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E03 - Hamdiya Ismaila, Founder and CEO of Savannah Impact Advisory
65 Plays2 months ago
In this episode of Women Changing Finance, host Krisztina Tora interviews Hamdiya Ismaila, a leader in venture capital and private equity in Ghana. As the founder and CEO of Savannah Impact Advisory and fund manager of the Ci Gaba Fund of Funds, Hamdiya shares her journey in building the impact investing ecosystem in Ghana. She discusses the importance of intentionality in investments, highlighting successful projects that enhance agricultural supply chains and support local communities. Hamdiya emphasizes the need for collaboration among stakeholders and the crucial role of women in driving impact finance. Join us to discover how Hamdiya is paving the way for inclusive growth and mobilizing local capital to create lasting change in Ghana.
Please review the episode, share your feedback and subscribe to the podcast!
You can also:
- Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
- Follow Hamdiya on LinkedIn
- Read Hamdiya's full bio
To go further here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:
- Savannah Impact Advisory: https://siaghana.com/
- Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds: https://impactinvestinggh.org/programs/ci-gaba-progress-fund-of-funds/
- Impact Investing Ghana (IIGH): https://impactinvestinggh.org
- Ghana Market Mapping (by IIGH): https://impactinvestinggh.org/publications/the-state-of-impact-investing-in-ghana-unlocking-private-sector-capital-for-profit-and-impact-22/
- Catalytic Capital report (by IIGH): https://impactinvestinggh.org/publications/catalytic-capital-investment-in-ghanaian-smes-strategies-hurdles-and-outcomes-report/
- Research collaborative (by IIGH): https://impactinvestinggh.org/programs/the-ghana-research-industry-collaborative-gric/
- ESO collaborative (by IIGH): https://impactinvestinggh.org/programs/12-ghanaian-enterprises-transform-business-quality-through-eso-collaborative-scale-programme/
- Climate finance collaborative: https://impactinvestinggh.org/action-groups/climate-finance-collaborative/
- National Pension Regulatory Authority: https://npra.gov.gh
- Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs
- Venture Capital Trust Fund: https://vctf.com.gh/
- Ghana Private Equity and Venture Capital Association: https://gvca-ghana.org/
- Ghana Angel Investor Network: https://www.gain.com.gh/
- Principles for dealing with the changing world order – Ray Dalio: https://www.principles.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Women Changing Finance
00:00:04
Speaker
Hi, welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance, where you will discover amazing women from all around the world who are making finance become a force for good.
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance.
Introducing Hamdia Ismaila
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm Krisztina Tora, and I'm welcoming today Hamdiya Ismaila, an experienced leader in the venture capital and private equity field in Ghana. She's also the founder and CEO of Savannah Impact Advisory,
00:00:37
Speaker
and the fund manager of a new fund of funds called Ci Gaba. I met Hamdiya in 2018 during my first work trip to Accra. I was really inspired by her deep knowledge about how capital can be invested to create impact in Ghana and by her extraordinary ability to bring people together behind a big vision.
00:00:58
Speaker
I'm really grateful for our connection and to have you Hamdiya on the show today.
Ghana's Impact Investing Ecosystem
00:01:03
Speaker
So Hamdiya, before we go further and get a better understanding of your journey and your work, it would be really great for the audience to get a sense of the ecosystem in Ghana.
00:01:13
Speaker
Could you please paint us a picture about any impact trends in your ecosystem? What's specific about the ecosystem in Ghana? To what extent do you see progress happening? How easy or how hard is it to support social and environmental change in Ghana? Thank you, Krisztina, and it's really nice to be here to speak with you. I greatly recall our first meeting in 2018.
00:01:38
Speaker
and how far we've come trying to build the impact ecosystem in Ghana. So thank you for your support. And awake and I might say that I've been very impressed with the work we've done so far, given our first encounter with you and how far we've come.
00:01:54
Speaker
So the impact investing ecosystem is growing. What we didn't realize was that most of the things we were doing were impactful, but it was because we were not too intentional about it. And so when we decided to set up the National Advisory Board for Impact Investing in Ghana, it was a whole idea of trying to bring all the ecosystem players who fit the pillars in which we are able to make impact investing try.
