The Flip

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?

This episode is the third of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. 

In this episode, we're joined by the investors. Tokunboh Ishmael is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Alithea Capital, a $100 million gender lens private equity fund. Andreata Muforo is a Partner at TLcom Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund with a 60% female partnership. 

00:00 - Investing in women is an economic imperative

02:12 - Introducing Tokunboh

04:04 - An Alitheia-led thesis

05:36 - What does gender-lens investing look like in practice?

11:49 - What about the financial returns? 

13:35 - Impact targets

17:24 - Are there enough women founders in the pipeline? 

19:54 - Women are over-mentored and under-funded

23:48 - Is a female investor backing a female founder a negative signal?

26:53 - What does success look like? 

29:47 - Introducing Andreata

31:15 - Why is a traditional VC fund like TLcom trying so hard to invest in more female founders?

33:03 - How VCs make investment decisions

36:18 - Only 25% of the pipeline has a female co-founder

40:44 - Is there a fundamental mismatch with VC and gender-lens investing?

42:31 - What does success look like? Part two

46:47 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & Justin

In Episode 1 of this series, we spoke to the founders: Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-founders

In Episode 2 of this series, we spoke to angel investor Yemi Keri, Co-founder of Rising Tide Africa: https://theflip.africa/podcast/this-angel-investor-is-closing-the-gender-funding-gap 

This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.

Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 

Our Links -

🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica  

💻 Website - https://theflip.africa

🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica

👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica

📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?

This episode is the second of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. 

In this episode, we're exploring Angel Networks with Yemi Keri, co-founder of Rising Tide Africa, a women-oriented angel network in Nigeria.

00:00 - Intro
01:42 - Rising Tide Africa
05:06 - Mentoring, Investment, Networking, Education
07:25 - Growing the pool of female angels
12:15 - Where are the interventions needed to close the gender funding gap?
14:13 - Yemi's investment approach
18:07 - What does success look like?
22:04 - Exits?
26:40 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & Justin

Episode 1 of this series featured Bamboo's Yanmo Omorogbe & Uncover's Sneha Mehta: https://theflip.africa/podcast/why-is-only-2-of-funding-going-to-female-founders

This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.

Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 

Our Links -
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it?

This episode is the first of a five-episode series on gender lens investing, co-hosted by Eloho Omame, Founding Partner of First Check Africa, an early-stage fund backing female-led startups. Each episode of this series will explore a different level of the fundraising value chain. 

In this episode, we're joined by the founders: Yanmo Omarogbe, the Co-founder and COO of the Nigerian investment platform Bamboo, and Sneha Mehta, the Co-founder and CEO of Uncover, a direct-to-consumer skincare brand in Kenya.

00:00 - Intro
02:00 - Yanmo & Sneha's fundraising experiences
13:19 - If tech companies raise more money, should more women start tech companies?
19:55 - What does "the ecosystem" need to be doing more of to help female founders?
25:26 - The added burdens for female founders
32:18 - What does success look like?
38:15 - Is money raised the right metric?
41:36 - The 2% Ceiling
47:30 - A retrospective conversation with Eloho & Justin

This series is created under the ScaleX project: Co-designing Solutions to close the early stage gender-financing gap in Africa, an initiative of Make-IT in Africa.

Make-IT in Africa promotes entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems across Africa for green and inclusive development. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements this project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 

Our Links -
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guest is Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Coronation Capital and former Group MD and CEO of Access Bank. 

Aigboje is one of the most successful and esteemed businesspeople on the continent. In 2002, he led the acquisition of Access Bank, which under his 11-year leadership grew into the largest bank in Nigeria and one of the largest in Africa.

This wide-ranging discussion with the Chairman took place during the 2023 UN General Assembly in New York at an event hosted by the early-stage VC fund Microtraction, in which we were joined in conversation with Microtraction's Founding Partner, Kwamena Afful.

00:00 - Intro
02:59 - Banks as vehicles for economic empowerment
06:28 - Africa's credit gap
13:08 - Aigboje's view on transition
16:50 - The infrastructure for Africa's comparative advantages
19:22 - Africa's risk premium
25:12 - "Africa will solve its problems when it starts producing in Africa"
29:54 - Building digital economies
32:09 - One African currency?
38:21 - Engendering Africa's potential

Our Links -
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guests are Natalie Kolbe, Ngetha Waithaka and Lexi Novitske - Partners of the $205 million growth fund Norrsken22. 

In this episode, we'll talk about investment strategy, valuations, perspectives for the ecosystem, exits, and much more. 

00:00 - Intro
00:48 - Norrsken22's $205m fundraise
09:36 - Investment strategy & process
12:43 - Investing in asset-light marketplaces
14:37 - Expansion
18:04 - Investment theses
27:26 - Macro perspectives
30:22 - What are the partners focused on and thinking about?
35:23 - Exits
40:49 - What does success look like?

Our Links -
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guest is Perseus Mlambo, Co-founder and CEO of Union54, the developers of the social commerce app ChitChat. 

The company started as Zazu, an agtech startup, which pivoted to Zazu the neobank. After issuing virtual cards for their users and seeing the demand other fintechs had for virtual cards, they pivoted to Union54 the card issuing API, which after massive traction in the fintech ecosystem and subsequent issues with fraud, has pivoted once more to ChitChat.

