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Omobola Johnson, former Minister of Communications and Technology, has been appointed Lead Partner at TLcom, a London-based venture capital firm as its West Africa operations take off. She joins TLcom to open the new office in Lagos – their second office in Africa. Speaking on her appointment as TLcom Capital LLP new partner, she said, “Based on my 25-year career at Accenture and my tenure as Nigeria ICT Minister, I am convinced that local entrepreneurship and private capital are key to unleash the power of technology to create jobs and further economic and social development in the continent. My goal is to assist African tech entrepreneurs’ access venture capital investment can be best achieved by joining a well-established investor such as TLcom. My main focus will be on deal flow generation, investment and value generation, and to bring industry level experience and network opportunities to support the scalable, sustainable and profitable growth of African tech companies in the TLcom portfolio.” Read also: CN’s Top 6 Women in Leading Positions in Nigerian Financial Institutions Women You Should Know: Bolanle Austen-Peters TLcom founder, Maurizio Caio regarding Omobola Johnson’s appointment said, “We are excited about Omobola joining our team and leading our efforts in West Africa as we look forward to exploring businesses in fundamental markets such as Nigeria and finding entrepreneurs building scalable investable companies. Our main priority is to further explore Africa related opportunities associated with technology and innovation for value generation.” TLcom opened its first office in Africa two years ago in Nairobi and it’s currently looking to raise $100 million dollars for investments in African startups through its TLcom TIDE (Technology and Innovation for Developing Economies) Africa Fund. The investments will be used to develop startups with potential to grow fast in fields such as e-commerce, energy, health, education and technology. Maurizio Caio stated that the focus for the Africa Fund will immediately be used on startups with high returns potential explaining that “For this cycle, we need to be very merciless in focusing on the highest potential entrepreneurs — to make a point and to demonstrate that high returns are possible.”   Source: Quartz Africa  
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This article was first published on 2nd October 2015

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