Shamba are in a post product development fund raising stage to produce the first commercial production run of their scalable domestic solar power solution and you can read all about them here.

Matamba are hoping to work with Shamba to develop markets in Southern Africa by leveraging existing sales and distribution channels and to help reduce dependence on non-clean energy.

Investment is strong in Africa, with renewed focus by Venture Capitalists to help startups. (Image: Flickr/ Fanch the System)

We have selected a number of established, home-grown VC firms and combined these with those from abroad that are eager to enter the African space and take advantage of high-growth areas, including ICT and telecommunications.

These firms have been sourced according to specific criteria including: the length of time they have been in the market, the extent to which they focus on ICT, the size/ volume of investment and the number and profile of successful startup companies assisted or part of their portfolios.

1. Investment AB Kinnevik

Based in Sweden, this firm was founded in 1936 and includes ICT as part of its portfolio. The company has a 7% total investment in Africa (which, according to the company’s website, is more than its North American and Asia investment combined). The company has holdings in Millicom – operating within 13 emerging markets including in Africa, and Tele2. In total it covers 78.1 million mobile subscribers across 24 countries. Among its African-based start up investments is Iroko Partners, a Nigerian digital media and entertainment company.

2. Sawari Ventures

Global venture capital firm focused on the Middle-East & North Africa region. Focused on early and growth-stage investing within tech media, telecoms, eCommerce and financial services. The company has a specific interest in Arabic Web content and applications, mobile content and applications, as well as Software-as-a-Service and converged services. According to the company’s website, it typically invests $250 – $1million initially, but expects to invest between $2million and $5million over the lifetime of a company invested in. Included in its portfolio are a number of companies, including Circle Tie (multi-platform location based mobile social network for Egypt and United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as Vimov, producer of mobile platform solutions – including iSimulate.

3. Matamba Anonaka Technology Holdings (MATHS)

Described as “the first technology focused venture capital company in Zimbabwe”, Matamba Anonaka Technology Holdings was established in 2010 and is focused on the country’s technology sector. Its investment portfolio incorporates Starfish Mobile Zimbabwe, a provider of mobile content services, as well as ZimTowers (Pty) Ltd., an independent tower company established to construct and rent multiple telecoms infrastructure. Geoffrey Goss is the company’s CEO. Ideally the company invests a minumum of 35% ownership.

4. Adlevo Capital

A Mauritius-based private equity fund manager. Among its clients is Pagatech Ltd., an established provider of mobile money transfer services in Nigeria and InterSwitch Limited, a Nigeria-based provider of electronic transaction switching and payment processing service in West Africa. Added to the list is Rancard Solutions, a software company focused on the mobile market and mobile transactions across Africa. Yemi Lalude is the Managing Partner. According to the company’s website, prior to joining Adlevo Capital, Lalude was a Principal at GGV Capital, a Silicon Valley-based expansion stage tech venture capital company.

5. Intel Capital

Intel Corporation’s global investment arm recently announced a tech co-investment initiative with Adlevo Capital Managers into Ghana-based Rancard Solutions. This is the 52nd country the company has invested in and the second in Africa. In June 2011 the investment division made public its investment in Altech Technologies Limited. Intel Capital’s leadership has confirmed focus on applications and services tailored to add value to the Africa market.

Source: IT NewsAfrica

The venture capitalists earn money by possessing equity in the particular company or companies they invest in. Africa does have very many home grown venture capitalists but they are little known. Nevertheless, some international venture capitalists have invaded Africa and have equities in a variety of promising companies. We have gone through a great deal of trouble to research, analyse and compile for you a list of top 10 venture capitalists in Africa.

Top 10 Venture Capitalists in Africa

1. Gold Venture Capital Limited

Gold Venture Capital Limited or GVCL is one of the most successful venture capitalists in Africa. It is a public liability firm, which is incorporated under the laws of Ghana Republic and owned by the Venture Capitals Trust Fund and the Gold Coast Securities Limited. The company is under the management of Boulders Advisory Limited, which is a licensed advisory firm.

This company specialises in providing capital fund to agribusiness, education, extractive industries, financial services, manufacturing & industrials, health care, real estate & construction, telecommunications and tourism & hospitality sectors in West African Countries.

