This Kenyan entrepreneur sold her startup for Sh100 million despite giving up a chance to work with Google

And it dates back to her days as a university student where she turned a school project into a business.

While working as a data analyst at a large global beverage and distribution company, Moraa saw the challenges they faced within their distribution systems.

"I conducted market research and documented those challenges then decided to develop an ordering solution prototype as my final year project,” the Strathmore University alumni said.

The prototype scored an “A”, and also won the top prize at the 2011 Mobile BootCamp. Moraa did not, however, stop at that as she decided to develop the idea further beyond a school project.

She teamed up with Sam Kitonyi who was working at Nailab, a local business incubator, and Newton Kitonga, who was at the time pursuing a Masters program at Strathmore University.

WezaTele

The trio formed WezaTele, a building mobility solutions for commerce, supply chain, distribution, and mobile payment integration.

Hilda’s team grew from just two people to a full organization of over ten employees.

In 2013, Weza Tele won the IBM global smart camp competition at the Tech4Africa conference. An year later, the firm had worked with several SME’s in many countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In May, AFB bought the start-up Weza Tele Ltd, in a deal whose value in stock and cash is estimated to be about Sh100 million.

AFB is a financial services business that provides credit solutions to individuals and small businesses in Africa.

GES 2015

The deal was quite a feat for Moraa who put in a lot of time and energy in developing the idea that she had to drop out of her masters class.

Infact, it was not until the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015 in Nairobi that her parents knew she dropped out of class.

“I know my parents are watching me. This is the first time I am telling them I dropped out of my masters’ class,” she told the crowd at GES2015.

“I had opportunities to go to Oxford University and work for Google but I gave it up,” she added.

Her encouraging entrepreneurship journey is captured in her book “In a Kenyan Start up journey.”

"It was a tough journey I must say.... I therefore feel it is important to share these key lessons with the rest of the startups in Kenya and across Africa and in turn build a better ecosystem," she says in her book.

Moraa is currently the CEO of Pezesha, a credit bureau for low-income earners.