Afropolitan

MERCEDES BENTQuote - “one of the biggest, most profound realization I've had is there is no life path that can be planned or followed.”The Afropolitan Podcast spotlights Afropolitans who aren’t afraid to step into the unknown and walk in purpose. With this podcast we hope to empower Africans in the Diaspora to harness their full potential and contribute to the development of a bold and progressive black community.Our guests will share their working formulas, the hard facts about leaving familiar terrain, embracing the unknown, and staying relevant afterwards.This episode features Mercedes Bent, partner at Lightspeed, a venture capital firm based in the USA, with her focus on consumer investments in crypto. Born in North Carolina and raised in California, Mercedes’ parents introduced her to web development at a young age and dinner table conversations were centered around the next invention. It’s no surprise Mercedes found herself working at startups in her early career as a Product Manager and later as a General Manager.Mercedes’ path to VC is a true convergence of her life experiences, finance roles managing P&Ls at two consumer startups (including growing one from $2 to $100M in revenue), and her long-term goal of empowering communities she cares about. A member of Lightspeed’s consumer and crypto investing team, Mercedes is primarily focused on investing in crypto, fintech, and other wealth-building and consumer products. Listen and enjoy as Mercedes talks to us about venture capital. Mercedes reading listhttps://www.amazon.com/Anne-Green-Gables-Complete-8-Book/dp/0553609416 Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery. https://www.amazon.com/Singularity-Nearer-Ray-Kurzweil-ebook/dp/B08Y6FYJVY The Singularity Is Nearer by Ray KurzweilShow Notes6:59 Journey to Venture Capital and Lightspeed8:41 Evaluating startups11:00 Common misconceptions about VC12:40 Why Lightspeed15:01 Covid’s impact on deal flow and personally 17:41 How the barrier can be broken for women trying to raise capital21:25 First encounter with failure and lessons learned.24:17 Advice to founders struggling to recruit and retain talent 28:24 Advice to people trying to break into VC29:51 If the only thing left in the world was to read a book about your life, what will the title be33:41 What does being Afropolitan mean to youThe Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.Want to learn more about Afropolitan? Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/Afropolitan Community - https://linktr.ee/afropolitangroup

Atsu Davoh Quote- “Focus on the process, the destination will eventually come but the process is what gets you there.”The Afropolitan Podcast spotlights Afropolitans who aren’t afraid to step into the unknown and walk in purpose. With this podcast we hope to empower Africans in the Diaspora to harness their full potential and contribute to the development of a bold and progressive black community.Our guests will share their working formulas, the hard facts about leaving familiar terrain, embracing the unknown, and staying relevant afterwards.This episode features Atsu Davoh, the MD of Bitsika, a payment platform that helps people send money across countries.With several startups under his belt, Atsu has always been determined to build his multi million dollar company and he seems to have achieved that with Bitsika. While in college in the United states Atsu realized school wasn't for him. Atsu was more interested in building websites, working on small projects, learning HTML and CSS.He eventually dropped out and focused on entrepreneurship full time, a move that has eventually paid off.Bitsika was a pioneer in afrobeats and fintech collaboration. In 2020, they signed renowned music giant Davido as an official brand ambassador. This partnership was a pivotal moment for the organization as it led to the acquisition of numerous customers. Listen and enjoy as Atsu talks to us about building Bitsika and future plans. Atsu reading listAntiFragile by Nicholas TalebThe Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean AmmousInventing Bitcoin by Yan PritzkerShow notes:4:55 How Atsu scales ideas as a software engineer and technical founder. 8:25 How Bitsika plans to accommodate the central bank of Nigeria's regulation on crypto companies.16:36 The process of engaging Davido as a brand ambassador and the results after the campaign was launched. 30:10 challenges with hiring and maintaining talent as a startup in Africa. 37:39 The promise of crypto and decentralization. 42:28 Atsu’s entrepreneurial mind set.48:37 First experience with failure and lesson learnt. 1:02:03 What does being Afropolitan mean to Atsu1:03:45 Mission behind the social tokens and what it represents in the crypto ecosystem. The Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.Want to learn more about Afropolitan? Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/

