One Saturday in 2010, Gbola Lawson was knocking on the doors of small brick-and-mortar stores in Lagos – Nigeria’s megacity of roughly seventeen million people – trying to persuade shopkeepers to place cookies on their shelves. Although he held a full-time job in banking, he was helping his girlfriend, Debby (now his wife), grow the retail footprint of her fledgling one-person cookie business, Fastizers.

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Fonio – a gluten-free grain with many nutritional benefits – has been cultivated as a subsistence crop in West Africa for thousands of years. It is drought-resistant, can grow without the support of fertiliser and restores organic matter in fallow soil. Despite the crop’s long history in the region, it is not fully commercialised.

Thanks to fonio’s nutritional profile, demand has been growing in regions such as the US and Europe.

One advocate for fonio’s potential is Timi Oke, co-founder and CEO of AgroEknor, a Nigerian company exporting dried hibiscus flowers to markets in the US, Mexico, and Europe. AgroEknor turned its attention to fonio after exploring additional crops for the hibiscus farmers in its supply chain.

“You don’t need fertilisers for fonio, you can literally just throw the seeds of fonio on the ground and it will grow … It can grow on any type of soil,” Oke said in an interview with How we made it in Africa.

He mentioned an article by Bill Gates that highlights fonio’s benefits and notes that brewer Carlsberg has launched a beer made solely from fonio grains, without barley or bittering hops.

However, AgroEknor is primarily looking at fonio for the Nigerian market. “We are more interested in using fonio as a substitute for rice domestically because Nigeria imports rice and it’s just not practical.” Yet, Oke acknowledged one of the key challenges with fonio: its processing. The grain requires dehusking, which is a labour-intensive process.

Watch our full in-depth interview with Timi Oke: Entrepreneur turns Nigerian superfood into a global export business

Interview with Seun Rasheed

FOUNDER AND CEO, SOUK FARMS

Lives in: Kigali, Rwanda

Nigerian-born Seun Rasheed was working for oil giant Shell in Qatar when a holiday to Rwanda set him on a different path. During the trip, the wide gap between the local price of passion fruit and what it sold for in Europe caught his attention. He realised there was an opportunity to build an export business around that price gap.

Seven years later, SOUK Farms supplies Rwandan-grown produce – including avocados, chillies and beans – to supermarkets in Europe and the Middle East. How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to Rasheed about his entrepreneurial journey and the lessons he has learnt along the way.

Topics discussed during the interview include:

• How easy it is to start an agricultural export business in Africa

• Farming challenges: is Clarkson’s Farm accurate?

• How long SOUK Farms took to become profitable

• Why Rasheed chose Rwanda over Nigeria

• His key entrepreneurship lessons

Watch the full interview below: (only available on How we made it in Africa)

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How we made it in Africa II: Real stories of entrepreneurs turning opportunity into profit, the latest book by Jaco Maritz, has been recognised at the 2026 BCA African Business Book of the Year Award, taking the second runner-up prize at a ceremony held at the Institute of Directors in London on Friday, 3 July 2026.

The book is available here

The book was praised for its accessibility, its relevance to SMEs and entrepreneurs, and its broad representation of African business success stories – many of them lesser known – that highlight the realities of building businesses on the continent.

Now in its fourth year, the BCA African Business Book of the Year celebrates the most compelling business writing that examines and shapes Africa’s economic imagination, from leadership memoirs and sectoral deep-dives to bold analyses of the continent’s future.

The Kay Whiteman Memorial Lecture, held alongside the award ceremony, was delivered by Arunma Oteh OON, Nigerian-British economist, Chair of the Royal African Society and former Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria and Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank.

Her lecture focused on the African opportunity and how Africa holds a disproportionate share of the solutions to the world. In her words: “There is no version of a sustainable future that does not run through Africa.”

This year’s award was supported by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Africa’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, and was judged by a panel made up of respected African business and thought leaders, alongside top media executives: Arnold Ekpe, Chairperson of BCA, and chair of the Judging Committee; Chris Ogbechie, former Dean of Lagos Business School; Terhas Berhe, Managing Director and Founder of Brand Communications; Omar Ben Yedder, Publisher of African Business and New African magazines; Moky Makura, CEO of Africa No Filter; and Anver Versi, Editor of New African and African Banker magazines.

Commenting on the significance of the awards, Arnold Ekpe said: “At a time when Africa’s role in the global economy is changing rapidly, serious and informed writing on business has never been more important. The Africa Business Book Awards exist to champion excellence in this field, to elevate African perspectives, and to ensure that the achievements, opportunities, and challenges of African enterprise receive the attention they deserve.”

Speaking at the event, Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO of AFC noted: “These awards matter because we want to celebrate authors who do more than document history. We want to celebrate authors who document what Africans have built because nothing builds conviction like evidence of execution … Books that capture those stories do more than preserve history, they build confidence.”

Interview with Charles Antwi-Boahen
FOUNDER and CEO, KAB-FAM

Lives in: Ghana

In 2012, Charles Antwi-Boahen was working as a salesman for an air-conditioning company in Ghana’s capital, Accra. It was not an easy job. The company specialised in central air-conditioning systems for large developments such as hotels, office blocks and hospitals. But these contracts were hard to secure. Antwi-Boahen did not receive a fixed salary – he relied almost entirely on commissions for his income, with only a small allowance provided. Often, he struggled to cover his own transport costs.

While in the industry, he came across many people seeking to buy split air conditioners – smaller systems with indoor and outdoor units, commonly found in homes and small businesses. However, his employer did not sell these products.

Seeing an opportunity, Antwi-Boahen began looking for local suppliers of split air conditioners. His search led him to an appliance distributor called Electroland, which dealt in brands like Samsung. He struck a deal with the company under which he would send buyers their way and receive a commission on each sale. He was not only selling air conditioners, but Electroland’s full catalogue of products, including televisions, washing machines, fridges and even mobile phones.

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PARTNER CONTENT: Africa’s Business Heroes

By Dr Anino Emuwa

Over the past six years as a judge for Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), I have witnessed first-hand one of the most important shifts taking place across the continent: the evolution of African entrepreneurship itself.

The change is not simply in the number of founders emerging across Africa, although that has grown significantly. What is striking is the shift in mindset, ambition, and execution. Today’s entrepreneurs are building differently. They are solving deeply rooted challenges with greater sophistication, thinking about scale earlier, and increasingly creating businesses with both local relevance and global potential.

Across cities such as Lagos, Nairobi, Kigali, Accra, Cairo, and Cape Town, entrepreneurs are not waiting for perfect conditions. They are building in spite of them.

Some of the strongest signals of progress are already visible. Payments and fintech stand out as one of Africa’s great success stories, expanding financial inclusion at scale, enabling digital commerce, and demonstrating that world-class infrastructure innovation can emerge from the continent. Alongside this, agritech is connecting farmers to markets and data, renewable energy solutions are improving access and affordability, and logistics and mobility startups are addressing fragmented supply chains. The creative industries are also rising fast, from film and music to fashion and hospitality, showing how African talent is increasingly shaping both local economies and global culture.

Africa’s growth outlook also remains strong, with many economies projected to continue outpacing global averages. That momentum is increasingly reflected in entrepreneurial activity across the continent. Africa’s startup ecosystems are gaining global visibility. 10 of its countries are listed in the Global Startup Ecosystems top 100 and only the larger economies such as South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco, but also in emerging innovation hubs including Rwanda, Mauritius and Cape Verde.

