Shows
One Million Euro StoriesA Doctor's Prescription for ChangeHow HealthTech AI is Redefining Primary Care in Africa!"Don't miss this eye-opening interview with Josef Murad, the visionary co-founder of Byon8 HealthTech AI - a startup on a mission to revolutionize primary healthcare access in Africa. Josef Murad raised $4 million for Byon8.As a former medical doctor, Josef saw firsthand the devastating impact of the looming healthcare worker shortage, set to leave over a third of the world's population without access to basic primary care by 2030. Determined to find a solution, he co-founded Byon8 HealthTech AI, an innovative HealthTech company leveraging AI to bridge...2025-05-0240 min
One Million Euro StoriesKelp CatalystHow One Woman is Driving Innovation in South Africa's Seaweed SectorIn this captivating episode of the One Million Euro Stories Podcast, host Iris Mettendaf sits down with Nadia Scheffer, a trailblazing entrepreneur from Cape Town, South Africa, who is at the forefront of the seaweed revolution.Nadia's journey into the world of kelp and seaweed began with a simple walk on the beach in 2015, where she stumbled upon a hidden treasure - the untapped potential of this versatile natural resource. What started as a curious exploration has now blossomed into a mission to unlock...2025-03-0725 min
One Million Euro StoriesThe Online PharmacistFlologPharma - The Online Pharmacist Platform Bridging Africa’s Healthcare DivideIn this episode of One Million Euro Stories, host Iris Mettendaf sits down with Andrew Akhabue, the CEO and founder of FlologPharma, a pioneering Nigerian startup on a mission to transform access to pharmaceutical care in Africa.Africa’s healthcare system faces immense challenges from the critical shortage of pharmacists to the alarming rise of counterfeit medications. Millions struggle to access reliable healthcare, especially in remote and underserved areas. But what if technology could bridge this divide?FlologPharma is doing just that. By l...2025-02-2132 min
One Million Euro StoriesMeet Jill CurrThe MsFiT backing Africa’s unsung business heroes 🎙️ In a continent brimming with untapped entrepreneurial energy, two women are leading the charge to revolutionize the way we think about investing in Africa. Jill Curr, the managing partner MsFiT ventures of and co- founder Egla Ntumba are on a mission to empower the backbone of the African economy - small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).🏦 With a background that spans equities trading, hedge funds, and venture capital, Jill has witnessed firsthand the challenges that African entrepreneurs face in securing the capital they need to grow. Inspired by her mother...2025-01-3149 min
One Million Euro StoriesEmpowering Underrepresented StartupsIn this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the CEO and founder Oluwajimi Aikitunde of The Scath Companies (TSC).In the dynamic and rapidly evolving world of African technology, this venture capital firm is a beacon of innovation and opportunity - The Scath Companies (TSC). Led by the visionary Oluwajimi Aikitunde, TSC is on a mission to unlock the immense potential of underserved and underrepresented regions across the continent.Oluwajimi's journey from an engineering graduate to a successful entrepreneur and now a trailblazing venture capitalist is a testament to his...2024-11-2047 min
One Million Euro StoriesBridging the GapHow Shop Me Away is Revolutionizing African E-CommerceThe entrepreneurial journey of Racine Sarr is a testament to the power of perseverance and customer-centricity. In this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the CEO and founder of Shop Me Away, Racine Sarr.As the founder of Shop Me Away, he has dedicated himself to solving the disconnect between African consumers and global product supply. From self-funding his logistics startup to securing innovative investment, the story of Racine Sarr showcases the immense potential of Africa's emerging markets.J...2024-08-1430 min
One Million Euro StoriesSolving Financial InclusionIn this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the Co-founder of Imali (formerly known as ImaliPay), Oluwasasanmi Akinmusire. Imali has recently raised $3 million in venture capital.➡️ Imali is Africa's easy-to-deploy “1-Click” insurance checkout platform, providing seamless, integrated insurance solutions for the travel and hospitality sector.➡️ By partnering with progressive insurance companies and online commerce platforms, Imali offers tailored insurance solutions that enhance customer experience and satisfaction, making insurance accessible and convenien➡️ Through its innovative 1-click insurance checkout API, Imali simplifies the insurance process, allowing businesses to offer quick, secure, and reli...2024-07-171h 09
