Founders · new episode 15 Oct 2026
The Flip
Hosted by The Flip
African startups and the investors backing them, on the continent's hardest problems.
Follow on Apple PodcastsThe regulars
Investors named as guests in the most episode titles on The Flip.
Every episode 103 · page 1 of 4
- 103Inside China's Used Cell Phone Market15 Oct 2026 · 12 min▶Show page
About this episode
When I was in Lagos, Nigeria, I went to an electronics market called Computer Village. All of the used cell phones there came from China. So on my recent trip to Guangzhou, China, I wanted to find the source at the other end of this global used electronics supply chain. From Guangzhou's "Little Africa", Xiaobei, to…
- 102What China Taught Me About Global Trade17 Sept 2026 · 15 minVincent Yang▶Show page
About this episode
China's manufacturing scale has no historical precedent. $3.8 trillion in exports in 2025. A $1.2 trillion trade surplus, the largest any country has ever recorded. China is the top import partner for roughly 40% of the world's countries. China now trades 50% more with the Global South than with the US and Europe…
- 101What Vietnam’s Gold Shops Taught Me About Money30 Jul 2026 · 12 min▶Show page
About this episode
Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. But its currency, the Dong, devalues 3-5% per year to support its export-oriented growth. When the price of gold rises, Vietnamese people queue for hours to buy more. Vietnam is fourth in global crypto adoption, with volumes around $200 billion, and…
- 100How to Fund a Hospital in a Warzone2 Jun 2026 · 13 min▶Show page
About this episode
In Northwest Syria, a critical network of hospitals faces a unique challenge: how do you pay medical staff and fund healthcare when your country is completely cut off from the global financial system? Due to economic sanctions and a fractured banking infrastructure following over a decade of civil war, humanitarian…
- 99Inside Africa's $16 Billion Waste Economy30 Apr 2026 · 14 min▶Show page
About this episode
Drive through cities in Africa and you’re likely to see a waste problem. In the streets, the sewage, in the waterways…540 million tons of waste goes uncollected every year across sub-Saharan Africa. It's a $16 billion opportunity. But much of the infrastructure is still missing. What would it actually take to build…
- 98I Went to Nigeria to Explore How Global Trade Really Works1 Apr 2026 · 15 min▶Show page
About this episode
In Lagos' Computer Village, Nigeria's largest electronics market, everything is imported from China. But how merchants access dollars and pay their suppliers is a challenge. Nigeria imports $20 billion from China every year, yet dollar access problems and legacy banking systems create friction for those doing global…
- 97Why Getting Paid Costs More in Emerging Markets29 Jan 2026 · 10 min▶Show page
About this episode
If you're a freelancer or a remote worker from the global south, you likely have a harder time getting paid and participating in the global economy. Maybe a global payments company doesn't operate in your country. Maybe they banned your account or froze your funds. Remote workers and freelancers from emerging…
- 96I Went to Bolivia Where Businesses Survive on Stablecoins2 Dec 2025 · 11 min▶Show page
About this episode
Bolivia is facing a severe economic crisis. The country is literally running out of dollars. Their foreign reserves have collapsed from $15 billion a decade ago to just $50 million today. In June 2024, Bolivia legalized cryptocurrencies, and digital asset transaction volume exploded - growing over 500 percent in the…
- 95Inside Argentina's $300 Billion Parallel Economy4 Nov 2025 · 16 min▶Show page
About this episode
Argentina's decades-long economic crises and hyperinflation has a major impact on how Argentine's participate in the economy. The recent story that's been told about Argentina is that people are adopting stablecoins to protect against inflation and currency devaluation. But that's only part of the story... The real…
- 94What If You Could Send Money Across Borders as Fast as a Text?16 Sept 2025 · 12 min▶Show page
About this episode
This year, $160 billion in remittance payments will be sent from the US to Latin America. $65 billion will be sent from the US to Mexico, the world's largest remittance corridor. Yet, the majority of payments will be sent via brick-and-mortar stores like Western Union or Moneygram. The future of payments is…
