Author: adebayoalonge

Khashoggi died after a fight: Why Africa needs to reject extremist influence

Incredulous that the Saudis now claim Khashoggi died after a fight in their Istanbul consulate after claiming they did not know his whereabouts


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First, the Saudis said they did not know about Jamal Khashoggi’s whereabouts. That he left their Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018 after going in to get documents related to his upcoming wedding.

Now they say he died after a fight in their consulate in Istanbul.

How incredulous! The Turks say he was tortured, killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by hit men ordered from the House of Saudi- the de-facto ruling family of Saudi Arabia. This is more believable.

It is now more clear to the world what the House of Saud really stands for. Their campaign of extremist Wahhabism in Africa has left many innocent people dead and split up communities along religious lines who once lived together peacefully.

That they can now take this murderous policy and murder their own citizens anywhere in the world without conscience while lying point blank is clear indication of how morally decrepit they are.

Africa must refuse to be divided along religious lines- we are Africans first before any religion. Africans need to stand together and refuse external religious bigotry driving hate and conflict in Africa.

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China wants your data and she is not playing

In this post, adebayoalonge shares Bloomberg’s findings on how Chinese hardware is used to hack data


In my most recent Op-Ed- China in Africa: An African Millennial’s Perspective on Engaging China , I posit on Chinese data acquisition strategy in Africa.

I also stated that the US is aware of how Chinese made hardware is set up for back doors to enable  unauthorized data mining.

Well, Bloomberg’s published today on how China installed a microchip- the size of a rice grain into servers sold by Super Micro Computers

This chip helped provide  a backdoor access to Chinese operatives for data mining of data centers that affected 30 major companies including Apple Inc.

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Continue reading “China wants your data and she is not playing”

China in Africa: An African Millennial’s perspective on engaging China

In this essay, adebayoalonge argues that Africa’s engagement with China should be on a rational self-interest and mercantile basis.


China in Africa is now a hot and contentious topic especially given the recent $60B in pledges that the Chinese Premier- Xi Jinping made during the triennial forum on China-Africa cooperation in September 2018. The Chinese have presented these pledges as aid to the ‘poor’ Africans and it is important for Africans to understand how this augurs for their image globally.

However in reality, the pledge is actually a combination of grants, loans, investment and trade finance. Chinese aid to the continent has actually declined and in its stead its concessional loans to Africa has risen and is now at $5 billion per year- its highest level ever.

Concessional loans represent fixed-low interest finance that China gives Africa in exchange for concessions for Chinese companies to access local African markets, natural resources and infrastructure construction. They are often secured against future revenue streams from export of local commodities e.g. cocoa, cobalt, oil etc.

These loans are not necessarily a bad thing if they are put to good use and the communications about what they are and associated terms are transparent.

Unfortunately, this is not the current situation and in the end Africa’s image as a beggar continent worsens and its young people will have to work their lives out to pay back these loans. In addition, the optics and access these loans give, allow the Chinese an unprecedented level of influence for their culture and companies across Africa.

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Continue reading “China in Africa: An African Millennial’s perspective on engaging China”

11 Principles for success in Impact Entrepreneurship

In this article, adebayoalonge distills his learning from studying successful impact entrepreneurs into 11 principles that enable any aspiring social entrepreneur to succeed in transforming the world


I was recently awarded the Moonshot Fellowship by the Kravis Lab for Social Impact of the Mckenna Claremont University. The fellowship recognizes impact entrepreneurs and activists who are working on socially impactful ideas that have a potential to be a force for global good. The Moonshot fellows were mentored by Echoing Green Fellows  who helped us address critical challenges we currently face in our impact enterprises.

As part of the fellowship we were hosted on the shores of the Indian ocean at the Machangulo Peninsula in Mozambique for a few days full of networking, mentoring, physical activity and deceleration.

 

Location of the Machangulo Peninsula on the Indian Ocean Image Credit: Adebayo Alonge
 Left: Location of the Machangulo Peninsula on the Indian Ocean; Right: The Colin Verde Villa ; Image credit Adebayo Alonge

Continue reading “11 Principles for success in Impact Entrepreneurship”

Why Africa needs more Impact Entrepreneurship

Africa needs more Impact Entrepreneurship to solve its many social problems. Conventional capitalism has failed to stop the spread of poverty on the continent. It needs a new type of entrepreneurship- one that has heart.


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What is impact entrepreneurship?
Impact entrepreneurship refers to the organisation of factors of economic production- ideas, effort, networks, labour, capital, land, machinery- towards solving a social and/or environmental problem for a neglected population of people, animals or nature in a manner that generates measurable financial returns, social and/or environmental impact.

Examples of impact entrepreneurs include:

  • Diwala: A blockchain platform that helps refugees validate the skills they have towards waged employment
  • SheKab: A carpooling platform that enables women take safe rides especially in regions where rapes and abductions are high
  • RxAll: An AI platform that enables patients in countries with high instances of fake medicines determine the quality of their medicines in order to avoid death

5 key features common across these examples and which is important in assessing if a venture is impact entrepreneurship include- Continue reading “Why Africa needs more Impact Entrepreneurship”

#God’s Plan: $150K Cash Investment For African Impact-Focused Startup


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As part of enabling the next generation of Africa’s social impact entrepreneurs, a $150K (USD) cash for equity investment opportunity  through the Katapult Accelerator exists for an African based startup using exponential technologies i.e. AI, Block chain, Quantum computing etc. to solve a social issue on the African continent.

I am especially interested in nominating startups

  1. whose core team are from and work in Sub-Sahara Africa especially in West-Central Africa (does not matter if your primary language English, French etc., all are welcome)
  2. who are willing to scale their solution across the African continent.
  3. who are utilizing science and technology that has been incubated from any of Africa’s formal and informal education programs
  4. who already have proof of traction with paying customers and a scalable solution
  5. who are working on a social issue that has multiplier social impact on the bottom of Africa’s population- education, healthcare, impact fintech, agriculture

Please send a 2pager to lusoy3@yahoo.com by May 19, 2018 and include your WhatsApp number. Title your Email as God’s Plan.

The first page should detail the problem statement, the size of the market opportunity in Africa, your solution, how you came about your solution, your traction i.e. revenues and paying customers, your competition and what you need to scale your solution across Africa, include other relevant info e.g. patents, country of incorporation etc.

The second page should be a Team slide with photos and bios/roles of the team members.

Note: I will only contact those I am interested in nominating by May 20, 2018

Share widely across Africa!

#Gods Plan- Lets make it happen. This is a religious notation for letting God do his work through people and opportunities

Note: This investment opportunity does not come from me. I am only helping to find the best startups in my network for the Katapult Accelerator.