Resilience, Creativity and Building Tech for Real Sectors: The Story of a Serial Entrepreneur Building in Africa with Onyeka Akumah

Episode 131 is with Onyeka Akumah who is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Founder and CEO of Treepz, Africa’s leading corporate mobility solutions startup, with more than 5 million customer journeys completed across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda.

As a seasoned executive with a background in agriculture, real estate, mobility, and e-commerce, Onyeka has founded four startups and exited two. His work includes founding Farmcrowdy - the largest agriculture crowdfunding platform that came from Nigeria; SmallSmall Technologies - Nigeria's number one proptech platform; and exited QwikGist - a social news aggregator that grew to 300,000 users in 2013 within 6 weeks after launch.

Beyond building Treepz, Onyeka currently mentors entrepreneurs through Techstars, teaches entrepreneurship at Rome Business School, and invests in early-stage startups with more than 15 portfolio companies under his belt. 

What We Discuss With Onyeka

• Onyeka's transition from a tech career to become Director of Marketing and Partnerships at Jumia Nigeria, Africa's first unicorn and largest e-commerce store.
• What are the key learnings from his experiences at Jumia and Konga that he has applied to the startups he's launched?
• What was the inspiration behind Farmcrowdy, and what were the challenges that he faced at Farmcrowdy?
• What lessons did he take away from his experience at Farmcrowdy that he has implemented in Treepz?
• Given his notable successes in Africa's tech space, what advice would he give to young entrepreneurs beginning their journey on the continent?

Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss How a Ghanaian Entrepreneur Is Thriving in a Male Dominated Shoemaking Industry? Make sure to check it out!

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Connect with Terser on LinkedIn at Terser Adamu, and Twitter (X) @TerserAdamu

Connect with Onyeka  on LinkedIn at Onyeka Akumah, and Twitter (X) @treepzglobal

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