In this episode, we explore entertainment for mass-market consumers in Africa with Guy Kamgaing, the Founder and CEO of StarNews Mobile. Throughout the series of episodes, we're exploring the entrepreneurs in start-ups digitizing informal and fragmented industries on the continent. And in the media space, that means building a product fit for the realities of mass-market consumers. In a world of abundant free content on YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and other "data guzzling" platforms, StarNews ...
Mar 04, 2021•28 min
In this episode, we talk about cryptocurrency with the Co-Founder and CEO of Bundle, and the Founding Partner of Microtraction, Yele Bademosi. Beyond trading and price volatility, what is it about crypto that excites Yele and so many others on the continent? Throughout the series of episodes, we're exploring the entrepreneurs in start-ups digitizing informal and fragmented industries on the continent. And despite the technological underpinnings of cryptocurrency as a whole, many of the buying an...
Feb 25, 2021•41 min
In this episode, we talk about savings and credit cooperative societies, or SACCOs, and the outsize role these member-owned community banks play in African and emerging markets. While millions of Africans belong to SACCOs, it's an industry that Kwara's Cynthia Wandia calls "as analog as it gets". Kwara is a Kenyan startup building software to digitize SACCOs, and in this episode, we talk to Cynthia about the role SACCOs play in these markets, the product and design principles employed to ensure ...
Feb 18, 2021•46 min
In this episode, we continue our exploration of the entrepreneurs digitizing informal and analog markets, with Nomanini's Vahid Monadjem. Nomanini is a fintech platform for informal retail merchants in cash-heavy economies, and Vahid, the company's Founder and CEO, believes the best "way to move beyond cash is for us to be really interoperable with it." In this episode, we talk about specialization and interoperability, B2B partnerships, lessons from the last-mile, and much more. 3:41 - First qu...
Feb 11, 2021•42 min
In this episode, we open the black box of last-mile retail distribution with MarketForce 360's Tesh Mbaabu. 90 percent of trade in Africa is informal, and MarketForce's software-as-a-service platform to better manage their field sales agents and distribution. We'll talk about product, the considerations in building products you use at the last mile and the needs of the multinational FMCG companies and financial service providers at the other end of the value chain. We talk about his recent exper...
Feb 04, 2021•30 min
In this episode, we explore digital savings with PiggyVest's Odunayo Eweniyi. PiggyVest's competition is the wooden box that Nigerians were using to save cash. We'll talk about how the company designed the product to compel mass-market consumers to save digitally; how their use of social media and word of mouth built trust and engendered a savings culture, how Odun think about new products, like crypto and insurance, as well as geographic expansion, and more. 4:19 - First question, what is Piggy...
Jan 28, 2021•29 min
In this episode, we speak to Jihan Abass, the Founder and CEO of Lami, an insurance-as-a-service startup based in Nairobi, Kenya. Lami's platform enables insurers, banks, and other partners to offer digital and flexible insurance to African consumers. 4:12 – First question: formal insurance penetration in Africa is 3%. What's the problem and how is Lami trying to solve it? 6:45 – What does flexible, digital, B2B2C insurance actually look like in practice? 9:32 - Lami's origin story. 10:48 - A di...
Jan 21, 2021•22 min
Our exploration of the entrepreneurs and startups digitizing analog and fragmented industries takes us to Nigeria, for a conversation with Helium Health's Co-founder and CEO Goke Olubusi. Helium's electronic medical records are providing the digital infrastructure for healthcare sectors across Africa, enabling a variety of stakeholders to make data-driven decisions. 4:26 - First question: what does the state of healthcare look like, and how is Helium Health solving the industry's problems? 9:16 ...
Jan 14, 2021•24 min
On October 15, 2020, Paystack and Stripe announced the acquisition of the former by the latter, in a deal reported to be worth over $200 million. This marks Stripe's largest acquisition to date and is an incredibly meaningful exit for the African tech ecosystem. To unpack the deal, we spoke to Shola Akinlade , Paystack's Co-founder and CEO, and Matt Henderson , Stripe's Business Lead for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 3:43 - We start our story of the Stripe acquisition of Paystack in the W...
Dec 03, 2020•28 min
The very nature of a high-growth startup means that the company is always growing and hiring at a rapid rate. And for African startups, in particular, the talent question is even more acute, given the general challenges of sourcing for select roles, as well as the difficulty in competing for talent with other startups, multinationals, and companies elsewhere in the world. In this episode, we unpack the talent and recruiting situation for venture-backed startups and growth-stage companies - how d...
