Introducing the 2023 Cohort of Investor Accelerator Fellows

Dream VC is beyond enthusiastic to introduce our newest batch of fellows, the 2023 cohort of venture fellows in our Investor Accelerator program!

The Investor Accelerator (IA) program is a comprehensive course for experienced professionals, existing investors, and senior operators who aspire to be future ecosystem builders in Africa. Alumni from the program have gone on to join firms collectively managing $1.1bn USD in assets under management, and hold important decision-making roles within VC & PE Firms to help drive millions of dollars of investment into African startups. Other alumni have gone on to launch the first angel syndicates in their respective ecosystems, and have become founding partners with other cohort-mates to launch African-focused VC funds as emerging fund managers.

This year’s cohort brings together the cream of the crop in some of their respective fields, culminating in a powerhouse community of active angels, successful founders with multiple exits, and operators from top African startups across the continent. With a program acceptance rate of 12%, the application process to join the ranks of this community continue to be highly competitive and discerning.

Here are some quick stats about this year’s Investor Accelerator cohort:

• The cohort size doubled this year to accommodate 54 fellows from 22 nationalities globally
• This is the first cohort ever to have a bigger East African majority rather than West African, with Kenyans dominating a strong 15% of the cohort
• Around 43% of the cohort self-identify as female and continue a strong representation of women within the program
• Several fellows are hailing from ecosystems that are being represented in Dream VC for the first time, such as Botswana, Algeria, Somaliland, and Burundi

Without further ado, let us introduce to you the incredible 2023 class of Investor Accelerator fellows!

Steven Waidelich (South African/American) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Steven Waidelich began his career as an operator for tech startups in San Francisco in the USA before returning to South Africa to co-found the startup digital media agency, Lighthouse Digital. After 5 years, the company was the largest digital media agency on the African continent. Upon reaching a $40 million valuation, Lighthouse Digital was acquired by Publicis in 2014. Since then, Steven has focused his professional efforts on venture capital and advising early-stage startups. He currently serves as a growth advisor for dozens of African startups and is himself an accomplished startup growth professional. His personal experience within the industry allows him to apply his insight and wealth of knowledge to help other startups achieve success.

Ndeye Diarra Diobaye (French-Senegalese) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Ndeye is a French-Senegalese media and communications professional. She is currently serving as Director of Communications and External Relations at Silverbacks Holdings. Silverbacks is a private capital allocator dedicated to growing businesses across tech, sports, media, and entertainment in Africa. She also serves as the executive producer of the Silverbacks Valley podcast. Ndeye is passionate about the growing African sports industry. Previously, Ndeye has advised several West African governments and development finance institutions on their communications strategies. She is a graduate of Sciences Po and the London School of Economics.

Njoki Gichinga (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Njoki Gichinga is an accomplished professional from Kenya with more than 15 years of experience. Njoki has a proven track record of working with community leaders, high-level administrators, and subject-matter experts in a variety of institutions (business, government, academic, multilateral, civil society, NGOs) as well as other actors in the private and public sectors. She is currently a Senior Strategic Partnership and Business Development Specialist at Safaricom where she supports Safaricom’s new growth areas through collaboration and co-creation with local, regional, and global partners that leverage Safaricom’s core competencies and capabilities to create new value propositions. Additionally, Njoki is an Angel Investor and a Member of the Nairobi Business Angel Network (NaiBAN). Prior to Safaricom, she was the Director of Partnerships and Sales at the iHub and her role sought cooperation between private and public sector actors to create more investable individuals and entrepreneurs in Kenya and the continent.

Fungai Nyaungwa (Zimbabwean) | LinkedIn

Fungai is an investment professional with close to a decade of experience in investment analysis and management as well as corporate and transaction advisory. She is passionate about alternative investments and creating investment products that preserve value and build wealth. Currently, she is a portfolio manager for a local asset management firm where she oversees a $30 million USD real estate portfolio on behalf of institutional investors. Fungai has a Master of Science degree in Investment Banking and Capital Markets as well as a Master’s in Business Administration.

Margaret Githinji (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Margaret Githinji is a product manager and digital marketer who loves building products that reduce the friction of day-to-day life in a fun and practical way. She’s worked and lived in Austria, Turkey, Sweden, and Kenya where she was born. Her career spans a decade of experience as a digital media strategist and project manager in advertising and web agencies. She built a digital department from scratch as a trio earning the agency’s first million in recurring monthly retainer revenue. She led a digital transformation project at Electrolux where she trained 36 digital marketing managers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and launched 2 community products at Paradox, for a forum and wiki with over 2 Million Monthly active users. She’s currently at a fintech start-up building products to empower the freelance community. She gets fulfillment from mentoring others and enjoys cycling, swimming, and camping.

Mathew Saunders (South African) | LinkedIn | Twitter

As an Investment Principal at Future Africa, Mathew leads the Investment and Venture Building efforts in early-stage African businesses. He’s a problem solver, always finding interesting solutions to challenges. His earlier work as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group had him tackling some of the most pressing challenges of multinational companies in finance, consumer goods, and technology for nearly four years. Beyond work, Mathew loves reading history and non-fiction, playing football, and heading outdoors for adventures.

Skander Benhamiche (Algerian) | LinkedIn

Skander has been a part of the Algeria Venture team as the cooperation & development director since 2021, where he has been developing Open innovation, business angeling, and venture capital activities through key partnerships and aims to contribute and build a dynamic startup ecosystem in Algeria. He started working in Sales & Marketing with B2B companies in 2010 and then engaged in a finance career on a progressive path holding key roles within multinational companies such as KPMG and Heineken. His past experience spans audit and compliance, as well as financial restructuring. Skander graduated in Agronomy from Algiers engineering school and then in Finance & Management from ESAA business school.

Stephen Muraga (Zimbabwean) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Stephen Muraga is an Ecosystem Builder who is passionate about the innovation ecosystem in Africa, with a special focus on the Southern part of the continent. He is a VC4A certified Startup Mentor and Co-Founder of NyamukAfrica, an Innovation Hub based in Lusaka, Zambia. Stephen is also Co-Director of FoundersBoost, Zambia Chapter of the global pre-accelerator that prepares startups for accelerators, investment, and revenue.

Stephen has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing startups in Africa. He is committed to helping startups succeed by providing them with access to resources, mentorship, and support. Stephen is also a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in the startup ecosystem.

Stephen sees himself playing a very important role in Southern Africa’s VC space in the next five years. He is confident that he can help to build a more vibrant and inclusive startup ecosystem in the region.

Timame Wanyoike (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Timame is passionate about emerging technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation in Africa. Timame is the Partnerships and Ecosystem Manager at Katapult VC — Africa, an investment company focused on highly scalable impact tech startups. Through Katapult, she spearheads initiatives bringing together key players from within the region’s innovation ecosystem to help scale Africa’s next industry pioneers in technology. Timame is also the Co-founder at The Pitch Hub, Ghana.

Prior to her current work engagement, she was previously Startup Engagement Lead at Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid Telecom) where she curated and coordinated the communications and valuable content for stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem in Kenya. She also worked as the Content and Digital Marketing Associate at Mettā Nairobi and as a Community Product Associate at Opera Software.

Carman Pillay (South African) | LinkedIn

Carman is the Founding Partner at Platform01, a Pan-African Consultancy focussed on scaling next-generation exponential technologies out of Africa. He has experience across multiple industries and geographies, as well as a and a demonstrated history working with startups from MVP to Series A across the African continent — having served on executive and management teams, designed and implemented startup programs for multi-million dollar portfolios, and consulted for some of Africa’s fastest-growing companies. Outside of the office, Carman invests heavily in his health and well-being, finding balance by spending as much time in nature, working out, and with loved ones as possible. On his days off, he can be found in the workshop restoring vintage cars and motorcycles, hunting for the best coffee shop in town, or simply relaxing with a good book.

