Mobility

Infrastructure

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From 2018–2019, venture capital (VC) tech investments in Africa grew 74% from $1.16B to $2.02B, according to [Partech’s Venture Report.](https://partechpartners.com/documents/12/2020.01_Partech_Africa_-_2019_Africa_Tech_VC_Report_FINAL.pdf) Anecdotally, VC deal-making on the continent is brisk, with hotspots such as Lagos, Cape Town, and Nairobi gaining momentum. Even prominent Silicon Valley investors are shining spotlights on the opportunity in Africa. I’ve gulped this kool-aid, too. I’ve been increasing my share of equity bets in fin-tech, agri-tech, clean-tech, and health-tech startups in Africa and other emerging markets in the last years, and can attest first-hand to the quality of entrepreneurs and market potential.

This money being invested in Africa will drive innovation and wealth creation, and many once-poor countries will lift themselves out of poverty on the wave of universal mobile money and the incorruptibility of cryptocurrencies. We will cultivate the next Google from Africa and life will be all good, right?

Wait. Not so fast. It’s a common mistake to assume what works in one place is the best solution for another. And, because “vanilla” and “easy-to-describe” are easier to sell to investors, we cut and paste the same investment models from the US and Europe and tell ourselves it’s the best solution for frontier markets. While we’re busy looking for the unicorn Uber of Africa, we may be overlooking some of the biggest untapped opportunities. What if the next Google doesn’t look anything like Google?

Many see the problem, but most lending solutions fail to generate sufficient returns — and even fewer are able to scale. Commercial banks use conventional approaches to manage risk that come with high administrative costs, which only very large loans can cover. Microfinance institutions serve the smallest borrowers but revert to conventional lending to service anything larger than a few hundred dollars. All this means that financing the $5.2T “missing middle” is expensive, hard-to-scale, and high risk. Working capital, CAPEX financing, and trade finance remain the biggest obstacles for businesses in frontier markets, and few avenues are available to the SMEs that make up the majority of the economic activity in frontier markets.

Bridging The Gap

But the game is changing. The last two decades of rapid digitization in developing economies and the plummeting cost of networked devices have created a transformative opportunity for reaching SMEs. Data from the sea of digital transactions is making it easier to assess the credit risk of those without even a formal address. Embedded financing is everywhere, with solutions ranging from pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) solar products to water filtration systems that allow consumers to pay by the liter. Embedded financing makes expensive items affordable, and for SMEs, it means that they can take on assets that help them make more money and then use that extra profit to pay back the financing.

We have a historic opportunity to ride the wave of digitization, and bridge the financing gap for SMEs in frontier markets: a $5.2T untapped market that just needs the right kind of financing to explode.

To help realize this opportunity, we at Untapped Global are accelerating the adoption of alternative, data-driven, “smart” financing models. We have developed an [investment platform](https://invest.untapped-global.com/) and capital facility for Smart Asset Financing™, i.e. lending to businesses through connected assets, and using real-time data and digital payments to ensure repayment. Because it takes a different approach to managing risk, the Smart Asset Financing model is safer, more transparent, and further reaching, while offering more liquidity and better returns for investors. We don’t just look at balance sheets, ask for 150% collateral, and lend to those who already have capital like traditional players. Instead, we look at the business case behind the asset generating revenue and lend against the future digital revenue stream of that asset.

The Promise Of Smart Asset Financing

Over 70% of the economy in Sub-Saharan Africa is informal — merchants, motorcycle taxi drivers, water vendors — with an overwhelming majority of transactions being decentralized and peer-to-peer. Digitization is increasingly capturing these transactions, “formalizing” them. We designed Smart Asset Financing to realize the potential of this fast-growing, untapped market.

Unlocking $5.2T of financial and human potential is exciting. But the opportunity goes beyond “upside.” It’s about creating an economic playing field where even the little guys and gals can win. Will investing in the next app in Silicon Valley make a difference? Will the world be a better place with more tech billionaires, or with more opportunity for small businesses? Finding ways to finance innovation and SMEs in booming, rapidly-digitizing frontier markets will lead to a more equitable future, which means less conflict and more people and resources to solve our common challenges.

Building A Better World Through Investing

Recently, I opened bank accounts with my twin 11-year-old daughters, Lexi and Tali. After asking me to help them buy a new mouse and iPad game with their new debit cards, they asked how they could invest their money to make more and “how can I invest to help people?” I’m dedicating the remainder of my life to answering that question.

From 2018–2019, venture capital (VC) tech investments in Africa grew 74% from $1.16B to $2.02B, according to Partech’s Venture Report. Anecdotally, VC deal-making on the continent is brisk, with hotspots such as Lagos, Cape Town, and Nairobi gaining momentum. Even prominent Silicon Valley investors are shining spotlights on the opportunity in Africa. I’ve gulped this kool-aid, too. I’ve been increasing my share of equity bets in fin-tech, agri-tech, clean-tech, and health-tech startups in Africa and other emerging markets in the last years, and can attest first-hand to the quality of entrepreneurs and market potential.

The $5.2 Trillion VC Blindspot

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This article was first published on [TechCabal](https://techcabal.com/2021/04/12/electric-mobility-in-africa-could-be-the-next-big-thing-for-global-investors/)

Africa is home to the [fastest-growing population globally](https://issafrica.org/amp/iss-today/africas-population-boom-burden-or-opportunity) , with numbers expected to rise by nearly 50% over the next 14 years, growing from 1.2 billion people today to over 1.8 billion in 2035.

