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 of the pod, how and why ATRU was involved, how both media properties have evolved, and what's next for both creators.
[07:15] – Revisiting early conversations about collaboration
[13:55] – Unpacking tensions between openness, IP ownership and monetization models
[23:00] – Being the “African Tech Guy”; how podcasting shifted toward community-led media
[34:15] – Reflecting on podcasting as a community-builder
[46:30] – Embracing the fear of launching something new
[58:25] – Why The Trajectory Africa is going on hiatus and what's next
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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 partnerships and focus, shape outcomes in logistics and e-commerce.
[00:00] – Introduction and context for Lydia’s role in the series roundup
[04:55] – Africa’s S-curve, fund returns, and the need for longer-duration capital
[10:34] – What “point B” looks like for LoftyInc in digital commerce
[13:51] – The asset-light vs. asset-heavy dichotomy
[22:21] – Talent as a constraint
[26:39] – The absence of venture debt and its consequences for early-stage startups
[36:02] – Forecasting human capital needs
[41:21] – Value-added services diluting focus
[47:02] – Embedded finance and digital commerce business models
[52:22] – Value-added services vs. regional expansion
[55:52] – Using capital, boards, and investor networks to scale
[1:02:30] – The production and export opportunity
[1:06:52] – First principles
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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 (otherwise known as the business model killer), how it plans to increase efficiency at the middle mile, and why efficiency gains compound at scale.
[00:00] - Introduction/ Leta as a logistics OS for Africa
[03:11] - 1st and 2nd waves of African logistics, market size,
[08:47] - Leta’s value proposition and the role of AI
[14:03] - Customers, products and services
[17:04] - The first, middle and last mile in logistics/Leta’s approach to last mile
[31:36] - Leta’s business model, embedded finance, cost structure and metrics
[45:51] - Performance metrics, moat and growth
[53:19] - First principle
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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 critical logistics infrastructure domestically, in service of a broader mission to drive regional and international trade.
[00:00] - Introduction and Paps’ accidental origin story
[05:40] - Paps’ value proposition and the role of technology
[07:14] - An asset-light approach to logistics infrastructure
[14:44] - Paps’ customers and products
[27:30] - Building a virtual regional market in francophone Africa
[33:00] - Logistics value chain breakdown and a model for collaborative infrastructure
[42:55] - Paps’ business model and growth
[58:46] - The future of logistics and a first principle for building in logistics
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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 matches cargo owners with transporters, to move cargo efficiently. We discuss how badly trucking businesses need working capital with better payment terms, how truck utilization can change the economics of a trip, and the potential for electric vehicles to reduce the cost of transporting cargo enough to reshape the economics entirely.
[00:00] - Introduction and Jean-Claude’s journey into African logistics
[08:07] - The problem Lori is solving
[13:32] - Logistics value chain and market structure
[16:52] - Lori’s value proposition and customers
[32:28] - Selling digitalization and efficiency
[36:16] - The “financial story” of logistics
[45:41] - Lori’s business model and role in the value chain
[1:00:30] - Growth, competition and the case for EVs in transport
[1:07:37] - First principles
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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 and easier to coordinate. He also explains the primary stakeholders in logistics value chains and their roles, the margin distribution between them, what key problems in logistics can (and can’t) be monetized, and what problems remain to be solved.
[00:00] - Introduction
[02:10] - Sote’s founding hypothesis and why freight forwarders are the linchpin of trade
[09:12] - Mapping a logistics value chain
[23:41] - The limits of “Uber for trucks” logistics tech and visibility platforms
[36:11] - Sote’s business model
[47:27] - The relationship between efficiency and margin availability in logistics
[54:14] - Lessons learned from Sote
[59:34] - First principle
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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 infrastructure for *Commerce 3.0*, where chat messages drive revenue for businesses that are selling online.
[0:00] - Introduction, podcasting and a sneaker store success story
[7:19] - Chpter’s value proposition and customers
[12:14] - Defining conversational commerce
[20:09] - Chpter’s origin story and product-market fit
[35:00] - Chpter’s approach to customer acquisition
[41:37] - How Chpter makes money
[52:46] - Creating value to capture value
[1:04:18] - The future of digital commerce and a first principle on building in the sector
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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 need in one place. He also shares how Bumpa’s network of partnerships embeds it more deeply into customer workflows—solidifying retention and network effects without needing to "own" every piece of the stack.
[00:00] - Introduction: the problems you choose define you
[06:34] - Bumpa’s value proposition, products and customers
[15:43] - Evolution of Bumpa’s customer segments and product roadmap
[27:30] - Bumpa’s business model
[42:26] - First principle for building in digital commerce
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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 custom-built POS, and aims to drive growth by creating an ecosystem that brings businesses closer to their customers.
