024: Promoting Africa’s Innovators with Nnamdi Oranye

Nnamdi Oranye is the founder of Disrupting Africa, an open platform promoting Africa’s innovators.

You can connect with him @Nnamdi Oranye on Linkedin and @nnamdi_oranye on Twitter.

Nnamdi is passionate about Africa’s tech innovation. He is the author of Disrupting Africa and Taking on Silicon Valley. Nnamdi is also the former host of a weekly show featuring African innovators on radio station PowerFM 98.7 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He’s a regular contributor on African tech innovation to the BBC, CNBC Africa, and Mail & Guardian.

Nnamdi spent his early years between the UK and Nigeria before moving to Botswana with his family where he studied engineering at university. Itching to leave for the “first world”, he immigrated to Australia. But a bullish McKinsey report changed his perceptions on the opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. When he was asked to lead the Africa expansion of an Australian mobile money company, he jumped at the chance, moving to South Africa.

This experience in Africa’s fintech sector during the takeoff of mobile money dramatically shaped his perceptions on African innovators. He met many brilliant African innovators who struggled with getting visibility. When he joined PowerFM 98.7 as a contributor, he spoke with many African founders and innovators, which marked the beginning of his life mission to promote African innovation abroad.

We chatted about Nnamdi’s early experiences in fintech, his fascination for all things digital payments, the one takeaway every African innovator should remember (hint, it’s about mindset), and 3 innovative African companies that he admires.

Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Nnamdi Oranye.