Crazy Wisdom
What is it like to succeed when 290 investors tell you no? - Benjamin Fernandes: CEO of NALA
- Money & Sovereignty
- Entrepreneurship & Startups
- startup funding
- african tech
- y combinator
- fintech
- emerging markets
- entrepreneurship
- venture capital
About this episode
Here I talk with Benjamin Fernandes about how he pitched 290 investors before finally getting into Y Combinator. We also talk about the startup scene in Tanzania compared to Africa as a whole. By the time they got into YC Benjamin had way more traction than most of the other companies in their batch and this has to do with starting the company in Tanzania and focused on the African market. This makes a startup highly underestimated but also that's where the reward is if one does make it!
Follow Benjamin here
Episode transcript
In YC history, there's been 35 African companies. 33 of them still exist today, which is really impressive. And I think that tells you because most of the African companies that get into YC have a tracker, have. I mean, I think the bar is set that's even higher for us to get in. So even when we got in, in my batch, I would say we were one of the companies that had way more progress and traction than almost everybody in our batch, I think probably the most. And so it felt like we got into yc, quote, unquote, late, you know, versus, like, other people, like Idea Stage or like, hey, we've got some prototype working. I'm like, no, we have. And we're moving this much money and these many users are transacting every day. It was a lot harder. So I think in terms of building a company in Tanzania, really hard for tech talent.
Welcome to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast. My guest today was Benjamin Fernandez, and Benjamin runs Nala Money, a company based out of Tanzania, Africa. I am really, really excited to get this interview to you because it is right on point for what I thought I was going to find and also a lot of things I didn't think I was going to find about how different it is to do business and, well, do startup business outside of Silicon Valley and the changing nature of technology business outside of Silicon Valley. And I think you'll really enjoy this one. If you have an interest in the globe, but you don't really know the. The details and the facts on the ground. This is why I love doing podcasts, because I can reach out to somebody in Tanzania, Benjamin, for example, and find
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