Gossy UkanwokeQuote"Don't enjoy to the point where you're not doing hard work again and don't do hard work to the point where you don't take a moment to enjoy just a little bit."The Afropolitan Podcast spotlights Afropolitans who aren’t afraid to step into the unknown and walk in purpose. With this podcast we hope to empower Africans in the Diaspora to harness their full potential and contribute to the development of a bold and progressive black community.Today’s episode features Gossy Ukanwoke, the MD of KingMakers, owners of the BetKing brand. With Gossy at the helm of affairs, the brand is evolving to encompass sports entertainment and gaming services. “It’s not just a roadside gambling company, it’s a proper technology business. It’s a product in gaming. It can easily be a fintech company tomorrow, given the spread across the continent, the number of users, the number of transactions. It can roll it out and it can be anything.”Gossy started out reselling Internet services in his late teens to wealthy customers, at a time when wireless routers were not yet commonplace. The Internet service provider caught on to what Gossy was doing and in no time, he found himself out of business. “You know when they say, cut you at the knees, day by day, my clients were just dropping off one by one.”It was a steep learning curve for him, but the lessons he learned would serve him well in the future.Listen and find out what those lessons are.You can also fuel your mind with Gossy’s impactful reading list.https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996 Good To Great by Jim Collinshttps://www.amazon.com/Talent-Never-Enough-Discover-Choices/dp/0785214038 Talent is never Enough by John C Maxwellhttps://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/1442397683 Sprint by Jake Knapp Show Notes:11:05 Gossy mentions one of the things people don’t really talk about in entrepreneurship?14:55 Gossy talks about his boat business and building confidence in a low-trust environment.19:42 First and best entrepreneurial experience ever as a reseller of Internet services and lessons learned.31:21 How he created Beni American University. Building out a school that will address the issues of access, quality and relevance.42:19 From bootstrapping to fundraising.46:10: BetKing's growth and expansion.50:50 What’s important when it comes to recruiting the right talent.52:33 Gossy’s biggest leadership lessons in managing peopleThe Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.Want to learn more about Afropolitan? Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/

Eke Eleanya UrumQuote: “Start up is a Marathon. You want to make sure that the value you're creating, you're not just building for investors because you sold too much too early.”The Afropolitan Podcast spotlights Afropolitans who aren’t afraid to step into the unknown and walk in purpose. With this podcast we hope to empower Africans in the Diaspora to harness their full potential and contribute to the development of a bold and progressive black community.Today’s episode features Eke Eleanya Urum, Founder and CEO of Rise Vest - a dollar denominated investment platform.“I've always been passionate about finance, investments. It's what I studied in school, what I worked in, it’s what I did personally. And as a hobby, I just love it.”Following the peak of the Shale revolution and the subsequent crash of oil prices, Eke published a blog post in November of 2014 advising people to find ways to move their money to dollar investments. He went on to co-found BuyCoins with Timi Ajiboye. They later parted ways so that Eke could focus on building core investment products, and this eventually led to the start of Rise Vest.Having to deal with regulatory challenges from the government taught Eke a thing or two about the rules of engagement when dealing with regulators.Listen and enjoy as Eke takes us through the rise of Rise VestEke’s reading listThe Biblehttps://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho-ebook/dp/B00U6SFUSS/ The Alchemist by Paul Coelhohttps://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future-ebook/dp/B00J6YBOFQ/ Zero To One by Peter ThielShow Notes:03:57 How 2021 Rise Vest’s year of ascent.05:46 The idea that became Rise Vest.07:09 Starting BuyCoins with Timi Ajiboye.08:02 Parting ways with Timi and BuyCoins.08:17 The beginning of Rise Vest.10:18 Eke talks about recruiting tech talent even if you are a non-tech founder.11:06 Partnerships that work. How Eke met his co-founder Bosun Olanrewaju.11:49 Building the first products at Rise Vest12:35 Building the team at Rise Vest13:22 How equity works at Rise Vest.14:24 The process of fundraising according to Eke17:54 Dealing with regulators. The cases with CBN and EFCC.23:25 The founders who inspire Eke.26:24 Eke’s thoughts on running a company in Nigeria versus going abroad.29:20 The future of Crypto in Africa and why it should be embraced34:13 Eke’s multiple lens on failure.The Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.Want to learn more about Afropolitan? Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/

Quote:“I often say to people that you want to be careful how you challenge yourself. You don't want to change too many things at once when changing a job.”Today’s episode features Adia Sowho, the CMO of MTN Nigeria, and also the first woman to occupy that position. “I'm not a classic CMO, but interestingly, I think I'm the CMO the tech company needs. I hope to try to, from my role, reconnect MTN to that deeper purpose and start taking the conversation forward. What happens beyond connectivity? How do we make MTN a part of the next bunch of unicorn stories?”Starting with her first degree in Electrical Engineering, Adia’s career has cut across technology, telecommunications, and finance. Adia has been referred to as the Sheryl Sandberg of the startup ecosystem and later as the Olivia Pope of the Nigerian tech ecosystem. Listen and learn how Adia built her track record of creating impactful work in her positions.Adia’s Reading Listhttps://www.amazon.com/Sovereign-Individual-James-Dale-Davidson-ebook/dp/B00AK9IXXM-The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogghttps://www.amazon.com/Formula-Universal-Laws-Success-ebook/dp/B07B863X6B/- The Formula by Albert-László Barabási Show Notes:03:42 Adia talks about her role as the CMO of MTN Nigeria?07:03 Adia explains MTN’s position in the tech space.12:02 How digital finance services help build legacy and trust.16:32 On corporate companies versus startups.21:44 Why founders need structure in their companies.24:37 The turnaround process of Thrive Agric. 29:46 How to navigate intergenerational spaces.35:56 Building synergy between fintechs, banks and telcos.39:36 How managing her reputation and making relationship investments have paid off.The Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.Want to learn more about Afropolitan? Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/

