How to Build Investment-Worthy Startups: Insights From the Godfather of Angel Investing in Africa, Tomi Davies

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa podcast. Welcome to the Unlocking Africa podcast, where we find inspirational people who are doing inspirational things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today, we have system analysts, turned public speaker and author, tech strategy advisor and angel

[00:01:12] investor Harry Tomi Davies, also known as TD, who is also collaborator in chief at Technovision, co-founder of the Lagos Angel Network and president of the African Business Angel Network, not forgetting member of the board of the Global Business Angel Network. Welcome to the podcast TD. How are you?

[00:01:41] Alex, seedingly well. Thank you very much and thanks for having me. How was that for an introduction? I half-way recognise myself. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I know we've been having this conversation for quite a while,

[00:01:59] change of date, clash of schedule but we've finally got here so it's great to have you on the podcast. Not sure if you've listened before? Of course. Fantastic, that's great to hear. So as usual, I'd like to start from the beginning

[00:02:15] so I was hoping you can just give us a little bit more information about TD, also known as Harry Tomi Davies. Well, I think the first thing I enjoy about me is the fact that I've managed to make it to grand parenthood so I enjoy being a grandfather.

[00:02:33] Congratulations. Yes, thank you very much. To me, that's sort of the crowning glory. I've had the privilege of being married to my wife now. We're going to be celebrating 40 years next year so Wow.

[00:02:48] Her hanging around me for that long is saying something and we're privileged to have three beautiful children to show for our relationship and they're all doing amazing things across the world. So that's sort of on the personal front.

[00:03:08] On the work front, my background is started in core technology where I worked in the corporate world. I started out life with El Fakitane in Nigeria where I did seismics with them. Now people are talking about AI then we were using AI to find oil essentially

[00:03:32] but then my dad died so I legged it out in Algeria and came back to the UK where I joined M&S and within a short period became the head of IT research and had the privilege of building the very first Marks and Spencer website actually registered.

[00:03:50] Marksandspenser.com. But they wouldn't let me sell on it because Sainsbury's had a kerfuffle with the Saudis over putting their alcohol online so I resigned and I joined Ernst & Young and EY, I was at EYdurings.com bubble and ran the EY incubator here in London

[00:04:17] and working with guys in Boston too so that was fun and that's where I got the bug for startups and that's where we started developing what is now called a poem framework which essentially says there's a mechanism for identifying a startup

[00:04:34] which is around the explosive growth rate that typifies them. Then the management consultancy of EY got sold to Capgemini and I wasn't inclined to work with the French again my father was already a French knight

[00:04:49] so I moved from EY with my team and we became the strategy practice for sapient. Well sapient eventually got bought by publicists for three and a half billion dollars so that was

[00:05:00] good news. In the meantime Africa came calling at the turn of the century with Mandela and Obasanjo being the icons of that renaissance so I was one of the people that tripped over to the continent and did all kinds of cool stuff in Nigeria I put in biometrics

[00:05:19] for payroll for the federal government which people didn't like and I got thrown out as a result. Too much transparency. They were not amused that I found 20,000 ghost workers in the system. That's what happened. I didn't do too much of a good job.

[00:05:41] I couldn't come back to England because I couldn't tell my wife I'd been beaten into hospital because of something I had done right. I went to Kenya, helped Bokanga with the African Agriculture Technology Foundation and then I also helped with the biosciences for Eastern Central Africa, Beka,

[00:06:01] all on the Illry campus off the way I eroded Nairobi so I spent a fair bit of time there with our historical links because my dad, my late dad was Jo Mochiyata's lawyer during the Mao Mao trial so it was good reconnecting on that level.

[00:06:19] Nigeria came back calling and a friend of mine dusted off a license and I became the chief operating officer for Mobile Network Operator but again we got too big, too fast because it was a data play where everybody was still trying to figure out 2 and 3G.

[00:06:37] We were doing Y-Max deployments. We got to about a couple of million users and then one of the big boys decided he wanted our license and when we wouldn't play ball they sabotaged the network until we went out of business.

[00:06:50] And that's when I decided you know what I've had enough, fortunately for me at that time in 2001 I'd invested in Shrike Entertainment. The immediate 24 came calling about 2008 and I couldn't believe it but I literally

[00:07:08] got a 50X return on my investment on Shrike and that's what started me on the journey of angel investing which is what I've really much done for the last over a decade now about 15, 20 years on different levels as you were saying when you spoke earlier.

[00:07:28] I started out and still run the TVC lab syndicate which is me and my friends from high school some of them but we then belong to the Lagos Angel Network which I help co-found and is now run by

[00:07:42] people like Kola Inau, Ia Boyajia and an amazing team and because we couldn't find networks on the continent when we created LAN in 2015 we created the Africa Business Angel Network A-Bad and I started tripping across the continent so from five networks in 2015 we currently have 68

[00:08:04] networks with over 2000 angels so that's sort of the A-Ban story and because of our relationship with the European Business Angel Network a few years back I got invited to the board of the

[00:08:15] Global Business Angel Network where I currently sit and that's sort of pretty much how I got here I trust that helps. Amazing, amazing you've given us a fantastic overview of your personal and professional achievements I think one thing which we've not really discussed so far

[00:08:35] is amongst your amazing achievements you've recently published a book so I was wondering if you could give us an overview of the new book investments worthy startups and how it aims to assist startups in Africa. Alright excellent question if you remember I said that I ran

[00:08:55] the EY Incubator during the dot com yeah in Waterloo and what had happened was we did a lot of research okay around systems and construction of fast growing systems so when you have a startup

[00:09:12] what defines a startup separate from an SME for example is an SME will focus on profitability at the beginning right from the beginning and they have a risk profile that is known because their repeating a process that's been done before startups are built on innovation

[00:09:32] that means it may be like but nobody's done it this way before so you have to invent the systems that will bring it to life and that we then agreed at that point that there were two primary

[00:09:47] components to any commercial enterprise the proposition of the enterprise and the organization that delivers it and the combination of both is what constitutes the economics of startups which is different to traditional economics why is that because you're measuring acceleration

[00:10:10] you're measuring growth you're measuring customer acquisition capabilities you're measuring things that give you clear indicators that you have an innovative solution that will scale on your hands right from the beginning because that's what we wanted to do at that time over the years what

[00:10:31] has happened is I've refined the framework because of my interactions with literally hundreds of founders yes and what we now have okay is what I've encapsulated in the book and to actually

[00:10:48] crystallize the book what I had done was run a program with my syndicate I have a syndicate around tbc labs called mentopage I'll describe that later but the critical thing is it validated that the framework okay was valuable enough for african startups to be codified in a book

[00:11:13] so that's why I ended up you know ensuring that it ended up in the book and what does the what does it say essentially what it says is that for startup the beginning is the vision

[00:11:27] if you don't have a vision you really don't have anything to start with so the question is where are you trying to go I call it what's the destination the vision is a vivid image okay that

[00:11:43] crystallizes with an image that you can articulate to carry others along and when you talk about what constitutes really you know when you say vision vision vision what should really be

[00:12:00] the breakdown of a vision if you want to put it that way well your vision must be compelling enough to carry others along you've got to be able to share it in a way that people get it they may not

[00:12:12] get all of it in fact most of the time they won't get all of it the question is can you articulate it in a way where it describes the destination that anybody wants to go to so

[00:12:25] that's that sort of the axis of it is it starts with the vision what's inside the vision the purpose why are you doing this core values what makes you tick okay in terms of beliefs what's the mission

[00:12:40] and what's the overall strategy so that's what I call vision and that's where it starts if you can share that and we can see it then what the book says and what the framework says is

[00:12:51] you can deliver that with a poem what's a poem a poem is a proposition that's delivered by an organization measured by the economics achieved as a traverse milestones poem so the proposition is actually the start-offs offer of products or services okay to a target

[00:13:10] customer base in a specified market and I'll come back to that in a second the organization are the start-offs people processes and the technologies that deliver the proposition and the reason technology is baked in is because we talk about scale and I am yet to find any mechanism

[00:13:31] I know to reach a million people consistently on a daily basis outside of technology the economics actually measure the start-ups use of available capital for funding expenses to generate revenues that create impact and the milestones then measure the start-ups achievements challenges

[00:13:53] and targets as they go from I used to say most minimum viable product but I've become a fan of expert doger so we're now looking at minimum lovable product all the way through to series A

[00:14:07] so it identifies the core strategic areas for startup development and that's what's in the book so the book is broken down into the chapters that make up that framework fantastic so you've given great insight into the poem framework but how do you believe this framework can specifically

[00:14:28] guide founders in successfully building a startup in an African context well the first thing is the book defines what a startup is and what it's not so you know just reading the first few

[00:14:42] chapters you can tell whether you have a startup or an SME so that's sort of the first date to the founder and if you do have a start-up then it breaks down okay the mechanism for you having

[00:14:55] an investment worthy startup how does it do that it says well first of all you've got to start with the market it can never be bigger than your market so which market are you traversing

[00:15:08] yes and in that market who's the competition what's the regulation what are the prevailing trends so an intimate knowledge of your market is the start point now understanding your market means you can go to the second stage which is actually then having an understanding of the customer base

