A lot has been said about startups in Africa not getting funding. For those that do get, it is little. Yet few are talking about or thinking of addressing the issue of making these startups investor ready.
When you talk to Venture Capitals firms across the continent, they will tell you that there's money to invest in companies or startups. However, the question is, are the companies to invest this money in there?
Reports by World Bank and other Africa-focused research organizations will tell you how Africa is surging with Entrepreneurs. However, few of these will go a step further to tell you what percentage of these can face an investor and get what they're looking for.
GoBigHub - a microfinancing company that connects SMEs as well as startups to investors is looking to bridge this gap. They want to make sure that startup founders are ready to tap into investors money.
They are looking to fix this problem through an entertaining program, a show called The Hunt.
Investors and entrepreneurs will be put in a room and the investors will ask critical questions about the viability of the entrepreneur's ideas and companies. After which, they shall teach the entrepreneurs how to best pitch their ideas and provide any additional information.
As a microfinancing organization, one of the major challenges we've seen is the lack of documentation and preparation from small businesses, as they are mostly family run - Madeline Pollack, Projects Executive at GoBigHub
Not wanting to be mistaken for a Shark Tank mimick, Madeline says that it shall be unique "because these will be micro-entrepreneurs and local investors, making them more relatable to the Kampala and African audience"
They are planning to shoot and publish their first episode next week. They'll kickstart by airing the videos on youtube then possibly on television with time. So far, they have some entrepreneurs and investors lined up.
Though, they would love to reach out to other entrepreneurs and investors who might be interested in participating in "The Hunt". Secondly, they're also encouraging people to view this program so that, even though not participating, they can learn a thing too.
For the first season, four episodes will be shot and each will have three investors and six entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur's segment will last about 5 minutes and each episode lasting 30 minutes.
Apart from the entrepreneurs pitching their products, they are encouraged to use any other things but are subject to by the GoBigHub team. Some of the suggested include photos, videos, customer feedback, awards etc.
For those looking to join The Hunt as Investors, you should be an African who is physically available to shoot the show. The other qualifier is that you should be looking to invest a minimum of UGX 2 million (roughly $600) in local enterprises.
Entrepreneurs must be Ugandan residents and businesses with ideas that need capital. However, all the investments made on air are still subject to further due diligence. For more details, contact Ojijo Pascal, the founder of GoBigHub, on ojijo@gobighub.com