In Episode 56 of the BIG5D Podcast, we talk about venture building with Keshni Morar, the MD-South Africa, Founder Institute. The conversation jumps off from a LinkedIn post Keshni wrote about #Statuptruth in which she laments how too many startup founders fail to appreciate the need to carefully manage the funds they raise from investors. “$1M in funding doesn't make you rich,” Keshni wrote. “It makes you responsible.” Keshni’s post goes on to recount the story of one founder who spent VC money...
Jul 15, 2025•42 min
Episode 55 of the Big5D Podcast once again turns to the May 2025 BigFive Summit in Cape Town for a great conversation about tech and business in Africa. This conversation, recorded at Innovation City Cape Town on 6 May 2025, features a panel on Go to Market Strategies for SMEs led by Summit Co-host Amanda Louw-Bester (Pragmattica Consulting). The panel features three entrepreneurs who have seen it all and can at the very least steer small business founders away from obvious mistakes in the early...
Jul 07, 2025•33 min
Episode 54 of the BIG5D Podcast again turns to the recent BigFive Summit in Cape Town for source material. This episode features a panel discussion of the kinds of support, in addition to capital, that African startups need to be successful -- things like best practice sharing and mentorship, among others. Sharing their views are Lucie Fink, CEO of Thinkroom Consulting; Egla Ntumba of MsFit Ventures, and Thapelo Ntite, Co-founder of Botlhale AI. This discussion originally took place on stage on ...
Jun 18, 2025•41 min
Episode 53 of the Big5D Podcast comes from the recording of an on-stage interview with Loop Co-founder Jamie Wyngaard at the 2025 BigFive Summit in Cape Town. Loop is a South African fintech startup that has digitized payments for African minibus taxi drivers using WhatsApp. Loop's broader ambition is to become a payment solution for emerging markets. Episode 53 of the BIG5D Podcast is supported by The 2025 BigFive Summit Sponsors. The Summit's sponsors were led by Premium Sponsor Absa Group and...
Jun 08, 2025•16 min
Episode 52 of the Big5D Podcast comes from the recording of a Fireside Chat (sans fire) that we recorded with Zachariah George at the 2025 BigFive Summit in Cape Town. Zach is the Managing Partner of Launch Africa Ventures, the Cape Town venture firm that has invested in African startups including Happy Pay, Peach Payments, Kuda Bank, Moove, Gozem, and many others. Zach has a very clear perspective on Africa Tech. He believes there needs to be more funding for tech startups that comes from withi...
May 29, 2025•44 min
This episode of the BIG5D Podcast is presented by Local Knowledge. Episode 51 of the BIG5D Podcast, features a conversation about using the subscription model to help South Africans gain access to automobiles in a non-traditional manner with Tinashe Ruzane, the co-founder and CEO of FlexClub. FlexClub helps South Africans access vehicles when they need them on a pay-as-you-go basis (they partner with major car rental platforms in South Africa). Ruzane, a former Uber executive, explains why car s...
Nov 19, 2024•34 min
This podcast usually talks to guests with a foot on the ground in Africa or the Middle East. For this episode, we make an exception. Neal Polachek is an old colleague who has co-founded Dialog, a business doing groundbreaking research around small business use of AI. Dialog is learning not just how many SMEs are using AI but why and what the outcome is of this usage. The bottom line is no surprise. Time is the SME's most precious resource and AI gives them back an abundance of time. Dialog is cu...
Sep 09, 2024•41 min
Steven Boykey Sidely is a professor, author, and investor with strongly held views on the threats and opportunities presented by AI. This candid and engaging conversation spans AI safety, the AI opportunity for startups, and AI's geopolitical implications. It is a fascinating conversation that you will not want to miss.
Aug 13, 2024•38 min
This week's guest on the BIG5D Podcast is Houssam Kayal, the chief revenue officer at FOO, a Dubai-based B2B SaaS company that offers banking-as-a-service and other solutions that help corporations offer financial services. The conversation covers trends in fintech that are making financial services more widely accessible. The BIG5D Podcast is brought to you by BigFive Digital. Questions about the show? Write to us at info@bigfivedigital.org. This episode is supported by Fraktional.dev. "Where i...
