Free mentorship and training for Africa's entrepreneurs

The VC4A Startup Academy is offering direct access to expertise proven to work for successful entrepreneurs and investors operating across Africa. Founders can take their business to the next level by learning about the latest insights, download tools and listen to advice from 35 experts active in the emerging African startup ecosystem.

The VC4A Startup Academy is broken down into three learning courses, each focused on a different life-stage of a starting business. The first course is called, ‘Start your business’, and introduces participants to main themes to consider during the founding stage of a startup. Course two is ‘Grow your business’, and covers what’s needed after a startup finds its feet and is ready to scale up. And course three, is ‘Finance your business’, introducing different funding concepts and tips on how to raise capital.

Theory and expert insights

The theoretical content is presented by Andile Masuku, of African Tech Roundup, and among the experts are the likes of Tomi Davies of the Lagos Angel Network; Rebecca Enonchong of the African Business Angel Network; Brett Commaille of AngelHub Ventures; Fatoumata Ba of Jumia and Emeka Afigbo of Facebook; and Wim van der Beek of Goodwell Investments.

The content is available free of charge and can be accessed by members registered on https://VC4A.com. After each module, participants can test their learning by taking a quiz and unlock a personalised certificate that can be downloaded, and to recognise the entrepreneur for successfully completing the course. Graduates from the VC4A Startup Academy gain access to the VC4A Mentorship Marketplace, select startup opportunities and fundraising tools.

Next level

The VC4Africa Startup Academy is designed to empower founders to take their business to the next level. VC4A founder Ben White explains: “We are committed to helping entrepreneurs enhance their capabilities by providing knowledge and expertise that will empower them to successfully grow their business.

“Industry insiders pass on wisdom earned over the course of their careers as they’ve built companies, invested in startups, and raised venture capital. With this Academy we are working to unlock this knowledge in a way that makes it more accessible to a new generation of founders coming up across the continent.”

Each learning module contains:

• Theoretical breakdowns where concepts are introduced – relevant to the African context.
• Video clips of leading business professionals, entrepreneurs and investors, sharing practical expert advice.
• Transcripts of theory videos in English, French, Arabic and Somali.
• Quizzes where you’ll be challenged to apply what you have learnt.
• Useful downloadable templates and documents.

The VC4A Startup Academy has been developed as a fundamental pillar of the ‘Work in Progress!’ program funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Blended learning

The VC4A Startup Academy is designed as a self-learning tool, but at the same time VC4A is working with a pan-African network of partners to integrate the online curriculum into incubator and accelerator programs to make sure participants start with the same business foundation. Ultimately, these programs can use the VC4A Startup Academy to combine the online content with face-to-face discussions and in-person sessions hosted at the local startup hubs.

VC4A strives to strengthen Africa’s startup community by connecting African entrepreneurs creating innovative and scalable business with the knowledge, network and funding they require to succeed. VC4A.com is the online resource where this community of founders, investors, mentors and experts convene. VC4A offers its online infrastructure, network and expertise for the implementation of programs, such as the World Bank’s XL Africa program and the Thomson Reuters Africa Startups Challenge, that seek to contribute to Africa’s startup movement.