Why we launched the Wuri Ventures Fellows Program We are based in Dakar, Senegal. Like other overlooked regions, Senegal does not lack entrepreneurial talent, such as Aicha Sarr Evans, former CEO of autonomous vehicle company Zoox, or market potential. Unfortunately, like many other places in Africa, due to a perceived smaller market or language barrier, Senegal does not get the investor attention of some of the other major startup regions in Africa. We launched the Wuri Ventures Fellows Program to work with talented founders to bring them to investment readiness and to help to increase their visibility amongst global investors. While we select candidates from all over Africa, like our fund, our location in Dakar means we will be necessarily over indexed for companies based in Senegal, and other nearby regions. Our fellows spend three months working closely with our team at Wuri Ventures, through weekly office hours, guest lecturers and other deep dives. We try to equip founders with the best tools to enable to position themselves to investors, and we ask the tough questions where we think there may be gaps in their approach. At the end of the program, once we feel that the company has identified a strong proposition and is able to effectively communicate that to investors, we help to organize an investor expo, where the company will pitch directly to global investors with an interest in Africa. In most instances we will also invest from our fund alongside participating investors. We are looking forward to embarking on the journey with our fellows, which of course, does not end once they have raised money. This is fun for us, digging in with founders from a very early stage and being part of the process. Our venture fund is our principal entrepreneurial activity these days, but we are fortunate to be able to explore ideas and to live vicariously through talented and energetic entrepreneurs! For our 2021 Q4 batch, these are our newest fellows. Keep an eye on them because they will be coming to market soon, and we think they are going to be hot! ~ Tijan | 
