Village Capital is a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm founded in 2009 that focuses on early-stage and seed investments in sectors such as agriculture, education, energy, financial services, and healthcare. The firm aims to empower entrepreneurs by employing a unique peer-support model, allowing entrepreneurs to select the ventures that receive pre-committed seed funding at the conclusion of its programs. Village Capital connects high-potential entrepreneurs with essential resources, fostering innovation and growth. It operates both a nonprofit that provides training for founders and a for-profit investment fund that invests in top program graduates, having supported over 1,000 entrepreneurs and more than 550 enterprises across various global regions. The firm has achieved notable success, with its alumni generating significant revenue and creating thousands of jobs, while maintaining a high recommendation rate among participants.
Sav is the GCC's ultimate money app, designed to help users compare, save, spend, and earn effortlessly. By connecting to bank accounts and using AI-driven insights, Sav identifies saving and investment opportunities and automates financial management. With seamless integration across financial products, Sav enhances users' financial lives, making money management simple, engaging, and rewarding. The Sav ecosystem comprises of: 1. B2C mobile app that is powered by automated savings and investments, rewards, gamification, money transfer, and more. 2. SNBL (Save Now, Buy Later)- Unique commerce solution where Sav gets brands to contribute to the users' goals. 3. Checkout solution - Where users can make POS and soft- POS payments directly through Sav.
Order online from your favorite Supermarkets, Perfumes & Oud Outlets, electronic stores, etc with insurance, Home Services, Tour & Travel, utility recharge & top-up, Beauty Services, Car Cleaning & Services, etc now click far away.
Kader is a hiring platform. They offer services for an online job board for restaurant and hotel jobs. They provide message mentioning the job description and shortlist and hire candidates.
Duma Toys is an Egyptian brand specializing in handmade children’s toys and products. It also offers job training and employment making high-quality, hand-knitted toys from sustainable materials. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Giza, Egypt.
BeSingularity is a platform helping businesses achieve their customer acquisition, retention, and business growth goals. The company is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Green Fashion engages in reproducing remnants of fabrics from factories, workshops, and used clothes. Its mission is to extend the life of textile parts, by reproducing them again without the need to waste more resources
International Protein specializes in the processing of animal waste into marketable byproducts using a waterless and odorless technology. The company focuses on various types of offal, including fish, bovine, equine, porcine, and poultry. Its innovative system aims to transform by-product processing industries by eliminating noxious gas emissions, offensive odors, and wastewater production. This environmentally friendly approach enables the waste processing industry to lower energy consumption, reduce its physical footprint, and significantly decrease setup costs.
Natrify provides sustainable solutions for the bioplastic industry through biotechnology. It utilizes microorganisms to assist plastic using businesses diminish their negative environmental impact by providing them with packaging that is naturally biodegradable
Nowanda is a mobile application and mindful living platform that provides sleep stories, mindfulness exercises, and guided meditations tailored for children, parents, and adults. Founded in 2020 by Solen Yucel, Faika Ergüder, Osman Uslu, and Asli Eti, the platform employs mindfulness techniques and calming music to promote relaxation and emotional well-being. By focusing on mental wellness, Nowanda aims to help users achieve a peaceful sleep and enhance their overall mental health through its thoughtfully designed offerings.
A technology platform that matches demand and supply for wellness services thereby maximising capacity and usage by minimising wasted space for professionals and speeding convenience for consumers.
Terawork operates a freelancers' marketplace designed to connect businesses with skilled professionals for various projects. Its platform facilitates the search and hiring of vetted freelancers, allowing clients to post job offers and receive proposals from qualified talents globally. The service is free for both freelancers and clients, promoting accessibility and ease of use. Terawork incorporates an escrow payment system, ensuring that funds are secured until the client approves the completed work, thereby fostering trust between parties. The platform also features a two-way review system, enabling clients and freelancers to rate each other, which helps set expectations for future collaborations. By eliminating traditional outsourcing barriers, Terawork not only enhances the client experience but also supports freelancers in showcasing their skills and building their professional profiles. Ultimately, Terawork aims to create economic opportunities by bridging the gap between businesses and independent professionals across various industries.
