My Year in Review 2023

As we approach the end of another remarkable year, I find it both humbling and rewarding to reflect on the journey I've undertaken in the last 12 months. Over 14 countries, nearly 30 cities, several thousand zoom calls & close to 100 flights.

The year 2023 has been characterized by significant achievements, personal growth, and strategic advancements for HealthCap Africa. I want to extend my sincere thanks to all our investors, founders and stakeholders for contributing to a phenomenal year. The success of HealthCap Africa is deeply rooted in relationships. I genuinely appreciate the privilege of working for and with you.

While it has been a tumultuous year for the global economy and venture capital industry, rocked by inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and instability which impacted economic outcomes, we are proud of our progress in funding game changing innovations driving healthcare access and financial inclusion across Africa.

About HealthCap Africa

At the core of HealthCap Africa's mission is a commitment to catalyzing positive change in the African economy. We are focused on investing in the most game-changing healthtech and fintech companies at their earliest stages. We invest primarily within the big 4 African markets of Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt.?

To learn more about the world of start up investing, watch my video 'How to invest in start ups' here .

Why we invest

Africa has the fastest-growing population in the world. It is also one of the fastest urbanising, with exponential increases in smartphone and internet access. Africans leapfrogged directly to mobile phones, without established landline systems and digital banking without deep physical banking networks. The same will happen in healthcare.

This is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity!? Think China 30 years ago.

Our strategy is built around the big problems that we empower African entrepreneurs to solve; health and wealth.

Africa has the worst healthcare in the world according to the World Bank. More mothers die in pregnancy and childbirth than countries like Syria or Afghanistan. More children die under the age of 5 than anywhere else on earth.

Our wealth strategy focuses on our belief that improved financial inclusion provides individuals and businesses with the tools and resources necessary for economic participation and growth. It empowers people to save, invest, and protect themselves against financial risks, contributing to the overall development of the economy.

We think that innovative technology will play a big part in solving these problems. Our unwavering belief in the revenue and impact-generating capacity of these sectors drives our investment strategy at HealthCap Africa.?

To learn more about why I am so bullish on Africa, watch my video on Why Investing in Africa Makes Business Sense

Portfolio Wins

Our investment strategy is laser-focused on safeguarding investor capital, partnering with visionary founders to craft game-changing, high-impact innovations, and leveraging our network, expertise and resources to support the growth of these companies.

Over the last year, our portfolio companies have experienced impressive growth, and generated remarkable traction. Some of our portfolio wins are highlighted below:?

-Helium Health successfully secured $30 million in their series B funding round. The Company will utilize part of the funding to increase its lending portfolio to healthcare facilities in Nigeria, including hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and diagnostics centers. Read more about it here .? This brings the total amount of follow-on capital raised by our portfolio companies to nearly $100m, another testament to our ability to spot the best companies early.?

-Healthtracka received a $50,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Initiative. Read about the announcement here

-Bryan Mezue, Co-founder of Lifestores, was named as one of the 50 finalists of the Jack Ma Africa’s Business Heroes.?

-Lifebank announced a partnership with Benshi AI, a Barcelona-based AI company, to ? leverage its AI and Machine Learning (ML) platform to improve the quality of care for patients. Read more here ?

-Vesti expanded its operations to Ghana, Zambia and the United Kingdom to empower migrants with financial services and support. Vesti is on a mission to be the “go-to” financial services platform for nearly 300 million immigrants worldwide. Read more here

-MDaaS was selected as one of the 40 technology companies eligible for Google's $4 million Black Founders Fund.

-Kyshi launched a beta version of its platform, “Kyshi for Business,” to assist businesses in transacting across multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and China.

-Termii secured $3.65 million in funding, to fuel the company’s expansion initiatives and the development and promotion of both existing and new products in new markets.?

