This archive report was first published on 5 July 2019.
Aaron Fu Leaves MEST to Pursue Angel Investing ¶
July 5, 2019 - Aaron Fu, former Managing Director of MEST Africa, is leaving the pan-African accelerator to focus on his personal angel investments and family.
Aaron Fu, who has served as the Managing Director at MEST Incubator since September 2017, has led the expansion of MEST Africa across the continent, launched a pan-African tech conference, and invested in over 25 startups.
Before joining MEST, Fu was the Managing Partner at Nest Ventures, heading NEST's Kenya office, and prior to that, he served as Head of Digital Banking for Africa at Standard Chartered PLC.
Fu has been a key figure in the African tech ecosystem due to his experience in investment firms, startups, and conventional corporate roles across Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa.
‘Coming to the end of a 2-year long amazing journey at MEST Africa that has absolutely changed my life in ways I didn’t imagine possible, challenged what I believed possible, inspired me, humbled me hard,’ Fu wrote in a blog post.
As Fu transitions to angel investing, he plans to focus on ventures in early-stage smart capital and talent development, particularly startups solving the talent shortage issue in Africa, such as Andela and Moringa School.
‘These are not new questions but certainly ones that have I have been deeply curious about and acutely frustrated about for years, it’s just not right. If you share these frustrations or curiosity, please say hey! This is a journey I’d love to share,’ Fu said in his medium post.
Fu is also a founding mentor of XL Africa, a business acceleration program designed by the World Bank, and the founder of Mettā Nairobi, a community-led initiative to bring entrepreneurs and the startup ecosystem closer together.
