Damilola Teidi-Ayoola joins Ventures Platform Fund

Ventures Platform Fund (VP Fund), a leading early-stage fund in Africa, appoints Damilola Teidi as its new Head of Platform and Networks. 

In her new role, Teidi will lead a team focused on delivering expertise-driven and post-investment support to VP Fund’s portfolio companies. Ventures Platform currently has 60+ active companies in its portfolio and is an early investor in high-performing African startups such as Paystack, Piggy best, Reliance HMO, Mono, Thrive Agric, Seamless HR, and Marketforce. 

Teidi has a wealth of expertise working as an operator in Africa’s startup ecosystem and has devoted a significant portion of her ten-year professional career to supporting African startups. She began her career as a software developer at Socketworks and later led a mobility tech startup, GoMyWay Africa, as CEO for over 2 years.

Later, she transitioned to Co-creation Hub (Cc Hub), where she first served as incubation manager before taking on the position of director of startups in January 2018 and serving in that capacity through September of this year. At Cc Hub, Teidi helped design and implement crucial pan-African programmes that support technology companies and startups in Africa. Some of these programmes include  Pitch Drive Asia, the CcHUB Seedr Program, and the Global Cleantech Innovation programme.

VP Fund is thrilled to have Damilola onboard its leadership team. Kola Aina, general partner at Ventures Platform, said about her appointment, “We have always believed in supporting our founders to catalyze their efforts, and we intend to strengthen this as we scale. We believe that Damilola Teidi’s skill and experience will be an asset in enabling us achieve this goal ” 

“I am excited to join the team and build out different elements of the platform and networks practice. The goal is to build scalable support initiatives and harness the value of our collective networks to provide catalytic value to our founders,” says Damilola Teidi.

Since Teidi colorfully detailed her professional experience at Cc Hub in this medium post, TechCabal had a more personal quick-fire chat with her:

Quick Fire with Damilola Teidi

TechCabal: Hi Damilola, what will your first 100-days look like?

Damilola Teidi: I started late September so I’m on day 65 (counting weekends) or 46 (counting only work days). There’s been a lot of learning about the fund, the companies and the founders. There’s also a lot of creating and strategising  – building out some of the support initiatives and programmes. We’ve also already hosted two successful ecosystem events in two cities. 

TC: What exciting challenges are you looking forward to in your new role?

DT: Starting a new unit and creating initiatives that will meet the needs of a large and growing portfolio is both exciting and challenging. Luckily for me, there are existing resources to work with and super helpful colleagues. 

TC: How do you unwind after a long work day?

DT: Netflix, food with a cold bottle of water or a glass of wine (depending on how hectic the day was)

TC: Virtual or in-person meetings?

DT: In most cases, virtual meetings work but there are occasions when an in-person meeting is best.

TC: What is your most-used work or productivity app?

DT: Presently, It’s Asana

TC: Slack or WhatsApp?

DT: Slack. I also like Google hangout.