November 19, 2024 • 38 mins
Anna Ekeledo's journey is nothing short of inspiring. Born in Russia to Nigerian and Senegalese parents, Anna's path has been shaped by vibrant multicultural experiences in her formative years. From a childhood spent in Nigeria and Senegal, she carries a legacy of passion for business and development. Anna's role as the Executive Director of AfriLabs has her working tirelessly to support over a million entrepreneurs across Africa, aiming to create a lasting impact on the continent's innovation landscape. Her story is a testament to resilience and determination, offering listeners a glimpse into the life of a woman dedicated to elevating African entrepreneurship.
Listeners will be captivated by Anna's diverse career journey, filled with roles in real estate, business development, and consulting with organizations like the World Bank. Through strategic partnerships and innovative programs, Anna and her team at AfriLabs have expanded their network to over 400 hubs across 53 African countries. Her work involves collaborating with governments, corporates, and other stakeholders to address various challenges, such as education technology and maternal health, by leveraging local innovation. Anna shares the highs and lows of navigating funding hurdles and leadership challenges, providing valuable insights into the complexities of leading in a culturally rich environment.
Anna's vision for AfriLabs continues to grow, with aspirations for global expansion and stronger ties with the African diaspora. Despite facing biases and obstacles, her focus remains on empowering women entrepreneurs and formalizing multi-stakeholder partnerships. Anna's ambition is not just about recognition but about contributing significantly to the African economy, targeting a trillion-dollar impact through digital initiatives. Her journey has established AfriLabs as a cornerstone of innovation in Africa, and her unwavering commitment promises to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs across the globe.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi there and welcome to another episode of African
Business Stories.
Africa is the only region inthe world where more women than
men choose to be entrepreneurs.
What this says to me is thatthe story of business in Africa
is the story of the Africanbusiness woman.
So we are on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
(00:23):
and tell their stories.
So we're on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
and tell their stories.
On the show, we will hear fromfemale innovators and
entrepreneurs building andrunning businesses in Africa.
They will share the highs andlows of their entrepreneurial
journey and lessons learnedalong the way.
Some of these women you mayknow, and many you may not, but
(00:48):
I assure you that all theirstories are inspiring in their
own right.
My hope is that these storieswill inspire you to reach for
your dreams and leave a legacyfor generations to come.
It makes such a big differenceto us if you can rate, review
and share our episodes.
You can do this mainly on ApplePodcasts, and you can find us
on all podcast platforms Ifyou're in Africa.
(01:09):
Spotify is now available, socheck us out there and don't
forget to rate, review and share.
Today, I chat with Anna Akeledo,the Executive Director of
AfriLabs, a network of over 400incubation hubs supporting
entrepreneurs across Africa.
They are present in over 200cities in 53 African countries
(01:34):
and serve a collective networkof over 1 million entrepreneurs,
innovators, creatives anddevelopers Born in Russia to
Nigerian and Senegalese parents.
We talked about her journey toAfriLabs, the incredible success
she has achieved in under 10years and some of the impactful
initiatives they run in supportof African entrepreneurs.
(01:57):
Anna is a focused and ambitiousleader and I am personally
inspired by her story.
Let's get into it, hi, anna.
Welcome to African BusinessStories.
Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I was super excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So I usually tell my guests that I start from the
very beginning, just to get awholesome view of our guests,
and so I'm going to take it allthe way back to the beginning.
I understand that you were bornin Russia.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And moved back to Africa as a toddler.
So I wonder how did yourparents end up in Russia and
what brought them back to thecontinent?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, my parents were studentsin Russia.
My dad is Nigerian and my momis from Senegal.
In Russia, my dad is Nigerianand my mom is from Senegal and
they met in Russia as students,so you know, as two African
international students, and youknow they say they met, fell in
love, got married in Russia andhad me there.
(02:57):
Basically that's it.
And then they decided to moveback to Africa because they were
very passionate about twothings business and impact.
My mom then was in the fashionindustry and then my dad was in
trade and agriculture and theyboth wanted to also contribute
to development of the continentother than just the business
part, which is why they movedback.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So when you moved back, where did you move to?
To Nigeria?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, so moved to Nigeria, at first Lagos
specifically, and then this wasabout three years old and then
moved to Senegal, dakar, for abit and I moved back to Nigeria
about five, sort of been inNigeria as a base for the most
part since then.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
How many languages do you speak?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Oh, my goodness, this is a bit embarrassing, but I
only speak english fluently.
uh, when I was a child I'mserious, when I was a child I
could speak only french.
At some point, you know, whichis when I moved to, you know,
dakar, um, and those are myformative years.
So by time I came back tonigeria, I got teased a lot,
(04:03):
know, and I came back without mymom at first, because she had
some business in Senegal tocomplete.
And you know, I came back and Iwas teased a lot, you know, by
cousins and school and all ofthat.
So by the time my mom came, shewas so focused on integrating
me into the system, you know,and by then I was entering the
first year of primary school,you know, and by then you should
(04:25):
be fluent in language english.
So, yeah, it's also dropped thefrench, so it's still there.
I mean, when I go home, theother home in dakar, senegal, I,
I, you know, I can have aconversation, I can move around
in french, um, it's not justfluent, but I, it's the sort of
thing that if I stay long enough, then I'll pick it For Russian.
(04:45):
I know a few words, you know,if we host guests, I could say
hello and time to eat.
My parents always tend me totell our Russian guests it's
time to eat and all that andthank you, of course.
Спасибо.
That's important in anylanguage, but I would say
English is my primary language.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I also read that you lived in Joss in Nigeria at some
point.
I've never been, but I've heardthat it's a really beautiful
city and I wonder what it waslike for you living there and if
there are any fond childhoodmemories you can share with us.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yes, I mean Joss was amazing.
You know, anybody who grew upin Joss at some point at least
before the conflict fortunatelyhad just similar beautiful
stories.
So one was, of course, theweather, the weather in Joss's
office, nice and everything, butwe just sort of had this
(05:45):
freedom and safety growing upback then.
You know, I was having aconversation recently with
someone and just talking abouthow I used to ride my bicycle.
I had this bicycle I got when Iwas eight years old I was twice
my size, and I would ride thebicycle from my house, my
friend's house, which was likekilometers apart and everything,
bicycle from my house, myfriend's house, which was like
(06:06):
kilometers apart, and everything.
And we'll hang out as kids andteenagehood and all that and
attend house parties.
So it was a very chilled, safeand friendly environment and,
not being originally from Jossas well from Platte State, it
was very tolerant and just opento everyone, this melting pot of
culture.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So when you were young, growing up, what did you
aspire to be?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Different things at different points.
You know, At some point Iwanted to be an actress.
And that's because I wasspecifically inspired by
adventure movies where they'lltravel back in time to the days
of, you know, the kings andqueens and everything.
So I want, I wanted to actmovies like that.
So it was very specific toadventure movies other than you
(06:52):
know.
Being an adventure actress, um,I think my early careers was a
choice.
In my early days about to enteruni, was wanting to be a
psychologist.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
That is so interesting.
So you go to universityCovenant University in Nigeria
and you study psychology.
So what do you do with thatdegree and all that fascination
when you're done?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I didn't continue my education in them.
I was very curious, you know,and I'll say as a young person I
was sort of restless.
So I knew that to have a propercareer in psychology I would
have had to, you know, go aheadwith my master's and my PhD and
all of that.
And different countries havetheir different criteria.
(07:33):
But anywhere in the world ifyou want to be top then you have
to follow through to your PhD.
And I knew I do not want justone career path and I wanted to
be able to be diverse in myexperiences and the like.
So after that, instead ofstudying psychology, I went to
business school, you know, and Istudied international marketing
management at Leeds, theUniversity of Leeds Business
(07:55):
School.
I feel like that gave me alaunchpad to be quite diverse in
my career, which of coursereflected in everything I did
over a decade after For ourlisteners who aren't too
familiar with Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So in Nigeria, you're required to do this national
year of service after you finishuniversity.
You served at the NIPC, theNigerian Investment Promotion
Commission.
So what was that experiencelike for you?
It was interesting.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I would say that's one of the years or engagements
I had that sort of influencedthe work I do now, you know,
because at NIPC the mandate wasbasically to promote investments
and drive investments intoNigeria right, so encourage
foreign investors to bring incapital to set up their
businesses and to developdifferent sectors.
Interesting because I wasspecifically in the investment
(08:46):
promotion department of theorganization.
So we used to organize all thetrade shows where we would
basically promote the differentsectors that had opportunities
to invest and everything, andthen we would invite people all
the time to come to trade showsand also participate in
investment drives outside thecountry as well.
It was really interesting andit was insightful because I saw
(09:10):
in depth all the opportunitiesright in investing in the
country, you know, whetheryou're talking about agriculture
or mining, you know, or realestate or other forms of
infrastructure and all that Imean.
That was also the time that thegovernment was making a really
strong effort to make it easyand seamless to invest.
(09:32):
So at that point, at that timearound that time, in NIPC there
was a setup of the one-stop shopI think it was OSIC one-stop
investment shop or so where youcould literally go to, you know
a desk in a building or you knowan office and have everything
sorted.
You know your entireregistrations and all that as
opposed to having to go todifferent agencies.
So yeah, I think at that pointseeing the investment
(09:54):
opportunities but also seeingthe political will of the
government to drive investmentsinto the country was quite
encouraging and has sort ofagain formed the baseline of
what I do now in terms of tryingto drive investments into the
African continent as well.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So you went on to do a whole bunch of other different
roles.
Can you talk to us about someof the things that you did
before we delve into AfriLabs?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, so after my NYC that's when I did my master's
and I came back and worked in areal estate and mortgage
advisory company, so that wasworking with my dad.
And then after that I worked inthis, you know, a Nigerian
company, that basically handledthe business development affairs
of Ingenico.
(10:36):
And Ingenico is this globalFrench company, one of the
largest in the world, that hasfinancial products, payment
products specifically, and thenpayment solutions, software
solutions and the like.
And then I moved to thisorganization, wild Fusion, which
was a digital agency digitaladvertising, you know and
marketing agency, which at thatpoint was looking to set up a
(10:59):
new business unit you know,basically an entire business,
you know arm that was focused ontraining.
So I was part of the foundingteam that set up the training
center and then moved on to setup my agency focused on
consulting, consulting for thespace, basically.
And that's how I somewhattransitioned to AfriLabs,
(11:19):
because I implemented a coupleof independent projects for the
World Bank and other privatefoundations and then the
AfriLabs opportunity popped up.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So how did that opportunity pop up and why did
you feel like this was the rightopportunity for you?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I mean, in the course of just learning more and
networking and meeting people inthe nonprofit and impact space,
I came across an acquaintanceyou know this is a friend of my
cousin's actually and you knowhe told me about this
interesting innovation spacethat he was part of in Lagos.
(11:57):
Then it was owned by thegovernment and he told me about
all the great things they dosupport entrepreneurs and the
likes.
But he also told me about someof the challenges, from
fundraising to figuring outtheir business structure and the
likes.
And at that time the concept ofinnovation hubs are still
relatively new on the continentand me being I mean, it just
(12:22):
seemed like a perfect fit.
On one hand, there was thebusiness development part of it,
there was the building from theinside and restructuring and
all of those things I like to do, building out the team and all
that.
And then it was impact focused.
So I had a conversation with himand his boss about coming on
board as a consultant, but atthat point they were not looking
(12:42):
to engage at that level.
But a couple of months later hecalled me and said hey, you
know, there's this organization,afrilabs, impact focused.
They support innovation hubsacross the continent and you're
looking for someone to come inand drive it and would I be
interested as a job opening andeverything.
I was like sure I'll have alook at it.
(13:03):
Uh, so went in and, um, yeah,what I saw was quite interesting
had a couple of follow-on chatsapplied, sent in my ideas on
everything that was achievable,you know, and then had a couple
of conversations with the chairand then got recruited
officially by the board then andyeah, that's how AfroLabs
(13:28):
basically came about.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So how?
Where did you feel like it wasthe right opportunity?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I just knew.
I know that's not a verystraight answer, but then I knew
because I liked the challenge.
At that point, afrilabs was ata place where it needed to build
a proper organization.
It was a virtual network.
At that point, there were 40members across 20 countries, but
(13:56):
then there were systems andstructures that needed to be
built.
There was no officialsecretariat that's like
headquarters and it wasbasically run like a virtual
model.
You know, when there's funding,come together, do activities,
events and all that.
So, on one hand, I like thechallenge, as I mentioned, I
like building.
I consider myself as a builderso I was like, okay, let's do
this.
I like the.
(14:18):
I consider myself as a builder,so I was like, okay, let's do
this.
I like the impact focus.
You know everything thatAfriLabs stands for is impacting
the African community, you know, and economy and people through
innovation, tech,entrepreneurship and all that.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Tell us a bit more about AfriLabs.
What is AfriLabs?
What does the organization do?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, so AFRI Labs is a network organization of
innovation hubs, which are madeup of incubators, accelerators,
creative spaces that all supportyoung innovators, entrepreneurs
across Africa.
Right, but in addition to theinnovation hubs, we're also a
multi-stakeholder network, youknow, because we work with
(14:59):
different stakeholders.
So, looking at developmentorganizations and multilaterals
like the UN and the AU, anddevelopment finance institutions
as well, both African andglobal.
We work with governmentorganizations to drive policy on
the continent, investors aswell, you know.
(15:21):
Corporates, you know.
So we work with largecorporates like Intel and Meta
and the like.
So we basically work with amulti-stakeholder group to the
end goal in everything we do isto support entrepreneurs,
support young people, turn theirideas into innovative
businesses that will impactdifferent sectors.
So, and just you know, lookingat how we structure our work, we
(15:47):
do a lot of capacity building.
So support innovation helps tobetter support their communities
, but also supporting thestartups directly.
We run programs that are focusedon identifying solutions in
different sectors, right, whenwe look at the challenges on the
African continent.
We look at the out-of-schoolkids, right, millions of
(16:08):
children still out of school,and we're constantly asking
ourselves how can we leverage oneducation technology solutions,
for example, and infrastructurethrough our hub network on
ground to provide accessible andaffordable and quality
education.
You know.
So we run programs aroundedtech, for example, identifying
edtech solutions, and then, youknow, funding them and the
(16:28):
likes.
When we talk about maternalhealth and you know other health
practices, both good and not sogood, you know, like MGM and
the likes, again, we work withpartners like the UN to see how
we can support, you know,communities, leverage on
innovations that exist.
You know.
So this happens across differentsectors, whether we're talking
(16:50):
about agriculture, climate, youknow and the likes, but also a
very strong gender focus.
You know we believe in genderequality and the gaps,
especially a very strong genderfocus.
You know we live in genderequality and the gaps,
especially in our space.
Whether we're talking aboutwomen raising, financing um, as
of last year, less than fourpercent of women owned um
startups raised.
You know the total.
(17:11):
You know investment that wasmade.
Less than four percent werewomen co-founded businesses, so
these are still women that hadmale co-founders and the likes.
You know, and this cuts acrossboard.
Whether we're talking about,you know, access to debt,
financial services, or you knowcertain opportunities and the
likes and dealing with all thebiases.
So we have a very strong genderfocus as well in the work that
(17:32):
we do.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That's fantastic.
So, in terms of growth, you'vebeen at AfriLabs for eight years
.
The women I interview they'rerunning and they're building
businesses.
You know, and sometimes youknow you have entrepreneurs who
have started this from theground up and others pick up a
vision and run with it.
You've definitely picked up theAfriLabs vision and for the
(17:53):
last eight years you've beenrunning with it.
So what kind of growth have youseen?
I know you said one of them Ipicked up was that it was a
virtual platform which has nowbecome a full-blown organization
.
