Episode 52 of the Big5D Podcast comes from the recording of a Fireside Chat (sans fire) that we recorded with Zachariah George at the 2025 BigFive Summit in Cape Town. Zach is the Managing Partner of Launch Africa Ventures, the Cape Town venture firm that has invested in African startups including Happy Pay, Peach Payments, Kuda Bank, Moove, Gozem, and many others.

Zach has a very clear perspective on Africa Tech. He believes there needs to be more funding for tech startups that comes from within Africa, in particular South Africa. And he also thinks fouders in Africa need to take a different view on venture capital. Do not chase it before you are ready. Be ready to boostrap until you have a product with a clear path to market and impriving unit economics. And for the love of everthing that is good, do some basic research on a fund before approaching it for an investment.