5th India - Africa Entrepreneurship & Investment Summit

EVENT INFORMATION

Trademark Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya.

info@india-africa.org

17^th - 18^th July 2025

India Africa trade and commerce goes back to a thousand years when Indian merchants using strong and predictable monsoon winds, regularly sailed to the east coast of Africa in search of mangrove poles, elephant tusks, and gold and precious stones to sell them in the bazaars of Calicut and Surat.

During colonial times, indentured labour was brought in from India to work on the railways as well as on sugar and other plantations in Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar and Southern Africa.

In time, Indian diaspora, with deep family roots, became a key driver of export of African commodities such as tea, coffee and cotton and the import of manufactured goods and grains such as rice, pulses and textiles.

Why India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum?

There is a growing realization that despite deep historical, commercial, and cultural ties, the entrepreneurial ecosystems between India and Africa remain to be connected in a meaningful way. Doing so presents a tremendous opportunity to harness the creative capacity of entrepreneurs in both regions to work together to solve common and pressing problems and accelerate trade and investment in the process. This is the mission of the India-Africa Entrepreneurship Forum (IAEF). Africa’s fifty-four states produced a combined GDP in excess of US$3.2 trillion - almost the same as India. The economic growth of the continent that is estimated to be 3.2 percent in 2023 also houses six of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

With 57,000 startups valued at $450B, India is the Third largest entrepreneurial ecosystem in the world. Over 650 African startups on the other hand, received total funding of $5.2B in 2022 (a 1700 precent increase since 2015) raising the combined valuation of about 900 startups to roughly $50B.

This gap presents an unprecedented opportunity for Indian and African entrepreneurs to partner with each other in their co-creating, co-founding activities, providing bilateral knowledge, funding and market opportunity to its early stage enterprises, thereby strengthening existing efforts in increasing trade and development between the two economies.

Collaboration between startups and large but entrepreneurial businesses, on the other hand can increase the reach and impact of innovation, according to Accenture Africa research, which increasingly correlates with higher economic performance at enterprise and economy-wide levels. By leveraging the power of ecosystems and open innovation, African economies can accelerate progress, unlocking Africa’s abundance for all.

It is in this context, India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum (IAEF), has evolved to become the go-to platform that connects entrepreneurs and investors actively involved in the India Africa corridor. These dynamic ecosystems and subsystems have much in common, and much to gain from interacting.

WORKSHOPS

Cross border FinTech
AgriTech and Agri Export
EdTech And Remote Teaching
HealthTech – Telehealth
International E-Commerce

IMPORTANT CONTACTS

Convener - Baljinder Sharma: baljinder@launchafrica.vc
India - Pradeep Gupta: pradeepg@cybermedia.co.in
Africa - Vu Qabaka: vq@hybrgroup.net

