TECH STARS (1006)
The investor sees entrepreneurship as a tool to resolve the most complex challenges in Africa. She, therefore, invests in entrepreneurs through her VC firm We Fund Women.
Hope Ditlhakanyane (photo) is the South African investor who founded VC firm We Fund Women to support women-led businesses' growth by giving them access to capital.
Her VC firm, launched in 2020, enables angel investors to invest in early-stage gender-smart startups easily. Its ambition is to support 100 gender-smart startups by 2025.
"We Fund Women is a gender-lens investing community so we aim to do three things. Firstly, we want to amplify the stories of different women entrepreneurs across the continent by giving them the platform to talk about their journeys. Secondly, we aim to connect capital allocators and people who can provide growth support to promising women with great innovations. Overall, what we're trying to do is leverage community to catalyze the move towards gender equality on our continent within the VC space," Hope Ditlhakanyane explains.
The VC investor is also the Head of venture sourcing for VC firm Founders Factory Africa, which she joined as a venture sourcing lead in January 2021. With Founders Factory Africa, she headed investments in several firms including Pneumacare, Zuri Health, Baia, Vitruvian, and Tibu Health.
For MEST Africa, which she joined as a venture partner in 2020, she worked with portfolio companies in four markets: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. In 2019, she worked for consulting firm Kearney as a Senior business analyst.
Thanks to her works, the Cape Town University graduate made it to Yahoo Finance and Mail & Guardian's respective lists "200 Young South Africans" and "100 Women Future Leaders."
Melchior Koba
He embarked on entrepreneurship early while still working for financial institutions. His fintech aims to provide clients with automated tools to manage investments in several instruments and asset classes.
Reda Hachimy (photo) is a Moroccan entrepreneur and the founder/CEO of fintech startup Capital Quant Agency, which specializes in financial and capital markets.
Capital Quant Agency, founded in 2019, provides financial institutions, trading rooms, asset managers, and institutional investors with a powerful capital and financial markets decision-making software SaaS adapted to their specific needs. Its software helps clients evaluate investment opportunities and optimize their portfolios.
" Capital Quant Agency's main mission as an innovative startup is to develop for its clients, notably trading rooms and asset managers, a powerful, scalable, and modular capital market SaaS software that will help them achieve improved operational and strategic performance," Reda Hachimy said in December 2022.
In May 2022, he founded "Annuaire des consultants," an exclusive network of French-speaking consultants, consultancy firms, and experts. The online directory aims to showcase its members and improve their visibility with institutions seeking experts for their projects. Doing so, it expects to help members land impactful missions in Morocco and abroad.
The founder's professional experience consists of stints with financial institutions. In January 2020, he worked for the Moroccan Interprofessional Pension Fund as a data scientist. In February 2021, he also worked as a quantitative analyst for the investment bank Valoris Group. From February to April 2021, he worked in the markets division of Citibank.
Let's note that in 2022, Capital Quant Agency was crowned Africa's WealthTech Company of the Year and Best FinTech Solutions Provider in the MENA region.
Melchior Koba
The tech enthusiast strongly advocates empowering women in the African digital ecosystem. She is considered one of the pioneers in the promotion of ICT for all in Côte d'Ivoire and Africa as a whole.
Christelle Assirou (photo) is an Ivorian tech entrepreneur committed to empowering women. In 2007, she founded NGO "Femmes & TIC" (Women and ICT), which aims to attract women in the ICT industry for its development.
"Currently, women are 14% less likely to own a cell phone than men. The digital sector can offer huge opportunities to women if we manage to reduce the inequalities caused notably by lack of training and the absence of committed networks," she explained, in June 2019, during the European Development Days.
The tech entrepreneur is also the CEO of ICTINA, a strategic marketing, digital transformation, and digital marketing agency.
She graduated from the UFR SEG, in France, with a Master's in Financial and Management Accounting (in 2001) and a specialized graduate diploma (DESS) in 2008. Since 2013, she is the coordinator of the network "Femme, Numérique et Développment."
