Our experts
Joel Patenaude
Investor & Coach at J2 Partners
United States
Joel has 20 years of experience in a diverse set of business roles. He is a founder of J2 Partners, Inc., a business consultancy, and acts as representative to a growing number of African SMEs. ?He has served as a VC4Africa Officer since the spring of 2009 and is involved in the mentoring program.
Greg Snyders
Global Consultant Dalberg
Unites States
Greg manages relationships with partners based in the US and helps lead both product and business development at VC4Africa. Greg is a development expert and has worked for Dalberg Global Development Advisors, served as an economic policy advisor to the Government of South Sudan, and led business development opportunities for a mobile health technology startup in Rwanda.
David van DijkTwitter account
Early stage investing in Africa and beyond
Netherlands
David is co-founder of ABAN, the African Business Angel Network and member of the Impact Investment Committee of EBAN, the European Trade Association for Business Angels. David is also the Managing Director of Stichting IGNITE, a nonprofit supporting entrepreneurs in conflict-affected countries and he is part of the Investment Committee of the IGNITE Fund. David also coordinates a network of industry professionals that volunteer their expertise and network to participating entrepreneurs.
Our team
Boyewa Abiodun-Adepoju
Marketing Lead
Nigeria
Boye is the gear that connects marketing efforts to community, programs and communications at VC4A. For nearly a decade, she’s worked with several startups ranging from food & beverage to fintech, building and growing their message and brand at scale across three markets in SSA. She is excited to use this insight to support an ecosystem that is suitable for these startups to succeed.
Hendrik Admiraal
Lead Developer
Netherlands
Hendrik is a web developer, designer, former label manager and event organizer from The Netherlands. Previously he launched event organizations and has worked for 10+ years as a freelance web developer. After exiting his own company he joined several tech start-ups where he gained valuable insights into their growth and the problems they can encounter.
Akram Eladwy
Community Platform Associate
Egypt
Akram worked across ecosystems on a mission to develop and guide entrepreneurs. He joined VC4A on the quest to support startups, entrepreneurs and programs. He has engaged with over 100 startups in different sectors providing mentorship, accessibility, and training. Akram also worked with Flat6labs, one of MENA’s leading accelerators.
Matthew Foster
Software Developer
Netherlands
Matt is a WordPress and Frontend Developer from England. He lives in the Netherlands with his partner and his dog. He has a background in Art, Design and sarcastic responses.
Arnout Kroezen
Director of Finance
Netherlands
Arnout heads the financial management of VC4A. Arnout is a financial expert by training, an entrepreneur and manager. He has run his own trading business on the Dutch stock exchange and acts as a financial controller for his company. He has a keen interest in emerging markets and the African investment opportunity.
Bolade Oye
Front-end Developer
Nigeria
Bolade is a self-taught front-end developer and a product designer with over 5 years of experience in both fields. He enjoys building and designing interfaces that make solving complex problems easy and intuitive. He also dabbles in music production and loves gaming.
Femi Oye
Front-end Developer
Nigeria
Femi is a digital product designer and front-end developer with years of experience in building world-class digital products that help people and businesses succeed. He enjoys the process of transforming ideas into meaningful digital experiences, and He constantly learns new and better ways of designing products. Outside of work you’ll catch him watching a show on Netflix, reading a book, listening to music or a podcast, and visiting new places.
Thomas van Halen
Pro Services
Netherlands
Entrepreneurship, being part of an inspiring community and driven to make a difference: this explains the match between VC4Africa and Thomas best. Linking people with the right opportunities is where Thomas gets his energy from. His focus has always been on entrepreneurship and Africa. As member of the board he manages the Twiga Foundation supporting bright students in Kenya. On a commercial level he invented, established and managed two companies.
Bertil van VugtTwitter account
Business Development Lead
Netherlands
Bertil is responsible for business development at VC4Africa, working with partners to promote their initiatives to the African startup community via the VC4A.com platform. Bertil studied journalism (Ba) and Political Science (Ma) and gained content and technical experience while working in the African startup and media space since 2006 in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and other countries across the continent.
Ben WhiteTwitter account
CoFounder & Community Evangelist
Netherlands, United States
Ben has been venturing in the African technology and media space since 2003. He has done ethnographic research on the emergence of software cultures in Kampala, Uganda, established the ICT Entrepreneurship program at Hivos, and later taught classes at the University of Amsterdam. Involved in multiple startups, Ben is also the cofounder of AfriLabs, a pan-African network of innovation hubs, and the African Business Angel Network (ABAN). Ben is on the board of ActivSpaces and in 2007 he founded Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A).