African startup founders face anxiety – Study

Flourish Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, research has revealed the mental and emotional toll on African startup founders, with over half of them reporting burnout, anxiety, and high stress due to the demands of building a business.

The study, titled “Passion and Perseverance: Voices from the African Founder Journey,” is the first of its kind to conduct a wide-scale survey on founder wellbeing across the continent.

In partnership with Endeavor, Launch Africa, Madica, and research firms Econa and Startup Snapshot, the survey gathered insights from over 160 founders across 13 African countries.

While the research shows that 81 per cent of entrepreneurs are passionate about their ventures and would rather start anew than take up traditional jobs if their businesses fail, it also uncovers a more troubling reality.
Most respondents reported feeling lonely, stressed, and burned out, with too few openly discussing these struggles.

This highlights a significant gap in support for entrepreneurs’ mental health and wellbeing, an issue that has been overlooked despite the growing importance of startups to Africa’s economic development.

The findings urged the startup ecosystem to prioritize founder support, especially in areas related to mental health, to help foster resilience and ensure the sustainability of startups.
With the majority of founders grappling with isolation and pressure, the survey calls for a shift towards a more supportive environment for entrepreneurs to thrive both professionally and personally.
Venture Partner at Flourish Ventures, Ameya Upadhyay, stated, “Prioritising founder wellbeing not only has a positive impact on founders’ lives but also on the long-term success of their business.”

“We hope that by sharing these early learnings, we can jumpstart a broader conversation about the state of founder wellbeing and how founders, and their funders, can better navigate it—in Africa and beyond.”

The founder’s psyche is one of high motivation and high pressure. Entrepreneurs are creative and ambitious. They are highly driven to create positive change in the world. But that doesn’t mean that the startup grind doesn’t take a mental, emotional, and physical toll on them or their families.

The survey revealed that 86 per cent  of founders report an impact on their wellbeing, with 60 per cent reporting anxiety, 58 per cent high stress, 52 per cent exhaustion and burnout, and 20 per cent depression.

“Furthermore, no one is immune to these effects; even high-performing founders feel the pressure, with more than 7 in 10 founders who say their startups are “thriving” reporting an impact on their wellbeing.”

The survey found that the primary drivers of stress come from the external, macroeconomic environment.
“Facing global economic shifts and local volatility, founders are navigating an unpredictable landscape, with African entrepreneurs reporting the top three sources of stress as fundraising (59 per cent ), inflation (44 per cent ), and other macroeconomic challenges (40 per cent),” it highlighted.