00:02:21
Speaker
And so we brought all of these people together i don't have to repeat them because you need to help us with the work and we brought all of them together and we created a national advisory board and i must say that it's always important to have a lead organization leading it leading the impact field because it allows everybody to align it allows everybody to be intentional.
00:02:42
Speaker
you know what they are doing and do it well. So when we became a member of the GSG, what we decided to do was to first do a market sizing and try to understand the market and also try to understand the role of catalytic capital. In fact, one of our biggest aims is to drive impact capital into businesses.
Chigaba Fund of Funds and Climate Finance Collaborative
00:03:04
Speaker
And we realized that that was a big challenge.
00:03:06
Speaker
And so we wanted to understand where the issues are because we knew there were different programs that were supporting but then we're not getting to the root or the bottom of of that. That work really helped us establish ways to ensure that we are able to get the to drive more capital.
00:03:26
Speaker
And that way made us understand that there is so much we can do. We need to begin to really mobilize capital and try to bring understanding of the uses of this capital. And so as an ecosystem, we said, okay, let's see how We can drive more impact capital by trying to support funds, doing different kinds of things. And that was actually what led us to the design of the Ci Gaba Fund of Funds. And we decided to do a Fund of Funds because we felt that when we do just a fund, it will not be good to build an ecosystem. And building the ecosystem, we need a Fund of Funds that will pull
00:04:05
Speaker
and a lot more money, mostly locally, with some characteristics as funding to be able to support more fund managers to operate within the region. And so that was what drove us to that end. It's been very interesting. I think the ecosystem is striving Aside the research work that we are doing, we're also doing a whole lot of knowledge sharing, knowledge management. We've been working a lot with, we are creating like a reset collaborative. We created an ESO collaborative so that we can also help these social enterprises and other businesses, SMEs, to be prepared for funding. We also currently are working on a climate finance collaborative to ensure that you know
00:04:47
Speaker
we We are also really looking at climate. The Ci Gaba Fund of Fund is looking at investing within the nexus of gender and climate, really leading to raise more local capital. So we are building. It's not easy. There is a lot more work to do in terms of capacity. But I think understanding of putting our money where our mouths are for the people and the planet, we have been able to really put it on the ground and it's moving.
00:05:16
Speaker
Thanks, Hamdia.
Agriculture Investment Success Story
00:05:17
Speaker
And I mean, so much to unpack in what you're saying, I know that you've been investing either directly or indirectly for a long time into businesses that have an impact in Ghana. Can you give perhaps a couple of examples or tell us a little bit more about what it looks like to create impact, social and environmental impact in Ghana?
00:05:38
Speaker
Thank you. So one of the investments that sometimes I get, I try to talk about is one of the investments we did in our long agriculture value chain. There was a need to begin to like help a company to be able to build their supply chain locally.
00:05:57
Speaker
This company was important, a lot of the raw material, and we saw the potential of actually supporting because the farmers were not able to plant this produce at scale to support the company's processing schedule. And the farmers challenge was that it was because they didn't have enough funding to really increase their acreages and be able to actually plant more. So we got in through the rural banks. We invested in the rural banks, rural community banks. They supported these farmers and they produced a skill to be able to get this company to sit in all year round production. And so essentially what we did was that we supported the supply chain. We tried to we put in funding to enhance the supply chain of this particular company.
00:06:45
Speaker
And it actually helped create major impact because we were able to touch almost about 4,500 farmers to scale. And indirectly, we were able to get almost about 13,000 people into the four in different places because the farmers needed more labor on their farms and and all that.
00:07:06
Speaker
And that program also helped us understand that there is a lot more to do. And if we have more coordinated effort in supporting people, we can actually build both the social base and also the environmental, because all we did was that we brought in technical support in helping the farmers around good agronomic practices to ensure that, you know,
00:07:29
Speaker
and they are able to plant these crops without having so many effects on the environment. So I think that that is one of the investments that we did that I really like. yeah like it's You just see it the moment you look at not even just looking at the numbers, but just going to the field and the number of lives that you have impacted with this investment. And so I think that a little bit of more intentionality can actually yield fabulous results and that we should build this level of intentionality in the investment that we do.
00:08:02
Speaker
Thanks. That's a great example. And it's a great example because it illustrates really concretely how you can increase your impact if you look at one kind of business. And it's true that building supply chains and within the agricultural value chain can impact a lot of people. Is this one of the climate slash gender intersection? Does this cover, is this a potential invest for your new fund?
