The founders of Silvertree Capital, Africa’s latest tech startup investment fund, have told HumanIPO they see Nigeria as the place to be for opportunity and discussions concerning three more deals are in the advanced stages.
Founded by Manuel Koser and Paul Cook, Silvertree Capital already has seven investments including Healthcart.co.za and two Nigerian e-commerce sites.
Currently all seven investments are in Nigeria or South Africa, a reflection on the operations being based in Cape Town and Johannesburg and Koser’s previous experience of working in Lagos.
Koser said: “Nigeria will be the biggest economy in three years in Africa. It is very complicated and tricky, there is no doubt about that. You need to know your way around.
“It is very hard to get experienced staff because the industry almost doesn’t exist yet. For me, in terms of opportunity it is the most exciting market.”
Regarding the potential of e-commerce in particularly in Nigeria, Koser added: “E-commerce ca leapfrog retail in Lagos and it can grow faster.
“There is not a lot of space and the supply chain is very difficult and expensive to get products from A to B.”
Koser said Lagos is the only airport where he has genuinely seen people going crazy for duty free products because they will not be able to get it cheaper anywhere else.
Cook said they were currently in advanced discussions with three potential investment opportunities and the pair said they were open to investing in Kenya if the right opportunity arose.
