Clara Wanjiku Odero

What is my role in pushing my continent forward? That question has been my driving force throughout a career spent in very different fields. The answer has been infrastructure. How do you move people to more renewable clean energy sources? An enabling policy environment and financial incentives. My work writing renewable energy policy and lobbying for changes on the taxes on ethanol did exactly this. How do you improve intra Africa trade? Build African payments infrastructure that allows Africans to pay each other and get settlement in their local currencies. My work with Flutterwave did just that, taking a primarily Nigerian business to the rest of Africa and adding alternative payment methods to the product. How do you ensure everyone despite their mode of payment(cash, e-wallet or card) gets a chance to participate in global e-commerce? By building a network of networks that allows global companies to scale organically by accepting locally preferred payment methods. At Rapyd, I have connected 37 countries to the global payment network we are building to ensure any company that wants to move into a new country can accept payments, get settled and not have to deal with the rigamarole of having to open local entities or bank accounts. Thousands of jobs can be created just by making it easier for companies to move into new markets. Building infrastructure has been the connecting thread in my career. From working on renewable energy policy and having a law changed to expanding payment companies throughout Africa and the Middle East, my thesis has remained the same. Do work that has a compounding effect and helps build the future.