Elevate Your startup to the Next Level
with my Expert Consulting Strategies

Memo: From Gaps to Growth – A Bold Blueprint to Scale Africa’s Innovation Ecosystem Sustainably

Executive Summary

This memo offers a long-term roadmap to build a truly African solution: an ecosystem anchored by sustainable infrastructure, proactive private sector organizations (PSOs), reformed public procurement policies, local capital mobilization, and ecosystem-wide mindset shifts.

The vision is bold but practical—to shift from fragmented and reactive support to an integrated, scalable, and locally-owned system. By realigning incentives, activating domestic institutions, and championing African entrepreneurship through policy, partnerships, and capital, we can rewire the business environment to unlock scalable growth and cross-border innovation.

1. Mindset Transformation: From Inferiority to Ownership

Challenge: African governments, corporations, and even consumers often default to foreign solutions—assuming that international products are more reliable, scalable, or trustworthy. This mindset is reinforced by donor dynamics, a lack of local success stories, and a deficit in national confidence, especially when African-led solutions are not celebrated.

Expanded Strategic Solutions:

• • “Buy African First” Policies: Institutionalize preferential procurement frameworks at both government and corporate levels that require a significant share of contracts (30–50%) to go to African-built solutions. Pair this with quality benchmarking and performance-based reviews to ensure confidence in local providers.** Governments and large corporates should implement procurement policies that reserve a set percentage (e.g. 30–50%) of procurement budgets for locally developed solutions, helping legitimize and scale local innovations.
  • Celebrate Local Successes: Elevate homegrown innovators through awards, founder showcases, and storytelling partnerships with influencers and national broadcasters. Highlight not just startup wins but also recovery from failure to normalize risk-taking in entrepreneurship.** Launch multimedia campaigns that tell the stories of African founders, innovators, and SMEs that are solving real problems, in order to build national pride and challenge the status quo of foreign-dependency.
  • Innovation Sandboxes: Create sector-specific policy sandboxes—especially in fintech, healthcare, and agtech—where startups can test and iterate under relaxed regulatory conditions. This can be led by regulators or in partnership with PSOs to lower the cost of experimentation and encourage local IP development.** Create regulatory sandboxes and testing environments in key industries—health, education, fintech, and agriculture—where African startups can pilot solutions with minimal red tape, directly supported by local authorities or corporations.

2. Graduation Pathways: From Startup to Scale

Challenge: While Africa has seen an increase in early-stage startup formation, the ecosystem struggles to support companies in their transition to growth-stage enterprises. Few startups cross the ‘valley of death’ between seed and Series A funding, and those that do often struggle with market access, scaling infrastructure, and compliance requirements. The absence of strong Private Sector Organizations (PSOs), investment from African corporates, and tailored support structures has left a dangerous gap.

Expanded Strategic Solutions:

• • Corporate Venture Capital: Offer policy incentives for large African corporations to create dedicated CVC arms that invest strategically in startups aligned with their operations. These arms should go beyond branding and engage in deal syndication, due diligence, and mentorship.
  • M&A Incentives: Establish fiscal or regulatory incentives to promote acquisitions of startups by large firms, such as capital gains tax deferrals, co-investment grants, or access to sovereign funds for qualifying deals.
  • M&A Boutiques: Set up boutique firms and advisory hubs focused solely on enabling mergers, acquisitions, and integrations between SMEs and corporate actors to fill the intermediary gap in the African investment ecosystem.
  • Startup Accelerators: Provide long-term acceleration (6–12 months) for post-revenue startups, focused on operational optimization, customer acquisition, compliance, and governance—all vital for investment-readiness.
  • Corporate Services: Mobilize large African corporations to offer bundled services—legal, HR, compliance, export, and lobbying—to ecosystem partners as part of paid programs or CSR.
  • Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Standardize agreements between startups and governments for tech deployment in public services. Create startup-friendly PPP frameworks with shared IP, performance-based contracts, and risk-sharing models.
  • University-Industry Collaboration: Reform higher education to include entrepreneurship labs and industry placements in startup environments, supported by public research grants and industry mentorship.
  • IP Reform: Launch a unified digital platform for regional IP registration that includes standardized timelines, support centers, and low-cost pathways for startups and SMEs.
  • Capital Market Access: Design regional stock exchanges with relaxed entry requirements for SMEs, including digital onboarding, investor education, and early-stage listing protocols.
  • Activate PSOs as Growth Drivers: Redesign PSOs to offer fee-based, outcome-driven services such as market access programs, trade fair representation, scale-readiness audits, policy lobbying, and investment matchmaking tailored for SMEs. Encourage government co-funding to support PSO infrastructure.

3. Government Procurement as a Catalyst

Challenge: Governments spend heavily but rarely engage local tech firms due to rigid, risk-averse procurement processes.