00:08:29
Speaker
Yes, it's it's something potential that we do because with that, we realize that if we're able to really work in agribusiness and agriculture and drive it at scale, we can make significant impact. And so this was a particular commodity and we want to like scale it across other commodities.
00:08:49
Speaker
to be able to really get that. And yes, we are looking at props that are more specifically women driven. And we want to ensure that if you're able to build that backward supply chain for this particular investment companies, it will be helpful for us to really achieve the kind of scale we want. Yes. So we are looking at things like that. The fund is supposed to achieve inclusive growth and we are targeting Nine SDG goals with three cross-cutting, which is one, five, and 13 And we are very critical at really tracking it. and so
00:09:26
Speaker
One, no poverty. Five, gender equality. What is the 13? Climate action. Okay, awesome. And you also mentioned something else which is quite important and it would be really nice for you to expand on it, is the fact about domestic investors coming into this fund and coming increasingly into this work.
Involving Domestic Social Investors
00:09:47
Speaker
I think that's super interesting in the work that you do and probably quite inspiring for others or other countries, especially in emerging markets. Can you tell us more how you bring these domestic private investors into your work?
00:10:02
Speaker
What we started doing was to begin to engage the potential domestic and social investors. right So we're looking at the pension funds, we're looking at an insurance companies. Most of our attention was on the pension funds. And it was because over the years, we are beginning to liberalize the pension sector. right So let me just give you an example of Ghana.
00:10:25
Speaker
Ghana, for a long time, pensions were state. And then around 2008, we passed what we call the National Pension Regulatory Authority. That brought a three-tier pension scheme, and that brought in private pension money. So we have tier two, tier three, which is privately managed, and we have tier one, which is sort of state. And so over time, we had bought a lot of capital base,
00:10:49
Speaker
under Group Tier 2 and Tier 3, and they were all invested with a government-based Tier 1, still in government bonds and government securities. And we thought that how could we begin to learn to put our monies where our mouths are in terms of building the economy for the future. And so we started engaging. And what we did was we actually engaged the pension fund, trying to understand what are the issues How could we get you to get into the alternative assets? And they they told us what their challenges were. And it wasn't different from any any of the ones we've seen across the world, especially because pension funds usually really have issues of liquidity. And so they did flexibility. There are issues around returns, of course, for any other investor. But then there are also issues around valuations. And what they said was that
00:11:41
Speaker
They were actually looking for an institutional grid that is private, but that could also meet demands their demands. And so we worked with them and we said, okay, let's design a vehicle that could potentially move capital into this space around you know around what could be a bit more comfort into them.
00:12:02
Speaker
And that was why we created a fund of funds. We thought that a fund of funds was a great idea because then it pulls more capital into, and then we're able to diversify the fund level, investing in different assets. Although we are investing in funds, we are going to do a bit equity funds, some debt funds, some private equity funds, some VC funds, in a way that really builds that multi-asset and that so that we keep that level of exposure and also maintaining the trying to be to get some of the risk that comes with it and so that's what we did they are very happy with design we discuss it with them and and so that is where we are progressing from and i think that we need to really engage more.
00:12:43
Speaker
with local and social investors because we need to mobilize capital locally and we need to get local investors to understand that we need to begin to look at how to build domestic economy. Because when you build domestic economies, it is to the advantage of this domestic, local and social investors. And so it's a win-win. And so we need to be able to like bring everybody on board.
00:13:08
Speaker
And that's what we we did here. And we are very happy to replicate it anywhere else to ensure that there are other investors that we could work with to bring everybody on board you know to ensure that we are able to achieve move more money at scale. Because at this point, that is what is critical in Africa. If we really want to develop this continent, we have to move more money.
00:13:30
Speaker
Thanks, and definitely it's really inspiring and we hope that this can be replicated in other countries. Another question which to me is also from my understanding quite unique or at least really inspiring from Ghana is the fact that the government and specifically the Ministry of Finance have been very supportive of some of these changes. Can you tell us more about the public support to the ecosystem?
00:13:57
Speaker
The public sector is very supportive of the ecosystem because what potentially we are seeing is that let's try to build the Ghana we all want to see. And I think the public and the private are no different. We are all people who want to see. We have a setting dream.
