Angel Investor - Afrikan Heroes

Why a Financial Crisis Is Actually the Best Time to Start a Company

April 19, 2020

Feliks Eyser, founder at Digital Founders Camp & angel investor

I started my digital marketing company in 2009 against the backdrop of a global financial crisis. Most people thought a young university graduate — like I was at that time — should play it safe and wait for the business climate to get better before starting a company. I’ll never forget the middle-aged business owner who approached me at a trade show and suggested I was “very courageous” to start a company in “the crisis,” and wished me well as if I were taking a trip to some dangerous place from which I would never return.

My youthful ignorance turned out to be a blessing, although the first two years of bootstrapping were painfully humbling. My business card read “CEO,” but in reality, I was sleeping on an airbed under my desk. Two years later, armed with the proof of concept for our business model and bolstered by the tailwind of the improving economy, I raised my first round of financing. Eventually, I assembled a fantastic team of hundreds of people and later sold the majority of the company to a media conglomerate. It was a great ride, and I now believe that starting my company during a recession was the best move I could have made.

Why it’s better to start a company in 2020 than in 2019

According to a 2009 study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, an extraordinary 57% of Fortune 500 companies have been founded in a recession or bear market, even though only 31% of all years since 1855 counted as “down years.”

Starting with a blank slate is your advantage in 2020. This year, the competition is weak.

If the majority of these companies got started during rough economic periods, it suggests that they may not be bad times to start a company. A “bad time to start a company” usually implies low consumer demand and limited access to funding. But that’s mainly a problem for startups that are already established. They have to manage the decline, after all.

With no legacy costs, no draining layoffs, and no bank calling you to cut the credit line, entrepreneurs who start companies now can focus on building a great new product or service. Starting with a blank slate is your advantage in 2020. This year, the competition is weak, and you can gain an advantage that might last for years.

Ingredients for success

In the world of startups, there is no guaranteed formula for success, but you need at least four ingredients to avoid failure: a good idea, an outstanding team, enough funding, and a way to find customers.

Here’s what that looks like in the current crisis of 2020.

1. Painkiller ideas

Great ideas usually either solve a real, significant problem or make life considerably easier. Think of great startup ideas as painkillers: People need them and are willing to pay. The year 2020 will produce a whole range of “painkiller-category” problems that will translate into entrepreneurial opportunities.

Millions of children can’t attend school. How can you solve that? Visit any quarantined household with small children. Those parents surely have a litany of new problems in need of a solution. Tens of millions of workers have gotten laid off. Hundreds of thousands of urban storefronts will be left empty by shuttered restaurants and struggling retailers. What will fill the voids in 2021?

Problems create opportunities, and 2020 is not lacking in problems. It’s no coincidence that companies like Uber or Airbnb were founded and thrived after the last financial crisis. They solved real problems (“I need extra cash”) and made life easier (“I want a cheaper, easier option”) at the right time.

2. Hiring during a recession

Finding great employees has historically been one of the biggest bottlenecks for startups. Here’s the biggest reason to start a company in 2020: For the first time in the last five years, you’re going to have access to an abundant pool of amazing talent. In 2019, companies had to bend over backward to attract great people. Outstanding employees were spoiled by poaching offers from competing companies. That drove rising salary levels and the frequency of job-hopping.

Today, the pandemic has forced millions of qualified, hard-working employees to be let go by their firms. Some of them — maybe you among them — will take matters in their own hands and create a startup. Others will be thrilled to be working for one.

In 2020 it will get much easier to compete for talent and retain employees. Perks like free kombucha, Disneyland furniture, and daily yoga classes at work suddenly sound so “2019” now. This year, offer meaningful work with good pay and possibly some stock options and people will gladly assemble their own Ikea furniture to work for you. Add to that the possibility of worldwide recruiting, which the work-from-home explosion has accelerated, and your inbox will be overflowing with applications.

3. Finding funding

Now you might be thinking, “This sounds all well and good, but it will be impossible to raise any money in 2020.”

I don’t agree. But before I address why, let’s clear something up: I think the last five years were a fake environment of fundraising. It felt like anybody and their dog could raise a $1 million seed round if they walked straight and put together 20 PowerPoint slides. There was so much money available that a company was able to raise $120 million dollars to build a $400 machine to squeeze juice from a plastic bag.