Gradely.ng Limited operates a personalized learning platform designed for secondary school students in Nigeria. Founded in 2019 and based in Yaba, the platform utilizes artificial intelligence to provide tailored learning materials, including online tutorials and video lessons, along with exam preparation resources. Gradely employs analytics to identify learning gaps, enabling real-time intervention for students through adaptive homework tests accessible via web and mobile devices. The platform assists teachers by offering pre-set questions, currently focused on mathematics, which align with WASCCE and Cambridge curriculum topics. Teachers can easily assign homework and deadlines, while progress reports are generated for teachers, parents, and schools. Gradely's system continuously adapts by integrating previously unmastered topics with new ones, ensuring a comprehensive learning experience.
Eneza Education Limited, founded in 2011 and based in Nairobi, Kenya, specializes in providing mobile technology-based education services. The company offers a virtual tutor and teacher's assistant, enabling students and teachers to access curriculum-aligned courses, assessments, and interactive support from live instructors via mobile devices. Its platform includes locally-adapted tutorials, tips, assessments, and features such as a leaderboard and live teacher chat, accessible through various formats including USSD/SMS, a web app, an offline desktop app, and an Android app. Eneza Education targets individual parents, students, and teachers with subscription-based access to its educational resources, ensuring that learners across Kenya, from urban centers to rural areas, can benefit from comprehensive, on-demand educational support.
Stars From All Nations (SFAN) is a high impact social venture established with precise vision to raise the next generation of African leaders through the accomplishment of the following goals: Help young people have a smooth transition from college to career through mentorship, capacity development and job/internship placement. Offer opportunities for youths to turn their passion into a business or career by creating platforms for networking, incubation and funding. Train young people to give back to their communities through positive social actions. Although there have been tremendous improvements in the business practices in Africa, the challenge lies in integrating youths into the workforce. Obviously there is a big disconnect because in as much as the economy is expanding and domestic demand is increasing, job creation is not, hence the growing youth unemployment rate in Africa.
Fundi App is an on demand mobile application that connects vetted handymen providing different types of installation, repair and maintenance services in the informal sector to customers in the wider market. Our software is designed to match demand with nearest skilled individuals available in real-time. Lack of access to decent work for the skilled youth in Africa is a big challenge. The African Development Bank(Afdb) estimates that 11 million youth enter the labour market every year but only 3 million new jobs are created. Over 70% of all labour market entrants end up either unemployed or underemployed in the highly fragmented informal sector. Most informal workers, both self-employed and wage earners, face issues such as low productivity, low wages and unsustainable livelihoods. As a result of these, there is a significant, but not complete, overlap between working informally and being poor. At the same time, customers experience hardship in locating service providers who prioritize quality, affordability and reliability. Existing solutions offer contacts scattered across the web that are often not vetted which makes the process risky, expensive and time consuming for the customer. Our mission is to use technology to provide access to decent work and stable economic opportunities for youth in sub-Saharan Africa. We believe this to be key to building thriving communities.
Utiva provides digital skill training for individuals and organizations. It combines classroom training with online learning experiences; and provides a platform that allows remote interaction with facilitators and AI support for knowledge and skills. The company offers training in the areas of data science, agile development, growth hacking, product innovation, machine learning and AI, and platform development. Utiva was founded in 2017 and is based in Washington, District of Columbia with additional offices in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and Lagos, Nigeria.
Irawo is a community that helps young Africans make a living from their talents. It is a place where young Africans can be inspired by successful role models who are like them, learn how to make a living from their talents, and connect with each other. With its resources, events, and programs, Irawo is the largest platform in Africa that allows young people to keep doing what they love.