Our Team’s Expertise

Collectively, the HealthCap team boasts 40 years of combined expertise as established operators, specialists, past fund managers and investors. Our diverse skills in accounting, finance, law, venture capital, technology, and healthcare offer unparalleled insights, and value to our portfolio. We know how to run a business, not just how to finance one. This skills set is particularly important in emerging markets.

Highlights of my Year

-I launched my latest book titled Journey To Series A. The book is a playbook for founders, funders and policymakers who want to succeed in the Series A funding round. ?Here’s the link to the summary of my book - Journey to Series A . You can get a copy of the book here .?

The picture below was taken when the US Deputy Treasury Secretary Mr Wally Adeyemo visited Nigeria and hosted a dinner for industry leaders in the tech industry.

-One of the largest financial services providers in the world supported our fund after 9 months of due diligence. This is an exciting win for us at HealthCap Africa.

-We welcomed Rebecca Enonchong, and Lola Ekujo as members of our Investment Committee. Rebecca is a highly accomplished entrepreneur and tech leader who has served on the board of several organizations including WHO Foundation and is a founder of one of the largest Angel Networks in Africa. Lola leads fintech at one of Nigeria's largest banks. She is a seasoned digital and innovation expert with 17+ years of global experience, spanning across financial services and tech innovations. Their strategic insight into the startup and venture capital ecosystem is invaluable to supporting our pipeline and portfolio with fundraising, growth and subject matter advisory

-I carried on in my role as the lead of the Gender Commission at Women in Finance (WIF) and authored a whitepaper; Advancing Gender Diversity on Boards of Publicly Listed Companies in Nigeria. Thankful for the mentorship and leadership of Dr Dr. Toyin F Sanni Sanni, the Chairperson of Women in Finance as well as Mrs Bunmi Morenike Lawson who supervises the work I do for the education committee.

-I carried on in my role as head of healthcare for the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) and authored a white paper; Enhancing Trade between Nigeria and America in the Healthcare Sector under the leadership of Dame Adebola Williams.

-During my tenure as the Head of Health for the Business Thematic Group at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), which concluded in November 2023, I launched a white paper; Attracting Funding for the Nigerian Health Sector: Outlining the Opportunities, Financing options and Challenges.?

-We commenced the Graduate Trainee Program with a successful first cohort intake of five trainees. Read about A Day in the Life of a HealthCap Graduate Trainee

-We expanded our team and welcomed eight talented individuals with diverse experiences in accounting, finance, venture capital, technology, and healthcare.? Their skill sets are integral to the overall success of our company, and they also play a crucial role in providing support to our portfolio companies.

-We are pleased to have welcomed leaders of some of Nigeria’s famous banks and tech leaders joining our LP/investor base. If the prospect of investing in Africa interests you, reach out to us at [email protected]

To learn what an LP is, watch my video here .

-One of the philanthropic organizations I have always loved, the Prince's trust expanded their operations in Nigeria, providing more opportunities to equip young people with skills for work

My year in learning

1. Completing my Phd Program in finance. My thesis will be focused on the influence of? fintech (Central Bank Digital Currencies specifically) on monetary policy transmission mechanisms/financial inclusion.

My year in travel

This year, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to over 14 countries for work, including? Switzerland, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Togo, South Africa, Kenya, United States of America, Egypt,? Qatar, Germany, Ghana, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Tanzania. Work was a mix of meeting with existing investors, seeing portfolio companies, due diligence, attending/speaking at conferences and fundraising.

The picture above was taken on a trip to Saudi Arabia.

?My year in speaking engagements

-I was a speaker at Endeavor Nigeria’s Annual Scale-up Entrepreneurship Summit, Lomé International Conference on Financing (LICF), IFC Global Private Healthcare Conference in Cape town , Platform Nigeria, Leadership Round Table Summit, Bits And Pretzels Healthtech Conference, Kauffman Fellows Annual Conference in Nairobi

-I was also featured as a panelist at the 2023 CFA institute Africa Investment Conference, AVCA Conference, Qatar Economic Forum (QEF), 16th Annual Banking & Finance Conference in Nigeria , International Trade Marisa Lago on female entrepreneurship in Nigeria, WEMA Bank Hackaholics Digital Summit

Watch some of my speaking videos here:

• Innovating Our way into the Future delivered at the Platform Nigeria. Watch here
• Open for Business: Planting in the Land. Watch here
• Nigeria's Healthcare Challenges In-View. Watch here
• Unlocking African Venture Capital: Exclusive Fireside Chat. Watch here

My year in relationships

I celebrated another wonderful wedding anniversary this year in Miami. Grateful that our marriage remains strong and healthy as we grow in love and life.

My year in diet and exercise

I’ve significantly cut down on my sugar intake. I feel much better because of that. I got more serious about my Yoga than I was the previous year. Still stuck to Yoga as my main form of exercise.?

This year in loss and grief

I lost two people this year that were so important to both my personal and professional life. First, it was Mr Bode Agusto who was the chairman of Greentree investment, the first VC fund, I co-founded and ran.

He was the founder of Nigeria’s first credit rating company. He was one of the most prolific economic minds ever to have existed in Nigeria by any standard. He was a member of MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He was also on the board of GTB; one of Africa's largest banks. I just learnt so much from him, over the past almost 10 years. I really miss him so much. I’m just glad that I was able to express how much I loved and respected him over the years.

And if you are reading this and you have some one you love and admire, I would like to invite you to stop for a moment and send that whatsapp message or email to appreciate them. Let them know!!! It matters.

This is someone that went from being my chairman to my mentor, from my mentor to friend, from a friend to a father-figure. And he saw me as a daughter.

In 2020, I started buying him an engraved pen every year on his birthday, I wanted him to have a collection of 10 rare precious metal pens by 2030. I never imagined that I would only be able to gift him two.

One of the things I would really like to do in 2024 is pay that mentorship, expertise and professionalism forward by starting a scholarship for indigent girls that want to? study economics in Nigeria.

The second big blow was my chief of staff, the closest colleague to me in the office. She died during childbirth earlier this year as well. Nigeria continues to be one of the most dangerous places in the world to become a mother. She worked with me in first fund, Greentree mainly in investor relations managing our LP's , getting destitutions in dollars through Nigerian banks for our local LP's which took a lot of proactive communication. And then later with Healthcap.

She was a talented scientist who also was a financial analyst. I don’t think I will ever stop missing her because she was someone who used to travel with me for meetings.?My favorite memory was in Rwanda when I called her on the hotel intercom to see what she was ordering and we ended up bantering for hours on the phone when bizarrely our rooms where next to each other.

Mr Agusto and Rebecca will greatly be missed.

Plans for 2024

I will be back on the road raising our fund, so any introductions to family offices, institutions, HNI's, foundations or DFI's that would potentially be interested in our work would be appreciated.? Email me at: [email protected]

I’ll also be attending the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in January. I am always excited about connecting with people that are interested in investing in African Tech.?

Earlier in 2023, I made six key predictions: massive cost-cutting measures, a rise in survival M&A, increased early-stage funding, private equitization of venture capital, a stricter due diligence process, and lower valuations. Turns out that 2023 ticked all the boxes. Watch my video to get deeper insights on my Outlook for Venture Capital in 2023

Watch out for my 2024 outlook, it will be out shortly.

Get involved

I would love to stay engaged and work more closely with you in 2024. Please engage further with me if you wish to do so in the following ways:

1. Join our community and angel invest alongside our fund. Learn more here .
2. Connect with me on social media

Twitter: @naijalflyingdr

@Linkedin: here

@youtube: Dr Ola's Youtube Channel focused on Economics and Finance

3. Read my full profile and learn more about me here

Happy New Year everyone. Here's to a remarkable 2024 filled with new opportunities and triumphs. May 2024 be your best year yet.

Wishing you all the best, Ola