My name is Minolta Ndlovu. I started Rooibos Radar with my friend Andile Mbele because we were both interested in learning and demystifying the tech ecosystem in Africa. Our mission at Rooibos Radar is to analyze, ask questions, and connect the dots within Africa’s dynamic landscape of tech.
Africa is often perceived through a singular lens of poverty, while today, the view of technology leans towards a futuristic realm dominated by AI innovations. Yet, Africa’s tech story is richer and more diverse. What we want to do through Rooibos Radar is to showcase the continent’s unique journey towards innovative progress. The foundational work we are doing is groundbreaking across critical sectors like agriculture, finance, and energy – sectors that are the lifeblood of African economies. These exciting ventures are necessary and have to be shared with the world.
Since we founded Rooibos Radar in November 2023, we have published 11 articles with more than a thousand views. Rooibos Radar for me is a challenge to learn, to meet and connect with founders and thought leaders in tech from all around the continent. This is exciting and well aligned with my interest in joining the effort to build tech solutions that solve big challenges in Africa. One such venture is a project I started in the summer of 2022 called “Yakha”, which means “build” in Ndebele.
Yakha’s vision is to build a community of women entrepreneurs in Africa’s informal sector to provide funding, network, and business tools. This, of course, is a big challenge that I am taking time to learn and understand by answering these critical questions: ‘How can we develop effective business tools for this community of informal entrepreneurs? How can we combine their efforts to elevate their impact from mere survival to thriving entrepreneurs?’
Since the Yakha project’s inception, I have been awarded the Davis Projects for Peace Initiative Award, and I have also been a finalist in The Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs.
I invite anyone interested in learning more about Yakha and its foundations to visit my evolving blog at Resilient Roots, https://resilient-roots.org/.
