{"id":374411,"date":"2026-04-04T08:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/374411\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:45:16","slug":"radhika-bhachu-left-blackrock-to-come-home-to-rethink-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/374411\/","title":{"rendered":"Radhika Bhachu left BlackRock to come home to rethink wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 10th floor of ABC Place in Nairobi\u2019s Westlands, Radhika Bhachu doesn\u2019t offer you tea. No small ceremony to ease you in. She\u2019s already mid-thought when you sit down, like you\u2019ve walked into a conversation she\u2019s been having with herself all morning.<\/p>\n

If we weren\u2019t doing this interview, she says, she\u2019d be on investor calls. Properly in it. Updating her pipeline, responding to questions, and nudging conversations forward. In between, she\u2019d be with her team\u2014sales, marketing, client service\u2014trying to get a feel of things on the ground. Are customers complaining? What\u2019s slowing them down? Where can AI help? Then maybe coffee, but not the relaxed kind. The kind where you\u2019re still half-working, just without your laptop open.<\/p>\n

She speaks quickly, but not nervously. There\u2019s a rhythm to it. Before this, she was at BlackRock<\/a> for five years as a relationship manager, helping investors build wealth quietly, predictably, over time. There are systems, structures and a lot of long-term thinking. Then she came back to Kenya in 2020 and found something else: people saving, hustling, building, but not quite investing in the way she had seen elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Now she\u2019s trying to build that bridge through Ndovu, a Nairobi-based wealth management startup.<\/a> Lately, what\u2019s been sitting with her is a tension she doesn\u2019t try to dress up. Last year, the company found that most of its revenue was coming from a small group of customers. The obvious move was to lean into that, middle income and above, the ones already closest to investing.<\/p>\n

It makes sense. It\u2019s business. But that\u2019s not why she started. \u201cThe vision is still everyone,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you can\u2019t do everything at once.\u201d She pauses, briefly, then shrugs it off. \u201cIt\u2019s just sequencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

I spoke to Radhika about the path the BlackRock alumni took from the corridors of global finance to the messy, unpredictable business of getting Africans to invest.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we weren\u2019t doing this interview, what would a perfect afternoon look like for you?<\/p>\n

Right now, I\u2019m fundraising, so a perfect afternoon would involve investor calls, updating my investor pipeline, and responding to questions. I also oversee the distribution team, so I\u2019d be working with sales, marketing, and client service to understand how business is going\u2014are we getting customer complaints? How can we use AI to streamline tasks? So, really, thinking about distribution strategy and fundraising. It would probably end with coffee with a client or an investor.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been occupying your mind lately, something you keep coming back to?<\/p>\n

Last year, we realised that, like many businesses, 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our clients. Our vision is that in a decade, every African will be a capital market investor. But the reality is that as an African startup, there\u2019s not enough funding to go after the entire value chain\u2014middle income, high net worth, and low income all require significant resources.<\/p>\n

Last year, we had to make a difficult decision: with our current funding and team, we needed to focus on the low-hanging fruit, middle-income and above. But as a founder, I started this to help everyone participate in wealth creation. We\u2019ve partnered with banks and telcos to embed our solutions, but it\u2019s disappointing that as a chief executive office (CEO), the right business decision is to move toward momentum\u2014because that helps us grow revenue faster, increase our cash, and eventually serve smaller holders. It\u2019s just sequencing. But it weighs on me. That, and cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

\"\"Radhika and a section of her staff. Image source: Ndovu<\/p>\n

You grew up between cultures. How did that shape your earliest understanding of money, security, and ambition?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a Kenyan-Indian, and that\u2019s been amazing. Kenyan culture is very kind and community-led; people help each other. Indian culture thinks more about the future: you build wealth not just for this generation, but for your children\u2019s children. What I think our culture could do better is talk about money at the dinner table. We didn\u2019t, but we knew our parents had a business. They\u2019d say, \u201cGo have coffee with someone, see what they do, talk to that uncle at a party.\u201d That helped you figure out what to study.<\/p>\n

But no one teaches you what to do once you have money. We\u2019re launching a custodial product for children\u2014parents manage it, but kids can research and see how their investments perform. That teaches budgeting, decision-making, and opportunity cost. Unfortunately, that\u2019s taking a lower priority right now due to capital constraints.<\/p>\n

Was there a defining moment growing up when you realised money, or the lack of it, shapes how people move through the world?<\/p>\n

