About

Sayo
Folawiyo

Sayo runs The Office of Sayo Folawiyo — a studio dedicated to supporting micro-entrepreneurs and the ecosystems around them. The Office builds tools and platforms, orchestrates programmes and capital, and advances consensus through research, content, and convening.

The studio tends towards the new — emerging sectors, technologies, and methods. In an ever-changing world, entrepreneurship is resilience, yet institutional support remains disjointed and distrusting of the unknown. The Office operates as middleware: a group of designers, thinkers, and builders who connect the dots not just theoretically but in the field.

Track Record
  • Founded Kandua — marketplace and business tools platform for home service businesses in South Africa; sold to the country's largest insurance company
  • Co-founded Pave Investments, investing in early-stage technology companies across the continent; founded Microtraction
  • Director at Alara Lagos — special projects including market access and export readiness programmes for African creative brands; retail collaboration with Brooklyn Museum bringing 100 brands to New York
  • Co-founder and co-host of The Flip — media platform exploring the ideas and models shaping Africa's economic future
  • Founding board member, Jobtech Alliance
Earlier Career
  • Management consultant at Bain & Company
Education
  • BSc Philosophy and Economics, London School of Economics

The Office takes on a small number of commissions each year — for people serious about building things that matter.

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