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

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