These times are probably over, but venture capitalists and angel investors are still here and still have money to invest. It will undoubtedly become harder to raise funds in 2020 compared to 2019. The 2020 funding environment will favor outstanding founders. They will still raise rounds, and the mediocre startups will suffer. But who wants to be mediocre anyways?

Let’s consider a temporary shortage of capital a good thing. Less funding means the quality of entrepreneurship will rise again. Fewer dollars will force everyone to work harder and get better. In my first two years after starting up, I would think three times before spending a dime. For example, we would never pay for any sales leads datasets but instead hack together a script to scrape such data from public sites for free. This instilled a culture of frugality that lasted much longer than the actual bootstrapping phase.

In normal times, nobody needs a $50 million Series A round six months after starting their company. A lot of such rounds led to premature scaling and created more damage than value. Potentially good companies like WeWork blitzscaled straight into trouble.

Use the temporary shortage of capital to your advantage and foster a culture of frugality and wits. No business-class flights or $1,000 office chairs. The leaner you operate, the better.

4. Finding customers

When I started my digital marketing company in the financial crisis, a lot of companies had shredded their advertising budget. So needless to say, our products didn’t sell like hotcakes. But we knew there were still businesses out there that were doing well and who needed our services. Our job was to be smart and find them.

As a founder, your job in the first year is to build something that 100 people love, rather than something that 10,000 people kind of like. If you do an excellent job of creating something valuable, you’ll find those 100 people, no matter if it’s the year 2020, 2009, or 2001. That is the first stage for most startups, and during this stage, the macroeconomic environment just doesn’t matter so much. It will easily take one or two years until you have genuinely figured out product-market fit.

Take advantage of the low advertising prices as well. If you truly offer something that people need, now is the best time to attract users cheaply. With marketing budgets cut down to almost zero in a lot of cases, you’ll be able to buy low-priced ad inventory, especially in digital channels.

Here’s to the real entrepreneurs

The next couple of years in a downturn environment will be your training day. The sales you make will be the hardest of your life. The fundraising will be slow and cumbersome, especially if you’re a first-time founder. You will get scars. But those kinds of scars will make you great in the future.

Fortune hunters who are just in the game for easy money are likely to leave the scene during this crisis. But real entrepreneurs will enter the arena and stick around. Entrepreneurship is always a tough game with limited resources, no matter when you start. One of my mentors would always say: “As a founder, you have to eat concrete.” You’ll face a thousand setbacks in your journey. So you might as well start now when everyone else is too scared to join the race. You’ll have a head start.

Feliks Eyser is a founder at Digital Founders Camp & angel investor sharing experiences for first-time founders.

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

What To Do If Your Startup Is Running Out of Cash

March 29, 2020

Dave Bailey, co-founder, venture capitalist, Angel investor

Startups that aren’t sitting on significant cash reserves are currently in a fight for survival

Over the course of just a couple of weeks, economic activity has slowed dramatically. Companies are freezing new purchases in nonessential areas. Consumer spending is slowing down. And investors are fearful as they watch their portfolios tank.

As business owners, these financial challenges mean we have some hard decisions to face, especially when it comes to retaining our staff and managing our dwindling cash reserves.

A lot of people are asking me what other CEOs are doing. While it’s reassuring to know how others are reacting, I encourage you to make decisions based on your specific situation. To that end, here are some of the essential questions to ask yourself in order to successfully lead your company through the coronavirus crisis and to regain control of your cash flow.

1. How much financial risk can you take?

When you spend more than you earn, your business can only exist for so long. The length of time you can survive while making a loss every month is your runway.

Estimating your runway is tricky since there are many unknowns. You’ll need to run some financial models that forecast what might happen in a worst-case scenario. For example, you should map out what would happen to your runway if:

Revenues stay low for a period of three, six, or 12 months.
You can’t raise more funding for six, 12, or 18 months.
You reduce costs by 25%, 50%, or 75%.

For companies in the U.K., here’s a useful checklist that outlines ways to improve your cash flow and extend your runway, including the latest government measures available to small businesses.

A month ago, if you’d come to me with a six-month runway, I would’ve told you to start cutting your costs so you could survive longer. Now, I believe you should proactively reduce your costs if you have less than 12 months of runway.

Even truly outstanding companies will find it harder to raise funding in the next few months because virtually all companies, including their existing investments, are depleting their cash balances at the same time. The hard part is working out how much to cut, and then cutting it. The longer you wait to make this decision, the more you’ll have to cut just to stay solvent.

Reducing your costs is the financial equivalent of “flattening the curve.” Investors can’t fund all good companies at once.