Africa’s growth story is driven by multiple forces, including commodities, services, demographics, and public investment. But entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly important part of that mix. It is helping diversify economies, improve productivity, and create jobs and opportunities.

This is where Africa’s Business Heroes plays a meaningful role. ABH provides funding, visibility, human capital development, and access to networks that are often out of reach.

Over the years, a few patterns have consistently stood out to me.

First, the strongest founders are deeply rooted in the problems they are solving. They understand their markets from the inside out, including informal systems, competitive realities, infrastructure gaps, regulatory complexity, and fragmented demand. This often creates solutions that are not only locally relevant, but highly resilient.

Second, execution has become just as important as vision. The founders who stand out can clearly explain how their business works in practice: how they acquire customers, generate revenue, and create a path toward growth. It is no longer enough to have a compelling idea. The route to execution must be credible and well understood.

Third, technology, particularly AI, is increasingly being used as an enabler rather than simply a trend. The most effective founders apply it where it removes bottlenecks, expands access, or drives efficiency in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, logistics, and financial services.

Perhaps most importantly, clarity has become a defining characteristic of strong founders. The best pitches are not simply the most polished; they are often the clearest. Founders who truly understand their businesses can explain them simply, without relying on complexity or buzzwords. That clarity builds trust.

One lesson has become increasingly clear over time: many early-stage ventures do not struggle because the idea is weak. They struggle because the path from idea to execution is not sufficiently clear, particularly around distribution, unit economics, and scaling beyond initial traction.

That is why ABH is much more than a competition. It is an ecosystem platform that surfaces entrepreneurs who might otherwise remain invisible, connects founders across fragmented markets, and gives them exposure to a broader community of investors, operators, and peers.

This year, we have received 24,000 applications from all 54 African countries, and I am also delighted to note that female participation is at its highest at 45%. Notably, four of the Grand Prize winners to date have been women. This is an encouraging signal, not only of progress in representation, but also of the growing strength and competitiveness of female entrepreneurs across the continent.

After six years, I remain genuinely optimistic. The challenges are real, but so is the quality of entrepreneurial talent, and it continues to strengthen every year.

What is emerging across Africa is not simply a startup ecosystem. It is a generation of builders turning constraints into creativity and ideas into scalable businesses that contribute to the continent’s social and economic development.

And that shift is only just beginning.

This year’s ABH Top 100 have now been announced – a new generation of founders building bold, practical, and scalable solutions across the continent.

Learn more about the 2026 ABH Top 100 here.

Dr Anino Emuwa is a strategic advisor to boards and CEOs on navigating complex change, with a focus on AI governance, geoeconomics, and future-proofing leadership teams. She is the Managing Director of Avandis Consulting, and Founder of Africa Women CEOs Network. Dr Emuwa has served as an ABH Judge since 2020.

Alexis Caude is the managing partner of Africa-focused investment firm Adenia Partners. In a recent interview with How we made it in Africa, he revealed how he invests his personal money.

Caude takes a somewhat conservative approach to his personal investments. He invests in the hospitality sector in Europe and the US, an industry he knows well.

He also holds gold and US equities, leaning toward value stocks rather than the technology-driven momentum category. When it comes to equities, he buys both index funds and individual stocks.

Referencing Warren Buffett, Caude explains that if one doesn’t have the time to study individual stocks, it is better to buy an index. However, he does buy individual stocks himself. “I also buy stocks directly when I think that I have an edge or when I think that I know the industry well,” he says. “Then I try to apply the same method that we do in private equity: analyse the return on invested capital, analyse the competitive positioning of the company, understanding the price [and] the future growth.”

Because he is also an investor in Adenia’s funds, he needs to keep liquid assets on hand to contribute capital every time the firm makes a new investment. For this reason, he holds Swiss francs, a currency he favours for its ability to retain its value.

His investments also include an art collection, which connects directly to his personal passion for painting.

Read our full interview with Alexis Caude: How this French serial entrepreneur started investing in Africa

PARTNER CONTENT

From July 6 to 11, Stellenbosch University, near Cape Town, will host the African Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship (WSTC), bringing together school teams from across the continent. Jointly organised by FIDE and ISCF, with Freedom Holding Corp. serving as the general partner, the tournament will determine which African team advances to the global WSTC final scheduled for December.

How the Championship Will Unfold

Twenty national school teams have registered for the African stage, representing South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Tanzania, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe, Zambia, Uganda, and Burundi. The participants, aged between eight and fourteen, will compete in a team format. Alongside the tournament, organisers have prepared an educational program that includes lectures, masterclasses, and workshops designed for young players, coaches, and teachers.

The event forms part of a broader international championship that has expanded significantly since its launch. The World Schools Team Chess Championship was first held in Aktau, Kazakhstan, in 2023. Initially conceived as an international competition for school teams, the tournament has since developed into a global championship consisting of continental qualifying events followed by a world final. This year’s competition began in April with the Asian stage in Kazakhstan, where Uzbekistan’s Wisdom School secured qualification for the final. Following the African tournament in Cape Town, additional continental stages will be held in Europe as well as Americas before the winning teams meet in December to compete for the world title.

The championship is organised under the auspices of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in partnership with the International School Chess Federation (ISCF), which focuses specifically on developing chess in schools and integrating the game into educational systems. In September 2024, the FIDE General Assembly supported granting affiliated-organisation status to ISCF. Today, the federation coordinates international school chess initiatives, supports continental competitions, and works with national chess organizations and education systems to expand access to chess for young students.

Beyond organising competitions, the partnership between FIDE and the ISCF places considerable emphasis on education. The continental championships are designed not only to identify the strongest school teams but also to create opportunities for students and teachers to exchange experiences, participate in workshops, and engage with leading figures from the international chess community. This educational component accompanies each continental stage.

Why Timur Turlov Supports Chess Around the World

Freedom Holding Corp., a leading fintech company operating in 22 countries, has supported the championship since its inception and serves as one of its principal partners. The company’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Timur Turlov, is also President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and President of the International School Chess Federation (ISCF). Mr. Turlov is an avid chess enthusiast himself and has spent more than three years promoting and developing the game both in Kazakhstan, where Freedom is headquartered, and internationally. In his view, chess plays an important role in developing cognitive abilities and can make a significant positive contribution to the intellectual growth of children and young people.

“Chess is a unique game. It shapes the way we think, teaches discipline and decision-making, and helps us understand the consequences of our actions. I say this not only as President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the International School Chess Federation, but also as a father whose children play chess. Game after game, they learn patience, they learn how to win, and, just as importantly, how to lose with dignity,” said Timur Turlov.

Turlov is also one of the wealthiest people in Kazakhstan, with an estimated net worth of around $5.5 billion. Freedom Holding Corp., a fintech business operating in 22 countries, has been listed on NASDAQ under the ticker FRHC since 2019. As of today, the holding company’s market capitalisation is around $7.5 billion. Turlov’s business operates across several sectors, ranging from banking, investment and telecommunications services to lifestyle and media. Together, these businesses form Freedom’s digital ecosystem, which Turlov is developing in the United States, Europe and Central Asia.

In 2025, Freedom Holding Corp. partnered with FIDE and the ISCF to organise the World Schools Team Chess Championship in the United States. The event brought together more than fifty school teams from different countries and introduced the Smart Moves Summit, an educational forum held alongside the competition. The summit gathered representatives of FIDE, national chess federations, educators, researchers, and ed-tech entrepreneurs to discuss the role of chess in education, cognitive development, and classroom learning.

Freedom Holding Corp. has also expanded its involvement in the chess ecosystem through technology. In April 2026, the company acquired ChessBase, one of the world’s oldest and most widely used providers of chess software, databases, and analytical tools. Freedom announced plans to invest €5 million in the platform while providing access to its digital ecosystem, which serves more than 14 million users.

Turlov has played a prominent role in the development of chess in Kazakhstan. Since becoming President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation in 2023, he has overseen a period during which Kazakhstani players have won 448 medals at official international competitions. During the same period, the federation has expanded programs aimed at increasing youth participation and strengthening the country’s competitive chess system.

One of the federation’s priorities has been the introduction of chess into the education system. Supported by the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, the program has expanded steadily, and today more than 1,500 schools across Kazakhstan include chess as part of their educational curriculum. The initiative seeks to make chess more accessible to children at an early age while integrating it into broader educational programs.

According to Freedom Holding, the company allocates more than $15 million annually to the development of chess through tournaments, educational initiatives, youth programs, infrastructure, and international projects. These efforts combine support for elite competition with initiatives aimed at expanding participation in school chess both in Kazakhstan and internationally.

Interview with Jon Bellish
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SHURAAKO CAPITAL

For many people, Somalia is synonymous with war, insecurity and political instability, rather than a destination for business. Yet despite challenges in parts of the region, local commercial activity continues across a variety of sectors, ranging from renewable energy and water bottling to apartment construction and poultry production.

Jon Bellish is the executive director of Shuraako Capital, a firm that provides financing to Somali companies. How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to Bellish about the operating environment and some of the region’s untapped business opportunities.

Topics discussed during the interview include:

• Can I safely travel to Mogadishu?

• Business opportunities in Somalia

• Why two site visits a day is an achievement in Mogadishu

• Companies funded by Shuraako Capital

• How Bellish began investing in Somali businesses

Watch the full interview below: (only available on How we made it in Africa)

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Danladi Verheijen, co-founder of private equity firm Verod Capital Management, is bullish on the education sector in West Africa. Last year, Verod sold its stake in TAG West Africa, which operates Lancaster University Ghana. The institution offers students a UK degree at a fraction of the cost.

“There’s lots of demand for education,” Verheijen says. “Families will do anything to ensure that their children get a high-quality education. They’ll make all the sacrifices that are necessary to do that.” The trick, he explains, is backing operators who can build strong brands and earn the trust of fee-paying parents.

But traditional education is capital-intensive – campuses, classrooms, staff – and that makes it slow and expensive to expand. For Verheijen, technology offers a way around those constraints. “Most likely the way to meet the students where they are is via technology.”

For more, listen to our full interview with Verheijen: From beverage cans to gyms – Verod’s investment playbook for West Africa

Partner Content: Africa’s Business Heroes

Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), the flagship philanthropic initiative of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy, has unveiled its 2026 Top 100 entrepreneurs, selected from more than 24,000 applications from all 54 African countries.

For the first time in ABH’s history, the competition has expanded its first round of finalists from a Top 50 to a Top 100 cohort, creating more visibility and opportunity for entrepreneurs across regions, sectors, and business models. The expansion reflects the growing depth, competitiveness, and commercial maturity of African entrepreneurship as ABH approaches its 10-year milestone.

The 2026 Top 100 represents 27 countries, with an average founder age of 38 and an average business age of 6.5 years. Half of the cohort are returning applicants, underscoring the continued value entrepreneurs see in the ABH platform and the strength of its pan-African community.

This year’s applications came from every region of the continent. Women represented the highest share of entries since the competition launched in 2019 and there was also increased participation from emerging startup hubs such Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Madagascar, and Mozambique. ABH is grateful to the hard-working Round 1 judges who selected the Top 100 from more than 24,000 applicants, with strong representation from key sectors like AI, agriculture, fintech, health, and climate.

A Snapshot of Africa’s Entrepreneurial Momentum

The 2026 Top 100 cohort offers a strong picture of the diversity, resilience, and economic contribution of African entrepreneurs. Collectively, the Top 100 businesses generated USD 170 million in 2025 revenue, employed 6,200 people, and served 10 million customers. These figures underscore the role entrepreneurs are playing not only in building commercially viable companies, but also in creating jobs, widening access to essential products and services, and advancing inclusive growth across Africa.

Top 100: By the Numbers

• Operating Countries Represented: 27

• Average founder age: 38

• Average years in business: 6.5

• Gender representation: 33% women founders; 67% men founders

• Francophone/French-language representation: 13%

• Returning applicants: 50%

• Top operating countries: Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya (15 entrepreneurs each), followed by Rwanda (9) and South Africa (6)

• Leading sectors: Agriculture (21), Financial Services (12), Manufacturing (10), Healthcare (10), and Energy (9)

Key Sector Trends Driving the Cohort

The businesses represented address some of the continent’s most pressing challenges through scalable, regional solutions. The cohort also points to important shifts in the continent’s entrepreneurial landscape. Key trends include:

• Agri-Tech Dominance: Comprising 21% of the cohort, agriculture has evolved beyond traditional farming into tech-enabled, value-added models.

• Tech-Driven Financial Inclusion: As the second-largest sector (12%), Financial Services is leveraging machine learning and alternative data to provide paperless credit scoring for unbanked small businesses, resolving core frictions across markets

• Recycling & Environmental Protection: 7% of the ABH Top 100 operate in this space, shifting toward high-margin circular economy models that combine profitability with social impact through value-added processing and emerging ESG/carbon credit monetization.

• Decentralised Manufacturing Growth: Manufacturing accounts for 10% of the cohort and spans 9 diverse countries (including Cabo Verde, Namibia, and Ethiopia). This geographic spread indicates industrialization is accelerating beyond major economies, propelled by AfCFTA incentives, import substitution, and rising local demand.

• AI as a Tool for Practical, Sector-Specific Innovation: 32 of the Top 100 entrepreneurs are integrating AI across 12 African countries to address concrete market challenges: improving low agricultural productivity through predictive crop and soil insights, expanding access to credit through alternative scoring, closing education gaps through personalized learning, easing healthcare shortages through triage and decision-support tools, and reducing logistics inefficiencies and supply chain waste through smarter routing and demand matching.

The full list of the ABH 2026 Top 100 entrepreneurs can be found here.

Speaking on the significance of this year’s Top 100 cohort, Zahra Baitie-Boateng, Managing Director, Africa at ABH, said: “The expansion from the Top 50 to the Top 100 reflects the extraordinary evolution of entrepreneurship across Africa. The 2026 cohort tells an important story: African entrepreneurship is becoming broader, deeper, and more commercially mature. These are not just promising ideas; they are real businesses operating across 27 countries, generating USD 170 million in annual revenue, employing 6,200 people, and serving 10 million customers. We are seeing strong innovation from established hubs as well as from emerging ecosystems that have often been underrepresented. By expanding the cohort, ABH is creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs to access visibility, recognition, community, and long-term support.”

Commenting on this year’s selection process, an ABH Round 1 Judge: Johan de Visser, Regional Manager, Africa at PUM & Founder of Africa Business Coaching, said: “The quality of applications this year was exceptionally strong. What stood out was the level of innovation, clarity of vision, and deep understanding of local market challenges from founders across the continent. The Top 100 includes businesses that are already serving customers, creating jobs, and building scalable solutions across critical sectors, from agriculture and financial services to healthcare, manufacturing, energy, and climate. Expanding the cohort allows ABH to spotlight more of the entrepreneurs shaping Africa’s next phase of growth.”

