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The Rise of the Youngest Billionaire in Africa
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May 8, 2025
They all thought he'd end up poor not knowing that he was destined for sometime greater. #nekenwatv
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when most 19-year-olds were stressing
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over college debt Adam Steves was
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negotiating funding terms with investors
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from Silicon Valley but it didn't start
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in a boardroom it started in a cramped
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flat in Cape Town South Africa adam
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didn't grow up with luxury he grew up
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with power cuts street noise and a
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mother who worked double shifts as a
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cleaner the first time he touched a
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computer was at age 14 a secondhand
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desktop donated to his high school he
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was hooked instantly no gaming no social
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media seleed to build by 15 he had
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designed a basic traffic app for many
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bus drivers by 17 he had launched a
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digital wallet that could work offline
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inspired by watching his community
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struggle with slow internet and
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unreliable banks word spread fast an
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American journalist visiting tape town
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wrote a blog post about this teenage
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coder changing the rules in Africa that
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single post landed on a tech newsletter
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in the US within months Adam was invited
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to pitch his app now called a Danick to
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a group of international VCs over Zoom
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he wore a borrowed shirt and used
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borrowed Wi-Fi he walked away with
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$500,000 in preede funding but Adam
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didn't move to the US he stayed in Cape
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Town hiring local talent mentoring young
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Gaz and expanding across the continent
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while most founders chased exits he
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chased impact today at just 24 Adam Stz
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is worth over $1.2 billion his platform
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handles millions of transactions daily
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across Africa Southeast Asia and parts
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of Latin America when asked why he
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didn't relocate to Silicon Valley he
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smiled and said "I didn't need to go to
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the valley i built my own
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