This is Part 1 of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on what distinguishes different types of blockchains from each other. Seasoned Kenyan blockchain developer and Web 3 venture builder Jordan Muthemba shares insights on this series. Jordan is a full-stack developer with over five years experience in Kenya's buzzy IT scene. He is currently serving as a smart contract developer and Web3 project advisor on a handful of projects for the likes of Canza Finance, SendVillage and Ubrica. He is also an ...
Jul 11, 2022•13 min
This special piece of podcast storytelling offers a compelling glimpse into the heart and mind of one of Africa's most gifted multi-hyphenate technological innovators, Babusi Nyoni. Babusi is a Zimbabwean creative technologist, social entrepreneur and gqom producer with an extraordinary personal story. He is a self-taught tech pro whose project credits include creating what Forbes magazine described as “the world’s first AI football commentator” for the UEFA Champions League final (on behalf of ...
Jun 21, 2022•31 min
Standing in for Musa Kalenga on this African Tech Conversations instalment is Andile Masuku, whose day job is serving as Head of Community at Founders Factory Africa (FFA). Andile extends a recent lunch break exchange he had with his FFA colleagues Hope Ditlhakanyane (Head of Venture Sourcing) and Nzwisisa Chidembo (Head of Engineering) at the office. This podcast offers a candid glimpse into the personal blockchain investment and venture building proclivities of two top-drawer African tech indu...
Jun 02, 2022•42 min
This is the final episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on the Blockchain Africa investment opportunity, featuring venture capitalist Hope Ditlhakanyane and venture builder Nzwisisa Chidembo. In their respective roles at hybrid investor, venture builder and accelerator company, Founders Factory Africa (FFA), Hope and Nzwi have recently collaborated to vet the investment worthiness of two African blockchain tech startups, which eventually landed FFA's backing. In this episode, Hope and Nz...
May 03, 2022•12 min
This is the second episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on the Blockchain Africa investment opportunity, featuring the passionate South African venture capitalist Hope Ditlhakanyane and seasoned Zimbabwean venture builder Nzwisisa Chidembo. In their respective roles at hybrid investor, venture builder and accelerator company, Founders Factory Africa, Hope and Nzwi have recently collaborated to facilitate VC investment in two promising African blockchain tech startups. Nzwi was an early ...
Apr 24, 2022•11 min
This is the first episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series dealing with investing in African blockchain tech. And we're stoked because it's the first to feature two voices. The first voice you'll hear is that of Hope Ditlhakanyane. Hope is a venture capital pro helping African tech founders land the resources and support they need to build and scale their startups. Hope is particularly committed to backing woman founders, and to that end, she's an active woman-focussed angel investor. She currently...
Apr 10, 2022•15 min
This throwback bonus episode features a chat with Ray Youssef taped in 2019. Ray is Co-founder and CEO of Paxful, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace he dubbed at the time the "Uber for money" with a mission to “make the poor rich”. (A rambunctious ambition, to be sure.) That year, Ray was one of the speakers at the Blockchain Africa Conference, and we thought it might be handy to reshare this podcast as a reflection cue for deliberations at this year’s virtual instalment of the ...
Mar 17, 2022•56 min
This African Tech Conversations episode features Sonya Kuhnel. In 2014, Sonya co-founded Bitcoin Events, a company that hosts some of South Africa's leading cryptocurrency and blockchain events - not least, the annual Blockchain Africa Conference. Sonya is also the Co-founder at Xago, a startup offering an XRP cryptocurrency exchange, gateway and payment platform built on the Ripple blockchain. In this conversation, Musa Kalenga invites Sonya to leverage her enviable ecosystem vantage point and ...
Mar 16, 2022•45 min
Thinking about starting or joining a DAO? In the last of a three-part share focusing on how DAOs work, Nigerian creator, scientist and knowledge worker Justin Irabor offers a handy take about whether or not you should. OP-ED: How African Digital Currency Innovation Found Roots in a Village by Michael Kimani for Kenyan Wallstreet (kenyanwallstreet.com/sarafu-communi…al-currencies/) EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: While the Celo Community Fund supports this UNAJUA Series, African Tech Roundup maintains comp...
Mar 13, 2022•6 min
Self-taught software developer and serial digital product creator Emmanuel Babalola is Director for Africa at the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance. Emmanuel is also the interim CEO of a social payments app for cash and crypto called Bundle. In this conversation with Musa Kalenga, Emmanuel shares a little bit about his personal Web3 journey to date and outlines Binance's 'Blockchain Africa' aspirations. Editorial Disclaimer: Bitcoin Events is the presenting sponsor of this podcast convers...
