Yemisi Isidi moved back to Nigeria from the UK in 2017, and after seeing how difficult it was for businesses, especially women-owned ones, to scale, she decided to do something about it.  At first, she started helping small business owners utilise social media to grow their businesses until that seemed inadequate, and then she moved into providing micro-loans through a company she started, Triift Africa. After a while, even that became inadequate as she discovered that beyond finances, entrepreneurs required a lot of structure and good management to thrive, and so she decided to step up to that. Yemisi, who graduated from Aston University in Birmingham with a degree in Accounting and Business Management started to provide advisory services to business owners. 

In the last two years, Yemisi Isidi has been involved in the disbursement of over $10 million to early founders and business owners. She has also been invested in providing technical advisory to enterprise programs, as well as mentorship and access through various accelerators and incubation programs like the She Leads Africa program and The Future Female Business School which was set up by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub to support young female tech founders. Some alumni of these programs include Medsaf, Shuttlers, and Auto Girl.

For Centre Stage, TechCabal had a chat with Yemisi on the role of mentorships in building sustainable businesses.

How would you describe yourself outside of the work that you do?

Yemisi Isidi: I am a very driven and passionate person. I care deeply about seeing things grow, whether it’s a business, idea, or community and this shapes whatever it is that I do. I like to see people live better lives and a lot of times I am grateful that I get to contribute to that through my work.

At an event some weeks ago, you mentioned that you didn’t agree with the narrative of female founders being over-mentored. Please can you speak about that some more?

YI: The popular saying is that female startup founders are over-mentored and underfunded. I agree with the underfunded path and I’ve seen a lot more effort in that regard with programmes intentionally focused on putting money in the hands of female founders, whether startup founders or SME business owners.

But when we say female founders are over-mentored, then I don’t agree. Mentorship covers a lot of things, including operational advice. If you have an investor who gives you money, but isn’t holding you accountable and doesn’t understand your industry enough to give you professional advice or access to a valuable network, then there’s a very high chance of you failing, despite the money and this is applicable to both male and female founders. 

Startups that were part of local incubation or accelerator programmes are more likely to succeed, and it’s not just about money but also access to a network and accountability structure that supports their growth. We’ve seen startups that were on the brink of folding but were resuscitated by their local investors. Not just with money, but also with them being able to rally and provide management with the support that they need to pull them through the process. 

Underfunded and over-mentored just sounds like “Give me the money and leave me alone to do the work.” But there are bigger questions that need to be answered to build a sustainable business,  questions like if they know how to do the work and if they’re always going to be motivated when doing the work. There needs to be additional support beyond funding that makes it easier for people to build profitable and sustainable businesses, and this is a gap that mentorship covers. So yes, women are underfunded, but there is still room for mentorship.

What are some of the benefits of mentorship to early-stage founders that people don’t pay attention to?

YI: There are so many benefits, but I will share two. First, it gives you access to a network community, which makes it easier to get external funding, especially when you’re part of a recognised mentoring programme. But most importantly, it makes it easier to bootstrap to generate internal funding. Perhaps the mistake here is when we think about funding, we’re thinking of another person who is not a customer giving you money, but there’s funding that is your business being profitable and having healthy cash flow, and I’ve seen how these mentorings and training make it possible for businesses to achieve this more quickly.

Another investor spoke to us about startups not necessarily requiring a huge investment to start operations in the early days. What do you think about that?

YI: Businesses do need money for operations, licences, research, etc, depending on what they’re building. Finding investors early makes it possible to focus on building the business rather than trying to look for other streams of income to sustain it, so money is essential in making growth happen faster. However, it is not always straightforward. I think that a lot of money stifles innovation and problem-solving, especially when there is no accountability. Corporate Governance is already a big issue in our ecosystem. Too much money where there is no solid foundation, assured integrity or product market fit can be a problem. Even when you have a clear path to success, we have a very unpredictable market so it’s important to think about how to build sustainably from the beginning.

What are some of your most important wins in the past years?

YI: Over the past two years alone, have been involved in enabling access to over $10 million in funding for early-stage startups and businesses across six African countries.  I’ve also worked with about 700 entrepreneurs across Africa to build investment-ready and profitable businesses and aided them in accessing available funding opportunities. 

In 2017, I organised the Illorin Digital Summit which had over 1000 people in attendance from different states across the North Central and Western parts of Nigeria. That work has now evolved to become Cirkle Labs which is an innovation hub that has worked directly with over 4000 young people and businesses, improving their digital literacy to get local and international jobs. We also have helped over 3,500 businesses become more efficient through technology and digital literacy.

At Triift Africa, we are currently working with up to 1000 underserved businesses to access our savings platform, a community for peer-to-peer support and collateral-free loan that works for their business model and makes it easier for them to grow. We also launched Start by Triift Africa where we are addressing the unemployment in Nigeria by making it easier for students and recent graduates to start and grow micro businesses. 

What are some things you have learned along the way in managing Triift that you wished you had known at the beginning?

YI: Based on my work with Triift Africa and an operator supporting startups across Africa, I have seen the importance of thinking and paying attention to the numbers from day one. It is very easy to get carried away with the passion you feel and the problem you want to solve that you don’t pause and ask yourself how to consistently capture some of the value you create for others to ensure that you are profitable and sustainable. This is also why I am very passionate about financial literacy for entrepreneurs. Thinking about the numbers, how to cut down costs, how to keep a financial record, and how to improve revenue and profit, will help you make better strategic and data-driven decisions. 

According to Ahmad, her focus on the northern tech ecosystem is simply strategic. 

Nigeria’s population is expected to match that of the United States by 2050, becoming the third-largest country in the world, and a large number of that population will come from the northern part of the country. 

“This is a ready market for anything,” she shared. “We want to make sure that we start to harness the potential now, not in the next 20 years.” 

In November, Ahmad, alongside Sanusi Ismail, the founder of Kaduna’s first tech innovation hub, CoLab, announced the launch of Aduna Capital, a $20 million fund targeted at discovering and nurturing early-stage tech founders across Africa, with a focus on regions like northern Nigeria.

One of the main challenges of the northern tech ecosystem is a lack of access to funding as there are not enough VCs in the region, according to this report. On the other hand, investors from other regions are typically wary of investing outside the Lagos tech bubble. This puts entrepreneurs building in the north in a tight position, with many resorting to dev shops and prioritising being contractors for the government over pushing to scale their startups. 

“There are a lot of businesses in Abuja, but they get carried away with contracting and doing dev shops,” Ahmad shared. “Dev shops were the highest category of companies in our survey, which makes sense that people are developing software for the government.” 

However, Ahmad believes this trend is slowly changing as the ecosystem is increasingly seeing more people who recognise the need to have scalable products that are not government-dependent. She believes that it’s important to invest in them.

According to Ahmad, the right time to invest in some of those outliers is right now because a couple of success stories will result in a multiplier effect for the ecosystem. 

“We’re already starting to see success stories with Sudo Africa, which raised $3.7 million; and Flexi Saf, which is bootstrapped to over a million dollars in revenue,” Ahmad said over a call. “These kinds of successes send a message to others, or even employees that work there, that they can build and scale their products. The cycle continues and this is how we’ll start to see a more vibrant ecosystem.” 

Ahmad is also hopeful that this growth will be facilitated by the presence of Nigeria’s new minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani. Tijani recently launched the 3MTT programme to train three million tech talents, simultaneously giving smaller tech companies the chance to apply to facilitate trainees. 

“Having one of our own who understands the pain of the ecosystem is great, and I can see that he’s already opening things up with the 3MTT programme, giving smaller companies the chance to apply as trainers,” said Ahmad.  “This is automatically going to catalyse the ecosystem both in Abuja and nationwide, simply because some of these companies will have that initial market that they need to gain some traction and to be able to prepare for the funding.”

Beyond funding, another key challenge of the northern tech ecosystem is a lack of cohesion. This means that it is often difficult for entrepreneurs to connect with other stakeholders to gain knowledge or access to opportunities and resources. Currently, there are only about 40 key ecosystem entities, including accelerators, VCs and incubators operating from the region.

This is something that Ahmad struggled with in her early days in the ecosystem. She shared that a lot of growth and funding opportunities were only discovered later in her journey.

She told TechCabal: “As a young founder, I wish I knew the kind of support available to me out there as a founder—all the accelerators or incubators or programmes. It is very sad, but it’s also the reason why we’re making sure that founders within the ecosystem here can access support, even if not from us, but from other incubators and accelerators available within the space.”

In the next five years, Ahmad is looking to grow TTLabs to become a major pipeline for deal flows from the region and connect underserved founders around the country to VCs in Africa. Their fund, Aduna Capital, is targeting a 5–10x investor return, striking a balance between impactful investments and lucrative returns for investors.

While at Babcock University, Chinazom Arinze decided to find a side hustle to support herself and take some stress off her parents. After trying real estate and failing, she turned to something she had always loved: cars. 

Arinze noticed that students at her private university often travelled out of state during the weekends, so she decided to build a business around that. The vehicles that students typically boarded were uncomfortable and congested, so Arinze decided to rent smaller cars and hire drivers to transport the students instead. What started as her organising car trips for students from her school, in south-west Nigeria, to Lagos, 45 kilometres away, and back, soon turned into a thriving mobility tech startup, AutoGirl. 

AutoGirl was launched in 2019, and offers online vehicle rental services across three categories: cars, boats, and jets. Arinze has driven the company beyond the walls of her alma mater to become a company operating in multiple cities, with 18 full-time staff and 20 contract drivers. According to Arinze, AutoGirl has completed 3,000 rides in Nigeria and provides mobility services to about 123 companies.

TechCabal had a chat with Arinze about the challenges of operating in the mobility sector and what her plans for the future are. 

What would you say are the challenges with operating a mobility tech startup in Nigeria?

In the beginning, when I was involved in the sale of vehicles, one of the challenges was actually being shortchanged as the middleman. This turned out to not be a problem in rentals because people really need a company to trust and hold accountable when it comes to taking care of their mobility due to the safety risks that come with it.

Another challenge has been the rising cost of fuel as it threatened to cut down our profit margin. However, we’ve been able to come up with the solution of having different price points for fully-fuelled vehicles, minimum fuelling, and no fuelling. This prevented us from having to increase our prices by almost 50% when the fuel subsidy was removed.

Dealing with drivers has also been challenging as it demands a lot of time and resources to make sure that they are fully trained and verified. 

Security is a very important component of mobility tech. How do you approach that?

When we were entering the rental space, it was very important for me to actually do some competitive analysis of the people that were already in the space. I noticed that insecurity was one of the major reasons why people did not fully enjoy the services of other players already in the space, and decided that security was a strong point that we didn’t want to negotiate on or even gamble with.

This is why the number of our drivers does not increase as rapidly as all the others do because there’s a lot that goes into their verification. We make sure to verify their locations, their houses, and their guarantors, just to be sure that the people using our service are safe. We have an entire team that is focused on checking in with drivers every single hour because a lot of our service quality comes from the quality of drivers we have working with us.

We have trackers on the vehicles, as well as an operations team whose job it is to know the location of every vehicle at any point in time. 

What are some things that you wish you knew before venturing into the mobility sector?

That I needed to move faster and build our technological infrastructure earlier than I did. If I had deployed resources into making sure the platform was built with the momentum we got in our first year, we would be much bigger than what we already are. Mobility tech is already becoming an interesting sector as, every day, more players are starting to see the viability. Having the first-comers advantage of an online platform that was already being used as far back as 2019 would have really helped. 

Have you experienced some challenges in terms of wanting to expand?

Expansion is never easy because you’re going into uncharted territories, but one thing that has helped us is our strategy. This includes having launch managers in every city that we are launching in, and that kind of helps to give us complete local context and also foster trust among the people who are going to be our partners. Expansion is also expensive, but thankfully, we’re doing it at a time when there’s a lot of demand for our services.

What are your future plans for AutoGirl?

We have plans to expand to other cities in Africa, which makes me excited because I see it as a way to encourage foreign investors, tourists and businesses to come to Africa. They no longer have to worry about how they’re going to move while they’re in a city in Africa and are now assured of safe mobility while they are in the country. We are looking to enter African cities that have a large number of expatriates like Abidjan, Kigali, and Nairobi. The goal in the next five years is to expand to at least five African cities in Africa.

What is driving the high interest in mobility tech?

The market is ripe, and people can now see companies like ours that have built a car-rental marketplace with a model that is sustainable. Because, when we started, there were lots of questions about whether this would work. This year alone, we have seen different players launch in the market, and I believe that the reason is that they are seeing how much of a scalable business model this is. Nigeria is a country of people who like to have fun and show up well. We have a lot of events on a daily basis that people need to move around for. The need for mobility is almost as important as the need for food as people will always need to move.

Five years ago, not a lot of accelerators were interested in mobility tech, but right now, there are a lot of people across the board who have realised that this sector is important and profitable.

Mobility is a male-dominated sector. Are there any steps that AutoGirl is taking to bring some inclusivity?

We have the AutoGirl empowerment program for women, where we’re going to be training women for free on how to drive and be great drivers. That way, they can earn money on our platform either as contract or full-time drivers. We’re interested in inclusivity and creating avenues for women to earn money as well. The drivers on our platforms earn at least ₦100,000 monthly, and while that is not a whole lot, it is a big jump from the minimum wage and what the average woman in Nigeria will earn.

Before YouTube, Laditan worked in media strategy and sales, which she believes were integral in getting her to better understand the role she’s in now. The core functions of her role now are supporting the creator ecosystem—which she refers to as the engine of the platform—and ensuring that more users keep enjoying the platform.

For this edition of Centre Stage, I had a conversation with Laditan just after she had completed a run organised by her company. We discussed the different opportunities available to creators on YouTube and how they can better use the platform.

Video content is just as valuable as written content

AL: I love content and I love videos. I personally believe that I learn better from watching videos than from reading books or articles. For almost every book I want to read, there’s someone on YouTube who has done a summary I can watch and assimilate in thirty minutes. The power of video excites me, which is probably why I enjoy working with all the people who create this content I enjoy so much. 

I’m also focused on getting more users to enjoy the value of content that creators put out on our platform. This means that we’re constantly working to lower barriers to access like data costs by working with telcos to provide more affordable data for viewers.

Challenges that African creators face when using video apps like YouTube

AL: We live in a time where African creators can build a global audience and get their content to different parts of the world. We at YouTube are working on our algorithm to facilitate this but creators also have a large role to play. 

One challenge that they typically have is not being able to properly define their unique selling point(USP). What makes me stand out? The market is saturated and it’s easy to get drowned out, which is why it’s important to recognise why people will stick to your content for the long term. After discovering your USP, you need to find how to constantly reinvent yourself. This process requires you to look at the ecosystem first and ask yourself what you aspire to be. It could be anyone—local or international. After this, you want to find a creative approach that you own while also finding ways to innovate.

The second thing is the skill set. The power of the mobile phone has enabled more people to become creators. However, there’s an aspect that entails acquiring the right skill set to ensure that you shoot your videos well. Your videos need to be shot from good angles, and the sound needs to be clear. It’s also important to optimise to be found and ensure that the algorithm works in your favour. This means using the right tags and keywords. 

Collaboration is key for creators looking to grow and monetise

A lot of YouTube creators struggle with knowing how to monetise, and the first thing they need to learn is knowing how to collaborate. If you’re at a point as a creator where you’re not making as much money, or your content isn’t doing so well, there are multiple things you can do. You can collaborate with another creator who has a great following because what tends to happen is that their community could be part of your community which can increase your own following. Collaboration is key for creators because you have a potential audience everywhere. You should actively reach out to work with other brands and creators, always.

There are several ways you can make money from content. One way is direct monetisation, like YouTube offers. You can also make money from brands, product placements etc. You can begin to create your own merchandise. There is all of that opportunity. This is sometimes a challenge for creators because it can be hard to understand the business of content. Before going on that journey, think of your strategy, phase it out into different steps that you need to take and then put a holistic plan to address employee growth.

Startups can do more on YouTube

AL: When people think about YouTube content, they often think it’s for an individual and all companies can do is pay for ads. We need to demystify what content is.  Every startup should have a storytelling approach. You have to think of ways to educate and entertain your core audience in various ways. Think of your YouTube channel as your TV channel because that is essentially what it is. 

As a startup, you can share stories of your entrepreneurial journey. Tell the world how you started and how you’re doing. Give your CEO an opportunity to inspire others. Talk about some of the trends you’re seeing in the market. This is an opportunity to own your narrative and develop quality content which enhances your position in the market. Now, people know what you do, and who you are and they understand why you do what you do. Content helps you drive not just engagement, but connection.

Another thing is that this is a cost-efficient approach. If you successfully build your YouTube channel, you are reducing the costs of marketing because you own the channel. Marketing is not cheap, and with marketing forms like TV and billboards, you cannot measure conversions to optimise in real-time. 

We need more women in content creation

AL: I’m passionate about how we can get more female voices to create content. Right now a lot of women shy away from creating content in certain areas because they don’t want to be seen or feel like people are judging them. I don’t have a problem with women starting food channels or lifestyle channels, but women need to know that there are a lot more niches they can expand into. 

I want to see more women in tech starting tech channels. I want more women to do gadget reviews or talk about investment on YouTube. Women have this knowledge and I’m really looking forward to them sharing it more. We spend time reading articles and you can take the knowledge you’ve gained and create a short video.

It’s important for us to be comfortable, as women, with using the power of technology to amplify our voices, tell better stories, and inspire others. It boosts your confidence, because the more you do it, the more you become confident to do other things.  

Not to sound cliché, but I’m passionate about women and seeing women win. I was the chapter lead for one of our employee resource groups (ERGs) called Women Ad which was geared towards supporting women at Google, especially with career development and retention. I enjoy helping people piece together strategies and helping them succeed. I will continue to find ways to support women, whether as a creative, an entrepreneur, or as a tech enthusiast.

Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!

Odengo is the head of communication and community at Madica, an Africa-focused pre-seed investment programme empowering underrepresented and underfunded founders in Africa. Prior to her role at Madica, she worked mainly in the non-profit sector, helping organisations like the Obama Foundation and Segal Family Foundation attain communication and marketing goals.

For Centre Stage, I had a conversation with Odengo which was lighthearted, candid, and punctuated with a lot of laughter. We discussed multiple facets of storytelling including its role in building a more formidable tech ecosystem and how startups can tell better stories.

Storytelling is a tradition

RO: Storytelling for me started when I was a child at the dinner table. Every night at dinner, my parents would tell me and my siblings stories about their childhood and what it was like growing up for them. It was a tradition in my family and fundamental to how I was raised. I learned a lot of our traditions and core life lessons via storytelling, and I grew up to love it.

