Venture Building OP-ED - Are founders and funders on the same page? Notes from an unreleased PawaPay conversation. Hindsight from someone who watched 88mph's death rate from the inside. Fundamentals focus from someone who has held PawaPay back from the fintech funding boom.
Fintech The Trajectory Africa Distilled #03: The Infrastructure Behind Productive Lending Open banking regulation, fragmented data, and punishing cash reserve ratios explain why creditworthy borrowers and affordable capital so rarely find each other in African markets.
Market Intelligence OP-ED - What really happens between "send" and "received" A Nigerian software engineer on currency volatility, rate buffers, and why transparency beats the "zero fees" promise every time.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - AI in Africa's context gap: a PwC partner, a Wits researcher, and a Ghanaian founder walk into the same problem A PwC partner says African organisations' AI tools are 'pretty useless' without clean data. A Wits computer scientist explains why. And a Ghanaian AI founder is betting he can close the gap. Part 2 of 2
Digital Transformation OP-ED - What good navigation looks like: no machine sails itself From Block's standing ovation to Monday.com's manifesto to a South African consultancy that started with the social system, Part 3 asks what good AI navigation actually looks like when you prioritise the human element and demand results over rhetoric.
Fintech POD - Seyi Ebenezer on why African startups should stop chasing cheques and start building books Payaza's co-founder and CEO Seyi Ebenezer makes the case for debt over venture capital, explains why credit ratings are the ultimate negotiating weapon for African founders, and passionately advances the idea of a pan-African credit rating agency built by the continent, for the continent.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - Cue ominous film score: is the AI agent apocalypse upon us? Last week, an AI startup watched its entire value proposition ship as a native feature. This is the story of what that moment reveals — and what some are betting it doesn't.
Venture Capital OP-ED - Cupid's cash flow: the matchmakers have marriage problems too When venture capitalists push portfolio consolidation, they're not just playing cupid. They're managing their own performance pressure.
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 (rebranded Waka) 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 (rebranded Waka) 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.