She is also a founding member of the Internet Society Côte d'Ivoire (ISOC CI), the local chapter of the ISOC. She entered the professional world, in 2004, with business service provider COMETE, where she spent three years as a commercial manager.
In 2008, she became the associate director of Open Technologies in Côte d'Ivoire. About five years later, in 2013, she was hired as the marketing manager of the digital agency Smile. From 2016 to 2017, she was the technical adviser in charge of digital inclusion at the Ivorian Ministry of Women.
During the second edition of the Africa Open Innovation Summit (October 20-21, 2022), Christelle Assirou was the chief commissioner. In 2020, she was part of the initiative eTrade for Women. UNESCO named her on its pioneer list of "Remarkable Women in Technology." In 2021, she organized a masterclass dedicated to connecting women entrepreneurs operating in the local digital ecosystem.
Melchior Koba
The serial entrepreneur has already founded five firms and its fintech solutions leverage blockchain technologies to secure and facilitate financial transactions between users.
Aronu Ugochukwu (photo) is a young Nigerian entrepreneur and the co-founder/CEO of fintech startup Xend which provides payment and management tools to SMEs
Thanks to its innovative solutions, Xend (founded in 2019) helps businesses make online and offline payments, and manage their inventory among other things.
In 2019, Aronu Ugochukwu also founded crypto bank Xend Finance with the support of Binance and Google Launchpad. The bank offers up to 15% interest annually on deposits. Its Web3 is open for developers and it claims to be Africa's first DeFi (decentralized) company and also the first African company to be listed on Binance Smart Chain. In August, it launched XendBridge, a blockchain payment API (application programming interface), and SwitchWallet, "an enterprise-grade wallet provision service."
The serial entrepreneur also founded Wicrypt, a smart wifi network that allows users to get paid by sharing their wireless internet connection with others. "Wicrypt is providing last-mile internet to people of the world who need it, while leveraging the blockchain by having hosts stake $WNT [ed. note: the startup's cryptocurrency] to become a part of the Wicrypt Network," he explained in 2021.
In 2016, he founded IT service company Ugarsoft. Before co-founding, instant delivery platform Ogwugo (the first Nigerian firm to accept bitcoin payments).
Given his young age and the numerous ventures he has already launched, one would believe that he has always been an entrepreneur but, this is not the case. He also has a professional career. In 2014, he joined KPMG Nigeria as an IT advisory associate. From September 2015 to June 2016, he was a software developer for IT services and consulting firm Lloydant Business Services.
Melchior Koba
After more than 10 years in the publishing industry, he entered the digital marketing field, creating and running several firms. Fraxeum, one of his ventures, leverages blockchain technology to promote financial inclusion.
South African serial entrepreneur Barry Tuck (photo) is the co-founder and director of Fraxeum, a blockchain technology built “for financial institutions, Web3 applications, and IoT systems that need a fast, transaction fee-free blockchain.”
According to the director, Fraxeum (founded in 2019) “essentially [...] tokenizes equity in any kind of asset – real world or digital, traditional or alternative, enabling fractionalization of equity into millions of micro-shares.”
“On top of the blockchain we have developed a range of fintech solutions that facilitate simple customer KYC, AML, and onboarding, direct fiat deposits and withdrawals, a secondary OTC desk for resale of micro-shares, and much more,” he added in December 2022.
Barry is also the director and co-founder of Ûs The Movement (a collective of artists, designers, riders, and makers), marketing agency SwiftX, and crowdfunding platform AZUZA. He is the director of plastic waste processor Infinite Industries, Global Crypto (a community of blockchain and crypto enthusiasts and Sirvis Pro, a platform that connects services providers to buyers.
In 2008, he co-founded creative digital agency Gorilla Creative Media and, some eight years later, he also cofounded startup accelerator Three One Combinator. His professional career started in 1994, in the publishing industry where he was first a photographer, then a photojournalist, an editor, and even a production manager.
