🎙️ In this live podcast episode, recorded in front of an audience at the Founders Factory Africa offices in Johannesburg, an engaging panel discussion featuring our CEO, Bongani Sithole, alongside Meïssa Gueye, International Finance Corporation, Nicola Galombik, Executive Director, Yellowwoods Group, touch base on the African tech ecosystem, sharing practical and actionable insights, their personal anecdotes and perspectives on the current African VC landscape.

💡Key highlights from the panel discussion:

→ LP perspectives about Africa's venture landscape [11:46]

→ Support systems beyond funding [24:45]

→ Promoting the African ecosystem to crowd in local investors [29:38]

Listen to the full podcast episode here: ✅ ⬅️

Connect with Bongani Sithole on LinkedIn
Connect with Meïsa Gueye on LinkedIn
Connect with Nicola Galombik on LinkedIn
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Linkedin: / foundersfactoryafrica
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Twitter: / foundersffa

🎙️ CEO of Carbin Africa, Femi Oriowo, and Co-founder Fawaz Abdul go bar-for-bar with Andile Masuku (Head of Community, FFA) and Amara Muoneke (Venture Design Lead, FFA) in this podcast episode, uncovering how Carbin Africa is changing the game in the auto retail space throughout Africa and joining the Founders Factory Africa Gen F initiative working alongside Amara Muoneke to refine their concept.

Carbin Africa is a leading B2B automobile platform that is revolutionizing the way cars are traded across Africa. Operating primarily in Nigeria, our platform connects car dealerships and auto merchants from across the continent, providing a seamless and efficient solution for their business needs.

What to look forward to in this episode:

• How it all began for Carbin Africa [03:03]
• Connecting car dealerships to auto merchants [12:16]
• Working with the FFA Gen F team [29:45]

Sign up for the Not So Secret Sauce Newsletter: ✅ http://eepurl.com/iwW_hw ⬅️

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Femi Oriowo on LinkedIn
Connect with Fawaz Abdul on LinkedIn
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Linkedin: / foundersfactoryafrica
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Twitter: / foundersffa

Not So Secret Sauce S2 EP9: Coming home to roost with Pullus Africa

🎙️ In this episode, Opeoluwa Fayomi, co-founder and CEO of Pullus Africa, shares her founder origin story from making extra cash doing graphic design while studying Engineering Physics in the hope of working at the National Aeronautical Space Agency to building a tech solution for poultry farmers that led her to join the Founders Factory Africa Gen F initiative and working alongside Yunus Ibrahim (Venture Builder, Venture Studio) to refine and validate her concept.

Pullus uses data-driven technology to boost local poultry production and supply chain by facilitating access to quality Input, advisory and production critical services, finance, and a guaranteed market for poultry farmers in Africa.

In other news... Pullus has announced its collaboration with Heifer Nigeria to impact the livelihoods of 5,000 small-scale poultry farmers in Kaduna and Nasarawa States, Nigeria. This partnership amplifies Pullus Africa's mission to build the largest network of productive and profitable Poultry farmers in Nigeria and Africa. Read all about it: ✅ https://bit.ly/4ah0hpX ⬅️

What to look forward to in this episode:

• Ope's founder journey and Pullus origin story [01:24]
• Working with the FFA Gen F team [13:27]
• Building for poultry tech in Nigeria [40:08]

Sign up for the Not So Secret Sauce Newsletter: ✅ http://eepurl.com/iwW_hw ⬅️

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Opeoluwa Fayomi on LinkedIn
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Linkedin: / foundersfactoryafrica
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Twitter: / foundersffa

Not So Secret Sauce S2 EP8: Exploring the Intersection of Events with Tech Ecosystem Momentum

In this episode, Kadi Diallo, Portfolio Manager for the Africa Tech Festival, talks to our Head of Community, Andile Masuku, about the importance of events as a driver of tech ecosystem momentum. Kadi unveils the secrets to organising communities through conferences and events that make a tangible difference to the ecosystem’s growth.

