Management consulting company, Africa Foresight Group (AFG), based in Accra, Ghana, which has developed a platform offering access to a network of freelance management consultants in Africa, has secured a seed funding round of over US$700,000.
“It has been a journey of three years to get here and we are excited for what lies ahead. I am proud that a majority of our capital comes from Africa-based investors who believe in the importance of what we do full-heartedly. We are a business that can drive both significant impact for Africa’s private sector and financial return for our shareholders,” said Yasmin Kumi, the startup’s founder.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- The US$700,000 seed round is led by the Lagos-based Consonance Investment Managers and GFH Holdings.
- The startup will use the fund to expand across Africa.
Why The Investors Invested
Investor Consonance Investment Managers has been very active on the African startup scene. Headquatered in Mauritius, but operating from Lagos, its notable investments include its $2 million co-investment in Ethiopian edtech startup Gebeya; its $1 million participation in the Nigerian healthtech company Lifestore in February this year; its co-funding in another Nigerian startup VerifyMe. Other notable startups on its portfolio include MDaas Global; She Leads Africa; Curacel, among others.
“We…believe strongly in AFG’s vision of building the largest managed marketplace of freelance talent in Africa to bridge the talent gap. AFG ticked attributes we look out for, including a strong women-led management team solving critical problems in a scalable way and a three-year track record in their sector. We are proud to support their vision and journey,” Mobolaji Adeoye, managing director at Consonance Investment Managers, said.
Read also: Nigerian Health-tech Startup Lifestores Raises $1 mn To Scale Business
A Look At What Africa Foresight Group (AFG) Does
Founded in 2016 by Yasmin Kumi, who is also an Executive Director of the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance — which she led from September 2016 to September 2017 — AFG allows leading companies, investment funds and development partners to hire teams to make the right strategic decisions and achieve sustainable success, utilising an online platform and machine learning to build an entirely new model for consulting in Africa.
The startup’s platform matches teams with open project opportunities, manages performance data, and supports the invoicing and payments process, amongst others.
Currently, AFG claims to have finished more than 120 engagements across Africa in Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania since inception with a team of more than 100 consultants — “foresighters”. The startup claims its clients include leading private equity funds from the US and the UK, development finance institutions from Germany and within Africa as well as large family business groups from across the continent.
“We are on a quest to build the largest talent network in Africa to elevate the people and businesses of our continent,” said Yasmin Kumi.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer