As African tech startups record groundbreaking numbers in investment funding, an array of Venture Capitals is being formed. Investors believed to have seen a great economic future in the African tech industry are increasingly pooling funds together to grab as much shares as possible in the boom.

This is notable in the number of investment firms finalizing their partnership deals lately – the latest being AfricInvest.

The multi-asset investment platform and global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation, have closed their joint Pan-African Venture fund, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund [CAIF], at €110M.

The fund is backed by LPs such as EIB, AfricaGrow, FMO, Bpifrance, Triodos Investment Management, Proparco, SIFEM, BIO and, among others, as well as a diverse pool of globally renowned investors, including Development finance institutions, leading multinational corporations, and high-net-worth individuals across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

This close of fund will enable the CAIF team to significantly deepen their focus on investing in the most promising early to growth-stage startups improving African lives with disruptive tech-enabled products and services. With initial check sizes ranging from €1-10M for growth-stage and up to €1M for select seed-stage tickets, the fund invests in startups across multiple sectors, including Fintech, Mobility, HealthTech, EdTech, AI, Digital Content and AgTech. Since its inception in October 2019, CAIF has backed ten prominent companies operating across the continent, including 54gene, OZÉ, Migo, PalmPay, Heetch, KaiOS, Boomplay, Aerobotics, and WhereIsMyTransport. Most recently, the fund co-led Tunisia-based EdTech startup GoMyCode’s $8M Series A round.

“AfricInvest’s partnership with Cathay Innovation brings to Africa global expertise in the innovation space combined with a robust network in Europe, the US and Asia, all helping to build bridges between Africa and the rest of the world, allowing the fund’s investees to grow into regional and global champions.” said Yassine Oussaifi, Partner at AfricInvest and co-head of CAIF.

“As technology scales and brings massive upgrades to global populations, startups are critical in building the new digital infrastructure needed for emerging regions like Africa to redefine industries and society in the 21st century. We’re proud to partner with the AfricInvest team — connecting the entire African continent with tech hubs around the world — in a shared mission of accelerating the transition to a more digital, sustainable and inclusive economy for Africa and beyond,” added Mingpo Cai, Founder and Chairman of Cathay Capital and Cathay Innovation.

Since its launch in 1994, AfricInvest’s multi-strategy platform has actively contributed to strengthening the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in Africa. CAIF relies on AfricInvest’s rich investment expertise, its extensive pool of resources from its network and its physical presence across 11 regions through offices including Abidjan, Algier, Cairo, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi, and Tunis to provide local hands-on support, create synergies with portfolios and assist with geographic expansion.

With over 200 portfolio companies across 25 African countries in a variety of high-growth sectors, of which 106 have exited, AfricInvest has, to date, raised over $2bn AUM across 21 funds and benefits from strong, long-term support from both African and international investors.

Founded in 2015, Cathay Innovation is a leading venture capital firm providing entrepreneurs with the support of a global ecosystem across North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. The global platform unifies technology investment across continents, investors, entrepreneurs and leading corporations to accelerate startup growth with access to new markets, invaluable industry knowledge and introductions to potential partners from the start. With over €2bn assets under management and offices across 3 continents, Cathay Innovation has a strong track record of over 120 global investments, including 19 unicorns, in startups accelerating the sustainable and digital transformation of industry and society.

CAIF enables promising ventures to build and scale innovative technologies that drive inclusive socio-economic growth in Africa. To date, the fund has proved tremendous traction and scalability with portfolio companies expanding their global footprint to over 21 markets across the continent. The Fund’s portfolio companies have also aggregated significant impact at scale in recent years with over 136m Africans reached with inclusive and digital solutions–meaning $1 spent reaches more than one user on the continent. With its current portfolio, the Fund has created and sustained over 1,400 direct jobs, with women representing an average of 35% of the workforce. Deployed by a team of investment professionals located in the centers of VC innovation across Africa, the fund will continue to support African entrepreneurs to scale their innovative technologies across the continent and beyond, as well as support global entrepreneurs in their expansion into Africa.

“The Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund was born out of the idea that innovative and tech-enabled startups in Africa are solving important problems and socio-economic gaps. We see this funding opportunity as a means to deliver strategic support to the outstanding startups looking to innovate and improve lives in Africa. Already, CAIF has reached over a hundred million people through job creation and inclusion, but there are still millions across the continent with limited economic resources on our radar,” said Khaled Ben Jilani, Senior Partner at AfricInvest and co-head of CAIF.

The mind is so powerful that a complete story can be played in your mind within a second. Within that instant, you have the complete idea.

It is in trying to structure that idea for better understanding that it seems it takes time for an idea to materialise in one’s mind.

