GIZ Egypt, in cooperation with four international partners, has launched the Angel Investor Academy, a one-year programme that helps high-net-worth individuals become qualified angel investors.
Running from April 2020 until April 2021, the academy training sessions, mentoring and investment guidance will be delivered by local and international angel investors, including representatives from the founding partners.
The other four partners are HIMangel, efino, Hivos, and the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC).
efino, the Swiss-based early-stage investment firm, which has successfully trained countless investors around the globe, developed and refined the curriculum for the Angel Investor Academy to cater to different markets.
HIMangel, the Angel Investment Fund founded by Dr Khaled Ismail, which works to build and grow early-stage business, helps participants select the most promising high-growth startups for investment and guides them through the entire investment process.
“We have contributed to the idea of the Angel Investors Academy since its inception, since we strongly believe in the importance of angel investments as a financing source for early stage companies,” Ismail Said, “We also believe that becoming a successful angel investor requires certain skills that can be acquired through a hands-on education and training, which is exactly what the Academy is all about.”
Each participant is required to commit to the entire one-year programme and should endeavour to participate in all training and meetings. Participants are required to pump a certain amount of investment into a holding fund, which has been designated for startups, jointly with the other participants throughout the year.
In return, each participant will receive equity-shares in the startups, corresponding to their investment in the fund. All participating angels have received a free co-investment of up to 50% of their invested capital from Hivos.
Delivered through online videos and tools, as well as virtual mentorship for groups, the Angel Investor Academy aims to build a stronger angel investing community through three main components. These include: theoretical training; applied training through joint pitches by high-growth startups; and finally practical investment in startups.
Participants will go through a one-year well-designed programme of modules, practical examples, and mentorship that will qualify them to make the most impactful investment decisions.
“Since I launched EdVentures, MENA’s first venture capital (VC) specialised in education and Edtech, I have invested in seven successful startups over the past three years,” said Dalia Ibrahim, CEO of Nahdet Masr and one of the Angel Investor Academy participants, “As an angel investor by practice, I was interested in the academy, as it offered me an opportunity to acquire a better insight on the mindset of international angel investors to add to my experience. I’m quite happy with the exposure I gained so far, and I’m sure the programme will further empower me to land more deals and expand my angel investors network.”
Andreas Ruepp, Head of Project Access to Financial Services for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at GIZ Egypt, said, “We’re excited to kick-off trainings at the first Angel Investor Academy in Egypt. Alongside our partners, GIZ aims to accelerate the growth of the angel investing scene to help advance and expand the startups and entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
He added, “We hope this will contribute to the growth of young enterprises and ultimately the creation of new jobs to create better social and economic prospects for the Egyptian people in line with the Egyptian Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030.”
At the completion of the programme, the participating investors will select one or more startups to fund from each of the four pitch events that will be held by the end of the one-year programme. Experienced lawyers together with the efino team will assist with the process of signing the deals starting from negotiating a term-sheet, to investment agreement, and setting up a suitable corporate structure.
