Founders Connect

Samuel Okwuada sold his first software company for hundreds of thousands of dollars at 17 while studying pharmacy in the UK. Today, he runs Remedial Health, a YCombinator-backed Nigerian Healthtech startup that has raised over 50 million dollars, employs 450 people, operates 100 vehicles across three Nigerian cities, and delivers 100 million medicines annually to thousands of pharmacies and hospitals across Africa. But the journey from bedroom coder to healthcare logistics pioneer was anything but straightforward.You'll hear how Samuel started Remedial Health as healthtech without the tech, literally taking WhatsApp orders and scrambling to fulfill them manually before building the actual platform. He reveals why he would never build this company again, not even in his wildest dreams, despite raising over 50 million dollars and achieving massive scale. The operational nightmares of running what feels like running a city, managing 450 people from motor boys to engineers, dealing with law enforcement extortion on every delivery route, watching a truck carrying 50 million naira worth of medicine flip over on terrible roads just an hour after celebrating a major government contract.Samuel breaks down the real cost of building in Nigeria, explaining why Remedial Health is actually two businesses in one because you cannot outsource pharmaceutical logistics in a country with no dedicated cold chain infrastructure. This conversation goes deep into founder mental health, with Samuel candidly sharing how he oscillates between feeling invincible and wanting to quit every single day, how he manages burnout by binge-watching entire Netflix series in one sitting every two weeks, and why he stopped celebrating wins too much so failures don't hit as hard. He reveals the leadership lesson that changed everything when he crashed and burned trying to do everything himself, learning to throw new hires into the deep end and stay out of their way.For aspiring founders, Samuel shares tactical advice on raising venture capital as an African founder, explaining why you need to solve locally relevant problems that have proven models in developed markets so investors can see the vision, why resilience means taking countless rejections without taking them personally, and how to increase your surface area for luck by putting yourself in positions where opportunities can find you. He discusses the myth that startup journeys get easier with scale, the truth being you just face different problems whether it's having enough money in the bank or dealing with regulatory raids on your warehouses.The interview includes rapid-fire insights on honesty as his non-negotiable value, doing good while making profit in healthcare, why he would choose fundraising over bootstrapping despite the trade-offs, his leadership style of staying out of the way, early mornings with coffee as his productivity hack, and why if Remedial Health hits a billion dollar valuation he would only take one month off because more than that and he probably wouldn't come back to the company.Whether you're a founder navigating the chaos of African tech, an investor trying to understand the operational realities of frontier markets, or someone curious about what it really takes to digitize a traditional industry in Nigeria, this conversation delivers unfiltered truth about building at scale in challenging environments. Samuel doesn't sugarcoat the pain, the setbacks, or the moments where quitting felt like the rational choice. But he also shows why stubborn builders who refuse to give up eventually figure it out, one impossible problem at a time.This episode is sponsored by ObiexHQ

What is it like to build one of Africa's leading tech media platforms while also moving up in the corporate fintech world? Benjamin Dada, founder of Condia (formerly benjamindada.com), joins us to share his story of balancing two careers, facing identity challenges, and making tough choices between passion and profit.Benjamin’s path has been far from ordinary. He got into tech journalism by chance after tweeting at Bella Roase , and has since become a well-known voice in African fintech. He talks openly about growing Condia to reach over a million readers each year, all while holding full-time roles at companies like Softcom, Stitch, and Moniepoint. He also shares what it’s like to be seen only as a media person, even though he’s also an experienced product manager, partnerships lead, and fintech operator.In this honest conversation, Benjamin talks about the challenges of building in public, why he decided to rebrand from Benjamindada.com to Condia after six years, and how he managed employee turnover while bootstrapping. He also explains why he hasn’t raised funding, even as competitors grow with venture capital. Benjamin shares his views on why media businesses in Africa often struggle financially, what he’s learned from being both an employer and an employee, and why he thinks all fintech companies will eventually focus on remittances.You’ll hear practical advice on handling corporate politics when you have a public profile, why talented team members sometimes leave, and how founders can get media coverage. Benjamin also talks about what it takes to keep journalistic integrity while working in the industry you report on. He shares his thoughts on being a generalist versus a specialist, why he chose a corporate career over media for quicker financial rewards, and the cross-border payments trend he nearly started a company around.This isn’t a typical founder interview. It’s a lesson in juggling priorities, building with limited resources, staying independent in a world full of venture-backed companies, and figuring out your identity when you don’t fit into one category. Whether you’re a founder learning about media, a journalist building your own platform, or someone managing more than one career, this conversation will make you rethink what success and identity mean, and what it takes to truly own your story.Benjamin shares frameworks on outcome-focused work versus activity, the importance of high agency in both startups and corporate environments, practical advice on building personal brands for founders, and why exchange programs between media and startups might solve the ongoing tension between the two ecosystems. He also discusses his proudest moments covering stories like the NSA protests, major fintech regulatory changes, and investigative pieces that earned citations from Financial Times and TechCrunch.Some of the main topics include moving through the fintech world from payments to cross-border remittances, understanding IMTO licenses and payment service provider rules, handling large-scale forex trading, creating content marketing strategies that boost email open rates, managing products in enterprise fintech, and exploring the less visible sides of African tech media.If you’ve ever wanted to know how to build two careers at once, keep your editorial independence while working in the same industry, or turn a personal blog into a well-known media brand without outside funding, this conversation has answers you won’t find anywhere else.

