The tech entrepreneur heads several startups in Kenya. His ambition is to help households fend for themselves.
Sam Wanjohi (photo) is a Kenyan entrepreneur and founder of fintech startup Popote Payments Ltd. In 2013, he launched -through Popote Payments- Popote Pay, an expense management solution designed for African businesses. The solution allows businesses to easily pay for everything including supplies, salaries, utilities, and taxes. It also enables team collaboration in the payment workflow.
“Popote Pay allows businesses to link, and enables the payout of multiple bank accounts or mobile money wallets. Completed transactions are stored alongside their notes, attachments, authorization history, and accounting general ledger, meaning the accounting part is also done. At the click of a button, records can be retrieved for use in preparing management or audited accounts. The entire process is seamless,” Sam Wanjohi explained in 2021.
Popote Pay is the result of personal experience. Indeed, in 2012, Sam presented his concierge platform, Dash2do, at the Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit. Thanks to the concierge platform, he was the third winner of the challenge and had to scale the solution in the U.S. This was a major headache as he still had to oversee his businesses in Kenya. So, he developed Popote Pay to be able to run his Kenyan operations remotely.
In 2007, the serial entrepreneur founded Foresights Interiors, a home furniture manufacturer. Five years later, he founded Foresight Ventures, a firm that develops tech solutions to solve day-to-day problems and invests in other innovative startups.
He is also the non-executive chairman of Foresight Housing Group, formed in 2018 with the acquisition of Foresight Interior and Economic Housing Group (established in 1972).
He entered the professional world, in 2002, working as a civil engineer for the British multinational professional services firm Arup. In 2005, he entered the real estate investment sector, kicking off his entrepreneurial career.
Melchior Koba