Just in terms of the hubs yousupport, what kind of growth
have you seen in the work atAfriLabs over the last eight
(18:14):
years?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah well, as you rightly said, over the last
eight years.
Yeah well, as you rightly said,the first is institutionalizing
AfriLabs, right.
And then, of course, the secondis people.
You know, and this is thesecond thing I'm proud of in
terms of the growth of thecommunity, we need strong people
and strong leaders on theAfrican continent to at every
level.
You know, whether you'retalking about running a small
(18:36):
business or running a state or acountry or an organization and
the likes.
And these strong people need tobe connected right for us to
have real impact.
And since you know, I came onboard, I mentioned earlier that
we're a network of 40 hubsacross 20 countries.
I mean, under my leadership,we've scaled to 53 African
(18:59):
countries and over 200 cities,with a membership base of over
500 members and a collectivenetwork of over a million
entrepreneurs, innovators,creative developers and the
likes, you know.
But also in terms of the impactof the programming, you know
we've run programs and impactedlives the hundreds of millions
(19:21):
of dollars, basically.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's fantastic.
Congratulations on that.
So, just delving a little bitdeeper in terms of your
partnerships, can you give us anexample of how these
partnerships work and the impactthat founders and entrepreneurs
on the continent derive fromsome of the partnerships that
you have in place?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Okay, I'll give two examples, two different types of
partnerships.
So one is an initiative whichwe call Catalytic, africa, and
Catalytic is an initiative withthe Africa Business Angel
Network, aban.
Now, aban is this networkacross africa, made up of angel
(20:00):
investor networks, like localangel investor networks across
africa, and basically what wedid with them about three years
ago, yeah, is um.
We came together and um formedthis joint initiative whereby we
connect the entrepreneurswithin our network to the angel
investors within the ABA network, right, because, of course, one
(20:21):
of the challenges entrepreneursface is raising funds to build
their businesses, especially atthat early stage.
And then we set up a catalyticfund whereby we invited
non-development organizations tocontribute to right as a grant
pool.
So we got our first pilotfunding from AFD, the French
(20:43):
Development Agency.
We matched their investmentswith matching grants.
This significantly helped thebusinesses because, as I
mentioned, in that early stageit's incredibly hard to raise
investments as a startup,especially as a tech startup,
because it's high risk and thelikes.
And these grants helped tode-risk the startups because we
found out that when investorslearned that, as a result you
(21:07):
know of this potential pool offunding going to entrepreneurs
which can go into, you know,operations and all the things
that they don't want their moneyto go into.
They were more likely to invest, you know.
So it also increased theinvestment.
You know attractiveness of thestartups and then we saw
startups within our portfoliothat did really well in terms of
(21:27):
just growth.
Right jobs were created.
We had startups.
I remember a cameroonianstartup, for example, that had a
logistic startup and justscaled, you know, significantly
jobs created, revenue increased.
You know, significantly jobscreated, revenue increased, you
know.
And all that and of course,that economic impact and the
likes.
Yeah, others are through our.
So this is an example of adirect program, but through our
(21:50):
interventions to the hubs,capacity building and support
with toolkits and the likes.
And I'll give an example.
You know we have our AfriLabsAcademy, which is the first ever
home management curriculumdeveloped for hubs.
You know we did it withStrathmore University in Kenya
and it's certified like a properacademic type course short
courses you could go online onour platform and take them and
(22:12):
we've had hubs report back tosay, you know, as a result of
taking the courses, they'veexpanded the operations.
And we've also provided fundslike grants directly to the hubs
.
They've set up operations inrural areas too, you know, which
is another thing I'm quiteproud of, you know, because then
when I came on board,innovation was and innovation
homes were largely um set up in,you know, in the cities and
(22:36):
urban areas and all of that youknow.
But as a result of some ofthese capacity building programs
, the grants we've provided andthe support and toolkits and all
that people have set up inrural areas and places where
people are just constantly beingexcluded and marginalized and
the likes, but they've had theseopportunities as a result of
interventions and entrepreneurshave been able to scale.
(22:57):
You know, and the importance ofthat is it's not just about
taking opportunities or money tothem, it's about empowering
them where they are to solve forthe local problems in those
communities, because you can'tmigrate everyone out of the
communities, right?
So you're encouraginginnovation to thrive, likes to
(23:28):
be able to implement some ofthese interventions across, you
know, the continent.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Right, so these SMEs have to be connected to a hub to
be able to get support fromAfriLabs.
Support from AFRI Labs yes andno.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
So for certain initiatives like Catalytic
Africa, yes, you have to beconnected to a hub, right?
However, if we roll out a newprogram, we actually actively
scout for entrepreneurs that fitthe criteria.
(24:01):
So we do a call for application.
And I mean, the example is, inthe last two years, we ran this
climate-focused program with theAfrican Development Bank and we
did a fresh call forapplications for entrepreneurs
that had solutions focused onclimate resilience.
And, yeah, we had quite a numberof entrepreneurs that were
supported through thatintervention over two years and
(24:23):
through our network.
They got, they got mentorship,they got business support, but
they also got funding, right?
You know, under that programspecifically, each of the
entrepreneurs selected smes,startups, and smes got over a
hundred thousand dollars indifferent phases to grow their
businesses.
That's it basically on acase-by-case basis.
And for programs, especiallynew programs we design with
(24:45):
partners, entrepreneurs don'thave to be connected, but
eventually they end up gettingthat support from our network,
you know, because, again,sustainability is key, right?
So after the program ends, thehubs provide full-on support as
well to the entrepreneurs, youknow, and then we provide
support to the hubs.
So there's just this continuousloop of support and building
the ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's fantastic, Anna, and thank you for
explaining that.
You know it's good informationfor me and also for our
listeners who are looking forsupport as they build on the
continent.
So, in terms of funding, how isAfriLabs?
Because I see you're giving outgrants, you're making resources
available to people and I'mjust wondering how do you, as an
organization, get funded andwhat has been your experience
(25:28):
with raising finance?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Okay.
So we get funding fromdifferent sources right, as I
mentioned before, fromdevelopment organizations, from
multilaterals.
We also execute projects.
You know we execute researchprojects, for example in the
past, execute projects.
You know we execute researchand projects.
For example, in the past, we've, you know, connected research
with the likes of Intel, meta,bill, mindy Gates and the likes,
(25:51):
and these all generate revenuethat go into our organization
and also implement the work thatwe do, which is, first and
foremost, right In terms oftaking care of our internal
operations and supportingtowards our growth.
We also charge a membership feefor our members.
So, to be a member and takeadvantage of all the benefits
(26:13):
and everything, there's amembership fee that is paid.
We also bid for projects aswell, you know.
So we come together with otherorganizations and bid for
projects as well and get revenuefrom that.
How has it been?
It's been interesting.
At the start, it was incrediblyhard.
I can't even mince my words onthat one, because when you're
(26:33):
building and you're going aftercertain things funds
specifically, first off peopleexpect you to meet their
criteria.
You have to have this system,you have to have this.
Do you have your accountingsystem in place?
You have this, you know, andall of these things.
And it was tough but it wasalso a motivating factor, you
know, because for everythingthat was asked, do you have?
(26:56):
I would go back and say, sure,we have it.
You know, of course, even if itwas things that we couldn't,
you know, there's a category ofthings, right, there's you have,
and this is something you canbasically build in the next one,
two, three weeks.
Right, and you say sure, youknow, I'll get back to you on
that.
You go build it, I'll come backand say, yes, we have it.
(27:16):
You know that's right.
And there are things where youjust the timeline does not just
permit you to have it, so you'relike, painfully, another loss,
but now we're going to have it,so that next time that
opportunity comes into place, webuild it.
You know, and that's how webuilt, you know.
And now we have structures andsystems, as I mentioned, our you
know global standards as well.
Our team is diversified and youknow all of that skills and
(27:40):
also regional based, wise,multilingual and the likes.
And then over time, it becamesomewhat easier.
And then we had periods of thefunding winter, you know which
we are currently going throughactually as an ecosystem.
