Investor Series Ep 05 with Tosin Faniro-Dada, Partner at Breega

This podcast session features a conversation between the hosts and Tosin Faniro-Dada, a partner at Breega, an international venture capital fund focused on early-stage companies in Europe and Africa. The discussion covers several key themes regarding venture capital in Africa:Investment Philosophy and Team Focus: Breega operates as a sector-agnostic, early-stage investor. When evaluating pre-seed and pre-revenue companies like Power Labs, the partner emphasises that they prioritise the team's experience, their ability to solve complex problems, and the dynamic among co-founders.Addressing Structural Challenges: The speaker highlights that Africa presents unique structural gaps in areas such as power, logistics, and regulation. These challenges create a difficult environment for founders, but they also foster resilience and present significant market opportunities for those who can successfully navigate them.The Criticality of Power: Energy cost is identified as a major pain point for businesses and residents in Nigeria, often consuming a significant portion of operating expenses. The guest notes that reliable power is an underlying dependency for all sectors, including manufacturing and retail, making it an urgent area for innovation.Market Creation vs. Traction: While immediate traction is valuable, the guest notes that investors should not focus on it exclusively, as this can cause them to miss "market-creating" innovations. Founders and investors are encouraged to look beyond current structural gaps and consider what might be possible, even if a market does not yet appear fully developed.Expectations for Founders: The speaker advises that founders raising venture capital must be prepared for the associated expectations, including governance, reporting, and milestones. They emphasise that while founders don't need all the answers, they should strive to have a structure in place and demonstrate the "grit" required to handle the intense mental and physical demands of building a company.