I started working in Kenyan media houses as soon as I could, based on my love for telling stories, first, as a copywriter, after which I evolved into journalism because I felt like helping people sell things was not enough, but I wanted to transform society. From journalism to public relations, and it’s been a steady progression from there.

Perfection doesn’t exist for storytellers

RO: Perfection doesn’t exist for storytellers and it’s whatever we constitute it to be in our minds. To be a great storyteller, you need to understand the basics of storytelling. It goes beyond the conventional ways we’ve been taught to approach stories; having a protagonist, a plot, a dilemma etc.

When we look at storytelling as a way of documenting the truths of our society and sharing it on a global stage, then it’s just a matter of practice rather than perfection.
Writing a good story is about considering what your audience knows or doesn’t know, what you want them to know, how they will understand and interpret it and being able to piece all of these together in a way they can understand. Good stories tend to be universal and it doesn’t matter what part of the globe people are in; they should be able to connect to your story.

How personality affects storytelling

RO: I’m a Chatty Patty, but I also consider myself to be an ambivert because there are times when I like to recharge in solitude. As a storyteller, one thing that I learned over the years is the importance of listening. I haven’t always been a great listener and would always like to have the last word in conversations, but that has changed as I’ve grown as a person and as a storyteller.

I’m now an ambivert, and so I have moments where I share and talk, but also moments where I listen. Listening provides a core aspect that a lot of communication sometimes fails to do, which is context, and in order for people to be comfortable enough with opening up to you, they need to get the sense that you are willing to listen to them without judgement. The heart of listening is listening without judgement, and paying attention to your subject rather than your preconceived biases.

However, you also need some bits of extroversion because that has helped me make conversations and friends easily. This is also useful because sometimes you share stories that people can connect to and lead to the forming of bonds that are hard to break.

The role of storytelling in the African tech ecosystem

RO: People are tribal in nature, and this means that they’re going to connect with you and want the best for you when they understand you. The role of storytelling in the ecosystem is to try to build that connection in different ways.

The first way is simply eliminating the gatekeepers and making stories or sharing of information completely accessible. We see that a lot of startups are genuinely confused as to what VCs want in order to give them money. They keep thinking “What do they care about?” “What kind of questions should I be asking?”

One key thing in my role at Madica is to build a one-stop information hub where startups can access all the information they need. This also helps founders understand the psychology and understanding of how these things operate, including how to engage and talk to investors.

The second aspect is that storytelling can be a tool to engage with other players in the ecosystem. At Madica, we’re telling our stories and sharing the stories of our portfolio in the startups, and this is to get the attention of other VCs who may be interested in investing or have negative assumptions about investing in startups in Africa. We play a role in de-risking through our community building to help people see that there is more than just Nairobi, Cape Town, Cairo and Lagos.

Startups need to understand the lingua franca in order to tell stories better

RO: Across the board, a fundamental challenge of startups is always money and funding. Fundraising seems to be a struggle and it tends to be an aspect of two related things: how startups tell their stories and understanding the lingua franca of investors.

Different investors are interested in different things. While some are more interested in debt financing, others are more interested in equity, or later equity. These different investors speak different languages and your success in getting to them is determined by how well you tell your story in the lingua franca that they understand.

How startups can tell better stories

RO: The first tip I have for startups looking to tell their stories better is to ask themselves “Who exactly am I talking to?” Once you’re clear on who exactly you’re talking to, you get to understand stuff like demography and psychometrics, like what they care about and what they need. Just because we’re so drawn in by the story doesn’t mean that others will care. That’s not how humans work. Humans are all about “What’s in it for me?”, and so you need to clearly convey the benefits of whatever you’re trying to get people interested in. Think about how to use your skillset as a storyteller to figure out how to stay true to the story that you want to tell, but packaged in a way that the audience cares about.

The second thing is to identify where your audience is and the channels they use to access information that they trust. That is where you position yourself. So, it’s not just about the story that you’re telling but the tool you’ll be using to reach and engage with that audience.

One cheat code I share with founders is this: instead of paying for advertising, you can join hands and become a source of information. Radio stations and media houses are always looking to inform, educate, and entertain their audiences, but at the same time don’t have the in-house expertise in what exactly you’re selling.

The most exciting thing about storytelling at Madica

RO: This boils down to why I applied for the role in the first place. Madica is breaking bounds and cracking access wide open. One thing you find wherever there’s money is that there’s always a gatekeeper, and even when they open up the space, it’s to permit a small number of people in, who also become gatekeepers. At Madica, we’re giving founders unhindered access. You don’t need to know anyone at all to be a part of the programme which is how VCs have been operating.

My personal mission is to be able to reshape the narrative of Africa and it’s great to be able to do so at a company like Madica that believes in access regardless of region on the continent, sector you’re operating in, and especially open to marginalised groups. It’s everything that I believe in.

What it takes to build a career from telling stories

RO: Few things will improve your career as a storyteller more than research and practice. Research is fundamental to understanding where the world is going, how it is evolving and how you can stay ahead of the curve.

Storytelling needs practice, or else you become rusty regardless of how good you are. In one season of my life, I used to write flash fiction every day when I woke up before my actual day began. It’s a muscle and you must exercise it else you lose it. Good storytelling or writing is also sustained by reading. It doesn’t have to be something philosophical or profound, and could just be a kid’s book or a self-help book—as long as you’re reading because that’s an essential part of being a storyteller.

Another tip is to read widely, regardless of how boring the topic is. Storytellers are needed in every sector, and the more widely read you are, the easier it will be for you to adapt your fundamental tools from one sector to another. Don’t limit yourself to only the topics in your field; pay attention to everything else that’s happening. You might not care about these as an individual, but as a storyteller or writer, these add so much meat to your stories in ways that you might not be consciously aware of.

Osikanlu is the founder of Eden Venture Group, a social enterprise focused on developing, supporting and empowering underserved and underrepresented demographies in emerging economies. The Amazon alum spent over ten years helping startups secure funding in the private equity space before she pivoted to social impact, where her heart had always been.

Osikanlu’s work at Eden is partly focused on leveraging online communities and networks to facilitate projects around social impact. The Eden team organises physical and virtual events with themes that cut across women’s empowerment and the growth of the creative industry.

I caught up with Fifehan for Centre Stage, and we discussed her passions, current projects and her vision for the future.

