The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has granted Telda the final approval to launch its prepaid card and application on the Egyptian market, in an effort to achieve the CBE’s financial inclusion and digital transformation objectives.
CEO and Co-founder of Telda, Ahmed Sabbah
“We are very happy to have receive the final license from the Central Bank of Egypt to launch the Telda app and card, as we strive to participate in the country’s transformation into a digital economy and help accomplish the Central Bank’s vision to achieve financial inclusion through constantly offering smart and fast payment solutions,” CEO and Co-founder of Telda, Ahmed Sabbah, said. “Telda is an entirely new financial experience that empowers the youth to indulge into using more advanced technological solutions. We aim to change the way people think and feel about money by providing a better and more efficient banking experience as an alternative to the traditional payment and transfer methods,” Sabbah added.
A Look At What Telda Does
Founded in 2021 by Swvl’s co-founder and former CTO Ahmed Sabbah and Youssef Sholqamy, Telda provides a vast array of functions, including the free issuing of Mastercard-powered prepaid cards. The prepaid cards provide a completely integrated payment experience without the requirement for a bank account, as they may be used for online purchases, in-store purchases, and cash withdrawals from any ATM in the world. In addition, users will be able to send and receive money instantaneously and for free from any other Telda user, as well as monitor their accounts and spending through the control and insights tools that make users aware of their spending habits and in complete control of what their card can accomplish.
Telda is a financial brand designed for Millennials and Generation Z, who are actively seeking smart and simple solutions to manage and monitor their costs without visiting a bank to open an account.
This action is in line with the nation’s aim to promote financial inclusion, allowing all citizens to access modern financial services that meet their needs and eventually resulting in sustainable economic growth for both individuals and the nation.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
The game for who becomes Egypt’s next category king after Fawry is on, and in a fierce fashion. Barely a month after Flextock, a Cairo-based fintech raised $3.75 million and claimed Egypt’s largest preseed, Telda, an Egyptian digital bank aimed at Generation Z has displaced it. The startup has not only secured a $5m pre-seed round of funding, but has got the backing of some of the world’s leading investors, including that of the California-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital.
Swvl’s co-founder and former CTO Ahmed Sabbah
Although Sequoia Capital led the round, the investment also saw the participation of US venture capital firms, Global Founders Capital and Class 5 Global.
The investment is Sequoia Capital’s first in the Middle East and North Africa. It is also the first investment in any Egyptian startup for Global Founders Capital and Class 5 Global. Last year, Sequoia Capital participated in Cameroonian startup, Healthlane’s $2.4m fundraising.
The startup will use the funding to launch its new products and grow the business.
Why The Investors Invested
Investment into Telda started when Swvl’s co-founder and former CTO Ahmed Sabbah sent a cold message on LinkedIn to one of Sequoia Capital’s partners. What followed was a series of meetings with several people at the firm and the subsequent request for a term sheet a few weeks later.
The American VC had previously led a $2 million seed round in Brazil’s Nubank, a neobank with close to 40 million customers across Latin America and a market capitalization of $25 billion. David Vélez, a former Sequoia associate, founded Nubank.
“Both countries boast a huge, young, talented, and tech-savvy population with a strong appetite to innovate,” said George Robson, a Sequoia partner who led the investment in Telda. “We are delighted to partner with Telda and earmark our first investment in the area,” he said in a statement.
One remarkable attraction for the investors in this round is the team at Telda. Sabbah, the co-founder and CEO was formerly of SWVL, one of Africa’s most funded startups and whose team had particularly been praised by investors as executing quickly. This factor, apart from Telda’s mission, particularly drew in San Francisco-based VC firm Class 5 Global.
“Money has become a medium of self-expression — a form of identity — not solely a store of value. Telda has done a remarkable job of embedding their culture and values in the product, in both functionality and design. No hidden fees, no maintenance charges, no paperwork nor stress, coupled with an elegant design to enable a self-service experience,” said Youcef Oudjidane, Managing Partner of Class 5 Global.
Similar point was re-echoed by Roel Janssen, a partner at Global Founders Capital.
