In a global innovation economy still dominated by Silicon Valley orthodoxies, a new student-led initiative at the University of California, Berkeley is carving out deliberate space for African founders determined to build companies on their own terms.
This month marked the launch of African Entrepreneurs at Berkeley, a registered student organisation that brings together founders, builders, operators and future entrepreneurs from across Africa and the African diaspora at one of the world’s most influential universities.
The initiative is not framed as a cultural club. It is positioned as an entrepreneurship platform designed to connect African students who are already building companies, exploring venture creation, or “simply curious about turning ideas into impact,” according to the founding statement.
“Our goal is to create a space for shared learning, honest conversations and practical support from ideation and fundraising to scaling across markets on the continent and beyond,” the group said.
Responding to a gap in elite ecosystems
The launch reflects a broader reality for African students at elite global business schools. While Africa has become one of the world’s fastest-growing startup regions particularly in fintech, climate, logistics and health, African founders abroad often find themselves marginalised within mainstream entrepreneurship pipelines that prioritise Western markets and conventional career paths.
At Berkeley, one of the epicentres of global venture capital thinking, African Entrepreneurs at Berkeley was formed to address that disconnect head-on.
The group plans to host founder conversations, skill-building sessions, peer exchanges and collaborations with the wider Berkeley and Bay Area ecosystem, while remaining grounded in African contexts, opportunities and realities.
“If you’re an African student at Berkeley interested in entrepreneurship or an alum, operator, or investor who’d like to engage with this community, we’d love to connect,” the founders said.
“This is the start of something intentional.”
Founder spotlight: Tosin Oladokun
At the centre of the initiative is Tosin Oladokun, an MBA candidate at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a founding member of African Entrepreneurs at Berkeley. His journey to launching the organisation is as personal as it is strategic.
“It is December of 2023, and I am in my apartment in Shomolu, Lagos,” Oladokun recalls. “My Hisense A.C is blasting on 16 degrees Celsius, and I cannot stop checking Reddit. Folks were already posting about their acceptance calls from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.”
The first phone call brought disappointment, an internet provider trying to upsell bandwidth. The second changed everything.
“The second time, it was an international number. My heart hammered against my ribs. I answered. It was Maggie from the Haas School of Business. I got in!”
For Oladokun, the acceptance represented more than an academic milestone. “My dream was now within reach: get my MBA and start to build,” he said. He imagined life in Silicon Valley, “surrounded by the world’s best innovators.”
The reality, however, was more sobering.
“When I got to Berkeley, reality was far from what I expected,” Oladokun said. “Every student who looked like me, who came from a place like Nigeria, was on a strict path to either banking or consulting.”
When he spoke about entrepreneurship, the response was polite but distant. “I’d get a polite nod, and the conversation would quickly move on to recruiting schedules. I had never felt more isolated.”
Finding belonging and a business case
The turning point came not in a lecture hall, but at an African tech mixer in San Francisco.
“Shoutout to Malaika Commons and HoaQ,” Oladokun said. “A friend had to drag me there, but the moment I walked in, it felt like Yaba again.”
The room was filled with founders building for African markets, discussing problems he understood instinctively. “For the first time in the country, I felt seen, understood, and ready to build.”
Oladokun realised his experience was not unique. Many African students arrive at elite institutions with the ambition to build, only to conclude that no ecosystem exists for them.
“I know there are others who come here with big dreams, only to think that a space for them doesn’t exist,” he said.
That insight became the foundation for African Entrepreneurs at Berkeley.
Building a platform for African-led scale
Alongside Najma M., Ayobami Bamigboye, Testimony Elendu and Rahmat Clinton, Oladokun co-founded the organisation to create that missing space, one that treats African entrepreneurship not as a niche interest, but as a serious engine of global growth.
Oladokun’s background spans finance, technology and entrepreneurship, with a focus on building products and platforms that serve African markets and diaspora-led ventures. Elendu is a finance professional with experience in infrastructure and corporate finance while Ayobami is a Machine Learning and Computational Materials expert. Najma is a Kenyan-qualified corporate lawyer advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, corporate finance and real estate transactions, with experience across both local and cross-border matters. Clinton is a Chemical Engineer providing technical guidance and counselling to food companies across Africa to strengthen food security.
Through the new community, they are helping shape a peer network that understands African market realities alongside global scale.
The timing is notable. Africa’s startup ecosystem has matured rapidly over the past decade, producing unicorns, attracting global capital and exporting innovation models to other emerging markets. Yet access to elite networks, patient capital and cross-border mentorship remains uneven.
By anchoring an African-focused entrepreneurship hub inside Berkeley and by extension the Bay Area, African Entrepreneurs at Berkeley positions itself at a critical junction between global capital and continental opportunity.
“We are creating that space for ourselves,” Oladokun said. “If you feel that same fire, I urge you to join us. Let’s build our future together.”
A signal beyond campus
While student-led, the initiative carries implications beyond academia. It signals a broader shift where African entrepreneurs are no longer waiting for permission to participate in global innovation ecosystems.
They are designing their own platforms, shaping conversations and building pipelines that reflect their markets, ambitions and realities.
African Entrepreneurs at Berkeley is a reminder that some of the most consequential ventures of the next decade may be conceived far from Silicon Valley boardrooms, even when they are built inside them.
