James Hedley is Co-Founder and COO of TurnStay, a South African fintech platform revolutionizing cross-border payments for the African travel and hospitality industry.

James studied at the University of Cape Town, completing an undergraduate degree and a postgraduate in Entrepreneurship, before co-founding Quicket in 2011, a pan-African self-service ticketing platform that was acquired by Ticketmaster.

With over 15 years of experience across the African travel, payments, and commerce landscape, James brings deep operational expertise and a proven track record of building and scaling market-leading African tech ventures.

At TurnStay, James has helped grow the platform from a two-person startup to a 100-plus client operation, raising a $2M seed round from investors including First Circle Capital, TLcom Capital, Enza Capital, and CV VC.

TurnStay processed over R1 billion ($60M) in travel payments in the first half of 2026 alone, cutting transaction costs by up to 70% for hotels, safari lodges, and tour operators across South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Mauritius.