“We are highly impressed by Sabbah and Sholqamy and love their vision for building the region’s leading digital banking app and we are proud to be part of their journey. It is GFC’s first investment in Egypt and we see that Egypt has the potential to become an important hub in the global tech ecosystem,” Janssen said.
But perhaps, the greatest point of attraction for the investors lies in the traction the startup has garnered so far. Barely launched last month (April), the startup already has over 30,000 sign-ups and over 17,000 people who have requested the card via the app.
Telda also said it was the first company in Egypt to obtain a license under the latest Banking Agents regulations from Egypt’s Central Bank. The license enables them to digitally issue cards and onboard customers, most similar to what South Africa’s TymeBank, which recently announced it had acquired 3 million customers in just two years, is doing. Sabbah said it is now only a matter of weeks before the cards are shipped to users on the waitlist.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Telda was founded a little over a month ago by Swvl’s co-founder and former CTO Ahmed Sabbah and Youssef Sholqamy, who was previously a senior engineer with Uber’s infrastructure team. The startup is Egypt’s first digital bank.
Users may create a Telda account entirely online, using only their phone number and national ID number. Telda’s account comes with a Mastercard-powered card that can be used for online payments, in-store transactions, which cash withdrawals (and can be requested from the app). Users may use the IBAN that they earn for their digital account on Telda to receive money from anyone in Egypt and beyond.
The startup is aiming at Gen Z in the whole of the Middle East, starting with Egypt.
The fintech space in Egypt is still largely unexplored, despite moves by startups to fill that void, with Soliman S. AlTayyar, an Egypt-based capital markets and investment expert telling Afrikan Heroes that, currently, digital payments to GDP is 3% and that the Egyptian government is aiming to increase this to 10% in 2–3 years.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
In 2016, Mahmoud Nouh abandoned his ship building venture barely a year into it, and even after raising $300k in just two months of operations. He was headed for SWVL, a bus-booking startup his friend Mostafa Kandil had just started. At that time, SWVL had industry giants, Careem and Uber to confront. Uber alone had more than 40,000 Egyptian drivers working on the platform every month, and new drivers joining up at the rate of 2,000 a week. Somewhere else far away, Ahmed Sabbah, owner of Goyastores, which he had tilled hard at for more than two years, was also about leaving, to join SWVL as Chief Technology Officer.
Yet, four years after taking the risk to join SWVL, both men still have one strong thing in common: quitting even SWVL and moving on.
“Mahmoud has been a major pillar in the company since day one,” SWVL noted in a farewell statement on Nouh in October, 2019. “His contributions to building SWVL from being a small startup in a tiny room to a major player in the transportation scene are countless. He is the mastermind behind building SWVL’s bus fleet and its operations.”
For Sabbah, it was such an emotional moment to leave.
“Yet.. everything in life has a beginning and an end and after four thrilling years, my SWVL ride is ending,” Sabbah wrote in a social media post.
“The SWVL journey has pushed me, and many of us, to be better than we ever thought possible — from challenging us with intense hard work and executing at breakneck speed to tapping into our grit and resilience,” he said.
Even though it is arguably expected that founders would, one day, seek exit from the startups they founded, it is important to comprehensively understand how most African founders, of both existing and non-existing startups, have handled this point in their lives.
SWVL’s three co-founders: L-R -Mostafa Kandil, Mahmoud Nouh and Ahmed Sabbah
Finding A Space On The Board
One recurring thing most African startup founders have done when it comes to exiting startups they founded is to find a space on the startups’ boards of directors.
This is usually the case where moving away from a startup entirely may be counterproductive, especially if the exiting founder previously oversaw the technical or other key departments of the startup, and there have not been adequate succession plans in place to absorb the impact of any exit.
Also, where there is uncertainty as to how the remaining percentage of the shares held by the founder may vest, especially if the founder quits before his or her shares in the company become fully vested, moving to the board may become an option.
Migrating to the board gives founders the chance to assist startups in absorbing the impact of their exit as well as re-negotiate their unvested shares.
Being part of the board, whether in an executive or non-executive director capacity, will also give founders the time to explore other opportunities as there is no limit to the number of companies they can be part of as directors, provided the multi-roles would not hamper the performance of their roles for the startups and that they have negotiated good deals in their contracts of directorship with the startups.
Notable African CEOs have taken the route of board membership upon exit from the startups they founded.
One founder whose exit via the board is worthy of mention is Grant Brooke, former CEO of Twiga Foods, who ran the Nairobi-based agritech startup for 6 years before handing over to Peter Njonjo, who has years of corporate experience, including a 21 year stint at Coca Cola Company where he led the multinational’s West and Central Africa business unit as President.
Upon resignation as CEO of Twiga Foods in 2020, Brooke moved to the board of the startup, and has remained there since then.
The board membership has allowed him to found, in 2020, another startup, Shara, which is building tools for SMEs in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
This, he would not have been able to do if he were still the CEO of Twiga Foods.
“If my leadership was the period in which Twiga was proving a point that there’s a better way to build food safe and secure markets, Peter’s leadership will be about institutionalizing this way of doing business and scaling it. Peter’s experience in building efficient supply chains and last-mile distribution in over 33 African countries makes him uniquely suited to lead us,” said Grant Brooke at the time he left.
In essence, exiting as a founder via the board may also be a way of giving way for more experienced hands to drive a startup to the next stage.
Every founder wants to feel needed by their company. So there is one thing they just don't want to let go of. Usually the thing they are best at. But often, a specialist will be better than them, and it's better that they oversee that thing.
The best thing Marie Lora-Mungai, former CEO of Buni.tv could do when her startup was acquired by Trace Tv in 2016 was to fall back to Restless Global, a strategic advisory and content development company specialized in the African entertainment space, which she had founded a year before Buni.tv’s acquisition, in 2015.
Similar strategy was used by former Chief Operating Officer of Nigeria’s Jobberman, Olalekan Olude, when he resigned his position with the startup in 2017.
Olude moved that same year to Rovedana, a staffing and payroll financing services platform for SMEs in Nigeria which he had previously founded, and later to CicoServe Payments, a grassroots bank in Nigeria.
Most former CEOs and founders of African startups have equally explored the route of venture capital and angel investing, immediately after quitting their startups.
This is the case of Mark Forrester, former co-founder of WooCommerce, a South African startup that was sold in 2015 to web development company Automattic (WordPress) in a deal estimated to be worth over $30 million.
Forrester has since moved on to become an investor, investing in startups such as IoT security and automation platform Sentian; mobile creativity app Over; community-based security solution Jonga; and online grocery delivery service Yebo Fresh.
No matter what route exiting African founders took, one thread almost always runs through: they already have wall chests of resources and well-drawn-out plans about their next moves.
A majority of them ended up proceeding to found new companies as they had promised in their farewell speeches; with some moving on to entirely different endeavours.
However, it is not often easy for co-founders whose exits were forced, such as in cases of outright dismissal or resignation on the ground of gross misconduct, to move on from their exits.
A year after Kennedy Nganga — the technical person once in charge at Safi Analytics (a Kenya-based smart metering startup) — was asked to go, by foreign co-founders Lauren DunfordandWeston McBride, all appears not be well for the young man, even though he has since moved on to Techpreneur School, a platform that facilitates training and mentoring of upcoming entrepreneurs by experienced ones.
#StartupbillKE#businessnow I only hope this bill will help stem the culture of exploitation and technology theft from local innovators. Still out here fighting for justice about this issue. https://t.co/MoyHGtKqF4
Similar fate seems to have also touched African founders asked to go on grounds of fraud or sexual misconduct.
Ever since Anthony Kariuki, former CEO of the Nairobi-based fintech startup Alternative Circle was asked to leave the startup in 2017 — after barely a one-year stint as CEO— on grounds of sexual misconduct allegations, he has disappeared completely from limelight.
This is also the case for Daudi Were of another Kenyan startup, Ushahidi, who was asked to go in 2017 after nearly a ten-year stint as CEO.
