Where African tech talent meets investors who build together
We connect African AI, robotics and digital builders with patient investors who favour shared ownership and circular talent flows over extraction. No fees, no hype—we start with a human conversation.
Who are you? Choose a track to explore
How it works
You introduce yourself, we read it with care, and if there is a genuine alignment of craft and values, we introduce you to someone on the other side.
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Introduce yourself
Tell us who you are, where you are based, and what you want to build or back in the form below.
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We read with care
Every note is read by a human at Humanity Solutions—never scored by an algorithm. We reply when we see a strong fit.
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Conversation first
We hold an unhurried conversation about your craft, governance expectations, and how you view local stewardship.
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Warm introductions
Only when both sides explicitly consent do we share contact details and make a warm, direct introduction.
What we are — and what we are not
Truthfulness builds trust faster than marketing polish. Before you write to us, here is our exact institutional scope.
What Investing In Africans IS
- A human introduction initiative operated by Humanity Solutions (KvK 71110178, The Hague).
- Completely free of charge: we charge no finder's fees, no carry, no retainers, and no commissions to either builders or investors.
- Focused on three high-leverage domains: human-centric AI & language tech, locally repairable robotics & hardware, and dignified digital storytelling.
- Privacy-first: zero analytics trackers, zero cookies, and strict double-opt-in before any introduction is made.
What Investing In Africans IS NOT
- Not a licensed financial intermediary or fund: we do not offer, arrange, or advise on financial products and are not licensed by the Dutch AFM.
- Not an outsourcing or staffing agency: we do not broker low-cost remote labour or take a cut of anyone's wages.
- Not a visa agency: while we research the Relational Visa concept, we do not offer immigration advice or sponsor visas.
- Not a volume deal-flow list: we publish no pitch decks and cannot guarantee a match for every submission.
Your track
For African builders
We are looking for African technologists, engineers and communicators—on the continent or in the diaspora—who want to build durable technology that serves people and places, with shared ownership of what they create.
AI & machine learning
AI that supports human judgement, low-resource African languages, and community-owned datasets rather than extractive data labelling.
Research inspiration: Masakhane NLP (Nekoto et al., 2020) · Lelapa AI · Data-centric local AI.
Robotics & engineering
Frugal, locally repairable hardware, agro-processing automation, micro-grid energy systems, and open-science scientific instruments.
Research inspiration: TReND in Africa (Baden et al., 2020) · African Robotics Network (AFRON).
Marketing & storytelling
Communicators who put connection, narrative sovereignty, dignity and depth ahead of algorithmic outrage and attention harvesting.
Research inspiration: Africa No Filter (Moky Makura) · Constructive & restorative narratives.
For investors: start with a conversation
We look for investors who prefer shared ownership and local governance to extraction. Today we offer a conversation. We learn what you want to back, and when both sides agree, we introduce you to African builders. We charge no fees and publish no deal flow.
Investing In Africans makes introductions between people. It does not offer, arrange or advise on investments or financial products and is not licensed by the AFM. Any investment decision is yours, made with your own advisers, and investments can lose value.
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Steward ownership & structured returns
We favour governance where voting control stays with active local stewards while investors earn fair, capped or revenue-based returns without forcing an offshore flip.
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High-trust relational corridors
Institutional economics shows that mutual trust dramatically lowers monitoring and transaction costs across borders (Ostrom, 1990).
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People and places, alongside the return
We look at how capital strengthens local roots, technical capacity and two-way brain circulation between Europe and Africa.
Three domains, one principle: builders keep a real stake
How a venture is owned shapes who keeps the know-how and whether talent has to leave home to build something of their own. Pick a domain to see what we look for.
Domain focus: what non-extractive building looks like in practice
Select a domain to see the research problems we care about and how builders & investors collaborate.
The extractive status quo
Low-wage data labelling & linguistic erasure
Thousands of African languages are barely represented in mainstream AI training data, while African workers are often hired only as low-paid content moderators or data annotators.
The co-ownership path
Participatory NLP & sovereign vertical models
Inspired by grassroots research networks like Masakhane, we connect builders creating speech, health, legal and agricultural AI with people who want dataset know-how to stay in African hands.
Research anchor
Nekoto et al. (2020), EMNLP Findings
"Participatory Research for Low-resourced Machine Translation: A Case Study in African Languages." A case study of community-led dataset building.
The extractive status quo
"Graveyards" of imported black-box equipment
In hospitals, universities and farms, imported vendor-locked equipment can sit idle when one proprietary part breaks and spares must come from abroad.