Kizito Okorowu (Nigerian) | LinkedIn

Kizito is an astute business strategist and venture builder with over 8 years of deep experience in wide backgrounds in Business Development, Startup Incubation and Acceleration, Sales, Growth, Business Process Engineering, Technology, Operations, Marketing, and the creative industry. He is widely known for his work in ideating, building, and scaling companies and he is keen on unlocking the entrepreneurship drive of SMEs in Africa.
He is currently the Growth and Ops Lead at The School Resource Centre (SRC) the parent company of ASNE, the largest professional network of education business leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa. SRC is a development consulting firm with interests in education, training and development, learning management, curriculum development, business brokerage, and evaluation for both private and public institutions.
He is also a Senior Associate at Ampersand, a leading Entrepreneurship Development Service Provider Organization (EDSPO). He enjoys developing go-to-market strategies and mentoring founders in his spare time.

Tendai Mazhude (Zimbabwean) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tendai is passionate about supporting the proliferation of high-growth start-ups and their innovations across the African continent. This entails understanding the challenges faced by enterprise and skills support organizations as well as the entrepreneurs and innovators within their programs.

Before his current role, he worked for the World Bank as a Senior Management Consultant as well as in the Financial sector as the Retail Segments Manager and a SME Banker amongst other roles. He has additional entrepreneurial expertise from a number of ventures he has set up, including a fintech startup. Tendai has a science postgraduate degree (M.Sc) in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Manchester along with a number of professional qualifications in areas such as Business Incubation Management, Inclusive Innovation Coach, and Measuring Impact.

Dennis Ngure (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Dennis is currently the Investment Manager for Yunus Social Business (YSB) Kenya. Previously, Dennis was part of the investment and strategy teams at I-DEV International, a boutique investment advisory firm. He also worked with LGT Impact, seconded to Mkopa Solar for capacity building in finance. Before that, he worked with Standard Chartered Bank in finance, credit, operations, and risk management. When not at work, Dennis likes supporting SMEs, e.g., volunteering as a judge in Africa’s Business Heroes competition by Jack Ma Foundation, serving as a business mentor at Africa Yes Centre and VC4A, and lending his expertise to nurture and support aspiring entrepreneurs. He is also an amateur runner.

Phillip Madanire (American) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Phillip is a management consultant, professor, entrepreneur, and startup advisor. He helps leading organizations across North America and around the world design and deliver holistic and sustainable transformation and reinvention making lasting improvements to their performance and realizing their most important goals. He has for over 20 years helped organizations respond to industry disruption by reinventing business models and performance through bold strategic moves, improving execution, as well as digital, cultural, and operational transformation. He is a founder of Acrius Strategy, a global professional services company based in New York providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology, and operations. He is an investor at Gaingels, an angel investor at Blue Jay Syndicate, and a founder of Distinctive GDP. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with extra collaborative coursework semesters at Harvard MBA and Brown University, and the School of Planning and Architecture.

Koni Rashamuse (South African) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Koni is a scientist turned technocrat. As a technocrat, Koni is responsible, amongst other tasks, for implementing various early-stage business innovation support instruments. One of those instruments is the Innovation Fund, an early-stage equity investment instrument focusing on de-risking early-stage SME creation to generate sustainable pipeline opportunities of viable investable high-tech enterprises for later-stage investments by the private equity sector. The Fund is a public-private partnership with several investment institutions and, in turn, drives investment syndication of investment with various Venture Capital (VC) Fund management firms.

As a scientist, Koni was a Principal researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for almost ten (10) years, where he was involved in technology development and translation in disparate areas of Industrial Bio-innovation. Koni holds a Ph.D. (Applied Biotechnology) degree, a master’s degree in technology management, and an LLB degree.

Melissa Mwiti (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Melissa has close to 20 years of cumulative experience in management consulting, financial services, and business development services for early-stage enterprises. She is also the co-founder of Mwalimu Biashara Ltd., a company that seeks to support the growth of small enterprises in Africa, through the provision of various capacity-building services. Given that enterprises operate in wider environments or ecosystems, the company’s scope has expanded to provide advisory and consulting services to intermediaries, government agencies, development partners, and larger corporate organizations all with the goal of promoting enterprise growth. Melissa has an MBA from Strathmore University Business School and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Business and Management from the same institution. Aside from things like enterprise development, Melissa values mentoring young people, is creative at heart, and loves to travel when she gets the chance!

Patricia Ndikumana (Burundian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Patricia is a highly accomplished business professional with extensive expertise in strategic account management and market expansion, encompassing a period of over 8 years. She has consistently demonstrated her ability to establish crucial partnerships and cultivate dynamic teams with exceptional strategic account management skills. Throughout her career, Patricia has consistently made significant contributions to company growth and expansion.

