UnlockING Domestic Capital

Domestic Capital Doesn’t Move When You Ask It To

Reflections from Building Early-Stage Investment Ecosystems in Tanzania

A system-level model showing how domestic capital activates through coordination, not capital supply.

For years, the question I heard most often in emerging startup ecosystems was deceptively simple: “Where is the capital?”

Founders asked it. Donors asked it. Governments asked it. And often, the implication was the same — that capital was absent, hiding, or unwilling.

But after two decades working across African startup ecosystems — and especially through sustained engagement in Tanzania — I’ve come to believe that this question is usually the wrong one.

Capital is rarely absent. More often, it is inactive.