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ANNUAL REPORT 2016

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ANNUAL REPORT

2016

The African Technology Foundation exists to support African

technologies and introduce global technologies to the African

ecosystem. To achieve this, we deliver programs around key economic

sectors, and we empower African technology startups with the

knowledge and resources to succeed.

We are committed to promoting technological,cultural,educational and

entrepreneurial interchanges that enhance the capabilities of

entrepreneurs in the region. Specifically, we seek to empower them by

bridging knowledge gaps, and providing access to best practices for

improvements within African innovation ecosystems.

www.theafricantechnologyfoundation.org

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www.theafricantechnologyfoundation.org

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

Content

4. Chairman’s Foreword

5. Our Vision

6. Strategic Partnerships

8. Global Entrepreneurship

10. Social Impact Programs

12. Digital Diplomacy

14. Global Storytelling

16. VenturePATH

17. Entrepreneurial Impact

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Annual Report 2016

Three years ago, when we put together a team and embraced the idea of reinventing Africa's future, we were strategic, hopeful and committed.

We were strategic in our initial blueprints that planned out the formative elements of the African Technology Foundation (ATF), including all the programs and initiatives that we would undertake. Although hope is not a strategy, we were hopeful. Hopeful that the journeys that we would travel, guided by our vision, would lead to remarkable encounters, successful relationships and lasting partnerships. We were also committed. Committed to bridging knowledge gaps across Africa, and bolstering the continent’s internationalization agenda.

We were also committed to supporting the improvement of Africa's innovation ecosystems, and ensuring that the continent’s young entrepreneurs become architects of their own futures. We made remarkable progress in the first two years. We built relationships that validated our vision, and we forged partnerships that supported our mission driven activities across the continent. This year, we reinforced our commitment to all our stakeholders, by sticking to our mission, and executing strategic programs across our key areas of interest.Our first major activity for the year was the KannywoodmeetsHollywood program, to support media entrepreneurs from Northern Nigeria.

It was a huge success, and it broadened the scope of critical conversations regarding our media and entertainment portfolio, particularly for fragile communities in Africa. We also supported the diplomatic efforts of the US State Department, and led the discussion on Innovation in Africa, at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Medellin, Colombia. The 2017 edition of GEC will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and we look forward to advancing conversations with a global community of entrepreneurs that will convene on the African continent.

Across the continent, we supported notable private sector initiatives like the Vulcan Convening for Expanding Rural Connectivity in Arusha, Tanzania. Through our partnerships with the White House and USAID, we supported the Road to GES events in South Africa and Ghana, and assisted the recruitment process for the selected African delegates that got invited to the summit.

In the summer of 2016,we joined the rest of the global innovation ecosystem, and hosted a few events at the 2016 edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) at Stanford. The events were hugely successful, beginning with our Lions Innovation Tour, and culminating in the Summit proper.

This year we also deepened our relationship with the Office of Global Partnerships at the US State Department, and extended our entrepreneurial training to include media and entertainment through the aptly named Hollywood in Focus Program. In August 2016, we returned to Johannesburg, South Africa for DEMO Africa, and we continued our tradition of conducting the Lions@frica Boomcamp and preparing the participants for investor engagement. We also attended the launch activities of the South African Business Angels Network, and selected our winning startups for the 2017 edition of the Lions Innovation Tour in Silicon Valley.

Our highly eventful year was capped off with our appointment as the Managing Partners of the Lions@frica program within the US State Department. In September, I had the honor of speaking at SOCAP and sharing our journey with an audience of social impact investors, who are quite active in uncovering emerging market opportunities. We are committed to continuing this journey, and thrilled to play a lasting role in re-inventing Africa’s future.

STEPHEN OZOIGBOCHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD & CEO

CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD

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African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

The Afropreneur

She is a local champion, solving a local problem. He has won a healthy number of hackathons and regional startup competitions, and received life sized checks that do more for his pride than for his corporate bank account. They wake up everyday and engage a marketplace that is filled with uncertainties. Their addressable markets within Pan African borders are shrouded with infrastructure challenges, lack of seed capital, a dearth of mentors and advisors, and 54 other national policies that govern trade flows.

The African entrepreneur (Afropreneur) needs an international network of expats and repats. She desires the support of a league of well trained female engineers to fuel the fire for product development that she is confident will take her to the next level. He yearns for a backbone of business advisors that will guide his thinking around venture creation, and scaling an idea to the marketplace. They require relevant market data, methodologies on rapid prototyping, seed funding, technical and managerial team members and a shoulder to cry on.