With many pivots come many lessons, and in this episode, Perseus shares his lessons and much more. 

00:00 - Intro
03:01 - Perseus' Pivots
05:14 - Union54 and chargeback fraud
09:37 - Are Union54's problems solvable?
12:30 - Stakeholder management
19:03 - Alternative options for the company
22:27 - Perseus' conviction in the team & the opportunity
27:00 - Union54's newest product, ChitChat
30:18 - ChitChat's unique cap table structure
34:37 - What's the vibe in the ecosystem?
38:05 - The vision for the company

Episode Links -
Perseus' interview with TechCrunch
Follow Perseus on Twitter

Our Links -
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guest is Adia Sowho, one of the most experienced and thoughtful operators in the African tech ecosystem. After starting her career in consulting and telecommunications, Adia led growth at the digital credit startup Migo, before leading the turnaround as Interim CEO of the embattled agriculture finance company Thrive Agric. 

In this episode, we'll learn from Adia about her lessons working across both big and small companies, about the importance of sharing those lessons learned, and so much more.  

00:00 - Intro
03:41 - Sharing is a must
07:19 - Lessons from the Thrive Agric turnaround
09:54 - Why join MTN?
17:47 - Where are the Sheryl Sandbergs?
20:32 - Lessons from every stage of company
31:24 - Nigeria is a hard operating environment
34:37 - More money, more problems?
35:34 - Wisdom for startups
37:53 - Sharing is a must, part 2
46:19 - Adia has a Substack

References -
The Anatomy of a Turnaround - https://theflip.africa/newsletter/the-anatomy-of-a-turnaround
Adia's Substack - https://adia.substack.com/
Follow Adia - https://twitter.com/adiaspeaks
Full episode transcript - https://theflip.africa/podcast/mtn-nigeria-s-adia-sowho-sharing-is-a-must

Our Links -
🔔 Youtube - https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica   
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter -  https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guest is Ham Serunjogi, the Co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash.

In 2021, Chipper raised $150 million Series C extension, valuing the startup at $2 billion, but has since cut its valuation, reportedly by 70 percent, has engaged in three rounds of layoffs, reducing its headcount by nearly 175 from its peak of 450, and has drastically pulled back from its aggressive growth and expansion strategies across the continent.

This conversation with Ham comes at an interesting time for Chipper and in the market, in general. Tough macro conditions on the continent, a slowdown of funding, tech layoffs. And at the same time, a lot of new and significant product launches for the company.  

00:00 - Intro

03:05 - Long-term perspectives & time horizons

06:13 - Challenges operating across Africa

08:20 - Reflecting on Chipper's growth strategies

11:25 - Chipper ID

15:40 - Full-stack vs. focus

19:40 - Zoona acquisition & agent networks

26:04 - What lessons has Ham learned?

30:15 - Layoffs

31:45 - Capital allocation going forward

34:24 - Zepz acquisition?

37:07 - More lessons

43:39 - What does the future look like for Chipper?

🔗 Our Links
🔔 Youtube -  https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guest is Dare Okoudjou, the Founder and CEO of MFS Africa, which this week has rebranded to Onafriq. 

The new name represents a new chapter in the company, which is a very different looking company than when we first had Dare on the show back in 2020, after their acquisition of Beyonic. Since then, they've also acquired the card issuer, GTP in the US, and the agent network Baxi in Nigeria. 

This current period of the African tech ecosystem is one of increased consolidation and company shutdowns amidst a fundraising downturn. And in this environment, there's perhaps no better and more experienced founder on the continent to learn from than Dare. 

00:00 - Intro
01:48 - What's in a name?
04:26 - Cross-border payments
13:51 - Banks vs. Fintechs
15:24 - Onafriq's role in the payment value chain
20:27 - The people aspect of acquisitions
24:08 - On fintech consolidation
29:55 - Dare's take on the state of the market
35:03 - On fundraising
37:56 - The next 5 years for Onafriq
39:19 - Exits?

🔗 Our Links
🔔 Youtube -  https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica

Today's guests are Michael Seibel, the Managing Director of Y Combinator, and Kwamena Afful, a Founding Partner of Microtraction. 

Michael has been an avid supporter of the African tech ecosystem. Since his first trip to Lagos in 2016, and since Paystack joined YC's winter batch earlier that year, the number of African startups that have participated in the global accelerator has grown to 89. 

And for Microtraction, the early-stage fund was founded in 2017, in part in relation to the increased global interest in the African tech ecosystem, where Microtraction's early financial support and local know-how could help fill the gap. 

In this episode, we hear from Michael and Kwamena about their shared perspectives on the opportunities they see and their bet on African talent.

00:00 - Intro
03:08 - Honorary Chieftan Michael Seilbel
04:28 - Supporting the African tech ecosystem
07:41 - Fintech deep dive
10:19 - Software companies crossing borders
14:49 - Solving African problems
22:24 - What about the continent's population growth?
25:47 - Investing in African talent
29:38 - Creating jobs
31:44 - Connecting African talent to the global marketplace

🔗 Our Links
🔔 Youtube -  https://youtube.com/@theflipafrica
💻 Website - https://theflip.africa
🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/theflipafrica
👥 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theflipafrica
📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/theflipafrica