Bongani Sithole is the Chief Government Officer, 54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa, a enterprise capitalist agency. Sithole is a tech-entrepreneur, who over the past 18 years has constructed three expertise companies from the bottom up. Earlier than becoming a member of Founders Manufacturing unit Africa, Sithole’s final firm, Black Beard, constructed tech companies on behalf of corporates. He’s a strategic thinker, bridging the hole between enterprise wants and expertise, and is enthusiastic about serving to manufacturers develop their aggressive benefit available in the market. As CEO, Bongani leads the early-stage investor because it seeks to put money into, collaborate, and assist founders to transcend borders and make a discernible impression by way of commercially oriented improvements that may sustainably enhance the lives of the continent’s individuals. He spoke with ADEYEMI ADEPETUN.
Can you’re taking us by way of the operations of 54 Collective?Founders Manufacturing unit Africa has modified its identify to 54 Collective. This identify change and rebrand signifies the corporate’s evolution from a corporate-backed mannequin to turning into a Enterprise Capital agency that consists of a fund providing catalytic capital and a Enterprise Success Platform offering value-add companies to entrepreneurs. The worth-add assist is obtainable by way of a workforce of enterprise specialists and ex-founders who stroll facet by facet with founders to present them content material, instruments, and connections to company companions, buyers, and expertise.
54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa serves entrepreneurs throughout all the African continent, reflecting our dedication to all 54 African nations. Now we have one of many largest enterprise capital groups on the continent, with over 70 workers members with bodily workplaces in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and the UK, with plans to broaden into North Africa later this 12 months. Our strategic places permit us to leverage deep regional experience and networks.
This regional presence has resulted in a powerful portfolio of over 70 ventures throughout 11 nations. We’re uniquely positioned to assist African entrepreneurs in navigating native markets and overcoming regional challenges by having such a strong and geographically various workforce.
54 Collective is a part of UTOPIA platform, a set of funds throughout high-growth rising and frontier markets, run by the skilled entrepreneurs; Alina Truhina, Bongani Sithole, and Roo Rogers. UTOPIA designs funding automobiles tailor-made to the wants of entrepreneurs and the regional markets. The platform supplies entry to expertise, funding networks, information, and IP, at the moment together with 54 Collective in Africa and The Radical Fund in Southeast Asia, with extra funds and areas launching within the close to future.
What are your footprints on this area, exactly Nigeria?54 Collective has a powerful presence in Nigeria, supporting quite a few ventures and fostering entrepreneurship within the area. Our Enterprise Success Platform which consists of a workforce of enterprise specialists, actively engages with Nigerian startups, offering them with the mandatory instruments, sources, and funding to scale their companies. Now we have labored with numerous Nigerian startups since 2018, which make up a major proportion of our portfolio, and supply side-by-side assist so they could obtain important progress. As an illustration, Renda, a logistics firm co-founded by Ope Onaboye, CEO and Bimbo Onaboye, Head of Product, scaled their enterprise by 10x inside 12 months of our assist, together with rolling out a strong expertise answer and constructing a strong management workforce.
We additionally leverage our in depth community of company companions, buyers, and expertise to open doorways to new alternatives and markets for Nigerian founders. This consists of serving to startups like VitruvianMD acquire pilots in new markets, increasing their footprint throughout Africa.
Lastly, Nigerian startups actively take part in our pathways, akin to Gen F, the place they obtain validation budgets and value-add assist to show their concepts into venture-backable companies. My CoverAi, one other Nigerian startup, obtained important assist from us, refining their strategy to buyer acquisition and exploring new market segments.
Checks confirmed that 54 Collective plans to put money into over 100 startups within the subsequent 5 years. How do you propose to realize this feat?To attain our purpose of investing in 105 startups over the subsequent 5 years, we’ll leverage our in depth pan-African community and native experience to determine and assist high-potential ventures. Our technique entails offering as much as $500,000 in mixed fairness and non-dilutive capital, with particular provisions for feminine founders to drive inclusivity and attain our goal of fifty per cent feminine participation in entrepreneurship. We will even utilise our Enterprise Success Platform to supply tailor-made assist in product progress, expertise, and strategic partnerships. Moreover, our connection to Utopia will allow us to design funding automobiles tailor-made to the wants of entrepreneurs and the regional markets whereas offering entry to expertise, funding networks, information and IP. It will improve our capabilities by offering entry to a broader community of sources and funding alternatives. This complete technique is designed to successfully scale our investments and drive the success of a various vary of startups throughout the continent.
