The African Pre-seed Podcast

View Details

This month's #APSVibecheck Podcast episode features Ahmed Kadous, the co-founder and CEO of Pharmacy Marts, a healthtech startup based in Egypt.

While healthcare is a critical need across the continent, it can sometimes feel like healthtech doesn’t get much attention compared to fintech, e-commerce or energytech. This conversation with Kadous is filled with gems that may get you itching to get into the healthtech space. One of the things Kadous shares early in the conversation is that for healthtech startups, the focus is not only on solving the key problem that has been identified. Many times, there has been a need to actively work to change customer behaviour. For Pharmacy Marts, a B2B startup that wants to improve patient access to medication by fixing a dated supply chain, that means not only digitising the existing process but changing how the market thinks. 💡

Kadous goes further to point out that anyone looking to establish a startup in Cairo needs to know that that kind of expansion requires unlearning a few things. For instance, he says that simply replicating a model that has worked elsewhere may not be the best strategy. According to him, “You need to be agile and adapt to customer needs. For example, the geography is huge so you need to build a supply chain zone to ensure same-day delivery. The customer behaviour is somehow different; in purchasing behaviour, they bulk order so you have to give them the option to bulk order to improve their user experience.” 🚀 With great insights into Egypt’s healthtech market, one of the most astounding things about Kadous is his breadth of experience. He has worked in some of Egypt’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and which influenced his understanding of the problem that needs to be solved. But he’s also clear that this experience taught him critical soft skills.

Something to definitely look out for in this conversation is around the 6-minute mark, where he discusses some of the big misconceptions investors and founders have about Egypt’s healthtech scene. “One of the big misconceptions is that the market size is small. There is potential to have a huge share of this market,” Kadous said.

💡 Top 5 insights unpacked in the episode:

Ahmed's Pharmacy Marts startup journey [0:12]
Lessons Ahmed learned from his previous work experience [1:42]
How Pharmacy Marts solves its customer's most pressing challenges [3:18]
Pharmacy Marts' current positioning in Egypt's healthtech sector [4:35]
Common oversimplifications about Egypt's healthtech sector [6:30]
Managing co-founder relationships and decision-making at Pharmacy Marts [7:39]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Ahmed Kadous on Linkedin.
Connect with Adam Wakefield on Linkedin.

Tell us...

What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode?
What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseedPodcast

🔌 USEFUL RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: Ahmed Kadous connects medical suppliers to pharmacies, through Pharmacy Marts by WeAreTech Africa.

View Details

In this first episode of season two of the African Preseed podcast, Maria Pienaar, an operating partner at Unicorn Growth Capital, offers a new perspective on thinking about failure, innovation, and the societal differences that can affect founders' thinking and offers practical steps for changing one's mindset.

“Failure is not seen as a disaster but something to build upon.” - Maria Pienaar

When you cover Africa’s tech ecosystem, you quickly become familiar with everyone’s visceral fear of bad news. Every time you publish an unflattering story about a startup, you steel yourself for pushback; from the company’s managers, and other leaders in the ecosystem. The prevailing belief is that these kinds of stories shape the narrative for the tech ecosystem and can be damaging. There’s a fear of any type of failure.

At the six-minute mark, Maria says, “if you’re in a fear based culture, you’ll always stifle innovation and the innovative disruptors in the market.” She contrasts the societal fear of failure in the African ecosystem to Silicon Valley’s perspective where failure is a learning curve. “Failure is not deemed as a challenge; it is deemed as what have you learned from it and how do you improve things? In a way, it’s seen as a necessary step to get to the next successful step.”

It’s critical for a company’s leadership to get comfortable with failing fast and to create a safe environment that encourages innovation. “If leadership keeps on dominating with that culture of fear, you’ll never see anything happen. If you make a mistake that’s fine, you need to figure out how to fix it.” Maria also speaks about the importance of having diverse opinions in a company and building all of this into a structure where everyone is pulling towards the same direction.

💡 Get out of the trap of thinking small

Maria also talks about something that’s familiar: getting out of the trap of playing small. “The first thing we do is that we think too small. We don’t tie enough zeroes behind the numbers we’re talking about.” She also gives some personal anecdotes from her time early on at Vodacom.

