Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Fawry - the Egyptian payments platform. We’ll explore the Fawry story across 6 areas: Egypt context Founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on October 17, 2021 Companies discussed: Fawry, Egypt National Post Office (ENPO), IFC, Helios Investment Partners, Raya Holding, Technology Development Fund (Ideavelopers), Arab African International Bank, HSBC, Bank of Alexandria (Alexbank), Paymob, Banque Misr, Ebtiikar, Khales, Bee, Masary, Meeza, elmenus & Cashi (alsoug). Business concepts discussed: Payment Platforms, IPOs, startup incubation, African conglomerates, DFIs (Development Finance Institutions) & FinTech monetization strategy / Personal Finance OS Conversation highlights: (01:20) - Fawry context (04:00) - Egypt context, startups, financial inclusion (23:59) - Ashraf Sabry background (29:38) - Fawry founding and early history (38:15) - Fundraising and early growth (49:38) - Fawry IPO (52:40) - Product strategy (1:14:26) - Monetization strategy (1:19:30) - Competition in Egypt (1:27:07) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:35:45) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:45:00) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Chris Sacca on 20 Minute VC - Wow. Chris Sacca is amazing. I can listen to him talk for hours. Recommendation: Ben Horowitz - What You Do Is Who You Are. Great book about how to think about the tradeoffs when creating culture in a company. Has some awesome stories. Recommendation: Acquired episode on Oprah - Spoke about Oprah's legendary story. Wow Small win: Got ticket to Wizkid show later tonight in Miami. Good times Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Kanye West 2013 interview on Breakfast Club, Wizkid - Anoti & Keychron K2 Mechanical Keyboard Small win: Had crypto-curious friends over for dinner and now I’m crypto-curious Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about BIMA - the HealthTech insurance company. We’ll explore BIMA's story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context BIMA Health founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Oct 3, 2021 Companies discussed: BIMA (Milvik), Kinnevik, LeapFrog investments, Allianz X (Allianz Group), Millicom, Digicel, China CreditEase, Jamii, M-Tiba, BlueWave, MicroEnsure & Gates Foundation Business concepts discussed: HealthTech (Healthcare technology), InsurTech (Insurance Technology), Telco partnership, geographical expansion & Health policy Conversation highlights: (00:45) - Why we’re talking about BIMA Health (05:15) - African Health care context (05:58) - Insurance context in Africa (28:58) - Founder background - Gustaf Agartson (35:40) - Fundraising and early growth (45:10) - BIMA Health traction- markets, users, etc (49:50) - Product , go-to-market and monetization strategy (1:05:38) - Geographical expansion (1:07:36) - Competition and options for exits, M&A (1:29:52) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:37:05) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:51:04) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Vusi Thembekwayo (VT Podcast) episode Wealth & Wande Coal - Ololufe Small win: Noticed someone cited my MIT thesis on Smartphone Operating systems. Nice Other content:  Life Expectancy stats (World Bank) Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Love Nwantiti by CKay & Everything is a Remix - Drill Sergeant Remix & Business Breakdowns Podcast - Sky Mavis Small win: Spent last weekend in Atlanta and Memphis visiting friends and family Other content: Africa Renewal - UN Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about 54gene - the genomics HealthTech company. We’ll explore the 54gene story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context 54gene early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Sep 19, 2021 Companies discussed: 54gene, llumina, African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Y Combinator (YC), 50 Years, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gilead, IMS Health, Broad Institute, Novartis, Cathay AfricInvest, Helium Health & mPharma Business concepts discussed: Genomics, Capacity development / Local knowledge development,  Healthcare technology, Health insurance coverage, commercial biobanks & public policy Conversation highlights: (00:54) - Why we’re talking about 54Gene today (06:25) - Context on Healthcare and Genomics in Africa (27:02) - 54Gene founding and early history (34:13) - Fundraising and early growth - Seed, Series A, Series B (54:15) - Product and monetization strategy (1:11:00) - 54Gene capacity building (1:17:00) - Competition in this space, exit opportunities (1:30:39) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:42:38) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:56:03) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Afridigest newsletter (by Emeka Ajene) Awesome and well done. Combines threads from multiple angles. Fabulous. Recommendation: Frontier FinTech Newsletter (by Samora Kariouki) So thorough and detailed. Love it. Recommendation: Kate Nash - Foundations. So good Small win: Galaxy Buds 2 - Small,  ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), great battery life, good software controls Other content: Boom - Supersonic Passenger Airplanes Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Slow Down - King Promise, Code Breakers by Walter Isaacson & Sarah Tavel on 20 minute VC Small win: Chelsea FC 3-0 W vs Tottenham Other content: 54Gene partnership with Illumina & Colonialists are coming for blood - Literally Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about mPharma - the Ghanaian prescription drug inventory management company. We’ll explore the mPharma story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context mPharma founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Sep 5, 2021 Companies discussed: mPharma, Novartis, DrugStoc, Medsaf, Helium Health, Golden Palm Investments, Novastar ventures, CDC & Gates Foundation Business concepts discussed: Healthcare Logistics, drug distribution, Healthcare technology, Health insurance coverage, Health platforms, IFC & Public policy Conversation highlights: (01:14) - Why we’re talking about mPharma (05:18) - Background of Healthcare in Africa (19:41) - Healthcare and Pharmacy / Drugs access in Nigeria (26:05) - Healthcare context and insurance in Ghana (27:15) - mPharma founding and early history - Gregory Rockson background (43:56) - Fundraising - Seed, Series A, B, C (56:00) - Traction - users, reported revenue, etc. (1:01:50) - Product strategy - Quality (Shop) Rx, Mutti, etc. (1:11:57) - Monetization strategy (1:14:17) - E-Commerce logistics vs healthcare logistics (1:21:48) - Competition (1:34:22) - Options for exit - mergers, acquisitions (1:36:56) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:45:36) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:55:47) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: The World After Capital (Albert Wenger) Small win: Setup Galaxy Z Flip3. Different experience. Other content: Life expectancy (World Bank database) Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Donald Shoup on the economics of parking & Heaven and Hell - Kanye West Small win: Attended a wedding in New Jersey this past weekend. Lots of fun celebrating with friends. Happy Married Life Joan & Chris!!! Other content: Accelerating improvements in Health Product Distribution by Salient Advisory & How the QWERTY Keyboard Broke the Chinese Language Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com with your feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about you & what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you, to partner to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Helium Health - the Nigerian HealthTech infrastructure company. We’ll explore the Helium Health story across 6 areas: African Health care status & context Helium Health founding and early history Fundraising & Growth Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options Overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Aug 22, 2021 Companies discussed: Helium Health, Epic, MAGIC Fund, Y Combinator (YC), KingsChat & Tencent ventures Business concepts discussed: Healthcare technology, Operator-Investor dynamics, Health insurance coverage, Health platforms, Electronic Medical Records, Electronic Health Records & Health policy Conversation highlights: (01:20) - Why we’re talking about Helium Health and HealthTech (04:15) - African Healthcare context (18:05) - Context of healthcare records in Africa (25:05) - Founder backgrounds and early history of Helium Health (37:00) - Fundraising and growth (47:50) - Product & monetization strategy (55:30) - M&A and Partnerships (1:00:12) - Competition and potential exit options (1:12:25) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:24:05) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:36:12) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Unscripted - The Great Rat-Race Escape: From Wage Slavery to Wealth: Amazing! Small win: Las Vegas weekend with friends. Insane. Other content: World Bank database Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Peru - Fireboy DML & Business Breakdowns podcast on ZoomInfo Small win: Back playing basketball regularly after 18 months out Other content: Managing in an Age of Modularity Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com with your feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about you & what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you, to partner to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about MultiChoice - The African video entertainment provider. We’ll explore the MultiChoice story across 5 areas: South African video entertainment market context MultiChoice's launch & growth over time MultiChoice's product & monetization strategy Competition, primary & emerging businesses Overall outlook This episode was recorded on August 15, 2021 Companies discussed: MultiChoice (M-Net), Naspers, MTN, ShowMax, BetKing, Comcast, Sky, DSTV, MTN, Iroko TV, HiTV, StarTimes, Vivendi Canal+, ROK Media, English Premier League, Netflix, HBO