Impact and profit do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Fifehan Osikanlu: Eden Venture Group was founded out of the desire to create a space for social entrepreneurs and people passionate about social impact. A space where they can feel safe, and access the resources, capacity development, and advisory services that they need. From my experience working in the venture capital and private equity space, I found that a lot of people, especially creatives, were left out and not really taken seriously. There’s the wrong perception that their work won’t bring in profit and I just wanted to challenge that. I was interested in impact, and I think that both don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We can make a profit from impact-driven projects, and this is what I set out to do.

On #WEECREATE

FO: #WEECREATE Africa came from my own personal observations of the market. In my previous role working in private equity and the VC space, I realised that most people, especially in the finance space, did not really understand the language of creatives, or even the language of women. Men are dominant in these workspaces, and there was just no communication. After I left the private equity space, I found myself working in the creative and entertainment industry and I realised that the same thing was happening. This just made me realise that we had to address it. I believe that we need to give women and creatives the tools to thrive.

I worked on a project focused on gender equality with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and because of that, I was able to get myself embedded in the advocacy for women’s space. What we’ve been doing with that project is essentially working with influencers and celebrities with large platforms as well as NGOs to shift the mindset around critical issues pertaining to gender equality in Nigeria and Kenya. Before that, I had done some work with women and creatives, and it occurred to me that it was a good time to bring back my idea. So I went back to the drawing board and reworked the idea to include a lot of context around what’s going on in today’s world.

On the role of the digital space in empowering women

FO: Helping women access digital tools is one of the most important things we need to focus on. The internet is a valuable source of community and information which we can leverage in order to get more women empowered. Technology can open up pathways to empowerment for girls and it’s important that we pay attention to that. At Eden Venture Group, we use the internet to foster community, which is an essential feature of empowerment. Being able to find your tribe online is empowerment. Being able to access the internet is empowering. Being able to show up on the internet as authentically as possible is empowering. We need to help women stay safe online —the information is there, but our work is to make it easier and more accessible to women. Women’s voices need to be heard on the internet and we need to be included in various online spaces.

This is especially important now that we have AI, which uses data found on the internet. It needs to learn how women think, what their ideas are, and what their realities are – in order for its solutions to be as inclusive as possible. Women are going to be interacting with these tools and we need to ensure that the tools are not biased. It’s important to me that women and girls are digitally savvy and can interact with digital tools as we continue this digital revolution.

On Community as the bedrock of every healthy society

FO: There are fundamental things that I’ve learned in the course of this journey. The first thing is that community is at the foundation of a healthy society and that there are many young people, women in particular, who are seeking inclusive hybrid (digital & in-person) communities where they feel safe enough to be themselves, express themselves freely and innovate creatively without fear of bias, judgement or abuse.

Community has been a monumental part of my journey. One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about our work with women and creatives is because I myself have been through all these issues that I’m fighting for right now. After moving to Nigeria, I sought out communities that felt inclusive to women that I could be a part of but I couldn’t find any. It felt like a game of playing catch-up with the guys, and that just didn’t appeal to me. As a woman in the tech industry, especially one who had a creative side, I felt excluded from a lot of spaces and also faced a lot of negative experiences over the years, but there were no safe spaces for me. This fueled my commitment to creating communities for young girls and women, especially those who are creatives.

Another thing I’ve learned is that many people are seeking opportunities to interact and dialogue in order to exchange knowledge and ideas with like minds. It seems very clear that there is a hunger for receiving and sharing information in a non-traditional setting, and we’ve plugged into that.

Collaboration is Key

FO: We collaborate with development organizations (NGOs, CSOs, government agencies etc.) which has been crucial to our work. We give them a chance to showcase their work and gain feedback and exposure in a more organic and authentic way than in other traditional forums.

So far, we’ve partnered with notable organisations like The Africa International Film Festival(AFRIFF), Africa Creative Market, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Design Week Lagos/Made by Design and the Musa Yar’Adua Foundation to name a few. There are even more collaborations to come.

The plan for the next five years

FO: In the next five years, we plan for #WEECREATE to have the same impact as global brands like Global Citizen. We’re the first African-female-led global campaign working to facilitate women’s economic empowerment as well as the creative sector, and we’re looking to do even more work in this regard. We strongly believe that the creative sector can be a catalyst for reshaping our minds from the harmful stereotypes around gender in Africa.

On every episode of “F&S Uncensored”, Feyikemi and Simisola discuss pop culture, Nigerian music, and share personal experiences like any best friend duo would in real life. 

I’m bringing F&S to the Centre Stage because their podcast—which covers everything from Nigerian pop culture, their personal lives, new music they are listening to, and much more—is a bridge that connects many Nigerians in the diaspora to a home they miss and love. 

F&S Uncensored meets the Africa Podcast Fund

Feyikemi Akin-Bankole: We knew Spotify had plans to announce the grantees that day, but we didn’t know what time the announcement would go live on social media. We just randomly opened our Twitter and saw ‘congratulatory’ messages in our mentions. 

Simisola Badiru: It was actually your tweet that broke the news; when I saw my mentions blowing up, I thought I was in trouble or something. 

Badiru and Akin-Bankole were two out of thirteen burgeoning African creators who were selected to be a part of the Africa Podcast Fund initiative. Other grantees include Joseph Nti, host of Simple Accra, a well-loved Ghanaian podcast (Ghana); Joan, Kibz, Nyamita, and Owen, co-hosts of The Sandwich Podcast (Kenya); and Gugulethu Nyatsuma, host of After School is After School with Sis G.U (South Africa). 

FAB: We felt like we deserved to be on the list. We’ve been running “F&S Uncensored” for four years now and being a part of the Africa Fund is a win for us. 

SB: Also after a few years of running a podcast, you are bound to experience some stagnancy and monotony; but we made a promise to ourselves to be as disciplined as possible with “F&S Uncensored”. For example, we record our episodes every Sunday. No excuses. 

And their discipline paid off because “F&S Uncensored” has a 4.9-star rating and 100+ positive reviews on Spotify. But before Akin-Bankole and Badiru launched their podcast, they formed a sustainable friendship over their shared love of Nigerian music and conversational gist.

F&S Uncensored: Friendship, music, and keeping things authentic

SB: Feyikemi and I met on the first day at secondary school. She was talking to my younger brother and sort of invited me to join the conversation. But I wasn’t having it because I really didn’t want to go to that school; my heart was set on Greensprings. I definitely had a bad attitude in the beginning.

FAB: Yes, you did. 

