Demo Day at Zenith Bank, new faces, and other company updates

In November 2024, Salad Africa secured the 2nd runner-up spot at the Zecathon competition organized by Zenith Bank Nigeria.

Following our win, we were invited to participate in a six-week boot-camp and mentorship program, hosted by Beyond Limits, which officially wrapped up yesterday, March 13, 2024. We learned from experienced business leaders and entrepreneurs and got a chance to connect with other startup founders. Here is a quick rundown of what the program entailed

• Week 1: Zenith Bank kicked off the incubation program launch at their location in Victoria Island. All selected startups and their founders were present.

• Week 2: Napa Onwusah led a session on people and culture management. We learned about talent acquisition, retention, and what it takes to build a great company culture. Napa is managing partner at Placidcode Labs.

• Week 3: Gbolahan Sanni, VP at Wakanow led a section on Product Development & Marketing. He shared insights and strategies on product market fit and scaling.

• We explored Digital Innovation & Operational Excellence in a session led by David Lanre Messan, Managing Partner at FirstFounders Inc., gaining insights into leveraging technology for efficiency and business growth.

• Week 5: Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes took us deep into the world of fundraising, pitching, and financial management, breaking down what it takes to attract investors and keep finances in check. As the Founding Partner and CEO at Aruwa Capital, she brought a wealth of experience, offering fresh insights on securing funding and scaling sustainably.

• Week 6: Demo Day & Graduation. We wrapped up the program with Demo Day, presenting our progress and vision to industry leaders. It was a moment of reflection, celebration, and gearing up for the next phase of Salad’s journey.

This program has reinforced our belief that Salad is on the right path to developing embedded lending services for SMEs, digital platforms, banks, and financiers👏🏽

PEOPLE AND CULTURE: New faces at Salad Africa

The Salad Africa team is the backbone of our internal business, and we are always excited to add new people to our Slack channel. We recently welcomed Lady Kay 🇳🇬 🏳️🌈 , a multimedia journalist and startup storyteller, to oversee business communications and social impact storytelling at Salad Africa.

You can read more about Lady's responsibilities at Salad Africa below:

PRODUCT NEWS: Sunsetting Advance Pay

Back in July 2024, we pivoted our business model from offering earned wage access solutions to developing a lending-as-a-service platform for SMEs and financiers. As part of our business model pivot, we made the tough but necessary decision to sunset our Advance Pay product. While it is bittersweet to say goodbye, we are even more excited about what is ahead as we have launched two new products

• Embed: Our plug-and-play API enables digital platforms to provide embedded credit to their SME customers. With Embed, businesses can offer a seamless, end-to-end lending experience inside their applications.

• Connect: A dedicated financing platform for SMEs, providing fast, flexible access to funds through a network of specialized lenders.

Thank you for reading today's edition of Salad Debrief. Follow us on LinkedIn to stay informed on company news, product updates, and other insights from Salad Africa.

Visit our website to get a deeper understanding of what we do and how we are working to close the $450Bn funding gap in Africa.