Sam “Sahmrip” Kim is a South Korean entrepreneur, investor, and social venture capitalist with a focus on fintech, blockchain technology, and venture investments. He is a founding partner of the venture capital firm Sukuma Ventures and a co-founder of the Kenyan fintech startup GoChapaa. His work frequently centers on fostering technological development in Africa by leveraging Asia-to-Africa networks. ^[1]​

Education

Kim attended Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in South Korea, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature. He subsequently moved to the United States for his postgraduate studies and earned a Master of Arts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University in 2004. ^[3]​

Career

Kim’s career spans corporate operations, investment banking, private equity, and entrepreneurship across Asia, Europe, and Africa, with a long-running focus on emerging markets in Kenya and the broader continent. After graduating from New York University, he returned to Seoul and worked at Pfizer from 2004 to 2006 as a project manager, then moved into finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he spent six years as a vice president. He later added buy-side experience through roles in private equity and family office management, including Investment Director at Andbeyond Private Equity (2017–2018) and Managing Director at the Eljovi–Marhberg Family Office in Vaduz, Liechtenstein (2018–2020).

In 2012, Kim relocated to Nairobi and shifted into entrepreneurship, serving as CEO of Two Point Coffee & Co. through 2018, which deepened his operational experience in Kenya’s local market. Building on that foundation, he became a founding partner of Sukuma Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm and accelerator that backs African startups using Asia-to-Africa networks and a thesis centered on inclusive innovation, sustainable business models, and long-term partnership. In 2022, he co-founded GoChapaa, a Nairobi-based Web3 fintech platform designed to support Kenya’s informal cooperative savings groups (“chamas”) by offering digital wallet infrastructure, payments tools, and financial services access, including small-ticket fiat on-ramps in Kenyan Shillings. Alongside his core roles, Kim has also worked as a mentor and advisor in the blockchain sector, maintained a long-standing track record as an angel and private investor, and briefly served as an economic education advisor during South Korea’s 2022 election campaign period. ^{[2] [4]}