One Million Euro StoriesEmbracing Innovation for Tiny Miracles➡️ Introducing HUGS+KISSES’s revolutionary baby carriers - designed to nurture a profound bond between parents and babies while providing life-saving benefits. The carriers go beyond traditional babywearing by seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technology to monitor your little one's vitals and development.Join Iris Mettendaf on One Million Euro Stories, where she delves into the inspiring journey of founder Geta Rasciuc and her background story of how HUGS+KISSES’s smart baby carrier was conceived and developed with tech innovation.➡️ HUGS+KISSES’s understands the immense power of skin-to-skin contact, also known as kangaroo care. Backed b...2024-07-0357 min
One Million Euro StoriesFinancial health & raising capitalFinancial health, sustainability and raising €750.000 capital“Sofie” app helps people live financially healthier lives through conscious spending choices. In this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the CEO and founder of Sofie, Astrid Bruinsma Eggink.Mission of Sofie is to stimulate 100 million Europeans to live a financial healthier and sustainable life through B2B2C Saas platform.Financial health •“Overcoming financial problems requires automating tasks and making unconscious decisions conscious”, says Astrid Bruinsma Eggink.• Mostly 95% of daily decisions are unconscious, while 5% are thoughtfully con...2024-06-191h 05
One Million Euro StoriesSelf-validate wins and gain momentumIn this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the founder and CEO of Fire memos Octavia Goredema. Fire memos is a Techstars portfolio company.Octavia Goredema is the author of PREP, PUSH, PIVOT: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women. Her mission is to help underrepresented professionals advance their careers. Octavia emphasizes the importance of recognizing our value, even when it may not be reflected back at us. She encourages women to keep track of their career milestones and to engage in self-validation. She emphasizes the importance of tracking wins, reflecting...2024-05-221h 11
One Million Euro StoriesDigital Africa VenturesFemale venture capitalist of Digital Africa Ventures who invests in early-stage startups.In this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the Co-founder and General Partner of Digital Africa Ventures Nonkululeko Komanyane.Nonkululeko Komanyane is an entrepreneur at heart and has worked with over 40 startup founders from the acceleration phase to pre-series A.In her early days, she ran an accelerator focused on the principles of the Book I'M IN of Dragon’s Den Season 1 South Africa and highlighted the journey of successful entrepreneurs.Nonkululeko Komanyane is pa...2024-04-1042 min
One Million Euro StoriesWar in Ukraine and a female founder addressing infant mortalityWar in Ukraine and a female founder addressing infant mortality In this podcast episode 22 of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the founder of Babymoon Geta Rasciuc.World Prematurity Day is on the 17th November: it's a global movement to raise awareness of premature birth and the impact it can have on families.War in UkraineFounder of Babymoon Geta Rasciuc says: “Imagine you have a premature baby, a super tiny vulnerable baby and you are in the neonatal unit. There is a bomb alarm and you need to run...2023-11-1712 min
One Million Euro StoriesA skill tech ventureIn this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the founder and CEO of Workbucks Priyanka Kamath.Workbucks is a skill tech venture, which is predominantly focused on emerging technology. Priyanka Kamath says: “we have expertise in training web three from the beginner level of web2 and transitioning to the expert level in web3. We undertake undergraduate students that are just coming into the workforce and impart industry–deployable skills in smart contract training to push them towards technologies of tomorrow.""We have been very fortunate to have some brilliant young minds...2023-09-1336 min
One Million Euro StoriesFrom ex- investment banker to start-up Amitruck founderIn this new podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the founder and CEO of Amitruck Mark Mwangi. Amitruck has raised $5,5 million capital.Amitruck is building Africa’s digital logistic marketplace. The mission of Amitruck is to bring trust and transparency back to transport: “We aim to connect every cargo owner with interested transporters in a transparent, efficient and secure manner then let them set their own terms.”As a former investment banker Mark Mwangi says: “I actually think it’s better to be called analysts. Because really all I did was analyt...2023-06-2137 min
One Million Euro StoriesA painful problem turned into a start up: Terawork.In this new podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to Titi Ogunsina-Taiwo co-founder and COO of Terawork. Spotlighting a female founder’s journey.Terawork is a freelance marketplace that plug into the African challenge of the global workforce and helping businesses to try to connect with vetted professional across African continent. Terawork has currently over 20,000 Freelancers across technology, communication and writing, social media management etc on the platforms and businesses that need freelance assistance.Terawork started from a personal problem of one of the co-founders encountered when needing a freelancer for the...2023-05-0345 min
One Million Euro StoriesFive35 Ventures a Pan African female focused fundIn this new podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the founder of Five35 Ventures Hema Vallabh.Hema Vallabh is an engineer, turned entrepreneur, turned investor who is the founding partner of Five35 Ventures, which is a Pan African female focused fund investing in seed stage tech enabled businesses across the continent. The name of Five35 Ventures speaks to the opportunity. Hema says: “Research shows that if we add more women entrepreneurs to the African ecosystem, we could see a potential 5% GDP uplift by leveraging the 35% higher ROI that diverse teams could...2023-03-2927 min
One Million Euro StoriesConnecting the unconnectedAre you curious about how a startup based in Botswana is changing the game when it comes to internet access for underserved rural populations? In this episode of our podcast One Million Euro Stories, host Iris Mettendaf speaks with Naledi Magowe, the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Brastorne.Brastorne has reached over 2 million users in Botswana, DRC and Cameroon and has raised $625,000 in grants, debt and prize funding. Their innovative solution to connect the unconnected involves enabling rural populations to access the internet without data bundles or smartphones. Naledi explains that i...2023-03-0840 min
One Million Euro StoriesHope for Students in NeedIn this podcast episode of One Million Euro Stories, Iris Mettendaf speaks to the CEO and Co-Founder of Alumni Bridge, Andrew Kibe. Currently, Alumni Bridge is working towards raising its first round of funding of a quarter million.Alumni Bridge has put in place tools that facilitate and equip alumni and other global funders with a platform through which they can give back to society as well as mentor students. It does this by streamlining scholarship requests of vetted candidates to ensure that they remain in school. Furthermore, mentorship for candidates recognized by their institutions is available...2023-02-1538 min
One Million Euro StoriesVendease is building Africa's food operating systemIn this podcast episode, Iris Mettendaf talks to the Co-Founder and CTO of Vendease, Oyewale Oyepeju.Vendease is building Africa's food operating system that automates the flow of food from farm to restaurant, optimises business operations across the value chain through accurate data deployment, reduces wastage and drives profitability. Vendease's digital procurement engine makes it easier by offering a more transparent process for restaurants in cities across Nigeria and Ghana to buy food supplies at considerably cheaper rates than open market prices, with guaranteed 12-hour delivery. In September 2022, Vendease announced its Series A, raising $30 million in venture...2023-02-0850 min
One Million Euro StoriesReinvent yourself part 2! When things go wrong, reinvent yourself! In this episode Iris Mettendaf talks to entrepreneur Shokoofeh Ketabchi about when you have big dreams and things that happen that are not in your control. This is part 2. Shokoofeh talks about her dream, her vision, support and her journey as an entrepreneur. Shokoofeh says: “I am grateful for my courage, my self motivation and hard work. Life can bring the unexpected.” Listen to this new episode!2022-12-0726 min
One Million Euro StoriesSales strategy“Sales can feel heavy”, says Shima, “unless you have a sales strategy then you can open up to new opportunities.”In this episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Shima Zeroual about sales. Shima loves sales and everything about sales. Shima says: “when you have your first discussion with someone about your product or your services. Make sure that when you have this person on the phone or face to face, that you figure out what they want from you and what the timing is. If they make the decision by themselves or multiple people and ask them and I know thi...2022-11-3029 min
One Million Euro StoriesDo you negotiate your salary every year?In this ‘food for thought’ episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Shima Zeroual about sales and negotiation. Shima loves sales and everything about sales and says: “Negotiation is not only for sales people, everybody can learn how to negotiate. You need to have different skills to master it. Shima gives an insight on how to tackle negotiation. Tune into this new ‘food for thought’ episode.2022-11-2304 min