He later entered the digital marketing industry, working as the managing director of Paton Tupper Digital, between 2013 and 2019. Between 2020 and 2022, he was the global marketing director of Affinity Group, a holding of eight firms based in South Africa and the UK. On SpeakerHub, he explains that he has spoken “at dozens of conferences for organizations like Unilever, Shell, RE/MAX, Radius Solutions Group, BRICS, Digital Day as well as several teachers associations, chambers of commerce and entrepreneur clubs.”
Melchior Koba
The serial entrepreneur has launched several tech solutions. He is one of the business leaders who are developing the Zimbabwean tech sector.
Tendai Elvis Mugovi (photo) is a Zimbabwean serial entrepreneur. As the founder and CEO of Mugonat Systems, he develops innovative software for Africans.
Mugonat Systems, founded in 2015, is a software company based in Harare, Zimbabwe. It develops Android and iOS apps as well as SMS, chatbots, and USSD systems for the health, management, and finance sectors, among others.
Some of the software developed by the company include Finmaze HMS (Health management system) which is a health management system for small to large healthcare facilities, and Cashlinq which is a digital banking wallet designed for African financial institutions.
Elvis is also the chief technology officer of fintech company Panamax which helps SMEs access working capital, through crowdfunding.
In December 2022, while explaining the reason he created Panamax, he said: “there is an extremely high cost of borrowing for SMEs due to their perceived risk and lack of a credit record and a high lag time between the time of need and time of capital provisioning. This affects SMEs’ agility in responding to immediate market needs."
The serial entrepreneur is also the director of healthtech platform DocOnline Africa, edtech startup Smart360°, and agritech eMudhumeni. Besides his entrepreneurial career, he has years of professional experience in both the startup ecosystem and the tech industry.
In 2015, he joined the Zimbabwean company Expert Decision Systems (XDS) as a software developer. From March 2016 to June 2017, he worked for the innovation hub and accelerator rubiem Group as the manager. The following year, he was hired by C2 Media Pty Ltd as a Full Stack software engineer. Then, in 2019, he became the CEO of rubiem Innovations, where he worked till May 2021.
Melchior Koba
After six years of professional experience, he ventured into entrepreneurship. Right from France where he spent almost all of his life, the Cameroonian-born entrepreneur trains young Africans in digital professions and supports them in their job hunt or their self-employment bids.
Douglas Mbiandou (photo) is a Cameroonian-born entrepreneur who has been living in France since he was seven. Right from his base in France, he founded the non-profit association 10 000 CODEURS (10000 coders) whose goal is to train ten thousand coders by 2025.
In 2017, Douglas revealed that the Lyon-based non-profit institution was launched, in 2015, when he carried out a consulting mission for the Congolese government. “The ambition is to train 10,000 mobile and web developers between 2015 and 2025,” he stressed.
His institution operates in Francophone Africa and in France. It facilitates the professional integration of millions of people by retraining and giving them the skills needed for digital professions and entrepreneurship.
10 000 CODEURS provides its young members with digital education. Its training platform offers more than 800 videos on digital usage, technologies, and jobs, among others. It also has more than 450 webinars.
Before 10000 codeurs, in 2005, in France, he founded OBJIS, a firm that trains and supports young Africans in software design. With that firm, which equips startup founders with operational skills, he has already trained over 3,000 programmers. Since 2021, he is the president of Aurafrica a network that facilitates relations between entrepreneurs operating in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and those residing in Africa. Before his entrepreneurial journey, he spent five years (2001-2007) working as an application engineer for the IT firm Capgemini.
Melchior Koba
She is an experienced business leader and successful entrepreneur. Her impact on the African tech ecosystem earned her an appointment as the head of the new accelerator program launched by Techstars, one of the world's largest investors.
Oyin Solebo (photo) is a Nigerian entrepreneur and investment manager. In October 2022, the economics graduate and MBA holder was appointed managing director of ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, an acceleration program launched by Techstars and Lagos-based innovation hub ARM Labs a few months earlier.
