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South African brewer Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela wants to see more diversity within the beer industry. Nxusani-Mawela is the founder of Tolokazi Premium Beer & Cider, which offers a variety of beers and ciders that honor the legacy of African female brewers and is inspired by the Tolo Kingdom’s history of brewing, according to information shared on her LinkedIn. She began brewing back in 2007 after obtaining a microbiology degree from the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Pretoria, mentions AP News. She also found that she was able to put her science background to good use with brewing. “I sort of fell in love with the combination of the business side with the science, with the craftsmanship and the artistic element of brewing,” she told AP News. This led Nxusani-Mawela to receive further education at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling between 2006 and 2014. By 2019, she positioned herself as a founder within the brewing industry and also owns a brewery that sits in...
Kofa , a Ghana-based energy tech startup, secured $8.1 million in a pre-Series A funding round to expand its AI-powered battery-swapping network across Africa, as Techpoint Africa reports. According to the outlet, the investment consists of $3.25 million in equity, $4.32 million in debt, and $590,000 in grants, and was co-led by E3 Capital and Injaro Investment Advisors. Additional contributions came from the Shell Foundation and the UK Government’s Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform, as well as Penso Power’s CEO Richard Thwaites, among others. “This funding validates our vision to transform urban Africa’s energy landscape, and we are committed to building the ecosystem necessary to make this a reality,” Erik Nygard, Kofa’s founder and CEO, said in a press release. “The shift to cleaner energy, for both domestic and commercial use, goes beyond sustainability — it drives real economic impact, but for this transition to succeed, several key elements must come together.” Nygard...
Success comes with its moments, and Pinky Cole Hayes knows this firsthand. Cole Hayes is the mastermind behind Slutty Vegan restaurant, with seven locations, primarily in Georgia. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the company’s market value was estimated at nearly $100 million by 2022, which included $25 million from a Series A funding round. Over the years, the company’s triumphs included expanding to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Spelman College, although the location at the HBCU has since closed. Cole Hayes has experienced roadblocks with the venture in 2024, and those challenges led to her losing the business, she told People. “Right now, in this moment, I’ve really been in a place of peace, but I had a really rocky 2024. Our corporate overhead was about $10 million,” Cole Hayes mentioned to People. “I was chasing something that I couldn’t catch for so many reasons.” Cole Hayes also acknowledged that she had not been “the operational person,” which has led...
Ice-T has officially opened a cannabis dispensary in his home state. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the Jersey City Cannabis Control Board (CCB) approved his adult-use cannabis dispensary application in partnership with The Medicine Woman — owned by married couple Charis Burrett and her husband, Luke Burrett — in 2022. “We want everyone to have access to safe cannabis. You are the first application who have said something about the price point. I commend you on that,” CCB member Stacey Flanagan stated . Fast-forward to 2025, and the dispensary has officially touched down in Jersey City, NJ. The Medicine Woman Jersey City held its official soft opening on Thursday, March 27. It will host its grand opening on Saturday, April 19th, and Sunday, April 20th, 2025, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™. This also marks its first location outside of California. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ICEMFT (@icet) “We’re thrilled to be officially opening the doors of...
Morgan DeBaun wants you to take control and become the CEO of your life. DeBaun carries over a decade of experience and has achieved remarkable feats throughout her career. Her journey into business started at just 13 years old when she began investing in the stock market. She later became a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor’s degree in political science and entrepreneurship. By 2014, she blossomed into a founder, CEO, and chairman of Blavity Inc., a global corporation prioritizing product solutions and media for Black Millennial and Gen Z consumers as well as businesses and organizations focused on reaching this audience. DeBaun became one of the few Black woman founders to secure $1 million in funding when she was 25 years old. Blavity Inc. has since continued to raise additional capital, and she successfully completed three acquisitions and integrations, two under the age of 24 within 18 months, with the most recent being RNB House Party, which is now...
50 Cent has secured a 30-year lease on a local venue to further his goal of revitalizing Shreveport, LA. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, through G-Unit Studios, he has the second-largest Black-owned studio, only trailing Tyler Perry. The 985,000-square-foot property in Shreveport is being used “to operate a production studio and/or activities and uses related to the promotion or development of the film, sound, light, movie, television, broadcasting, recording, and arts industries.” “Founding my own studio is the next step in my plan to expand G-Unit Film & Television’s output of premium, diverse content across all media and to provide more opportunities for artists, crew members, and the communities that support production of that content,” 50 Cent told KTAL News 6 at the time. Beyond the studio grounds, 50 Cent has been expanding his efforts across the city. In September 2024, a three-phase plan was announced that will include housing for low- to moderate-income families. Most...
South Africa’s first Black-owned bank has hit unicorn status, POCIT reports. Tyme Group, founded in 2019, is majority-owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, notes Bloomberg. The platform was designed to make digital banking more affordable and accessible, and it has been an overwhelming success with online and physical banks throughout South Africa and the Philippines. According to TechCrunch, it has attracted 10 million users since its inception and reached an additional 5 million users through its Philippine brand, GoTyme. GoTyme allows users to create an account via its bank app. Customers can then receive an ATM debit card instantly and retrieve it at a kiosk. Tyme Group says it has allocated $600 million in financing to support small businesses and has raised $400 million in customer deposits. Now it is seeking to extend its reach in new markets, which include Vietnam and Indonesia by 2025. This will be made possible in light of a $250 million round led by digital bank Nu...
