Viola Llewellyn is the co-founder and President of Ovamba Solutions. Ovamba is an award winning African “FinTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies to serve African SMEs with innovative Sharia compliant finance products, eCommerce, and logistics services to promote growth. Ovamba’s technology gives global accredited and institutional investors the opportunity to invest in the fast-growing African private sector. On this episode you'll learn: The difference between Francophone and Anglophone African markets. Why African SME's face such a challenge in access to growth capital. What is the current growth trajectory in the Cameroon tech ecosystem?

Phin Mpofu is a globally connected entrepreneurship evangelist. He is the Founder & Chairman of Global Symbiotic Partnerships a venture firm founded to create strategic partnerships with various stakeholders across all sectors. It's portfolio of ventures and affiliations include HOMESPLACE, a FinTech startup working to provide a hybrid residential mortgage leveraging crowd funding ; Tech Beach Retreat, an annual gathering of 250 tech influencers held in Montego Bay, Jamaica; Startup Grind, the largest entrepreneurial community in the world designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs, The Centre for Corporate & Startup Partnerships (CASP) and The Centre for Government & Startup Partnerships (GASP), Think Tanks and consultancies that facilitate and champion strategic partnerships between Corporates/Governments and startups. On this episode you'll learn: How Thames Valley's tech ecosystem complements London's ecosystem. What peaked Phin's interest when getting involved in helping build the caribbean's startup ecosystem? How to accelerate partnerships between corporates and startups.

Carl Viel is the CEO of Québec International, the economic development agency in Québec City's region. The agency contributes to the economic development in the Quebec City metropolitan region and enhance its international status. It fosters business growth and development, supports key clusters and attracts talent and investment to the region.

Originally from Quebec City, Carl Viel received his bachelor's degree in economics and a corporate governance certificate from Laval University. He also completed training programs in entrepreneurship (MIT), leadership (NTL Institute) and coaching (Niagara Institute). After nearly 20 years in the private sector, he held managerial positions with various economic organizations, including as vice-president of Montreal International and general manager of Montreal InVivo, prior to joining Québec International as CEO in 2008.

On this episode you'll learn:

Is there a single event or catalyst you can point to that has driven the biggest change in the ecosystem?

Quebec has been great at capturing economic data on their ecosystem, what methodologies or advice does Carl have on economic reporting and strategic monitoring?

What are Quebec's strongest tech verticals?

What's the best resource to stay up to date on the Quebec ecosystem?

Alice Schutt is the General Manager for Metta. Metta was created by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs, with the purpose of driving knowledge sharing, innovation, and business. After working for Goodyear Tires in Shanghai for two years, Alice left the corporate world and began working in the F&B industry, managing boutique restaurants and events in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. She particularly enjoyed the entrepreneurial energy she found in this competitive and engaging environment. She later joined a Hong Kong fintech SME, marketing financial analysis tools for two years, before moving to TIE, a global non-profit, which organizes mentorship programmes for start-ups.

Host Andrew Berkowitz reflects on 2 years of traveling around the world meeting with and interviewing startup ecosystem leaders. Andrew also announces his upcoming travel schedule which includes Quebec, Lagos, New Orleans, and more!

Luis Cuende returns to the show to give us an update on Aragon. Aragon is everything you need to run your company on Ethereum. This includes cap table, governance, fundraising, payroll, accounting, bylaws, and more. Aragon companies are extremely customizable, and you get everything in a unified, beautiful interface. Aragon was born to disintermediate the creation and maintenance of companies and other organizational structures. They are inspired by Nobel prize Ronald Coase and his paper "The Nature of the Firm" and Yochai Benkler's "Linux and the Nature of the Firm." Luis has been awarded as the best underage European programmer in 2011, is a Forbes 30 Under 30, a MIT TR35 and was an Advisor to the VP of the European Commission. He previously cofounded the blockchain startup Stampery. What does the concept of about the concept of governance mean in a decentralized, blockchain world? Can Luis break down some of the different organizational governance models that would function best on the Aragon platform? How does Aragon's decentralized court system that utilizes peer to peer conflict resolution work? What does Aragon's tech stack and partnerships look like? What are the most pressing solutions needed when it comes to the basic tools for developers in the Ethereum ecosystem?

Kwangu-Kwako works with local people to provide opportunities to invest in and improve their own communities. Their precast concrete panel solution benefits the home owner, the landlord and the tenant, everybody wins. They provide a safer, simple, cost effective alternative to Mabati structures (corrugated iron sheet & bush pole). The concept is a self-generating upgrade of the slums, through a robust investment argument it produces a win for owner/occupiers, landlords and the tenant families. On This Episode you'll learn: What are the sources of capital for social impact startups in Kenya? What does small business entrepreneurship mean in the slums of Africa? What are the current challenges facing the slums in Nairobi? What are the challenges of scale in social impact?

Chika Umeadi is a partner at Tiphub, an impact driven investment manager built upon a community of entrepreneurs in Africa and the African Diaspora. Tiphub's mission is to support the launch of the next generation of African and African Diaspora ventures. On this episode you'll learn: Outside of access to capital, what are the common challenges for Nigerian entrepreneurs Chika works with? How has deal flow coming out of Nigeria evolved since Chika started Tiphub? Has Chika seen an uptick in startup activity outside of Lagos? Whats the balance of Venture vs. Angel capital in Nigeria?

Joe Urgo is a cofounder of district0x, where he is helping to decentralize the world's marketplaces. He previously founded Sourcerers in 2016 with the goal of supporting the top minds and teams building Ethereum-based projects. He was an early employee at Coinbase, serving as a Support Operations Manager.

Simon Galpin has over 25 years experience of economic development and a track record of delivering thousands of foreign direct investment projects. From Scotland to Hong Kong and now in Bahrain. Simon is hoping to replicate the energy and success of the StartmeupHK campaign in Bahrain in order to attract more angel investors, founders and entrepreneurs to the Middle East. On this episode you'll learn: How Bahrain has become a significant fintech player in the MENA region -In Simon's experience in economic development across the world, has he found proximity to encourage collaboration or competition between countries? -How should a city’s economic development organization think about crafting policies for the global expat community? -Is their a single policy change or an initiative Simon has been a part of that he can point to and say this was the single best catalyst in attracting foreign investment capital?