The acceleration program she now heads aims to support fintech and proptech startups whose products are destined for African consumers. Its 3-month maiden cohort is scheduled to start in January 2023.
“Whilst talent is equally distributed, the opportunity is not. Nowhere is this more obvious than on the African continent. The ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator furthers Techstars’ mission to support entrepreneurs everywhere and give startups the capital and opportunities they need to succeed, regardless of their location or background - and I’m honoured to be leading it,” Oyin Solebo said after her appointment as the head of the new acceleration program.
Before that appointment, she co-founded (in 2014 ) Movemeback, a Google-backed technology platform that connects a global community of leaders, influencers, talent, and organizations to unique, exclusive, and exciting high-potential opportunities in Africa.
In 2013, she co-founded Agonyapp, an anonymous relationship advice app. However, her professional career began in 2004 at Goldman Sachs where she was an investment associate. In 2010, she joined the management consulting firm Roland Berger as a strategy consultant. From 2011 to 2020, she worked as the managing director of European Family Offices.
In 2021,the entrepreneur participated in the Google for Startups black founder immersion program and this year, she took part in the London & Partners' Business Growth Programme.
Melchior Koba
The tech entrepreneur has experience in a wide range of sectors including finance and banking, education, and technology. With his edtech Zeraki, he develops tech solutions to improve the quality of education in Africa.
Isaac Nyangolo (photo) is a Kenyan entrepreneur and the co-founder/CEO of edtech firm Zeraki which offers innovative tools to make teaching and learning effective, engaging, and productive.
The flagship product of that edtech (founded in 2014) is Zeraki Analytics. It transforms the way educational data is collected, analyzed, and used. Another product, Zeraki Learning, provides a platform to learn from highly experienced teachers, get tested, and track performance. The third product, Zeraki Touch, is a foolproof biometric system that allows for efficient tracking of daily school operations.
In early December, Isaac Nyangolo raised US$1.8 million in seed funding in a round led by Acumen Fund to expand the startup's product catalog and continue its regional expansion. "We plan on building more administrative tools for schools, and payment products on the parents’ side. We have also brought back focus on [the once dormant] digital learning platform, and tested a number of products like timetabling.[...]We’re expanding first into the regions that we understand and have similar business environments with. We plan on first moving into the entire East Africa community and then exploring the Anglophone region," Isaac said.
Currently, he is the chairperson of the Harvard Club of Kenya and a member of the board of the data analytics firm Superfluid Labs. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Kenyan chapter of non-profit organization Education For All Children. He entered the professional world in 2007, as a planning and design engineer for home entertainment operator Wananchi Online.
In 2009, he joined Citibank N.A. as a clearing assistant before landing at Equity Bank Ltd as a marketing analyst. He was later appointed program manager for the Nairobi-based Equity Group Foundation.
Melchior Koba
The serial entrepreneur streamlines data management to improve businesses’ decision-making. His data automation solution has attracted huge funding.
Martin Naude (photo) is a South African computer scientist and the founder/CEO of Synatic, a modern data automation platform developed for businesses.
The platform, founded in 2019, combines an on-demand integration platform (iPaaS), Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) software, Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL) process, and API management into a simple, yet powerful tool. It makes it easy to solve complex data problems quickly.
After a seed funding round in early 2021, it raised an additional US$2.5 million in an extension round in December 2022. Thanks to the funds raised, it plans to “expand its market reach in the United States in preparation for Series A funding in 2023.”
“Synatic’s integration and automation platform is already gaining ground in multiple international markets. With this additional seed money, we can bring a new focus to the U.S. market, expanding our sales and marketing program and recruiting new reseller and developer partners,” said Martin Naude.
In 2017, the latter founded FilePounder, a modern integration platform and ETL tool that makes integration, processing, and data manipulation easy. Between 2015 and 2016, he was the CEO of Encentivize, an employee reward, recognition, and engagement platform that provides companies with the tools to create high-performing organizations.