Expanded Strategic Solutions:

• Local Procurement Quotas: Mandate that a minimum of 30% of all tech procurement must go to certified local startups and SMEs, with phased targets tracked annually.
• Fast-Track Startup Bidding: Establish separate, streamlined procurement pathways for early-stage ventures—including lighter documentation, milestone-based disbursements, and government-supported legal services.
• Capacity Building: Create innovation-focused procurement units within ministries and agencies. Train officers on startup evaluation, risk mitigation, and co-designing pilot contracts.
• R&D Allocation: Institutionalize the allocation of 5% of all procurement budgets for grants to local startups developing future-fit solutions in sectors not yet served domestically.

4. Unlocking Local & Diaspora Capital

Challenge: Despite high remittances, very little diaspora or institutional capital flows into African startups.

Expanded Strategic Solutions:

• • Diaspora Investment Platforms: Establish trusted, transparent, and regulated digital platforms where diaspora investors can access pre-screened African ventures, invest as little as $100, and track performance.
  • Crowdinvestment Reform: Push for harmonized crowdinvesting laws across RECs (regional economic communities) to allow cross-border fundraising, ensure investor protections, and reduce compliance costs.
  • Regional Capital Markets: Consolidate national stock exchanges into regional platforms (e.g. East Africa, ECOWAS) with shared listing rules, liquidity incentives, and digital interfaces to expand investor access.
  • Blended Finance Tools: Encourage donor and development finance institutions (DFIs) to use first-loss guarantees, technical assistance, and revenue-based financing to de-risk early-stage investments for local and diaspora funders.

5. Visibility & Narrative Ownership

Challenge: African innovation is underrepresented in both traditional and global media.

Expanded Strategic Solutions:

• • National Media Campaigns: Partner with ministries and media authorities to allocate regular airtime and editorial space to local innovation case studies, founder profiles, and SME journeys.
  • Decentralized Storytelling: Provide grants or syndication opportunities for community-based storytellers, YouTubers, and bloggers who cover innovation from underrepresented regions and languages.
  • Tech Reporting Fellowships: Build partnerships with journalism schools to create year-long fellowships for journalists to report on the tech and startup ecosystem—creating a new generation of sector-specialized reporters.
  • Incentivized Media Partnerships: Encourage telcos, banks, and logistics companies to sponsor innovation-focused content as part of brand visibility campaigns, helping fund creator ecosystems.

Conclusion

Africa’s greatest opportunity lies not in competing globally, but in building resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems that increase intra-African trade, foster cross-border collaboration, and support homegrown innovation. The continent’s economic transformation must be rooted in African solutions—developed by Africans, for Africans.
This memo outlines a bold path forward: one where African governments prioritize local innovation through procurement, where Private Sector Organizations serve as dynamic growth engines for SMEs, and where regional capital and collaboration are harnessed to accelerate scale. The emphasis is on transforming structural gaps into building blocks for an integrated African marketplace, where exporting innovation across borders becomes as viable as importing it from abroad.
By realigning incentives, activating domestic champions, and democratizing access to capital and visibility, Africa can build an innovation ecosystem that is not only self-reliant but also scalable, inclusive, and tailored to the realities of its people.

Henri Nyakarundi
CEO, ARED Group

Shifting the Spotlight: Why Africa’s Homegrown Talent Deserves More Praise

Introduction

The echo of Africa’s talents resounds globally, manifesting in awe-inspiring stories of individuals who redefine success across oceans. Consider Adewale Adeyemo, a Nigerian-born luminary in President Biden’s economic team, or the legions of African nurses who are indispensable in Europe’s healthcare systems. Their achievements are celebrated in international headlines, accolades streaming in from afar. Yet, there’s a poignant contrast when it comes to the recognition of such talents within their own African soils. Why is it that these stories of profound achievement often find louder applause internationally than at home?

Global Acclaim for African Pioneers

African professionals are making significant impacts worldwide, carving out niches in highly competitive arenas like technology, finance, and healthcare. They are heralded abroad for their contributions, embodying the potential and prowess of the continent’s human capital. This international acclaim is crucial—it highlights African professionals on global platforms, showcasing their skills and innovation. But it also underscores a deeper narrative about opportunity, mobility, and the pursuit of recognition.

The Local Disparity

Conversely, back on African soil, many such success stories remain undercelebrated. Local media often underreports the achievements of revolutionary educators, healthcare innovators, or tech entrepreneurs unless they gain recognition abroad first. This lack of local celebration stems partly from traditional media paradigms that prioritize international success stories, which are perceived as more newsworthy or prestigious. Additionally, the cultural tapestry of many African communities, which emphasizes seniority and loyalty over merit, often overshadows raw talent and innovation.

