Stop Monopolising Access | No To Gatekeepers.

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.

Did You Know?

60% of Africa's population is under the age of 25. That’s over 800 million young minds and market potential.

Main Issue

I used to hate the Forbes money lists. For a very long time, I saw them as a mirror. A reflection of global inequality. A system that rewarded access over talent and privilege over hustle.

Scrolling through those lists and you’ll see it! A sea of white billionaires. A parade of inherited networks. A celebration of wealth built on old money, insider deals, and historical advantage.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth no one wants to say!

Sometimes, the people blocking African greatness are African.

Let’s stop pretending the problem is always out there. Yes, colonialism scarred us. Yes, Western systems still hoard power. Yes, global finance has long shut us out.

But what about the gatekeeping happening right here at home?

Too many African politicians treat opportunity like a family heirloom, hoarded, passed down, hidden behind bureaucracy and bribes. Too many business elites refuse to open the door for the next generation unless there’s something in it for them. Too many entrepreneurs, once they make it, suddenly suffer amnesia. They forget the struggle. They forget the climb. They pull the ladder up behind them.

This is how we are killing local innovation.

We cry about exclusion from platforms such as the Forbes list while sabotaging the next Forbes-worthy story right in our neighbourhood. And we don’t stop there, we go on to demand foreign investment but refuse to fund our cousin’s or friend’s startup. Drowned in self-loathing, we admire billionaires abroad while mocking our local hustlers trying to break through.

We’ve become the very gatekeepers we used to rally against. Just as most liberation movements have become the oppressive regimes they fought to remove!

So yes, I still have reservations about the Forbes list. Because it just might be a false standard used so long and so often, it became an acceptable measuring stick of success. But my deeper anger is at how we’re fighting to exclude others in our haste to be included in these elite lists.

What if we invested in each other? What if the next unicorn is suffocated by ego, politics, or tribal lines?

We talk of radical economic transformation, but first let’s be radically honest. Firstly, we won’t scale anything if our people, lucky enough to get in power and positions of influence, are allergic to sharing access. Secondly, we won’t rise if we keep crushing brilliance under elitism, red tape, and classism. And thirdly, we won’t build the next Silicon Valley in Africa if we do not reward innovation.

Africa’s future needs collaboration and generosity. It needs systems that don’t eat their own.

So no, I don’t mind if Forbes doesn’t list us for now, at least. I care that we don’t list each other. I care that we don’t show up for each other. I care that we still act like there’s not enough room at the top.

If you’ve made it, look and reach back. If you’re in the room, hold the door. If you’re in power, use it for the people.

Proverb Of The Week

Opportunity Alert

Business Tool Spotlight

Use Canva to design clean logos, flyers, and pitch decks in minutes. No design background needed.

Inside Scoop

Last Friday, we converged in Sandton for the G20 Intergenerational Roundtable. You may not have been in the room, but here’s what matters! No fluff. No filters. Just facts.

Insights from the G20 Intergenerational Roundtable

Our generation’s fight is for economic empowerment. You can’t afford to sit this one out. The South African government is cognisant of this. It has acted to:

• Cut red tape for entrepreneurs

• Streamline permits, visas, and business registration

• Support the township and informal economy with real reform

What initiatives is your government taking?

Youth Must Co-Lead, Not Just Be Consulted

No more sidelines. You deserve a seat at the table.

• Youth must co-design policy

• Influence budgets and public service delivery

• Be treated as builders of nations, not just recipients of funding

Build with Ethics Or Don’t Build at All.

If you lose your ethics, your ability becomes questionable.

These are the 3 Pillars of Ethical Governance:

1. Collaboration

2. Ethicability (act ethically, always)

3. Accountability

These are not nice-to-haves. They're non-negotiables.

Don't Just Show the Door, Open It

Gatekeeping is dead. If you have access, share it. If you have power, distribute it. Pan-African progress demands open doors, not guarded ones.

We Need Trade, Not Dependency.

Africa trades in dollars, even with itself. When Nigeria wants to buy goods from South Africa, it can’t pay in naira. The naira must first be converted into US dollars, which are then converted into rands. This reliance on a foreign currency for intra-African trade makes our economies fragile.

When the dollar sneezes, Africa catches pneumonia.

