In 2012 Lexi Novitske moved to Nigeria from The United States. Lexi worked for Verod Capital Management, a Nigeria-based private equity firm. Prior to joining Verod, she had spent her career developing an expertise in financial services through her time at New York-based Sandler O’Neill Asset Management. In 2014, Lexi joined Singularity Investments as the Principal Investment Officer where she oversees the firm’s operations in Africa. In this episode you’ll learn: Why Lexi decided to move to Afr...
Nov 26, 2018•52 min•Season 3Ep. 58
Frederik Obasi is the co-founder of Hypebuzz, a platform that connects top-tier influencers with businesses looking to build their brand and expand their reach. Frederik is also the co-founder and MD of Colour Me Digital, an African sports and entertainment marketing agency that has worked with notable Nigerian football players including Alex Iwobi, Ola Aina, Ademola Lookman; and brands including LG Electronics and DStv. A serial entrepreneur, he also ran a business called UniSmart, a university...
Nov 19, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 57
Dr Joe Abah trained as a barrister in Nigeria. Afterwards, he gained extensive experience in the governance sector, working on public sector reform programs for the U.K. Prime Minister’s Office. He has spent more than 10 years managing governance programs in Nigeria for the U.K. Department for International Development, including on the DAI-led State Partnership for Accountability Responsiveness and Capability project. From 2013 to 2017, Joe took a post with the Government of Nigeria as Head of ...
Nov 12, 2018•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 56
Akin Oyebode is the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF). The fund was established to provide financial support to residents of Lagos State, for job, wealth creation and to tackle unemployment. Established in 2016, the fund seeks to invest N25 billion over four years. Though he began his career as a Research Assistant at the Lagos Business School, Akin has an extensive record of working in the Nigerian banking industry. Before his appointment, he was the head of SME ban...
Nov 05, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 55
Obinna Okwodu is the founder and CEO of Fibre.ng, a real estate company looking to provide middle-income tenants the option to pay monthly for rented properties. Renting real estate in Lagos is a lot of hassle especially for the demand side. Landlords would typically demand 2 years rent upfront. Fibre set out to solve this problem and is growing fast in Lagos. Obinna who is an MIT graduate and ex-Morgan Stanley Investment Bank analyst has been listed as Forbes as one of the most promising young ...
Oct 29, 2018•47 min•Season 3Ep. 54
Uche Ofodile is the CEO of MTN Liberia. Uche has extensive expertise in building businesses in emerging markets. Before her role in Liberia, she was the CMO of Vodafone Ghana. In this position, she was instrumental in the transformation of Vodafone Ghana from a struggling business, with deteriorating market share, into the country’s #2 telecommunications provider. Uche is somebody you can call a fixer. Uche was recruited to serve as CEO of Tigo DRC and transform the business. In 18 months, she r...
Oct 22, 2018•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 53
Tonje Bakang is the Founder and CEO of Afrostream. Afrostream is Afrostream is subscription video on demand (SVOD) which provides millions of fans with unlimited access to Afro-American and African movies and TV series. In 2017, Tonje penned an open letter announcing the closure of the business. The service closed in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and in 24 African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Togo. This...
Oct 15, 2018•32 min•Season 3Ep. 52
Tonje Bakang is the Founder and CEO of Afrostream. Afrostream is Afrostream is subscription video on demand (SVOD) which provides millions of fans with unlimited access to Afro-American and African movies and TV series. In 2017, Tonje penned an open letter announcing the closure of the business. The service closed in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and in 24 African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Togo. This...
Oct 08, 2018•30 min•Season 3Ep. 51
Jason Njoku is the co-founder at IrokoTv, a web platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand. It is one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie streaming websites, giving instant access to over 5,000 Nollywood film titles. Jason is who you can refer to as a serial entrepreneur. With several failed businesses under his belt, he went ahead to create what is largely regarded as the “Netflix of Africa” Jason founded IrokoTv alongside his friend and then flatmate, Bastian Gotter. See Ba...
Oct 01, 2018•38 min•Season 3Ep. 50
Jason Njoku is the co-founder at IrokoTv, a web platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand. It is one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie streaming websites, giving instant access to over 5,000 Nollywood film titles. Jason is who you can refer to as a serial entrepreneur. With several failed businesses under his belt, he went ahead to create what is largely regarded as the “Netflix of Africa” Jason founded IrokoTv alongside his friend and then flatmate, Bastian Gotter. See Ba...