An unfortunate lesson about the world is that if you have money, you matter to somebody; if you have no money, you matter to nobody. And that\u2019s just a really sad reality of the world. And I think growing up, not so much, but now, living in a social media age, it\u2019s so apparent. For me, it was when I was younger. I lost my mom, and so my dad sent me to school, and I started doing the paper round (delivering newspapers).\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was in Canada, and we used to do the paper round to make money. I\u2019m very fortunate; everything was painful, but we started learning that to make money, you have to work really hard. And there\u2019s a saying in our culture, actually: making money is the easy part, but keeping it, you know? Doing the paper round, then actually getting a job at 16; that\u2019s when I was like, \u201cwow, okay, making money is really hard.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why, when you have money, there is some childhood stuff that kind of links back to saying I have to be successful because I want to be able to give my family everything they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And you have to make sure that you\u2019re working hard for money. And now it\u2019s changed into: how can you be more valuable, and how can you create money not the traditional way \u2014 you know, graduate, get a job \u2014 and now it\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, well, I\u2019ve got this money, and this is going really well, what else can I do?\u201d But we\u2019re seeing that through Kenyan culture, which is really nice.<\/p>\n

What did your parents teach you about wealth that you\u2019ve had to unlearn?<\/p>\n

The limited mindset: \u201cWe don\u2019t have this much money.\u201d Also, that generation was very competitive, always comparing with peers. Now there\u2019s so much abundance that ten competitors can all do well. I\u2019m unlearning that money is only available to the few. Historically, the rich had access to global and local capital markets, but the middle class didn\u2019t. We\u2019re changing that.<\/p>\n

You had a front-row seat to global finance before Ndovu. At what point did you think Africa\u2019s wealth problem isn\u2019t access, it\u2019s structure?<\/p>\n

At BlackRock, I saw how pensions work, how retail customers grow wealth 12 to 15% annually. When I came back to Kenya, access was the first challenge. Now, five years later, you can invest through your phone. But the bigger challenges are education and government enablement. Financial literacy is low. And culturally, Kenyans put everything into real estate, but they can\u2019t access liquidity. Or they go 100% into crypto. That all-or-nothing mindset is structural and systemic.<\/p>\n

Also, the government hasn\u2019t promoted capital markets. Did you know that if you invest in stocks, you pay withholding tax but no capital gains tax? Real estate pays both. But no one tells the everyday Kenyan that. Doing business here is expensive, with too many licences. We need reform so businesses can create jobs for the young workforce.<\/p>\n

So if I could, I would do a lot, like a big incubator now, to make small SMEs really grow, because we\u2019re going to have a problem where we\u2019re going to have so many young people come into the workforce, but we don\u2019t have enough jobs, and that\u2019s when you start seeing crime rates go up, etc. It is more structural than it was. Access was the first problem, and now we as partners are working together to make it less structural\u2014more education, easy to access\u2014but along the way, also creating jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founding a wealth platform in a market where many are still figuring out savings can look almost impossible. What did others see that you didn\u2019t, or vice versa?<\/p>\n

We underestimate that Africans know how to save. This is the most entrepreneurial continent. The narrative that Africa has no money is wrong. On our platform, 73% of customers are new to investing. The collective investment schemes market in Kenya grew 1,100% last year. Capital market participants doubled from 1.7 to 3.4 million.<\/p>\n

That said, Ndovu was a little early for Kenya. Trust takes time here; people want to see you\u2019ve been around. West Africans are more aggressive and bullish; East Africans are softer. We launched with an innovative global product, but the market just wanted a digitally enabled money market fund. Now, 43% of people start with that and then move to global products. If you capture customers young and grow with them, you can build a good business.<\/p>\n

What was the hardest early conversation, with investors, regulators, or yourself, about whether Ndovu would work?<\/p>\n

As a founder, you need a critical faith that it will work. The question wasn\u2019t whether, but how long to product-market fit. For investors, the biggest question is: Is this market deep enough? National data says Kenyans are poor, but the ground reality is different. A Land Rover here costs $150,000 after tax\u2014and plenty are on the road. We have no credit system. In the UK, my car was leased, my house mortgaged. Here, everything is bought with cash. So we\u2019re actually wealthier; it\u2019s just not in capital markets.<\/p>\n

With regulators, it\u2019s never been difficult, just educational. They don\u2019t know how to regulate something new, so we show them. Building in Africa requires belief. Otherwise, the rejections will break you.<\/p>\n

Who is your actual first customer\u2014the aspirational middle class, or the already wealthy looking for diversification?<\/p>\n

We started with everybody. Now we\u2019ve moved toward middle income and above \u2014 not shutting doors, but our marketing dollars go to the low-hanging fruit first. The cost of doing business in Kenya is high. A company in Egypt might raise $20 million; we\u2019ve raised $2.3 million, but our revenue is 4x in line with theirs. Still, our vision is that in a decade, every African will be investing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a quiet tension in fintech between growth and trust. When did you first feel that inside Ndovu?<\/p>\n

At the very beginning. You can\u2019t grow until customers trust you. Before us, some unregistered funds went under and broke trust. A licence doesn\u2019t automatically give you trust here,\u00a0 unlike the US or UK. Here, trust is the product. You build it by showing up every day, picking up the phone, and responding to complaints. Once you have trust, very little can go wrong.<\/p>\n

We spent the first 18 months building trust. It was slow. No exponential growth. That\u2019s why Africa is different for B2C investing; you need 18\u201324 months just for trust. In the US, infrastructure does that for you. VCs compare us to four-year timelines, but it\u2019s probably eight years here.<\/p>\n

\"\"Radhika and Ndovu staff. Image source: Ndovu<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one decision you made early on that almost broke the company?<\/p>\n

Pivoting too quickly. We wanted growth immediately, so we pivoted to B2B2C \u2014 flipping our tech into an API. We took the gas off B2C. That wasn\u2019t entirely wrong \u2014 we\u2019re now going live with big partners \u2014 but our B2C suffered. My advice: copy what works first. Don\u2019t try to be innovative out of the gate. Copy, then innovate. Stay true to your core.<\/p>\n

How do you build trust with a first-time investor who only knows SACCOs, land, or chamas?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mountain. First, awareness, people can\u2019t buy what they don\u2019t know. We create content and distribute it on social media. Then we follow the traditional relationship manager model: when you sign up, we call you. Nothing special, just an introduction. Investing isn\u2019t skincare; you can\u2019t give a sample and expect immediate return. Customers check their portfolio daily, see it down, and complain. But after years, they say, \u201cMy portfolio is up 40%, I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust comes from education, thought leadership, phone calls, and good client service. Then, drip marketing, educating over time about money market funds, global investing, and the S&P 500. It takes time, but we\u2019ve doubled conversion rates.<\/p>\n

What does wealth mean to you now, and how is that different from five years ago?<\/p>\n

Five years ago, wealth was about buying things I wanted. Now, it\u2019s about time to have the freedom to do whatever you want. Financial freedom is not as big a number as you think. If you have $100,000 earning 10% a year, that covers basic rent, food, and a few holidays. That\u2019s about 30 million shillings. If you save 2 million shillings a year, even on a 100k salary with sacrifices, and grow it 10%, in five years you hit 13 million. That supplements you. Then you don\u2019t have to go to work. You can think: how am I valuable? What\u2019s my next business?<\/p>\n

Once you hit that, you become different. You don\u2019t need the tenth pair of shoes. Wealth becomes health and flexibility. At 37, it\u2019s about routine: morning coffee, gym, time with kids, work, dinner with family. The luxury of life is time.<\/p>\n

Are we underestimating how sophisticated African retail investors already are, or overestimating their risk appetite?<\/p>\n

No, 100% we\u2019re underestimating how sophisticated retail investors are in Kenya, in East Africa. And actually, that comes down to the fact that the majority of people are entrepreneurs, so they can make informed decisions about risk. There is a subset that, of course, is unknown, and wants to buy crypto. They understand the risk of it. There\u2019s that proportion of it. But I would say the underestimation of their financial knowledge, not necessarily in capital markets, but just how to make money, is higher compared to anywhere in the world. I\u2019ve never seen such an entrepreneurial community here, even when I was in the UK. I mean, my family members are business-oriented, but people weren\u2019t driven to make something here. People here are driven. It\u2019s very exciting. It really is.<\/p>\n

If we meet in 10 years, what would need to have happened for you to feel it was all worth it?<\/p>\n

I would like Ndovu to be a household name. And on a personal level, my definition of success is that I\u2019m walking down the street, someone taps me and says, \u201cBecause of you, I was able to send my kid to school, or wherever.\u201d It doesn\u2019t have to be hard. It\u2019s just because it\u2019s well known. But I was able to educate them, because I think education, even in the age of AI, the application of education, exposure, your skill set, etc., is really important. That would be a personal goal. But yeah, I would like Ndovu to be the BlackRock of Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hopefully, we will get there. A lot has happened, and a lot of that has to do with regulation; when you move into other markets, regulation is very important. Right now, we have a balance. We have people investing in Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We also have people investing abroad. But the next challenge for us is: how do we get people abroad to invest in Africa? Because the returns you\u2019re getting on some projects here, you cannot get off the dollar in the US or Europe. It\u2019s already saturated.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the 10th floor of ABC Place in Nairobi\u2019s Westlands, Radhika Bhachu doesn\u2019t offer you tea. No small…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,266,267],"class_list":{"0":"post-374411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}