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Adramé Ndione is an entrepreneur and an Africa-focused investment executive with a proven track record of successful investment activities in Africa. Adramé is the Managing Director of the Gambian Angel Investors Network, Founder and Managing Partner of Vertis Capital, an upcoming West African VC firm. Since 2015 he held investment positions in Private Equity firms in Paris, including Inframed Management, a 350M€ infrastructure investment fund. From 2005 to 2012, Adramé held management positions in Société Générale Investment Bank, a top tier investment bank based in Paris.

Adramé brought a wealth of investment knowledge and experience to the WTF Africa Edition podcast. He talks about investing in West Africa and the problems with African angel investor networks not being as active as they could be in the investment space. He discusses the motivation and the skills on the part of some of the existing Angel Network as well as whether they are incentivized enough to be more active. He is working on an initiative to capacitate existing African angel networks so that they can be more active in Africa and particularly the West Africa investment ecosystem.

In Africa, investors should not be looking for unicorns, they should be looking for Gazelles, which they are more likely to find in emerging market ecosystems like Africa. Adramé likens equity investment to a marriage where it is necessary to ensure that parties (entrepreneurs and investors) are well aligned to make the investment relationship work.

Adramé recommends going to investors before you need them because fundraising can take time. The trouble with that is that as an entrepreneur you have to make the right connections with access to investor networks who can make recommendations on your behalf, which is often more productive than through cold contact.

When looking for funding, Adramé recommends looking first in your immediate environment for opportunities, especially when first starting out. Look for grants from international development organizations, government funds, and other sources of funding that might be available. Many entrepreneurs tend to not know what is available in their local environment. Research is a key component in finding funding and there is no shortcut for this.

Google is your friend when you are looking for funding, there are many angel networks in many countries so search terms like “angel network Senegal” or insert country name to access the websites for the networks in each country. Work with your hubs that are in your countries because the hubs tend to be connected to the investment networks that exist in a country. Attend events where you might find investors and network to make connections. Make sure that you are strategic and gracious when you network.

When approaching investors, know the following:

● Know your market and your numbers (financial model showing returns)

● Have a strong management team - a strong team is important

● Have key ratios- customer acquisition ratio

● The average revenue per user/customer

● Customer lifetime value – how long customers stay with you

You can connect with Adramé on LinkedIn or adamendione@vertiscapital.net. Adrame can also be found on twitter.

Rate, review, subscribe, and come back for more. We would also love to hear from you. Drop us an email at whereisthefunding@gmail.com and tell us what you like about the show and what topics you want us to explore as it relates to funding for black entrepreneurs and particularly black women entrepreneurs.