TLcom Capital, the Africa-focussed venture capital firm, wants to build a collaborative network of Africa’s female tech founders.
To get started, TLcom Capital yesterday had over 50 female founders from across Africa including, Odunayo Eweniyi of Piggyvest, Isis Nyong’o of Mum’s Village, Vivien Nwakah of Medsaf and Miishe Addy of Jet Stream share insights on achieving massive value generation and scale in Africa at its inaugural Africa Tech Female Founder Summit.
TLcom’s portfolio companies including Twiga Foods, Kobo360, Terragon, Andela, and Ajua also had their senior female executives attending.
“The glass ceiling on female leadership can and will be broken. For incoming and incumbent women in our sector, today is a powerful display of what is possible throughout Africa’s tech scene,” said Funke Opeke, founder and CEO of Main One, who was the keynote speaker for the Summit.
“We had entrepreneurs from a variety of fields but what we all shared were common experiences and a shared vision for change. However, its critical we take our learnings back into our respective networks and share them with the next generation. It’s only then that we will begin to see real transformation,” she stated.
Other panels at the summit included the ever-changing role of the founder, the fundraising journey and attracting and retaining talent.
“While female participation in tech has generally improved, female tech founders are still a rare breed. However, there is a growing number of female trailblazers in African tech and we at TLcom believe this is a critical network to nurture and support,” said TLcom’s Senior Partner, Omobola Johnson.
TLcom Capital, launched in 1999 with approximately 300 million USD under its management, with a portfolio ranging from agriculture, data analytics and logistics. In SSA, it focusses exclusively on technology-enabled services and innovation.
With operations in Kenya, Nigeria, and the UK, TLcom also announced its push to encourage more of its portfolio companies to boost female representation in their organizations and plans to hold the Africa Tech Female Founder Summit on an annual basis.
Andreata Muforo, Partner at TLcom, added that “With our senior team currently 50% female, supporting diversity is already part of our DNA and with events such as the Africa Tech Female Founder Summit, our team does and will continue to dedicate resources to mentoring female founders.”
The event is an additional display of the company’s commitment to being an on-the-ground presence in African tech.
Earlier this year, TLcom was presented with the “Specialist Investor Award” at the 2019 Private Equity Africa Awards and participated in Kobo360’s recent $30mn Series A fundraise and Twiga’s $30m Series B fundraise – two of the largest in African tech this year.
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