"Several years ago when I started taking trips to Brazil and exposing the industry, some people in the West wondered whether there were business opportunities there," said Claudia Fan Munce, managing director of the IBM Venture Capital Group. "Today, most VCs are invested in Brazil and the same could happen for Kenya and other African countries."
Kenyan startups have faced challenges dealing with VCs because of a lack of understanding on the part of the local entrepreneurs of how VCs work. On their part, some VCs are not familiar with the Kenyan business culture and how it differs from other markets. Munce said that IBM had a wide base of VCs operating locally and abroad and would organize a roundtable with VCs and startups to tackle some of these issues.
