What kind of businesses do you seed?

We try to focus on pre-revenue mobile value added services, digital payment solutions and emerging local social media web ventures.

We are young programmers and we’ve been working on this killer app in our spare time for the last 6 months. We don't have a business plan though. Will you deal with us?

There's no need for you to send us a detailed business plan initially, but if you have one that's great. Just send us a one page summary of your project, let us know how you intend to make money or attract large numbers of users, how much work you've done to date and most importantly tell us as much as you can about yourselves and what skill sets, experience and qualifications you have.

We'd like to send you a design specification, business plan or other document about our project. You're not going to steal our ideas, are you?

No. We respect your intellectual property and we will provide you with a non-disclosure agreement.

How much money can you give us and how much equity do you want?

All our investments are in pre-revenue companies. We are usually the first investor and we provide $ 10,000 - $ 30,000 per venture. Each case is unique, but typically, we take a 15%-30% stake, with or without options.

Do you invest in web design companies?

I'm afraid the answer is no, and neither do we invest in hosting ventures or Internet cafes.

We have a cash positive going concern. We'd like to expand and release new products. We need $ 200,000. We have a solid business plan. Can you work with us?

We won’t invest in your company but we’d be happy to introduce you to individuals who might. We would also advise you to contact the following companies and organizations who may be able to help you: HBD, Angelsoft, Bid Network and Quickberry.

I am an investor. I like what you are doing. I’ve been thinking about investing informally in East African IT ventures myself, but I don’t know where to start. May I contact you?

Yes, we’d love to hear from you. However, while Chembe Ventures itself is not looking for capital, and we cannot offer investment advice, we can put you in touch with investment monitoring service providers, attorneys, consultants, etc. in most countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. We're happy to share contacts and talk to you in more detail about our own experiences.