Founders

A collection of 28 posts

Fintech

The Trajectory Africa Distilled #02: Infrastructure-building Opportunities in Fintech

Trade credit, stablecoins, neobanks — where the smart money is heading next.

This Is Connectivity

OP-ED - Self-driving VC: Boardy, QuantumLight, and the end of the warm intro?

AI is automating the art of the warm introduction. What happens when connectivity becomes a product rather than a relationship?

Venture Capital

The Trajectory Africa Distilled #01: The Limits of Digitalisation in African Markets

In the opening instalment of her seven-part email series, Tayo Akinyemi explores why African fintech companies opt to build physical infrastructure to enable digital solutions - and identifies five opportunities emerging from this constraint.

Market Intelligence

OP-ED - What do SAG Ventures and Balloon Ventures have in common? The intermediary trap

Prince Nwadeyi's published research and Joshua Bicknell's operational experience expose the same problem: entrenched incentive structures don't serve those closest to real economic activity.

Startups

POD - Prince Nwadeyi on building financial services solutions corporates commission but won't execute themselves

Prince Nwadeyi unpacks how aligning incentives across value chains turns corporate muscle and founder execution into profitable innovation, and why Mustard Finance Group's reported 99.9% repayment rate proves the model works.

Fintech

POD - April Long on why chasing 'impact' almost killed her fintech whilst bulk traders quietly transformed Africa-China trade

Pyxis CEO April Long reveals how her obsession with serving SMEs blinded her to the aggregators actually moving $286 billion in trade - and why accepting this reality saved her venture.

Market Intelligence

OP-ED - Who controls the narrative? First-party data, truth and power in Africa’s digital economy

As powerful actors spin persuasive stories, the challenge is documenting reality with first-party evidence, resisting myths, and shaping narratives that serve more than self-interest.

Fintech

OP-ED - The education of April Long: a Chinese entrepreneur's humbling lessons building for Africa's $286 billion trade gap

After a decade in East Africa, fintech founder April Long reflects on the tough pivots, misread assumptions, and modest wins behind building Pyxis for Africa-China trade.

Market Intelligence

POD - Bridging Africa and Tokyo, Bernard Laurendeau explains why Africa needs strategic global partnerships over patient capital

Bernard Laurendeau argues that telling investors to "think long-term" about Africa is the wrong message. The managing partner at Laurendeau & Associates shares how he's building bridges between Japanese corporations and African markets from his new base in Tokyo.

Career

POD - From Maputo to Shopify and why Guidione Machava says 'African Designer' is a career-limiting label

Guidione Machava argues that leading with geographic identity in a global market can unconsciously devalue your talent. He shares how he's built a cross-continental product design career, from founding Mozambique’s top dev community to working at Shopify and 23point5.

Sona's Field Notes

Sona's Field Notes #04: Strong Founder or Wrong Founder?

After three Field Notes on external challenges, Sona Mahendra turns inward: exploring founder archetypes, market timing, and the uncomfortable truth about what constitutes winning.

Fintech

POD - Inside Verto's fintech strategy for cracking Africa's $286 billion trade puzzle

Ola Oyetayo shares how Verto is tackling cross-border payment challenges, exploring stablecoin potential, and scaling a profitable fintech serving businesses across key African markets.

Ecosystem

OP-ED - Alesimo Mwanga on why strategic partnerships are the secret to scaling African innovation beyond funding

Ecosystem strategist Alesimo Mwanga explains how strategic partnerships unlock cross-border venture growth where funding alone falls short.

Venture Building

POD - Funema's vision for venture building, AI and scaling impact in Africa

David Ogundeko unpacks Funema's contrarian venture development philosophy, long-term investment sensibilities, and lessons from nearly a decade of building startups in Nigeria, South Africa, and the US.

Venture Building

Sona's Field Notes #03: Principles Over Playbooks

Sona Mahendra challenges the African tech ecosystem's reliance on startup playbooks and frameworks, arguing instead for first principles approaches to venture building.

Venture Capital

OP-ED - Why ‘venture capital’ in Africa is a misnomer, and what to do about it

Africa’s startup funding landscape is often mislabelled as venture capital, but the reality is starkly different. It’s time for honest, context-driven investment models that truly fit.

Venture Building

Sona's Field Notes #02: The Market Size Misconception

Sona Mahendra unpacks the pervasive founder habit of prematurely abandoning promising ideas due to perceived market size limitations.

Ecosystem

OP-ED - Edge of the matrix: Bankole Oluwafemi on levelling up in a world of unequal passport access

For Nigerians, global mobility isn't just travel—it's a game rigged at birth. "Full-stack creative" and TechCabal founder Bankole Oluwafemi reveals how to hack the system and rewrite your sovereignty stats.

This Is Connectivity

POD - From Meta to independent media: Fatu Ogwuche on personality-driven journalism and creative storytelling

Fatu Ogwuche, founder and CEO of Big Tech This Week, joins Andile Masuku on the African Tech Roundup podcast to share her journey from big tech to independent media, offering insights on research-driven storytelling, audience engagement, and the future of African tech journalism.

Founders

OP-ED - African logistics reality check: Gugulethu Siso shares hard-earned insights on avoiding startup failure

Thumeza founder Gugulethu Siso reveals the brutal survival cycle of African logistics startups and shares practical wisdom for navigating relationship-driven markets where technology alone cannot ensure success.

Artificial Intelligence

OP-ED - Meta’s AI strategy: smart investment or reckless high-stakes gamble?

Following the Meta-verse misfire, will Meta’s AI ambitions prove to be a masterstroke or another costly detour? Tinashe Mukogo slides the abacus beads and analyses what they mean for Africa.

Venture Building

Sona's Field Notes #01: The VC Question That Won't Let Founders in Africa Rest

In the opening installment of her four-part email capsule series, venture builder-turned-founder Sona Mahendra confronts a common VC question African founders dread.

This Is Connectivity

OP-ED - New rules of influence: Ikpeme Neto on leveraging public persona for startup success

Doctor-turned-founder Ikpeme Neto is building Wellahealth with substance over hype. His journey highlights the power of strategic visibility, public engagement, and sustainable execution in digital healthcare.

Media

POD - Tinashe Mukogo of Money & Moves on building independent media that balances commercial success and public interest

Former Deloitte consultant and Siemens executive, Tinashe Mukogo, discusses how his professional experience and corporate background are shaping his live, real-time approach to building a sustainable, independent financial media property.

Startups

OP-ED - AI and the rise of the tech solopreneur: hype or reality?

AI’s efficiency revolution is reshaping tech entrepreneurship. From US insurtech Jerry’s profit flip to Postman’s automated API tools, Africa’s solopreneurs could thrive with lean, AI-driven models over capital-intensive scaling.