The best way of explaining the after-effects of such disappearances forced by dismissal or crime allegations is that the affected founders were literally caught off-guard and had never, maybe, thought of leaving their startups soon.
In light of that, it is therefore imperative for startup founders to design solid personal succession plans from the outset of their participation in startups.
A good succession plan should cover all the possible permutations of their lives on the startups.
But then, a well-intentioned approach, aimed at first assisting the startup to fulfil its vision and mission should always be preferred, as most times beginning with ulterior motives in mind has, almost always, killed so many startup teams — and startups themselves — around the globe.
Moving In-House Under A Holding Company Structure
This is the second option — apart from moving to the board — often explored by African founders whose startups were acquired.
In most cases, this is enabled by a provision in the acquisition agreement that allows the founder to become automatically employed in a new role at the acquiring company upon acquisition.
The agreement may allow the founder to exit after some time, usually after the acquired startup has properly settled into the acquiring company.
This path has been hugely explored by most South African founders.
Hannes Van Rensburg, former CEO of South African startup, Fundamo City — which was bought by credit card company Visa in 2011 for $110 million — moved over to become Senior Vice President, Visa from 2011 to 2014.
Same for Chris Pinkham, former CEO of Nimbula — which was acquired in 2013 by software titan, Oracle for $110 million. Pinkham went on to Oracle as Senior Vice President, Cloud Product Development from 2013 to 2014.
S/N
NAME OF STARTUP FOUNDER/ BASE COUNTRY OF OPERATIONS
STARTUP/ROLE AT STARTUP
YEAR JOINED STARTUP
YEAR OF EXIT
NATURE AND REASONS FOR EXIT
MAJOR ACTION AFTER EXIT
1
Mahmoud Nouh (Egypt)
SWVL/Chief Operating Officer
2017
2019
Resignation. Reasons: For personal reasons.
Founded in 2020 Capiter, a B2B marketplace that brings together FMCGs, wholesalers, and merchants on one platform.
2
Ahmed Sabbah (Egypt)
SWVL/Chief Technology Officer
2017
2020
Resignation. Reasons: To start a consumer fintech.
Left to start a consumer fintech, which is yet to be launched.
3
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (Nigeria)
Flutterwave/CEO
2016
2018
Resignation. Reasons: Personal and family reasons.
Moved on to found a community investment firm Future Africa,
4
Tonjé Bakang (Cameroon)
Afrostream/CEO
2014
2017
Termination due to liquidation. Reasons: Startup failure.
Proceeded to become a university lecturer at France’s Sciences Po. Seed investor in SpaceFill, Shipfix, among many others.
5
Barrett Nash (Rwanda)
CanGo(CEO)
2014
2020
Termination due to liquidation. Reasons: Startup failure.
Co-founder/CEO since March 2020 at InfiniteUp, a startup that is digitizing MSMEs across sub-Saharan Africa.
6
Tricia Martinez (South Africa)
Wala/CEO
2014
2020
Termination due to liquidation Reasons: Startup failure.
Proceeded to work for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office as a policy fellow since 2020.
7
Etop Ikpe (Nigeria)
Cars45/CEO
2016
2020
Resignation. Reasons: Dispute over startup’s equity structure.
Proceeded to found Autochek, a car listing platform in 2020 as the CEO.
8
Abdulhamid Hassan (Nigeria)
OyaPay/CEO
2017
2019
Termination due to liquidation. Reasons: Startup failure.
Proceeded to Paystack as Product Manager. Left Paystack to found Voyance and later to co-found a Y Combinator-backed fintech API startup, Mono in 2020.
9
Adewale Yusuf (Nigeria)
Techpoint/CEO
2015
2020
Resignation. Reasons: To launch a new venture.
Proceeded to co-found TalentQL, a tech talent-hiring platform.
10
Sim Shagaya (Nigeria)
Konga/CEO
2012
2016
Resignation. Reasons: Became Chairman of Konga’s Board of Directors.
Proceeded to found uLesson, an edtech startup in 2019.
11
Bolaji Akinboro (Nigeria)
Cellulant/Co-CEO
2004
2020
Resignation. Reasons: Allegations for financial impropriety.
