Digital Africa

In today’s episode, we speak with Patricia Rinke, an investor at AfricInvest about the introduction of international capital to Africa, the key ingredients of a vibrant, innovative startup ecosystem across the continent, and advice for African entrepreneurs wanting to raise capital from VCs.Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we speak with Itoro Inoyo and Jennie Nwokoye and of Clafiya, a startup working to expand access to affordable, quality primary health care.Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we spoke to Karl Carter, Snake Nation's CEO, about the African creator space, its connection to culture, and its role in Africa's future economy.Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we speak to Nitin Gajria, Managing Director - Sub-Saharan Africa at Google about how the company is increasing its intuition of Africa, helping grow the tech sector and expanding the supply of developers on the continent.Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we explore marketing strategies from an investor perspective - what works, what doesn’t work, and other useful insights from a VC. Our guest today is Jessica Fortune Oguh of Ingressive Capital.Highlights💬 Telling your story and simplifying your pitch👥 The importance of user groups when building communities and a userbase 👍 The importance of user testimonials for gaining trust and credibility📅 The need to have a well-thought-out marketing strategy that can be tested and improved upon🎧 Talking to users and listening to them to help iterate your product📣 Leveraging social media to build a brand and engage with users (current and potential)🔭 Find where your audience is online, where they hang outKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

With recent announcements of new early-stage venture funds entering the African landscape and the ecstatic response from the continent’s tech space, one may believe this to be a rare occasion.But it’s not.Rather, venture capital has consistently grown over the past few years, ramping up from US$400 million in 2015 to US$2.02 billion in 2019.So why do so many people have the impression that the African tech sector lacks capital?Perhaps it’s not that many people actually know what’s going on in the Africa tech sector — and this appears to be part of a broader problem that plagues Africa; lack of data.Highlights📱 How lack of data impacts the tech sector📃 Legislative consequences of insufficient data🏗️ Building better data infrastructure📊 Market-based solutionsKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we explore the ways in which AI is being deployed in the eCommerce industry with Jean Marie Uwabeza Vianney, CEO and Co-Founder of Yuko.AI, a company focused on optimizing the skincare market by utilizing AI to create hyper-personalized shopping experiences. Highlights💄 Using AI to optimize the skincare market🔬 Complimenting the work of dermatologists with AI❤️ Creating hyper-personalized shopping experiences♂️ Enabling male consumers to come into the market by increasing recommendation speed and efficiency🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏽 The importance of team and data diversity to remove bias from AIKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we speak with the CEO and Co-Founder of Chommie, CJ Dumeni about digitizing and expanding the last-mile delivery sector in Africa - a sector boosted by recent lockdown restrictions forcing both businesses and customers online; some of which for the first time ever. Highlights🌐 Getting people online with convenience and keeping them there with good service🛵 The expansion of last-mile delivery across Africa📦 The importance of same-day delivery and keeping Africans shopping online🔒 Fostering trust amongst African shoppers online🦠 COVID shifting businesses and consumers online 🚀 Building a startup team in Africa Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we explore the transition to eCommerce across Sub-Saharan Africa and how unique technology such as Airbuy (Co-Founder Njabulo Makhathini is today’s guest), is being used to include even the unbanked and unfamiliar with online shopping, in this economy-wide movement. Highlights 💻 Africas shopping online in growing numbers 💸 Fostering trust and familiarity with digital payments✍️ Designing to effectively communicate value propositions👥 Creating apps and products that resonate with its prospective users📱 Product development - listening to customers and iterating 🏦 Entrepreneurs building the future finance industry in Africa🌍 Cross-continent collaboration and ecosystem development opportunities in eCom and the wider tech spaceKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In this episode, we spoke with Josh Chapman, Founding Managing Partner of Konvoy Ventures, a Colorado-based VC focused on the gaming sector with plans to expand throughout emerging markets, about the massive opportunities in the African economy when it comes to gaming.  Highlights🚀 What a ‘great team’ means for investors 🌍 The repetition of globalization but through a virtual world 💸 Massive opportunities for play-to-earn amongst emerging markets🏠 The continuation of localized preference in gaming 📱 The importance of mobile gaming in Africa 🎮 Getting meta - gaming as an expression of human evolution 🏫 Opportunities for innovation in education and governance by expanding the gaming space in AfricaKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

Today, we spoke with Prince Bhojwani, the founder and CIO of Graywall, an alternative investment firm that specializes in AI/data ventures and commercial real estate, about investing in emerging markets and his take on the African VC scene.Highlights💪 The importance of demonstrating grit as an emerging market entrepreneur💻 Why technical expertise within teams is critical🦄 VCs breaking into emerging markets and connecting with researchers as a top priority💵 Financing needs for African startups 🏦 Alternative financing routes such as credit🔎 Graywall’s perspective on AI, cybersecurity, and data science in Africa 📊 Modeling credit and liquidity risk in emerging markets 👥 Beyond deploying capital - creating and cultivating ecosystemsKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In today’s episode, we spoke with Damilola Thompson of EchoVC, a VC focused on investing in underestimated founders and markets, about investing in African startups - what she looks for as an investor, key indicators for a startup’s success, and trends surrounding the African tech space. Highlights☀️ Focusing on companies improving quality of life - reduce friction in our society 🚀 Investing in founders that would build an amazing company with or without VC funding 💡 Backing founders that are open-minded and malleable in the context of a changing market🔬 The need to have deep knowledge of the problem you're solving as a founder🏰 Investing in startups that have a moat/are defensible👋 How to approach a VC - warm intros, identifying which ones are the best fit, and knowing your numbers (what you’ve done and what you could do)Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

In today’s episode, we explore the opportunity to move the African tech scene beyond social impact and chart a course for deep technology and how it can be exported from Africa to the rest of the world.Highlights💼 Africa as a net exporter of tech 📚 Better STEM education is needed to move in the direction of deep tech 🌍 International trade agreements playing a role in this shiftKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

One of the most important metrics for an economy is its savings rate - the ratio of personal savings to disposable personal income. A critical component of said rate is the level of financial literacy within an economy. Africa has struggled with low levels of financial literacy for many years, but we are starting to see innovative solutions to this problem that have far-reaching benefits. Today, we spoke with Catherine Whitehead, Co-Founder and COO of Math for Money about expanding financial literacy amongst children in order to cultivate better financial practices that will ultimately help foster economic prosperity. Highlights🏫 Easier to introduce financial literacy concepts early on📱 Increasing access to financial literacy through smartphone apps🏦 Expanding financial literacy in largely unbanked populations📚 Incorporating financial literacy into the school syllabus🎮 Gamification of financial literacy Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

One of the biggest opportunities for cryptocurrency to attain widespread adoption is its use and adoption in Africa. The continent’s growing generation of adaptable young professionals, digital entrepreneurs, and high unemployment in many countries has caused many young people to divert from traditional sectors and explore new ways of making money.The cryptocurrency revolution has already begun, with digital currency transactions in Africa growing rapidly year on year. According to the 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Index from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria are among the world leaders in peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading. Per the index, Nigeria recorded weekly peer-to-peer volumes between $5 million and $10 million. Kenya and South Africa followed with an average of between $1 million and $2 million per week.Today we spoke to Lorien Gamaroff CEO and Co-Founder of Centbee, a Bitcoin payment company based in South Africa, about the growth of cryptocurrency in Africa and why the technology’s deployment plays such a critical role in shaping the future African economy. Highlights🌍 Crypto can be used to optimize international payments in and out of Africa ⚖️ Crypto can be used to enhance financial regulation, it doesn’t need to be at odds with the government🛍️ Retail payments are being optimized through apps like Centbee📈 Embracing cryptocurrency will enhance digital commerce and shake up online advertising 🏦 Adoption in Africa is enhanced because of a lack of legacy infrastructure and systems💼 There are a wealth of opportunities in Africa for blockchain to optimize efficiency and value, particularly in data-heavy sectors Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

Micro-businesses and ‘informal’ sectors are at the very core of Africa’s economy. From fruit to smartphones, small-scale vendors account for a significant proportion of Africa’s labour force - enabling financing for these businesses is not only a complex undertaking but has vast implications for the African economy and its trajectory. Today we spoke with Wayne Hennessy-Barrett, Founder and CEO of 4G Capital, about the deployment of capital amongst micro-businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa. In addition to micro-loans, 4G capital provides enterprise training to enhance the allocation of capital within the businesses it lends to. By utilizing AI to better understand businesses and optimize lending decisions, the company has been able to maintain extraordinarily high collection rates for an otherwise unsecured loan product - atypical for the industry and especially impressive for lenders increasing their book size year on year.Highlights:💼 The importance of micro-businesses and the informal economy in Africa 📱 The use of mobile money to deploy microfinance loans♀ Empowering female entrepreneurs through better micro-financing 🧮 Combining lending and financial literacy to optimize lending 💸 Micro-finance as a more efficient capital deployment mechanism than foreign aid📊 Diversifying ESG portfolios by deploying capital through micro-financing 🧠 The use of AI to optimize lending decisions If you would like to connect with 4G Capital, please email Wayne at whb@4g-capital.comKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