As the population increase outpaces economic growth, much of Africa's youth, who account for most of the population, are moving into urban centers searching for employment.

This rapid rural to urban migration coupled with limited public transportation and dependence on fossil fuels for mobility has increased congestion and poor air quality in most African metropolitan cities.

According to the [Changing Transport Organisation report](https://www.changing-transport.org/wp-content/uploads/slocat_transport-and-climate-change-2018-web.pdf), between 2000 and 2016, Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a 75% increase in emissions, with transport emissions increasing by 153% in Ghana, 73% in Kenya, and 16% in Nigeria.

Driven by health and environmental concerns and the need to reduce dependency on oil imports, electric mobility (e-mobility) is gaining prominence across the continent's public and private sectors.

In 2019, Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, announced his government&rsquo;s intention to replace Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)-motorcycles with e-motorcycles. This move spurred e-mobility innovation in the country. Mobility startups such as [Ampersand](https://www.ampersand.solar/) are leading the country&rsquo;s switch to clean energy.

The quiet revolution spans beyond just Rwanda. “The market is now ripe, which wasn’t the case a few years ago,” says Jason Gras, co-founder, and CEO at [Stima Mobility](https://stimaboda.com/). “Now you have so many companies in e-mobility in Africa.”



![Stima Mobility](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/1*dv2-uMB9yLYHpJUxadsCfA.jpeg)
Image source: Stima Mobility

E-mobility startups in Africa have taken a homegrown approach to adoption where the electric vehicle market adapts to local needs. We have to remember that Africa has the [smallest per-capita car ownership level globally](https://webstore.iea.org/download/direct/2892), with private cars representing a minority of vehicles in sub-Saharan Africa. Other segments such as buses, motorcycles, and even boats may be better suited to electrify first.

The Electricity Revolution in Africa

“Adoption will likely happen first with motorcycles and three-wheelers because there’s high velocity on turnover on those kinds of vehicles,” says CEO of [Untapped Global](http://untapped-global.com/) and avid investor on the continent, Jim Chu.

A few startups are already tapping into this idea. In Kampala, Ugandan startup [Zembo](https://www.zem.bo/) offers electric motorcycles to local boda boda riders and recharges batteries in its solar stations. Zembo’s safe and high-capacity lithium batteries emit no CO2, no particles, and no pollution.

In Kenya, Stima Mobility enables moto-taxis to go electric by providing a network of charging stations to moto-taxi drivers. “Our goal is to make sure everyone has electric motorcycles instead of petrol motorcycles in Africa,” says Emile Fulcheri, CTO at Stima Mobility.

Beyond just business, boda bodas are also the backbone of public transportation in East African cities like Kampala and Nairobi. Often regarded as loud and unruly, these motorcycles weave in and out of traffic at breakneck speed. According to the Motorcycle Assembly Association of Kenya, the industry generates over $4M daily in Kenya.

This number presents a massive opportunity to scale for startups in the sector, large profit margins for investors, and impact not just on environmental sustainability but also economic empowerment.

![ASOBO](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/1*ahGCmV_iBRHqsOXae3Op-w.jpeg)
Image source: ASOBO

Closing the Gap — Financing and Infrastructure

For e-mobility to take off on the continent, we have to consider two factors: financing and reliable charging infrastructure. Both are currently lacking. Access to funding is a barrier to many Africans, but this is especially evident for the asset-heavy e-mobility sector.


“If you look at the economics of electric mobility, the cost of ownership and operation of electric vehicles is much lower than that of petrol vehicles when you factor in fuel, maintenance, and longevity,” says Jim Chu.

When broken down, e-mobility is cheaper for an e-motorcycle rider in the long term compared to a petrol motorcycle. However, the initial buy-in cost might deter adoption, especially now when prices are high with the sector still in its infancy.

Startups such as Zembo in Uganda offer a lease-to-own model to motorcycle riders. For battery swapping services offered by Stima Mobility, riders use a pay-go system where they swap used batteries for an already charged battery.

“We take full responsibility for the batteries, including charging management and health, so riders in our model never have to incur the cost of ownership, says Stima Mobility CTO Emile Fulcheri. “Instead, the batteries are always exchanged.”

The secret is how to package costs to deliver lower prices to a rider or driver efficiently. “We need financing to help drivers and riders realise the benefits of lower cost of ownership. Even today, with higher upfront costs, the total cost of ownership of electric motorcycles is much cheaper per kilometre than that of petrol bikes. Lease financing can deliver that benefit to riders,” says Chu, whose company provides lease financing on electric vehicles to help boost adoption.

CEO and co-founder of [ASOBO](https://persistent.energy/investee/asobo/), Laurens Friso, agrees. “We need smart investors to rally around each other. What we need are equity syndicates and other financial instruments.”

Often overlooked, the national power grid in Kenya runs on 90% renewable energy sources, which is more than [3 times the global average](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/kenya-wants-to-run-entirely-on-green-energy-by-2020/). However, this advantage is vulnerable to power cuts in most parts of the country, especially in rural areas.

Regarding usage, Chu says, “Africa is in a better position for adoption than many other markets because some of the infrastructures have not yet been built.”

