Call For Startups – H2 2024

At Baobab we often find ourselves discussing the ideas and categories we’d like to see more people working on. 

This year we thought it would be cool to consolidate our thoughts and ideas into what we have chosen to term a “Call for Startups (CFS)”. We are interested in speaking to founders who are building start-ups in these areas – and if you know anyone that is, we very much encourage them to apply!

We expect the ideas on this list will only be a small percentage of the companies that we actually invest in, as we know that entrepreneurs themselves are the best sources of fresh ideas and interesting solutions.

However, if one of the concepts on this list is something you’d be excited to work on, or already are working on, then we hope the fact that we think it’s particularly interesting will give you extra incentive to jump into it and apply. 

Giving some practical examples of how our internal musings have manifested into interesting and successful investments; in 2021 we built a thesis around the opportunities that lie in international shipping for African SMEs. We went on to invest in Terminal to answer that question. 

We also wondered why no one had built a distribution and fulfillment marketplace for small retailers in Addis Ababa and went on to partner with Shemach in 2022.

More recently in 2023, we developed a thesis around the Fintech infrastructure landscape in Francophone Africa and partnered with Alal, building a card issuance infrastructure for Francophone Africa from Senegal.

For H2 2024  we are calling on innovators building solutions around:

• Data and analytics infrastructure in the health and health services space
• CleanTech/Sustainability infrastructure plays as well as enabling technologies
• Mobile payments and remittance solutions, particularly in the Northern African region
• Platforms and marketplace solutions helping to drive pan-African and international trade
• Financial technology infrastructure solutions particularly in open banking and credit/lending
• Precision agriculture technologies which enable smallholder farmers to improve yield and returns on agricultural activities
• Supply chain optimization technologies to enhance the seamless transition and storage of goods
• Cross-border payment and float management solutions to help drive seamless trade and enhance financing availability
• AI and ML technology solutions as an enabler to reduce inefficiencies, enhance distribution and drive customer engagement
• Financial services solutions targeting middle to low-income and informal workers in Africa, particularly around microinsurance and micro pensions

Africa’s population is projected to reach 2.5 billion in 2050, up from an estimated 1.34 billion people as of 2020 – with the youth population projected to reach over 830 million by 2050. 

The internet penetration on the continent increased from 4.5 million people in 2000 to over 590 million in 2020 (only 20 years after); smartphone penetration was not also left out on the list of medallists, as the number of smartphone users is expected to reach 80% i.e., around 800 million by 2050 in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. 

All these are important strategic growth markers that singles out Africa as an attractive market poised for tremendous growth in the coming years. This COS is a direct invitation from us for you to submit your application and potentially partner on this mission to unlock the value in African economies.