NEWS RELEASE

WBAF 2023 SOUTH AFRICA – The CEO of Umbrella Management Group Inc (Liberia), Mr. Jerome E Sheldon Jr and the General Manager, Mr. Martin A Dean Jr, both attended the WBAF 2023 WORLD CONGRESS OF ANGEL INVESTORS, the world’s largest forum of early and post-early stage equity and capital markets organised by the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) – an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Pa rtnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). There event took place at Durban ICC - International Convention Center of South Africa, on 21 and 22 November 2023.

To reflect its commitment to the G20–GPFI Action Plan, the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) prepared the WBAF 2023 agenda to focus on fi nancial inclusion, digital transformation, and connecting startups with angel investors. The sessions will deal with ways to democratise access to finance from startup to scale-up to exit. LPs, startups, scale-ups, and angel investors will be able to connect at the World Excellence Awards, an event designed to salute those who stand out in imagining, discussing, and shaping the future of an entrepreneurial world.

The Congress hosted angel investors, private equity fund managers, business angel networks, wealth management institutions, executives of stock exchanges, banks, science and technoparks, incubation and acceleration centers, startups, entrepreneurs, SMEs, global thought leaders, and policymakers from more than 100 countries.

For the first time ever, the 2023 World Congress hosted a continental congress, The Africa Congress of Angel Investors, as part of its official agenda.

The Congress also hosted an International Summit with four global roundtables as part of its agenda. These include a Global Startup Roundtable; a Global Women Leaders Roundtable; a Science, Technology and Innovation Roundtable; and an Ethical Governance Roundtable.

100 selected startups pitched on the Global Fundraising Stage GFRS after an investment readiness workshop and a one-on-one mentoring session.

The Grand Assembly 2023 took place on 20 November, just before the Congress starts. It was closed to the public. The Assembly was opened to Senior Associates, High Commissioners, Senior Senators, Senators and International Partners. WBAF has 1,684 Senior Associates, High Commissioners, Sn Senators, Senators, and International Partners from 132 countries.

The ultimate goal of all the Congress keynotes, panel discussions, presentations, and workshops were to agreed on a common roadmap for entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs that will help them thrive in this post-pandemic period.