Explorez tous les épisodes de The Flip
| Date | Titre | Durée | |
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| 10 Feb 2022 | The Creator Economy | 00:38:48 | |
African culture and content is taking over the world - from Afrobeats and amapiano, to Nollywood and Netflix originals, to fashion. To what degree can Africans monetize their creativity not only on the continent but globally? To what extent can Africans, as owners of culture and intellectual property, participate in the upside? And if content has been largely an export product, to date, how do *we* develop the local creator ecosystem, as well? 05:11 - A brief history of the creator economy. From aggregation theory to 1000 true fans. Resources referenced in this episode:
This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 31 Mar 2023 | Stablecoins: Africa's Killer Crypto App | 01:05:41 | |
We're dropping one more episode of our new show, crypto@scale, on The Flip's feed today. In this episode, we interview our first guests on what might be Africa's killer crypto app, stablecoins. According to data from Coinmetrics, cumulative Stablecoin volumes are at a $9 trillion annualized run rate, exceeding the volumes of all major card networks, except for Visa. Across the African continent, stablecoins are finding meaningful uptake, particularly in markets with low USD liquidity, or countries experiencing currency devaluation. In today's episode, we're going to explore stablecoins in two parts. First, a global perspective with Joao Reginatto, the VP of Product at Circle, which is the company behind the USDC stablecoin. Second, a local perspective with Ngozi Dozie, Co-Founder of the African digital bank, Carbon. This episode of crypto@scale is sponsored by Ripple. Across Africa, Ripple is partnering with local financial institutions and fintechs to bring the benefits of better cross-border remittances to the region. To learn more and get in contact with the Ripple team, head over to ripple.com. 00:00 - Intro. Stablecoins are the best thing since sliced bread, according to Ngozi Dozie.
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| 14 Dec 2023 | How to Pivot with Union54's Perseus Mlambo | 00:41:21 | |
Today's guest is Perseus Mlambo, Co-founder and CEO of Union54, the developers of the social commerce app ChitChat. The company started as Zazu, an agtech startup, which pivoted to Zazu the neobank. After issuing virtual cards for their users and seeing the demand other fintechs had for virtual cards, they pivoted to Union54 the card issuing API, which after massive traction in the fintech ecosystem and subsequent issues with fraud, has pivoted once more to ChitChat. With many pivots come many lessons, and in this episode, Perseus shares his lessons and much more. 00:00 - Intro Episode Links -
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| 28 Mar 2024 | Afrobeats, Basketball & Commerce | 00:27:04 | |
Live from the BIG Summit, a platform hosted by investor and 2x NBA All-Star Baron Davis, at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, a conversation with three operators connecting Africa to the world through culture and commerce. In this conversation, we're joined by Clare Akamanzi, the CEO of NBA Africa, Abdul Karim Abdullah, the Founder and CEO of AfroFuture music festival, and entrepreneur and private equity investor Tuyee Yeboah. 00:00 - Intro
Our Links - | |||
| 25 Feb 2021 | The Case for Crypto with Bundle's Yele Bademosi | 00:40:54 | |
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 and selling processes and use cases of crypto today are still quite informal and fragmented. In this episode, we hear from Yele about the work Bundle is doing to build products and use cases that make crypto more accessible, affordable and help bring it into the mainstream. For those less familiar with crypto terminology, we have also published a crypto glossary to define many of the terms used in this episode. Check it out here: https://theflip.africa/crypto-glossary/ 4:21 - First question, on consumer education in largely cash-based economies. This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica.
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| 13 Nov 2019 | Introducing The Flip | 00:02:34 | |
Introducing The Flip - an editorial-style podcast exploring contextually relevant insights from entrepreneurs and investors changing the status quo in Africa. The name The Flip comes from the opportunity to flip the script – question some of the pervasive narratives on entrepreneurship, challenge the ubiquity of Silicon Valley thought leadership, and champion the entrepreneurs building a future inspired by Africa. Produced and hosted by Johannesburg-based entrepreneur and American expat Justin Norman. Sayo Folawiyo is the executive producer and b-mic. | |||
| 28 Mar 2023 | Introducing crypto@scale | 00:31:36 | |
We interrupt this season on the future of work to drop a special episode today in The Flip’s feed. Introducing crypto@scale, a new show from The Flip, co-hosted by MFS Africa's Head of Crypto, Gwera Kiwana, and The Flip's Justin Norman. crypto@scale is a pragmatic and hopefully hype-free exploration of the crypto ecosystem across the African continent. If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app or YouTube by searching for crypto@scale. We'll be dropping one more episode later this week and new episodes every other week thereafter. Today's episode is a conversation recorded live from Nairobi last month. In this conversation, we share our perspectives on the sector, the use cases we find the most intriguing, the challenges we find most pressing, why we're launching a crypto show in the middle of a bear market, and what you can expect from us and this show. For more from crypto@scale, follow us on Twitter @cryptoatscale. 00:00 - Intro | |||
| 30 Jan 2020 | Context Matters - What Alternative Financing Models are Appropriate for This Ecosystem? | 00:31:09 | |
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 and funders to achieve their business' objectives. 1:45- We define Venture Capital in the Silicon Valley sense, from Stratechery's What Is a Tech Company? | |||
| 04 Apr 2024 | Much Ado About the Media, Live from Lagos | 01:03:50 | |
In January 2024, we hosted a live show in Lagos with The Subtext's Osarumen Osamuyi on the relationship between the tech ecosystem and the media. It was a follow-up to a 2020 episode we published entitled Much Ado About the Media. A lot of founders still feel the media is acting in bad faith amidst more accountable media coverage. In this episode, we explore this tension and have an important discussion with the ecosystem players themselves. 00:00 - Intro Much Ado About the Media, part one: https://theflip.africa/podcast/s2e9 Our Links - | |||
| 30 Apr 2020 | Building Through Crises | 00:25:03 | |
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 the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Her firm wound up pivoting to a partnership-centric approach - a strategy which has endured for the past 13 years.
