The Conscious Coupling of Conservation and Capitalism with The Desert Date Company's Lauren Servin Founder of The Desert Date Tree Company Lauren Servin explains how her business is merging the conservation of threatened desert date trees and the economic empowerment of underprivileged Northern Ugandan women with an ambitious capitalist agenda to commercialise desert date oil.
Kahawa 1893's Margaret Nyamumbo on using blockchain tech to disrupt fair trade in the global coffee industry Founder & CEO of Kahawa 1893, Margaret Nyamumbo unpacks how her company plans to leverage blockchain tech to revolutionise the global coffee supply chain and close the abhorrent gender gap in that industry.
Heidi Lovett of Swerve Robotics on plans to ignite enthusiasm for STEM in Botswana's youth Executive Director of Swerve Robotics Heidi Lovett reveals her organisation's plans to ignite a love for robotics in Botswana's youth by introducing FIRST STEM challenge programmes in that country.
Simanga Madhlabuta of Zimbabwe Investment Tours and Wisdom Gakaka of Cyrex Business on market-relevant innovation and entrepreneurial success in Zimbabwe A few days before 2018 came to a close, Andile Masuku, sat down two bright, young Zimbabwean entrepreneurs, Simanga Madhlabuta and Wisdom Gakaka, to learn what it takes to engineer business success in Harare.
Wajenzi's Alain Nkurukiye on Galvanising Diasporans to Back Economic Growth in Africa Burundian Alain Nkurukiye explains how is his Netherlands-based startup, Wajenzi, aims to galvanise the African Diaspora to invest systematically in their countries of origin.
The Joy of Missing Out: Should African Founders Reject Hypergrowth VC Doctrine? Secha Capital Co-founder and Co-MD Rushil Vallabh joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga to unpack issues raised by a New York Times (NYT) article entitled, "More Start-Ups Have an Unfamiliar Message for Venture Capitalists: Get Lost" by Erin Griffith.
Talking Successful Social Enterprise with Raneem Muqbel of TEENAH Jordanian Raneem Muqbel, co-founder of the social manufacturing enterprise, TEENAH, offers insight into how entrepreneurship is being used to deliver social and economic gains in a country grappling with one of the world’s most severe refugee crises.
Development Finance Diaries with Musa Sillah and Mohamed Alhadi of the Islamic Development Bank Andile Masuku chats with the Director of the Africa and Latin America Department at the IsDB, Musa Sillah, and the IsDB's Lead Fragility & Resilience Specialist, Mohamed Alhadi, about the nuances of delivering Islamic development finance.
WeThinkCode's Dylan Richts on developing South African coding talent and cautiously pursuing regional growth Dylan Richts explains how WeThinkCode's business model differs markedly from its more well-publicised peers, Gebeya and Andela. He also talks a little bit about the organisation's Pan-African growth aspirations and about the challenges of scaling their model.
Mustafa Othman of Shaqodoon on the State of Somalia and Somaliland's Entrepreneurship Support Ecosystem Shaqodoon Co-founder Mustafa Othman sheds light on the state of Somalia and Somaliland's growing entrepreneurship support ecosystems and shares his sense of what interventions are working and why.
Gutsy Entrepreneurial Moves in Difficult Places with Morris Dougba of Green Gold Liberia and Ayham Maksoud of Al-Maksoud for Steel Constructions Morris Dougba of Green Gold Liberia and Syrian Ayham Maksoud of Al-Maksoud for Steel Constructions offer fascinating first-hand insights about what it takes to realise entrepreneurial success in difficult places.
Dotun Olowoporoku of Starta on identifying billion-dollar startup potential in Africa Academic turned startup founder and investor, Dotun Olowoporoku, talks about his fascinating journey from postdoctoral research fellow to founder and investor, and unpacks his thesis for identifying and backing billion-dollar startup potential in Africa.
Talking Innovative Foreign Aid Strategy and Constructive Refugee Interventions with University of Oxford's Alexander Betts and SPARK's Yannick Du Pont Alexander Betts, Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs at the University of Oxford's Brasenose College, and Yannick Du Pont, the Co-founder and Director of the Dutch NGO SPARK, join Andile Masuku to discuss the awkward state-of-play within the global foreign aid industry.
The African Fintech 2018 Retrospective with Viola Llewellyn of Ovamba - Part 2 In Part 2 of this “hype vs. reality” themed conversation, Ovamba President Viola Llewellyn explains why she is sick and tired of the on-going continent-wide obsession of fintech startups looking to build "last-mile" solutions.
The African Fintech 2018 Retrospective with Viola Llewellyn of Ovamba - Part 1 Viola Llewellyn of Ovamba joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga to factor in on a “hype vs. reality” themed conversation about the development of Africa’s fintech landscape in 2018.
TransUnion Africa's Lee Naik on embracing open source collaboration and harnessing democratised technologies TransUnion Africa CEO Lee Naik offers insight into how data-led legacy corporates on the continent are grappling with the prospect of a future led by democratised technologies and open source collaboration.
Ovamba's Viola Llewellyn on encoding African IP and the need for Pan-African digital standards Ovamba Co-founder and President Viola Llewellyn speaks on the importance of finding smart ways to ensure that Africa secures its unique and invaluable IP and on the overlooked advantages of adopting Pan-African digital standards.
MzansiSat's Bernard Greyling can't wait to launch African geostationary broadband satellites MzansiSat Chief Technical Officer at Bernard Greyling talks about the South African geostationary broadband satellite startup's mission to partner with African states in deploying and operating space hardware that would significantly improve public access to low-cost internet access.
EOS Nairobi's Felix Macharia and Raise's Marvin Coleby unpack the African Digital Asset Framework The African Digital Assets Framework (ADAF) is the first open-source software platform to create transnational standards for digital assets and distributed ledger technologies— in line with pan-African development objectives.
Talking Transsion, Android vs iPhone and Xiaomi's Pocophone F1 with Nendo's Mark Kaigwa Nendo Founder and CEO Mark Kaigwa explains why the music streaming service Boomplay is thriving in Africa and how Transsion's African digital domination strategy seems to be coming together nicely.
African IP diaries with University of Cape Town's Caroline Ncube and Thomson Reuters Africa's Saidah Nash Carter University of Capetown IP Law Professor Caroline Ncube and Thomson Reuters Africa Executive Saidah Nash Carter Gain unpack historical approaches to dealing with intellectual property as Africa undertakes to construct legal frameworks and set standards for the use of digital assets.
Is Venture Capital a Ponzi Scheme? feat. Grant Phillips of PhilTech Consulting Given media reports regarding Rocket Internet's puzzling Jumia exit plans, Africa's early-stage investment ecosystem might do well to soberly reflect on Chamath Palihapitiya's controversial aversion to the VC model largely popularised by Silicon Valley.
Sureswipe's Paul Kent on competing in South Africa's crowded payments startup scene Sureswipe Co-founder and MD Paul Kent sheds light on his company's growth strategy and provides pragmatic insight into the market intelligence and business partnerships required to succeed in South Africa's competitive payments industry.
Lyndsey Duff of What3Words on inducting a new global addressing standard What3Words South Africa Country Manager Lyndsey Duff outlines the British startup's ambition to better tech heavies like Google by ushering in the "next global addressing standard".
Masakhe Foundation's Mpilo Ngcukana & Thulani Fesi on why KwaLanga Cape Town needs a youth tech hub Capetownian entrepreneurs Mpilo Ngcukana and Thulani Fesi let us into the grassroots struggle to bring disadvantaged youth in KwaLanga township up to speed with advances in tech and digital.