Young African Entrepreneur

019: Digitizing Africa’s Investment Ecosystem with Will Hunnam & Lanre Oloniniyi

Will Hunnam and Lanre Oloniniyi are the co-founders of Orbitt Capital. You can connect with them @OrbittCapital on Twitter. Close friends since business school, Will and Lanre were well-seasoned Africa private equity professionals. For years, they crisscrossed the continent in search of great companies looking for capital from global investors. But, this matchmaking process was fraught with difficulties and inefficiencies. On occasion, they’d work on a transaction, which was on the verge of closing — only for the investor to walk away at the last minute. Or they noticed that the company didn’t interest the investor due to sector, geography, etc. The old-fashioned way of deal origination just wasn’t cutting it. Frustrated, they brainstormed how it could be done better — and the idea for Orbitt was born. Orbitt gathers all the players in Africa’s investment ecosystem onto a single platform, instantly connecting the buy-side (investors) with the sell-side (companies) as well as invaluable intermediaries, like brokers, corporate finance professionals and lawers. With Orbitt, Will and Lanre have expanded beyond private equity into private debt and trade finance — which is in hot demand among African commodity exporters. Will and Lanre speak candidly about the “penny-drop moment” when refining their business model for Orbitt, why VC is a noisy space within the African ecosystem, and what excites their investors in Africa at the moment. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Will Hunnam and Lanre Oloniniyi.

018: Turning Safe Sex into a Business in Nigeria with Florida Uzoaru

Florida Uzoaru is the founder/CEO of Slide Safe, Nigeria’s first STI self-testing kit delivery service. You can connect with her @dasexlady on Facebook and @slidesafeng on Twitter and Instagram. You can also find her on LinkedIn @Florida Uzoaru. Despite coming from a commercially minded Nigerian family, Florida grew up hating sales. For her, it was like begging. In her 20s, she entered the public health profession and became passionate about promoting safe sex in Nigeria. While Nigeria has one of the world’ highest rates of HIV infection, only 10% of the population actually gets tested. Frustrated with the approach of NGOs, which failed to tackle the problem on the ground, she came up with the idea for Slide Safe –an online service that delivers self-testing kits for HIV, hepatitis B, and other sexually transmitted infections as well as contraceptives. But, she was reluctant to publicly promote her business. She thought she could be a behind-the-scene founder. After all, she grew up hating sales. But, she finally told herself to “stop running away” from taking on a public role as founder of Slide Safe. Since then, Florida has become a fierce and vocal advocate of her business and adopting safe sex practices in Nigeria. Florida speaks candidly about her many pivots during her entrepreneurial journey as well as the difficulties she faced while refining the messaging of Slide Safe. (Its original name was Sex in a Box but that didn’t go down well in conservative Nigeria.) She also talks about her experiences at the CC Hub and Tony Elumelu accelerator programs, the nuanced challenges of being a female entrepreneur, and why subscription services just don’t work in Nigeria. Without further do, here’s my conversation with Florida Uzoaru.

017: Henri Nyakarundi -- Powering Your Social Impact Business with Multiple Income Streams

Today’s guest is Henri Nyakarundi, the CEO of ARED Group. You can connect with him @henrinyakarundi on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram and at his website www.henrinyakarundi.com. Henri grew up in Burundi to Rwandese parents. A self-described indifferent and rebellious student, he was expelled twice from high school. Henri only stumbled upon the world of entrepreneurship after he moved to the US for university. He launched several businesses which all failed before he set up a successful trucking business. But, burnt out from the trucking business and reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, Henri packed his bags and returned to Africa. He moved to Rwanda to test the market for a solar-powered kiosk which would be used for charging phones and became the core product of ARED Group. The kiosk was a hit and has gone through multiple iterations to adapt to it bottom of the pyramid customer base. ARED Group sells multiple services on its kiosks, providing Internet connectivity, collecting data for NGO and corporate partners, in addition to offering its mainstay service of phone charging. Because as Henri stresses in our conversation, when you’re targeting customers with limited disposable income, you need multiple revenue streams. ARED Group has won the Siemens Empowerment Award, Africa Forum 100 Innovation for Sustainable Development Award, and the SEIF Social Entrepreneurship Award. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Henri who is a charismatic thought leader in developing social impact business for bottom of the pyramid customers. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Henri Nyakarundi.

