On Funding African Female Entrepreneurs and Innovators - A Conversation with Pauline Koelbl

On this first episode, I speak with Pauline Koelbl about what motivated the creation of her new ventures: AfriProspect and ShEquity. Pauline is an innovation expert in developing and emerging markets. She invests in African impactful innovative startups with a special focus on female-led businesses. In our discussion, Pauline also shares what future trends she is looking out for post-COVID-19.

At the end of the show, I ask all my guests the same set of questions to get a sneak preview into their favourite music or books.

• The song she constantly listens to at the moment is 'Jerusalema' by Master KG.
• The songs that particularly resonated with her at a specific time in her life are 'Zangawela' (the original song from 'Waka Waka, time for Africa' by Shakira) and 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams.
• Her all-time favourite book that she absolutely recommends is Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.

If you want to follow Pauline on social media, these are her channels: LinkedIn and Twitter.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Institute of Development Studies
• Harvard University
• John F. Kennedy School of Government
• Africa Innovation Foundation
• Professional Women of African Heritage initiative PROWA
• AFRI Prospect
• SHE Equity
• GreenTech Capital Partners

Narratives of Purpose is a founding podcast member of the SwissCast Network