African Unicorn Founders Share their Productivity Hacks

People leverage a wide variety of methods to continue being productive. People are continually coming up with new productivity hacks, such as the Pomodoro Technique and the 80/20 Rule. However, many well-known startup founders hardly ever employ any of these productivity hacks.

Most of these business owners use tricks or hacks to remain productive as well as to support their teams in being more productive.

This is not shocking considering that nine out of ten startups fail for different reasons. Many founders have discovered ways to fight these difficulties common to most companies by using a few self-taught productivity hacks to keep their startups afloat.

Here are African unicorn founders that have shared their productivity hacks.

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1. Maijid Moujaled, co-founder – Chipper Cash

 Maijid Moujaled one of the co-founders of the giant platform, shared how he maintains productivity, 

“I definitely have a morning routine and it’s really simple. You roll out of bed you, fall to the ground and you do two pushups. Mine is just really simple. The point would be when you do two pushups.

There are days when I don’t do those two pushups and I do have a crap day. I’m just off because I never felt like I did something that morning. And that’s as basic as it is for my morning routine. The goal is when I do travel; it doesn’t matter where I am.  I don’t need a gym. I just need a floor.” 

He also stated that dancing is one of his ultimate stress removal, especially when he just wants to escape everything,

 “I just love to dance. So, while I was traveling on Remote Year, I was out in Brazil. There is this dance called Brazilian Zouk which is relatively new. And that is probably one of my favourite partner dances. I could talk about how much dance is a huge stress reliever. 

You’re not in your left-brain head of our province. You’re in the moment for just three minutes, but whoever you’re dancing with the music just fills your body. You are working out, you are meditating, you are practising something that you otherwise wouldn’t. You’re not thinking about money at that point. It’s just you and the person that you’re with and dancing.”

Fintech startup, Chipper Cash is a venture capital-backed company that creates software to enable free and immediate peer-to-peer cross-border payments.

Two African entrepreneurs, Ham Serunjogi of Uganda and Maijid Moujaled of Ghana, started the business in San Francisco in 2018 with the goal of offering a peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa without charging any fees.

Its services are used by a number of nations, including Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya.

2. Samir Goel – Esusu

Samir Goel, an Indian, and Abbey Wemimo, a Nigerian, are both co-founders and co-CEOs of Esusu, a financial technology platform that reports rental data to strengthen tenants’ credit scores while assisting property owners to increase revenue.

Co-founder Abbey Wemimo gave his tip on remaining productive, “I changed my routine during these difficult times and miss travelling. I enjoy travelling to clear my head and must admit that I get my best ideas on planes.

I’m spending a lot of time at home, but I’m really enjoying it and being productive. I listen to gospel music every morning and work out, which helps start my day positively. We are heads down with work especially working on the Rent Relief Fund, but I always make time for my family and friends”

The most recent unicorn found in the continent is Esusu. After receiving a $130 million Series B fundraising spearheaded by Softbank in late January, the credit building business became a unicorn.

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