I build, I partner,
I host the conversation.

I’m Kevin Mutiso. I’ve spent the last decade building durable African ventures and the institutions that hold them up.

In 2015, at 28, I was recognised by Business Daily as one of Kenya’s Top 40 Under 40 Men for co-founding Samchi Credit. That same year I founded Alternative Circle — not as a single-product startup, but as a holding company designed to take long, concentrated positions in operating businesses across the African economy. The thesis then is the thesis now: Africa’s next durable companies will be built by Africans owning the operating layer — capital, distribution, and category-defining product — rather than renting it from outside.

The first bet was Shika — a mobile-first digital credit product. We raised $1.1M from CreditInfo in 2017, scaled to hundreds of thousands of users, and exited in 2020. Running Shika put me at the centre of Kenya’s digital credit boom, and made it obvious that the industry needed a credible counterparty to the Central Bank. That was the founding of DLAK in 2019, which became the Digital Financial Services Association of Kenya — DFSAK. I’ve served as Chair since 2020, leading engagement on the Digital Credit Provider licence regime. Under DFSAK oversight, member firms have disbursed over KES 109.8 billion, facilitated more than 6.6 million loans, and driven a 75% reduction in harassment and debt-shaming cases by digital lenders.

In 2021 we launched Oye — a buyer’s union for Kenya’s boda boda economy. Pre-negotiated fuel under a signed contract with Total Energies across 260+ stations, Personal Accident cover underwritten by Britam (which took an equity position in Oye via its BetaLab fund), asset finance via Mogo, fuel partnerships with Vivo and Galana. Oye has also been selected for Britam’s BimaLab insurtech accelerator, the international Microinsurance Master programme, and Safaricom Spark. Twenty-five thousand riders and counting, with revenue tracking at roughly 70% annual growth. Electric two-wheeler expansion is the next chapter.

In 2025 I took the Chair of Dhahabu Bulk Traders — a vehicle for building premium Kenyan agricultural exports into the Caspian and Gulf corridors. Our first product is a luxury tea brand sourced from the Mt. Kenya foothills. We launch publicly at Caspian Agro Week 2026 in Baku, with a letter of support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development confirming the alignment with the Tea Act 2020 and the BETA value-chain priorities.

Alongside the operating work, I write — long-form essays on Medium, and a book in progress with Gragory Nyauchi, working title If. I also host Let The Cake Bake, a long-form conversation series with operators, artists, and public servants. Five episodes recorded — Nzioka Waita, Addis Alemayehou, Annstella Mumbi, and Bien in two parts.

If there’s a through-line, it’s this: build, hold, and host the conversation around it. Capitalism is no longer a zero-sum game. The aim is to build an ever bigger cake.