Whitney Lunga

Why Centralized Finance Will Outperform Lone-Wolf Portfolios JONATHAN RUWANIKA NOV 30, 2025 Everyone in venture is talking about evolution—AI deal sourcing, evergreen capital, founder brand-as-a-moat. But in African VC, the next step-change won’t come from the front office. It will come from something operational, unglamorous, and financially unavoidable: Centralizing finance, data, and compliance across the entire portfolio. Not as a “value-add”—as infrastructure. As the backbone. As the...

Nigeria built Africa’s leading tech ecosystem despite its challenges. Here’s how Zimbabwe can do the same. JONATHAN RUWANIKA DEC 06, 2025 I recently spent time in Zimbabwe, my motherland. Between reconnecting with old friends and speaking with entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders, one question kept surfacing—a question both hopeful and haunting: Can Zimbabwe build a globally relevant startup ecosystem? It’s tempting to hesitate. To point to the currency, the regulations, the...

The hidden forces behind the Seed-to-Series A collapse. JONATHAN RUWANIKA DEC 09, 2025 Across global markets — and especially in Africa — Seed-to-Series A graduation has collapsed. The familiar explanations still circulate: “macro environment,” “higher bar for Series A,” “harder to prove PMF,” “capital efficiency is king now.” All true. Yet none of these feel like the full story. After working with dozens of founders, reviewing countless data rooms, and sitting on both sides of the...