[00:15:28] let's go let's go make you the money yes because they're inside that market so it's after you understand the market and you get to know the customers okay who they are what they do how

[00:15:42] they do you know how long they'll be with you if you get them what they'll cost you to get them etc etc etc then you start to think about what product am I offering them eight out of 10 times

[00:15:56] I meet founders it's the other way around here's my product here are the customers and this is where they exist but it actually starts with the market and then the customers and then we go into the

[00:16:05] product why because we then have a context for understanding the product design development distribution and pricing which makes up the business model on the product so once we understand those three that's the product the customer in the market we know how you're going to make

[00:16:22] money you know how you're going to make money you can see it once that's clear the question then becomes who is actually going to deliver that proposition because it's a promise you're making

[00:16:34] so who are the people that will own the company that will run the company that will work with the company that will partner with the company advise the company who are those people that's the first thing you got to crack every single one of those roles and responsibilities

[00:16:50] it needs a name a person people for now once you got people on board the next question is how do they get things done what kind of processes are you going to use for governance how about execution

[00:17:03] how about logistics how about operations how about buying how about marketing how about talent management how will you get things done once you've cracked that you've got all the requirements you need for technology so what technology are you

[00:17:19] going to use what kind of architecture what kind of security what kind of user experiences are you going to deliver what kind of platforms and all the questions around technology now once you understand the people you know how you're going to get things done and you understand

[00:17:35] technology you're going to deploy you've got pretty much the organization that's going to deliver the proposition now you have a proposition that can be delivered by an organization the question becomes how does it make money this is not a charity and that's where the economics kicks in

[00:17:52] because the economic measures to start off use of available capital okay so we talk about it starts with family friends well it starts with the founders actually then their family then friends then fans and some would add a fifth dimension which are fools but

[00:18:13] the aim is you start okay with those who know you okay because the next people on that chain of capital are people like us who are saying okay you got money from your dad what did you use it for

[00:18:27] application of funds so the capital and the application of the capital as expenditure is something that needs to be thoroughly understood but most importantly returns and expectation of returns okay because that plays a lot a big part in the valuation

[00:18:48] as we see down the line so understanding all of that is the next thing is is is around the capital but it's not just about capital all right you're deploying the capital you're burning it as expenditure and that expenditure you're burning it with the expectation that you will

[00:19:08] generate revenue in excess of those expenditures more than enough to yield a return in our case in multiples of what you picked up in capital and what we then say is you're doing all of this

[00:19:21] while you're creating impact by creating jobs by employing people you know by helping the environment and other impact your organization would be having so the capital okay for funding expenses to generate revenues that create impact is what we call the startup economics

[00:19:41] now you can't measure money in a vacuum you measure everything as the startup achieves its targets over challenges and managing the risks and mitigating them as it does so to meet milestones like product market fit to meet milestones like CREZ or the next round of funding

[00:20:06] and it is that framework of proposition organization economics and milestones okay encapsulated in those steps that make up the understanding and the capability of any founder coming out and saying yep I know I'm investment ready and this is how I know which is the objective

[00:20:25] brilliant amazing insight do you have any examples or case studies from your book to show how the poem framework has been successfully applied by startups well you know it's very very weird because originally the book was 400 pages and the publisher says sorry guy

[00:20:44] you know nobody's gonna buy a hundred page book lose the case studies so we've got a workbook coming out this year okay based on the book that actually has the case

[00:21:01] studies in them but actually then says you know if for example we talk about we say we start market you know how do I size my market well you've got to know the total addressable service

[00:21:12] obtainable how do you do those calculations and all of that it's laid out you know I talk about it in the book but then what the work does is actually a step by step where you can do it yourself

[00:21:23] with case study examples look forward to reading that earlier you emphasize in terms of understanding how you'll make money in the book it also emphasizes the importance of attracting funding from angel investors and vc so what advice would you give to startups who are

[00:21:42] looking for investment specifically in the current landscape that we're seeing some economic challenges well make sure your basics are right you've got to be sure you're a startup and you have the numbers to prove them okay talk is cheap okay um the dragon's den pitch investment model

[00:22:02] it's a nice television model it doesn't work in reality nobody decides to write a check on a three-minute pitch it doesn't okay we have something called due diligence which all term sheets are subjected to and that's the way angels and vcs everybody in the investment world works so

[00:22:21] the first thing is just be sure okay excuse my french that your shit is tight very much so okay make sure the numbers work you have the documentary evidence to prove anything

[00:22:36] if you tell me I have 300 000 customers I should be able to sample a couple of hundred of them okay if you tell me your customer acquisition costs are two dollars you must be able to prove it