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| 27 Jun 2022 | Sabi: Platforming Trade in Africa | 00:20:23 | |
Read Sabi: Platforming Trade in Africa on The Flip. We’re trying something new - an audio version of this week's partner edition of The Flip Notes, together with Sabi. Along with narration from The Flip's Justin Norman, you can hear Sabi’s co-founders, Anu Adedoyin Adasolum and Ademola Adesina, tell part of the story in their own words. The Flip Notes Partner Editions are our occasional sponsored deep dive of a market or sector or business model, in partnership and behind the scenes with a company whose story benefits the ecosystem. You can read more about the process and guidelines of the partner editions here. Subscribe to The Flip Notes: https://theflip.africa/subscribe. In today's edition of The Flip Notes, we’ll tell Sabi’s story across a few different dimensions: 03:32 - Rensource and COVID’s Creative Destruction | |||
| 19 Dec 2019 | 1.2 Billion And Counting - How Do Entrepreneurs Look At Africa's Market Size? | 00:27:25 | |
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 | |||
| 02 Nov 2023 | Making Borders Matter Less with Onafriq's Dare Okoudjou | 00:42:09 | |
Today's guest is Dare Okoudjou, the Founder and CEO of MFS Africa, which this week has rebranded to Onafriq. The new name represents a new chapter in the company, which is a very different looking company than when we first had Dare on the show back in 2020, after their acquisition of Beyonic. Since then, they've also acquired the card issuer, GTP in the US, and the agent network Baxi in Nigeria. This current period of the African tech ecosystem is one of increased consolidation and company shutdowns amidst a fundraising downturn. And in this environment, there's perhaps no better and more experienced founder on the continent to learn from than Dare. 00:00 - Intro 🔗 Our Links | |||
| 19 Oct 2023 | Investing in African Talent with YC's Michael Seibel & Microtraction's Kwamena Afful | 00:37:12 | |
Today's guests are Michael Seibel, the Managing Director of Y Combinator, and Kwamena Afful, a Founding Partner of Microtraction. Michael has been an avid supporter of the African tech ecosystem. Since his first trip to Lagos in 2016, and since Paystack joined YC's winter batch earlier that year, the number of African startups that have participated in the global accelerator has grown to 89. And for Microtraction, the early-stage fund was founded in 2017, in part in relation to the increased global interest in the African tech ecosystem, where Microtraction's early financial support and local know-how could help fill the gap. In this episode, we hear from Michael and Kwamena about their shared perspectives on the opportunities they see and their bet on African talent. 00:00 - Intro 🔗 Our Links | |||
| 06 Feb 2025 | What We Get Wrong About Climate Financing | 00:09:52 | |
Reports suggest that climate change is set to cost the global economy $38 billion per year by 2049. Emerging markets need close to $2.4 trillion per year by 2030 to meet the climate goals. That's 4 times what is currently invested. But high capital costs are stalling clean energy investment across Africa. If you want to build a renewable energy project in Sub-Saharan Africa, the weighted average cost of capital would be up to 4x as much as the same project in Western Europe or the US, due to the real and perceived risks of investing on the continent. If the world invests in renewables and green technology in Africa at Africa's cost of capital, it will underinvest in green energy assets. 00:00 - The climate funding gap Check out more episodes of The Greenprint here. This episode of The Greenprint was produced in partnership with Catalyst Fund, Delta40, and Africa Climate Ventures. Delta40 is a venture studio and venture capital fund supporting diverse founders leading ventures in energy, agriculture, and fintech, with a special focus on supporting African and female entrepreneurs. Beyond capital, they provide hands-on support from experienced operators & investors to drive growth from idea to pan-African scale. Africa Climate Ventures is a pioneering venture builder working to build a portfolio of climate businesses on the continent. ACV invests to bring proven global climate technology to Africa, accelerate and de-risk the continental expansion of technologies and business models that have gained traction in one or a few African market(s), and add carbon revenue streams to existing African businesses with the potential to scale climate-positive solutions. Catalyst Fund is a venture capital fund and venture builder, investing for a climate resilient future in Africa. They combine capital and a hands-on venture-building approach at the pre-seed stage, to partner with visionary founders who are developing climate adaptation solutions that enhance the resilience of communities and the planet. This episode is made possible through a partnership with Prosper Africa’s Catalytic Investment Facility. Aimed at boosting investment and innovative climate adaptation and resilience ventures across Africa, The Catalyst Fund is one of the grantees under Prosper Africa's Catalytic Investment Facility. Prosper Africa is a Presidential-level national security initiative aimed at strengthening the strategic and economic partnership between the U.S. and Africa by catalyzing transformative two-way trade and investment flows. Our Links - | |||
| 09 Dec 2024 | How Africa’s Green Industries Could Save the Planet | 00:11:09 | |
Can Africa be a leader in the global fight against climate change? While the continent has contributed just 3 percent to global carbon emissions, it is the most impacted by climate change. But it also has a range of natural endowments that leave it well-positioned to build green industries that will have a positive economic impact locally and can play a significant global role in getting to net zero. In this episode, we're joined by three Africa-focused climate founders solving local problems with global implications. 00:00 - Africa is the most impacted by climate change Listen to more episodes of The Greenprint: https://theflip.africa/the-greenprint This episode of The Greenprint was produced in partnership with Catalyst Fund, Delta40, and Africa Climate Ventures. Delta40 is a venture studio and venture capital fund supporting diverse founders leading ventures in energy, agriculture, and fintech, with a special focus on supporting African and female entrepreneurs. Beyond capital, they provide hands-on support from experienced operators & investors to drive growth from idea to pan-African scale. Africa Climate Ventures is a pioneering venture builder working to build a portfolio of climate businesses on the continent. ACV invests to bring proven global climate technology to Africa, accelerate and de-risk the continental expansion of technologies and business models that have gained traction in one or a few African market(s), and add carbon revenue streams to existing African businesses with the potential to scale climate-positive solutions. Catalyst Fund is a venture capital fund and venture builder, investing for a climate resilient future in Africa. They combine capital and a hands-on venture-building approach at the pre-seed stage, to partner with visionary founders who are developing climate adaptation solutions that enhance the resilience of communities and the planet. This episode is made possible through a partnership with Prosper Africa’s Catalytic Investment Facility. Aimed at boosting investment and innovative climate adaptation and resilience ventures across Africa, The Catalyst Fund is one of the grantees under Prosper Africa's Catalytic Investment Facility. Prosper Africa is a Presidential-level national security initiative aimed at strengthening the strategic and economic partnership between the U.S. and Africa by catalyzing transformative two-way trade and investment flows. Our Links - | |||
| 14 Mar 2024 | What We Get Wrong About Jobs in Africa | 00:11:14 | |
The African continent has the highest levels of poverty, the lowest levels of formal employment, and its population is going to double in the next 30 years. African countries need to create more jobs. But what kinds of jobs? And how? What if I told you that the way governments and development organizations are trying to create jobs in Africa is all wrong? To make a dent in this problem requires an understanding of the realities on the ground and how that has impacted the preferences of the labor markets in question. The future of work, for Africans in particular, is not a formal job but a technology-enabled portfolio of work. 00:00 - Intro To learn more about the Jobtech Alliance, visit https://jobtechalliance.com Check out last year's podcast series on the future of work: https://go.theflip.africa/future-of-work
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica 💻 Website - https://theflip.africa 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica 👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica/ 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica | |||
| 22 Feb 2024 | Investing in Women is an Economic Imperative (Tokunboh Ishmael, Andreata Muforo) | 00:58:08 | |
Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it? This episode is the third of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're joined by the investors. Tokunboh Ishmael is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Alithea Capital, a $100 million gender lens private equity fund. Andreata Muforo is a Partner at TLcom Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund with a 60% female partnership. 00:00 - Investing in women is an economic imperative 02:12 - Introducing Tokunboh 04:04 - An Alitheia-led thesis 05:36 - What does gender-lens investing look like in practice? 11:49 - What about the financial returns? 13:35 - Impact targets 17:24 - Are there enough women founders in the pipeline? 19:54 - Women are over-mentored and under-funded 23:48 - Is a female investor backing a female founder a negative signal? 26:53 - What does success look like? 29:47 - Introducing Andreata 31:15 - Why is a traditional VC fund like TLcom trying so hard to invest in more female founders? 33:03 - How VCs make investment decisions 36:18 - Only 25% of the pipeline has a female co-founder 40:44 - Is there a fundamental mismatch with VC and gender-lens investing? 42:31 - What does success look like? Part two 46:47 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & Justin In Episode 1 of this series, we spoke to the founders: Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-founders In Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gap This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa. Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links - 🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica 💻 Website - https://theflip.africa 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica 👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica | |||
| 06 Apr 2023 | The Role of Big Tech in the Future of Work | 00:15:44 | |
There is a perception that there's a tech talent shortage in the African tech ecosystem, and that it's hard to find high-quality local talent. There has been lot of conversation around the impact and role of Big Tech in the equation, which many felt were also culprits in driving up the price of talent in local marketplaces. In an environment of talent scarcity, there's been an upward pressure on salaries for talent of a certain caliber - which Big Tech can more readily afford compared to startups. And while the supply-demand equation may be changing a bit in the context of recent market downturns and layoffs, this talent question is an important one for the continued development of the tech ecosystem. So while we hear a lot from startups and founders in this episode, we're going to get a different perspective from the Big Tech companies themselves. 00:00 - Intro, there is a perceived talent scarcity problem in the African tech ecosystem. This season of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 16 Jan 2020 | In Pursuit of Scale - The Strategies of Africa-Focused Venture Investors | 00:30:11 | |
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 seeking. In the African early-stage ecosystem, with its funding scarcity, limited track record, talent shortage, and expansion challenges, how do venture investors reconcile their quest for funding high-growth ventures in this environment? 2:24 - defining venture capital, courtesy of Stratechery's Ben Thompson and his blog post What is a Tech Company: https://stratechery.com/2019/what-is-a-tech-company/ | |||
| 21 Oct 2021 | Africa Stack | 00:33:32 | |
This episode concludes our three-part fintech series this season. In the first two episodes, we tackled payments. In this episode, we explore the other layers of the financial services stack - namely, identity and data. Africa Stack is a play on India Stack - India's pioneering platform of open APIs and digital infrastructure that underpins the country's rapid move towards a paperless, cashless, and digital future. But whereas India Stack was built in one market, with one currency and one regulator, and with significant government investment, how does Africa Stack get built across a fragmented continent? [04:33] - What is India Stack, why is it important, and what does it mean for Africa Stack? This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 15 Feb 2024 | This Angel Investor is Closing the Gender Funding Gap (Rising Tide Africa's Yemi Keri) | 00:34:42 | |
Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it? This episode is the second of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're exploring Angel Networks with Yemi Keri, co-founder of Rising Tide Africa, a women-oriented angel network in Nigeria. 00:00 - Intro Episode 1 of this series featured Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-founders
Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links - | |||
| 11 Jan 2024 | Norrsken22: Investing $205 Million into African Startups | 00:43:11 | |
Today's guests are Natalie Kolbe, Ngetha Waithaka and Lexi Novitske - Partners of the $205 million growth fund Norrsken22. In this episode, we'll talk about investment strategy, valuations, perspectives for the ecosystem, exits, and much more. 00:00 - Intro Our Links - | |||
| 04 Mar 2021 | Mass-Market Media with StarNews Mobile's Guy Kamgaing | 00:27:30 | |
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 is building a business selling a la carte microcontent bundled with telco data, and they're selling it to millions of African consumers, while simultaneously helping creators make money off of their content, as well. 04:05 - First question, what is StarNews' background story? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 30 May 2024 | Tackling Africa’s $330 Billion Credit Gap | 00:20:29 | |
There is a $330 billion credit gap, according to the IFC. But why is it so hard to lend in African markets? We explore that question with Chijioke Dozie, Co-founder and CEO of Carbon, and Mark Straub, CEO of Smile Identity. This episode was recorded live from the FT Partners Fintech in Africa Summit in New York City. Download their FinTech in Africa research report, published in March 2024. 00:00 - Introduction Follow Chijioke on Twitter. This episode was the third in our series of interviews recorded live from the Fintech in Africa Summit. Our Links - | |||
| 05 Dec 2019 | On Leapfrogging | 00:07:25 | |
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. | |||
| 01 Oct 2020 | Smart People Should Build Things - On Recruiting and the Global Competition for Top Talent | 00:31:31 | |
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 do we source for newer types of roles, like product and growth? Do we hire for aptitude and train up? Do we go to where there is more talent? How does remote work - particularly during COVID-19 - play a role here? 2:50 - We discuss the current recruiting landscape with Toun Tunde-Anjous, Founder of The People Practice. | |||
| 07 Mar 2024 | Unlocking Gender-Smart Capital At Scale (2X Global's Jessica Espinoza) | 00:37:54 | |
Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it? This episode is the last episode of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're exploring ecosystem and capacity building with Jessica Espinoza, the CEO of 2X Global, an organization aimed at unlocking gender smart capital at scale. Jessica chairs the 2X Challenge which has raised more than $27 billion of gender lens investments since its launch at the G7 Summit in 2018. 00:00 - Intro
In Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gap In Episode 3 of this series, we were joined by the fund managers: Alitheia Capital's Tokunboh Ishmael & TLcom Capital's Andreata Muforo: https://theflip.africa/podcast/investing-in-women-is-an-economic-imperative In Episode 4 of this series, we spoke to an LP investing in the fund managers: Sam Akyianu, Managing Director of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund: https://theflip.africa/podcast/mastercard-foundation-is-investing-150-million-into-20-gender-lens-funds This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa. Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links - 🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica 💻 Website - https://theflip.africa 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica 👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica | |||
| 28 Oct 2021 | Journey to the Last Mile | 00:40:27 | |
As we continue our season on value chains, in this episode, we explore logistics.
[04:20] - On the role of containerization and efficient ports, with Jetstream Africa's Miishe Addy. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 07 Oct 2021 | Follow the Money | 00:33:19 | |
We hear a lot, in the African tech ecosystem, that the competition is with cash. Virtually every country in the world is on some form of a journey to move from cash to cashless. Many African markets, however, are quite far on that journey. And to understand how to accelerate this trend on the continent, we first need to understand how money moves. [04:55] - For most Africans, the mobile money experience starts with agent networks, like TeamApt's MoniePoint, in Nigeria. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 11 Mar 2021 | Accessible and Affordable EdTech with Eneza Education's Wambura Kimunyu | 00:32:49 | |
In this episode, we talk edtech with Wambura Kimunyu, the Group CEO of Eneza Education. Throughout the series of episodes, we’re exploring the entrepreneurs in start-ups digitizing informal and fragmented industries on the continent. And for Eneza Education to remain affordable and accessible, it means distributing text-based content to basic mobile phones via SMS, and acquiring customers via radio advertising. We talk to Wambura about building a product for low-income students - 70% of whom live in rural areas, the content development and distribution process, balancing available technologies with the needs of their customers, how to price for low-income consumers, and more. 4:59 - First question, who are the customers that Eneza Education is serving? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 11 Feb 2021 | Fintech for Cash-First Markets with Nomanini's Vahid Monadjem | 00:42:11 | |
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 question, what is the market environment in which Nomanini is operating? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 12 Dec 2019 | Reaching The Masses - A Conversation On Distribution | 00:17:37 | |
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 | |||
| 30 Sep 2021 | Introducing The Flip Season Three | 00:07:10 | |
Introducing The Flip Season Three. This season is about value chains - we pop the hood across sectors and take an in-depth look at what's going on underneath. | |||
| 18 Feb 2021 | Digitizing Community Banking with Kwara's Cynthia Wandia | 00:46:04 | |
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 proper utilization of the platform, Kwara's impact for members, the company's origin story, and more. 4:23 - First question, what are SACCOs, and why are these types of member-owned community institutions so prevalent in markets like Kenya? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 18 Nov 2021 | Building a Healthier Africa | 00:45:43 | |
How can Africans receive greater access to quality healthcare? That's the problem we'll attempt to explain in this episode, and it's a wicked problem. In this episode, we go deep into the healthcare value chain from diagnostics to labs to clinics and pharmacies, to better understand how it all works and how those we speak to in this episode are working to get improved care to Africans across the continent. [04:49] - Today, there is a greater trend towards reactive, not proactive medicine, due to high out-of-pocket spend for medical care, as 54gene's Dr. Jumi Popoola explains. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 23 Mar 2023 | The Future of Work is Standardization | 00:31:31 | |
Where there is fragmentation, informality, and a dearth of infrastructure, there are questions about what the path to formality and standardization will look like. One intriguing answer to that question is conversion franchising, where existing stores are converted into a franchise. In the future of work context, are microenterprises, their owners, and their employees better off as converted franchisees? This episode is a case study, with mPharma's Gregory Rockson. 00:00 - We begin this episode's exploration with a question - are subsistence farmers better off as employees of a commercial farm? With Twiga Foods' Peter Njonjo. This season of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. | |||
| 16 May 2024 | Why Are Cross-Border Payments So Hard? | 00:33:18 | |
Benjamin Fernandes, the Founder and CEO of the remittance platform NALA, likes to say that payments are just 1% built in Africa. Why are cross-border payments so hard? In this episode, we're joined in conversation with Benjamin Fernandes and Dan Kleinbaum, a co-founder of Beyonic, which sold to Onafriq, and now the Founder of the FX platform GTXN. This episode was recorded live from the FT Partners Fintech in Africa Summit in New York City. Download their FinTech in Africa research report, published in March 2024. 00:00 - Intro This episode was the second in our series of interviews recorded live from the Fintech in Africa Summit. Our first episode was with the Nigerian Neobanks: https://theflip.africa/podcast/nigerian-neobank-roundtable-moniepoint-kuda-fairmoney Episode Links: Our Links - | |||
| 14 Jan 2021 | Digitizing Healthcare with Helium Health's Goke Olubusi | 00:23:59 | |
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? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa’s competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we’ll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. | |||
| 17 Sep 2020 | Connecting the Dots - Japanese Corporates and African Tech | 00:23:13 | |
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, one of the most active VCs on the continent. | |||
| 30 Jul 2020 | Co-Building The Future - High-Touch Venture Investing | 00:35:09 | |
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. | |||
| 17 Feb 2022 | The Ownership Economy | 00:30:47 | |
In this episode, we're going to explore web3 in the African context. The premise of web3 technology, and tools like NFTs, in particular, is that they can and perhaps will create new paradigms and economic models and that these models will have positive implications for creators and fans alike. And we believe that the decentralized and permissionless nature of web3 blockchains and protocols can have especially positive implications across Africa and emerging markets, as well. We're going to look at NFTs as a tool, and web3 as a technology and infrastructure that can create new and perhaps more beneficial and inclusive economic models than the status quo. In commemoration of this episode, we're also minting a collection of AI artwork entitled Dawn of Bugs, with Senegalese digital artist Linda Dounia. For more information on the collection, the artist, where to mint, and our thoughts on value in the NFT and African art context, check out What is the Value of African Art? NFTs and Web3 Experimentation. The collection, Dawn of Bugs, is available at reserve auction on Foundation. 06:18 - Whenever there is a change in technology, like crypto and web3, there are ultimately new paradigms, as Seyi Taylor explains. Select resources for this episode:
All this season, we’re exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners – MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises – MFS Africa’s API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 13 Jun 2024 | An African Tech Exit - Selling Sendwave for $500 Million | 00:09:47 | |
One of the African tech ecosystem's largest exits was the 2020 sale of Sendwave to WorldRemit for $500 million. Sid Sridhar was Sendwave's Head of Business at the time, and in this episode, Sid shares his M&A lessons for the African tech ecosystem. Sid is now the Head of Business at Wave, the mobile money company spun out of Sendwave that's competing head-on with the telcos in Francophone West Africa. Wave raised a $200 million Series A in 2021, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. 00:00 - Introduction Follow Sid on Twitter Check out other episodes from the Fintech in Africa Summit: Our Links - | |||
| 04 Nov 2021 | Problem Solving for Fragmented Retail | 00:41:47 | |
As we began our exploration into retail and the so-called B2B commerce platforms, we kept asking about the nature of last-mile retail. Why is it so fragmented? And can we expect retail consolidation? In this episode, we explore why retail looks the way that it does in African markets, and how B2B commerce platforms are working to empower retailers in the context of the way in which last-mile retail works to meet the demands of their customers, the mass-market consumers across the continent. These platforms aggregate demand at the fragmented last mile, to ensure that products not only get to consumers but get to consumers more efficiently, with the aim to ultimately reduce the costs of goods, which, as we talked about last episode, are disproportionately expensive in African markets. [05:12] - Why is retail in Africa so fragmented? As Twiga Foods' Peter Njonjo explains, it's largely due to the rate of population growth in urban cities across the continent. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 08 Feb 2024 | Why is only 2% of funding going to female founders? | 00:57:37 | |
Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it? This episode is the first of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. In this episode, we're joined by the founders: Yanmo Omarogbe, the Co-founder and COO of the Nigerian investment platform Bamboo, and Sneha Mehta, the Co-founder and CEO of Uncover, a direct-to-consumer skincare brand in Kenya. 00:00 - Intro
Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links - | |||
| 27 Aug 2020 | A Fintech Exit - Inside the MFS Africa Acquisition of Beyonic | 00:38:58 | |
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 and their stakeholders and for the ecosystem as a whole. 2:27 - Introducing some of the main players in the deal - Dare Okoudjou, the Founder & CEO of MFS Africa, Luke Kyohere, Founder of Beyonic, Carina Rumberger, CEO of Beyonic and Rachel Balsham, Deputy CEO of MFS Africa. | |||
| 19 Feb 2023 | The Future of Work is Local Jobs - A Case Study | 00:13:52 | |
In the first episode of this season, we argued that the future of work is a traditional development playbook. Considering the nature of most African markets today - informal, fragmented, subscale - and considering the fact that most employment comes from the agriculture sector, the traditional development playbook says that development starts by increasing the productivity of the informal sector and the agriculture sector, in particular. These jobs are local jobs. In the context of Africa's rising population, millions of jobs need to be created and millions of local jobs will need to be created. But where are newfound local jobs going to come? This episode is a case study. We'll explore the decentralized renewable energy sector, or DRE, to see what job creation from a nascent industry could look like. Where there are sectors that are growing in importance in size, like the clean energy sector, how can African markets take advantage? 2:59 - The seeds of this episode's exploration were planted during a conversation with Shortlist's Paul Breloff. There are significant opportunities for sectors that are actually creating local jobs, and one sector they are bullish on is decentralized renewable energy. 4:28 - We dig into Power for All's Powering Jobs Census, to explore the scope of DRE's local job creation, with its research director, Carolina Pan. 10:51 - Exploring the second-order benefits of DRE, including indirect and induced jobs. Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 18 Apr 2024 | The Future of Work Will Be Bootstrapped | 00:08:24 | |
In our first episode of this series on jobtech platforms and the future of work, we argued that the future of work is a tech-enabled portfolio of work. But what does a portfolio of work really look like? And what happens next? We know we need to create more formal jobs in Africa, and we need to boost the productivity of the informal sector. But how do we get there? Considering the context of the markets in question, the future of work isn’t going to be designed or endowed; it’s going to be bootstrapped. 00:00 - Intro Watch the first episode of this series on jobtech platforms: https://theflip.africa/podcast/what-we-get-wrong-about-jobs-in-africa To learn more about the Jobtech Alliance, visit https://jobtechalliance.com Check out last year's podcast series on the future of work: https://go.theflip.africa/future-of-work Our Links - | |||
| 29 Aug 2024 | How Moniepoint Powers Millions of Businesses Across Nigeria | 00:06:38 | |
There are millions of Moniepoint point-of-sale terminals in use across Nigeria. These point-of-sale devices power Nigeria’s offline economy, and while there are many competitors in this space, Moniepoint appears to beating them all. How did they do it? How did Moniepoint grow so quickly? And why has it become the preferred choice for agents and merchants across Nigeria? In this episode, we hit the streets of Lagos with Ezekiel Sanni, Moniepoint's Senior Vice President of Distribution Network Sales. Moniepoint has been recognized as Africa's fastest-growing fintech by the Financial Times in 2023 and 2024. Last year, they processed over $182 billion in payments. Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) was founded by Tosin Eniolorunda in 2015. 00:00 - Moniepoint is winning Nigeria's fintech battle Check out our roundtable conversation with Monieponit's CEO, Tosin Eniolorunda, Kuda's Babs Ogundeyi, and FairMoney's Laurin Hainy - https://theflip.africa/podcast/nigerian-neobank-roundtable-moniepoint-kuda-fairmoney Our Links -🎥 | |||
| 25 Feb 2025 | How We're Helping African Farmers Grow | 00:12:16 | |
Farming is the number one source of employment in Africa, yet its agricultural productivity is the lowest of any region in the world. The opportunity is immense—60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land is on the continent—but rural communities are suffering from a lack of economic opportunity. So young Africans are building innovative solutions to tackle the problems that are impacting their families and communities. Wissal Ben Moussa is the Co-founder & R&D Officer of Sand To Green, a Moroccan startup pairing regenerative agroforestry techniques with data and technology to turn the desert green. Samuel Rigu is the Co-founder & CEO of Safi Organics, a Kenyan company employing a decentralized process to locally manufacture organic fertilizers. Francis Nderitu is the Founder of Keep IT Cool, a recent Earthshot Prize winner, building cold chain storage to reduce post-harvest losses in Kenya. 00:00 - Africa has the lowest farming productivity in the world Check out more episodes of The Greenprint here. This episode was produced as part of our series on climate action in Africa, The Greenprint, in partnership with Catalyst Fund, Delta40, Africa Climate Ventures, and AgBase - an initiative powered by Briter and Mercy Corps AgriFin. AgBase is a business intelligence platform offering real-time data, market insights, and a centralised hub for information on agtech and foodtech across emerging markets. This initiative, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and hosted by Briter Bridges in partnership with MercyCorps AgriFin, is dedicated to bolstering the knowledge framework essential for catalysing investments in digital and technology-driven solutions, with an underlying mission is to transform the lives of smallholder farmers and boost socio-economic growth. Delta40 is a venture studio and venture capital fund supporting diverse founders leading ventures in energy, agriculture, and fintech, with a special focus on supporting African and female entrepreneurs. Beyond capital, they provide hands-on support from experienced operators & investors to drive growth from idea to pan-African scale. Africa Climate Ventures is a pioneering venture builder working to build a portfolio of climate businesses on the continent. ACV invests to bring proven global climate technology to Africa, accelerate and de-risk the continental expansion of technologies and business models that have gained traction in one or a few African market(s), and add carbon revenue streams to existing African businesses with the potential to scale climate-positive solutions. Catalyst Fund is a venture capital fund and venture builder, investing for a climate resilient future in Africa. They combine capital and a hands-on venture-building approach at the pre-seed stage, to partner with visionary founders who are developing climate adaptation solutions that enhance the resilience of communities and the planet. This episode is made possible through a partnership with Prosper Africa’s Catalytic Investment Facility. Aimed at boosting investment and innovative climate adaptation and resilience ventures across Africa, The Catalyst Fund is one of the grantees under Prosper Africa's Catalytic Investment Facility. Prosper Africa is a Presidential-level national security initiative aimed at strengthening the strategic and economic partnership between the U.S. and Africa by catalyzing transformative two-way trade and investment flows. Our Links - | |||
| 13 Apr 2023 | The Future of Work Won't Look Like a Job | 00:44:07 | |
The future of work in the African context is going to be a lot of different things. It mimics the nature of work itself for many individuals on the continent. They're taking this portfolio approach to work. Even in more "developed markets" we're seeing work become less formal and more flexible, as work becomes unbundled from employment. And this evolution of work itself provides a whole set of new challenges and opportunities. So this episode is a retrospective on the entire season, in which we explore more of these questions about the future of work in this context. And joining The Flip's Justin Norman and Kandua's Sayo Folawiyo for this conversation is friend of The Flip, Chris Maclay, the Program Director for the Jobtech Alliance at Mercy Corps. 00:00 - Intro.
