Tiffany Moore
Tiffany leads Impact Capital Africa’s donor- and corporate-partnership projects across southern Africa. Her 13 years in engineering, mining, management consulting, and project management led her to a junior mining project in Zambia, and a new, irresistible career direction, where ICA was established to define a new approach to mining corporate social responsibility: supporting alternative livelihood development. Working in Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, she now focuses on encouraging the flow of impact capital into Africa and helping businesses connect with the right investors.

How to get your story across to investors

Q&A with Tiffany Moore, Engagement Manager, Impact Capital Africa
Finance for Inclusive Business
Impact Investing
Global
13. Oct 2022

Impact Capital Africa (ICA) links impactful southern African growth SMEs with impact and alternative investment providers in order to achieve investment deals. We have helped corporate and development partners to support the growth of the impact investment ecosystem through tailored SME development programmes, investor engagement, ecosystem coordination, and online and in-person events to drive impact investment interest, deals, and ideas – including the recent 2022 Zambia Impact Investment Summit. Since 2017, we’ve supported Zambian businesses to raise capital of over $100M.

How important is a compelling story in an investor’s decision to fund a particular business?

A compelling story is important, but entrepreneurs shouldn’t be setting out to “weave a tale”. Focus rather on the interesting, thought-provoking, or emotive components of your own business’s story. Because of the way, and where, inclusive businesses work, there are usually key social or environmental problems being addressed, and telling these authentic stories is more important than trying to over dramatize (this is investing, not Netflix).

Do you have advice for entrepreneurs about how to tell the story of their business and make a successful pitch?

I’d split my advice into two key areas: the ‘what’, and the ‘how’.

The ‘what’ is the building blocks of your story, which are defined by the type of engagement / interaction with an investor. Tailor your presentation and delivery to suit the context of the meeting. We use a 5 minute pitch deck that you can build up or pare down. It’s critical to have the fundamental elements in your pitch deck. Have a look at the template here.

The ‘how’ you deliver is also very important: investors don’t just invest in businesses, they invest in people. Pitching can be terrifying, but take the time to practice your pitch – it’s important to steady your nerves so you can let your passion, and authenticity shine through.

conference guest discussing outside
Zambia Impact Investment Summit in September 2022. © ICA

Can you tell us about a time when a founder's story really stood out? Why?

Wyson Lungu, from Onyx Connect Zambia. Wyson is a captivating storyteller, without losing focus on the end goal: delivering his story in a way that leaves aligned investors wanting to know more. Wyson relates his experience, and the impact, to the commercial value proposition of the business; pay as you go bicycles for rural dairy farmers in Zambia. The challenge with such a strong impact case is making sure the commercial value proposition is clear, driving home that not only is this a challenge that you’re solving, but you can monetise it.

 

Also take a look at the ICA toolkit "Getting started with impact!" It shows you how to tell your impact story in a way that convinces investors.