The Mastercard Foundation is Investing $150 Million into 20 Gender Lens Funds

In our first episode of this series on jobtech platforms and the future of work, we argued that the future of work is a tech-enabled portfolio of work. But what does a portfolio of work really look like? And what happens next? We know we need to create more formal jobs in Africa, and we need to boost the productivity of the informal sector. But how do we get there? Considering the context of the markets in question, the future of work isn’t going to be designed or endowed; it’s going to be bootstrapped. 00:00 - Intro01:17 - Bootstrapping Development01:53 - Bootstrapping a portfolio of work05:48 - Pathways for jobtech users06:45 - This is how development happensWatch the first episode of this series on jobtech platforms: https://theflip.africa/podcast/what-we-get-wrong-about-jobs-in-africaTo learn more about the Jobtech Alliance, visit https://jobtechalliance.comCheck out last year's podcast series on the future of work: https://go.theflip.africa/future-of-workOur Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica 💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica/📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

In January 2024, we hosted a live show in Lagos with The Subtext's Osarumen Osamuyi on the relationship between the tech ecosystem and the media. It was a follow-up to a 2020 episode we published entitled Much Ado About the Media.A lot of founders still feel the media is acting in bad faith amidst more accountable media coverage. In this episode, we explore this tension and have an important discussion with the ecosystem players themselves.00:00 - Intro01:22 - Reflecting on 2020's episode08:20 - Paga's Tayo Oviosu's founder perspective12:20 - TechCabal's Tomiwa Aladekomo's media perspective19:04 - What about business models?22:20 - Stears Nchedolisa Akuma on subscriptions24:58 - Moniepoint's Didi Uwemakpan's marketing perspective28:14 - The global perspective from TechCrunch's Tage Kene-Okafor30:49 - FT's Aanu Adeoye36:20 - How to give local context to a global audience42:02 - Local vs. global media45:43 - Who keeps the media in check?46:36 - Editorial perspectives from TechCabal's Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega50:03 - Negative stories about advertising partners53:03 - Osarumen & Justin's retrospectiveMuch Ado About the Media, part one: https://theflip.africa/podcast/s2e9Our Links - 🎥 YouTube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica/📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Live from the BIG Summit, a platform hosted by investor and 2x NBA All-Star Baron Davis, at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, a conversation with three operators connecting Africa to the world through culture and commerce. In this conversation, we're joined by Clare Akamanzi, the CEO of NBA Africa, Abdul Karim Abdullah, the Founder and CEO of AfroFuture music festival, and entrepreneur and private equity investor Tuyee Yeboah. 00:00 - Intro02:38 - NBA Africa05:32 - AfroFuture08:34 - Investing across Africa and the US10:55 - Basketball's role in Africa's development12:20 - Changing perceptions about the continent17:35 - How do we get more investors involved?21:20 - African talentEpisode Links - AfroFuture - https://www.afrofuture.com/BAL - https://bal.nba.com/BIG Summit - https://www.teambig.io/Our Links - 🎥 YouTube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica/📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

