Alan Knott-Craig Jr On Life After Mxit's Royal Fail (2016)
Listen in as Alan Knott-Craig Jr, son of Alan Sr, the pioneering co-founder and first CEO of Vodacom, one of South Africa's leading mobile network operators, and later the feisty CEO of challenger telco Cell C—takes us through a transformative career moment that set the stage for his future ventures.
Episode overview
This early 2016 conversation finds Alan Knott-Craig Jr in a moment of trademark forthrightness. Fresh from his tenure as CEO of Mxit, once Africa's largest social network with over 50 million registered users, he was already building Project Isizwe, a non-profit bringing free public Wi-Fi to South African townships, while laying the groundwork for HeroTel—reportedly the country's largest fixed wireless internet service providers. His journey would later lead to founding FiberTime, his current venture bringing pay-as-you-go fibre internet to townships through an innovative voucher-based model—an offering in a growing field of players serving underserved communities.
Critical points
- The fascinating disconnect between Knott-Craig Jr's prominent surname and admittedly privileged middle-class roots—his father never held Vodacom shares and put him through government schools
- His journey from dutiful son following paternal direction until 25 to forging his own entrepreneurial path
- The honest characterisation of Project Isizwe's non-profit work as "sincerely selfish"
What we know now
Viewed from 2025, this conversation foreshadowed key developments in Knott-Craig Jr's trajectory:
- The evolution from running Africa's largest social network to pioneering township internet connectivity models
- His transition through various ventures: from Project Isizwe's free township Wi-Fi network to HeroTel's rural broadband expansion, and now FiberTime's pay-as-you-go township fibre model
- The emergence of his distinctive voice on entrepreneurship, particularly evident in his strongly-opinionated social posts and entrepreneurship books.
Questions we're pondering
- Could Mxit, with over 50 million registered users at its peak, have dominated African mobile social networking if it had doubled down on being a dating platform instead of taking WhatsApp head-on?
- After writing several books about entrepreneurship over the last decade, has Knott-Craig Jr fully embraced vulnerability in "Life Lessons: How to fail and win" (June 2024)?
- Will FiberTime's pay-as-you-go model or some derivative—no contracts, just vouchers for 24 hours of uncapped 100Mbps—prove to be the key that unlocks true digital inclusion in South African townships?
Image credit: Stokoekeagan
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51:55
Building Bridges: Maya Horgan Famodu's Silicon Valley-Africa Crossing Playbook (2017)
Episode overview
This unfiltered 2017 archive dialogue captures Maya Horgan Famodu (Founder and Partner, Ingressive Capital) before she became known for straight-talking LinkedIn posts about founder insights and personal growth.
Fresh from investment banking, she was forging new pathways between Silicon Valley capital and African startup innovation via carefully-curated investor tours—laying the groundwork for the launch of Ingressive Capital's investment months later.
Listening back, you can hear how the same independence and non-traditional EQ that helped a "small girl from a trailer park" believe she could launch a VC fund was already shaping her vision.
Critical points
- The early signs of the independent thinking that would later become her trademark
- How her unconventional background shaped her approach to investment
- Why bridging Silicon Valley and African tech required a translator's insight
- The unexpected ways growing up between worlds prepared her for building cross-cultural understanding
What we know now
Looking back from 2024, this conversation reveals both professional and personal threads that would define Horgan Famodu's impact:
- The shift from understated confidence to singular public voice
- How her own story of independent creativity would later resonate with investors and founders
- The evolution from curating entrees to the African tech startup opportunity to foreign investors to leading investments
Questions we're pondering
- How has Horgan Famodu's public sharing of her personal journey influenced African tech discourse?
- What role does authentic leadership play in venture capital today?
- How has the relationship between personal story and professional impact evolved in African tech?
As we wind down 2024, we're diving into our archives to serve up some memorable throwback conversations.
Whether you're a long-time listener revisiting these gems or discovering them for the first time, these conversations capture pivotal moments in Africa's tech journey. In today's episode, we're rewinding to 2018...
Episode overview:
Join us as we eavesdrop on a fascinating corridor conversation from Afrobytes Tech Marketplace in Paris featuring Amadou Daffe, who has since transformed Gebeya from an Ethiopian tech talent marketplace into a pan-African hybrid organisation connecting African developers with global opportunities, and Adewale Yusuf, who went from leading the tech media platform Techpoint to founding AltSchool Africa, which is now expanding online tech education from Africa into Europe.
