“Patient Capital” Might Be Killing Us: A Love Letter from the Frontlines of African Fundraising

Let’s talk about this thing called “patient capital.”

You’ve probably heard it tossed around by funders who swear they’re supporting bold African ideas. “We offer patient capital,” they say proudly, like it’s some kind of gift from the gods. And sure, on paper, it sounds noble: long-term, impact-driven money with low interest and flexible terms. What’s not to love?

Except… here’s the punchline: the capital is patient, but the entrepreneur is starving.

And that’s not a metaphor.

We’re talking about real people (local founders, grassroots leaders, social innovators) waiting 12, 18, sometimes 24 months from “Congratulations, you’ve been selected!” to “Here’s your first disbursement.” Meanwhile, rent is due. Payroll is overdue. Impact is on hold. And yet funders are on vacation, tweaking their logframes, and pushing new versions of a 50-page contract no one understands.

Welcome to the absurdity of philanthropy in Africa.

At TELEP Network, we didn’t come here to play nice. We want funding to go to African solutions, led by African people, with timelines that match the urgency of our realities.

We didn’t come here to co-sign the status quo. We came to name it, challenge it, and change it. The TELEP Network exists to help funders do better by reimagining their practices: centering proximity, trust, urgency, and African agency.

Because here’s what they don’t tell you on the funding panels:

1. African-educated founders are invisible in funding conversations.

Everyone loves to chant “support local leadership” until it’s time to write the check. Suddenly, the founder with a degree from Nairobi or Dakar is “high risk,” while the one with a Harvard diploma is seen as a safe bet.

Why?
Because we’ve confused proximity with poverty. And pedigree with potential.

The TELEP Network was created to offer a different lens.
We center founders who are embedded in the communities they serve, not just in the brochures funders print. The data doesn’t lie: proximity delivers results. So let’s stop treating it like a liability.

2. We need to talk about the paperwork industrial complex.

Why does applying for a $30K grant require 50+ documents?

We’ve seen founders jump through hoops that not even Olympic athletes would clear:

• Bank statements.

• Board minutes.

• Impact forecasts.

• Five-year budgets with monthly breakdowns.

• Evaluations, in triplicate.

• Reports from third parties who don’t even operate in the country.

And heaven forbid your English isn’t “donor-perfect.” Now you’re failing an unspoken grammar test just to feed your team.

Let’s be honest: this is gatekeeping, not due diligence. It’s classist, colonial, and lazy.

So, at TELEP Network, we keep it simple:

• A relational application process.

• Option to submit via voice note or video.

• We tell you upfront what we need, no mystery maze.

Because trust doesn’t live in PDFs. It lives in people.

3. “Delays are normal” — but should they be?

We’re told, “funding takes time.” Sure. A few weeks? Understandable. But a few years?

Delays are deadly. Literally. one should wait 18 months for a first disbursement while their work is on life support. And let’s be clear: delays kill impact.

Every month that passes waiting for a disbursement is a month the clinic can’t open, the mental health hotline stays offline, the staff go unpaid, and the momentum dies.

But somehow, in philanthropy, urgency is seen as a red flag. Meanwhile, funders take a year and a half to “build the relationship” via email.

Let’s be serious. TELEP Network is not here to manage your fund. But we are here to say: the price of delay must be counted as part of your impact equation. If your process takes 18 months, don’t claim credit for the founder’s resilience. You nearly broke them.

4. Documentation is not a proxy for trust. It’s a colonial hangover.

“We need documents to build trust,” some say. As if trust is a Word doc with a signature at the bottom. This mindset is drenched in colonial residue: treating African founders like they must prove their worth through paperwork, not through practice.

Meanwhile, fund managers won’t even trust their own instincts without a 30-page agreement to cover their backs.

Let’s call it what it is: an outdated system designed to protect funders, not support founders.

Yes, we said it.

If you're still demanding perfectly formatted proposals, third-party evaluations, randomized controlled trials, and TOEFL-level English, you're not building trust, you're replicating exclusion.

African founders should not need to pass an unspoken literacy test to access resources for their communities.

At TELEP, we start small and build up.

• We test trust with a $20K grant.

• Follow up with coaching and co-creation.

• If the relationship grows, so does the investment.

Just like humans do. You don’t ask someone to marry you before going on a date. Why do we expect the philanthropic version of that?

5. It’s time to fund urgency, not just pedigree.

The people closest to the problem are usually the furthest from the money. Why? Because they didn’t go to college? Because their impact report isn’t in donor-speak? Because they’re busy doing the work instead of writing about it?

The truth is, funders know their systems are broken. Many have felt it themselves, frustrated by their own Investment Committees, forced to add “one more clause,” “one more round of due diligence,” just to get the money through.

But systems don’t change unless someone demands it.

That’s what the NSPF is here for: to provide the tools, language, and framework to help funders evolve, without losing sight of what really matters: the lives, voices, and leadership of those on the frontlines.

The NSPF was built because we were tired of watching the best ideas die on the vine while shiny pitches with no local roots got celebrated on global stages.

We want the funds to go to founders who move with urgency.
Who know the stakes.
Who’ve earned their trust not through LinkedIn recommendations but through lived experience.

Bottom line?

If your philanthropy takes two years to arrive, it’s not patient.
It’s harmful.

If your criteria rewards elite resumes instead of embedded leadership, it’s not equitable.
It’s extractive.

If your definition of trust begins and ends with a PDF, it’s not localized.
It’s colonial.

At TELEP Network, we offer another way forward.
A framework that invites funders to move from gatekeeping to partnership. From power-hoarding to proximity. From performative equity to real accountability.

Because the work can’t wait.
And neither should our willingness to do better.