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Enygma Ventures has announced an open call for women entrepreneurs in Southern Africa as the US venture capital (VC) fund aims to invest in women-led and founded businesses in Africa.
Established by two women, the venture capital fund was founded in October 2019. Lelemba Phiri, Operating partner of Enygma Ventures’ explains that the fund aims to support female innovators and changemakers.
“We are industry agnostic, which means we invest in any sector where women are thriving. We are passionate about driving progressive change on the African continent.”
In 2021, the venture capital fund aims to invest in women-led companies located in key SADC markets such as Tanzania and Malawi.
“We want to widen our net this year as our fund mandate covers all 16 countries in the SADC region. This quarter we are particularly looking to increase participation from key markets like Tanzania and Malawi which have in the past recorded fewer VC investments, yet have exciting opportunities,” adds Phiri.
Sarah Dusek, co-founder and managing partner of Enygma Ventures sheds light on what led to the creation of the venture capital fund. “With just a fraction of global venture funds being deployed across the continent, Africa is an extraordinary opportunity. We established Enygma because we wanted to tackle inequality through 3 lenses – gender, race, and geography. Thus investing diversely, not only from a gender perspective but also a race and geography perspective, was important to us.”
According to reports, the fund invested a recorded $3.5-million in 10 businesses located in South Africa, Eswatini, and Zambia. Applications for investment are open three times a year and shortlisted entrepreneurs are supported via investor readiness programmes and more.
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