“Talent is everywhere. Access to knowledge isn't.”

It really started through travelling. I've always been curious about other countries and how people live, work and build businesses in completely different environments.

During a trip through Southern Africa, I spent time in South Africa and Eswatini and met young people with great ideas and a lot of ambition. What struck me was that talent wasn't the problem. The difference was often access — access to experienced entrepreneurs, international networks and practical knowledge about how to turn an idea into a business.

I came back to Germany thinking: Why shouldn't some of the knowledge and networks we have in Munich, Berlin, London or elsewhere be accessible to an entrepreneur in Eswatini?

That was really the starting point for Ignite Borders.

I've always believed strongly in entrepreneurship because it creates independence.

Of course, there are situations where direct aid is essential. But Ignite Borders was built around a different idea: instead of asking “What can we give?”, we wanted to ask “What knowledge can we share?”

There are incredibly talented people across Africa who understand their communities and their markets much better than somebody sitting in Europe ever could. They don't necessarily need Europeans telling them what businesses to build.

Sometimes they simply need access to someone who has already made the mistakes they are about to make.

Exactly. Borders exist politically and geographically, but knowledge shouldn't stop at them.

A founder in Munich might have spent ten years learning how to build a sales organization. Someone else understands product development, financing or digital marketing. Somewhere thousands of kilometres away, an entrepreneur might be struggling with exactly that problem.

Connecting those two people can be incredibly powerful.

No — and that distinction is very important to me.

The best solutions to African problems will very often come from African entrepreneurs themselves.

Our role is not to arrive and say, “Here is how you should do it.”

It is much more about creating connections: Here is someone who has built a company before. Talk to them. Challenge them. Ask questions. Take what is useful and adapt it to your own reality.

That exchange can also go both ways. I've personally learned an enormous amount from entrepreneurs and people I've met across Africa.

The original vision was actually very simple: Sharing knowledge across borders.

I wanted to create a network where experienced entrepreneurs, executives and specialists could give some of their time and knowledge to aspiring entrepreneurs who normally wouldn't have access to them.

You don't necessarily need a huge organization to create an impact. Sometimes one conversation with the right person can change how somebody thinks about their business.

Probably that opportunity is distributed much less equally than talent.

I've travelled extensively and met entrepreneurial people in places that rarely appear on the global startup map.

It changed the way I look at entrepreneurship. Great ideas don't only come from Silicon Valley, Berlin or London. And innovation doesn't always look like a venture-backed technology startup.

Sometimes entrepreneurship is simply somebody identifying a problem in their community and deciding to solve it.

Much more than geography.

It means connecting people who normally wouldn't meet. Different countries. Different industries. Different economic realities. Different generations.

A lot of my own life has been shaped by crossing those boundaries and discovering that people who appear very different often have surprisingly similar ambitions.

Ignite Borders grew out of that experience. And the principle behind it remains the same: Talent is everywhere. Knowledge should travel.

My dream would be to bring together 54 entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries in one place for one week.

Imagine what could happen if 54 people, each bringing ideas, experiences and perspectives from a different African country, spent a full week learning from each other, challenging each other and building relationships across borders.

For me, that would capture exactly what Ignite Borders is about. It is not only about connecting Africa with the rest of the world — it is also about creating stronger connections across Africa itself.

54 entrepreneurs. 54 countries. One week. Igniting borders together.