Chui Ventures

We are thrilled to announce that Chui Ventures has invested in Uncover, a community-driven African skincare brand that believes no woman should lose confidence in her skin! Uncover stands out in the competitive skincare market, which ranges from indigenous low-cost brands to multinational luxury products. Present in both Nigeria and Kenya, Uncover navigates these similar skincare markets by focusing on facial skincare products and distinguishing itself through quality and community engagement. We invested in Uncover because of their deep involvement in the formulation process, sourcing African botanical ingredients, and conducting tests on African skin tones to tailor their products effectively. Additionally, their products are crafted by world-class Korean manufacturers with global standards. Our journey with Uncover began in 2022 when we had our first call with the founders. We became loyal customers of their products, especially the famous Aloe Invisible Sunscreen and Baobab Glow C Serum. We are now excited to invest in the brand, co-founded by Sneha Mehta, CFA, and Jade Oyateru, MBA, as it enters its new phase of growth! Join us in celebrating this exciting journey with Uncover! https://lnkd.in/dquhEk6u #Uncover #AfricanInnovation #VentureCapital

??We’re excited to welcome Joyce-Ann Wainaina, Managing Partner at Chui Ventures as a speaker at Africa Tech Forum 2024. Africa Tech Forum is a meeting place for innovators, stakeholders, regulators, enthusiasts, and industry leaders across various layers of Africa’s Tech ecosystem. The event will convene an important gathering, focused on exploring emerging trends and innovations shaping africa’s tech landscape Secure your spot today! Visit https://atf.eventhive.ng for ticket bookings.

Beyond numbers and statistics, it's the stories of transformation that inspire us. Like the woman-led funds in Kenya like Chui Ventures and scaling new heights or FairMoney, the fintech company in the Aruwa Capital Management portfolio in Nigeria breaking barriers in financial inclusion. These are the stories of impact that drive us forward. Read more: https://lnkd.in/djanWuMj #AfricaGrowthFund #InvestInAfrica

Last week, I was pleased to attend and represent Chui Ventures at the Moonshot by TechCabal 2024 Conference a key forum for us in our quest to back exceptional African entrepreneurs, building technological-enabled solutions for mass markets. In the 2nd edition of the conference hosted and driven by TechCabal, the Moonshot conference brought together Africa's tech ecosystem (i.e. 4000+ guests and 90+ speakers) in person to network, collaborate, share insights, and celebrate innovation on the continent. The conference stood out as a platform that I believe will be the biggest in Africa someday as it seamlessly enables the meeting of founders, business leaders, startups, enterprise companies, and more to build innovative solutions for huge problems across Africa. Key moments that stood out for me were; -A speech and presentation by Akeem Lawal the Divisional Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch Group, where he spoke about the future of African commerce and payments and how Interswitch aims to solve problems in African payments by putting together the Pan-African System Integrated Solution. This solution will be an ecosystem that will include banks, fintechs, liquidity providers, gateways, etc., aiming to make African payments borderless, seamless, and stressless. -A masterclass by Olumide Soyombo from Voltron Capital and Kola A. from Ventures Platform Fund where they tapped into their wealth of knowledge and experience in the African Venture Capital space to discuss the characteristics of founders that serve as blueprints for success or not. -Finally, conversations and interactions with founders, VCs, business leaders, operators, guests, and the like were critical highlights for me, as I believe that with the exchange of ideas and insights that the conference helped facilitate, Africa’s potential for innovation and growth is enormous. -Notable Shoutouts in terms of conversations and interactions for me go to? Chidinma Okoli,?Yvonne O. Okafor Ayobamigbe Teriba Awosika Tobiloba Temitope Babatunde Ekundayo Rofem Egbe Jude Dike Folakemi Osho Gift Uyanwanne Miracle Nnaji, FMVA?Uma E. Ayomide Abayomi Oluwasola Osonuga (ACA) Yunus Ibrahim PremiaBN A&A Collective Adesola Adesanya Jasiel Martin-Odoom Babacar S. Emeka Ajene It's still Day One. Onwards and Upwards.???? #africa #entrepreneurship #nigeria #venturecapital

?? Closing the Gender Financing and Technology Gap: Key Takeaways from the 2X Global Summit ?? At the 2X Global Summit held last month in Nairobi, key stakeholders gathered to strengthen efforts for more gender-smart and inclusive finance. MEDA co-hosted this impactful event, with a special focus on how to leverage technology to overcome the information and financial divides faced by women-owned SMEs, particularly in rural areas. ?? Here are our top 5 takeaways from the Summit: 1?? Women-led businesses need more finance and trust, not more training. 2?? Flexible, early-stage investing is crucial for women tech entrepreneurs. 3?? Agtech can be transformative for rural women farmers and MEDA's partnerships with agriBORA and Irri-Hub KE are making important strides in this space. 4?? Innovative financing models rewarding sustainability must be prioritized. 5?? Standardizing and mainstreaming gender-lens investing is key. ?? Read the full blog by Lindsay Wallace and Omoneka Musa Oyier to explore more insights: https://ow.ly/YHO950TGc5s ?? Special thanks to 2X Global and to our panelists Joyce-Ann Wainaina (Chui Ventures), Hilda Moraa (Pezesha), Tekwane Mwendwa (Leja), Rose Goslinga (PULA), Sheila Monyenche (Irri-Hub KE ), and Phian Karange (agriBORA) for their incredible insights! Photo credit: 2X Global #GenderEquality #ImpactInvesting #AgTech #FinTech #WomenEntrepreneurs #2XGlobalSummit