Now in its 8th year, the ABH Prize Competition celebrates visionary leaders driving inclusive and sustainable growth across the continent. Since 2019, ABH has grown into one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurship platforms, directly awarding 70 entrepreneurs with funding, mentorship, global exposure, and ecosystem-building opportunities. ABH has also supported more than 5,000 entrepreneurs through programs including ABH ScaleUp and attracted more than 160,000 applicants to date.

The Top 100 will now advance to the next stage, where judges will evaluate the cohort to determine the Top 20 semi-finalists. The Top 20 will pitch live on August 21-22 in Nairobi, Kenya, competing for a place in the ABH Top 10 and a share of the USD 1.5 million grant prize.

Interview with Alexis Caude
MANAGING PARTNER, ADENIA PARTNERS

Lives in: Mauritius

Before becoming an investor in Africa, French-born Alexis Caude was a successful entrepreneur. At age 36, he was in a position to retire after selling his online publishing business, but went on to start several other companies. He eventually moved to Mauritius and became a managing partner of Africa-focused investment firm Adenia Partners. How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to Caude about his entrepreneurship journey, his investment wins on the continent, and how he manages his personal money.

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Interview with Bamba Lo
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, PAPS

Lives in: Dakar, Senegal

Bamba Lo founded logistics company PAPS after observing that while businesses in Dakar could successfully sell products, inadequate delivery infrastructure meant those goods frequently failed to reach buyers. To solve this local delivery gap, he started the company with two scooters and a Facebook page.

Today, PAPS serves nearly 90% of Senegal’s banking sector, moves goods across borders in a region where addresses do not always exist, and operates a partnership with UPS. In 2024, Lo was one of the top 20 finalists in the Africa’s Business Heroes entrepreneurship competition.

In this interview, Lo discusses the realities of building a logistics network from scratch.

What challenges does PAPS solve for its clients?

We tried the delivery options available in Dakar at the time. None of them worked the way a business actually needed them to. No tracking, no accountability, no consistency. The client would wait. The package would arrive late, or not at all. The sale was lost. That is the moment I understood: the problem was not selling. The problem was the infrastructure that should turn a sale into a delivery. That infrastructure simply did not exist. And if you are in West Africa trying to build a real business, that is a fundamental blocker. So we decided to build it ourselves starting with two scooters.

Before PAPS, I was running a call centre, selling subscriptions and doing outbound sales. We were decent at generating interest. But then something kept happening: customers would say yes, they would want the product, and then they just would not show up. Not because they changed their minds. Because they could not get to us, and we could not get to them. PAPS is the infrastructure that makes commerce work in Africa. When a business needs to get something from point A to point B – whether that is across a city, across a country, or across a continent – we make that happen reliably, with visibility, with one point of contact. The problem we are solving is fragmentation. In most markets, a company has to stitch together five or six different providers: one for storage, one for last-mile delivery, one for customs, another for cross-border freight. Each one is a separate contract, a separate invoice, a separate phone call when something goes wrong. And when things do go wrong – and in logistics, they will – no one takes responsibility. We have replaced all of that with one integrated stack: storage, pick and pack, last-mile, intercity freight, cross-border, customs. One platform – MyPaps – so clients have visibility across everything. One team they call. One partner accountable for the result. That is PAPS.

What were the initial hurdles you faced after launching PAPS in Dakar?

The early days were humbling in the best possible way. We started with two scooters and a Facebook page. My co-founders and I were doing deliveries ourselves – physically on the road, learning the city, learning what could go wrong.

The first challenge was the most basic one: addresses. In Dakar, as in most West African cities, formal addresses barely exist. Your delivery instruction might be: “third house past the big mango tree on the left.” That is not a joke – that’s the reality. So before we could build any kind of tech-enabled logistics, we had to solve a human, cultural, geographic problem first.

The second challenge was trust – both from clients and from the Papsers, our independent delivery riders. Businesses did not believe we could be consistent. Papsers did not know whether we could pay fairly. We had to earn everything, every day, through execution. There were no shortcuts. But those early constraints were instructive. They forced us to build for the actual reality of our market – not for some idealised version of it. That is still how we operate today.

Why did you decide to commit to solving this specific problem?

I think people underestimate logistics because they do not see it. When it works, it is invisible. You order something, it arrives. You do not think about the chain that made that happen. But when it does not work, it costs everyone – the business loses a client, the client loses trust in the whole ecosystem, and commerce slows down. What made me believe this was worth everything? The size of the gap. In West Africa, an estimated 80-90% of retail still happens informally – in part because the infrastructure to support formal trade is missing. E-commerce cannot scale if delivery is unreliable. A bank cannot distribute cards if last-mile execution fails. A pharmaceutical company cannot ensure medicine reaches patients in the rural areas without a cold-chain-capable partner. Logistics is not glamorous. But it is the foundation of everything. If you fix the infrastructure, you unlock trade. You unlock growth. You unlock inclusion. That is not a small bet – that is one of the highest-leverage problems you can work on in this region.

Explain the main turning point for the company.

There were a few, but the most important one was the decision to stop being a delivery company and start building infrastructure. In our early years, we were very good at last-mile. But as we worked more closely with larger businesses, we saw that their logistics problem did not start at delivery – it started at storage, at planning, at customs, at cross-border. They needed someone to own the whole chain, not just the final kilometre. So we made a deliberate choice to build upwards and outwards: adding warehousing, adding international freight, adding a proprietary tech platform. It cost us more, it was harder, it slowed some things down. But it is what transformed PAPS from a local courier into a real logistics infrastructure company.

The second turning point was our partnership with UPS. That gave us credibility at an international level, access to more than 220 countries for our clients, and a signal to the market that PAPS operates at a different tier. It changed how conversations started.

Highlight some of the main difficulties of expanding your network across borders.

The hardest part is that there is no copy-paste. What works in Dakar does not necessarily work in Abidjan. What works in Abidjan does not automatically work in Cotonou or Luanda. Each market has different regulatory frameworks, different infrastructure quality, different payment behaviours, different client expectations. The mistake a lot of companies make is to expand before they have truly understood the new market. They export their model and wonder why it does not land. We have tried to resist that temptation – to arrive with humility, build local partnerships, understand the specific constraints before we scale. What I have learned is that the fundamentals transfer, but the execution has to be local. The brand values, the tech stack, the standards – those are consistent. But how you recruit Papsers in Ouagadougou, how you handle customs in Cotonou, how you build trust with an enterprise client in Abidjan – that requires local intelligence.

Where does technology have the greatest operational impact on the business?

“Digitising logistics” is one of those phrases that can mean everything and nothing. For us, technology has to solve real operational problems – or it is noise. In practice, the biggest impact is in three areas.

First, visibility: our clients can see in real time, through MyPaps, where their shipments are, what is in their warehouse, what their performance metrics look like. Before PAPS, they were calling drivers on WhatsApp. That is not a system – that is improvisation.

Second, dispatching. PapsOps, our internal operations tool, allows us to optimise routes, assign missions, and manage our fleet in a way that would be impossible manually at our current scale. We can plan dozens of runs simultaneously, and adapt in real time when something changes.

Third, the Papser App – our platform for independent Papsers. It gives them clarity: what mission, what route, what payment. That clarity drives performance. A Papser who knows exactly what he is doing and what he earns is a Papser who delivers well.

Logistics involves many moving parts – transporters, customs, clients. How do you build trust in a system where so many things can go wrong?

You build trust by not pretending that things will not go wrong. They will. A package will be delayed. There will be a customs issue. A client will have an urgent request at 9pm. The question is: what happens when something goes wrong? For us, trust is built through two things: transparency and ownership. Transparency means the client is never in the dark. MyPaps gives them visibility. If there is a delay, they know about it before they have to call us. And when they do call, they reach a real team that has context on their operations. Ownership means that when something goes wrong, PAPS owns it. We do not blame the transporter. We do not tell the client to sort it out with customs. We are the single point of accountability. That is a commitment we take seriously – and it is also what separates us from a marketplace model where no one is truly responsible. Trust in logistics is not built with marketing. It is built delivery by delivery, shipment by shipment, over time. We have clients who have been with us since 2017. That is the real proof.

Can you share a real example of how PAPS has changed things for one of your clients?

I think about one of our banking clients – today we work with nearly 90% of the banking sector in Senegal. When we first engaged with banks, their card and document distribution was a real problem: sensitive materials delivered by informal couriers, no tracking, no proof of delivery, significant security risk. After implementing PAPS, they had a dedicated team, documented proof of delivery, SLA commitments, and a dashboard to monitor performance by branch. The operational risk went down significantly.

More broadly, I have seen what reliable logistics does for e-commerce businesses. When delivery works, returns go down, reviews go up, repeat purchases increase. When it does not, one bad experience can destroy a brand’s reputation. The first-attempt delivery rate is not a logistics metric – it is a business metric.

What has been the most difficult part of building PAPS?

The early years of expanding outside Senegal were harder than we expected. When you have built something that works well in one market, there is a natural confidence that transfers. But that confidence can make you less careful, less patient – and expansion punishes impatience. We had moments where we moved too fast, where the operational infrastructure was not ready to support what we had promised clients. Where we underestimated the complexity of a new regulatory environment or the time needed to build the right local team. What that taught us – and what shapes how we operate today – is that excellence in one market has to be earned again in every new market. We now go into expansion with more structure: proper due diligence, a phased approach, local partnerships built before the commercial launch. We are more patient. Sustainable growth is slower – but it is the only kind that lasts.

What are some of the business lessons you have learned while building the company?

That the infrastructure problem comes before the technology problem. I see a lot of founders rush to build apps, to digitise, to automate – before the basic operational infrastructure is working reliably. Technology amplifies what you have already built. If the fundamentals are not solid, tech will just make your failures faster and more visible.

The second thing: do not underestimate the cost of trust. In markets where formal systems are weak, relationships and reputation are the real infrastructure. Your first 50 clients will decide your next 500. How you handle a problem at 11pm on a Friday will be talked about. Building a logistics company in Africa is partly a relationship business – and you cannot outsource that.

And the third, which I believe deeply: the market is bigger than anyone thinks. The informal economy is not the enemy – it is the addressable market. Every informal trade flow that formalises is an opportunity. PAPS exists to be the infrastructure that makes that formalisation possible.

What does success look like to you?

For PAPS specifically: success looks like being the logistics layer that any serious business in West Africa – and eventually across the continent – trusts as default. Not because we are the only option, but because we are the most reliable, the most integrated, the most connected to the global network. A company should not have to think about logistics. They should think about their product, their clients, their growth – and trust PAPS to handle the rest.

At a larger scale, success for African trade looks like the removal of the infrastructure tax that every business currently pays. Today, logistics friction is a hidden cost that slows growth, reduces competitiveness, and keeps businesses smaller than they should be. When that friction goes down, commerce accelerates. When commerce accelerates, economies grow. When economies grow, opportunities multiply. We are not there yet. But I believe this generation of African infrastructure builders – in logistics, in fintech, in energy – is laying a foundation that will change what is possible on this continent. PAPS wants to be an essential part of that foundation. That is what keeps us going.

This article is an adapted version of a piece originally published by Africa’s Business Heroes.

Seid Mohammedbirhan was born in 1960 in the town of Adi Awro, in a rural part of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. He was the younger of two sons in a family of small-scale farmers. Life in the village was austere. There was no electricity, clean water had to be carried from a distance, and the family slept on animal hides laid directly on the ground. His education amounted to only a few years of schooling between the ages of ten and fourteen. By the time he reached fourth grade, conflict in the region forced the school to shut its doors.

One of Seid’s first jobs was at a tailoring shop in the small town of Kwiha. Most of the work involved repairing people’s clothes, and for each repair he completed, he was allowed to keep half of what the customer paid. The shop owner let him stay in the workshop, and Seid slept on the floor to avoid the cost of renting separate accommodation. He cut out all non-essential spending – he didn’t buy coffee or new clothes, and never spent money on anything recreational. His focus was simply on working and saving. Within eleven months, he had put aside 3,000 birr ($1,440 at the time).

Seid used the 3,000 birr to start his own tailoring business in Mekele. It was 1981, and he was twenty-one years old. He spent 1,000 birr on a second-hand Necchi sewing machine and used the remaining 2,000 birr to rent a small workshop.

This small shop laid the foundation for a business empire that today includes clothing, hospitality, and real estate.

Seid credits his business success to 20% luck and 80% effort, maintaining that hard work is the only way to reach the top.

Read Seid Mohammedbirhan's full entrepreneurship journey in our new book, How we made it in Africa II. The book was launched at Harvard Business School and has been shortlisted for the Business Council for Africa (BCA) African Business Book of the Year Awards 2026.

Interview with Eka Obaigbena
FOUNDER, TOASTIES

Lives in: Lagos, Nigeria

Eka Obaigbena noticed a gap in Nigeria’s restaurant market for fast-casual chains – such as Chipotle, Shake Shack, and Pret a Manger – she had grown accustomed to while living abroad. To fill it, she launched Toasties, which offers sandwiches, salads and other items that blend local ingredients with international flavour profiles. How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to her about leaving Michelin-starred kitchens overseas to build the business in Lagos.

Topics discussed during the interview include:

• The differences between operating a restaurant in Nigeria and the West

• Stepping into the spotlight as an introverted founder

• Navigating loneliness in the early days

• How Lagos’ dining culture has evolved

• What she would do differently if starting the business again

Read more

1. How these Kenyan entrepreneurs achieved financial freedom by their forties

Kenyan entrepreneurs Leonard and Emily Mcharo spent years living far below their means. Read more

2. Investing in African agribusiness, Warren Buffett style

Luni Libes, founder and CEO of Africa Eats, discusses investment opportunities in Africa’s agribusiness sector. Read more

3. How this entrepreneur built an instant noodles business

Monica Musonda applied lessons from Aliko Dangote to launch a homegrown instant noodles company in Zambia. Read more

4. 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. Read more

5. Malawi: Entrepreneur unlocks agribusiness opportunities

Ziweto Enterprises started with a chain of agrovet stores – essentially pharmacies for livestock – and has since expanded into animal feed production, with plans to enter the poultry sector. Read more

6. How this London banker built an Ethiopian food company

Investment-banker-turned-entrepreneur Yonas Alemu is the founder of Lovegrass, a food company making products from the Ethiopian super grain teff. Read more

7. Building an agribusiness venture in Africa – The tough road to success

Teddy Ruge runs a moringa-growing and processing business in Masindi, Uganda. But his journey has been anything but smooth, navigating halted contracts, geopolitical fallout, and other unexpected challenges. Read more

8. 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. Read more

9. The Tanzanian businesswoman seeing millions in fish feed

This year, Tanzanian entrepreneur Diana Orembe expects her business, NovFeed, to generate well over $1 million in sales. Read more

10. The story of a Made-in-Nigeria footwear company

Yinka Atunde established Yikodeen in 2016. The company began with fashion shoes but has since carved out a niche in industrial safety boots and footwear for the security services. Read more

In a recent interview with How we made it in Africa, Sango Capital co-founder Richard Okello outlined the countries where he sees the greatest investment potential.