The co-ownership path
Modular, locally repairable mechatronics
We look for embedded-systems engineers and industrial designers building cold-chain solar robotics, post-harvest automation, and diagnostic hardware designed from day one for local fabrication and modular repair.
Research anchor
Baden et al. (2015), PLOS Biology / TReND
"Open Labware: 3-D Printing Your Own Lab Equipment." Open, locally made hardware as a route to engineering capacity.
The extractive status quo
The single story & risk-premium distortion
Stereotypical framing of Africa, narrowly about crisis or poverty, shapes how risk is perceived from outside.
The co-ownership path
High-trust communication & brand equity
When African digital marketers, writers and storytellers co-own the products and media platforms they grow, marketing shifts from clickbait arbitrage to long-term brand equity, cultural nuance, and cross-continental trust.
Research anchor
Africa No Filter
An organisation working to shift stereotypical narratives about Africa.
Check your alignment before introducing yourself
Because we read every note personally and make introductions selectively, use this quick interactive check to see if our philosophy matches what you are looking for. If it does, you can carry your selected principles straight into your introduction form.
0 of 4 alignment principles selected
Select the principles above that match how you work. Even 2 or 3 shared principles make for a worthwhile introductory conversation.
Introduce yourself
A few lines are enough, and it is free. We read every introduction and reply when we see a fit.
Choose your path
Our view & research foundation
Open any section below to explore our circular migration thesis, philosophical framework, and further reading.
Why circulation, not drain Respectful migration & the circular path
A border is not only a line on a map. Development economists have long shown that when high-skilled mobility is structured as a two-way corridor rather than a one-way exit, both origin and destination communities thrive (Saxenian, 2006; Clemens, 2015).
Brain circulation, not brain drain
Go out to learn, to earn and to grow, and keep the road home open. Empirical research on "New Argonauts" (Saxenian, 2006) shows that diaspora technologists who retain equity and relationships at home become the primary bridge for venture formation, technology transfer and institutional trust.
Relational Visa & Global Skill Partnerships
Traditional visas ask: "Do you have money?" Building on research into Global Skill Partnerships (Clemens, 2015), we explore a Relational Visa model that asks: "Do you have a relationship?" Communities, guilds or companies could one day sponsor professionals they know for circular stays. It isn't available today, and we don't offer visa or immigration services.
Visit RespectfulMigration.org (opens in a new tab)Philosophy · 5-minute read From extraction to coherent pluralism
Much of the modern economy was built on extraction: of labour, resources and talent (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). We reject both the "Global Mall" that treats people as interchangeable units of labour, and the "Fortress State" that fears exchange.
Inspired by Summanitism, African relational ethics (Ubuntu), and Elinor Ostrom's commons governance, we believe in relational sovereignty: trust corridors where capital circulates like blood rather than serving as a tool of dominion.
Explore the Summanitism framework (opens in a new tab)Reciprocity
Power and capital exercised with regard for mutual wellbeing and dignity.
Natism (roots)
Honouring local lineage, linguistic heritage, community and place.
Nitism (reach)
Continual renewal, scientific curiosity, growth and openness to the world.
Coherence
Pluralism without fragmentation; differences welcomed, shared purpose sought.
Further reading · 5 sources Ideas we draw on
These published works shaped how we think about ownership, mobility and talent. They inform our approach; they are not evidence of outcomes for anyone we introduce.
1. Brain Circulation & Diaspora Networks
Saxenian, A. (2006) & Docquier & Rapoport (2012)
AnnaLee Saxenian, The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy (Harvard University Press); Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, "Globalization, Brain Drain, and Development," Journal of Economic Literature 50(3): 681–730.
2. Respectful Mobility & Skill Partnerships
Clemens, M. A. (2015) · Center for Global Development
Michael A. Clemens, "Global Skill Partnerships: A Proposal for Technical Training in a Mobile World," IZA Journal of Labor Policy 4(2). Provides the economic architecture for mutual-benefit circular training and mobility corridors.
3. Participatory African AI & NLP
Nekoto, W. et al. / Masakhane Collective (2020)
"Participatory Research for Low-resourced Machine Translation: A Case Study in African Languages," Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2020.
4. Open hardware
Baden, T. et al. (2015)
T. Baden et al., "Open Labware: 3-D Printing Your Own Lab Equipment," PLOS Biology (TReND in Africa);.
5. Institutional Economics & Commons Governance
Ostrom, E. (1990) & Acemoglu, D. & Robinson, J. A. (2012)
Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Cambridge University Press) and Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, Why Nations Fail. Establish why inclusive, self-governing institutions outperform both extractive monopolies and distant bureaucratic control.