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending and representing Chui Ventures at the 'Endeavor Nigeria Annual Scaleup Entrepreneurship Summit 2024' a key form of engagement for us in our quest to back exceptional African entrepreneurs, building technological-enabled solutions for mass markets. Endeavor is the world’s leading community of high-impact entrepreneurs with a network spanning 42 markets and supports 2,532 entrepreneurs leading 1,553 companies. A major recurring mainstay of Endeavor Nigeria’s Annual Scaleup Entrepreneurship Summit is “Catalyzing Conversations” with this year's theme being Building Bridges: Co-Creating a Unified Ecosystem. The event brought together key private and government stakeholders who spoke about the trends, efforts, and plans relating to entrepreneurial growth in Nigeria and across Africa. Key moments that stood out for me were; - A keynote speech by Paga Group Ltd CEO Tayo Oviosu, who honed in on how collaboration, competition, and fintech and startup ecosystems were important to the development and growth of Paga and other major startup players. - A fireside chat, moderated by: President of Endeavour Adrian Garcia-Aranyos with Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola With the key insights from the chat being; - Why he became an entrepreneur and the support of Endeavor. - Founding Flutterwave and the journey in democratizing the payment system in Africa. (Idea to Impact -The Flutterwave Story). - The ripple effect and the new companies started by ex-Flutterwave operators i.e. Flutterwave Mafia - LemFi etc. - How engaging with regulators and stakeholders is significant for growth, especially in the financial technology space. - Endeavor's Global network being crucial for Flutterwave, and how they helped in their expansion into Egypt. - A panel session themed: Beyond Competition: How to expand the pie for everyone, which was moderated by: Tage Kene-Okafor of TechCrunch and had panelists such as; Cowrywise CEO Razaq Ahmed, CFA, Rising Tide Africa Co-founder Yemi Keri, and Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) CEO JUDE CHIEMEKA With the key insights from the panel session being; - The need for startups to adopt better methods in market sizing and identifying consumers and non-consumers and in general the different consumer categories being key to business decision-making and action. - The need for startups to focus on creating new markets and how the NGX is creating a new framework that will help startups access the NGX. - The need for economic improvement, incentives, purchasing power, and access to credit which can enable the economy and improve financial inclusion in Nigeria. -Finally, a key takeaway for me was the importance of collaboration and the need for more strategic alliances among all relevant stakeholders is critical to growth and progress. It's still Day One. Onwards and Upwards.???? #africa #entrepreneurship #nigeria #venturecapital

I’m glad to announce that I will be speaking at the 6th annual Africa Tech Female Founder Summit by @TLcom Capital LLP in Nairobi, Kenya, on 15th October 2024. Together with other C-suite players in the African tech space, we will speak on the theme ‘Transforming Leadership: Redefining Success in Tech’. Specifically, my panel will broadly explore leadership dynamics in the current tech landscape and ways to build strategic partnerships for scaling businesses within the industry. Registrations are currently ongoing till the 23rd Sept: https://lnkd.in/dkYs2tRT #TLcomFemaleFounder24 #Africa #WomenInTech Chui Ventures

Mukami Kamau has very unique perspectives to how startups can work and collaborate to solve problems in Africa. Always happy to share her ideas and help founders think through the challenges of building global businesses from Africa. Very happy to work with her (and grab a drink) whenever I'm in Nairobi. Along with Franklin Hodgins Ebomah, she was super instrumental in facilitating Chui Ventures investment in PaidHR (formerly Pade).

Next week, Boost Africa by the European Investment Bank (EIB), in partnership with the AfricaGrow Technical Assistance Facility, will host the 3rd edition of the "Africa Venture Finance Programme" at the Sa?d Business School, University of Oxford. This 5-day in-person course is custom-built for investors in African tech and tech-enabled companies. We look forward to welcome 42 fund managers from 32 different African / Africa- focused Venture Capital funds this year: Partech, TLcom Capital LLP, Norrsken22, Future Africa, Launch Africa Ventures, EchoVC Partners, Ventures Platform Fund, Knife Capital, First Circle Capital,?Breega, LoftyInc Capital, Seedstars Africa Ventures, AfricInvest Group, Consonance Flat6Labs, Sawari Ventures, Climate Resilient Africa Fund, Catalyst Fund, Hlayisani Capital, 500 Global, E4EAfrica, Octerra Capital , Helios Digital Ventures, Persistent, Outlierz Ventures, Saviu Ventures, Speedinvest, KawiSafi Ventures, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, Chui Ventures and Equator. On Thursday, participants will be joined by delegates from leading DFIs and international organisations for LP/GP sessions, VC pitches, awards, and some fun. Delegates from the DFIs will have a separate program on Friday as part of the Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa and the European Commission Team Europe IYBA (Investing in Young Business in Africa) initiative. Budget is secured also for next year. Participants are nominated by the programme sponsors and by the alumni. We’ll share more details on this later in the year. Stay tuned!

Skincare firm Uncover glows with $1.4m in oversubscribed funding round. The financing round was led by Dubai-based investment company EQ2 Ventures , Silicom Valley global fund IgniteXL Ventures, with participation from Chui Ventures, Samata Capital and Altree Capital. https://bit.ly/3y8E0No