Patricia’s strengths lie in optimizing operational output while minimizing resource utilization. Her professional areas of focus include cross-functional collaboration, cross-cultural management, market expansion, and strategic account management. To excel in these domains, she utilizes effective communication and negotiation abilities, along with her business acumen, market analysis, project management, and resource management skills, to enhance efficiency and attain maximum returns.

Alex Kariuki (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Alex is a digital transformation leader with over 9 years of experience, a strong background in finance and technology, and a passion for driving business transformations. Alex specializes in value stream mapping and has a deep understanding of financial systems and management accounting. He has successfully built digital financial products and led cross-functional project teams, driving efficiency and profitability through process redesign and data-driven insights.
His experience spans fintech, IT consulting, financial services, telecommunications, and the non-governmental sector. With a focus on market share expansion and efficiency improvement, Alex is positioning himself to engage in angel investing contributing his expertise in innovation management, strategic planning, and agile project management and ultimately looking to partner with VCs towards enhancing the entrepreneurship ecosystem across Africa.

Maxime Cheng (Hong Kong Chinese) | LinkedIn

Maxime specialized in impact measurement during her Master of Public Policy. She has been building the impact investing ecosystem in emerging economies for over 8 years, teaching impact startups how to measure and analyze their impact data, while translating the impact language among donors and investors, with the goal to mobilize resources towards impact creation. With her experience in design thinking and UX research, she is enthusiastic about bringing together unlikely alleys and unlocking potentials while working at intersections of private and public actors. When not working, she loves listening to podcasts on leadership and mental health. She is also an excellent cook that experiments with spices and recipes from different cultures.

Amon Bazongo (Burkinabe) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Amon Bazongo is an AI Engineer, Digital Entrepreneur, and Community Builder currently based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He co-founded Yanfoma, a Digital Transformation agency, and Brain Machine & Consensus, an AI Engineering & Consulting company. His past professional experience includes software engineering in fields like Telecommunications, Energy, Elearning, ECommerce, and Healthcare. He strongly believes in the positive impact of emerging technologies and innovation on the African continent, which led him to build a community called Tech Emerging Africa, around technologies like AI, Bitcoin, Blockchain, and VR. The community is currently running a web media on web3/crypto (Crypto Economy Politics) and an annual AI event called SEINAR. Except for talking tech, Amon loves to eat good food, watch science fiction movies and read inspiring books.

Luke Naude (South African) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Luke’s career so far has spanned sales, product management, growth, and partnerships in early-stage startups in the UK, USA, and South Africa. He has led teams in building products for 9 early-stage startups across marketplaces, healthcare, fintech, marketing technology, property management, and fitness. Currently, he is focused on Growth and Partnerships for MOHARA, a Product and Venture Studio that invests in early-stage businesses, where he sources and assesses new startups for investment as well as identifies and nurtures new partnerships in startup ecosystems in MOHARA’s key markets of the USA and the UK.

In his personal capacity, Luke runs a podcast — The Dig Down — where he hosts monthly conversations with founders and key ecosystem players in Africa. Luke studied Business Management with majors in Finance and Marketing at the University of Cape Town.

Loise Warui (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Loise Warui is an investment professional with 15 years of experience spread over investment banking, debt, and equity investments. She is currently working as the investment lead at Adanian Labs, a Pan-African technology and venture studio where she oversees partnerships and runs the venture-building program that has supported over 50 startups. Previously, she worked in impact lending extending credit finance and designing de-risking interventions for 30+ SMEs in Kenya and Uganda in agri-processing and trade businesses.

She has also worked for two top investment banks with a presence in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda trading equities over the counter, corporate finance, and portfolio management. Loise has been called upon to judge competitions, share insights with SMEs and even discuss investment readiness by industry partners such as Growth Africa, E4Impact, and Villgro Africa. She is also a venture partner helping investors access African markets and identify investment opportunities.