00:14:16
Speaker
And we need to build that dream that we all want to see. And day and the public sector has been very, very supportive. We did a lot of work with the Ministry of Finance at the setup of the National Advisory Board. They were supportive and we work with them around policy directions that could actually move more capital. And so all what we are doing is that government support us so that we can actually move more private capital, right?
00:14:40
Speaker
At scale, if you see what is happening in Ghana, the budget is tight, so it's all the written government can do. And we need to bring in private sector money, of course, at a good return, at a less risk, so that everybody will be interested in investing in the Ghana that we want.
00:14:59
Speaker
And the public is very helpful around policy, around regulatory, to ensure that so whenever we do a research and we pick up on an issue, we have good conversation with whichever public sector institution is responsible for it. And we are able to really build a certain milestone that we all want to get to.
00:15:20
Speaker
And so far, it's been good. I hope that it continues because it is all for for the public good. And I think that both the private sector and the public sector understands that.
00:15:32
Speaker
thanks It's a great example of or illustration of public and private working together in collaboration. So moving on to for you and your journey in in this space, there may be more impact investors in Ghana, also probably thanks to you, but you definitely have been among the pioneers. Can you tell us about your journey? How did you get here? What were the maybe the milestones in your journey that made you arrive to this point?
Hamdia's Journey and Savannah Impact Advisory
00:16:01
Speaker
I don't know. I think growing up, I have always wanted to work in a bank. I don't know for the reason. we were I mean, my mom sells and she had a lot of clients who come and buy things from her. She was she was really a petty trader selling lots of commodities you know in the market, in a lot of shops in the market.
00:16:22
Speaker
And he had clients that you know come and buy and sometimes he would send me to to some of the words to some of the clients. So from school, I'll just go and support her in the market. And for some reason, I just liked the bank. And it was because there was this bank in Ghana called the Ghana Commercial Bank, and they had a uniform, which was the women wear a blue uniform with a baby color white. And I just loved it. yeah So I'm like, I'm going to work in a bank.
00:16:47
Speaker
And growing up, I just saw the way it was just impossible for the women in the market to actually just venture to go to the bank. So we had SISU collectors coming to collect money every day. And at the end of the month, they would just collect their money back. And and i I saw my mom and some of her friends every week, they would put money together and one person would take it.
00:17:08
Speaker
And that's how they're able to pay for other things and that's how they're able to put some into their business. And so I just really understood it when I was growing up and I kept telling myself that they could there should be a better way of doing things. And I studied, you know I went to school, I went to college, i I came back and I said, well, what can we do to really help in this direction. And I mean, not talking just about my mom, but it's like, it's huge. If you have seen some of the report, the Mastercard Index says that we have over 40% women entrepreneurs in Ghana, and Ghanaian women have lots more entrepreneurs, but then they are also very small. so um So that's actually, I think, my drive for really working with money and how to really push more money to the people that need it most.
00:17:54
Speaker
Right. And so I got into it and then I did a little of bit of things in the bank and then, you know, I just felt like, OK, maybe there's a other things I could do. And I thought that because there was a whole lot of discussion around maybe it policy is the one that is failing that the banks to do what is supposed to do. And so I got an opportunity to work with the Ministry for Private Sector Development and I tried to understand what are the policy barriers. And then the government of Ghana created what they call the Venture Capital Trust Fund, which was an institution that was going to ease us access to long-term funding. So for those who are very familiar with Ghana in particular, most of... We we don't run we are short of debt. I mean, all day the ecosystem is made up of banks, right? and microfinance and savings and loans. But really, if you're looking for debt, it's a bit easier to get when you have a job and all that. If you have a business, it's another challenge. But really trying to support emerging companies, you know young people, even access to long-term funding was a problem. And that was not allowing the companies to grow because the monies that the companies have to deal with are not patient enough to allow them to.
