From a failed venture in South Africa to co-founding an AI cybersecurity powerhouse, CyberAlliance president Larry Yon II sits down with PHATHISANI MOYO for Coffee With… to explain why digital trust and diaspora capital are key to unlocking Africa’s true tech potential.
The first time Larry Yon II flew out of South Africa, he sat in a window seat, looking down at the landscape fading beneath him and wondering if he would ever return.
Yon, the co-founder and president of CyberAlliance, a US-based AI-powered cybersecurity firm, had originally arrived seeking commercial opportunities. He left with something far more profound: a realization that the continent he encountered bore little resemblance to the reductive narratives he had grown up with in America.
“I remember sitting in a window seat on the plane preparing to leave South Africa and return to the United States (US),” Yon told TechCabal over coffee on Wednesday. “I looked out the window and felt this tremendous sadness. I didn’t know if I would ever have the opportunity to come back.”
Originally published by TechCabal.