What's Your Story

Yanmo Omorogbe is the co-founder and COO of Bamboo, a digital investment platform that gives Nigerians real-time access to buy, sell or hold assets traded on the US stock exchange from their mobile phones or computers.Before becoming COO of Bamboo, Yanmo worked at the Ministry of Power in Nigeria and then worked at an infrastructure investment firm. After struggling to purchase stocks and other assets from Nigeria, she and her co-founder decided to try and fix that problem.In 2019, they launched Bamboo, and in 2022, raised $17 million in their Series A round.Learn more about the company here: investbamboo.com

Akua Nyame-Mensah is a leadership advisor, certified executive and leadership coach (ICF), recognized L&D facilitator, speaker, and host of the Open Door Conversations Podcast.As a former startup executive, she launched an online platform for the first African-based technology group unicorn, Jumia GroupAkua has had the opportunity to live and work in the U.S., Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa and has consulted in and visited over 30 countries worldwide. She now partners with multinational organizations and high-growth startups to design and implement leadership experiences and immersions virtually and in person worldwide. Outside of her coaching and corporate speaking engagements, she is a regular mentor, coach, and judge for various entrepreneurship-focused organizations, including Stanford Seed, Google for Startups, Arlan's Academy, Founders Institute, Seedstars, African Business Heroes, FemGems, and The Women's Impact Alliance (formerly The Coaching Fellowship). Open Door Conversations Podcast Link: https://www.akuanm.com/podcastPeopleBeforeStrategy Roundtable: https://www.akuanm.com/roundtablePrefered Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akuanm/

Jorge Appiah is a Ghanaian technopreneur and is the founder of the tech hub called Kumasi Hive and also the EV company SolarTaxi.Jorge founded Kumasi Hive after his university studies which brought in people who had an interest in engineering and making hardware. Later on, with a passion for creating net zero projects, he founded an EV company called Solar Taxi, which manufactures and assembles electric vehicles in Ghana. The company is currently on a path to build EV vehicles locally with the acquisition of a license from the government to assemble vehicles locally in Ghana.

Sylvia Brune is currently the CEO at pawaPass, an inclusive verification platform for Africans that enables access to services using biometrics that can be captured on any smartphoneSylvia started her entrepreneurial journey when she was part of the management team that ran Africa’s first accelerator program, 88mph. The program invested in 45 companies from 2011-2015 across Nairobi and Cape Town, and in Lagos as 440NG, a JV with L5 Labs. She then started to start her own company called AHOY, a concierge flight booking app that empowered frequent travelers with DIY tools and 24/7 support for flight management. She ran the business from 2015 to 2021.She then started pawaPass after AHOY had to be shut down because of COVID. The company is working with brands and companies, helping to increase the number of people who can access opportunities such as remote jobs, online trade, and financial services.Learn more about the company here: pawaPass.com

For our first episode of Season 3, we spoke to Carmelle Cadet. Carmelle is Haitian but grew up in the US after she emigrated. She worked for IBM for 10 years, focusing on payments and blockchain. But she decided to try to make it out her own and decided to start her own company called EMTECH which focuses on Web3 and digital currencies for countries including Ghana.She raised $4 million from Venture Capitalists in 2023 and is currently on a mission to make digital currencies for multiple countries a reality.Learn more about EMTECH on their website and their mission: emtech.com

It's been a while but we're back! Brand new episodes of What's Your Story will be debuting in March. So stay tuned.Also, please subscribe to our other podcast show, the "Labari Media" podcast where we do interviews with different folks from different sectors in Ghana and Africa.Check out all our shows here: techlabari.com/podcasts