Theoretically speaking, it is possible to build new infrastructure and make it optimal for electric vehicles. For example, off-grid energy could be a great way to power vehicles presenting an opportunity for a few countries in Africa. In Kenya, [9 million households](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/kenya-wants-to-run-entirely-on-green-energy-by-2020/) already have access to off-grid renewable energy, with numbers estimated to rise in the coming years.

Between 60,000 to 70,000 commercial fishing boats descend on Lake Victoria, the world’s second-largest freshwater lake, every day — all powered by expensive, unreliable, and polluting petrol engines. The startup ASOBO is working to reduce fuel emissions’ negative impact by providing electric mobility solutions on water. They provide “electric propulsion as a service.” Some of the services they offer include financing assets, transport of batteries, daily recharging, maintenance and repair, and a rescue backup.

Electric Propulsion As a Service

“We believe that changing these petrol outboards for electric engines greatly reduces CO2 emissions and pollution of water bodies, but also makes propulsion much more affordable and reliable to the customer,” says CEO Laurens Friso.

“I see electric mobility as an exciting area for expansion for Untapped Global because our kind of financing, smart asset financing, makes electric mobility affordable,” says Chu. “I mean that both for vehicles, as well as the charging infrastructure, because as an investor, I see electric mobility in Africa as a question of when not if. We want to be there when Africa turns into a mass consumer of electric mobility.”

Africa is home to the fastest-growing population globally, with numbers expected to rise by nearly 50% over the next 14 years, growing from 1.2 billion people today to over 1.8 billion in 2035. As the population increase outpaces economic growth, much of Africa’s youth, who account for most of the population, are moving into urban centers searching for employment.

Electric mobility in Africa could be the next big thing for global investors

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In 2012, I moved to Haiti to build water treatment systems in schools in the Central Plateau. Untapped’s CEO Jim Chu was also in Haiti leading dloHaiti, a water distribution company. We both were motivated to scale safe water access to Haitian communities, and while our organizations were very different in structure, we both faced similar capital constraints. I was operating an NGO, which meant all of our capital was dependent on donors — and recurrent fundraising was difficult. dloHaiti, as a social business, also struggled to find the capital to scale.

The sad truth for many start-ups in emerging markets is that the financing needed to scale is difficult to find, harder to obtain, or in most cases, simply does not exist. Currently, the vast majority of funding for start-up companies in emerging markets comes in two forms: venture capital and small business loans. Venture capital investors search for a liquidity event from their portfolio companies, such as an acquisition or IPO, to make their money back. The problem is that most start-up companies in emerging markets are not on a path to IPO or be acquired in the near term because those opportunities are much less common outside of ‘developed’ business markets. Globally, this leads to venture capital being concentrated in a small subset of start-up companies — asset-light, software start-ups.

The companies that do not fit the venture capital model, like dloHaiti, are often forced to resort to loans. The problem here is that most of these companies are deemed too ‘risky’ for loans by conventional lenders because they do not have the cash flow or collateral to pass the due diligence of the lending partner. Companies that manage to obtain bank loans usually only do so after an extensive due diligence period, at which point, the business capital needs have invariably changed.

![Untapped Global’s operating partner, Paga](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/1*bs4xVbye-HvYlSzOpoxLPg.jpeg)
Untapped Global’s operating partner, Paga

Revenue-Share Financing: A New Model for Emerging Markets

Untapped’s model aims to address these issues through a revenue share (Rev-Share) partnership agreement with the start-ups we finance (our operating partners). The Rev-Share model aligns the incentives of the financier (Untapped), operating partner, and entrepreneur (the individuals using the equipment on the ground). As long as the entrepreneur is earning revenue on the financed asset, so are the operating partner and Untapped. By applying a rev-share model instead of a fixed-lease loan, Untapped adapts to the volatility of the markets we operate in.

For example, when Uganda shut down in July due to COVID-19, e-motorcycle taxi drivers were without riders and therefore stopped earning revenue on their asset (the motorbike). Our local operating partner, which leases the motorbikes to its moto-taxi drivers, then received very little in payments from the drivers, and Untapped, in turn, received minimal amounts from the rev-share. As a result, the entrepreneur, the operating partner, and Untapped all took hits to the bottom line; however, when operations bounced back significantly in August, we all saw the upside of the bounce back simultaneously. Essentially, the revenue-share model allows Untapped to celebrate the wins of our partners without punishing the losses.

Additionally, Untapped provides the rev-share financing on-demand for our operating partners to address another major pain point. We understand that the needs of our partners are rapidly changing based on market conditions. Our Smart Asset Financing adjusts to the flexibility of the market and provides our partners the type of capital they need when they need it. As they grow, our financing can grow alongside them.

![Ovive Water](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/1*Yl1CbyNLbE8WGMj2KL_IdQ.jpeg)
Ovive Water- a franchisee water brand under Untapped Global


Aligning to Impact

Rev-share financing also allows Untapped to align our mission with our impact. Untapped measures impact as the revenue earned by the entrepreneur operating the asset. We understand that the more revenue earned by the entrepreneur, the more sustainable income goes to the underserved communities in which they operate. Thus, each dollar earned is one brought home, and several more spent on goods and services in the community.