What to look forward to in this episode:

• Defining community and fellowship [08:52]
• Addressing the critical needs of your community through gatherings [10:48]
• The big opportunity for community building in Africa [13:26]
• Tracking conversions and assessing key results from an event [14:21]
• Leveraging the power of collaborations and strategic partnerships [15:49]
• Transactional mutual benefit community building [18:17]
• Managing stakeholders in a complex web of interconnections [19:56]
• Curating Pan-Africa-relevant gatherings for diverse audiences [21:21]
• Most surprising observations about curating tech-focused events within Africa [23:39]
• Using AI technology to optimise event management and hack unique experiences [24:34]
• Community database creation and management [31:44]

Sign up for the Not So Secret Sauce Newsletter: ✅ http://eepurl.com/iwW_hw ⬅️

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Linkedin: / foundersfactoryafrica
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Twitter: / foundersffa
Connect with Kadi Diallo on LinkedIn

Not So Secret Sauce S2 EP7: Hacking Africa's Startup Ecosystem

Abderrahmane Chaoui, Chief Exploration Officer at Sendemo, lets us into his world of journalism, network building, and reporting on the African tech ecosystem. Sendemo is a research-based consultancy for African startup ecosystems, offering services like ecosystem assessment, market research, and industry forecasts. Chaoui talks through the behind-the-scenes and his approach to gaining a deeper understanding of the contexts shaping the future of innovation in Africa.

What to look forward to in this episode:

• When it all began [06:50]
• Forming relationships with ecosystem players remotely [12:55]
• Challenging startup ecosystem reporter perceptions [19:06]
• Important skills to leverage networking opportunities [23:29]
• Lessons learned while reporting on the African startup ecosystem [28:00]
• Writing to shape a reader's view [29:14]
• Forecasting the African startup tech ecosystem? [33:36]

Sign up for the Not So Secret Sauce Newsletter: ✅ http://eepurl.com/iwW_hw ⬅️

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Linkedin: / foundersfactoryafrica
Connect with Founders Factory Africa on Twitter: / foundersffa
Connect with Abderrahmane Chaoui on LinkedIn: / abderrahmane-chaoui

Not So Secret Sauce S2 EP6: Navigating Technical Debt in Early Startups: Product Validation

In this final episode of a two-part series on the Not So Secret Sauce Podcast, Kevin Odongo, Senior Software Architect at Founders Factory Africa, and Fabian Elliot, Africa Startup and Venture Capital Business Development Manager at Google Cloud for Startups, get into the detail of product validation once a product is in market, and the tools available to founders once there.

What to look forward to in this episode:

• Defining product validation in the ecosystem context [04:39]
• Product validation tools [08:08]
• Design, develop, test, release, feedback, and plan [12:54]
• Details about the Google Cloud for Startups program [13:51]
• Leveraging Google Cloud support [18:52]
• Going back to the drawing board [20:33]
• Knowing when to iterate and when to stop [24:11]
• The role of the Product Manager [26:19]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Fabian Elliot on Linkedin.

Sign up for the Not So Secret Sauce Newsletter: ✅ http://eepurl.com/iwW_hw ⬅️

Not So Secret Sauce S2 EP5: Navigating Technical Debt in Early Startups: Speed vs. Quality

In this first episode of a two-part series on the Not So Secret Sauce Podcast, Kevin Odongo, Senior Software Architect at Founders Factory Africa, and Fabian Elliot, Africa Startup and Venture Capital Business Development Manager at Google Cloud for Startups, guide aspiring entrepreneurs through the critical journey of bringing their product to market.

What to look forward to in this episode:

• Core pieces of technical infrastructure founders should have in place [04:15]
• Evaluating market readiness [08:55]
• Leveraging Google Cloud tools [13:01]
• Red flags to look out for in preparation for market entry [17:10]
• Prototyping and getting direct market feedback [21:46]
• Going to market as an early-stage venture [26:07]
• When to consider technical debt for your startup [33:47]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Fabian Elliot on Linkedin.

Sign up for the Not So Secret Sauce Newsletter: ✅ http://eepurl.com/iwW_hw ⬅️

Not So Secret Sauce S2 EP4: Curating network effects to mobilise communities

This episode features Tayo Akinyemi, host and producer of The Trajectory Africa, a “pop-up” podcast that explores the pathways of venture capital and how startups form in Africa, and Ammin Youssouf, co-founder of The Colors and, critically, Afrobytes, a connection point between the African tech sector and other global tech ecosystems.

They discuss how communities can be better equipped to solve big problems than any one individual or organization and how collaboration is a consequence of community.

What to look forward to in this episode:

• The ice-breaker! [02:37]
• The role community has played in their journey [13:00]
• Collaboration as a consequence of community [17:50]
• Communities are better equipped to solve big problems [26:02]
• Curating network effects to [30:54]
• Driving human connection in a digitized world [40:19]

CONNECT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:

Connect with Tayo Akinyemi
Connect with Ammin Youssouf

😉 #FFACommunity Perk: Africa Tech Festival Visitors passes in Cape Town, South Africa are on us: ✅ https://bit.ly/45K6I24 ⬅️