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| 21 Feb 2020 | A Conversation with Rebecca Enonchong | 00:50:14 | |
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 in the ecosystem, her views on doing business in Francophone Africa, her journey as an entrepreneur as the founder and CEO of AppsTech, and about how one particular telecom owes them a lot of money and caused her to miss out on a multi-million dollar exit opportunity. | |||
| 25 Nov 2021 | From Farm to Table | 00:36:37 | |
Food prices are disproportionately expensive in African markets. In some countries, consumers spend 50% or more of their income on food. It's a logistics problem and a retail fragmentation problem, and it's also an agriculture and processing problem. So in this episode, we explore the agriculture and processing value chains on the continent. [04:44] - Lack of processing capabilities is a problem in African markets. But processing capabilities are hampered by inconsistent supply from smallholder farmers, as we discuss with ReelFruit's Affiong Williams. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 11 Nov 2021 | Making Borders Matter Less - A Conversation with Dare Okoudjou | 00:44:03 | |
As MFS Africa announces its $100 million Series C, The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo sit down for a conversation with MFS Africa's Founder and CEO, Dare Okoudjou. [02:34]- First question, on MFS Africa's recent acquisition of Baxi, and their expansion into Nigeria. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 22 Sep 2023 | Olugbenga 'GB' Agboola: Hard-Earned Lessons Building Flutterwave | 00:41:12 | |
Today's guest is Olugbenga Agboola, better known as the one and only GB - the Co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave. It's been a trying last year or so for Flutterwave with issues of fraud, allegations of impropriety inside the company, regulatory hurdles, and the general challenges of scaling a fintech in a tough operating environment. Yet through it all, Flutterwave has "technology reach" in 34 countries, they've continued to ship new products beyond their core payments technology, including their rebranded remittance product Send App, and there are rumors swirling about the near-term timeline of their planned IPO. In this episode, we'll hear from GB about many of his recent lessons, his perspectives on product and expansion strategy, and we'll ask many of the questions we've been wanting to hear from him about, including the big one about Flutterwave's IPO. 00:00 - Intro
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| 28 Jan 2021 | Building a Savings Culture with PiggyVest's Odunayo Eweniyi | 00:29:11 | |
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 PiggyVest's core competency, and how has the founders' past experiences helped them build the product and the company? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 21 Nov 2019 | Solving Problems in Africa by Taking the Worm's Eye View | 00:30:23 | |
A tenet of entrepreneurship getting as close to the customer or end-user as possible, to best understand and implement solutions for them. But what does this look like across the continent, where the set of problems and opportunities are unique to the market and context in which entrepreneurs are operating? In this episode, Justin speaks with founders who are building businesses by intimately understanding the problem and their end-users - by taking the worm's eye view. 3:39 - SafeBoda co-founder Ricky Rapa Thomson 10:46 - Lumkani co-founder and CEO David Gluckman 16:27 - Farmcrowdy founder Onyeka Akumah 23:25 - a conversation between Justin and The Flip's b-mic, Sayo Folawiyo. | |||
| 23 Jul 2020 | Introducing The Flip Season Two | 00:03:41 | |
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 | |||
| 02 Mar 2023 | The Future of Work is Matching | 00:22:31 | |
How do we tie interventions - whether traditional education or boot camps or training programs - to job outcomes? As we'll explore in this episode, it requires a demand-led approach and starts with employers. In this episode, we're going to focus on the platforms doing the matching - those that are explicitly working to better connect supply and demand in the job marketplace, to achieve the employment outcomes we wish to see across the continent. 4:03 - We start our exploration on matching with the traditional jobs marketplaces, with The African Talent Company's Hilda Kragha. Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 04 Feb 2021 | Technology for Informal Trade with MarketForce 360's Tesh Mbaabu | 00:29:53 | |
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 experience participating in Y Combinator's accelerator program, what other companies he hopes to see built in the retail and logistics space, and more. 4:00 - First question, what problems do multinational FMCG companies have with regards to distributing products in African markets? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 13 Aug 2020 | Finding Fit - Opportunities in the Global South | 00:20:51 | |
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 episode, we explore the similarities - and the opportunities - between emerging markets across the Global South. 3:57 - Why is Paga expanding to Mexico? And why is Migo expanding to Brazil? We hear from Paga's CEO Tayo Oviosu, and Migo's former VP of Growth, Adia Sowho. | |||
| 16 Mar 2023 | The Future of Work is Vertical Platforms | 00:26:31 | |
African markets are largely informal. So while our examination of workforce and training programs in the fast few episodes focused on formal and salaried jobs, we know that most Africans aren't going to get these types of jobs. So, our exploration of the future of work needs to span much further than that. Where there are no formal jobs, what does it look like to help stimulate the development of the informal sector and microenterprises? And what role does technology play? In this context, we hear a lot about platforms and their role in creating jobs or income-generating opportunities. But what are the platforms actually good for? And what is their actual impact across African markets? In this episode, we're going to dig into the vertical platforms digitizing microenterprises across the continent. 3:46 - Defining jobtech platforms, with the Jobtech Alliance's Chris Maclay. 9:10 - What does it look like to build the infrastructure for microenterprises? With Kandua's Sayo Folawiyo. 12:16 - Exploring what verticalization looks like, and why it is necessary, considering the specifities of the home services sector. 17:25 - Vertical platforms can do a particularly good job at helping small businesses grow. We focus on a particularly large sector, the restaurant industry, with Caantin's Njavwa Mutambo. 21:20 - A retrospective conversation between Sayo Folawiyo and The Flip's Justin Norman. Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 20 Aug 2020 | From Idea to Exit - A Startup Fundraising Journey | 00:35:13 | |
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. | |||
| 06 Aug 2020 | Global Ambition - Lessons from Tech Expansion | 00:25:46 | |
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. | |||
| 09 Mar 2023 | The Future of Work Needs Training | 00:24:49 | |
Throughout this season, we've heard about this disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace. It's often a skills and training issue. Even where there are jobs, there's still this disconnect between demand and supply. But what are we training people for when there are few jobs or income-generating opportunities? In the past few episodes of this season, we've explored the talent networks, the remote work platforms, the workforce enablement programs, and the multi-stakeholder initiatives to attract more global roles to the African continent. All of these interventions work to better connect supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and often there is a necessary training component to these interventions to equip African talent with the skills to do the jobs in question. Edtech and tech-enabled skilling platforms have a role to play too, considering the size and scope of the challenge at hand. So in this episode, we're going to explore these programs working to tackle this problem at scale across the continent. 6:39 - We explore the disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and the talent deficiency, with AltSchool Africa's Adewale Yusuf. Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 02 Jan 2020 | What Do Entrepreneurs Consider When Seeking Venture Capital? | 00:19:34 | |
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 | |||
| 26 Jan 2024 | In Conversation with Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (Coronation Capital, Access Bank) | 00:47:40 | |
Today's guest is Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Coronation Capital and former Group MD and CEO of Access Bank. Aigboje is one of the most successful and esteemed businesspeople on the continent. In 2002, he led the acquisition of Access Bank, which under his 11-year leadership grew into the largest bank in Nigeria and one of the largest in Africa. This wide-ranging discussion with the Chairman took place during the 2023 UN General Assembly in New York at an event hosted by the early-stage VC fund Microtraction, in which we were joined in conversation with Microtraction's Founding Partner, Kwamena Afful. 00:00 - Intro
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| 23 May 2024 | African Small Businesses Have Many Challenges. Can These Platforms Help? | 00:07:54 | |