If you’ve been tuned in to modern hip hop in the last few years, you’re likely already familiar with the prolific works of NBA YoungBoy. The artist, who is only 24-years-old at the time of this writing, first rose to prominence in 2015 and beyond, releasing numerous rap albums and mixtapes per year ever since. YoungBoy has also amassed quite a large following through viral marketing techniques. He’s earned a dedicated listenership of just under 16 million users on Spotify alone. This behind-the-mic success gives way to an impressive financial portfolio. Celebrity Net Worth estimates his full net worth to clock in at over $10 million. Despite these major successes, NBA YoungBoy’s career is mired by legal troubles and music industry drama, keeping him from reaching his full financial potential. In fact, the young rapper has spent a significant portion of his fame on house arrest while awaiting trial for numerous alleged crimes. The situation keeps him from capitalizing on the outlets...
African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has surpassed its funding expectation. AIIM was launched to “invest long-term institutional unlisted equity in African infrastructure projects,” its website mentions. The company’s investments extend across Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa, with $2.8 billion in assets under management. Now, AIIM will scale its work in light of reportedly raising $954 million, which comprises $748 million in commitments and $206 million in co-investments, Shoppe Black reports. Marking its fourth pan-African infrastructure fund, AIIM surpassed expectations by 50% with the backing of 29 investors from all over the world, such as pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, and family offices, with half of the commitments coming from Development Finance Institution (DFI) investors. “Given the challenging global fundraising environment, we are delighted to have outperformed the targeted fund size. We received strong...
Investments are continuing to pour in for African tech entrepreneurs. TechCrunch reports that Founders Factory Africa (FFA), an early-stage investment firm, has raised $114 million “to scale its model to better serve founders across the African tech ecosystem.” The funding for the South Africa-based accelerator was led by Mastercard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson.
From billionaire to billionaire, Patrice Motsepe has formed an opinion on Elon Musk. As South Africa’s first Black billionaire, Motsepe said that entrepreneurs can learn a thing or two from the Tesla CEO, which could most likely increase their net worth and the success of their business. According to Motsepe, Musk’s strong belief in himself is a good thing. “I’m not saying [entrepreneurs] must be cocky and arrogant . . . but I think [Musk] believed so much in what he was doing . . . he succeeded,” said Motsepe.
Of the 18 richest people in Africa, only five of them are Black. That’s right: on the continent of Africa, 72 percent of the richest people are either white or of other non-Black descent. That’s according to the latest list compiled by Forbes, which revealed that more African billionaires are Afrikaners (descendants from the Dutch, French, and German colonialists in South Africa) than any other African subgroup. And this shouldn’t be surprising, considering how the after-effects of colonial times are still being felt today. In 2015, data released by New World Wealth (via BusinessTech of South Africa) revealed that there was an inequitable transfer of wealth to so-called “marginalized groups,” which includes groups of Black Africans that didn’t even have rights in the country prior to 1994 on account of apartheid. While these statistics about the richest people in Africa are distressing, it’s still better than the statistics regarding the number of Black billionaires in America. As...
Over the past week, Joe Rogan has been in the headlines for his use of the n-word in his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience”. AfroTech previously reported that India.Arie became one of the latest musicians to pull her music catalog from Spotify. Her decision came in following the resurfaced videos, as well as the platform’s negligence of the COVID-19 misinformation shared on Rogan’s podcast, which Neil Young was the first to demand action. “Neil Young opened a door that I must walk through,” Arie wrote via Instagram. “I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid interviews. For me, it’s also his language around race.” In the midst of the controversy around Rogan, it looks like the podcaster will continue to stay on Spotify. The platform’s CEO Daniel Ek has recently stated his condemnation for Rogan’s actions but has no plans of removing him according to The Hollywood Reporter. While Ek addressed in a letter to staff that...
Patrice Motsepe has just added more to his $3.1 billion net worth. According to Business Insider, South Africa’s richest Black man — and one of the world’s Black billionaires — has just purchased a wine farm. The outlet reports that the luxury wine farm is called Hidden Valley, and it’s located in Stellenbosch and Somerset, South Africa. “The sale, which was recently announced, includes the purchase of a 28-hectare farm listed for sale at R160 million but was acquired for between R100 million ($5.5 million) and R120 million ($7.9 million) in cash,” confirms Business Insider. “The mining tycoon reportedly paid more for the property than former owner Riaan Stassen did in 2015 when the property was first purchased.” While it’s unclear why Patrice Motsepe decided to purchase this vineyard, what’s clear is that experts believe it will encourage tourism in the area. “This will be good in terms of advertising the brand and making it more attractive to other markets,” Wines of South Africa...
Small African farmers are facing a multitude of problems that affect the progress of agricultural production on the continent. But software-for-agriculture startup Khula has an innovative solution that’s helping this niche industry thrive again. TechCrunch reports that the South African-based company just announced the raise of a $1.3 million seed round to help further scale its farming software and expand nationwide. The round, which closed last year, was led by AECI — one of Africa’s biggest agrochemical companies — and included participation from South African impact investor E Squared Investments. With financial-backing from its lead investor, Khula now has access to AECI’s wide distribution network which is poised to help the platform scale its inputs app. AECI’s support will go a long way as a long-term partner that’s genuinely interested in the execution of the platform’s services. “Khula has very attractive fundamentals, a sizable addressable market, app development...