2. How do you fire people in a crisis?

There are many ways for any company to cut costs, and you should investigate all of them. However, for most startups, people are the biggest cost.

There are some temporary options to consider first.

Many founders and employees may be open to taking a salary cut if it means the company can stay afloat and they can avoid unemployment. Another option is a furlough — unpaid leave — where staff stop working temporarily until they’re able to restart.

However, there’s a harder, scarier, and more permanent option that I know many of you will have to look at: laying off part of your team.

To put it bluntly: If your runway is short and if you don’t reduce your head count, you’re likely to face bankruptcy.

It’s going to feel like an impossible decision, and I truly feel for you. Laying off people you know and care about when they haven’t done anything wrong, during the biggest economic crisis of our time, can seem incredibly cold and insensitive.

However, if you’re facing a choice between layoffs and bankruptcy, you don’t really have a choice at all.

Psychologist Paul Bloom defines empathy as “feeling what other people are feeling” and warns us that empathy alone is a terrible decision-maker. He points out that empathy is innumerate (it’s easier to empathize with one person than an entire company), biased (we empathize more with people that look like us), and it can be weaponized (leaving you open to manipulation).

Moreover, Bloom warns that literally feeling other people’s emotions, especially during a crisis, can leave you exhausted and burned out.

Instead, Bloom recommends substituting empathy with compassion. When you act with compassion, you still care deeply about people, respect them, and sympathize with their situation. However, you don’t feel what they feel — for your own sake.

Ideally, if you reach the stage where you need to do layoffs, you should video call each employee individually to deliver the bad news. Explain the situation and the actions you’ve taken to secure the business. Be grateful, vulnerable, and proactive about the support you can offer. Pay them what they’re owed, maybe even with a generous severance if you can afford it.

3. How can you motivate the people that stay?

It’s a huge struggle to stay motivated during a crisis, especially when your co-workers are leaving. And this goes for founders, too.

A crisis is the true test of your company’s mission.

In nonbusiness use, the word “mission” is reserved for the most important and inspiring jobs. It would be weird to say, “I’m on a mission to do the washing up,” unless the magnitude of the cleaning was so large that you’d earn someone’s respect just for trying.

And that’s a good way to think about your company’s mission: It’s the most important thing you’re trying to achieve. After all, if your ultimate goal isn’t important, what’s the point in working hard?

If you’re looking to reformulate your mission to reinspire your team, start with this simple format: “We’re on a mission to help __[customers] __[achieve an important goal/outcome].”

You can’t have a business without customers, so this will clarify whom you’re serving and why you’re serving them. If your mission isn’t motivating, maybe it’s time to find a mission that is and work on that.

4. How can you support your team?

This isn’t just a global health and economic crisis. Each and every one of us is living our own mini-crises right now. And your team is no exception.

They have their own medical concerns, parents and grandparents to worry about, children to look after. They have food to buy, homes to run, and new, enforced routines to manage.

And you can count on one thing: You don’t know the half of it. As a leader, you’re often the last to know if your team isn’t happy. Don’t assume that they are “doing great” if you aren’t aware of anything in particular.

Try setting up a support group a couple of times a week. It may sound intimidating, but here’s a simple format that works:

Organize into groups of five to seven people.
Each person takes it in turn to share something that’s gone well, or something they’re grateful for. Start with the positives.
People are then invited to share a challenge that’s been difficult.

You may be surprised by how many different ways this crisis affects people — especially if you don’t know what it’s like to have kids at home. Listen to your team, acknowledge their challenges, and support them wherever you can — even if that means providing extra flexibility. It might make all the difference.

5. How much communication is enough?

With new measures and policies coming in on a daily basis, your team needs to know where they stand. However, if you’ve just started working from home, your communication levels are probably going down, not up.

Even if you finished planning your quarterly goals just a few weeks ago, it might not be clear whether priorities have changed. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine they haven’t changed, and in most cases, you’ll need to replan. And this needs to be communicated to your team explicitly.

The correct meeting structure is critical at a time like this. You should adopt meetings that minimize communication problems, such as:

Regular status updates
All-hands meetings
One-on-ones
Retrospectives

You can also create additional meetings and communication channels to support people that are new to remote working. But aside from setting up the right meetings, it also matters what you say.

Take the opportunity to repeat your company’s mission in every meeting, and clarify what’s most important right now. Share any context and information you have, so your team can act and plan accordingly.