Sep 24, 2018•45 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Bastian Gotter is the co-founder of Iroko TV, one of the earliest, most successful and largest video on demand platform for Nigerian movies. Bastian founded the business alongside with his university flat-mate, Jason Njoku, who is the CEO of the company, and a later guest in this show. This is not Bastian and Jason Njoku’s first project together. In mid-2010, Bastian invested in several businesses that Jason was running in Manchester, England, many of which failed. But they stuck together as par...
Sep 17, 2018•45 min•Season 3Ep. 48
Bastian Gotter is the co-founder of Iroko TV, one of the earliest, most successful and largest video on demand platform for Nigerian movies. Bastian founded the business alongside with his university flat-mate, Jason Njoku, who is the CEO of the company, and a later guest in this show. This is not Bastian and Jason Njoku’s first project together. In mid-2010, Bastian invested in several businesses that Jason was running in Manchester, England, many of which failed. But they stuck together as par...
Sep 10, 2018•42 min•Season 3Ep. 47
Telling the African story is not new. For a very long time, Africans have expressed the narrative of their culture, beliefs, fears and exploits using stories passed from one generation to the next. Through oral traditions and accounts of eyewitnesses, we know about the riches of Mansa Musa, the exploits of Sango, the majesty of Nefertiti, and the conquests of Shaka Zulu. What has changed is the medium through which these stories are told. In this season I will be chronicling part of that story. ...
Sep 03, 2018•10 min
Its been a great pleasure to do this. To have conversations with interesting, smart and awesome people who are shaping the future of Africa. This show has been one of the most exciting things I’ve done as an entrepreneur. It’s fun and I get to learn from a lot of people. We’ve now come to the end of season 2. And I want to take this time to reflect on some of the lessons I learned in the conversations I’ve had. I will be touching on 4 of them. These not all the lessons learned in this season, it...
Jun 21, 2018•11 min
Prince Kwame Agbata is the co-founder of Coliba, It is an early stage waste management platform that leverages on SMS to help users separate their waste, schedule and request a pickup and get waste picked at the comfort of users home. Coliba pays the user for the waste generated. Prince is a first class graduate of Information Technology, being the only member of his family to have completed university, his initial goal was to end up working for Google Ghana. As fate would have it, things change...
Jun 11, 2018•28 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Timothy Kotin is the co-founder of SuperFluid, a data solution platform helping businesses to harness untapped potential through predictive data analytics, business intelligence and dynamic customer insights leveraging both traditional and alternative data sources. Timothy grew up in Tamale, Ghana and had to flee along with his family as a child due to ethnic violence and unrest in the 90s. Kotin holds an MPhil. in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge and a B....
Jun 04, 2018•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 45
Seun Onigbinde is the co-founder of BudgIT, a non-governmental organization that helps citizens access and understand public budgets. BudgIT breaks down the national budget in simplistic charts, and track contracts and projects the government are working on. This is a classic case of doing good with tech. In 2012, he was awarded the Future Awards prize for Science and Tech Innovation. In 2014, the Omidyar Network invested $400,000 in BudgIT, In January 2017, BudgIT raised an additional $3 millio...
May 29, 2018•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Opeyemi Awoyemi is a tech entrepreneur with 10 years experience in internet startup business development. He has founded and managed three technology startups including WhoGoHost, a web solutions company. He is also the co-founder of Jobberman. Jobberman is Nigeria’s largest job search portal with over one million job seekers and 10,000 companies registered. Jobberman’s mission is to solve the unemployment problem in Nigeria. Opeyemi Awoyemi calls himself an ‘unrepentant entrepreneur’ and is ent...
May 21, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 43
This was a live podcast with an audience Nasir Yammama is the founder of Verdant, an agritech platform that aims at providing agricultural data science, market information, managerial support, and access to financial services to rural farmers for improved food production using mobile phones. Verdant though a simple low-cost technology, is solving one of the biggest challenges and transforming Nigeria’s agriculture sector. Verdant is working with Oxfam and GIZ to help 25,000 farmers double or tri...
May 13, 2018•49 min•Season 2Ep. 42
This was a live podcast with an audience Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, in the UK in May 2010 She is currently the director of Book Buzz Foundation, Nigeria- a non-governmental organisation whose main aims are promoting literacy through the creation of reading programmes for children and developing reading spaces. The foundation also organises the Ake Arts and Book Festival, an annual literary, cultural and arts ev...
