The Founders Peak Podcast

CEO/Co-founder of Fingo Africa, YC S21 favourite company. PPE University of Warwick Raised 4 million dollar seed round

Rich Teo co-founded Paxos in 2012 and currently serves as CEO Asia of Paxos. Paxos is an institutionally focused crypto services provider that counts PayPal, Bank of America, Mastercard and Binance as clients. Prior to Paxos, he served as a Principal at Cedar Hill Capital Partners, overseeing the firm’s investments across the capital structure of various financial services institutions. Rich has m...

Tale Alimi is currently the Co-founder& CEO of Owoafara, a technology for inclusion Company building a digital banking market place to provide financial services for the underbanked in emerging markets. She is an entrepreneurial thought leader who is passionate about Economic freedom for the underserved, Economic development in Africa, Unlocking opportunities that would empower people and usin...

Philip is the Co-founder and director of Global operations at AC Group Ltd, a company providing smart transport solutions. Within 9 years of operations, AC Group has been able to digitise public transport payments, provide Wi-Fi on all public buses, and provided visibility for bus operators in Kigali to recover more than 45% of their revenues. AC Group has created more security, efficiency, and co...

Jil-Alexandre N'DIA is the CEO and co-founder of Weblogy, a pioneer and leader in digital marketing and community information systems in Francophone Africa. In 25 years of existence, Daniel AHOUASSA, the co-founder, and Jil-Alexandre N'DIA have strategically led the startup's growth. Present on 4 continents, with Abidjan.net and its network of WAEMU country sites, AfriqueFemme.com, and...

Victor Mapunga is Zimbabwe's leading technology serial entrepreneur having built award winning solutions in Blockchain, Crypto, FinTech & E-commerce. He is the Founder & CEO of FlexID, a blockchain powered digital identity wallet which aims to unlock access to financial, insurance, healthcare & government services to over 400 Million Africans. He's the first Zimbabwean entrepre...

Charlotte is an economist with a deep commitment to poverty reduction at scale. During her studies, Charlotte focused on and worked with Microfinance and East Africa, which led her to join PwC in 2014, where she focused on sustainable strategies and market entry. In 2019, Charlotte founded Jamii.one, a technology-driven company dedicated to building financial health and reducing poverty. As CEO an...

José Samo Gudo is the Founder and CEO of Tablu Tecnologias, a company focused on the development of digital solutions for emerging markets. Responsible for the development ROSCAS the largest platform used to digitize savings groups in Mozambique with more than 130,000 active members, as well as MoDI an award-winning open banking solution. He is also a founding member of Fintech. MZ (Association of...

Nadeem Shaikh is a globally recognized voice in the Digital Financial Services industry. Having lived and worked globally, built, scaled, and invested in a range of businesses, he has unique insight as an entrepreneur, innovator, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Over the past decade, he has been at the heart of the "Fintech" revolution. Recognizing that the fundamental needs of cu...

Sofie is CEO of hiveonline, the sustainable digital finance solution connecting the African informal economy. Prior to founding hiveonline, Sofie built multiple core banking and payments systems for 8 international banks in 60 countries, and led whole business transformations and new bank builds. She has led teams up to 2,000 people and budgets of over $1bn. She holds an MSc in informatics, chairs...

Shinichi Takatori convincingly backs his bold claim having successfully raised an eye-popping $120Mn in venture funding so far – all with no prior experience. As Founder and CEO of Kyash, Shinichi calls inexperience his superpower. In his talk, Shinichi shares authentic insights and inspiration from his incredible journey as a first-time entrepreneur.

Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Code Chrysalis in Japan, Yan Fan is aiming to make Japan a global software leader. In 2016, she co-founded and served as CTO of a coding bootcamp in Jordan helping train and place refugees in engineering careers. In her talk, Yan introduces the concept of ‘context switching’ for scaling founders, of which she herself is one.

Genri Goto built Japan’s largest online drugstore kenko.com, and led it to a successful IPO. He even sued the government and won! And he is at it again. This time with his multilingual translation service company, Kotozna. In his talk, Genri boldly states that Japan has been trapped in a state of stagnation over the last 3 years, and that he has decided to disrupt this stillness, and act as a cata...

Tim Romero is Head of Google for Startups Japan, and the Founder of Disrupting Japan Podcast. He is deeply involved in Japan’s community as an investor, founder, author, and educator. In his talk, Tim delivers a bold, mesmerising, and authentic untold story of why he decided to call off his start-up all at the 9th hour.

Chiaki Hayashi, co-founder of Loftwork. In her talk, Chiaki speaks from her heart as she boldly shares her own tough recovery from a stroke a few years ago. She believes the future for Japan is rural, and she has been working with woodworkers there to use new technologies such as 3D printing. A café in Shibuya is now the best manifestation of that work. She warmly invites us all to Cafe Espresso M...

Satoko Ohtsuki is the CEO and Co-founder of Spider Labs, which provides an AI-driven fraud detection tool. In her talk, Satoko says that Japan has not seen a major global success start-up in the last 20 years. She touches upon a very critical aspect which may be unique to Japan.

Jeff Wentworth co-founded Tokyo-based blockchain software company, Curvegrid, in 2017. With their blockchain middleware, building on blockchain becomes simple and affordable. In his talk, Jeff shares his experience of surviving a black swan event that taught him invaluable lessons about resilience, transparency, adaptability, and the power of a strong network.

Tia Haygood is the owner and Principal photographer at TOPTIA Photography. In her talk, Tia shares how we should convert our insecurities into confidence. In this inspiring and heart-warming talk, Tia takes us on a journey on how to create your own cover story. Can a photo make an audience feel that you are very good at your job? Tia knows it can.

Jonathan Hope created Keychain with a vision that every individual, corporate, or government, can manage digital trust independent of big technology. In his talk, Jonathan recalls how he was laughed at for years. People would ask him what ‘digital trust’ even means.

Nalin Advani is the President of TiE Japan. A hands-on investor with 2 IPOs from 20 Seed/Series A investments so far. Wow, impressive!

Naotaka Nishiyama is the Founder of Tech Japan, and strongly believes in the importance of achieving both economic growth and a society that promotes emotional well-being. His personal mission is to provide opportunities for individuals to make them shine. Today, Nishiyama is dedicated to providing opportunities for individuals to excel in both non-monetary and business fields through his work at...

Jim Weisser is a builder. He founded his first company back in 2000. His second was acquired by Cisco. Jim joined Cisco as part of the acquisition. But he returned to his entrepreneurial roots in 2019 starting SignTime. He for sure knows a thing or two about building successful and effective start-up teams.

Fumiko Inada is the Co-founder & CEO of ENTREBITION by Bee Informatica, who is spearheading the launch of an innovative online platform designed to empower entrepreneurs by providing a comprehensive network for finance and knowledge sharing.

Dr. Masahiro Fukuhara is the CEO and Founder of Institution for a Global Society Corporation. In his talk, Masahiro talks about how he pushes the boundaries of innovation, striving to create a brighter, more equitable world.

Jun Yamadera, founder of Eyes, JAPAN co. ltd., established the company in 1995, making it the first IT startup from the University of Aizu, Fukushima.  Over the past 20 years, he has spearheaded numerous cutting-edge projects, including exporting Fukushima rice through the web in 1995 and creating the world's first virtual pottery system.