That’s enough spoilers, enjoy the conversation!

What to look forward to in this episode:

Critical gaps that emerging founders often fail to address [2:57]
What is the "Silicon Valley Mindset" and how to apply within the context of the African tech ecosystem [4:11]
Embedding a change in mindset for the African entrepreneur [7:03]
The role of regulation in innovation [9:40]
Conducting market research to find product-market fit [13:57]
The best and worst pieces of advice received by Maria Pienaar [16:42]
What African founders should know about telecom companies [20:43]
The importance of network effects and network marketing [23:07]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Maria Pienaar on Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Linkedin.

Tell us...

What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode?
What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseedPodcast

🔌 USEFUL RESOURCES:

PODCAST: Growing Business In A Culturally Diverse Market By Silicon Valley Tech & AI With Gary Fowler.

View Details

In this special edition #APSVibecheck episode, the African Pre-seed podcast travels to Cairo, where we speak to five players in the Egyptian tech ecosystem about what is happening on the ground in Cairo and the broader tech environment. These players are Karima El Hakim, Country Director Egypt, Plug and Play Tech Centre; Diego Garcia, Investor Africa Ventures at Plug and Play Tech Centre; Mahmoud Sabbour, Founder at Baggr; Nour Ahmadein, Founder of Bluworks, and Mohanad Elhartany, Senior Investment Associate at Arzan Venture Capital.

They share their views and insights on what's happening in the ecosystem and what is most relevant for founders in the land of the Nile.

Top 5 insights to unpack in the episode:

Lessons from Karima El Hakim, Country Director Egypt, Plug and Play Tech Centre
Insights from working with governments as a VC [1:11]

2. Lessons from Diego Garcia, Africa Ventures, Plug, and Play Tech Centre

What is the meta environment that founders are dealing with in Egypt? [6:29]

3. Lessons from Mahmoud Abbour, Founder at Baggr

The factors influencing the provision of logistics infrastructure for e-commerce businesses in Egypt [14:01]

4. Lessons from Nour Ahmadein, Founder of Bluworks

Addressing endemic and systemic challenges for the blue-collar workforce in North Africa [16:57]

5. Lessons from Mohanad Elhartany, Senior Investment Associate, Arzan Venture Capital

The most significant challenges that founders have faced within the Egyptian tech ecosystem [23:40]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Karima El Hakim on Linkedin
Connect with Diego Garcia on Linkedin
Connect with Mahmoud Sabbour on Linkedin
Connect with Nour Ahmadein on Linkedin
Connect with Mohanad Elhartany on Linkedin

Are you a Founder learning the ropes of the Egyptian Tech ecosystem? Please share what you're learning from some of your successes and setbacks on social via the #APSVibecheck #AfricanPreseedPodcast hashtags or email us via hello@africanpreseed.com

🔌 USEFUL RESOURCES:

Egypt Deep Dive Part I: Early successes and the rise of bottom-up tech entrepreneurship
Egypt Deep Dive Part II: An ecosystem awash in concern, resilience, and bottomless potential

Click hereto subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

View Details

Russell is the author of a book recently published by the Manchester University Press titled Africa. 2.0: Inside a continent’s communications revolution. Russell’s book critically examines the impact these technologies have had on development practices and the role development actors have played in accelerating regulatory reform, fibre roll-out, and mobile money.

What to look forward to in this episode:

What has been most surprising about growth or lack of growth in the African startup landscape/sector? [04:25]
What are some of the data points or anecdotes that founders could look into when trying to introduce innovation from a behavioral perspective regarding adoption? [08:10]
Do you think enough people are working on the enabling infrastructure, or do more people need to think about that and not the sexy user interface or app? Do you think the incumbents need to be more proactive in opening up distribution channels? [10:03]
The lines are often blurred between ambition and reality, especially in SSA. At what point does successful storytelling become counterproductive? [13:07]
How do you think about the distinction between small businesses / SMEs and tech start-ups, and what should we be doing more (or less) to articulate the difference better? [15:03]
Do you think we need to see more consolidation or inorganic growth, or should we be creating platforms for more people to challenge the status quo in a decentralized way? [17:13]
What role has Consumer behavior and Culture shift played in driving or influencing that change? [25:42]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Russell Southwood on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Tell us...

