Venturing into Africa’s Future: What Works, What Doesn’t, and the Role of Venture Capital in the Structural Transformation of Tech Startups
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
10:00 am to 4:30 pm
- Venue
- Paul Webley Wing, SOAS University of London | Teams
- Room
- Senate Chamber (S219)
- Event type
- Conference
About this event
A hybrid conference examining what drives venture capital impact in Africa, combining research insights, investor perspectives, startup cases, and dialogue.
Programme
| Time | Session | Details / Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:20 | Welcome & Opening Remarks | Morning Session – Setting the Stage & Unveiling Trends (Public Event)
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Introduction to the CSST–TLcom Collaboration
|
| 10:20 – 11:20 | Emerging Insights from the African Venture Capital Ecosystem | Emerging Insights from African venture capital ecosystem
Chair: Prof Ha-Joon Chang, Co-Director, SOAS Centre for Sustainable Structural Transformation Research
Presentations:
Venture Capital and Startup Value in Africa: Strategies, Co-Investment Across Funding Stages and Governance
Venture Capital as a Catalyst for Industrial Ecosystem Development: Innovative Solutions, Broken Verticals and Scalable Investments
CSST Q&A and Open discussion (15 min) |
| 11:20 – 11:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:30 – 13:00 | High-Level Panel Discussion | Theme: Venture Capital in Africa: Perspectives and Drivers of Value Creation — What Works and What Doesn’t
Keynote Opening Remarks:
Confirmed & Invited Panelists:
|
| 13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break | |
| 14:00 – 15:15 | Breakout Sessions (Parallel Working Groups) | Afternoon Session – Dialogues, Deep Dives & Forward Thinking (By Invitation Only)
Thematic issues:
Working Group 1: VCs and Entrepreneurs
Working Group 2: LPs and VCs
|
| 15:15 – 15:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 15:30 – 16:15 | Plenary Reporting & Discussion | Reporting back from working groups and cross-cutting discussion |
| 16:15 – 16:30 | Synthesis, Open Discussion & Next Steps | Key takeaways, research implications, and future agenda |
Limited places available. Register by Sunday 18 January only; confirmed seats will be allocated to early registrants and notified accordingly.
Online streaming login
- Meeting ID: 320 453 903 571 05
- Passcode: Vh9T5PQ2
Header image credit: James Wiseman via Unsplash.
About the Centre
The SOAS Centre for Sustainable Structural Transformation (CSST) reimagines and promotes structural transformation in an age of ecological and social crises through industrial policy that is long-term-oriented and frame-shifting.
By acting as an action-oriented hub for research, learning and policy for the Global South, especially Africa, CSST conducts path-breaking research on structural transformation, industrial dynamics, and economic diversification strategies and on how to make them environmentally and socially sustainable. Going beyond research silos, CSST advances an integrated framework focusing on four inter-linked research and industrial policy areas: energy transition, critical minerals, restructuring of supply chains, and construction of new infrastructure.
CSST conducts research in these areas through deep dives into countries and sectors, with a view to unlocking sector-specific binding constrains and promoting linkages across sectors. CSST’s research will be rooted in the understanding of national and international political economy, trends in industrial and technological changes, and the constant changes in business models.
