Babacar SECK

Babacar is the founder & managing partner at Askya Investment Partners, an investment firm building generational tech and AI companies from Africa. Babacar has extensive experience as investor and operator, having backed 17 startups and returned over $120m in profits to investors, including one IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Since 2015, Babacar supported the development of the African startup ecosystem as CEO of Digital Africa and Founding Member of Proparco's $300m venture capital program, backing iconic startups such as Moniepoint, Gomycode and Socium, and anchoring multiple VC fund managers. Prior to becoming an investor, Babacar served as Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of AXA, one of the world's largest firms, where he played a key role in the group's digital partnerships and emerging markets expansion, in addition to spearheading billion-dollar strategic initiatives. He has also served as director on the board of leading financial institutions and investment firms, such as Bank of Africa, Lok Capital, Disruptech and Ventures Platform.