Africa’s greatest resource is its people. The young continent with exploding population rates is poised to become a significant player in the global economy and the key to unlocking this potential is empowering, equipping, and utilizing its workforce.In today’s episode, we spoke to Paul Kimani, CEO and Co-Founder of WorkPay Africa, a company at the intersection of people and business. By optimizing payroll, WorkPay enables businesses to not only enhance operational efficiency but also elevate the productivity of their employees - this is something externally-built solutions were not able to do effectively for African businesses.Highlights💯 WorkPay and optimizing how people are paid🔍 Identifying which problems to work on as an entrepreneur🏠 The importance of understanding localised problems and building solutions accordingly📱 Understanding how African consumers and businesses interact with technology🌍 Going through Y Combinator as an African startup💸 Attracting investors as an African fintech and the importance of data🙋‍♀️ Hiring top talentKeep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

Blockchain technology holds incredible promise in Africa. From enhancing international and domestic payment efficiency to enabling more transparent governance the technology’s application is wide and deeply impactful. This is particularly true of what blockchain can do for African culture. For centuries, African culture and identity has been appropriated and monetized often exclusively for Western benefit. However, given the capacity to introduce new systems of ownership with blockchain and how this can be used to secure ownership of African art, music, games, technology, ideas, language, and more, we could potentially see a power dynamic shift unlike any other in history. From music to fashion, architecture to language, contemporary Western culture owes an awful lot to Africa and blockchain holds the key to making good on that debt. We spoke with Erikan Obotetukudo, investor and founder of KIN and Crypto for Black Economic Empowerment (CBEE). Since witnessing the inefficiencies of African commerce and envisioning how blockchain could be used to not only cure these, but create new, more transparent, secure, and efficient systems, Erikan has been focused on proliferating the technology across the continent. Beyond financial optimization, Erikan also supports and leads black empowerment initiatives such as CBEE which utilize the technology as a means of economic empowerment across the continent and beyond. Please also check out Erikan’s recent article: How NFTs will Revolutionize Africa — Forever (pt 1). Key points💸 Stablecoins could be used to enhance both domestic and international payments in Africa💰 Blockchain enables new wealth to be introduced to African citizens🧠 Decentralized organizations and reversing Africa’s brain drain 🌍 Bitcoin has already highlighted the potential for blockchain’s wider application across the continent ✊🏿 Blockchain can be used to take back ownership of African culture 🎹 Blockchain will change ownership structures and revolutionize the creative industry in Africa as well as the financial Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

Deep tech and hard science ventures are not something typically associated with Africa. However, pioneering founders and investors are starting to create and fund companies in AI, quantum computing, genomics, and other verticals traditionally found in the US and Europe. In today’s episode, we spoke with Managing Director Osayi Igharo of Ripple VC about his deep tech investment focus in Africa, what he looks for when investing in this area, and his thoughts on the development of advanced technology in Africa. Key points in the episode:🚀 Propelling Africa to the forefront of the global tech sector💸 Funding startups outside of fintech, and what to look for in founders💪 The resiliency and tenacity of African entrepreneurs🏭 Africa as an extremely attractive location for manufacturers🔎 Finding LPs for African funds🇺🇸 Funding African startups as a Silicon Valley investor🧬  Africa getting a seat at the table at deep tech and the importance of African contribution to the pool of knowledge in genomics If you are a founder in the deep tech space or are looking to get involved in the space as an investor, please feel free to reach out to Osayi through LinkedIn or Twitter.Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com

Africa and data have not always had the best of relationships. From incomplete public data sets to siloed business insights, good quality data had been hard to come by across the continent.In today’s episode, we speak with Preston Timeyin Ideh, Co-Founder and CEO of Stears, a venture-backed, digital information company dedicated to making it easy for anyone, anywhere in the world, to access high-quality information on Africa.In the episode we cover:👎 The current lack of data in Africa and the impact on business🏠 The importance of localized data🕵️‍♂️ Identifying what data is helpful for businesses📈 Increasing access to data sets for enterprise 💵 The role data plays in optimizing capital allocation and strategy execution🌟 The synthesis of big data in Africa Stears is pursuing Keep up to date with innovations, tech trends, and entrepreneurs in Africa by subscribing to Digital Africa. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit digitalafrica.substack.com