My Plan A to Z

Mudiaga Mowoe is the Founder and CEO of Matta, a company building the infrastructure for Africa’s chemical and raw material supply chain. His journey began not with a grand blueprint but with a deep need to solve his own logistics and sourcing problems. In this story, he reflects on the unshakable mission to transform African manufacturing, the necessity of being ruthless for growth, and why he sees the weight of responsibility as his greatest advantage.

The Catalyst: From Logistics Pain to Destiny

I spent over a decade in the chemical industry, starting in South Africa, before moving back to Nigeria as Head of Sales. That’s where I truly understood the chaos of the market. I saw manufacturers relying on opaque, inefficient supply lines for the very raw materials they needed to function.

The idea for Matta didn’t come in one flash of inspiration, but in sharp, frustrating pieces. First, I was constantly getting requests for chemicals we didn’t stock, forcing me to source them externally. Second, the logistics were ridiculous—clients always asked me to help organize transportation. My brain started running: “What if there was a platform that could just do all of this?”

Then came a powerful internal feeling, and it sounds crazy, that I was going to change manufacturing in Africa. I didn’t know the exact how, but I knew it would happen.

The major catalyst was the 2016 recession. I had tried to pitch local manufacturing of body filler to a Nigerian distributor, but they asked, “Why manufacture when it’s easier to import?” When the dollar jumped from ₦200 to ₦500, those same distributors called me back. We worked with three clients to start producing locally, and the demand was insane. That’s when it clicked: we needed a company that not only connected manufacturers to suppliers but also supported them with technical help, logistics, and financing.

I spent five years nursing the idea until friends pushed me to build it. A chance dinner led to a market visit with Pardon from CRE Venture Capital—my accidental first investor. He heard a distributor tell a story about market opacity (accidentally sold his own stock back) and told me, “You have to build this company. And I have to be your first investor.” I literally raised my first capital before the company was even incorporated. That’s how Matta began.

Pressure, Privilege, and the Absence of Plan B

My view of success has definitely evolved. It’s not a single moment you achieve once and for all; it’s a continuous state of existence—the upward movement, even when it doesn’t look upward. You can’t stop.

There have been several times when I felt like it was too much. Being a single founder means a lot sits on you. You owe your team that stability.

Leadership demands public optimism while carrying private fear. I hold that duality because I truly believe this is my life’s purpose. There is no Plan B. When I think about the problem—like the lack of visibility preventing trade under AfCFTA, where traders import onions from Europe instead of buying from their African neighbors—I realize the mission is bigger than me. It’s not arrogance; it’s service to the continent.

I call pressure a privilege because it increases your intrinsic value. Coal never becomes a diamond without pressure. The ability to think critically and execute effectively only comes with pressure. When I’m afraid of something, I lean in completely. As long as it doesn’t kill you—and it won’t—it’ll refine you.

The Price of Leadership and the Final Lesson

This intense journey has cost me my naivety. Entrepreneurship shows you that most people are out for themselves. It has also cost me relationships. People say, “All you do is work. All you talk about is Matta.” But Matta is part of my identity.

The most important decision I made was building the right team inside Matta. Our low turnover and the caliber of our people—from our Head of Marketing, who consistently receives poaching offers by investors, to our CTO, who has built technology that has passed multiple rigorous audits—make this journey full. We wouldn’t be here if it were a different set of people.

The biggest leadership lesson this journey forced me to confront was my tendency to overextend grace. I led with empathy, but without firm boundaries, which created room for complacency. I’ve since learned that high performance requires clarity, standards, and accountability. If someone cannot meet the bar, the responsible thing is to make a decisive change — quickly and without hesitation.

If I could send a message to my younger self, I’d say two things: you will face challenges you never imagined, but you will always navigate them with strength. And most importantly — lead with empathy, but never at the expense of standards.