Jul 22, 2024•28 min
Nic Rawhani is a native South African software engineer and McKinsey alum who has co-founded Vula, a company that aims to use AI to solve Africa's SME funding gap, which Rawhani says surpasses $330 billion. The conversation digs into the bad experiences most SMEs face in Africa as they seek the funding any business needs to operate. Rawhani shares how Vula uses AI to make the financing application process easier for both SMEs and the banks who stand to gain from closing the continent's SME fundi...
Jul 02, 2024•41 min
Imtiyaz Mohamed is the principal consultant at South Africa technology consulting firm Realm Digital. One of Realm's and Imtiyaz's focus areas is augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR). The conversation focused on clarifying what AR/VR is (and isn't) and how businesses use it today to save money, improve safety, and more. The BIG5D Podcast is brought to you by BigFive Digital. To ask questions, recommend a guest, or inquire about sponsorship, write to us at info@bigfivedigital.org Find @RealD...
Jun 18, 2024•34 min
Zane Stenning is the Co-founder of Mia Health Technologies, a Cape Town startup that addresses profound needs in Africa by providing greater access to dental care. Zane and his team do this via mobile clinics. But Mia also leans into new technologies from 3D printing to connected technology to AI to scale its services. Zane was a speaker at the 2024 BigFive Summit in Cape Town. Realm Digital sponsored this episode of the BIG5D Podcast. Realm empowers industry leaders through innovative business ...
Apr 22, 2024•29 min
The BigFive Summit Speaker Podcast Series continues with a conversation with John Kitenge, a young South African entrepreneur who founded Fraktional.dev, a marketplace that matches IT talent with startups and cpr[pporates. The interview covers how startups can use alternative workplace models to access higher quality talent, along with a lively discussion on how AI is changing the business of coding. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 BigFive Summit, "Africa's leading small business technolog...
Feb 25, 2024•32 min
The BigFive Summit Speaker Podcast Series continues with a conversation with Thaheer Mullins. He is the general partner of Savant Venture Fund, which is a deep tech-focused venture firm and startup accelerator. The interview talks about how the fourth industrial revolution is breeding some very interesting companies that are addressing real needs in Africa. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 BigFive Summit, "Africa's leading small business technology event" which is coming to Cape Town 19-20 ...
Feb 18, 2024•32 min
The BigFive Summit Speaker Podcast Series continues with a conversation with Kimberley Taylor. She is the founder and CEO of Loop, a South African logistics tech company that helps delivery companies with route optimization. The interview talks about how her company progressed from idea to execution as well as the perspective of a young founder on what it takes to run a tech startup and the hard lessons learned int he process of doing so. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 BigFive Summit, "Af...
Feb 14, 2024•39 min
The BigFive Summit Speaker Podcast Series continues with a conversation with Fiona Tabraham, CEO of Capaciti, a South African organization that provides digital skills training for African youth so that they can compete for tech-related jobs in the private sector. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 BigFive Summit, "Africa's leading small business technology event" coming to Cape Town 19-20 March 2024. Learn more at https://qkt.io/laNIFj
Feb 05, 2024•35 min
Episode 2 of the 2024 BigFive Summit Speaker Series featured a chat about economic inclusion with Ashmita Singh, the Co-founder of SwapVend Afrika and the Co-Managing Director for South Africa of AMLANDA Social Entreprises. The conversation is focused on addressing informal SMEs with technology, which has been Singh's life's work. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 BigFive Summit, 19-20 March in Capoe Town. https://qkt.io/laNIFj
Jan 26, 2024•30 min
The BigFive Summit Speaker Series features conversations about Africa’s tech scene, empowering SMEs with technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, startup life, and much more featuring the incredible thought leaders who will speak at the 2024 BigFive Summit, 19-20 March in Cape Town. The series’ first guest is Aisha Pandor, the CEO of SweepSouth, a two-sided marketplace startup celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. This podcast series is sponsored by The 2024 BigFive Summit
Jan 08, 2024•41 min
Episode 38 of the BIG5D Podcast features an interview with Zack Marks. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Jia, a blockchain-based small business lender that is focused on emerging markets, where Marks says there is a $5 trillion small business credit gap. Jia's current operational scope includes Kenya, with ambitions to expand elsewhere within Africa. This episode is sponsored by the no-code website builder Duda. Please visit them at Duda.co to learn more about how they help digital agencies delive...