June Angelides MBE is a globally recognized venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and one of the most influential voices in tech, inclusive leadership, and investing in Africa and Europe. In this Founders Connect episode, June Angelides sits down with Peace Itimi to share her journey from growing up in Yaba, Lagos to becoming a leading investor backing startups across Africa and the UK.June opens up about her childhood in Nigeria, moving to the UK at 16, building her career at Thompson Reuters and Silicon Valley Bank, and why she decided to leave a stable corporate career to launch Mums in Tech, the UK’s first child-friendly coding school for mothers. She breaks down the realities of building a startup without profit, the emotional toll of shutting down a company, and what founders must understand about fundraising, runway, and paying themselves.This conversation goes deep into venture capital, diaspora investing, building global companies from Africa, and the differences between African and Western startup ecosystems. June also shares powerful insights on women in tech, wealth creation, venture capital diversity, and why founders must think global from day one.If you are a founder, investor, tech professional, or aspiring entrepreneur, this episode is packed with real lessons on startup funding, venture capital, diaspora capital, and building impactful companies in emerging markets.This episode is sponsored by Obiex. Instantly buy and sell bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies at zero fees here: https://www.obiex.finance/Connect with us:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundersconnectshow/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersconnect_X: https://www.x.com/thefcshow_

Building a business for 16 years in the African tech ecosystem requires more than just a good idea—it requires "crazy" resilience and the ability to pivot when the market shifts. In this episode, Tayo Oviosu, founder and CEO of Paga, shares the raw, unfiltered story of building one of Nigeria's leading mobile money infrastructures. From getting fired from his first job after college to navigating the complexities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NDIC, Tayo reveals what it actually takes to survive and thrive in the fintech space.We dive deep into the 2022 pivot that transformed Paga from a consumer-first app into the "infrastructure for African finance," much like how Amazon built AWS. Tayo explains why he opened up Paga's core technology to competitors and how this B2B move is shaping the future of payments across the continent. If you are an entrepreneur wondering if you are "too early" for your market or how to manage investor expectations over a decade-long journey, this conversation is a masterclass in long-term strategic vision.Tayo also breaks down the evolution of the Nigerian fintech landscape from 2008 to 2025. He discusses the "white spaces" still left in the market, the importance of "ownership" as a core company value, and why Paga chose to stop announcing funding rounds to focus on building a sustainable, net-income-positive business. Whether you are a founder, investor, or tech enthusiast, Tayo’s insights on financial maturity and the "going together" proverb provide a roadmap for building a business that lasts.This episode is sponsored by Obiex. Instantly buy and sell cryptocurrencies at zero fees here: https://www.obiex.finance/Connect with us:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundersconnectshow/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersconnect_X: https://www.x.com/thefcshow_

Is it possible to move from the streets of Benin City to the most prestigious law firms on Wall Street? In this episode of Founders Connect, Peace Itimi sits down with Destiny Ogedegbe, popularly known as "Mr. Possible." This isn't just a career interview; it is a masterclass in the psychology of excellence, the necessity of grit, and the transformative power of imagination. Destiny’s trajectory from being rolled to school in a wheelbarrow to closing high-stakes M&A deals in New York serves as a blueprint for anyone who feels limited by their current environment.Despite the challenges of his upbringing, including hawking food with his mother and working on cassava farms, Destiny maintained a standard of excellence that saw him finish at the top of his class from KG to his final year at the University of Benin (UniBen).In this video, we explore:- The Benin Years: Growing up with an intellectual father who taught Shakespeare and the Periodic Table at home, and the street-gymnastics and football that built his social grit.- The Academic Streak: The discipline required to earn a First Class at UniBen and the Nigerian Law School.- The Harvard Transition: What it feels like to move from a "survivalist" mindset in Nigeria to the intellectual freedom of Harvard Law School.- The Wall Street Reality: The high-energy, high-complexity world of M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) and why speed is the ultimate currency.Connect with Destiny:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundersconnectshow/Connect with us:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundersconnectshow/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foundersconnect_X: https://www.x.com/thefcshow_

In Nigeria’s thriving tech ecosystem, we often celebrate founders and engineers - the builders, the innovators, the faces on the covers. But behind every viral campaign, every trusted brand, and every startup that broke through the noise, there’s a different kind of builder: the marketer.Unsung is a raw and reflective documentary exploring how marketers shape perception, drive growth, and create culture in Nigeria’s fast-growing tech space. These are the storytellers who translate technology into emotion — who connect founders’ vision with the everyday realities of users.This film dives deep into their world. It’s about the brand strategists, growth marketers, content creators, community managers, designers, and performance leads who make sure the products we talk about actually reach us. From traditional media to digital-first marketing, we trace how storytelling, creativity, and data have evolved to define the Nigerian tech identity.But Unsung doesn’t shy away from the tough parts. It uncovers the struggles marketers face in a product-driven industry - being undervalued, underfunded, and often the first to be let go when budgets shrink. It reveals the fight to prove marketing’s worth beyond vanity metrics and to claim a seat at the table where business strategy is shaped.These voices - from industry veterans to emerging talents - speak honestly about the burnout, blurred roles, and pressure to constantly deliver results. Yet through it all, they remind us why marketing is not just about selling; it’s about storytelling, empathy, and connection.Featured voices include Feranmi Ajetumobi, Joshua Chibueze, Bukayo Ewuoso, Tochy Emereole, Ama Udofa, Izzie Ekong, Tega Gabriel, Grillo Adebiyi, Mojisola Fagbohungbe, and Ore Badmus. Together, they share what it truly takes to build brand love, loyalty, and trust in an ecosystem obsessed with code and capital.This is more than a marketing story. It’s a story about being seen, being valued, and finding meaning in work that often goes unnoticed.Sponsored: Get personal or business loans, invest, earn, lend, or borrow from friends, pay bills, and transfer money in Nigeria. Download the app today: https://sycamore.ng/Timestamp:00:44 - Intro03:06 - What marketing really is and why It matters18:45 - How great marketers actually work40:27 - Do all marketers wear multiple hats?1:02:12 - Seeing Marketing as a cost centre1:07:24 - The urge to quit as a marketer1:11:21 - What success looks like for a Nigerian marketer in 5 years1:23:40 - Outro#Unsung #FoundersConnect #NigeriaTech #MarketingInTech #documentary Consequence - Wonders by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Wealth is not just about how much you earn. True wealth is about what you own. For decades, ownership in Africa has been blocked by policies, gatekeepers, and limited access to global markets. That’s the gap Bamboo set out to close. Founded in 2019 by Richmond Bassey and Yanmo Omorogbe, Bamboo is more than a startup. It is infrastructure designed to help Africans invest in the world’s biggest companies and, for the first time, truly own a piece of the future.This documentary takes you inside Bamboo’s journey. It begins with the problem—why Africans couldn’t access wealth the way others could. Then it moves into the origin story: two founders who saw a gap no one else saw and felt it deeply enough to build the solution. From launching in 2019, to joining Y Combinator in 2020, to scaling with products built for Africa’s realities, Bamboo has consistently focused on one mission: helping Africans build wealth from the ground up.Bamboo isn’t only about stocks. It’s about confidence, education, and tools that empower a generation to own their financial future. Whether through U.S. stocks, Nigerian stocks, Fixed Returns, or the 2024 launch of Misan—a remittance product designed to make money movement seamless—Bamboo is proving that wealth building is bigger than investing. It’s about access, ownership, and the freedom to shape your future.This film highlights Bamboo’s people and culture: the engineers, marketers, and operators behind the product. It shows why campaigns matter not just to advertise, but to build confidence. It celebrates the users—ordinary Africans rewriting their financial stories. And it looks ahead at Bamboo’s vision: an Africa where wealth building is accessible, systematic, and generational.For anyone interested in startups, investing, wealth building, or the future of Africa’s economy, this is more than a documentary. It’s a story of resilience, innovation, and mission-driven leadership. The truest measure of Bamboo’s success is not just valuation, but impact: how much its users are worth because of it.Watch as Bamboo redefines what it means to invest, build, and own. This is not just the story of a company. It’s the story of Africa’s wealth revolution.If you found this inspiring, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe. Share this story with someone who believes Africa’s future belongs to its builders.

In this episode of Founders Connect, Peace Itimi sits with Chikodi Ukaiwe, the Founder and CEO of Salad Africa, to uncover his incredible journey through banking, tech, entrepreneurship, and eventually building one of Africa’s most impactful fintech startups. Salad Africa is transforming how small businesses and employees access credit in a continent where banks often say “no.”Chikodi shares his inspiring background, growing up in a university community that shaped his leadership spirit and resilience. He studied Computer Science at Babcock University and began his career in banking before pursuing his master’s. But his return to the banking world was met with rejection, sparking a shift that would lead him to disrupt the African tech ecosystem.His wife submitted his CV at Jumia, and in 2012 the Jumia founders took a bold bet on him, appointing him as Head of Growth and Partnerships. That role became a defining moment in his career, setting the stage for what was next. After two and a half years, Sim Shagaya recruited him to join Konga, where he spent over four years building one of Nigeria’s leading e-commerce brands.Chikodi later ventured into consulting, worked with the Nigerian government for over two years, and during the COVID-19 pandemic founded a nonprofit initiative called Show Love to support small businesses. Though that venture failed, it inspired him to launch Salad Africa, a platform providing salary advances and credit access to SMEs and employees.Starting Salad Africa was no easy feat. Chikodi talks about the many rejections he faced when fundraising and how Techstars became a turning point for him and his company. Through that five-month accelerator, Salad Africa secured its first major funding and laid the foundation for growth. Today, Salad has achieved incredible milestones, from raising capital to partnering with companies like Glovo.In this conversation, Chikodi opens up about the toughest challenges of entrepreneurship, including being sued for two years in a corporate dispute, navigating multiple failures, and rebuilding from scratch. He also shares the biggest lessons he has learned about resilience, leadership, fundraising, and building a business that solves real problems.If you’re an entrepreneur, aspiring founder, or someone interested in the African startup ecosystem, this conversation is packed with raw insights, real stories, and practical advice on navigating rejection, finding the right partners, and building a company that lasts.Timestamps:00:53 - Peace’s Intro01:48 - Why Salad?02:57 - Who is Chikodi?10:42 - Chikodi’s career journey & business background30:24 - The real process for starting a business34:33 - Journey into Techstars37:33 - Key milestones44:17 - Business challenges46:46 - Crazy stories51:10 - Biggest lessons learnt01:02:02 - Key takeaway from Chikodi’s storyFounders Connect is a platform that tells authentic stories of African founders, operators, and professionals. Watch, learn, and be inspired by how Africa’s tech ecosystem is being built from the ground up.#FoundersConnect #AfricanStartups #SaladAfrica #PeaceItimi #ChikodiUkaiwe #Entrepreneurship #StartupFunding #AfricanTech #InspiringFounders