Cultural and Systemic Challenges

The cultural ethos in some parts of Africa, where one is advised not to ‘outshine the master,’ creates an environment where ambition is often muted, and conformity is rewarded. In both the public and private sectors, this mentality can stifle creativity and discourage the kind of risk-taking essential for innovation. Such dynamics are detrimental not just to individuals but to the broader entrepreneurial and creative ecosystems. As a mentor to burgeoning startups across the continent, I have observed many young entrepreneurs temper their ambitions to align with these unspoken rules, often to the detriment of their potential.

The Rise of New Media Champions

Despite these challenges, the narrative is gradually shifting, thanks to the efforts of new media and independent content creators. These platforms are championing the cause of local talents, highlighting stories of innovation and success within the continent. One of my favorites is  Wode Maya from Ghana (check him out). From social media influencers spotlighting local fashion designers to tech bloggers featuring home-grown startups, these channels are slowly but surely changing perceptions and showing that success is abundant and varied within Africa itself.

Institutional Support and the Path Forward

For a transformative impact, however, institutional support is paramount. A few forward-thinking governments and policy-makers are beginning to implement supportive measures—be it through funding, policy reforms, or creating innovation hubs—that encourage and nurture local talent. Educational systems are also pivoting, incorporating curricula that foster entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, preparing a generation that is both ambitious and well-equipped.

Conclusion

Africa is a continent bursting with potential, where every community, every city has local heroes whose innovations and achievements could inspire the next generation. It’s time these individuals received the same ovation at home that they get abroad. By refocusing our attention and resources, we can cultivate an environment that not only recognizes but also robustly supports and celebrates its brightest minds. Let us commit to nurturing this brilliance at home, empowering a future where African talent is recognized universally—cherished not only as exports but as local treasures shaping the continent’s destiny.

Unleashing Potential: Celebrating African Entrepreneurs Shaping the Future

Introduction

Across the rich tapestry of Africa, a quiet revolution is underway. It’s driven not by the usual suspects of multinational corporations or foreign investments, but by the continent’s own: African entrepreneurs. These individuals are not just starting businesses; they are transforming economies and communities. As an entrepreneur and coach helping startups to flourish in Africa, I’ve witnessed firsthand the remarkable resilience and innovative spirit of these business leaders. Their success stories should be celebrated more robustly both at home and abroad. Why then, is their recognition often reserved for accolades from distant shores?

The Power of Local Entrepreneurship

African entrepreneurs are the backbone of the continent’s economic resurgence. From tech innovators in Nairobi’s Silicon Savannah to agri-tech pioneers in Ghana, these individuals are crafting solutions uniquely suited to Africa’s challenges and opportunities. Yet, the spotlight often shines brighter on them when recognized by the West. This skewed narrative undersells the profound impact of their work in their own communities and economies.

As a coach to several startups across Africa, I emphasize to my clients the importance of local recognition. It not only fuels personal and business growth but also inspires a new generation of entrepreneurs by showing that success is attainable within their reach.

Challenges to Overcome

Despite their potential, African entrepreneurs often navigate a treacherous path. The lack of access to capital is a perennial challenge, as African startups receive just a fraction of the global venture capital. Bureaucratic red tape and fluctuating regulatory environments further complicate the entrepreneurial landscape.

These barriers necessitate not just acknowledgment but active support from local governments and institutions. Policies geared towards enhancing access to finance, simplifying the business registration process, and supporting startup incubators and accelerators can create a nurturing environment for entrepreneurship.

Spotlight on Success

Take the story of a young tech entrepreneur in Rwanda who developed a mobile health application that has revolutionized access to healthcare services in rural areas. Or consider the success of a Nigerian startup that has mastered the art of turning local waste into wealth, providing jobs and improving urban environments. These stories of innovation and impact are as inspiring as any global tech giant’s rise but need more prominence in our local media and discussions.

The Role of Government and Educators

Governments across Africa are beginning to recognize the critical role of entrepreneurs in driving economic growth. Initiatives that reduce the cost of doing business, provide tax incentives, or offer grants can help foster a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. Moreover, educational institutions have a pivotal role in embedding entrepreneurial thinking into curriculums, preparing future generations for the challenges and opportunities of business creation.

Changing the Narrative

It is imperative to reshape the narrative around African entrepreneurship. We must celebrate the successes of our local heroes as loudly as we do those who gain international acclaim. This shift will not only enhance the confidence of current entrepreneurs but also encourage more young Africans to consider entrepreneurship as a viable and respected career path.

Call to Action

As part of the entrepreneurial community, I urge everyone from policymakers to investors, educators, and fellow entrepreneurs to rally behind our local innovators. Support them through mentorship, investment, and advocacy. Choose to buy local, highlight their stories in your networks, and help create an environment where African entrepreneurship can thrive.

Conclusion

African entrepreneurs are not waiting for opportunity; they are creating it. Every day, they demonstrate that with the right support and recognition, they can not only succeed but also lead the way in innovation and sustainable economic development. Let’s commit to empowering these trailblazers who are not just running businesses but are building the future of our continent.