[00:22:49] lifetime value is this whatever numbers you give have the data to back it up that's sort of a first thing but the most important thing when you're looking for an investor is find one that fits

[00:23:00] not all investors fit everybody go look at their track record what's this investor put money in before okay what are they doing with the people they've given money are they helping them get to the

[00:23:11] next round what exactly is their profile on investment okay it's a two-way street because once you take their money they are partners so you want to know as much as possible about an investor before you pitch up what's their investment thesis if they're a fund where's the fund

[00:23:27] is it at the beginning of its life or towards the end of its life you know you've got to understand the investor base thoroughly in addition to running your business and having a kick ass

[00:23:38] business that can touch a million people and that's sort of for me the single question you know single if they say if you have to ask one question what you are tell me how you know

[00:23:50] you're going to sell a million people a day with your system if you can't do that then you know let's have a different chat I trust that helps you touch on the key point which is

[00:23:59] understanding who your investor is in terms of how they operate how they invest so if you look at you obviously you're an investor yourself what would you say is the value that you add

[00:24:11] when working with startups on the continent I think it's quite obvious to myself but to the people listening well there are three or four areas in which I believe I add value the first is

[00:24:24] I'm a mentoring sounding board you know the founders in my portfolio feel comfortable enough oh TDID I'm trying to do you know so that's sort of the mentoring and the guidance okay

[00:24:37] is the first and I call that yeah the second value add okay is I am and I mean it with all humility okay I do know tech so even today I'm giving a few prompt engineers some headaches

[00:24:53] with some of my prompting on GPT so I bring the tech history the tech knowledge and the tech network also to the table the third thing I bring is funding I have a syndicate that invests

[00:25:11] we did four transactions last year we have a portfolio in excess of a couple of hundred million so you know but we we run it through a very very strict program in terms of investing

[00:25:24] last but not least is some would say I'm well connected last I checked I think I've passed 10,000 followers on Twitter or LinkedIn or wherever it is you want to look on social media say for Instagram

[00:25:41] where I am a gastro terrorist so be aware of that fantastic as you mentioned you do know tech so I was hoping you could potentially share some insights into how you feel or what you think the

[00:25:55] current state of the startup tech scene in Africa is as a whole because we know we've seen a huge boom and then we've seen a recalibrating of the ecosystem what do you think the current

[00:26:09] state is of the tech landscape on the continent well there's a tech landscape then there's a startup scene so we need to sort of separate them yes but if I was going to look at

[00:26:24] the tech startup scene as a whole okay it's buzzing with exciting developments and challenges an equal measure I might add okay and I always like starting with the positives rapid growth

[00:26:36] we've seen the rate of growth from zero to four point three billion in four or five years okay doubling we've seen the emergence of the unicorns okay and in fact I'll be speaking tomorrow on how

[00:26:52] agri tech solutions they're exploding the agri tech world on the continent and you've got some amazing vcs leading that charge and it's all being driven by startups you've got what people now take for granted simply because and Pessa okay it's now so old people just taking as infrastructure

[00:27:14] but the mobile connectivity boom okay that's fueled mobile money and fintech is alive on well and driving other sectors yes okay including agri tech like I talked about if you look at what

[00:27:28] they're doing with mrvs and you know some of the stuff that's going on now with carbon trading you start to get the idea love us all haters we still got a talented young population okay we've

[00:27:40] got the rising tech generation of tech savvy they've all grown up on mobile now so it gives them an edge in constructing solution sets because they don't think mainframe or the legacy systems that are in the western world and finally there's growing investor interest yes there's a downturn

[00:28:02] but the downturns global it's not african only okay there's a global and if you look underneath the skins you'll see that the latent interest in africa is still persistent persistent enough to

[00:28:14] the level that I actually started a new company last year to address that but having said that there are challenges on even gross okay funding and success tends to concentrate you know on the

[00:28:29] diamond if you know the big four as we talk about it although from what I'm seeing from africa big deal now that sort of balance and all the four are equal east west north and south

[00:28:42] but by a large the smaller countries aren't getting a leg in there's a talent gap okay skilling of the workforce and retailing talent is becoming especially my home country nigeria we call it jack bar yes where we've seen a mass exit of talent into the west especially

[00:29:02] canada and the uk um on top of that we've still got limited infrastructure in adequate internet access every time I talk to my people you know on the continent there's one problem or the other with internet access on reliable electricity okay those are things that are hampering scalability

[00:29:24] then regulatory hurdles yes we managed to get the national startup act passed clap for us but there are complex and consistent regulations that are stifling startup growth and investment into them all across the continent and that's why access to capital

