Entrepreneurship · Funding · 8 min

Startup or SME? The pitch that never lands

You advise Ibou, founder of a corporate catering and events company in Dakar. Revenue grows 30% a year.

Ibou is good. Real clients, real revenue, a team of 40. He calls his company a “startup” and wants to raise 1 million euros to “scale”. VCs listen politely, say “come back later”, and never call back.

He’s frustrated. “They fund apps that make zero francs, and not me?”