On this episode of After Hours, in partnership with Tanqueray Africa, Alice Kanjejo sits down with Florent Nduwayezu, a climate tech investor and venture capitalist who has backed over 10 startups across Africa, for a conversation that challenges everything you think you know about building and funding tech businesses on the continent.Having worked on the ground in rural solar energy across multiple African countries before moving into investing, his perspective isn't theoretical it's earned. And he uses it to dismantle one of the most dominant frameworks in African tech: impact investing. His argument is direct ,a commercially viable business is the most impactful thing a founder can build, and chasing grants and social metrics often delays the discipline needed to survive. If you're only getting meetings with impact funds, he says, that's a signal to go back to the drawing board.Drawing a striking parallel between Africa's untapped climate resources and Dubai's oil discovery four decades ago, Florent makes the case that this is the continent's defining economic moment ,one where natural energy abundance, a rising manufacturing age, and a generation of high-caliber founders are converging in a way the world hasn't seen before.The conversation gets practical fast. Florent breaks down why distribution will always beat product in African markets, why starting with one customer beats chasing an entire city, and what actually kills credibility in a pitch room. He's equally honest about what global investors consistently underestimate from infrastructure gaps and purchasing power stagnation to the hidden cost of building without deep local knowledge.To keep up with Florent Nduwayezu, Check out his linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/florent-flo-nduwayezuCheck out Hackgroup: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hackgroup/__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, host Alice Kanjejo sits down with Angela Mukami, Senior Product Manager at M-KOPA, for an eye-opening conversation about the realities of building financial products for everyday people across Africa.Angela pulls no punches as she unpacks what truly separates thriving Buy Now Pay Later models from those that collapse.From product design flaws and overselling by sales agents, to underestimating the income volatility of daily earners and the true cost of distribution, Angela brings sharp, ground-level insight that only comes from years of real-world experience.Drawing a fascinating line from her mother buying a radio on hire purchase in 1987 through a company called African Retail Traders, to today's mobile-enabled BNPL platforms, Angela shows that the concept isn't new what's changed is the technology, the terminology, and the scale. Yet the human element remains non-negotiable.In African markets, she argues, you simply cannot run a purely digital business. Trust is built face-to-face, transparency is everything, and customers deserve to know exactly what they're getting into , in a language they understand.The conversation goes broader as Angela challenges the "One Africa" strategy myth, reminding us that Africa's 54 countries carry 54 different regulatory frameworks, infrastructures, cultures, and realities. She's equally direct about the mistakes global teams make when entering African markets designing beautiful products in Silicon Valley or London, with zero input from the people actually living the problem.Angela also reflects on her own journey , from FMCG to Safaricom to Microsoft and beyond crediting curiosity, a customer-first mindset, and transferable soft skills as the true connective tissue across industries.And when it comes to career growth, she breaks the networking myth with refreshing honesty: all her roles came through straightforward applications and interviews.She closes with a deeply personal and powerful reminder , between the seed and the harvest, there is always time. Give yourself grace.To keep up with Angela Mukami check out her LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-mukami-k/Check out :https://www.m-kopa.com/00:00: Intro01:56: Why Some BNPL Models Succeed While Others Fail 03:46: The Origins of BNPL06:36: What the Industry Underestimates About Low-Income Markets 09:29: What Does Success Actually Look Like for a BNPL Business? 11:33: Loan Uptake vs. Repayment: The Kenyan Reality 16:08: Building Trust With Customers Who Have No Credit History 20:05: Why the "One Africa" Strategy Doesn't Work 24:21: Career Journey: FMCG to Safaricom to Microsoft and Beyond 27:51: Is Networking Really the Only Way to Grow Your Career? 30:25: Lessons from Microsoft33:00: The Biggest Mistakes Global Teams Make in African Market38:04: Final Reflections__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, host Alice Kanjejo sits down with Dr. Doris Change, founder and CEO of Elite Leadership and Governance Centre, for an inspiring conversation about redefining success, breaking barriers, and loving your Mondays.She describes herself as "the workplace whisperer," and is on a mission to transform how people experience work. With a startling statistic that only 20% of employees love their work, she's dedicated to helping both leaders and employees find fulfillment in their professional lives.Her journey from Kenya Power to Spentech Engineering Limited, combined with her work as a coach, faculty member at three universities, and gospel musician, showcases the power of embracing multiple passions.The conversation dives into the realities of entrepreneurship and leadership. Dr. Change emphasizes that employee engagement isn't about money,it's about clear vision, growth opportunities, and equipping people with the right skills. For startups navigating the journey from bootstrapping to scaling, she stresses the importance of making your vision loud and understandable, retaining those who understand your culture, and learning to delegate as you grow.A particularly powerful discussion emerges around women in STEM and leadership. Dr. Change doesn't shy away from the truth: women still face perceptions that require them to work twice as hard and be twice as loud. Yet she reframes these challenges as opportunities, encouraging women to leverage their unique strengths empathy, emotional intelligence, and resilience as competitive advantages rather than weaknesses.For anyone feeling stuck between what's expected of them and what they truly want, Dr. Change offers practical wisdom: get a coach or accountability partner, be intentional about your consumption of content, and understand that pursuing your dream will be harder but infinitely more rewarding than the easier route of external expectations.To keep up with Doris Change check out her LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-doris-changeCheck out :https://eliteleadership.co.ke/

__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, Alice Kanjejo sits down with Paul Kimani, CEO and co-founder of WorkPay, to explore the intersection of technology, financial inclusion, and dignified employment across Africa. Paul shares the remarkable journey of building HR and payroll infrastructure that spans over 30 countries, processing payments for hundreds of thousands of employees monthly from corporate offices to security guards receiving their first digital payment.The conversation reveals the complexity behind seemingly simple tasks: how do you ensure a worker in rural Angola gets paid the same day as their colleague in Nairobi? Paul explains that WorkPay isn't just solving a technical problem it's addressing a fundamental human need. This sacred responsibility drives every line of code his team writes.His entrepreneurial journey is refreshing. From his engineering background to navigating 50+ tax systems, from bootstrapping a dev shop to securing YC backing and investment from Mastercard, he doesn't sugarcoat the challenges.He discusses the realities of VC funding in Africa, the importance of finding the right co-founder through genuine relationship-building, and how AI represents opportunity rather than threat for those willing to adapt.The episode offers practical wisdom for aspiring founders while highlighting a larger truth: technology's real power lies not in automation alone, but in expanding access and restoring dignity to everyday work. Paul's story proves that African entrepreneurs can build world-class SaaS companies that solve uniquely African problems ,one payroll, one country, one empowered worker at a time.To keep up with Paul Kimani check out his LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-kimani/Check out :https://www.myworkpay.com/Shot at Kofisi square :https://kofisi.africa/kofisi-square-nairobi/

__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, host Alice Kanjejo sits down with Nzwisisa Chidembo , founder and Ceo of Riskbloq with over 18 years of experience building payment infrastructure and blockchain solutions across Africa. His journey began early,starting work and university at 16, shaped by watching his father pioneer telecommunications across Africa. Those formative experiences taught him that African founders don't need to copy-paste Western solutions.Instead, they can build on what already works locally. When mobile payments like EcoCash emerged in Zimbabwe, he recognized their potential to leapfrog traditional card systems entirely. His e-commerce experiment proved customers would trust mobile payments for products they'd never seen a turning point that revealed Africa's readiness for digital commerce.But mobile payments still faced cross-border friction. This led Nzwisisa down the blockchain rabbit hole, from the Bitcoin whitepaper to Ethereum smart contracts. He saw an opportunity: blockchain could provide the Internet-native payment layer that had always been missing, enabling true global participation without intermediaries. This insight sparked RiskBloq, his current venture building risk assessment tools that help institutional investors navigate the digital asset ecosystem with transparency and governance.Throughout the conversation, Nzwisisa emphasizes what Western assumptions miss: Africa's fragmented markets require boots-on-the-ground understanding. Successful founders embed themselves in existing communities rather than building from scratch. They think about scale from day one while respecting local nuances that can't be copy-pasted across borders.He also confronts a hard truth about African venture capital: the funding pool remains small and concentrated in fintech, leaving other sectors starved despite their potential. What Africa needs, Nzwisisa argues, is patient, diverse capital that understands the continent develops at its own pace, not unicorns in two years, but sustainable businesses that create jobs and economic diversity.From mobile money agents digitizing 95% of Zimbabwe's GDP to AI-powered customer experience solutions with IBM Watson, Nzwisisa’s career proves that Africa isn't playing catch-up. It's building the future on its own terms.To keep up with Nzwisisa Chidembo check out his LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nzwisisa/Check out Riskbloq:https://www.riskbloq.com/Shot at Workshop17 :https://www.workshop17.co.za/

__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7

On this episode of "After Hours, in partnership with Tanqueray Africa," we speak with Bradley Opere ,co- founder of Otto Rentals, who shares his remarkable journey from finance to building digital infrastructure for Africa's rental industry.Bradley's path wasn't about taking reckless leaps, it was strategic. After working in private equity and consulting, he recognized that understanding money and mastering communication were translatable skills that would prove invaluable in entrepreneurship. His family's decades-long history in car rentals, from school buses to tourism vans, gave him unique insight into an industry plagued by trust issues and operational inefficiencies.The challenges in Africa's car rental space are significant: vehicles disappearing with deposits, cars being switched off mid-journey due to payment disputes, and the persistent problem of connecting renters with reliable vehicles. Bradley saw an opportunity where others saw obstacles. Inspired by platforms like Turo and armed with hands-on industry knowledge, he built Otto Rentals ,a comprehensive solution that provides software for rental companies, a marketplace for consumers, and even asset financing for fleet expansion.What sets Bradley apart is his disciplined focus. While many startups spread themselves thin chasing multiple revenue streams, Otto Rentals remains laser-focused on perfecting car rentals before expanding to other asset classes. They build based on demand, not assumptions,starting with B2C, then adding B2B corporate solutions only after customers requested it. Their partnership with rescue services for 24/7 emergency support demonstrates a commitment to the complete customer experience, not just transactions.Bradley's advice to aspiring founders is refreshingly practical: experiment quickly, don't fear pivoting, and let revenue be your guide. But he also emphasizes the importance of proper legal structures from the start, a lesson many well-capitalized startups learned the hard way. His vision extends beyond building a successful company; he's determined to help East Africa develop its own tech champions that can compete globally.To keep up with Bradley Opere, check out his LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleyopere/Check out Otto. Rentals :https://www.otto.rentals/__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7Interested in partnering with us? Drop us an email: [email protected] 📧

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, host Alice Kanjejo sits down with Ntsako Mgiba, venture builder, serial tech entrepreneur, and founder of Darkies in Tech, for a powerful conversation about building community as a catalyst for transformation in South Africa's tech ecosystem.Ntsako draws on his experience in venture building, and ecosystem development to share the journey that led him to create Darkies in Tech, from being the “only Black founder in the room” in Cape Town to recognizing that many Black founders were building in isolation.Despite attending a reputable university and having "the right accent" that granted access to white spaces, Ntsako witnessed firsthand how people of color navigate a landscape shaped by apartheid's legacy, where profiling based on origin and speech patterns determines opportunity access.The conversation reveals the intentional architecture behind Darkies in Tech: a vetted, high-quality community focused on two missions equipping founders to build resilient ventures that shift narratives about people of color in tech, and driving systemic transformation in the broader ecosystem. Ntsako emphasizes bridging five critical access gaps: market, funding, talent, knowledge, and community. Unlike performative inclusion programs that offer training without genuine opportunities, Darkies in Tech creates intentional platforms connecting founders with investors, partners, and market access that truly moves the needle.Ntsako keeps it real when it comes to community building calling it "extremely difficult" and reveals the delicate balance between democratizing access while maintaining high standards. The path to sustainability required four years of building goodwill before monetization, establishing trust through the community's core principle: "we give value before we take it." From merchandise to ticketed events to paid memberships subsidized by corporate sponsors, every monetization decision prioritized member value over profit.This conversation is a masterclass in authentic community building, where genuine care isn't optional but essential, where trust is earned through years of consistent value delivery, and where transformation happens not through performative inclusion but through intentional redistribution of opportunity, knowledge, and capital.To keep up with Ntsako Mgiba, check out his LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ntsako-mgibaCheck out Darkies in Tech:https://www.darkiesintech.com/
__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7Interested in partnering with us? Drop us an email: [email protected] 📧

