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Episode 243 with Dalumuzi Mhlanga, Founder and CEO of Notto, an alternative credit bureau building the infrastructure to help financial institutions assess creditworthiness and expand responsible lending across Africa. Dalumuzi has more than a decade of experience spanning telecommunications, technology and international development, working at the intersection of data, systems and economic opportunity. He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MSc and MBA from the University of Oxford. Through Notto, he is helping lenders understand financial behaviour that conventional credit records often overlook, including rent, utility payments and mobile money activity. Operating across South Africa and Zimbabwe, Notto has analysed more than one billion transaction records to support more informed lending decisions. In this episode, Dalumuzi examine why access to credit remains restricted even when banks have money available to lend, and what happens when economically active people and businesses remain invisible to conventional credit systems. He explains why adopting alternative data is increasingly an implementation challenge, examining what banks need to change across risk management, compliance and decision making to turn better information into meaningful access to finance. Are African banks rejecting risky borrowers, or borrowers they simply do not understand?Could paying your rent and electricity bills reveal more about your creditworthiness than a conventional credit score?If banks have money to lend, why is better financial data still failing to unlock credit?Will alternative credit scoring open doors for excluded borrowers, or create new ways to shut them out?How many viable African businesses never get the chance to grow because lenders cannot see their economic potential?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Moove, Flutterwave and LemFi: Inside Silverbacks Holdings Investment Strategy? Make sure to check it out! Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 242 with Nana Afoah Appiah Korang, Chief Investment Officer and Executive Board Director at Silverbacks Holdings, an alternative investment firm backing high growth companies across technology, sport, entertainment, fashion and the wider creative economy in Africa. Nana is an experienced private equity investor, entrepreneur and board director with expertise spanning deal origination, investment execution, portfolio management, fundraising and exits. She began her investment career at Goldman Sachs before joining Emerging Capital Partners, one of Africa’s largest private equity firms, where she served as a Director and senior investment professional. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Amayi Foods Limited, a women led food systems company focused on advancing food sovereignty in Africa. Silverbacks Holdings has built exposure to more than 240 companies with a combined valuation exceeding 10 billion dollars. More than 75% of its exposure is concentrated within fewer than two dozen core investments, including Moove, Flutterwave, Wave, LemFi, OmniRetail and Sabi, alongside businesses across African sport, film, media and fashion. Since its establishment in 2019, Silverbacks has completed ten profitable exits, including returns of nearly 30 times from LemFi, more than 24 times from Flutterwave and five times from OmniRetail. In this episode, Nana draws on her experience as both an investor and entrepreneur to explain how investment decisions are made in complex and rapidly evolving African markets. She explores the realities of building a concentrated portfolio, supporting companies through different stages of growth and creating opportunities for investors to realise returns. The conversation also examines Silverbacks’ approach to sectors that have traditionally struggled to attract institutional capital and its continued backing of Moove, including participation in the company’s recent 250 million dollar Series C round. Nana reflects on the lessons Silverbacks has drawn from its portfolio and what they reveal about the next generation of African businesses. What We Discuss With Nana Is Africa genuinely facing an exit problem, or are investors applying the wrong expectations and time horizons?At what point does strong investment conviction become dangerous overexposure?Why is earning hard currency becoming increasingly important for African companies seeking to survive currency volatility and expand internationally?What did Silverbacks recognise in companies such as LemFi, Flutterwave, OmniRetail and Moove before their value became widely recognised?Can Africa’s sport, entertainment, fashion and creative industries generate the scale and investment returns traditionally associated with technology companies?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss What Does It Take to Turn Africa’s Perishable Harvests Into Global Products? Make sure to check it out! Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 241 with Funmilayo Ishola, Founder of Dehydrator Hub Agrifood Technology Limited, a Nigerian agrifood company tackling post harvest loss by transforming perishable produce into higher value, shelf stable ingredients. Using hybrid solar powered dehydration and a Processing as a Service model, Dehydrator Hub gives farmers and women led agribusinesses access to processing infrastructure without requiring them to invest in expensive equipment. The company also provides training, regulatory compliance support and market access to help entrepreneurs build commercially sustainable food businesses. Dehydrator Hub has rescued 65 tonnes of food from post harvest loss, helped participating farmers increase their incomes by 25 per cent and trained more than 2,500 women in food processing and entrepreneurship. Funmilayo is also a recipient of the 2026 Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award, which supports women led enterprises developing scalable solutions in health and food security. In this episode, Funmilayo shares the experiences that led her to establish Dehydrator Hub and explains what she has learnt from building the business within Nigeria’s agricultural value chain. She discusses the practical realities of turning perishable crops into commercially viable ingredients, matching processing capacity with market demand and preparing the company for its next phase of growth. What We Discuss With Funmilayo Why increasing agricultural production will not solve Africa’s food security challenge without investment in processing infrastructure.Who captures the value when agricultural produce is processed, and how can more of that income reach farmers?Can Processing as a Service remove the financial barriers preventing women led agribusinesses from entering food manufacturing?Why processing food does not automatically create value unless businesses can meet regulatory standards and secure reliable buyers.Could decentralised processing hubs become the missing infrastructure connecting Nigeria’s farmers to food manufacturers and export markets?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss From Ethiopia to Africa: Building a Digital Healthcare Platform for over 500,000 Patients? Make sure to check it out! Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 240 with Beamlak Alemayehu, Founder and CEO of Medanit Digital Health, Ethiopia’s first integrated, multi channel digital healthcare access system connecting patients with doctors, medication and mental health services through a mobile application, website and low bandwidth call centre. Beamlak is a clinical nurse and social worker whose experience of long waiting times, misinformation, medicine shortages and fragmented healthcare services inspired her to build a more accessible and patient centred alternative. Medanit has registered more than 50,000 users across Ethiopia, delivered over 58,000 medications and facilitated more than 78,000 consultations and healthcare support interactions. Beamlak is also one of the 2026 recipients of the Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award, which supports women led businesses developing solutions in health and food security. In this episode, Beamlak shares her journey from working directly with patients to building one of Ethiopia’s emerging digital healthcare companies. Drawing on her clinical experience and the lessons learned from growing Medanit, she explores what it takes to use technology to redesign the patient journey and build a healthcare business within a complex and underserved market. What We Discuss With Beamlak Why building more hospitals and training more doctors may not solve Africa’s healthcare access crisis if patients still cannot navigate fragmented services.Can digital healthcare remain affordable for low income patients while generating enough revenue to build a commercially sustainable company?Could patient data help Africa predict demand, reduce medicine shortages and strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains?What does it take to earn trust, protect patient data and maintain clinical quality while delivering healthcare through technology?Can Medanit transform a locally adapted Ethiopian platform into a scalable African business serving 500,000 people?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Millions of Streams, Little Ownership: Is Nigeria Building a Music Industry or Just Exporting Talent? Make sure to check it out! Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 239 with Shola Bamidele, Founder and CEO of Loom Rooms, a creative ecosystem helping African artists develop their craft, strengthen their identities and build sustainable businesses around their work. Based in Egbeda, Alimosho, outside Lagos’s traditional creative hubs, Loom Rooms was established to address one of the biggest weaknesses within Nigeria’s entertainment economy: the lack of structure surrounding creative talent. Through creative spaces, development pathways and a collaborative community, the company connects artists with producers, engineers, designers and other professionals while helping them understand contracts, protect their intellectual property and develop lasting careers. In this episode, Shola explains why Nigeria continues to produce globally successful artists without building enough sustainable creative businesses around them. He explores why millions of streams and international recognition do not always translate into meaningful income or ownership, how poor contracts and weak intellectual property protection prevent creators from retaining value, and why Nigeria’s financial system still struggles to invest in creative businesses. What We Discuss With Shola Why does Nigeria produce globally successful artists but so few sustainable creative businesses?Why do millions of streams and international visibility not necessarily translate into meaningful income or ownership?Is the global success of Afrobeats creating a generation of visible artists without creating a generation of owners?Why does an industry projected to exceed one billion dollars still struggle to attract bank credit and patient investment?Is Nigeria building a genuine creative industry or simply exporting talent whose long term value is captured elsewhere?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why The Good Roll Is Betting on Ghanaian Bamboo to Disrupt the $350 Billion Paper Industry? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Shola: Instagram - Loom Rooms Website -  https://www.loomroomsmusic.com/ Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 238 with Sander de Klerk, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Good Roll, a sustainable paper company building an integrated bamboo value chain between Ghana and global paper markets. The Good Roll began as a European consumer brand selling sustainable toilet paper and using part of its revenue to improve access to sanitation. It has since evolved into a much broader industrial business, processing Ghanaian bamboo into pulp for the global paper industry, tissue products for its consumer brand, and, from 2027, biochar and carbon credits produced from bamboo waste. The company generated more than €5.5 million in revenue in 2025 and has secured a $50 million long term pulp offtake agreement. Its production facility in Akosombo employs more than 86 people, while over 3,000 farmers are ready to supply bamboo. By 2030, The Good Roll aims to operate seven production lines, work with 15,000 farmers and generate more than €175 million in annual group turnover. In this episode, Sander discusses the company’s €5.2 million investment raise, and explains why The Good Roll is moving beyond sustainable toilet paper to challenge the structure of the global paper industry. He explores the economics of processing bamboo close to where it grows, what it takes to make Ghanaian pulp competitive in international markets, and why controlling the value chain could allow more income and industrial value to remain in Ghana. What We Discuss With Sander Why The Good Roll is inviting members of the public to become shareholders through its €5.2 million investment raise.Why The Good Roll is betting that Ghanaian bamboo can disrupt a $350 billion global paper industry.Can bamboo pulp produced in Ghana genuinely compete with the world’s established suppliers?Why does Africa continue exporting raw materials while surrendering most of their economic value?Does a $50 million offtake agreement prove demand, or simply introduce a much bigger execution risk?Can The Good Roll reach €175 million in annual turnover without sacrificing the social and environmental mission that made it distinctive?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why Do So Many African Businesses Die With Their Founders? Succession, Stewardship and Legacy? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Sander: LinkedIn - Sander de Klerk and The Good Roll | B Corp Website -  https://thegoodroll.nl How to get priority investment access to The Good Roll - Get priority access Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 237 with Lydie Murorunkwere, Founder and Managing Director of ML Corporate Services Ltd, Rwanda’s first locally owned licensed Trust and Company Service Provider, and Chairperson of the Rwanda Trust Companies Association. Over the past two decades, Lydie has worked with entrepreneurs, investors, family businesses and institutions across Africa, helping them establish governance, ownership and succession structures designed not only to support growth, but to endure. Her work challenges the idea that succession is simply a legal or technical process. Instead, she argues that it is fundamentally a human issue shaped by fear, family relationships, culture, responsibility and the willingness of founders to prepare others to lead. In this episode, Lydie explains why many successful African businesses remain dangerously dependent on the individuals who created them, and what founders must do to build institutions capable of surviving beyond their leadership. What We Discuss With Lydie Why making yourself indispensable could become one of the greatest threats to the future of your business.How Africa’s dependence on founder led companies is limiting investment, growth and economic continuity.Why inheriting a family business does not necessarily mean the next generation is equipped to lead it.How poor succession planning causes African businesses and family wealth to disappear across generations.Why governance can help African businesses attract investment, manage growth and survive beyond their founders.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss What Happens When Rural African Women Gain Access to Mentorship, Education and Economic Opportunity? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Lydie LinkedIn - Lydie Murorunkwere and ML Corporate Services Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 236 with Linda Latsko Lockhart, Founder and CEO of Global Give Back Circle, an organisation focused on expanding education, financial inclusion and pathways to dignified work for women and girls across Africa. Since 2006, Global Give Back Circle has supported more than 6,000 girls through tertiary education, engaged more than 4,000 mentors and built programmes across Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana. At the centre of its economic empowerment work is HER Lab, a model designed around the realities facing young women in rural communities. Rather than treating education as the end goal, HER Lab connects vocational skills, mentorship and personal development with employment, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion and access to markets. It also works with families and community leaders to address the social expectations that can prevent women from participating fully in economic life. Through its Economic Empowerment 4 HER partnership with Mastercard Foundation, Global Give Back Circle is now scaling the model across rural Kenya, with the ambition of reaching 3,000 young women directly by 2028. In this episode, Linda explains why women's economic empowerment requires much more than simply providing education or vocational training. She explores what Global Give Back Circle has learned from two decades of working with women and girls, why entrepreneurship has become such an important pathway for rural women, and how access to finance, markets and supportive communities determines whether skills actually translate into income. What We Discuss With Linda Is Africa underestimating the economic cost of keeping millions of women out of work, entrepreneurship and financial systems?Why 76 percent of the HER Lab boarding graduates surveyed became entrepreneurs, and what that reveals about the shortage of formal employment opportunities in rural Africa.Why teaching someone to start a business is not enough, and why access to real customers and commercially viable value chains matters more.What happened when attitudes towards women working in construction shifted from just 19 percent to 94 percent in the surrounding community.Could artificial intelligence widen the economic divide facing rural African women, or give them an opportunity to leapfrog it?