Former BlackRock employee and founder, who raised $2.3M, shared her biggest fundraising mistake with me… Radhika Bhachu 🎯

@Radhika_Bhachu This is one reason you'd hardly see startups from Nigeria build ground breaking innovation & technology that needs patient capital. Part of me would want to blame the African VC, but judging from the environment they are, where survival is the main priority, I just hold back.

@Radhika_Bhachu Africa is 54 markets, so what if the solution is peculiar to Africa and can scale within the continent with no clear pathway to globalization? Does that make it less viable?

@Radhika_Bhachu Advice is easy to give . VC Funding is trust based. Africa is not the problem. Its trust

@Radhika_Bhachu Most African founders need funding just to figure things out before revenue. It’s even harder to enter the market and earn without first testing and refining. With few angels and even fewer accelerators, early support is a real challenge.

@Radhika_Bhachu I learn similar lessons from @ycombinator, following their articles and successful founder's raises

It’s truly super hard on African founders. This has been my greatest challenge of life. Sometimes I feel like giving up, but looking at what I am building and what I aim to achieve, I feel the joy and courage to keep on going. I truly experience how hard it feels. One day, Africa will be great enough for all of us to thrive!

@Radhika_Bhachu bring her to Africa/Week 😇

@Radhika_Bhachu Amazing work!

@Radhika_Bhachu God will continue to bless you sir @SemudaraAbayomi

@Radhika_Bhachu We are Africa Buildorr , Buidling for the globall. ✨.

@Radhika_Bhachu Refreshing to hear. Her thoughts are very grounded as it shapes fund raising prospective for early stage startup operators and investors.

@Radhika_Bhachu This fuels my bullishness on @useclooza @raphael_eyerin

@Sir_Damilare @Radhika_Bhachu Appreciate seeing this type of real talk from someone with that kind of experience. Fundraising advice like this hits way harder than any polished thread.

@Radhika_Bhachu Hi 👋 @The_MediaQueen

@Radhika_Bhachu Hey @0x_Timi come check this out🫶🏾

@Radhika_Bhachu Cheers to the team on this smart build. This is an essential system to leverage by the B2B supply chain, it's really a game changer for the fintech space. Balancing the big growth question for investors and the market is important. A major arch Africa founding VC can jump on.

@Radhika_Bhachu Damn!

@Radhika_Bhachu Hard-to-reach jungle ever

@Radhika_Bhachu no truer words! Been seeing founders from africa getting 7-8 figures in funding we are getting there!

@Radhika_Bhachu this advice get comma, I not sure exactly how to say it, but I can feel it. I'm trying to imagine what chowdeck said in their pitch deck.

@Radhika_Bhachu One translation is this: if you have revenue, don’t bother raising funds.

That’s such a powerful observation — and it captures one of the quiet but critical mindset gaps that often limits how African founders frame and scale their ventures. The difference between pitching a business as African versus global isn’t semantic; it reflects fundamentally different strategic postures. This is about the cognitive framing of opportunity. Research shows that founders who adopt what’s called a bird’s-eye view strategy — seeing their businesses within a global ecosystem rather than a local niche — tend to design more scalable models, attract more diverse capital, and recruit higher-caliber partners. When founders self-define narrowly (“for Africa”), they unconsciously constrain how investors and customers perceive their growth potential. Empirical studies back this up: emerging-market startups that position themselves as regional or global solutions attract 2.5x more venture funding and expand 40% faster than those that lead with purely local narratives (World Bank, “Venture Finance in Emerging Markets,” 2023). This is a strategic design challenge, not just a communications one. A truly global-ready enterprise rests on four interlinked pillars: 1.Bird’s-Eye Strategy: Founders must develop the ability to look above their immediate market constraints — identifying cross-border demand patterns, platform adjacencies, and scalable use cases. The question shifts from “What problem do I solve in Lagos?” to “What global inefficiency am I fixing from Lagos?” 2.Strategic Positioning as an Emerging Global Leader: Even when operating locally, the brand narrative should project ambition and universality. Flutterwave, Andela, and Wave didn’t sell “African tech” — they sold global infrastructure built from Africa. That framing changes valuation and partnership dynamics. Model Innovation with Visible Growth Paths: Investors and teams align when they can see the growth logic — adjacency plays, regional expansion roadmaps, or tech scalability layers. A global business model shows multiple levers for exponential—not linear—growth. 4.Strategic Leadership and Storytelling: Founders must not only build but communicate vision. Storytelling isn’t PR; it’s a strategic leadership tool. The ability to articulate a global identity shapes investor confidence, employee motivation, and policy support. So, yes — your IESE experience reveals something profound. While African founders focus on validation, their global peers focus on vision. The future belongs to entrepreneurs who can build from Africa, for the world — not as local players seeking global relevance, but as global leaders emerging from Africa.

@Radhika_Bhachu Satisfying to watch 😁

Well-said Impact, vision, and foresight are just as important as the numbers, especially when pitching to a non-african VC. Also, African projects should indeed have a global appeal and utility and not just for Africa. However, this should not detract African builders from providing solutions to African problems even if it will be beneficial to the entire globe, for the single reason that no one will be able to understand and solve the problems of Africa than Africans.

@Radhika_Bhachu It’s always important to have a global perspective while building, as it helps you stay competitive in the global market.

@Radhika_Bhachu Very true. We’re African but with a global vision (scalable business model).