Jake Kendall is a trained economist and researcher turned venture investor at DFS Lab who brings an unusually academic profile to African fintech investing, holding roles as both GP and teacher at Sciences Po while publishing detailed, thesis-driven research on African markets that frames investment views around structural demand constraints rather than typical Africa rising narratives. He advocates for building cyborgs not androids in Africa, emphasizing augmentation of existing systems with digital tools rather than full automation, and positions himself at the intersection of AI and Africa's economic future with particular expertise in how telco and mobile operator data can enable new financial services models.

• Focuses heavily on the macro-economic challenge of job creation in Africa, specifically regarding the continent's demographic shift. He frequently poses the difficult question of how venture-backed technology models can successfully generate employment for the 500 million young Africans expected to join the workforce by 2050.
• Promotes a distinct thesis on Artificial Intelligence in African markets that prioritizes exportable services over hardware-heavy investments like GPUs. He articulates a philosophy of building cyborgs rather than androids, suggesting that successful startups in the region will use technology to augment and supercharge human labor rather than attempting to fully automate or replace it.
• Champions technical financial infrastructure and interoperability protocols, particularly within the crypto and payments space. He actively mentors and promotes programs focused on the Stellar network and Mojaloop software, citing specific success stories where participation in these technical bootcamps preceded major acquisitions by global giants like Stripe.
• Values deep academic research and data-driven insights into the nuances of emerging markets. He regularly shares and authors detailed reports on granular topics such as the continued relevance of feature phones, the use of call detail records for credit scoring, and the gap in voice recognition technology for African languages.