Phylis Njongoro (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Phylis has several years of experience in actuarial investment consulting. Her expertise spans Strategy, Growth, and Business Development. She is driven by the desire to create a lasting impact in the communities where she works and her commitment to continuous learning. She is currently a graduate student in Business Administration at Strathmore University and a Fellow at Vested World. She is also a business strategist and mentor and is passionate about catalyzing capital towards unlocking the startup potential in Africa especially those that are solving some of the most pressing issues.

Ahmed Hadhri (Tunisian) | Linkedin | Twitter

Very passionate about venture building, empowering Startup ecosystems, Sharing Economy, and Community Building, Ahmed currently serves as Head of Venture building in Africa within Betacube, a Pan-African Venture Studio, and is also leading the “Tech African Women” program that aims to support female-led tech startups. During the last decade, he has been very active in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Tunisia by launching the first startup for people to borrow/lend books from each other, co-launching 2 coworking spaces, leading a national program for the Hult Prize Foundation, and supporting/coaching tens of startups.

Winnie Nyakundi (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Winnie is an actuary with 9 years of working experience in the insurance industry having worked in Kenya and in Ireland for the past 4 years. She has led multiple complex projects providing advisory services to some of the world’s largest insurance companies such as Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group.

As a general insurance actuary, Winnie is skilled in risk management, building financial models, analyzing large and complex data sets to solve problems, and providing meaningful business insights. She holds a Master’s degree in Actuarial Management from Bayes Business School, City University of London. Winnie is currently leading Innovations at the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya and is responsible for running an accelerator program for Insurtechs and building an Insurtech regulatory framework. She is passionate about technology and its potential to provide unique solutions for unique African challenges. She is keen to support technology Startups by providing the capital needed to catalyze innovation on the continent. She ultimately wants to do work that has a compounding effect and helps build the future.

Fares Seaidi (Tunisian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Fares is a seasoned professional who serves as a Senior Investment Officer at ANAVA, the fund of funds managed by Smart Capital. With over eight years in the corporate finance arena, Fares worked both as a consultant and an Investment Manager. However, it was his passion for fostering the startup ecosystem and bolstering the VC landscape in Tunisia that led him to embark on this journey with Smart Capital. Fares holds an MBA from the University of Portland and a bachelor’s degree in management from IHEC Carthage. Beyond his professional pursuits, Fares finds solace in the freedom of his leisure time. You’ll often catch him indulging in activities such as swimming, stand-up paddling, and exploring the wonders of travel.

Gideon Kyalo (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Gideon is passionate about Africa and has dedicated the last 10 years to leveraging his technology background to bridge the healthcare gaps that exist on the continent. Both companies he co-founded (iDaktari and Unumed) have had a focus on offering modern, yet affordable digital solutions to healthcare providers. He currently leads the Unumed Africa office in Nairobi that oversees all activities on the continent. As a team, they have successfully managed to implement the solution in six African countries. He manages business partner relations in Ghana and South Africa ensuring Unumed scales effectively in all African regions.

Since 2020, he has successfully negotiated Software-as-a-Service contracts with a book value of USD 1.1 million. He is now focusing on scaling the operations in Africa as he supports market entry into Southeast Asia.
His vision is that in 6 years to be a full-time venture capitalist investing predominantly in African startups while passing on his experience to other entrepreneurs.

Keo Sar (Cambodian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

For over 12+ years, Keo has played key roles in helping startups in various stages of their life-cycle figure out how to grow and scale as effectively as possible. He is currently the Executive Director (Go To Market) at August Hill, a leading global Advisory firm for startups, capital providers, and industry partners. Prior to joining August Hill, Keo was the CRO at Shyft and co-founded a startup in the blockchain space. Throughout his career he has held senior leadership roles in several companies, building and leading cross-functional teams in Business Development, Sales, Operations, and Customer Service. The companies have ranged from Series A (Octane & Lenda) to a company that IPO’d with an $8B exit (Lending Club). Before catching the startup bug and going on that journey Keo gained valuable experience at a couple Fortune 100 companies.

Keo is passionate about talent development, being involved in building technologies that enhance the human experience, and finding the most effective ways to scale companies. Outside of work Keo spends most of his time with his dog BB, traveling, writing, and immersing himself in his curiosities.