In this episode, the third in our docuseries on jobtech platforms and the future of work, we dive deeper into the value chain, because the problems that small businesses have across the continent are multi-layered. In an environment of demand constraints and a lack of infrastructure, platforms need to solve multiple problems across the value chain. This is what makes jobtech platforms so hard to build in Africa. But for those who can solve problems across the value chain, it not only unlocks growth opportunities for their users, but it also unlocks additional revenue streams for platforms to achieve greater profitability. Check out the first two episodes in this series: 00:00 - Intro Watch this episode on YouTube. Our Links - | |||
| 10 Sep 2020 | Telcos, PalmPay, and the Future of Mobile Financial Services | 00:30:48 | |
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 Jalakasi. | |||
| 06 Oct 2023 | Building a $1B Fintech in South Africa with Stitch CEO Kiaan Pillay | 00:47:32 | |
Today's guest is Kiaan Pillay, the Co-founder and CEO of Stitch. My conversation with Kiaan comes on the heels of their recent fundraising announcement, a $25 million Series A extension led by the global fintech fund Ribbit Capital, which brings their total funding raised up over $50 million since the launch of the company in 2019. In this episode, we talk to Kiaan about how they've gotten here, the intangibles of company building, their vision for the next generation of payments, and much more. 00:00 - Intro
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| 14 Oct 2021 | Follow the Money, Part Two | 00:31:08 | |
In episode one of this season, we explored how money moves within borders in Africa. In this episode, we explore how money moves across them. [01:27] - Africa is the most expensive region in the world to send money to, according to the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide report. This season is sponsored by MFS Africa. All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa. | |||
| 16 Feb 2023 | The Future of Work Starts with Farming | 00:31:47 | |
How are jobs created? While throughout the season we're going to be looking at that question primarily through a technology and innovation lens, in this episode we're going to start by exploring this jobs question through a more traditional development and economics lens. Because as we'll see, though the future of work might be remote work or the creator economy or any other nascent categories, the future of work in Africa is also a traditional development story. And it starts with farming. 4:11 - Africa's population is 1.4 billion people. It will double by 2050. Where are the jobs going to come from? Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 18 Mar 2021 | Middlemen as a Service - A Retrospective with Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman | 00:20:07 | |
Each episode during our narrative episodes, The Flip's b-mic, Sayo Folawiyo, and founder, Justin Norman, sit down for a retrospective conversation on the topic explored in that episode. However, our current series of conversational episodes explored one theme across the series - digitizing analog and fragmented industries - we opted to have one retrospective conversation that reflects on the entirety of our 10 episode series. In this episode, Sayo and Justin talk about people-centric tech startups, market segmentation, interoperability, specialization, and they may have even invested a new as-a-service category. 3:54 - After a full season of episodes exploring those digitizing analog and fragmented industries, what did we learn? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa’s competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we’ll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 16 Nov 2023 | Ham Serunjogi: How Chipper Cash is Surviving the Slowdown | 00:48:11 | |
Today's guest is Ham Serunjogi, the Co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash. In 2021, Chipper raised $150 million Series C extension, valuing the startup at $2 billion, but has since cut its valuation, reportedly by 70 percent, has engaged in three rounds of layoffs, reducing its headcount by nearly 175 from its peak of 450, and has drastically pulled back from its aggressive growth and expansion strategies across the continent. This conversation with Ham comes at an interesting time for Chipper and in the market, in general. Tough macro conditions on the continent, a slowdown of funding, tech layoffs. And at the same time, a lot of new and significant product launches for the company. 00:00 - Intro 03:05 - Long-term perspectives & time horizons 06:13 - Challenges operating across Africa 08:20 - Reflecting on Chipper's growth strategies 11:25 - Chipper ID 15:40 - Full-stack vs. focus 19:40 - Zoona acquisition & agent networks 26:04 - What lessons has Ham learned? 30:15 - Layoffs 31:45 - Capital allocation going forward 34:24 - Zepz acquisition? 37:07 - More lessons 43:39 - What does the future look like for Chipper? 🔗 Our Links | |||
| 03 Dec 2020 | Inside the Stripe Acquisition of Paystack with Shola Akinlade & Matt Henderson | 00:28:19 | |
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 Winter of 2016. Paystack becomes the first Nigerian startup to participate in Y Combinator, where Shola is introduced to Stripe Co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison. Stripe leads Paystack's Series A. For more episodes, visit us at https://theflip.africa or follow us on twitter @theflipafrica.
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| 09 Feb 2023 | Introducing The Flip Season Four: The Future of Work | 00:02:59 | |
Introducing The Flip Season Four. African countries will be adding more people to the workforce in the next 10 years than the rest of the world combined. Where are the income-generating opportunities going to come from? All this season, we're exploring the future of work. Thanks to MFS Africa for their sponsorship of the entirety of Season 4 of The Flip. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 21 Jan 2021 | Insurance-as-a-Service with Lami's Jihan Abass | 00:21:50 | |
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? This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa’s competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we’ll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries. Follow The Flip on social media @theflipafrica. | |||
| 21 Jan 2025 | Can Solar Power Solve Nigeria's Energy Crisis? | 00:12:18 | |
Nigeria’s energy crisis has persisted for decades. Africa's largest country is largely powered by fuel generators. They're noisy, dirty, and bad for the environment. But they also provide power to millions of people in a country with an unreliable grid. The removal of Nigeria's long-standing fuel subsidy in 2023 caused the price of fuel to quadruple, leaving Nigerian consumers searching for options. And many are going solar. So while economic considerations have largely driven Nigeria's transition to solar power, it has positive climate implications too. But why is the grid so broken? How can it be fixed? And is decentralized solar energy an adequate solution to solve Nigeria's energy crisis? 00:00 - To know Nigeria is to know blackouts Check out more episodes of The Greenprint: https://theflip.africa/the-greenprint This episode of The Greenprint was produced in partnership with Catalyst Fund, Delta40, and Africa Climate Ventures. Delta40 is a venture studio and venture capital fund supporting diverse founders leading ventures in energy, agriculture, and fintech, with a special focus on supporting African and female entrepreneurs. Beyond capital, they provide hands-on support from experienced operators & investors to drive growth from idea to pan-African scale. Africa Climate Ventures is a pioneering venture builder working to build a portfolio of climate businesses on the continent. ACV invests to bring proven global climate technology to Africa, accelerate and de-risk the continental expansion of technologies and business models that have gained traction in one or a few African market(s), and add carbon revenue streams to existing African businesses with the potential to scale climate-positive solutions. Catalyst Fund is a venture capital fund and venture builder, investing for a climate resilient future in Africa. They combine capital and a hands-on venture-building approach at the pre-seed stage, to partner with visionary founders who are developing climate adaptation solutions that enhance the resilience of communities and the planet. This episode is made possible through a partnership with Prosper Africa’s Catalytic Investment Facility. Aimed at boosting investment and innovative climate adaptation and resilience ventures across Africa, The Catalyst Fund is one of the grantees under Prosper Africa's Catalytic Investment Facility. Prosper Africa is a Presidential-level national security initiative aimed at strengthening the strategic and economic partnership between the U.S. and Africa by catalyzing transformative two-way trade and investment flows. Our Links - | |||
| 25 Jul 2024 | How Africa's Fastest Growing Company is Helping Retailers Grow | 00:06:53 | |
Small retailers in Nigeria power the economy. But they’re going through some tough times. Devaluation, food inflation, and overall poor economic conditions have made it especially hard for these small businesses to operate. To better understand how retail works, and how these small businesses can grow, we hit the streets of Lagos with Deepankar Rustagi, CEO of OmniRetail. OmniRetail was ranked Africa's #1 Fastest Growing Company in 2024 by Financial Times. In this episode, Deepankar explains small retailers' working capital challenges and how OmniRetail is helping them grow their business by turning over their inventory faster. 00:00 - Intro Read more from Deepankar - Rethinking Metrics in B2B Commerce: https://theflip.africa/newsletter/rethinking-metrics-in-b2b-ecommerce Our Links - | |||
| 30 Nov 2023 | MTN Nigeria's Adia Sowho: Sharing Is A Must | 00:47:26 | |
