The BIG5D Podcast

Episode 35 of the Big5D Podcast features an interview with Lavina Ramkissoon, a South African expert on artificial intelligence, who has adopted the personal brand "the aiMom". She is an advisor to the Africa Union and a co-founder of the Fintech Association of South Africa. The discussion is focused on the real opportunity for AI in Africa, particularly for businesses in Africa. This episode is s...

Episode 34 of the Big5D Podcast features an interview with Brenton Naicker, Director of Capital Formation and Growth at CV VC, a blockchain-focused Swiss venture firm that is actively investing in Africa. The interview includes Brenton's take on recent developments in the cryptocurrency industry. The bulk of the conversation deals with how blockchain-based startups are uniquely well-positioned to...

This episode features an interview with Andrew Katzwinkel, CEO of LayUp Technologies, a South African fintech that offers save now, buy later payments solutions to merchants large and small. This episode includes a discussion of LayUp''s efforts to establish SNBL as a responsible alternative to the popular but controversial buy now, pay later payments method. This episode is sponsored by Duda www....

This episode features an interview with Tyler Karahalios, Global Head of Special Projects and Merchant Banking for MarketForce, an East African retail distribution platform that was founded in Kenya in 2018. This episode includes a discussion of MarketForce's effort to build a super app for Africa's informal retailers. This episode is sponsored by Duda www.duda.co/

This episode features an interview with Firas Ahmad, Group CEO, AzamPay, an East African mobile money platform. Topics range from the future of mobile money to the state of venture investing in Africa. To access podcast bonus features, please subscribe at ctlaughlin.substack.com/ This episode is sponsored by Duda https://www.duda.co/

This episode features an interview with Zachariah George, MP of Launch Africa Ventures, an early-stage VC investing in African B2B startups. To access podcast bonus features, subscribe at https://ctlaughlin.substack.com/ Here is a link to the article on the demise of Kune Food.https://ctlaughlin.substack.com/i/60532660/the-sad-demise-of-kune-food This episode is sponsored by Matchcraft https://www...

Episode 29: Jason Sive, the CEO of South African virtual credit platform Mobicred talks about the problems facing the buy now, pay later space. This interview was recorded at the BigFive Summit, 12-13 May 2022 in Cape Town.

This episode features South Africa Shark Vinny Lingham talking about his new company Waitroom, why South Africa will never be a tech innovation leader, the true promise of blockchain, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. This episode is sponsored by Matchcraft

Episode 27 features Gideon Greaves, MD, Africa for CV VC, a Zurich-based blockchain-focused VC firm. Greaves was brought on last year to build the VC firm's Africa practice. As he explains in the podcast, there is plenty of activity among startups built on blockchain technology, many of which address small business pain points. What's missing, Greaves argues, is a stronger supporting ecosystem and...

In 2020, Guy Futi left Jumia, where he ran Jumia Food in Nigeria, to launch Orda, a Lagos-based software company that aspires to be the operating system for small (and also large) restaurants across Africa. Great conversation about launching a business and raising money with a born entrepreneur. This is a free version of the podcast. To listen to the full episode, please subscribe at https://ctlau...

Episode 25 of the BIG5D Podcast features a conversation with Mike Smits, CFO and a co-founder of Ukheshe, a South African fintech that provides API-first fintech-as-a-service solutions to banks, telecoms, and other fintech companies.

This episode features an interview with Ezana Raswork, CEO of Africa 118 and Taskmoby. The latter company is an Ethiopean home services platform that was a 2021recipient of Google's Black Founders Award, an equity-free investment from the search giant.

Postpay is a player in the Middle East buy now, pay later space. And it hopes soon in the wider Africa, Middle East, and Asian markets. A former consultant, Sheikh launched Postpay in 2019, around the same time as several other regional competitors. The podcast covers the BNPL business model, competitive environment, future direction, and more. Episode sponsored by Matchcraft.com

Deepankar Rustagi founded Omnibiz in 2020 to help small FMCG retailers run their businesses more efficiently. He explains his business and his outlook on Africa's tech scene in this 30-minute interview. The company recently raised $3 million to build out its product and pursue international expansion. Episode sponsored by Matchcraft (matchcraft.com)

The episode features an interview with Kennedy Kamau, a startup veteran who is now managing director of Kune Food, a food-tech startup in Nairobi that has a unique business model, using its own cloud kitchen and a fully owned and operated distribution network. The company raised a $1M pre-seed round this year. This event sparked a brief controversy over supposed preferential treatment for ex-pat s...

This episode features Martin Majlund, co-founder and CEO of Sky. Garden, an eCommerce that offers a Shopify-like solution to small businesses in East Africa. The company recently raised $4 million to grow and expand internationally. This episode is sponsored by Matchcraft.

This episode features a conversation about earned wage access with SmartWave CEO Simon Ellis. EWA is an increasingly common tool that gives employees access to wages before payday, usually for a small fee. EWA platforms are popping up all across Africa, where the need is acute. By some measures, nearly 80% of lower-wage workers in South Africa run out of money before payday, leaving them vulnerabl...

Mohamed Al Fayed is co-founder and CEO of grubtech company that is emerging as a key infrastructure player in the UAE’s exploding ghost kitchen scene. Grubtech has built an operating system to address the friction points arising from running a high-volume food delivery business.

Tori Samples is co-founder and CTO of Leaf Global Fintech, a company based in East Africa that offers a blockchain-based digital wallet for refugees and migrant workers. The podcast focuses on whether a mission-driven business can also be a scalable fintech. And why blockchain can transform the African small business fintech space. Note: The interview with Tori begins at the 6:45 mark.

This episode features Firas Ahmad, /CEO of AxamPay, an East African fintech that is a division of Azam Group, the East African conglomerate. Firas is a thought leader on African fintech in addition to running a payments platform. His view that mobile money is not sufficiently innovative forms the nucleus of our conversation.

Katharine Budd and her business partner Ian Dillon spotted a huge underserved community in the Gulf Region. The millions of lower-wage migrant workers are largely unbanked and send billions of dollars back to their families in their countries of origin. NOW Money has created a digital banking solution, including remittances. for this population. The TAM is huge, but so are the challenges facing th...

We engage Zapper CEO Brett White on the stage of small business in South Africa one year into the pandemic. We also discuss innovation, fintechs vs banks, and the technologies that will drive the payments space in the years to come.

Lauren Kagori works with Pezesha, a financial inclusion platform in East Africa that is trying to solve to problem of poor access to capital for small businesses through crowdfunding.

Flutterwave's head of global partnerships chats with the BIG5D Podcast about her company's meteoric rise to become of just a few tech unicorns in Africa. Among the topics covered include Flutterwave's $170 million Series C round, its new deal with PayPal, and the complexities of simplifying payments in Africa.

Dana Buys is a longtime software entrepreneur who had a vision for creating a technology that allows restaurant owners to manage their businesses through a mobile device. Cloudone's TallOrder point of sale solution is designed for a mobile-first present and self-service future in the retail, dining, and hospitality industries. His company's newest product VerPay, adds a needed trust layer to take...