SB: But we ended up in the same class and over time formed a friendship.

FAB: We discovered that there was a mutual love for Nigerian music and Wizkid

SB: And back then, people in our social circles didn’t really rate Nigerian music like that. But Feyikemi and I were obsessed with the Naija sound and were really plugged into the industry. 

Long before Ayodeji “Wizkid” Balogun became a global music phenomenon, his debut studio album, ‘Superstar’, was packed with tracks that have stood the test of time. Songs like Pakurumo, Scatter the Floor, and Love My Baby are classic songs loved by people of all ages and pedigrees. 

In 2021, Flutterwave announced Wizkid as its global brand ambassador and face of its remittances solution, Send. Flutterwave isn’t the first African fintech brand to bring a Nigerian celebrity on board as a brand ambassador; Chipper Cash launched its services in the United States with some help from Damini “Burna Boy” Ogulu. 

With several awards under Wizkid’s belt, including 1 GRAMMY, 2 BETs, and an Apple Music “Artist of the Year (Africa) Award, it is safe to assume that Akin-Bankole and Badiru saw a future superstar long before everyone else caught on. 

FAB: We were early fans of Wizkid even when a lot of our friends didn’t understand why we loved him so much. 

SB: But look at Wizkid now, right? Everyone loves Wizkid, including non-Nigerians. This was not the case back in 2011/2012.

Not only did Akin-Bankole and Badiru bond over their love for music, they also shared mutual interests in media and attending live music concerts and festivals in Lagos, even at a young age. 

SB: Something about seeing red carpets and tables at concerts made me realise I wanted to work in media in my lifetime.

FAB: And because we always went to these events together and openly talked about our experiences in school, people nicknamed us, “F&S”.

SB: We even had a joint 13th birthday party as “F&S”. So when we decided to start this podcast 4 years ago, we didn’t have a hard time coming up with a name. 

FAB: We added “uncensored” to the title as a way to inspire us to talk about anything and everything without censorship. 

SB: We started off by focusing on our love and passion for music and then over time, we covered everything from university life to quitting jobs to moving back to Nigeria and even going through NYSC 

FAB: And even though I don’t currently live in Nigeria, I still know what’s going on back home because of the conversations I have with Simi on the podcast. “F&S Uncensored” represents Nigerians who live around the world; we connect them to home even though they are away from home. 

F&S Uncensored: Work/life balance, favourite artists, and Spotify playlists

Though Akin-Bankole and Badiru are verified citizens of Generation Z, they have impressive career milestones under their belt with a clear potential for explosive growth. Badiru, for example, curated music for Apple, provided editorial services for Culture Custodian and until recently, was an account executive at LSFPR, a Nigerian-owned PR agency. 

SB: I’ve always worked with creative organisations so finding a balance between my 9-5 job and personal projects hasn’t been difficult for me. I currently work for TRACE as Head of Artist Services & Relationships and my role provides a lot of flexibility which has allowed me to nurture my creative side. 

Akin-Bankole’s desk job is in Human Resources, but her work experience is refreshingly diverse and industry-agnostic. Like her co-host and best friend, Akin-Bankole curated music playlists for a media company – Bounce Networks – and did editorial work for Culture Custodian

FAB: I’m a more disciplined person because of my 9-5 job and I apply that discipline when I’m doing my creative work. I give my time to my corporate job but after the workday ends, my creative side comes to life; I listen to music, send new songs to Simi, and work on the podcast. I feel like I have a work-life balance, but I intentionally invest in my creative career. 

After the conversation wrapped up, I asked Simi and Feyikemi to share new artists, playlists, and songs that they currently have on rotation. All their recommendations can be found on Spotify.

Simisola Badiru’s listening list

• About Time – Sudxn ft. Fadi
• SOS – 9t9
• Africa Heat

Feyikemi Akin-Bankole’s listening list

• SGawd
• Mafeni
• Jorda Rae
• Gone Abroad
• Ginger Me

Meet Cornelius Ashley-Osuzoka (stylized as CAO in this article)

Koromone Koroye: Hi Cornelius, what does it mean to be a developer experience lead?

Cornelius Ashley-Osuzoka: I develop strategies on how Flutterwave creates unique experiences for developers in our ecosystem. 

My job requires me to create and manage frameworks and processes that align with what developers need from us. For example, our in-house technical writers develop technical content – API documentation, tutorials, and webinars – targeted at developers.

I spend a good portion of my time thinking about ways to drive developer-centric initiatives and community-building events. 

KK: Does your work require you to only work with in-house developers, or do you manage external dev communities?

CAO: Our team connects with in-house and external developers. We connect with technical workers who use Flutterwave to build products and create better experiences for them. 

On the job: Challenges and rewards

KK: What are some challenges you face with building communities for developers?

CAO: Flutterwave is a pan-African company which means we run business operations in multiple African countries. Developers around Africa work with our APIs and technical documents. The challenge we face is managing various cultural nuances and product expectations. This challenge is positive, but aligning everyone requires a lot of effort.

KK: Can you share a specific example?

CAO: I once worked with a Cameroonian developer who explained that our perception of mobile payments in his country differs from how Cameroonians perceive and use mobile money channels. I had to learn how to provide technical resources and support for developers from diverse cultural backgrounds. 

Another challenge was getting developers – particularly seasoned technical engineers – to adapt to changes in our technologies. Sometimes the transition process can be complicated and imperfect; still, we do our best to carry our developer community along with us. 

KK: In your experience, what differences have you noticed in how we build products in Nigeria versus other countries?

CAO: One difference I’ve seen is in the types of products that we build. The products and features you find in the Nigerian market are typically more advanced compared with other markets. Some African markets focus on e-commerce and hospitality, whereas fintech and health tech products dominate Nigeria’s startup market.

Career development and developer myths

KK: What does professional development look like to you? How do you grow as a developer experience manager? 

CAO: Firstly, be a developer. Beyond being just a developer, you must be willing to get your hands dirty. Pick a stack (frontend or backend) to focus on and hone your craft by building a portfolio of products and exchanging ideas with like-minded people.

Secondly, understand your startup’s business objectives and consider how a developer community would align with those objectives. 

Thirdly, work on your communication skills. A portion of my day-to-day involves drafting strategy documents, creating plans and assigning actionable steps to help Flutterwave achieve its developer community goals. 

KK: What are some common myths about developers?

CAO: A common myth in Nigeria’s developer community is that all developers earn a lot of money. Some experienced developers make well above average salaries, but this is different from the norm and is typically only the case with developers who work in big tech companies. Many junior developers recently transitioned into their roles and are working their way up the corporate ladder. 

Another myth is that developers are terrible communicators. Many developers are cerebral communicators who know how to document processes and share their ideas. Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is home to fast-growing developer communities that regularly host meet-ups and networking events across different cities. 

KK: What does success mean to you, and or what does it look like to you and your role?

CAO: Success looks like a community of pan-African developers building valuable payment features and systems using products designed and developed by our in-house engineering team. 

Flutterwave was founded to help Africans send and receive money within a heavily-fragmented payment ecosystem. Success looks like my team and me working hard to ensure our API (application programming interface) documentations are up-to-date and functional.

KK: What do you enjoy the most about working for Flutterwave? 

CAO: Definitely working with a diverse team of talented and experienced people. When I joined, I was surprised to see people from different backgrounds in engineering. One of my co-workers is a backend engineer with a history degree. Working with a diverse team helps sharpen how I think and approach my day-to-day tasks. 

Another thing I enjoy is working on multiple projects simultaneously to avoid falling into a mundane and predictable work rhythm while on the job. Working this way promotes collaboration and cross-functional team camaraderie. 

Adora Nwodo on cloud engineering and mixed reality

Koromone Koroye: Hi Adora, thanks for agreeing to speak with me. Please, tell me a little about yourself. 

Adora Nwodo: I am a software engineer currently building mixed reality on the cloud at Microsoft. I am also a public speaker, published author, digital creator, and occasional DJ. 

KK: Are there any differences between cloud and software engineering, or are the terms interchangeable?

AN: There are differences. Anyone who designs, builds, implements, and maintains software applications is a software engineer.  

Cloud engineers are typically hired to deploy or scale up new and existing cloud resources. Cloud engineers literally do their engineering on the cloud, whether software engineering or DevOps engineering.

KK: What does it mean to build mixed reality (MR) products?

AN: Before I talk about mixed reality, let me briefly explain the difference between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). 

AR is essentially an enhanced and interactive version of our physical and real world. If you have ever used Snapchat or Instagram filters, you have interacted with AR somehow. 

On the other hand, VR is a computer-generated environment that usually requires a head-mounted display (HMD) or headset to enjoy a fully-immersed digital experience. 

Mixed reality blends both AR and VR and provides an interesting middle ground for both technologies. MR gives you the immersive VR experience and the chance to interact with multiple digital objects. Furthermore, MR gives you the illusion that these digital objects exist in your physical space. I can see holograms in my room when I wear a mixed reality headset, but I still get to experience my room as it exists in real life. 

KK: Fascinating! What do you enjoy about building mixed reality products in your current role?

AN: I’m building a platform called Mesh for Microsoft. Mesh is the engine that will power the metaverse. Building Mesh has been an exciting experience, primarily because most of the ideas we are working on are relatively new and unknown. Sometimes, building in uncharted territory without a pre-existing playbook to fall back on, can be frustrating. Still, I choose to enjoy the learning process of pioneering a new industry or sector.

Digging deeper with Adora Nwodo

KK: How did you get into cloud engineering? What piqued your interest?

AN: Before joining Microsoft, I already had a vested interest in technology, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and cloud engineering. When I found out about the Microsoft role and that it involved working with mixed reality, I was immediately interested in being a part of the team. During my early months in Microsoft, I primarily worked on the HoloLens before transitioning into cloud-related projects.

KK: Is there a learning curve to accommodate cloud engineering? What are the specific courses people need to take?

AN: If you’re trying to come into cloud engineering, taking an introductory computer science course is essential. The cloud is basically a network of computers, so you need a foundational understanding of computers to understand what is going on. Take any fundamental course on computer science; learn about Linux, operating systems, networking, and cloud fundamentals of the computer.

KK: Let’s talk about your professional growth. Did your career kick off at a startup?

AN: No, it didn’t. I worked with an advertising agency as a software developer before moving to Microsoft. 

KK: What was it like transitioning from working at an agency to moving to a more structured and global company like Microsoft?

AN: Joining Microsoft was a breath of fresh air for me, and it wasn’t necessarily about the company as much as it was about the team. I’m a big advocate for working with great teams rather than just great companies. The transition was easy for me because I was excited about the opportunity to build solutions I am passionate about and become the kind of engineer that I have always dreamed of.

Adora on being an African woman in technology

KK:  What changes do you think need to be made for gender biases to be eradicated in our ecosystem? It’s obviously going to take a while, but practically speaking, what kind of changes do you think need to be made?

AN: When we talk about gender bias, some people think it’s always conscious, but unconscious biases also exist. I implore African startups and businesses to hold recurring bias training sessions for their employees throughout the year. We can’t start the mindset shift if we don’t educate people and expose them to their conscious and unconscious biases.  

Hannatu Asheolge: You are pretty influential in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. You’re also a blogger, published author, and active YouTuber. How has putting yourself out there helped you grow?

Adora Nwodo: Putting myself out there is one of the reasons I got into Microsoft at the time that I did. Being active in the developer community and on LinkedIn at that time put me on a recruiter’s radar; it helped me acknowledge that I’m a big fan of learning in public. If I didn’t try to learn in public by posting tweets about things I was reading or learning, people wouldn’t have reached out to me to offer help. Finally, it helped me build my network. Going to ecosystem-related events, meeting new people, and taking on collaborative projects has helped my professional growth.

HA: You recently announced that you were accepted into a Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) programme. What does this acceptance mean to you as a young Nigerian woman?

AN: I am excited about learning career-accelerating skills like leadership and business management, and I get to be a part of the impressive GSB network. 

HA: Do you have any tips you’d like to share about balancing work life and school?

AA: First of all, I don’t know if balance is achievable. I like to think we just try our best and leave the rest to vibes, to a great extent. Delegation is a skill everyone needs to learn on the job. You don’t have to do everything, primarily when you work with a team of talented people. How you prioritise your tasks and assignments matters as well. Prioritise, delegate, and ask for help. 

My calendar has also made my life easier recently. I use it to schedule most of my days to avoid wasting time on unnecessary tasks. 

HA: You’re very vocal about your non-work-related hobbies and interests. Can you share some of your favorite hobbies or after-work activities?

