Breakout 1
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Saturday
|
9:00 am
Aldrich 107

Entrepreneurship and Impact: Building sustainable businesses to solve Africa’s most pressing challenges

For too long, philanthropy and traditional nonprofits have been the primary avenues for empowering communities across Africa. This panel will explore how entrepreneurship can serve as a transformative tool to drive lasting impact without relying on handouts. Bringing together impact investors, entrepreneurs, and VCs, we will discuss strategies to build sustainable, scalable enterprises that transcend borders and create real change across the continent. Attendees will hear firsthand from investors and founders on the trade-offs and synergies between profitability and purpose.

Entrepreneurship and Impact: Building sustainable businesses to solve Africa’s most pressing challenges

For too long, philanthropy and traditional nonprofits have been the primary avenues for empowering communities across Africa. This panel will explore how entrepreneurship can serve as a transformative tool to drive lasting impact without relying on handouts. Bringing together impact investors, entrepreneurs, and VCs, we will discuss strategies to build sustainable, scalable enterprises that transcend borders and create real change across the continent. Attendees will hear firsthand from investors and founders on the trade-offs and synergies between profitability and purpose.

America/New_York
Feb 15, 2025 9:00 AM
Aldrich 107

Other Sessions

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Keynotes
Saturday
|
10:30 am
Klarman Auditorium
Morning Keynote: The AfCFTA Opportunity: Is Africa Ready to Unleash a New Era of Trade?
This panel explores strategies to overcome challenges and accelerate AfCFTA’s impact for a unified, competitive African market.
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Morning Keynote: The AfCFTA Opportunity: Is Africa Ready to Unleash a New Era of Trade?

With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) set to transform Africa’s economic landscape, the potential for intra-African trade is immense. However, realizing this promise requires overcoming political, infrastructural, and logistical hurdles. This panel will examine lessons from other regions and outline concrete strategies to accelerate AfCFTA’s impact, fostering a truly integrated and competitive African market

America/New_York
Feb 15, 2025 10:30 AM
Klarman Auditorium
More Info
Keynotes
Saturday
|
2:45 pm
Klarman Auditorium
Governance & Economic Transformation, a conversation with former VP H.E. Mahamudu Bawumia
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia discusses Ghana’s digital transformation, economic growth, and lessons for Africa’s future.
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Governance & Economic Transformation, a conversation with former VP H.E. Mahamudu Bawumia

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana’s former Vice President, led the country’s digital and economic transformation. In this fireside chat, he will reflect on Ghana’s progress and its lessons for Africa, touching on digitalization, job creation, regional integration, and governance. The session will conclude with an audience Q&A.

America/New_York
Feb 15, 2025 2:45 PM
Klarman Auditorium
More Info
Lunches
Saturday
|
12:45 pm
Batten Hives 304
Nala: Building Africa’s Next Fintech Titan
Join Benjamin Fernandes for a raw, behind-the-scenes look at building and scaling a fintech in Africa.
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Nala: Building Africa’s Next Fintech Titan

Building a fintech company that reshapes how money moves across Africa—and beyond—is no easy feat. The challenges go far beyond the headlines. Few succeed in this market. To scale, you need more than a great idea—you need resilience, sacrifice, and relentless determination.

How do you convince Silicon Valley investors to back an African startup? What does it take to challenge the status quo in the global financial system? And what are the real, behind-the-scenes battles of building something that truly lasts?

Benjamin Fernandes, Founder & CEO of NALA, has lived it all—and he’s here to tell the unfiltered truth.

Born and raised in Tanzania, Benjamin first made his mark as a national television personality. But he had bigger ambitions. Earning scholarships that took him to the U.S., he became the youngest African ever admitted to the MBA program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Yet instead of climbing the corporate ladder or staying in Silicon Valley, he took the harder road—building a company that would transform how Africans send and receive money across borders.

That company is NALA. What started as a simple remittance app has grown into one of Africa’s most ambitious fintech ventures. Today, NALA powers seamless, low-cost payments from the U.S. and Europe into Africa, cutting through the inefficiencies of the global financial system. Now, with a $40 million oversubscribed Series A funding round, and a Forbes cover story to match, NALA is expanding beyond remittances—building its own payment rails, launching a B2B platform (Rafiki), and setting its sights on global markets, including Asia and Latin America.

In this rare, behind-the-scenes conversation, Benjamin will pull back the curtain on the real journey—the wins, the losses, the breakthroughs, and the breakdowns. No filters. No fluff. Just the raw truth of what it takes to build and scale a fintech company in Africa.

If you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or believer in bold ideas and Africa’s unstoppable rise, you won’t want to miss this.

Come for the insights. Stay for the inspiration.

America/New_York
Feb 15, 2025 12:45 PM
Batten Hives 304