This structuring process is called meditation.

See it this way.

The mind is like a gold mine where you find several impurities alongside raw gold. Meditation is the refinery.

It is the outcome of meditation that ensures endless possibilities for any matter that pops up in your mind.

Some matters draw more emotions than others.

The matter of the heart is the heart of the matter. And the matter that you think doesn’t matter today may become matters arising tomorrow.

Some people take some matters of the heart for granted until they are caught up in the wrong side of the outcome.

Ideas are a product of two things,

Who you are and the totality of your experiences.

Never dismiss thoughts as a mere wondering of the mind on your own terms. You are not a match, in any way, to the negative-thought-producing machines (called demons) feeding your heart and mind with several things. Have you ever wondered why you think about some things? Have you caught yourself thinking about something you didn’t consciously decide to think about? Have you wondered where they come from? This is why you have the option of abiding in a superior power – Jesus Christ – because without Him, you can achieve nothing. The earlier you understand and accept this the better for you.

Deal with the thoughts that come to your mind as each thought finds a reason to come to you because it has found a foundation upon which it can grow and thrive.

There are ideas that have a strong grip on our emotions. Ideas on money (which may lead to greed), power (which can help you maximise your greed at optimal height), recognition, sex, safety etc.

Let’s take a thought on money for example. When a thought pops up in your mind about getting more money, it is meditation on that idea that will present you with an option of whether to take it all or to only take what you need to live a quality life. When you only want what you need and not desire it all, it will reflect on your character and your integrity quotient will be high and you are likely to become a true leader.

For the sake of space, let’s take one more example, Sex.

Every human being want sex. But understand this that sex is not a need for survival. It’s a Divine blessing that adds meaning and beauty to life and procreation. Sex is good only in marriage between a man and his wife. As singles, if you don’t have sex, you won’t die. Let nobody deceive you.

Another thing we must understand is that orgasm is the same with anybody. With a thief, a terrorist, a rapist, a spouse, an handicapped. Don’t deceive yourself thinking one orgasm is better or sweeter than the other. Orgasm is orgasm. If it is not an orgasm, it cannot be an orgasm. When it is an orgasm, it is the same experience everywhere and with anybody.

Some argue that there is a difference. They will argue that the difference, however, is how you get there. This is a good road to deception. This argument is why some married men think they can get better sex with women other than their wives while justifying their acts with ‘variety is the spice of life’. This difference in methods is also one of the reasons some married women won’t mind men other than their husbands who will satisfy them in bed. They go in search of affection instead of paying attention to what matters to their lives and their marriages to help them regain the affection they truly care about. Some even prefer men with larger penis not knowing that the Master Designer, God, has so designed the vagina in such a way that whether small or large penis can do the job perfectly well. It is spousal communication and understanding that matter. Any penis larger than human normal is a call to something else and driven by unholy passion and unregulated desire.

The clitoris is the most sensitive part of the female sexual organ. So, my dear ladies, no matter the size of your husband’s penis, when he focuses on that portion, you will reach the stars in seconds and you will desire your husband and no one else. He is your husband, explore each other to the last godly limit. Possibilities are endless in marriage. Don’t let anyone deceive you that your husband is not good enough. If he is not good enough, then you are not a good teacher of your own body. Teach him how to touch you.

When a man thinks of sex, he sometimes feels another woman other than his wife can give him another kind of pleasure or a better and deeper pleasure. It is the bad conditioning and man’s unrestrained mind that make us believe that. There’s a kind of unsuspecting deep pleasurable sensation in our emotions that trigger sexual attraction to women that are not our wives, especially when these women display some curves that drive us nuts. We must not allow it to linger in our thoughts. They are demonic darts. Many times than few, we invite demons ourselves with the way we conduct ourselves. Smiles.

My fellow men, husbands and fathers, be content with your wives. They are the priceless precious gift from God to you and you will be accountable to God for your actions and for them. Whatever you are looking for in a woman, your wife has it.

Cultivate her to your taste. That’s one of your first responsibilities over her.

God won’t destroy your emotion just because He wants you to choose Him. God won’t kill all the beautiful ladies at your workplace and around you so that you won’t commit adultery or fornication.

Therefore, exercising restraint is a choice made possible by character built consistently over many years. Your capacity to function under restraint despite the freedom and enormous liberty in your possession is proof of the government under which you operate and live your life.

It is meditation on the idea of sex that brings a person to this point of Truth.

Nobody is immune to making wrong choices whether a professor, professional or an illiterate, especially when it has to do with the matter of the heart.

So, when you feel sexually attracted to another person other than your spouse, tell yourself and remind yourself that

Orgasm is the same.