Frequently Asked Questions

Our mission is to connect Africa’s most promising entrepreneurs with the resources (network, knowledge and capital) they need to realize their potential.

Why do we care about our entrepreneurs? Because they have the power to change the world for the better! We also believe that anyone in the world, whoever they are or whatever their background, should be able to contribute in some meaningful way. Whether it’s liking a venture, answering a question, sharing an article on twitter, mentoring an entrepreneur or investing in a business. By combining our resources we can indeed do amazing things.

TiimAfrica started with the mission to build up Africa’s startup community. Started in 2017, the network building organization has grown organically over the years into what is now the leading community working to build high growth high impact companies on the continent.

Africa’s increased economic momentum is fueled by a growing number of entrepreneurs and their ambition to transform the continent. It is imperative we seek out the collaborations and partnerships needed to bring together the capital, knowledge, and network these entrepreneurs require to succeed. In collaboration with a growing network of partners, the TiimAfrica community of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors are central to bolstering the Entrepreneurial ecosystem across the continent and offers a direct channel for anyone serious about being part of Africa’s next great success story.

Join the movement and take an active part today!

Listed entrepreneurs have access to free online tools, investment opportunities and private deal meetups. Registered investors are able to see which screened ventures are fundraising that has the ability to grow, track their progress and review private documents. We have screened thousands of applications and many entrepreneurs have successfully published their venture online.

You can navigate to various parts of the tiimafrica platform

Home: shows a selection of featured ventures, as well as highlighted information to navigate.

Ventures: section includes all the Venture Profiles on our platform. You can search by name or personal criteria to find the ventures that best match your interest. Remember that as a PRO USER you also have the option to make more personalized data on your dashboard.

Investors: lists all Pro Account users. Here you can find fellow investors, read their profiles and connect with others sharing your interests. 

Search – On the top right of the page you will find the main search engine. Type what you are looking for and the search will cover the whole tiimafrica website – both ventures, blog articles and members.

Yes you can. We encourage members and community partners to contribute to the blog. Please Note that posts must relate and contain information targeted at the development of the African entrepreneurial space, simply sign up its FREE, on your profile dashboard scroll to “MORE” click on it, from a list of drop down options you will find “SUBMIT A BLOG POST” click and proceed with your post. please do send us a mail or follow the tiimafrica social media handles as well as the “tiimafrica connect” account on the website. Tiimafrica will review posts before publishing.

We love to write about entrepreneurs doing great things. Working on something great to get a story idea? Send us a mail

Tiimafrica enables entrepreneurs to register venture profiles. On these profiles entrepreneurs can upload the logo of their venture, share information about their company, post updates and link to relevant company related websites and media channels. Entrepreneurs can post fundraising requests that are only visible to members who are registered as part of the Tiimafrica Investor Network with Investor Pro Accounts. Access to background documentation is also restricted to the venture owners and Pro Account users.

Regular and tiimafrica pro members can only send private messages to other members who have them as friends. An error response will be displayed to users who do not follow this approach.

Go to ‘Settings’ or “edit” by clicking on the small user icon at the top right of your profile

 The dashboard is available for every signed up member however for Pro members its the central customizable page to manage all your activity on tiimafrica. It serves as your tiimafrica homepage and message board.

Investors with a tiimafrica Pro account get access to a custom dashboard where they can set up intelligent alerts based on their preferences, find investment opportunities and follow the progress of companies they find interesting. Investors with a Pro account can conduct research on deals and can contact founders and other investors for follow up, feel free to explore.

Simply register with your valid information and you are done its FREE, for entrepreneurs with ventures to upload and get listed for an investor bid and raise finance, A small fee is charged upon submission of venture, this is to enable tiimafrica conduct its due diligence on your venture as well as work with you in preparing the needed documentations before encouraging an interested investor to make a bid on your venture. An investor however pays an annual fee for tailored services in conducting deal sourcing/due diligence and unique partnerships we create for an investor from investments opportunities we find suitable for the investor.

