Podcast appearances and mentions of viola llewellyn

Viola Llewellyn is the president and co-founder of Ovamba Solutions, a fintech startup working on financing products for the trade and commodities sectors in Africa and other developing markets. Ovamba works as an ecosystem that helps African businesses with short-term financing and enables sharia-compliant funding structures.We discuss the origin story of Ovamba, how it got its first users and funding, and the meeting of its co-founders - Viola and Marvin Cole. Viola shares her valuable insights into the intricacies of financing the commodities market in Africa and building unique data sets that are based on inventory and asset movement in relation to people.We also talk about who the customers of Ovamba are - from banks in Africa to international institutions looking to finance projects on the continent. Viola shares her plans for the future of Ovamba, including possible expansion to other regions like the Middle East or Latin America.Viola and Greg speak on the importance of blockchain technology, tokenization, and cryptocurrency in streamlining the growth and movement of assets and commodities in emerging markets. Viola also shares her thoughts on the situation of black female entrepreneurs and on making the startup ecosystem more inclusive.

Episode #29 with Lanre Aina who is Co-founder and CEO of ATHLST, a digital sports news and content studio. AHLST works closely with African athletes to transform their personal stories into immersive and impactful content that resonate with sports fans worldwide. In an era where there's a convergence of entertainment, sports, and culture, the African athlete is 62-65% less likely than his/her American or European counterpart to have their stories told by way of op-ed, documentary or film. ATHLST intends to change that, and in the process meet the news and branding needs of African athletes ensuring that they take control of their own narrative, and by extension, expand their presence and deepen their relevance in sports. What We Discuss With Lanre AinaWhat are the risks of allowing others to tell Africa's story, and why is it important for Africa to tell its own?What is driving the rise in the number of Africans wanting to tell the African story?What are some of the challenges in licencing an African documentary to streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon?How did you go about creating a value chain and ecosystem that allows you to create high-quality African content?And much more...Full show notes and resources can be found here: Unlocking Africa show notesDid you miss my previous episode where I discuss Changing the Financial Landscape of Africa by Creating a New Microfinance Model for the Continent with Viola Llewellyn? Make sure to check it out!Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps!Connect with Terser on LinkedIn at TerserAdamu, and Twitter @TerserAdamuConnect with Lanre on LinkedIn at LanreAina, and Twitter @lanreainaSupport the showDo you want to do business in Africa? Explore the vast business opportunities in African markets and increase your success with ETK Group. Connect with us at www.etkgroup.co.uk or reach out via email at info@etkgroup.co.uk

Episode #28 with Viola Llewellyn who is president and co-founder of Ovamba Solutions, which is an award winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies for Banks and Central Banks so that they can serve emerging market SMEs with innovative Sharia compliant trade finance products.Ovamba's "BankPartner Innovations" combine ERP & CRM with, eCommerce, logistics services, and proprietary algorithms and short term capital to drive financial inclusion and promote growth. What We Discuss With Viola LlewellynWhat is the importance of the TradeTech industry in Africa? What role can it play in the development of African economies?Despite a clear need, not enough businesses in Africa use banks to gain access to capital, particularly SMEs. What is the reasoning behind this?How can we remove systemic barriers for African SMEs and contribute to the creation of a wealth-creating ecosystem?How is Ovamba bridging Africa's trade finance gap?And much more...Full show notes and resources can be found here: Unlocking Africa show notesDid you miss my previous episode where I discuss How Africa Can Leverage the Diaspora's Untapped Wealth and Power for Future Development with Charles Sekwalor? Make sure to check it out!Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps!Connect with Terser on LinkedIn at TerserAdamu, and Twitter @TerserAdamuConnect with Viola on LinkedIn at ViolaLlewellyn, and Twitter @Ovamba4SMEsSupport the showDo you want to do business in Africa? Explore the vast business opportunities in African markets and increase your success with ETK Group. Connect with us at www.etkgroup.co.uk or reach out via email at info@etkgroup.co.uk

In Season 2 of Tech Reimagined we've explored some of the big questions around technology and the many ways it influences the industries that are impacting our daily lives. And it has been really insightful to do so with all these amazing guests: Imma Martinez, Brian McBride, Sarah Thomas, Guy Kawasaki, Tom Gruber, John Buyers, Joe Dunleavy, Alex Hunter, Merri Williams, Dave Coplin, Matt Bonetti, Viola Llewellyn, Mark Manley. A huge thank you to all of you for taking the time to join us and our listeners.   Until July we leave you with this mash-up of some of our favourite moments from Season 2. Enjoy! 

Is women's economic empowerment linked to their access to knowledge of technology? Viola Llewellyn answers this and many other insightful questions on this week's episode of Tech Reimagined.

Viola Llewellyn is the CEO OF Ovamba Solutions Inc, an award-winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies to serve formal and informal African SMEs in the trade & commodities sectors. Ovamba's solutions combine innovative Sharia compliant structures with eCommerce, logistics services, and technology to drive financial inclusion and promote growth. Our converation with Viola begins with her journey back to Africa, reshaping her narrative about the continent and loving it for what it is, while she still pursued what she wanted it to become. We spoke about how embracing our problems can be the gateway to innovating solutions to them, with Ovamba finding ways to redefine commerce in underserved Islamic communites. Viola talks about the imperative of high achieving women to find support from the men in their lives, and how she found that first in her dad, and then her husband. We discuss our penchant for moderacy as Africans, and why should be unrepentent about our ambition. It's conversation about introspection, women empowerment, education, mentorship and a whole lot more. Consider supporting our fundraiser to build a mini home studio to improve the listening experience of the podcast via the link attached if you enjoyed this episode. bit.ly/fundCAPod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 In this 20th Episode of BAM Podcast,  the guest interviewed is Viola Llewellyn,  the co-founder and President of Ovamba Solutions, Inc.  Ovamba Solutions Inc. is  an award winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies for Financial Institutions. Ms. Llewellyn was listed in the “Digital Undivided Report” as one of only 34* Black women in the USA to have raised more than $1 million for a technology company as featured in the April issue of Vanity Fair Magazine. She is listed on Innovate Finance's 2016, 2017 & 2018 “Women in FinTech Power List”, and on “Latice80's Top 100 Women in Fintech 2019” (https://www.lattice80.com/top100-women-in-fintech-2019/) list. Ms. Llewellyn is further distinguished by being the first Female African Tech Founder to speak at both “Slush”, Helsinki and “Slush, Tokyo” – yearly events that are billed as the biggest gathering of innovators, funders, startups and entrepreneurs in Europe and Asia respectively. In late 2018, her TED Talk was included as part of the “Reboot” Series with Boston Consulting Group. Ms. Llewellyn is a published author of the The Brooking's Institute's “Foresight Africa 2019” article, ‘Winning in Africa's FinTech: The Ovamba Way' https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/02/26/winningin-africas-fintech-the-ovamba-way/, and the Wilson Centers' “Africa: Year In Review 2019” https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/africa-year-review-2019.In this Episode, Ms Llewellyn shares the following,- How she wanted to be a Genetic Engineer at age 9- How she got a head start with her career at fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Unisys, KPMG, e.t.c.- How she and her business partner started Ovamba solutions and focused on the African market.-  How Ovamba's solutions combine innovative Sharia compliant structures with eCommerce, logistics, and business services to drive financial inclusion and promote growth.- The challenges of starting up in Africa while living in the US and the major role her team has been playing in moving the business forward- How Ovamba solutions has grown over the last 8 years   - The challenges of being a woman in tech.- She finally shares advise entrepreneurial advice.Visit Ovamba Solutions' WebsiteOvamba.comAbout Beyond Africa Magazine (BAM)Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin: @beyondafricamagazineTwitter: @beyondafricamagWebsite: www.beyondafricamagazine.comhttps://bampodcast.buzzsprout.com/ 

In this episode, we sit down with Viola Llewellyn, President & Co-Founder of Ovamba Solutions. Ovamba is an award-winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies for Banks and Central Banks so that they can serve emerging market SMEs with innovative Sharia compliant trade finance products. Viola discusses all things FinTech, how she helps African businesses with disaster planning, and dives into her passion for women leaders. TalentintheCloud's Website: https://talentinthecloud.io/TalentintheCloud's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talentinthecloud/Viola Llewellyn's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vallewellyn/Ovamba's Website: https://www.ovamba.com/Stacey Japhta's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyjaphta/

Viola Llewellyn is the co-founder and President of Ovamba Solutions. Ovamba is an award winning African “FinTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies to serve African SMEs with innovative Sharia compliant finance products, eCommerce, and logistics services to promote growth. Ovamba's technology gives global accredited and institutional investors the opportunity to invest in the fast-growing African private sector.

Viola Llewellyn is the co-founder and president of Ovamba Solutions, Inc. She oversees innovation, strategic implementation, investor communications, and business development. digital undivided included her as one of only 34 black women in the US to have raised more than US$1 million for a technology company. She is a TED speaker and has been lauded as a Global Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Recently she was listed in LATTICE80’s Top 100 Women in Fintech 2019. Her family is from the Central African republic of Cameroon.  She was born and educated in the UK and lives between Africa and the US.    “Oh, this is a great idea. (At least) 1.1 billion human beings on the African continent, you guys are rushing in and are doing something that’s not charitable; it’s going to be fantastic. What could possibly go wrong?” Viola Llewellyn, quoting friends, family and supporters   Worst investment ever  Idea to fill African SME funding niche between microfinance and banks   Back in 2013, Viola and her business partner Marvin Cole decided they wanted to create a business that would help African business, that is, SMEs, to get access to capital, so that they could grow. Everyone knows that small businesses need capital to sustain themselves. Africa has microfinance institutions and banks. But the whole new era of peer-to-peer, marketplace lending was just beginning, and the partners hit on the idea to be first movers in the African market to do this. Viola points out that when people start a new venture, no one thinks about failure. The partners also hadn’t seen any models that they could emulate the good and improve on the bad. All they knew was that we were going to create technology, be innovative, find business partners, raise capital, and help these businesses to grow. And they would be the heroes of the continent.   Partners revel in broad support for their finance revolution   To kick things off in 2013, they did a successful friends-and-family raising and spoke to everyone they knew all of them knew that, “Oh, this is a great idea. 1.1 billion human beings on the African continent, you guys are rushing in are doing something that’s not charitable, it’s going to be fantastic. What could possibly go wrong?” At first, not a lot went wrong at all. It was almost 2014 and there was a new association that was formed to bring all the peer-to-peer platforms together, which was what the partners thought they were. Viola points out that is not what Ovamba does today at all. It is now a marketplace maker that funds businesses that are in the trade sector. It creates and innovates technology to do all of that. So the failure she shared with Andrew was what led to the hugely successful innovation that emerged at end of her tale.   Dynamic duo draws strength from their diverse perspectives   In April 2014, Viola’s business partner (who she says is a great deal more cautious and sensible than she is) says they were going to a big association conference. She recalled her youth here and considers herself very lucky. Viola was unable to attend university because she made what she called one of worst mistakes a young woman can make: getting pregnant while not being married. At the time, her life was derailed but that upheaval put her on her own path to understanding the world from a very different perspective compared that of her business partner, who has an MBA. And because she went into sales and marketing, she loves to jump feet first into anything and figure it out later. She does not believe you need to go systematically from A to Z, as long as you can see the Z.   Marketing activities net big-fish investor at conference  So ahead of the conference, Viola started creating templates and presentations and sent them out to everyone who might be attending. She had a lot of promising responses and apparently everyone was interested to know what the partners were doing.   “A factor about the beginning of either a bubble or a new industry or a new asset class is that everyone jumps in the pool. There are sharks, piranhas, dolphins, and mermaids in the water. They’re all there. Everybody’s trying to find anything to jump onto.”  That includes the start–up community, which is how they were involved. One company was most aggressive and ended up being signed as their first institutional investor. Viola described it has the most beautiful courtship: trips to London, meetings, and all the while, other businesses were also trying to figure out deals.   Failure to ask right questions should have been first alarm  The day came when they started to negotiate the transaction and that was when the first red flag went up. The partners thought they were being clever smart by asking: “Who else has done business with you and how did it go?” And everybody said: “It went fantastically.” But Viola and her partner had failed to ask: “Who went through a cycle of misunderstandings or violations of contract and how was it resolved?” All they could see was the shining end of the journey, so they signed the contract, received an equity investment and were told that they were going to get a large amount of capital to fund all of the businesses on their platform.   All set to reel in US$12m funding for clients and nothing happens  When it was time to get the US$12 million – to fund all of the businesses that they had invested marketing and time in, while promising them and underwriting these transactions, they now had have a pipeline of close to $60-70 million that they were going to fund, all the while expecting returns that were going to skyrocket them all to success – there was silence. The expected funding seemed to evaporate. They would ask the investors: “Hey, where’s that money?” and would get the answer: “Oh, we’re trying to work some things out.” Again: “Hey, where’s that money?” Then they started to see a) individuals leaving the investment company, b) a slowdown in documentation, c) changes in the interest rates that were previously agreed upon, them, d) new clauses that we’re going to put ceilings on the outlays. Suffice to say, after all the demand they had rounded up, and there was literally no money to fund it.   Venture stranded in Africa as it is penniless and unable to keep promises to clients   They were in the middle of Africa. They had billboards up in the streets. They had done a massive amount of press and marketing, putting themselves out there as some kind of new heroes of the fourth industrial revolution. And now they were unable to give out any of the promised funds. The partners were left to scramble, explain, create new reasons, new excuses, and redo their risk parameters. It was an absolute disaster in which they missed their growth window, and instead, had to retract and almost start the company all over again. They had to terminate partnerships and relationships, consolidate situations with the clients they knew were not going to default. It really put a dent in the relationship with their group of clients.   “We’re in the middle of Africa. We’ve got billboards up in the streets. We’ve done all this press and marketing, hailing ourselves as the new heroes of the fourth industrial revolution. And now we can’t give any of that money (to the SMEs we’d promised to allocate it to).”  Personal cost includes great angst and husband’s pension fund  Personally, Viola’s stomach was in knots every night, her pride reduced to near zero. Meanwhile, her husband, who had such great faith in her future success and who had invested from his pension fund to help her build the company, now had to work extra to ensure that as a family, they were not going to end up hungry. Viola is also grateful that she and her business partner were able to maintain a good relationship throughout the crisis.   