Voices and Visions

Why are so many women entrepreneurs still overlooked by investors? Across East Africa, women lead a significant share of small and growing businesses, shaping local economies, creating jobs and building companies with regional ambitions. Still, access to private capital remains one of the biggest barriers to growth. In this episode of Voices & Visions, Ivana Heijnen sits down with Carolyne Kir...

What makes investors say yes? As global venture markets become more selective, founders across Africa are discovering that fundraising goes beyond finding investors. In this episode of Voices & Visions, Ivana Heijnen sits down with Francis Nasyomba, CEO of Raisin Capital and creator of Capital Connect, to explore how capital actually moves across African markets. Drawing on more than fifteen y...

For many people, M-Pesa is known as a mobile money platform. In reality, it has become a critical layer of Kenya's economic infrastructure. In this conversation, Andrew Mutha and Peter Gichangi of Safaricom unpack how M-Pesa evolved from a simple money transfer service into an ecosystem supporting payments, savings, credit, insurance, investments, and cross-border transactions. The discussion...

Climate adaptation is often discussed as a future challenge. For many African businesses, it is already an operational reality. In this conversation, Victor Ndiege, CEO of Kenya Climate Ventures, breaks down what climate investing actually looks like on the ground, from financing structures and local currency investing to the role SMEs play in strengthening economic resilience across African marke...

In this episode of Voices & Visions, Ivana Heijnen speaks with George Odo, Senior Partner at AfricInvest, bringing nearly three decades of experience across development finance and private equity. The conversation explores capital deployment across African markets, the realities shaping investment decisions, and the way businesses scale across regions. The episode covers: Private equity, ventu...

Rewriting the Narrative of Kenyan Coffee with Ritesh Doshi | Voices & Visions For the first episode of Voices & Visions , host Ivana Jeinen sits down with Ritesh Doshi, CEO of Spring Valley Coffee, one of Kenya’s leading specialty coffee companies. From building Kenya’s first scalable pizza delivery business to leading a premium coffee brand expanding internationally, Ritesh shares a groun...