Wootlab is a software development and talent management platform focused on creating employment opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed youth through technical upskilling.
Angaza Elimu is primed to transform education across Kenya and the entire African continent by addressing the problem of inefficient classrooms and inadequate educational material. At Angaza Elimu, we enhance the classroom experience and strengthen the student-teacher bond. By combining a comprehensive e-Learning platform with a simple classroom setup, Angaza Elimu eases the administrative burden of teachers and frees them to spend more time teaching substantive material. Additionally, Angaza Elimu encourages children to further engage with technology with a Student Portal that challenges them to think critically. We also offer supplemental training on STEM to plant the seed of innovativeness in the young African learner.
WorkNasi Plus is a platform empowering businesses in Africa by connecting them to the best-skilled freelancers and remote workers from across the continent.
Tustawi is an e-learning specialist for professional development in Kenya, using technology to develop job-specific and market-relevant customized training.
DriversNG Recruitment Services Ltd. operates an online platform to recruit verified and trained professional drivers. The drivers can be recruited on full term, short term, on-demand, and ride-sharing basis. The company operates its services online and through mobile application. The company serves in Lagos, Abeokuta, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Benin, Ibadan, Benue, Kaduna, and Delta city. DriversNG Recruitment Services Ltd. Recruitment Services Ltd. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria with additional office at Abuja, Nigeria.
WeSettle is a Fintech platform that helps small and medium enterprises better manage their invoices digitally and allows them to quickly get paid electronically.
Khazna is an Egyptian company focused on enhancing financial services through its mobile application. The platform offers a range of services, including payments, savings, and insurance, while also allowing employers to provide cash advances to employees for unforeseen emergencies. Users can easily transfer and receive funds between each other and make cash withdrawals and deposits without incurring transaction fees. By leveraging smartphone technology, Khazna aims to deliver convenient, effective, and secure financial solutions to consumers in Egypt.
Valify Solutions is a technology company specializing in digital identity infrastructure aimed at financial institutions and e-commerce platforms. Founded in 2019 by Omar Abdelwahed and Ibrahim Eid, and headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, Valify offers a platform that facilitates remote account opening, digital onboarding, and user identity verification. Its tools enable service providers to verify customer identities, authenticate official documents remotely, and extract information from valid data sources, all while ensuring security and integrity. By automating and optimizing operations, Valify helps organizations streamline user onboarding and reduce manual tasks. The company focuses on enhancing financial inclusion and economic growth through improved digital identity creation and ownership, ultimately fostering a more secure online environment for all stakeholders.
WorqCompany provides services to businesses and entrepreneurs with technology and sharing economy support in these components. WorqCompany is positioned as a new generation.
E-Bursum provides a social initiative that brings together students that are looking for scholarships and people, institutions, and organizations that provide scholarships, and aims to assist students in the scholarship application process. The project of Galatasaray University Engineering Faculty students carries all the scholarship transactions to the electronic environment and offers students a faster, technological and fair scholarship search experience. Winner of BİLGİ Young Social Entrepreneur Award in 2015, E-Bursum is free. Users can view the people, institutions, and organizations that give scholarships through e-Bursum, and they can easily apply for scholarships.
Global Data Consortium Inc. offers a cloud-based electronic identity verification platform known as Worldview, designed to provide businesses with instant access to identity data from multiple countries. This software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution enables users to verify consumer and business identities, contact information, and age, while also facilitating address verification, correction, geo-coding, and standardization. Worldview can be integrated directly into users' systems, allowing for batch data processing or individual record verification through a web-based tool. The company's services cater to a diverse clientele, including e-commerce, shipping, logistics, mapping, and financial services firms across various regions, including Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, North America, South America, and Antarctica. Founded in 2010, Global Data Consortium is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Complete Farmer Ltd. offers agricultural services by building and managing crop farms. Additionally, the company develops Internet of technology based software that uses machine learning algorithms to monitor the farms. The product can be used by owners to continuously monitor their farms and to keep an eye on the health of the crops. Complete Farmer Ltd. was founded in 2017 and is based in Accra, Ghana.
ReelFruit’s had its humble beginnings in a small apartment in Surulere, Lagos. In 2012, their founder birthed the idea of a new snack company; A first-of-its-kind that would offer dried fruit snacks, made in Nigeria but sold to the world. With this dream in mind, we launched their first range of dried mango and pineapple in March 2013, their first lucky break came from Prince Ebeano Supermarket, Lekki, who stocked their products – and the rest is history.
Solfeh.com operates an online micro-lending platform that allows users to get short term loans. It offers solfeh.com system, an online scoring system that allows the company to evaluate the user for a loan; and enables users to choose the amount and repayment schedule, as well as to apply through its Website. The user can receive money from the authorized money changers when the loan was approved and repayment will be deducted directly from their salary. Solfeh.com is based in Amman, Jordan.
Localized, Inc. operates a platform designed to connect aspiring professionals with industry experts for knowledge sharing and mentorship. Founded in 2017 and based in Washington, D.C., the company focuses on early-stage recruitment in growth markets, facilitating virtual career fairs and year-round recruitment services. It collaborates with universities and talent hubs across the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, and the United States, enabling students and alumni to engage with industry professionals and potential employers. By providing access to experienced mentors and resources, Localized aims to enhance the recruitment process for both companies and aspiring professionals, addressing the needs of a global workforce in emerging markets.
Jokkolabs is a unique environment where entrepreneurs, creatives and innovators can develop their business quickly. They maintain physical and virtual international network of entrepreneurs sharing of open and collaborative values. They offer a quality framework where they can work, meet, collaborate, network, learn and have fun. In a community innovation approach with peers and enriching diversity, they allow all of the opportunities available to them to release their talent and participate actively in community life.
Fongogo is a localized crowdfunding platform that facilitates fundraising for individuals, companies, and NGOs. It provides a marketplace where creators can seek financial support for their projects while also gathering feedback and promoting their initiatives. Contributors can invest varying amounts in projects of their choice, receiving rewards or recognition in return. The platform enhances visibility through tools that enable users to share their projects on social media, fostering a viral effect that can increase funding success. Additionally, Fongogo offers options for pre-sales opportunities and equity-based crowdfunding, allowing creative projects and startups to attract early adopters and generate financial backing for their ideas.
Kredico is an online platform where members' credit requests are collected, score cards are created, and an agreed bank is sent for credit approval. Kredico works with the membership system. Individual score cards are produced for individual and business members. The Kredico rating is updated according to the loan repayment terms.
Piggyvest enables Nigerian debit card holders save little amounts of money frequently with minimal effort. They automate the process of saving tiny amounts daily, weekly, or monthly; and then allowing you to withdraw for free on only set withdrawal dates thereby practically making saving more possible for you by eliminating the temptation to withdraw. Piggyvest is a platform that helps individuals and businesses manage their finances effectively - save and invest with ease. As Piggybank.ng, Piggyvest operated in partnership with 2 Microfinance banks and used their licenses. However, in early 2018, Piggyvest acquired Gold Microfinance bank and its license. Piggyvest is also a registered cooperative- Piggytech Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited (Registration number, 16555). All saved funds are now warehoused with and managed by AIICO Capital, the leading asset management company in Nigeria, registered and licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Manim integrates the ERP application with the user's Bank in 7X24, securely and in real-time. It allows the user to track their banking transactions on the go and enjoy managing their financial activities.
Riby, a finance technology company, provides a finance management platform for cooperatives, company groups, employees, individuals, associations, and financial development institutions. The company is based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Patasente is a factoring platform aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), traders, and farmers. The platform facilitates access to credit, allowing users to purchase and pay for goods on favorable terms. Through its web and mobile applications, as well as a durable payment card, Patasente enables users to manage transactions effectively both in physical stores and online. By offering these services, the platform helps farmers, warehouses, and factories enhance their earnings, lower expenses, and improve cash flow.
Ensibuuko is a Ugandan startup that develops cloud-based micro-finance software tailored for community-level financial entities across Africa. Founded in 2014, the company focuses on providing banking solutions specifically designed for the unique financial landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa. Ensibuuko's platform enables users to access their accounts via mobile devices, allowing them to check balances, make deposits, and withdraw funds conveniently. This innovation aims to enhance financial inclusion and streamline banking services in underserved communities.
Tulaa combines mobile technology and last mile agent networks to connect agri-input suppliers, financial service providers and commodity buyers to smallholder farmers. The aim is to lower the cost and risk for the partners to do business with farmers.
Annona is the select tool for creating a traceable global food ecosystem. Annona is a mobile and web-based platform that global suppliers use to manage their farmer supplies, payments and aggregate crop production.
Talmaro operates a cloud-based human resource platform designed to support HR management for small and medium-sized enterprises. The platform addresses various business challenges, including managing employee leaves, pay slips, documentation, staff records, and vacation and sick days. By offering full automation and integrating labor laws, Talmaro aims to enhance efficiency and reduce costs for its clients. The user-friendly software is developed specifically for HR professionals, making it a valuable tool for organizations looking to streamline their HR processes.
Bankroll.ai is a fintech platform that uses artificial intelligence to help banks make smarter and faster consumer lending decisions. The company's technology utilizes machine learning to create a fully integratable platform for processing big data sets which capture customer decision-making and a long-term product map, enabling banks to manage credit risk, make smarter data-driven product decisions, and improve engagement. Bankroll.ai was founded in 2013 and is based in Dubai.
Smart Crowd is a real estate investment platform that provides you an opportunity to access the UAE real estate market with low minimum investment amount from a simple online portal. Smart Crowd’s innovative approach enables investors to treat their investment properties more like stock portfolios, focusing on asset allocation rather than dealing with the hassles of researching and buying vacant properties that need to be leased and managed. This creates significant time and cost savings. By allowing low minimum investment you diversify your properties, allowing you to build a well-diversified investment property portfolio without taking on too much leverage and risk.
Ennota is a financial management startup based in Cairo, Egypt, that operates a cloud-based platform designed for small businesses in the MENA region. Launched in 2014, Ennota focuses on cash flow management, budgeting, and financial projections. Its flagship product, accessible through ennota.com, offers a user-friendly interface that allows business owners with limited technical or accounting expertise to easily record transactions and visualize their financial data. The platform is fully customizable, enabling users to tailor spending and expenditure categories to their specific needs. With robust visual reporting tools, Ennota helps business owners gain insights into their financial performance, facilitating informed decision-making based on their unique business data.
Baby Grubz is a social enterprise company that provides nutrition solution services for babies. The company produces and packages a wide range of affordable dried homemade cereals, grains, fruits, vegetables, and condiments that serve as a base to make a variety of yummy, nutritious, and fast meals. Baby Grubz was founded in 2013 and is based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Piggyvest enables Nigerian debit card holders save little amounts of money frequently with minimal effort. They automate the process of saving tiny amounts daily, weekly, or monthly; and then allowing you to withdraw for free on only set withdrawal dates thereby practically making saving more possible for you by eliminating the temptation to withdraw. Piggyvest is a platform that helps individuals and businesses manage their finances effectively - save and invest with ease. As Piggybank.ng, Piggyvest operated in partnership with 2 Microfinance banks and used their licenses. However, in early 2018, Piggyvest acquired Gold Microfinance bank and its license. Piggyvest is also a registered cooperative- Piggytech Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited (Registration number, 16555). All saved funds are now warehoused with and managed by AIICO Capital, the leading asset management company in Nigeria, registered and licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Globally, three billion people cook with biomass. The use of open fires and inefficient cookstoves with fuels such as wood, charcoal, and kerosene causes serious environmental and health impacts that disproportionately affect underserved communities. PayGo Energy is a revolutionary cookstove solution and distribution system that enables consumers to access clean and efficient fuel at a price point that is within their daily energy budget.