[00:00] - Introduction, Dukka’s value proposition and the business operations opportunity
[8:35] - Dukka’s customers and acquisition strategy
[18:32] - The Dukka Terminal
[32:13] - Dukka’s ecosystem play: remittance-as-commerce
[43:35] - Navigating macroeconomic headwinds
[48:24] - Dukka’s business model
[50:50] - First principle
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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 sustainable business model by turning mom-and-pop shops into neighborhood financial service providers. He also offers his perspective on how to pursue growth through strategic acquisitions and “going deep” in a single market while leveraging local talent to expand.
[00:00] - Introduction
[05:40] - The business case behind serving shopkeepers
[07:57] - Pivoting to neobanking and Chari’s business model
[11:20] - Building a fintech ecosystem for shopkeepers
[35:14] - Super app strategy: e-commerce and fintech
[31:39] - Strategic partnership with Orange Telecom
[40:43] - Acquisition synergies, and scaling logic
[43:43] - First principle of building in digital commerce
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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 technology to manage assets efficiently. Sidy and Jessica also talk about how to expand the thin margins common in b2b ecommerce, increase revenue opportunities for retailers, and scale by going deep in one market.
[00:00] - Introduction
[02:02] - Maad origins and evolution from SaaS provider to retail distribution
[06:21] - Bits vs. atoms and the value of technology
[12:07] - Distribution value chain, Maad’s value proposition, and market dynamics in Senegal
[27:51] - Asset efficiency
[37:43] - Maad’s business model
[42:16] - Operational excellence and cost structure
[54:54] - Digital commerce business models (asset-heavy vs. asset-light)
[1:08:32] - Scaling deep in one market
[1:14:12] - First principle of building in digital commerce
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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 informal markets are more optimized than they appear, why making analog processes digital isn't enough to win, and how you balance value creation with value capture.
[00:00] - Introduction
[02:00] - Corporate intrapreneurship and digitizing last mile distribution
[11:43] - Monetizing price transparency and efficiency and serving premium informal retailers
[33:28] - Asset-heavy vs. asset-light strategies
[41:23] - Viability of pure play B2B e-commerce businesses and Sarafu’s business model
[53:05] - Sarafu’s ecosystem approach
[59:00] - First principle (value creation vs. value capture)
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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 distribution costs, and perhaps most importantly, the right lessons to learn from Twiga's journey.
00:00 - Introduction to Twiga
01:41 - A first principle for building a profitable digital commerce business in Africa
16:00 - A primer on banana (and pineapple) value chains in Kenya
32:22 - Twiga’s cost structure
45:10 - Value chain power dynamics
53:54 - Twiga's growth strategy
1:06:38 - Key assumptions revisited
1:19:50 - The impact of commercial investors
1:32:33 - The “right” lessons to learn from Twiga’s story
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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 augmenting informal market structures with tech rather than trying to replace them entirely.
We also talk about cybernetic commerce and how technology can interface with informal markets around money, by enabling digital transactions, energy, by boosting transparency in supply chains, and labor, by facilitating cross-border trade.
[00:00] - Introduction
[3:04] - An overview of Africa's S-Curves
[13:31] - Augmentation vs. displacement in informal markets
[20:45] - Points of inflection on Africa’s S-Curves
[38:45] - Opportunities in cybernetic commerce
[44:02] - Digital commerce business models
[1:02:06] - First principles of S-Curves
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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’t) destinations for venture capital.
Part II is focused on digital commerce and logistics and its foundations—infrastructure, business models, and core beliefs about how problems are solved and value is created.
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 of, a digitally enabled financial system, the case for infrastructure building in payments, partner-led neobanking, the logic of financial operations, community-based lending and savings-led embedded finance, and finally, boosting trade by facilitating b2b cross-border payments and connecting enabling infrastructure.
But somehow, all those granular questions led to many big, hairy questions. So, to help sense-make on this final, fintech-focused episode, we have Emeka Ajene, Founder and Publisher of Afridigest, a business media brand with an editorial focus on ideas, analysis, & insights for business innovators across Africa and beyond; Afri.capital, an emerging investment firm focusing on early-stage, tech-enabled investments; and Africreate, a strategic thinking partner & trusted advisor to senior executives doing business in Africa.
I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Tune in to hear about:
[2:58] - The infrastructure of trade — the chicken or the egg
[5:58] - How to win in neobanking
[19:38] - Superapp logic
[23:39] - The role of banks in fintech — partners and competitors
[37:32] - Financial products as cultural products
[43:03] - Creating sources of lending data
[56:05] - The remaining investable opportunities in African fintech
[1:02:28] - The role and value proposition of fintech’s 1st gen infrastructure builders
[1:22:52] - First principles for understanding Africa’s fintech opportunities
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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-baked, and those pipes need something to carry. That something is trade.
Previous guests Samora Kariuki and Wiza Jalakasi both emphasized the power of interoperability—cross-continental (and international) money movement to catalyze the development of Africa’s digitally-enabled financial systems. And in the previous episode, ‘Tayo Bamiduro suggested that while physical infrastructure takes time to build, you can rapidly scale digital infrastructure to deliver inclusion, access, and inclusive growth.
