Meet our

AfricaIgnite Advisory Board

Zachariah George

Zachariah George is a Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures – the most prominent and active early-stage Venture Capital Fund across the African continent, solving the significant gap in the pre-Series A investment landscape in Africa. He is also the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at Startupbootcamp AfriTech – the leading multi-corporate backed venture accelerator program in Africa. Zach is widely recognized as one of Africa’s most prominent Angel investors, with investments in 100+ of the leading tech startups in Africa including Flutterwave, Kudabank, MPost, Peach Payments, RecoMed and several others.

He was co-featured on the cover of Fast Company Africa in May 2018, Destiny Man Magazine in November 2019, and in December 2019 was recognized as one of the Top 10 Most Influential People in Technology in Africa. In January 2020, he was listed as one of the Top Four Movers and Shapers of Technology in Africa by the prestigious French business daily - Les Echos

Zach was formerly the head of Africa Investments for U-Start – the largest network of private Multi-Family offices in Europe. Prior to moving to South Africa, he was an investment banker on Wall Street covering M&A, corporate finance strategy and risk management at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital.

Zach has a Master’s degree in Finance & Management from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Outside of his professional life, Zach is a father to 3 children, and is an acoustic guitarist/vocalist with cover albums ‘Give A Little’ (2010) and ‘Humans with Hearts’ (2018) on iTunes and Spotify. He is an avid lover of theater and the performing arts, likes hiking and a good game of tennis and squash. He enjoys creative writing and is currently busy finishing a work of non-fiction.

Folarin Oreoluwa Aiyegbusi

Folarin leads Google's Startup Ecosystem in Africa, which is dedicated to empowering startups across the African continent with the best of Google - its people, methodologies and advanced technology. He is responsible for managing the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, Black Founders Fund Africa and all startup-oriented initiatives across the continent. Standing at the intersection of business and technology, he is experienced in managing programs, building tech platforms, building and managing large databases, scaling businesses and connecting startups to the resources required for success.

Prior to Google, Folarin was the Business Information Specialist at the Tony Elumelu Foundation, responsible for all their technology platforms, business data for 500,000 entrepreneurs across Africa, the development of TEFConnect and several pillars of an entrepreneurship program that sought to empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs with $100m over 10 years.

Folarin has facilitated $26m in funding to over 3,000 businesses since 2016.

Folarin has an MSc in Information Systems & Business Analysis from Aston Business School and graduated in the top 5% of the year across all courses which led to an invitation to become a lifetime member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Global Society for Business Excellence.

Laurie Fuller

Laurie is a Venture Partner, Strategic Advisor, Investor, Board Member and Certified Executive Coach. She is an accomplished leader who enjoys helping entrepreneurs scale by identifying growth capital, developing strategy and implementing operational models. She is skilled in working with entrepreneurs to hire, train, and manage diverse teams to achieve high performance. Her international work experience includes positions based in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. She brings a global perspective and builds strong partnerships that transform businesses.

Janet Kemboi

Janet Kemboi is a dynamic and strategic leader with 15 years of experience in brand strategy, policy and consumer communications, new product/program launches and high profile crisis management. Janet Kemboi is the Director of Brand & Communications at 54 Collective, a venture capital firm that is redefining investing so that entrepreneurs can build without boundaries. In this role she is responsible for the development of brand marketing, corporate communications and community engagement strategies positioning 54 Collective a leading venture capital firm.

Janet Kemboi is responsible for the recent rebrand of 54 Collective which was formerly known as Founders Factory Africa. Prior to joining 54 Collective Janet built Meta’s brands (Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp) across East Africa through engaging campaigns that positioned the brand as fun, approachable and locally relevant. Janet also managed Uber’s reputation in the face of driver protests in Kenya attaining the Public Relations Society of Kenya Crisis and Reputation Management award in 2017. Janet was also nominated as the #1 Soma Award nominee TOP25 Women in Digital 2022.

Janet holds a Master of Arts degree in Advertising from S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from United States International University-Africa.

As a kidney donor, Janet focusses on raising awareness amongst her networks on the relevance of a healthy lifestyle in organ donation. She also loves art and enjoys painting and colouring during her free time

Anthony William Catt

With a decade of experience in start-up ecosystem building and investment across EMEA, Anthony is the founder of Ventures 54 a Pan-Africa ecosystem building advisory firm focused on mobilising global investors and capital into the Africa tech ecosystem. Providing support to Government Insitutions, DFIs, Venture Capital Funds & Ecosystem Support Organisations between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

He is also the co-founder of London Africa Network, the UK’s biggest community of leaders operating in the UK-Africa tech, startup and investment corridor. He was the first Investor in Residence for Google for Startups, EMEA, helping lead its first European - Africa startup investment programme and now an advisor to the Google Black Founders Fund in Africa.

Previous to this Anthony was working on capital mobilisation between South-East Asia and Europe, most notably supporting the facilitation of Series A & B deals including for European Mobile Bank Monese Series A that was co-lead by Korea Investment Partners.

Alongside his work he also produces content on LinkedIn, Twitter and a newsletter spotlighting opportunities, talent and resources in Africa tech, startups and investment.

Lavina Ramkissoon

Meet #aiMom Conscious Creator | Top 100 Women in Leadership | Trailblazer | Thought Leader | Chairperson #shespeaksafrica with a harvested blend between multidisciplinary, multi sector and multi technologies.