- 93NBA Africa's Biggest Success | The Khaman Maluach Story26 Jun 2025 · 4 minDuke University▶Show page
About this episode
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qoA105xnIpU Khaman Maluach was just drafted 10th overall in the NBA Draft. He’s a South Sudanese refugee who grew up in Uganda and only started playing basketball when he was 13 years old. After first playing the game at Luol Deng’s basketball camp, Maluach played at…
- 92The Real Reason People Are Using Stablecoins29 May 2025 · 9 minTetherZach Abrams▶Show page
About this episode
Watch this episode on YouTube . 2025 is the year of stablecoins. Transaction volumes have grown to over $33 trillion in the past 12 months. The top Dollar-denominated stablecoins are the 17th largest holder of US treasuries globally. Tether, issuer the largest stablecoin by volume, USDT, announced $13 billion in…
- 91Why the NFL is Bringing American Football to Africa23 Apr 2025 · 7 min▶Show page
About this episode
There are 1,696 active players in the NFL. Just 138 are African. But if it were up to Osi Umenyiora, 11-year veteran and 2-time Super Bowl Champion, there would be many more. Osi is the Founder of The Uprise, the NFL's lead in Africa, and he's pioneering American football on the African continent. At the NFL's…
- 90How We're Helping African Farmers Grow25 Feb 2025 · 12 min▶Show page
About this episode
Farming is the number one source of employment in Africa, yet its agricultural productivity is the lowest of any region in the world. The opportunity is immense, 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land is on the continent, but rural communities are suffering from a lack of economic opportunity. So young Africans…
- 89What We Get Wrong About Climate Financing6 Feb 2025 · 10 min▶Show page
About this episode
Reports suggest that climate change is set to cost the global economy $38 billion per year by 2049. Emerging markets need close to $2.4 trillion per year by 2030 to meet the climate goals. That's 4 times what is currently invested. But high capital costs are stalling clean energy investment across Africa. If you…
- 88Can Solar Power Solve Nigeria's Energy Crisis?21 Jan 2025 · 12 min▶Show page
About this episode
Nigeria’s energy crisis has persisted for decades. Africa's largest country is largely powered by fuel generators. They're noisy, dirty, and bad for the environment. But they also provide power to millions of people in a country with an unreliable grid. The removal of Nigeria's long-standing fuel subsidy in 2023…
- 87How Africa’s Green Industries Could Save the Planet9 Dec 2024 · 11 min▶Show page
About this episode
Can Africa be a leader in the global fight against climate change? While the continent has contributed just 3 percent to global carbon emissions, it is the most impacted by climate change. But it also has a range of natural endowments that leave it well-positioned to build green industries that will have a positive…
- 86This Funding Model is Helping Fight Climate Change11 Nov 2024 · 48 minMaxime Bayen▶Show page
About this episode
These climate investors are funding climate startups using a hands-on venture-building model to support founders across Africa. In this episode, we’re joined by James Mwangi from Africa Climate Ventures, Maxime Bayen from Catalyst Fund, and Lyndsay Holley Handler from Delta40. We discuss why African ventures and…
- 85How Moniepoint Powers Millions of Businesses Across Nigeria29 Aug 2024 · 7 minBabs OgundeyiTosin Eniolorunda▶Show page
About this episode
There are millions of Moniepoint point-of-sale terminals in use across Nigeria. These point-of-sale devices power Nigeria’s offline economy, and while there are many competitors in this space, Moniepoint appears to beating them all. How did they do it? How did Moniepoint grow so quickly? And why has it become the…
- 84How Africa's Fastest Growing Company is Helping Retailers Grow25 Jul 2024 · 7 min▶Show page
About this episode
Small retailers in Nigeria power the economy. But they’re going through some tough times. Devaluation, food inflation, and overall poor economic conditions have made it especially hard for these small businesses to operate. To better understand how retail works, and how these small businesses can grow, we hit the…
- 83An African Tech Exit - Selling Sendwave for $500 Million13 Jun 2024 · 10 min▶Show page