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, host Alice Kanjejo brings together three leading voices in African venture capital for the podcast's first-ever VC roundtable. oining the conversation are Nick Vilelle from the Nairobi Business Angel Network (NaiBAN), Maina Murage, Principal at Norrsken 22, and Art Chupeau, Managing Partner at Baobab Network. Together, they pull back the curtain on what it really takes to build and fund startups in Africa.The discussion cuts straight to the heart of founder challenges: Should you build what investors want to see, or stay true to your own vision? The consensus is clear: passion isn't optional. Building a venture-scale business in Africa means confronting Murphy's Law daily, from regulatory hurdles to co-founder conflicts. Without genuine belief in your mission, you won't survive the journey.The roundtable tackles critical questions about valuation versus control, with the VCs emphasizing that founders often focus on the wrong metrics. Maximizing valuation can actually trap you, making it harder to raise subsequent rounds and potentially attracting the wrong investors. Instead, focus on finding investors who increase your probability of success, even if that means accepting more dilution.They address Africa's unique funding gap: too few startups graduating from seed to Series A, not because later-stage deals are harder (that's global), but because there's insufficient early-stage capital to help companies mature. The solution isn't just more money; it's smarter deployment, with founders taking less capital, proving their model, and building real traction before scaling.The conversation covers common money management mistakes, from premature hiring to flashy offices, and offers tactical advice: be authentic, know your customers deeply, understand your cost base obsessively, and never lie about your numbers. Perhaps most importantly, they stress that venture capital isn't for everyone; many businesses don't need VC money and would be better served by alternative funding sources.To keep up with Nick's journey, check out his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nvilelle/Check out NaiBAN: https://naiban.co/To keep up with Maina Murage, check out his LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/maina-murage/Check out Norrsken22: https://www.norrsken22.com/To keep up with Art Chupeau , check out his linkedin :https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthurchupeau/Check out Baobab Network : https://thebaobabnetwork.com/__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7Interested in partnering with us? Drop us an email: [email protected] 📧

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, host Alice Kanjejo sits down with Alisemo Mwanga, Executive Director at PAWA Africa, for an illuminating conversation about building sustainable impact in Africa's tech ecosystem.With over a decade of experience as a development economist and ecosystem player, she shares hard-won insights from her journey from conducting research on South Africa's tech startup landscape for JETRO to founding PAWA Africa, an organization focused on youth and women entrepreneurship, access to finance, and social impact project management.The conversation reveals the realities African founders face: regulatory hurdles that force health tech startups to seek approvals abroad, capital constraints that push companies to register outside Africa, and market access challenges that often matter more than funding itself.Alisemo emphasizes a powerful truth: "People do business with people, not products or services." While capital opens doors, relationships, credibility, and execution capacity keep you in the room.She doesn't shy away from uncomfortable truths about the ecosystem, the lack of genuine collaboration, the tendency to celebrate individual success over collective progress, and what she calls the "self-hate" that prevents Africans from genuinely uplifting one another.Her advice for founders looking to expand across borders is refreshingly pragmatic: start small, visit markets before committing, build relationships through conferences and connections, and practice patience.Looking ahead, she predicts a transformation in how programs are designed, more corporate acquisitions in tech, and hopefully, stronger integration between policy and private sector support.To keep up with Alisemo's journey, check out her LinkedIn in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alesimo-mwangaCheck out PAWA Africa:https://pawaafrica.com/__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7Interested in partnering with us? Drop us an email: [email protected] 📧

On this episode of My Tech Story Africa, we sit down with Luke Naude-Lorentz, Senior Growth and Investments Lead at Mohara, a co-founder startup studio that's rewriting the rules of building businesses in Africa and beyond.Luke shares Mohara's unconventional journey, a decade-long path of bootstrapped growth that prioritizes stability over speed, quality over quick wins. Unlike the typical startup narrative of chasing venture capital, Mohara has built a thriving 100-person team across Cape Town, the UK, and the US by focusing on fundamentals: consistent revenue, strong processes, and a culture that weathers economic storms. The conversation explores what it means to build with intention rather than external pressure. He reveals how Mohara partners with founders as a technical co-founder, taking equity stakes while helping transform big visions into achievable roadmaps.Luke emphasizes the critical importance of communication across teams, where even junior voices can surface insights that prevent disasters.Beyond Mohara, he discusses GTMX, his go-to-market community that brings founders, marketers, and sales leaders together for genuine knowledge exchange, no glorified networking, just real conversations over morning coffee about the challenges that keep entrepreneurs up at night.To keep up with Luke's journey, check out his LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-nl/Check out Mohara :https://www.mohara.co/ and GTMx :https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-to-market-x/__________________________________________________________________Join Alice as she explores the world of tech and shares impactful stories with guests on My Tech Story Africa!Subscribe to our podcast, drop a like, comment, and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content.Don't forget to spread the word! Sharing is caring! 🌟Follow us on social media:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytechstoryafrica💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-tech-story-africa♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mytechstoryafricaJoin our community: [https://www.mtsafrica.co/join]Interested in being a guest on the podcast? Apply here: https://forms.gle/ffAniezzFHoEvhPY7Interested in partnering with us? Drop us an email: [email protected] 📧