Sierra Leone's first home-grown angel investment network
Backing ambitious founders. Building Sierra Leone's future.
SAN brings together domestic and diaspora investors to finance and support Sierra Leonean startups and growing businesses.
Capital
Patient early-stage investment for promising businesses.
Mentorship
Practical guidance from experienced operators and professionals.
Impact
Stronger companies, better jobs and a deeper domestic investment culture.
The gap
From promising to investable
Sierra Leone has capable founders and real businesses. What is missing is the first serious cheque.
Banks require collateral that most early-stage businesses cannot provide. Larger funds look for mature companies or write tickets far above what a growing Sierra Leonean business needs. Grants can help businesses test and grow, but they do not replace risk capital.
SAN's response is to organise early, patient and hands-on local capital. Members invest their own money, bring their own judgement, and stay close to the businesses they back — so promising companies become investable ones.
SAN is a network of individual investors, not a pooled fund. Members choose each deal for themselves.
What SAN does
Screened deal flow, investment readiness, and support that continues after the cheque
Screened deal flow
The Secretariat sources businesses across Sierra Leone, screens them against published criteria and prepares investment memos so members review structured, comparable opportunities.
Investment readiness
Founders are supported to tighten financials, governance and reporting before and during the process, so a good business is not lost to weak paperwork.
Post-investment support
Members and the Secretariat provide mentorship, KPI tracking, financial systems, introductions and technical assistance after investment.
Who SAN backs
Operating businesses with real customers
SAN looks for companies that are already trading and ready for the discipline of outside investment.
- Legally registered and operating
- Product or service already in market
- Revenue-generating with evidence of traction
- Credible, coachable founders
- Scalable model and clear unit economics
- A path to self-sustainability
How we invest
A seven-stage process, applied consistently
- 01
Sourcing
- 02
Screening
- 03
Founder pitch
- 04
Due diligence
- 05
Investment decision and deployment
- 06
Post-investment support
- 07
Exit planning
Members decide individually on every deal. Capital is deployed through a member consortium or a deal-specific SPV.
Ecosystem
Built with Sierra Leone's institutions
SAN was catalysed by Invest Salone and has received support from Sierra Leonean ecosystem institutions.
SAN's launch brought together investors, founders, policymakers and ecosystem partners for a dialogue on financing Sierra Leone's startups.
- Invest Salone
- Innovation SL
- Songo Investments
- Christex Foundation
- ReCentDST
- Syberlex Consulting
For investors
Invest together. Learn together.
Join a network of professionals, business owners, executives and corporations investing in Sierra Leone's next generation of companies.
For founders
Capital, judgement and connections.
If your business is registered, trading and generating revenue, tell us what you are building and what you need to grow.