Adeo Ressi, founder of TheFunded, recently gave an interesting indictment of Silicon Valley explaining the problems with VC culture. One accusation is that venture capitalists rely too heavily on their network of friends, not including enough ‘outsider’ talent. Another is that more money is being invested into venture firms than those same VC firms [...]

In the first half of this article I shared a few ideas for social ventures in emerging economies. Some of them I’m working on, some of them I’m not but regardless I don’t think it should stop others from trying. You’ll notice that some of these ideas don’t have examples because I’m not currently [...]

The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a US$50-100m private sector fund, backed by some of the biggest names in development finance and hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Their aim is to encourage private sector companies to compete for like-for-like investment support for their new and innovative business ideas.
The [...]

I’m a huge advocate of internet technology being used to improve conditions around the world. In my own experiences in Silicon Valley, however, I’ve found that many there aren’t interested in social change. They’re interested in starting some web company based on a loose business model, selling it and retiring young. Who can [...]

When I initially began Appfrica one question I asked myself was: “Why is the world VC community at large ignoring a continent with nearly a billion people?” Of course there are a number of reasons:

Perceptions
Lack of Faith
Ignorance
Failed Prior Attempts

All of those are valid concerns but only one of them is a realistic reason for making [...]