New African Angel Academy to offer training on angel investing

UPDATE (13 February 2020): We adjusted the headline, by removing “ABAN” after being alerted by Fraser Consulting, that the academy is an initiative of not just ABAN, but also Fraser Consulting, the Southern Africa Innovation and Support (SAIS) and Viktoria Business Angels Network (VBAN).

The African Business Angels Network (ABAN), together with a number of partners, has launched the African Angel Academy (AAA) to help train angel investors — and is calling on those interested to apply for a new training course.

The programme — which is open to both newly formed groups in southern Africa, as well as individuals — includes workshops, online videos and tools as well as virtual mentorship for the groups.

The academy is looking for 50 new angels — consisting of five groups of 10 angels each, with a minimum of four female angels per group, to train over the next 12 months from five different countries in Southern Africa.

Applications close on Friday (14 February).

ABAN has called on those who want to become better angel investors to apply for a new course, by 14 February

Currently, the project aims to work with groups of angels from South African, Zambia, Mauritius, Tanzania,
Botswana or Namibia (the final five countries will be selected based on the application numbers).

The programme will run from this month to March 2021 and will include two one-day workshops, about 10 hours of online content, four one-hour mentoring sessions.

In addition, angels will need to organise a venue and catering for two one day workshops, and cover any travel should they be based outside of the capital city.

ABAN said the programme is suited to new angels who may have made one or two investments without a formal process or systems, or to aspiring angel investors.

Typically an angel investor is someone who has been a successful entrepreneur or successful professional and would like to support new entrepreneurs.

The content that will be covered both online and through in-country workshops includes topic such as angel investing strategy, mandate, deal sourcing, due diligence, deal structuring, valuations, negotiations, teams, post investment, value addition, exits and angel group management structures.

The pilot programme is sponsored by the Southern Africa Innovation and Support (SAIS) programme, an initiative sponsored by the Finnish government in partnership with various governments from southern Africa.

Fraser Consulting is the lead partner in the project, in conjunction with ABAN, Viktoria Business Angels Network (VBAN).

Featured image: Delegates at a recent event organised by the African Business Angels Network (Supplied)