Afro-Catalyst
Botho Emerging Markets Group
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Top 10 Afro-Catalyst Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Afro-Catalyst episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Afro-Catalyst for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Afro-Catalyst episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
04/26/22 • 18 min
Media is one of the few industries that impact the lives of every person. Publications frame our values; they curate our tastes and inform our thinking. Yet despite the powerful role that media plays in everyday life, the industry, in Africa, is more reliant on grants and personal funding than investments. This scarcity of funding options has doomed many papers and platforms—leading to an unprecedented shuttering of media outlets in the wake of COVID-19 and further illuminating the ever-widening gap in providing relevant and reliable information that meets the needs of Africa’s young and upwardly mobile, digital-first population.
Where legacy publications have failed, new media start-ups like Big Cabal Media are stepping in to fill the void. Its dynamic publications from Zikoko to TechCabal are chronicling the lives of ordinary Nigerians as well as the tools they're building to shape the future of Nigeria's business and economy. In March 2022, Big Cabal Media raised $2.3 million to build on this vision from leading investors including MaC Venture Capital, backers of household names like U.S.-based media darling Blavity. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak to Big Cabal CEO Tomiwa Aladekomo about creating highly content for African youth and his ambitious plan to document Africa's coming golden age.
Note: TechCabal, one of BCM's brands, is hiring a new Editor-in-Chief! Learn more and join them today here.
Dr. Frannie Léautier on How Responsible Investment Could Fuel Africa's Post-Pandemic Growth
Afro-Catalyst
01/27/21 • 31 min
Many companies highlight their value and the way they support their customers and other stakeholders. COVID-19 has been the ultimate test of that commitment. In the new normal, corporate social responsibility has moved from the realm of philanthropy to a strategic consideration. With all systems put to the test, "winners take all" is giving way to stakeholder capitalism. Development finance expert Dr. Frannie Léautier, Senior Partner and CEO of Southbridge Investments has spent decades deploying capital to address the world's most challenging health, economic, and social circumstances. She discusses how she's putting that knowledge to use to pioneer a new framework of responsible investments to grow the next generation of African champions for the post-pandemic era.
Host:
Isaac Kwaku Fokuo, Jr., Founder and Principal, Botho Emerging Markets Group
09/21/21 • 38 min
Stephanie Busari is an award-winning journalist who currently serves as Supervising Editor of CNN’s Africa coverage. In this capacity, the British-Nigerian storyteller has pioneered hard-hitting investigations exploring topics such as human rights and the long-term impact of trauma — which have earned her international acclaim. Busari’s brave coverage of the missing Chibok school girls resulted in a Gracie Award in 2017 and she was an instrumental part of the team that won a Peabody Award in 2015 for CNN's coverage of the missing schoolgirls. In 2020, she was selected as a Yale World Fellow. In this episode, Busari reflects on her return to Nigeria as an opportunity for personal growth, unlearning cultural biases and drawing inspiration from talented Africans who have achieved extraordinary things with limited resources.
03/29/22 • 18 min
Across Africa, football fits somewhere neatly between passion and obsession. As the region’s most popular sport, it is a mirror for the region’s hopes and aspirations -- a reflection of the wealth of talent on the continent, as well as the challenges that even the brightest stars often face in gaining the respect and accolades they deserve in global fora. But despite the odds, many African-born players —from Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o to Liberian President George Weah — have made their mark on Europe’s premier soccer leagues. And more sons of its diaspora from the UK’s Reuben Agboola to French-born Senegalese ’s Edouard Mendy are returning home to be a part of the continent’s rise in football prominence. These players build on the legacy established by early pioneers like Anthony Baffoe, Ghanaian football legend and former Deputy General Secretary of the Confederation of African Football, who was the first diaspora-born footballer to play for Ghana’s national team, the Black Stars. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak to Baffoe about his journey to the heights of the sport, his work to improve Africa’s football infrastructure and his efforts to combat racism on the pitch.
06/28/22 • 18 min
Internet access is an essential part of modern life, necessary to communicate and access goods and services but also to exercise other fundamental rights from freedom of expression to political participation, health, and more. However, persistent divides in digital connectivity threaten the socio-economic development of many countries and regions. Africa is most adversely impacted: In 2021, only 33 percent of the population was using the internet, according to the International Telecommunication Union. That means an estimated 871 million people lack access. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak to Jane Munga, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to understand why -- and how -- policymakers, mobile operators and other stakeholders must collaborate to address the gap.