LipaMobile’s Xuldime service is an integrated cashless platform for parents, school administrators, and school canteen vendors and suppliers to pay for school fees, supplies and services. The product is aimed at parents with no fixed earnings for whom lump sum payments of school fees can be difficult. It also offers a savings platform where parents can periodically load money and set payment dates for direct deposits into the school’s bank account.
ARED Group, founded in 2013 and based in Kigali, Rwanda, operates as a technology company focused on providing social benefits through its innovative solar kiosk, application, and software platform. This platform offers essential services such as Internet Wi-Fi, intranet solutions for offline users, phone charging services, airtime, mobile money, prepaid electricity, and tax payment options. ARED Group aims to enhance access to digital services for low-income individuals, particularly women and people with disabilities, by minimizing internet costs through a mini-server network that stores applications closer to users. The company has expanded its operations to Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, with plans for growth into Senegal and Nigeria. With approximately 142 kiosks serving around 150,000 unique customers annually and processing over 500,000 digital transactions, ARED Group also provides smart data and content management solutions for business clients, helping them to optimize their networks and enhance customer engagement.
Globally, three billion people cook with biomass. The use of open fires and inefficient cookstoves with fuels such as wood, charcoal, and kerosene causes serious environmental and health impacts that disproportionately affect underserved communities. PayGo Energy is a revolutionary cookstove solution and distribution system that enables consumers to access clean and efficient fuel at a price point that is within their daily energy budget.
The Farmerline vision is to see an Africa where Agriculture NGO’s are not a functioning force in the market. Farmerline provides paid services that allow farmers to have the information and access they need to employ an entrepreneurial method of farming. Input dealers and traders pay for more efficient communication channels to farmers and farmers pay for information packages and services. In this vision, more food is produce, more food gets to market, and GDP from cash crop export soars.
Atikus Investments Incorporated offers credit insurance on loans for micro, small, and medium sized enterprises. Through its product J.E.M. Guard, the company focuses on increasing the proportion of loans granted to women and underserved demographics. Additionally, it provides LoanSkout, which is a mobile loan origination and administration application and FINCH, which is its SMS-enabled outreach tool. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in New York, New York with a location in Kigali, Rwanda.
EDOM is a Kenya-based fortified flour and enriched porridge producer mitigating malnutrition in Sub-Sarahan Africa through a BoP-targeted sales strategy. The business has achieved a 68% revenue CAGR since inception, 4-fold net margin increase in 2013, and has a 4,000+ smallholder farmer network in Uganda and Kenya. With I-DEV support, EDOM has engaged a leading global impact investor to secure the first tranche of a multi-stage investment which will be used to provide WC and M&E financing to double production and extend BoP outreach.
Lipisha is a Nairobi-based company that specializes in mobile payment solutions for businesses in Africa. It develops a platform that allows small business owners to automate the processing of non-cash payments, such as mobile money and card transactions, directly into their bank accounts. The platform supports various mobile money channels and incorporates advanced data encryption and anti-fraud measures to ensure secure transactions. Additionally, Lipisha provides users with robust reporting tools that enable them to analyze and manage their payment data effectively. By facilitating the integration and automation of mobile payments, Lipisha aims to enhance financial efficiency for its clients.
Access Afya is focused on enhancing healthcare accessibility for low-income populations in Kenya through its innovative mini-clinic model. By leveraging advanced health technologies, Access Afya provides a modern healthcare operating system designed specifically for emerging economies. The clinics offer a wide range of primary care services, including authentic medication, immunization, family planning, and care delivered by qualified clinicians. This approach enables residents of slum communities to receive timely and effective healthcare services, addressing critical health needs in underserved areas.