May 08, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Onyeka Akumah is the CEO and co-founder of Farmcrowdy, an agric-tech platform. Farmcrowdy gives Nigerians the opportunity to participate in Agriculture by connecting farm sponsors with real farmers for the purpose of producing high-quality farm produce. Onyeka returned to Nigeria from India in 2016 and has since then worked with business like Konga, Wakanow, Jumia and Deloitte before going ahead to start his first business, QuickGist. Though QuickGist did not work out, Farmcrowdy is doing phenom...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 37 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Akin Alabi is the founder of Nairabet, an online sports betting platform. Akin grew up with the hopes of being rich. According to him, he wasn’t too particular about his profession as long as it was legal and it made him rich. He started his career by selling ebooks, CDSs, audio tapes and manuals. In 2009, he launched Nairabet. Last year, he launched his book...Small Business, Big Money. A book that teaches how to start, grow and turn a small business into a “cash generating machine.” Akin is th...
Apr 23, 2018•1 hr 28 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Erik Osiakwan is an entrepreneur and an investor with 15 years of ICT industry leadership. He is the manager partner in Chanzo Capital, a growth capital firm investing in Africa’s digital economy. Erik is a consultant for the world bank. He has worked in 32 African countries setting up high-tech startups He serves on the board of Farmerline, Forhey, Teranga Solutions, Siqueries, Amp.it, SameLogic, eCampus, Bisa App, SeeSayDo and Wanjo Foods, - some of which are his investments. Erik describes hi...
Apr 14, 2018•37 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Adeyinka Adewale is the co-founder and CEO of Kudi.ai, a financial service provider that allows you pay people and businesses over messaging interfaces like Messenger, Skype ,Slack and Telegram. He is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University. Kudi.ai is not Yinka’s first foray into running a business, he was the co-founder and CEO of Sanwo Touch2pay, which started out as a payment platform for universities in Nigeria. In 2014, he also co-founded clinicfy , a cloud based financial software for ho...
Apr 09, 2018•57 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Raphael Afaedor is the CEO and co-founder of Supermart, an online store for groceries and basic home amenities. Raphael describes himself as a pan-african entrepreneur. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and a former CEO at Jumia. Raphael was a co-founder and co-CEO of Jumia and he set up Supermart shortly after he resigned. Supermart.ng is an online grocery delivery service that partners with local stores to upload their inventory online and deliver everyday items to customers. Sup...
Apr 01, 2018•59 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Fikayo Ogundipe is the CEO and cofounder of ToLet, a real estate company he founded with his friends while in the university. ToLet is a web-based platform for property, rentals and sales. The founders all made a monthly contribution of N20,000 to start the business. Interestingly, they had to hit the ground running as there was a competitor they needed to beat to the market. Starting out involved a lot of ground work such as reaching out and getting landlords/agents listed on their platform. In...
Mar 26, 2018•57 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Franz Struwig is the cofounder of iKubu, Franz started out as a lover of technology before going on to study Computer Engineering at the University of Pretoria. He is a lover of technology, business and people. He started with advising, consultancy, building products for others. Looking for interesting solutions to problems was the bane of the company. A totally random cycling day happened to give birth to a whole idea of helping cyclers prevent accidents. Over time they developed their product ...
Mar 18, 2018•57 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Trevor Kimenye is the CEO of Ongair, a web based social CRM tool that enables businesses to interact and communicate with their customers on popular Instant messaging platforms from a single dashboard. This is a global solution built in Africa. Businesses, regardless of where they are stationed need to communicate with their customers. This is what Trevor and his team make happen. The journey of Ongair is one that businesses should monitor and study closely, as it is one of the most successful w...
Mar 12, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Rasaq Ahmed is the co-founder and CEO of CowryWise, an automated savings platform. CowryWise aims to make savings worthwhile for everyone by making it simple to do and highly rewarding. Rasaq has one of the most interesting stories in the Nigerian ecosystem. His family narrowly escaped death while they were living in the northern part of Nigeria. They relocated to the south and that gave him the opportunity to attend the university - something he probably wouldn’t have done if he had stayed in t...
Mar 05, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Adia Sowho was the Head of Digital Media and Director of Digital Business at Etisalat Nigeria. She started her career as an engineer with United States Cellular, a CDMA operator in the US. She obtained her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. After a stint at Deloitte Consulting, she returned home to Nigeria. Adia’s story is one that resonates with Nigerians who have spent a long time abroad and have returned home.
Feb 26, 2018•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 31
