15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
Read More15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
Read More15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
Read More15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
Read More15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
Read More15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
Read More15 founders building solutions to look out for in 2023
According to this report by the United Nations, Africa’s sustainable growth is heavily dependent on how well Africans can use tools like technology to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities. People all across the continent are taking their experience, skills, and network, and using them to build purpose-driven solutions for the continent. From Aisha Husseini, who is making digital tools more accessible, to Nomsa Makgabenyana, who is helping marketers better understand the African market. In the past years, the African startup scene has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of founders using technology to innovate and profer solutions to African problems. This list features fifteen founders creating impactful solutions across the continent that you should pay attention to. 1. Marie-Reine Seshie Marie is the CEO/co-founder of Kola Market. She has over a decade of experience on the continent, driving results for SMEs and startups. She has over five years of experience in the banking sector and has also worked as a management consultant for SMEs. Marie’s startup, Kola Market helps SMEs grow well. They are a B2B platform that leverages data science methods and other digital tools to provide consistent sales, smart inventory insights and blended finance to SMEs across Africa. Their goal is simple: help SMEs sell out their inventory and grow their income. For Marie, SMEs are the key to unlocking the immense potential of Africa. She sees an Africa where small businesses are growing rapidly and profitably, driving employment and growing the GDP of African economies. Instead of taking loans that end up killing their businesses, they’re able to grow sustainably, cost-effectively, and profitably. 2. Aisha Husseini (Nigeria) Aisha Hussaini has over seven years of experience in consumer lending and trade in the African technology ecosystem. She is a 2x founder, having previously led the startup, Mobile Waiter, and worked at Cars45 and Autochek Africa. Aisha’s startup, Keza Africa is a smartphone financing platform that allows people to buy smartphones and pay in instalments. They want to make digital work tools more affordable for people, by enabling Africans to pay in monthly instalments for their devices. 3. Olusola Amusan (Nigeria) Olusola Amusan Olusola, who has a background in software engineering is the co-founder and CEO of Vesti. He is a two-time founder and has experience designing learning curriculums for top banks and universities. Vesti is a finance and legal software platform that provides financial payments and settlement of migration-related fees, enabling users to move from one place to another and transfer money. With Vesti, anyone who wants to migrate can find information & financial services like government payments, savings & health insurance. Users can also create virtual cards and pay hundreds of migration merchants. 4. Nomsa Makgabenyana (Botswana) Nomsa Makgabenyana is an MPhil (Inclusive Innovation) candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and founder of Seriti Insights. Seriti Insights is a marketing technology that addresses the fact that Africans don’t always express themselves in perfect English. They mix languages, create “sayings” thatare constantly changing, and share our experiences with brands, products, and services, especially on social media platforms. Their product: The Seipone.ai SaaS is able togive marketers, brand builders, and product owners, true insights and sentiments of theAfrican consumers in real-time, regardless of the language they express themselves in. Seriti is currently looking to raise a pre-seed round to enable them to scale into East Africa. 5. Chineye Ochem (Nigeria) Chineye is the co-founder and COO of Tyms Africa. She’s a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with over six years of experience in accounting and finance. Chineye’s startup, Tyms Africa, helps businesses with cash flow management and short-term cash flow financing. They have a product, Tyms Book, which is an automated bookkeeping and accounting platform that makes it easy and seamless for businesses to keep adequate financial records and generate financial reports. Chineye is passionate about using her skills and experience to solve financial problems for businesses because she believes this is a way to contribute towards improving the standard of living of Nigerians and Africans. 6. Naledi Magowe (Botswana) Naledi Magowe Naledi is the co-founder of Brastorne. She has an unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide for rural African communities and her startup Brastorne has transformed the lives of over two million Africans through mobile solutions that empower the rural poor in Africa with knowledge, resources, and connectivity. With extensive experience in T4D projects, strategy, and communications, Naledi has been recognised as a thought leader on the global stage, inspiring audiences and winning numerous awards for her remarkable achievements. Her startup, Brastorne, connect the unconnected to the world by providing the rural poor in Africa with equitable access to the internet, markets, information and community without smartphones or data bundles. 7. Ope Onaboye (Nigeria) Ope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Renda. He has 10 years of experience spanning different sectors and is also the founder of Incite Enterprises Group of companies. Renda is an online platform that makes it easy for e-commerce businesses to operate and access logistics services. They don’t just help you find a dispatch rider, they focus on all of the other bulk logistics services like procurement, warehousing, inventory management, freight and so much more. They have built a network of over 300 drivers, and 90+ warehouses and are currently available in 10 cities. 8. Blandine Umuziranenge (Rwanda) Blandine Umuziranenge Blandine is the founder and CEO of Kosmotive, a social enterprise that focuses on improving menstrual, maternal and child health in Rwanda and throughout Africa. She has twelve years of experience combining IT, Social Entrepreneurship and Circular Business Modeling with an ambition to pave menstrual freedom for girls and women in Africa. Kosmotive provides access to menstrual, maternal and child health information through their eHealth platform and Helpline, as well as manufacturing and distributing women’s hygiene products, mainly KosmoPads reusable sanitary pads for investing in girls’ education, women’s health and the planet; one pad at a time. 9. Jennat El Guennouni (Morocco) Jennat is
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Teaming up to fight fraud is not a new idea. What’s stopping Nigerian fintechs?