00:19:05
Speaker
and our interest rate was more and more helpful. So the government created the Venture Capital Trust Fund with the idea that they want to work in easy access to long-term funding. And the Venture Capital Trust Fund is actually a fund of funds. So we try to actually support fund managers in order to build an ecosystem. So I got a job at the Venture Capital Trust Fund and I moved there and I'm like, okay,
00:19:27
Speaker
Now, after a little bit of policy, I understand your background. I'm here, let me see what Thailand found from here. And it's been such an amazing journey. And I mean, you meet companies, underlying companies, you know, i funds and you could see what a little bit of more patience can turn around a business, right? And it just excited me. And I stayed there for some time, for a long time, actually. I worked there for 16 years and I decided I want to do more because I wanted to scale the impact And so that was why I founded the Savannah Impact Advisory and then came along to work on the Ci Gaba Fund of Funds. But in all, the the thing is that how do we ensure that the businesses that need them, how do we ensure that the right money goes to the right business to grow? Because debt has a very good way, but for startups and early stage companies,
00:20:26
Speaker
you need just more than that. So we need to have the right capital for the right business at the right time and to ensure that you're able to drive that impact. And that's what excites me about what I do. So that's been my journey. I love what I do. I think that there may be other things that we need to do to build, but I think that's one of the things that we do is very central and is very critical to the development of the country. And that is why I love what I do.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah, thanks Hamdiya. I really love the how you explained your journey from the beginning and this red thread that has kept with you about making sure that with money we can help those who need it most.
Hamdia's Daily Routine and Women's Progress in Finance
00:21:12
Speaker
And also bringing a ah long more long-term view to capital, which is really essential.
00:21:18
Speaker
Do you have ah i don't know an anecdote, a story, or perhaps something that would tell the audience about your day-to-day job? like What does a typical day look like for you? My typical day starts with working up in the morning and doing a bit of like 30 minute meditation set off. One thing that I think has been helpful to me is that every morning before I leave the house, I have my schedule for the day. And so I know exactly what I want to accomplish for the day. So it's either that I get to the office and I have a meeting, try to follow up on the previous day and the things we're supposed to do that we couldn't finish. We need to try to finish it in that day, in the next day. And then also review reports.
00:22:05
Speaker
trying to understand where we are in terms of the things that we are looking to do, and then where there is the need to do some follow-up calls. We do those follow-up calls. And then when we have to review some funds, we set as a team, the investment team, always and looking at you know funds.
00:22:25
Speaker
And they are looking at Monday's fate analysis, and then they are looking at how to screen. So we will set... We do that like twice a week just to set and understand what has come in, what have you seen. It doesn't match as if it are mandate. It is something we should perceive, and then we take it from there. But my typical day is just to ensure that what are we set out for the week, we are working on it, and now we're going to achieve it by Friday. So every Monday morning, we have management meeting, and it is just My winning team meeting is just to ensure that this is our plan for the week and everybody has their route to play. On Thursday, we come back to see where we are before the week ends. And so typically, that that's that's how my day goes. Yes, a lot of meetings try to juggle those ones. but
00:23:13
Speaker
I don't take my eyes off the ball in terms of the actual act and that needs to get us moving. And so I mentioned and I tried to fix things that ensures that we are doing what we're supposed to do. They're also building an ecosystem and so we need to be able to juggle those two at the same time. Thanks. I know that you travel a lot as well to meet with the potential investors or other people.
00:23:38
Speaker
yeah Yes, I do. I travel, so what I do is that I plan the travels in such a way that even when I'm out of the office, thank God with now we can do a lot of work remotely, we can actually jump on our meets and then you know our teams and then have our meetings and you know have some updates. So wherever I am in the world, we still maintain our management meetings.
00:24:02
Speaker
Sometimes the timing is not good for me at all, but I need to join. so Sometimes I have to join a meeting like 2-3 AM on where I am. But my management meeting time is 10 AM GMT. And so wherever I am, I joined. And then we follow up with each other as a team and just to know where we are. And I plan my travels in such a way that able to so follow up with work, I didn't also get to do what I need to do as I'm outside. Yeah.
00:24:28
Speaker
And thanks. And I'd love to hear from you. It's a question that I ask all my guests. How do you feel as a woman doing this job? ah Women in finance, you know, finance is over 90% men, right? So you walk into the room and you probably are going to be the only woman in the room, or it's going to be about two of you in the room. That is gradually changing. When I started, I walk into the room and I'm alone. Now it's changing a bit, not as fast as we want it, but I think we need to push, you know, and make a decision and it is possible. It is work that takes a lot of your time.
00:25:05
Speaker
and energy, and you have to be like you always have to have your eyes on the ball. right And so it's a ahs ah it's it's an environment that people don't feel a little bit more comfortable with. But it's great to be in finance if we want to drive capital at scale to support women enterprises. We need more women in investment.