About this episode
One of the African tech ecosystem's largest exits was the 2020 sale of Sendwave to WorldRemit for $500 million. Sid Sridhar was Sendwave's Head of Business at the time, and in this episode, Sid shares his M&A lessons for the African tech ecosystem. Sid is now the Head of Business at Wave, the mobile money company…
- 82Tackling Africa’s $330 Billion Credit Gap30 May 2024 · 20 minBabs OgundeyiBenjamin FernandesMark Straub▶Show page
About this episode
There is a $330 billion credit gap, according to the IFC. But why is it so hard to lend in African markets? We explore that question with Chijioke Dozie, Co-founder and CEO of Carbon, and Mark Straub, CEO of Smile Identity. This episode was recorded live from the FT Partners Fintech in Africa Summit in New York…
- 81African Small Businesses Have Many Challenges. Can These Platforms Help?23 May 2024 · 8 min▶Show page
About this episode
In this episode, the third in our docuseries on jobtech platforms and the future of work, we dive deeper into the value chain, because the problems that small businesses have across the continent are multi-layered. In an environment of demand constraints and a lack of infrastructure, platforms need to solve multiple…
- 80Why Are Cross-Border Payments So Hard?16 May 2024 · 33 minBenjamin Fernandes▶Show page
About this episode
Benjamin Fernandes, the Founder and CEO of the remittance platform NALA, likes to say that payments are just 1% built in Africa. Why are cross-border payments so hard? In this episode, we're joined in conversation with Benjamin Fernandes and Dan Kleinbaum, a co-founder of Beyonic, which sold to Onafriq, and now…
- 79Nigerian Neobank Roundtable: Moniepoint, Kuda, FairMoney9 May 2024 · 43 minBabs OgundeyiTosin Eniolorunda▶Show page
About this episode
In this episode, we're joined in a panel conversation with the CEOs of three of Nigeria's biggest digital banks: Moniepoint's Tosin Eniolorunda, Kuda's Babs Ogundeyi, and FairMoney's Laurin Hainy. This episode was recorded live from the FT Partners Fintech in Africa Summit in New York City. Download their FinTech in…
- 78The Future of Work Will Be Bootstrapped18 Apr 2024 · 8 min▶Show page
About this episode
In our first episode of this series on jobtech platforms and the future of work, we argued that the future of work is a tech-enabled portfolio of work. But what does a portfolio of work really look like? And what happens next? We know we need to create more formal jobs in Africa, and we need to boost the…
- 77Much Ado About the Media, Live from Lagos4 Apr 2024 · 1h 4mOlumuyiwa OlowogboyegaTage Kene-OkaforTayo Oviosu▶Show page
About this episode
In January 2024, we hosted a live show in Lagos with The Subtext's Osarumen Osamuyi on the relationship between the tech ecosystem and the media. It was a follow-up to a 2020 episode we published entitled Much Ado About the Media . A lot of founders still feel the media is acting in bad faith amidst more…
- 76Afrobeats, Basketball & Commerce28 Mar 2024 · 27 minBaron Davis▶Show page
About this episode
Live from the BIG Summit, a platform hosted by investor and 2x NBA All-Star Baron Davis, at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, a conversation with three operators connecting Africa to the world through culture and commerce. In this conversation, we're joined by Clare Akamanzi, the CEO of NBA Africa, Abdul Karim Abdullah,…
- 75What We Get Wrong About Jobs in Africa14 Mar 2024 · 11 min▶Show page
About this episode
The African continent has the highest levels of poverty, the lowest levels of formal employment, and its population is going to double in the next 30 years. African countries need to create more jobs. But what kinds of jobs? And how? What if I told you that the way governments and development organizations are…
- 74Unlocking Gender-Smart Capital At Scale (2X Global's Jessica Espinoza)7 Mar 2024 · 38 min▶Show page
About this episode
Despite research showing that female founders outperform their male peers, startups with a solo female founder or an all-female founding team raised a mere 2% of all the funding in Africa last year. There is a huge gender funding gap. How do we close it? This episode is the last episode of a five-episode series on…
Who the show talks about
Firms named in its episodes, and people named in descriptions: talked about, rather than on the show.
