# Building the Future I believe the next African story will be written by Africans, and there are people crafting the narrative now. This podcast is a series of conversation with people whose ideas and work is shaping the African future. Page: Feed: --- ## [Nothing Beats Boots in the Dust](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/nothing-beats-boots-in-the-dust) _2025-10-02 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ Why local VCs matter for Africa’s next decade of innovation ## [The Illusion of Protection: Why VCs Don’t Sign NDAs—And Why Founders Shouldn’t Expect Them To](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/the-illusion-of-protection-why-vcs) _2025-07-30 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ Once in a while, a new founder will ask me to sign an NDA before sharing their idea. ## [#85: Deepankar Rustagi - On Profitability and Staying Asset Light in B2B Commerce (Part 2)](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/85-deepankar-rustagi-on-profitability) _2025-02-21 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ Live from Ventures Park, Lagos [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/157608732/3ec76442943a85729db2d082df563a59.mp3) ## [The Big Four Fallacy: Rethinking African Markets](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/the-big-four-fallacy-rethinking-african) _2024-09-16 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ In venture investing, the most significant returns often come from seeing what others overlook. ## [Thank you + Season 5 Recap](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/thank-you-season-5-recap) _2024-07-31 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future has been a reflection of the remarkable growth of the ecosystem. ## [#84 - Dare Okoudjou - On Fundraising, Scaling a Pan-African Payment Network and Acquiring Startups](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/84-dare-okoudjou-on-fundraising-scaling) _2024-07-24 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/146948011/f29da499838152df93ddb26864f1b1a3.mp3) ## [#83: Uka Eje - On ThriveAgric's Turnaround and Making Hard Decisions](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/83-uka-eje-on-thriveagrics-turnaround) _2024-07-17 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/146703671/4bf245d7e3fba51ec7ac28d04ac52391.mp3) ## [#82: Deepankar Rustagi - On Profitability and Staying Asset Light in B2B Commerce](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/82-deepankar-rustagi-on-profitability) _2024-07-10 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/146459679/8297aa9233af1e86c021ca12af94aa5d.mp3) ## [#81: Elo Umeh - On Leadership, Purpose and Building a Scalable Tech Company in Africa](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/81-elo-umeh-on-leadership-purpose) _2024-07-03 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/146230632/66296ec26e0199f43e614c353971eb4c.mp3) ## [#80 - Daniel Yu - On Vertical Integration in B2B e-commerce and Early Lessons from M&A](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/80-daniel-yu-on-vertical-integration) _2024-06-26 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/146004467/4297720dca59912f33af4d155b34f01c.mp3) ## [Real SIMs for AI Agents (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/9LEF59LyVBjP) _2024-06-26 · **Sponsored**_ Pass 2FA and verifications with real carrier numbers via our API. ## [#79, Bode Abifarin- On Scaling Flutterwave, Startup Growth, and Expansion](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/79-bode-abifarin-on-scaling-flutterwave) _2024-06-19 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/145784851/67dcec1289d0acf4270c24728562b5b5.mp3) ## [#78, Mark Straub - On Digital Identity as a Fundamental Driver of Economic Growth](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/78-mark-straub-on-digital-identity) _2024-06-12 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/145562157/3283af4bed38511f17d61ffa69b2d60e.mp3) ## [#77, Anu Adedoyin-Adasolum - On differentiation in B2B ecommerce and complexities of the offline market](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/anu-adedoyin-adasolum-on-differentiation) _2024-06-05 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint My guest today is Anu Adedoyin-Adasolum, the co-founder and CEO of Sabi. Sabi is a B2B e-commerce startup that provides digital infrastructure to Africa's informal economy. In October 2023, they announced reaching $1B annual GMV. I've always been fascinated by Sabi, especially their ability to bring seemingly disjointed and complex… [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/145328069/92494384270bfb2c1e409b09fd5c9b92.mp3) ## [#76, Shola Akinlade - Building for the Long-term, Managing Talent and Growing as a Leader](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/76-shola-akinlade-building-for-the) _2024-05-29 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ My guest today is Shola Akinlade. [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/145084616/f6dfb427bc47a44bd3cd25cd74398a13.mp3) ## [#75, Tosin Eniolorunda - Scaling Fintech Products to the Mass Market](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/75-tosin-eniolorunda-scaling-fintech) _2024-05-22 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ My guest today is Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO and co-founder of Moniepoint. [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/144826827/ec814c428a1f66e1843d0a28f5d51654.mp3) ## [Season 5 Intro - Building the Future](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/75-season-5-intro-building-the-future) _2024-05-14 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ It's been a while. [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/144602673/c48d278dc4c2d76396727e75016f128f.mp3) ## [Surviving the Funding Winter: Startup Valuations, Exits, and Governance in the Time of Rising Interest Rates](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/surviving-the-funding-winter-startup) _2023-12-30 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ On the Implications of Non-Zero Interest Rates for Startup Founders ## [#74, Sangu Delle - Raising capital and building businesses in Africa](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/74-sangu-delle-raising-capital-and-109) _2020-12-04 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ My guest today is Sangu Delle. [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/143682648/09e8db2b3189b3e1fdf75b0860dfe64f.mp3) ## [Conversation with Andrew Alli on investing, governance and Twitter](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/conversation-with-andrew-alli-on) _2020-11-01 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ Building the future podcast episode 73 ## [Build with the cheapest GPUs (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/jFG0oDjj3ITv) _2020-11-01 · **Sponsored**_ Deployed a live API in minutes; one user spent under $10. ## [#73, Andrew Alli - On investing, corporate governance and using Twitter](https://buildthefuturepodcast.substack.com/p/73-andrew-alli-on-investing-corporate-da7) _2020-10-08 · Dotun Olowoporoku_ My guest today is Andrew Alli. [Listen](https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/143682649/ed190de77da90cdb71c2f561499895f3.mp3)