Biola Alabi: Media, Tech Investment and Local Content Production

Change Africa Podcast

Biola Alabi is a Nigerian media and investment executive, general partner at Atika Ventures, an early-stage VC, and the deputy chair of the Lagos Angel Network.

Biola recounts her journey from a public health education to a career in media, drawing parallels between the foundational elements of both fields that are often thought to be dissimilar. We explore her work in Sesame Street and how the research-focused approach of the organization cemented her belief in the power of indigenous languages in media. She would leverage that experience at MultiChoice’s DSTV, the biggest pay TV operator in Africa to pioneer indigenous languages in the company’s programming. Biola talks about how her work with Big Brother Africa commenced a process that gave many African creators today the license to create by breaking out of the predefined notion of what it means to be African and changed how Africans spoke about domestic violence, gender equity, psychology, or trauma.

Biola’s segue from media to technology investment started from consulting for clients in early-stage investments. She describes how her encounters with African founders reinstated her confidence in the future of the continent and has since been writing cheques, first an as angel investor, then as part of the learning community of investors at the Lagos Angel Network and now her own VC firm. Biola sees technology as one of the primary tools for poverty eradication on the continent and is excited to invest in the changemakers of tomorrow who create the innovations that will change every aspect of our lives and create opportunities to escape poverty.

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