Founders Factory Africa
Founders Factory Africa is a unique bunch of creative builders, designers, entrepreneurs and mentors, who bring a wealth of knowledge and years of experience to the founders and teams we work with. Founders Factory has a heart for Africa and is proud to be a part of its complex and flourishing fabric, and they are humbled by its history of individual and collective progress. Locally grounded and globally connected, Founders Factory Africa is becoming the go-to innovation partner for startups, investors, governments, and corporates — throughout Africa and beyond.
Founders Factory Africa investment programme.
- Click here to join the Scale program is designed to develop and scale early-stage businesses through a bespoke six-month program.
- Click here to join the Build program enables the development of completely new businesses from scratch, with founders who’ve just gotten started.
What does Founders Factory Africa look for in a founder?
You should have:
- Experience bringing digital products to market, either at a startup or agency
- Commercial success in building or growing a company or...
- Success in expanding a product’s reach and impact
- Experience in managing a team and driving successful outcomes
- Intuitive commercial sense and ability to understand what consumers want, and reconcile this understanding with commercial imperatives
- Strong communication skills and ability to share and discuss technical and non-technical subjects with diverse audiences
- Resilience and the ability to thrive in an uncertain, fast-paced environment
Non-negotiables:
- Sheer resilience and appreciation for failure
- Relentlessly resourceful and creative problem-solving
- High-risk tolerance and boundless ambition
- A collaborative approach and willingness to be wrong
What does Founders Factory Africa look for in a startup?
Criteria considered:
- Is the opportunity clearly defined?
- How does the product address the opportunity?
- Is the product experience conducive to customer adoption?
- Is there a clear understanding of the customer and their needs?
- Is there a distribution and sales strategy that optimizes customer demand?
- Are there clear unit economics? Is the business on the path to cash-flow positivity?
- Is the investment thesis clearly identified and is there a pre-existing investment commitment?
- Does the company have 6+ months of operating cash flow?
- Has the entrepreneur launched a startup before?
- Do they have some intrinsic understanding of the market?
- Does the entrepreneur have a clear understanding of the risks and challenges to scale?
- Is it backed by proprietary technology, built in-house?
- Is the solution better than others in the market?
- Does the business show potential to scale across Africa?
- Is there a strategic alignment to one of our corporate investors?
Non-negotiables:
- Early revenue and proven customer demand
- Scaleable opportunity
- Existing product
- Strong leadership and team