Nigeria still biggest destination for venture capital investments in Africa

Nigeria remains the biggest destination for venture capital (VC) investments in Africa offshore and onshore. Mr. Adebayo Adewolu a Partner with Trium disclosed during a discussion on opportunities for increasing investments from venture capital firms in Nigeria.

Citing a Partech Partners report he said the number of equity rounds in Africa for 2020 increased by 63.6 per cent to 359, and Nigeria accounted for 21 per cent of the deals.

In terms of sectors, the Fintech industry attracted the highest investments, followed by Agri-tech, Off-grid solutions, Health-tech, and Logistics.

Speaking further on how investors view the country he said despite the socio-economic challenges, Nigeria has a huge population and is a business case for Venture Capital firms with a long-term view of the economy.

On what companies in Nigeria must do to attract VC investments, Adewole highlighted the following points for companies; The need for a winning team mentality and approach, ability to adapt to different market dynamics, high value for compliance especially in the area of taxes and bookkeeping and the provision of financial records.

He called on founders to put structures in place at the early stages of their enterprises, which is important for scaling.