Hello Stranger, Welcome!

In the beginning was an introduction...😊

Hey and welcome to my substack.

My name is Zikora (I would love to know yours, please leave a comment).

This is a special space for those interested in reading my most in-depth and “unfiltered” thoughts on the topics I am most excited about-business, startups, technology and investing.

Like every new relationship, let’s start with some fun stuff about me.

Hopefully, you would find me interesting enough to stick around (smirks at the subscribe button 😂).

I was born and raised in Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa, both in the number of people and size of problems.

I fell in love with business and innovation as far back as I can remember and have always never lacked crazy ideas.

One time I had convinced my siblings that I would build a spaceship, with wood!

How dumb was that 😅?

But they believed me and joined my first startup.

Well, you know how the story goes…that startup never took off 😂

I have always been intrigued about coming up with ideas and turning them into reality: from starting a yam farm, a tiny poultry, designing and hosting the first-ever career seminar back in my high school, upgrading a library etc

Eventually found tech at Uni while I was a disillusioned undergrad studying botany (never used the degree).

I learned about building websites with WordPress and a bit of digital marketing, which has been pretty helpful in my career.

A fond memory from UNI is when my elder Sister asked me what business I would love to start (she wanted to fund me apparently).

I had said I wanted to start a business that funded and supported other businesses. Not sure what I was thinking then but looking back I now realize that I somehow had the traits of a future venture Capitalist (wink).

Got my first Job out of UNI at a technology hub focused on training tech talent.

Enjoyed my stint there before moving on to work as an operations manager at a creative agency, founding my first business (a logistics company), shutting that down and taking up the role of people operations manager at a web3 startup (one of the most significant experiences of my career).

Eventually resigned from full-time employment to work on my projects. Built a tech community from scratch to 1000+ members and counting, launched a venture studio and consulted with a US-based tech talent accelerator platform.

Through all of this, I have picked up a few lessons and developed a rather unique perspective on startups, the African tech ecosystem and the dynamics of Investing in Africa.

My goal with this publication is to share my unique perspectives on the growing startup ecosystem here in Africa, highlight and share some of the biggest lessons to be learnt from startups building on the continent as well as connect with other passionate builders, operators and investors interested in African tech.

So welcome to my Substack. I hope you stick around long enough so we become friends ❤️️.

Yours in obsessing over startups and innovation in Africa.

-Zikora.