2. Fusion Capital

Fusion capital is anther venture capitalist that operates in Africa. It is part of Fusion Group of businesses based in London UK. The firm is a hybrid business financing and private equity house that focuses on the needs of the local businesses in the emerging economies of the East and Central African region. Fusion capital operates from Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Kampala but and serves small and medium sized businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. The company focuses on service businesses, real estate developments and manufacturing sectors.

3. eVentures Africa Fund

eVentures Africa Fund (eVA Fund) is a venture capitalist that was started in the year 2010 by two business magnets from Netherlands, Europe known as Vincent Kouwenhoven and Brian Hirman. The firm targets small and medium sized African companies dealing with internet services provision. The company does not just provide capital; it also offers developmental support including experience, knowledge, and network as well as business concepts/applications. The region targeted by eVA Fund is sub-Saharan Africa.

4. Matamba Ananoka Technology Holdings (MATHs)

Matamba Ananoka Technology Holdings known simply as MATHs is the first ever technology focused Venture Capital Company in Zimbabwe. It was initiated in 2010 as a joint venture between Bridge-Connect of Germany and Rutland Consultants of Zimbabwe. The main objective of MATHs is to take early advantage and invest in Zimbabwean pre-emerging and emerging technology sector. The company sees opportunity in Zimbabwe despite what most people believe is investor unfriendly government policies.

More on Our List of Venture Capitalist Firms (VC’s) in Africa

5. Jacana Partners

Jacana Partners is a Pan African private equity firm that invests in emerging entrepreneurs, builds on successful SMEs and delivers sustainable financial and social returns. Jacana country coverage started in Kenya but has since expanded to include five more countries including Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The aim of the company is to cover all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa with time.

6. Adlevo Capital

Adlevo is a Mauritius based venture capitalist that was founded in the belief that significant development of sub-Saharan Africa can only be driven by application of technology into the business processes across all sectors of the economies. This is why the company deals solely with development and exploitation of technology or technology driven processes in Sub-Saharan Africa.

7. Sawari Ventures

Sawari Ventures is a global venture capital firm that targets entrepreneurs in North Africa and Middle East. The firm focuses on early as well as growth stage investing within technologic media, eCommerce, telecommunications and financial services. Even with these sectors, the company specialises in Arabic Website contents, applications, mobile device contents and applications, so-called Software-as-a-Service, and converged services.

8. Investment AB Kinnevik

Although based in Sweden, the company has up to 7 percent investment in Africa, which according to the company management is higher than its North American and Asian put together. Investment AB Kinnevik has equity in Millicom (which operates in 13 emerging markets, Africa included), and Tele 2 (a major European telecommunications operator). Among its African investments is Iroko Partners, which is a Nigerian media and entertainment firm.

9. Intel Capital

This is a relatively new entrant into the African market. Intel Capital has tech co-investment with Adlevo (the Mauritius-based venture capital company) mangers into the Ghana-based Rancard Solutions (a technology firm dealing with mobile subscriber services). Ghana is the second country in Africa that Intel Capital has invested in. The company has also invested in Altech Technologies Limited.

10. Africa Media Ventures Fund

This venture capitalist mobilizes finances and experience from the Netherlands to invest in emerging entrepreneurs in the media sector and SME media companies. The company’s capital investment ranges from $20,000 to as much as $200,000. Africa Media Ventures Fund targets all the countries south of Sahara except south Africa. Currently, the company has more activity in Kenya and Ghana but looks forward to expend their coverage in the near future.

Source: Answers Africa

Starfish Mobile announced today that it has launched its new SMS based subscription services in conjunction with Econet Zimbabwe under the exciting new mobile brand, SHASHA.

The first service to be launched is the SHASHA Football Teams service, where fans can subscribe to receive daily updates, team news and match scores for their favourite English Premier League and Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League teams.

Winston Taylor, custodian of SHASHA and the driving force behind Starfish Zimbabwe had this to say. “We have been working for some time in conjunction with Starfish Mobile International and team Econet to prepare for the launch of SHASHA and are delighted to now have the first services up and running. Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) are an increasingly important segment of the mobile value chain, and our technology enables us not only to be the premium content supplier in Zimbabwe, but to also offer comprehensive marketing, promotion and audience participation services via SMS.”