Which specific phase are you focusing on and the way is the funding going to return?54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa, is sector-agnostic in its funding strategy, that means we assist ventures throughout numerous sectors reasonably than specializing in particular industries. Our funding comes from a various pool of buyers, together with Household Places of work, Foundations, and different institutional buyers. This various strategy permits us to safe the mandatory capital to put money into a variety of startups throughout totally different sectors.
The investments 54 Collective is focusing on, will or not it’s by debt or fairness?54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa, provides each debt and fairness investments. We offer catalytic capital of as much as $250,000 in fairness and as much as $150,000 in low-interest loans alongside fairness funding. Additionally, girls founders obtain as much as an additional $150,000 mortgage at a decrease rate of interest. This hybrid strategy ensures that founders have the pliability and monetary sources they should construct and scale their ventures successfully.
What’s your thought of startup to scale up?Our thought of startup to scale-up entails offering complete assist to early-stage ventures to assist them develop into profitable, scalable companies. This course of begins with validating and refining the enterprise idea, securing the mandatory funding, and constructing a powerful basis when it comes to product-market match, enterprise technique, expertise, and workforce. Our Enterprise Success Platform performs an important function on this journey by providing tailor-made assist, mentorship, and entry to networks that open doorways to new alternatives and markets. By making certain that startups have the suitable assist at each stage, we assist them scale shortly and sustainably.
There may be additionally an ambition to extend feminine participation in entrepreneurship to 50%. How do you propose to realize this?To attain our purpose of accelerating feminine participation in entrepreneurship to 50 per cent, now we have applied a number of methods. Our fund provides extra monetary incentives to girls founders, together with an additional $150,000 mortgage at a decrease rate of interest. We actively search out and assist women-led ventures by way of our Enterprise Success Platform and the Entrepreneur Academy by 54 Collective. By offering tailor-made assist, mentorship, and entry to networks, we empower girls entrepreneurs to construct and scale their companies. Additionally, our initiatives like Gen F have seen 65% of girls co-founders, showcasing our dedication to fostering feminine entrepreneurship.
How true is it that enterprise capitalists are shrinking, particularly on this area?Whereas there could also be fluctuations within the enterprise capital panorama, 54 Collective’s expertise displays a special narrative. Since our inception, 54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa has expanded considerably and continues to develop. Now we have one of many largest enterprise capital groups on the continent, with over 70 workers members throughout Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and the UK, and we’re opening an workplace in North Africa later this 12 months. Our enlargement into new markets and the creation of our Enterprise Success Platform underscore our dedication to supporting and scaling ventures throughout Africa.
Furthermore, the substantial funding and assist we offer to our portfolio ventures, alongside our purpose to put money into over 100 startups within the subsequent 5 years, demonstrates a strong and energetic strategy to enterprise capital. This progress and ambition recommend a dynamic and increasing enterprise capital ecosystem, opposite to the notion of a shrinking market.
African Startups raised about $1b in funding within the final seven months. Can we are saying there are prospects in Africa’s Startup ecosystem?The latest funding of about $1 billion raised by African startups signifies important prospects within the continent’s startup ecosystem. This degree of funding highlights the rising curiosity and potential throughout the area. At 54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa, we’re optimistic in regards to the alternatives and proceed to assist startups to drive additional progress. We additionally look ahead to working with our companions at UTOPIA to design funding automobiles tailor-made to the wants of entrepreneurs throughout Africa and determine additional alternatives to broaden funding networks, expertise alternatives and share related IP to additional assist Africa’s founders.
The place do you see 54 Collective in one other three years?Within the subsequent three years, 54 Collective, previously Founders Manufacturing unit Africa envisions persevering with its work as a number one enterprise capital agency on the African continent, persevering with to redefine funding practices and drive substantial impression throughout key sectors. Right here’s what we anticipate: we’ll proceed to evolve our Enterprise Success Platform, increasing the vary and depth of value-add assist we provide to founders. This consists of extra tailor-made help in product improvement, fundraising, and market enlargement, supported by our rising community of enterprise specialists and companions.
We’re dedicated to attaining a 50% illustration of feminine founders in our portfolio by 2025. To assist this, we’ll improve our catalytic capital choices and assist mechanisms particularly designed to interrupt down boundaries for ladies entrepreneurs.
Our regional presence will broaden, with plans to extend our footprint in North Africa and additional strengthen our operations in key markets throughout the continent. This enlargement will allow us to raised assist startups and facilitate cross-border progress.
We’ll proceed to embed impression in all the things we do, specializing in areas akin to monetary inclusion, healthcare entry, and local weather resilience. Our investments will drive each business success and significant social impression, aligning with our mission to assist scalable options that rework industries and enhance lives.
54 Collective is poised to steer the enterprise capital area in Africa by combining modern funding methods with deep native experience, and a dedication to impactful, inclusive progress.
