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<p>Chaka has become the first fintech start-up to acquire a digital sub-broker license in Nigeria, after the Securities and Exchange Commission granted the platform, permission to trade in stocks digitally. The license which was newly created in April this year by SEC, now places Chaka’s operation’s directly under the regulatory scope of the SEC and poses a defining moment for the future of digital investments in the country. Chaka CEO, Tosin Osibodu joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Chaka secures Nigeria’s first digital sub-broker license

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<p>Nigerians have often been described as resilient, but when this resilience is stretched thin, how long will the pieces hold? A book co-authored by Andrew Nevin, Chief Economist at PwC Nigeria explores this theme. As we get some insight on this from him, Steve Osho, a Co-Managing Partner at Comercio Partners also joins CNBC Africa to share some perspectives as well.</p>


FSt500

Analysis: Why Nigeria is not a failed state?

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<p>Nigerian ride-hailing start-up, Plentywaka has announced a new investment from Techstars as it sets its sights on global expansion. Plentywaka’s Co-Founder, Onyeka Akumah says through this investment, the Plentywaka team will join the Techstars Toronto program to gain further funding, mentorship, as well as access to a rich network of entrepreneurs and experts in the travel industry Onyeka Akumah joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Plentywaka gets backing from Techstars for global expansion

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<p>Norrsken, a global entrepreneurship hub is set to invest $12million in the local and regional entrepreneurship scene through their Kigali hub. CNBC Africa spoke to Pascal Murasira, Managing Director for Norrsken in East Africa for more.</p>


Entrepreneurship hub Norrsken to invest $12mn in Rwanda’s start up scene

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<p>Apollo Agriculture, a Nairobi based agri-tech start-up has raised about $6 million in its series A round of funding. CNBC Africa spoke to Benjamin Njenga, Co-Founder of Apollo Agriculture for more.</p>


Kenyan agri-tech start-up Apollo Agriculture raises $6mn in funding

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<p>South African born tech company RapidDeploy has become the most disruptive company to hit the United States public safety industry in decades. The company raised over R250 million in investments after starting out in the emergency first responder community in Cape Town. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Steven Raucher, CEO of RapidDeploy.</p>


How this African tech start-up is disrupting America’s public safety industry

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<p>A Fintech start-up with an innovative edge may be able to change the world of medical aid in South Africa for low income earners. Tamsanqa Ngalo is the founder of OYI which is a medical expense credit card helping those who may not have access to funds to pay for their medical expenses. Tamsanqa joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


OYI on a quest to make health care affordable through innovative medical scheme

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<p>German-owned business and tech hub, Westerwelle start-up Haus Kigali hosted a networking exhibition for start-ups to come and showcase their work. The exhibition registered over 100 start-ups and offered them the opportunity to network with their peers and different players from across sectors. CNBC Africa’s Zwena Bachoo is joined by Sangwa Rwabuhihi, General Manager, Haus Kigali for more.</p>


Rwandan start-ups to show their stuff

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<p>Africa-focused health tech genomic startup 54Gene recently raised $4.5 million in seed capital and plans to build a DNA biobank in Africa. Abasi Ene-Obong CEO of 54gene joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


54GENE raises $4.5mn to build pan-African biobank

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<p>In a rush to achieve the government&#8217;s seven-year programme target to create 1.5 million off-farm jobs by 2024. Rwandan start-up BAG Innovation hopes to empower university students in the country to produce sustainable solutions for local and international markets.  For more CNBC Africa is joined by Yussouf Ntwali, Head of Operations at Bag Innovation.</p>


How Rwandan start-ups plan to contribute to 1.5mn jobs target

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<p>Start-up incubator EFI Hub is in talks with a UK-based private equity firm to offload a majority stake. The stake sale, which is likely to be a mix of equity and cash, could value the incubator close to $5 million.</p>


Start-up incubator EFI Hub in talks to sell majority stake to UK-based firm

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<p>Nigeria’s fast-growing tech-based start-up scene has been boosted in the last two years one of the beneficiaries is LifeBank that recently closed a $200,000 seed round to develop a smarter way to deliver blood to Lagos hospital.</p>


Nigerian blood delivery start-up raises $200,000 for expansion

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<p>Over 100 million start-ups are estimated to open every year globally. However with the changing trends, the dilemma we all have is in creating a balance between investors who continue to show preference for tech based businesses, and brick and mortar companies that still have enormous potential. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Junior Kanamugire Founder of Pikiwash a start-up that won the Seedstars Rwandan chapter and Lebo Gunguluza, Entrepreneur and Dragon Investor.</p>


How to fund Africa’s technology start-ups

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<p>A new fintech start-up co-founded by former FNB CEO Michael Jordaan is blazing a trail in the fintech.Michael Jordaan, co-founder of NMRQL joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Active fund managers: Shape up or ship out – Disruptor Michael Jordaan

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<p>NMRQL Research recently launched a unit trust fund that uses machine learning to drive research, analysis and stock selection. NMRQL SCI Balanced Fund, is administered by the Sanlam Collective Investments platform.</p>


Why serial entrepreneur Michael Jordaan is a crypto bull

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<p>Start up and frontier markets fundraiser Lendable inc. has raised USD$ 6.5 million (KES671 million) in a Series A round of investment to scale operations, drive market expansion, and roll out new products in frontier markets.</p>