Max, ShowMax, Showtime & BBC Business concepts discussed: Pan-African expansion strategy, Entertainment content acquisition strategy, subscription & hardware monetization strategy Conversation highlights: (02:20) - Why we’re talking about MultiChoice (06:50) - South African TV context (15:28) - Origin and early history of MultiChoice (26:10) - Product & monetization strategy (34:05) - MultiChoice device / decoder strategy (38:20) - Content, Partnerships & M&A (42:30) - MultiChoice Financials and key metrics (46:54) - Competition across different business lines (51:40) - Non-core businesses and investments, BetKing (1:05:00) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:12:02) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:26:28) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Die with Zero (Bill Perkins) Small wins: Night out with SF friends & Sailing with friends in Sausalito Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Omah Lay - Understand & Robert Smith of Vista Equity on Money Maze Podcast Small wins: Attended a wedding last weekend, Happy Married Life Dami! + Chelsea FC Winnning! Other content mentioned: South Africa as TV’s last frontier Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com with your feedback! Founders: We'd love to hear about you & what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com Investors: We'd also love to link up with you, to partner to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at info@afrobility.com Episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to discuss Kuda Bank - the African neobank. We’ll explore the Kuda story across 6 areas: Neobanks in other emerging markets (Brazil & NuBank) African & Nigerian banking context Kuda's launch, early history, growth over time & fundraising Kuda's product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning, potential exit options Overall outlook This episode was recorded on July 25, 2021. Companies discussed: Kuda Bank, Nubank, Carbon, N26, Monzo, Chime, GTBank, Stanbic IBTC, Sparkle, Rubies, Monzo, Xinja, Chime & Chipper Cash Business concepts discussed: Neobank / Challenger bank / digital bank strategy, consumer FinTech monetization strategy, consumer lending, retail banking strategy, customer segmentation strategy & low-end disruption Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Why we’re talking about Kuda Bank (05:50) - Neobanks in other emerging markets - Nubank background (18:30) - Africa banking background (26:50) - Traditional banks vs Neobanks (35:20) - Banking context in Nigeria; Nigeria’s banking sector (47:40) - Founding and early history (1:02:27) - Seed fundraising (1:11:50) - Series A fundraising (1:18:40) - Product strategy (1:26:30) - GTM & partnerships strategy (1:33:47) - Monetization strategy (1:50:16) - Competition - Neobanks, traditional banks & other FinTechs (2:05:00) - Potential exit options (2:10:29) - Olumide’s overall thoughts (2:18:18) - Bankole’s overall thoughts (2:32:35) - Recommendations & small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: What did I spend my money on after selling twitch (by Justin Kan. Fascinating conversation about wealth, managing money after a windfall, investments, private companies, exits, etc) & The Everything store (by Brad Stone) - Amazing book, amazing story. Amazing company. Favorite part is when author talks about Jeff's most famous insults. Hilarious! Small win: NYC trip last weekend - So much fun partying with friends. Other content: Monzo is “struggling" Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Where you are is not who you are by Ursula Burns & Justin Kan interview of Conor White-Sullivan (YouTube) Small win: I spent the last week in Lagos! New friends, stimulating conversations and catching up with old friends Other content: Kudimoney pitch at Startup Bootcamp & 2015 NYTimes article on Amazon’s work culture We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Chipper Cash - The African Fintech payments & remittances player. We’ll explore the Chipper story across 6 areas: Intra-Africa remittances context Global remittances (outside Africa to Africa) context Chipper Cash’s launch, early history, growth & fundraising Chipper Cash's Product & monetization strategy Competitive positioning & potential exit options End with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on July 11 & Aug 1, 2021. Companies discussed: Chipper Cash, Venmo, PayPal, Square, Flutterwave, EcoBank, Safaricom, Sendwave, MTN, Airtel, Deciens Capital & Liquid2 Ventures Business concepts discussed: Consumer FinTech (Personal Finance OS) monetization strategy, FinTech exit strategy, Intra-African Remittances, International remittances, Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance, Stock trading & closed-loop payment networks Conversation highlights: (01:07) - Why we’re talking about Chipper Cash (06:20) - Intra-African trade context (13:12) - Intra-African remittances context (21:40) - Global remittances (outside Africa to Africa) context (36:50) - Founder backgrounds - Ham Serunjogi & Majid Moujaled (46:06) - Chipper Cash founding and early history (52:30) - Fundraising and Growth - Angel, Series A, B & C (1:07:25) - Product strategy (1:08:25) - Monetization strategy (1:35:24) - Competition - horizontal and vertical (1:45:55) - Potential exit scenarios (1:54:12) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (2:01:32) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (2:08:40) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation:  Nailing Capital vs Scaling Capital (by Sajith Pai) , Essentialism (by Greg McKeown) & Owning Chinese Companies Is Complicated (by Matt Levine from Bloomberg) Small win: American Express Platinum new benefits: Clear! & Audible! Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: Why startups fail by Tom Eisenmann & How to build an engine to find product market fit by Rahul Vohra Small win: Dinner with friends on a rooftop in Seattle Other content: Chipper Cash pitch at 500 Startups & A columnist Makes Sense of Wall Street Like None Other - The New York Times We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today we’re going to talk about consumer lending in Africa. We start by discussing lending in other emerging markets, discuss Africa’s credit landscape, analyze lending tech companies across Africa & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on June 27, 2021. Companies discussed: Navi, Creditas, Jumo, Carbon, Branch, Tala, Tugende, FairMoney, Shahry, Khazna, NuBank, Safaricom (M-Pesa), Alibaba (Ant Financial & AliPay), Migo (Mines), Numida, Tyme Bank, Lulalend & Evolve Credit Business concepts discussed: Consumer lending, SME lending, unbanked population, Agency banking, credit assesment, lending risk management & lending (financial services) regulation Conversation highlights: (00:40) - Why we’re talking about Lending (04:40) - Consumer lending context in India (10:10) - Navi deepdive & what African startups can learn (13:14) - Consumer lending context in Brazil (18:30) - Creditas deepdive (31:29) - Consumer lending context in China (38:30) - Consumer lending in Africa (51:18) - Lending startups in Southern Africa (1:04:06) - Lending startups in Western Africa (1:05:00) - Lending startups in Eastern Africa (1:16:16) - Lending startups in Northern Africa (1:26:50) - Olumide’s overall thoughts (1:31:50) - Bankole’s overall thoughts (1:45:30) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins Recommendation: Howard Lindzon on Angel Podcast - Amazing banter, really funny and insightful Recommendation: Feeling by Ladipoe - Amazing. I can basically listen to it on repeat for hours Recommendation: Eni Duro - Olamide - Real life. Epic. Small win: Windows 11 announced. Can't wait to use it Other content: Decoding India's consumer lending opportunity Other content: Chinese microlending is getting weird and dangerous Special thanks to Deji Olowe for helping me think about lending (checkout his blog here) Bankole’s recommendations & small wins Recommendation: The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future & The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World Small win: Attended a Seattle Sounders game v Real Salt Lake. Sounders W. Other content: Samora Kariuki Frontier Fintech & @getCarbon on Medium We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear. All episodes at Afrobility.com

Overview: Today we’re going to talk about Sports betting & gambling tech in Africa. We share some context about betting in developed and emerging markets, analyze betting tech companies across Africa & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on Jun 13, 2021. Companies discussed: BetKing, Betway, Bet9ja, BetBonanza, SportPesa, BetFair, Bet365, Flutter entertainment, Paddy Power, Walletec, 22Bet, William Hill & Multichoice Business concepts discussed: Gambling, Betting, Tech policy, Taxation strategy & Government Tech Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Why we’re talking about sports betting / gambling + how it works (11:10) - Betting & Sports gambling in the UK (18:20) - Betting & Sports gambling in India (21:20) - Context of sports betting in Africa (31:57) - Gambling regulation across African countries (37:39) - Western Africa betting startups (43:32) - Southern Africa betting startups (49:40) - Eastern Africa betting startups (57:30) - Northern African betting startups (1:00:17) - Bankole’s overall thoughts (1:10:09) - Olumide’s overall thoughts (1:16:05) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation: The Ride of a lifetime (by Bob Iger). Loved it. Email info@afrobility.com with autobiography recommendations Small win: Las Vegas last weekend (fun getaway) with friends :) Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions: Recommendation:  Caught In The Study Web & Feeling by Ladipoe Small win: UFC 263. Ask about Izzy. Aya bi Ekun. Other content: Nigeria needs to raise tobacco taxes,  Collar option strategy & Brandon Moreno UFC 263 Octagon interview We’d love to hear from you. Please email info@afrobility.com to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear. Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com