Oct 01, 2020•32 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In this episode, we explore and unpack the relationship between the tech ecosystem and the media. We'll seek answers to questions such as - what roles do media publications play in the ecosystem? How does this differ between international and local publications? What are the key considerations for the media in doing this work, particularly from a talent and business model perspective? What about companies creating their own content - what is their motivation and what can be learned? And, why is ...
Sep 24, 2020•44 min•Season 2Ep. 9
This season we've talked about the relationship between African tech and other emerging markets across the Global South, as well as with China. In this episode, we talk about the ecosystem's relationship Japan - and in particular, the interest Japanese investors and corporates have in innovations from the continent. 1:33 - Satoshi Shinada and Rio Yamawaki on the macro situation in Japan, and why Japanese investors are interested in African tech. Satoshi and Rio are GPs at Kepple Africa Ventures,...
Sep 17, 2020•23 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode, we explore the evolution of mobile financial services and the opportunity to deepen financial inclusion in African markets. This opportunity exists for mobile network operators, as well fintechs like PalmPay, backed by hardware manufacturer Transsion, whose smartphone brands - Tecno, Itel, and Infinix - account for over 50% of smartphone devices on the continent. 1:55 - We explore the evolution from USSD-led Mobile Money 1.0 to smartphone-led Mobile Money 2.0, with Hover's Wiza ...
Sep 10, 2020•31 min•Season 2Ep. 7
This week, we explore a hypothesis - that the lessons and models from Chinese tech companies have merit in African markets, given certain similarities between China’s development and the current conditions on the continent. 2:06 - DFS Lab's Stephen Deng on the experience of Chinese entrepreneurs and investors, and the lessons from leapfrogs in China that may have merit in Africa. 5:37 - We hear from Laura Li , VP of Investments of Future Hub, an early-stage investor and accelerator backed by Tra...
Sep 03, 2020•31 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Last episode, we went on a hypothetical startup journey from idea to exit. In this episode, we go on a real one. In June of 2020, MFS Africa announced the acquisition of Beyonic. Together, the combined company of 95 employees now enables mobile money interoperability between markets and mobile network operators, and offers a suite of tools for SMEs, in 30-plus African markets. We go inside the acquisition - how it came together, why it makes sense, and what it means - both for the two companies ...
Aug 27, 2020•39 min•Season 2Ep. 5
This episode, we go on a hypothetical startup fundraising journey, from idea to exit. 2:04 - At the earliest stage, angel and venture investing is quite subjective, says Zachariah George , angel investor and Managing Director of LaunchAfrica. 3:46 - Because of the subjectivity, metrics and valuations don't matter as much at this stage. We hear from Chidinma Iwueke , Partner at pre-seed fund Microtraction, on their standard deal terms. 4:56 - A discussion with Andreata Muforo on how TLcom Capital...
Aug 20, 2020•35 min•Season 2Ep. 4
We dedicate this episode to Fahim Saleh, the Founder and CEO of Gokada, who was killed in New York City on July 13th. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family and the entire Gokada team. This year, Nigerian fintech companies Paga and Migo are expanding to Latin America, to Mexico and Brazil, respectively. Another Nigerian startup, Gokada, was launched by an entrepreneur who built a successful ride-hailing company in Bangladesh, where there was a similar set of market conditions. In this ep...
Aug 13, 2020•21 min•Season 2Ep. 3
We've had prior discussions on Africa's market size ( S1E5 ) and on Africa-focused investors' pursuit of scale ( S1E7 ). Both topics ultimately lead to the same place for startups: geographic expansion. What are the considerations and implications? 2:05 - Keith Davies , former CFO of Zoona, shares cautions startups to be careful because expansion introduces a lot of the complexity for the business. 4:35 - Operational considerations of expansion, with Wiza Jalakasi , Head of Business Development ...
Aug 06, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this episode, we explore high-touch venture investing models - in particular, venture development and talent investing, as well as peer-selected investment. 2:16 - an introduction to accelerator programs and their objectives, with Catalyst Fund's Aaron Fu . 3:47 - a discussion with Adedana Ashebir on Village Capital's peer-selected investment model. 6:16 - Founders Factory Africa's Lwazi Wali and Sam Sturm on venture building and the merits of a human capital intensive investment model. 10:20...
