The Kraft

Ahmad Alfawwaz Timehin has spent the last few years building—and rebuilding—the financial systems that power Mono’s infrastructure across Africa. In this conversation, he opens up about the hard trade-offs of engineering at a fast-paced startup, why Mono continues to bet on junior talent, and the qualities he looks for when hiring. We also get into the philosophy behind building resilient systems,...

Precious Lamina is Head of Product at Chowdeck, where she’s obsessed with protecting one simple promise: open the app, order your food, and get out of the way. In this episode, we get into how her team runs a three-sided marketplace on hour-by-hour data, filters customer requests to solve root problems instead of quick fixes, and knows when to kill a shiny new feature that isn’t working. Precious...

Ugo Iwuchukwu has spent over a decade shaping the growth stories of brands like Helium Health and Bamboo, helping startups evolve into trusted names through sharp strategy, relentless experimentation, and storytelling that converts. In this conversation, he opens up about building Bamboo’s marketing engine from scratch, why good ideas have short shelf lives, and how to decide when to persist or pi...

Oyeleye Ogunsanya (widely known as Leye Connect) is a multidisciplinary designer and Head of Design at Risevest, where he shapes how thousands experience one of Africa’s most trusted wealth-building platforms. In this conversation, he shares why the best designs are “love letters” to users, how honesty accelerates growth, and why detaching ego from your work is essential. We dive into the phases o...

Kolapo’s career has been anything but linear, starting in customer success at Flutterwave, moving through product and engineering, and now leading operations and strategy at NALA. In this conversation, he shares why he once took a pay cut to follow his passion, how cross-functional exposure prepared him to operate like a CEO, and the underrated skills—ownership, communication, and empathy—that set...

Lade Falobi has built a career at the intersection of storytelling and strategy, shaping growth for early-stage B2B SaaS startups and running Marketing for Geeks , a newsletter trusted by thousands of marketers at companies like Google, PiggyVest, and Flutterwave. In this conversation, she shares lessons on balancing clarity and creativity in conversion marketing, earning leadership trust through...

Dumebi Iwuchukwu, Head of Design at Stears, has built a career at the intersection of craft, taste, and business impact—shaping design for global brands, startups, and media companies across Africa. In this conversation, he unpacks how taste works as aesthetic judgment, why care and attention to detail are his biggest hiring green flags, and the role of critique in raising your own creative bar. W...

Ope Bukola has spent over a decade building products that open doors to knowledge and opportunity—from leading Google Classroom’s growth to over 40 million monthly users to founding Kibo School, an online university offering accredited computer science degrees to African students. In this conversation, she shares practical lessons from leading teams in both startups and big tech, her favorite prod...

Conversations with senior professionals on the mindsets, mental models, and systems behind how they work and lead, to help you grow stronger in your own craft.