One Million Euro Stories11. Negotiation is a mindsetIn this episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Raisa Ghazi about a Women’s Leadership Strategy. Raisa talks about the importance of negotiation. Raisa: “Negotiation is a mindset. In the beginning it was really hard for me as well, but when I started using particular tricks and tools to negotiate more effectively, I became better. Negotiation is an important skill to empower for women. You need to develop 5 skills that are crucial to success.” Listen to this new episode.2022-11-1030 min
One Million Euro StoriesSelf-promotionIn this ‘food for thought’ episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Raisa Ghazi of women leadership’s program about self-promotion. Self-promotion is to present what you have achieved to others. Raisa shares why she finds self promotion so important for your career or business and which difficulties women face with self-promotion. Raisa is a big advocate for self-promotion.2022-11-0306 min
One Million Euro StoriesPsychology & Conditions for WinningIris Mettendaf talks in this episode about the Psychology of Winning and the conditions for succes. Iris will talk about mindset, confidence and self efficacy. Self efficacy is the belief in one’s capability to succeed in a particular situation. Self efficacy is more than belief and has different components which one is observational learning. Iris will talk about self efficacy, training with running champions in Kenya and winning 5k races. This is part 1.2022-10-2824 min
One Million Euro StoriesSocial HandshakeSandra van Beest is the founder of Social Handshake and talks about raising her first million euro capital as a solo founder. Sandra: “why don’t we make it a whole lot easier for a lot of people to contribute to a better world. That’s why I founded the Social Handshake.” I realized really soon that this is fin tech and I needed funding to build the platform. So I started out a journey to raise my first million euro.”2022-10-2727 min
One Million Euro StoriesWell-being & raising capital part 2In this part 2 episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Arosha Brouwer of Quan about well-being and raising capital. Arosha talks about the importance of a strategy and having a plan. Arosha shares her experience with the accelerator program y combinator: “so many amazing founders who build successful businesses. They share the lessons from pre product market fit. They share the lessons from when I was in your seat this is what I did and how to get traction.”2022-10-2628 min
One Million Euro StoriesHow to handle rejectionsIn this ‘food for thought’ episode Iris Mettendaf talks with Arosha Brouwer of Quan about how to handle rejections when you are raising capital for your business.2022-10-1906 min
One Million Euro StoriesWhy you need a sponsorIn this ‘food for thought’ episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Wendy Broersen about the book: Ready for female leadership. “Women are stil overly mentored and under sponsored” - Wendy BroersenShe talks about the importance of men in your life. What do you think about this topic? Listen to this episode and let me know on social media.2022-10-0506 min
One Million Euro StoriesWell-being as a priority while raising capitalIn this episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Arosha Brouwer of Quan about the importance of well-being. Arosha says: “The softness of well-being dare I say yoga, meditation and mindfulness is replaced with actual data. Team: this could be our achilles’ heel.” Arosha Brouwer shares her journey of raising capital for Quan and the importance of corporate financial goals with well-being.2022-09-2830 min
One Million Euro StoriesSaving babies livesIn this 'food for thought' episode Founder Geta talks about her baby carrier that saves babies lives with electronic devices. She shares the clinical study that she has done and the impact that she makes in babies lives. 2022-09-2310 min
One Million Euro StoriesSales talk! From foster child to Sales Queen!In this episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Shima Zeroual about sales. Shima says: "we are all selling all the time". In this episode we talk about sales, negotiation and communicating the price of your product or service. “When you name your price for your product or service, you get so nervous and you continue talking “ Shima says ‘This says it all’. Let’s talk about sales!2022-09-2227 min
One Million Euro StoriesWhen things go wrong, Reinvent yourself!In this episode Iris Mettendaf talks to Shokoofeh Ketabchi about when you have big dreams and things happen that are not in your control. The dream Shokoofeh had went ‘on hold’. In that moment everything went silent. She needs to find a new way. Listen to her story.2022-09-2120 min
One Million Euro StoriesTrailer one million euro storiesWelcome to One million euro stories.Iris Mettendaf interviews female founders who raise €500.000 and more. She talks to different guests and experts about venture capital, tech ecosystem, marketing, sales, psychological concepts, failure and succes.2022-09-1301 min