Okello points first to Egypt, which he describes as “very intentional about becoming a middle-income country”. A key advantage is its population of some 120 million. For businesses, that means a vast market where they can achieve significant scale without ever crossing a border. Thanks to large-scale recent investment, he expects Egypt to soon eclipse South Africa to become the continent’s biggest economy.

The investor is also cautiously optimistic about Nigeria following a series of reforms. Specifically, he highlights the removal of a fuel subsidy that previously cost the government billions of dollars a year, and the move to allow the local currency to devalue sharply, as much-needed corrective measures.

He is equally upbeat about Côte d’Ivoire. The world’s largest cocoa producer has been one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies, averaging more than 6% annual growth over the past decade.

South Africa presents a different kind of opportunity. Okello concedes its broader economic outlook is subdued – a reality underscored by the IMF recently lowering its 2026 growth forecast to just 1.0% due to geopolitical shocks in the Middle East. Yet the country boasts a strong private equity sector, deep markets and seasoned corporate operators. He contrasts this with Ethiopia. Despite posting robust annual growth of nearly 8% over the past decade, Ethiopia’s relatively shallow private sector offers far fewer opportunities for a firm like Sango.

Turning to East Africa, he sees potential in markets like Kenya and Tanzania. While acknowledging some political issues in Tanzania, he expects the country will “probably surprise on the upside” because the government is “doing a lot of big things”. A prime example is a $10 billion railway project designed to link the port of Dar es Salaam to Lake Victoria, and eventually to landlocked neighbours including Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. With several sections already complete, the network is poised to overhaul the region’s freight transport.

While also bullish on Morocco, the Sango co-founder warns that assets there are getting expensive. Valuations are likely to rise even further as the country prepares to co-host the 2030 football World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, driving a surge in local investment. “To make money, you have to be able to buy things at the right price,” he says. “You could do that sometimes in Morocco but it’s getting harder.”

Read/watch our full interview with Richard Okello: How to build a $1bn African investment firm

This interview was first published by the International Finance Corporation

A candid conversation between IFC managing director, Makhtar Diop and Aliko Dangote, Africa’s leading industrialist. From energy and fertiliser, to logistics, agriculture and water, Dangote lays out a vision rooted in African-led investment.

Interview transcript:

Makhtar Diop: Aliko, this is a huge pleasure to have you at IFC. I don’t need to introduce Aliko Dangote, who is the largest investor in the continent, but not only in the continent, but one of the largest investor in the world and has been a transformative industrialist in the continent. We have been working with Aliko Dangote Group. But I want just today to have a conversation about your vision of Africa.

Last year, you set up a group called African Renaissance. Tell us, why did you put this group together?

Aliko Dangote: Well, thank you very much Makhtar, I must really thank you for doing a great job. My own vision of Africa – because I sat down one day and I said, okay, fine, everything is about potential, potential, potential. How do we get this potential into reality? How do you really, you know, make sure we translate for potential to real economic growth. And I said, let me get all the big guys in Africa who really care much about Africa, like-minds, and see how do we really sit down together and craft a vision for Africa.

Because when you look at it, every single thing you know is like, people are just putting roadblock for Africa to not escape our own cage, where we are. So we set up this group, which I’m very happy that you are accepted to be a member. You know, to say ok fine, you look at Africa today, um, you know, somebody like myself, I need 38 visas to move around. How do I now invest, if I’m not able to move around? I mean 38 visas? It doesn’t make sense. Nobody has time to go and apply for a visa, take your passport and whatever. And most of them, they don’t do visa on arrival. So we look at that one: free movement of people, free movement of goods and services. These are critical areas. Without this, there’s no way we are going to have a very prosperous Africa, you know.

Because with this I cannot move my goods from Nigeria, from Lagos to Republic of Benin. And when you try to cross the border, you can be there for a week if you are lucky. If you are not lucky, you don’t know anybody. You’re going to be there for two weeks. There’s no way you can do a trade with your neighbours like this.

Then we look at the sector of transportation. When you look at it, most of the people who own ships that move goods around, they are owned by other nationalities, not Africans. And it costs us, for example, to go from Lagos – I mean port – to Accra, more than coming from Spain to Lagos.

Then you talk about aviation. When you talk about aviation from Lomé to Accra, somebody will charge you $600. How do you move around? People cannot afford this kind of, you know, I mean, $600 is a lot of money.

Makhtar: Yeah but Aliko as usual, you are not taking a lot of credit for what you did. Let me push you a little bit on something. Yes, a lot of people have been talking about these ideas and there is a diagnostic. But the difference is that you’re making it happen.

Aliko: That’s true.

Makhtar: It’s a different story. We all, in our professional careers, have seen a lot of discussion, diagnostics about the problems. But when we come to crossing the line and making it a reality.

Aliko: Delivery is an issue.

Makhtar: You go and did something which is quite amazing. Say, Nigeria now they need to use more value addition on something that it has in abundance, which is oil. And you build a refinery, I understand more than $20 billion. So, how did this big idea came to you? And what were the steps? Because it was the first time you say that, people say, you know, Aliko is just dreaming, its not possible to do that. But you were persistent and did it. Why did you do it?

Aliko: Okay. You see, first of all, when you look at it, Nigeria, you’re right. We have a lot of oil. At one point, we were exporting 2.4 million barrels per day and not processing one barrel. Every single, you know product that we use, whether it’s gas, oil, gasoline, jet fuel, everything is imported.

You know, Makhtar, to tell you the truth, Dangote Refinery was always on the agenda of discussion. Always.

And when you hear 650,000 barrels all the trading companies, all the big corporations, they always tell people openly ‘this refinery will never happen’. You know, at the end of the day, fast forward, Makhtar we as an African company, we’ve been able to deliver.

But let me tell you what will surprise you more, because, I mean, I must thank you for IFC taking also a risk on us because you are part of our pool of funding.

And to tell you the truth, at the time when I started this refinery, I have never, ever seen crude oil in my life. Never. Yes, never. I always avoid crude oil because for us in Nigeria, once you say that you are in oil, it’s a dirty business. And I wanted to do a clean business, so I left the oil. It is just because I’ve seen my country suffering. I’ve seen that when I look at it, all African countries apart from Algeria and Libya, at that time, when we started – everybody was importing. Nobody had sufficiency in petroleum products. And I said, no, no, this cannot continue.

You know, we had to establish a company where we did the EPC, which is engineering, procurement and construction. Every single nut and bolts we bought – we shipped. Ordering of the equipments – we did. We put every single thing together to now achieve that. And now people have seen the benefit of it.

Today the refinery, we have tested the refinery up to 661,000 barrels per day. But we have been now stable for the last two months at 650,000 barrels per day, and every single department is working. So you can see that’s what we have actually done. And when we look at it, Makhtar we say that okay, fine. You know, this thing now has removed fears in us. And we’re saying that, you know, for Africa to develop, some of us, we must take that risk in terms of opening up Africa.

