S1- EP01- Low Trust & Questionable Ethics – Hidden Cost of Broken Promises

Low Trust & Questionable Ethics – Hidden Cost of Broken Promises

Trust is the silent currency of business. When it runs low—as it often does in many African markets—founders pay for it in legal fees, collateral, sleepless nights and delayed growth. In this premiere, serial entrepreneur & Host Michael Anthony Macharia joins forces with three fellow “warriors in the arena” to expose the real price of low trust environments and share road tested tactics for surviving—and thriving—in the chaos.

In the premiere episode of Founders’ Battlefield, we open the arena with a raw, unfiltered conversation that hits a nerve: the silent epidemic of low trust in African business.

Host Michael Macharia is joined by three remarkable founders who speak plainly about broken promises, betrayal in boardrooms, and the invisible tax entrepreneurs pay when navigating low-trust environments.

This is not a story of failure.
It’s a reckoning with the systems we’re forced to survive in.

🕰️ Episode Chapters
(Chapter times are derived from transcript flow; please sync with Spotify timestamps if different.)

00:00 – 07:43 — Opening Monologue & Founder Introductions
07:44 – 25:10 — What Does Broken Trust Actually Look Like?
25:11 – 48:02 — When Creativity Meets Exploitation – The Thin Line Between Visionary and Victim
48:03 – 01:07:15 — The Cost of Silence: Shame, Stress & Self-Doubt
01:07:16 – 01:30:00 — Systems that Extract – Why Founders are Set Up to Fail
01:30:01 – 01:43:27 — Redefining Boundaries, Rebuilding Trust, and Naming the Invisible
01:43:28 – 01:46:00 — Final Reflections and Founder Takeaways

👥 Founder Guests – In the Arena

Michael Macharia- Founder Seven Seas Technologies / Ponea Health
  / mikemachariaponea  

Roy Gitahi -Founder and CEO, Art at Work Limited
  / roy-gitahi-b7409510  

Renee Ngamau -Co-founder and President, CheckUps Medical Credit
  / reneengamau  

Kevin Mutiso - CEO – Oye
  / kmutiso  

💬 Key Discussion Questions

What does a breach of trust look like when no contracts are broken, but something deeper is?
How do founders balance belief in vision with skepticism from partners, funders, or regulators?
Is there a hidden emotional cost to always “proving” your legitimacy?
Can trust be rebuilt in an ecosystem where everyone’s been burned?

🔑 Key Takeaways
-Low trust costs time, energy, and sanity—yet it’s rarely captured in data or investor updates.
-Creativity is often exploited in silence, especially when contracts are vague and power imbalances exist.
-The emotional labor of entrepreneurship is heavy when you’re constantly doubted, questioned, or dismissed.
-Systemic issues (from late payments to policy sabotage) quietly bleed startups to death.
-Naming the betrayal is the first step to healing. The silence helps no one.
-Founders must build psychological safety into their culture — not just legal terms.
-You’re not weak for hurting. You’re just human.

Stay in the Battlefield

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Like what you heard? Share your biggest trust lesson in the comments and tag us on social—your story could feature in a future reel.

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