How we made it in Africa

How we made it in Africa

Home
Entrepreneur Interviews
Investor Interviews
Takeaways
Buy our new book!
Contact
About

HWMIIA Classics

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
Nigeria’s craft beer pioneer eyes $65m empire
We speak with Kevin Conroy, founder and CEO of Lagos-based Bature Brewery, about his journey in establishing a craft beer business in Nigeria.
 • How we made it in Africa
Investment adventures in Africa’s frontier markets
Dutch investor Barthout van Slingelandt, managing partner of XSML Capital, shares his experiences of backing companies in the DRC, Uganda, and Angola.
 • How we made it in Africa
HWMIIA Classics: Entrepreneur capitalises on Africa’s demand for affordable eyeglasses
Swiss-born entrepreneur Jérôme Lapaire identified an opportunity to sell eyeglasses to price-sensitive customers in Africa.
Exporting Made-in-Africa products to 15 countries: CEO reveals her strategies
We speak to Claudia Castellanos, co-founder and CEO of chilli sauce maker Black Mamba, about the strategies she has employed to expand the company's…
 • How we made it in Africa
© 2026 How we made it in Africa · Publisher Privacy ∙ Publisher Terms
Substack · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture