Happy Thursday! As 2021 draws to a close, I’m writing to share a few thoughts about the Trajectory Africa’s final two episodes for the year. Let’s jump right in.
Side gigs are hard. Long story short, Q4 was rough, and I absolutely did not have the mental bandwidth to edit audio. I wasn’t actually sure that I’d release any more episodes this year, but decided to see if I could edit one. Needless to say, I pushed through and delivered two. Yay, me!
Two for the price of one. Of course, publishing two episodes is not just about sticking to the release schedule. These two episodes, Tracks 5 and 6, complement one another really well, and represent the natural progression of the Trajectory Africa series. So far, we’ve heard the story of an emerging fund manager and his struggle to make the economics of small checks work, countered that with a historical (and philosophical) case for why now is the time for Africans to build the future, took a hard look at the purchasing power within African consumer markets and the digital commerce opportunity, and finally, explored Nigerian b2c and b2b markets and how fintech enables consumption.
Tracks 5 and 6 pick up on the themes that emerged from Tracks 3 and 4, in which we highlighted the importance of the digital commerce opportunity in Africa and the b2b market in Nigeria—both driven by (retail, tech-enabled) SMEs. In Track 5, I have a wide-ranging conversation with Kuhle Mnisi, Principal at Secha Capital, about the SME investment opportunity, the role of (tech-enabled) SMEs in fueling tech startups and enabling consumption, and the similarities and differences between SMEs and tech startups. For Track 6, I chat with Hilda Moraa, a serial founder, researcher, and author, about her mission as the Founder and CEO of Pezesha, to build a pan-African fintech company that helps SMEs get capital through a technology-enabled (eco)system.
What We’ll Do in 2022. So, what's next for the Trajectory Africa? Well, we’re about half-way through the series. The first four episodes interrogated the key assumptions driving Africa’s (tech) venture ecosystem, from why Africans can solve African problems and the amount of purchasing power within African consumers markets, to the ways in which embedded finance and tech-enabled SMEs can drive growth within the venture ecosystem. For the latter half of the series, we’ll circle back to the fintech opportunity, and then wrap up with an examination of structure—of exits and funds.
There’s also a reasonable chance you could see some writing beyond reporting episode releases; I’ve got a new (but complementary) project on deck that I might “excerpt” if things go according to plan.
So, as you stuff stockings (or don’t), reflect and plan, or in the words of the iconic Debbie Allen, “relax, relate and release”, please check out Track 5 with Kuhle Mnisi and Track 6 with Hilda Moraa.*
I wish you all a truly warm, restorative, and inspiring holiday (or end of year) season, and I hope to reconnect in 2022.
Until next time,
Tayo
*Note: These episodes were recorded in reverse order, and if you listen to both of them, there’s a not-so-subtle “tell” in Hilda’s episode. :)