His professional career began in 2001 when he joined the tech company Simplexity as the director of development.
In 2004, he worked for the software development company Sage as Development Manager (VIP Corporate). In 2005, he became the managing director of the IT services and consulting company Entelect. Some six years later, he was director of new technologies in the same company.
Melchior Koba
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The tech entrepreneur is specialized in the e-commerce segment. The platform he developed connects small merchants to e-commerce services in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Waleed Rashed (photo) is an Egyptian entrepreneur and the Founder/CEO of SIDEUP, a platform offering smart solutions to MSMEs specialized in the e-commerce sector.
SIDEUP was founded in 2008. Formerly known as VOO, it was launched to meet all the needs of e-commerce entrepreneurs, from local and international logistics support to warehousing services and a comprehensive real-time dashboard for performance analysis. It integrates a partner account manager and the best tech tools like Zammit, Wuilt, Paymob Aramex, and DHL used in the MENA region.
In early December 2022, the startup, which already serves 2,000 e-commerce businesses, raised US$1.2 million for its expansion. It also entered Saudi Arabia where it is now headquartered.
"SideUp is for the merchants in the village, or those selling products over Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp. They get accessibility to all the services starting from the courier company, warehousing, and fulfillment, to marketing services," Waleed Rashed said after the fundraising round.
Apart from SideUp, Waleed Rashed has founded Ingez, a company assisting users in their various errands, from grocery shopping to clothing drop-off. From 2013 to 2016, he led the errand-running firm as the CEO.
His professional career started in 2007 at the First Abu Dhabi Bank where he was a sales representative. In 2008, he joined the Al Khalij Commercial Bank as a sales team leader.
Melchior Koba
She is one of the leading women in the African cybersecurity industry. Through CyberSafe Foundation, she raises awareness on how to stay cyber-safe. For her impact on the continent, she has already received several awards and recognitions.
Confidence Staveley (photo) is a Nigerian cybersecurity expert. She graduated from Middlesex University, in 2011, with a BSc in information technology and Business information systems. In 2013, she got a Master’s in IT management from the University of Bradford.
In 2019, she founded Cybersafe Foundation, an NGO that raises promotes changes (through awareness campaigns and training) for a safer internet for African users.
Recently, through the #NoGoFallMaga initiative, the organization launched cybersecurity awareness campaigns that reached over 20 million people. It also organized cybersecurity training reaching more than 4,000 small and medium-sized businesses and over 9,000 employees. The NGO also launched the first cybersecurity awareness handbook in Africa.
“We were looking at really innovative ways to drive awareness about cybersecurity and making people see the importance in the first place and how it applies to them as individuals. And helping them take actionable steps to become safer online, but we’re doing it in a way that’s not overwhelming,” Confidence Staveley said in June 2022, explaining the reasons behind the campaign.
Since August 2022, the cybersecurity expert, who calls herself a “cyber evangelist”, is a member of the Forbes Technology Council. She entered the professional world, in 2009, as a computer instructor at Eastern Data Services Ltd. In 2011, she was hired as an IT Assistant by the Cross River State Government.
She later joined Lloyds Banking Group as a customer service advisor and telephone banking consultant. In 2013, she joined the Calabar International Convention Centre as an IT specialist and, two years later, she landed at InfoGraphics Nigeria, where she was appointed technical marketing and interactive media manager.
Between 2016 and 2018, she was a cybersecurity analyst for UIC Innovations Africa. A year later, she became the country manager of the computer security firm DIGISS. Concurrently, from 2017 to 2022, she worked as a part-time managing partner of the marketing firm Gidinerd.
Ms. Staveley is a multiple award winner. She has been cited on CIO Magazine’s 2021-2022 list of Africa’s 45 most influential women in Digital Transformation. the Cyber Security Expert Association of Nigeria (CSEAN) also named her the 2022 Cyber Security Woman of the Year and she received the Meridian Global Leadership Award at the Global Leadership Summit for her positive impacts. This year, she also made it to the list of the top 100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria and received the Obama Leader's Personal Commitment Award.