How do we open up Africa? We will open Africa by demonstrating that we believe in Africa, by investing our money in Africa. Because if I don’t invest my own money, I can never go to any conference and convince people that Africa is a good place to come and invest. But right now, I have a voice. Right now I have a mouth to say, hey, come and invest in Africa because I have demonstrated that, look, these things are possible.

Makhtar: I see that you have been very deliberate in supporting African countries.

Aliko: You know, I feel much more satisfied as a human being to now take my continent out of trouble. How do I take my content out of trouble? Because we cannot continue. Every day we import food, we import whatever that we consume.

Okay, so we decided that, look, the best thing that for us to do is to look at what are the needs of Africa. And the needs of Africa is petroleum products, fertilisers. You know, today we are going to be – in about two and a half years – the largest fertilizer company in the world.

We are putting up 12 million tons of urea. We are opening up a mines of potash and phosphate in Congo-Brazzaville.

We are now going into power – 20,000MW. We are building the biggest deep sea port of 80m draft. Okay. We are doing LNG.

So why? Because we have now actually freed up our assets and we can actually raise more money. Our cash flow now is very, very strong. But what do you want to do with all this money. What we are trying to do is to now say, okay, fine. How can African countries and Africans most especially benefit from this?

Our own mission in Dangote is to look at critical needs of Africa and make sure that, yes, we make those critical areas a reality. Because if you don’t do that, it’s just like now you look at it, how can we in Africa be exporting 80% of the cocoa of the world? Every single cocoa is being shipped in beans. Simple. You process it. How much would it cost? And if you keep waiting for foreign investors; foreign investors are very smart. They are not going to come. They will only come when they see our own commitment. So that’s why for us now. We have also changed because if you look at it, most of our companies we own super majority 89%, 90%, 92%, some 100%.

And we are saying that no, for us to grow up at scale, we need to make sure that we have partnership. We should also collectively get Africans to buy shares. Like now the refinery we are going to list. When we list, we are going to ask Africans to do... and we want to de-risk also their own capital. So when we are paying dividend, all our dividends will be in dollars.

And you can choose either you want naira or you want dollars or you want, uh, South African rand, whatever that you need, we will pay. But it is going to be calculated and paid for in dollars.

Makhtar: This point is very important for me because there is often, you know, some saying that all the private savings of the middle class is taken out of the continent and put in apartments in Europe or the United States. This is part of the story, we cannot deny it.

Aliko: But that’s the truth

Makhtar: There is truth in it. But there is also the part of the story that people don’t talk about a lot; its that when they have assets which are interesting and good quality assets people are investing in. If you take the West African Stock Exchange. Companies like Sonatel and so forth – whenever they are issuing on the stock exchange people are oversubscribing. So, like you, I strongly believe that if you have quality assets on the continent where people can guarantee a return and with, uh, with a lot of stability, they will be investing in our assets.

What is your view about it?

Aliko: It is a great idea. Let me give you an idea. You know, let’s say now, today we have a projection that our company based on the investments that we are going to make will end up having $100 billion of revenue, and EBITDA will be minimum $30 to $35 billion. Let’s say that, you know, the way that we always give a dividend, you know, at the company operational level, we have been giving very, very high dividend – sometimes we even give 90%.

But the parent company, which is Dangote Industries, we have never, ever given a dividend. I’ve never taken dividend, not one dime out of the company since when we started. Everything has been reinvested back into the business. That’s why we were able to grow. So when you look at it, if we are now saying that at the end of the day, worst case scenario, we are going to give dividend of $20 billion.

Can you imagine if we have so let’s say we will sell 25%. If you sell that 25% of this 20 - 25 billion, you are actually going to inject billions of dollars into the hands of all these Africans. Do you know what that can do? Its a life changing event. And that is why really we are now working with Central Bank of Nigeria. We are working with the stock exchange, uh, of Nigeria. We’re working with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And we are now trying to now make all these things happen while we, you know, Kenya, we put up like a vehicle and all the investment would be done there.

And now they will take the money into our company. When they want to sell down, you can always sell down because there is a certificate that you have. You can take your capital out at any time that you want, and majority of them too will.

Makhtar: Aliko this is something that we will really love to work with you. .

Aliko: I mean, you have more experience than us, so I’m sure this one IFC will definitely help to lead in this. You see, because if we open up something like this, I am telling you, we will end up paying maybe 20-25 billion of dividend to Africans. That is a lot of money.

Makhtar: It’s a lot of money.

Aliko: It’s a lot of money. So that is what we you know. So what are even for my own legacy really honestly, this one is a self satisfying event for me.

Makhtar: Another thing that you you have, you have been doing. And you came here and gave a keynote address on the water. So tell us, what are your project on in water?

Aliko: Our project in water. Now, what we are doing is actually like in agriculture. I keep saying that, you know, agriculture is not a poor man’s business anymore. Uh, that is what can actually take our people out of poverty. So we became very, very interested in this, you know. And one time when you set off the financing for us, IFC led and put up, uh, you know, in 2005, you financed our first outing – $478 million.

Makhtar: I’m impressed with your memory. It was a while ago.

Aliko: Yes, it was while ago. And you took also risks on us. It was a seven year loan and we were able to pay it in 18 months.

Aliko: Okay, so when you look at that, when we finish – to keep telling you how important water is even to our own operation – normally in northern Nigeria, wherever you actually drill, you get water. But that area where we have the cement plant, there was no water at all. We were all hitting dry boreholes. Yes. Dry all over. And you cannot produce cement without water. I never knew.

Because the cooling of the equipments, all this one, you know it has to use water. So we had to go now and create earthen dam where luckily we are near by one river. And so we make it as a reservoir to reserve what we can have for two years, just in case that there is a drought. So with that, we were able to, you know, secure.

Today, my refinery cannot operate and produce good quality petroleum products without good treated water. In the refinery alone, we have 440,000,000 litres of treated water storage. We use a lot of water even though we recycle it.

So in the same vein, when you look at all the other businesses that we are doing – rice processing, rice mills – there must be water. If the quality of that water is not there. No production. The same thing with fertiliser.

Makhtar: You say that there are 400 mini dams in Nigeria – roughly, you told us. What will your plan for IFC and you and the world Bank Group as a whole, to work with you on these 400 dams? What do you envisage as big project or investment?

Aliko: I think what we need to do is actually – because some of them, they just need a bit of desilting and some of them, they need some repairs of the equipment, because they have not been put to use, all of them, the majority of them. So when we do this, what we are doing, all these people that are around the dams will actually totally transform their lives.

Once the dams are working, people will go now, they will farm. There is water. They can do irrigation when the irrigation is there, people can actually have a livelihood throughout the year.

So this one will empower people. It will take out poverty. It will create prosperity and all most of all these conflicts we are having especially in the Sahel. They will go away. Because why do you think that people want to go now and risk their lives and be notorious in killing people? It’s because they have no jobs.

So these are one area which I believe ourselves as a private sector, IFC and the World Bank Group we should get together to find a solution.

Makhtar: It’s quite interesting because, you know, you are working in various sectors from cement to, to oil and yes, refinery. How many people are in the group?

Aliko: Total direct and also through contractors we have about 51,800. But you know, the number is going to grow massively by the time that we open up the agricultural side.

