søndag 25. mars 2012

Social Capital Resources


Plattforms for supporting next generation business.

Movements/Social Change

Social Ventures/Social Enterprise/Social Business/
Here is a list of 200+ that the William James Foundation has worked with: http://williamjamesfoundation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=607



 Funds/Financing
http://www.bonventure.de/en/home.html (only German speaking regions)
http://www.vilcap.com village capital seed funding network for socent
http://www.toniic.com global impact investment angel network
http://hubventures.hubbayarea.com/ seed funding for socent in the SF Bay area
http://w1sd0m.net search 400 institutional impact investors

Inspiration/Strategy etc.
http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/ making competition irrelevant

Text/Knowledge/Books

lørdag 24. mars 2012

onsdag 21. mars 2012

fredag 16. mars 2012

Friendly Safari East Africa: African Homestays

Friendly Safari East Africa: African Homestays: We're offering African Homestays. You can read about it in this newspaper clip. Contact us at safaris @ inventure.no for more information. ...

Inventure Management Ltd.: Agro-investment projects in Kenya

Inventure Management Ltd.: Agro-investment projects in Kenya: AGRO-INVESTMENT PROJECTS Project Title : Cultivation and Processing of the Avocado Brief description of the project; Avocado is...

Inventure Management Ltd.: Summary of investment opportunities in Kenya.

Inventure Management Ltd.: Summary of investment opportunities in Kenya.: SUMMARY OF INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES OPPORTUNITIES IN BPO/ICT 1.1 Front Office 1.1.1 Call Centers Is a centralized office used fo...

Inventure Management Ltd.: Investment opportunities in Africa

Inventure Management Ltd.: Investment opportunities in Africa: Lean Green Business Machine - Africa : Vision NOW EmAC JV Pipeline Client Description Our role Project size Financing option Status ...

tirsdag 13. mars 2012

Lean Green Business Machine - Africa : Vision NOW


Executive Summary of Business Plan for

SocEntLab Vision


Lean Green Business Machine - Africa : Vision NOW

Our vision is to create an ecosystem to facilitate for international and local East African Entrepreneurs to grow sustainable businesses with social impact. To do that we partner with local and international companies and institutions.  By providing an ecosystem for sustainable economic development for the East African and international markets, and facilitate sustainable economic development in Africa and thus helping entrepreneurs and companies in Africa with growth capital and capacity building, we can create sustainable growth that is also economically sustainable. A Lean Green Business Machine.

There are underlying separate business plans for each of the mentioned business areas. We’re using Norway as an example for foreign companies interested in the region, but we’re not limited to Norway as is.

Africa: an emerging market

Africa is a relatively unexplored continent for Norwegian companies. Investments in Africa have been looked upon as very risky and to not give high enough return on the invested capital. But over the last couple of years, countries like South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania has had a steady economic growth. In light of the financial crises seen in the western economy, investments in Africa can no longer categorically be rated as high risk.

We believe that Norwegian companies and financial institutions would benefit from learning more about the opportunities, which currently are emerging on the African continent. Companies from countries like Holland, China and Japan are already investing heavily in several sectors like renewable energy, agriculture and infrastructure. There are many Norwegian companies that have technology and knowledge that could be implemented in Africa. There are opportunities north to south, but also south to north.

In addition to promoting entrepreneurship and development in Africa we can  be a door opener for Norwegian and other foreign business in the region. African entrepreneurs will gain access to expertise not otherwise available in the market, and if we manage to engage the Norwegian business sector in these processes we will also be able to give Norwegian industry expertise in African makrjets, and otherwise facilitate for their CSR activities and promote their businesses while doing good in Africa.


Investing in Africa

We’re working with local partners and other incubators to build an ecosystem for african entrepreneurs. To attract investments we work with local banks and financial institutions like Chase, Barclays, First Community Bank and and our JV with Emerging Africa Capital, but also with international investors and institutions like international PE funds and other.  We are raising USD 100 Million for a PE Fund (The Biashara Fund) investing in startups and SMEs in Africa, and have got commitment on USD 30 Million. We are also raising Euro 10 Million for a pure ICT/Tech Seed Fund with a European VC Fund. Since most of the SMEs in the region is to small to attract funding on it’s own we believe that a fund is appropriate to attract investors, and that a regional fund will be suited to alleviate risks as well as having the potential to be a tool for restructuring and consolidation of business sectors in the region..