Built by and for entrepreneurs, Untapped is first and foremost empathetic to our partner’s number one need — scaling their business. By putting the needs of the entrepreneur first, we generate considerable demand for financing from our partners. Just as importantly, because our financing is on-demand and flexible, the operating partner continues to come back to us as they scale their business. For those entrepreneurs still searching for suitable financing, their search is now complete!

To learn more about our operating partners and the entrepreneurs they support, [subscribe](http://bit.ly/untapped-news) to our monthly newsletter.

Revenue Share and Impact: How Untapped Supports Entrepreneurs

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As part of our ongoing series to highlight entrepreneurs in Africa, we recently hosted a Clubhouse discussion on “[Why Women Do it Better: Investing & Entrepreneurship in Africa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd4IomGPWqE)”. The conversation centered around how women are uniquely suited to entrepreneurship, how they excel at spotting investing opportunities that male investors miss, and the importance of investing in more women-led companies across investment portfolios.

Our panel included [Hope Ditlhakanyane](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hope-ditlhakanyane-5ab432a1/), Venture Partner in Mest Africa, [Janine Basel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/janinebasel/), CEO of Akro Capital, [Raj Kulasingam](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajkulasingam/), a lawyer turned investor, and [Sarah Dusek](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-dusek-0b630ab/), Founder of Enygma Ventures, a venture fund focused on female founders and entrepreneurs in Southern Africa.

According to the Informal Labor Organization, [89.7 percent of employed women in Africa were part of informal employment excluding agriculture, in 2018](https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_626831/lang--en/index.html). While women in Africa today are still largely not seen as investors, they make up a large part of the informal transaction economies that drive much of trade and commerce across the region.

Women In Africa

A recent Harvard Business Review article summarized a study of over 8000 leaders and found that women outranked men on 17 of 19 leadership skills measuring effectiveness and other competencies.

Women contribute unique insights by virtue and are better at managing resources and people by being more relationship-driven

[Kimberly Mwende](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-mwende-18882590/) is one of many outstanding female leaders coming out of Africa. In 2020, Kim partnered with Untapped Global to become a [water ATM franchisee](https://untapped-global.com/meet-the-entrepreneur-kimberly-mwende-transforming-access-to-purified-water-in-kenya/) and used Untapped’s Smart Asset Financing model to set up a water purification unit using IOT technology providing real-time data on sales and usage. Now with three employees, Kim’s business provides purified drinking water to the residents of Langata, a densely populated working-class neighborhood in Nairobi.

The challenge for women-led ventures in Africa today is a similar one to what female entrepreneurs face across the globe, a lack of access to capital needed to scale due to blind spots traditional investors have in understanding the opportunities that women see.

Reimagining Relationships

The problem is twofold but comes down to who the investors are, and how investments are assessed.

“People told Sarah Blakely that selling stretchy underwear would never work — and she’s built a billion-dollar company over the last decade. Those people in the room making the investment decisions were men.” — Sarah Dusek

Sarah Blakely established Spanx, a business that had initially had trouble raising capital. This is a perfect example of the VC blindspot and brings up the question of what other billion-dollar companies are overlooked?

We see from the numbers that in many cases women are outperforming their male counterparts and companies with more diverse executive leadership profiles perform better. In fact, research from [Kauffman Fellows](https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/wp-content/uploads/KFR_Vol7/Juliana_Garaizar_vol7.pdf)showed that women-led teams generated a 35% higher ROI than all-male teams. These kinds of metrics are interesting to note, but at the heart of it, women really just need access to the same funding and leadership opportunities as men.

When you say women do it better, the perception is that there’s some kind of scarcity, that if you promote women, then men will have less, or there’s less opportunity for men and that’s not the case, there is no scarcity we don’t live in a finite scenario It’s not a case that if women are better men are worse.

While intentionally cheeky as a title, we do agree that it’s not about one gender being better than the other but more about providing opportunities to those that are typically underserved. In other words, investors will be able to support the next “Spanx” only if women are supported as entrepreneurs and investors and given the same access to role models, education, and opportunities that men historically have been given.

Our entrepreneurial role models need to expand, rather than the ego-driven profit and returns above-all-else models we currently look to such as Tesla and Apple, how do we expand the concept of leadership to be more inclusive to the traits that women naturally bring to the table?

Redefining Leadership

From our discussion, some of the traits where women excel include collaboration, relationship building, and a readiness to learn. In general, women are less ego-driven, and when discussing differences in opinion with investors, they are naturally more curious than confrontational. It is no surprise that women value relationships, something that is of utmost importance especially as it relates to strong informal economies that often rely on informal verbal agreements. Trust in a relationship is at the center of each transaction. Lastly, women, particularly young women are ready to learn and quickly apply their new learnings and experiences into their ventures. A key attribute for any innovator.

[Raj Kulasingam](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajkulasingam/), the only man in the panel, pointed out that he continues to broaden his investment portfolio to include more women. In working with other female investors such as [Geetha Tharmaratnam](https://www.forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2019/03/29/the-value-of-investing-in-female-founders/?sh=42e30fd85ee4), CEO and founder at Aequalitas Capital Partners, he’s learned to place more trust in relationships over paper contracts, a key paradigm shift that has taken place as he’s worked with and invested in more women.

In conclusion, Women in Africa do not only do it better, but they are also taking on some of the largest problems humanity is facing today. They deserve to be supported. You can find the replay of our conversation, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd4IomGPWqE).

Our goal at Untapped is to close the funding gap for SMEs in Africa, as women make up a large part of those small and mid-sized entrepreneurs, we are committed to raising awareness around female-led ventures and connecting them to investors around the globe. If you are interested in learning more about our Smart Asset Financing platform, please be sure to [join our community](https://untapped-global.com/engage/) and keep up to date on our latest virtual and in-person events across Africa and the globe.

As part of our ongoing series to highlight entrepreneurs in Africa, we recently hosted a Clubhouse discussion on “Why Women Do it Better: Investing & Entrepreneurship in Africa”. The conversation centered around how women are uniquely suited to entrepreneurship, how they excel at spotting investing opportunities that male investors miss, and the importance of investing in more women-led companies across investment portfolios.

Women Do It Better: Investing and Entrepreneurship in Africa

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If you want to move around Nairobi or Kampala quickly, you need a ‘boda boda’. Boda bodas (or motorcycle taxis) are a unique part of the culture in East Africa’s urban cities, often weaving in and out of traffic dominated by colorful buses and matatus (vans). [According to a study](https://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/boda-boda-economy-defining-streets-Kampala/-/688616/2869756/-/82s1jd/-/index.html) by the Pan-African banking group, Standard Bank, the boda boda industry could be the second largest employer in Uganda after agriculture. In neighbouring Kenya, the industry generates $4 million daily, according to the Motorcycle Assembly Association of Kenya.

![haresh Aswani .webp](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/1*tvjWxwiyJXLL-5rB7wYIQg.jpeg)

Boda bodas are the backbone of public transport in East Africa. They’re cheap, efficient, and address the infrastructural deficits of mobility in both urban and rural geographies. Ride-hailing apps such as [Safe Boda](https://safeboda.com/ug/), [Uber](https://www.uber.com/ke/en/), and [Bolt](https://bolt.eu/en-ke/) have grown in popularity among motorcycle taxi drivers, bringing order, improving safety, and building customer confidence in the informal industry. Not to mention, they also ensure a regular stream of income for the drivers.

In the middle of this vibrant industry is Geoffrey Ndhogezi. Geoffrey has been a motorcycle taxi driver for the past 8 years, only recently switching to an electric motorcycle provided by [Zembo](https://www.zem.bo/), a Ugandan startup that offers electric motorcycles to boda boda drivers and recharges batteries in its solar stations.

Zembo’s safe and high capacity lithium batteries emit no CO2, no particles and no pollution. Instead, the batteries are recharged with solar energy at charging stations across the city. Their battery swap model means that drivers can rent the batteries and replace a discharged battery for a newly charged one in under 2 minutes at the various charging stations — greatly cutting down on driver down-time between profitable trips

Untapped spoke to Geoffrey about e-mobility in Uganda, and his upcoming book on the motorcycle taxi industry.

I’m Geoffrey Ndhogezi born in Jinja, Uganda. I am a family man with three school-going children. I ventured into the motorcycle taxi business eight years ago. Previously, I was a broker, selling fast-moving consumer goods. Sadly, I lost my capital to a robbery which made it difficult to start over in the broker business. I was home for a while contemplating my next move. I had responsibilities to my family such as school fees for my children. My friend recognized that I was in a tough spot and suggested I join the motorcycle business. I was skeptical at first, but I was out of options. My friend lent me his Motorcycle for the first year, and I’ve been driving ever since.

Meet Geoffrey Ndhogezi

Most motorcycle taxi drivers admire it. They think it’s classy, they all want one. Though there are some limiting factors. When I started driving the electric motor taxi, we had two swap stations. This limits our travel distance, because we need the charging stations to charge and swap the solar batteries.

What do other motorcycle drivers think about the electric motorcycle?

Currently we have 14 active charging stations in Kampala, with six more promised in the next two months.

I’ve seen varied reactions, some are excited about it, they think it’s marvellous. Others are skeptical. They want to know why it’s not as noisy as the petrol motorcycles, there’s a lot of curiosity around them.

How have your customers adapted to your new electric motorcycle?

Ultimately the biggest challenge is speed. People who use Boda services are often pressed for time. They want to move from one end of the city to the other in record time. The electric motorcycles travel at speeds of no more than 60km/hr, which many see as a disadvantage — but I think it’s a lot safer.

I think e-mobility is the next big thing in Africa. In the next five years we’ll have more electric motorcycles on the road, not just in Uganda, but on the entire African continent.

What do the next five years look like for you?

I’m currently writing a book about the Boda Boda industry in Uganda, that I hope will be published in the next 1–2 years.

I want to give my readers insight into the social challenges around the boda boda industry, road safety and the changing mobility solutions.

Can you give us a sneak peek into your upcoming book?

Want to hear more from Geoffrey Ndhogezi? Follow him on Twitter [@ndhogezi](https://twitter.com/ndhogezi)

If you want to move around Nairobi or Kampala quickly, you need a ‘boda boda’. Boda bodas (or motorcycle taxis) are a unique part of the culture in East Africa’s urban cities, often weaving in and out of traffic dominated by colorful buses and matatus (vans). According to a study by the Pan-African banking group, Standard Bank, the boda boda industry could be the second largest employer in Uganda after agriculture. In neighbouring Kenya, the industry generates $4 million daily, according to the Motorcycle Assembly Association of Kenya.