Immense challenge to face all the let-down people   But she and her business partner had to find new ways socially to deal with the people who had relied on them; hundreds of businesses, connected to as many families, many who had complained that microfinance would not work for them. They also had to face the people who had written articles hailing the venture and its leaders as “the brand new thing”. All of that came to a crashing end. They also had to negotiate a much wider narrative that says African businesses are failures, that black people cannot manage businesses. They had to go back and face everyone and explain what was going on.   Government, big-four accounting firm, gender prejudice throw up extra obstacles  Adding more strife to injury, their asset class was completely new, and the government of the country was unable to understand what they were trying to do and thus went to war with their already embattled business. They also had to go toe-to-toe with a big-four accounting firm in the quest that their start-up venture be given the chance consolidate and stabilize. It was frightening, embarrassing and shameful. And as a woman, some of those parties would also say to Viola: “You’ve got no business being in business here.” She had to fight all of those battles and rescue her pride at the same time. But that was 2015 to 2016. It is 2019 now and Viola reminds listeners of her bio. So she and her business partner went through that valley, which slowed them down considerably, but the light was: “But the great thing out of that is it taught us how to grow organically, with very little support." “The great thing out of that is it taught us how to grow organically, with very little support.” Viola Llewellyn   Some lessons The strength of a future engagement relationship, or even investment, is based on how well you can recover when things go wrong. Never put all your eggs in one basket. When it comes to investment, you have to diversify. That means also that for start–up founders, the first capital raised should be the beginning of the next capital that raised. Viola has come to realize It is very difficult to raise money when you need it. The easiest money to raise is the funds that you don’t need. This Viola says is the bizarre, but very real, paradox in the business of start-ups. “People throw money at people who have money, this is insane.” Viola Llewellyn   Therefore, as an action item, never stop raising capital. It is far better to have the offer of funds and be in a position to say “No” than to be looking around and be unable to find funding, because the desperation makes the seeker a higher risk. When you do equity, and if there is debt that is attached to that, the two should be close together. But if the debt on the contractual basis fails, the equity comes back to you. Sometimes the next back–up plan should be the incremental release of either the pipeline, the opportunity, or the drawdown capital. One cannot throw the entire thing up and say: “This is it. This is the whole lot.” There has to be a process. So that if there is, if you have to cut a piece off, the rest of it is still in place, and you can come through and fund your market. When you’re a start–up, be aware you can be taken over by passion and the dream. And Viola has said the following in every talk she’s given: “No business plan survives contact with the enemy. And the enemy is reality and the marketplace.” Viola says that everything you thought of in your business plan; none of it is true. Investors asking start–ups for their business plan is hilarious. She wonders how a start-up is supposed to know any kind of reality and put it in their business plan, especially when they are the first to market. There are other parameters people should be considering, “and it ‘aint your business plan.”   Andrew’s takeaways Don’t compare your insides with other people’s outsides. Andrew likes this piece of wisdom that wise friend told him a while back because it helped him realize that everyone is in some way drowning in their own cesspool of thoughts and striving to respond to all the difficulties that beset people and everything that’s going on, and that at times, like Viola: “Life is not easy for anyone.” Beware The E-myth. When someone is involved in a start-up business, they succumb to a nearly delusional state that Michael Gerber calls “the entrepreneurial seizure”. All they feel is the passion, the energy, the excitement, and that nothing is ever going to go wrong with their enterprise. Andrew suggests we have to be very careful about that, because it can blind us. We don’t even look at the possibility of the many things that can go wrong in a new business. With trust in your partner/s, it is possible to get through horrendous business crises. While Andrew was listening, he was sure that Viola and her business partner would fall out over the situation, because it was so painful and difficult.   Whenever raising money Never expect that the people you are raising money from have the same objectives as you. Their objectives are different. Don’t ever expect that they’re going to feel the way you do. Once you understand their thinking about things, it will help you. You really don’t know anything about the company or bank that may invest in you. The amount of politics and other matters that happen at a company, or with the people that you’re raising money from, is essentially a mystery. Money can be withdrawn from situations not because the company/people don’t want to invest, it can be just down to some other situation that is occurring within the fund-source company. Whenever you’re doing business with anybody, don’t be afraid to go way beyond what is being given to you as far as recommendations. You never know what you will find out so get recommendations from fans of a company and enemies; check, follow up and try to understand anyone you are about to do business with.   Actionable advice Strive for a level of authenticity in yourself that you can call upon when things go wrong. People can tolerate a bad outcome and forgive you and support you if they see that you have a clear understanding of what is going on. Even if you don’t have a game plan, if those affected can see that you sincerely wish to fix the problem and make sure that other people’s interests are protected, all will be well. The way to do that is to build trust with customers and all stakeholders and maintain transparency throughout any crisis. Be upfront about what is facing everyone.   “That’s what saved us at the end of the day.” Viola Llewellyn   No. 1 goal for next the 12 months To raise capital from good partners and be out in front, leading that process versus having the terms dictated to her and her business partner.   Parting words “The worst thing that will ever happen to you in life is that you will die and we’re all going to die. But before that happens, you better learn to embrace failure because you are only as good as the last thing you recovered from and you get to champion and cheer yourself on. From success to success from loss to recovery. And I love this journey. And I think what you’re doing Andrew is absolutely groovy. This is one of the best podcasts I’ve ever been on.” Viola Llewellyn   You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points    Connect with Viola Llewellyn LinkedIn Twitter Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com  LinkedIn Facebook  Instagram Twitter  YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast   