So startup funding has been thelowest for the longest time
since you know, the start of theecosystem side getting
(28:02):
attention.
Funders are also cutting theirbudgets for certain things like,
you know, events andprogramming and all of that.
So it's interesting, it's.
It's been a.
It's gotten easier over timeand, of course, as a team grows.
When I started, I started outwith an intern, you know, and
now I have a team of over 40across Africa of really
(28:25):
experienced, in fact, peoplemore experienced than I am in
their expertise.
You know, which is a dream ofevery leader.
You know you never want to bethe smartest in the room.
So I'm very proud of the factthat my team has grown and we
have really good people leadinginitiatives and programming and
fundraising and everything.
So that's one of the reasonsit's become easier.
I give a lot of credit to thefantastic team I have.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So you've talked about how some of the funding
challenges you had initiallywhen you started.
I note you know I'm not beingageist, but I note that you were
young.
You were young when you took onthis leadership role and I
wonder if that posed any kind ofchallenge at all.
It could have been a no brainerand it could have been fine,
(29:07):
but I wonder, knowing ourculture and what society is like
on the continent, I wonder ifthat played any kind, if that
was any kind of challenge to youin taking on this role so young
so yes, and so, yes, it was achallenge at some point.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
On the other hand, I think it was also a blessing.
I'm not sure if I'd have beenthis resilient, okay, at the age
I am now, you know, and justdealing with some of the
challenges and all that in termsof age, yes, I mean, I found
myself in certain rooms where Iwas the youngest in the room,
and then there's also the genderplay, there's also the I mean,
(29:52):
especially in development, andwhen you're in certain places,
they also look at things like,which is also part of the age,
right, you know, they look at,you know everyone's talking.
They're like, oh, they've beendoing this for 30 years, they've
been doing this for you knowhow many years.
This is a PhD person, this is ayou know professor and all that
(30:12):
, and I didn't have any of that.
However, there's somethingabout being young and vibrant
that people are drawn to, andwhen they see a young person who
is, who is bold about justtaking on certain challenges and
is passionate about whatthey're building, you know,
(30:32):
whether they're building anorganization or they're building
their personal business and thelikes there there's certain
people that gravitate towardsyou, you know, and they say you
know what.
They want to help you out, theywant to listen.
There are people that woulddiscard you.
Yes, it's true, you knowthey'll be like ah, you know
you're not, you know you'reyoung, what do you know?
(30:53):
And everything, um, and that'sbecause of certain biases they
they have, you know, they theygrow up at a time, um, when they
had a career, at a time whenthere was no way a young person
being a position of leadership,so it just couldn't connect it.
So, yes, but then I just tendto tended to be blind to those
(31:15):
biases.
You know, and I think, becauseI was focused, you know, and
this is something I always tellpeople I, if you're obsessively
focused on what you need toachieve, you would have less
time and spend less time dealingwith all the biases.
That's excellent.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
So so you've achieved incredible success over the
last eight years, you know, andkudos to you and your team.
And I wonder Anna, what?
What do you think the next fiveto 10 years looks like for for
AfriLabs?
Yes, so, um, I mean, I, what doyou think the next five to 10
years looks like for AfriLabs?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yes.
So I mean I'll put that inthree buckets, right.
So one is global scale.
Over the past two years we'vebeen very intentional about
building global bridges betweenAfrica and the rest of the world
to better support entrepreneurswithin our network.
We've over the past year, forexample, signed a partnership
with the US State Department,specifically the Office of
(32:06):
Global Partnerships, focused onsupporting climate entrepreneurs
but also other entrepreneurslooking to scale into the US
market but also collaborate andconnect with investors and the
likes.
We've signed with the SaudiArabian Ministry of Investment,
again to provide the sort ofsoft landing and investment and
(32:26):
resources to support startups toget scale.
Other conversations we'rehaving and currently building
networks in India, other partsof Europe and the likes.
We actually have a delegationbeing planned at the moment to
France and the like.
So that's it.
We envision that we will beglobal, you know, in terms of
(32:49):
direct linkages.
I mean not just the virtualtype, you know, but direct
linkages.
Eventually we will set upregional offices.
But another reason why goingglobal is important to us is a
diaspora as well.
You know we take our Africandiaspora very seriously in terms
of recognizing that they arepart of us, you know, when we
(33:14):
look at you know Africa in termsof entrepreneurship, businesses
, um are just working withdifferent groups of you know,
africans, um that live in otherplaces, other than African
continents, um, or Africans thathave moved, whether it's first
generation, second generation or, you know, hundreds of years
(33:35):
ago, through their you knowancestors.
We, we consider them as part ofus, you know.
So it's for.
The work we do is for Africaand Africans, you know,
irrespective of where they areso that's another reason why, um
, you know that global expansionis important to us.
Then, second of all, is um justdeepening our multi-stakeholder
(33:56):
membership.
So, as I mentioned, we considerourselves as a
multi-stakeholder group, right,but over the next year, we're
going to be formalizing whatmembership will look like in
terms of different stakeholders.
So an investor group that wantsto be part of AfriLabs, or
entrepreneur or developmentorganization what does that look
like, membership wise?
And then, lastly, it's justdeepening our impact across the
(34:17):
different verticals.
You know I've mentioned thatworking across different sectors
is important to us because ofthe social impact.
So, when we look at the numbers, if we're going to really be
ambitious, the next five to 10years, as a result of our work
and our community which we'rebuilding, we want to directly
and indirectly contribute up toa trillion dollars to the
(34:39):
African economy through thedigital economy.
So that's it basically, that'sfantastic.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
That is fantastic.
So this has been an incredibleconversation, very, very
insightful, but we're going tohave to wrap up.
In terms of wrapping up, I'dlike to ask my guests two
questions.
One is a reflection and one isadvice.
For you personally is areflection and one is advice.
For you personally, as Anna.
What is one thing, or maybe twothings that you've done over
(35:08):
the last couple of years thatyou are proud of, that you feel
has been the most impactful, ormaybe one of the most impactful
things that you've done inbuilding this organization and
having this kind of reach acrossthe continent?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Building the organization to this point and
establishing it as a properinstitution, recognizable, and I
mean I don't say this lightlybecause I see similar type
organizations that started outas an initiative, you know, and
there's that struggle to justmove from an initiative or a
community to this point.
(35:45):
And then our reach, one of thethings my team and I are always
proud of.
You know, we have the largestnetwork after the African union.
So I mean, that's that's it.
But also, I think, finally,it's just the impact, because we
could, we could be aninstitution and not impact, you
know.
So impacting lives, Right, Imean, I've heard, when I hear
(36:08):
about the impact stories thatcome back to us as a result of
the intervention, it just ittouches my heart.
Oh, yes, I should add, I'mdoing this while growing a
family with my two little babies.
Yes, an amazing husbandactually got married a few
months after I started runningAfriLabs, so I have a very
amazing partner that's, you know, being supportive throughout
(36:30):
this process.
So I'm proud of that as well.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
That is amazing.
So, in terms of advice, whatadvice would you give other
women who are buildingbusinesses across the continent?
Speaker 2 (36:43):
So be resilient, even , you know, in the face of
challenges, just keep on going.
Don't take it personal.
I know it's hard because as awoman, as a young person, you're
just certain things that willcome at you.
But then again, like Imentioned earlier, just focus on
what you're looking to achieveand then learn.
You know, another thing thathelped in my journey, and even
(37:05):
with my team, is we constantlyhave, like we're constantly
learning, reflecting.
We reflect from successes, wereflect from failures and then
we take those reflections backinto building.
You know, and it's so importantas an entrepreneur, you know,
or as a leader, like, know whento keep going, know when to
(37:25):
strategy, know when tocompletely pivot, um, and all of
that.
Then balance, you know that's,that's very important.
I mean, if there's certainthings I would do over again is
be more balanced, because I wasquite intense at some point.
You know, it's just like allwork, work, work, work, work and
everything.
(37:45):
But one advice I would say isthat the quality of the hours
you put in is more importantthan the quantity of the hours.
So focus on being strategic.
When you do that, you, youbuild faster, you see things
from a higher playing field, um,but most importantly, it frees
up time from just being in theeveryday grind to spending time
(38:09):
with things that matter as well,you know, like family, friends,
self-care and the like.
Just make sure that you knowthat you're dedicating time to
what's important as well thanksfor that and I thank you so much
for your time.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
This has been such a great conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Thank you, thank you and thank you, thanks for having
me.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Thank you so much for listening.
If you're not alreadysubscribed, please do so on
Apple, Spotify or wherever youget your podcast, and don't
forget to leave us a review sowe know how we're doing.
I'm Akego Okoye and you havebeen listening to African
Business Stories.
Hi there and welcome to another episode of African
Business Stories.
Africa is the only region inthe world where more women than
men choose to be entrepreneurs.
What this says to me is thatthe story of business in Africa
is the story of the Africanbusiness woman.
So we are on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
(00:23):
and tell their stories.
So we're on a journey ofdiscovery to find these women
and tell their stories.
On the show, we will hear fromfemale innovators and
entrepreneurs building andrunning businesses in Africa.
They will share the highs andlows of their entrepreneurial
journey and lessons learnedalong the way.
Some of these women you mayknow, and many you may not, but
(00:48):
I assure you that all theirstories are inspiring in their
own right.
My hope is that these storieswill inspire you to reach for
your dreams and leave a legacyfor generations to come.
It makes such a big differenceto us if you can rate, review
and share our episodes.
You can do this mainly on ApplePodcasts, and you can find us
on all podcast platforms Ifyou're in Africa.
(01:09):
Spotify is now available, socheck us out there and don't
forget to rate, review and share.
Today, I chat with Anna Akeledo,the Executive Director of
AfriLabs, a network of over 400incubation hubs supporting
entrepreneurs across Africa.
They are present in over 200cities in 53 African countries
(01:34):
and serve a collective networkof over 1 million entrepreneurs,
innovators, creatives anddevelopers Born in Russia to
Nigerian and Senegalese parents.
We talked about her journey toAfriLabs, the incredible success
she has achieved in under 10years and some of the impactful
initiatives they run in supportof African entrepreneurs.
(01:57):
Anna is a focused and ambitiousleader and I am personally
inspired by her story.
Let's get into it, hi, anna.
Welcome to African BusinessStories.
Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I was super excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So I usually tell my guests that I start from the
very beginning, just to get awholesome view of our guests,
and so I'm going to take it allthe way back to the beginning.
I understand that you were bornin Russia.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And moved back to Africa as a toddler.
So I wonder how did yourparents end up in Russia and
what brought them back to thecontinent?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, my parents were studentsin Russia.
My dad is Nigerian and my momis from Senegal.
In Russia, my dad is Nigerianand my mom is from Senegal and
they met in Russia as students,so you know, as two African
international students, and youknow they say they met, fell in
love, got married in Russia andhad me there.
(02:57):
Basically that's it.
And then they decided to moveback to Africa because they were
very passionate about twothings business and impact.
My mom then was in the fashionindustry and then my dad was in
trade and agriculture and theyboth wanted to also contribute
to development of the continentother than just the business
part, which is why they movedback.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So when you moved back, where did you move to?
To Nigeria?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, so moved to Nigeria, at first Lagos
specifically, and then this wasabout three years old and then
moved to Senegal, dakar, for abit and I moved back to Nigeria
about five, sort of been inNigeria as a base for the most
part since then.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
How many languages do you speak?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Oh, my goodness, this is a bit embarrassing, but I
only speak english fluently.
uh, when I was a child I'mserious, when I was a child I
could speak only french.
At some point, you know, whichis when I moved to, you know,
dakar, um, and those are myformative years.
So by time I came back tonigeria, I got teased a lot,
(04:03):
know, and I came back without mymom at first, because she had
some business in Senegal tocomplete.
And you know, I came back and Iwas teased a lot, you know, by
cousins and school and all ofthat.
So by the time my mom came, shewas so focused on integrating
me into the system, you know,and by then I was entering the
first year of primary school,you know, and by then you should
(04:25):
be fluent in language english.
So, yeah, it's also dropped thefrench, so it's still there.
I mean, when I go home, theother home in dakar, senegal, I,
I, you know, I can have aconversation, I can move around
in french, um, it's not justfluent, but I, it's the sort of
thing that if I stay long enough, then I'll pick it For Russian.
(04:45):
I know a few words, you know,if we host guests, I could say
hello and time to eat.
My parents always tend me totell our Russian guests it's
time to eat and all that andthank you, of course.
Спасибо.
That's important in anylanguage, but I would say
English is my primary language.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I also read that you lived in Joss in Nigeria at some
point.
I've never been, but I've heardthat it's a really beautiful
city and I wonder what it waslike for you living there and if
there are any fond childhoodmemories you can share with us.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yes, I mean Joss was amazing.
You know, anybody who grew upin Joss at some point at least
before the conflict fortunatelyhad just similar beautiful
stories.
So one was, of course, theweather, the weather in Joss's
office, nice and everything, butwe just sort of had this
(05:45):
freedom and safety growing upback then.
You know, I was having aconversation recently with
someone and just talking abouthow I used to ride my bicycle.
I had this bicycle I got when Iwas eight years old I was twice
my size, and I would ride thebicycle from my house, my
friend's house, which was likekilometers apart and everything,
bicycle from my house, myfriend's house, which was like
(06:06):
kilometers apart, and everything.
And we'll hang out as kids andteenagehood and all that and
attend house parties.
So it was a very chilled, safeand friendly environment and,
not being originally from Jossas well from Platte State, it
was very tolerant and just opento everyone, this melting pot of
culture.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So when you were young, growing up, what did you
aspire to be?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Different things at different points.
You know, At some point Iwanted to be an actress.
And that's because I wasspecifically inspired by
adventure movies where they'lltravel back in time to the days
of, you know, the kings andqueens and everything.
So I want, I wanted to actmovies like that.
So it was very specific toadventure movies other than you
(06:52):
know.
Being an adventure actress, um,I think my early careers was a
choice.
In my early days about to enteruni, was wanting to be a
psychologist.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
That is so interesting.
So you go to universityCovenant University in Nigeria
and you study psychology.
So what do you do with thatdegree and all that fascination
when you're done?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I didn't continue my education in them.
I was very curious, you know,and I'll say as a young person I
was sort of restless.
So I knew that to have a propercareer in psychology I would
have had to, you know, go aheadwith my master's and my PhD and
all of that.
And different countries havetheir different criteria.
(07:33):
But anywhere in the world ifyou want to be top then you have
to follow through to your PhD.
And I knew I do not want justone career path and I wanted to
be able to be diverse in myexperiences and the like.
So after that, instead ofstudying psychology, I went to
business school, you know, and Istudied international marketing
management at Leeds, theUniversity of Leeds Business
(07:55):
School.
I feel like that gave me alaunchpad to be quite diverse in
my career, which of coursereflected in everything I did
over a decade after For ourlisteners who aren't too
familiar with Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So in Nigeria, you're required to do this national
year of service after you finishuniversity.
You served at the NIPC, theNigerian Investment Promotion
Commission.
So what was that experiencelike for you?
It was interesting.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I would say that's one of the years or engagements
I had that sort of influencedthe work I do now, you know,
because at NIPC the mandate wasbasically to promote investments
and drive investments intoNigeria right, so encourage
foreign investors to bring incapital to set up their
businesses and to developdifferent sectors.
Interesting because I wasspecifically in the investment
(08:46):
promotion department of theorganization.
So we used to organize all thetrade shows where we would
basically promote the differentsectors that had opportunities
to invest and everything, andthen we would invite people all
the time to come to trade showsand also participate in
investment drives outside thecountry as well.
