FUTURE OF COMMERCE – MoonShot by TechCabal

Marlon Nichols

Managing Partner, MaC Venture Capital

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Marlon Nichols is the co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital, a leading seed-stage firm renowned for backing visionary founders who redefine industries. Under his leadership, MaC has grown into one of North America’s largest seed-stage venture firms, surpassing $600 million in assets under management (AUM). In October 2024, the firm announced the closing of its third fund ($150 million), further solidifying its influence in the early-stage investment landscape.

Marlon’s portfolio includes industry-defining companies such as Airspace, Blavity, FINESSE, Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Pipe, Purestream, Thrive Market, and Shekel Mobility, among others. His keen eye for transformative opportunities has earned him widespread recognition, including consecutive placements on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s LA500 (2022–2025) and Business Insider’s Seed 100 (Top Early-Stage Investors) for four years. Additionally, he ranks 25th on the Kauffman Fellows Fund Returners Index and has been featured in PitchBook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch for six years.

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Marlon Nichols

Managing Partner, MaC Venture Capital
Anu Adedoyin Adasolum

CEO, Sabi

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Anu Adedoyin Adasolum is the Founder and CEO of Sabi, a leading technology platform that helps underserved merchants grow by providing access to fulfillment, logistics, ERP tools, a B2B marketplace, data insights, and financial services. Since founding Sabi in 2021, she has scaled the platform into one of Africa’s fastest-growing business networks.

Her career began with roles at Dangote Industries and KPMG Nigeria, where she gained experience in operations planning, management consulting, and business analysis. She went on to become Chief Operating Officer at Rensource Energy, where she played a pivotal role in scaling operations and driving growth. She has held senior leadership roles at Jumia Group, including Head of JForce Transformation and VP of JForce (Sales), as well as roles in vendor acquisition and sourcing. Across her journey, Anu has consistently focused on leveraging technology and operational excellence to unlock growth opportunities for businesses and communities across Africa.

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Anu Adedoyin Adasolum

CEO, Sabi
Begna Gebreyes

Head of Heavy Industries, Telecoms & Technology (HITT), Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Begna Gebreyes is Head of Heavy Industries, Telecoms & Technology (HITT) at Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). As Head of HITT, he oversees a portfolio of US$1 billion in debt and equity investments. He has over 20 years’ experience of investment banking and private equity across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For the last 10 years he has been financing greenfield and brownfield expansion projects across AFC’s member countries. Prior to AFC, he held various roles at Standard Chartered Plc, CapitalSource Inc. and Bank of America N. A. He received his BA from Stanford University, MBA from University of California: Berkeley Haas and is a CFA charter holder.

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Begna Gebreyes

Head of Heavy Industries, Telecoms & Technology (HITT), Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)
Abubakar Suleiman

CEO, Sterling Bank

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Abubakar Suleiman is the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc, where he is driving a mission to optimize financial intermediation in critical sectors that catalyze growth and foster shared prosperity in Nigeria. He is an economist and banker with over two decades of experience in consulting and financial services. Under his leadership, the Bank launched the HEART initiative, focusing on Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Transportation, while also pioneering digital transformation and non-interest banking through The Alternative Bank.

Before becoming CEO, Abubakar served as Sterling Bank’s Executive Director and Chief Finance Officer, and previously worked with Arthur Andersen and Citibank Nigeria. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Abuja and a Master’s in Major Program Management from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

A strong advocate for sustainability and inclusive growth, Abubakar serves on the governing councils of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and Teach For Nigeria, as well as the advisory boards of Lagos Business School and the Enterprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University.

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Abubakar Suleiman

CEO, Sterling Bank
Mayokun Owolabi

Head, Global Expansion & Payment Partnerships- Africa, Flutterwave

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Mayokun Owolabi is a distinguished professional with over 14 years of experience in the digital payments industry. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology Management from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Scotland. Mayokun has also honed her expertise through programs from renowned institutions such as Lagos Business School in Nigeria andHarvard Business School (HBX).
Currently serving as Head, Global Expansion & Payment Partnerships- Africa at Flutterwave, Mayokun spearheads the enablement of payment channels across Flutterwave’s largest market through strategic partnerships. Her impactful contributions extend to her previous role at NIBSS, where she played a pivotal role in industry initiatives that have revolutionized the payments landscape in Nigeria.
With a wealth of knowledge and experience, Mayokun brings a deep understanding of digital payments, partnerships, and industry transformation.

