Ezrah in West Africa

Since mid-January, I have been on a 7-week journey across West, East, and Southern Africa with the trustee of Ezrah Charitable Trust, to visit some of our existing partners and learn what is working well (or not) within each country's economy to help guide our future charitable giving. I would like to express gratitude for the countless non-profits, tech startups, and individuals who have made our "learning tour" so incredibly enriching, and are creating tremendous social, environmental, and economic impact across the continent. I won't list every single person here, but you know who you are!

NIGERIA

• Autochek Africa - Makes car ownership more accessible and affordable in Africa
• Gigmile (Techstars '22) - Provides affordable, accessible financial services to gig and informal workers
• One Acre Fund - Supports smallholder farmers across Africa to build resilient communities
• ThriveAgric - Links smallholder farmers across Africa to finance, data-driven best practices, and access to local & global markets for their commodities
• Ajibola Abdulkadir from Lifestores Healthcare , Iyinoluwa Aboyeji from Future Africa , Jennifer R. White from MPOWER Financing , Joshua Adedeji from Innovate UK KTN, Lexi Novitske, CFA from Norrsken22 , Nnamdi Obasi from THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP , Nneka Eze from VestedWorld , Ojoma Ochai from Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) , Olúwatóyìn Emmanuel-Olubake from Novastar Ventures, and Oyin Solebo from ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator

GHANA

• Affinity Africa - Digitally-driven financial institution that provides affordable products to individuals, micro enterprises and SMEs
• Blossom Academy - Creates pathways for untapped African talents to develop data skills, help them enter the evolving job market, and empower them to establish lasting livelihoods
• Complete Farmer - Transforms farming practices by developing critical technical and physical infrastructure to enhance efficiency in the agricultural value chain
• David Hutchful from Yemaachi Biotech , Dominic Adu from Ghana Home Loans , Eric Osiakwan from Chanzo Capital , Kofi Anku from Pokuase Heights , Dr. Sangu Delle from CarePoint , Saqib Nazir from People's Pension Holding , Yaw Owusu from Africa Tech Cities

SENEGAL

• American Jewish World Service (AJWS) 's partner Association des Juristes Sénégalaises - Promotes the human rights of women and children and facilitates access to justice for everyone
• Haskè Ventures - Builds scalable, sustainable, and profitable businesses in Francophone Africa from ideation to Series A financing
• myAgro - Lifts smallholder farmers in Mali and Senegal out of poverty via mobile layaway, delivery of ag inputs, and agricultural trainings
• WIC CAPITAL - Brings together both local individuals and international institutions to pool their resources to invest in women-owned Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Senegal and C?te d’Ivoire
• Adam Thiam Cox from Club Tiossane , Tijan Watt from Wuri Ventures, who organised the most lovely gathering of entrepreneurs and investors from across Dakar, including Birame Sock from Kwely Inc , Diarra Bousso from DIARRABLU , Sijh Diagne from Ministère de l'Economie, du Plan et de la Coopération du Sénégal (MEPC) , Siny Samba from LE LIONCEAU , and Solomon Torgbor from Jetstream Africa

C'OTE D'IVOIRE

• Djamo - Provides payment and saving services to retail consumers in C?te d’Ivoire and Senegal by facilitating physical and virtual card transactions
• Wave Mobile Money - Drives financial inclusion by building financial services to make Africa the first cashless continent
• Cheick Sanankoua from HC CAPITAL PROPERTIES LTD , Rory Assandey from La Ruche Health who introduced us to a wonderful group of tech entrepreneurs and local investors, including Lionel Rey from African Angel Academy , Loubao Kraka from EnvoyX , Mehdi Sayegh (MSc) from AI Connect Africa , Namho Oh from Street , and Ousmane Soumahoro from UMed .

Stay tuned for a recap of our time in East and Southern Africa!