Only 2% of startups in Angola received funding from Venture Capital, revealed the Study on the Ecosystem of Entrepreneurship and Startups in Angola (ESA) 2022.
About 33% of startups consider public funding to the lost fund and Business Angels (Angel Investor) as the most appropriate measure for the current maturity level.
Of the total, 66% of Angolan startups consider that there is a suitable environment for collaboration with large companies, with emphasis on banks, insurance companies and telecommunications companies.
In recent times, the emergence of startups in Angola has evolved since 2018, with 2020 being the year with the highest record, where about 30% of startups were founded, with emphasis on fintech and e-commerce. A number that registered a decrease of 7% in 2021 and 3% in 2022.
With regard to billing, the number was quite significant in 2022 with a turnover estimated at 100 million kwanzas, to the detriment of the 10 million registered in 2021.
The investigation also revealed that more than 70% of startups have already participated in an Acceleration or Incubation Programme, relevant institutions for effective support for new and growing SMEs.
BUT: Government to present several funding actions for Angolan startups
The actors say that there is a space for collaboration in the market between startups and credit institutions, but they consider the Government's intervention to promote the ecosystem to be important. They point to the existence of few programs and lack of sufficient regulations to support startups.
For João Nkosi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Institute for the Support of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (INAPEM), Angola needs to follow the dynamism of other countries, creating synergies with other governmental and financial institutions to, on the one hand, conform a law that safeguards and regulates the market, on the other hand, to take the greatest possible advantage of innovative sectors at the level of small businesses.
According to José Bucassa, this initiative results from an analysis and assessment of the Angolan ecosystem at SADC and CPLP level, a series of surveys at society level, especially the younger layer with relevance to mobile phone and internet users in Angola.
José Bucassa says that this number jumped from 14,8 million to 22,1 million in the third quarter of 2022, with the numbers in question allowing more people to access technological tools and embark on digital entrepreneurship.
According to the ranking of the Global Startup Ecosystem Report between 2017-21, Angola ranked fourth among PALOP and SADC countries with funding of US$570 in Venture Capital.