You can log in on the tiimafrica login page additionally, you’ll find a login panel on the top right of the tiimafrica homepage and other tiimafrica pages. After logging in to tiimafrica.com you are able to post a venture with an entrepreneur account, make a bid and get full venture detail with an investor account, post comments, post a blog as well as upcoming events relevant to entrepreneurial community with a regular member account which is free. All members receive relevant updates from tiimafrica on their dashboard. Feel free to explore.

Second to networking online, tiimafrica members can step forward to organize offline tiimafrica meetups. These are informal affairs where members of the community come together to exchange ideas and grow their personal network you can contact tiimafrica for further details

Some information on Tiimafrica is only visible for members, some only for Investors. You may not be able to see a specific part of information because you are not logged in, nor qualified to see.

When you are logged in as a Pro user and don’t see a specific part of information on a venture profile, the entrepreneur hasn’t entered these details or are not meant for you. As an investor it is best to directly connect with the entrepreneur and ask for more information.

Don’t feel sad it happens to the best of us. Go to the login section by clicking on ‘Sign In’ or ‘log in’ at the right top corner of the page and click ‘Lost your password?’ Here you will see the option to enter your username or e-mail address. Click ‘Get new password’ to activate. You will receive an e-mail needed to access your account again. Didn’t see the e-mail? Make sure to check your spam folders.

We ask you to upload a photo because we want to keep tiimafrica personal and friendly. Show fellow members who you are and what you look like. A decent looking photo creates an appeal to anyone wanting to reach out to you aside your other profile information. uploading a venture logo and banner gives a graphical interpretation to your product/service, As an investor your firm logo/motto or brand image also helps establish a prevailing presence to your profile visitors and potential partners reaching out to you on the platform.

After sign up, approval  is automatic after all required details have been submitted.

We love Badges. In fact, everyone and everything should have a Badges. You get a Tiimafrica badge if your business details and information checks out by our investigation team as an entrepreneur, you get a badge as an investor if you have successfully made an investment in a venture listed, or have placed a bid to a listed venture. We are creating newer ways to keep this exciting.

VENTURES

On the bottom of every venture profile you can find the venture’s ‘Updates ’. Here you can see the venture’s recent activity as well as read and leave comments. Start a public conversation on the thread by writing in the comment box and then clicking ‘Post Update’. If you want to respond to someone else’s comment you can ‘Like’ a comment of post a reply by selecting ‘Reply’ underneath their update.

Pro users who want to engage in a private discussion with the entrepreneur should click on the entrepreneur’s member profile and message him/her directly.

Tiimafrica enables entrepreneurs to register venture profiles. On these profiles entrepreneurs can upload the logo of their venture, share information about their company, post updates and link to relevant company related websites and media channels. Entrepreneurs can post fundraising options that are only visible to Investor Network with Investor Pro Accounts. Access to background documentation is also restricted to the venture owners and Pro Account users.

Get noticed by investors by publishing a complete venture profile. Also add team members, documents and other relevant details, encourage your friends and business partners to visit your page bio and comment, that way you rank higher amongst others. An investor is more likely to check out details from a venture with traction or activity. 

You can share your venture page details on social media using the social media buttons on your venture page to increase your chance of getting noticed, we however do our best in making sure an investor checks you out once you are listed.

Tiimafrica is constantly looking to highlight ventures making progress. Keep your profile updated and share your wins and successes with the community. Build your following on tiimafrica as well as your business handles and get yourself noticed, we will find you.

Want to get noticed? Here are some tips and tricks you can use to promote your venture.

1) First impressions count! Make sure your venture profile is complete and the descriptions you posted are accurate.

2) Do you have a video pitch and have you posted this to your venture profile? This is a great way to introduce yourself as an entrepreneur and to talk about your business.

3) Have you added links to your profile on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, Instagram? This is a great way to keep people up to date on your activities and gives them a chance to find out more about you.

4) Have you made great progress building your company? Make sure you are sharing the latest news and developments on your activity thread. Let people know what’s happening and allow them to follow your adventure through both the good times and the bad times, we all have them.