Meet The Entrepreneur: Geoffrey Ndhogezi, Ugandan Electric Motorcycle Pioneer

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Since early July, civil unrest, widespread riots and
looting, and new Covid-19 lockdown restrictions have hit
the South African economy hard.
[Amid the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/02/south-africa-unrest-and-covid-measures-are-starting-to-derail-its-economic-recovery.html)
, who handed himself over to the police on July 7 after
being sentenced to 15 months in jail for failing to appear
before an inquiry into corruption, unemployment had
already reached a record high of
[32.6%](https://www.reuters.com/article/safrica-economy-unemployment-idUSL2N2NJ0NV).
That&rsquo;s 7.2 million people without jobs.


With a legacy of apartheid &mdash; South Africa&rsquo;s
infamous institutionalized racial segregation that lasted
from 1948 to the early 1990s &mdash; and a lack of access
to education for many young people, the country has
[the world&rsquo;s most unequal economy](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/africa/south-africa-elections-inequality-intl/index.html)
. However,

its greatest weakness may be its greatest strength

.

Despite the turmoil that South Africa is enduring, its
entrepreneurial ecosystem is pushing forward, thanks to
its multifaceted tech founders and local SMEs being
brought into the formalized economy through
digitization.

Straddling both developed and developing markets, South Africa embodies a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation on the continent and beyond. Currently, South Africa is the highest-ranked startup ecosystem in Africa and has the
[most developed venture capital industry](https://vc4a.com/blog/2018/09/05/vc4a-launching-south-africa-startup-ecosystem-report-the-most-robust-and-developed-on-the-continent/) on the continent. The country&rsquo;s business regulations promote entrepreneurship and innovation, and even [the government is itself a major supporting player in the startup space](https://www.occstrategy.com/media/1295/tech-entrepreneurship-ecosystem-in-south-africa.pdf). With over 80 active tech hubs and [the oldest incubator on the continent](https://vc4a.com/blog/2018/09/05/vc4a-launching-south-africa-startup-ecosystem-report-the-most-robust-and-developed-on-the-continent/), South Africa holds a vast and valuable ecosystem for
entrepreneurs and investors.


In May, during Untapped Global’s South Africa showcase, international investors came together in Cape Town, South Africa to meet local founders and learn about the startup landscape. The ecosystem’s top players shared their perspectives on the investment opportunities in South Africa and why it’s the ultimate gateway between the African continent and the rest of the world.

The Benefits of Building in a Dual Economy

“Whoever is thinking of investing in South Africa or working here, it’s good for them to know that we sit in the juncture where our tech can go anywhere.”

Thandwefika Radebe, cofounder of [Qwili](https://qwili.africa/), which makes the world&rsquo;s most cost-effective smartphones said: &ldquo;South Africa is very much an outlier on the African continent. We have the structural economics of a developed market, so a lot of solutions built here work in the developed world. We also have a massive developing portion of our market. So whoever is thinking of investing in South Africa or working here, it&rsquo;s good for them to know that we sit in the juncture where our tech can go anywhere.&rdquo;


![Thandwefika Radebe, Cofounder of Qwili](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/0*rq5wLHFUvE2YKz2a)
Thandwefika Radebe, Cofounder of Qwili

South Africa&rsquo;s mature fintech ecosystem also provides advantages to business building. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s really exciting is that because we have such a developed financial services industry, one of the most developed in the world, there&rsquo;s an opportunity to use the local South Africa market as a testbed before scaling and expand internationally,&rdquo; says Allison Collier, managing director of
[Endeavor South Africa](https://endeavor.co.za/), which supports and accelerates the growth of high-impact entrepreneurs in the country.


Beyond financial benefits, South Africa offers investors an opportunity to see their impact at a local level.

Zachariah George, veteran investor and managing partner at [Launch Africa](https://www.launchafrica.vc/), left Wall Street to come to South Africa 11 years ago. He wanted to explore using venture capital as a means of creating social, economic, and environmental change across the continent and saw South Africa as the ideal location to find talent and build.


“Africa is the world’s fastest-growing economy from a consumer purchasing power perspective and a population growth standpoint, and I truly believe that using technology to leapfrog innovation and create social change is one of the early avenues in which we as consumers and producers can create value,” he shares.

The startup community in South Africa isn’t the country’s only economic solution, driven by technology. Small businesses are the backbone of society. While supporting high-tech startups provides jobs and leads to innovation, financing SMEs plays a vital role for people outside of the tech sector. That’s why in addition to connecting investors to the South African startup scene, Untapped Global invests in small businesses that aren’t normally included in the formalized economy. By providing these businesses hard-to-finance equipment that can be managed remotely, we connect them to funding from investors around the world through our digital investment platform. It’s a form of venture debt that’s uniquely adapted to Africa’s rapidly digitizing, high-growth economy.

Powering The Broader Economy

The township business ecosystem of Nyanga outside of Cape Town is a perfect example. Untapped portfolio company, [Paygas](https://paygas.africa/), empowers local entrepreneurs while providing affordable energy to low-income households there and creating a ripple effect: partnering with the local neighborhood retailer Pick n Pay, co-located Paygas stations make it easier and more affordable for local customers to buy cooking gas, the Pick n Pay store owner sees more traffic at her business, and entrepreneurs who run fuel-dependent businesses from their homes are more productive. Untapped&rsquo;s alternative investing instrument &mdash; [Smart Asset Financing](https://untapped-global.com/process/#smart) &mdash; helps companies like PayGas scale quickly so they can serve more customers. Access to the right kind of capital for scaling up is one of the key blockers for innovative, digital businesses emerging across Africa and other growth markets, and we are directly addressing this massive gap in the market.