Ato Bentsi-Enchill (Ghanaian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Ato is currently the SPV Lead with Microtraction, an early-stage venture fund committing first checks to stellar African founders building global businesses. He is also an Investment Lead with PAVE Investments, a private investment holding company that invests in early-stage technology venture opportunities and joint ventures with international companies.

Ato has been involved in the financial services industry for over 6 years now, assisting firms from a wide range of sectors to engage with investors through his investment advisory firm, Black Adam Africa Capital Management (BAACAP). Ato holds a Bachelor’s in International Relations and French & Francophone Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. As a member of the Global Shapers Community, previously serving as Vice Curator, he is passionate about building global networks to share resources and explore business opportunities to drive collective growth. With a passion for the arts, he also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Nubuke Foundation, Ghana’s premier visual art and cultural institution. Ato is an avid reader and podcast listener. He spends the rest of his almost non-existent free time visiting art galleries and nurturing new hobbies.

Sola Magaji (Nigerian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Sola has served as a consultant to several public and private sector organizations in Africa and her passion for women and youth empowerment has led her to serve as a mentor for the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Young African Leaders Initiative. She is passionate about increasing the involvement of African women in STEM fields and currently serves as the Acting CEO of WAAW Foundation and sits on the board of Teach A Girl Nigeria, two NGOs dedicated to promoting women in STEM. Sola also sits on the board of IGrow Afrika a tech startup that aims to optimize the African food manufacturing sector.

Robert Omondi (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Rob Omondi is an impact-driven professional who has spent the last eight years driving the growth and scale of different venture-backed enterprises across Africa. He is passionate about innovation, and its impact on customers, communities, and ecosystems, and was previously part of the team spearheading successful Go-To-Market initiatives and commercial excellence at Nova Pioneer, a series C-backed pan-African network of schools that is nurturing the next generation of African leaders and innovators.

He recently completed his Master’s in Public Policy with a focus on Development Economics, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and is looking to do impact investment work across Africa. In his free time, Rob can be found either cooking up a delicious storm in the kitchen, serving vibes on the dance floor, or dabbling in endurance sports.

Sidumiso Sibanda (Zimbabwean) | LinkedIn

Sidumiso lets her curiosity drive her decision-making, hence a career path that has included investment banking, leadership development, and equity investment across Africa and Europe. She previously led SEO Africa as the Managing Director and worked for companies such as Houlihan Lokey, Rothschild, and HSBC. Sidumiso is happiest when solving problems (sometimes unsolicited!) and has channeled this energy as a judge and coach for African and European investment pitching competitions, as a strategic advisor to early and growth stage companies and social enterprises, with a strong focus on the Future of Work and the Future of Learning.

Abiodun Agboola (Nigerian) | Linkedin | Twitter

Abiodun is a financial market enthusiast. He is both a student and a teacher of the financial markets. He currently leads the Derivatives Market Group at FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited. Abiodun possesses a deep passion for Impact Investing, recognizing it as a powerful vehicle that can drive the magnitude of social change humanity truly needs.

He is increasingly fascinated by contemporary African arts, culminating in the decision to fund a forthcoming solo art exhibition. When not engrossed in work or engaged in teaching responsibilities, Abiodun can often be found exploring art galleries and exhibitions or simply reading a good book in the company of his delightful canine companions.

Hana Kaise Abdi (British-Somalilander) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Hana is the Co-founder and partner of Bilow Capital, an innovative investment company that applies an integrated investment strategy with both enterprise and venture capital under one company. She and the other partners have pioneered Bilow Capital from the idea stage to the present, for the past two and half years, and will fully launch this year. Bilow Capital is a first of its kind in the region and aims to contribute to the construction of the ecosystem by creating investment opportunities for investors that were previously inaccessible, as well as investing in market-creating innovations in the region and beyond.

Hana is a young, black, African, Muslim mother of four, who is extremely passionate about the African ecosystem and how to generate sustainable businesses, that create impactful returns. She continues to learn more about impact investing and the African ecosystem. She’s also dedicated to getting involved in community initiatives through her local NGO, Somaliland Prosperity Organization.