OUR MISSION

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African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

OUR NETWORK AND PARTNERS

It was a wonderful year of partnerships and we saw remarkable growth in our networks across Africa and North America. As the new Managing Partners for the Lions@frica initiative, we have an added responsibility of coordinating activities around Africa’s growing technology sector with diplomatic candor. Our new role with Lions@frica also mandates that we directly support a myriad of programs and initiatives that affect the entrepreneurs across the continent.

Our relationship with our corporate attorneys at Reed Smith LLP continues to grow, and our periodic meetings with the firm keeps us in check with our necessary regulatory requirements. We are expanding our relationships with US Government Agencies like the USAID and the State Department. We had a remarkable year with these two entities this year, supporting their efforts for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in California, and DEMO Africa in South Africa.

We grew our media portfolio this year, and provided tailored opportunities for media entrepreneurship, leadership development, community empowerment and bilateral exchanges across key areas of social mobilization, civic journalism and community engagement, specifically within target counties in Northern Nigeria. Our capacity building activities also exposed us to teams of performance artists, producers , directors and screenwriters across the continent that are committed to owning the African narrative, and telling better African stories.

We proudly supported another year of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and were pleased to have some of our projects recognized by President Obama during an intimate gathering in Silicon Valley. We continue to support social impact activities and advise social entrepreneurs at the Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) at Santa Clara University. At the macro scale, our continued engagement with the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) continues to expose us to business leaders across the continent that seek similar outcomes in setting global standards across African economies.

We remain committed to empowering Africa entrepreneurs. This year, we advanced our efforts to expand the ATF Fellowship program. We recruited three Fellows, and they have been successfully placed in projects within our partner networks.

www.theafricantechnologyfoundation.org7

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The world has shrunk. It is interconnected. All of you represent that interconnection. Many of you are catalyzing it and accelerating it. It promises to bring extraordinary benefits. But it also has challenges. And it also evokes concerns and fears...I believe all of you represent all the upside of an interconnected world, all the optimism and the hope and the opportunity that that interconnected world represents.

-President Barack Obama

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

OUR COMMITMENT TO AFRICAN INNOVATION

Another summer, another GES. In 2016, ATF proudly reinvigorated our support of President Obama’s vision for elevating entrepreneurship to the forefront of the United States’ engagement agenda, by playing a very active role in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Stanford, California. Through our partnerships with the USAID and the State Department, we successfully co-organized three key events that showcased the multiple points of engagement for the White House and entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa, and built communities of practice around the critical elements of innovation, internationalization and investment activities directed at the continent’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

ROAD TO GES EVENTS – South Africa and GhanaIn the month of May, we co-hosted two Road to GES events for African stakeholders in Capetown, South Africa and Accra, Ghana with the USAID. The events included discussion panels with leading voices from the entrepreneurial and VC communities across the continent, and initiated discussions around key aspects of venture creation, opportunities, constraints and best practices.

GES 2016 – Panel on Infrastructure and the Enabling Environment for Entrepreneurs in AfricaFor the second year running, ATF’s CEO, Stephen Ozoigbo, moderated a panel session that included Silicon Valley technology powerhouses like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, alongside African technology leaders like Etisalat and Singularity Investments. Panelists explored the current state of of infrastructure on the continent ,and its effect on catalyzing entrepreneurship and accelerating business growth. The panelists also engaged the audience of emerging African entrepreneurs in exploring how Africa’s current infrastructural landscape is presenting opportunities for digital ventures to emerge, scale, and globalize.

LIONS@FRICA INNOVATION TOURThe activities of the 2016 edition of the Lions@frica Innovation Tour also coincided with the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in June. This year’s edition of the tour provided a rich immersion to Silicon Valley networks, activities and best practices, ushered in a new wave of bi-lateral engagement actions, and expanded networks for the Lions@frica partnership. The Lions achieved a significant majority of their target agenda, and advanced conversations and processes towards the next level of venture creation activities for their individual businesses.

VENTURE: The documentaryAs part of the activities for the Innovation Tour, and in collaboration with the Lions@frica initiative and the Global Entrepreneurship Network, we began production activities for the groundbreaking documentary – Venture: An Entrepreneur’s Journey. From the continent to Silicon Valley for the GES 2016, the film highlights each entrepreneur's unique experience, and follows the entrepreneurial journeys of the four DEMO Africa 2015 winners: Zuuva, BambaPOS, InsureAfrika, and Car Parts Nigeria, as they work to scale their venture.

The documentary will premiere at the 2017 edition of the Lions Innovation Tour in Silicon Valley, California with a North American, European and African screening schedule set to run through the summer of 2017.

The production and distribution of the documentary further strengthens our commitment towards owning the African narrative, and empowering the next generation of African innovators and entrepreneurs.