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode?
What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseed

USEFUL RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: Africa's growth in the digital economy and VC investment landscape by Tage Kene-Okafor (TechCrunch).
BOOK: Africa 2.0: Inside a continent’s communications revolution by Russell Southwood.
REPORT: Venture Capital in Africa by African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

View Details

Tech entrepreneur, Gugulethu Siso joins us on this logistics-themed #APSVibecheck installment of the African Pre-seed Podcast.

To date she has successfully co-founded two startups namely; Ninety Nine Investments a B2B trolley management startup in Namibia and Thumeza, a supply chain fintech startup in South Africa.

Thumeza provides data-powered financing to the logistics sector in Africa with clients such as the United Nations Development Programme, Lori Systems, and KTU Express and is currently based out of South Africa with clients in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and Bostwana.

At her exit from Ninety Investments in 2017, the startup had over 50 employees, netted VC investment for growth, and had an impressive client list ranging from Shoprite Checkers, Food Lovers Market, and Woolworths.

Top 5 Insights unpacked in this episode:

What informed your decision to pivot into the logistics finance sector?
What are some of the oversimplifications made and assumed regarding the logistics industry and its relationship with tech systems?
Is the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) really worth getting excited about?
What’s the profile of the everyday African individual or company that seeks to be enabled to participate in the continent’s growing logistics industry?
Should Founders go B2B or B2C?

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Gugulethu Siso on Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Are you a Founder or operator looking to become a venture capitalist? Tell us why or why not on social via the #APSVibecheck #AfricanPreseed hashtag.

View Details

Tech entrepreneur, operator and investor Duncan Muchangi joins us for this fintech-themed #APSVibecheck instalment of the African Pre-seed Podcast.

Duncan has operated, invested in, and advised various leading tech platforms that have scaled globally. Quite notably, he was part of the team at Jumia that helped set the company up for its much-publicised New York Stock Exchange listing in 2019. He is currently the Principal of Unicorn Growth Capital, a private investments platform investing at the intersection of TradFi & DeFi in high-growth Web3 companies.

Top 5 insights unpacked in the episode:

What lessons has Duncan learnt from failing early startup attempts?
Highlights of being part of the early team at one of Africa’s most publicised unicorn stories.
Tips for going from operator to early-stage investor.
Why Duncan is bullish on African fintech and his investment thesis for backing startups in the space.
Is backing Web3 startups a crazy gamble or a smart, calculated investment opportunity?

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Duncan Muchangi on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Are you a Founder or operator looking to become a venture capitalist? Tell us why or why not on social via the #APSVibecheck #AfricanPreseed hashtag.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: Africa’s growth in the digital economy and VC investment landscape by Tage Kene-Okafor (TechCrunch)

OP-ED: The Future of Fintech Is Unfolding in Africaby Tapfuma Musewe and Kyle Hiebert (Centre for International Governance Innovation)

PODCAST SERIES: What is Web3? feat. Michael Kimani (African Tech Roundup)

REPORT: State of the Crypto Industry Report 2021 by Nansen

ARTICLE: The outlook for crypto and blockchain in Africaby Dr Desné Masie (African Business)

ARTICLE: The role of cryptocurrencies in sub-Saharan Africaby Bitange Ndemo (Brookings)

Click here to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

View Details

Viola Llewellyn, Kendrall Felder and Larry Yon talk about cybersecurity risks and unpack what early-stage fintech Founders on the continent need to be doing to build safe and robust digital infrastructure.

What to look forward to in this episode:

What does financial and cyber inclusion in Africa look like?
How early should tech founders invest in cybersecurity?
How much time should Founders spend on building their product versus securing it?
Why has cybersecurity become so topical in today’s business landscape?
How does regulation around fintech cybersecurity vary in African markets?
What are some of the commercial incentives of attending to cybersecurity risks?
Ahead of all existing cyber threats, what is the number one cybersecurity threat Founders should mitigate?
Tell us about some of the cybersecurity threats you have had to deal with in your business.
What would you say to a Founder who thinks they simply can’t afford to deal with cybersecurity threats at this present time?

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Viola Llewellyn on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Larry Yon on Linkedin.
Connect with Kendrall Felder on Linkedin.
Connect with Philani Mzila on Linkedin.

