Open Door Conversations

Ep 44: How to Build a Venture Capital Career in Africa

Episode Summary

Are you interested in being an angel investor or a funder? In this episode, Akua welcomes Mark Kleyner to talk about how to build a venture capital career in Africa. Funders are in high demand in this emerging market - listen to find out how you can play a direct role in birthing innovation in all tech sectors on the continent! Mark Kleyner is a multi-time entrepreneur who actively mentors with a range of accelerators and incubators, as well as supports several companies as a consultant. He is co-founder of the Dream VC Initiative - a leading remote program helping founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals across the African continent to break into the venture capital industry as emerging investors.

Episode Notes

Are you interested in being an angel investor or a funder? In this episode, Akua welcomes Mark Kleyner to talk about how to build a venture capital career in Africa. Funders are in high demand in this emerging market - listen to find out how you can play a direct role in birthing innovation in all tech sectors on the continent!

Mark Kleyner is a multi-time entrepreneur who actively mentors with a range of accelerators and incubators, as well as supports several companies as a consultant. He is co-founder of the Dream VC Initiative - a leading remote program helping founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals across the African continent to break into the venture capital industry as emerging investors. 

With a multinational background and a multitude of international experiences, Mark has the unique perspective of experiencing economic disparities between countries firsthand. These experiences inspired him to get involved and solve problems on a larger scale - and were the impetus for starting Dream VC. 

Highlights in this episode: 

• Mark explains why he is passionate about empowering the private sector to take responsibility for making people's lives better.
• Learn the differences in fundraising in North America vs. Africa and why Mark focuses on helping young professionals across Africa.
• What is a venture capital firm and how does one differ from a brokerage?
• Mark discusses the challenges facing those who want to become venture capitalists, and why, by nature, the VC industry has become elitist.
• Dream VC helps young professionals upskill and break into venture capital. Learn how Dream VC is different from traditional schools, and how anyone in the world can participate.
• How Dream VC’s core focus is to make sure that each individual comes out of the program with a network of high-net individuals they can leverage to build their career.
• Recognize the challenges of VC in Africa and why very few understand how the market works.

Connect with Mark Kleyner:
Website: www.dream-vc.com
LinkedIn Mark Kleyner: @Mark Kleyner
LinkedIn DREAM VC: @Dream VC 
Twitter: @ _dreamvc_   @markkleyner

Connect with Akua Nyame-Mensah:
Instagram: @akua_nm
Website: www.akuanm.com
LinkedIn: @Akua Nyame-Mensah
Twitter: @akua_nm
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