the origin story.
the origin story.
the origin story.
the origin story.
There is a story that’s gone around, about how Bolaji, my co-founder and I sketched out the vision for Cellulant on the back of a napkin at a coffee shop in Nairobi way back in 2003. This is indeed true.
However, what many people don’t know is that we too didn’t know what the business was going to be. We had one mission — to build a world-class, values-driven, billion-dollar business in Africa, for Africa and by Africans. Each one of those words had a weight and significance that defined the business for years to come. A mission like that allowed us to build and break things until we found a path.
Cellulant, in the 20 years since we started the business, has pivoted from a music business selling ringtones (2004 - 2008) to a SaaS business selling mobile banking solutions (2009 - 2015) to a payments business enabling merchants to collect payments across Africa (2016 - to present day). In every season of the business, there have been lessons, big shifts and a couple of near-death experiences. However, what everyone who knows Cellulant says, is that it is the most resilient business. We built a business like a cockroach — hard to kill!
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There is a story that’s gone around, about how Bolaji, my co-founder and I sketched out the vision for Cellulant on the back of a napkin at a coffee shop in Nairobi way back in 2003. This is indeed true.
However, what many people don’t know is that we too didn’t know what the business was going to be. We had one mission — to build a world-class, values-driven, billion-dollar business in Africa, for Africa and by Africans. Each one of those words had a weight and significance that defined the business for years to come. A mission like that allowed us to build and break things until we found a path.
Cellulant, in the 20 years since we started the business, has pivoted from a music business selling ringtones (2004 - 2008) to a SaaS business selling mobile banking solutions (2009 - 2015) to a payments business enabling merchants to collect payments across Africa (2016 - to present day). In every season of the business, there have been lessons, big shifts and a couple of near-death experiences. However, what everyone who knows Cellulant says, is that it is the most resilient business. We built a business like a cockroach — hard to kill!
Read More
There is a story that’s gone around, about how Bolaji, my co-founder and I sketched out the vision for Cellulant on the back of a napkin at a coffee shop in Nairobi way back in 2003. This is indeed true.
However, what many people don’t know is that we too didn’t know what the business was going to be. We had one mission — to build a world-class, values-driven, billion-dollar business in Africa, for Africa and by Africans. Each one of those words had a weight and significance that defined the business for years to come. A mission like that allowed us to build and break things until we found a path.
Cellulant, in the 20 years since we started the business, has pivoted from a music business selling ringtones (2004 - 2008) to a SaaS business selling mobile banking solutions (2009 - 2015) to a payments business enabling merchants to collect payments across Africa (2016 - to present day). In every season of the business, there have been lessons, big shifts and a couple of near-death experiences. However, what everyone who knows Cellulant says, is that it is the most resilient business. We built a business like a cockroach — hard to kill!
My wife asked me to step down as CEO and "Jump off the Lion" in 2020. I will be forever thankful to her for that insight and courage. My board knew that we needed change, I knew it, my team needed change too, But, my wife had the courage to call it. I was so burnt out from a few years of various crises. From dealing with a bank collapse in 2016 to facing tough fundraising markets in 2017 and 2018, then the devastating terrorist attack in 2019 where we lost six dear colleagues, and to top it off, the chaos of dealing with COVID-19 in 2020. The stress was breaking me.
It terrifies me when I think about what all of this means for the true cost of dream building. It consistently triggers the question, "Does it really have to be this tough?"
When I made the decision to leave Cellulant and "Jump off the Lion," it became clear to me that I wanted to dedicate my time to supporting entrepreneurs. Specifically, I wanted to find a way to make the journey I had walked easier, smoother and better for the next generation of entrepreneurs. There were a couple of things in my journey that made it incredibly difficult — like limited access to capital and a lack of readily available knowledge, experience, and stories that could have helped us avoid costly mistakes and save time.
PANI is the support experience I yearned for as a founder. Over the past three years, we've engaged with entrepreneurs and their teams, constantly asking a simple but incredibly powerful question, "How can we help?"
What we’ve built is the sum of all we have heard. It takes a village to build a business in Africa — PANI is that village for the African Entrepreneur.
Dreamer, Builder, Co-founder & CEO at PANI
Ken Njoroge
There is a story that’s gone around, about how Bolaji, my co-founder and I sketched out the vision for Cellulant on the back of a napkin at a coffee shop in Nairobi way back in 2003. This is indeed true.
However, what many people don’t know is that we too didn’t know what the business was going to be. We had one mission — to build a world-class, values-driven, billion-dollar business in Africa, for Africa and by Africans. Each one of those words had a weight and significance that defined the business for years to come. A mission like that allowed us to build and break things until we found a path.
Cellulant, in the 20 years since we started the business, has pivoted from a music business selling ringtones (2004 - 2008) to a SaaS business selling mobile banking solutions (2009 - 2015) to a payments business enabling merchants to collect payments across Africa (2016 - to present day). In every season of the business, there have been lessons, big shifts and a couple of near-death experiences. However, what everyone who knows Cellulant says, is that it is the most resilient business. We built a business like a cockroach — hard to kill!
My wife asked me to step down as CEO and "Jump off the Lion" in 2020. I will be forever thankful to her for that insight and courage. My board knew that we needed change, I knew it, my team needed change too, But, my wife had the courage to call it. I was so burnt out from a few years of various crises. From dealing with a bank collapse in 2016 to facing tough fundraising markets in 2017 and 2018, then the devastating terrorist attack in 2019 where we lost six dear colleagues, and to top it off, the chaos of dealing with COVID-19 in 2020. The stress was breaking me.
It terrifies me when I think about what all of this means for the true cost of dream building. It consistently triggers the question, "Does it really have to be this tough?"
