Leaderex Summit, Sandton, 12-15 September

Congratulations to Ecommerce Live for an excellent event on the first day of the Leaderex series of events! EFSA held a wine and cheese networking event for our members during the late afternoon of the 12^th and discussed the plans to introduce a certification of trustmark based on blockchain. We hope that funding can be raised to get this underway before the year’s end. The Leaderex events covered human resources on the 2^nd day and investments and finance on the last day.

Which brings us to the perennial question of which country is best at  pulling in investment? Startups in Kenya have received more equity funding from investors in Africa in the first half of 2023, according to data released by Briter Bridges. The top 5 countries highlighted in the report are Kenya ($520m), Egypt ($510m), SA ($400m), Rwanda ($280m) and Nigeria ($280m) in terms of funding volume. Despite Nigerian startups ranking fifth, the country leads in the number of deals on the continent with 101 deals. Kenya has closed over 80 deals so far, followed by SA with over 60 deals, Ghana with over 35 deals, and Egypt with over 15 deals so far this year. The report added that many startups have had to shut down, while many funds have struggled to meet their target closures. Others have been forced to take write-downs on their valuations and make deep cuts to their teams. At the conclusion of the first half of 2023, capital infusion into Africa’s startups surpassed an impressive milestone, exceeding the $20bn mark over a span of 15 years.