Novastar is a venture capital firm assisting the next generation of exceptional entrepreneurs who are designing and executing innovative business models to profitably serve East Africa’s aspiring mass market.
These entrepreneurial ‘New Stars’ are the catalysts for innovation, accountability, efficiency and the accumulation of wealth for the common good. Novastar do not think of themselves as investors managing a pool of capital or fund managers. The fun and focus of their work is partnering with entrepreneurs to help bring ideas to life and multiply their impact.
The company has invested in start-ups including:
1. MFarm – a Kenya agriculture services and technology company seeking to create an SMS & web-based commodity exchange for the 5 million smallholder farmers in Kenya.
2. Soko designs ethically sourced fast fashion jewelry from a growing network of hundreds of low-income Kenyan artisans. Soko sells to consumers in the US through hundreds of fashion boutiques, large, established retail chains and direct through their own website.
3. Sanergy takes a systems-based approach to making hygienic sanitation accessible, affordable and sustainable in Kenya’s urban slums.
4. Paradigm is now the leading distributor of fuel-efficient cookstoves in Kenya.
5. SolarNow was established in 2011 to answer the pressing demand for affordable high quality solar home systems amongst 4 million off-grid households and entrepreneurs in Uganda and later other countries.
6. Hivisasa – a local news site tailored for the mobile web. Hivisasa connects local news writers to readers, and brings free county-level news to any internet-enabled phone.
7. Komaza is a vertically integrated micro-forestry-to-wood products company working with subsistence dryland farmers in Eastern Kenya to address a large and fast growing market for wood and wood products.
Brian Odiambo from Novastar Ventures will be at the AfricaTalentbank.com (ATB) Entrepreneur Bootcamp on Friday, 31 July 2015 (8.30am to 4pm), New Hall, St Andrews Church, State House Rd. EVERYONE welcome. Click link for details incl. tickets: http://goo.gl/W8F0lI