Mar 07, 2022•25 min
This is the second of a three-part share explaining how DAOs work. In this episode, Nigerian creator, scientist and knowledge worker Justin Irabor offers pointers on setting up a DAO. OP-ED: How African Digital Currency Innovation Found Roots in a Village by Michael Kimani for Kenyan Wallstreet (kenyanwallstreet.com/sarafu-communi…al-currencies/) EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: While the Celo Community Fund supports this UNAJUA Series, African Tech Roundup maintains complete editorial oversight. Opinions ...
Mar 01, 2022•5 min
This is the first episode of a three-part UNAJUA series that explains how Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) work. Nigerian creator, scientist, and knowledge worker Justin Irabor presents the series. On this podcast, Justin tackles the question, Why DAO? by offering reasons why anyone intent on building valuable things on the Web would do well to lean into the decentralised autonomous organisation trend. Now, the last five years have seen Justin go from being a content writer to wor...
Feb 20, 2022•6 min
In this instalment of African Tech Conversations, Michael Kimani talks Musa Kalenga through his somewhat unlikely personal blockchain journey—a story that begins with a laptop, $600 and repurposed writing skills and leads to the birth of the Blockchain Association of Kenya. Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur based in Nairobi. Michael has advised numerous Africa-focused blockchain projects and is currently co-founder at airtime digital money marketplace, Fon...
Feb 13, 2022•52 min
This is the second episode of the African Creative Business, Today (ACBT) capsule mini-series, which explores in-trench personal and professional realities at the intersection of creativity, business, and technological change. In this podcast, Nigerian visual artist Ayanfe Olarinde talks about how her art journey emanated from personal scribbles grappling with imperfection and a quest for acceptance. In her art, Ayanfe exploits several mediums, including ink, paint, wire, and discarded objects. ...
Feb 06, 2022•32 min
This is the third and final instalment of our three-part Web3-themed UNAJUA series featuring Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur Michael Kimani. On this podcast, Michael will draw on his live industry experience to offer examples of Web3 plays in Africa worth keeping an eye on, and he'll hint at trends in the space that he's backing with his own time, effort and money. Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur based in Nairobi. Michael has...
Jan 30, 2022•13 min
On this UNAJUA podcast, Michael Kimani briefly introduces Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (commonly known as DAOs). He also shares a bit of the emerging trend of building internet businesses designed to share the commercial upside with users, explaining how internet entrepreneurs interested in building Web3 solutions would do well to lean into this dynamic. Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur based in Nairobi. Michael has advised numerous Africa-focus...
Jan 21, 2022•14 min
In this opening episode of an UNAJUA Series focused on demystifying the ‘Web3’ trend and unpacking how it is unfolding within an African context, Michael Kimani offers ‘minimum viable responses’ to pertinent crowdsourced questions. Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur based in Nairobi. Michael has advised numerous Africa-focussed blockchain projects and is currently co-founder at airtime digital money marketplace, Fonbnk, where he spearheads growth for Africa...
Jan 14, 2022•12 min
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen In the third and final episode of this music industry-themed UNAJUA series featuring Yaw Asamani, Yaw takes sets out the pros and pitfalls of music streaming and outlines the potential for smaller artists to enter the orbit of some of the world's biggest musical acts. Yaw reckons that the music industry is the cornerstone of the current global 'creator economy' boom—a trend he expects to expand even further. Yaw Asamani is a music tech entrepreneur. Y...
Nov 09, 2021•12 min
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen The second instalment of this music tech-themed UNAJUA series featuring Yaw Asamani addresses how global streaming platforms aren't necessarily geared towards enabling African artists to cultivate sustainable livelihoods. Yaw also explains how artists might make leverage audience analytics to build and expand their reach. Yaw Asamani is a music tech entrepreneur. Yaw previously founded DooWapp, an app for adding playable song lyrics to messages and po...
Nov 01, 2021•6 min
In this music tech-themed UNAJUA series, Yaw Asamani taps his live industry experience to explore how African artists are using a plethora of social and technological platforms to find their voices, build audiences and monetise their art. Listen in to learn how the streaming era has ushered in lucrative opportunities for African artists to develop and dominate niche audiences and serve loyal international fan bases. Yaw Asamani is a music tech entrepreneur. He previously founded DooWapp, an app ...