The African continent has the highest levels of poverty, the lowest levels of formal employment, and its population is going to double in the next 30 years. African countries need to create more jobs. But what kinds of jobs? And how? What if I told you that the way governments and development organizations are trying to create jobs in Africa is all wrong?  To make a dent in this problem requires an understanding of the realities on the ground and how that has impacted the preferences of the labor markets in question. The future of work, for Africans in particular, is not a formal job but a technology-enabled portfolio of work. 00:00 - Intro01:36 - Informal is normal03:14 - A portfolio of work05:24 - Using jobtech platforms like Tendo for supplemental income08:33 - To what degree can jobtech platforms address the underemployment issues across the continent?To learn more about the Jobtech Alliance, visit https://jobtechalliance.comCheck out last year's podcast series on the future of work: https://go.theflip.africa/future-of-workOur Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica/📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?This episode is the last episode of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're exploring ecosystem and capacity building with Jessica Espinoza, the CEO of 2X Global, an organization aimed at unlocking gender smart capital at scale. Jessica chairs the 2X Challenge which has raised more than $27 billion of gender lens investments since its launch at the G7 Summit in 2018.00:00 - Intro02:10 - Unlocking gender-smart capital at scale03:43 - What is gender-smart capital?06:46 - Applying the 2X framework to investing10:25 - Building the gender-smart investing ecosystem19:52 - The primary issue is bias22:54 - Mainstreaming gender-smart capital25:55 - What is success for 2X Global?33:29 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & JustinIn Episode 1 of this series, we spoke to the founders: Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-foundersIn Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gapIn Episode 3 of this series, we were joined by the fund managers: Alitheia Capital's Tokunboh Ishmael & TLcom Capital's Andreata Muforo: https://theflip.africa/podcast/investing-in-women-is-an-economic-imperativeIn Episode 4 of this series, we spoke to an LP investing in the fund managers: Sam Akyianu, Managing Director of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund: https://theflip.africa/podcast/mastercard-foundation-is-investing-150-million-into-20-gender-lens-fundsThis series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?This episode is the fourth of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund is a $150 million fund-of-funds initiative investing in twenty gender lens funds, with a particular focus on closing the financing and support gap for females. And in this episode, we're joined by Sam Akyianu, Managing Director of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund.00:00 - Intro01:54 - Investing $150m in 20 vehicles08:06 - Fund evaluation & investment decisions23:09 - Measuring success31:25 - Overmentored and underfunded?35:04 - Getting other LPs onboard36:43 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & JustinIn Episode 1 of this series, we spoke to the founders: Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-foundersIn Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gap In Episode 3 of this series, we were joined by the fund managers: Alitheia Capital's Tokunboh Ishmael & TLcom Capital's Andreata Muforo: https://theflip.africa/podcast/investing-in-women-is-an-economic-imperativeThis series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?This episode is the third of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're joined by the investors. Tokunboh Ishmael is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Alithea Capital, a $100 million gender lens private equity fund. Andreata Muforo is a Partner at TLcom Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund with a 60% female partnership. 00:00 - Investing in women is an economic imperative02:12 - Introducing Tokunboh04:04 - An Alitheia-led thesis05:36 - What does gender-lens investing look like in practice?11:49 - What about the financial returns? 13:35 - Impact targets17:24 - Are there enough women founders in the pipeline? 19:54 - Women are over-mentored and under-funded23:48 - Is a female investor backing a female founder a negative signal?26:53 - What does success look like? 29:47 - Introducing Andreata31:15 - Why is a traditional VC fund like TLcom trying so hard to invest in more female founders?33:03 - How VCs make investment decisions36:18 - Only 25% of the pipeline has a female co-founder40:44 - Is there a fundamental mismatch with VC and gender-lens investing?42:31 - What does success look like? Part two46:47 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & JustinIn Episode 1 of this series, we spoke to the founders: Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-foundersIn Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gap This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?This episode is the second of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're exploring Angel Networks with Yemi Keri, co-founder of Rising Tide Africa, a women-oriented angel network in Nigeria.00:00 - Intro01:42 - Rising Tide Africa05:06 - Mentoring, Investment, Networking, Education07:25 - Growing the pool of female angels12:15 - Where are the interventions needed to close the gender funding gap?14:13 - Yemi's investment approach18:07 - What does success look like?22:04 - Exits?26:40 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & JustinEpisode 1 of this series featured Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-foundersThis series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?This episode is the first of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're joined by the founders: Yanmo Omarogbe, the Co-founder and COO of the Nigerian investment platform Bamboo, and Sneha Mehta, the Co-founder and CEO of Uncover, a direct-to-consumer skincare brand in Kenya.00:00 - Intro02:00 - Yanmo & Sneha's fundraising experiences13:19 - If tech companies raise more money, should more women start tech companies?19:55 - What does "the ecosystem" need to be doing more of to help female founders?25:26 - The added burdens for female founders32:18 - What does success look like?38:15 - Is money raised the right metric?41:36 - The 2% Ceiling47:30 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & JustinThis series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guest is Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Coronation Capital and former Group MD and CEO of Access Bank. Aigboje is one of the most successful and esteemed businesspeople on the continent. In 2002, he led the acquisition of Access Bank, which under his 11-year leadership grew into the largest bank in Nigeria and one of the largest in Africa.This wide-ranging discussion with the Chairman took place during the 2023 UN General Assembly in New York at an event hosted by the early-stage VC fund Microtraction, in which we were joined in conversation with Microtraction's Founding Partner, Kwamena Afful.00:00 - Intro02:59 - Banks as vehicles for economic empowerment06:28 - Africa's credit gap13:08 - Aigboje's view on transition16:50 - The infrastructure for Africa's comparative advantages19:22 - Africa's risk premium25:12 - "Africa will solve its problems when it starts producing in Africa"29:54 - Building digital economies32:09 - One African currency?38:21 - Engendering Africa's potentialOur Links -🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   💻 Website - https://theflip.africa🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica