Diary of an African Entrepreneur

Most entrepreneurs start with a dream.

Desmond Kony started with a death.

In this episode of The Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye sits down with Desmond Kony, CEO and Founder of Complete Farmer, to unpack one of the most misunderstood industries in Africa: agriculture.

After the sudden death of his father, Desmond inherited a small pineapple farm in Ghana — a business he never wanted. The farm failed. Crops collapsed. Logistics broke down. Cash ran out. But that failure sparked a revelation.

Desmond stopped seeing farming as land and started se...

How do you move from the "quiet kid" in the background to the CEO of a company with an N11bn turnover?

In this episode of The Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji sits down with Tayo Osiyemi, the newly appointed CEO of SKLD Integrated Services. Tayo shares his incredible journey from his early days at Lagos State Polytechnic and OAU to leading one of Nigeria’s most dynamic companies.

We dive deep into the mechanics of scaling a business - moving from N150m to over N11bn in revenue, and the specific strategies us...

Every entrepreneur wants investors , but are YOU ready for investment?

In this full episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye breaks down the four major legal and regulatory areas that every founder MUST examine before presenting their business to an investor.

This episode will help you understand:

🔥 Why investors walk away during due diligence

🔥 The legal documents and registrations every SME must have

🔥 How permits, licenses and statutory filings affect your fundability

🔥 The power of contracts in proving commercial viability

🔥 Why ownership clarity is a non-negoti...

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye dives deep into what it really means to be ready for investment.

Before investors carry out due diligence on your business, you must first diligence yourself. From mindset to market understanding, Deji explains how to evaluate your own readiness, identify gaps, and understand your industry dynamics, whether you’re in a growing, mature, or declining market.

Learn how to position your company for investment, avoid common founder mistakes, and build credibility with investors.

👉 Watch till the end to learn what investors are reall...

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, we sit with Isaac Nyagol, founder and CEO of Zeraki—a Kenyan EdTech company redefining how schools, teachers, students, and parents interact through technology.

Isaac’s journey began in education management, where he led scholarship and mentorship programs at the Equity Group Foundation in Kenya. While helping top-performing students from low-income backgrounds succeed in high school, he discovered a deeper challenge: many learners struggled not just financially, but academically—and teachers lacked the tools and data to support them effectively.

This realization became the seed for Zeraki...

How do you turn a dining room side hustle into one of Nigeria’s most recognizable literary brands?

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye sits down with Dotun Eyinade, CEO and co-founder of Roving Heights (Rovenites), the bookstore and literary brand transforming how Nigerians access books.

📚 From his childhood in Agege, where books shielded him from the chaos of military-era Nigeria, to his early curiosity that had him secretly reading history books at age 9, Dotun’s journey is one of resilience, curiosity, and imagination. Raised by two teachers during the harsh S...

In this powerful episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, we sit down with Femi, the founder of VeendHQ, a fintech startup transforming credit access across Africa.

Femi shares his raw and inspiring journey, from being a software engineer at Flutterwave and Carbon, to identifying the painful challenges of loan collections in Africa, and finally launching VeendHQ, a platform that has disbursed over $18 million in short-term credit to more than 300,000 Nigerians.

💡 Discover how VeendHQ evolved from a struggling SaaS model into a fast-scaling embedded credit infrastructure that solves Africa’s credit and collections problem at scale...

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, we sit with June Odongo, founder and CEO of Senga Technologies—a Nairobi-based logistics and supply chain company on a mission to simplify order fulfillment for Africa’s retail sector.

June’s story begins in Nairobi, where she finished high school at 16 and—through the collective sacrifice of family and friends—moved to the United States to pursue higher education. What followed was a 20-year journey across America: working countless jobs to fund her studies, earning a computer science degree, advancing her career at global tech firms like EMC and Me...

In this new series on Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye breaks down what it really means to be ready for investment.

If you're building a business in Africa and thinking about raising capital — whether debt or equity — the first thing you must get right is your mindset.

In this episode, Deji explores how investors think, what they look for, and why many entrepreneurs fail before they even pitch — not because of bad business ideas, but because they lack the mental framework to manage external capital.

🎯 In this video, you’ll learn:

What does it take to turn a small poultry farm into a tech-enabled agribusiness impacting over 30,000 farmers across Nigeria?

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, I sit down with Ope Fayomi, co-founder and CEO of Pulus Africa, an innovative platform transforming the poultry value chain by solving its biggest hidden problem - trust.

From guaranteeing farmers payment within 24 hours to building an investor-ready business, Ope’s journey is a testament to grit, vision, and problem-solving at scale. We unpack how she transformed a $25K grant into a nationwide operation, scaled from 6 to 41 em...

📣 Entrepreneurs, when was the last time you truly took a break?

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, host Deji Adebusoye shares a heartfelt message that every business owner needs to hear — especially in August, the unofficial month of rest for many around the world.

Wearing his beloved Liverpool jersey, Deji reflects on the importance of rest, recovery, and reflection. He urges African founders, hustlers, and builders not to ignore their health or burn out chasing success.

This isn’t just about football or vacations — it’s a reminder that rest is part of...

Succession is more than a handover — it’s a hand-crafted journey. In this powerful episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye explores what it truly takes to raise credible, competent, and respected leaders for the family business. From early exposure and external work experience to the vital role of governance, mentorship, and structured transitions — this is a masterclass in building legacy. Real African case studies — like GIG Motors and Bidco Africa — reveal what works and what fails. Whether you're a founder looking to pass the baton, or a next-gen leader stepping up, this episode offers timeless strategies to future...

In this powerful episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, host Deji Adebusoye sits down with Disha Copreaux, the formidable CEO of Red Lands Roses—Kenya’s premium flower exporter redefining floriculture with innovation, discipline, and a distinct African flair.

From navigating rejections and reinventing her mindset at Syngenta, to managing a youthful, high-performing team at Redlands, Disha’s journey is a masterclass in grit, growth, and grace. She opens up on what it truly takes to transform a family legacy into a global brand—and build a career her daughters can look up to.

🌹 Highlights...

What does it take to build a tech-driven logistics and embedded finance company that powers thousands of businesses across Africa?

In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, I sit down with Ope Odobuye, the enterprising founder and CEO of Renda Africa—a fast-growing fulfillment platform simplifying storage, transportation, and cash collection for businesses on the continent. From a leaky roof and stolen inventory in a home-based store to building a multi-country infrastructure with over 5,000 drivers and 300 warehousing partners, Ope shares a candid, practical, and powerful story of innovation, scale, and survival.

We explore ho...

What does it take to build Africa’s leading indigenous agricultural trading company? In this episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, I sit down with Lanre Awojoodu, the visionary MD/CEO of Sourcing and Produce Nigeria Ltd. From humble beginnings and a career in IT to building a pan-African agribusiness that exports ginger, cashew, hibiscus, and sesame to over 55 countries, Lanre shares an honest, insightful, and inspiring journey filled with grit, failure, resilience—and purpose. We explore how he transitioned from ERP consulting to entrepreneurship, the painful lessons from losing everything, and how he leveraged relationships, market knowledge, and...

In this debut episode of Diary of an African Entrepreneur, Deji Adebusoye sits down with Riches Attai, Co-Founder and CEO of Winich Farms, one of Nigeria’s most dynamic agritech companies. Riches shares the raw, unfiltered story of building Winich - from selling beans in university, sleeping in bus parks, and surviving near-death accidents, to building a tech-enabled supply chain solution that connects over 200,000 farmers to processors across Nigeria.

They dive deep into the grind of entrepreneurship in Africa, the early failures that shaped his grit, the power of building trust in fragmented markets, and how Winich is...