Lendable raises $6.5mn in Series A funding round

<p><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/jon-fortt/" rel="author">Jon Fortt</a> | <span class="twitter-url"><a href="http://twitter.com/@jonfortt">@jonfortt</a></span></p>
<p>Among the many business lessons Jeff Lawson has learned, there&#8217;s this: Don&#8217;t expect to get things done if you wait until you&#8217;re perfectly prepared.</p>
<p>Lawson is co-founder and CEO of <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/TWLO" target="_self" data-gdsid="160228" data-inline-quote-symbol="TWLO">Twilio</a>, a company that makes it easy for apps to contact you. (Ever wonder how you can send a text to your Uber driver in the app, or get one in OpenTable when your seat is ready? Twilio does that.)</p>
<p>Twilio went public last summer at the New York Stock Exchange, and is now worth about $2.5 billion. As it pushes to make apps communicate better, the scrappy San Francisco company has developed a culture that favors boldness and taking initiative, and frowns on perfectionism.</p>
<p>Fortt Knox caught up with Twilio&#8217;s CEO at a tech conference in Barcelona, Spain to talk about his journey from curious kid in the Detroit suburbs to CEO of a public tech company. Among the things our podcast loves about Lawson&#8217;s story?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s about the setbacks as much as the successes, and learning along the way.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s some of what he shared on the latest episode:</p>
<p>https://soundcloud.com/forttknox/lawson</p>
<p><b>Ask for the Keys</b></p>
<p>Lawson likes to tell a story about his grandfather, who worked in a factory and needed to earn more money.</p>
<p>&#8220;He went to the owner and he said, &#8216;I need to make more money, how do I do that,'&#8221; Lawson said. &#8220;The guy said &#8216;I don&#8217;t have any other jobs. The only job I have is driving the truck. Do you know how to drive the truck?&#8217; My grandfather&#8217;s answer was, &#8216;Give me the keys.'&#8221;</p>
<p>What his grandfather didn&#8217;t mention was that he&#8217;d never driven a truck before in his life. But he got the job, figured it out, made more money.</p>
<p>Chalk it up to genetics or coincidence, but in middle school Lawson started a company shooting video footage of weddings. Then, he used the proceeds to buy more sophisticated equipment.</p>
<p>&#8220;The best way to learn something new,&#8221; he said, &#8220;is to commit yourself to doing it.&#8221;</p>
<p><b>You&#8217;ve Got to Love It</b></p>
<p>There were some false starts. In college during the dotcom boom, Lawson learned software development and started a company that sold for millions of dollars … in stock. He thought he&#8217;d made it big, but when the bubble popped, his windfall vanished.</p>
<p>Later, he got the opportunity to be founding chief technology officer of StubHub, a ticket sales company that would later sell to eBay for $310 million. But Lawson didn&#8217;t stick around for the payoff.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was a fine business, but I wasn&#8217;t the customer and I didn&#8217;t feel passionately that the world needed the product we were building.&#8221; He wasn&#8217;t a concert goer, so he didn&#8217;t feel inspired to keep working on it. &#8220;As an entrepreneur, I think you need that.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hindsight being what it is, it&#8217;s easy to fault Lawson for missing his share of a nine-figure payday. But remember, he&#8217;s got a share of a 10-figure payday in Twilio.</p>
<p><b>Knowledge and Reputation</b></p>
<p>So how did Lawson do it? How did he rebound from a missed nine-figure payday cleanly enough to do himself one better? First he made another valuable mistake or two, which you&#8217;ll learn about listening to this Fortt Knox episode.</p>
<p>More important though, he was able to focus on the two most important assets he was building in each of these experiences.</p>
<p>&#8220;The best thing that we have as we go through our careers is our knowledge and our word – our reputation,&#8221; Lawson says. &#8220;If you&#8217;re constantly building those two things, I think generally speaking, good things end up happening to people.&#8221;</p>
<p>http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2017/03/17/warren-buffetts-20-slot-rule-will-make-insanely-successful-wealthy/</p>


Start up

Chaka secures Nigeria’s first digital sub-broker license

Analysis: Why Nigeria is not a failed state?

Plentywaka gets backing from Techstars for global expansion

Entrepreneurship hub Norrsken to invest $12mn in Rwanda’s start up scene

Kenyan agri-tech start-up Apollo Agriculture raises $6mn in funding

How this African tech start-up is disrupting America’s public safety industry

OYI on a quest to make health care affordable through innovative medical scheme

Rwandan start-ups to show their stuff

54GENE raises $4.5mn to build pan-African biobank

How Rwandan start-ups plan to contribute to 1.5mn jobs target

Start-up incubator EFI Hub in talks to sell majority stake to UK-based firm

Nigerian blood delivery start-up raises $200,000 for expansion

How to fund Africa’s technology start-ups

Active fund managers: Shape up or ship out – Disruptor Michael Jordaan

Why serial entrepreneur Michael Jordaan is a crypto bull

Lendable raises $6.5mn in Series A funding round

First get started, then get smarter – Founder-CEO’s secret to success

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Start up

Chaka secures Nigeria’s first digital sub-broker license

Analysis: Why Nigeria is not a failed state?

Plentywaka gets backing from Techstars for global expansion

Entrepreneurship hub Norrsken to invest $12mn in Rwanda’s start up scene

Kenyan agri-tech start-up Apollo Agriculture raises $6mn in funding

How this African tech start-up is disrupting America’s public safety industry

OYI on a quest to make health care affordable through innovative medical scheme

Rwandan start-ups to show their stuff

54GENE raises $4.5mn to build pan-African biobank

How Rwandan start-ups plan to contribute to 1.5mn jobs target

Start-up incubator EFI Hub in talks to sell majority stake to UK-based firm

Nigerian blood delivery start-up raises $200,000 for expansion

How to fund Africa’s technology start-ups

Active fund managers: Shape up or ship out – Disruptor Michael Jordaan

Why serial entrepreneur Michael Jordaan is a crypto bull

Lendable raises $6.5mn in Series A funding round

First get started, then get smarter – Founder-CEO’s secret to success

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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