100 - Exploring investment in Africa is like making the perfect cup of tea
Africa has no shortage of investment opportunities; it just has mismatched expectations. This episode uses a tea-making analogy to reframe how investors can approach the pipeline and align with the right context.
The Problem Isn’t the Pipeline, It’s How You’re Reading It.
A common refrain among global investors is that there’s a lack of viable deal flow in Africa. But that belief reveals more about the observer than the market.
In this episode of Pattern Cognition, we unpack a metaphor that shifts the narrative:
“Investing in Africa is like making the perfect cup of tea.”
Here’s what that means and why it matters:
• You need the right ingredients. Tea leaves represent investor readiness, capital, structure, and appetite in this metaphor. Water represents the pipeline of opportunities across sectors. Both are required.
• Africa has water. Lots of it. The opportunities exist. But they often look different from what traditional investors are used to. If you’re expecting your usual template, you’ll overlook what’s right in front of you.
• Mismatched expectations kill alignment. Many investors come in expecting a certain flavor, pace, or process. But emerging markets require new filters, new criteria, and new questions.
• The challenge is not finding deals, it’s understanding the terrain. Like good tea requires a feel for temperature, time, and balance, investing in Africa requires nuance, local insight, and patience.
• Smart investors adapt their frameworks. They don’t just look for where the world fits their model. They redesign the model to fit the world.
This episode reframes Africa not as a risk but as a recipe worth learning to make well.
Listen to this episode of Pattern Cognition to learn how to navigate these challenges and invest wisely.
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction: The Myth of Insufficient Pipeline in Africa
00:11 The Tea Analogy: Ingredients for Success
00:27 Understanding the African Investment Landscape
Links:
Website: https://www.sidmofya.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidmofya/
Transcript:
There's a belief that there is not enough pipeline for investing in Africa. I disagree with that. Um, there is more than enough pipeline. The analogy that I make is, if you wanna make tea. You need two basic ingredients. You need tea leaves and you need water. And uh, if you don't have either of those, there's no point going out to make tea.
You've gotta go find tea leaves and go find water. And I believe in Africa. The water is the pipeline of opportunities. Fortunately, unfortunately, that water looks different. To some investors who are used to a certain kind of investor, and the work is really understanding what that water is like and what tea leaves you need to make tea with.