This week on we’re moving into the new year with some wise words and insights in Part 2 of my conversation with Ghanaian investor and developer of new businesses, Eric Osiakwan. With 25 years of experience spanning 32 countries in Africa gained through a number of successful tech start-ups, Eric is a leading pioneer of internet in Africa. Having worked in multiple countries building internet service providers (“ISP”) and ICT businesses, some of his successful exits include iBurst in South Africa, One2Net in Uganda, and BusyInternet in Ghana, to name a few. Eric also founded and ran the Africa ISP Association for eight years, during which the ISP industry grew by almost 120 percent. He then moved on to leading efforts to build submarine cables on the continent. Eric was part of a public-private partnership in Kenya that built and launched the TEAMS submarine fibre cable, the first to connect East Africa to the rest of the world. He subsequently contributed to the building of terrestrial fibre networks in Ghana and Nigeria. As we learned in Part 1 of the conversation, he Co-Founded Angel Africa List, Angel Fair Africa and currently heads Chanzo Capital, a venture and growth capital firm, investing capital, capacity and community in high-tech startups and scaleups in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.

Where to find Eric?
ericosiakwan.com
On LinkedIn
On [Facebook](Eric Osiakwan)
On [Instagram](Instagram (@eosiakwan))
On X

What’s Eric reading?
Works by Cheikh Anta Diop

Other topics of interest:
How Greater Accra (Tema) is the geographical center of the Earth
About Panafest and Kojo Yankah
On Ghana’s Joseph Project
Year of Return
Full Circle Africa Economic Conference
Stripe Payments Platform
Safaricom and the roots of Mobile Money
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: African Information Society Initiative(AISI)
UNDP Internet Initiative for Africa
What are Internet Exchange Points?
The African Internet Service Providers Association
ICANN and Esther Dyson
About TEAMS
Bongo Hive
About the BenBen App
On Eric’s book KINGS of Africa’s Digital Economy

Special Guest: Eric Osiakwan.

This week, we interrupt our scheduled Part 2 conversation with Suki Fuller to give some shine to a milestone event taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. Co-founded by my guest, Ghanaian, Eric Osiakwan, Angel Fair Africa, happening November 28th - December 1st, brings selected and curated entrepreneurs to pitch to a room of angel investors with the intent of doing deals. Eric is an entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of ICT industry leadership across Africa and the world, He has worked in 32 African countries setting up ISPs, ISPAs, IXPs and high-tech startups. He Co-Founded Angel Africa List, in addition to Angel Fair Africa and Chanzo Capital, he also currently serves on the board of Farmerline – some of which are his investments. While we made the connection in Cape Town, a funny thing happened on the streets of Brooklyn with another Glocal Citizen, Chinedu Echeruo (EP79) last summer that put an Aha! smile on our faces. #BorderlessMindset in action!
This week our conversation is centered on all things Angel-Investing-Meets-Entrpreneurship as Eric and his team kick off Angel Fair Africa @10. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our conversation where we’ll get t o know more about Eric’s Glocal Citizenship journey.

Where to find Eric?
www.angelfairafrica.com
On LinkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram
On X

Special Guest: Eric Osiakwan.