On this episode Patrick sits down with Amanda Jacobson, Chief of Staff at Oyster Financial, a business account provider and all in one financial solution for startups in Mexico. We chat about her journey in the Latin American ecosystem, beginning with her role at Village Capital to finally making the jump from VC to full time at a scale-up. Amanda makes a compelling case for the importance of long-term, non-transactional relationships to build you business success and raise capital with leadi...

This episode takes us out of our lockdown homes over to Eastern Africa, where Mbwana with his team is building Savannah Fund, an early stage VC. After taking Russel Simons (Co-founder @Yelp) out on Safari, he became a crucial backer in Fund I. Recently Savannah reached a first close of their second fund at US$ 25M with the backing of IFC and Silicon Valley legend Tim Draper (IFC press release here). To date Savannah has invested in +30 deals across the continent and their portfoli...

On this episode Patrick sits down with Georg Wolff, a German entrepreneur and co-founder of successful D2C leather accessory brand Buckle & Seam.We dive into his journey as a founder, the challenges they faced producing in-house at their own manufacturing plant in Pakistan, scaling a D2C brand and their goal of "educating 10,000 kids in the country."On this episode you will learn about: How to set up the supply chain for a D2C brand with production in a developing market whilst...

On this episode Patrick sits down with Alex Galvez, an entrepreneur himself, but also a very active angel investor and podcaster. Alex has invested in dozens of deals across Latin America and beyond. He has invested in dozens of deals across Latin America and beyond providing us with compelling insights into the world of angel investing, deal diversification and portfolio construction. Further along in the discussion, we dive into the latests trends touching on SPACs, Solo VCs and ...

On this episode Patrick sits down with Gabriel Weintraub, Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Marcos Singer, Professor and Dean of the MBA programme at Universidad Catolica de Chile to discuss the relevance of universities in creating entrepreneurial ecosystems. We dive into the role of Stanford and explore its replicability to other markets. Marcos and Gabriel alike make a compelling case for the importance of universities in wider ecosystems. Along the discussion, we ...

On this episode Patrick sits down with Katjana Kammin, Head of Portfolio at early stage venture firm MEST, to discuss the latest developments in the Western African ecosystem with a specific focus on Ghana and Nigeria. Based out of the firm's HQ in Accra, Ghana, Katjana leads the firms's start-up portfolio investing in African entrepreneurs at the early stages as well as providing them with key resources and support on their scale-up journey through MEST's curated network of mentors and ...

On this episode Patrick sits down with Jenny Johnston, Associate at Flourish, Omidyar Network's fintech fund, to discuss the latest developments in the fintech space in Latam. Based out of the firms HQ in the Bay Area, Jenny leads the organisation's work for Latin America with investments ranging from Neobanks Albo and Neon to Brazilian's Guiabolso. Jenny makes a compelling case for the opportunities of Fintech in emerging markets and the strong potential Latam especially has on financial inn...

On this episode Patrick sits down with Dani Tricarico, former Executive Director of ASEA, to talk about the building blocks of entrepreneurial ecosystems, the particularities of the Argentine ecosystem and a call for more collaboration amongst the countries in Latin America. Dani has shaped the Argentine ecosystem over the last decade negotiating and advocating on behalf of the 35,000 members of ASEA (Argentine's Association for Entrepreneurs) for a fairer playing field for entrepr...

This episode takes us into the story of Co-Founder and CEO, Gerardo Salandra of Respond.io, a business platform that revolutionizes customer interaction across messenger platforms. We dive into his journey of becoming an entrepreneur, the challenges he has faced on the way, building the team and his take on why tech solutions for emerging markets are future-proof and actually ahead of developed markets. On this episode you will learn: Motivations for starting a company and how experienc...