up; and promoting and fostering the visibility necessary for innovative projects to emerge and grow.

First, resources

Talent is at the heart of this revolution. And getting them the training they need to make the most of the digital economy is a matter of urgency. Eight million young Africans will enter the labor market, between now and 2030 and the challenge is to enable them to find jobs allowing them to become self-sufficient and, ideally, move them out of the informal economy and into thriving sectors. At the same time, more than 230 million jobs need to be created to meet the needs of the digital economy. Digital technology is therefore a powerful source of employment. Through our Talent4Startup program, we are giving young people the opportunity to receive free training in jobs that are in demand in startups, and facilitating their job placement. Thanks to our partner edtechs across the continent, young people in 10 countries can quickly train and develop their skills to improve their employability. In the same spirit, with Edtech Connections, we are using an iterative and pragmatic tool to improve the product-market fit of these seed-stage startups and enable them to grow faster. Finally, we are proud to support the creation of deeptech startups with OST and MIT through the Brain Africa program, which started in Tunisia and is now being rolled out across the continent. Africa is full of talent. Let’s give them the tools to shine.

Access to data is also a sensitive issue for a digital startup. That’s why we’re supporting research programs to define an African framework to facilitate data management and access. We are also launching the Data 4 Digital Africa program, an infrastructure for African startups to provide open access data to help them build, test and exploit their models. The main objective is to reduce the cost of accessing data and to build, test and operationalize artificial intelligence models for business use cases. Having chosen agriculture as the first use case, the first hackathon, organized with our partners Zindi, Bnetd, Agribora, Data 354 and Investiv, saw 219 data scientists from 64 countries, including 29 Africans, contribute machine learning models to analyze drone imagery in agriculture.

Then there’s funding

Access to capital is one of the biggest challenges facing African entrepreneurs. It is a key factor in determining the long-term potential of a startup. In recent years, significant progress has been made in terms of the volume and value of deals closed across the continent.

Africa has been relatively resilient to the global crisis facing the sector, with transactions declining by only 6% compared to 35% globally. Despite these positive trends, Africa attracts less than 2% of global venture capital investment and funds are very unevenly distributed. 70% of funding is concentrated in five mainly English-speaking countries, and French-speaking Africa was especially hard hit by the investment winter at the end of 2022, with capital falling by 81%. Here again , there is an urgent need to reverse the trend and provide massive funding to the sector.

to channel investment opportunities within the continent, but also beyond, to support innovative African entrepreneurs, while motivating investors to become ambassadors and supporters of African-made digital innovation

In our efforts to increase the volume of funding available, we have taken an opportunistic approach, believing that the combination of direct and indirect funding allows Digital Africa to have a diversified offering. Our aim is to channel investment opportunities within the continent, but also beyond, to support innovative African entrepreneurs, while motivating investors to become ambassadors and supporters of African-made digital innovation.

We act at every stage of a startup’s life to support its development. Through the FUZE fund, we provide small amounts of seed capital to technology champions operating in French-speaking Africa. Since its launch in January 2023, Fuzé has analyzed 125 startups and carefully selected the 18 most promising projects to receive financial support. Of these, 6 have received investment to support their growth. Fuzé’s interface is fluid and easy to use for startups. But Fuzé is not limited to investment: it has signed partnerships with 60 venture builders or startup studios across the continent. Together, we are shaping the future of entrepreneurship in French-speaking Africa. We are proud to have financed Néolan, a Dakar-based startup that has quickly become a driving force in the EdTech sector, offering a certification platform and support for professional integration in emerging countries. Or Wandaa in Morocco, a B2B platform based on SaaS software that facilitates trade between African SMEs and European retailers.

When it comes to raising Series A funding, startups suffer from cash flow problems. The Bridge Fund by Digital Africa, supported by Digital Africa and managed by Proparco, is a response to the challenges faced by innovative young African companies at this stage of their growth. The Bridge Fund is endowed with €7 million and invests between €150,000 and €600,000 per startup. Since its inception, it has invested 18 tickets in startups in 9 African countries. For example, e-commerce start-up Anka (formerly Afrikrea) has been able to expand its activities, promoting African-inspired products around the world and contributing to the continent’s economic development.