08/01/22 • 21 min
More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato told the story of the civilization of Atlantis, which sank into the sea after a barrage of fire and earthquake. Its treasures were lost in the deep forever. While this story is more myth than reality, it is a reminder of the realities of climate change—and what we stand to lose from inaction. Natural and cultural heritage sites have enormous cultural, ecological, social, and economic value, but climate change is increasingly putting them at risk, especially in Africa. Researcher Salma Sabour studies why the region’s precious wetlands, sanctuaries, and reservoirs are exposed to phenomena like rising sea levels and erosion and how we can take steps to better protect them. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak to Sabour about the challenges facing extraordinary landscapes that make up Africa’s 800+ natural heritage sites from the Serengeti to the Cliff of Bandiagara.
08/30/22 • 23 min
The conversation about Africa and its foreign partners is often boiled down to beneficiaries vs. donors. This black-and-white picture fails to capture the unique economic and political contexts that shape how African countries develop their foreign policy agendas. International policy circles often neglect this Africanist perspective because the region’s countries often lack adequate representation in the rooms where critical international political decisions are made–even in instances when the discussions held focus on the continent. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak to Hannah Ryder, CEO of Development Reimagined (DR) about why and how this dynamic is shifting as African governments join forces to grow their international influence.
09/28/22 • 24 min
Africa’s vast expanse is home to 54 countries, full of 1.2 billion people — and 1.2 billion stories. In the last few years, we’ve seen an expansion of interest and excitement as those stories cross borders. From traditional wedding ceremonies in Nigeria to a boat ride down the Zambezi, books have helped hundreds of millions of readers explore the continent at a time when travel remains long and expensive and visa requirements frustrate efforts at regional movement. Creatives—writers, filmmakers, playwrights and more—have used stories to bridge divides and bring faraway places closer. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak with Nancy Adimora, publishing industry veteran and founder of AFREADA, a literary platform that highlights stories across Africa, about why we need more stories and how we can enable more vivid tales from across the continent to be told.
11/01/22 • 23 min
Once a neglected area of health, the prevalence of mental health conditions is on the rise. In Africa, the issue is particularly acute: 85% of individuals have no access to effective treatment and there are only 1.4 mental health workers per 100,000 people, compared with a global average of 9.0 per 100,000. In the face of this scarcity, there must be innovation – and a recognition of the unique social contexts that shape both the origin and treatment of mental illness. In this episode of Afro-Catalyst, we speak to clinical psychologist Crick Lund, a professor at King’s College London and an expert on mental health in low-income countries. Lund breaks down sobering statistics about Africa’s mental crisis while highlighting creative interventions. We learn about everything from how grandmas are intervening to provide talk therapy in Zimbabwe to how clinics and healers in rural Nigeria and Ghana are partnering to refer patients to receive the care they need.
Simon Allison on the Future of African Media
Afro-Catalyst
02/26/21 • 29 min
Rapid changes in technology are fundamentally changing how media is consumed across the world. Nowhere is that more true than Africa. In 2010, only 10% of Africans used the internet regularly--a figure that has quadrupled over the last decade. The rise of the mobile-first generation has contributed to a growth in digital media, especially in the region's booming megacities. But is all access good access? The popularity of platforms like WhatsApp may mean that news spreads like wildfire, but with it often comes the proliferation of false and hateful content. In South Africa, journalist Simon Allison is reclaiming the platform for good through The Continent, Africa's first WhatsApp-based newspaper produced in partnership with preeminent paper The Mail & Guardian. By using the same viral networks exploited by disseminators of disinformation, The Continent aims to counter the fake news on people’s phones with real news. In this episode, he discusses how the publication is pioneering a platform by Africans for Africans and how journalists on the ground are navigating a changing industry amidst COVID-19.
Host:
Isaac Kwaku Fokuo, Jr., Founder and Principal, Botho Emerging Markets Group
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FAQ
How many episodes does Afro-Catalyst have?
Afro-Catalyst currently has 24 episodes available.
What topics does Afro-Catalyst cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts and Business.
What is the most popular episode on Afro-Catalyst?
The episode title 'Adebayo Oke-Lawal on redefining masculinity through fashion' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Afro-Catalyst?
The average episode length on Afro-Catalyst is 25 minutes.
How often are episodes of Afro-Catalyst released?
Episodes of Afro-Catalyst are typically released every 34 days, 1 hour.
When was the first episode of Afro-Catalyst?
The first episode of Afro-Catalyst was released on Aug 25, 2020.
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