[00:29:44] okay remains limited okay um and later stage investments are international or nothing you know that it's it's rare I don't you know we don't have yet late stage we've got a growing portfolio

[00:29:59] of venture capital on on the continent and I'm happy to see that local growth but in terms of later stage investments we're still totally reliant on international partners and I want

[00:30:10] to end on a short topic that you know it irks me it annoys me it pisses me off and I can't wait for us no seriously we've got to do something about it it's latent and inherent in our cultural heritage

[00:30:27] but we've got to get over it female entrepreneurs face significant barriers in accessing funding and support where it's two percent two percent who does that very true so those are the challenges

[00:30:41] as I see them my trust that helps 100 percent you highlighted a key point which is the japa phenomenon what impact have you seen it have on the startup space maybe specifically in Nigeria

[00:30:55] huh um the migration of talent okay um it's a complex one why do I say that it's almost six of one half a dozen at the other the negative impacts we've got the brain drain

[00:31:11] we're losing skilled and experienced workers especially in tech related fields because those are the ones that can actually get the jobs okay and that's creating a talent gap it's making it harder and harder and harder for startups to find qualified employees and that is hindering innovation

[00:31:28] the second thing it's doing is it's increasing hiring costs okay you can imagine let's just say you've got a pool of 100 experts 20 leave the country you got 80 left that remaining talent pool is going to drive off salaries are making more expensive for you to hire people okay and

[00:31:49] then when talented individuals leave guess what they take with them valuable knowledge yes and not just knowledge the networks they've built around themselves over time and that is a challenge to replace and so with less talent available locally startups are being forced to shift their focus

[00:32:07] from serving the nigeria market to you know targeting international markets okay potentially neglecting domestic needs especially given the devaluation of the currency too also but like I said for every downside there's a positive side that's how I live that's how I look

[00:32:26] Nigerian migrants are sending money back home which is being reinvested I I just you know just about an hour ago I got off I just got off from a potential syndicate member who's out

[00:32:39] in Spain okay he's working in Spain but he's co-investing with us in Nigeria they also get global exposure and connections so they establish valuable connections with international investors and like I said it was double edge we also have the reverse happening now okay where we're

[00:32:59] getting a reverse bend in some of the highly skilled okay people are returning to Nigeria take an example of the current minister for innovation and digital economy Bowson Tijani

[00:33:14] yes Bowson was out in Leicester okay he's back in Nigeria and you know he it sort of typifies it so overall the impact of Jack by is a mixed bag while it presents challenges for Nigerians startups in terms of talent shortage and knowledge trade it also offers opportunities

[00:33:32] for increased investment okay like we've got the diaspora angel network as an example of that and the long-term effect is going to depend on how effectively our government and the startup ecosystem adapt and address the changing landscape if we go back to the book what impact do you

[00:33:50] hope the book will have on the startup space well my aspiration is that it will start to give us at the risk of sounding naive a standardized approach to assessing startups so that we can start to get cross-border investments as we've demonstrated can be done with the catalytic

[00:34:11] Africa platform because it's critical okay that we find a way to make international capital available to our local startups in a way that is led by the local angels I'm very very keen on the local investors being in the leadership position of startup investment then supported by international

[00:34:34] investors rather than what has happened which is what has caused the crash where they came by themselves and started engaging with the startups directly and half of them have lost their shirt

[00:34:44] I hope they learned from it but who knows interesting so you know David S Rose who is a seasoned entrepreneur an angel investor I saw that he praised your book for its potential to

[00:34:57] help build funded startups is he a specific aspect of the book that you would say set it apart in providing valuable guidance to create funded startups yes I think it's the holistic nature of it okay and the fact that it's it borrows from Barbara Minto's pyramid principle

[00:35:20] which is you start with five points what's your vision proposition organization economic and milestones okay once that's at the highest if you get my point of levels then you can drop

[00:35:35] down to the next which we call the topical level so what's your purpose of the startup what are the core values what are the beliefs so that's the next level down in terms of proposition

[00:35:47] it's about the product the customer and the market organization is the people the processes and the technologies you know and then you can drop down to the next level in each of those so

[00:35:57] in customers you can look at you know demographic psychographic acquisition value etc etc etc so it's the fact that it starts at the simplest of levels and it allows you to build as you

[00:36:14] go along so it's it's how we are so we're we're born as kids we learn a few sentences and as we grow older we continue to flesh out and that's why it's a framework okay as opposed to anything else

[00:36:26] it allows you to populate it as it affects and as is referenced to you so it's the customization the customizability of it based on its simplicity once you get it that's what makes it powerful

[00:36:41] brilliant brilliant so I guess keeping on the theme of books I know this isn't your first foray as an author you had a previous book published was in 2014 the African Project Manager that's correct yeah you discussed your goal oriented approach to project delivery so you

