Marvin Coleby has an interesting background and life trajectory. He was born in Paris, raised in the Bahamas, studied in Canada, and moved to Nairobi, Kenya. In the university, he studied PanAfrican Political Economy and History and did a Law degree in cross-border arbitration between countries.
His education and multicultural background have fostered a global perspective which has influenced his desire for Panafrican Unity and he has driven him into building Raise, a digital equity management platform, with the aim of bringing "security, transparency and simplicity to the African venture capital space.” Raise aims to automate share options for African Startups by providing infrastructure to facilitate the equity distribution process.
In this episode of Founders Connect, Marvin shares his unique perspective regarding running a startup in Africa and for Africans; his motivations, his passion for equity and diaspora ownership, key milestones, challenges, problems Raise is trying to solve, and plans for the company’s future. It’s a laidback and interesting conversation filled with Marvin’s refreshing perspective on tech, investments and life. Don’t miss it.
Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ypwBH2MkA8
Video timestamps
1:55 - Background
3:19 - Why Marvin moved to Kenya
5:20 - His favourite childhood memory
7:34 - University, Panafricanism, Searching for Answers
8:50 - Hypothesis for Financial Infrastructure
11:05 - Time Spent working at the Law Firm (Dentons)
11:36 - Lessons from time spent working at the Law Firm
13:50 - The beginning: How Raise started
15:09 - What Raise is doing
19:02 - Key Milestones and Big Challenges
25:08 - What he would change if he went back
26:29 - What he looks for when hiring for Raise
27:13 - Why he chose Nairobi as the place to start Raise
29:06 - The Seed Rounds of Raise
31:10 - Future plans for Raise
35:15 - Why people should care about Raise
37:19 - Question Marvin would have liked Peace to ask