Press Kit

Short Description

DFS Lab is an early-stage investor and accelerator that supports entrepreneurs to refine, grow and launch digital commerce ventures in Africa. DFS Lab helps founders build solid foundations and matches the world’s smartest capital with Africa’s most promising founders. DFS Lab provides the highest level of mentorship and strategic advice to start-ups. This support helps to build business models that transform the lives of the poorest, profitably and at scale.

Summary

DFS Lab is an early-stage investor and accelerator that supports high potential entrepreneurs refine, grow and launch digital commerce businesses in Africa. DFS Lab helps founders build solid foundations and matches the world’s smartest capital with Africa’s most promising founders. Focused on empowering communities, DFS Lab delivers mentorship and strategic advice to early-stage start-ups pioneering transformative business models that empower the poorest, profitably and at scale.

DFS Lab gives entrepreneurs access to extensive networks and relevant advice on how to build successful ventures that change the way low-income consumers interact with digital financial services.

One-Liner

An early-stage investor and accelerator delivering innovative digital commerce solutions in Africa.

Headshots and Bios

Jake Kendall

Jake Kendall is the director and partner at DFS Lab. He was formerly the Deputy Director of Research and Emerging Technologies within the Financial Services for the Poor Team at the Gates Foundation, where his team helped create the global data architecture for tracking financial inclusion and create new technologies to power new financial inclusion models. Prior to joining the foundation, he spent time as an Economist with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) at the World Bank and in two start-ups in the field of cryptography. Jake is a published researcher and author and holds a PhD in Economics from UC Santa Cruz and a BS in Physics from MIT.

Stephen Deng

Stephen Deng is partner at DFS Lab. Stephen has experience in advising private, NGO, and non-profit clients with their technology strategies. Previously, Stephen worked with the Financial Services for the Poor team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation providing research and grant making strategy for the team’s technology innovation portfolio. He started his career with LitiNomics, an economic consulting firm in Silicon Valley supporting the intellectual property strategies of clients in the technology, telecommunications, and healthcare sectors. Stephen earned his MBA from the Haas School of Business and his BA in Economics and International Political Economy, both from the University of California at Berkeley.

Logos

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