Live The African Dream by Ajim Capital Eunice Ajim

The impact of technology on Africa's growth in the last decade cannot be overstated. As a continent, we have seen the rise and rise of startups and foreign investments, all of which have played a role in Africa's development.

But these are the early days and there is still more work to be done. This is why Kevin Fomengia sat down with Blessing Iyamadiken on the Live The African Dream podcast to discuss the role of technology in Africa's further development, and how Africa is at the point where we need to integrate infrastructure with technology.

Kevin Fomengia is the founder of Bridge Labs, a software development firm in Africa, and the co-founder of Pathway OZ, an Opportunity Zone management company, where he supports entrepreneurs and businesses. Bridge Labs has an ecosystem of over 100 African software engineers, and is on a mission to develop Africa’s tech talent.

He said,

"Africa is a very young continent but is growing so quickly. As we improve our digital infrastructure, that would allow trade to happen a lot more, and it would also allow tech, e-commerce and payments to be more streamlined. In the next 10-15 years, I believe that we are going to see a lot more unicorns come out of Africa".

The healthcare system in South Africa faces a number of challenges, including limited access to discrete treatments and services. This is especially prevalent for individuals who require specialised care for conditions such as STDs.

In response to this problem, Alex Schmid founded Contro with the goal of providing discrete access to stigmatised healthcare in South Africa. Contro aims to bridge the gap between those needing care and the resources available, by offering confidential and personalised services.

In this episode of Live The African Dream, Blessing Iyamadiken, Head of Platform at Ajim Capital speaks to Alex Schmid about the challenges of building a discrete tele-healthcare startup in South Africa and his journey so far.

He said, "We found that 60% of patients that were going to telehealth platforms were being referred back to physical care, and so we streamlined the process of getting healthcare, especially for things like birth control and STIs. We said to ourselves, we can make telehealth cheaper, better, but the biggest thing is, we can make it discrete."

Stigma plays a major role in preventing individuals from seeking the necessary healthcare they need. This can be due to fear of discrimination, judgement or even violence. As a result, many people living with stigmatised conditions may avoid seeking treatment altogether.

By offering discrete access to healthcare, Contro is helping to break down the barriers created by stigma.

Mark Kleyner is the Co-Founder of Dream VC, an investor accelerator for Africa. To date, Dream VC has helped people from over 30 African countries, get a career kick in the African Venture Capital space, thus enabling them to build the future they desire.

For a long time, Nigeria’s retail investors had little or no access to the global investment scene. All that changed with the launch of Bamboo, a platform that not only made it possible for retail investors to buy and sell stocks, but also educated the Nigerian market on stock investing.

Today, Bamboo is present in Nigeria and Ghana and is also looking to expand to other African countries.

In this episode, Richmond Bassey, the CEO and Co-Founder of Bamboo shares his story about how he is using technology to help African investors tap into global markets with just the click of a button.

From advice on fundraising to learnings from his path to launching a startup, this episode will give you an inside look into Richmond’s vision for Bamboo, and his next plans for the company.

Yemi Olulana’s walk to being the CEO of Flex Finance is a journey that has seen him go from working as a software engineer at reputable companies to launching his own startup. After cutting his teeth as a startup founder of Giddiphones, Yemi started Flex Finance, a spend management and corporate card platform for African businesses.   

Flex Finance empowers businesses to take control of their expenses via the web, mobile and corporate cards; they also help companies manage hundreds of millions of dollars in spending.  

From the onset, Yemi’s focus has been on creating a lasting legacy that positively impacts lives while building sustainable businesses. He is achieving this by leveraging technology and data to give African businesses the tools they need to make intelligent financial decisions, gain visibility into their spending, reduce costs and increase profits.  

“African businesses spend over $1.6 Trillion dollars in 2022 and it is expected to rise to over $4 Trillion in just seven years and so the market is growing really rapidly. In order for businesses in Africa to be globally competitive, they need world-class tools that can help them take control of their spending because poor spending is the largest cause of business failure”  

So far, his experience has made him uniquely placed to bring Flex Finance’s vision to fruition. In early 2022, they crossed their first billion naira transaction, and in less than 2 weeks crossed their next billion naira transaction. Today, they have done hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions.  

From all indications, this is a company that is poised for success.

In this episode, Dr Ola Brown breaks down the economic opportunities in the African markets, and her passion to see Africa lift its citizens out of poverty.

"China lifted a billion people out of poverty, and they did it primarily through investments. GDP is about being able to export and it is about the government's ability to spend and investment is a really big part of that," says Dr Ola Brown.

It's amazing how much effect, investments can have on African markets, and Dr Ola is passionate about shining light on why people should invest in Africa, and what the potential returns could be.