Lamin Darboe of Bantaba is set to assist African startups tap into diaspora wealth

A few months into the coronavirus pandemic, in April 2020, a team of four African-origin students in Sweden—including The Gambia-born Lamin Darboe, who had recently moved to Stockholm to pursue a master’s degree—participated in a climate action challenge organized by the Norrsken Foundation and Stockholm Innovation & Growth (Sting).

Though the team, which also included Fabrice Ouedraogo, Eliane Birba, and Noufou Kafando, did not win the challenge, Darboe’s participation spawned Bantaba, a Sweden-based digital matchmaking platform that connects African startups with professionals and investors in the African diaspora, of which he is CEO.

What sparked the platform’s creation?

Darboe left his West African home country in 2012, first studying banking and finance at the National Institute of Bank Management in India for three months before receiving a scholarship to attend Bocconi University in Milan. He moved to Ireland for 6 months after finishing his undergraduate studies in 2015 to work for a consulting firm before returning to Italy. He worked on the finance team of a telecom company there before moving to Stockholm in August 2019 to pursue an MSc at the Stockholm School of Economics.

During his nearly a decade of travel across Asia, North America, and Europe, one thing remained constant: Darboe met many people of African descent who had achieved great success professionally.

And, like him, they were eager to engage with and invest in Africa despite the fact that they were no longer physically present on the continent. But that was nearly impossible without returning home, which was an impractical idea given that most had settled in their new locations and even started families.

Similarly, Darboe’s had the opportunity to interact with several entrepreneurs from across Africa, and a common complaint from founders was a lack of support and resources in comparison to their peers in other parts of the world. So, on the one hand, there was a pool of resources waiting to be tapped abroad, and on the other, there was ready demand from entrepreneurs who needed them.

Darboe began building a platform to bridge this gap with a few African students he met at the Norrsken-Sting climate competition. “From renewable energy and aerospace engineering to machine learning and cloud computing, many Africans abroad have exceptional professional knowledge and experience,” he explained over the phone to TechCabal. “Many of us have talent and skill sets that are in high demand at home, as well as a strong desire to engage more actively with Africa.”

On one platform, you can find both talent and funding.

According to Darboe, “Bantaba” is an ancient Manding word for a large tree under which elders of an African village would gather to make important decisions. “Like its forefathers, our Bantaba is a digital meeting place that bridges the gap between Africa’s tech startup ecosystem and diaspora capital, knowledge, and network,” he explained. Two value propositions serve as the foundation of the platform.

The first step is to assist founders in gaining access to critical professional support. African startups can use Bantaba to create pages detailing the problems they are solving in order to be discovered by diaspora mentors, consultants, and investors. Similarly, diaspora professionals can create profiles and be matched with startups that match their interests.

For example, a Togolese startup in need of an artificial intelligence consultant could be matched with UK-based Daniel, who has more than a decade of experience working as an AI engineer at Amazon, facilitating knowledge transfer between the diaspora and African startups.

“It could even be something less technical. “For example, African founders could reach out to diasporans experienced in VC investment for advice on their pitch decks and business plans,” explained Darboe, who has worked for a VC firm and an incubator in Stockholm. “It’s all about acquiring knowledge that will point founders in the right direction.” What’s more, we don’t charge a fee for this matching.”

The platform’s second core offering revolves around facilitating access to capital, particularly for startups with viable business models but who are unable to raise funding at an early stage.

Despite a record $5 billion in venture capital funding in Africa last year, early-stage startups on the continent still have relatively limited access to capital. Bantaba intends to address this issue by connecting founders with diaspora wealth via its digital infrastructure. According to World Bank data, remittance inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa reached $45 billion in 2021, the majority of which was spent on consumption.

Startup funding rounds will have specific goals, and investors can contribute in exchange for equity.

The diaspora can use this opportunity to invest in promising African startups listed on and vetted by Bantaba, which will profit from each transaction.

“In the future, we intend to collaborate with local partners to validate startups, and those who are approved will be able to launch fundraising campaigns on the platform,” Darboe said. “Data shows that 70 percent of African startups lack access to talent and capital to grow their businesses.” We’re addressing this with a scalable digital platform available to startups across the continent.”

In recent years, a number of startups, such as Bantaba, have emerged across Africa with the goal of changing the status quo of startup financing and venture capital on the continent.

In recent years, a number of startups, such as Bantaba, have emerged across Africa with the goal of changing the status quo of startup financing and venture capital on the continent. While the players in the space are similar, they do not follow a single model.

GetEquity, based in Lagos, for example, enables businesses to digitise their assets via tokens and market themselves to angel investors, syndicates, and institutional investors, who can purchase equity in a publicly traded startup for as little as $10. Raise, a Kenyan all-in-one platform, assists African startups in simplifying the fundraising process, closing deals faster for a “third of the cost,” and managing equity and legal compliance.

Regardless of the model, these platforms allow underfunded entrepreneurs to avoid the friction associated with traditional methods of startup funding by connecting and networking with potential investors outside of private funding and venture capitalist firms.

Bantaba has onboarded more than 150 African tech startups from at least 20 African countries, as well as over 300 diaspora experts and investors, since launching its beta platform in July 2021. “We’ve seen strong engagement on the platform from Africa tech startups and diaspora,” Darboe said, adding that the company has also formed “strategic partnerships” with companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and some Nordic universities to create new value streams for startup users.

Bantaba recently received over $400,000 in pre-seed funding from Swedish angel investors in order to transition from a minimum viable product (MVP) to a full-fledged product with expanded features. Bantaba aims to provide relevant news updates to both parties, among other services, in addition to serving as a platform where diaspora talent and capital are accessible to African startups.

Darboe envisions a future in which the platform is eventually open to non-Africans living in other countries. “Our vision is to become the leading platform for international investors interested in Africa’s technology scene, beginning with the diaspora community.”

Building a network of African startups and diasporan experts and investors will not be easy, but Darboe is confident his team is up to the task. Bantaba’s core team members have known each other for many years, and their biggest advantage, according to the CEO, is “understanding of the problem, the diaspora community, and Africa’s startup ecosystem.”