Past Webinar

Wed, Nov 29 @7pm EAT | 6pm SAST | 5pm WAT
The number of deals and overall investment into African startups declined significantly in 2023. With the funding winter and uncertainty in the global funding market set to continue, how should African founders approach 2024?
Join us for a conversation with leaders from the African venture capital ecosystem as we explore some answers and perspectives. Whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, or simply curious about the state of African venture capital as we head into 2024, this webinar is for you.
Our Speakers
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Our Speakers
Kiko Kiwanga
FOUNDER
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Peter Wamburu
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE
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Anthea Hartzenberg
HEAD OF PLATFORM & COMMUNITY – CatalyzU
Anthea Hartzenberg is a senior growth, communications, and community strategist with 10 years of experience in the African & European startup and tech ecosystems. She formerly headed Engagement at OfferZen, Africa’s largest developer talent marketplace. Anthea scaled OfferZen’s B2B and B2C community strategy and branded merchandise operations from 100,000 developers in South Africa to six additional European markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Spain. Prior to OfferZen, she worked as Strategic Communications and Media Relations Manager at JUMO, the leading fintech in Africa at the time, valued at over $400 million.

Adelaide Njoki
ANALYST – Founders Factory Africa
Adelaide is an Investment Analyst at Founders Factory Africa, leading the team’s efforts on the due diligence processes. She is also a crucial on-ground presence in the East African community, allowing us to deepen our understanding of key trends and opportunities.
Adelaide is passionate about innovation in Africa and climate action. Before joining Founders Factory Africa, she sourced and worked extensively with startups through the Viktoria Business Angel Network (VBAN). She has also been a mentor and trainer for various entrepreneurial programs focused on developing East African entrepreneurial talent.

Lesego Tladinyane
SENIOR ASSOCIATE – Newtown Partners
Lesego is a Senior Investment Associate at Newtown Partners, focusing on disruptive innovation frameworks for early-stage venture opportunities.
An actuary by training with a Bachelor of Business Science degree in Actuarial Science, Lesego spent a number of years as a Senior Interest Rate Derivatives and Fixed Income Trader at Deutsche Bank and Nedbank. Following a fruitful career in global markets, Lesego pursued an MBA at the UCT Graduate School of Business to further sharpen his investment skills with a particular focus on business model innovation, strategy, and technology, where his aptitude for alternative investments enabled him to lead several large-scale venture capital transactions.

Chikodi Ukaiwe
FOUNDER – Salad Africa
Chikodi Ukaiwe is on a mission to enhance the well-being of the African workforce, with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including both employers and employees.
Chikodi began his career as a banker, a profession that afforded him access to certain financial services that the average Nigerian lacked. However, it wasn’t until he delved into the world of e-commerce and played pivotal roles in Unicorns like Jumia and Konga that he understood the glaring gap in access to formal financial services experienced by everyday Nigerians. This birthed Chikodi’s commitment to the growth and empowerment of SMEs.
Over the past decade, Chikodi has dedicated himself to working closely with startups and small businesses, helping them boost their sales and thrive in a competitive market. Now, he has shifted his focus to address a critical need: enhancing the productivity of the African workforce.
In response to this pressing demand, Chikodi founded Salad Africa in 2022. Salad Africa’s “Salary on Demand” feature empowers African workers to access their earned salaries before the end of the month. This initiative not only provides employees with the financial flexibility they need to meet immediate requirements but also significantly enhances their overall productivity.
Beyond his entrepreneurial pursuits, Chikodi is a dedicated family man, a loyal friend, and an avid traveler with a penchant for trying out diverse cuisines. He serves as an inspiring role model for aspiring young entrepreneurs, sharing the possibilities that lie ahead in the business world.

Kiko Kiwanga
FOUNDER – Taotic
Kiko Kiwanga is an award-winning startup ecosystem builder with over 10 years of experience in building social enterprises and supporting the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. As the Founder and Executive Director of TAOTIC, an international award winning local ecosystem based social-tech innovation hub and venture building partner, Kiko is dedicated to supporting ambitious post-secondary youth, especially college and university students and recent graduates in Tanzania and across Africa, to turn their career pursuits into a force for doing good in the world through social-tech startup entrepreneurship.
Beyond TAOTIC, Kiko serves on the Tanzanian National Advisory Board for Impact Investment, driving the impact investment movement in the country. He has also co-founded and served as a director for other innovation hubs such as Anzisha Ventures and Founder Institute Tanzania.
Kiko’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Best Startup Ecosystem Builder of the Year by the Africa Startup Ecosystem Builders Summit in 2022 that took place in South Africa. He is also a finalist for the “Best Startup Coach of the Year” category at this year’s awards, set to take place in Nairobi, Kenya.
Kiko remains deeply committed to the vision of a thriving African ecosystem, one that fosters innovation, creates meaningful impact, and paves the way for an inclusive and sustainable future. With a firm belief in the potential of young entrepreneurs to lead transformative change, he is enthusiastic about providing consultancy, facilitation, training, mentorship and coaching services to initiatives that are dedicated to empowering the youth in realizing their entrepreneurial dreams and driving positive change in Africa.
You can contact Kiko for support in areas related to business model innovation, agile customer and product development strategies, revenue model and pricing strategies, bootstrapping strategies, financial modeling, and funding strategies.

Peter Wamburu
Investment Associate – Vested World
Peter Wamburu is an Investment Professional with over 7 years of experience across venture capital, strategic finance, consulting, data analytics, project management and product development. He is adept at identifying and assessing early-stage investment opportunities, providing commercial support to ventures in the process of raising institutional capital, and building out organization’s data analytics infrastructure.
Peter is passionate about solving pressing economic challenges such as cross-border trade, B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), education, climate resilience, and youth employment through technological development and plan to be at the forefront of shaping a more prosperous African continent through the growth of private enterprise.