Ten years ago, the African Business Angel Network (ABAN) was born from a radical belief: Africa must fund Africa. It still speaks to what Africa needs most: ownership and action. At a time when external capital flows are shifting and traditional sources of funding are retreating, Africa’s most reliable engine of growth is internal. Local capital is the main act and not an alternative.
Over the past decade, we have seen angel investors across 37 countries and the diaspora rise to the challenge. They have jointly deployed over $35 million into early-stage African ventures, filling a vital funding gap that once held back dreams at the idea stage. Every investment is a statement of belief in ideas, in founders, and Africa’s potential.
ABAN was created to connect, catalyze, and coordinate this movement. Apart from training thousands of new angels, we have co-invested through Catalytic Africa to launch pooled vehicles like the Africa Business Angel Investment Vehicle (ABAIV), and through it all, we have made one thing clear: African capital can, and must, build African innovation.
But we cannot stop here.
As we mark ABAN’s 10th anniversary, our focus is firmly on the road ahead. The ABAN Congress 2025 in Lagos will be our next big moment. A celebration, yes, but more importantly, a realignment. It will be a space where we ask and answer: what’s next?
On 17-18 October 2025, we will explore how to deepen local capital participation, especially in underserved markets. We will discuss what it takes to back underrepresented founders. We will activate a generation of co-investors, syndicates, angel funds, and diaspora champions who know that real change starts at home. We are also launching the second phase of Catalytic Africa, the ABAN Angel Investment Report 2025, and rolling out the Africa Business Angel Accreditation. Africa needs not just capital, but smart, connected, values-driven capital.
ABAN has always believed in community over competition. It’s this commitment that drives us to build pipelines, not barriers, and it’s exactly what this year’s Congress is all about. Our Congress will be open to anyone playing a role in early-stage investing: policymakers, fund managers, ecosystem builders, and the angels themselves. It’s about driving real, measurable progress across borders, sectors, and systems. Africa does not lack ideas. It does not lack talent. It does not lack ambition. What it has lacked until recently is enough patient, local, belief-driven capital to take those ideas the distance. ABAN is changing that.
More investments. More Business Angels. More deals!
ABAN is just getting started. Ten years in, and Africa is leading its investment future. Reach our Partnerships Desk at
secretariat@abanangels.org to get involved!
By Fadilah Tchoumba, CEO, Africa Business Angel Network (ABAN)
