In this episode, we're thrilled to sit down with Abu Addae, Co-Founder and CEO of LifeCheq - the South African fintech democratising access to financial advice and using AI to enable financial advisers to improve client experience and drive efficiency.

Founded in 2015, LifeCheq is disrupting the multi-trillion rand financial services sector through it’s tech-first proposition that enhances the effectiveness and accessibility of financial advice in the South African market. The business has since has grown to a team of 75, serving over 200K users, and has raised more than R100m in venture capital, from the likes of Naspers, Futuregrowth and ARC Investments.

With this significant market challenge comes a massive opportunity and the team remains laser-focussed on building a technology business that enables financial advice for 2BN underserved clients in emerging markets.

We talk about:

• Abu's upbringing and early career.
• Early success and navigating risk.
• Moving from corporate executive to founder.
• Raising capital and the right team.
• Competing in an established space.
• What's next for Abu and LifeCheq.

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Connect with Abu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abuaddae/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/

This episode was brought to you in partnership with Momentum Group - one of South African’s leading financial services groups - home to household names like Metropolitan and Momentum. The group's mission is to build and protect their clients' financial dreams - whilst providing a sense of certainty in an increasingly uncertain world. They also place innovation and digital transformation at the core of their strategy and are excited about playing a proactive role in advancing and supporting the country's startup ecosystem. Visit momentumgroupltd.co.za to learn more 🚀

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦

Connect with us:

Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

In this episode, we're thrilled to sit down with Calvin Collett, Founder and CEO of Melon Mobile - Africa’s first truly digital telco, offering consumers a fully customisable mobile network experience.

Founded in 2022, Melon is disrupting a sector that's long been controlled by a handful of industry incumbents, by combining digital eSim technology, a slick app-first proposition, hyper-customisation and unprecedented pricing - to create an exciting "do-it-yourself" mobile network experience. Coupled with their recently-launched (and highly popular) national billboard campaign, they're fast becoming a hit with consumers and SMEs across the country.

With more than 2 decades of telco experience behind him, a world-class team alongside, and armed with a truly innovative proposition, Melon Mobile are pioneering the next generation of telecoms disruption.

We talk about:

• Calvin's upbringing and early career.
• What makes a great entrepreneur.
• Moving from corporate executive, to intrapreneur, to founder.
• Raising capital and the right team.
• Finding competitive edge in a crowded sector.
• What's next for Calvin and Melon Mobile.

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Connect with Calvin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvin-collett/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/

This episode was brought to you in partnership with Injini - Africa's only EdTech specialised accelerator, established on the belief that innovation and technology can help solve the continent’s most pressing education challenges. Injini supports edtech founders through a bespoke acceleration program, they lead education research and advisory support through their ThinkTank and host the country’s annual Edtech week. Visit injini.africa to learn more.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦

Connect with us:

Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

In this episode, we're excited to sit down with Lynton Peters, Founder and exited-CEO of OneCart - South Africa's premier online, on-demand delivery service - that lets customers shop across multiple stores, in a single order, with one delivery fee, arriving at their in under 60minutes.

In 2023, South Africa’s e-commerce market generated an estimated R71bn in revenue, largely driven by sectors like clothing/apparel, entertainment/hobbies and electronics. Alongside growing demand for conventional goods and services, has been the exponential growth in South Africa’s online grocery space - and in particular - the surge in on-demand and last-mile delivery services available. In fact, it’s now common practice for many consumers to buy their groceries online and have them delivered direct to their doorstep.

Founded in 2016, OneCart is one of South Africa's on-demand grocery delivery pioneers and has played a key role in establishing the category. Within 5 years, the business grew to over 1000 direct/indirect employees and achieved triple-digit revenue growth annually - largely accelerated by the Covid19 lockdowns - before being sold to Massmart (Wallmart’s African subsidiary) in late-2021, in one of the country's largest-ever e-commerce acquisitions.

Since leaving the business in 2022, Lynton has become an active angel investor and remains motivated to build Africa, armed with the insights and experience that come with being one of South Africa’s few exited tech founders.

We talk about:

• Lynton's upbringing, early-career and returning to South African roots.
• Transitioning from corporate leader to startup pioneer.
• Building product, welcoming co-founders and raising capital.
• The companies acquisition to Massmart and his life after exit.
• What's next for Lynton.

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Connect with Lynton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyntonp/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/

This episode was brought to you in partnership with Paystack - helping businesses in Africa get paid by anyone, anywhere in the world - thanks to their suite of world-class payment solutions, intuitive APIs, founder-centric support and an exciting (and free!) credit program called Paystack Catalyst, purposefully created to help startups accelerate their growth. To learn more visit paystack.com/za.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦

Connect with us:

Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/