Finally, we are working to attract more capital to Africa through the Africa Next community. Africa Next is the result of a partnership between Digital Africa and BPI France Euroquity, reinforced by Germany’s AfricaGrow. It’s  the embodiment of a dynamic community that brings together the 39 most active VC funds and accelerators on the continent, including Africinvest, Saviu Capital, Novastar and Partech. More than 85 start-ups with very high growth and internationalization potential participated in 12 e-pitch sessions. 8 startups raised Series A, including Affluence, GoMyCode and Medsaf.

In addition to talent and finance, tech ecosystems need to be readable and visible to attract talent and capital. Our advocacy work helps to generate knowledge about the reality of tech entrepreneurship on the continent, to better understand the needs and challenges, and to raise awareness of the importance of operating in a favorable ecosystem. In particular, with our partner ANA, we have developed Resilient Digital Africa, a media outlet dedicated to the vibrancy of technology in Africa. Through news articles, in-depth interviews and solution spotlights, we explore the ingenuity and creativity bubbling up in Africa’s tech sector. Our aim is to bring together, share and amplify these voices that are driving positive change through innovation for individuals and businesses across the continent. Together, we celebrate and drive the initiatives that are making Africa a key player in global innovation.

Like ALU, whose vision we share, we believe that the continent’s leaders are inventing solutions that are transforming the continent and that the world should learn from

Like ALU, whose vision we share, we believe that the continent’s leaders are inventing solutions that are transforming the continent and that the world should learn from.

Take, for example, the country hosting us today, which deserves our attention in more ways than one. A world leader in gender parity in parliament, a model of good governance and anti-corruption, Rwanda has put digital technology at the heart of its socio-economic development model, driven by strong leadership and ambition. With initiatives such as Kigali Innovation City, a technology cluster designed to attract national and foreign universities, technology companies and biotech firms, the ultimate aim is to export knowledge and technology not just « made in Rwanda » but, more broadly, « made in Africa ». Won’t the world’s first drone port, dedicated primarily to the delivery of essential goods, be Rwandan?

Another example of African solutions having an impact beyond the continent? The amazing success of the Tunisian start-up InstaDeep. A true African success story that  saved thousands of lives in Africa and beyond. An adventure that began in Tunisia in 2014. Karim Beguir, a polytechnician, and Zohra Slim, a self-taught computer scientist and designer, started with $2,000 and strong motivation.

AI specialists, with a team of scientists specializing in machine learning, they use a range of algorithms to develop ways of analyzing data to improve decision-making. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and shook the world order, vaccines were urgently needed.

Pfizer and BioNtech turned to this startup, which, thanks to several rounds of funding led by Africinvest, had published a study on a model for rapidly identifying COVID variants. The results were so convincing that BioNTech bought InstaDeep in January 2023 for €635 million. Today, the company is one of the 100 most promising artificial intelligence companies in the world. In the words of its founder, Karim Beguir: « One of the reasons we started InstaDeep was to show that there is real potential and opportunity for AI in Africa. So, we want people to see us as an African deep tech startup that has gone global, which sends a strong message of hope for the field. » InstaDeep has proven that an African company with African talent can successfully serve customers around the world.

And what about startups such as Expensya, which is revolutionizing the management of business expenses; funds such as Janngo, led by Fatoumata Ba, which is dedicated to facilitating access to finance for women entrepreneurs; or the more than 300 technology hubs that are springing up across the continent as part of ecosystem-based approaches! According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic stimulated the development of 1,000 technological innovations, 120 of which were tested, adopted or developed in Africa. Who can doubt that the world of tomorrow is being written in Africa and that technology is a powerful lever for change?

Together, let’s build an inclusive and prosperous digital Africa, a source of inspiration for the whole world

Our mission is to act as an unconditional supporter of African tech entrepreneurs in their early stages. We are committed to strengthening the capacity of these digital champions to design, develop and deploy disruptive innovations that serve the real economy. We are committed to working with those who create, invent and innovate using technology to improve access to essential services while creating value for their communities. And we know that only by bringing together all of the continent’s stakeholders and their allies can we bring this momentum to the continent and beyond.

Together, let’s build an inclusive and prosperous digital Africa, a source of inspiration for the whole world. I believe in it, we believe in it, and you? Come on board. The journey begins now.

*Isadora Bigourdan, CEO Digital Africa, TEDx ALU Rwanda, July 17, 2023