At nine years old, Fatoumata Bâ wasn’t playing with dolls like her peers. Instead, she was hacking into her father’s computer. By eleven, she had already created her first email address and, by 16, her first website. Today, Bâ is one of Africa’s most influential tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, using her expertise to power a new generation of African businesses through Janngo Capital.
From a curious child to a visionary leader
Born in Senegal in 1986, Bâ studied at Toulouse Business School in Togo, ESC Toulouse in France and Harvard Kennedy School for executive education. Before launching Janngo Capital, she played a crucial role in expanding Jumia, Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, across the continent. Bâ also held key leadership positions, including CEO of Jumia Côte d’Ivoire and Managing Director of Jumia Nigeria.
But she wasn’t just interested in scaling businesses. She wanted to create an ecosystem to uplift an entire generation of entrepreneurs, particularly women. Thus, in 2018, she founded Janngo Capital, a venture capital firm with a mission beyond profit.
Bâ empowers African women entrepreneurs
Many small businesses struggle with supply chain inefficiencies, lack of funding, and limited market access. Janngo Capital is solving these problems by building robust digital ecosystems that support startups and SMEs—the backbone of Africa’s economy.
“Women in Africa are the most entrepreneurial in the entire world. The total entrepreneurship activity rate for women is 27%. However, recently, they have attracted less than 14% of investment in Africa’s VC space, down from 17% in 2018. This is a business issue,” Fatoumata Bâ told Oxford Business Group.
Janngo Capital is an investment firm that supports African entrepreneurs, particularly women-led businesses. Through the Janngo Academy initiatives, Bâ’s has onboarded over 114,674 SMEs and trained over 5,987 young entrepreneurs and managers.
Fifty-six per cent of VC’s portfolio companies are women-led, and half of the firm’s investments go to companies founded, co-founded, or directly benefiting women. The focus is on investing in technology-driven businesses that provide essential goods and services, create jobs, and empower women so they can grow without competing with their male counterparts.
The firm provides funding ranging from €50,000 to €5 million ($52,137 to $5,215,750) to take startups from seed to growth stages.
Fatoumata Bâ’s successful investments
One of the VC’s standout investments is Sabi, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform that connects businesses in the informal economy to digital commerce infrastructure. With Janngo Capital’s support, Sabi has secured $38 million in Series B funding.
Another success story is Expensya, a Tunisian-founded but Paris-headquartered fintech company that streamlines business expense management. It was recently acquired by Medius, a leading provider of accounts payable (AP) automation, in a deal worth about $100 million.
Since its inception, Janngo has invested in 21 startups in sectors such as Commerce, Food Technology, AgriTech, Finance Technology, Education Technology, Health Technology, Travel Technology, Fashion Technology, Beauty Technology, and Cosmetics. They aim to support up to 40 startups in the next five years.
Fatoumata Bâ has been recognised globally for her contributions to business, technology, and social impact. Some of her most notable accolades include World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Choiseul 100 Africa ‘Economic Leaders of Tomorrow’, Forbes Africa ‘30 under 30’, Aenne Burda Award for Visionary Leadership, and 100 Most Influential African Women (2020 & 2021).
Outside her role at Janngo Capital, Fatoumata Bâ sits on the Board of SouthBridge Investment Bank and is a Creadev Africa’s Investment Committee member.
