Diaspora Founder
Zidi Circle
Netherlands-wide
A diaspora-focused founder community supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs through training, incubation, investor connections and peer networks.
From the Flux Forward organisation register · Not edited on this site How we check thisHide
Organisation records are published from the Flux Forward organisation register and shown here exactly as that register holds them. We do not research, write or edit them on this site, and a listing is not an endorsement or a sign that an organisation can help with your situation. Check the organisation's own website before acting.
Its programmes are built around starting a business or investing across both a host country and a home country, which is the position a founder who moved here from an African country is usually in.
About
ZidiCircle combines entrepreneurship support with a collective investment vehicle for the African diaspora. Its about page says it was started in the Netherlands and has run since 2016, with its head office in Amsterdam, regional offices in Brussels and Hamburg, and further offices in Morocco, Ghana and Kenya. It was set up by a Kenyan founder living in Europe who found that existing local incubators did not fit her needs and that raising money was hard. Two strands of work are published. The first is training and incubation: self-paced and group courses, mentoring, and matchmaking between entrepreneurs and investors, delivered through readiness bootcamps and a fellowship for people investing for the first time. The second is investment: a member-driven vehicle that pools money from diaspora angel investors, handles the investment agreements, administers members' holdings in private companies and funds, and pays out profits. Members hold voting rights and take part in governance. The vehicle invests directly or alongside existing funds, angel groups and venture networks in Africa.
What they offer
- Mentoring and matchmaking between entrepreneurs and investors
- Pooled member investment vehicle that administers members' holdings and distributes profits
- Direct and co-investment alongside funds, angel groups and venture networks in Africa
Programmes
- Diaspora Angel Investor Fellowship
For people investing for the first time.
- Diaspora Co-invest Fund
- Investor Readiness Bootcamp
- ZidiCircle School
Good to know
- A member community and investment vehicle, not a government authority or a settling-in service.
- Its investment flow runs towards small and medium businesses in Africa rather than into companies here.
- Members of the investment vehicle hold voting rights and take on governance duties.
Suggest an update Spot something outdated, missing or incorrect?
Pick what it is. Your own email app opens with this page's details already filled in, so you do not have to explain which page you mean. Nothing is sent until you send it.
Not a correction? Suggest a resource or organisation.
A suggestion is read by a person and does not change a published page on its own. Please leave out personal details such as your BSN, passport number or case number.
This entry describes an independent organisation. How to in NL is not affiliated with them, listing is not an endorsement, and it does not mean they can help with your particular situation. Check the details on their own website before acting.