SA investors need to invest in local entrepreneurs: the Triggerfish story

Last week I attended the SiMODiSA forum set-up for South Africa’s entrepreneurs and investors to help promote the conditions necessary for entrepreneurial activity to flourish — something South Africa desperately needs.

Malik Fal from the Omidyar Network opened up with some powerful numbers:

There are 50 million South Africans of which 15 million are economically active. Of these, 10 million are employed with only 5 million earning sufficient income to be registered taxpayers. This is a ticking time bomb, as he said.

Ultimately, this trajectory will not lead to a stable and prosperous society unless something dramatically changes. While small pockets of VC funding exists, our local VC industry is still in its infancy and there is not nearly enough capital available for them to invest in the promising businesses they see, particularly for funding rounds greater than R20-million.