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From Cyber Cafes to Y Combinator: Building Africa's Financial Future

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Manage episode 494842748 series 3322989
Content provided by Uwem Uwemakpan. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Uwem Uwemakpan or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

In this episode, we sit down with Wale Akanbi, one of the co-founders of Aella. Aella became the first African lending fintech admitted to Y Combinator in 2017 and has since served over 2 million users across Nigeria and the Philippines.

Wale's journey, from teaching himself programming in Nigerian cyber cafes to building AI-powered financial inclusion tools, is a masterclass in persistence, vision, and purpose-driven entrepreneurship.

He's currently building solutions at the intersection of AI and blockchain to solve cross-border trust challenges.

What we cover:

  • The pressure and lessons from being one of YC's first African lending fintech
  • Why every engineer doubled as customer service for their first 500K users
  • The evolution from rule-based credit scoring to AI models predicting "willingness to pay"
  • Building cross-functional teams in the age of AI
  • His current work at the intersection of AI and blockchain for cross-border trust
  • Why helping people matters more than power, fame, or money

  continue reading

73 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 494842748 series 3322989
Content provided by Uwem Uwemakpan. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Uwem Uwemakpan or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

In this episode, we sit down with Wale Akanbi, one of the co-founders of Aella. Aella became the first African lending fintech admitted to Y Combinator in 2017 and has since served over 2 million users across Nigeria and the Philippines.

Wale's journey, from teaching himself programming in Nigerian cyber cafes to building AI-powered financial inclusion tools, is a masterclass in persistence, vision, and purpose-driven entrepreneurship.

He's currently building solutions at the intersection of AI and blockchain to solve cross-border trust challenges.

What we cover:

  • The pressure and lessons from being one of YC's first African lending fintech
  • Why every engineer doubled as customer service for their first 500K users
  • The evolution from rule-based credit scoring to AI models predicting "willingness to pay"
  • Building cross-functional teams in the age of AI
  • His current work at the intersection of AI and blockchain for cross-border trust
  • Why helping people matters more than power, fame, or money

  continue reading

73 episodes

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