NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, September 27, 2012

After the rise of technology hubs in the last two years, Africa’s early stage investment is growing, anchored by humanitarian agencies and venture capitalists.

Hivos, Indigo Trust, Rockefeller Foundation, Syngenta Foundation and Omidyar Network are the humanitarian agencies or nontraditional venture capitalists that have been involved in African tech, even though the number of venture capital firms entering the region has also grown.

“Hivos, Indigo Trust and Omidyar have been the most active nontraditional funders, primarily by supporting the groups that support the startups like the iHub in Kenya, ccHub in Nigeria and BongoHive in Zambia, while Rockefeller and Syngenta are involved in agriculture and tech,” said Erik Hersman, founder of the iHub Nairobi.

Humanitarian agency involvement in African tech gained steam two years ago when Hivos invested in tech hubs in Kenya after realization that traditional humanitarian aid was not working as well as empowering people through technology businesses.