Afropolitan is creating a digital nation to enable Africans and the diaspora to build abundant lives. Our history as Africans is one of abundance. Systemic oppression has limited our progress, and being Black is associated with scarcity. It is time to reclaim our abundance.Our knowledge and history have been passed down in Africa through oral tradition. That oral tradition continues till this day, but today we call it podcasting. We seek to preserve our history, achievements, and knowledge for today and the future.This episode features Eche Emole and Chika Uwazie, co-founders of Afropolitan, a digital nation that enables Africans and the diaspora to build abundant lives.Eche is the co-founder of Afropolitan, a network comprising the best that Africa and the diaspora offer across art, finance, tech, and media. Eche is a former executive at Flutterwave Inc., a payment technology company focused on helping banks and businesses provide seamless and secure payment experiences for their customers in Africa and globally. Eche has 10 years of experience building communities across the African Diaspora.Chika is co-founder of Afropolitan. A seasoned HR professional with multiple successful companies under her belt. Born and raised in America, Chika moved back to Nigeria to run Talentbase, a human resource and payroll software company. Chika is passionate about helping export exceptional African talent to the world.The Afropolitan Manifesto: https://afropolitan.mirror.xyzHow to Start a Country by Balaji Srinivasan - https://1729.com/how-to-start-a-new-countryEche’s reading listAntifragile by Nassim Nicholas TalebThe Almanack of Naval Ravikan by Eric JorgensonThe Way of the Superior Man by David DeidaHow to start a new country by Balaji SrinivasanChika’s reading listRich Dad Poor Dad by Robert kiyosakiThe Psychology of money by Morgan HouselThe Art of Seduction by Robert GreeneShow Notes10:15 Introduction of co founders.13:15 Birth and transition of Afropolitan.18:09 Afropolitan mission and why it's personal.36:00 How to execute the Afropolitan mission.46:41 Experience with the fundraising process.50:37 Advice to founders trying to raise capital.55:47 Most significant encounter with failure and lessons learned.1:14:48 What does being Afropolitan mean?1:18:22 Last words.The Afropolitan Podcast is hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Jamit, or wherever you get your podcasts.Want to learn more about Afropolitan?Twitter - https://twitter.com/afropolitanWebsite - https://www.afropolitan.io/Afropolitan Community - https://linktr.ee/afropolitangroup

Hi I'm Eche, co-founder of Afropolitan and host of the Afropolitan Podcast, In this new season I’m excited to share what we’ve been up to. Afropolitan is creating a digital nation to enable Africans and the diaspora to build abundant lives. Our history as Africans is one of abundance. Systemic oppression has limited our progress and being Black is associated with scarcity. It is time to reclaim our abundance. In Africa, our knowledge and history has been passed down through oral tradition. That oral tradition continues till this day, but today we call it podcasting. We seek to preserve our history, achievements and knowledge not just for today, but for the future.Listen to season two of the Afropolitan podcast, where we extract the blueprints of fearlessness, innovation and progress from Afropolitan citizens who are building the future of a bold and progressive nation. ​​Join the network of abundance → https://linktr.ee/afropolitangroupAfropolitan Website → https://www.afropolitan.io/

Today we chat with Fola Olatunji David, the co-founder of Kickoff Africa; a startup focused on investing in startups, enabling quick turnaround time with regards to decision making for startups and connecting experts to startups and also offers training in select fields needed to grow a startup. In this episode, he shares his story about his foray into tech and how his experience and extensive knowledge of Sports bettingVenture Capitalism and Product Marketing has helped him to understand African users and become a better consultant for startups.

In this episode, our guest is Tobenna Arodiogbu. He is the Co-founder and CEO of CloudTrucks. His interest in the trucking business led him to found Scotty Labs, a startup that allows users to remotely control autonomous vehicle. He currently runs CloudTrucks a startup that enables truckers get more revenue, better cash flow and reduces their cost of operation. Listen to Tobenna as he shares his story about his formative days in the world of economics and how the knowledge helped him transition to the world of tech.

In this episode, our guest is Sadiq Onifade popularly known as Wurld. He is a Nigerian singer and songwriter who has collaborated with artists such as Akon, Mario, Timbaland; award-winning producer Sarz and electronic dance music DJ Major Lazer.Listen to Wurld as he shares his story of his early days as a singer and songwriter navigating the music industry in Atlanta and Africa; his favorite artist to record with and his plans for the future.