The GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities team has been supporting entrepreneurs globally since 2013. Although the mobile enabled utilities sector has changed multi-fold in these years,-particularly around pay-as-you-go solar models, investment continues to be a challenge for entrepreneurs. At the same time, investors say the primary challenge in deploying capital is identifying interesting and good quality deals.
A recent report by FSG – How donors can catalyze impact investing in East Africa, terms this as the ‘Matching Challenge’:
“From the perspective of the enterprises, particularly those that are inexperienced at raising capital, there is limited information available regarding potential investors. The investor landscape can seem distant, fragmented, and opaque, and therefore difficult to navigate. In addition, entrepreneurs are not always aware of the advantages of raising equity; and when they are, they do not know which investors to target as they don’t have visibility on their investment criteria or are unclear on how to engage with them. Enterprises are also unsure about the appropriate time to seek equity investment and how they might best initiate discussions with investors.
As a result of these difficulties, the matching of the right investors to the right enterprises is far from straightforward.”
This challenge is not limited to East Africa; M4D Utilities Innovation Fund grantees across different regions, have also voiced similar concerns. That identifying the ‘right’ funders is one of the first issues they face in their investment journey.
In response to some of the information gaps highlighted by the grantees, and also taking a cue from the larger discussion in this space, M4D Utilities has curated the Investor Roundtable Webinar Series to facilitate conversation between funders and entrepreneurs. During the webinars, funders will share details on their investment process as well as mandates, and take questions from participants. We hope that the series will address some aspects of the matching challenge by:
- Helping entrepreneurs understand different types of funders;
- Supporting entrepreneurs to make informed decisions related to investment;
- Sharing the funders’ perspective to improve communication between funders and entrepreneurs.
The webinar series presents different types of funding organisations or platforms with three scheduled so far through 2016.
Investor Roundtable: Foundations
Thursday, 15th September, 12 noon BST / 11 am UTC / 7 am EST : Watch the webinar
Presenters for this webinar:
Development Innovation Ventures
Fundación Netri
Lundin Foundation
Investor Roundtable: Impact Funds
Thursday, 13th October 2016, 12 noon BST / 11 am UTC / 7 am EST: Watch the webinar
Presenters for this webinar:
Acumen
Global Innovation Fund
Investor Roundtable: Funding Platforms
Thursday, 17th November 2016, 12 noon GMT / 12 noon UTC / 7am EST: Watch the Webinar
Presenters for this webinar:
Kiva
Lendahand
If you are unfamiliar with the investment language, there are many online resources and organisations that will familiarise you with common terminology and provide help and content on raising capital. We found the following resources useful as a starting point:
- Life of a company–from birth to death, by Khan Academy
- Entrepreneurship 101: The ‘Best’ Startup Pitch Deck & How to Raise Venture Capital a good way to start, by One Match Ventures
- Glossary: Startup and Venture Capital terms you should know, by TechRepublic
- Glossary by Big Society Capital
Do share your suggestions on other online resources that entrepreneurs might find useful in the comments section below.
We hope the series will start a dialogue between funders and entrepreneurs. The views presented in third party blogs or by presenters are their own and do not reflect the views of the GSMA.
If you have any questions related to the webinar series please email Charu Chadha, [email protected]