Time	Sessions
Day 1 : Pre Event Program : Thursday 20th July 2023
Morning Session
9am to 11am	RoundTable on Internationalising the Mauritian StartUp Ecosystem - Challenges/Opportunites & Way Forward
	Hosted by Mauritius Research and Innovation Council
	Tomi Davies - President ABAN, Michel Cordani, Co Founder Mo Angels, Anirudh Damani - Artha Ventures, Mahavir Sharma TiE India Angels
	Sudatta Mandal - SIDBI, Satya Narayan R - Indian Angels Network, Prof Sikochi Harvard Business School, Dr Praveen Mohadeb - JSS Academy
11am to 12pm	Future of Electronic Payments & Digital Currency
	Presentation by National Payments Corporation of India
	Akshay Grover - CEO Cellulant, Rahul Jain - Co Founder Peach Payments , Hitesh Makhija - Founder Regulus, TBD
	Address by Mrs T. Gobin Jhurry - Director Payments Bank of Mauritius
Afternoon Session
1:00pm to 1:10pm	Opening Address by Mr Sudatta Mandal - Dy Managing Director SIDBI
1:10pm to 1:30pm	Keynote Address by Hon. Deepak Balgobin, Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Acting Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance.
1:30pm to 2:15pm	Panel Discussion 1: Facilitating Global Capital into Africa & India - The Role of Mauritius International Financial Centre
	Priscilla Balgobin - Dentons Mauritius , SBM Mauritius, Mahen Govinda CEO MiTCO, Dovina Pillay-Naiken Ministry of Financal Services & Good Governance
2:15pm to 3:00pm	Panel Discussion 2: India & Africa - Bilateral Trade, Investment, Entrepreneurship
	Mahavir Sharma TiE Angels India, Vu Qabaka - Founder HYBR Group , Sushil Jiwarajka Chairman OMC Power
3:00pm to 4:00pm	Panel Discussion 3: Making the India Africa Bridge Work - The Adventurer and the Entrepreneur
	Ramesh Awtaney Founder ISON Group , Sunil Kumar CEO DataFlow Group, Anirudh Damani - Artha Ventures
5:00pm to 5 :15pm	Special Address by Mr Tomi Davies - President ABAN & Mr Ranjan Navani - Founder & CEO JetSynthesys
5:15pm to 6:00pm	Panel Discussion 4 : Demystifying Angel Investment
	Yogesh Bhura - Angel Investor, Rishabh Golcha Venture Catalyst, Zach George - Managing Partner Launch Africa VC, SP Singh - SIDBI VC
6:00pm to 6:45pm	Pitch Session - Organised in Collaboration with Mauritius Research and Innovation Council
6:45pm to 7:30pm	Cocktails
7:30pm to 8:30pm	Networking Cocktails


Day 2: Friday 19th July 2024
Official Inauguration
09:00am to 09:30am	Registration of Delegates
09:30am to 09:40am	Welcome of Delegates by Mr Sushil Jiwarajka, Chairman Artheon Group
	Address by Mr Tomi Davies - President ABAN
09:40am to 09:50am	Presentation by Prem Anand - Assoc Director, ZOHO Corporation
09:50am to 10:00am	Keynote Speech by Mr Admassu Tadesse - President & Managing Director, Trade and Development Bank
10:00am to 10:15am	Official Inaugural Address by Hon. Ms. Naveena RAMYAD Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives
10:15am to 10:30am	Tea Break and Networking
Plenaries
10:30am to 11:10am	Panel Discussion: Funding Enterprise & Innovation Across the India Africa Corridor : Role of Mauritius
	Mahen Govinda- Chairman MITCO, Anirudh Damani - Arth Group, Thierry Valet - CEO Afrasia Bank, Krishna Narnolia - Narnolia Group
11:10am to 11:50 am	Sustainable Finance for the Global South - Presentation by Dr Mukund Rajan followed by a Panel Discussion
	Basisa Moyo, Founder Treo Engineering, Sunil Benimadhu CEO Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Jitendra Bissesur, CEO Mauritius Investment Corporation
11:50am to 12:30pm	Panel Discussion: Funding the Life Sciences Economy
	Dr Rattan Gujadhur, CEO Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology, Padmaja Ruparel, Partner - IAN Fund, Dr Manish Dewan - Mission Director BIRAC
12:30pm to-2:00pm	Networking Lunch
2:00pm to 3:00pm	Panel Discussion: Expanding Across Borders - Leveraging International Networks
	Rahul Jain, CEO Peach Payments, Manoj Kumar, Chairman EDCIL, Anna Ekledo CEO AfriLabs, Satya Narayan R - Chairman CL Educate
3:00pm to 4:00pm	Emerging Markets: The Inside View - Ms Anita George, Independent Director TATA Sons
4:00pm to 5:00pm	B2B Meetings/M&A Conversations
5:00pm to 5:30pm	Tea Break
5:30pm- 5:40pm	Opening Address
5:40pm-6:30pm	Keynote Address by Mr Suresh Prabhu followed by Q&A Session
6:30pm-7:00pm	Closing Remarks & Vote of Thanks


Day 3 : Saturday 22nd July 2023
9am to 12 Noon	Networking on Catamaran***
9am to 12 Noon	Networking by the Beach***



	*Proposed
	** To be Confirmed/Awaiting Confirmation
	***Weather Permitting