Included VC Pilots Africa Investor Fellowship to Close the Continent’s Investment Capability Gap
A new fellowship programme is targeting a persistent but often overlooked problem in Africa’s venture capital landscape: the shortage of well-trained investment professionals relative to the capital now flowing into the continent.
Included VC, a global investor education organisation with a seven-year track record of running VC fellowships, has launched the Africa Investor Fellowship — a four-month pilot programme aimed at analysts, associates, and other early-to-mid-career investment practitioners currently working across Africa. The inaugural cohort will bring together more than 40 professionals, with the pilot running from July to December 2026.
Addressing a Structural Gap
The premise behind the fellowship is straightforward. African venture markets have attracted significantly more capital over the past decade, but the professional infrastructure supporting that capital has not grown at the same pace. Many fund teams operate with small headcounts, limited budgets for formal training, and inconsistent exposure to international investment practice. The result is that deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio support vary considerably from fund to fund — and much of the learning that does happen is informal, on-the-job, and difficult to standardise.
According to Included VC, a growing cohort of talented early- and mid-career professionals exists across the continent, but access to rigorous, context-specific training remains a real constraint. The organisation noted that structured learning opportunities relevant to African market conditions are scarce, making it harder for professionals to develop consistently or advance within the industry.
What the Programme Covers
The fellowship is structured around a mix of technical training, practical exercises, expert input, and peer-to-peer learning. Participants will work through deal sourcing and opportunity assessment frameworks, gain exposure to both regional investment practice and international approaches, and develop networks with peers navigating similar challenges across different African markets.
The programme is backed by FSD Africa, a financial sector development body focused on African markets, and the FMO Ventures Programme, the venture capital arm of the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO. That combination of backers — one with deep roots in African financial systems, the other with an international portfolio perspective — reflects the programme’s intent to bridge local context with global standards.
The pilot cohort will be drawn from investment professionals already within the networks of FSD Africa capital providers, FMO portfolio funds, and Included VC’s Africa partners. Applications will open to a wider audience after the pilot concludes.
Building on an Existing Foundation
This is not Included VC’s first engagement with Africa. In 2025, the organisation launched a dedicated Africa Fellowship focused on helping new talent enter the investment ecosystem for the first time, with a long-term ambition of reaching investors across all 54 African countries. The Africa Investor Fellowship is a separate programme aimed at professionals already in the industry who want to sharpen their practice rather than break into it.
The distinction matters. Entry-level pipeline programmes and mid-career capability development serve different needs, and Africa’s investment ecosystem arguably requires both. Fund teams in markets like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa have grown in number, but institutional depth — the kind of rigorous training culture that established financial centres take for granted — remains uneven.
Whether a four-month fellowship can move that needle meaningfully will depend on implementation. But as a structured attempt to address a real capability gap, the Africa Investor Fellowship represents a considered step in the right direction.
