Why Are There No Venture Capitalists In Nigeria?

When you say venture capitalists, what exactly do you mean?

the truth is that the rich dudes in naija r selfish and dumb. a lot of them got their money from frauds and government contracts. the idea of value/wealth creation via vc activities is strange to them. they would rather finance someone going to the guber so there could be promises of money.

even despite cbn directive of banks saving 10% of the PBT for SME projects, how many have you seen?

Exactly. Most of the rich people don't know jack about computers or IT anyway, talk less of investing in some startup IT firm or some young guys who want to start programming. The largest IT firms in Nigeria are still quite small, and none of them is on the Stock exchange yet. The main problem is that Nigeria has not fully embraced IT.


Is that the kind of man that will invest into IT in Nigeria? He'll just impeach the CEO one day and replace him with some dude who didn't go to secondary school.

I am a retired venture capitalist. I have put more money into Nigerian e-commerce deals than most, but at the moment I use the word retired for the following reasons.

1. The work is never completed.
2. The venturer thinks that he can screw you. He will borrow money from various sources (when he can) with the same idea and then never finishes.
3. I am yet to see a good idea that goes from start to finish
4. Loyalties change once money is on the ground and the project never finishes.
6. The partners quarrel once they are funded and the project never finishes.
7. Most people forget technology is a business and so needs a business plan so many deals are not funded, so that idea never ....

Catch my drift???

I still look for great ideas, do you know what most people want money for?

1. HYIP
2. Fx trading.....
there are very very very very few really good original ideas with an understanding of the dynamics of the e-marketplace.


All things considered, show me a great deal and I will "show you the money"

The whole idea of funding is not to know the people in advance but believe in their ideas and the value it will create and yes they were in deep passionate; dedicated is another story. In times of hunger the mind is a very imaginative. In times of comfort, there are many excuses for failure.

While I choose not to disclose names here are some things I have given money to in the past.

1. A transaction switching system. The people went some way and then went another and as it advanced they started shopping the project to other people.

2. I put up the money for a visa (travel like embassy) online processing system. They did a beautiful presentation to the embassies at the lagoon and then lost focus. Like the first one, suddenly there were partners I had never heard of before.

3. An e-commerce portal when portals were brand new. (and this one was to someone that went to the same high school as me just 10 years later). As it advanced, it became solely his project and of course he never completed it.

4. Several software projects that have not seen the light of day. From banking to insurance to retail apps.

I've paid people in Ukraine, Russia, India, USA to complete projects that were started in Nigeria, unfortunately. yet everyone says there are no opportunities.

Venture capitalist have a stake in your idea till it becomes a product. They don't make money from just giving your money. They make money when they turned your idea to a product that is comercially viable. Until then it is just an idea and the money goes down the drain.

Truth, Nigerians are just not thinking about the global potential of an idea. How a simple idea that meets a need can make the initiator a global billionaire. That is the basic premise of the technological dream. 

Everyday people with money call me and ask what will be the next big thing. VC is a club of friends, I have friends that will jump on it with the cash to make it happen. But currently we have all adopted the global dream at the expense of the Nigerian dream. Just yesterday a friend sent me a proposal for Ghana and it sounded great. There are now lots of technological opportunities opening up as Liberia opens up; we are funding broadband projects in Ghana and Liberia as well as Liberian data center as they can recruit English and French speakers. By the way our friends own 5% of PALM Inc. You can read about it here. www.sagioinvest.com. In their case, they will not touch you until you go public and even on the Nigerian stock exchange.

Bottom line, you have an idea, send us an none-disclosure agreement and we can talk........ Since we are anonymous on nairaland. Just send us a PM and we will give you details if we are interested.




So area (technology), opportunities in Nigeria; can't find.

Pendelite,
please can you send me a pm message i think i might have a coiuple of ideas that might be worth your while