What synergies can 87 startups, scaleups, VCs and corporates explore when housed under the same roof?

That is exactly the kind of sandbox experiment that is going on at 8 Darter Road, Gardens, Cape Town, the home of Innovation City.

Founded by Stephan Ekbergh and Kieno Kammies in November 2021, the hub’s business enablement model has proved to be a hit, as shown by the tenants who currently call Innovation City home. These include Yellowcard, Smile Identity, Lauch Africa Venture, Norrsken 22, and MTN Digital.

In this conversation, Kammies, who also has an extensive career in broadcasting and journalism, shares how the COVID-19 pandemic showed the need for a hub that was more than just a co-working space, but a microcosm of an ecosystem in itself.

You can connect to Kieno on LinkedIn here.

Read the full story behind Innovation City here: https://techcabal.com/2024/06/01/innovation-city/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

In computer network design, a supernode refers to a highly capable node in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that acts as a central hub, relay, or proxy server for ordinary, less-capable nodes.

If there is one analogy to describe Will Green’s role in South Africa’s tech startup ecosystem, it would be exactly that—a supernode.

From running one of the country’s most efficient accelerators and helping wet-behind-the-ear founders figure out their business models to driving M&A strategies for exiting founders, Will's impact stretches across the entire ecosystem.

But restricting his impact to the South African ecosystem would do an injustice to his work. Will has also been a mentor for Google for Startups, assisting African startups with their teething problems to build the next big thing. He is also an advisor, a board member, a venture studio builder, and and and.

In this episode, Will shares his take on how to improve the acceleration model, bridging the funding gap from early-stage to growth-stage, the importance of exit planning for founders, and his view on the role of policy in driving innovation.

You can connect with Will on LinkedIn here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

There is a convergence that is happening in Africa’s banking ecosystem.

Banks, which were originally seen as the subjects of disruption driven by the emergence of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenised assets, are embracing them.

Traditional finance and decentralised finance, once thought to be sworn enemies, are forming new use cases which are addressing some longstanding pain points in Africa’s banking ecosystem.

For example, over the last half-decade, stablecoin adoption at the retail level has seen explosive growth, with Africans using them for facilitation of remittance payments and hedging against volatile local currency movements.

And now Absa, one of the largest banks on the continent, is expanding its stablecoin offering to its corporate and investment banking clients, with services including treasury management and cross-border payments facilitation.

Beyond stablecoins, the bank also offers tokenisation services, including token origination and asset tokenisation, with further use cases, including an Absa stablecoin, a future possibility.

In this episode, Nkahiseng describes the various elements of Absa’s stablecoin and tokenisation plays, the rate and state of adoption, and his thoughts on the growth of digital assets on the continent.

You can follow Nkahiseng on LinkedIn here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

Zachariah George is a lot of things.

He is a guitarist, pianist and vocalist, has been to over a hundred countries, holds a Stanford MBA and is a member of MENSA, meaning he has an IQ score at or above the 98th percentile.

In Africa’s tech startup ecosystem, Zach is known as the managing founder of Launch Africa Ventures, one of the most prolific early-stage VC investment firms on the continent. He is also a prominent angel investor and was part of the formation of some of Africa’s revered accelerators, including Startup Bootcamp.

The story of how he got into Africa’s tech ecosystem is as interesting as his profile. After concluding his career on Wall Street, which included a stint at Lehman Brothers, the first domino piece to fall in the 2008 financial crisis, he wanted to spend his life making a difference instead of just closing deals in Lower Manhattan.

A trip to the 2010 World Cup proved to be the puzzle piece that would set Zach on a path to backing some of Africa’s most innovative startups. Realising that Africa’s ecosystem had the potential to undergo a growth spurt similar to that in India and Latin America, he packed his bags and headed south, settling in Cape Town.

The rest, as they say, is history. In this episode, Zach reflects on the early days of VC in Africa, including the important role of accelerators and support from corporates, his investment strategy across his angel investments and at Launch Africa, the current state of early stage VC in Africa and what the future holds!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

What does it take to take the leap from a manager role at one of the biggest technology companies in the world to founding an AI startup?

According to Kevin Kissi, it takes a belief that what starts as just an idea can change the world.

Hailing from Ghana, Kevin has pivoted his career from mechanical engineering to software engineering, swapping CAD-rendered designs for writing code.

Through Zof AI, he is taking it up a notch, enabling mid-market businesses to ship code that has been tested to ensure its quality.

In this conversation, Kevin shares his early days in his journey, including stints at a tractor company, a window company and one of the top 5 banks in the US.

