Reframed by Mustard Mustard

Our mission and action at Mustard has always been centred on Africa. But in our recent reflections, we have asked if our belief is bigger than our mission. We believe the most powerful and moving initiatives in history have been story-led. We therefore think founders can learn from these movements by building ventures narrative first. In this episode we ponder what actually comes first for Mustard: narratives or Africa?

Entrepreneurship is inherently tied to failure, yet we can’t help but view startup failures negatively. In this podcast episode, Kevin Mutiso, founder of Oye, and formerly of the unsuccessful startup Alternative Circle, discusses his own failure and how it led to relative success. While doing so he emphasises the need for a better discussion on the topic in the African startup space and beyond.

In this episode we speak to Daby Osuji, a corporate go-to-market strategist and founder of a faith-based blog Quill and Cross, to discuss how she is conceiving brand authenticity for the latter by following and expressing her own passions, feelings and beliefs. We speak about how founding her blog has required Daby to lay aside elements of her strategist mindset to lead with why instead of what, vulnerability instead of professionalism, and even passion instead of money.

Is there an objective standard for logo design, and can mathematical principles be applied to find it? In this episode, we interview award-winning logo designer Kwaku Amprako, who believes there is an objectively "good" way to create logos. We discuss Kwaku's logo philosophy and explore theories related to shapes, physics, and mathematics that might support it.

In this episode, we revisit the topic of brands in Nigeria and Africa in light of our recent conversations on African VC. We speak with Mr. Funsho, a Nigerian designer and brand influencer, to discuss how the value of branding is currently perceived by startups, industry veterans, and everyday consumers in Nigeria.

In this episode, we explore Africa's VC industry with Mark Kleyner, co-founder of Dream VC, the accelerator for existing and aspiring investors in Africa. We discuss the industry's fundamentals, the overwhelming presence of multilateral organisations and development finance institutions as investors, and bravely touch on the negative impact politics, ideologies and current media narratives are having on the ecosystem’s development.