Oct 25, 2021•14 min
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen Christiaan Steyn is the head of a new South African insuretech startup called MiWay Blink. In the second episode of this two-part conversation, Christiaan lets us in on developing an insuretech startup during a pandemic and building on the success of its incumbent parent company. MiWay Blink was launched in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the thick of the COVID pandemic. In this instalment, Christiaan taps into the launch of MiWay Blink and how the...
Oct 19, 2021•32 min
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen In the fourth and final instalment of this blockchain-themed UNAJUA series with Citi Group's Ronit Ghose, Ronit explores the philosophical basis for backing the centralisation or decentralisation of global finance. He also tackles the notion of tokenisation and how societal consensus regarding the value of money shapes commerce and culture. Ronit Ghose is the Global Head of Banking, Fintech, and Digital Assets for Citi Global Insights (Citi Group). Ro...
Oct 18, 2021•9 min
Enjoy the first episode of the four-part mini-series African Creative Business, Today (ACBT) capsule mini-series in a slight change of pace. The ACBT series explores in-trench personal and professional realities at the intersection of creativity, business and technological change. In this podcast, self-titled "professional music enthusiast" and live music curator Christine Msibi talks about navigating the post-COVID realities within South Africa's vibrant creative industry. Christine is an arts ...
Oct 15, 2021•17 min
Christiaan Steyn is the head of a new South African insuretech startup called MiWay Blink. In the first episode of this two-part conversation, Christiaan reflects on how the COVID pandemic has delivered growth challenges and opportunities for insurance startups and incumbents alike. MiWay Blink was launched in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the thick of the COVID pandemic. In this instalment, Christiaan offers context-setting insights about the progress of Africa's insurance industry from hi...
Oct 12, 2021•18 min
In this blockchain-themed UNAJUA series instalment, Citi Group's Ronit Ghose talks about how mobile telcos are eagerly peddling digital banking services— disrupting traditional financial corporations in the process. Ronit also explains how blockchain tech is poised to upend mobile payment norms, ushering in a decentralised contract dispensation. Ronit Ghose is the Global Head of Banking, Fintech, and Digital Assets for Citi Global Insights (Citi Group). Ronit is also the lead author of the Citi ...
Oct 11, 2021•10 min
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen In the second episode of this digital money-themed UNAJUA series, Ronit Ghose breaks down the fundamentals of Digital Money 2.0. Listen in to hear Ronit frame terms like cryptocurrency, commercial bank money and electronic money. He also explains why the question of Whose liability is it anyway? is critical to understanding how the global financial status quo is being challenged. Ronit Ghose is the Global Head of Banking, Fintech and Digital Assets fo...
Oct 05, 2021•9 min
This opening episode of a crypto-themed UNAJUA Series featuring Ronit Ghose takes a close look at how blockchain tech is (re)shaping the global financial services industry. In this podcast, Ronit answers the question, "Will blockchain-enabled fintech solutions completely disrupt incumbent financial institutions." He'll speak to some of the most significant geopolitical policy shifts shaping how incumbent financial institutions are thinking about blockchain tech adoption/deployment and cite some ...
Sep 27, 2021•9 min
The final instalment of this UNAJUA series featuring Henry Mascot addresses how insurtech startups are either looking to collaborate with insurance incumbents or choosing to disrupt them. Henry cites noteworthy attributes of innovative startups that have made headlines of late. He also talks about how various 'non-financial' sectors are vying to get in on the tech-enabled insurance distribution game. Henry Mascot is the founder and CEO of Curacel, a Pan-African insurance technology platform that...
Sep 20, 2021•12 min
In this UNAJUA episode, Henry Mascot highlights the untapped gains of Africa's insurance market. Henry suggests how technology might fuel social and economic development and offer insight into how the insurance industry is already proving to be a driver of economic growth. Finally, he touches on three innovative ways that technologies like data analytics and artificial intelligence are currently being used to cover Africa's insurable risks. Henry Mascot is the founder and CEO of Curacel, a Pan-A...
Sep 13, 2021•10 min
This UNAJUA series opener featuring Nigerian insuretech founder Henry Mascot shares in-trench perspectives about Africa' growing insurance industry. Henry offers insights about the dynamics of insurance adoption, elucidating how economic development plays a vital role in its adoption. Listen in to hear why Henry believes Africa's insurance industry is poised for rapid growth. Henry Mascot is the founder and CEO of Curacel, a Pan-African insurance technology platform that uses artificial intellig...
Sep 06, 2021•13 min
