Anna Ekeledo

Anna Ekeledo drives tech development

The African continent bursts with innovators and entrepreneurs. It’s prime time for their ideas to reach the market – and Leeds alum Anna Ekeledo is making that happen.

Across Africa, the innovation economy is thriving with startups worth more than $6.6 billion and angel investors spending $100 million to fund them.

AfriLabs, the largest network of technology and innovation hubs across Africa, has been helping to drive economic growth and social development since 2011. As its Executive Director, Anna Ekeledo (MSc Business 2012) helps entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and policymakers unlock the potential of the continent’s tech and innovation ecosystem.

With a network of more than 400 innovation hubs in 53 African countries, AfriLabs continues to serve as a driving force for innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. It supports innovation hubs and their communities through capacity building, financing, networking, policy advocacy and insightful and reliable data.

“Young people come into the hubs with amazing ideas and turn those ideas into viable ventures,” says Anna. “We’ve seen members tentatively arrive, then take advantage of our services and now they run thriving startups that employ local people. Some will definitely scale up further too.”

While there’s no shortage of skill and ambition on the continent, limited infrastructure can handicap startups in some regions.

Basic needs like access to electricity, a computer and the internet may be taken for granted in some places, but they are luxuries elsewhere. The cost of a generator would break the budget and you can’t connect to broadband where it doesn’t exist.

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Across Africa, the hubs level the playing field by providing modern office space, networking opportunities, operational support, data and funding. They provide mentoring and training in areas such as business, technology, law and finance.

AfriLabs' collaborations with other organisations and governments offer invaluable access to a spectrum of resources, including AI-powered software and financing from various sectors.

Crucially, partnering with AfriLabs gives entrepreneurs and investors access to an extensive pan-African network, which includes vetted and de-risked startups that are ripe for investment. This network represents a pool of promising ventures all across the continent that have been primed for success through AfriLabs' support.

So far, the African continent has four Startup Acts that, Anna says: “recognise that startups are a special type of entity that’s highly scalable and mostly driven by technology." The Acts address infrastructure and the regulatory environment.

AfriLabs’ collective clout of more than 400 community member hubs helps it be heard in the corridors of power. “We say let’s get a seat at the table, let’s build policies that will make startups thrive.”

Her organisation has spearheaded initiatives that are transforming the African tech landscape and fostering economic development.

Notably, through Africa Lab's collaboration with the African Union (AU) for the African Union Digital and Innovation fellowship Programme (Cohort 1), a remarkable milestone was achieved. They developed 12 innovative products and launched the African Union’s digital portal, a platform which is revolutionising service delivery within the AU commission and setting a new standard for digital transformation across the continent.

Additionally, Anna's organisation has launched an impactful programme called the RevUp Women Initiative, aimed at empowering and accelerating early-stage female-led startups in Africa. Through capacity-building training, peer-to-peer learning, and mentoring, RevUp Women equips female entrepreneurs with the skills, resources and networks necessary to build sustainable and profitable ventures.

The pilot phase of the RevUp Women Initiative, funded by the Visa Foundation, has yielded impressive results. More than 500 women-led enterprises across five African countries have benefited from support, enabling them to scale and thrive in their respective industries.

The initiative has provided vital financial assistance to ten women business owners, awarding each a $10,000 grant to fuel the growth of their enterprises.

Looking ahead, RevUp Women sets an ambitious goal to empower 50,000 women-led enterprises across Africa by nurturing female entrepreneurship and fostering a conducive ecosystem for women in business.

Moreover, AfriLabs' Capacity Building Programme stands as a pillar in supporting and nurturing innovation hubs and entrepreneurs. The programme adopts a multifaceted approach, incorporating various capacity-building activities and models to transfer knowledge, enhance innovation hubs and foster collaboration.

The Capacity Building Programme has had a lasting impact on the African innovation ecosystem since it started three years ago. Remarkably, more than 12,000 entrepreneurs and ecosystem professionals have received training and more than one million euros have been awarded to companies and innovation hubs around the continent.

The Programme has catalysed exceptional changes in more than 700 hubs with an emphasis on partnership and collaboration, hub management, fundraising capability, startup support, operations and finance management and job creation.

AfriLabs' partnership with the AU, along with its impactful initiatives like RevUp Women and the Capacity Building Programme, is helping to leverage technology and innovation to not only drive economic growth but also promote gender equality and social inclusion on the continent.

AfriLabs continues to develop new ways to support startups and recently announced a framework of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment that will open new markets and investment between Africa and Saudi Arabia.

From its humble beginnings with five innovation hubs to its current international collaborations, AfriLabs success testifies to Anna’s long held belief that: “when people collaborate, the results are exponential.”

Anna's achievements

In 2021, Anna was named on the Agile 50 list celebrating the “world’s 50 most influential people navigating disruption.”

Anna’s accomplishments have been recognised by organisations such as Choiseul 100 Africa, Agile 50, Skoll World Forum, Apolitical and the World Economic Forum.

She is an international speaker, trainer, ecosystem builder, and mentor. She serves as an advisor in various roles, including the Africa-Europe Foundation Digital Strategy Task Force, the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on technology policy, and the NESG Strategic Group on Mining and Manufacturing.

Since 2020 Anna has been a member of the Europe Foundation’s Strategic Force Group. She also chairs a working party on AfCFTA negotiations at E-Commerce Forum Africa, an organization that promotes e-commerce across the continent.

Anna's link to Leeds

"My time at Leeds was filled with amazing memories," says Anna.

"My course, MSc in International Marketing Management, had a very diverse set of students from all over the world and I made lifelong friends with some of my classmates. I particularly loved the group projects and seminars which ensured that our groups were a strong mix of cultures, experiences and skills set.

"Also, my lecturers were very progressive and fostered a culture of innovative thinking and challenging the status quo. These are practices that contributed to my career development and building institutions and the African technology ecosystem.

"I loved the Leeds weather during spring and summer and enjoyed the Leeds nightlife. I have so many memories made at Call Lane.

"For the first Leeds Big Get Together in 2015, it was a great opportunity to give back to the University by bringing together the Leeds alumni community in Abuja and creating a platform for networking and creating valuable connections. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of co-organising it as well with other alumni.

"Since then, we have organized two other get-togethers and these connections have remained valuable in work and personally."

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