Delegations from across Africa have attended the first ever World Business Angel Investment Forum, with African Business Angels Network (ABAN) president Tomi Davies signing an agreement with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) regarding heightened ICC support of African startups.
Groups from Nigeria, Zambia, Niger, Morocco and Egypt joined investors, entrepreneurs and policy-makers from 46 nations this week in Istanbul, Turkey, for the first World Business Angel Investment Forum.
The forum was hosted by the recently formed Global Business Angels Network (GBAN), an initiative from the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN); which also organises the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
GBAN was created with a view to forming an inclusive, supportive community of early-stage investors around the world.
“GBAN is a global community of business angel networks and organizations that bring greater public awareness and engagement to the role that business angels play in helping new firms start and scale,” said Jonathan Ortmans, president of GEN and founder and co-president of GBAN.
“We interface with entrepreneurs, policymakers, other early-stage finance actors and leading entrepreneurial support programmes to strengthen the global entrepreneurial ecosystem”, Ortman said.
ABAN was one of the founding members of GBAN, with ABAN co-founder David van Dijk saying being connected to a global ecosystem of investors is a great next step for African investors and African startups.
“Successful angel networks do not develop immediately, but rather over time. Being part of GBAN will help networks in Africa learn from experienced investors and established angel syndicates and angel networks. Plus this is simply a great community to promote the ‘African Opportunity’. We want to get many more investors excited about what is happening on the continent,” van Dijk said.
At the event, ABAN president Tomi Davies was among those to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which hopes to take a more active in supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) raise funds .
The new global partnership aims to further fuel SME growth, including across the African continent.
