In this month’s episode, our host, Tosin Omowole spoke to Wunmi Akinsola, Founder at Fashtracker, an African digital fashion marketplace. Wunmi Akinsola is passionate about African fashion and has used her experience to build a curated fashion marketplace that caters to the needs of African fashion designers.

Fashtracker Online is a B2B/B2C and education platform that solves the visibility problem. For sellers, they create a curated and appropriate sales avenue, and for buyers, they create a platform that makes it easier to sift through products and to systematically find exactly what they need. They're also the only African fashion platform to have built a mobile app.

Wunmi is currently building Fashtracker, an idea that stemmed from a gap she noticed when she worked in strategy and planning for the fashion category at the largest marketplace in Africa, Jumia. She also led some sales and marketing functions within all women's fashion categories at the company, and this is why she describes Fashtracker as a marketing platform for African fashion designers to be discovered across borders.

During our chat, Wunmi spoke about her experience with building a business in Africa, her recent experience in an incubator and of course her previous experience that led to the launch of Fasthracker. She also spoke positively about building a business in Nigeria and how infrastructure has improved for her business within the past two years.

Finally, she gave her thoughts on being a woman in Africa’s tech ecosystem, and how women need to constantly go for gold when building a business, especially in the African landscape.

With Fashtracker, Wunmi is changing the narrative for fashion e-commerce in Nigeria, and Africa as a whole by introducing homegrown fashion designers to international retailers as well as local buyers. In essence, she is making it cool to shop your favourite African fashion designers online, in one place.

You can connect with Wunmi Akinsola via LinkedIn.

Tosin Omowole spoke to Samuel Baddoo, Founder & CEO at Fleri, a financial wellness platform created to help immigrants take control of their financial lives. The company’s first product, FleriHealth, offers affordable and reliable healthcare plans for Africans in the diaspora to purchase for their loved ones back home in Africa.

Fleri allows Africans in the diaspora to have the peace of mind that they can support their family if a medical emergency occurs, as well as helping them save money on remittances by allowing them to pay for healthcare directly. The initial pilot phase of the platform, lasting nine months provided over 300 African families access to healthcare where they previously would not have and underwrote over half a million dollars of coverage.

Sam spoke to us about his childhood, past experiences and life as an immigrant which led him to create a company that catered to the healthcare needs of Africans living on the continent, with family in the diaspora.

He also shared his views on pan-Africanism, immigration and entrepreneurship, without failing to tell us how much he loves Nigeria, despite originating from Ghana.

Finally, he gave his thoughts on the challenges he has faced working in business in Africa, specifically the health sector, as well as his unpopular opinions about Africa’s booming technology sector.

You can connect with Sam Baddoo via LinkedIn.

In this month’s episode, our host, Tosin Omowole spoke to Tunji Andrews, Co-Founder at Awabah, a digital pension platform for self-employed Africans. Tunji Andrews is an economist, financial inclusion advocate and creative entrepreneur, whose current and future activities are geared towards actively advancing financial inclusion in Nigeria and Africa.

Awabah’s mission is to help people outside of the regular 9-5 work model plan towards a financially safe and secure future. The company believes that access to financial services should be available to every Nigerian and this is why they work to make access to micro pension services for the average Nigerian.

As a seasoned financial inclusion expert, Tunji was determined to create a pension product for Africans within a larger organisation. However, this plan did not pan out, so he decided to create his own organisation to do so, this was the birth of Awabah.

During our chat, Tunji spoke about the massive change in his life since studying at university, how he became a financial expert and his stellar co-founders. He also spoke about the need for education on pension products across the world.

Finally, he gave his thoughts on African fintech and the lack of innovation within the sector, as well as all the cool things Awabah will be creating within the next few months.

With Awabah, Tunji is leading two conversations in particular, the first is making more Africans financially proficient and the second is advising financial businesses on following regulations to avoid bans and maintain good practice. This is an unmissable episode!

You can connect with Tunji Andrews via LinkedIn.

We’ll be speaking to more titans of Africa’s tech industries over the coming year, to keep up to date with the latest news and movements in the space, sign up to the monthly AfriTech newsletter!

In this month’s episode, our host, Tosin Omowole spoke to Koromone Koroye, the Managing Editor at TechCabal, one of Africa’s most trusted sources for African tech news. Koromone describes herself as a multifaceted creative storyteller who is obsessed with coffee and exercise. She is also passionate about great leadership, particularly in the corporate world.

TechCabal is an African news platform that is passionate about telling stories of triumph, grit and innovation, from the African tech ecosystem. They showcase stories about companies, as well as the people building them. Since 2013, they have covered fundraises, exits, expansions, and even the not-so-great tales of internet shutdowns and regulatory pushback.

