Tesh Mbaabu is a 32-year-old serial technology entrepreneur reimagining the future of money and commerce in Africa.
He is the CEO & Cofounder of Cloud9, a lifestyle neobank built for Africa’s young and ambitious generation. Cloud9 is more than a bank. It’s a movement to power ambition, strengthen community, fuel culture, and enable financial freedom for Africa’s 400 million youth.
He is also the Cofounder & President of Chpter, an AI-powered conversational commerce platform that enables merchants to sell more on social platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram by automating conversations, marketing, and payments all in one place.
Prior to Cloud9 and Chpter, he was the Co-founder & CEO of MarketForce, a B2B commerce marketplace for informal merchants in Africa to easily source, order and pay for inventory and access financing. He led the business expansion across 5 markets in Sub-Saharan Africa following a $40M Series A investment, with over 270,000 merchants and 100 consumer brands trading on the platform.
He is a creative and strategic thinker from both a product and commercial perspective; experienced in building startups in the African scene. Through Mesozi, he supports and invests in Africa’s next generation of high growth technology startups and entrepreneurs.
As an avid adventure seeker, Tesh also co-founded Cloud9xp, which helps travellers to easily discover and book the best leisure experiences, at the best price, across Africa. They exited to HotelOnline in 2020.
Prior to co-founding Mesozi, Tesh was the Founder and Creative Director of a graphic, web and digital design agency, Tesh Technologies (TeshTeq), a venture he started at the age of 18.
Through his personal blog, he shares about his journey as a technology entrepreneur, the adventures he undertakes, the people he meets, the books he’s reading, and what he’s learning.
Tesh is Forbes Africa 30 under 30, a Choiseul 100 Africa Laureate, Business Daily Top 40 under 40 Men Kenya, CIO Africa Top 45 Most Influential Men in Digital Transformation, Top 10 Africa Business Heroes, Harambean, Schmidt Futures, Westerwelle, Alibaba and UN Fellow.
He is a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Nairobi.
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