Alternative Circle
One vehicle. Multiple operating bets. A single thesis about how durable African companies actually get built.
The problem
African founders have spent two decades being treated as a market to extract from rather than a market to build with. Capital flows in on terms set elsewhere. Distribution belongs to incumbents. Product is imported and localised, not authored. The result is dependency disguised as growth — companies that look big from outside but cannot survive their first hard cycle. Alternative Circle exists because the next generation of African businesses has to be authored from the inside out.
What I contributed
Founder & CEO
I founded Alternative Circle in 2015 as a holding company, not an operating one. The model: take long, concentrated positions in a small number of operating businesses where we can own the full stack — capital, talent, technology, and the customer relationship — and run them long enough for compounding to do its work. We started in digital credit with Shika, expanded into the boda boda economy with Oye, and into agricultural exports with Dhahabu Bulk Traders. Each venture is staffed by operators, but the capital allocation, the partnership architecture, and the long-term thesis sit at Alternative Circle.
Outcome
Ten years in, the portfolio has facilitated over six million loans, served tens of thousands of riders in the informal transport economy, and is launching premium Kenyan tea into four new export markets across the Caspian and Gulf. The model holds. The thesis — that African ventures must own their operating layer to survive — has gone from contrarian to consensus.
Highlights
- Founded 2015 — incorporated as a holding company from day one, not a single-product startup that pivoted into a group
- Parent of Shika (digital credit, exited), Oye (boda boda fintech), and Dhahabu Bulk Traders (agricultural exports)
- Long-hold model — every operating company designed for compounding, not optionality
- Operator-led, capital-disciplined — central allocation, distributed execution
- The thesis: Africa's next billion-dollar businesses get built by Africans owning the full stack