Included VC has announced the launch of the Africa Investor Fellowship, a pilot programme designed to strengthen how existing investment professionals source deals and assess opportunities.
Run by Included VC and backed by FSD Africa and FMO Ventures Programme, the Africa Investor Fellowship will bring together more than 40 investment professionals working in Africa in its inaugural cohort.
The four-month fellowship is designed to strengthen how analysts, associates, and other early-career investment professionals source deals, assess opportunities, and learn alongside peers facing similar opportunities and challenges. Through a blend of technical training, practical exercises, expert insight, and peer connection, the fellowship is built to help participants deepen their practice, expand their networks and gain exposure to both regional and international approaches.
“While capital flowing into African venture markets has grown over the past decade, investor capability hasn’t kept pace. Many funds operate with lean teams, limited time for structured training, and uneven exposure to global best practice, which in turn shapes how deals are sourced, assessed, and supported,” Included VC said.
“At the same time, there is a growing pool of talented early- and mid-career professionals across the continent, but access to high-quality, context-relevant training remains scarce. As a result, much of the learning is on the job, which is difficult to scale and inconsistent across the industry.”
The fellowship builds on Included VC’s seven-year track record of providing investor education. Its global fellowship is well-established, and in 2025 Included VC launched a dedicated Africa Fellowship aimed at helping new talent break into the broader investment ecosystem with a five-year vision of investors across 54 countries. The pilot of the Africa Investor Fellowship will run from July to December of this year, and its initial cohort will be drawn from FSD Africa capital providers, FMO portfolio funds, and Included VC Africa partners, before it opens to a wider audience.
