“I grew up in a place called Durban in South Africa.”
This is how Jade Leaf begins her story. Before this, we spoke briefly about the new normal and how the pandemic ushered in a seemingly endless stream of meetings that are always sure to meet you at your desk as you work from home.
“But I mean, being busy in these times is a blessing in itself,” she said.
Beyond the meetings, the pandemic also put a stop to a few of the things that Jade loves, notably concerts and travelling. When she talks about travelling to new places and attending concerts she says “you can’t really understand the culture of a place without going to musical events.”
During our conversation, Excel Joab tells me that one of his favourite songs is
Go Solo by Tom Rosenthal. He first heard the song in a DSTV ad. This, the opportunity to be discovered by new audiences through films or ads, is something he wants to make possible for artists on the African continent.
âI want to help the next generation of artists build that bridge between music and movies,â he said.
But his journey to making future plans in the music industry did not start conventionally.
He was set to join the military. His grandfather had been in the Nigerian Army and he had attended a naval secondary school. When he finished studying political science at the University of Lagos, it was time for him to decide what he wanted to do next.
is telling the stories of Africans making a difference in the world of tech.
The life of an entrepreneur is a peculiar thing. You make many sacrifices to start the journey and when it starts and you think you can finally rest, there are more sacrifices waiting to be made.
Towards the end of our call, I asked Tolulope Ogunsina what plans he had for himself going forward and his response is something I’ve played over in my head.
“I’m trying to decouple my sense of worth from Playbrush. As a startup, some days are rollercoasters and you take them very personally. But I want to detach as much as possible so that if Playbrush is having a bad day, I’m not having a bad day,” he told me.
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It’s the first of April and we don’t have any April Fool’s jokes up our sleeves. But Volkswagen already pulled one off earlier this week changing its name to ‘Voltswagen’ emphasizing the German automaker’s electric vehicle efforts. In today s edition:
WhatsApp payments are back in Brazil
Human biotech in Nigeria
Clubhouse gets another rival, LinkedIn
My Life in tech: Ifeoma Uddoh
is putting human faces to some of the innovative startups, investments, and policy formations driving the technology sector across Africa.
Rolake Rosiji’s journey through the world of business and tech has taken her from England to Denmark and back to Lagos. In this time she has taken on several roles in global organisations and helped them scale in Africa. She’s taking on a new challenge as the CEO of Jobberman.
This is her life in tech.
At Oxford University, one of the most competitive courses to get into is Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). Over 60% of applicants get rejected without even an interview and only about 14% get admitted.