[00:36:59] know how do you think this approach aligns with the challenges and opportunities faced by startups in Africa well here's my thinking if you don't know where you're going then any road will get you

[00:37:11] there yes so again it boils down to the framework first it starts with a vision once you know what the vision is all right my vision is to build a six bedroom home okay on a hill where I can

[00:37:24] oversee the city I want to be sure that I have you know space for at least four cars and I want to have a private approach that is at least half a mile long so I can see who's coming to visit

[00:37:38] did you get a picture of the house very much so exactly the book was published in 2014 so do you believe the approach is still relevant 10 years later very much so I still use it and my team

[00:37:53] can attest to that because what I did okay I had the privilege of being certified by both the American and the UK project management bodies who are constantly at each other's throats for the one

[00:38:08] to the better word but um and what I did was I abstracted what I call the essence okay of project management because at the end of the day what's project management it's just

[00:38:20] using limited resources to achieve a goal that's it and what are you trying to do building a startup use limited resources to achieve a goal so the principles apply which means you've got to think

[00:38:33] through what's the goal what's your gel key what are the activities that gets me from here to there knowing where I am it starts with where you are today and then you plan it out

[00:38:44] and that's why you see we talk about milestones thank you for sharing that knowledge so with your extensive experience and knowledge in helping companies expand into Africa and in Africa what would you say are some of the crucial considerations for businesses that are looking to successfully

[00:39:04] operate let's take Nigeria as an example well I'm on record on this one get a local partner yes I agree 100% okay and once you've done that then the standard things apply market research and strategy regulatory environment understanding logistics and infrastructure human resources

[00:39:30] you know business require business relationships yeah but the key thing about Nigeria be patient and persistent okay doing business in Nigeria takes time and patience don't expect overnight success and be prepared to overcome challenges you've got to be flexible and adaptable okay adapt

[00:39:50] your plans and strategies as needed to fit the Nigerian market because it's a country with immense potential for business growth okay and by carefully planning and adapting your approach you'd be amazed you can achieve that success others have and continue to do so thank you for that

[00:40:09] you know you've given great advice today which is in keeping with what you do as an investor and also advisor how do you balance your roles as an investor and advisor or are the two

[00:40:22] roles not mutually exclusive um they're not I have the advantage that like I said every time I say I'm retired people said you know they don't they don't believe me so how many times have you retired so far yeah you're retired but you did 21 cities in 14

[00:40:43] countries last year wow is that retirement so I think it depends on where you originate what exactly you're about do you understand yes yes so would you say this approach is common globally across the start of space or something

[00:41:03] that is more in common with our culture African culture in terms of advising and taking this role on let me let me focus the audience will be listening I didn't invent it there's an

[00:41:16] organization called Founders Institute um and you might want to look them up they actually have something called the Founders Advisory Standard Template okay for providing advice for shares standard template this is how you do it this is what you do so that's not new investing in syndicates

[00:41:39] I learned that from the best I'm glad you mentioned my mentor David S Rose yes and mentoring you know is something we all do as senior professionals so I I do all three my advisory is typically a mostly to founders I've already invested in my mentoring is for

[00:42:04] everybody that's the difference because with advisory I do research I do you know I do the work to be sure I'm giving proper sound strategy to advise it you know because remember I used to

[00:42:16] be a consultant yes so yeah I put the effort in so they know yes this is value for shares amazing amazing so I guess if we take a few steps back in terms of before you advise and mentor

[00:42:31] people looking at how do you actually identify or build your pipeline of promising startups that you're potentially interested in investing in well I now have privilege that increasingly founders find me yes but historically um I have an ecosystem that I've always worked okay and I still

[00:42:55] do to a very very large extent so academia for example once or twice a year I show up in quite a number of local universities or my people show up so in fact for years I taught at the

[00:43:11] Pan Atlantic University's Enterprise Development Center I've got a strong relationship with Covenant University one of my startups has just signed an MOU with them just yesterday so academia is one the infrastructure providers are the others so I helped actually put together

[00:43:29] something called the Innovation Support Network in Nigeria which is a network of over 150 innovation hubs in fact I was the founding chairman for that so that's on infrastructure on policy and regulation we have very good relationships with the regulators I actually chair the

[00:43:51] Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council's Innovation Committee and we have very strong relationships with the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency for example then on media we also have very strong relationships apart from the fact that

[00:44:09] we are investors in big cabal media the who own tech cabal and Ziko co that are dominating media space we also have strong relationships with cfa media tech point oh disrupt Africa and brighter bridges and a whole host of others then on support services we work with development