Melchior Koba
After her computer science studies, she specialized in the agribusiness industry by helping rural women. Her social contribution and tech impact earned her several awards and recognitions.
Awa Caba (photo) is a Senegalese computer scientist and the co-founder/CEO of the e-commerce platform Soreetul.
In Wolof -the most-spoken language in Senegal, Soreetul means “it is no longer far” according to a dissertation by Senegalese Dphil Layire Diop. The digital platform created by Awa Caba facilitates the marketing and distribution of agricultural products processed by women in Senegal. Founded in 2013 -2014 according to other sources, it connects rural farmers, women notably, with buyers in urban areas.
In 2015, explaining what prompted her to launch Soreetul, Awa indicated that it was founded because the co-founders noticed that local products were seldom found in large stores or neighboring shops while women who process such products had no access to markets because they live in remote areas.
Apart from Soreetul, Awa Caba has also co-founded Yeesal Agri Hub, an innovative entrepreneurship support institution specializing in agribusiness. In December 2022, the institution founded in 2016, was selected to be part of the Rural Impacting Entrepreneurship program developed by Small Foundation and Village Capital.
She also co-founded Jiggen Tech Hub, the first women-in-tech network in Senegal. Since 2013, she is the Co-founder and IT manager of the web and mobile app development startup Weltima. Her professional career began in 2012 as an IT engineer at Nelam Services. She worked as a consultant for International Fund for Agricultural Development in 2014, USAID-ERA (Education and Research in Agriculture) project from June to August 2017, and FAO from February to December 2017.
The Mandela Washington Fellow has received several awards and honors. In 2020, she won the African Women's Leadership Award. In 2018, she won the Bank of Africa's African Entrepreneurship Award. She was also cited by “Forbes Africa as one of the most promising entrepreneurs under the age of 30 in Africa.”
Melchior Koba
He began his career providing tech assistance for educational projects and programs. For over 10 years, through BongoHive, he has worked with entrepreneurs and development partners to foster youth entrepreneurship.
Lukonga Lindunda (photo) is a Zambian start-up ecosystem builder and the co-founder/CEO of BongoHive Technology and Innovation Hub, Zambia’s first tech innovation center.
Thanks to the innovation hub, he supports the startup ecosystem by improving leadership skills, accelerating their growth, strengthening networks, increasing collaboration, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, and reducing barriers to entrepreneurship.
Since its inception, BongoHive has hosted over 500 events, supported over 2,000 businesses, and benefited more than 9,500 people. In December 2022, it was selected to participate in Small Foundation and Village Capital’s Rural Impacting Entrepreneurship research project.
In 2015, its CEO and co-founder also co-founded BongoHive Consult, a consulting firm that helps businesses meet their clients’ current and future needs. In 2019, he also co-founded Hive Coworking, which provides coworking space for entrepreneurs and startups.
Since 2021, he is a non-executive director of the fintech company Digital Shared Services Ltd. Months earlier, he became the chairperson of the non-profit financial organization FSD Zambia’s Program Investment Committee (PIC). Since June 2020, he is also the non-executive director and vice chairman of Client Care Solutions Limited, a business process outsourcing company.
The serial entrepreneur entered the professional world in 2008 working for the non-profit organization Education Development Center as an IT and communication coordinator. The following year, he became the ICT technical assistant of the non-profit organization VVOB - education for development.
From 2010 to 2012, he was successively Junior ICT Advisor and ICT Program Advisor of VVOB. Between March 2021 and August 2022, he was an independent advisor to the Technology, Service Delivery, and Innovation Committee of the Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) Board of Directors.
A Mandela Washington Fellow in 2014, Lukonga Lindunda received the Nelson Mandela University Alumni Award in 2017 for his impact on society with BongoHive. In 2020, he received the ALUSB MBA Chairman's Scholarship, which celebrates African business leaders who have proven themselves as leaders both in the workplace and in the community.
Melchior Koba