Welcome to African Hustle! Your bi-weekly dose of inspiration and smart insights into African entrepreneurship — featuring real stories about tech, culture, startups, founders, and innovations shaping the future of the continent.

Africa produces about 7% of global crude oil, but still relies heavily on imported fuel. Roughly 600,000 barrels of oil products per day flowing from the Middle East to Africa are now at risk, with East and Southern Africa sourcing roughly 75% of their imports from that region. Kenya imports 100% of the 100,000 barrels it uses daily, South Africa’s refineries cover less than half of demand, Ghana refines only about a third of what it needs, while Nigeria’s 650,000 bpd Dangote refinery is emerging as a rare continental buffer.

Every edition, one of the last sections I fill is the Opportunities section. Over time, after following institutions, fellowships, funds, accelerators, and all sorts of continental bodies, I have become good at spotting what could genuinely open a door for an African hustler.

But I often asked myself if this was of any significance to our subscribers, or if I was just filling space with links?

Now I know the answer.

Last year, in two editions of this newsletter, I shared the African Union Media Fellowship (AUMF). What I did not tell you is that I applied too. I even laughed at myself at the time. If 10,000 people opened our email and just 1% applied, I would have handed myself 100 new competitors.

Still, I applied.

In January, I was selected.

That opportunity took me to Ethiopia, to the African Union headquarters, and into a new chapter that is still unfolding as I write this. In other words, these opportunities are neither decorative nor mere fillers. They are useful.

That alone is one reason to read African Hustle with intention. Somewhere in one edition could be a door with your name on it.

Before my AUMF trip, I wrote a LinkedIn post titled From Canvas Seats to 168 Aircraft. It was about Ethiopian Airlines and what African excellence looks like when an institution is allowed to grow beyond patronage, interference, and cronies. After a year of posting consistently, that post brought me my biggest reach yet. More impressions, followers, and conversation.

Why? Because people respond to stories that show them what is possible.

To and from Ethiopia, we flew Ethiopian Airlines. I took the lessons from that journey and distilled them into this edition’s Founder Insights. The biggest lesson underneath all of it is simple: TELL STORIES.

People connect with people before they connect with brands. Elon Musk has a larger personal audience than all his companies combined. The same pattern holds across modern business. Founder-led storytelling builds trust, attention, and memory. It gives your business a face, a voice, and a reason to care.

Too many African hustlers are doing meaningful work in silence, then wondering why the market, investors, or customers are not paying attention. Silence signals neither humility nor progress. It just makes you invisible.

When you hide your story for too long, you do not protect your work. You weaken its reach. You reduce its chances of inspiring someone, attracting capital, influencing policy, or opening a partnership. You lock away proof that something valuable is being built here.

Your story is not just your story. It is part of the African story.

The more we tell these stories, the more we challenge lazy assumptions that nothing serious is being built on this continent. The more we surface examples of excellence, the more we raise standards, shape perceptions, and create pressure for better systems.

I recently spoke to someone who had no idea Ethiopian Airlines had a fleet of more than 150 aircraft. His own national carrier, meanwhile, had one leased aircraft being used like a private jet by political elites. That comparison sparked a real conversation. When conversations spread, they shape expectations. When expectations shift, policy eventually follows.

I, also at one time, assumed that moving in the shadows was the surest way of running away from the village witches. But soon discovered that the longer you are in the shadows, the greater the risk of you being deemed the family witch or actually becoming the witch! lol

Are you an African entrepreneur with a bold idea that could help end poverty in our lifetime?

FINCA Ventures is hosting the third annual Prize Competition to fund early-stage companies with visionary leaders driving impact in Sustainable Food & Agriculture and/or Fintech for Financial Inclusion.

The FINCA Ventures Prize Competition is an annual event that supports rising African entrepreneurs who are leveraging innovative technologies and designing disruptive business models to drive impact and innovation. Hosted by FINCA Ventures, the Prize Competition brings together early-stage companies and visionary leaders, donors and investors who are passionate about entrepreneurship.

The only Zimbabwean on the Forbes Billionaires List, Strive Masiyiwa, did not build Econet Wireless by walking through an open door. He spent five brutal years fighting Zimbabwe’s state telecom monopoly in court after repeated licence rejections, before finally launching Econet in 1998. What looks today like a business success story was first a story of endurance. Sometimes your biggest breakthrough is surviving the system long enough to change it.

From five DC-3 aircraft in 1946, Ethiopian Airlines grew into an aviation group with 168 aircraft, an average fleet age of seven years, more than 145 international passenger and cargo destinations, a multi-hub strategy, and revenue streams that now stretch beyond passenger travel into cargo, maintenance, training, catering, ground services, and hospitality. In 2023/24 alone, it carried 17.1 million passengers and generated $4.72 billion from international passenger services, while cargo brought in $1.68 billion.

For hustlers, the lessons are in plain sight.

Recharge is your competitive edge
↳ Schedule recovery before burnout hits

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, gets our shout-out this week. In 2017, he became the first person from the WHO African Region to lead the global health body, and in 2022, member states re-elected him to a second five-year term. Before taking the top office at WHO, he served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Health and later Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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