What makes this chat particularly relevant today is how it foreshadowed Ethiopia's emergence as a tech talent powerhouse and Nigeria's developer compensation dynamics.
Critical insights:
1. The "Andela Effect" on developer salaries in Nigeria and its impact on local startups
2. Ethiopia's unique developer culture characterised by quiet confidence and humility
3. The stark contrast between Ethiopian and Nigerian developer mindsets
4. An unexpected revelation about Paga's Ethiopian development roots
Standout moments:
- Daffe reveals why he chose Ethiopia over Nigeria and Kenya for his tech venture
- A surprising disclosure about Ethiopian developers' role in programming Sophia the robot
- The parallel drawn between Nigeria's music industry success and its tech ecosystem
Market intelligence (circa 2018):
- Ethiopia: 43 universities offering computer science degrees
Nigeria: Developer salaries reaching $50,000, pricing out local startups
- Ethiopian developers' competitive advantage: Similar quality at $10,000/year
Looking back, looking forward:
As we revisit this conversation in 2024, it's fascinating to see how many of these observations played out. Has Ethiopia realised its potential as a tech hub? Have Nigeria's developer salary dynamics stabilised?
We're curious...
- Did this episode resonate with your current experience in either market?
- Should we get Daffe and Yusuf back on the show to discuss how things have evolved for them as founders?
- Are you a developer from either country? We'd love to hear your perspective!
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27:26
Why Carbon CEO Chijioke Dozie Is Ditching Nigeria's Free Banking Playbook
Meet Chijioke Dozie, the co-founder steering Carbon through Nigeria's increasingly noisy neobank scene. In this candid chat with Andile Masuku, Dozie makes a case for zigging while others zag—specifically, charging for value while competitors burn cash on free services.
It's a stance that might raise eyebrows in Nigeria's price-sensitive market, but as you'll hear, it's backed by 12 years of hard knocks and savvy iteration.
Episode Overview:
Carbon spotted a massive gap in Nigeria circa 2012 - imagine a market of 180 million people where barely 200,000 had credit cards. It's the kind of statistical disparity that makes you do a double-take. The conversation reveals how this reality shaped Carbon's contrarian approach to building a licensed digital bank in Africa's largest economy.
Key topics:
- The distinction between neobanks across different markets
- Trust-building in digital banking through institutional frameworks
- The evolution from free services to value-based pricing
- The impact of founder experience on investor confidence
- Market size challenges in African banking
Notable points:
1) Carbon achieved profitability in 2018 and 2019, having raised only $12 million in equity
2) The company has processed loans for over 5 million Nigerians across three economic cycles
3) Nigeria's credit-to-GDP ratio was only 6% compared to South Africa's 70% when Carbon started
4) The company is shifting away from digital-only to include offline touchpoints
Be sure to listen out for a particularly candid moment when Dozie reflects on two key decisions made during pivotal moments in Carbon's history—choices he admits he would reconsider if given the chance.
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19:40
Ambar Van Der Wath Unpacks Baobab Network's $20K Toe-Dipping Investment Proposition
Ambar van der Wath—who leads investor relations at one of Africa's leading accelerator slash VC firms, Baobab Network—discusses with Andile Masuku how the firm is creating accessible entry points for cautious investors interested in early-stage African tech startups.
Episode Overview:
Picture this: You're an international investor curious about African tech, but you're not quite ready to write million-dollar checks or commit to a 7-year fund lockup. That's exactly the puzzle Baobab Network is solving with their new-ish investment vehicle - allowing investors to back a batch of startups for as little as $20K.
Key topics:
Innovation in early-stage investment vehicles
Market education and investor development
Secondary markets and exit opportunities
Equity considerations for early-stage founders
The strategic role of venture debt
Risk management across African markets
Notable points:
1. Baobab Network is spreading bets across 16 markets (and counting)
2. Their portfolio has hit 60 companies, with half joining in just the last two years
3. They're actively hunting for founders who didn't go to Harvard (their words, not ours)
4. Sometimes they even manage early exits - Van der Wath shares about a secondary sale just 14 months post-investment
Through their innovative batch investment approach, Baobab Network is creating what Van der Wath describes as a "trusted layer" between international capital and African startups. Listen in for her insights on secondary markets.
The episode provides valuable insights for anyone interested in African tech investment, especially newcomers exploring the ecosystem for the first time.
Image credit: Nerene Grobler via Unsplash
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