Let’s change that by supporting:

• AfCFTA implementation

• Youth-owned cross-border businesses

• Pan-African payment systems

Systems > Summits

Stop building events. Start building ecosystems. Jobs are good. Job creators are better.

Book Byte

Perfect timing is a myth. Movement creates momentum.

Founder Insights

Lessons from Tshepo Jeans Founder - Tshepo Mohlala

I caught up with Tshepo Mohlala, founder of the South African brand Tshepo Jeans, and he had some insights to share with us.

To those not in the know, Tshepo Jeans is a premium South African denim brand launched in 2015. The brand uses denim as a medium of storytelling. It also celebrates African women’s unique curves with bespoke, high-quality jeans praised globally by celebrities like Beyoncé and Meghan Markle.

1. Start Small, Think Long-Term 

🔥 Many successful businesses start with minimal capital and slow traction.

🔥 Be patient. Growth takes time, and the early stages are about learning, not explosive success.

🔥 Don’t let slow sales discourage you; each product sold is a lesson learned.

2. Passion Is Fuel

🔥 Passion is what sustains you through the long, uncertain journey of entrepreneurship.

🔥 Before chasing funding or hype, check your why!` If you're not deeply committed, you’ll burn out.

🔥 Let passion be your co-founder. When the sales aren’t coming in, it’s passion that’ll keep you going.

3. Bootstrap First, Ask Later

🔥 Hustling to generate your revenue builds resilience, business sense, and credibility.

🔥 Investors and funders want to back entrepreneurs who’ve shown initiative, not dependency.

🔥 Don’t wait for funding to validate your idea, sell or prove something.

4. Build with Purpose

🔥 Successful brands are rooted in deeper meaning. Tshepo Jeans uses denim as a fabric of purpose and a medium for storytelling.

🔥 Purpose-driven branding connects more deeply with customers.

🔥 Know what your product stands for beyond profit; embed that into your brand DNA.

5. Local Roots, Global Vision

🔥 Build for the long game. Take time to create something that lasts, not something that just trends.

🔥 Heritage brands are built brick by brick; rushing can ruin the foundation.

🔥 Balance ambition with patience. Sustainable growth beats explosive, unstable success.

6. Empower Through Employment

🔥 Business isn’t just about profit; it’s a vehicle for empowerment and transformation.

🔥 Hiring can be a mission, not just a necessity.

🔥 Build teams that reflect the future you want to create.

Hustle Trivia

Which African country leads in mobile money transactions globally?

Community Billboard

Snapshot

Victoria Falls, aka "Mosi-oa-Tunya" or "The Smoke that Thunders," is the world's largest sheet of falling water, spanning 1,708 meters wide and up to 108 meters high on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe

Local Hero

Wode Maya

Once snubbed on a Chinese bus because of his skin colour, Wode Maya turned that moment of racism into a mission. Instead of shrinking, he picked up a camera and sparked a movement. Today, the Ghanaian YouTuber and vlogger (real name Berthold Kobby Winkler Ackon) has become one of Africa’s most influential digital storytellers, amassing over 1.3 million YouTube subscribers along the way.

What began as a personal vlog has evolved into a powerful platform spotlighting real African stories, from unsung entrepreneurs to cultural icons. Wode Maya is redefining how the world sees Africa.

He’s opened doors for small creators and amplified grassroots businesses. In a continent hungry to own its narrative, Wode Maya is more than a content creator. He’s a catalyst.

Hustler’s Cheat Sheet

Don’t sell the product. Sell the transformation it creates.

ShoutOut

James Manyika

From the classrooms of the University of Zimbabwe to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, James Manyika has walked a path few dare to dream. Now Google’s Senior Vice President of Technology and Society, he’s helping design the future.

Armed with a first-class engineering degree, a Rhodes Scholarship, and Oxford credentials in AI, robotics, and computer science, Manyika has become one of the most influential thinkers on the planet. He’s advised U.S. presidents, led the McKinsey Global Institute, and steered critical conversations around tech, ethics, and the future of work.

But what makes him different? He’s never forgotten where he comes from. For African entrepreneurs, James Manyika is proof that deep knowledge, bold thinking, and a purpose-driven mindset can position Africa as a pioneer in the global tech race.

AfroFact

Over 50% of global cobalt comes from the DRC. Cobalt is a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, and demand for these batteries is projected to increase substantially as the world transitions to cleaner energy.

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