logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
45m 3s

FLASHBACK | Raising Capital in Africa: I...

Stanford Graduate School of Business
About this episode

We're excited to announce that Stanford Seed has a new advisory board member: Andreata Muforo. We are thrilled to have Andreata on our team! To celebrate, we're bringing back one of our favorite episodes from Season 1, "Raising Capital in Africa: It's Not Just About the Money", which featured Andreata as a guest. Enjoy!

Original Show Notes:

Meet Elo Umeh, Managing Director and CEO of Terragon Group, a Nigerian digital marketing and data insights company, and Andreata Muforo and Ido Sum from TLcom Capital, and learn how to make the most of your fundraising efforts to successfully grow your business in Africa.

Elo never intended to formally raise money—he initially relied on friends and family to launch Terragon. But as the business grew, so did his vision, and he needed to find an investor that understood the enormous opportunity in a rapidly growing sector. Since 2016, he’s led Terragon through two funding rounds: a $5 million series A round and a bridge round of $4 million. Now a leader in Africa’s data and marketing technology space, Terragon is currently raising another $16 million for its Series B. 

Elo shares his fundraising journey, explaining that it’s not just about the money, but who provides the capital is also key. He ended up working with Andreata Muforo and Ido Sum from TLcom, a venture capital firm with experience investing in tech-enabled businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their relationship demonstrates how the right investors can help your business grow and actually enhance—not dampen—the quality of your decisions as a CEO.

Andreata and Ido of TLcom also share what they look for in a company and provide tips for how you can approach your next fundraising round.

Listen to Elo’s journey and Andreata and Ido’s insights to learn how to maximize the value of your firm’s next fundraising round.

Resources:

Terragon Group: https://terragongroup.com/ 

TLcom Capital: https://tlcomcapital.com/ 

Stanford Seed: http://stanfordseed.co/Grit

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Jul 25
Authentic Communication: Live from Stanford Seed Summit in South Africa
We're excited to bring you a special cross-over episode from our friends at the 'Think Fast, Talk Smart' podcast. Host Matt Abrahams joined us and recorded this live session at the Stanford Seed Transformation Network Summit in Cape Town, exploring the authentic communication str ... Show More
31m 27s
Apr 2025
Stanford Professors Reflect on Fostering Grit & Nurturing Growth
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s final episode. After five years and 90 episodes, we’ve asked four Stanford GSB professors who teach in the Seed Transformation Program to tell us what they’ve learned — about the grit of intrepid entrepreneurs working in emerging economies and the growt ... Show More
26m 37s
Mar 2025
Tangguh dan Pertumbuhan: Kisah Singkat
Perkenalkan Denica Riadini-Flesch, seorang mantan ekonom yang menjadi pengusaha. Ia sedih melihat perjuangan para pengrajin dan petani tradisional di pedesaan Indonesia sehingga ia mendirikan perusahaan untuk membantu mengubah hidup mereka. SukkhaCitta adalah merek mode dari peta ... Show More
16m 24s
Recommended Episodes
May 2018
Toxic Workplaces
If your workplace is toxic, can you change it? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Nicholas Pearce, an associate professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. They talk through how to transform a toxic culture, whether you’re a junior emp ... Show More
38m 47s
Aug 2019
Workplace Culture Conflicts
Are you at odds with your company’s culture? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Alicia Tillman, the CMO of SAP. They talk through what to do when your company celebrates one kind of worker and ignores others, everyone seems to fit in but you, or a hard-charging ... Show More
30m 51s
May 2022
203: Cultivating Psychological Safety with Teresa Mitrovic
People that don't feel safe in their work can't reach their full potential. Psychological safety can make the difference between a productive and innovative workplace, and one where employees feel the need to keep their heads down. As managers, it's our responsibility to create a ... Show More
39m 36s
Jul 2023
Amy Edmondson | How leaders nurture psychological safety
In this episode of Let Go & Lead, Maril talks with lauded author, scholar and Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, whose pioneering research into psychological safety has massively impacted the world of work. Amy breaks down what psychological safety is, what it isn’t ... Show More
44m 55s
Aug 2023
Whitney Johnson | How personal disruption unlocks innovation and success
In this episode of Let Go & Lead, Maril talks with bestselling author, world-class coach and CEO and Co-Founder of Disruption Advisors Whitney Johnson. After a successful career on Wall Street, Whitney had an epiphany: she wanted to apply the immense knowledge she’d gained from m ... Show More
39m 38s
Nov 2020
When Work Becomes Personal
“The core of leadership should be care,” says psychiatrist Gianpiero Petriglieri, MD. “And then performance is a result of a system in which there is enough care.” Petriglieri is an associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD and an expert on leadership and learning ... Show More
53m 39s
May 2021
#20 Dr. Saliha Afridi- Identity Formation, Mental Health, and the Best Resources in Dealing with Adversity
Dr Saliha Afridi is a leading psychologist and an entrepreneur with a mission to lead the way in promoting mental wellbeing in the Middle East.Born and raised in completely different cultures like many of or generation, we discussed individuality and the struggle of understanding ... Show More
54m 54s
Jan 2021
Gwyneth Paltrow x Nina Vasan: How Do We Take Care of Our Mental Health?
“When people ask me about the biggest issues in mental health, I say: Stigma is problems one, two, and three,” says psychiatrist Nina Vasan, MD. In addition to seeing patients in her private practice, Vasan is the chief medical officer at the mental health company Real and the ex ... Show More
51m 45s
Jan 2019
Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Amy Edmondson, professor at Harvard Business School, first identified the concept of psychological safety in work teams in 1999. Since then, she has observed how companies with a trusting workplace perform better. Psychological safety isn't about being nice, she says. It’s about ... Show More
26m 48s