He shares his motivation for switching careers early on and how always doing more than is required landed him at Microsoft.

We also touch on the current state of AI in Africa and how to enable the continent to catch up with the rest of the world.

You can connect with Kevin on LinkedIn here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

A fortnight ago, Showmax, which for the last ten-plus years had been pan-African broadcaster Multichoice’s answer to the arrival of global streaming platforms on the continent, shut down.

Canal+, Multichoice’s parent company, pointed to the streaming platform’s not-so-pretty financials as the reason for pulling the plug.

With Showmax gone, which was the closest Africa-born competitor to Netflix at least from the POV of budget spend, what will become of the continent’s streaming landscape?

While Showmax has always grabbed the headlines as Africa’s forefront streaming platform, several other streamers have amassed millions of users by telling African stories. One of those is Wi-flix, founded in December 2020 by Ghananians Louis Manu and Bright Yeboah.

Now boasting over 4 million users and a goal to reach 10 million in the next three years, Wi-flix’s focus on an African and mobile-native audience seems to be paying dividends.

In this conversation, Manu reflects on the early days of Wi-flix, which included trying to convince telcos that the soft bundling strategy would drive data sales while also convincing content creators that the revenue-sharing model was the right approach.

He also comments on the current state of streaming on the continent, including the implications of Showmax's exit and the insatiable appetite for African stories globally.

On the future of streaming, he touches on what business models are going to look like as well as the competitive environment.

You can connect to Louis on LinkedIn here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

As Africa tries to catch up to the world in adopting emerging technologies such as AI, the importance of digital infrastructure cannot be overstated enough.

Data centres are at the forefront of this infrastructure, providing the requisite environment to build out application layers, resources such as fintech apps and e-commerce platforms.

In this episode, Hlumelo Fungile, Chief Commercial Officer at PAIX Data Centres, breaks down the challenges facing Africa’s data centres ecosystem, including limited capital investment and energy constraints.

He also touches on the opportunities on the continent, including a growing population, which will create demand for data centres, increasing participation, an active role played by hyperscalers, and increasing investment by governments.

It is conversation which provides much-needed context on the role that digital infrastructure plays in Africa’s digital transformation ambitions and how to tackle the current challenges.

You can reach out to Hlumelo on LinkedIn here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

Why did TymeBank rebrand to GoTyme?

A few weeks ago, South African digital bank TymeBank announced a rebrand from its widely recognised yellow-and-black brand to “GoTyme”, featuring a Tiffany blue and charcoal black colour palette.

But beyond the change in logos and colours is a much broader view of the bank’s service provision, which is now more globally oriented for a natively South African bank.

To shed some insights on the rebrand, head of marketing Lucia Malapane stopped by the Tech Aways podcast to expound on the rationale for the process.

She touches on the internal processes which formed the initial rebrand conversation, ensuring that the rebrand aligns with compliance requirements and how the rebrand aligns with GoTyme’s vision of a 2028 IPO.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

How has South Africa’s venture capital landscape changed from the time Mark Shuttleworth sold Thawte to Verisign, up to now?

One person who is well placed to answer this question is Keet van Zyl, co-founder and managing partner at Knife Capital. Having cut his teeth in VC at Shuttleworth’s family office, Here Be Dragons, Keet went on to found Knife Capital, which has since evolved into one of the continent’s foremost VC firms.

In this conversation, Keet chronicles his early days in VC, including Knife Capital’s early exit successes, the role Section 12J played in catalysing the country’s VC ecosystem, and the importance of the firm’s “Knowledge, Network and Fund” mantra in those early successes.

He also shares the recipe behind Knife Capital’s revered exit strategy, which has seen the firm’s portfolio companies exit to global tech companies including UberEats, Garmin and Ticketmaster.

If you are a startup founder and are looking to understand the thought process that drives a successful VC’s decision-making, this is the episode for you. If you are a VC and looking to learn from the best in the business, this is also the episode for you.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com

Early-stage startup founders in South Africa face various challenges, including a lack of capital, struggling to achieve product-market fit, and even loneliness.

In 2022, after he himself faced similar challenges when building his early-stage venture, Mathew Marsden founded Startup Club ZA.

The community, which comprises in-person events, awards, and now a platform to enable ecosystem stakeholders to share press releases, job listings, etc, has grown substantially.

In this episode, Mathew shares about the early days of Startup Club ZA, what is currently missing in SA’s VC ecosystem, the impact AI will have on early-stage builders, and much more.

Connect with Mathew on LinkedIn and check out the Startup Club ZA website.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com