Are you a tech Founder or investor looking to gain more insight into cybersecurity for your business? Tell us why or why not. Let us know on the socials using the #AfricanPreseed hashtag.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: How early-stage startups can enlist the right amount of security as they grow by First Round Review.

ARTICLE: Cybersecurity in Africa: What Should African Leaders Do to Strengthen the Digital Economy? By Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

REPORT: The rise of global cybersecurity venture funding by Crunchbase.

YOUTUBE: The Cybersecurity guide for startups by Slush.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

View Details

African Pre-Seed #04 - Vibe Check with Tayo Akinyemi

The Trajectory Africa explores the trajectory or pathway of venture capital and startup formation in Africa. It aims to identify a destination for African tech and the signposts that signal the direction of travel. The series came in the wake of Tayo co-publishing a report called Chasing Outliers, Why Context Matters for Early Stage Investing in Africa, distilling conversations she had with over 100 founders, investors and LPs about how VC works in Africa, given the numerous contextual differences in market size, market conditions, and consumer preferences— relative to, say, VC in Silicon Valley.

Top 5 Insights trending in this episode:

Be clear about the true size of your market, especially if you're a B2C business. The share of disposable income you're counting is probably being split across multiple services. [0:25]
Know a secret about your chosen industry to tap unmet demand. This level of knowledge gives you the time to solve and deeply understand. [5:17]
Put money in your customers' pockets if you can. People can spend more if they earn more. [8:52]
Be very clear about what type of business YOU want to build. Very few are venture-backable. [11:58]
Understanding how VC works. [15:27]
Knowing your VCs numbers, i.e. how they make money. It might help you understand some of their decision-making. Understand that first-time managers share a lot of your experiences. [18:20]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Tayo Akinyemi on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Are you a tech Founder or investor looking to gain more insight into VC investing in Africa? Tell us why or why not. Let us know on social via the #APSVibecheck #AfricanPreseed hashtag.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: One size fits all view on Africa and other mistakes VCs make by Stephen Timm (Ventureburn).
ARTICLE: Africa's growth in the digital economy and VC investment landscape by Tage Kene-Okafor (TechCrunch).
ARTICLE: A peek into the future of African VC by Tayo Akinyemi (The Trajectory: Africa).
REPORT: Venture Capital in Africa by African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

View Details

Joining co-hosts Hope and Rajiv for this pertinent two-part healthtech-themed edition of The African Pre-seed Podcast is the Co-founder and CEO of Nigerian HealthTech startup Reliance Health, Femi Kuti.

Reliance Health's recent $40 million in Series B funding (the largest of its kind in Africa's healthtech scene) underscored a growing investor appetite for African startups addressing gaps in the continent's healthcare industry. In this insight-rich episode, Femi factors in on the extent to which HealthTech plays can move the needle on covering the gaps in Africa's healthcare systems and how founders in the sector should consider servicing key market drivers.

What to look forward to in this podcast:

What are (the most problematic) oversimplifications typically made about African healthcare systems, i.e. a) by Founders keen to enter the space and b) by investors looking to back it? [3:15]
What are the most commonly misunderstood dynamics of running a successful healthtech startup in Africa? [5:53]
What commercial growth story did Femi sell General Atlantic and the other investors who participated in Reliance Health’s Series B? [6:55]
What are some of the most challenging business problems Reliance Health has had to solve so far, i.e. issues that might have sunk the business if they hadn’t figured things out? [21:07]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Femi Kuti on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Did you learn something new? We want to know what part of this discussion stood out for you. Let us know by dropping a note at hello@africanpreseed.com.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

BLOG: Closing the gap in African Healthcare? by Shilifa Gupta (VestedWorld)

OP-ED: The Necessary rise of Africa’s Health Techby Stephen Ogweno (Project Syndicate)

ARTICLE: Can healthcare startups solve Nigeria’s health problems by Aisha Salaudeen (Stears Business)

REPORT: Strategies for effective healthcare for Africa in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Landry Signé (Africa Growth Initiative)

VIDEO: How technology is transforming Africa’s healthcare sectorby CNBC Africa

Click here to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

View Details

Adegoke Oyeniyi lets us in on what the streets of Lagos are saying about #Fluttergate and toxic workplaces in Nigeria, the rise of Web 3.0, and MTN’s mobile money moves. Also, do listen in to hear if Adegoke has plans to ‘japa’ (leave Nigeria for greener pastures) and whether he thinks there are any good reasons for Founders building in Nigeria to stay put.

