Browsing: Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) 2024

• To vastly increase the number of gazelles—and by extension, the likelihood of unicorns—stakeholders must work together to overcome existing barriers.
• Under ideal circumstances, gazelles—fast-growing companies essential for economic growth and employment—can mature into unicorns.
• To get unicorns, however, the key lies in cultivating gazelles first. Across Africa, there is a clear need to focus on the imperatives that can drive this transformation.

Gazelles. Camels. Elephants. In the language of venture capital, we have a full menagerie to describe a startup’s growth progression. However, in the past decade, the ultimate aspiration remains the unicorn: privately held companies valued at over $1 billion.

Globally, there are approximately 1,200 unicorns across various industries, and while Africa’s list is smaller, it is growing. As of February 2023, the seven identified African unicorns predominantly operate in the fintech and digital sectors, addressing payment challenges across the continent.

For many startups in Africa, achieving unicorn status …