At the Tech Connect Lagos x Namibia documentary premiere held on Friday, May 15 at Antler Nigeria’s office inside the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, ecosystem builder Gerald Black premiered the Namibia edition of Between Destinations Across Africa, a documentary series exploring emerging innovation ecosystems across the continent and the founders building from outside Africa’s dominant startup markets.
- At the Tech Connect Lagos x Namibia documentary premiere held on Friday, May 15 at Antler Nigeria’s office inside the...
- The event, supported by LUA AI,ANTLER and Cleva, brought together founders, operators, investors and startup enthusiasts to discuss how smaller...
- Black, founder of XConnect, said the project emerged from years of helping startups expand into new African markets and observing...
- The film moves between the red sands of the Namib Desert, the Atlantic coastline of Swakopmund and the startup communities...
Keep reading for the full breakdown on African founders — everything you need to know is covered below.
The event, supported by LUA AI,ANTLER and Cleva, brought together founders, operators, investors and startup enthusiasts to discuss how smaller African ecosystems are building innovation beyond the continent’s “Big Four” markets, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt.
For years, those four countries have attracted the majority of Africa’s venture capital funding, media attention and global ecosystem recognition. But outside them, a quieter generation of founders is building across smaller markets that often receive limited visibility despite growing entrepreneurial activity.
The documentary offers a closer look at Namibia’s emerging startup ecosystem through interviews with fintech operators, venture builders, innovation hubs and early-stage founders working across digital payments, healthtech, agriculture and venture development.
“Outside the big four, many ecosystems are building important companies quietly,” Black said during the event.
“The founders are talented, but the visibility is different. They often lack access to mentors, operators and success stories that more mature ecosystems already have.”
Spotlighting Africa’s overlooked startup ecosystems
The documentary series began with Benin Republic before expanding to Tunisia and now Namibia, part of Black’s broader effort to document African innovation ecosystems that rarely receive sustained international attention despite increasing startup activity.
Black, founder of XConnect, said the project emerged from years of helping startups expand into new African markets and observing how smaller ecosystems often struggle with visibility and ecosystem support.
“People talk about Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt all the time, but there are founders building serious solutions outside those markets,” he said.
“A lot of these ecosystems are still at day zero. They don’t yet have the network effects or success stories that bigger ecosystems already have.”
According to Black, one of the most recurring challenges founders raised during his travels was access, particularly access to experienced operators, mentors, investors and ecosystem networks.
“One of the things we have as a privilege in Nigeria is that we have builders that have already succeeded,” he said, referencing companies such as Paystack, Flutterwave and Andela.
“In smaller ecosystems, many founders are still looking for people they can learn from or connect with.”
That challenge partly inspired Crossover, a founder-learning exchange programme launched by Black to connect entrepreneurs in emerging African markets with operators and startup leaders from more established ecosystems. The 10-week virtual programme will cover fundraising, product development and startup growth.
Namibia’s quiet push into digital innovation
The Namibia documentary presents the Southern African country as an emerging digital economy shaped by both geographical contrasts and growing entrepreneurial ambition.
Namibia, which gained independence in 1990, is one of Africa’s youngest nations and home to just over two million people. The film moves between the red sands of the Namib Desert, the Atlantic coastline of Swakopmund and the startup communities gradually taking shape across the country.
Among the companies featured is Airpay, a fintech and digital payments company founded by Ernest Marus. The startup is focused on digitising financial services across Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, with ambitions to scale into additional markets globally.
One of its products, Airpay Health Tech, enables Africans in the diaspora to pay for healthcare services, medication and doctor consultations for relatives back home, targeting growing demand for cross-border healthcare access.
The documentary also features visits to Basecamp, a Namibian startup incubator and innovation hub backed by venture platform Bellatrix, which supports pre-seed and seed-stage startups through mentorship, training and investment facilitation.
Black also met founders and operators from startups including Lunkir, a fintech platform focused on making investing more accessible for Namibians; Refrane, a startup building automation systems for businesses; Okaluli, an AI-powered SMS and WhatsApp education platform expanding digital learning access in underserved communities; Avagro; and DMs Mining Studios.
Sponsors back ecosystem storytelling
The Lagos premiere drew support from ecosystem players including LUA AI, ANTLER and Cleva, reflecting growing private-sector interest in ecosystem storytelling and cross-border founder collaboration.
Dapo Awobokun, who leads LUA AI’s Sub-Saharan Africa operations, said the company supported the documentary because of its broader interest in strengthening Africa’s innovation ecosystem.
LUA AI describes itself as an “agent operating system” platform that enables businesses to build and deploy AI-powered digital workforces across communication channels including WhatsApp, Instagram, email and phone calls.
The platform is designed primarily for small and medium-sized businesses seeking to integrate AI into operations without building AI systems internally.
According to Aubokon, LUA AI’s agents can automate workflows across customer service, operations and internal business processes while adapting to systems companies already use, including fraud detection frameworks.
Rather than building standalone fraud tools, he explained, the platform helps businesses automate existing operational processes.
ANTLER, which works with African startup founders and operators, supported the event as part of broader efforts to deepen collaboration across emerging African markets.
Cleva, a cross-border financial platform serving African remote workers and global professionals, joined the initiative amid growing demand for infrastructure connecting African talent to international opportunities.
Telling African stories from within Africa
For Black, the documentary series is ultimately about ownership of narrative and ensuring African ecosystems are documented by people actively involved in building them.
“We can tell these stories ourselves, for ourselves,” he said.
As investors, operators and founders increasingly search for opportunities beyond Africa’s largest startup hubs, Between Destinations Across Africa reflects a broader shift toward recognising smaller ecosystems that have long operated outside the global spotlight but are gradually building the foundations of Africa’s next generation of technology companies.