AN: I love going around drinking wine and eating steak and mashed potatoes. I enjoy the whole restaurant-hopping thing with a bunch of my friends where we’re just eating good food and drinking wine. I also DJ at lounges and curated events.

HA: You’re currently part of several communities. Can you share a few that have helped shape your professional and personal growth?

AN: I’ve been a part of several communities, but the one that really helped a lot at the start of my career was Google Developer Groups(GDG). I was a co-organiser for GDG Ajah and a member of GDG Lagos. My involvement with them helped me meet many tech people at that time. Currently, I’m VP for the Nigerian chapter of the VR/AR Association. The goal is to advocate for VR and AR usage in this region and let the world see what Nigerian companies are doing with VR and AR technology.

HA: You’re a young woman with a thriving career. Do you see yourself sticking with cloud engineering for a long time, or is there a career pivot in your future?

AN: There’s a career pivot in my future. I see myself taking on more roles that allow me to make business decisions within tech organisations pretty soon. Engineering decisions are fun, but I definitely want to take on roles that will enable me to make more business and product decisions at some point in my career.

I’m bringing Charlotte to Centre Stage because she has made valuable contributions to Africa’s highly-acclaimed music industry. At Audiomack Africa, Charlotte leads business development and media partnerships and is responsible for connecting creators, listeners, and brands to each other.

Last month, Charlotte announced her membership in the Recording Academy Member Class of 2021. 

Let’s dive in.

“Business development is not sales.”

In your own words, what exactly is business development?

Business development is not sales. 

In my role, business development means identifying and developing growth opportunities that will benefit Audiomack internally and forge mutually beneficial partnerships with external parties. I come up with ideas we can implement as a business and also figure out how these ideas can benefit Audiomack and the other parties involved. 

Why does business development matter in Africa’s music industry?

Remember that business development is about building value-adding relationships, and the entertainment industry is very people-oriented. 

Audiomack is in the media industry, but we are also in the entertainment industry. This means we deal with three groups of people: creators (music artists), listeners (fans), and partners (brands). Therefore to grow as a business, we must build relationships with these groups of people. 

Business development matters because it is the only way to find growth opportunities and successfully market Audiomack’s creators to our listeners and prospective partner brands. 

What three professional qualities does every business development leader need on the job? 

Communication skills for sure! Why? Because you are talking to different people every single day. You have to speak with your team– the team that helps you get the job done — to ensure everyone is aligned. You have to relate with external parties, such as your partners and creators. You have to develop persuasive and conversational speaking skills so you can close deals and effectively communicate timelines and deadlines.

You need business intelligence skills. Do you have insights into the market you are in? Have you figured out how to access your target audience? Have you done thorough research about your competitors? The market changes constantly; what exists today may not be around tomorrow. So it’s essential to always stay plugged into your market. 

The last quality is project management. Business development leaders must be exceptional project managers. You have to learn how to delegate and make sure every project has a start and end date. It’s also crucial to evaluate the performance of every finished project: What was the outcome? What was the return on investment (ROI)? What did we do right? What lessons can we learn from the hiccups we experienced while we ran that project?

What effective business development tactics can you share with us? 

I only have one tactic to share – I hope that’s okay. 

Before you walk into a room to meet with a person or an organization, take interest. Take an interest in that person, do your research and look interested in whatever that business is doing in their playing field. Before approaching a prospective brand or creator, I research their values, mission, vision, and goals. Then, I walk into every meeting prepared to listen and to be heard.

So, that’s the hack?

That’s the hack. Be interested. 

Wearing two hats at the same time.

You also handle media partnerships at Audiomack. How are you able to balance both roles?

Coffee! A lot of coffee. I am an expert delegator. You have a team for a reason – you cannot do it all. Once you do your part, find another team member who can handle a different moving part. 

I have also learned the art of saying “no” when I have many deliverables on my table. Honestly, there isn’t a big difference between both roles. Still, I also know how to differentiate between how I function as a business development lead and a media partnership manager. 

What goes into developing a successful media partnership?

I’ll share two things: 

Know your partner’s target audience and ensure that their goals align with your business objectives. When there is alignment between both parties, a successful partnership will form quickly. 

Establish what you need from that partnership. Clearly communicate growth opportunities, benefits, what you need from your partner and what you are bringing to the table. 

How do you grow in your role? What do you listen to, watch or read? 

I listen to a lot of music, specifically different music genres coming out of Africa. 

Every morning, I read business articles from local and global publications. For example, I read CNN Business, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Business Insider. In addition, I try to dedicate at least an hour and a half to discover events taking place in global business hubs. 

What do you enjoy the most about your role?

Meeting new people. It’s always fun and exciting to meet people from different walks of life and work in exciting industries. I also get to travel a lot more and see other parts of the world through colourful lenses. 

I enjoy coming up with culture-shifting ideas at Audiomack. So when we made the MTN partnership happen, I was really excited that a Telco was coming onboard to make streaming music more accessible and affordable. 

I love that I can tell African stories from an African perspective. At Audiomack, we give creators the freedom to toot their horns through the music they create and share on our platform. We make music about our food, clothes, communities, and daily lives. 

“Amapiano and brunch?”

Tell us some of your favourite social media accounts.

I barely spend time on social media because I get a little lost in my work. But I love Instagram because I enjoy consuming aesthetically pleasing pictures.

Twitter is also my jam. You can tweet something, and someone in America or Antigua will see and find it reliable. Sometimes you find comfort in strangers online or share wild stories with your followers, and it’s totally chilled. Twitter has made the world a global village, and I enjoy using it a lot. 

Would you instead go to a day brunch in Ghana or a Grammy listening party in L.A? 

Please, my passport is ready, and Rihanna is waiting for me! I love Ghana, but Rihanna is waiting for me.

What does being a part of the Recording Academy 2021 class mean to you? 

Wow. This is the first time someone has asked me what the invitation means to me. 

First of all, it reflects how much work I have put into Africa’s entertainment industry. Second, it’s a reflection of my dedication to showcasing Africa’s diverse music scene. 

It also means that I get the opportunity to be a thought leader in my community and celebrate African music on a larger platform. The Grammys is the helm of music; being a member of the Recording Academy is a win for music on the continent. 

What excites you about the future of music and dance in Africa? 

The entire world is on the dance floor right now, listening to African music. 

What excites me is that a generation of young people is growing up with African music as the soundtrack of their childhood.

Friends, there is a lot of work to be done, but we are doing so much better.