016: Samuel Gikandi – The CEO of Africa’s Leading Mobile Solutions Company Africa’s Talking

Sam Gikandi is the CEO and co-founder of Africa’s Talking, a pan-African mobile technology company empowering developers across the continent. Prior to Africa’s Talking, Sam worked for Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, in the US and Hong Kong. In the Asia office, he helped build the high frequency trading platform and led a team trading hundreds of millions of dollars per day. In 2010, intrigued by the burgeoning tech scene in his home country of Kenya, he set up with a co-founder Africa’s Talking. While it started as a side hustle, two years later, Sam took on a full-time COO/CTO role in the company, developing the software developer-facing part of the business. As demand for business APIs in Kenya exploded with the strong growth of tech startups and mobile money payment solutions, Africa’s Talking software developer business took off. The company turned profitable after only 1 year of operations. Africa’s Talking helps the growing software developer community across the continent integrate into the telecoms infrastructure by simplifying the required processes and technologies. It offers APIs for short codes, payments, and communications, including bulk SMS, USSD, and voice. Africa’s Talking is in seven African markets with its hub based in Nairobi, Kenya. Last April, Sam and his team closed a $8.6mn fundraising round that was led by the IFC’s venture capital arm which Africa’s Talking will use to further its expansion, especially into Francophone West Africa. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Sam who’s a real thought leader in Africa’s tech space. Make sure you listen to our entire chat. He explains why he’s bullish on Ethiopia, why capital is overrated in the early stages of a startup, and why he advocates sharpening your toolkit before diving headfirst into entrepreneurship. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Sam Gikandi.

015: Gregory Rockson – At the Forefront of Africa’s Digital Healthcare Sector

Gregory Rockson is the founder and CEO of mPharma, a digital healthcare company present in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. You can connect with him @Rockson2 and @mPharmaHealth on Twitter. MPharma is a digital healthcare company that is helping Africans access high-quality medications. When Greg left for the US to study at university, he wanted to be a doctor. But he quickly realized that he could have a greater impact by studying the business of healthcare on the continent. How often have you gone to a pharmacy which didn’t have the drug that you needed? It’s a problem that is common across the continent and has a devastating impact on Africans, especially those who have illnesses requiring regular treatment, like diabetes, cancer or heart disease. Greg wanted to tackle this problem. Hence, mPharma was born. He built an e-prescription platform that would allow seamless communication between doctors and pharmacies so that patients could get their drugs on time. But he realized that this was the tip of the iceberg. The bigger issue was that Africans can’t afford drugs due to high costs. High quality drugs are expensive. What is mPharma bought the drugs, using its purchasing power to negotiate better prices from the pharmaceutical manufacturers? Partnering pharmacies could then buy the drugs on consignment, drastically lowering costs for consumers. Greg has taken it a step further, developing a product that allows consumers to buy drugs in installments. I love mPharma, which is incredibly innovative and driving real change in Africa’s healthcare sector. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Greg Rockson.

014: Neil Gordon: Disrupting Côte d’Ivoire’s Cocoa Sector with Blockchain

Neil Gordon is the founder and CEO of Global Agricultural Exchange (GAEX). You can connect with him @gaexcocoa on Twitter. GAEX is a Blockchain-enabled platform that provides liquidity to cocoa farmers in West Africa. Neil is a former bank having worked at JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and KPMG. Neil is probably one of the most ambitious people I’ve met in a while. His goal to disrupt the Ivorian cocoa sector is a breathe of fresh air. It’s uplifting to meet someone who isn’t scared of dreaming big and masters the mechanics of how it’d work. Cynics — and the cocoa sector has a few — might say it’s pie in the sky. But, this is the wrong attitude. I survived a year and a half trading cocoa and I know that the sector does not lend itself to innovation. But, as margins for commodity traders get whittled down, traders need to boost efficiencies, which Blockchain can provide. However, Cote d’Ivoire’s cocoa sector is known for its problematic supply chain. Whether right or wrong, it is synonymous with child labor and rampant deforestation, which has made chocolate companies more vigilant about their supply chains. All of this to say that a Blockchain-enabled solution that could solve the trust issue that plagues cocoa trading is much needed. Neil also had great actionable advice for dealing with VC investors, especially for startup founders of color. Make sure to check out the show notes for all his tips. If you’re interested in finance, trading, or curious about Blockchain, which Neil helps to demystify, this is the episode for you. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Neil Gordon.