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Mayokun Owolabi

Head, Global Expansion & Payment Partnerships- Africa, Flutterwave
Deepankar Rustagi

CEO, OmniRetail

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Deepankar Rustagi is the Founder and CEO of OmniRetail, a B2B enablement company working on digitizing the entire commerce value chain in Africa. With over 23 years of experience in Africa, he has built a career around small business solutions, business planning, and innovation.

He began his career in sales and marketing, serving in leadership roles at Dufil and Lucky Fibres Plc, before founding VConnect in 2010. VConnect became one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s pioneering SME tech platforms, helping businesses acquire and engage customers. Building on this success, he launched Omnibiz Africa to digitize distribution for retailers and Mplify, a sales force automation tool that empowers businesses with data-driven insights.
Deepankar is a Stanford SEED alumnus with strong expertise in sales, customer relations, and team building.

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Deepankar Rustagi

CEO, OmniRetail
Wole Ayodele

CEO, Fincra

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Wole leads a world-class team at Fincra in building cross-border payment solutions for fintechs, platforms, corporates & global businesses operating across the globe. Passionate about developing a better global payment system for today’s digital world, Wole is convinced that Africa has enormous potential to become the new frontier of this financial opportunity.

He has a background in Finance from Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria, where he was a key member of the Credit Risk Management Team, and has a growing career spanning 7+ years. Prior to Fincra, he co-founded Quidax, one of Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, where he led the Product, Business, Treasury & Customer Success teams. Over the years, Wole has recognised the difficulties that businesses face in making and receiving payments across Africa and he has remained committed to lowering the barriers and solving the challenges.

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Wole Ayodele

CEO, Fincra
Dotun Adekunle

COO & CTO, OPay

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Dotun Adekunle is the COO and CTO at OPay. Prior to this, he spent about two years at Flutterwave as Senior Vice President, where he grew the organization’s POS business by over 400% in just about a year and helped onboard marquee merchants such as Spar, Adidas, and Burger King.

Before this, he was the VP of Agency Banking and Chief Technology Officer at OPay Nigeria, leading the engineering team based in Lagos in partnership with their Beijing counterparts to build the “old OPay.” He is an information technology professional with over 19 years of experience developing, implementing, and managing core electronic and mobile payment services in the Nigerian market. He contributed significantly to the conception and development of several product initiatives, including OPay POS, OPay Instant Card, Pay with OPay, and more.

Dotun was the first indigenous technical staff member at OPay Nigeria and the founding technical lead of Paycom, which was acquired by Opera in 2017 to become OPay. He has built an excellent reputation across the Nigerian payment ecosystem and brings his wealth of knowledge, relationships, and expertise to help the organization scale to even greater heights.

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Dotun Adekunle

COO & CTO, OPay
Oremeyi Akah

Chief Customer Experience Officer, Interswitch

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Oremeyi joined Interswitch in 2002 as a pioneer employee and has since performed several roles within the organization, including Payment processing, Cards business and product operations.
With over 22 years of work experience, all at Interswitch, Oremeyi became Chief Core Operations Officer in April 2016, following her stint as Country Manager for Verve International in Nigeria. An alumnus of the University of Cambridge UK and MBA holder from the Judge Business School, Oremeyi is an Electrical and Electronics Engineering graduate from the University of Benin.
A member of the Winning Team at the 2011 Hult Global Case Challenge (largest international crowdsourcing competition), Oremeyi currently leads customer success and operational excellence as Chief Customer Officer at Interswitch Group with a focus on embedding customer-centric strategies across six business lines spanning Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Germany, while aligning these initiatives with our corporate values and business goals. She also has the distinction of serving as the first certified e-payment Postilion (now S1) trainer in Africa (outside South Africa).

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Oremeyi Akah

Chief Customer Experience Officer, Interswitch
Roosevelt Elias

Founder & CEO, Payble

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Roosevelt Elias is a visionary product technologist, entrepreneur, and the Founder & CEO of Payble, a pioneering fintech company dedicated to transforming financial access for micro and small businesses in emerging markets globally. With extensive expertise in AI, blockchain, and inclusive finance, Roosevelt has devoted his career to developing technology that uplifts underserved communities and fosters economic growth. While Payble is currently focused on the African market, the company’s vision is resolutely global, aiming to empower micro-entrepreneurs around the world with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy. Roosevelt’s mission is to create a more equitable economic landscape by harnessing the power of technology to unlock the potential of the smallest businesses, driving sustainable development and reducing poverty on a global scale. By focusing on financial inclusion and economic empowerment, he envisions a future where micro-businesses become catalysts for broader societal transformation. Roosevelt’s extensive experience in building tech solutions that are both innovative and inclusive makes him a leading voice in the push towards a more equitable global economy.

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Roosevelt Elias

Founder & CEO, Payble