It’s wise to work on your own fears and anxieties outside of team meetings. After all, emotions can go viral inside companies too. Before addressing the team, take a moment to ground yourself with some deep breaths.

If you can, find a way to laugh at yourself. Done well, humor can break the tension and increase people’s spirits.

Communication is about listening, not just speaking. Pay attention to your team’s questions, and answer them as honestly as you can. Their questions will give you an insight into what they really care about, and your honesty will earn their trust.

Now is the time for decisive action

There’s still so much we don’t know. No one knows how long this crisis will last. We don’t know how serious the economic, financial, and social consequences will be. And we don’t know how many people will lose their lives. We’re all in a period of great uncertainty, trying to do the right thing.

However, if you’re close to running out of money, now is the time for strong and decisive leadership. Decide which measures you must take to give your business the runway it needs, and act accordingly.

Many founders are driven by the idea of making an impact. But the biggest impact we ever make is on the people nearest us. Be kind to each other, and be kind to yourself.

Dave Bailey has over 10 years experience co-founding three VC-backed tech companies as well as investing in dozens of early-stage startups as a VC and Angel investor.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Perfecting your pitch deck: How to get investors on board

February 15, 2020

When it comes to trying to get funding for your product or service, there’s little that’s more important than having a killer pitch deck. Apart from having a great business idea, it’s probably the biggest influence on whether or not you can secure an investor.

And, in fact, even a great idea can be very quickly sabotaged by a badly planned pitch deck!

With that in mind, it can feel intimidating to get started. What do you need to include? Where do you start? What research do you need to have done beforehand?

Don’t fret. Today we’re going to walk you through all of it! Not only will we chat you through each of the key sections that you should include in your pitch deck, but we’ll also show you examples from some well-known (and very successful!) businesses to help get the inspiration flowing.

Let’s get you the funding you deserve!

The Key Tenents to a great pitch deck

First things first, let’s discuss the things that you should keep in mind throughout creating your pitch deck. Lose sight of these points and you risk losing your potential investors, too!

Keep it concise: Whether it’s Venture Capitalists or Angel Investors that you’re pitching to, keep your deck focused. As VC Iskender Dirik notes, “The attention span of a VC is even shorter than you might think. Be as striking, simple and short as possible.” (source). Similarly, Angel Investor Jordan Rothstein says that one of the key factors in creating a great pitch deck is keeping it “clear and concise” (source, Angel investor).
Engage your audience: Treat potential investors as an audience, ensuring that you are keeping their eyes on your pitch. Again, this links to being clear and concise, however also try to make your deck look the part and to present your information in as interesting a way as possible.
Know what you’re talking about: Don’t start creating your pitch deck until you have put in the research! You need to truly undersatnd the behind-the-scenes of your business, know your market and understand your users. As such, commit to conduct user and market research that will give potential investors the reassurance they need that their money is safe with you.

What to include in a pitch deck

Source

The above image is a good summary of what may be included in a pitch deck, with its contents being very similar to that of your business plan or business model canvas.

However, we’re going to walk you through each section that, as pitch deck specialists, we think should be included. We’ve also included the decks of some well-known and successful products to help you nail your pitch.

Engaging Intro

As we said, being engaging is crucial in your pitch deck. Creating a snappy and interesting first slide can be particularly brilliant for grabbing potential investors’ attention. After all, you want to start on the right foot.

Take Quora’s deck, for example. The very first slide is an introduction to their company in a way that is intriguing and culturally relevant at the time.

Find the full Quora pitch deck here.

The Team

Show off your dream team! This is a great opportunity to build trust with your potential investors by showing any relevant previous experience. Again, take Quora as an example.

Find the full Quora pitch deck here.

What’s the problem?

Of course, your product or service needs to be solving a problem. Through your user and market research you will have hopefully got this all figured out. Now explicitly define it in your deck.

Take Uber as example with their pitch deck from 2008:

Find Uber’s full pitch deck here.

How do you solve it?

Now that you’ve defined your problem, tell potential investors how you solve it. Again, your user and market research should have helped you to find a viable and needed solution!

Sticking with the example of Uber, here’s how they explained their solution to the above issues.

The Product/Service

Now explain exactly what your product or service is. Try to do it as simply as possible so that anyone could understand it.

AirBnB’s “Product” slide is a great example:

Find the rest of AirBnBs pitch deck here.

What does the market look like?