We just got a deal with a major insurance company that will enable us to insure foreign investors against the political and other risks involving investing in Africa, and have contacts with investors in Europe, Asia (incl. China), USA and local investors. With the right project we’ve been assured we could raise over USD 1 billion from government sources (debt financing), but focusing on entrepreneurship and SME we are still looking for keen investors. These huge infrastructure projects are scarce, and the big need is in SME funding. We also wants to do social impact and enviromental assessments on our investments using tools like GIIRS to monitor our social and enviromental footprints.

One way to attract investors, and showcase african entrepreneurs is by hosting investorforums like
SEED Forum, and events like Startup Weekend. We are talking to potential partners in Kenya and EAC on these events, and for the SEED Forum which we will host in a JV with the SEED Forum Foundation we already have a deal with DLA Piper Law Firm here in Kenya, and are in contact with other possible partners like the Norwegian Embassy, KenInvest and Safaricom. The SEED Forum seems likely to generate a small revenue, but the biggest asset here is the PR and marketing effect. If successful we will scale up to host SEED Forums in the EAC region and beyond. We hope to be able to host a Startup Weekend in Kisumu later this year together with local partners like Kisumu Poly, some local NGOs and the local business community. We participate in the SW in Nairobi this February. Upon the successful completion of the SEED Forum, and with big enough interest from Nordic industry we hope to be able to found a Nordic business network here in EAC.

Acumen Fund and similar VC Funds are doing a great job here in Africa, but what I could wish for is even more seed capital. A recent survey showed that the access to seed capital is essential, and ranked as the number one factor hindering entrepreneurs in Africa today. Hope we in the future can see even more seed funds and VC-funds operating in Africa. We also need to support african entrepreneurs with business development and capacity building.

We’re seeking to build incubators in Nairobi (near JKIA), Kisumu (at Kisumu Poly) and Mombasa.

To facilitate business development and capacity building for african entrepreneurs, but also to let foreign businesses have access to office facilities we are looking at opening incubators, co-working spaces across the continent. With three incubators in covering big parts of Kenya as a pilot. The incubators will be running as franchises run independently using the same platform. Social franchising is the use of a commercial franchising approach to replicate and share proven organisational models for greater social impact. We seek to partner with foreign incubators/co-working spaces in this process, first seeking an agreement with partners in Norway. At first we are looking at an incubator with round 20 co-working spaces and modern teleconferencing equipment near JKIA in Nairobi, and with a small 4-bedroom guesthouse to facilitate for foreign businesses looking to establish themselves in the region. At the moment we have 4 norwegian social businesses coming to Kenya this spring which we already have set up with offices in Nairobi, and we will help them with business development services.

An incubator/co-working space like this would help us and them in the process, and also bring kenyan and foreign businesses together. We are looking at an incubator focusing on agribusiness, fisheries and renewable energy in Kisumu together with a consortium of local partners, and have local investors ready to co-invest in the first incubator in Mombasa.  

We need to get skills involved in the process.

What I want is more startup and business accelerator programmes, and more knowledge sharing between entrepreneurs in Africa and the developed world. We've been working on an idea of a programme connecting local entrepreneurs here in Kenya with mentors in, for example, Norway using videoconferencing and social media, but also live by starting an exchange programme and volunteering opportunities.. If we succeed I think both parties can benefit from it. Our local entrepreneurs can get knowledge and hopefully access to partners and funding, and our mentors will get access to investment opportunities and knowledge about an up and coming emerging market.

Our main focus has been on the Scandinavian market though, and our first customer is Chalmers University in Gothenburg, which will send 22 students in August 2012, to work on a Venture Cup-like local competition in the rural areas of Kenya focusing on use of solar tech, LED-lamps, etc.


Then we have the crowdfunding platforms.

