The Founders Peak Podcast

David Akinin, Chief Executive Officer, JABU David Akinin was born in Venezuela, raised in the U.S., and has spent his life building things that matter. He has built homes, delivered shoes, and now...he’s transforming Africa’s cash economy through JABU, a logistics startup shaking up supply chains across the continent. In this deeply human talk, David reminds us that the biggest opportunities are o...

Wendy Quarshie, Chief Executive Officer, Chempe Wendy Quarshie is a car dealer, a coder, a retired photographer - and the founder of Chempe, a platform transforming restaurant operations across Ghana. She built it from scratch while juggling two jobs and a full-time master’s in Madrid, because one frustrating lunch sparked a dream she couldn’t shake. In this bold episode, Wendy makes a powerful ca...

To keep up with his kids, Prashanth has taken up table tennis coaching at 45 to keep up with his kids. He has run 3 marathons and done the Everest Base camp trek. Prashanth was an apprentice to Marc Andreessen, when he graduated Stanford and was clueless as to what to do next. He has built three startups to date and as a product CEO, naturally he loves to build but selling gives him a different ki...

Leanne Robers is the co-founder of She Loves Tech (now celebrating its 10th year!), the world’s largest startup competition for women in technology, dedicated to empowering female entrepreneurs and driving gender equality in tech, with a global platform spanning over 50 countries. They also launched Girls Love Tech with the Singapore Government’s IMDA. Leanne is a serial entrepreneur, having found...

Tom loves adventure! He has lived in five countries and mastered snowboarding, wakeboarding, skating, and surfing. 6 years ago, he was inspired by a single night’s beach pollution, and now, he’s on a mission to protect his family and our planet for future generations. Seven Clean Seas has removed over 4 million kilograms of plastic from the ocean, with no plans to slow down. They invented Plastic...

Albert earned a Private Pilot’s License during COVID! He avoided sports growing up because he couldn’t stand the idea of losing. And his first job was when he was in high school, working as an engineer at a software company! Albert was named Forbes 30 under 30 in Finance at just 25 years old, the second youngest on the list. Performativ’s 44 employees come from over 10 nationalities! And in this e...

Anthony grew up in Calcutta, India, where he met Mother Teresa multiple times from who he learned lessons in servant leadership that have guided him ever since. He met his wife on the first day of work at Citibank; 17 years later, he left Citi to follow her into fintech and financial inclusion. He took his first international trip at 25, and since then, has traveled to 50 countries and lived in 8!...

Mathilda was a finalist on Singapore Idol – so besides her passion for ocean conservations, she’s also got vocal talent! She is an avid paddle-boarder and is often spotted along Singapore’s coastlines championing cleaner oceans. At Ocean Purpose Project, Mathilda is pioneering plastic-to-hydrogen tech, bio-remediation, and behavior change to fight ocean pollution. Her company created the world’s f...

Fernando is a true open-source pioneer with over two decades in innovation, governance, capital markets, and digital assets. Originally from Spain, Fernando has spent nearly two decades in Japan, working for NTT and teaching at Kobe Institute of Computing. SBI Digital Asset Holdings is headquartered in Tokyo with 7 subsidiaries in Japan and Singapore, plus over 10 strategic investments across Asia...

In the early days, Kevin faced skepticism head-on - an investor doubted that a couple of tech founders could sell, a moment that stung but fueled his determination to succeed. His first customer, who knew him from his previous New York Stock Exchange-listed company, kept calling them by the old company’s name - a mistake they gladly leveraged for credibility. As proof of their success, a happy cus...

Sanjib has crossed paths with tech and business legends like Steve Jobs, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove at Intel, Sandy Weill at Citi, and Sir Michael Ovitz, who told him, “Just call me Bro.” He had a fanboy moment meeting Nobel laureate Hans Bethe through his physics club at Cornell. Sanjib is an adventurer at heart - he’s gone skydiving, flown both airplanes and helicopters, and even helped build a...

Get ready for a truly special Founders Peak episode, where inspiration meets intellect, with one of India’s most celebrated authors and deep thinkers - Gurcharan Das . From penning plays in his twenties to crafting eight extraordinary books, his journey has been nothing short of remarkable. Before dedicating his life to writing, Mr. Das was the CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later rose to M...

Dr. Ronghui became a faculty member at Columbia University at 28 without a master's or postdoc. And he was always mistaken as a student by the faculty members! CertiK started in a three-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, assembling 12 IKEA desks. CertiK's shield logo includes a mathematical "for all" symbol, representing thier mission to protect the blockchain world.

Dhruv was known as “Phil Collins” in high school, because he was a drummer and singer! He gave up his job as an MD at a large, global investment bank to become a singer-songwriter and performing artist Dhruv has released 17 highly acclaimed songs and sold-out theatres across Asia, singing in both English and Hindi. And there is a very special live recording which we bring to you at the end of the...

The Founders Peak stage is truly privileged to host Dr. Shashi Tharoor - renowned Indian author, diplomat, and politician, celebrated for his eloquence, intellect, and wit. Known for his vast vocabulary and sharp commentary, Dr. Tharoor has written numerous books on Indian history, culture, and global affairs. As a former United Nations diplomat and Member of Parliament, he is a prominent advocate...

We welcomed back Peter Walker , Head of Insights at Carta, who tuned in LIVE from San Francisco at The Founders Peak stage at SFF. Peter is the middle child of seven, which might explain his talent for captivating a crowd; he's addicted to mocha coffee but curiously dislikes chocolate; and, despite his LinkedIn fame, he’s still a bit shy about it! Carta is home to the largest global repository of...

We had the privilege of having Charles Li , Founder & Chairman of Micro Connect, on the "the yellow circle" at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2024. Charles is known as "Mr. Connect," having pioneered initiatives like “Stock Connect” and "Bond Connect" during his 11 years as CEO at HKEX, and now brings that same spirit to Micro Connect. As of September 2023, Micro Connect has raised a total of...

Madhu is a weekend chef, who is obsessed with building a company rooted in a strong, authentic culture. He recently crushed a 100-day pushup challenge with his son, building up from 20 to an impressive 75 pushups in one go! Madhu was nominated for the Economic Times Bootstrap Champion of the Year award in 2019 - think of it as the Oscars for the startup world in India! His company, M2P Fintech is...

Omair is a true global citizen - he has lived in over 10 countries but took the leap to start his company, Abhi, in Pakistan - without ever having lived there before. He survived a possible lion attack on safari, was tossed into a French immersion program in Canada without knowing a word of French, and he launched Abhi right in the middle of the pandemic! And just when things couldn’t get wilder -...

Now this is a very special episode...and we don’t even know where to begin! We couldn’t be more excited to have had Lesley Paterson with us - a five-time world champion in triathlon and Oscar-winning film producer, whose story exemplifies greatness through adaptability and perseverance. From dominating in the grueling sport of triathlon to conquering the creative world of filmmaking, Lesley shares...

In a social media age, how should you respond to a PR nightmare? Ignore it? Laugh at it? Engage? Or…? We have India’s most iconic journalists and the Founding Editor of Mojo Story – and that is none other than Barkha Dutt ! With over 25 years of fearless reporting - from the frontlines of the Kargil War to conflict zones around the globe, and her ground-breaking coverage of the pandemic - Barkha h...

Vipul received an appointment letter from the Indian Air Force, but became a physicist, specialised in marketing during his MBA, and now…is a CFO! This is his third startup adventure. Bigbasket’s founders have known each other longer than they’ve known their wives! BigBasket is now 14 years old and was one of the first companies worldwide to launch online grocery And it’s unique in the industry be...

Dmytro co-founded a digital bank called “Monobank” in Ukraine which serves almost 10 million customers today. Now with his new company “Fintech Farm” he develops digital banks in other developing countries. He worked for 6 months as a Minister in the first government of Zelenskiy. He also published a book called How the Tricolor Got Its Stripes, on the history of flags FinTech Farm operates on a u...

Caesar lives to create products that increase access for all. He dreams of a world where opportunity isn’t limited by birth or background. He thrives on collaboration with passionate, positive people! Arta is named after Artha, the Sanskrit word for wealth, strategy, and purpose. Arta is an AI Wealth firm headquarters in Singapore and the US, blending the best of finance and tech It is backed by 1...