Builders by Joe Kinvi - My First Newsletter and Why

Dear builder,

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve tinkered about starting a newsletter for two reasons:

1. Share more opportunities we come across with a broader community

2. Share more about what I’m building regularly

I initially thought about calling this newsletter founder, but it wasn’t quite fitting to what I envisaged the content of this newsletter to be. So I landed on builders because we are all building something anytime. Some of us are building companies, all of us are building our lives, and others are building their careers, family,  and wealth. The list of what we are all building is relatively infinite.

An intro is required for those confused about who I may be and why you are receiving this email. I hope you’ve at least watched the video at the top of this email by the time you read this. Well, my name is Joe Kinvi, and I’m mostly known to be one of the co-founders of HoaQ, so if you previously submitted a pitch deck to us or received investment from the HoaQ community, I think this newsletter would be useful. If not, you can unsubscribe right below.

About this newsletter

This newsletter will be every first Saturday of each month starting from February 2024. I’ll try to do ten bullet points I think could be helpful to you. It could be from job opportunities, funding opportunities, events, or books I’ve found interesting. The ideal audience is anyone building in Africa, for Africa, or who is part of the African diaspora.

While I’ll try not to pitch you anything here, I'm sure companies will probably reach out and use this newsletter to promote whatever they are selling. I’ll be highly selective with the things and companies I promote here.

I hope this gives you enough information about this newsletter, and if you find it interesting and think it could be useful to any builder, kindly share it with them.

If you have anything you think would be useful to any builder across Africa or the Diaspora, drop me an email: [email protected]

1. What I’m currently building

   I’m building a platform that we would like to be the go-to multi-asset investment platform for investment communities and groups. We are wrapping up the beta and have been testing with the HoaQ Community. We’ve also built Raise, a product for founders to raise from their friends and family. I will share more about it in the next newsletter.

2. A company I’m excited about - Loopify 360

   I met the founders of Loopify a couple of times, and while I haven’t used the product personally, I have heard great testimonies from people who have used it. Loopify is an all-in-one AI-powered marketing platform designed specifically for SMEs.

   You can find out more about it at app.loopify360.com.

3. Event(s) you should know about - Africa Tech Summit (ATS) Nairobi - Feb 14-15, 2024.

   

   ATS is one of the biggest conferences across the continent, and the Nairobi edition is happening in exactly two weeks. If you are around and bump into me, say hi!

   Talking about events, Anthony publishes a new list of all the events on the continent here. Get it in your inbox by subscribing to his monthly newsletter here.

4. Looking for interns? The Yale Africa Innovation Symposium (YAIS) can help you.

   The Yale Africa Innovation Symposium (YAIS) is an annual two-day conference that brings together young, bright minds and seasoned African field experts to dissect complex issues and craft resolutions across various African industries. This year’s symposium is scheduled to take place from the 1st-2nd March, 2024, on Yale's campus in New Haven, Connecticut. It will comprise a 2-day innovation symposium, a networking extravaganza, and a cultural gala (including a live artist performance) centred on the African continent. If (any part of) this project piques your interest, please contact Chriss Tuyishime, YAIS II Chief Business Officer, at [email protected].

5. Programs you should apply for…

   1. The mint - By Sheel Mohnot and the btv.vc team - If you are building a fintech, this is the pre-seed program to apply for.

   2. MSIVL by Morgan Stanley - I’m not sure when this opens, but it's also worth keeping an eye on to apply. Yewande and I will be attending the demo day for the 2023 cohort next week.

6. Companies that are currently hiring…

   Brass - Jobs page

   Chowdeck - Jobs Page

   Paystack - Jobs Page 

   Pade - Brands Designer and Customer Engagement Specialist
   Spleet - Intelligence and Customer Expansion Agent (ICE)

   If you are a HoaQ Portco founder and want to share roles for future newsletters, please email me.

7. People you should meet: Precious Oyelade 🎉 

   Precious has worked with hundreds of early-stage founders (literally!!!) across Africa & Europe and views tech as a force for economic transformation. At Google for Startups, she led the Black Founders Fund programme, equipping founders with the tools to unlock $200m+ in follow-on funding. A community builder, she led Seedcamp's 400+ European founder community and launched the inaugural Wimbart Office Hours program for African startups. Now, she leverages her strategic acumen to forge connections across the ecosystem, seeking angels, operators, and investors to identify more cross-border opportunities to accelerate the development of the African ecosystem. She will be at ATS in Nairobi this February so whether you are a founder, an investor or anyone in between, I strongly recommend connecting with her!

8. Good news! Aster closed a $2.4M pre-seed round and is hiring!
   

   

   The Aster team led by Fifi just closed a $2.4M pre-seed and is looking for engineers! Aster enables women's health providers to manage patient care better and reach people where they are, in their homes. #blackgirlmagic 👏 👏

9. Podcasts I enjoyed listening to…

   1. The flip - The interview with Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede is excellent.

   2. Grinder’s table - I was a guest, but I also enjoyed Seyi’s episode.

10. Our Syndicate - HoaQ

    We invest in founders building for Africa and the Diaspora. We have invested in 98 companies so far across ten countries. Check us out here.

If you got this far and enjoyed reading this, please share it with anyone it could be useful to.

Thanks for reading.

Joe