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why Isn't Africa Turning Its Science Into Billion Dollar Companies? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Linda LinkedIn - Linda Lockhart and Global Give Back Circle Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 235 with Houda Ghozzi, Founder and CEO of Open Startup, a pan African organisation focused on connecting African innovation with global opportunity through investment readiness, deep tech commercialisation, cross border partnerships and ecosystem development. Over the past decade, Open Startup has supported thousands of founders and startups across more than 20 African countries. Its latest focus is The Science Road, an initiative designed to help deep tech and research led ventures make the difficult journey from scientific and technical development to market readiness, investment and global scale. This comes at a critical moment for the continent. Africa has more than 300 active deep tech startups that have collectively raised around 3 billion dollars over the past decade, yet the ecosystem remains fragmented, funding gaps persist and universities often struggle to connect research with industry and commercial opportunities. In this episode, Houda explains why Africa's deep tech challenge is not simply about producing more research, but turning scientific breakthroughs into commercially viable companies. What We Discuss With Houda Africa has the scientists and the research, so why isn't it producing more globally competitive deep tech companies?Why does so much promising intellectual property remain inside African universities instead of becoming products, companies and industries?Why might the venture capital model that built Africa's software startups not work for the continent's next generation of deep tech companies?Can Africa build globally significant deep tech companies while keeping intellectual property, talent and economic value on the continent?Could deep tech move Africa from adopting technologies developed elsewhere to owning the scientific innovation that powers the industries of the future?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Can Africa Build a Sustainable Fashion Value Chain From Raw Material to Retail? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Houda LinkedIn - Houda Ghozzi, PhD and Open Startup Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 234 with Madelaine Fourie, General Brand Manager at Sappi Verve, a business operating at the intersection of forestry, sustainable materials and global fashion value chains. Sappi Verve produces dissolving wood pulp from woodfibre, an essential raw material used to manufacture fibres such as viscose and lyocell that ultimately become the fabrics found in everyday clothing. From its forestry and manufacturing base in South Africa, Sappi forms part of a global textile supply chain that connects African natural resources with fashion markets around the world. In this episode, Madelaine explains the hidden journey behind many of the clothes we wear and why the fashion supply chain often begins in a forest plantation rather than a factory or retail store. She explores how wood grown in South Africa is transformed into dissolving wood pulp before being exported, converted into fibre, spun into yarn and eventually manufactured into clothing. The conversation examines whether Africa can capture more value from this process by developing stronger local and regional manufacturing capabilities rather than remaining primarily at the beginning of global value chains. Madelaine also explores how rising expectations around sustainability, traceability and transparency are reshaping the global fashion industry. As consumers and regulators demand greater evidence about where materials originate and how products are manufactured, she explains why traceability is becoming increasingly important and how developments such as digital product passports could create new expectations for businesses throughout the supply chain. What We Discuss With Madelaine Could the clothes in your wardrobe actually begin their journey in an African forest?Why does Africa supply materials to global fashion brands while capturing only a fraction of the value created from them?Could Africa build a fashion value chain that takes products from forest plantations all the way to finished clothing?Is sustainable fashion an overlooked industrialisation opportunity for Africa?What would it take for Africa to turn its natural resources into more factories, higher value exports and better jobs?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss How Cascador Is Helping Africa's Growth Stage Businesses Navigate the "Messy Middle"? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Madelaine LinkedIn - Madelaine Fourie and Sappi Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 231 with Amanda Etuk, Program Director at Cascador, an Africa focused platform supporting growth stage entrepreneurs with the leadership, networks, strategic partnerships and catalytic capital needed to build resilient, high impact businesses. Amanda works at the intersection of strategy and execution, helping founders navigate one of the most overlooked stages of African entrepreneurship. With experience spanning scaling startups, managing complex multimillion pound operations and building ecosystem partnerships, she is focused on equipping entrepreneurs with the tools they need to grow sustainable businesses that create jobs and strengthen Africa's economy. Through Cascador, she works closely with founders who have moved beyond the startup phase but need the right support to successfully scale their businesses. In this episode, Amanda explains why Africa's biggest entrepreneurial opportunity lies not in creating more startups, but in helping existing African businesses successfully navigate the "messy middle". She explores why growth stage founders are often overlooked despite their importance to job creation and economic development, why leadership and strong networks matter just as much as access to finance, and why Africa needs new models of support that extend beyond traditional venture capital to build resilient, globally competitive businesses and strengthen the real economy. What We Discuss With Amanda Why the "messy middle" is one of the biggest and most overlooked opportunities in Africa's entrepreneurial ecosystem.Why growth stage businesses are critical to creating jobs and driving long term economic growth across Africa.Why leadership development, mentorship and strong peer networks can be just as valuable as raising capital.Why Africa needs financing and support models that go beyond venture capital to better serve the real economy.What founders, investors, policymakers and ecosystem builders need to do differently to help more African businesses scale into resilient, globally competitive companies.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why Africa's Music Industry Isn't Getting Paid What It's Owed? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Amanda LinkedIn - Amanda Etuk and Cascador Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 232 with Shain Shapiro, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Music Ecosystems and one of the world's leading experts on music, public policy, and economic development. Through his work advising more than 130 cities and governments worldwide, Shain has helped reposition music from being viewed simply as entertainment to being recognised as a driver of investment, job creation, and long term economic growth. He is also one of the architects behind the Music Economy Development Initiative (MEDI), a global partnership that has launched the first ever platform to map the music economies of all 55 African countries. In this episode, Shain explains why Africa's music industry represents one of the continent's most overlooked economic opportunities. Despite African music reaching audiences around the world through genres such as Afrobeats and Amapiano, Africa captures only a tiny share of the music royalties, copyright revenues, and wider economic value its creators generate. Drawing on landmark research from the Music Economy Development Initiative, he explains why nearly 286 million US dollars in recorded music revenue remains uncollected in Nigeria and Kenya alone, and how stronger copyright systems, improved intellectual property protections, better rights management, and greater investment could unlock billions of dollars for African creators and the wider economy. We discuss why governments should begin treating music as economic infrastructure rather than simply culture, how better data can transform policymaking and attract investment, the role of development finance institutions in strengthening Africa's creative industries, and why countries such as Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire are emerging as important case studies for music ecosystem development. What We Discuss With Shain Why Africa dominates global music culture but captures so little of its economic value.The hidden copyright, royalty, and policy infrastructure every successful music industry needs.Why nearly 286 million US dollars in music revenue goes uncollected in Nigeria and Kenya.Can Africa's music industry become one of the continent's next major economic growth sectors?How better policy, investment, and copyright systems could transform Africa's creative economy.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Investing $100 Million to Create Africa's Next Million Jobs: Why Manufacturing Beats Tech? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Shain LinkedIn - Shain Shapiro PhD and Global Citizen Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 231 with Daniel Yu, Founder of Africa Jobs Fund, a philanthropic venture builder focused on creating high productivity jobs across Sub Saharan Africa through export manufacturing and international labour mobility. Daniel is best known as the founder and former CEO of Wasoko, one of Africa's leading commerce and supply chain technology companies. After spending more than a decade building logistics infrastructure across multiple African markets, he has shifted his focus towards what he believes is the continent's biggest economic challenge: creating productive jobs at scale. Through the Africa Jobs Fund, he aims to mobilise 100 million dollars over the next five years to back commercially viable businesses and workforce infrastructure that connect African talent and industry to global demand. In this episode, Daniel explains why he believes Africa's next phase of economic growth will depend on creating millions of higher productivity jobs rather than simply building more technology companies. Drawing on lessons from East and South East Asia, he explores how export manufacturing and international labour mobility have consistently driven industrialisation, income growth, and poverty reduction, and why Africa is now uniquely positioned to compete in global manufacturing and workforce supply chains. What We Discuss With Daniel Why Daniel believes Africa has spent too long chasing tech startups instead of building the industries that create millions of jobs.The uncomfortable truth about why consumer technology alone will not solve Africa's employment crisis.Is Africa on the verge of becoming the world's next manufacturing and workforce powerhouse?Why export manufacturing and international labour mobility have lifted more people out of poverty than almost any other economic strategy.How the Africa Jobs Fund plans to back the businesses that could fundamentally reshape Africa's labour market.