It was really interesting andit was insightful because I saw
(09:10):
in depth all the opportunitiesright in investing in the
country, you know, whetheryou're talking about agriculture
or mining, you know, or realestate or other forms of
infrastructure and all that Imean.
That was also the time that thegovernment was making a really
strong effort to make it easyand seamless to invest.
(09:32):
So at that point, at that timearound that time, in NIPC there
was a setup of the one-stop shopI think it was OSIC one-stop
investment shop or so where youcould literally go to, you know
a desk in a building or you knowan office and have everything
sorted.
You know your entireregistrations and all that as
opposed to having to go todifferent agencies.
So yeah, I think at that pointseeing the investment
(09:54):
opportunities but also seeingthe political will of the
government to drive investmentsinto the country was quite
encouraging and has sort ofagain formed the baseline of
what I do now in terms of tryingto drive investments into the
African continent as well.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So you went on to do a whole bunch of other different
roles.
Can you talk to us about someof the things that you did
before we delve into AfriLabs?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, so after my NYC that's when I did my master's
and I came back and worked in areal estate and mortgage
advisory company, so that wasworking with my dad.
And then after that I worked inthis, you know, a Nigerian
company, that basically handledthe business development affairs
of Ingenico.
(10:36):
And Ingenico is this globalFrench company, one of the
largest in the world, that hasfinancial products, payment
products specifically, and thenpayment solutions, software
solutions and the like.
And then I moved to thisorganization, wild Fusion, which
was a digital agency digitaladvertising, you know and
marketing agency, which at thatpoint was looking to set up a
(10:59):
new business unit you know,basically an entire business,
you know arm that was focused ontraining.
So I was part of the foundingteam that set up the training
center and then moved on to setup my agency focused on
consulting, consulting for thespace, basically.
And that's how I somewhattransitioned to AfriLabs,
(11:19):
because I implemented a coupleof independent projects for the
World Bank and other privatefoundations and then the
AfriLabs opportunity popped up.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So how did that opportunity pop up and why did
you feel like this was the rightopportunity for you?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I mean, in the course of just learning more and
networking and meeting people inthe nonprofit and impact space,
I came across an acquaintanceyou know this is a friend of my
cousin's actually and you knowhe told me about this
interesting innovation spacethat he was part of in Lagos.
(11:57):
Then it was owned by thegovernment and he told me about
all the great things they dosupport entrepreneurs and the
likes.
But he also told me about someof the challenges, from
fundraising to figuring outtheir business structure and the
likes.
And at that time the concept ofinnovation hubs are still
relatively new on the continentand me being I mean, it just
(12:22):
seemed like a perfect fit.
On one hand, there was thebusiness development part of it,
there was the building from theinside and restructuring and
all of those things I like to do, building out the team and all
that.
And then it was impact focused.
So I had a conversation with himand his boss about coming on
board as a consultant, but atthat point they were not looking
(12:42):
to engage at that level.
But a couple of months later hecalled me and said hey, you
know, there's this organization,afrilabs, impact focused.
They support innovation hubsacross the continent and you're
looking for someone to come inand drive it and would I be
interested as a job opening andeverything.
I was like sure I'll have alook at it.
(13:03):
Uh, so went in and, um, yeah,what I saw was quite interesting
had a couple of follow-on chatsapplied, sent in my ideas on
everything that was achievable,you know, and then had a couple
of conversations with the chairand then got recruited
officially by the board then andyeah, that's how AfroLabs
(13:28):
basically came about.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So how?
Where did you feel like it wasthe right opportunity?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I just knew.
I know that's not a verystraight answer, but then I knew
because I liked the challenge.
At that point, afrilabs was ata place where it needed to build
a proper organization.
It was a virtual network.
At that point, there were 40members across 20 countries, but
(13:56):
then there were systems andstructures that needed to be
built.
There was no officialsecretariat that's like
headquarters and it wasbasically run like a virtual
model.
You know, when there's funding,come together, do activities,
events and all that.
So, on one hand, I like thechallenge, as I mentioned, I
like building.
I consider myself as a builderso I was like, okay, let's do
this.
I like the.
(14:18):
I consider myself as a builder,so I was like, okay, let's do
this.
I like the impact focus.
You know everything thatAfriLabs stands for is impacting
the African community, you know, and economy and people through
innovation, tech,entrepreneurship and all that.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Tell us a bit more about AfriLabs.
What is AfriLabs?
What does the organization do?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, so AFRI Labs is a network organization of
innovation hubs, which are madeup of incubators, accelerators,
creative spaces that all supportyoung innovators, entrepreneurs
across Africa.
Right, but in addition to theinnovation hubs, we're also a
multi-stakeholder network, youknow, because we work with
(14:59):
different stakeholders.
So, looking at developmentorganizations and multilaterals
like the UN and the AU, anddevelopment finance institutions
as well, both African andglobal.
We work with governmentorganizations to drive policy on
the continent, investors aswell, you know.
(15:21):
Corporates, you know.
So we work with largecorporates like Intel and Meta
and the like.
So we basically work with amulti-stakeholder group to the
end goal in everything we do isto support entrepreneurs,
support young people, turn theirideas into innovative
businesses that will impactdifferent sectors.
So, and just you know, lookingat how we structure our work, we
(15:47):
do a lot of capacity building.
So support innovation helps tobetter support their communities
, but also supporting thestartups directly.
We run programs that are focusedon identifying solutions in
different sectors, right, whenwe look at the challenges on the
African continent.
We look at the out-of-schoolkids, right, millions of
(16:08):
children still out of school,and we're constantly asking
ourselves how can we leverage oneducation technology solutions,
for example, and infrastructurethrough our hub network on
ground to provide accessible andaffordable and quality
education.
You know.
So we run programs aroundedtech, for example, identifying
edtech solutions, and then, youknow, funding them and the
(16:28):
likes.
When we talk about maternalhealth and you know other health
practices, both good and not sogood, you know, like MGM and
the likes, again, we work withpartners like the UN to see how
we can support, you know,communities, leverage on
innovations that exist.
You know.
So this happens across differentsectors, whether we're talking
(16:50):
about agriculture, climate, youknow and the likes, but also a
very strong gender focus.
You know we believe in genderequality and the gaps,
especially a very strong genderfocus.
You know we live in genderequality and the gaps,
especially in our space.
Whether we're talking aboutwomen raising, financing um, as
of last year, less than fourpercent of women owned um
startups raised.
You know the total.
(17:11):
You know investment that wasmade.
Less than four percent werewomen co-founded businesses, so
these are still women that hadmale co-founders and the likes.
You know, and this cuts acrossboard.
Whether we're talking about,you know, access to debt,
financial services, or you knowcertain opportunities and the
likes and dealing with all thebiases.
So we have a very strong genderfocus as well in the work that
(17:32):
we do.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That's fantastic.
So, in terms of growth, you'vebeen at AfriLabs for eight years
.
The women I interview they'rerunning and they're building
businesses.
You know, and sometimes youknow you have entrepreneurs who
have started this from theground up and others pick up a
vision and run with it.
You've definitely picked up theAfriLabs vision and for the
(17:53):
last eight years you've beenrunning with it.
So what kind of growth have youseen?
I know you said one of them Ipicked up was that it was a
virtual platform which has nowbecome a full-blown organization
.
Just in terms of the hubs yousupport, what kind of growth
have you seen in the work atAfriLabs over the last eight
(18:14):
years?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah well, as you rightly said, over the last
eight years.
Yeah well, as you rightly said,the first is institutionalizing
AfriLabs, right.
And then, of course, the secondis people.
You know, and this is thesecond thing I'm proud of in
terms of the growth of thecommunity, we need strong people
and strong leaders on theAfrican continent to at every
level.
You know, whether you'retalking about running a small
(18:36):
business or running a state or acountry or an organization and
the likes.
And these strong people need tobe connected right for us to
have real impact.
And since you know, I came onboard, I mentioned earlier that
we're a network of 40 hubsacross 20 countries.
