Lagos Angel Network is an exclusive network that aims to enable the Nigerian and broader African ecosystem by educating angel investors, helping to facilitate angel investments into promising, early-stage startups, and advocating for sustainable policy with the private and public sectors, to enable the technology ecosystem.

LAN was set up in 2011 by its Founding Fathers, Tomi Davies and Dr. Adedotun Sulaiman, who helped set up the first-ever structures at LAN and, by doing so, laid down the foundations of how angel investments should work in Nigeria. They did this through many channels, events, and literature; one of the more popular ones was the POEM framework developed by Tomi Davies to help Angels evaluate startups for investments.

In 2021, after an exciting and progressive decade of developing the ecosystem and having seen significant milestones in the Nigerian ecosystem, such as the first listing of a Nigerian startup on the NYSE, the emergence of Nigerian-owned global unicorns, and the acquisition of a payments startup which paved the way for the first significant exit for angels in the ecosystem, the baton was handed over to a new generation of board members. The new board is ably chaired by Kola Aina and Deputy Chaired by Biola Alabi. Other board members include Yemi Keri of Rising Tide Africa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji of Future Africa, and Olumide Soyombo of Voltron Capita.

They have since appointed an Executive Director – Victor Kareem. With their support, he is tasked with implementing the strategy to achieve the organization’s pillars (Learning & Membership, Funding & Finance, and Advocacy) and launch LAN into an era of new relevance and leadership. 

This is what Victor had to say: