In this episode, we talk to Mimi Kufuor, a Ghanaian finance veteran now leading operations at KoinKoin, an Africa-focused cryptocurrency exchange.

From her childhood split between Accra and Manhattan, to a creative youth shaped by her dressmaker mother, Mimi explains how she chose economics over early dreams of computer science or law, landed on Credit Suisse’s trading floor, led strategy projects across investment banks, joined Meta during lockdown, and ultimately leapt into a fintech startup building a Coinbase-style platform for the continent.

Nearly three years into the new company, she discusses the early struggles of crypto adoption, Ghana’s new regulatory framework, and why digital assets can tackle Africa’s currency instability, high remittance costs, and cross-border challenges.

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On today's episode, we spoke to Yasmin Kumi, the founder of the Africa Foresight Group. Yasmin was born to German and Ghanaian parents and lived most of her life in Germany.

She worked as a senior consultant for McKinsey & Company, where she advised clients in Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and South Africa in the consumer goods and banking industry. But in 2016, she decided to start her own company, which she called Africa Foresight Group, which focused on Africa and consultancy. In 2020, the company raised $700,000 in seed funding from investors.

Check out more about the business here: Africaforesight.com

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Yanmo Omorogbe is the co-founder and COO of Bamboo, a digital investment platform that gives Nigerians real-time access to buy, sell or hold assets traded on the US stock exchange from their mobile phones or computers.

Before becoming COO of Bamboo, Yanmo worked at the Ministry of Power in Nigeria and then worked at an infrastructure investment firm. After struggling to purchase stocks and other assets from Nigeria, she and her co-founder decided to try and fix that problem.

In 2019, they launched Bamboo, and in 2022, raised $17 million in their Series A round.

Learn more about the company here: investbamboo.com

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Akua Nyame-Mensah is a leadership advisor, certified executive and leadership coach (ICF), recognized L&D facilitator, speaker, and host of the Open Door Conversations Podcast.

As a former startup executive, she launched an online platform for the first African-based technology group unicorn, Jumia Group

Akua has had the opportunity to live and work in the U.S., Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa and has consulted in and visited over 30 countries worldwide. She now partners with multinational organizations and high-growth startups to design and implement leadership experiences and immersions virtually and in person worldwide. 

Outside of her coaching and corporate speaking engagements, she is a regular mentor, coach, and judge for various entrepreneurship-focused organizations, including Stanford Seed, Google for Startups, Arlan's Academy, Founders Institute, Seedstars, African Business Heroes, FemGems, and The Women's Impact Alliance (formerly The Coaching Fellowship). 

Open Door Conversations Podcast Link: https://www.akuanm.com/podcast

PeopleBeforeStrategy Roundtable: https://www.akuanm.com/roundtable

Prefered Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akuanm/

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Jorge Appiah is a Ghanaian technopreneur and is the founder of the tech hub called Kumasi Hive and also the EV company SolarTaxi.

Jorge founded Kumasi Hive after his university studies which brought in people who had an interest in engineering and making hardware.

Later on, with a passion for creating net zero projects, he founded an EV company called Solar Taxi, which manufactures and assembles electric vehicles in Ghana. The company is currently on a path to build EV vehicles locally with the acquisition of a license from the government to assemble vehicles locally in Ghana.

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Sylvia Brune is currently the CEO at pawaPass, an inclusive verification platform for Africans that enables access to services using biometrics that can be captured on any smartphone

Sylvia started her entrepreneurial journey when she was part of the management team that ran Africa’s first accelerator program, 88mph. The program invested in 45 companies from 2011-2015 across Nairobi and Cape Town, and in Lagos as 440NG, a JV with L5 Labs. 

She then started to start her own company called AHOY, a concierge flight booking app that empowered frequent travelers with DIY tools and 24/7 support for flight management. She ran the business from 2015 to 2021.

She then started pawaPass after AHOY had to be shut down because of COVID. The company is working with brands and companies, helping to increase the number of people who can access opportunities such as remote jobs, online trade, and financial services.

Learn more about the company here: pawaPass.com

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For our first episode of Season 3, we spoke to Carmelle Cadet. Carmelle is Haitian but grew up in the US after she emigrated. She worked for IBM for 10 years, focusing on payments and blockchain. But she decided to try to make it out her own and decided to start her own company called EMTECH which focuses on Web3 and digital currencies for countries including Ghana.

She raised $4 million from Venture Capitalists in 2023 and is currently on a mission to make digital currencies for multiple countries a reality.

Learn more about EMTECH on their website and their mission: emtech.com

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It's been a while but we're back!

Brand new episodes of What's Your Story will be debuting in March. So stay tuned.

Also, please subscribe to our other podcast show, the "Labari Media" podcast where we do interviews with different folks from different sectors in Ghana and Africa.

Check out all our shows here: techlabari.com/podcasts

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We talked to Elizabeth Aggrey, a Partner at the law firm Purple & Ashes.

Elizabeth was born in Nigeria and started practicing law after she passed the Nigerian bar. She eventually met and married her future husband who happened to be Ghanaian. She eventually made up her mind to move to Ghana and practice law in the country. She studied and passed the Ghana Bar Exam and eventually set up her Purple and Ashes law firm.

The law firm currently helps clients deal with market entry strategies and regulatory compliance.

Website: Purple and Ashes

Bonus: Our new show, the Labari Media Podcast will premiere on Wednesday 13th September. Subscribe here: Labari Media Podcast • A podcast on Spotify for Podcasters

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Christabel E. Dadzie is the founder of Ahaspora, a group that helps professional Ghanaian returnees with help and support. Before Christabel founded the group, she studied international relations at the College of Wooster in 2004 and then went on to continue her graduate study at Colombia University.

It was when she returned to Ghana in 2010 that she realized that there was a need for a support group for Ghanaian returnees. So with twelve other Ghanaian returnees, they help formed the Ahaspora group in 2011 as a listserv. Currently, the group has 1800 members.

Christabel currently works for the World Bank as a Social Protection Specialist but makes time to help manage the listserv where they schedule happy hour events and other projects to help give back to the local community.

Enjoy the episode which is brought by Paystack. Sign up for a Paystack account at paystack.com/technova and start receiving payments for your website or online business

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