I'm a community builder and sensemaker who's keen to understand why and how things work. I build networks that support entrepreneurial and social innovation, and distill the logic underlying emerging opportunities for systems change.
Currently, I'm exploring how we might reimagine venture investing to achieve systems-level change — unlocking underexploited opportunities in Africa. Many Africa-focused startups are trying to solve fundamentally systems-level problems. Take healthcare delivery in Lagos: a startup focusing on plasma distribution isn't just solving a logistics problem — it's filling infrastructure gaps like a lack of doctors and nurses, functioning hospitals, access to testing equipment, cold storage and so on. Venture capital is positioned as the right way to fuel these companies, even though Silicon Valley-style assumptions don't necessarily hold in African markets — from expectations about disposable income to readiness for fully digital solutions.
I'm curious about what other sources of capital and investments beyond capital can unlock affordable and ubiquitous access to financial services, healthcare, education, food and power. I write about the first principles of VC investing in Africa, systemic investing, and holistic approaches to complex social problems.
My first foray into the mythology of entrepreneurship began with an embarrassingly short and tragic stint at a Nigerian supplier of wholesale internet solutions to Nigeria's GSM operators and ISPs. I thought I was going to ride the wave of Africa's mobile phone revolution. That isn't how things turned out. But as I couch-surfed through my last few months in Nigeria (and my slowly dwindling pile of 200 naira notes — at an exchange rate of 140, believe it or not), I reflected on where I was and where I wanted to go.
Fortuitously, I stumbled across Economic Development by Todaro and Smith. Three hundred and something pages later, I concluded that the "right" thing to do was to launch a career in agricultural development with a side of policy and institution building. But I didn't have the patience — or the time, as a late bloomer — for such a slow-moving path. The year and a half I'd spent in international development, juxtaposed with the reality of informal commerce — being sold snacks, water and toilet paper through the window of the project's white Toyota Hilux — made me believe that entrepreneurship was the express lane to building sustainable livelihoods. That was many moons ago.
Since then, I've:
- Worked (briefly) for two failed startups founded by the same Chicago-based Harvard MBA.
- Completed an MBA focused on the intersection of sustainability and enterprise.
- Consulted for social enterprises that used franchising to provide entrepreneurship opportunities to at-risk adults, and a mini mall concept to provide entertainment and critical services at affordable prices to African consumers.
- Served as the first Executive Director of a pan-African tech hub network that has grown from 13 to 500+ members.
- Helped launch the World Bank Group's pan-African post-acceleration program for digital startups, with a cohort that included Printivo, MAX, Wasoko, and CoinAfrique.
- Conducted or contributed to research on impact enterprises, informal innovation in Africa, the future of work in Sub-Saharan Africa, tech hubs in startup ecosystems, shared ownership, and a context-informed perspective on VC investing in Africa.
- Launched a podcast exploring the path of venture capital and startup formation in Africa.
The shortcut I was aiming for in my frivolous youth has turned into a winding, years-long, serendipitous quest to understand if, how, and to what extent building things can solve the world's biggest social problems. A return to writing is currently loading. Stay tuned.