“ Access to the right kind of capital for scaling up is one of the key blockers for innovative, digital businesses emerging across Africa and other growth markets, and we are directly addressing this massive gap in the market.”

Regarding Untapped&rsquo;s investing model, Paygas COO, [Natalia Guida Giampietr](https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-guida-giampietri-72887998?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAABTGF9ABkIjI5a1VZuFRKoFum0j4SDxB8bM), said: &ldquo; For Paygas, it&rsquo;s a great model because it&rsquo;s based on asset financing. We heard so much about having to be diluted, having to give away equity, and that&rsquo;s not what we want. We want to keep our capital as it is, so Smart Asset Financing makes sense for us. It&rsquo;s our baby. We need to develop it.&rdquo;


![Paygas COO](https://miro.medium.com/max/2400/0*4elm9xRm79VKLbuh)
Paygas COO, Natalia Guida Giampietr, Untapped Global CEO, Jim Chu, and Tubi CEO Farhad Massoudi


In a time when headlines characterize a country as the epicenter of political unrest and destruction, it&rsquo;s clear that there&rsquo;s always more to the story. There are entrepreneurs creating jobs and keeping society running. There are startups providing solutions where there once were none. There are local SMEs collaborating and driving business to one another. As our friend Thandwefika Radebe says, &ldquo;When developing tech in emerging markets, it is the difference between life and death in a lot of cases. That tech is the infrastructure we need to progress. So to an investor who&rsquo;s wanting to invest in Africa, it&rsquo;s simple. Why is tech so important and why could tech be so big on the African continent? It&rsquo;s purely because there are 1.2 billion people that need that infrastructure because it doesn&rsquo;t exist today.&rdquo; By 2050, 1.2 billion will be over 2 billion. Re-inventing how we get much-needed capital to these 2 billion people [using tech] is an opportunity and challenge for all of us.&rdquo;

The Light In The Dark

Since early July, civil unrest, widespread riots and looting, and new Covid-19 lockdown restrictions have hit the South African economy hard. Amid the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma, who handed himself over to the police on July 7 after being sentenced to 15 months in jail for failing to appear before an inquiry into corruption, unemployment had already reached a record high of 32.6%. That’s 7.2 million people without jobs.

Why South Africa Is The Ideal Economic Bridge Between Africa And The Rest Of The World

Small businesses are the backbone of every economy. But in many emerging markets, small businesses are left out from financing.

The game is changing. Digitization is creating an unprecedented opportunity to reinvent how small businesses get money -- and grow -- in frontier markets like those in Africa.

We developed a digital platform called Smart Asset Financing to put hard-to-finance equipment in the hands of entrepreneurs, who then use it to grow their businesses in clean water, energy, and mobility.

We use technology to keep your money safe and created an investment platform to make it easy and rewarding for investors to invest in small entrepreneurs in multiple industries, geographies, and currencies, all in one place.

Introduction to Untapped 2022

Introducing the Untapped Team

Welcome to the Untapped South Africa Showcase

Untapped South Africa Showcase -2021

A South African founder and a Silicon Valley investor get into a Tesla, watch what happens next!

Startup Caraoke Featuring Jim Chu and Tinashe Ruzane, CEO at Flexclub

Startup Caraoke Featuring Paul Hainsworth, VP Product Chia Network

Startup Caraoke Featuring Jim Chu & Tayo Oviosu, CEO Paga

A Nigerian Fintech founder and a SiliconValley investor get into a Tesla. Watch what happens next!

WebSummit 2021 Inclusive Finance

"We're seeing a revolutionary shift in how we do finance in emerging markets."

Untapped X Gluwa: Expanding Financial Access

Jim Chu, CEO and Founder at Untapped joined Toby Bromet, Editor at Gluwa to chat about investing in emerging markets (and why you should get in on it!), what open finance can do for real world assets, and how the Gluwa & Untapped partnership is set to change who invests and how they invest!

Untapped x Dream VC

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I worked in tech for twenty years before the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti in 2010. Like many stories in developing markets begin, I wanted to help, so I traveled there to volunteer and provide safe water to the displaced. After seeing billions of dollars of charity achieve few lasting results, I realized that sustainable change would only happen if local entrepreneurs lead the way. This led me to launch a social business that today serves thousands of Haitians safe drinking water via a local entrepreneur-led distribution network of over 700 small retailers across the island.

Coming full circle 11 years later — dloHaiti, the social business I founded, is still providing the safe drinking water that I ventured to Haiti to deliver back in 2010, but in a way that is far more sustainable and empowering for the local economy. The 100% Haitian local team at dloHaiti were some of the first to deliver aid to the South of Haiti after the most recent 7.2-magnitude earthquake, and they did it all by themselves. Now they are setting up permanent infrastructure in Les Cayes managed by local entrepreneurs. Taking these lessons with me, the real story is only just beginning.

Untapped is the globalization of what we started in Haiti. I created Untapped specifically to address the problems I saw in Haiti’s aid and development effort in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake — to empower people to help themselves. To do that, we had to overcome a major hurdle we discovered as we tried to grow our business: the capital to grow our company wasn’t available simply because of where we were operating.

