This week we try to tackle the theme of diversity in the African startup ecosystem and chat to Vuyani Tati.

Vuyani is a young black man in South Africa and works in the startup ecosystem as the Financial Manager at Startupbootcamp AfriTech.

Startupbootcamp AfriTech is a Cape Town based accelerator focused on high-growth startups in the tech space which is anchored by multiple corporate sponsors.

The themes we discuss are:

Vuyani’s background and struggles.
Journey into venture capital and networking through the ecosystem.
Startupbootcamp’s new fund.
Representation in venture capital.
Learnings from his career to-date.
What Vuyani would do with $100k.

Vuyani Tati - Financial Manager - Startupbootcamp AfriTech - Diversity Theme

This week we chat to Grégoire de Padirac of Orange Ventures on corporate VC fund structures, investing during COVID-19, and hear his thoughts on what founders should consider when raising financing in Africa.

Grégoire is a VC principal at Orange and is currently based in Senegal.

Orange Ventures is a venture fund of Orange group with €350m under management, investing in areas of Orange expertise and beyond, financing startups with the ambition to imagine, design, and develop innovative solutions, disruptive technologies, and business models of tomorrow

The themes we discuss are:

Grégoire’s journey to breaking into VC.
What a typical day looks like for a VC Principal.
Orange Ventures fund structure.
Investing, fundraising, and due diligence during COVID-19
What Orange Ventures looks for in startups they back.
Grégoire’s advice to entrepreneurs raising financing in Africa

Ep004 - Gregoire de Padirac - Orange Ventures

Welcome to the re-branded and invigorated podcast that was previously hosted by me, Daryn Munnik, on my newsletter page African VC/ Startup News.

The podcast is now called the UpStartVC Podcast. It is a podcast where we talk to entrepreneurs about the things they’re building and investors about the entrepreneurs they’re backing.

It will be hosted by Kamo Motaung an entrepreneur and BCom Honours Investment Management graduate; and me, Daryn Munnik, a CFA charterholder currently pursuing a Masters in Development Finance.

This week our episode focuses on an entrepreneur that has started her own wine label, Thando Winery.

Thando Winery was started by Noluthando Yeni with the goal of taking time out to celebrate moments with love, and with wine. Thando Winery offers red and white wine blends that can be purchased through Takealot.

According to them, “Every sip of fine wine is an expression of self-love. The Thando product range provides you with outstanding value for money and a pure understanding that when you enjoy this good wine you fall in love all over again.”

You can buy their products and check out their social media sites here:

Takealot:

Instagram:

Facebook:

In this episode we cover the following topics:

Noluthando’s elevator pitch.

Why she started Thando Winery?

The importance of taking the first step.

Thando Winery’s marketing strategy and plan.

The high and low points in the journey so far.

What she would do with a $100k investment.

Leave us a review

If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we’d really appreciate a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts or here. Let us know if you’ve tried Thando red or white and how much you’ve enjoyed it!

Be safe out there and have a great December break!

Cheers

Kamo & Daryn

Get on the email list at theupstartvcpodcast.substack.com

UpstartVC Episode 1 New

Hi everyone, happy 2021!

Welcome to the UpStartVC Podcast, a podcast where we talk to entrepreneurs about the things they’re building and investors about the entrepreneurs they’re backing.

It is hosted by Kamo Motaung an entrepreneur and BCom Honours Investment Management graduate; and, Daryn Munnik, a CFA charterholder currently pursuing a Masters in Development Finance, with research and support from Vuyo Mzini.

Starting with this episode we will also share our background research note on Substack at: https://theupstartvcpodcast.substack.com/p/upstartvc-podcast-ep002-zaio

This week we chat to Mvelo Hlophe one of the founders of a Cape Town based, ed-tech startup called Zaio.

Mvelo is a young and dynamic entrepreneur having started Zaio while still at the University of Cape Town in 2017. In 2019, Mvelo was named the overall winner of the 2019 Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition and in 2020 Zaio was nominated as one of the top 50 innovative ed-tech startups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

You can find out more about Zaio on their website: https://www.zaio.io

In this episode we cover the following topics:
Mvelo’s elevator pitch.
Why they started Zaio.
The Zaio business model.
His fundraising experience.
What Mvelo would do with a $100k investment.

If you enjoyed listening to the podcast or reading the note, we’d really appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts or on Substack.

Cheers
Kamo & Daryn & Vuyo

Zaio

We talk to entrepreneurs about the things they're building and investors about the entrepreneurs they're backing.

The UpStartVC Podcast