How we made it in Africa

How we made it in Africa

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32:43
The making of a honey export business in Tanzania
Swahili Honey sources honey from 3,000 smallholder beekeepers in Tanzania and exports it around the world.
 • How we made it in Africa
1:01:28
Investor shares his playbook after a 29x exit in Africa
Ibrahim Sagna, executive chairman of Silverbacks Holdings, discusses the firm's origins and how it picks its investments.
 • How we made it in Africa
West Africa: Five entrepreneurs to watch
We highlight five entrepreneurs building businesses in West Africa across sectors ranging from retail and footwear manufacturing to fitness.
 • How we made it in Africa
Africa’s Business Heroes Announces Top 20 Entrepreneurs Advancing to 2026 Semi-Final in Nairobi
The Top 20 were selected from an expanded Top 100 cohort drawn from more than 24,000 applications across all 54 African countries.
 • How we made it in Africa
The business of fashion in East Africa
“I don’t come from a fashion background, so I tend to approach things purely from a business perspective,” says Wandia Gichuru, founder and CEO of Vivo…
 • How we made it in Africa

Entrepreneur Interviews

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32:43
The making of a honey export business in Tanzania
Swahili Honey sources honey from 3,000 smallholder beekeepers in Tanzania and exports it around the world.
 • How we made it in Africa
The business of fashion in East Africa
“I don’t come from a fashion background, so I tend to approach things purely from a business perspective,” says Wandia Gichuru, founder and CEO of Vivo…
 • How we made it in Africa
Nigerian creates business exporting avocados and chillies from Rwanda to European supermarkets
Africa's agricultural potential is widely recognised. But how easy is it really to build an export business around it?
 • How we made it in Africa
Ghana: From side hustle to 16 stores – a retail entrepreneur’s story
Charles Antwi-Boahen is the founder of Kab-Fam, an electronics and home appliance retailer that has grown from humble beginnings to a 16-store chain…
 • How we made it in Africa
What it takes to build a logistics network from scratch in West Africa
Bamba Lo founded delivery company PAPS with two scooters and a Facebook page.
 • How we made it in Africa
Building a restaurant chain in Nigeria: The story of Toasties
Eka Obaigbena noticed a gap in Nigeria’s restaurant market for the fast-casual chains she had grown accustomed to while living overseas.
 • How we made it in Africa
How we made it in Africa
How we made it in Africa
Learn from Africa’s most interesting entrepreneurs and investors.

Investor Interviews

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1:01:28
Investor shares his playbook after a 29x exit in Africa
Ibrahim Sagna, executive chairman of Silverbacks Holdings, discusses the firm's origins and how it picks its investments.
 • How we made it in Africa
56:03
The business opportunities in helping Africans land higher-paying jobs abroad
The Africa Jobs Fund backs companies that can raise incomes for Africans, focusing on international labour mobility and export manufacturing. We speak…
 • How we made it in Africa
Doing business in Somalia: unpacking the realities on the ground
Investor discusses the operating environment and some of the region’s untapped business opportunities.
 • How we made it in Africa
How this French serial entrepreneur started investing in Africa
Alexis Caude discusses his entrepreneurship journey, his investment successes in Africa, and how he manages his personal money.
 • How we made it in Africa
From beverage cans to gyms: Verod’s investment playbook for West Africa
Danladi Verheijen discusses his journey as an investor and the lessons he has learnt along the way.
 • How we made it in Africa
How to build a $1bn African investment firm
Richard Okello compares investing in Africa to riding a speedboat through rough seas while trying to drink a glass of wine without spilling a drop.
 • How we made it in Africa
From Nigeria to Senegal: Investor unpacks West Africa's agribusiness opportunities
Tosin Ojo, a partner at Sahel Capital, shares her insights on successfully investing in West Africa’s agribusiness sector.
 • How we made it in Africa
Is social commerce the next big thing for retail in Africa?
Natalie Kolbe, general partner at Africa-focused venture capital firm Norrsken22, believes social commerce could transform how Africans shop. In this…
 • How we made it in Africa

Takeaways

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What it takes to sell African agricultural products in supermarkets abroad
Entrepreneur Seun Rasheed unpacks the realities of exporting African fruits and vegetables.
 • How we made it in Africa
Investor upbeat about retail, healthcare, and tech in Africa
Richard Okello, co-founder of African investment firm Sango Capital, sees strong potential across a variety of sectors.
 • How we made it in Africa
Three promising business opportunities in Somalia
Solar energy, fishing, and the local manufacturing of imported consumer goods identified as three promising areas for investment.
 • How we made it in Africa
Nigeria: How this snack food company won over informal shopkeepers
In Nigeria, informal retail channels account for 90% of consumer goods sales. Discover how cookie company Fastizers persuaded these vendors to stock its…
 • How we made it in Africa
Is this crop Nigeria’s next big agribusiness opportunity?
Fonio – a gluten-free grain with many nutritional benefits – has been cultivated as a subsistence crop in West Africa for thousands of years.
 • How we made it in Africa
How this Africa-focused investor manages his own money
From US value stocks to Swiss francs, Adenia Partners' Alexis Caude reveals the strategy behind his personal portfolio.
 • How we made it in Africa
Investor bullish on education in West Africa
“Families will do anything to ensure that their children get a high-quality education," says Danladi Verheijen, co-founder of Verod Capital Management.
 • How we made it in Africa
Ethiopian entrepreneur turns a single sewing machine into factories, a hotel, and a mall
Seid Mohammedbirhan credits his business success to 20% luck and 80% hard work.
 • How we made it in Africa

HWMIIA Classics

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Behind the scenes of building a private equity firm in Nigeria
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, founder of Aruwa Capital Management, on building and running an investment firm in West Africa.
 • How we made it in Africa
From rejections to $40m – an entrepreneur’s rocky road to success
How Benjamin Fernandes, founder of Nala, survived early challenges to build a global money transfer player.
 • How we made it in Africa
HWMIIA Classics: How this entrepreneur built an instant noodles business in Zambia
Monica Musonda applied lessons from Aliko Dangote to launch a homegrown instant noodles company in Zambia.
 • How we made it in Africa
South Africa: 10 rand (60 US cents) coffee idea grows to 65 stores
Xpresso Café is a takeaway coffee chain that started with a simple idea: every item on the menu cost just 10 South African rand.
 • How we made it in Africa
Building an agribusiness venture in Africa – The tough road to success
Teddy Ruge, founder and CEO of Raintree Farms, discusses the realities of building a successful agribusiness venture in Uganda.
 • How we made it in Africa
Entrepreneur unlocks agribusiness opportunities
The founders of Ziweto Enterprises have capitalised on opportunities in Malawi’s agriculture industry to build a rapidly growing business.
 • How we made it in Africa
Why this German invested in Tanzania’s first commercial apple farm
German-born entrepreneur David Runge spotted an opportunity in apple farming in East Africa.
 • How we made it in Africa
How this Japanese entrepreneur started an e-motorbike business in Ethiopia
In 2021, Japanese entrepreneur Yuma Sasaki moved to Ethiopia to establish Dodai, an electric motorcycle company assembling its bikes locally in Addis…
 • How we made it in Africa

How we made it in Africa

Learn from Africa’s most interesting entrepreneurs and investors.
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