Show that you’ve done your market research and give your potential investors faith that you know what you’re talking about by providing your market findings.

AirBnB created a great summary in their deck.

Also use this section to show who you’re selling to. Of course, this should all be backed up by solid market research!

Uber defined their market as “Professionals in American Cities” early on in their pitch, but also outlined the following use cases:

The Competition

Your market research should give you a clear idea who your competition are. Make sure that you clearly define these in your deck.

One great way to do this is through a Market Position diagram, like this one from Quora.

The Technology

If relevant, highlight the tech behind your product or service. Your investors won’t necessarily share your level of expertise, so simply explain what technology you use.

Take a leaf out of Uber’s book:

Traction

Nothing makes people want to invest more in a product than proving it’s already loved! Use your “Traction” section to highlight key (positive!) stats including things like members, users, revenue, margins and growth.

Buffer did so perfectly in their deck:

Find the rest of the Buffer pitch deck here.

Business Model

Perhaps one of the most important parts of your pitch deck, this section shows how you actually make revenue. Ensure that this is backed up by solid calculations and research, as is the case with AirBnB.

The Marketing Plan

If you want to make sales, you need to have a killer marketing plan. Show your investors that you’ve got a strategy for encouraging wider spread adoption once you have secured funding.

Here are some of Uber’s ideas from 2008!

Needed investment

Time to lay out exactly what you need. Keep it concise and simple.

The Takeaways

Your pitch deck needs to get across that you have a viable product or service idea that is backed up by lots of solid research. Don’t worry, over the next couple of weeks we’re going to cover exactly how you can conduct this research and wow your potential investors.

On top of that, your pitch should be engaging and should show your passion for the market you work in. So, use these sections as a guideline for the key information to include, but make sure that you inject your company’s personality into it!

In an article about whether there is a one size-fits-all formula for pitch decks, Imogen Berman also highlights the importance of tailoring a deck to your audience. So, this is a great read for those of you that want to continue learning on this topic.

To find out more about how we can help you with user and market research, click here. We can also assist with grant funding applications, too.

Plus, don’t forget to check out Buffer’s, AirBnB’s, Quora’s and Uber’s original pitch decks.

Bethany Austin is a research writer at Snap Out, a Market and User Research Consultancy based in Milton-Keynes.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Agri-Startups In Ethiopia Can Apply For Funding And Growth Support Under This New Programme

August 11, 2019

This is a huge opportunity for agri-startups and businesses in Ethiopia to grow and scale their businesses. The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), through its Green Innovation Centers project, and the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), in partnership with iceaddis, officially launched the Green Innovation & Agritech Slam 2019 (GIAS) on August 7 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Addis Abeba. GIAS is a nationwide agricultural business competition that aims to find innovative solutions to critical challenges of the agricultural sector.

All You Need To Know About The Competition

The competition supports Ethiopian agricultural entrepreneurs and is awarding 10 innovative and bright entrepreneurs or businesses, with over 1,000,000 Birr (roughly $35, 000) shared prize among winners.

“The winners will also receive extensive business development support; expert advice; mentorship; and an opportunity to travel to Germany for an exposure visit (for first prize winners only) in the field of their business idea. The business competition specifically encourages youth and women owned or co-owned companies to apply.’

“Disseminating agricultural innovations is essential to increase productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. By strengthening the private sector, up- and downstream enterprises, and promoting entrepreneurship directed towards challenges of the agricultural sector, the service provision for smallholder farmers can be improved,” said Laura de Guevara, GIZ supported Green Innovation Centers — Ethiopia

The nationwide business competition features 5 categories: nutrition & consumer market, agri-inputs & equipment, environmental protection & sustainability, idea stage digital businesses and post-revenue agri-tech startups.
Applications from all over the country will go through rigorous selection process to identify and award the final 10 winners at a grand award ceremony on November 14, 2019. The grand event will have a conference on digital agriculture in Ethiopia on November 15th, 2019.

Ken Lohento of CTA said:“Digital technologies have the potential to transform the agricultural sector. CTA is confident that a focus on digital solutions among youth in this regard will help to boost Ethiopia’s future food security and create jobs across the agricultural value chain.”

The innovations and ideas are expected to bring solutions to critical challenges of the wheat, legumes and honey value chains and digital needs of agricultural stakeholders in Ethiopia. These are believed to eventually contribute to job creation of youth and women entrepreneurs.