Today's guest is Adia Sowho, one of the most experienced and thoughtful operators in the African tech ecosystem. After starting her career in consulting and telecommunications, Adia led growth at the digital credit startup Migo, before leading the turnaround as Interim CEO of the embattled agriculture finance company Thrive Agric. In this episode, we'll learn from Adia about her lessons working across both big and small companies, about the importance of sharing those lessons learned, and so much more. 00:00 - Intro
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| 03 Sep 2020 | Building for Purpose - China-Africa Tech | 00:31:00 | |
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. | |||
| 29 Feb 2024 | The Mastercard Foundation is Investing $150 Million into 20 Gender Lens Funds | 00:46:42 | |
Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it? This episode is the fourth of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund is a $150 million fund-of-funds initiative investing in twenty gender lens funds, with a particular focus on closing the financing and support gap for females. And in this episode, we're joined by Sam Akyianu, Managing Director of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund. 00:00 - Intro
In Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gap In Episode 3 of this series, we were joined by the fund managers: Alitheia Capital's Tokunboh Ishmael & TLcom Capital's Andreata Muforo: https://theflip.africa/podcast/investing-in-women-is-an-economic-imperative This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa. Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Our Links - 🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica 💻 Website - https://theflip.africa 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica 👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica | |||
| 09 May 2024 | Nigerian Neobank Roundtable: Moniepoint, Kuda, FairMoney | 00:43:26 | |
In this episode, we're joined in a panel conversation with the CEOs of three of Nigeria's biggest digital banks: Moniepoint's Tosin Eniolorunda, Kuda's Babs Ogundeyi, and FairMoney's Laurin Hainy. This episode was recorded live from the FT Partners Fintech in Africa Summit in New York City. Download their FinTech in Africa research report, published in March 2024. 00:00 - Intro Our Links - | |||
| 23 Feb 2023 | The Future of Work is Remote | 00:33:39 | |
We know that local economies are not going to create enough jobs or income-generating opportunities for such a rapidly growing African population. But at the same time, for countries in the global north whose working-age population is shrinking, where's the labor going to come from? The solution to both of these problems might be the same: remote work. In this episode, we're going to explore three buckets of remote work: the sexy, high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, the services-based IT work and business process outsourcing, and lastly, the increase of non-technical work that's delivered or fulfilled through digital means. 4:39 - Exploring high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, with Andela's Jeremy Johnson. 10:18 - Andela's model, and the type of talent they've worked with, has evolved since its founding in 2014. 12:30 - Product companies are looking for a specific caliber of talent from an experience level. What does this mean for the future of work in Africa if experience level is such an important requirement? This is where Fred Swaniker and the African Leadership Group come in, which is focused on connecting talent to global services companies. 19:28 - Whereas there's an ever-increasing demand for software developers, it takes a long time to train developer talent. So what about roles that aren't technical, but that can still be fulfilled with technology? We discuss with Shortlist's Paul Breloff. 23:11 - The talent networks are going to play an increasingly important role in bridging supply with demand, with a sector-specific focus. Consider the model "Andela for X". 25:03 - One vertical platform creating opportunities for non-technical talent is Caret, the Nigerian-based platform focused on customer success. We speak to its founder, Tolu Agunbiade. 28:22 - A retrospective conversation between The Flip's b-mic Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman.
Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 26 Feb 2023 | Building Africa's Outsourcing Industry - A Case Study | 00:18:23 | |
What's particularly exciting about remote work is that it's not constrained by the demand from the local market. The jobs can come from anywhere in the world. But it leaves us with a big question: why are global employers looking to hire African talent? And how can African markets take advantage of the opportunity and capture more of these jobs for its citizens? This episode is another case study, on what it looks like to develop the global business services industry in a country like South Africa. 3:50 - Understanding how the global business services sector works, with Genesis Analytics' Mark Schoeman. What compels global organizations to open a delivery center in a given market? Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa. Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter. | |||
| 28 Nov 2019 | Exploring Sustainable Businesses Models | 00:42:09 | |
They say that the difference between the US and Africa is that the US has competition while Africa has complexity. And a big reason for its complexity is a lack of infrastructure. It compels many startups to build infrastructure, invest in other market-making activities and/or to diversify earlier in their journey to make their businesses work. How are startups across the continent building sustainable businesses in this environment? 2:57 - Kasha's Joanna Bichsel 10:56 - MAX.ng's Tayo Bamiduro & Chinedu Azodoh 18:17 - BRCK's Erik Hersman 23:06 - Hello Tractor's Jehiel Oliver 32:07 - a conversation between Justin and The Flip's b-mic, Sayo Folawiyo.
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| 21 May 2020 | Crisis-Induced Collaboration | 00:20:34 | |
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 collaboration. 1:52 - We take a look back at a prior crisis-induced collaboration with Ory Okolloh, a Co-founder of Ushahidi, a digital and data mapping platform built in response to post-election violence in Kenya in 2008. | |||
| 24 Sep 2020 | Much Ado About the Media | 00:44:27 | |
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 there seemingly a contentious relationship between African tech and the media? 2:27 - We talk public relations utility and strategy, with Wimbart's Jessica Hope. | |||
| 19 Mar 2020 | Accessible Insurance for All - A Conversation with MicroEnsure's Richard Leftley | 00:31:30 | |
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 stopped asking its clients three standard questions during the signup process (name, age, and next of kin) – and they signed up 20 million customers in 140 days! They now serve over 60 million customers, 80% of whom had never had insurance prior to MicroEnsure. 2:47 – On MicroEnsure’s distribution model. | |||
| 11 Nov 2024 | This Funding Model is Helping Fight Climate Change | 00:48:10 | |
These climate investors are funding climate startups using a hands-on venture-building model to support founders across Africa. In this episode, we’re joined by James Mwangi from Africa Climate Ventures, Maxime Bayen from Catalyst Fund, and Lyndsay Holley Handler from Delta40. We discuss why African ventures and climate startups, in particular, benefit from the venture building model; the limitations of the traditional two and twenty fund model in the African tech ecosystem; the types of founders and opportunities these investors are looking for; the pitch these investors are making to global investors for why they should back climate action across Africa; and, is Africa the most important region for global climate goals? 00:00 - Intro This roundtable conversation was recorded during the 2024 Climate Week in New York City. This episode was produced as part of our series on climate action in Africa, in partnership with Catalyst Fund, Delta40, and Africa Climate Ventures. Delta40 is a venture studio and venture capital fund supporting diverse founders leading ventures in energy, agriculture, and fintech, with a special focus on supporting African and female entrepreneurs. Beyond capital, they provide hands-on support from experienced operators & investors to drive growth from idea to pan-African scale. Africa Climate Ventures is a pioneering venture builder working to build a portfolio of climate businesses on the continent. ACV invests to bring proven global climate technology to Africa, accelerate and de-risk the continental expansion of technologies and business models that have gained traction in one or a few African market(s), and add carbon revenue streams to existing African businesses with the potential to scale climate-positive solutions. Catalyst Fund is a venture capital fund and venture builder, investing for a climate resilient future in Africa. They combine capital and a hands-on venture-building approach at the pre-seed stage, to partner with visionary founders who are developing climate adaptation solutions that enhance the resilience of communities and the planet. This episode is made possible through a partnership with Prosper Africa’s Catalytic Investment Facility. Aimed at boosting investment and innovative climate adaptation and resilience ventures across Africa, The Catalyst Fund is one of the grantees under Prosper Africa's Catalytic Investment Facility. Prosper Africa is a Presidential-level national security initiative aimed at strengthening the strategic and economic partnership between the U.S. and Africa by catalyzing transformative two-way trade and investment flows. Our Links - | |||