Dear Diaspora

Thanks for tuning in to episode 22—doing something a little different this episode and reviewing a phenomenal book: Africa’s Business Revolution: How to Succeed in the World’s Next Big Growth Market. So happy I finally got my hands on this book over the holidays. As soon as I started reading it, I immediately knew that it would be worth sharing with you all. If you have an interest in doing business in Africa—this book was created for you.

Africa’s Business Revolution is co-authored by Acha Leke, Mutsa Chironga and Georges Desvaux. Acha Leke is chairman of McKinsey & Company’s Africa practice and leads the firm’s expansion across Africa. If you don’t know about McKinsey and Company, they are the world’s largest consulting firms in the world. They consult organizations across the private, public and social sectors in 65 countries.

Mutsa Chironga is an executive at Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banking groups. He was previously a partner at McKinsey and Company, where he served banks in a dozen African countries, mostly capturing growth opportunities.

Georges Desvau is a senior partner at McKinsey and Company and a former managing partner of its African and Japanese offices. He helped build the firm’s consumer insights and analytics capabilities.

The goal of this bookis to essentially provide an overview of what it takes to succeed in Africa; it was written really for global business executives looking to expand their operations in Africa and for those that are seeking a roadmap to access the continent. During the episode, I share more about the 5 big growth trends underway across the continent:

1. Young, fast growing urban population with a lot of unmet demands.
2. Africa’s coming industrial revolution.
3. Africa’s Infrastructure Gap and the big push to close it
4. Africa’s Untapped Resource wealth and new innovations to unleash it.
5. The rapid adoption of digital and mobile – and the leapfrog opportunity.

Tune in for a breakdown of each of these trends and how they are shaping Africa’s business growth and development.

Get the book here: https://amzn.to/37r4rLK

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For today's episode, we catch up with Iveoma Okparaeke, founder of It's Iveoma, a platform created for anyone interested in moving to a country in Africa. She officially moved to Lagos, Nigeria in December 2019 and has not looked back!

During the episode, Iveoma speaks pretty candidly about her experiences so far in Lagos. Tune in to hear:

• Why she decided to move back to Nigeria and what she realized when she made the move
• How she prepared and saved for her move
• Why you NEED an SUV to survive in Nigeria
• How she’s navigating dating as a returnee
• How much you need to make monthly live comfortably in Lagos
• Her advice to millennials in the Diaspora thinking about returning to their home countries

Resources:

Learn more about Iveoma: https://www.youtube.com/c/ItsIveoma/videos

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Thanks for tuning in to episode 32, Dear Diaspora fam! For today’s episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Isaac Sesi, founder of Sesi Technologies.

Isaac Sesi is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, engineer, and the founder of Sesi Technologies, a Ghanaian company that solves agricultural and food challenges. He is known for his development of GrainMate, a moisture meter that allows famers and grain purchasers to affordably measure moisture levels of maize, rice, and other staples to help reduce post-harvest losses.

He's also a founder of Nsesa Foundation, an organization inspiring young Africans to be innovative and equip them with skills to make impact wherever they go using Science and Technology.

During the episode, Isaac shares:

• His experience growing up in Ghana and his early interest in solving problems through technology
• Building Grain Mate and making it more accessible via innovative payment methods
• Working with Ghanaian subcontractors to make the components for Grain Mate
• How he funded his company by winning various pitch competitions
• How he’s teaching young people how to code on their mobile phones via The Nsesa Foundation
• Practical ways to support African entrepreneurs

Tune in to hear more!

“We’re going to see amazing things coming from young people on this continent—and I don’t want to be left out. That’s why I’ve taken a step in helping shape Africa’s future.” - Isaac Sesi

Sesi Technologies:https://sesitechnologies.com/about-us/

Get in touch with Isaac: [email protected]

Nsesa Foundation:https://nsesafoundation.org

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In this episode of Dear Diaspora, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andile Masuku, co-founder of African Tech Roundup. African Tech Roundup is a Johannesburg-based media and insights organization which tracks the progress of Africa’s emerging digital, tech and innovation industries.

African Tech Roundup produces podcasts, syndicated op-eds, omnichannel media projects, live events, and in-depth fringe insights coverage of leading conferences. I’ve been listening to African Tech Roundup for a couple of years now, so I was honored to have a conversation with Andile.

In addition to African Tech Roundup, Andile presents storytelling podcasts for the BBC World Service, develops and executes content strategy and tactical media plays for leading companies. His op-eds also offer readers around the world accessible African perspectives on the continent’s digital transformation journey.

During the episode, we discuss what sparked his interest in technology, his thoughts on the Mara Group (they’re behind the first cellphone to be completely manufactured in Africa), as well as what he thinks about China’s presence on the continent.

If you’re interested in tech on the continent—you don’t want to miss this interview!

Tune in for more of our conversation wherever you listen to podcasts.

“Get your savings up and put yourself in a position where you can at least spend 3 months minimum immersed in the everyday life of the places you think you’re going to impact.” - Andile Masuku

Resources mentioned in this episode:

African Tech Roundup Episode about Facebook’s Libra and if its good for Africa: https://www.africantechroundup.com/facebook-libra/

The Mara Group’s Phone Factories in Durban and Kigali: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2019/10/31/africas-mara-group-launches-phone-factories-in-durban-kigali/#488e0a91230b

Jumia: https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/10/africa-e-tailer-jumias-shares-fall-4-day-after-ipo-lockup-expiration/

More on China’s Presence in Africa: https://chinaafricaproject.com/cap-network-members/andile-masuku/

African Tech Roundup Twitter: https://twitter.com/africanroundup

This is Dear Diaspora’s 50th episode! The podcast launched September 2019 and since then, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing amazing guests from all over the world. To celebrate this milestone, I’m taking some time to reflect on a few things:

• The Biden-Harris win and what I’m hoping to see these next four years
• The biggest takeaways from past interviews and what they’ve taught me about Africa, the Diaspora and what role we actually play in contributing to Africa’s growth and development
• The 3 biggest lessons I’ve learned this past year
  • Consistency is key
  • You don’t need to ask for permission to follow your dreams
  • There are no failures in life, only lessons to be learned

Thanks for tuning in!

Resources mentioned:

• Use discount code “DearDiaspora” to join me and Certified Africa in Ghana this December: https://deardiasporashow.com/ghana2020/
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• Become a patron and support the show: patreon.com/deardiaspora
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