Markos Lemma, Co-founder & CEO of iceaddis on his part said that

“Agriculture is the cornerstone of the Ethiopian economy although lack of technology or fresh ideas has partly affected its full success. More than ever, iceaddis recognizes the need to bring innovation by young Ethiopians to the agriculture scene. It is time we support our smallholder farmers better with innovation and technology.”

The Green Innovation & Agritech Slam welcomes individuals, private businesses, higher learning institutes and governmental and non-governmental organizations with innovative ideas and businesses in the selected value chains, as well as young digital innovators offering digital services to the entire agricultural sector.

Funded by the European Union, the competition is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA).

How To Apply

The competition categories of this year’s Green Innovation & Agritech Slam 2019 are as follows:

The Value Chain Challenge

Application Deadline:

October 1st, 2019

Do you run a business or have an idea to upscale your business in the food and agriculture value chains of wheat, legumes or honey?

Then apply in these categories

Nutrition & Consumer Market:

Organisers are looking for businesses that want to enter the market with new/ improved products or innovations in the food processing sector that aim at food security or healthy eating

Agri-Inputs & Equipments:

Does your business idea address challenges in the agri-input systems or proposes innovative products to increase productivity, ease maintenance or substitute imports?

Environmental Protection & Sustainability

Apply here, if you have an innovative idea on how to protect the environment or promote sustainability in the selected value chains

Pitch AgriHack Challenge

Application Deadline:

September 10th, 2019

Are you young entrepreneurs (aged between 18 to 35 years old) and do you have innovative digital solutions for the entire agriculture sector?

Then apply in these categories

Pre-revenue digital startups:

Organisers are looking for early stage digital solutions that can solve agricultural problems and support agricultural sector. However, you must have an existing prototype

Post-revenue digital startups:

Do you run a post-revenue digital business focusing on agriculture? Your solution must be already generating revenues, even if it is not yet profitable.

Criteria

Young and driven entrepreneurs
Resident in Ethiopia
Submit the application by the deadlines. For the Value Chain Challenge this is October 1st,2019, and for Pitch AgriHack Challenge, September 10th, 2019.

Mode of Application

Applications can be submitted through the organisers’ web form which is available at www.innovation-slam.com or submitted in printed format at selected regional institutions and partners. For more information about submissions, kindly contact the organisers directly.

Selection Process

The selection of winners is determined by an independent jury composed by the private sector, government ministries, development agencies and business consultants. The organizers do not influence the outcome of the jury’s decision.

Startups In Ghana Gain One More New Investor

May 13, 2019

Startups in Ghana will now benefit from one more new investor in town.

Quick Angels Limited is a fully owned Ghanaian angel investor company which provides services, including start-up equity financing, early stage equity financing, business growth equity financing, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) equity financing and buying and selling of businesses.

**Richard Nii-Armah Quaye, Board Chairman of Quick Angels**

The company promises to provide more seed capital for startups; to rapidly expand existing businesses by making available the requisite capital and premium management expertise; partner already existing businesses and startups with the aim of providing strong financial returns and creating institutionalized entities over long periods.

The new company is located along the Ring Road close to Ernest Chemist, Ring Road Central, Accra, Ghana.

A New Ponzi Scheme In Town?

For those thinking that there is a new Ponzi Scheme in town, Mr.
Richard Nii-Armah Quaye Board Chairman of Quick Angels said:

‘‘Quick Angels Limited has not been established to defraud people but rather, to help young entrepreneurs with brilliant business ideas to thrive.People will think that perhaps, we have also come here to bring a Ponzi scheme. Our mission is to drive innovative commercial Angel Investments that seek to propel Ghanaian start-ups and also restore promising businesses through strategic partnerships that exceed expectations.”

The best way to go about believing them is to do background checks on the company to get dig out more information about who are and their operation, although the CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Corporation (GIPC), Yoofi Grant has praised the new company for the initiative.

What The Company Does

“Quick Angels is a God sent company at this time where startups in Ghana need long term financial sources to grow their businesses and to scale it up. They are coming with equity funding and not loans which means that startups can comfortably think about how to scale up their businesses and grow it,’’ the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan in Ghana, Mr John Kumah noted.

Also See: Zipline in Ghana: What is Left For Africa Entrepreneurs?

The company stated in its website to be providing the following services:

The Startup Equity financing
Early Stage Equity Financing
Business Growth Equity Financing
SME Equity Financing
Buying and selling of Businesses

Startups in Ghana can check up on them to know what difference they are bringing to the table.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.