Data protection rules are one reason prior attempts at forming an anti-fraud posse failed. But everyone knows the real reason is that leaders of fintech firms simply don’t trust each other. After an ₦11 billion fraud case hit eTranzact in 2018, several senior leaders of the online payments company—one of Nigeria’s oldest—elected to resign. eTranzact’s managing director, Valentine Obi, chief technology officer, Richard Omoniyi and head of operations, Kehinde Segun stepped down from their roles alongside two executive directors. The eTranzact affair—which was perpetrated by the chief executive of a client firm—bears little resemblance to the numerous fraud attempts payments companies in Nigeria face today. Instead, the significance of the news in 2018, to anyone paying attention, was that tech-enabled financial services fraud could be very costly. ₦11 billion in 2018 was the equivalent of almost $31 million. It also highlighted the fact that fintech firms could not be too vigilant. Between 2020 and 2021, fraudulent activity recorded by deposit banks in Nigeria rose to 211,713 —a 44.8% jump, according to data from the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Scheme (NDIC). According to Smile Identity, a KYC provider, fraud attempts increased by 50% between the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2022. The first half of 2022 alone recorded a 30% increase compared to the same period in 2021. In the first nine months of 2020, cybercriminals had an astounding 91% success rate from over 46,000 attempts. The growing complexity of cyber fraud Cyberfraud risks are a constant headache as more people use digital channels for transactions. In June 2022, MTN’s mobile money service sued 18 Nigerian banks after it lost ₦22.3 billion ($53.7 million) to mobile money fraud. MTN’s loss dwarfs what eTranzact lost in 2018 and involved more people—MTN says the amount was transferred in error to 8,000 accounts—a pointer to the growing scale and complexity of cyber fraud. Last year, Union54, a Zambian fintech was forced to halt operations over an attempted $1.2 billion chargeback, TechCrunch reports. More recently, Flutterwave lost N2.9 billion ($6.3 million) and another N550 million ($1.2 million) per reporting from Techpoint Africa and TechCabal. The company says it only discovered unusual trends in several user accounts during a routine check of its transaction monitoring system, but claimed it did not lose any funds. However, it asked banks to block hundreds of bank accounts amidst legal action to recover an undisclosed amount from the affected accounts. The Flutterwave incident is at least the equivalent of a generous seed round, or two — in today’s sour venture market. Now Flutterwave and 12 other firms that receive or process payments online are reportedly creating a data-sharing initiative to prevent fraud incidents by sharing data. Project Radar, Semafor reports, will “enable companies to pool details, including banking and government identity data, of individuals and groups that have attempted or made fraudulent transactions.” Will data sharing among fintechs stop fraud? Esigie Aguele chief executive of VerifyMe, a KYC software provider is emphatic, “Absolutely, yes! The way to solve it, even if you look at developed ecosystems [is that] private sector creates federated environments for fraud reporting,” he says when asked if he believes if fraud networks can help prevent fintech fraud. “The definitive answer to the question is yes, and it literally is the only way. The question now is what type of network? What is the infrastructure of the network? How is it built? What is the regulation under it?” he adds. Sharing data to stop fraud has been discussed since at least 2018, possibly earlier, with little to show for it. “When financial service providers (FSPs) share data, they are positioned to better identify patterns that suggest transaction fraud, leading to fewer false positives in the detection of financial crime,” says Jacqueline Jumah, Director of Advocacy and Capacity Development at AfricaNenda, a digital payments-focused research and advocacy group. While the benefits of sharing fraud detection data is clear, Ademola Adekunbi, a data protection lawyer and compliance professional says fintechs “are reluctant to share [fraud data] because of data privacy concerns,“ but also because they do not want their peers to discover the true state of fraud attacks they face. Payment companies are also wary about data sharing initiatives because they do not want to expose their fraud detection methods, Adekunbi adds. Nigeria’s fintech space is intensely competitive as a result. “It is not in the interest of fintech firms to share data that might potentially expose their fraud detection system to their competitors,” says Adekunbi, and Jumah agrees. “A majority of FSPs are not comfortable with disclosing valuable competitive intelligence on their customer transactions, nor creating tensions with data privacy regulations.” “Nigeria’s new open banking rules will allow anyone to build fraud prevention solutions,” Omoniyi Kolade, founder and chief executive of SeerBit, a payments software company tells TechCabal. SeerBit’s CEO, however, wants the push for fraud data sharing to come from a regulating body. But it is not clear if the rules which allow customers to give third parties access to their banking information extend to allowing financial services institutions to trade data on cyber fraud. Service providers will also have to contend with Nigeria’s data privacy laws. Institutionalising data sharing to prevent fraud According to Semafor, Project Radar is currently in talks with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and commercial banks in Nigeria to track and report fraudulent bank transactions in the country. But there are pitfalls to be aware of. For example, a transaction can be suspicious without being fraudulent. There is also the risk that fraud and defaulting on digital loans may both be treated as cybercrimes. As a result, users who default on loans could, in theory, be locked out of digital financial services, especially if these anti-fraud lists are shared by credit providers and payment companies. Unlike seeking to fraudulently pilfer funds from unsuspecting users or financial firms, failing to pay back a loan is not a criminal activity. But financial services practitioners point out that serial defaulting
