African Tech Roundup

African Tech Roundup

Africa-focused technology, digital and innovation ecosystem insight and commentary.

Episodes

April Long of Pyxis: Why serving bulk traders beats saving SMEs in Africa-China trade

September 19, 2025 • 54 mins
Episode overview: April Long spent two years fighting reality. The co-founder and CEO of "Afro-Asia Cross-border payment infrastructure" startup Pyxis was so determined to serve Africa's small merchants - the "bottom of the pyramid" she'd read about in Harvard Business Review - that she nearly bankrupted her fintech ignoring the bulk traders actually driving Africa-China trade. In conversation with Andile Masuku, Long delivers unc...
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Andrew Hall of Paratus Namibia: Building Networks Serving Small Populations Across Vast Distances

July 13, 2025 • 11 mins
Episode overview: Andrew Hall faces a unique challenge: building profitable telecommunications infrastructure across one of Africa's largest countries with one of its smallest populations. As managing director of Paratus Namibia, Hall oversees operations spanning vast distances where traditional business models struggle to pencil out. Andile Masuku invites Hall to share on the realities of building networks where "you'll see three...
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East Meets Africa: Bernard Laurendeau on Curating African Opportunity For Japanese Investors

July 7, 2025 • 41 mins
Episode overview: Bernard Laurendeau has a mission: to stop African business leaders from asking for "patient capital." The Ethiopian-French management consultant, now operating from Tokyo, believes this standard pitch fundamentally misunderstands how global investment works and fails African markets. It's a contrarian stance from someone who's spent 15 years advising Fortune 50 clients and building institutions across three conti...
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World-class Design: Guidione Machava on Why 'African Designer' Is a Limiting Label

June 17, 2025 • 54 mins
Episode overview: Guidione Machava has a confession: he's tired of being called an "African designer." The Mozambican product designer, now based in France and fresh from stints at Shopify and Paris-based 23point5, reckons that geographic qualifiers automatically strip away a third of your professional value before you've even started. It's a provocative stance from someone who's built his career bridging African markets and globa...
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Strategy Diaries: Wabo Majavu on Balancing Commercial Success with Digital Inclusion

May 30, 2025 • 69 mins
Episode overview: In this conversation, South African strategist Wabo Majavu, executive strategy and business operations leader at Africa Data Centres, unpacks how technical expertise at organisations like MTN and Intelsat laid the foundation for her distinctive approach to strategic leadership and digital activism. From building radar applications at the CSIR to optimising cellular networks through late-night, township-sourced s...
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Ola Oyetayo of Verto: Building a Profitable Cross-Border Fintech for Emerging Markets

May 14, 2025 • 38 mins
Episode overview: In this conversation, Verto co-founder and CEO Ola Oyetayo shares the journey of building a cross-border payments platform that tackles the unique challenges African businesses face when making international transactions. Since graduating from Y Combinator in 2019, Verto has established itself as what Oyetayo describes as a profitable and cashflow positive fintech serving multiple African markets. Incidentally, ...
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Innovating Venture Building Support: David Ogundeko on Funema’s Vision for Backing African Ventures

April 25, 2025 • 50 mins
Episode overview: In this conversation, David Ogundeko shares the journey of Funema, an impact-focused alternative investment firm operating for nine years across Nigeria, South Africa, and the US. He discusses his approach to venture building for early-stage founders, why Africa needs a unique investment approach, and how his firm addresses the "chicken and egg" challenge that idea-stage founders face: needing traction to raise fu...
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Adapt or Be Left Behind: Marie Lora-Mungai on AI and the Future of African Filmmaking

April 5, 2025 • 29 mins
Meet Marie Lora-Mungai, expert advisor in African creative industries and sports business and founder of Restless Global - whose 20-year journey from CNN journalist to production company founder to industry advisor gives her a unique vantage point on Africa's creative economy. In thought-provoking conversation with Andile Masuku, Lora-Mungai makes a compelling case for African filmmakers to stop seeking funding for traditional pro...
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From Policy to Independent Media: Fatu Ogwuche on Creative Storytelling in Tech

March 20, 2025 • 42 mins
Episode overview: In this conversation, Fatu Ogwuche shares insights into her transition from working at Meta and consulting for Nigeria's Electoral Commission to launching her own media platform, Big Tech This Week. She discusses her entrepreneurial spirit, creative approach to storytelling, and the unique position independent creators hold in today's media landscape. Andile Masuku describes Ogwuche as "low-key the industry's he...
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Carrier Neutral: How Unicorn Factory Aims to Open Up Africa’s Internet Infrastructure

February 20, 2025 • 26 mins
This episode features an engaging conversation with Rob Bergman, Chief Investment Officer at Unicorn Factory, exploring the nuanced intersection of digital infrastructure investment and internet connectivity ecosystem development across Africa. Episode overview: Andile Masuku engages with Bergman to unpack his 12-year journey in African investment, examining how Unicorn Factory's distinctive two-pillar approach combines operationa...
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Inside Money & Moves: Tinashe Mukogo On Merging Corporate Expertise With Independent Media

February 7, 2025 • 57 mins
Episode Overview: This episode features a relaxed, peer-to-peer conversation between two media entrepreneurs—African Tech Roundup co-founder and executive producer Andile Masuku, and Money & Moves founder and writer Tinashe Mukogo. They explore how Mukogo draws on his background in consulting (Deloitte), corporate venture capital (Next47), and organisational finance (Siemens), along with his CA and INSEAD MBA credentials, to del...
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Joshua Bicknell On How Balloon Ventures' 'Boring Business' Portfolio Drives 0.5% Of Uganda's GDP

January 25, 2025 • 41 mins
Episode Overview: This episode features a deep conversation with Joshua Bicknell, co-founder of Balloon Ventures, exploring how the organisation evolved from a non-profit connecting young people with informal entrepreneurs to becoming a financial institution that's deployed over $14 million in loans to SMEs across Kenya and Uganda, while openly sharing portfolio data to prove the viability of SME lending as an asset class. Key to...
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Ochuko Ogra On Backbone Connectivity Network's (BCN) Nigeria Growth Strategy

January 17, 2025 • 10 mins
This episode features a brief check-in with Ochuko Ogra, Chief Transformation and Strategy Officer at Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN), sketching Nigeria's digital infrastructure landscape. Episode overview: BCN has over 1,000 km of wholly-owned fibre infrastructure, primarily in the North-Central and North Eastern parts of Nigeria. Citing its stronghold in Northern Nigeria to its expanding national footprint, Ogra shares how ...
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Alan Knott-Craig Jr On Life After Mxit's Royal Fail (2016)

January 9, 2025 • 51 mins
Listen in as Alan Knott-Craig Jr, son of Alan Sr, the pioneering co-founder and first CEO of Vodacom, one of South Africa's leading mobile network operators, and later the feisty CEO of challenger telco Cell C—takes us through a transformative career moment that set the stage for his future ventures. Episode overview This early 2016 conversation finds Alan Knott-Craig Jr in a moment of trademark forthrightness. Fresh from his tenu...
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Building Bridges: Maya Horgan Famodu's Silicon Valley-Africa Crossing Playbook (2017)

December 26, 2024 • 74 mins
Episode overview This unfiltered 2017 archive dialogue captures Maya Horgan Famodu (Founder and Partner, Ingressive Capital) before she became known for straight-talking LinkedIn posts about founder insights and personal growth. Fresh from investment banking, she was forging new pathways between Silicon Valley capital and African startup innovation via carefully-curated investor tours—laying the groundwork for the launch of Ingre...
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Talent Tales: Ethiopia's Quiet Tech Rise vs Nigeria's Developer Gold Rush (2018)

December 12, 2024 • 27 mins
As we wind down 2024, we're diving into our archives to serve up some memorable throwback conversations. Whether you're a long-time listener revisiting these gems or discovering them for the first time, these conversations capture pivotal moments in Africa's tech journey. In today's episode, we're rewinding to 2018... Episode overview: Join us as we eavesdrop on a fascinating corridor conversation from Afrobytes Tech Marketplace ...
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Why Carbon CEO Chijioke Dozie Is Ditching Nigeria's Free Banking Playbook

December 5, 2024 • 19 mins
Meet Chijioke Dozie, the co-founder steering Carbon through Nigeria's increasingly noisy neobank scene. In this candid chat with Andile Masuku, Dozie makes a case for zigging while others zag—specifically, charging for value while competitors burn cash on free services. It's a stance that might raise eyebrows in Nigeria's price-sensitive market, but as you'll hear, it's backed by 12 years of hard knocks and savvy iteration. Epis...
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Ambar Van Der Wath Unpacks Baobab Network's $20K Toe-Dipping Investment Proposition

November 28, 2024 • 15 mins
Ambar van der Wath—who leads investor relations at one of Africa's leading accelerator slash VC firms, Baobab Network—discusses with Andile Masuku how the firm is creating accessible entry points for cautious investors interested in early-stage African tech startups. Episode Overview: Picture this: You're an international investor curious about African tech, but you're not quite ready to write million-dollar checks or commit to a...
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Koltronics Nigeria's Lanre Kolade and the inside story of Google's Equiano cable landing in Togo

November 21, 2024 • 19 mins
This episode features an illuminating dialogue with Lanre Kolade, Chairman of ConnectedCompute, CEO of Koltronics Nigeria and former CEO of CSquared, exploring the intricate dynamics of infrastructure development and digital transformation across Africa. Episode overview: Andile Masuku engages with Kolade to unpack his 26-year journey in African broadband connectivity, examining the delicate balance between commercial viability an...
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This Is Connectivity a la VC With Accion Venture Lab's Jasiel Martin-Odoom

November 14, 2024 • 33 mins
This episode features a candid conversation with Jasiel Martin-Odoom, Africa Investment Officer at Accion Venture Lab, exploring the intersection of venture capital and connectivity-focused content creation and ecosystem building in African tech. Episode overview: Andile Masuku sits down with Jasiel Martin-Odoom to unpack his unique approach to ecosystem engagement, scaling personal impact through content creation and driving valu...
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