When the Africa Business Angel Network (ABAN) was founded a decade ago, the pitch was simple but radical: Africa must fund Africa. On October 17-18, 2025, ABAN returns to Lagos for its Annual Congress, and the mission has evolved from proving a concept to scaling what already works.
The numbers tell the story. Over the past 10 years, ABAN has mobilized over $35 million into more than 1,200 early-stage African startups across 37 countries. They’ve trained thousands of angel investors and built a community of 5,000+ business angels spanning the continent and diaspora. This isn’t just about money, it’s about shifting who controls the capital that shapes Africa’s future.
Fadilah Tchoumba, ABAN’s CEO, frames it clearly: “Africa does not lack ideas. It does not lack talent. It does not lack ambition. What it has lacked until recently is enough patient, local, belief-driven capital to take those ideas the distance.” The Congress, themed “Accelerating Local Capital Participation,” directly tackles this gap.
Here’s why this matters for Nigeria’s ecosystem. Lagos consistently leads African cities in attracting foreign tech capital—$6 billion since 2019—but early-stage, patient capital from local investors often determines which ideas even get a chance to compete for those bigger checks later. Angel investors fill the gap between friends-and-family funding and institutional venture capital, backing founders when they’re still figuring things out.
The Congress launches several initiatives designed to deepen this capital pool. Catalytic Africa 2.0 and the Africa Business Angel Investment Vehicle (ABAIV) create pooled investment structures that let smaller angels participate in deals they couldn’t access alone. The ABAN Angel Investment Report 2025 will provide data on where African angel capital is actually flowing—critical intelligence for both investors and founders.
What sets this gathering apart is the focus on sectors where local investors understand the problems intimately: climate-smart agriculture, health-tech, fintech, AI applications, and digital trade. ABAN President Yemi Keri emphasizes sector-driven investments, recognizing that angels investing in African agriculture or healthcare often bring operational expertise foreign VCs can’t match.
The Congress also tackles the policy side, bringing together early-stage investors, policymakers, and ecosystem builders to advocate for regulations that support angel investing. With 48% of ABAN angels already doing cross-border deals, the regulatory framework increasingly determines which opportunities can scale.
After a decade of building the foundation, ABAN’s message at this Congress is clear: local capital isn’t an alternative to foreign investment—it’s the engine that makes African innovation sustainable. And that engine is just getting started.