Adegoke has spent the last decade covering the African startup scene and is currently Co-Founder of Hankara Inc., a talent-placing startup connecting African content marketers to remote jobs with overseas technology companies.

#APSVibeCheck topics trending in this episode:

What effects are toxic leaders having in Nigerian workplaces? [0:21]
Can we trust media coverage of the #Fluttergate scandal? [2:52]
Web 3.0 in Nigeria, Hit or Hype? [08:07]
Will MTN dominate mobile money in Nigeria like Safaricom (and M-Pesa) has done in East Africa? [08:08]
Why are so many Nigerians in the country’s tech scene trying to “japa”? [09:27]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Adegoke Oyeniyi on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Are you a Nigerian tech Founder about to “japa”? Tell us why or why not? Let us know on social via the #APSVibecheck #AfricanPreseed hashtag.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: Flutterwave: The African Unicorn Built On Quicksand by David Hundayin (West Africa Weekly)
TWITTER POST: How TechCabal navigates Flutterwave scandal by TechCabal

ARTICLE: What MTN’s MOMO PSB licence means for financial servicesby Ubah Jeremiah Ifeanyi (Nairametrics)
PODCAST SERIES: What is Web3? feat Michael Kimani by Michael Kimani (African Tech Roundup)
TWITTER POST: The Growth Handbook - Scaling Fintech in Nigeriaby Olabinjo Adeniran

ARTICLE: Nigerian Youths and the “Japa” Syndrome by Frederick Nwabufo (The Cable)

Click here to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.

Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by Vibe Check guest, Adegoke Oyeniyi, do not necessarily reflect the views of The African Pre-seed Team.

View Details

Welcome to the very first episode of the African Pre-seed Podcast! This show is for you if you are an Africa-focused founder or investor looking to learn more about Africa's tech ecosystem. To kick things off, we ask the question: "Why is agritech so hard, though?"

Joining co-hosts Hope Ditlhakanyane and Rajiv Daya for this pertinent discussion is Kenyan agritech founder, Taita Ngetich, whose startup, Synnefa, is helping farmers raise productivity, increase yield and manage risk by providing farming software integrated with hardware (AI-powered IoT devices). Taita is a trained mechanical engineer (University of Nairobi) who's studying for an MBA part-time at Warwick Business School while serving as CEO at Synnefa.

On this podcast, Taita shares live in-trench insights about his entrepreneurial experience and the agtech scene in Kenya, the rest of Africa and other parts of the world. He also factors in on how African agritech ventures might play a key role in growing economies on the continent— by safeguarding livelihoods and delivering on food security.

Themes covered in this episode include:

Why is agritech such a daunting space to launch a startup in?
What will it take to scale some of the more promising agtech ventures in Africa?
Can agritech founders borrow anything from the playbooks of successful fintech founders?
Do African farmers actually care about the long-term economic progress agritech might unlock?
What are some of the unique challenges agritech founders face in landing investment to back their ventures?

Enjoy!

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Taita Ngetich on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Hope Dithlakanyane on Twitter and Linkedin.
Connect with Rajiv Daya on Twitter and Linkedin.

Tell us...

What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode?
What topic would you like for us to feature on a future podcast?

Let us know via the hashtag: #AfricanPreseed

USEFUL RESOURCES:

REPORT: Innovating Food Systems in East Africa by Briter Bridges, World Food Programme & USAID
ARTICLE: Is data the new soil in agri? by Lindi Botha (Farmer's Weekly)
ARTICLE:Why VC Investors Are Plowing Record Sums Into Agtech by Chris Metinko (Crunchbase News)
REPORT: Aceli Year 1 Learning Report: Unlocking Private Capital for African Agriculture by Aceli Africa
PODCAST: UNAJUA S4 EP3: Can Africa's agri-supply chain be fixed? feat. Karidas Tshintsholo by African Tech Roundup

The African Pre-seed Podcast: Recent Episodes

Founders Factory Africa