Viola A. Llewellyn “Imagine a world where our innovations were so effective that businesses became world-class.”

Born in the UK to Cameroonian parents, Viola A. Llewellyn has worked at IBM, Digital Equipment, Unisys, KPMG and Rothschild.  She came to the United States in 1992 and changed careers to work in the large-scale global public sector, alternative assets, before founding Ovamba in 2013.

Ovamba has been an award winning pioneer of FinTech and TradeTech innovation since 2013, she and co-founder Marvin Cole launched the company from a kitchen table in Maryland, USA.  The systems and processes that we and the team in Cameroon, USA, Ivory Coast and India have created are deeply rooted in a desire to create wealth and a thriving business ecosystem for Emerging Market Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), especially the under-served and unbanked informal businesses for whom traditional finance is not attainable or suitable,” she says.

« Imagine a world where our innovations were so effective that businesses became world class at running their shops, factories, warehouses or family businesses… »

Ovamba’s ‘TradeTech’ and ‘Pamoja™ Growth & Performance Systems are used by partner banks to provide their customers with capital for trade, importation, manufacturing and business growth on a non-interest bearing (NIB), risk mitigated basis.  Ovamba is a Policy support to Central Banks providing them with data analytics and technology to support policy initiatives that will lead to reduced Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), strengthen capital markets and ensure a safe, inclusive banking system for all. 

It started with an idea…”What if we could create culturally attuned technologies that would improve business ecosystems and harness the ambitions of business owners in emerging markets?  Imagine a world where our innovations were so effective that businesses became world class at running their shops, factories, warehouses or family businesses.  If we could do this then these businesses would have no trouble generating real, sustainable transferable wealth, and Africa in particular will finally solve its own challenges.’  This is what we were thinking in 2013, and Prashant Mahajan joined as Co-founder in 2015 to make this happen.”  The Delaware registered company started operations in Douala, Cameroon in 2014, with tangible results.

“We have made Islamic finance applicable and accessible in sub-Saharan Africa.  We have helped nearly 400 companies in Central Africa.  We have created valuable data repositories that will help a lot in understanding Africa for its realities on the ground. »