Jul 11, 2023•32 min
Episode 37 of the BIG5D Podcast features a conversation with Michelle Geere, CEO of Adbot, a Cape Town startup that automates Google and Bing ads for SMEs. The conversation included a discussion of how AI will change everything from digital marketing to employment to how we create the movies we love. This episode is sponsored by the no-code website builder Duda.co. Please visit them at Duda.co to learn more about how they help digital agencies deliver website solutions to their customers.
May 08, 2023•41 min
Episode 36 of the BIG5D Podcast features a conversation with Caitlin Craig, head of private capital markets at Untapped Global, an asset based financing firm focused on emerging marketing, in particular Africa. This episode is sponsored by the no code website builder Duda.co.
Apr 04, 2023•25 min
Episode 35 of the Big5D Podcast features an interview with Lavina Ramkissoon, a South African expert on artificial intelligence, who has adopted the personal brand "the aiMom". She is an advisor to the Africa Union and a co-founder of the Fintech Association of South Africa. The discussion is focused on the real opportunity for AI in Africa, particularly for businesses in Africa. This episode is sponsored by Duda www.duda.co/
Mar 03, 2023•27 min
Episode 34 of the Big5D Podcast features an interview with Brenton Naicker, Director of Capital Formation and Growth at CV VC, a blockchain-focused Swiss venture firm that is actively investing in Africa. The interview includes Brenton's take on recent developments in the cryptocurrency industry. The bulk of the conversation deals with how blockchain-based startups are uniquely well-positioned to solve real-world problems in Africa. This episode is sponsored by Duda www.duda.co/
Jan 19, 2023•35 min
This episode features an interview with Andrew Katzwinkel, CEO of LayUp Technologies, a South African fintech that offers save now, buy later payments solutions to merchants large and small. This episode includes a discussion of LayUp''s efforts to establish SNBL as a responsible alternative to the popular but controversial buy now, pay later payments method. This episode is sponsored by Duda www.duda.co/
Dec 12, 2022•37 min
This episode features an interview with Tyler Karahalios, Global Head of Special Projects and Merchant Banking for MarketForce, an East African retail distribution platform that was founded in Kenya in 2018. This episode includes a discussion of MarketForce's effort to build a super app for Africa's informal retailers. This episode is sponsored by Duda www.duda.co/
Nov 29, 2022•28 min
This episode features an interview with Firas Ahmad, Group CEO, AzamPay, an East African mobile money platform. Topics range from the future of mobile money to the state of venture investing in Africa. To access podcast bonus features, please subscribe at ctlaughlin.substack.com/ This episode is sponsored by Duda https://www.duda.co/
Aug 23, 2022•29 min
This episode features an interview with Zachariah George, MP of Launch Africa Ventures, an early-stage VC investing in African B2B startups. To access podcast bonus features, subscribe at https://ctlaughlin.substack.com/ Here is a link to the article on the demise of Kune Food.https://ctlaughlin.substack.com/i/60532660/the-sad-demise-of-kune-food This episode is sponsored by Matchcraft https://www.matchcraft.com/
Aug 11, 2022•36 min
Episode 29: Jason Sive, the CEO of South African virtual credit platform Mobicred talks about the problems facing the buy now, pay later space. This interview was recorded at the BigFive Summit, 12-13 May 2022 in Cape Town.
May 23, 2022•22 min
This episode features South Africa Shark Vinny Lingham talking about his new company Waitroom, why South Africa will never be a tech innovation leader, the true promise of blockchain, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. This episode is sponsored by Matchcraft
Apr 22, 2022•33 min
Episode 27 features Gideon Greaves, MD, Africa for CV VC, a Zurich-based blockchain-focused VC firm. Greaves was brought on last year to build the VC firm's Africa practice. As he explains in the podcast, there is plenty of activity among startups built on blockchain technology, many of which address small business pain points. What's missing, Greaves argues, is a stronger supporting ecosystem and more capital. Greaves will also speak at our upcoming BigFive Summit, 11-13 May 2022 in Cape Town. ...
Mar 03, 2022•31 min