No major move announced, but already a Chairman of the Board of Directors at Voriancorelli, a B2B marketplace company since 2020.
12
Ayodeji Adewunmi (Nigeria)
Jobberman/CEO
2009
2019
Resignation Reasons: to pursue a new career in venture investing.
Proceeded to GOKADA as co-CEO; Left Gokada in 2019 for Kudy Financials, Luxembourg as COO since 2020.
13
Kola Aina (Nigeria)
Ventures Platform Hub/Managing Partner
2016
2019
Resignation. Reasons: Moved to the Board.
Proceeded to get on the board of other companies, including that of Ventures Platform.
Proceeded to found Rovedana, staffing and payroll financing services platform for SMEs in Nigeria in 2017; and CicoServe Payments, a grassroots bank for in Nigeria.
16
Nico Stern (South Africa)
IoT.nxt
2015
2021
Resignation. Reasons: There were some suggestions in IoT.nxt’s statement that IoT.nxt’s closer integration with its parents had had at least a partial role in Steyn’s resignation.
No major move reported yet. Stern will however remain a shareholder and board director.
17
Manuel Koser (South Africa)
Zando/CEO
2012
2013
Resignation. Reasons: to co-found Silvertree Capital, a “company builder and venture investor” in African startups.
Co-Founder & Managing Director at Silvertree Holdings, an investment company since 2013
18
Robert Paddock (South Africa)
GetSmarter/CEO
2007
2018
Exit by acquisition. Reason: GetSmarter was sold to US edtech company 2U in 2017 (announced in May) for $103-million plus $20-million in cash. Paddock
Proceeded to found Valenture Institute, an e-learning platform in 2019.
19
Paul McEwan (South Africa)
Kapa Biosystems/Chief Scientific Officer
2006
2016
Exit by acquisition. Reason: The startup was sold to Swiss medical company Roche in 2015 for $445-million.
Proceeded to Roche as the Vice President, Life Cycle Leader, Sample Preparation from 2016 to 2018. Left Roche in 2018. Became an angel investor in Life Science Angels since 2019.
20
Hannes Van Rensburg (South Africa)
Fundamo City/CEO
1999
2011
Exit by acquisition. Reason: Fundamo was bought by credit card company Visa in 2011 for $110 million.
Exit by acquisition. Reasons: Nimbula was acquired in 2013 by software titan, Oracle for $110 million.
Proceeded to Oracle as Senior Vice President, Cloud Product Development from 2013 to 2014; Worked at Twitter as VP Engineering from 2015 to 2017. Co-founded Sailing Umoya since 2020.
22
Vinny Lingham (South Africa)
Gyft
2012
2015
Exit by acquisition. Reasons: Gyft was sold in 2014 to global payment technology solution company FirstData for “above $54-million” according to Lingham.
Proceeded to First Data Corporation as Senior Vice President Product Development from 2014 to 2015. Proceeded to host Shark Tank South Africa from 2016 to 2016. Co-founded Civic Technologies, a blockchain based identity management since 2016.
23
Mark Forrester (South Africa)
WooCommerce
2008
2015
Exit by acquisition. Reasons: WooCommerce sold in 2015 to web development company Automattic (WordPress) in a deal estimated to be worth over $30-million
Proceeded to become investor, investing in startups such as IoT security and automation platform Sentian, mobile creativity app Over, community-based security solution Jonga, and online grocery delivery service Yebo Fresh,
24
Adii Pienaar (South Africa)
WooCommerce/CEO
2008
2013
Resignation. Reasons: Sold his shares in the company to other co-founders, Magnus Jepson, and Mark Forrester to build another company.
Proceeded to found Conversio in 2014, which was acquired by acquisition by CM Group in August 2019. Adii became VP Commerce Product Strategy of CM Group, but left in September, 2020 to found Cogsy, a startup helping Ecommerce brands to optimise their inventory and increase their return on working capital, since October 2020.
