Episode 27 features Gideon Greaves, MD, Africa for CV VC, a Zurich-based blockchain-focused VC firm.

Greaves was brought on last year to build the VC firm's Africa practice. As he explains in the podcast, there is plenty of activity among startups built on blockchain technology, many of which address small business pain points. What's missing, Greaves argues, is a stronger supporting ecosystem and more capital.

Greaves will also speak at our upcoming BigFive Summit, 11-13 May 2022 in Cape Town.

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In 2020, Guy Futi left Jumia, where he ran Jumia Food in Nigeria, to launch Orda, a Lagos-based software company that aspires to be the operating system for small (and also large) restaurants across Africa.

Great conversation about launching a business and raising money with a born entrepreneur.

This is a free version of the podcast. To listen to the full episode, please subscribe at https://ctlaughlin.substack.com/

Episode 25 of the BIG5D Podcast features a conversation with Mike Smits, CFO and a co-founder of Ukheshe, a South African fintech that provides API-first fintech-as-a-service solutions to banks, telecoms, and other fintech companies.

This episode features an interview with Ezana Raswork, CEO of Africa 118 and Taskmoby. The latter company is an Ethiopean home services platform that was a 2021recipient of Google's Black Founders Award, an equity-free investment from the search giant.

Postpay is a player in the Middle East buy now, pay later space. And it hopes soon in the wider Africa, Middle East, and Asian markets.

A former consultant, Sheikh launched Postpay in 2019, around the same time as several other regional competitors. The podcast covers the BNPL business model, competitive environment, future direction, and more.

Episode sponsored by Matchcraft.com

Deepankar Rustagi founded Omnibiz in 2020 to help small FMCG retailers run their businesses more efficiently. He explains his business and his outlook on Africa's tech scene in this 30-minute interview.

The company recently raised $3 million to build out its product and pursue international expansion.

Episode sponsored by Matchcraft (matchcraft.com)

The episode features an interview with Kennedy Kamau, a startup veteran who is now managing director of Kune Food, a food-tech startup in Nairobi that has a unique business model, using its own cloud kitchen and a fully owned and operated distribution network.

The company raised a $1M pre-seed round this year. This event sparked a brief controversy over supposed preferential treatment for ex-pat startup founders in Africa. Kune's founder is a French national.

This episode is sponsored by MatchCraft, a global martech firm with partners on six continents. Please visit them at matchcraft.com.

This episode features Martin Majlund, co-founder and CEO of Sky.Garden, an eCommerce that offers a Shopify-like solution to small businesses in East Africa. The company recently raised $4 million to grow and expand internationally.

This episode is sponsored by Matchcraft.

This episode features a conversation about earned wage access with SmartWave CEO Simon Ellis. EWA is an increasingly common tool that gives employees access to wages before payday, usually for a small fee. EWA platforms are popping up all across Africa, where the need is acute. By some measures, nearly 80% of lower-wage workers in South Africa run out of money before payday, leaving them vulnerable to payday lenders. Simon walks us through the business model, detailing both its challenges and opportunities.

Mohamed Al Fayed is co-founder and CEO of grubtech company that is emerging as a key infrastructure player in the UAE’s exploding ghost kitchen scene.Grubtech has built an operating system to address the friction points arising from running a high-volume food delivery business.