[00:44:31] partners like GIZ Tony Elumelo Foundation tomorrow's speeches with the ITC UK Nigeria tech hub last but definitely not the least is on funding as I said earlier I'm a co-founder of the Lagos Angel Network but we have partners from Aliki Capital to EcoVC I chair the

[00:44:54] CC Hub Syndicate there's the Bank of Industry we work with Benchagoudan Group there's a whole host under the funding umbrella so it's that ecosystem that we operate inside of I trust that helps

[00:45:09] as you said from the beginning people tend to find you now so for the people who are looking to find you I guess as a legend and as someone who is extremely well respected in

[00:45:20] Africa's startup space what advice would you give to young entrepreneurs looking to embark on the startup journey in Africa be sure you're solving a problem that people care about because if you are solving a problem that really matters to people you'll get that startup built because you'll

[00:45:40] just find that there's a way the universe will conspire in your favor to get it built amazing amazing very profound words be sure that you're starting a startup or business that people care about so from your experience what current trends or what startups are being started that

[00:46:00] people care about are you seeing that you're currently excited about now that is a loaded question because I'm always you might be giving some trade secrets away no no not at all I mean I welcome we're looking for

[00:46:18] more people guess what if there were a thousand of me in Africa today we wouldn't be enough very true so that's that's sort of the reality for me the reality of it okay but for the angel

[00:46:31] investors other investors and startup founders listening syntax to arrange supreme but with a twist okay while syntax they're going to remain dominant there's a shift towards embedded finance okay so it's about offering financial services in existing platforms like e-commerce or social media

[00:46:53] that's that's what's happening with fintech and by now pay later integrated into online stores or micro insurance with right ailing apps you get the idea so that's sort of the first I did tell you I'm talking tomorrow about this agri tech is taking center stage as food security

[00:47:12] concerns rise yeah innovative solutions for agriculture they're dead just coming out of the woodworks okay startups are tackling everything from precision farming tools powered by AI to logistics platforms connecting farmers directly to consumers okay we're talking about drones

[00:47:29] monitoring crop health or mobile apps helping farmers access financing and resources they're all there and then of course again I'm a bit biased based on my portfolio so you know anybody listening chances I found laying this out it's because I've looked at it because of one or more

[00:47:51] startups in my portfolio so if you look at agri tech so G's so yolu and air smart and what they've been doing you know immediately kick to that mind if you look at clean tech which is becoming a

[00:48:03] powerhouse okay because of environmental challenges okay in fuel and a surgeon startups renewable energy waste management sustainable these are all key areas okay solar power subscription services biofuel production they're all gaining traction I have a startup for example that is making

[00:48:27] smoke-free cooking stoves they use pellets okay that are guess what carbon positive so all of a sudden the women are using the pellets and we're getting carbon trading going and then also I mentioned earlier that if you remember I said it's the investment is focused on the diamond

[00:48:46] that is Egypt in the top Nigeria on the left Kenya to the right and South Africa downstairs you know other countries starting to rise fast Ghana Senegal Rwanda they've all got vibrant ecosystems attracting investors and they're showcasing diverse talents you know so we're

[00:49:06] talking of things like hyperlocal solutions for hyperlocal problems you know startups catering to specific needs within communities from delivering fresh produce in rural areas to offering digital healthcare services in underserved region okay this hyperlocal approach

[00:49:23] okay also ensures that the solutions are tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities of each context which is what I was alluding to earlier then of course I'd be remiss without talking about the emerging technologies on the horizon AI blockchain cyber security

[00:49:45] they're all finding their way into various sectors from healthcare diagnostics to secure online transactions okay these advancements are further diversifying the landscape it's getting really really diverse out there and funding continues to grow in spite of the uncertainty

[00:50:02] and all of that you know but I'm expecting we'll probably hit five billion this year and that's not saying challenges don't exist I talked about infrastructure talent and all the other things earlier so they are there but I'm saying in spite of that's what I expect to see

[00:50:21] I hope that helps yes 100% as you said fintech remains supreme we're seeing an emergence of agritech also environmental based and hyperlocal approaches which is exciting and good to hear so if we go past current trends look at the future maybe we look specifically at Nigeria where

[00:50:42] you see Nigeria's startup space in the next five years time well given what the government's trying to do I expect to see a new crop of startups start to emerge in the three to five year window in Nigeria

[00:50:59] because as I said growth of mobile technology is going to continue to enhance services okay whether it's at the consumer level or at the corporate level and solutions that like we see

[00:51:15] we saw what ride hailing did yes as a solution so it's those kind of solutions that are pervasive and multivariate in nature which I see more coming out of agritech like I mentioned earlier

[00:51:29] um are going to be you know the things that dominate I can see AI IoT and blockchain for example accelerating innovation in farming and agriculture but at the same time I can see them doing the

[00:51:42] same thing with healthcare our remote healthcare management but then like everybody says I'm a techie so I'd expect tech to do you know but that's the reality what I find out what excites me

[00:51:54] about going forward is the fact that I think with the volentary carbon market we're starting to see potential for us to start to drive additional income on the continent through farmers and others to offset international corporate emissions so yeah interesting things ahead

[00:52:16] exciting exciting so if we look closer to home where do you see yourself and the work that you'll be doing in five years time are you going to take that retirement or are you still

[00:52:25] going to be traveling with multiple countries oh no no the traveling stops this year well he says that as he jumps on a plane next week but I'm slowing down on the traveling I'm going

[00:52:40] to focus more on two legs I'm focusing on the first is called mentor pitch mentor pitch is the program we've developed that's based on the book and it helps angel investors and startups come

[00:52:54] together in a system that allows both to interact and even if an investor is not made both get something out of it for the angels it's a due diligence process based on the book for the founders

[00:53:10] it's a mentoring process based on the book and the destination of the program is a digital data room that is positive proof of investment readiness so I'll be pushing that and the other

[00:53:23] part like I told you last year we started the Zitec investment office I told you we've got a couple of thousand angels on the continent now what Zitec Zitec only has one question if you have a startup

[00:53:37] you want to exit talk to us where the exit company so that's what we're focusing on is getting exits by providing them as secondaries to international investors brilliant thank you for sharing that TD quote of the week as people we often have quotes mantras african proverbs or

[00:53:58] even affirmations that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good do you have one that you can share with us today oh you are going to regret you asked that

[00:54:11] please do share my the maxim that I learned when I was 10 years old and has stood by me all my life it's called Desiderata and it's by a gentleman called Max Herman and what Desiderata says is this Desiderata says go placidly that is quietly

[00:54:31] amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence as far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others even the dollar ignorant they too have their own story

[00:54:56] avoid loud and aggressive persons do you know why they're vexations to the spirit now if you compare yourself to others one or two things are going to happen you're either going to become vain or bitter for always they're going to be greater and lesser persons than yourself

[00:55:17] enjoy your achievements as well as your plans and keep interested within your own career however humble it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time exercise caution in your business affairs why the world is full of trickery in Nigeria we call it 419 but let this not

[00:55:40] blind you to what virtue there is many people strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism so beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself be yourself especially do not feign affection but then neither be cynical about love for in the face of all

[00:56:06] already and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass take kindly the council of the years that's what i'm doing by stopping all this flight around gracefully surrendering the things of youth then nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune but then don't distress

[00:56:28] yourself with dark imaginings unfair because many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness look what it's saying is beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself you are a child

[00:56:44] of the universe you are no less than the trees and the stars you have a right to be here and whether or not it is clear to you there's absolutely no doubt that the universe is unfolding as it

[00:56:58] should therefore be a peace with god now that's whatever you conceive him to be and whatever your labors and aspirations in this noisy confusion of life keep peace in your soul because with all

[00:57:16] its sham drudgery and broken dreams it's still a beautiful world be cheerful and strive to be happy thank you for listening i don't think we could have ended in a better way what an amazing way to

[00:57:32] end today's conversation t d um i'm lost for words but thank you for sharing that that was beautiful you're welcome amazing amazing for everyone listening today any closing remarks final course to action where they can find you if they're interested in finding out a bit more about your

[00:57:51] work i live on social media you can find me twitter linkedin facebook to my dw e tomi d that's my mantra home base tomi davis dot com if you're an angel come find us tbc labs that's tbc ng

[00:58:11] all host of things just put in tomi davis and on the internet is your friend you will find me i look forward to connecting with you thank you very much for listening and god bless you

[00:58:21] thank you td for joining us today and sharing your insights and extensive experience which is provided extremely profound understanding of the challenges and opportunities present in the african startup space and also for anyone who hasn't already please go out and get yourself a copy

[00:58:38] of investment where we start up which is a truly valuable resource for founders who are seeking build successful ventures and as we've discussed today attract funding so yes brilliant conversation i've thoroughly enjoyed it and it's been an absolutely pleasure having you on the podcast

[00:58:59] thank you very much i hope it was worth the wait it was definitely worth the wait you take care thank you to everyone who has listened and stayed tuned to the podcast if you've enjoyed this

[00:59:11] episode please subscribe share or tell a friend about it you can also rate review us in apple podcast or wherever you download your podcast thank you and see you next week for the unlocking africa podcast