Startup Couches

I had Michael on the couch and we spoke about Vently, an event platform, combining social media with events, basically building a community around events. He wants to make events more fun, providing value for event organizers, vendors and event attendees too. He shares lessons he has learned on the journey and what he plans for the year.

On the couch with Toyin, we talk about Woodcore, a cloud banking enterprise infra platform that provides services covering bank back-office, enterprise systems, KYC offerings, bank transfers, etc. They cater to traditional MFBs, traditional with digital channels MFBs, fully digital MFBs, fintech, asset managers, e-commerce platforms, ride-hailing platforms, etc. He also talked about the impressive...

Ronald and I had a conversation on the couch about TwaMeRequest, a platform to revolutionalize the requisition process. Making it easy to make payment request to anyone such as employers, friends, family. He talked about where the product is at the moment and the future plans for the product.

I had a call with Oreoluwa on the couch today to talk about a trackable prepaid debit card for teens and kids and comes with a planner app for parents to guide the spend and set boundaries called Little. It is aiming to develop good money habits for kids as early as possible. He shares why parents are an integral part of this movement and the ambitious plans for 2022.

On the couch with Ritchie, he shares about Getly, a social gifting platform that lets users send and receive gifts from their favorite online stores. You can send gifts to people, send out a Wishlist, gifting service. Anything can be a gift, any link can be a gift, people who work at startups. He also talks about expanding to India after Nigeria, and a lot more!

Great chat with Israel and Marcel about the Insurtech space and Mizala an insurance product. With Mizala they are bringing back trust in the insurance space and changing the narrative of how insurance is run in Africa. Mizala has started with retail insurance starting with car insurance, previously catered to the unemployed market but pivoted through insights from user feedback after underwriting...

John is the CEO of this amazing fintech startup in Tanzania building payment solutions for businesses in Africa to accept mobile money and international card payments. Swahilies already has 7,000 customers and 70 businesses up to $8k/mo. They have almost gotten their Payment infrastructure license in Tanzania and plan to raise VC money and target 500k people by expanding to Kenya this year. John a...

Oscar sits on the couch to share about Africacomicade, a platform celebrating the works of creatives in games, comics and XR. Showcasing the talent and connecting them to opportunities, jobs, capital through creative initiatives including multiple events and partnerships and creating a community in Africa with a physical presence. He talked about the metaverse and how early the technology is and h...

Natalie and Nigel both talk about New Comma, the social media platform for African creatives all over the world to connect, learn, create, earn money. They shared how it all started, the vision, and the exciting plans for the year.

I had a great call with Nana, he told me all about the new online-only digital banking app and web platform, you can deposit and save, budget, analytics, investing and lending, and get a virtual and physical card. It also has a credit rating platform built for the Underbanked, unbanked people that are tech-savvy. He shared some valuable lessons too like never putting all your eggs in one basket an...

I called Ugo, CEO of MyServiceAgent and we talked about the voice-based customer engagement platform for African businesses. A lot of interesting ideas and products already out utilizing voice to provide a better customer service experience. MyServiceAgent has products like Virtual call center, voice survey through calls, telemarketing through voice, auth, and verification all through voice.

James tells us about this nationwide phone company, that makes sure that actual people do support and are always available to help and seeing the many new creative things your phone can do.

Soner is on the couch today with an interesting product, AI driven ultrasound device to help doctors do virtual diagnoses and collect data from patients, interestingly his brother the CTO is in the tech side of the medical field. He shared the personal experiences and losses that led to them pursuing this mission, enjoy

Alim and Tom are on the couch today, they talk about how they are redefining how education is being delivered by solving from the root, so focus on the teachers is super important. This product supports educators from day 1 to wherever they want to be in the long term. They are rebuilding education space through transforming educators themselves.

Lanre talks about helping companies stay on top of the game with My Identity Pay by easily identifying their customers seamlessly, making sure that they are fully compliant, and adhere to laid down rules by the regulators. He also talks about his journey with the product and what the future plans are, enjoy

Nima, CTO at Mosaic tells us about the Mosaic product, a resource planning platform, allocation management by PMs, bottom-up features where everyone in a company can be a part of.

Andrii is on the couch telling us about Mnemonic, a centralized place for NFTs, the only link you’d only need for all your NFTs. Andrii also told us about concepts like digital twins and the reseller market for these digital assets, enjoy

Daniel talks about New Society for Wellness, a private members club for adventurers, and combating shame within sexual exploration, with a massively growing community that expands through referrals, private events and workshops.

Chiamaka tells us about StartWeb Africa and how the website builder is helping people get their work out there and go online in Africa, and the thoughts they had during their journey so far, she also mentions plans of supporting creators who can make a living using the platform, enjoy

Tony, Oyster's CEO talks about this distributed HR platform, making hiring from anywhere in the world the same experience as hiring locally. They provide a delightful experience with an employment infrastructure that is scalable for you the employer.

On the couch, KD tells us about a platform for you to design, create, collaborate and scale your marketing, it takes a village. Digital tools at a fractional cost and at less time without prior experience. Targeting digital marketers and scaling to businesses with Simplified

Serag is on the couch today and he is talking about the first browser to be built in Africa to help solve the problem a lot of people face, saving 30% of your data costs and automated chargebacks while they shop online. Already has 1.5 million users on android primarily from Egypt, planning to launch in Nigeria soon, 65% of the user base are under 25, enjoy!

Ali talks about expats and the accommodation needs they have when they come to work in new countries like Egypt, a real estate management company, serviced and furnished residences and co-working spaces and services for businesses and even individuals who want temporal accommodations

Carlos on the couch today talking about an end-to-end barbershop software that streamlines the barbershop business starting in Maimi

Ryan talks about the mission at K50 Ventures, the funds they manage, and their philosophy for investments, he highlights how diverse the portfolio is and the work they are doing to invest in LatAM and African founders who are changing the world as we know it. He also explains the investment process and how K50 Ventures partners with you to achieve your goals.