At least five start-up entrepreneurs with great business ideas have been selected and are currently jostling for investment support from members of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN) to grow their businesses to the next stage.
In a pitch event slated to hold May 7th, 2013 at the newly refurbished Digital Bridge Institute, Oshodi Lagos, the shortlisted companies including Fix My Gadget , Cashenvoy, BookNowNow, SkinIT and Giga layer, which have already passed through a screening round, will be able to pitch for LAN investment.
The Lagos Angel Network brings together high net worth individuals seeking to invest in and mentor Nigerian technology start-ups. Members, of which there are currently 15, are expected to commit at least one million naira per year to the investment pool. There is however no upper limit in their commitment abilities.
The project, like the Lagos Innovation Hotspots Map, Silicon Lagoon and others, is backed by INNOVATE LAGOS, the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, which was launched by Babatunde Fashola, the State Governor, in September 2011.
An IT expert and one of the brains behind the project, Tomi Davies, in a press conference at the weekend to unfold details of the pitch, event told reporters that “LAN business angels will invest seed capital in the start-ups to finance their business ideas, product development and market entry”. According to him, the LAN creates a forum where members can effectively evaluate promising early-stage investment opportunities, get support for the required due diligence process and monitoring of their portfolio of investments till the next round of funding or other exit.
Currently, start-up entrepreneurs in Nigeria have little or no access to equity investment beyond their Friends and Families. In other countries, Angels come into start-ups when the businesses are either too risky for traditional debt or equity instruments or they do not have the required track record or cash flow for microfinance lending. The Lagos Angel Network is structured to drive job creation through innovation and venturing.
Entrepreneurs apply through the networks web portal at www.lagosangelnetwork.com or directly to the secretariat.
“We select entrepreneural teams with great business ideas who need extra resources such as human capital, access to networks, new markets, mentoring or finance to develop and grow their business to the next stage” he explained.
Selected businesses are then subjected to a thorough screening round of their business operations and plan, based on a proprietary frameowrk called POEM, which is an acronym for the start-ups Proposition, Organisation, Economics and Milestones. Shortlisted entrepreneurs from this round will then pitch to Angels for investment.
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