The Trajectory Africa

The Trajectory Africa, is a "pop-up" podcast designed to explore the first principles of VC and tech entrepreneurship in Africa, as they emerge in real time. After a nearly four year run, the journey has come to an end. This conversation with Andile Masuku , Co-Founder and Producer of African Tech Roundup (ATRU) and Tayo Akinyemi, Host and Producer of The Trajectory Africa tells the origin story o...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Lydia Idem , Chief Operating Officer of LoftyInc Capital and Managing Director of FM Capital Group . We discuss what “point B” looks like for digital commerce on Africa’s S-curve , why asset-heavy models are more necessary than investors like to admit, why venture debt may be a missing ingredient in African VC, and how talent, timing, strategic partne...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Nick Joshi , Founder and CEO of Leta , a startup that uses AI to optimize delivery routes, track shipments in real time, streamline payments, and provide businesses with shipping insights. We discussed how the first generation of logistics players paved the way for evolution in the space, how Leta optimizes trips and delivery routes at the last mile (...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Bamba Lo , CEO and Co-founder of Paps , a technology-enabled logistics company operating across Francophone Africa. He explains how Paps delivers across the value chain— from freight and customs clearance to warehousing and last-mile delivery, while owning less than 1% of the vehicles in its network. Bamba also shares how Paps is building Africa’s cri...

The cost of moving goods across Africa remains one of the continent's toughest economic challenges. With logistics accounting for up to 75% of the price of goods —compared to just 9% in the US —solving transport inefficiency could be key to boosting affordability for African consumers. In this episode of The Trajectory Africa, I'm chatting with Jean-Claude Homawoo , CEO of Lori , a company that ma...

On this episode of The Trajectory Africa , Samora Kariuki , CEO and Founder of Frontier Fintech and former Director at Sote, a digital logistics and supply chain infrastructure company, breaks down the fundamentals of logistics in Africa. He explains the relationship between the size of an economy and its trade volume, and the role of a freight forwarder in making trade more efficient, sustainable...

In this episode of The Trajectory Africa, Mark Kiarie , Co-founder and CEO of Chpter , explains conversational commerce and how his company uses AI to help businesses serve buyers where they already are, on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram. Chpter enables them to respond instantly to customers, transforming DMs into sales. Mark also shares how Chpter is building digital infras...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Kelvin Umechukwu , Founder and CEO of Bumpa , a company that provides sellers with the tools needed for digital commerce, inventory and sales management, and customer engagement. Kelvin explains how Bumpa helps businesses by aggregating and integrating functions like inventory and order management, payments, and messaging, so they can get what they ne...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Keturah Ovio , CEO of Dukka , a company that’s changing how small businesses operate in Nigeria (and beyond). Dukka integrates payments, inventory management, sales tracking, and business intelligence into a single platform. Keturah explains how she built Dukka with merchants in mind, leaned into creating a full stack experience by introducing a custo...

In this episode of The Trajectory Africa , Ismael Belkhayat , CEO and founder of Chari , a b2b e-commerce and fintech platform for traditional retailers in French-speaking Africa, explains how fintech and digital commerce came together inside his company. He shares Chari's journey supporting traditional shopkeepers in Morocco, the financial infrastructure they've built, and how they're creating a...

In this episode of The Trajectory Africa’s series on digital commerce and logistics, Sidy Niang and Jessica Long , Co-founders of Maad , a retail platform connecting FMCG brands and retailers in Senegal, share how they think about asset efficiency as a way to own assets strategically, once demand is assured. Maad embraces the reality (and the challenges) of physical infrastructure, but uses techno...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Firas Ahmad , CEO of Sarafu , a B2B e-commerce platform, and AzamPay , a payments platform, both in Tanzania. Firas shares his approach to running a digital commerce business—focusing on delivering premium service to customers who are willing to pay, running data-driven operations, and turning cost centers into revenue generators. He also explains why...

On this episode of The Trajectory Africa, Kikonde Mwatela , former COO of Twiga , talks about how it tackled a fundamental problem in Kenya's banana supply chain—turning days of trapped working capital and high spoilage into ready-to-sell product. He also shares how Twiga balanced standardizing production while growing its retail universe, the critical relationship between revenue assurance and di...

In this episode of The Trajectory Africa, DFS Lab General Partner Stephen Deng introduces "Africa's S-curves," a framework that explains why technology transitions on the continent take longer, but are also characterized by dramatic adoption and big impacts on informal markets due to improvements in productivity and cost structures. We talk through why the S-Curve logic points to a case for augmen...

The Trajectory Africa’s second series, The Engine of African Venture: A Return to First Principles, is a two-part exploration of what powers fundamental value creation and investability in sectors that drive African VC opportunities. The eleven episodes of Part I were focused on fintech, exploring fintech’s subsectors—from market opportunities to business models—to tease out why they are (or aren’...

The Trajectory Africa’s first principles series was inspired by a desire to understand the drivers and assumptions underlying investable opportunities in key sectors hypothesized to be the engine of African VC, starting with fintech. Across 11 episodes, we explored the opportunities for, and limits of, ubiquitous digitalization and the role of fintech, the jobs to be done by, and characteristics o...

In Episode 1 of this series, Abraham Augustine , Research Partner of trendsAf and Comms and Programs Lead at Norrsken warned against “long arm, no mouth” syndrome and the risks of digitalizing one part of a system (distributed solar energy, for example) without considering where the barriers and effects might materialize (think missing payment rails). Infrastructure is great, but it can’t be half-...

Back in Episode 7 of Trajectory Africa’s first series, Barbara Iyayi , CEO & Founding Partner of Unicorn Growth Capital made a strong statement about the ubiquity of financial services,  arguing that every company should be a fintech company. Because as long as financial inclusion is a huge problem, every company should be able to offer financial services. This is the essence of embedded finan...

In the previous episode of The Trajectory Africa, we explored the art and science of community lending to microbusinesses. In this episode, we turn from business lending to consumer savings, but as an antidote to a consumer lending model called buy now, pay later, or BNPL.  BNPL emerged as a global trend in the wake of  COVID-19 and the  tough macroeconomic environment that accompanied it. As infl...

In the previous episode of the Trajectory Africa, we heard from Kiiru Muhoya and Judith Bogonko at Fingo about the importance of cultivating Africa’s youth as the next generation of retail consumers of financial services. In this episode, we’ll hear how Femi Iromini , Co-Founder and CEO of Moni , and his team, have created a community lending model for microbusinesses that has the DNA of a not com...

According to research by global consultancy Simon-Kucher in 2022, fewer than 5% of neobanks were profitable. A recent update suggests that most are still loss-makers, although a path to profitability is emerging.  Also in 2022, Tech Cabal’s reporting on Kuda Bank’s NPLs (non-performing loans) sparked a discussion about what levels make sense for companies doing instant loans. And in a brilliant se...

This episode of The Trajectory Africa features Yele Oyekola , Co-founder and CEO of Duplo , a company on a mission to streamline financial operations for African businesses. We’re diving deep into the world of digitizing financial operations, from payables and expense management to reconciliation and reporting.  Africa’s $1.5T B2B payments market represents a massive opportunity in a space that’s...

On this special episode of The Trajectory Africa, we’re featuring “someone you should know”—David Ogundeko, Founder and Chief Vision Officer for Funema , a last-mile, impact-focused, alternative investment company.  David has spent the last 7 years creating a model to engineer and invest in problem solving, impact creating, high growth SMEs. In the process, he’s reimagining a VC model for Africa,...

On this episode of The Trajectory Africa, we’re talking to Ola Oyetayo , Co-Founder and CEO of Verto , the first "all in one" cross-border payments platform for corporate treasuries in emerging markets. He’ll help us understand the mechanics of cross-border payments, why they're so expensive in Africa, how to improve price transparency and manage volatility, and how supporting cross-border payment...

On the previous episode of The Trajectory Africa, Wiza Jalakasi, Africa Market Development Director at EBANX suggested that infrastructure-building consumer payments businesses create value because of the sheer number of payment methods available, from mobile money to bank transfers and cards. With all these options, businesses taking consumer payments need a neutral third party to provide a singl...