The VC4A Team
Meet Our Team
Are you looking for more information about the VC4A organization and the work we do?
Have a look on the VC4A Consulting website!
Boyewa Abiodun-Adepoju
Marketing Lead – Nigeria: Boye is the gear that connects marketing efforts to the community, programs, and communications at VC4A. For nearly a decade, she’s worked with several startups ranging from adtech, food & beverage to fintech, growing their message and brand at scale in SSA. She is excited to use this insight to support an ecosystem that is suitable for startups to succeed.
Hendrik Admiraal
Lead Developer – Netherlands: Hendrik is a web developer, designer, former label manager, and event organizer from The Netherlands. Previously he launched event organizations and has worked for 10+ years as a freelance web developer. After exiting his own company he joined several tech start-ups where he gained valuable insights into their growth and the problems they can encounter.
Abu Cassim
Acceleration Lead – Netherlands: Abu has dedicated over a decade to building out key components of the South African startup ecosystem. He gains inspiration from the energy and passion that founders put in to every day. Abu heads up the team responsible for startup support initiatives. He has 20+ years of professional experience and an MBA from IE Business School.
Jason Delorie
Senior Platform Associate – Mauritius: Combining his passion for innovation & creative problem solving with his love for the African Startup ecosystem, Jason strives to make a positive impact on the entrepreneurs and startups he connects with. Jason is responsible for managing and maintaining the VC4A platform and working with members to maximize their utility of VC4A tools and digital infrastructure.
Akram Eladwy
Community Platform Associate – Egypt: Akram worked across ecosystems on a mission to develop and guide entrepreneurs. He joined VC4A on the quest to support startups, entrepreneurs and programs. He has engaged with over 100 startups in different sectors providing mentorship, accessibility, and training. Akram also worked with Flat6labs, one of MENA’s leading accelerators.
Matthew Foster
Software Developer – Netherlands: Matt is a WordPress and Frontend Developer from England. He lives in the Netherlands with his partner and his dog. He has a background in Art, Design, and sarcastic responses.
Tegan George
Platform Associate – Netherlands: Tegan works on the VC4A platform team, combining a background in nonprofit management, education administration, and CMS systems with a passion for community engagement. Previously, she served as the deputy director of a regional nonprofit, guided grassroots organizations through the grant-writing and fundraising process, and wrote content for a fast-scaling ed-tech startup.
Thomas van Halen
Pro Services – Netherlands: Entrepreneurship, being part of an inspiring community and driven to make a difference: this explains the match between VC4A and Thomas best. Linking people with the right opportunities is where Thomas gets his energy from. His focus has always been on entrepreneurship and Africa. As a member of the board, he manages the Twiga Foundation supporting bright students in Kenya. On a commercial level, he invented, established, and managed two companies.
Chandni Hirani
Program Lead – Kenya: Chandni is passionate about startups in Africa having previously run a solar energy startup in Kenya. She is now empowering startups from the VC and investment side. Her strengths lie in supporting these startups with technical assistance to ensure sustainable growth.
Vincent Hoogduijn
CEO – Netherlands: Vincent has 20+ years experience starting and growing a diverse collection of international ecommerce businesses, in both developing and more mature markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has a keen interest in high potential startups in developing markets. A linguist by education, Vincent also holds an MBA from RSM Erasmus University and is a co-founder of Dayrize, a climate-tech startup.
Arnout Kroezen
Director of Finance – Netherlands: Arnout heads the financial management of VC4A. Arnout is a financial expert by training, an entrepreneur, and a manager. He has run his own trading business on the Dutch stock exchange and acts as a financial controller for his company. He has a keen interest in emerging markets and the African investment opportunity.
Julie Mackey
Investor Relations Intern – Netherlands: Julie is soon to be graduating Utrecht University with a Master’s in Sustainable Finance. Julie started her academic career at the University of Galway studying Global Commerce. She has previous experience in a variety of jobs in retail, accounting and as a sports coach. She is eager to apply her acquired skills, and thrilled to contribute her expertise to VC4A.
Babatope Ogundele
Creative Marketing Specialist – Nigeria: Tope is a designer, digital strategist & overall, a problem fixer. His 10+ years of experience working in the creative & marketing industry and an innate curiosity to find answers to questions; whether simple or complex. He is especially curious about how innovation and strategy provide solutions to everyday problems which has helped him develop the zeal to support startups at every stage.
Barbara Onyejose
Mentorship and Academy Lead – Nigeria: Barbara is a Communications and Community Management Expert with over 7 years of experience. She is currently doing that at VC4A as the Mentorship and Academy Lead, leveraging the mentor network and capacity building courses to help entrepreneurs build thriving businesses across Africa and LATAM.
Bolade Oye
Front-end Developer – Nigeria: Bolade is a self-taught front-end developer and a product designer with over 5 years of experience in both fields. He enjoys building and designing interfaces that make solving complex problems easy and intuitive. He also dabbles in music production and loves gaming.
Femi Oye
Front-end Developer – Nigeria: Femi is a digital product designer and front-end developer with years of experience in building world-class digital products that help people and businesses succeed. He enjoys the process of transforming ideas into meaningful digital experiences, and He constantly learns new and better ways of designing products. Outside of work you’ll catch him watching a show on Netflix, reading a book, listening to music or a podcast, and visiting new places.
Alejandra Paniagua
Project Manager Latam – Mexico: Alejandra started her career in the Tech and Impact industry 3 years ago, working in Strategic Partnerships with Development Organizations and Programs Management for tech entrepreneurs in Latam, in this period, she has had the opportunity to meet and work with game changers whose mission is similar to hers: improve Latin America’s economy through the creation of jobs and innovative solutions for the most relevant social challenges in the Latam region.
Bertil van Vugt
@brutuz – Business Development Lead – Netherlands: Bertil is responsible for business development at VC4A, working with partners to improve the services on the VC4A.com platform. He managed the 3-year ‘Inclusive Business Accelerator’ program on the side of VC4A. Bertil studied journalism (Ba) and Political Science (Ma) and gained content and technical experience while working in the African startup and media space since 2006 in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and other countries across the continent.
Ben White
@zia505 – Founder & Community Evangelist –
Netherlands, United States: Ben has been venturing in the African technology and media space since 2003. Involved in multiple startups, Ben is also the founder of AfriLabs, a pan-African network of innovation hubs, and the African Business Angel Network (ABAN). Ben is on the board of ActivSpaces and in 2007 he founded VC4A.
Yousif Yahya
Program Lead – Egypt: Yousif’s journey revolves around empowering founders, fostering entrepreneurship, and making a positive impact on emerging markets. He built and ran Savannah Innovation Labs one of the leading entrepreneurship support organization in Sudan Founding team member of Bloom a YC-backed startup. Co-founder of T-erab an angel network and a Venture partner at an African Renaissance partners a Horn of Africa focused VC. – Sudan / Egypt.