Skip to main content

Q&A: The reason why we are in Africa with Flourish Ventures' Principal Efayomi Carr


Flourish Ventures, an impact-focused Venture Capital has been making waves across the continent lately. With their focus on providing investment to startups that enhance the financial health of their customers, Flourish is seeking to be the next impact forecast venture capital to have an impact on the lives of Africans. Maisha 254 is joined by Efayomi Carr, the firm's Principal, to tell us more about what Flourish intends to achieve on the continent and why they came to Africa in the first place. 

1. What informed the choice to begin operations in Africa at this juncture?

We already had a presence in Africa before we made the decision to open a physical premise in Nairobi. We have so far invested in over a dozen start-ups across Africa located in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Kenya that include Apollo Agriculture, Fair Money, Financial Services Innovators (FSI), Flutterwave, Lendable, Pula and Paga.

Africa is an important market for us and we feel that having an office on the continent will enable us to be closer to the markets and it will deepen our focus as well as enable us to get first hand the in-market experience of the trends shaping the industry in real-time in Africa

2. How is Flourish Ventures planning to contribute to deepening financial health across the continent?

Flourish has always been focused on providing support to entrepreneurs whose innovations advance financial health and prosperity for individuals and small businesses. With our deep understanding of industry dynamics, we will work with start-ups offering a range of financial services including embedded finance platforms and products for consumers and small businesses as well as technology offerings such as insurtech, and regulatory technology, among others.

We believe that there will be more significant long-term benefits to the African markets since these solutions will be tailored for the African consumer, and they will play a great role in enhancing the continent’s overall financial health.

3. What drew flourish ventures to Kenya in particular seeing as the firm has an African focus? Why not set up shop in another country?

Kenya is a tech and entrepreneur hub in Africa and there have been great ventures and innovations coming out of the Kenyan market over the last decade. Kenya has led the way with innovations such as mobile money transfer services which enhance financial inclusion, which have been adopted the world over. And we are seeing more fintech products and start ups coming out of Kenya, so we felt that Nairobi was a good location for us to have our office in Africa.

Setting up shop in Kenya also brings us closer to the hubs on the continent where fintech is making great strides and advances.

4. What decisive steps can governments take to enhance the growth of foreign venture capital on the continent?

We believe that governments across Africa can play a major role in the enhancement of the venture capital space. First and foremost, they can hold open discussions with players within the global venture capital space, so we can look at policy challenges that may prevent fintech innovations from thriving.

Additionally, governments can strengthen education in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for its young citizens so as to create a wider base of educated and tech savvy entrepreneurs ready to innovate and provide solutions for the African market.

5. What is Flourish Venture’s projection for Africa’s fintech venture capital sector in 2021 and beyond?

The fintech sector worldwide has seen massive growth over the past year, the growth was accelerated by the advent of the global Covid-19 pandemic which made online solutions and online payment platforms etc extremely needed across all levels of society.

The increase in the use of cashless payments and other financial services that have minimal person-to-person interactions especially has contributed greatly to the boom in new fintech innovations, and we feel that the environment created by the new norm is here to stay.

We expect to see more amazing innovations coming out of Africa in the near future in the fintech sector.

6. How prepared is Flourish to deal with the highly competitive market in Africa?

Flourish has over time partnered with industry thought leaders in research, policy and regulation to better understand the underserved and help foster a fairer and more inclusive economy. We

feel that this approach, coupled with our focus on long term partnerships and growth makes us very unique.

Unique mainly because we do not just look at our investment in the company, but also the health of the company and the greater societal impacts that the solutions will have on the market across Africa.

We invest in the people too and this is what will give us the edge over other players in the African Venture Capital space.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

British Airways launches new reward app for executive club members

British Airways has launched a brand new app for members of its Executive Club. Members can use the app to discover new ways to collect and spend Avios, find new offers and see personalised ways to spend Avios based on the member’s Avios balance. The Executive Club Reward app will complement the current British Airways app, which is designed to help all British Airways customers book and service pre- and post-travel needs. The app has a simple, intuitive design, to help members navigate its different features. These features include the ability to access and make purchases through the British Airways Avios eStore – an important way many members collect Avios. Customers can also see different ways they can spend their Avios including a helpful tool which says how many more Avios are needed until a member can book reward flights to different destinations. As well as this, customers can see the latest Avios deals, view their last five transactions, and buy Avios, view accou
Post a Comment
Read more

Column: Caleb Otieno: Make empathy a reflex

‘Empathy is about standing in someone else 's shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Reflection is the means of processing thoughts and feelings about an activity, incident, or day. It gives us a chance to come to terms with our thoughts and feelings surrounding it”  People who understand how to watch, listen and observe the actions and emotions of those around them are often perceived as the most successful in life. A conscious alignment of one’s self with others starts with the development of empathy in the early years.  In the early years of life from age two to seven, young children are naturally ego-centric and are very much inclined to think mostly about themselves and their immediate needs. They are not yet ready to consider the needs and feelings of others. Developing a sense of empathy is an important developmental process for young children. It is at the heart of good relationships, and it begins with valuing others and their perspectives.  Tea
Post a Comment
Read more

Narok School benefits from a Dormitory Courtesy of Procter and Gamble

STUDENTS OF OLOIGERO PRIMARY SCHOOL POSE FOR A PHOTO WITH THE P&G TEAM AND PARTNERS OUTSIDE THE NEWLY BUILT DOMITORY Pupils of Oloigero Primary School in Narok County have a reason to smile after Procter and Gamble funded the construction of a girl’s dormitory in the school. The facility, which will accommodate 80 girls, will help support and improve the access to quality education in the area. “Access to quality education is affected by a myriad of challenges in this country. Inadequate infrastructure is one of them.  The situation is even more dire for our girls thus the reason we are here today to commission this dormitory. We believe that this facility will be a critical resource to help keep our girls in school and together with other partners we will work to ensure that we change the narrative about girls missing school due to menstruation,” said Anthony Ng’ang’a,  Associate Brand Director -Commercial Leader - East Africa at Procter & Gamble (P&G). FR
Post a Comment
Read more