Listening with Empathy: Fundraising beyond Spreadsheets

The Trajectory Africa

Welcome to Track 10 of The Trajectory Africa, a podcast series exploring the trajectory, or pathway, of venture capital and startup formation in Africa. This episode’s guest artist is Danai Musandu. Danai is a Senior Investor Relations Associate at HPE Growth, where she leads and supports the public and investor relations function, with a focus on fundraising and strategic communication.

Prior to HPE, Danai was an Investment and Investor Relations Associate at Goodwell Investments, an early-stage technology private equity firm focused on emerging markets and impact investing. Danai is an advisory board member of Private Equity International and the Africa Trust Group, and holds a BCom. in politics, philosophy and economics, as well as a postgraduate honors degree in Economics from the University of Cape Town.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Danai launched her career in venture capital
• Why she pivoted from investing to investor relations
• The fundraising process in investor relations (IR), and how it differs by LP type
• What LPs look for when they evaluate funds
• The do’s and don’ts of raising money
• Why deep listening and cultural multi-linguality are super powers for IR professionals

Danai’s Recommendations & Featured Resources:

• HPE Growth
  https://hpegrowth.com/

  
  

• “It Is Not the Critic Who Counts”. Thomas Roosevelt
  https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7-it-is-not-the-critic-who-counts-not-the-man

  
  

• Summer YoMuthi. Black Diamond
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AagjAUE8U8s&ab_channel=AmbitiouzEntertainment

• Chasing Outliers: Why Context Matters for Early Stage Investing in Africa (report)
  https://kinyungu.com/chasing-outliers/

  
  

DJ Saphir’s Spotify Playlist:

• https://spoti.fi/2RS6hTc