An analysis of the founding teams validated by venture capital in Africa so far this year paints a clear picture: the continent’s AI scene is being built by industry insiders. Forget the stereotype of the twenty-something coder in a hoodie. Think instead of the corporate lawyer from a magic circle firm, the brand manager from a global FMCG giant, or the operations head from a telecom operator.
These founders are leveraging deep, hard-won domain expertise to spot inefficiencies and opportunities that a pure technologist might never see. They are then applying AI as a tool to solve these problems, creating startups that are practical, targeted, and often more appealing to enterprise customers.
Why it matters: While Silicon Valley VCs often hunt for AI talent in university research labs, a different pattern in Africa points to a significant, and perhaps more resilient, model for building tech companies.
- Domain expertise is the new code: An analysis of AI startups securing venture capital in Africa this year reveals a growing cohort of founders whose primary qualification isn’t a computer science degree, but years of experience in sectors like law, consumer goods, healthcare, and even tobacco.
- Problem-first, not tech-first: These founders are building solutions for tangible, high-value problems they have personally faced, leading to a clearer path to product-market fit and revenue.
- A wider talent pool for VCs: The trend suggests that investors who limit their sourcing to traditional tech circles are missing out on a pipeline of vetted, experienced operators building highly defensible businesses.
The corporate exec-to-founder pipeline
The most prominent pattern is founders emerging from large, non-tech multinational corporations. After years of observing industry bottlenecks from the inside, they are stepping out to build the solutions themselves.
Senegal-based KERA Health, which recently secured funding from the IFC to build AI tools for the healthcare sector, is a case in point. While one founder, Moustapha Cissé, has a classic AI background from Google and Meta, his co-founders come from very different worlds. Papa Sow previously worked at British American Tobacco and telecom operator MTN, and Hosam Mattar came from insurer AXA and healthcare provider Al-Futtaim Health.
This model is repeated across the continent:
- In Algeria, Amaya Ag, an agritech startup using AI, was co-founded by Nassim Ilmane, who spent time at global consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble.
- In Egypt, the founders of Darwinz AI, a marketing tool backed by Flat6Labs, hail from telecom operator Vodafone and engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald.
- In Nigeria, Platos Health co-founder Joseph Fakayode is building an AI metabolic health startup after a career at pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim.
These founders aren’t guessing what the market needs; they have lived the problem.
From billable hours to building products
The highly structured and analytical worlds of professional services are also becoming an unlikely incubator for AI talent. Lawyers, accountants, and consultants are trained to dissect complex business problems — a skill set that translates directly to building enterprise-focused AI startups.
A key example is Youcef Rahmani, co-founder of Moroccan AI company ToumAI. Before launching his startup, he was a lawyer at Clifford Chance, one of the world’s most prestigious law firms. This legal background provides a unique advantage in building AI tools that address compliance and operational efficiency.
In South Africa, the trend continues with Stuart Reid, founder of AI firm NOSIBLE, who came from “Big Four” accounting firm KPMG. This pipeline demonstrates that professionals trained to advise on strategy are increasingly deciding they are better positioned to build the solutions themselves.
The ‘mafia’ effect: Africa’s ecosystem recycles its own
A clear sign of a maturing tech ecosystem is when it begins to generate its own talent for the next wave of companies. Experienced operators who have scaled Africa’s first generation of tech successes are now leaving to build more specialized, deep-tech ventures.
The founding team of Salus Cloud, an AI/DevOps startup, perfectly illustrates this. Andrew Mori, Jaco Nel, and Deen Hans all worked together at Nigerian e-commerce unicorn Konga. The experience of managing one of Africa’s largest and most complex online retail platforms provided the insight to build an AI-powered solution for a problem they knew inside out: cloud infrastructure.
Similarly, the founders of Open Access Energy, an AI energy trading platform in South Africa, both came from Tencent Africa, where they worked on the WeChat team. Their pivot from consumer tech to a highly specialized B2B sector shows talent moving from one part of the ecosystem to another, more technical one.
The Bottom Line
For VCs, this trend has three clear implications:
- Widen the sourcing lens. The next unicorn AI founder might not have a GitHub profile but a stellar track record at a multinational corporation. Sourcing talent requires looking beyond tech incubators and into the management ranks of Africa’s largest traditional companies.
- Domain expertise de-risks execution. Investing in a team that has spent a decade in the industry they are trying to disrupt significantly lowers the risk around achieving product-market fit. These founders already have the network and understand the customer’s pain points intimately.
- A sign of a healthy ecosystem. Founders with backgrounds in law (ToumAI), consulting (NOSIBLE), and scaled startups (Salus Cloud) bring a level of operational and strategic rigour that is invaluable, especially in a tough economic climate. Their companies are often built on more resilient business models focused on clear ROI for customers.