Jul 30, 2020•35 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Introducing The Flip Season Two - the podcast exploring contextually relevant insights from entrepreneurs changing the status quo in Africa. This season, we explore venture building, geographic expansion, valuations and exits, mobile money, emerging markets, China, and much more. Produced and hosted by Justin Norman. Sayo Folawiyo is the executive producer and b-mic. https://www.theflip.africa
Jul 23, 2020•4 min
They say never waste a good crisis. And while COVID-19 has had a horrible, crippling effect on individuals and economies alike, if there's one positive to the pandemic, perhaps it's that it's compelling and facilitating partnerships to serve the greater good; to bring people together to solve problems that have already existed, but that now have been brought even further to the fore. In this episode, we talk to entrepreneurs who have solved and are solving problems through crisis-induced collabo...
May 21, 2020•21 min•Season 2Ep. 12
As we continue to weather the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, and its second order effects on the economy, hat lessons can we learn from those who have lived, survived or even thrived through somewhat similar circumstances in the past? In this episode, we hear stories from three entrepreneurs whose past experiences may be useful for the entrepreneurs of today. 2:07 - ' Tokunboh Ishmael , Co-founder and Managing Partner of Alitheia Capital, shares her experience attempting to fundraise during th...
Apr 30, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 11
MicroEnsure’s origins date back in 2002 when its founder, Richard Leftley, started asking a simple question of traditional insurance companies – why is it that insurers only create products and services for the wealthy? He never got a good answer. Richard had seen the data on the impact that natural disasters had on human lives in emerging markets – there was clearly a mismatch between risk and access to insurance. Years later, as mobile penetration in these markets increased, MicroEnsure stoppe...
Mar 19, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Rebecca Enonchong ( @africatechie ) is widely known for her evangelism of the African tech ecosystem. But she's much more than merely an evangelist. Rebecca started the US-based enterprise software company in 1999, growing it into a global business, and along the way has co-founded the Africa Business Angels Network, AfriLabs, I/O Spaces, ActivSpaces and more. I was so fortunate to be paid a visit by Rebecca in Johannesburg, where we sat down for a conversation on how to best help entrepreneurs ...
Feb 21, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 9
To solve problems on the continent, entrepreneurs are building sustainable, impact-driven, infrastructure-building, tech-enabled, for-profit companies - how should these companies be funded? In this episode - our third and final episode of our three-part series on venture investing in Africa, and the final episode of Season One, as well, we take a first principles approach to fundraising in Africa, and dive deeper into the opportunities for entrepreneurs to leverage different types of capital an...
Jan 30, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Venture Capitalists, generally speaking, are looking to fund high-growth ventures that have the potential to scale and achieve virtually infinite returns. But achieving that scale is hard, even more so in Africa, where there are market size questions, fragmented markets, and regulatory considerations. As a result, venture investors are looking for a specific type of founder and entrepreneur - one who has demonstrated the potential to pull it off and achieve the growth and scale investors are see...
Jan 16, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 7
We talk so often of venture capital that it's more or less assumed that raising VC funding is an inextricable part of the entrepreneur's journey. But should it be? What are the purposes for taking in VC money, and what are the considerations? 1:24 - Keith Davies, ex-CFO and Partner at Zoona on the implications of taking VC money 3:19 - Integrateme Founder Luke Dominique Warner on their strategic decision to not do a traditional round of VC fundraising 5:24 - EAVCA's Eva Warigia and VC4A's Ben Wh...
Jan 02, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 6
One of the most exciting aspects of opportunities in Africa is a function of market size - over 1.2 billion people on the youngest and fastest-growing continent. But the conversation around total addressable market, and true market size opportunity is a lot more nuanced than Africa's topline population number. 2:25 - GreenTec Capital Partner's Maxime Bayen discusses GSMA research on mobile adoption and digital literacy 4:39 - The Subtext's Osarumen Osamuyi on how he thinks about market size and ...
Dec 19, 2019•27 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In nuanced and fragmented environments, how are startups in African markets getting their products and services in the hands of their customers at the last mile? 1:55 Maxime Bayen, of GreenTec Capital partners and formerly of GSMA, on mobile technology 4:00 Keith Davies, formerly of Zoona, on agent networks 5:24 Katlego Maphai, CEO of Yoco, on building trust offline 6:36 Abolore Salami, CEO of Riby, on B2B2C business models 8:11 Antonio Bruni, CEO of Picup, on last mile delivery 13:50 Justin and...
Dec 12, 2019•18 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Leapfrogging - what is it? What is it not? What is it good for and what are its limitations? We speak to Yoco's Head of Expansion, Marcello Schermer.
Dec 05, 2019•7 min•Season 1Ep. 3
