On Friendship & Africa

Key to strong friendships? A shared mission.

One day, our grandchildren will look back and ask us in bewilderment, “we used to GIVE to Africa?”

I remember my friend Matt Davis saying this in our very first phone conversation in 2015. It was clear it wasn’t the first time he had said it. Nor that it would be the last. Because when you are doing something as bold—and freakin’ hard—as bringing the idea of investing in Africa to people in the U.S. who grew up believing it to be a continent of starving children and luxury safaris—well, you need a memorable belief.

Matt’s a physicist and a CFA, but his talent for connecting others to big, bold ideas might be his greatest skill.

Everything Matt said in our conversation resonated. I had recently left my role of growing the U.S. business for an Asia-focused investment manager. While the challenges were slightly different, getting people to think differently about how they invest in developing markets outside of the U.S. was my team’s first job. And it was freakin’ hard. You had to deeply believe in the premise yourself. For me, that belief was formed through travel. 

I first stepped foot in Africa in 2002—volunteering with entrepreneurs in Ghana, climbing Kilimanjaro, enjoying camping and walking safaris and spending a week in a house in Cape Town with my UK-based friends. It forever shaped how I traveled, my investment career, and my belief in emerging Asia and Africa. 

Similarly, Matt’s personal trip to Uganda in 2007 changed his life. The consultant in him couldn’t stop asking questions. American sent relief money. But what the people most wanted were jobs. He wondered about the entrepreneurs behind the small companies he saw. “Indians,” said his driver. He wondered why the deep-seated American belief in entrepreneurship and capitalism was NOT part of our connection to Africa…and how could he change that.

Matt ended our conversation with an invite. “I know this is short notice, but we are hosting our first ever Renew National Gathering next weekend in Washington D.C. You can meet my wife and partner Laura, the rest of the team and other members of our angel network. We’d love to have you.”

Ironically, I was staring at a plane ticket to Baltimore for a conference that had just been canceled due to urban unrest. 

I packed for the airport. I was meant to meet Matt and Laura.

A year later, I’m the front passenger in a car driven by Laura Davis through the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My husband and two American friends are in the backseat. 

Laura can weave a car through traffic like a master knitter. We approach Meskel Square, known as the world’s most chaotic intersection. There are no lights, roundabouts, or traffic cops. Laura and hundreds of motorists just weave. That Laura can simotaneously hold a conversation has me mesmerized.

“They put in the first traffic light in Addis about a year ago. It doesn’t really work. Because people don’t understand how to use them.”

From the front seat, I learn Laura’s a pro at weaving in emerging markets. From a stint on Mercy Ships to living in Afghanistan in her early years, she’s seen it all. She understands pace, speaks with direct authority and has a certain fearlessness. 

She’s creative and herself an entrepreneur. She even co-founded a reality TV show—basically the Shark Tank of Ethiopia. Her personal obsession with the color orange is found everywhere—even the Renew logo and branding.

If you are friends with another couple, there’s typically one that is your lead friend. Not with Matt and Laura. I have deep respect for each individually, their shared values, and their professional and life mission. 

I joined the Renew Capital angel network following my first call with Matt in 2015. I’ve invested in individual companies in Africa, packages of companies and Renew’s recent funds. 

I was quoted in Renew’s 2022 annual report:

“In the next 10 years, my hope is that when I tell people that I just returned from Africa, they don’t ask me how I enjoyed safari. I see emerging models for education developing the future leaders—for Africa, in Africa. I see young and vibrant cities with a rising middle class, and entrepreneurs developing world-class companies to serve them. Finally, I see a new realization in the West—that Africa has much to teach us.”

Like Matt and Laura, I believe in putting my money where my mouth is. I believe in investing. I also actively give to initiatives like girls’ education—which I consider the world’s best investment.

But why would we NOT put on our capitalistic hats and invest in the entrepreneurs founding tech-enabled companies that will transform a continent where one in four people on the planet will live in 2050?

I’ve introduced the idea of investing in Africa and Renew to hundreds of people. I’ve hosted gatherings in my backyard in San Francisco, and with friends in Los Angeles and New York. I’ve joined three Renew National Gatherings in Washington DC. 

Those who’ve joined me in Venture Travel have visited Renew companies in Rwanda, Tanzania and soon Morocco. Others have joined me on Renew Eco-Tourism trips.

I’ve traveled with Matt and Laura on two Ethiopia Eco-Tourism trips. With fellow members of the Renew angel network, we visit companies of all kinds at various stages of Renew’s due diligence process. If you ever thought it’d be fun to play an investment analyst or portfolio manager for a week, this is your jam. 

Along the way, we explore culture and food. The last night, we gather to discuss and rank the companies. One year, it was via candlelight over a homemade dinner at Matt & Laura’s home during a city-wide blackout. 

So Ethiopia that the lights would go out. 

So Matt and Laura to improvise the warmest solution while still putting us to work.

Last weekend, Matt and Laura joined my husband Bob and I at our home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We did the math before they walked in the door. It had been about nine years since we had seen each other in person. The birthday of their child who we finally got to meet and our Google Photo albums were our clues.

There was no feeling disconnected, no starting over. Our connection held through different forms.

I’ve stayed at Matt & Laura’s house in Rwanda several times these past few years—I’ve just never been lucky enough to catch them in country. We text via WhatsApp. We video call via Google Meet. 

Then there are the Renew investor calls and communications led by Matt. The weekly The Africa Brief curated by Laura. They aren’t stuffy and formal. It feels like catching up with friends on the mission you all care about.

Over dinner, we recapped nine years—how Ethiopia went from hopeful to a civil war to opening market sectors and leading in EV. How AI was revolutionizing companies across every sector. How Renew had pivoted to focus on tech-enabled companies and expanded to 13 countries across the continent. How the abrupt demise of USAID might long-term benefit the relationship between the U.S. and Africa. How inspiring it is when great innovations from Africa are brought to the U.S.

“We just want the West—especially the U.S.—to think differently about Africa.”

Matt repeated his wish from that first conversation more than a decade ago. 

His wish is my wish. His words are my words. Matt and Laura founded an investment firm. I became a thought leader in global investing and Venture Travel. 

Same mission. Different methods. 

I am so proud of my friends—I don’t have half the guts to do what Matt and Laura do.

But to change the narrative, we need our initiatives and so many more—from media, popular culture, government and corporate partnerships, and cross-continental friendships. 

And from each of us as individuals. 

Not only CAN we invest in Africa. It would be ridiculous for us not to.

The whole weekend got me thinking about friendships.

I’ve had several long-term friendships dissipate in recent years—some fading, some falling off a hurtful cliff. 

I don’t really know why. I’m not sure I ever will. I mourn each of them.

Yet this cross-continental friendship not only makes it through some big life changes and challenges—but grows.

I have to believe it has something to do with our missions.

It’s not something we sit around and talk about all of the time. But it’s always there—woven into our fabric. 

Most friendships are built on shared memories. But the strongest ones are built on a shared mission.

Open to thinking differently? Check out Renew Capital. Learn about becoming an investor in the leading companies of Africa’s future. Subscribe to The African Brief. Join me in Venture Travel where you’ll always meet entrepreneurs. When you travel differently, you think differently.