00:25:25
Speaker
I think that is what keeps me going and to ensure that we are also able to mentor the next generation of women in finance. I'm mostly in investment and I try to drive capital more, but it is an environment where it is a very tense environment. It's a very competitive environment, but you must know you must know what you are doing, you must know what you are about, and you must love what you do, and you must have a vision. My vision is to drive more capital at scale, to support enterprises at scale. And the way I have the opportunity to work with more women, the better.
00:26:03
Speaker
and so I've been an advocate of trying to support more women to get into fund investing and not just supporting them with money, but coach them, support them with coaching, with mentorship. And because this work is hands-on and you need to really get your hands getting this work really done. so So that's one of the critical requirements. But yes, it's not easy. People will compete you and they will tell you right at the face. But you need to understand what is keeping you there, right? What keeps you awake? Why are you here? And that motivation allows you to you know to to move on all the time. So that's really what keeps me going.
00:26:43
Speaker
Amazing, yeah, a strong, strong connection to purpose. And that really comes through. You talked about what your mission is. Perhaps you want to reflect on how far you've come, so things that you are super proud of and things that you have achieved already, and maybe what you would like to achieve in the future. Any big goals, big moonshots, if you had all the resources that you need.
00:27:12
Speaker
When I joined the Venture Capital Trust Fund, it was new. And it was an industry that was also new. And we needed to build the ecosystem to get it to work. So one thing with investment is that, oh, private a equity venture capital, you need to make sure that the ecosystem is right. And so we need to actually build the ecosystem in addition to investing. And I think when I look back, I feel that it's been great work.
00:27:39
Speaker
you know, teamwork in really building that ecosystem in Ghana. It's been a long coming, but it's been an amazing journey of building the this ecosystem, cutting it across Africa as a very important member of this community.
00:27:54
Speaker
For me, my personal goal is to see how we can use money as a source for a force for good and just trying to make sure that we get it the way it is needed most to drive the history impact. And for me, one of the biggest achievements is being able to build this ecosystem in Ghana to ensure that we are able to get more, drive more capital at scale, um trying to make sure that we are bringing in new teams, building capacity, ensuring that they are able to raise, invest and read again. There are companies who generally wouldn't have even started if this type of capital was not available and they have come to being. So for me, I think it's really, really, really very important
00:28:42
Speaker
for key sectors that we couldn't start because, you know, as I and mentioned earlier, most of the country had debt, so the banks were there, they were giving loans, but some of these startups couldn't survive starting with a loan. And so you see that there are ideas that people book couldn't really start or implement because of that. So, for example, we invested in this company, which was doing, which set up a diagnostic for that DNA analysis
00:29:14
Speaker
Before then, any time there is a request for DNA, the sample has been taken in Ghana and flown to South Africa for that because there was no none there is nothing like that in Ghana for i for it to be done. We were able to invest in a company like that to start. Now it's doing very well. This company actually even went ahead to help some of the ah security agencies in setting up their forensic labs and things like that. so For me, those are what makes me feel proud that we've been able to really build some of these companies, which essentially couldn't have using long-term money, using different kind of capital to make it happen. And so for me, those are some of the achievements. And then also really trying to build the ecosystem by bringing more people there. So just about three, four years ago, we launched the
00:30:03
Speaker
Ghana Private Venture Capital Association. There was no way we would have thought about this 10 years ago, because I mean, there was really not an industry to be willing to do that. And now we've done that. And just last week, we had our second conference, annual conference. And when I look at the first year conference, the mid-year conference and this year's conference,
00:30:25
Speaker
I feel proud that we've really been able to build this ecosystem. I think there is a lot more to do, but then now we have come this far with length. This is the time to bring in all the lessons and to burden for the future.
Mobilizing Local Capital for Africa's Economies
00:30:39
Speaker
Those are some of the things that makes me happy. Another one is trying to also bring in individual investors. I set up the Ghana Angel Investor Network and the whole idea is to bring private individuals also into angel investing and really see angel investing as one of the ways to really support and start up analysis companies and building the ecosystem. Now for the future my work is really work more with local and social investors to see the need to put
00:31:10
Speaker
our money is where our mouths are, to grow the economy, to be more inclusive, and then to also be more of a distant concern about the planet. And so that's when we invest, we we invest for the good of the people and also for the planet. So going forward, that's really what my focus is and how to really push and really draw more capital at scale.