To complement our on site activities in the region we want to have a virtual incubator and crowdfunding platform to showcase african entrepreneurs. When I've been thinking about crowdfunding like Kiva and social entrepreneurship in Africa I've missed one thing.

I look at Kiva and others I can see they fund microentrepreneurs, but they don't give them the tools to really run a business. Would it be possible to implement some kind of a mentor-programme or peer to peer network on a platform so that entrepreneurs can hook up with the crowd to get guidance and the tools to grow their businesses.

Get the crowd involved in the running and development of the businesses and by then also build a platform for capacity building. We will launch a platform in march, and we are in the final stages of choosing between to different platforms. Both platforms will fit our needs perfectly. We have local investors ready to invest in the platform in EAC, and we will also be looking at launching the same platform for norwegian social enterprises and entrepreneurs. We are working on some legal and regulatory issues regarding this now, both in Norway and EAC.


Africa needs access to foreign markets

I have invested in a 25 % stake in a norwegian company developing an e-commerce platorm enabling african producers of goods to sell directly to consumers all over the world on a fair trade basis. Think like Groupon for Fairtrade. We will build a small organisation to handle logistics, etc in Nairobi, and are talking to two possible logistics partners in the region. We are also building a small organisation in Norway to handle the technical issues and sales. We are looking for soft funding from Norad and Innovation Norway to develop the platform further at the moment. Our development partner is Feel Good Invest AS in Norway.

Employing african immigrants to Norway

Where we will have a norwegian presence we are at all levels looking at employing african immigrants to Norway. We envisage that we can create a significant number of jobs for african immigrants to Norway, as well as utilizing the expertise they have of their homelands. This will also help solving the problem of unemployment within the african immigrant community in Norway. We have a scheduled meeting with NAV, The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service,  in February


Our investments and future needs

To be able to meet our vision on making the biggest possible social impact, and doing well while doing good we have a need of building an organisation to run the different project, to establish strong partnerships with both both foreign and local players and to invest in the necessary infrastructure and manpower to run the operations, both here in Kenya and Norway. Apart from the JV with EmAC which is completely a seperate entity running on it’s own, and which will not be covered here, there has been committed USD 800.000,- to the projects, where as USD 500.000 has already been invested in planning and tech infrastructure. We are looking for a total of  USD 2 Million in soft funding from Norad and Innovation Norway to develop the projects, but will also open up for Series A funding from private investors primo 2013. We will then raise  USD  3 Million to scale the projects in Kenya. Later we are looking at raising a Series B funding enabling us to go regional, and so forth. Totally we are looking at raising USD 10 million over the next 5 years, including the franchises.

We have a planned valuation process for the different entities this fall after the soft funding process is completed.
How to exit in Africa

Exits are a challenge in the african market. Traditionally you would look for a trade buyer looking at expansion into the african market, but there has been significant improvements within the securities markets in the region, and listing on local exchanges like Nairobi Stock exchange is also an option for companies. For some of the social enterprises, and the incubators,  the Kenya Social investment Exchange could be an option. We have a model where we believe that we also can exit by that bigger VC funds, like the norwegian funded Norfund, will be a potential buyer of some of the SMEs when they meet the necessary requirements.

As for the PE Fund we are looking at listing it as a ETF on either  London SE or , because of the significant interest for Africa in Asia, the Hong Kong SE.


The conclusion
When I work with entrepreneurs here in Kenya I can see that most africans are in fact entrepreneurs. They run small businesses, but they lack an entrepreneurial mindset. They are entrepreneurs because there are no formal jobs, and are hustling to make a living, while they wait for something else instead of making their business their main focus.

By giving them some tools and a framework for building their business we can make real change by creating sustainable jobs.

I believe our ecosystem for entrepreneurs will do exactly that.

Kind regards

Svein Mork Dahl
Managing Partner East-Africa
Building an ecosystem for african entrepreneurs. A Lean Green Business Machine.

Inventure Management Ltd.
Po. Box 778 - 00521 Embakasi Village, Nairobi, Kenya, East-Africa
Skype: svein.mork.dahl   International phone (UK): +44 20 88 168 333
Norwegian phone: +47 4141 0171    Kenyan phone: +254 701 359 259
E-mail: smd@inventure.no