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African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

SOCIAL IMPACT PROGRAMS

When we started putting together the Women-In-Tech convening at Stanford, we expected to have no more than one hundred and fiftypeople in the room…but we were pleasantly surprised to welcome over two hundred and fifty guests, including many men, who were willing to engage and forge relationships that were geared towards empowering the next generation of African female entrepreneurs and venture stakeholders. Our event at the Impact Hub in Oakland was just as exciting, and we were thrilled to convene a gathering for the West Coast screening of MyAfricaIs: Alternative Nairobi.

-Tarisai Garande, Vice President, ATF

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

PROMOTING AFRICAN FOUNDERSMY AFRICA IS – ALTERNATIVE NAIROBIRecognizing Africa’s ongoing transformation into an innovation-driven continent, we joined forces with MyAfricaIs and Tiphub to convene a unique gathering of African entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts in Silicon Valley, and showcase the rising tide of innovation and technology visionaries on the continent.

The event, Founders’ Stories: Africa Edition, was held at the Impact Hub Oakland. It brought together a culturally aware East Bay Area audience, and took them on a journey to the continent with a spotlight on Nairobi, a leading tech capital on the continent. The event headliner was a screening of My Africa Is: Alternative Nairobi, a documentary film by award winning filmmaker Nosa Garrick, which presents a unique picture of the dynamic East African city, its youth culture, and some of the city’s forward thinking innovators and entrepreneurs.

The screening also inspired new perceptions of the African entrepreneurial ecosystem, and allowed the audience to interact with the five DEMO Africa winners that were attending the Innovation Tour. Founding executives from Zuvaa, CarpartsNigeria, SimbaPay, BambaPOS and InsureAfrika discussed their first hand experience on entrepreneurship in Africa, startup constraints and current successes.

SOCAP 2016SOCAP identifies itself as a network of heart-centered investors, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders who believe in an inclusive and socially responsible economy to address the world’s toughest challenges. Its mission is to create a platform where investors willing to put money into enterprises focused foremost on social return can meet the world’s most innovative entrepreneurs.ATF was invited back to SOCAP 2016, and our CEO gave a talk on: Social Mobilization - Debunking the myth of single stories about Africa.

The talk was well received as it focused on the growing media literacy across the African continent, and how the digital technology platforms that increase bi-directional communication have ushered a new wave of African media entrepreneurs and storytellers. Through the training and development of human capacity in the media sector, there is a growing need for a highly skilled workforce of African media and entertainment technocrats, who are qualified to own the African narrative, and tell authentic African stories. The audience got to learn about ATF’s work in training the next generation of media entrepreneurs , and our targeted efforts in improving the continent’s digital distribution technologies.

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Sub-Saharan Africa is the cockpit of change in terms of the global digital divide and changing media use; in little over a decade it has gone from being largely unconnected to the internet to having millions of people using it.

- Balancing Act, August 2014

DIGITAL DIPLOMACY12

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

#KANNYWOODMEETSHOLLYWOOD

SYNOPSISNorthern Nigeria has suffered extreme social ills over its entire history, and particularly within the last decade. Amidst all the local and global political pressures, including stakeholders who ultimately seek a myriad of socioeconomic and sociopolitical reforms in the region, a group of media ambassadors from the region decided to seize the narrative and empower themselves with the necessary tools, resources and platforms that we provided to enable them compete on the global stage.

OUR GROWING MEDIA PRACTICEThese ambassadors are part of northern Nigeria’s growing film and media industry, referred to as Kannywood (in reference to Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria).As part of Relativity Education's professional development activities, a select group of Kannywood professionals spent three weeks of intense training and industry integration in Los Angeles in February, and began a journey that will go down in history as the beginning of a phenomenal trade relationship between Hollywood and northern Nigeria.

KANNYWOOD MEETS HOLLYWOODAs an element of the greater Nigerian ecosystem, Kannywood is evolving, and the new version of Kannywood requires a new operating model and architecture to succeed. It also requires content creators to embrace a unique blend of creativity, civic journalism, activism and entrepreneurship to ridethe global wave. February 2016 represents a date in Kannywood's history when the new rules were formulated and the likes of Ali Nuhu, Hadiza Aliyu, Hauwa Maina, Suleiman Yusuf, Kamal Alkali, Nazifi Asnanic et al. authored the new scripts for Kannywood’s global engagement by becoming our inaugural cohort for the #kannywoodmeetshollywood program. These progressive professionals plan to re-brand and re-invent creative work-streams and media entrepreneurship within their local markets, and earn the right to participate in a multibillion dollar global industry.

Members of the cohort were also empowered with 21st century tools and resources to identify, manage and mitigate socio-political and socio-economic threats to the peaceful existence of citizens in Northern Nigeria. With all its creative splendor, Kannywood also has an huge role to play in international diplomacy, an we are very glad to have set the stage for future engagements.

