Kurious K

Kurious K

By kolapo ogungbileBusinessEntrepreneurship
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Kurious K episodes

  • Building a tech startup: Lessons from successful founders in Nigeria/Africa
    Hello Everyone, welcome to the first episode of the Kurious K podcast of the year proudly sponsored by First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
    We flipped the script in this episode, Instead of asking all the questions, Kurious K answered most of the questions. It was a great conversation featuring Morakinyo Fakunle and Abiodun Lawal of FCMB.
    During the episode, we explored 
    Kurious K's journey into tech and the reason for starting the podcast. 
    The podcast delves into the challenges and steps involved in building a successful startup in Africa and Nigeria, including the key ingredients for scaling in an  African economy. 
    We discussed how early-stage startups should approach funding, the importance of having a support system, and establishing credibility.
    The podcast concludes with information on how startups can access funding, infrastructure support, markets from FCMB and more.
    37 min
  • Philip Nkwam: from Hacking to love for building on web3
    This is the second part of the  Web 3 series-themed version of the Kurious K podcast.
    In this episode, we will explore
    web3 Applications
    Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
    Subsequent Episodes will explore:
    Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
    Stablecoins & Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
    Privacy & Digital Infrastructure
    The Creator Economy
    This episode features Philip Nkwa,  Technical Lead on MIRAI Research at St Cyril Cancer Treatment Foundation and technical Trainer at the Bulb Africa.
    In this episode, we discussed Philip's Journey into Tech
    the core ideas of Web 3
    why is Web3 important?
    how can people get involved in web 3?
    Decentralized Autonomous Organisations DAO
    What are smart contracts?
    some of the interesting projects he has worked on.
    37 min
  • Raphael Edema- From crypto mining to building games on web3
    This is the  Web 3 series-themed version of the Kurious K podcast.
    In this web 3  series, I will be having conversations with founders/ key stakeholders across the African continent and beyond on demystifying web 3  and the opportunities in the space.
    As you know Web3 is generating a lot of hype — From the metaverse to decentralized finance to NFTs and beyond.
    Imagine an internet built, powered, and owned by its users instead of a few major tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.
    Social media users could monetize their own data. Content creators could receive crypto payments directly every time someone views their latest post. Ride-sharing platforms could be owned by the drivers.
    This is the promise of Web3, a decentralized internet built on an open, permissionless blockchain network.
    This episode features Raphael Edema who is the CEO of Night life Labs. A company with a goal to innovate the future of gaming by building games with more immersive experiences by leveraging cutting-edge technologies.
     
    In this episode, we discuss
    - The evolution of the internet from Web 1 to web 3
    -  The current  state of  the web 3 ecosystem  in Nigeria
    - Some  use cases that are already gaining traction like
    Decentralized gaming
    Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
    - Nightlifelabs and what has been his experience of building it.
    - Some of the interesting projects Raphael has worked on.
    -The state of funding for web 3 startups globally
    47 min
  • Micheal Oscar- Connecting digital creatives across Africa.
    Oscar Michael is the Co-founder at Africacomicade, one of the leading platforms for African digital creatives, celebrating their works and connecting them to opportunities for learning, collaboration and funding. Oscar is a visionary entrepreneur with interests in Art, Technology,  Education, and Human capacity development.
    He is an alumnus of MEST Africa, where He learnt software Entrepreneurship, and is an IGDA (International Game Developers Association) Foundation NEXTGEN leader alumnus for the 2021 Virtual Exchange program.
    In today's episode with Oscar Micheal We Discuss
    - His story of getting into the innovation space
    -How did that  evolve into building Africacomicade
    - The creator's economy
    - The current state of the Game industry in Africa compared to other parts of the world
    - Africacomicade business model
    - Funding- globally creator economy has seen a record $1.3B in funding in 2021 alone, and there has been significant growth in funding across Africa. why is the gaming sector not attracting funds like other sectors?
    - What to expect from Gamathon 2022 convention
    47 min
  • Kelvin Ogholi- Making credit access seamless for the unbanked in Sub-Saharan Africa
    This episode features Ogholi Kelvin, Cofounder & CEO  at CoTrust Equity 
    CoTrust Equity is a finance and credit-providing company that harnesses extensive knowledge of target audience peculiarities and cultures to provide unique credit plans to banked and unbanked in the rural/sub-urban MSMEs in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
    Prior to launching CoTrust Equity, Kelvin founded Unfire which was focused on reducing the cost of feeding poultry. You can check out his pitch at the unreasonable institute here.
    We met during the Chivas - The Venture Pitch competition in 2015.
    During this episode we discuss:
    The problem he was solving with Unfire.
    Why running Unfire was unsustainable.
    Challenges of building in Nigeria.
    Why he started CoTrust Equity?
    Default rate on the platform and his business model.
    Sacrifices he has made as the founder to keep the light on
    Fintech Space in Nigeria and future plans for CoTrust Equity.
    46 min
  • Abiodun Lawal - Driving Corporate Innovation
    This episode features Abiodun Lawal Head, Tech Ecosystem and Ventures at First City Monument Bank (FCMB)
    Prior to that Abiodun worked as Innovation Manager at Seedstars and Business Development Manager at LoftyInc.
    In Today's episode with Abiodun, We Discuss:
    - His early childhood and his educational background
    - The story of  Abiodun getting into the innovation space
    -  keys lessons from running the investment readiness program at Seedstars and what startups need to know  
    -  Thoughts on growth in the innovation ecosystem in Nigeria (Funding, startup Bill)
    - Economic downturns and layoffs
    - Program Plans for startups at FCMB, including ''Launch'' a program designed for startups looking to launch their products in the coming months and get valuable feedback on their product from an experienced audience.
    ( Details about the Launch Program)
    HubOne by FCMB is providing a launch program where the technical and non-technical audiences will review the app in a relaxing atmosphere and give quality feedback to the founder.
    The first launch session is taking place on the 24th of this month with three startups.
    Startups can register to pitch at the next Launch session by using this link - https://bit.ly/HubOneLaunch
    31 min
  • Ajay Ramasubramaniam: Enabling startups and Innovation growth across emerging markets.

    Ajay Ramasubramaniam is a seasoned executive with 17 years of experience in setting up, operating, and growing businesses, across diverse geographies such as Africa, Canada, India and Vietnam. 

    Currently, he is the Founder & CEO of Startup Réseau, a global startup accelerator and corporate innovation programs operator + Co-Founder & CEO, Hindsight Ventures, an Africa focussed startup accelerator. 

    Ajay has been active in the startup ecosystem for the past 9 years and has built India’s top meta startup accelerator - through which he has set up over 35 corporate accelerator and innovation programs.  

    Ajay has also built unique properties such as Fintegrate (India's top Fin+Tech conclave over the past 3 years) - for which he has been recognized as a Top-30 FinTech Influencer in India by The Digital Fifth. In the past, Ajay has led the India business for a Canadian ed-tech startup, as well as represented the Canadian Government in India for 5 years. 

    He started his career in Tanzania, working on AfDB and World Bank projects; including a stint as an intrapreneur, building an agri-tech business. Ajay is an MBA in Marketing & Finance. He is passionate about cricket and is a certified ICC Level-1 cricket coach.

     In Today's episode with Ajay We discussed: 

     -Ajay's career path and how that evolved into building Startup Réseau in India and Hindsight Ventures in emerging markets across Africa and South East Asia.

     -Some of the most impactful programs he has organised

     -What Nigeria's startup ecosystem can learn from Indians with about 100 Unicorns 

     -Thoughts on the similarities between Africa and South East Asia tech ecosystem. The funding trajectory in the ecosystems, and program plan across the Continent.

     -Building sustainable innovation programs.

     -Y Combinator Memo & more

    41 min
  • Ammin Youssouf: Putting Africa Startups on a Global Stage
    Ammin Youssouf Started his career in Paris in  the 90’s just before the tech bubble. After freelancing for a while he founded Big youth, a digital agency company which grew organically to over 40 team members and worked with clients including Ferrari, Kenzo, Citroën, Kronenbourg and more. The company was later acquired.
    In 2016 he launched Afrobytes first event in Paris, a platform he tagged - the Ambassador for Africa tech outside of it’s borders.
    In this episode we discussed the impressive growth of tech ecosystem in Africa.
    What led to the launch of Afrobytes.
    Bringing Africa tech to the front stage in Paris and Europe.
    Impact of Russian- Ukraine war on Agriculture across the continent and why that influenced the theme of the next Afrobytes event and other exciting stuff.
    32 min
  • Opeyemi Owosho: Working to ensure your cooking gas never run out.
    This episode features Opeyemi Owosho who is the co-founder & CEO of Homefort Energy.
    Homefort Energy is automating and digitalizing the distribution of cooking gas.
    In this episode, we discuss the problem Homefort is solving and some of the products they have built along with the way.
    The 90's story of cylinder distribution in Nigeria.
    Effect of government policies on product development.
    Homefort Business Model.
    Key lessons in building hardware products in Nigeria.
    Patent Filing in Nigeria.
    Funding, Industry trends and his view on competition.
    1 hr
  • Mathew Marsden: Equipping Africa’s entrepreneurs for success, through technology and capital.
    This episode features Mathew Marsden who is the Co-founder at getlion, a South African based company founded on the premise that Entrepreneurs are the key to Africa’s future. They identify problems, create solutions, build value and grow employment. But sadly, statistics show that 50% of their businesses will fail within the first 2 years. 
    Mathew is also the Founder at dealbase.Africa - The platform to promote Opportunity 🚀, equip founders to raise Capital 💰 and enable investors to optimize deal-flow.
    In this episode, we discussed Mathew role at Various (a wealth advisory business) and  how that evolved into founding getlion
    - Raising investment for getlion
    - getlion business model
    -Why he is starting dealbase.Africa and other exciting stuff.
    31 min

About Kurious K

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Do you really know what it takes to build startups in Africa? We will strip it bare here!