AFRICA'S TECH GROWTH NEEDS MORE THAN VCS-IT NEEDS CORPORATES

At the AWS Summit in Johannesburg in August, I sat down with Christophe Viarnaud, founder of AfricArena, to unpack the state of African tech. Few know the terrain better: his platform runs summits across four continents and publishes one of the most widely-read reports on venture capital in Africa.

- By Colin Iles

The numbers alone tell a dramatic story. In 2017, African startups raised $300 million—barely a rounding error globally. By 2021, that figure rocketed to $5 billion before cooling to $3 billion during the “VC winter”. On one hand, it’s the fastest growth rate of any venture market in the world. On the other, it’s still only 0.6% of global capital flows. Africa is sprinting, but on a track the rest of the world barely notices.

Why? Not because Africa lacks founders or ideas. As Viarnaud put it, “the problem is not investable companies, the problem is capital.”

And here's the paradox.

Global investors hesitate because Africa looks messy from the outside—54 countries, patchwork regulations, and not yet enough unicorns to inspire confidence. But there’s one group with deep local knowledge, unrivalled customer access, and balance sheets big enough to matter. The group that could bridge this gap.

Africa’s corporates.