In this powerful and engaging talk from The Builders Summit 2025, Seye Bandele breaks down one of the most underrated yet absolutely essential skills every founder must master: sales. Titled “The Best Founders Are Salespeople – How to Sell Anything,” this session isn’t just a presentation, it’s a wake-up call for every startup founder, builder, and visionary who thinks product alone will carry them to success.Seye opens the session with an unexpected but effective icebreaker, asking the audience to turn to their neighbors and sell them a pretend laptop. He shows how every conversation, pitch, or meeting is an opportunity to sell: your idea, your product, your team, your vision.At the heart of Seye’s message is this truth: a founder who can’t sell won’t survive. The early days of any startup demand traction, validation, and most importantly paying customers. As Seye puts it, “You need someone to give you money in exchange for the value you bring. And no one else can sell that better than you.” Founders must learn to translate abstract ideas into emotionally compelling stories that build trust. It’s not enough to talk about features or markets. You have to connect at a human level, and that means mastering the art of selling.Throughout his talk, Seye unpacks the key skills every founder must develop to become a great salesperson: storytelling, active listening, building rapport, having thick skin, and deal closure. These aren’t just techniques—they’re mindsets. Sales is more than persuasion. It’s about understanding needs, navigating objections, and moving people from awareness to action.He emphasizes that great salespeople get conversion rates of about 20%, which is excellent in real-world terms. So founders must get comfortable with rejection, learn from it, and keep showing up. In selling, You must start with your "why". It’s not enough to lead with product specs or competitive advantages. What do you believe? What future are you inviting people into? That’s where trust begins.Seye also introduces the SELL Framework, a practical mental model for approaching sales. While the full breakdown is best experienced in the video, the core idea is that sales isn’t about manipulation, it’s about belief. You first have to believe deeply in the thing you’re selling before anyone else will. He even challenges founders to start with their own team: “If you’re not actively selling to your social media marketer, you’re missing a big opportunity.” Getting your team to truly buy in is the first layer of external persuasion.This talk is a must-watch for anyone building something from scratch. Whether you’re a solo founder, a startup operator, or just someone trying to get better at persuasion, this video will reshape how you think about sales—not as a dirty word, but as your most powerful tool.If you’ve ever felt stuck at the early stage, unsure of how to get people to pay attention, trust you, or convert—this is the talk you need to watch.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro00:30 - Icebreaker activity02:45 - Why Founders Must Be Salespeople07:50 - Key skills you need to be a great sales person11:47 - How to sell anything15:00 - The SELL Framework15:40 - Q&AsDon’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more insightful talks from The Builders Summit 2025.#SeyeBandele #StartupSales #Founders #HowToSellAnything #BuildersSummit2025 #StartupTips #SalesFramework #Storytelling #Entrepreneurship #FoundersMindset #StartupGrowth #EarlyStageFounder #Leadership #SalesForFounders #BuildSellGrow

How do you build a startup that survives over a decade in Africa's tough tech terrain? In this interview, Dennis Ondeng, the CEO of Kopo Kopo, shares his remarkable journey of building and sustaining a fintech company for over 14 years in Kenya and across Africa. This episode is more than a founder story; it's a deep dive into what it means to lead with resilience, vision, and empathy.Kopo Kopo is a fintech platform that enables small and medium-sized businesses to accept digital payments and access credit. Since launching in 2011, it has weathered some of the most difficult startup challenges—including a near-fatal funding drought, market resistance, and the ever-changing demands of scaling in emerging markets. Dennis has been at the heart of this journey, first as the company’s CTO and later transitioning to CEO, where he’s led the team through pivotal shifts in strategy, structure, and regional expansion.In this interview, Dennis talks openly about the struggles that tested him and the business. He recounts the dark days of 2015, when Kopo Kopo’s Series B funding nearly fell apart and the company faced existential questions. Rather than give up, Dennis and the team used that moment as a turning point. It forced them to reassess how they were building, who they were building for, and how to better lead with people in mind. That period forged a deeper sense of purpose and built a foundation for longevity.Dennis also shares his perspective on scaling into new markets. Kopo Kopo experimented with expansion into Ghana, Uganda, and other African countries. What they learned was that timing and market readiness are just as important as the product itself. He discusses the value of experimentation, failing fast, and building systems that allow you to iterate without losing focus. The company’s decision to work with partners instead of going in alone helped reduce risk and improve market fit. These strategies alongside a disciplined focus on the needs of merchants enabled Kopo Kopo to evolve and remain relevant in a competitive space.Beyond the business tactics, Dennis offers rare insights into leadership evolution. Moving from CTO to CEO was not just a change in title, it was a shift in mindset. As CEO, he had to balance engineering precision with people management, investor relations, long-term vision, and operational execution. He shares his greatest lesson which was to build what people truly need, not what seems impressive on paper.He also reflects on how the tech landscape in Kenya has influenced Kopo Kopo’s growth. Watching the ecosystem evolve, from limited infrastructure and investor hesitancy to a vibrant, innovation-driven environment, has given him a unique vantage point. He’s not just been a participant; he’s been part of the story. And he believes there’s still more to come.This episode is packed with value for aspiring founders, operators, and anyone interested in building for the long term in emerging markets. Dennis shares how resilience, experimentation, clarity of purpose, and a willingness to adapt have been key to Kopo Kopo’s survival and growth. He also speaks on what he’s most proud of after 14 years: not just the product, but the impact the company has had on merchants across Kenya and beyond.If you're looking to understand what long-term startup success really looks like in Africa, this conversation is essential. It’s raw, practical, and deeply inspiring.Subscribe for more real stories from African founders and operators. Leave a comment below to let us know what part of Dennis’ journey stood out to you the most. And if you found value in this conversation, don’t forget to like, share, and turn on notifications.