Panel Expectations

Exploring the roadmap for creating high-growth ventures in Africa, the keynote speaker will unpack conversations around the building and growing experience of startups.
From the Founder’s eye, the speaker will highlight key insights from starting to scaling and ultimately sustaining a unicorn while sharing key milestones, the strategies, and the challenges faced.
This session will set the tone for the founder-to-founder conversation featuring key founders sharing real experiences of their building and scaling journey.

The investment landscape in Africa has seen its different cycles over the recent years. With the recent change in investor appetite, priorities, and trends, this session will see key investors providing a comprehensive overview of investments in Africa. In a collaborative and interactive conversation with KPMG Deal Advisory experts, the investor will share the learnings, the future outlook, and investment sectors to watch in Africa.

Exploring the big question of why to invest in Africa, this investor session will bring a diverse mix of investors from early-stage to multi-stage, sector-specific to agnostic investors answering this critical investment question as they share the investment opportunities and challenges in Africa. With a collaborative approach, moderated by KPMG experts, the session will also give attendees an understanding of the investors’ mindset, projections, and the best practices for entering and succeeding in the African market. The session will also highlight the high-growth opportunities vs. potential risks of successful investments and lessons learned.

Fintech remains a leading innovation in Africa, enabling financial access and inclusion. With successful unicorns and organisations taking a front seat in spearheading this trend-setting innovative sector, the session will host fintech industry leaders, founders, and corporates unpacking the current state of the fintech landscape in Africa. The session will also discuss the trajectory of fintech companies in Africa and their potential impact in addressing the digital divide and financial inclusion. The session will also tackle regulatory hurdles, cybersecurity threats, and big tech. In the long-term outlook, the panel will seek to explore the potential for fintechs to transform traditional banking and finance.

The gender divide is no longer a topical debate but a critical action point for all. The gender agenda has shifted from a nice-to-have to a must-have requirement for organisations and businesses. With businesses driving economies and policies, there’s an urgent need for key players to act now in accelerating gender equity through investments. This empowering session will bring together KPMG gender experts and impact investors to share the learning on how to overcome biases and systemic barriers while addressing the funding gap for women entrepreneurs. The investors will also share their practical solutions for integrating gender considerations into their due diligence processes, and the role of impact measurement and reporting in gender lens and impact investing.

The unpredictability of the regulatory landscape in Africa remains a top priority for investors, founders, and ecosystem players. The current landscape requires a proactive rather than reactive approach to navigating the regulatory changes as key players strive to remain compliant. This session will host tax & legal experts moderated by seasoned KPMG experts who will explore strategies for compliance and ways to mitigate risks.

The session will highlight how key players such as venture capitalists, angel investors, and international donors can overcome regulatory hurdles by focusing on practical steps and actionable insights.

Founders are at the heart of innovations in Africa. This unique session will create a platform for founders to share their building, growing, and fundraising experiences. With founder & investor dynamics a new spanner in the works, the peer-to-peer session will allow attendees to gain strategies in navigating investor pressure, seller due diligence, and shared obstacles such as fundraising, market entry, and scaling. The all-founders session will give a unique perspective on their journeys, milestones, key turning points, and pivotal decisions for successful African founders. The session will also share the outlook for the next decade in African entrepreneurship.

Discussing how funds of funds can mobilize capital and enhance investment in African startups, the session will host funds of funds and general partners who will share insights on different investment structures and approaches with practical scenarios from other regions giving a pan-Africa view on the investment landscape. The session will also dive into the future outlook on the growth of funds in Africa and key emerging drivers of innovation and economic development.

The VCs vs PE firms conversation remains a hot topic in the funding ecosystem. The session will bring VCs and PE firms who will unpack diverse investment approaches to harmonise the ecosystem through open dialogues on collaborations, learnings, challenges, and solutions. The session will bring a collaborative and dynamic perspective driven by KPMG experts, venture capitalists, and private equity firms.

While significant effort is being put into attracting foreign investors and global funds, the most exciting development in Africa has been the growing involvement of local investors who - by investing in local currencies - are helping to reduce the overall foreign exchange mismatch that often plagues user-pay projects in the emerging markets. The session seeks to bring investors and experts who will explore innovative financial instruments and mechanisms. The panelists will explore the synergies between local currency financing and sustainable financing-sharing strategies for leveraging local currency markets for sustainable projects.

With a fresh twist in the pitching, the reverse pitching will host select investors who will pitch to the audience on their impact stories, tractions, and business profitability/ successful exit

Get ready to find your match, whether you are an investor looking to invest or a founder looking to scale. We are shortlisting tech startups in climatech, agribusiness, fintech, ed-tech, and health tech who will share ambitious business goals with potential investors