![Untapped Story](https://content.untapped-global.com/uploads/Untapped_Story_2_51ccb47d6c.jpeg)

![Untaoppd story](https://content.untapped-global.com/uploads/Untaoppd_story_3_9e6bbf7070.jpeg)

According to the World Bank, the financing gap for micro-, small-, and medium-sized businesses in developing countries is $5.2 trillion. This gap is hard to fill because financing small businesses the conventional way — with lots of collateral and legal work — only makes sense for big pots of money or those who already have the wealth.

We created Smart Asset Financing™ to put equipment in the hands of entrepreneurs who don’t fit the VC model, and don’t have access to traditional loans or grants while giving investors around the world the opportunity to invest directly in life-changing, economy-boosting innovations — and make money while doing it.

Read more about this often unrecognized opportunity in [this article](https://www.boston.untapped-global.com/insights/the-5_2-trillion-vc-blindspot) about the $5.2 Trillion VC Blindspot. I’ve been investing in emerging markets for the past twenty years. I’m dedicating the next thirty to getting everyone else excited about it, too.

We know that Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia are the future of profitable and impactful investing. Anyone already investing and building here knows how many lives can change for the better, if there was just enough money to do it…

The money exists. The talent and potential exist. We will bridge the gap.

The Story Behind Untapped

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Consumption of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as propane gas or cooking gas, is lower in Africa and other emerging markets due to affordability, low safety standards, and easy access to solid fuels such as kerosene, wood, and charcoal. In Kenya, there are over 1500 kerosene dispensing points in Nairobi alone, with most people estimated to live within a 50–200 meter walk from a charcoal vendor. However, LPG consumption in Africa has continued to grow each year. In Kenya, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) report indicates that LPG consumption has grown exponentially from 77,000 tonnes in 2007 to 400,000 tonnes in 2020. Founded by Bernard Rono in 2018, Mama Gas is an EPRA-licensed LPG wholesaler & retailer leveraging last-mile delivery service for cooking gas in Kenya.

![Mama Gas](https://content.untapped-global.com/uploads/Mama_Gas_2_63bdba1a74.webp)
A Mama Gas rider delivering cooking gas in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2016, the Kenyan government lowered tax on LPG. This, in addition to the establishment of an exchange pool that allowed customers to exchange different LPG cylinders from any point of sale, increased cooking gas consumption in the country. It also led to the establishment of an informal gas cylinder supply chain. Traditionally, mainstream brand owners such as Total Energies served as the main point of sale for cooking gas, often selling out of their petrol stations. However, they could not keep up with the convenience brought on by informal gas traders, which included small kiosks and ‘mom and pop’ shops located within residential areas, retailing cooking gas in small stocks. Additionally, these kiosks combined selling cooking gas with Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) products such as cooking oil, rice, and other home products and enabled remote ordering and delivery using applications like WhatsApp.

Impact

The industry’s unprecedented growth outpaced policy, leading to unscrupulous independent gas refillers mixing unsafe gas and often selling counterfeits that put consumers’ lives in danger. Gas explosions have been reported across Kenya, including a gas explosion in August 2018 resulting in the death of a 2-year-old boy. Mama Gas is an innovative startup solving these challenges for its customers in Kenya. “I saw an opportunity in the market to provide clean cooking gas while working directly with trusted suppliers, and delivering to homes,” says Mama Gas CEO Bernard Rono. “The idea behind MamaGas was simple: we wanted to build a central distribution center where customers could conveniently purchase clean, safe cooking gas.” Mama Gas started as an online B2C business selling clean cooking gas to homes before quickly scaling to B2B, supplying wholesale cooking gas to hotels and restaurants in Nairobi. Today, Mama Gas is an online last-mile delivery business and fulfilment center for LPG gas and FMCG products in Nairobi, enabling its customers access, safety, and convenience.

![Mama Gas team](https://content.untapped-global.com/uploads/Mama_Gas_4_3c0b3ba23a.webp)
The Mama Gas team and their in-house motorcycle riders who deliver cooking gas across Nairobi.

According to Untapped Global Investment Officer Caitlin Craig, “Mama Gas drew in our team from our first conversation with Bernard. He has an energy and excitement for his business that, as investors, we love to see.” Mama Gas’s cooking gas refill business offers a service that has the potential for massive scale, targeting a large B2C demographic and moving aggressively into B2B. “It’s all because they’re utilizing multiple sales channels and going where their customers are,” says Caitlin. Through Untapped’s Smart Asset Financing, Mama Gas has steadily increased its customer base and now supplies businesses, schools, and hospitals. “Untapped’s investment allowed us to pilot into restaurants and include FMCG products in our offering,” says Bernard. “Initially, we were scratching the surface, we’d have one cylinder, and if someone ordered four cylinders, we’re done! But now we own stock. We’re not relying on a third party, and we have stock on demand when our customers need it.”

Smart Asset Financing with Mama Gas

Mama Gas started as an online B2C business selling clean cooking gas to homes before quickly scaling to B2B, supplying wholesale cooking gas to hotels and restaurants in Nairobi. Today, Mama Gas is an online last-mile delivery business and fulfilment center for LPG gas and FMCG products in Nairobi, enabling its customers access, safety, and convenience.

Untapped Insights

Access the potential in emerging markets today