The mutual aspiration of addressing the housing shortage and improving real estate market efficiency led Daniel and Phillip to co-found Seso Global in 2017. Seso Global developed a unique integrated platform to streamline and rationalize the process of acquiring and financing a home in Nigeria. In particular, the Seso team aimed to create a blockchain-enabled ledger of land titles to address a key challenge of Nigerian real estate and mortgages market: ensuring rightful ownership of properties. Their platform combined a land registry management and query portal, a property and mortgage marketplace, and a land service provider marketplace. However, VC investors had been grilling them on their business and revenue model. On the other hand, the impact investors they had talked to were focused on whether their activity would have an effect at the bottom of the pyramid. Pondering on the comments made by the VC, Daniel and Phillip were discussing which part of the platform to prioritize. What should be the focus of their business model? Who should be their main clients? Answers to these questions would be key to win over investors and scale up their operations.
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Pippa Tubman Armerding joined Harvard Business School in 2017, and is the Executive Director for the HBS Africa Research Center in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pippa’s work spans sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on the development of cases and support for faculty research in the region. She also plays an important role in establishing and fostering relationships with companies and alumni in Africa on behalf of HBS.
A lawyer and strategist with 20 years of experience as an attorney and business professional operating across Africa, Europe and North America, Pippa has held a number of leadership roles with large multinationals working across the continent. Prior positions includes serving as Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs for Microsoft South Africa, and Director of Pan-African Strategic Initiatives for Coca-Cola South Africa.
As a graduate of Harvard College, Pippa has been an active alumnus, serving in a number of volunteer roles for the alumni community in South Africa. In addition, Pippa holds a JD from New York University, specializing in international law, and is fluent in French. Raised in Liberia, Pippa returned to Africa 13 years ago and has since lived in South Africa and Kenya.