00:31:33
Speaker
That's really awesome. Can I ask out of curiosity about the Angel Investor Network? This is something I guess quite new because you just launched it. But how do you get people to become angel investors in Ghana? What does it look like?
00:31:50
Speaker
You know, for people are helping nephews, nieces, family, but really like formalizing it and making sure that you know ah you know each other, you know the angels know each other, trying to syndicate you know among them themselves so was really what we wanted to bring to the fore. And also make sure that at least we have a network of people who can sit down so Look at deals and to agree to invest among themselves and syndicate right so that was really the objective of it bringing in more individual investors and showing them what is available and getting encouraging them to invest in people who are not related to them.
00:32:33
Speaker
but just to get better on them. It's been very interesting because people have really shown keen interest. There's a lot of investment going on, not at the scale that we want, but I think we'll get there. The most important thing for me is starting and we'll get there. But it's been really inspiring to see individuals really interested in looking at deals and really looking at investing in them and really thinking about the fact that we're actually backing this person, this idea for it to work, but not necessarily saying that the person has to be a family member or the person has to be a son of a classmate to be able to support. So that was really what we wanted to bring into the ecosystem. And we also felt that the one we were able to build stronger angel networks
00:33:21
Speaker
It allows the pre-seed investment to be done, individual investment to be done, and then the VCs can now get a bit more good pipeline ah how to invest. So it was just a whole thinking about how do we look at the entire value chain and how do we support companies in a more comprehensive manner.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yes, it's an essential stage of the um the financing value chain, right? And what about your, I don't know, do you have a big moonshot goal? What are the things that you would like to achieve in the future?
00:33:56
Speaker
My biggest goal is to make sure that we are able to raise more money locally. The reason being that you know i have I invest a lot more in managing teams. And usually looking at the performance of managers and the currency situations that we have, it does not really allow us people to be able to show a clear manager performance, right? So you raise the money.
00:34:23
Speaker
By the time you finish the investment and get all the money back, the currency has so much depreciated. and By the time you convert, you really don't have anything to show. So having a lot more local institutional investors will help us. It will help emerging teams to actually raise quickly and invest quickly because sometimes fund raising can take a lot of time. And it's also through networks. So It makes it so difficult that if you are not very network networked from outside to be able to raise money from outside, then you just can't do it. And we need to grow this industry. And so we have to find ways of really raise more money locally. And also we are building more local, there's more local institutional investors growing. And so we should be able to really tap into some of those. So that's one of the goals I really, I'm really driving and I really want to drive it.
00:35:12
Speaker
until we get as much as possible in local capital mobilization to be able to build the economies in Africa as we want to see. So that's one of the clear goals that I have going forward.
Future Plans and Inspirations
00:35:28
Speaker
That's really awesome. And am I right in understanding that you have a book as well in plan?
00:35:33
Speaker
Yes, I want to write a book. That one has been haunting me for some time now. I think I started thinking about it about two years ago. I really want to write a book about how to invest in Africa. That's one of the long-term goals. Not too long, maybe a short to medium-term goal to really publish a book on that. And maybe building ecosystems.
00:35:55
Speaker
That's really awesome, and and I'm sure it will be incredibly inspiring for many. So now we are we're approaching the end of this wonderful interview. I have quick questions for you that I like to ask my guests. You mentioned the book that you would like to write. Are you reading anything that you would recommend?
00:36:14
Speaker
I'm reading, yes, I'm reading this book. I don't know maybe because of what I do, but I'm reading this book called Principles for Dealing with Changing World Order, Why Nations Succeed and Fail. It's by Ray Dalio. He's a hedge fund guy. He's the founder of Bridge Associates, I think. He founded Bridge Associates. He's a hedge fund guy. and It's an interesting book talking about history around the cycles the big cycles, you know e economic cycles, right and how that affects countries, and how that drives success and failures as they happen, and what to learn from it, and really trying to talk about
00:37:03
Speaker
how to put one to position themselves for the next cycle, because the world is in cycles and the cycles keep changing. I haven't finished reading it, but it sounds very interesting to me. And if you are in this effort of investment, I think, go and full of finance, I think it's one of the interesting things, books, to look at. I'm still reading it and it sounds very interesting.