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There is an interesting juxtaposition in Africa. On the one hand you have incredibly successful mobile payment initiatives like M-Pesa in Kenya and Paga in Nigeria. On the other hand you have most of the 1.1 billion people that are incredibly underserved when it comes to financial services. Small business funding may be one of […] The post Podcast 203: Viola Llewellyn of Ovamba appeared first on Lend Academy.

2018's last in-studio taping of the African Tech Roundup podcast is a two-part affair which guest features the force of nature that is Viola Llewellyn. Viola is the UK-born, Cameroonian Co-founder and President of an award-winning fintech platform called Ovamba. Ovamba relies on proprietary technologies to connect African SMEs to sources of short‐term capital to fund their growth. Viola has spent over 15 years working in the management consulting, technology and alternative finance sectors at firms like of IBM, Unisys, KPMG and Preston Gates Ellis. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of ActivSpaces, AH Partners, the European Women in Payment Network and the International Women’s Think Tank. In this, the second part of Episode 125, Viola joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga to factor in on a “hype vs. reality” themed conversation about the development of Africa’s fintech landscape in 2018. To skip straight to that discussion, head to [40:09] and listen in to hear why Viola is sick and tired with the on-going continent-wide obsession of fintech startups looking to build "last-mile" solutions. Topics discussed in this episode: France's EDF signs deal for USD1.37 billion hydro project in Cameroon [1:26] Cameroonian health-tech entrepreneur Melissa Bime wins the Anzisha Prize [5:04] Benin repeals social media tax [10:57] Novastar Ventures closes USD72.5 million fund for West African Investments [13:17] Ethos announces USD69.8 million AI Fund [14:24} The African Digital Asset Framework (ADAF) is launched [19:35] Econet Group posts great results despite Kwese's poor performance [28:44] Econet and Safaricom not content to stay in their lanes [33:38] African Fintech 2018 Retrospective Discussion [40:09] Resources referenced in this episode: Breaking New Ground In Fintech: A Primer On Revenue Models That Create Value and Build Trust | Omidyar Network and Oliver Wyman (http://bit.ly/OmidyarNetworkFintechReport) Image credit: Tito Pixel