5) Upload a PowerPoint presentation or any other documentation that helps investors understand what you are working on? Add a copy of your business license or any other evidence that shows you are serious.

6) On your venture profile you will see a short URL you can use to promote your venture profile across the web, Use these tools to get the word out.

7) You can send a request to the tiimafrica connect handle on the platform as an entrepreneur to interact with us and even get invited to the entrepreneurs group to participate in even more investment options that are available for your business if you meet the requirements. If you wish to chat with our representatives, send us a private message, mail, call us and follow tiimafrica on social media, we get to highlight each listed venture progress as well as build a solid point on your venture growth and potential across our network as well.

8) Keep the community and tiimafrica up to date with your progress and let us know when you’re ready to make a big announcement.

We hate to see you go. But we know how running a business can be it could get tough, if you ever feel like taking your venture off, On your venture page in your profile dashboard, you can click on the ‘Edit’ button and then select ‘Delete’, or you can reach out to us as soon as you conclude on taking down your venture, We encourage you to chat or communicate with tiimafrica. We do not promise to solve all cases but we do try our best as we have experts in many fields and sectors that are willing to help. DON’T GIVE UP JUST YET.

Yes! Entrepreneurs are often working on multiple projects. Sometimes the work you spent building one venture ends up being the preparation for the next. Feel free to post multiple ventures.

Easy, just visit the homepage of the website and click ‘ADD YOUR VENTURE.’ Which is also at the footer of the website as well, you don’t have to answer all of the questions at once and feel free to come back multiple times before submitting the profile for review. Although we highly recommend you go through the process and know what and what is needed before you proceed that way you have the required information at a breeze then submit. Its free to upload your venture detail, on venture calls by tiimafrica on certain sectors up for rounds of funding, A $10 fee is charged per venture for those selected entrepreneurs (due diligence and screening process reports submitted to a(an)investor(s) upon making a bid on ventures listed) $30 and above membership plan for investors billed annually. (Tailored alerts on screening results and from due diligence carried out on listed ventures)

The venture profile after a review is published almost immediately or on or before 72 hours.

Visit your personal profile dashboard. In the right hand column you will see your venture in draft mode. Click the link ‘Edit’ to access your venture and start working on it again. We are currently working on improving this section, in some cases you might have to start all over in adding your venture if you do not for any reason complete the process.

Investors are looking for evidence when trying to decide why they should or should not engage with an entrepreneur. Nothing sends a stronger signal than already having an investor on board who has placed a successful bid to your venture. This shows that someone believes in you enough to trust you with their money. But a lead investor is more than that. It is also someone who has researched your business in detail and is a valuable source of information for others who are interested in your venture.

A lead investor can help others understand where the business is in its development and can play an important role in negotiating terms and working to close the deal.

INVESTOR

Tiimafrica Pro users can contact any fellow investor member by sending them a private message after a friend request has being accepted.

To find (fellow) investors click ‘Investors’ on the Tiimafrica site’s top panel or located at the footer menu. Here you can find Pro Account users and get to know them by reading their profiles on the members page. 

Ventures on tiimafrica have the basic information displayed on the right side of their profile. Investors can click “MAKE A BID” to indicate the size of the investment and equity range most appealing, this of course can occur after reading and going through all the details provided by the entrepreneur, the placed bid offer by the investor is subject to negotiations as well between entrepreneur and the investor. Placing a bid as an investor indicates interest in the business as well as a foundational basis for negotiations to be made and isn’t final. Only registered pro investors can make bids after agreeing to the Tiimafrica’s terms, the entrepreneur receives a message indicating your bid offer and interest after which we sets up a private meetup room to continue negotiations and further due diligence till something conclusive occurs. Don’t worry we will be with both parties every step of the way.

On the Venture Profile there are details of the entrepreneur on the left side of the page. Investors should click this information or visit the entrepreneur’s Member Account for more information. The whole management team’s contact details can also be accessed via the ‘Team’ tab on the Venture Profile.