In this episode, I’m chatting with Gwera Kiwana, VP of Partnerships, Blockchain Payments for Onafriq and Nika Naghavi, Chief Network Officer, also of Onafriq, a “network of networks” that makes borders matter less. We dig into what it looks like to build infrastructure that connects mobile money networks, banks, fintechs and cash pick up points to support African trade.
What role can crypto still play in fintech infrastructure? How does a cross-border payment work? And what are the implications of USD dominance in international trade? It’s all here. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Tune in to hear about:
[2:25] - Role of crypto as enabling infrastructure for trade flows
[9:40] - The role of USD in trade/Implications of USD dominance for international trade
[13:16] - The evolution of Onafriq, market and channel expansion and acquisitions
[27:55] - Anatomy of payment transactions and cross-border payments
[39:01] - Distribution of infrastructure jobs to be done and the problems Onafriq solves
[59:20] - Business model, competition vs. cooptition and future growth
[1:08:00] - Counterintuitive first principle
Recommendations:
Chasing Outliers. Why Context Matters for Early Stage Investing in Africa, a report I co-authored on VC investing in Africa.
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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 finance, which McKinsey defines as placing a financial product in a nonfinancial customer experience, journey, or platform.
In the previous episode’s conversation with Tunzaa’s Ng’winula Kingamkono, we learned about how an embedded finance model called Save now, Buy later enables responsible consumption. In this episode, we’ll hear from 'Tayo Bamiduro, Co-Founder and CEO of MAX, a company that’s powering eco-friendly mobility through high performance electric vehicles. So, we’re keeping the assets, but shifting from consumption to production.
And in this case the finance is in service of democratizing access to vehicles for mobility entrepreneurs. This flavor of embedded finance is called asset-based lending, or when a borrower's assets serve as collateral for a loan. But MAX isn’t just helping riders and drivers finance productive assets, it’s building the digital infrastructure needed to reimagine the mobility space with environmental sustainability at its core. Asset-based lending as an engine for EV-led mobility? Let’s dig in…
Tune in to hear about:
[2:08] - inspiration for MAX’s two-wheeler design
[4:16] - the evolution of MAX’s business over time
[9:12] - pillars for shepherding EV transition and market size
[13:55] - MAX’s product offerings
[18:44] - how credit decisions are made, sources of loan capital
[23:00] - access to assets vs. ownership of assets and the best path to wealth creation
[32:55] - integrating operator and vehicle productivity
[55:00] - MAX’s business model, fleet financing, unit economics, and moat
[1:13] - Collaboration vs. competition in nascent industries
[1:21] - Counterintuitive first principle
Recommendations:
Chasing Outliers. Why Context Matters for Early Stage Investing in Africa, a report I co-authored on VC investing in Africa.
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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 inflation increased the cost of living, people started using these short term loans issued, after a quick credit check at the point of sale, to get by.
According to Afridigest, these solutions also proliferated across the continent, delivered by companies like LipaLater, Klump and Float. But SNBL products, otherwise known as save now buy later, are being offered by innovators who believe that BNPL lacks a viable business model, promotes cyclical indebtedness in its users, and contradicts cultural norms that favor saving over lending. Ng’winula Kingamkono, Founder and CEO of Tunzaa is on a mission to transform the financial habits of everyday Africans (and improve the business operations of merchants while he’s at it).
Tune in to hear about:
[1:49] - Ng’winula’s “alter ego”
[5:45] - Why save now buy later
[8:15] - How Tunzaa works
[16:28] - Building a two-sided marketplace, API first
[25:06] - Savings vs. credit culture
[30:50] - Product suite evolution and growth
[47:27] Beliefs about consumption and the impact of the macroeconomic environment, consumer behavior
[55:00] - Counterintuitive first principle
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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 completely neobank, if the "neo" in neobank, means digital only. The rule of thumb in lending is it’s easy to give money out, but difficult to get it back.
But Moni’s approach suggests that if you use technology to make existing social structures like community savings groups (otherwise known as ajo or esusu in Nigeria, tontines in Francophone Africa, chamas in Kenya, stokvels in South Africa, sanduks in South Sudan, etc.) work better, you can leverage social intelligence to build trust, efficiently underwrite loans, and eventually create the foundations of a bank by and for the people.
Tune in to hear about:
[1:49] - Lessons learned from previous startup experience
[6:44] - Definition of community banking and characteristics of a bank for Africa
[12:00] - How community financing works at Moni
[22:00] - How Moni’s community lending model impacts consumer acquisition and retention
[25:45] - Loan terms and approach to recovery
[35:33] - Moni’s business model and transition from community lending to retail (neo)banking
[45:55] - Portability of trust and social intelligence underwriting as moat
[51:47] - The importance of offline engagement and early signs of product market fit
[59:39] - Counterintuitive first principle
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