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Can Financing Unlock Africa's EV Revolution Faster Than Technology? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Daniel LinkedIn - Daniel Yu and Africa Jobs Fund Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 230 with Soledad Sanchez Canamares, Family Friendly Workplace Policy Specialist at UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa, where she works with businesses, governments, and development partners to advance workplace policies that improve employee wellbeing, talent retention, workforce productivity, and long term business performance. As organisations across Africa and around the world face growing talent shortages, rising employee turnover, and changing workforce expectations, family friendly workplace policies are increasingly being recognised as a competitive advantage rather than simply an employee benefit. In this episode, Soledad explains why policies such as paid parental leave, childcare support, flexible working arrangements, and breastfeeding accommodations are becoming critical tools for attracting and retaining talent, improving workforce participation, and strengthening organisational resilience. Drawing on global evidence, business case studies, and UNICEF's Family Friendly Policies Toolkit, Soledad explores the relationship between workforce wellbeing and business performance. She discusses how employers can improve employee retention, productivity, engagement, and gender equality while building stronger and more resilient organisations. The conversation also examines the economic impact of care responsibilities, the role of workplace flexibility in the future of work, and why supporting working parents is increasingly being viewed as a business growth strategy. The discussion focuses on the African context, where informality remains high and many businesses operate with limited resources. What We Discuss With Soleded Why businesses may be losing money by failing to invest in family friendly workplace policies.Whether Africa is leaving billions in economic growth untapped because workplaces are not designed around how people actually live and care for their families.The hidden link between talent shortages, employee turnover, and the lack of support for working parents and caregivers.What family friendly workplace policies look like in Africa's informal economy, SMEs, and labour intensive industries where traditional models often fall short.Why investors, multinational companies, and global supply chains are increasingly treating family friendly policies as a competitiveness and business resilience issue.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss The Grandmothers Helping Solve Africa's Mental Health Crisis? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Soledad LinkedIn - Soledad Sánchez-Cañamares Ríos Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]

Episode 229 with Esther Tumbare, Chief Executive Officer of Friendship Bench, a pioneering Zimbabwean organisation transforming access to mental healthcare through community based solutions that have reached hundreds of thousands of people and expanded across multiple countries. Esther leads Friendship Bench's efforts to scale one of Africa's most recognised healthcare innovations while working closely with governments, public health systems, and community health workers to make mental healthcare more accessible, affordable, and sustainable. In this episode, she shares how Friendship Bench is helping address Africa's mental health crisis by reimagining the delivery of mental healthcare in underserved communities. Drawing on Friendship Bench's experience integrating evidence based mental health services into primary healthcare systems, Esther explains how the organisation has built a scalable model that combines local trust, rigorous research, and community led support to bridge the mental health treatment gap. She discusses the economic impact of depression and anxiety, the relationship between mental health and productivity, and why investing in mental healthcare should be viewed as both a public health priority and an economic development opportunity. What We Discuss With Esther Why Africa cannot unlock its economic potential without addressing mental health.How a grandmother on a wooden bench is helping solve one of healthcare's biggest workforce challenges.The hidden cost of untreated mental health on productivity, employment, and economic growth.Why government adoption, not donor funding, is the key to scaling social impact.What African innovators can learn from Friendship Bench's journey from local solution to global model.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Can Financing Unlock Africa's EV Revolution Faster Than Technology? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Esther LinkedIn - Esther Tumbare and Friendship Bench Zimbabwe Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: www.etkgroup.co.uk [email protected]