2018's last in-studio taping of the African Tech Roundup podcast is a two-part affair which guest features the force of nature that is Viola Llewellyn. Viola is the UK-born, Cameroonian Co-founder and President of an award-winning fintech platform called Ovamba. Ovamba relies on proprietary technologies to connect African SMEs to sources of short‐term capital to fund their growth. Viola has spent over 15 years working in the management consulting, technology and alternative finance sectors at firms like of IBM, Unisys, KPMG and Preston Gates Ellis. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of ActivSpaces, AH Partners, the European Women in Payment Network and the International Women’s Think Tank. In this, the first part of Episode 125, Viola joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga as they start to factor in on a “hype vs. reality” themed conversation about the development of Africa’s fintech landscape in 2018. Listen in to hear Viola's candid take on the unfortunate current state-of-play in Cameroon’s Anglophone region. Topics discussed in this episode: Nigeria plans to build an additional 18,000km of fibre infrastructure [41:33] Ashish Thakkar of Mara Group announces plans to launch a smartphone brand called Maraphone [46:50] Tanzania vs. journalists [51:29] Anglophone Cameroon crisis update [53:29] Resources referenced in this episode: Nigeria's National Broadband Plan 2013-2018 | Nigerian Presidential Committee on Broadband (http://bit.ly/NigeriaBroadbandPlan2013) A new model of microfinance for Africa, and beyond | TED Institute (http://bit.ly/ViolaLlewellynTEDTalk) The Democratisation of Financial Services | SLUSH (http://bit.ly/ViolaLlewellynSLUSH) 26 Women of Colour Diversifying Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, Media and Beyond | Vanity Fair (http://bit.ly/BlackWomenVanityFair)

The third and last episode of African Tech Roundup's (https://africantechroundup.com) miniseries (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) on digital assets features Viola Llewellyn, the UK-born, Cameroonian Co-founder and President of an award-winning fintech platform called Ovamba. Ovamba leverages proprietary technologies to connect African SMEs to sources of short‐term capital to fund their growth. Viola has spent over 15 years working in the management consulting, technology and alternative finance sectors at firms like of IBM, Unisys, KPMG and Preston Gates Ellis. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of ActivSpaces, AH Partners, the European Women in Payment Network and the International Women’s Think Tank. In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Viola speaks on the importance of finding smart ways to ensure that Africa secures its unique and invaluable IP, touches on the overlooked advantages of adopting Pan-African digital standards for the establishment and trade of assets in various sectors, and sketches the role that Africa’s financial services industry needs to play in helping us all thrive in an increasingly digital world. Editorial Disclaimer: Raise (https://getraise.io) is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, which is part of an African Tech Roundup miniseries focused on digital assets. Raise is a founding member of the African Digital Asset Framework (http://adaf.io). African Tech Roundup retains full editorial control over all published content. Opinions expressed by the host, Andile Masuku, and his guests, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the presenting sponsor, Raise.

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Viola Llewellyn (@VALlewellyn) is co-founder, President and CEO of Ovamba Solutions Inc. Based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Ovamba matches global investors to qualified African Small and Medium Sized Enterprises who need short term funding. Ovamba is backed by Crowdcredit in Japan, Courtyard Capital in the UK, and GLI in Guernsey who themselves are backed by Blackrock Global, AXA Investment Managers, and Barclays Wealth. Average size investments in businesses across Ovamba's portfolio is around $50,000, with as little as $3,000 all the way up to $500,000 invested. The success rate of the companies Ovamba works with is 98%, delivering between a 13 and 18 percent return on investment. In this episode, we discussed: the role of financial technology ("fintech") in helping Africa-based business access capital. how to cultivate a mindset that will help you overcome obstacles in your career. Resources: Ovamba African Business Angel Network (ABAN) Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss The Storytelling Book by Anthony Tasgal

Global Online Lending leaders panel with Alejandro Cosentino, Afluenta; Viola Llewellyn, of Ovamba; Neil Roberts, of Harmoney; Greg Symons, of SocietyOne; Meg Zwick, of Millennium Trust Company; and moderator Rodolfo Gonzalez, of Foundation Capital. The discussion centered around the different challenges each country brings to p2p lending.