After graduating with a BA and MFA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Hofstra University, Koromone had a short stint in the editorial world with companies such as Ebony Magazine and Mashable. She then moved back to Lagos, Nigeria to be an English teacher. From teaching, she moved into the corporate world where she handled communications for tech companies such as Clane and Flutterwave, before joining Techcabal as Managing Editor.

During our chat, Koromone spoke about her career growth, changing industries and the growth of Africa’s technology ecosystem. She also spoke about how her previous roles geared her up for success at TechCabal.

Finally, she gave her thoughts on Africa’s next unicorns as well as the other countries besides Nigeria and Kenya, who are doing great things in Africa’s tech ecosystem.

Koromone is avid working to tell the human-focused angle of stories, highlighting the unseen back-office folk who are not often celebrated but are building great products and services in Africa, which she does through the column Centre Stage. She is also passionate about creating spaces for African women in tech.

Listen to the full episode here.

You can connect with Koromone Koroye via LinkedIn.

Hey guys, we are back with another exciting episode of AfriTech Verified! In this month’s episode, our host, Tosin Omowole spoke to Fatma Nasujo, the Global Head of Operational Excellence at Sokowatch, an e-commerce start-up at the heart of the informal retail industry in East Africa - managing the movement of tonnes of goods and food. Fatma is a financial services professional with over 12 years of experience working in fintech, edtech & banking, and she has used her skills to serve multiple businesses across East Africa.

Approximately $850 billion worth of consumer goods are sold in Africa and 90% of these transactions occur through the informal retail sector. Using the power of technology and the power of data, Sokowatch is providing these retailers with access to credit and other financial services that are not typically available to their businesses.

Sokowatch is an e-commerce start-up enabling informal retailers to order essential goods at any time via SMS or mobile app for free same-day delivery to their store and financial services to help them grow. Ever since launching in 2016, the company has built a network of over 25,000 local shops, operating across the nine largest cities in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Fatma is passionate about financially empowering the under-served, and to that end, has worked with various companies including 4G Capital where she was the Chief Operations Officer, assisting them in designing products for this market. She’s the founder of Nasujo.com, a blog on financial literacy and digital finance trends.

During our chat, Fatma spoke about all things Sokowatch, her career growth and Africa’s tech ecosystem. She also talks through her passion for travel and experiencing diverse cultures.

Finally, she gave her thoughts on access to finance for small businesses in Africa, as well as the differences between each East African market served by Sokowatch, in terms of tech adoption.

You can connect with Fatma Nasujo via LinkedIn.

It’s another exciting episode of Afritech Verified! In this month’s episode, our host, Tosin Omowole spoke to Suleman Sule, Director of Pharmacy Services at Field Intelligence, an African health tech company transforming the role of technology, business, and supply chain to improve healthcare systems in Africa. Suleman leads the Nigerian operations at Field with his 13 plus years of experience in Nigeria’s health sector.

Field Intelligence was established in 2015 to help transform Africa’s healthcare systems. The company uses live practical data to build-out sustainable and efficient supply chains to improve healthcare access across Africa. From research in the field, the company has developed systems and tools for health workers to improve the quality of care for patients.

Hey guys, we are back with another exciting episode of Afritech Verified! On this month’s episode, our host, Towsyn Omowole spoke to a formidable force in the Afritech ecosystem, our first female guest, Seun Runsewe, CEO and co-founder at Biamo Money, a fintech platform targeted at mothers. Seun is one of Nigeria’s most powerful women in tech and was recently named in Vogue as one of 6 Women At The Forefront Of West Africa’s Tech Boom.

Hello people. It’s that time of the month again. We are back with another episode of Afritech Verified! On this month’s episode, our host, Towsyn Omowole takes us on a journey to Lagos, Nigeria, where she speaks to Tunde Kara, CEO of one of Africa’s fastest-growing Agritech startups, Vendease, which has been coined the “Amazon Prime” for restaurants.

Vendease Africa is a platform that makes procurement easier and more transparent for hotels and restaurants in Africa. On the Vendease platform, food businesses can order anything they want at competitive prices. This is done by connecting food businesses directly to farms and food manufacturers. Although the company serves hotels and restaurants, they are also providing an opportunity for smallholder farmers to increase their income.

We’re back with another unmissable episode of Afritech Verified! On this month’s episode, our host, Towsyn Omowole spoke to chartered accountant turned African tech investor, Joe Kinvi. Joe co-founded African tech investment firm, HoaQ, alongside his partner, Nubi Kay who he met whilst working at global payments company, Stripe.

On this month’s episode, our host, Towsyn Omowole spoke to a well known influencer in Africa’s technology ecosystem, Adewale Yusuf. He founded one of Africa’s top technology blogs - Techpoint Africa, and recently handed over the reins to start a company called TalentQL, a platform that allows companies to hire vetted and verified software developers from emerging markets.