Category: 3-SometimeTechTalk

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African Tech Roundup - #VillageDiariesAmsterdam Pt 2 w/ Augustina Austin, Babusi Nyoni, Danai Musandu & Tania Habimana

On Tuesday, June 5th, 2018 the international African Tech Roundup LIVE Tour launched with a live podcast event in The Netherlands dubbed #VillageDiariesAmsterdam. For the second (and final part) of the evening's programme, hosts Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga were joined by a stellar lineup of African tech and innovation ecosystem insiders who have past and present links to Amsterdam. Namely, Tania Habimana (Co-founder and Head of Digital and Strategy: Nonzēro Africa), Babusi Nyoni (UX Designer: Booking.com), Danai Musandu (Investment Associate: Goodwell Investments) and Augustina "MS.ABA" Austin (Artist, Entrepreneur and Host of HiRadio Netherlands' "Africa on Focus"). This meandering roundtable conversation features unvarnished views on what it's like to navigate Amsterdam's increasingly Africa-focussed impact and innovation scene while African and confronts several awkward truths that are too frequently swept under the rug.
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African Tech Roundup - Secha Capital’s Rushil Vallabh & Brendan Mullen on proving a hybrid SME investment model

South African Rushil Vallabh and American Brenden Mullen are the co-founders and co-managing directors of a Johannesburg-based, venture capital outfit called Secha Capital. Secha’s mission is to “provide patient capital to established African SMEs” - primarily within FMCG and agri-business industries - and to support them by providing access to best-in-breed, hands-on business consulting. In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Rushil and Brendan expound on Secha’s hybrid investment thesis and explain how they are channelling all the skills and competencies they acquired at Bain (where they both formerly worked) into promising businesses.
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African Tech Roundup - Cellulant’s Ken Njoroge & Velocity Capital’s Allard Luchsinger on 2018’s biggest fintech deal so far

A couple of hours before the recent #VillageDiariesAmsterdam event went down, Andile Masuku managed to land a sit-down with Cellulant Founder and CEO, Ken Njoroge, and Director of Private Equity at Velocity Capital, Allard Luchsinger, in order to glean insider perspectives on what went into closing Cellulant's historic round of funding. A few weeks ago, digital payments firm, Cellulant, announced the close of a $47.5 million investment round led by TPG Growth— a deal which included Endeavour Catalyst, Satya Capital as well as Velocity Capital. Listen in to hear Ken explain why landing investment is a demanding full-time job, shed light on the toll fundraising has taken on him and his team, and most importantly, how Cellulant plans to deploy the fresh funds they've reeled in.
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PHPUgly - 111: A Failed Transaction

This month the team discusses PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

Other topics include

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African Tech Roundup - #VillageDiariesAmsterdam Pt 1 – A fireside chat with HYBR Founder & CEO Charles Ojei

On Tuesday, June 5th, 2018 the international African Tech Roundup LIVE Tour launched with a live event in The Netherlands dubbed #VillageDiariesAmsterdam. For the first part of the evening's programme, hosts Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga were joined by headline guest, Nigerian Partner and CEO of HYBR, Charles Ojei. Prior to founding HYBR, Charles was Director of Enterprise Business at Samsung Electronics West Africa and earned nearly two decades of sales, business development, strategy and technology professional experience while embedded at Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Samsung, and DuPont. He implemented projects in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe across multiple industries such as retail, healthcare, food, agriculture, technology, education, hospitality and financial services. Charles has completed the Executive Leadership Program at THNK School of Creative Leadership in Amsterdam and holds a B.Sc in Industrial Relations & Personnel Management from the University of Lagos, as well as a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship (with Distinction) from Hult International Business School in San Francisco and Boston. He currently serves as a faculty member at the Enterprise Development Centre at the Pan-African University in Lagos, Nigeria. In this candid chat with Andile, Musa and the #VillageDiariesAmsterdam live audience (which has been edited for listenability), Charles shares practical insights into the necessary mindset and relevant approaches required to do business in Africa.