Diana Wangari (Kenyan) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Diana is a medical doctor, serial entrepreneur, and journalist who believes in using storytelling to reframe Africa’s narrative through innovation and a gender lens. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine from the University of Nairobi and an MBA from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Anowa Quarcoo (Ghanaian-Canadian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Anowa Quarcoo is an award-winning strategist and communicator. Currently consulting with startups and established organizations to build for the future and solve problems at scale, she co-founded Civic Tech Toronto, one of North America’s largest civic hacking communities. A trusted advisor who’s passionate about Africa’s tech ecosystem, Anowa has been named one of 30 inspirational women making a difference in tech by Toronto Metropolitan University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ); a Leader of Tomorrow by the University of St. Gallen; and been recognized as an up-and-coming young leader shaping Canada’s economy, culture, and society.

A lifelong learner, she holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree, a Master’s of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and an MBA. When she’s not being a creative problem solver, Anowa is a DJ who goes by the stage name Sonic Griot, and member of Afrique Like Me, a collective redefining African electronic music.

Femi Awoniyi (Nigerian) | LinkedIn

Femi is an innovation enthusiast, with experience in startup funding, consulting, tech innovation, and business strategy. He is passionate about customer-centered innovation, developing business models for entering/growing new markets and helping people improve their financial lives. He is the Startup Fund Manager for Google for Startups Black Founders Fund Africa, which provides grants and technical assistance to early-stage startups led by black and diverse teams, or with a goal of advancing the Black community. He is also the Founder of Vidare, an advisory that helps investors navigate the African tech landscape with local context so they feel more confident. He is also an active startup mentor for Techstars and previously worked for the Union Bank of Nigeria, EfinA, and Algomarketing.

Moses Waweru (Kenyan) | LinkedIn

Moses has 10 years of experience working in non-profit and for-profit organizations in the health sector. He has core skills in program management, research and advocacy, grant management, administration, finance, and human resource management. He is currently the Senior Program Manager at Villgro Africa, an incubator and impact investor supporting emerging healthcare businesses in Africa.

Salma Baghdadi (Tunisian) | LinkedIn

Salma is a startup enthusiast and a former entrepreneur in Tunisia & France with 2 Tech startups. She also worked in an international media holding and a consulting firm in Paris and is a graduate of ESCP Europe (Paris-France). She is currently part of Startup Tunisia, which is on a mission to foster the startup ecosystem within the Tunisian ecosystem. She is in charge of designing programs and solving the most urgent challenges that local startups are facing. At the moment, she oversees the running of different sets of activities under 3 major missions: 1) giving Startups access to funds to accelerate their growth through grants; 2) building bridges with international ecosystems, 3) and promoting the local startups and ecosystem locally and internationally. Salma also helps manage the Startup Act in Tunisia alongside its new legal framework operations.

Tomiwa Onaleye (Nigerian) | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tomiwa is an evolving business professional originally from Lagos, Nigeria, but currently based in Stockholm, Sweden. He boasts a diverse background in journalism and engineering, with a primary focus on the African tech ecosystem for the past six years. Throughout his career, Tomiwa has held various roles within Africa’s tech industry. He started as a tech journalist at Technext, where he honed his skills in analyzing & reporting on the latest technological advancements and developments within Africa. Later, he transitioned into the role of a communication and content strategist, working tirelessly to promote investment in African startups.

Presently, Tomiwa is actively involved in attracting foreign venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors to the African continent in his capacity at Bantaba. When not talking about Africa, you can find Tomiwa in nature, taking walks, reading books, or exploring new music, and cuisines from different cultures.

Vaik Kedar Boulou (Cameroonian) | LinkedIn

Vaik is an MBA Associate at Explora Partners, an entrepreneurial investment firm that manages and grows small to medium-sized businesses for the long term. Prior to his experience at Explora, he worked for over 7 years at Schlumberger as a logistics specialist and supply chain manager. Vaik has an MBA degree from INSEAD, where was the Co-President of the Africa Club. Recently, he has transitioned into management consulting for the private and public sectors, at the intersection of technology and sustainable development. He is currently working on a B2B SaaS startup. When not working, he is a huge fan of musical artists such as Salif Keita, Blick Bassy, and Frank Ocean, and enjoys African art house movies by directors such as Sembène Ousmane, Mambety Diop, and Dikongue Pipa.