25
Rob Stokes (South Africa)
Quirk (CEO)
1999
2016
Exit by acquisition. Reason: Quirk was acquired by advertising giant WPP in 2014 for a reported R350 million to R400-million ($35million to $39 million) at the time of the sale.
Proceeded to assume board chairmanship and directorships positions in several companies –BrandsEye; The Open Knowledge Trust –he founded
26
Grant Brooke (Kenya)
Twiga Foods/CEO
2014
2020
Resignation. Reasons: To assume board role at Twiga Foods.
Proceeded to assume a board position on Twiga Foods, but co-founded Shara, a startup where building tools for SMEs in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe since 2020.
27
Anthony Kariuki (Kenya)
Alternative Circle/CEO
2016
2017
Resignation. Reasons: Sexual misconduct allegations
–
28
Daudi Were (Kenya)
Ushahidi (Co-founder)
2008
2017
Resignation. Reasons: Sexual misconduct allegations.
Proceeded to found a company a little known company Mikakati since 2018
29
Kennedy Nganga (Kenya)
Safi Analytics (CTO)
2017
2020
Dismissal. Reason: Allegations of being pushed out of the company by foreign co-founders Lauren Dunford and Weston McBride
Proceeded to found Techpreneur School, a platform that facilitates training and mentoring of upcoming entrepreneurs by experienced ones.
30
Munyaradzi Chiura (Zimbabwe)
Hypercube/Cofounder
2013
2017
Exit by dissolution. Reasons: Hypercube Dissolved by founders.
Proceeded to Flywire Corporation as Payments Consultant Africa since 2017. Currently Head, Rest of Africa Growth at Flutterwave since 2021.
31
Marie Lora-Mungai (Kenya)
Buni.tv/CEO
2009
2016
Exit by acquisition. Reasons: Buni.tv was acquired by Trace Tv.
Proceeded to the board of Buni.tv as a board member since 2016. Also, an angel investor. CEO since 2015 of Restless Global, a Strategic Advisory & Content Development company specialized in the African Entertainment space, which encompasses the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) , Sports Business, and Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sectors.
When Every Other Thing Fails
African startup founders faced with exit dilemma have also explored different paths, apart from those stated above.
Former CEO of Nigerian ecommerce company Konga, Sim Shagaya, saw a cool-off period — during which he was still sitting on Konga’s board as chairman — of almost three years, returning only in 2019 to launch uLesson, an edtech startup.
Tonjé Bakang, CEO of failed music streaming startup Afrostreams, has since assumed a lecturing role at Sciences Po, a research-based university based in Paris, France. Tonjé is, today, also a serial seed investor.
Tricia Martinez, of failed crypto startup Wala, has equally moved on to work for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office as a policy fellow.
However, it is worthy of note that not all founders of failed African startups shunned entrepreneurship entirely, afterwards.
“…I just took another risk leaving one of the leading companies in the AI space in Europe to move back home for no salary but I love every minute of this new hustle!” Wrote Hassan in 2018, on the occasion of the death of one of his first startups.
What Happens To The Unvested Shares?
There are no hard and fast rules about vesting shares, but standard practice is that once the founder has exhausted the period of such vesting and the ownership of the shares have fully accrued to him or her, then no further rules apply except, of course, that the founder is at liberty to dispose of the shares in any manner he or her desires.
Problems however arise where the founder exits before the shares become fully vested in him or her.
The general rule in all cases is, however, that a company has an option to repurchase unvested shares if a co-founder ceases to work for the company for any reason or fails to make the expected contributions he or she has agreed to make.
In any case, the agreement between the founder and the startup may also make room for accelerated vesting, in which case the shares held by the founder go against the natural course of time earlier agreed between the founder and the startup, allowing the founder to be entitled to all the shares due to him or her in a shorter time period.
But this mostly happens if the startup is going through Initial Public Offering (IPO), take-over, mergers and acquisitions, sale of more than half of the company’s assets, among unlimited possibilities.
At the end of the day, what matters in vesting shares is always the agreement between the founder and the startup; and it is important that the founder’s agreement covers this; and at the same time, leaving rooms for future amendments.
This is one way to take care of uncertainties arising out of a founder’s exit.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