I mean, under my leadership,we've scaled to 53 African
(18:59):
countries and over 200 cities,with a membership base of over
500 members and a collectivenetwork of over a million
entrepreneurs, innovators,creative developers and the
likes, you know.
But also in terms of the impactof the programming, you know
we've run programs and impactedlives the hundreds of millions
(19:21):
of dollars, basically.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's fantastic.
Congratulations on that.
So, just delving a little bitdeeper in terms of your
partnerships, can you give us anexample of how these
partnerships work and the impactthat founders and entrepreneurs
on the continent derive fromsome of the partnerships that
you have in place?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Okay, I'll give two examples, two different types of
partnerships.
So one is an initiative whichwe call Catalytic, africa, and
Catalytic is an initiative withthe Africa Business Angel
Network, aban.
Now, aban is this networkacross africa, made up of angel
(20:00):
investor networks, like localangel investor networks across
africa, and basically what wedid with them about three years
ago, yeah, is um.
We came together and um formedthis joint initiative whereby we
connect the entrepreneurswithin our network to the angel
investors within the ABA network, right, because, of course, one
(20:21):
of the challenges entrepreneursface is raising funds to build
their businesses, especially atthat early stage.
And then we set up a catalyticfund whereby we invited
non-development organizations tocontribute to right as a grant
pool.
So we got our first pilotfunding from AFD, the French
(20:43):
Development Agency.
We matched their investmentswith matching grants.
This significantly helped thebusinesses because, as I
mentioned, in that early stageit's incredibly hard to raise
investments as a startup,especially as a tech startup,
because it's high risk and thelikes.
And these grants helped tode-risk the startups because we
found out that when investorslearned that, as a result you
(21:07):
know of this potential pool offunding going to entrepreneurs
which can go into, you know,operations and all the things
that they don't want their moneyto go into.
They were more likely to invest, you know.
So it also increased theinvestment.
You know attractiveness of thestartups and then we saw
startups within our portfoliothat did really well in terms of
(21:27):
just growth.
Right jobs were created.
We had startups.
I remember a cameroonianstartup, for example, that had a
logistic startup and justscaled, you know, significantly
jobs created, revenue increased.
You know, significantly jobscreated, revenue increased, you
know.
And all that and of course,that economic impact and the
likes.
Yeah, others are through our.
So this is an example of adirect program, but through our
(21:50):
interventions to the hubs,capacity building and support
with toolkits and the likes.
And I'll give an example.
You know we have our AfriLabsAcademy, which is the first ever
home management curriculumdeveloped for hubs.
You know we did it withStrathmore University in Kenya
and it's certified like a properacademic type course short
courses you could go online onour platform and take them and
(22:12):
we've had hubs report back tosay, you know, as a result of
taking the courses, they'veexpanded the operations.
And we've also provided fundslike grants directly to the hubs
.
They've set up operations inrural areas too, you know, which
is another thing I'm quiteproud of, you know, because then
when I came on board,innovation was and innovation
homes were largely um set up in,you know, in the cities and
(22:36):
urban areas and all of that youknow.
But as a result of some ofthese capacity building programs
, the grants we've provided andthe support and toolkits and all
that people have set up inrural areas and places where
people are just constantly beingexcluded and marginalized and
the likes, but they've had theseopportunities as a result of
interventions and entrepreneurshave been able to scale.
(22:57):
You know, and the importance ofthat is it's not just about
taking opportunities or money tothem, it's about empowering
them where they are to solve forthe local problems in those
communities, because you can'tmigrate everyone out of the
communities, right?
So you're encouraginginnovation to thrive, likes to
(23:28):
be able to implement some ofthese interventions across, you
know, the continent.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Right, so these SMEs have to be connected to a hub to
be able to get support fromAfriLabs.
Support from AFRI Labs yes andno.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
So for certain initiatives like Catalytic
Africa, yes, you have to beconnected to a hub, right?
However, if we roll out a newprogram, we actually actively
scout for entrepreneurs that fitthe criteria.
(24:01):
So we do a call for application.
And I mean, the example is, inthe last two years, we ran this
climate-focused program with theAfrican Development Bank and we
did a fresh call forapplications for entrepreneurs
that had solutions focused onclimate resilience.
And, yeah, we had quite a numberof entrepreneurs that were
supported through thatintervention over two years and
(24:23):
through our network.
They got, they got mentorship,they got business support, but
they also got funding, right?
You know, under that programspecifically, each of the
entrepreneurs selected smes,startups, and smes got over a
hundred thousand dollars indifferent phases to grow their
businesses.
That's it basically on acase-by-case basis.
And for programs, especiallynew programs we design with
(24:45):
partners, entrepreneurs don'thave to be connected, but
eventually they end up gettingthat support from our network,
you know, because, again,sustainability is key, right?
So after the program ends, thehubs provide full-on support as
well to the entrepreneurs, youknow, and then we provide
support to the hubs.
So there's just this continuousloop of support and building
the ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's fantastic, Anna, and thank you for
explaining that.
You know it's good informationfor me and also for our
listeners who are looking forsupport as they build on the
continent.
So, in terms of funding, how isAfriLabs?
Because I see you're giving outgrants, you're making resources
available to people and I'mjust wondering how do you, as an
organization, get funded andwhat has been your experience
(25:28):
with raising finance?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Okay.
So we get funding fromdifferent sources right, as I
mentioned before, fromdevelopment organizations, from
multilaterals.
We also execute projects.
You know we execute researchprojects, for example in the
past, execute projects.
You know we execute researchand projects.
For example, in the past, we've, you know, connected research
with the likes of Intel, meta,bill, mindy Gates and the likes,
(25:51):
and these all generate revenuethat go into our organization
and also implement the work thatwe do, which is, first and
foremost, right In terms oftaking care of our internal
operations and supportingtowards our growth.
We also charge a membership feefor our members.
So, to be a member and takeadvantage of all the benefits
(26:13):
and everything, there's amembership fee that is paid.
We also bid for projects aswell, you know.
So we come together with otherorganizations and bid for
projects as well and get revenuefrom that.
How has it been?
It's been interesting.
At the start, it was incrediblyhard.
I can't even mince my words onthat one, because when you're
(26:33):
building and you're going aftercertain things funds
specifically, first off peopleexpect you to meet their
criteria.
You have to have this system,you have to have this.
Do you have your accountingsystem in place?
You have this, you know, andall of these things.
And it was tough but it wasalso a motivating factor, you
know, because for everythingthat was asked, do you have?
(26:56):
I would go back and say, sure,we have it.
You know, of course, even if itwas things that we couldn't,
you know, there's a category ofthings, right, there's you have,
and this is something you canbasically build in the next one,
two, three weeks.
Right, and you say sure, youknow, I'll get back to you on
that.
You go build it, I'll come backand say, yes, we have it.
(27:16):
You know that's right.
And there are things where youjust the timeline does not just
permit you to have it, so you'relike, painfully, another loss,
but now we're going to have it,so that next time that
opportunity comes into place, webuild it.
You know, and that's how webuilt, you know.
And now we have structures andsystems, as I mentioned, our you
know global standards as well.
Our team is diversified and youknow all of that skills and
(27:40):
also regional based, wise,multilingual and the likes.
And then over time, it becamesomewhat easier.
And then we had periods of thefunding winter, you know which
we are currently going throughactually as an ecosystem.
So startup funding has been thelowest for the longest time
since you know, the start of theecosystem side getting
(28:02):
attention.
Funders are also cutting theirbudgets for certain things like,
you know, events andprogramming and all of that.
So it's interesting, it's.
It's been a.
It's gotten easier over timeand, of course, as a team grows.
When I started, I started outwith an intern, you know, and
now I have a team of over 40across Africa of really
(28:25):
experienced, in fact, peoplemore experienced than I am in
their expertise.
You know, which is a dream ofevery leader.
You know you never want to bethe smartest in the room.
So I'm very proud of the factthat my team has grown and we
have really good people leadinginitiatives and programming and
fundraising and everything.
So that's one of the reasonsit's become easier.
