Seven start-up entrepreneurs with great business ideas last Tuesday, jostled for investment support from members of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN) to grow their businesses to the next stage.
The inaugural pitch event which held in Lagos, saw high net worth individuals of LAN, seeking to invest in and mentor Nigerian technology start-ups.
The Chief Executive Officer, TechnoVision Communications Mr. Tomi Davies, who is also a member of LAN, explained that LAN creates a forum where members can effectively evaluate promising early-stage investment opportunities, get support for the required due-diligence process and monitor their portfolio of investments.
“Currently, start-up entrepreneurs in Nigeria have little or no access to equity investment beyond their Friends and Families. In other countries, Angels come into start-ups when the businesses are either too risky for traditional debt or equity instruments or they do not have the required track record or cash flow for microfinance lending. The Lagos Angel Network is structured to drive job creation through innovation and venturing.” he explained.
According to him, among the 160 entrepreneurs who passed through a screening round to enable them to pitch for LAN investment, seven were shortlisted.
“The shortlisted companies are Fix My Gadget , Cashenvoy, BookNowNow, SkinIT and Giga layer, and Judusradio.” he said.
Davies stated that members of the LAN who are currently 14 in number with another 6 waiting to be approved are expected to commit at least one million naira and 10 days per year to the investment pool.
He added that there is no upper limit in their commitment abilities. “You get to a certain stage in your life and you realise that if it wasn’t for those that have gone before you, you could not have achieved a lot, thus you must use everything that is within your power to empower as many people as possible.”
Davies also said that the thinking which motivated this project steams from a need to rebuild the country to give competent advantage to technology.
“The LAN came about because apart from friends and family who help with seed funds, most brilliant entrepreneurs can’t get seed funding to help bring their ideas to life.”
Of recent, everybody talks about entrepreneurs but nobody is ready to invest in it at a startup stage. When Start-ups like Iroko, Jobberman and the likes came about, nobody wanted to invest in them, but today we have people jostling to invest into them, because they are making money,” he said.
He said: “Am not claiming I know which start-up entrepreneurs that will make it and which one will not, but most of them have brilliant ideas and we must continually encourage them to grow them. If we don’t bet, we can’t win.
He further said that LAN aims to have at least 100 Angle within the next 5 years, which will amount to about a N100 million yearly in startups.
He added that this is just a beginning. “We are not going to get to Silicon Valley overnight, the next pitch event is going to be in September and the Angle network as well as the entrepreneurs screening is open to all interested candidates.
The project, like the Lagos Innovation Hotspots Map, Silicon Lagoon, and others is backed by Innovate Lagos, the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council which was launched by the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, in September 2011.
Entrepreneurs apply through the networks web portal by following the link www.lagosangelnetwork.com or going directly to the secretariat.
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