Pro Investor members can click on any venture profile and access the entrepreneurs’ documentation. Documents can be found by first accessing a venture profile and then clicking on the ‘Documents’ tab. Investors can see the documents of incorporation and/or a review of the business plan, financial statements and other relevant documentation.

When visiting any Venture Profile the company pitch is the first thing you see. Here you can already read a short business presentation and often times even watch a video pitch. On the venture profile you will find links to important details that the entrepreneur has shared, such as financial documents, information about the team and possible capital needs (only accessible for Pro investor).

As a Pro Account user you can visit full tiimafrica venture profiles either from your dashboard (go to your dashboard by clicking on the small user icon at the right top corner of any page and select ‘Dashboard’), or by searching for ventures through tiimafrica.com/venture Via your Dashboard you can click ‘View full profile’ on any venture overview. We are always looking for new ways to improve this

Every member of tiimafrica can follow ventures, entrepreneurs and investors however you can only communicate on the platform on the condition that you are friends each other, we are trying out new methods to make this engaging for you always.

When you click on any company in your personal Dashboard you will see the information box, expand to give you an overview of their activity. Notice that you can ‘Follow’, ‘Bookmark’ or ‘Contact,’ the venture. If you ‘Follow’ the venture you will see their latest activity, follow their developments and publicly be listed as a follower. When you want to be able to find the venture easily in a later stage via your dashboard, but not follow the venture, you can use the ‘bookmark’ option. You can connect with the entrepreneur directly via the messaging handle on your dashboard

Only Pro investors Account members can receive custom alerts from their dashboard to ventures that match their preferences. ‘My Alerts’ section on the right side of the Explore function in your Dashboard shows all the alerts you have set to get notified about investment opportunities, we are improving this section and may not be available at all times, do contact tiimafrica in this regard.

As a PRO INVESTOR member your personal dashboard is where you can find interesting ventures raising capital, set custom alerts and more. For all this the ‘Ventures’ tab is the starting point. Here you can search by tagging your criteria. Select ‘early stage, growth, mature’ to access the ventures looking for investors or just Angel funding. When you then click on any company, you will see details about the venture.

Accredited investor is a term defined by various countries’ securities laws that delineates investors permitted to invest in certain types of higher risk investments including seed money, limited partnerships, hedge funds, private placements, and angel investor networks. The term generally includes wealthy individuals and organizations such as banks, insurance companies, significant charities, some corporations, endowments, and retirement plans.

For example, in the United States, for an individual to be considered an accredited investor, he or she must have a net worth of at least one million US dollars, not including the value of one’s primary residence or have income at least $200,000 each year for the last two years (or $300,000 together with his or her spouse if married) and have the expectation to make the same amount this year. Due to the nature of doing business in Africa, getting accredited as an investor takes a different approach, however tiimafrica runs a system where anyone can be an investor and syndicates can be created from individuals, venture capitalist, angel investors corporation and organization, who then can invest in ventures along side each other as long as they understand each process and the terms from dialogues with them. Tiimafrica setups a “FUND” and can partner with fund managers in appropriating the investments made.

Investors can see which ventures are fundraising and follow the progress of the ventures they find interesting. They can network with fellow members of the investor network and engage entrepreneurs with questions. Registered investors can see who is verified, make a bid, review the terms of the deal, and have exclusive access to private venture documents.

The ventures on tiimafrica are early, growth and mature stages and require investments between USD $10,000 and USD $1 million. The primary sectors include innovative technology, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, healthcare and education amongst others. Each venture is disruptive in their use of technology or in their application of a disruptive business model. Thirty percent of the registered ventures have some form of social mission and could be qualified as a social enterprise and can acquire impact investments.

Join the investor network on Tiimafrica

Are you an investor? Join a growing network of Africa focused investors. As a registered investor you can see which ventures are seeking funds/investors, have access to special tools and information:

» Customize your dashboard to discover great companies
» Set up intelligent alerts to follow their progress
» Access information when researching new opportunities
» Check fundraising history of any venture
» Contact entrepreneurs and investors to follow up directly
» Contact the tiimafrica team for support

Join the investor network today!

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