I give a lot of credit to thefantastic team I have.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So you've talked about how some of the funding
challenges you had initiallywhen you started.
I note you know I'm not beingageist, but I note that you were
young.
You were young when you took onthis leadership role and I
wonder if that posed any kind ofchallenge at all.
It could have been a no brainerand it could have been fine,
(29:07):
but I wonder, knowing ourculture and what society is like
on the continent, I wonder ifthat played any kind, if that
was any kind of challenge to youin taking on this role so young
so yes, and so, yes, it was achallenge at some point.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
On the other hand, I think it was also a blessing.
I'm not sure if I'd have beenthis resilient, okay, at the age
I am now, you know, and justdealing with some of the
challenges and all that in termsof age, yes, I mean, I found
myself in certain rooms where Iwas the youngest in the room,
and then there's also the genderplay, there's also the I mean,
(29:52):
especially in development, andwhen you're in certain places,
they also look at things like,which is also part of the age,
right, you know, they look at,you know everyone's talking.
They're like, oh, they've beendoing this for 30 years, they've
been doing this for you knowhow many years.
This is a PhD person, this is ayou know professor and all that
(30:12):
, and I didn't have any of that.
However, there's somethingabout being young and vibrant
that people are drawn to, andwhen they see a young person who
is, who is bold about justtaking on certain challenges and
is passionate about whatthey're building, you know,
(30:32):
whether they're building anorganization or they're building
their personal business and thelikes there there's certain
people that gravitate towardsyou, you know, and they say you
know what.
They want to help you out, theywant to listen.
There are people that woulddiscard you.
Yes, it's true, you knowthey'll be like ah, you know
you're not, you know you'reyoung, what do you know?
(30:53):
And everything, um, and that'sbecause of certain biases they
they have, you know, they theygrow up at a time, um, when they
had a career, at a time whenthere was no way a young person
being a position of leadership,so it just couldn't connect it.
So, yes, but then I just tendto tended to be blind to those
(31:15):
biases.
You know, and I think, becauseI was focused, you know, and
this is something I always tellpeople I, if you're obsessively
focused on what you need toachieve, you would have less
time and spend less time dealingwith all the biases.
That's excellent.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
So so you've achieved incredible success over the
last eight years, you know, andkudos to you and your team.
And I wonder Anna, what?
What do you think the next fiveto 10 years looks like for for
AfriLabs?
Yes, so, um, I mean, I, what doyou think the next five to 10
years looks like for AfriLabs?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yes.
So I mean I'll put that inthree buckets, right.
So one is global scale.
Over the past two years we'vebeen very intentional about
building global bridges betweenAfrica and the rest of the world
to better support entrepreneurswithin our network.
We've over the past year, forexample, signed a partnership
with the US State Department,specifically the Office of
(32:06):
Global Partnerships, focused onsupporting climate entrepreneurs
but also other entrepreneurslooking to scale into the US
market but also collaborate andconnect with investors and the
likes.
We've signed with the SaudiArabian Ministry of Investment,
again to provide the sort ofsoft landing and investment and
(32:26):
resources to support startups toget scale.
Other conversations we'rehaving and currently building
networks in India, other partsof Europe and the likes.
We actually have a delegationbeing planned at the moment to
France and the like.
So that's it.
We envision that we will beglobal, you know, in terms of
(32:49):
direct linkages.
I mean not just the virtualtype, you know, but direct
linkages.
Eventually we will set upregional offices.
But another reason why goingglobal is important to us is a
diaspora as well.
You know we take our Africandiaspora very seriously in terms
of recognizing that they arepart of us, you know, when we
(33:14):
look at you know Africa in termsof entrepreneurship, businesses
, um are just working withdifferent groups of you know,
africans, um that live in otherplaces, other than African
continents, um, or Africans thathave moved, whether it's first
generation, second generation or, you know, hundreds of years
(33:35):
ago, through their you knowancestors.
We, we consider them as part ofus, you know.
So it's for.
The work we do is for Africaand Africans, you know,
irrespective of where they areso that's another reason why, um
, you know that global expansionis important to us.
Then, second of all, is um justdeepening our multi-stakeholder
(33:56):
membership.
So, as I mentioned, we considerourselves as a
multi-stakeholder group, right,but over the next year, we're
going to be formalizing whatmembership will look like in
terms of different stakeholders.
So an investor group that wantsto be part of AfriLabs, or
entrepreneur or developmentorganization what does that look
like, membership wise?
And then, lastly, it's justdeepening our impact across the
(34:17):
different verticals.
You know I've mentioned thatworking across different sectors
is important to us because ofthe social impact.
So, when we look at the numbers, if we're going to really be
ambitious, the next five to 10years, as a result of our work
and our community which we'rebuilding, we want to directly
and indirectly contribute up toa trillion dollars to the
(34:39):
African economy through thedigital economy.
So that's it basically, that'sfantastic.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
That is fantastic.
So this has been an incredibleconversation, very, very
insightful, but we're going tohave to wrap up.
In terms of wrapping up, I'dlike to ask my guests two
questions.
One is a reflection and one isadvice.
For you personally is areflection and one is advice.
For you personally, as Anna.
What is one thing, or maybe twothings that you've done over
(35:08):
the last couple of years thatyou are proud of, that you feel
has been the most impactful, ormaybe one of the most impactful
things that you've done inbuilding this organization and
having this kind of reach acrossthe continent?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Building the organization to this point and
establishing it as a properinstitution, recognizable, and I
mean I don't say this lightlybecause I see similar type
organizations that started outas an initiative, you know, and
there's that struggle to justmove from an initiative or a
community to this point.
(35:45):
And then our reach, one of thethings my team and I are always
proud of.
You know, we have the largestnetwork after the African union.
So I mean, that's that's it.
But also, I think, finally,it's just the impact, because we
could, we could be aninstitution and not impact, you
know.
So impacting lives, Right, Imean, I've heard, when I hear
(36:08):
about the impact stories thatcome back to us as a result of
the intervention, it just ittouches my heart.
Oh, yes, I should add, I'mdoing this while growing a
family with my two little babies.
Yes, an amazing husbandactually got married a few
months after I started runningAfriLabs, so I have a very
amazing partner that's, you know, being supportive throughout
(36:30):
this process.
So I'm proud of that as well.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
That is amazing.
So, in terms of advice, whatadvice would you give other
women who are buildingbusinesses across the continent?
Speaker 2 (36:43):
So be resilient, even , you know, in the face of
challenges, just keep on going.
Don't take it personal.
I know it's hard because as awoman, as a young person, you're
just certain things that willcome at you.
But then again, like Imentioned earlier, just focus on
what you're looking to achieveand then learn.
You know, another thing thathelped in my journey, and even
(37:05):
with my team, is we constantlyhave, like we're constantly
learning, reflecting.
We reflect from successes, wereflect from failures and then
we take those reflections backinto building.
You know, and it's so importantas an entrepreneur, you know,
or as a leader, like, know whento keep going, know when to
(37:25):
strategy, know when tocompletely pivot, um, and all of
that.
Then balance, you know that's,that's very important.
I mean, if there's certainthings I would do over again is
be more balanced, because I wasquite intense at some point.
You know, it's just like allwork, work, work, work, work and
everything.
(37:45):
But one advice I would say isthat the quality of the hours
you put in is more importantthan the quantity of the hours.
So focus on being strategic.
When you do that, you, youbuild faster, you see things
from a higher playing field, um,but most importantly, it frees
up time from just being in theeveryday grind to spending time
(38:09):
with things that matter as well,you know, like family, friends,
self-care and the like.
Just make sure that you knowthat you're dedicating time to
what's important as well thanksfor that and I thank you so much
for your time.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
This has been such a great conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Thank you, thank you and thank you, thanks for having
me.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Thank you so much for listening.
If you're not alreadysubscribed, please do so on
Apple, Spotify or wherever youget your podcast, and don't
forget to leave us a review sowe know how we're doing.
I'm Akego Okoye and you havebeen listening to African
Business Stories.
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