Hi everyone,

I have attended many start-up conferences and pitch platforms and from my anecdotal research, I discovered that many start-up founders are scared of bringing investors on board their start-up. There is a common misconception that, Venture capitalists and angel investors will take over your company if you strike deals with them. Many founders are very concerned about giving up equity and sometimes feel cheated after accepting a business deal. Others believe so much in their business that they are always scared of being exploited or have their business ideas stolen when pitching. Because of this way of thinking, many start-up founders would rather apply for grants rather than investment deals.

Personally, I believe that no idea is so unique or extraordinary, all ideas are useless without execution. Many Nigerian founders have little to no understanding about company valuation and equity, they do not know their company's worth and some overestimate their projections and valuations at obscene levels. I personally think that Start-up founders should try to bootstrap before seeking funding from investors. I hold the opinion that if a business is not profitable or has no interested customers in its early stage, then fund-raising is a red flag.

About investors; The early investors of Paystack were Stripe and Visa. I can recall the founders of Paystack mentioned that they received $120,000 for YCombinator for 7% of their company. Previously, foreign investors were more interested in the African market than Nigerians themselves but that is changing now. More investors and accelerators are emerging in Nigeria and taking pivotal steps in the development of Start-ups.
Microtraction: a tech based Nigerian investment firm offers an investment proposition of 25,000 for 7% of any promising company that pitches to them. Firstcheck Africa: Invests in ridiculously early female-owned start-ups
I was on Twitter yesterday and I saw a tweet about an application for start-ups to pitch to Lion's Den Nigeria( An African version of the Canadian Dragon's Den).
Few days ago, A group of Nigerian investors held a pitching platform for small businesses on Clubhouse; they gave away over N6M in grants.
I am completely fascinated that we are now beginning to believe in ourselves and the potentials that we have. I felt like this would be a good way for Nigerian investors to support our own start-up and businesses.

I was watching Tayo Aina's Youtube videos and was so appalled by how much gifted we are as a country and how Nigerians in diaspora have come back home to build companies and create start-ups, while Nigerians here are looking for means to gain Canadian residency and never come back.
Touche!
As for me, I love my country, there is no place like home and I will always embrace the Nigerian dream.
I believe the future of the development of Africa is in our hands, if we decide to face our fears and support one another.
What is your opinion on this matter? What is the future of Start-ups in Africa?

hi Childofthelord ;


1.so how can one get grants ...do you know of any

2. have you gotten grants yourself

3 . do you have a startup

Hi Bless Star,
While I do not have a start-up yet, I I intend on building one. My ideas and innovations are still in the research and market evaluation stage.
However, if you do need a grant for your business, I will advice applying for the Tony Elumelu Foundation for a start. Goodluck!

blessStar:
hi Childofthelord ;


1.so how can one get grants ...do you know of any

2. have you gotten grants yourself

3 . do you have a startup

Childofthelord:
Hi Bless Star,
While I do not have a start-up yet, I I intend on building one. My ideas and innovations are still in the research and market evaluation stage.
However, if you do need a grant for your business, I will advice applying for the Tony Elumelu Foundation for a start. Goodluck!o

Hi , myself and a friend of mine have actually been working on a couple of innovative tech ideas,but we really think we need a partner most especially investors. I really don't mind if we can partner together to create something amazing .

Hi Steady,
Nice to meet you, I guess you are a web developer and I will love to learn more about your tech innovations and share some of mine as well.
What field in tech are you most interested in?
Something tells me you reside in the UK? I hope to hear from you soon.
Bless!

steadyMoving22:





Hi , myself and a friend of mine have actually been working on a couple of innovative tech ideas,but we really think we need a partner most especially investors. I really don't mind if we can partner together to create something amazing .

Childofthelord:
Hi Steady,
Nice to meet you, I guess you are a web developer and I will love to learn more about your tech innovations and share some of mine as well.
What field in tech are you most interested in?
Something tells me you reside in the UK? I hope to hear from you soon.
Bless!

Hello @childofthelord
I am actually a self taught user interface designer.
oh that's fine ,it will be great to exchange emails if you don't mind I already sent you one here on nairaland already.