Zimbabwe has been some way behind the rest of the world with regards to VAS, and a crucial aspect of any content service is the availability of local content. Starfish Zimbabwe recognises the importance of the content mix and is pleased to be able to introduce the first Football Communities service with a major component of local current and relevant team news and updates. Subscribers can expect to receive half time and full time scores on match days, as well as detailed team news, club developments, player movements and so on.

About Starfish Mobile

Starfish Zimbabwe was established in 2010 and is a joint venture between Matamba Anonaka Technology Holdings and Starfish Mobile International. The company provides VAS services to multiple Mobile Operators in Zimbabwe and across Africa including mobile content and SMS based marketing.

About Econet Zimbabwe

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe’s largest provider of telecommunications services, providing solutions in mobile and fixed wireless telephony, public payphones, internet access and payment solutions.

Econet launched its network on the 10th of July 1998 and listed on 17th September 1998. It is one of the largest companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalisation.

For more information please see:

Starfish Mobile:          www.starfishmobile.com

Econet:                        www.econet.co.zw

The new distribution business has already pre-sold its first full container load of High Definition LED Televisions, and is working on the financing for additional stock before Christmas. The company also owns a property in Harare that will soon be undergoing refurbishment as a showroom and offices.

The business is run by seasoned IT engineer Milan Vidovic, and offers a full back-up, warranty and support service. A selected number of channel partners and retailers will be appointed by the company, the first of which is Creative Computers in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare. They are also working on a payroll lending facility for commercial employers through a registered financial institution.

About MATHS

Matamba Anonaka Technology Holdings (MATHs) is the first and only technology focused Venture Capital Company in Zimbabwe, and was established in 2010 with the objective of developing Greenfield projects with proven existing technologies in identified market gaps.

MATHs is a transparent investment channel that can identify opportunities and professionally manage invested equity that will generate immediate cash flows from existing operations and invest in new projects in high growth areas.

For further information please contact:
MATHs – info@matambaanonaka.com, www.matambaanonaka.com

Arguing the need for a fourth operator Goss cites that the leading network is so far ahead of the two other players that for them to significantly close the gap in terms of market share they would have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars, something that they would not necessarily be able to do nor would it be desirable anyway as there is no assurance of success. A viable route to increase revenue for them and to make the market more competitive therefore would be to partner with an MVNO. Although Goss declined to name the networks he has had discussions with The Africa Report notes that he was in negotiations with Telecel about setting up the MVNO. Given the uncertain future of NetOne’s ownership Telecel seem to be the logical network to partner with. Goss also declined to identify his partners or investors in the fourth network project. Although the project is still in stealth mode Goss insists that discussions with the networks will continue.

The entry of an MVNO offers a lot of potential market dynamics as they can introduce new and exciting segmentation and value. As Goss indicated the virtual network can segment the market by gender, age, income status and in the case of Zimbabwe even the diaspora component. Each of these market segments have unique needs that may not be adequately met by the existing operators and an MVNO can taylor make it’s product to appeal to that market segment.

In Cameroon SET Mobile an MVNO named after Cameroonian football star Samuel E’to (hence the network named after the players initials) targets the youth demographic with a fun and accessible brand and marketing message. The company which leases capacity from Orange Cameroon offers low prices and a range of low cost handsets which are ideal for it’s market. Informa Telecoms a telecoms consultancy and research firm noted that Eto’o’s brand is Africa’s fifth MVNO network.

Probably the most prominent global MVNO operator is Richard Branson with the Virgin Mobile brand.The MVNO model is a typical Branson play that maximises his flair for marketing and jazzing up staid industries with minimal capital investment. Virgin mobile started operations in the South African market in 2007 making it the fourth cellular network provider. According to research firm Analytix in 2008 Virgin mobile had captured 0.5% of the market behind the other operators who had the following market positions: Vodacom 48%, MTN 43%, Cell C 9%. Virgin leases capacity from Cell C. Over the longer term Virgin Mobile is likely to make greater inroad as demonstrated by the growth in the UK where it has achieved 4.3 million subscribers since its launch in 1999.

The great thing about an MVNO is that it retains the veiled threat of becoming a fully fledged operator in it’s own right. In more developed markets some leading providers are deploying their own Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) and even Service Control Points (SCP). The ultimate transition to a fully fledged mobile operator would however, require licensing and this may be a hurdle too far in the local market.

With only five MVNO’s operating on the continent there seems to be some mistrust by the MNO’s that the virtual upstarts will eat into their subscriber base. But in any market there are unserved pockets that an MVNO would be better positioned to reach. This mistrust though is misplaced because research shows that MVNOs, particularly in the US, have failed when they have targeted similar areas of the market to that of the host operator and success is built on a strategy that is complimentary to potential network host.

Given this state of affairs it may need the intervention of the regulator(s) to push for the establishment of MVNO operators, as it’s in the national interest to have telecom services accessible to all citizens as well as to ensure robust competition in the sector for the benefit of subscribers.

Source: TECHZiM

Anyway, yesterday Deloitte had Julie Taylor, Google’s Head of Communications and Public Affairs for sub Saharan Africa speaking about Google’s strategy in Africa and the products the Internet search giant has launched on the continent. The event yesterday was sponsored by Gikko.net, a startup we’ve written about here before.

Taylor spoke briefly about the growth of access to the internet and mobile phones. She gave some stats from Canalys on smartphone growth on the continent revealing that year on year, the increase in the number of smartphones for 2011 was 101.9% in Africa, compared to 15% in Western Europe and 61 % in the Middle East. Smartphones, according to the stats she presented, now make up just under 11% of all mobile phones on the continent.

In terms of Google’s strategy on the continent, Taylor said it’s divided into 3 parts; access, relevance and sustainability. “Access is about getting people online, and once people are online we want the Internet to be relevant and useful to them,” she explained. “In the long term it needs to be sustainable without the Googles and all the tech companies; it needs to move and grow on its own.”

In the QnA segment of her presentation, Taylor was asked about Google’s recent changes to its privacy policy. These changes have stirred quite a reaction globally including a Europe-wide inquiry. Her response was that it was more about simplifying the company’s privacy policies which previously included over 60 separate agreements, one for each product. She also said Google uses people’s search history to provide more relevant search results to users across Google services, but that personal information is still protected, and no information is passed onto third parties.

Another question she took was one on how much of a run for their money Facebook had caused Google on the continent, to which she replied: “Facebook is very popular across the continent and it has highlighted how important the concept of “social” is to people whether it’s in Nigeria or Uganda, or Senegal or here in Zim. Social connections to people are incredibly important. In terms of competition, we encourage competition. We think it’s good for the Internet. The more competition there is, the more innovation there is.”

Recently, Google announced that they were enabling Google+ profiles on Google Trader, its classifieds platform for Africa currently operational in Uganda, Ghana and Kenya.

Source:  TECHZIM

The first services launched allow Telecel users to request SMS content from a variety of categories including love and flirt texts, bible verses and inspirational messages.

The second wave, expected towards the end of October, will be a trivia quiz game based around the on-going English football season, which will allow participants to accumulate points, with prizes going to those with the highest number of points at the end of the season.

All current services are based on Mobile Originating technology, which means subscribers request each piece of content on an as and when required basis, but later in the year, seven day subscription services will become available, whereby a single request will generate 7 days’ worth of content automatically…

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This is the second time the conference is being held in Zimbabwe and is an ideal opportunity for Zimbabwean business leaders to meet and interact with senior investment managers with a specific interest in entering or expanding their investments in this market.

For more information about this event please go to: www.euromoneyconferences.com

Matamba Anonaka Technology Holdings is proud to be speaking at Private Equity World Africa.

Private Equity World Africa is a two day conference dedicated to identifying the most exciting private equity opportunities on the continent. It brings together leading LPs and GPs to discuss opportunities presented by Africa’s emerging middle class, real estate, financial services, telecommunications, agribusiness and infrastructure.

Private Equity World Africa will be collocated with the Africa Investment Summit, which will show you how to bring European institutional capital to Africa.  It is the meeting place for institutional investors and fund and asset managers to form partnerships and raise capital.

To see the full programme and speaker line up please download the brochure here>>

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As a speaker at the event we can offer an extra 15% to any of our colleagues and contacts. To secure the discount please register through this link: www.bit.ly/speakerdiscount