013: Top 10 Tips for Cultivating an Entrepreneur Mindset

Today’s episode is going to be a different from my usual long-form interview with an African entrepreneur. Today is a special “best of” episode where I’m going to highlight the top ten tips, advice, hacks for cultivating an entrepreneur mindset. Since the podcast launched, I’ve interviewed a dozen amazing entrepreneurs with thriving businesses in Africa. They’ve candidly shared advice, tips, and insights into how they persevere in the face of challenges. What’s remarkable is that all of these entrepreneurs share a common mindset that has been critical to their success. As renowned entrepreneur Tony Robbins said, success as an entrepreneur is 20% skills and 80% psychology, or mindset. You have to develop the right psychology to handle the emotional rollercoaster of being an African entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur anywhere is tough, but I’d argue that being an entrepreneur in Africa is even more difficult. When I looked through my notes from past episodes, it was incredible to see the similarities of these entrepreneurs. Whatever the subject was – whether it be networking, finding an idea for your business, or dealing with inevitable failure – these entrepreneurs had similar opinions and approaches. I thought it would be helpful to pick the top ten tips on cultivating an entrepreneur mindset from our past guests. I’m constantly pushing myself to experiment with the podcast because I want to make the best content for you, the YAE listener. Since I’m exploring with a new format, I’d love to get your feedback. Send me an email at victoria@yaepodcast.com or reach out on Twitter, @tori_crandall. Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Tips on Cultivating an Entrepreneur Mindset

012: How to Embrace Failure with Wiza Jalakasi

Wiza Jalakasi is a serial entrepreneur and current head of international expansion at Africa is Talking. You can connect with him @wizaj on Twitter and via his website http://wiza.jalaka.si. By 16, Wiza had already founded his company, Mwtunes, an online music distribution platform that was ahead of its time in his home country of Malawi. At university in Nairobi, he and his cofounder set up Djuaji, Research, a market research company that paid survey participants via mobile money. It held a lot of promise. It was innovative, cost effective, and accurate. Early on, Djuaji raised seed capital from Savannah Fund and participated in its elite accelerator program. It all seemed to be going well. Until it wasn’t. Wiza and his cofounder were running out of cash and they weren’t close to figuring out how to make the business viable. He made a tough choice: He resigned and returned to Malawi. Shortly thereafter, he spoke with Sam Gikandi, founder of Africa is Talking, an API developer, who offered him a job to set up the Malawi office. Wiza had some reservations about working for someone else, but he quickly overcame those doubts and has never looked back. Africa is Talking recently raised $8.6mn for its expansion into new markets, including Cote d’Ivoire, which Wiza will be spearheading. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Wiza. He’s extremely eloquent and a fount of knowledge about the emotional roller coaster of being a young African tech entrepreneur. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Wiza Jalakasi.

011: Erik Hersman on the iHub's Secret Sauce

Technologist. Blogger. TED fellow. Serial Entrepreneur. Passionate advocate and patron of Africa’s tech startups. Erik Hersman is a well-known elder of Kenya’s tech scene, having helped to found some of Kenya’s leading tech companies and ecosystem institutions. In response to the outbreak of post electoral violence in Kenya in 2008, he set up with three other co-founders Ushahidi, a crowdsourcing mapping tool deployed in crisis situations. In 2010, he founded the iHub, Nairobi’s innovation hub, which is the nexus for Kenya’s entrepreneurs, hackers, designers, researchers and investors. In 2014, he helped to set up BRCK, a manufacturer of a rugged Internet router for Africa and a provider of free Internet via its Moja service. He spends most of his time at BRCK these days where he’s CEO. He also helped to found Gearbox, a hub for hardware development, and is a principal at Savannah Fund, an African venture capital fund. He is the founder of the influential Africa technology blogs, The White African, and Afrigadget. Erik is also a Senior Ted Fellow and Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow. You can connect with Erik at @White_African on Twitter.

010: Top #5 Reflections on Podcasting for an African Audience

This episode is a slight departure from my normal YAE interview show. Episode 010 feels like a mini milestone. Young African Entrepreneur has been live for six weeks, but I’ve been preparing this show for six months! And, I thought it would be interesting to share some reflections on my podcasting journey, especially the difficulties of creating an Africa-focused podcast for an African audience. Podcasting is an exciting medium that has taken off in the US and Europe. But, Africans are new to the world of podcasting, which poses its own special challenges to marketing and distribution. Don't miss the show notes at: