How one entrepreneur is changing the story about African travel
Cover photo: Seyiram Kweku / Unsplash
Cherae Robinson spent years in international development work that took her across southern and eastern Africa. What she found didn't match the poverty story she'd been handed, and she couldn't find anyone sharing the continent's modern cultural life with travelers like her.
So she built a platform that would.
What is Tastemakers Africa? It's a peer-to-peer tour and activities marketplace that Cherae Robinson founded in 2014 to change how travelers discover African cities. It offers curated local experiences led by African hosts, city guides that go beyond safari stereotypes, and easy booking, and it went on to raise outside investment.
Key facts
- Founded: 2014.
- Before that: international development work, including at CIMMYT, an agricultural research center in the World Bank-backed CGIAR network.
- What it offers: experiences led by African hosts, city guides, cultural immersion and tech-enabled booking.
- Why it matters: it puts the spotlight on Africa's cities, entrepreneurs, cuisine and contemporary culture.
From International Development to Tech Founder
Photo: Nupo Deyon Daniel / Unsplash
Before founding the company, Robinson worked in international development, including at CIMMYT, an agricultural research center in the World Bank-backed CGIAR network.
But it was her own frustration at finding real, local experiences in Africa that started her entrepreneurial path. She launched Tastemakers Africa in 2014, and that frustration became the foundation of a company that changed how people travel the continent.
What Tastemakers Africa Represents
Photo: Simone Santos (@sithevision) for Caviar in the Air
Tastemakers Africa is a booking platform and also an effort to change how the world sees the people and places of the African continent.
The platform offers:
- Curated local experiences led by African hosts
- City guides that go beyond safari stereotypes
- Cultural immersion that connects travelers with real communities
- Tech-enabled discovery that makes booking easy
Robinson challenges the tired story that reduces Africa to wildlife and poverty. She puts the spotlight on the continent's lively cities, its entrepreneurs, its world-class food and its contemporary culture. It's the Africa we love showing travelers on our Senegal trip and our Kenya and Uganda trip.
Breaking Barriers in Tech
Robinson's path hasn't been easy. As a Black woman in tech, she faced the same barriers that keep so many founders from capital, and her persistence paid off.
She raised investment for a product built for an underserved community, proof that this market can attract mainstream backing, and her success has opened doors for other founders working where culture and technology meet.
The Vision
Photo: Simone Santos (@sithevision) for Caviar in the Air
Tastemakers Africa is a new way of thinking about travel, one that centers local voices and celebrates how varied African experiences are. Robinson is rewriting the story of a whole continent, one booking at a time.
Travel means most when it connects us with real people. The best experiences are usually the ones created by locals who love sharing their world.
What Cherae Teaches Us
The best solutions come from people who understand the problem firsthand. She didn't wait for the travel industry to build experiences for people like her. She built the platform herself.
Her path from a personal frustration to a funded tech company shows that entrepreneurship is about solving real problems for real people. For more founders changing Black travel, read about Martinique Lewis and the ABC Travel Greenbook and Jessica Nabongo, the first Black woman to visit every country.
Cherae Robinson is changing how we experience Africa. Learn about Cherae and other Black history pioneers, then explore our upcoming trips for experiences that celebrate Black excellence.
Culture
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Culture