To create more jobs and prosperity is to do agriculture. With agriculture, we’ll get to maybe 200,000 jobs. And that’s what will really give me self-satisfaction.

Makhtar: You know something that I am passionate about. And I think that there is opportunity to work with your foundation and so forth, is to help at a much lower level the family business. The typical journey where someone who’s a trader; he created his company, become wealthy, become a manufacturer, and now they go to the to the transmission of wealth to the children, who should be able to carry it to the next generation.

That journey for me would be essential in Africa. And what we start doing – that’s why we created this local champion initiative – which includes supporting you – which is the top of the pyramid. But also thinking about the local level and what we learn is that they value the money that you are giving them, but they value even more the advice and the experience.

Aliko: You know, what you have described, you describe exactly Aliko Dangote. Because I started, when I finished school. I started with just selling, trading, selling four trucks of cement everyday. My uncle was giving me allocation of cement. I was taking the cement to, you know, sell. There was difficulty in getting cement at that time in Nigeria, so, the 500,000 naira, which was then $500,000, you know, I didn’t use the money.

Three months later, I returned the money to my grandfather, who actually gave me the this, you know, But my uncle was in cement business. He was importing under the government licence. And, I was getting four trucks everyday, automatic, you know, from him. People would come and pay me my money, uh, and say, okay, I’m going to come back in six months to collect my, you know, cement.

So I had too much cash. I return his cash. By that time, I was a bit risk averse, so I wanted to stick to my cement. It was only in 1981 that I started importation of, uh, you know, sugar. 5000 tons was the first licence that I got to go and import sugar. So when you look at this, when you look back and say, okay, fine. You know, that’s where I came from, selling of four trucks a day. And these are the kind of people, now that you are talking about, because I was there.

Makhtar: But I wanted people to hear these stories. I know they heard part of these stories, but I think that the vision that we have for the content, I want you to to reiterate to everybody and clearly and unequivocally that we are fully supporting what you are doing.

Aliko: No. Thank you.

Makhtar: And for us, uh, the industrialisation of Africa, we require people to take risks, to invest in it. And if institutions like ours are not here to support that, it will not happen. It will not happen. We need to take risks. We need to believe in the industrialisation of the continent. And we need also to bring everybody around the table policymakers, industrialists and private sector like us, institutions like ours to try to do together. You have the full commitment of the World Bank Group in that.

Aliko: We really appreciate that. And we recognise that. And honestly, what you said, you know, um, Makhtar you are really very right. We also realise that, uh, you know, one thing that you did, which I did, you mentioned to you that really touched not only me, the entire Dangote Group is the one we now call all our, you know, lenders.

And we say we are paying everybody off, IFC insist that no, they are not going to take their money. Their money must be put into Dangote Fertiliser, which is I mean for us, we say yes. You know, if the if the interest that you have shown that you want us to work together to transform Africa is not only also about money. What you get from IFC is also the advice. Because the pool of experience that you have, the pool of people that have been dealing for donkey years, that you have all this experience.

You give us advice in areas where we are not doing well, like in social and environmental issues you make sure that yes, we you know, we behave very well. So we are really very, very appreciative. I mean, we couldn’t have asked for a better time with World Bank. You are my brother. You’re my personal friend. Ajay Banga, yes, we’ve been friends for a very long time. And when he became, president of the World Bank we’re actually even closer now. So, uh, our work with World Bank and IFC will continue to grow. We need your support and we will make the lives of Africans better.

Makhtar: Aliko. It’s a huge pleasure. Thank you so much to receive you here in a in a in IFC. Thank you. And we will continue working with in the Africa Renaissance Group, with your personal business. And, uh, we, we keep the eye on the prize which is to make Africa to really grow. And people getting jobs and proud of being who they are and being, you know, uh, moving in the right direction. So thank you once again very much for your time.

Aliko: Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s great to be here. And I promise you, the relationship will now go into a new phase.

Makhtar: Thanks.

Aliko: So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

How we made it in Africa II: Real stories of entrepreneurs turning opportunity into profit has been shortlisted for the Business Council for Africa (BCA) African Business Book of the Year Awards 2026.

The book is available here.

The annual competition celebrates the most compelling business writing examining and shaping Africa’s economic imagination – from leadership memoirs and sectoral deep‑dives to bold analyses of the continent’s future. Now in its fourth year, the Awards continue to spotlight the authors, thinkers and practitioners documenting Africa’s business and economic transformation with clarity, rigour and ambition.

Supported by Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Africa’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, the shortlist reflects a continent in motion: from the boardrooms of Lagos and Johannesburg to the food markets of Accra, the banking corridors of Nairobi and the policy tables of Addis Ababa.

The judging panel, as in previous iterations, is made up of respected African business and thought leaders as well as media executives: Arnold Ekpe, Chairperson of BCA, and chair of the Judging Committee; Arunma Oteh, former Director General of the Nigeria SEC and Chair at the Royal Africa Society; Chris Ogbechie, former Dean of Lagos Business School; Moky Makura, CEO of AfricaNoFilter; Terhas Berhe, Managing Director and Founder of Brand Communications; Omar Ben Yedder, Publisher of African Business and New African magazine; and Anver Versi, Editor of New African and African Banker.

Commenting on the awards, Arnold Ekpe, Chairperson of BCA, commended the quality of this year’s submissions while emphasising the need for even more African business voices to emerge. “We are excited to have the Africa Finance Corporation join us this year as our headline sponsor. As AFC approaches its 20th anniversary next year, it understands the importance of narrative and the significance of documenting first hand the business stories being created across the continent. These stories help deepen understanding of Africa’s evolving business landscape and economic transformation.”

The shortlist features a compelling collection of titles, including Jaco Maritz’s How we made it in Africa II and Joe Studwell's How Africa Works, alongside Alette Vonk's Cultural Confluence in Organizational Change: A Portuguese Venture in Angola. Also among the nominees are Adeolu Adewumi-Zer's Afro-Optimism Unleashed, It's About Tyme co-authored by Adrian Saville and Bruce Whitfield, and Professor David Luke's How Africa Eats. Rounding out this impressive selection are Landry Signé's Realizing Africa’s Potential: A Journey to Prosperity and Femi Otedola's Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business.

The winner and runners-up for this year will be unveiled at the awards ceremony scheduled to take place in London on 3 July 2026, at the Institute of Directors. The winner will receive a trophy and $10,000. The second- and third-placed finalists will receive $5,000 and $2,500, respectively.

How we made it in Africa II: Real stories of entrepreneurs turning opportunity into profit is available here

In 2024, private equity firm Verod Capital invested in i-Fitness, a Nigerian gym chain founded in 2015 by the entrepreneur Foluso Ogunwale.

(Read more: Nigerian businessman seizes opportunity in fitness industry)

Verod co-founder Danladi Verheijen describes the business as one of his favourite investments.

Despite operating only around 30 outlets, i-Fitness is already seven times the size of its nearest competitor in West Africa – and Verheijen sees significant room for growth. “Our membership base is basically 1% of 1% of the population of Nigeria. It’s literally nothing. We’re still just scratching the surface,” Verheijen says. “I think [in] the UK, maybe 16 to 18% of the population goes to a gym. In the US, it’s 25 to 30%. So literally, we could be a thousand times larger.”

Beyond Nigeria, i-Fitness is eyeing expansion into Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

Watch/read our full interview with Verheijen: From beverage cans to gyms – Verod’s investment playbook for West Africa