The role of startup ecosystems and hubs is critical in enabling the scaling of impactful endeavors. There is immense value, for aspiring entrepreneurs to be around like-minded innovators and technology. By empowering more entrepreneurs, governments and investors alike can enable the creation of more capital-generating entities that accrue wealth to more individuals, mitigating the effects of economic inequality. This panel will discuss the ingredients required to create thriving ecosystems that nurture startups and help them scale across the continent. 

Theme: Beyond the Startup, Building an Ecosystem for Scale

Alpha Kiflu, Moderator

Alpha Kiflu is a Sloan Fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to MIT Sloan, he founded Bega Ventures, an investment and advisory business serving the East Africa consumer and retail sectors. Before founding Bega Ventures, Alpha was the Chief Financial Officer of ALLE, Ethiopia’s first modern cash & carry wholesaler. Alpha began his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, where he served in a variety of roles, most recently as Vice President in the credit trading business. He is currently pursuing his MBA at MIT Sloan and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Finance from James Madison University.

Okendo Lewis-Gayle, Chair Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance

Okendo Lewis-Gayle is author of Harambeans and Executive Chairman of the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance. Harambe is an ecosystem of over 280 young African leaders (Harambeans) which has spawned a series of tech-enabled ventures such as Andela, Yoco and Fibre. Collectively Harambeans have generated over 3000 jobs, raised over $400m from Google Ventures, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Ma and in the process established a pan-African network of startups valued at over $1bn. Okendo is a graduate of Harvard University, the Inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence at Schwarzman College in Beijing and has served as Africa Advisor to the Vatican, Rhodes Trust, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Mossadeck Bally, Founder Azalai Hotels

Mossadeck Bally is the Founder and CEO of the Azalai Hotels Group, the flagship hotel chain in West Africa. Born in Niger from Malian parents, Mr. Bally studied in France first and then in the United States, where he obtained a master's degree in management and finance from the University of San Francisco, California. Mr. Bally commenced his foray into the African hospitality industry with an initial focus on his home country, Mali. In 2000, he built on the strong reputation of the service quality and management of its premier hotel to build the Salam Hotel, and enter into a management agreement for Hotel Nord Sud, both based in Bamako.

In 2005, Mr. Bally consolidated the activities of the various properties under a common brand (“Azalaï Hotels”),
and formally launched the Group’s expansion strategy in the WAEMU region. The Azalaï Hotels Group, from its humble origin 20 years ago, is today the first African private hotel chain group in the West African Region, providing direct employment to about 700 people and over 3,500 indirectly. Environmental and social standards have helped Azalaï Hotels thrive in challenging markets. Mr. Bally, through the Azalaï Hotels Group strives to provide a conquering vision for African Business.

Matthias Papet, Chairman CoinAfrique

Matthias Papet is the co-founder and chairman of CoinAfrique, the first peer to peer Mobile market place in french speaking Africa. The app is the #1 Android app in Bénin, Sénégal, Guinea, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and more. With more than 700,000 downloads in 17 french speaking Africa countries, the app was nominated as Top 20 African start-up by XL Africa/World Bank. The company has five offices in Dakar, Cotonou, Lomé, Abidjan and Kinshasa. Matthias has accumulated professional experience in North America, Europe, and Africa, having previously served as an executive at companies such as Air France, Google, Sephora, and Islandian.

Pelkins Ajanoh, Co-Founder Cassvita

Pelkins Ajanoh is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at CassVita. CassVita is an agribusiness in Cameroon involved in the value chain of efficiently transforming raw cassava into high-quality flours. It currently employs 22 workers and its products are present in major supermarkets in Cameroon, and in Texas and Maryland. In the summer of 2018, CassVita hosted three MIT students for internships through the MIT-Africa program. He was among the first batch of students accepted into the dual MS/MBA program at Harvard Business School. While at MIT, Pelkins served as president of the African Students’ Association; he was also awarded the Albert G. Hill Prize and the Suzanne Berger Award for Future Global Leaders in recognition of his work.

Joseph Shields, Co-Founder EthioChicken

Joseph Shields is the co-founder and executive director of EthioChicken. He developed EthioChicken's initial product and distribution strategy, built out the operations and administrative functions, and led fundraising efforts. He also co-founded Uzima Chicken in Rwanda in 2017. The companies jointly have over 1,200 employees and reached over 2 million farming families last year alone with improved breeds of chicken. Prior to joining EthioChicken, he worked for MIT's Jameel-Poverty Action Lab building a data processing and surveying organization to conduct a randomized trial evaluation in rural India. Joseph started his career with McKinsey as a consultant, focusing on economic development, private equity, and operations. Joseph is also a Director of GreenPath Food, founded by former Sloan students. He graduated with honors from Northwestern University with majors in Industrial Engineering, Economics, and Political Science. He also studied at the American University in Cairo. 

The entrepreneurship panel is sponsored by