Since the early 2020s, Nigeria’s technology industry has faced a wave of talent exodus, which peaked post-COVID-19. While this trend has raised legitimate concerns about brain drain, it has also created a new class of discrete angel investors backing Nigerian startups.
This change has given rise to several angel networks, including HoaQ, which focuses on discrete investors and founders. While these syndicates continue to grow in membership, capital deployment, and influence, some angel investors continue to support startups independently.
These checks are typically small by venture standards, but they play an important role in giving founders an early runway to validate their ideas before syndicates, accelerators, and early-stage VC firms step in.
One such angel investor is Uche Divine, a 26-year-old product designer based in Manchester but working in London. He moved from Lagos in 2023 and started investing a year after being posted overseas. Since then, he has supported two privately held startups as an angel investor through HoaQ.
Angel investors are the foundation of any technology ecosystem. They provide funding where institutional investors do not and often provide practical support in the early stages. Ibeafu uses his six years of experience as a product designer to advise founders to champion product development.
This week on “Ask an Investor,” we spoke to Devine about his journey into angel investing as a source of passive income and long-term retirement planning. His founder-driven approach prioritizes trust and product viability over clear theory. And how does his product background shape his strengths as an investor?
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
How many startups have you invested in over how long and how have they performed so far?
I have invested in two, both in the last year, so I can’t say much about their performance yet. They are still in the construction phase.
I just put the money in and said to myself. “Okay, I’ve never done this before. Let’s try it for the first time and see how it works.” Both companies were founded by people I trust. I know these people. I’ve seen them work and I trust what they’re doing.
Why did you write the check? Was it for support or because you believed in the startup?
both. I have some friends who are building things, people I trust, but I didn’t give them money. This was different. It was both. They’re my people, and what they’re building makes sense. It wasn’t a difficult decision.
When did you transition from being a non-angel investor to being an angel investor?
I want multiple sources of income and I want to invest. Investing is how I imagine my “endgame.” I’ve talked to friends and a lot of them want to own a company or build something big. But for me, the image of quitting it is having a serious portfolio – chilling out on an island and living off the profits from my investments.
I have already explored other parts of the market. I’ve been buying stocks, buying cryptocurrencies, and playing in different parts of the financial market. Angel investing was the only thing I had never done. I felt like this was the perfect time to give this a try, especially since these founders were doing something I was interested in. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
When you invest in startups, do you have a theory or do you invest based on what you believe will be good companies? And why did you believe in the two companies you invested in?
I’m still a beginner, like a budding angel investor, so I don’t have a solid theory yet. I can’t even tell you the return at this point because there’s nothing to measure yet.
I invested primarily based on what people were building and whether it made sense. One is AI startups that are solving serious problems. I don’t want to name names, but I’m working on important issues in this field. And the advice that people always give is, “Follow the money, follow the quantity.” Most of the most profitable companies today are AI companies. So if it makes sense and what they’re doing is going to make money in the end, that’s good enough for me.
To be fair, it was partially trend-driven. But if this is something I’m going to work on more, I’m definitely going to do a paper. Right now, I felt it was safer to invest in people I trusted and products that seemed to work. It was instinct. Over time, as your investments increase, you will be able to develop a clearer theory. Experience makes everything better.
Are you investing to generate venture-scale returns, or are you investing to build intimacy and learn how startups work?
It’s a little bit of both. I also invest for returns, but right now I’m just trying to figure out how it works.
I learned a lot from watching founders go through this process. You may end up building something yourself and need to raise money or go through various rounds. So for me, it’s a learning curve as well, just being around people who are doing construction and fundraising, how to approach funding, how to get in touch with venture capital firms.
What unfair advantage do you think you have as an angel investor? Why would founders want to take your money even if they give up their equity?
For me, it’s primarily an insight into how digital products work.
If you’ve ever invested in a company, you’re part of it. How I tell people: I own Google stock, even if it’s diluted. If Google does something, I own a piece of it, so I think, “That’s my company.”
Angel investing allows you to get even closer to companies.
Two companies that I’ve invested in, every time there’s a new update or feature, they contact me and say, “Come check it out. What do you think?” I take it more seriously because my money is there. I’m not just giving you advice as a friend. As a part owner, I will be happy to advise you.
Embracing product design and product thinking is a huge benefit. If you invest more, you can also join more formally as a product advisor. “I want to work on this, what do you think?” That insight is what I bring beyond money.
If I came to you and said, “Please invest in my startup.” What would make you say no?
I understand what you’re saying. There are several reasons.
First you have to see the vision. The same goes for stocks. If you don’t understand what the company is doing or disagree with you, that’s a problem. It’s instinct and clarity. Unless it’s something I can personally get behind, something I can explain, or even “sell” as an idea, I’m not going to invest in it.
Then there’s the market. There are no guarantees if a profit is unlikely, but you can use data and basic projections to understand whether the economics make sense. If the predictions don’t match, it’s for another reason.
The biggest factor is human resources development. Using the wrong builder can lead to great ideas. If you don’t know much about the founder, do some research. I’ll ask around. In our ecosystem, we hear that people easily lose money. I have to trust people. What is their reputation, what do people know about them, and what are people saying? For me, it’s the people first and then what they build.
Practically speaking, would you stop angel investing if your first five investments didn’t work out, or is this a long-term strategy no matter what happens early on?
It’s a long term play for me.
Perhaps another advantage I have is that I’m not afraid of losing money in the beginning. Whether this works or not, I know what I want to do. So for me it’s a long term thing. If I have money, I will invest it, whether it works or not. The only reason I don’t do it is because I don’t have the money.
Over time, as you invest more, you will develop hypotheses about what will work. I would also like advice from people who have done this better to improve my decision making. But don’t quit just because the first few times don’t work. It was never an agreement.
I traded meme coins for a year. This is not about success or failure. If it works, that’s great. Beginner’s luck. If not, no problem. I’ll still invest.
Five years from now, what will allow you to say, “I did a good job at angel investing” or “I was a good angel investor”?
Practical papers and better decision making. No one can perfectly tell the difference between a good play and a bad play, but pattern recognition is part of investing. You have seen similar situations before and begin to recognize the signals.
If you can make decisions to the point where you can say, “This has a 70-80% chance,” that is proof of growth. Of course, returns are also important.
But primarily, it increases your confidence, accuracy, and judgment, allowing you to evaluate companies more clearly based on your experience.
What do you think is your biggest blind spot at the moment as a new investor?
The biggest blind spot is that you have no idea what’s going on day to day. You’ve put money into it, but at that point you can only hope.
You have no idea how much work happens every day. Startup builders often have other commitments, and their level of commitment is not always externally measurable. You can ask questions and check in, but you’re not part of the Slack group. You are not in their daily life. Most of the time you have to accept what they say.
The companies I invested in are still growing. You never know exactly when something will be ready. If they say Monday, Monday may have passed, but there’s always a reason for it. Uncertainty about timelines, progress, and what is actually happening behind the scenes is a blind spot.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That’s only part of the point of investing at this stage.