00:37:26
Speaker
Brilliant. Yes. Ray Dalio is definitely a thought leader and in this space. So let's check it out. Who or what is inspiring you? It's just looking forward into... I think the troubles that I see inspires me to do more, maybe. I should say that way. But my mother inspires me a lot. And I think that my biggest inspiration comes from my mother. She's an eighty-year-old ah woman who single-handedly raised seven children. And I think my mother inspires me with you know her resilience and hey a strong will. And I think that most of who I have become, I owe it to her. Wow, that's amazingly beautiful. And you have also children, if I understand well, how is your mom's inspiration kind of transferring to to you being a mother as well?
00:38:22
Speaker
I have two children and I think I'm doing my best to try to inspire them and get them to become who they want to become. I think they are really also looking a lot after me and I think that inspiration of you know growing up and the kinds of things that I was taught. We live in a modern age now it's a bit different but I tried to install some of those things into them to make sure that they also get inspired. But I think my kids get inspired about what I do. They don't like the fact that I travel too much, but they are inspired by what I do. Yeah, that's brilliant. They're the next generation of change leaders, right? What is keeping you optimistic?
00:39:06
Speaker
I think that so far, acting the network that I have, right, so it looks as if that within my circles, we sort of agree that this needs to be done, and everybody is on board.
00:39:20
Speaker
and so that give me that positive vibes that and we can get things done, at least our generation. And if we do it well, the next generation will be looking after us and they probably can replicate or continue with what we are doing. So I'm very optimistic because I think within my circles, we all have a kind of dream that we want to see and we sort of all buy into it and we sort of all feel that we need to collaborate.
00:39:46
Speaker
and work together and get it done. And that really is what keeps me going all the time. Yes, surrounding yourself by like-minded people who can and lead the change. But perhaps another question, how do you feel we can enlarge the circle? What's your view on how we bring more people into this circle of leaders who change the world?
00:40:14
Speaker
We need to collaborate more. We actually need to write more, right? And do what we are doing well and make sure that other people see it. So for example, what you are doing is very, very interesting. It's very, very inspiring. And you are speaking to different people and I'm sure that you're going to open up for other people to see and other people to hear and wherever they find themselves.
00:40:38
Speaker
It doesn't matter where you are, but wherever you find yourself, you can make a change. You can be an agent for impact and you can in your own small way, right? So, and you have to start from somewhere. way So I think writing the stories, making sure that the stories are ahead and bringing more, that could bring more people on board and then collaborate with people who wants to do it, but not really know how to do it to show them the way. I think it's one of the surest ways that we can we can enlarge the circles. Thanks. This is yeah beautiful. we We need to share more and and shine a light on what's happening. As we are close to concluding, do you have any advice or learnings to share with change makers, things that you would advise them to do or things that you you've learned or that have supported you in your journey that you want to transmit?
00:41:35
Speaker
Yes, thank you, Krisztina. One of the things that I have always said to some people in my network is that a lone soldier does not win a war. So you need a team. So in the way that we do, unique collaborative right you You need people and you need to collaborate more. And really, if you want to be impactful, you need to collaborate more because you can't do it all alone. And so for me, I think one of the key linings for me is to ensure that we collaborate more, we share more, right?
00:42:11
Speaker
and then highlight ah achieve key achievements, highlight lessons. She didn't shy away from failure, but then used the failure to inspire us to do better. So those are my key linings in this work. Thank you. and Any final words or calls to action for the listeners?
00:42:33
Speaker
Yes, for me, I think that whatever you are and whatever you are doing is important to making a change. And so do it well. No matter how small you think it is, do it well. Because for every little little things that we do, bring it together, it becomes big. And so whatever you are and whatever you know how to do, do it well. And gradually we can change the narrative.
00:43:01
Speaker
Yes. The sum of all the small things we do is much bigger than all of us. That's what I wanted you to say. yeah Thank you Hamdiya. Thank you so much for taking the time today to have this conversation. I was really inspired and yes, I'm very much looking forward to reading the book that you're writing.
00:43:23
Speaker
Yeah, let me know when it's... I will. And yeah, looking forward to keeping the good work going together. Thank you so much.
00:43:37
Speaker
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