When I made the decision to leave Cellulant and "Jump off the Lion," it became clear to me that I wanted to dedicate my time to supporting entrepreneurs. Specifically, I wanted to find a way to make the journey I had walked easier, smoother and better for the next generation of entrepreneurs. There were a couple of things in my journey that made it incredibly difficult — like limited access to capital and a lack of readily available knowledge, experience, and stories that could have helped us avoid costly mistakes and save time.
PANI is the support experience I yearned for as a founder. Over the past three years, we've engaged with entrepreneurs and their teams, constantly asking a simple but incredibly powerful question, "How can we help?"
What we’ve built is the sum of all we have heard. It takes a village to build a business in Africa — PANI is that village for the African Entrepreneur.
Dreamer, Builder,
Co-founder & CEO at PANI
Ken Njoroge
There is a story that’s gone around, about how Bolaji, my co-founder and I sketched out the vision for Cellulant on the back of a napkin at a coffee shop in Nairobi way back in 2003. This is indeed true.
However, what many people don’t know is that we too didn’t know what the business was going to be. We had one mission — to build a world-class, values-driven, billion-dollar business in Africa, for Africa and by Africans. Each one of those words had a weight and significance that defined the business for years to come. A mission like that allowed us to build and break things until we found a path.
Cellulant, in the 20 years since we started the business, has pivoted from a music business selling ringtones (2004 - 2008) to a SaaS business selling mobile banking solutions (2009 - 2015) to a payments business enabling merchants to collect payments across Africa (2016 - to present day). In every season of the business, there have been lessons, big shifts and a couple of near-death experiences. However, what everyone who knows Cellulant says, is that it is the most resilient business. We built a business like a cockroach — hard to kill!
My wife asked me to step down as CEO and "Jump off the Lion" in 2020. I will be forever thankful to her for that insight and courage. My board knew that we needed change, I knew it, my team needed change too, But, my wife had the courage to call it. I was so burnt out from a few years of various crises. From dealing with a bank collapse in 2016 to facing tough fundraising markets in 2017 and 2018, then the devastating terrorist attack in
2019 where we lost six dear colleagues, and to top it off, the chaos of dealing with COVID-19 in 2020. The stress was breaking me.
It terrifies me when I think about what all of this means for the true cost of dream building. It consistently triggers the question, "Does it really have to be this tough?"
When I made the decision to leave Cellulant and "Jump off the Lion," it became clear to me that I wanted to dedicate my time to supporting entrepreneurs. Specifically, I wanted to find a way to make the journey I had walked easier, smoother and better for the next generation of entrepreneurs. There were a couple of things in my journey that made it incredibly difficult — like limited access to capital and a lack of readily available knowledge, experience, and stories that could have helped us avoid costly mistakes and save time.
PANI is the support experience I yearned for as a founder. Over the past three years, we've engaged with entrepreneurs and their teams, constantly asking a simple but incredibly powerful question, "How can we help?"
What we’ve built is the sum of all we have heard. It takes a village to build a business in Africa — PANI is that village for the African Entrepreneur.
Dreamer, Builder, Co-founder & CEO at PANI
Ken Njoroge
we started with one big question.
"How can we support African entrepreneurs to run a better journey?"
By guiding founders through inflections.
By guiding founders through inflections.
At PANI, we focus on what we call "inflection points"—those game-changing junctures every entrepreneur faces.
Whether it's hiring your first employee or plotting expansion strategies across Africa, we understand the immense impact these moments can have on growth.
That's why we've crafted playbooks tailored to guide founders through these critical seasons. It's all about moving fast, making tough calls, and building a business that outlives you.
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
Product
Product
Team
Team
Focusing our work on 3 core pillars.
Focusing our work on 3 core pillars.
We centre our efforts on the entrepreneur, the team, and the product—these are the drivers of business growth for us.
The Entrepreneurs we work with think of us as a co-builder and it works best when they do.
What is most unique about the Pani experience is we focus on the soft as much as the hard. We believe that you must build the business you envision, but you must arrive alive in the process.
Entrepreneur
Product
Team
what we've been up to.
Some of our recent wins.
Supported several co-founder teams in strengthening their dynamics.
Supported a commercial team to accelerate to 3x growth in 2 years with powerful cadences.
Raised and currently investing $2M of African capital in African businesses.
Navigated the funding winter and cash crunches in the companies we coach.
Built a podcast community of 600 subscribers (10,000+ plays).
Completed 30+ in-depth growth workshops for Leadership teams.
Supported several co-founder teams in strengthening their dynamics.
Supported a commercial team to accelerate to 3x growth in 2 years with powerful cadences.
Raised and currently investing $2M of African capital in African businesses.
Navigated the funding winter and cash crunches in the companies we coach.
Built a podcast community of 600 subscribers (10,000+ plays).
Completed 30+ in-depth growth workshops for Leadership teams.
meet the team.
meet the team.
We will always be a small, highly-collaborative, high-competence team.
We will always be a small, highly-collaborative, high-competence team.
Ken Njoroge
Co-founder & CEO
Kui Njoroge
Co-founder & Arrive Alive Coach
Kena Kamau
Venture Associate & Storyteller
Jeremiah Nnadi
Venture Associate & Product
Ken Njoroge
Co-founder & CEO
Kui Njoroge
Co-founder & Arrive Alive Coach
Kena Kamau
Venture Associate & Storyteller
Jeremiah Nnadi
Venture Associate & Product
Ken Njoroge
Co-founder & CEO
Kui Njoroge
Co-founder & Arrive Alive Coach
Kena Kamau
Venture Associate & Storyteller
Jeremiah Nnadi
Venture Associate & Product