In 2013, The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Counter-terrorism (CT) providedgrant funding towards the production and delivery of Hausa-language TV content viafree-to-air satellite with a footprint to cover northern Nigeria. Across the realms ofPublic Diplomacy, and with a specific focus on northern Nigeria, Kannywood's role inthe field of diplomatic practice related to media, entertainment and technologycannot be overemphasized.

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African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

GLOBAL STORYTELLING

How stories are told, who tells them, when they are told, how many stories are told – are really dependent on power.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

AFRICA’S MEDIA ENTREPRENEURS

HOLLYWOOD IN FOCUS This year, we partnered with the Lions@frica initiative of the U.S. State Department to launch HOLLYWOOD IN FOCUS, a capacity building initiative that connects African storytellers with leading U.S. entertainment professionals through professional mentorships, workshops and master classes.

Over the course of three weeks in Los Angeles, participants honed creative techniques and gained cross-disciplinary understanding through the production and execution of various short-form projects. They also had unique opportunities to meet with leading industry professionals in Hollywood who offered them critical advice and guidance on the current state of the global industry and possible pathways for disruption.

Our objectives with the program included arming the next-generation of content creators with not only strong storytelling skills, but the opportunity to work collaboratively in a project-based learning environment with their Hollywood counterparts. The program also allowed participants to embrace the digital revolution, unleash their imaginations, and bring creative ideas to fruition. Across the continent, the program helped to educate a new wave of African media entrepreneurs, and offer them useful networks in Hollywood along with expert mentorship and guidance.

VOICE OF AMERICA REVIEWS HOLLYWOOD IN FOCUS"It’s not a model anymore where you’re waiting for the phone to ring to get hired into a gig. We’re shifting, this space is shifting from a gig economy to an entrepreneurial space and a space where companies can be born, innovations can happen and content can be distributed from independent voices,” said President of Relativity Education Glenn Kalison.

Cleopatra Koheirwe is an actress from Uganda who hesitated when asked whether she thought of herself as an entrepreneur. "I see myself as an entrepreneur. The only glitch to that was I had no idea exactly how to sell my brand 'cause along the way you kind of sell yourself short sometimes because of the opportunities or because of the lack of the jobs. The film industry is still small back home so I see myself as an entrepreneur.”

Many of the attendees of Hollywood in Focus said what they’ve learned will not only enrich their careers, but also elevate the African film industry on the global stage.

“To kind of get that experience here and put that in my own country and in my own scope just so we can be up to speed with what’s happening around the world and give ourselves opportunities to be able to tell our own stories the way we want to,” said Nigerian actor OC Ukeje.

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VENTUREPATH

Our VenturePATH program supports and promotes incubation and acceleration partnerships that help African startups to deepen their knowledge on various aspects of business model validation. We also encourage the development of unique learning tools and support services that lead to investor engagement.

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR STARTUPS

BOOMCAMPThis year represented our third year of providing technical assistance to the startups that were selected as finalists for DEMO Africa. Over the last three years, we have provided technical assistance to the final 30 startups that were selected from a pool of over 600 applicants. Our team worked with the startups over a three week period to sharpen their knowledge on pre-DEMO activities including business model validation, product-market fit, scaling for growth and investor pitches.

Upon arrival in South Africa, we worked closely with the DEMO organizers and to deliver a two-day DEMO Boomcamp, that was geared towards bridging the knowledge gaps for the participating startups around the key areas of strategy, finance and business development.

DEMO AFRICA 2016DEMO Africa 2016 was a resounding success. To kick off the official programming, ATF was announced as the new Managing Partners of the Lions@frica partnership. This year, the competition continued the great tradition of convening a unique gathering of African entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, marketers, journalists, investors and advisors ,to evaluate disruptive technologies, deliver innovative solutions, query new business models and validate unique market assumptions for scale.

As part of the event , the Lions@frica initiative also provided programmatic support to the African Business Angels Network(ABAN), and our DEMO Africa experience this year also included the launch of the South African Business Angel’s Network(SABAN). Under the leadership of ABAN, we look forward to the progressive growth of Pan African Angel networks that will support the seed stage requirements across the startup ecosystems on the continent, and create a pipeline of syndicates to improve deal flow across venture networks.

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African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

ENTREPRENURIAL IMPACT

136 African Startups6 Countries

13 Industry sectors4 Global conferences2 Regional conferences

African Technology Foundation Annual Report 2016

Photo Credits:Ejiro OnabrakporAnayo AmuzieJanelle MeagerShawn Fuqua

www.theafricantechnologyfoundation.org

African Technology Foundation@innovate_africatheafricantechnologyfoundation.org

ACCELERATING AFRICAN INNOVATION

© 2016 - African Technology Foundation