Read MoreINC Consulting Africa launches with a drive to improve innovation in Africa’s healthcare sector
Irene Nwaukwa and Dr Philip Ikeme have collaborated to build INC Consulting Africa, a healthcare consulting company poised to facilitate innovation in the healthcare space. The pair, both healthcare professionals, with Irene being a healthcare marketing expert, have over 45 years of combined experience working in the healthcare sector in sub-Saharan Africa and are passionate about driving improved access to quality healthcare in Africa. INC Consulting Africa is offering healthcare startups and companies tailored solutions to improve their operations. This includes marketing and business development, project implementation, on-ground market research, and competitor tracking. lNC Consulting Africa will also offer medico-marketing communications for healthcare stakeholders, wellness and patient education, and training of commercial teams for healthcare companies. Healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa is currently the worst in the world due to ravaging poverty levels and lack of investment in the space, and there have been concerns about the business of healthcare on the continent further excluding poor people who are unable to afford private healthcare. However, INC shares that have already partnered with healthtechs like WellaHealth to design a strategy that deepens its penetration among the country’s poorer, underserved population. Wellahealth is focused on providing affordable and accessible healthcare to the underserved population According to Dr. Philip Ikeme, the co-founder, the partnership with Wellahealth has exposed them to the impact of using technology and innovative solutions to build solutions for the underserved population. “We are excited about the potential impact our tailored solutions can have on the healthcare industry in Africa. Through our work with Wellahealth, we have seen the impact of using technology and innovative solutions to address challenges faced by underserved populations. We believe our expertise and experience will enable us to support more healthcare companies in improving access to quality healthcare across the continent,” he shared. Their launch comes at a time when the healthcare scene in Africa is plagued with many challenges, and there have been calls for more investment -both attention and financial- into the sector. According to a report by Brooking, Africa’s health sector is one of the most lucrative and would be worth an estimated $259 billion by 2030. “We are dedicated to building and supporting robust programs and channels to enhance healthcare quality in African communities. Our mission is to increase the penetration and scale of healthcare innovation for every target customer while delivering value to our clients. With our extensive experience and expertise, we are positioned to deliver value and impact to the healthcare ecosystem in Africa,” shared Irene Nwaukwa.
Read MoreINC Consulting Africa launches with a drive to improve innovation in Africa’s healthcare sector
Irene Nwaukwa and Dr Philip Ikeme have collaborated to build INC Consulting Africa, a healthcare consulting company poised to facilitate innovation in the healthcare space. The pair, both healthcare professionals, with Irene being a healthcare marketing expert, have over 45 years of combined experience working in the healthcare sector in sub-Saharan Africa and are passionate about driving improved access to quality healthcare in Africa. INC Consulting Africa is offering healthcare startups and companies tailored solutions to improve their operations. This includes marketing and business development, project implementation, on-ground market research, and competitor tracking. lNC Consulting Africa will also offer medico-marketing communications for healthcare stakeholders, wellness and patient education, and training of commercial teams for healthcare companies. Healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa is currently the worst in the world due to ravaging poverty levels and lack of investment in the space, and there have been concerns about the business of healthcare on the continent further excluding poor people who are unable to afford private healthcare. However, INC shares that have already partnered with healthtechs like WellaHealth to design a strategy that deepens its penetration among the country’s poorer, underserved population. Wellahealth is focused on providing affordable and accessible healthcare to the underserved population According to Dr. Philip Ikeme, the co-founder, the partnership with Wellahealth has exposed them to the impact of using technology and innovative solutions to build solutions for the underserved population. “We are excited about the potential impact our tailored solutions can have on the healthcare industry in Africa. Through our work with Wellahealth, we have seen the impact of using technology and innovative solutions to address challenges faced by underserved populations. We believe our expertise and experience will enable us to support more healthcare companies in improving access to quality healthcare across the continent,” he shared. Their launch comes at a time when the healthcare scene in Africa is plagued with many challenges, and there have been calls for more investment -both attention and financial- into the sector. According to a report by Brooking, Africa’s health sector is one of the most lucrative and would be worth an estimated $259 billion by 2030. “We are dedicated to building and supporting robust programs and channels to enhance healthcare quality in African communities. Our mission is to increase the penetration and scale of healthcare innovation for every target customer while delivering value to our clients. With our extensive experience and expertise, we are positioned to deliver value and impact to the healthcare ecosystem in Africa,” shared Irene Nwaukwa.
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