In 2017, our founder, Andréa Zafitody, initiated a startup incubation project called “Startup Madagascar”, because:

• Unemployment amongst young people is becoming a dramatic situation in Madagascar: hundreds of thousands of Malagasy students present themselves every year on the job market when there is only work for tens of thousands of them. Therefore, entrepreneurship could be an essential key, not only to meet economic and social challenges, but also to unleash the potential of young Malagasy talents in all sectors.
• At a pace never seen before, the world is changing, rapidly transforming and becoming more and more digital: the number of entrepreneurs will increase exponentially in all countries and all continents ; in fact, it is no more surprising that more and more young graduates from our engineering and business schools are deliberately leaving their safe careers with organizations or large companies and prefer to create their own startups.
• Last but not least, Andréa has always been passionate about developing talent, succeeding in doing so with many people hired and personally trained in her teams during her professional career in large companies. For her, it is therefore rewarding to focus on our young Malagasy talents.

This initiative has then evolved towards a more specific approach in order to better meet the needs of young entrepreneurs, unfortunately still too few to get started, as they are limited by the fear of losing ownership (especially in the fields of technology) and control of their business to investors. So, after attending the “Demo Africa” event in 2017 and meeting one of the founders of the “African Business Angel Network” (ABAN), the decision was made to become (pro-bono) “Malagasy Business Angels”, dedicating various resources to our startups: time, energy, experiences, local and international relations, and money (financial support).

Zafy Tody, the final name given to our initiative “Startup Madagascar”, is a legal entity created in Antananarivo in March 2019. “Zafy” in Malagasy means “grandchildren” and “Tody” “well arrived” or also “accomplished” , which ultimately means achieving success and making an impact ; it also refers to the Malagasy name of our founder, Zafitody.

Zafy Tody carries a message of:

• hope for our young Malagasy entrepreneurs by showing them that all dreams are possible
• and love as a Malagasy Business Angel who:
  • gives without expecting anything in return, except hard work, perseverance and dedication from our selected Malagasy Tech startups
  • provides technical and business coaching, entrepreneurial training, mentoring, office infrastructure, professional networking within the local and international startup community, and funding (entirely from personal savings)