In a landscape where African tech startups often chase buzzwords and quick wins, some founders are taking a more fundamental approach to innovation. This episode explores how one Zimbabwean entrepreneur is building sustainable tech ventures by focusing on first principles.Episode overview:In this deeply candid conversation, Andile Masuku sits down …

In a rapidly evolving financial services landscape, traditional African insurers are racing to modernise their operations and product offerings to meet changing consumer needs. This episode explores how one of East Africa's largest insurance providers is navigating this transformation.Episode overview:In this first instalment of a special two-part …

In October 2022, Safaricom launched its telecommunications services in Ethiopia, marking a major milestone as the first private operator to enter the Ethiopian telecom market. This move broke the long-standing monopoly of state-owned Ethio Telecom and was seen by many as a significant step towards liberalising the country’s telecom sector. The comp…

In the third and final episode of the Future in the Humanities podcast mini-series, titled "The Gig Economy's Hidden Costs", Wits social scientist and researcher Fikile Masikane guides an exploration of the complex realities facing gig workers in the Global South, particularly food courier riders in Africa.Featuring insights from a study conducted …

In this episode, Wits University media researchers Samuel Olaniran and Iginio Gagliardone guide an audio tour into the complex world of conspiracy theories in the era of social media and global crises.Drawing from multiple research findings and expert dialogues, Andile Masuku (host) grapples with the complex function of conspiracy theories in our s…

In the opening episode of the Future in the Humanities podcast mini-series, titled "Touching Brains", Wits University research collaborators Sahba Besharati and Victoria Williams let us in on their multidisciplinary exploration of the complex impact of COVID-19 on human interaction and touch. Featuring insights from various studies and discussions …

In this special edition of the African Tech Roundup podcast, taped at the fringes of the inaugural Africa Digital Transformation Strategy Summit (convened by NOVACOM Summits), Refiloe Mpakanyane investigates the state of digital transformation in Africa through conversation with four seasoned corporate C-suite executives spearheading corporate inno…

In this African Tech Conversations episode, guest host Kate Bryne chats with avid AI proponents Jania Okwechime (Partner at Deloitte - West Africa Data Analytics Leader) and Wessel Oosthuizen (AI Lead - Deloitte Analytics). Listen in for deep insights about the pros and pitfalls of AI and to grasp the profound potential impact AI might have on the …

In this UNAJUA episode, Kate Byrne parses through majorly-hyped trends like "play-to-earn" to pinpoint the true potential of the extraordinary new level of connectivity and engagement enabled by applied Web3 technologies.This podcast is the third and final instalment of the three-part UNAJUA Series focused on distilling a handful of global Web3 buz…

In this UNAJUA episode, Kate Byrne gauges the ongoing fallout of the current global meltdown in crypto markets and speaks on the current international tenor in crypto adoption.This is the second instalment of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on distilling a handful of global Web3 buzz trends like crypto, NFTs, the metaverse and even AI— reflectin…

This is the first episode of a UNAJUA Series focused on distilling a handful of global Web3 buzz trends like crypto, NFTs, the metaverse and even AI— reflecting how they are unfolding within an African context. Offering minimum viable insight in this series is the inimitable Kate Byrne.Kate has served as a C-Suite executive leader at blue chip bran…

This is the final episode of the three-part UNAJUA Series focused on what sets blockchains apart. Seasoned Kenyan blockchain developer and Web3 enthusiast Jordan Muthemba is on strike for this series.In this podcast, Jordan Muthemba explains how blockchain (network) users vote and elect delegates to validate the next block using a concept called De…

This is Part 2 of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on what sets blockchains apart from each other. Seasoned Kenyan blockchain developer and Web3 enthusiast Jordan Muthemba shares insights on this series.Jordan is a full-stack developer with over five years of experience in Kenya's buzzy IT scene. He is currently serving as a smart contract develo…

This is Part 1 of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on what distinguishes different types of blockchains from each other. Seasoned Kenyan blockchain developer and Web 3 venture builder Jordan Muthemba shares insights on this series.Jordan is a full-stack developer with over five years experience in Kenya's buzzy IT scene. He is currently serving a…

This special piece of podcast storytelling offers a compelling glimpse into the heart and mind of one of Africa's most gifted multi-hyphenate technological innovators, Babusi Nyoni. Babusi is a Zimbabwean creative technologist, social entrepreneur and gqom producer with an extraordinary personal story. He is a self-taught tech pro whose project cre…

Standing in for Musa Kalenga on this African Tech Conversations instalment is Andile Masuku, whose day job is serving as Head of Community at Founders Factory Africa (FFA). Andile extends a recent lunch break exchange he had with his FFA colleagues Hope Ditlhakanyane (Head of Venture Sourcing) and Nzwisisa Chidembo (Head of Engineering) at the offi…

This is the final episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on the Blockchain Africa investment opportunity, featuring venture capitalist Hope Ditlhakanyane and venture builder Nzwisisa Chidembo. In their respective roles at hybrid investor, venture builder and accelerator company, Founders Factory Africa (FFA), Hope and Nzwi have recently coll…

This is the second episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series focused on the Blockchain Africa investment opportunity, featuring the passionate South African venture capitalist Hope Ditlhakanyane and seasoned Zimbabwean venture builder Nzwisisa Chidembo.In their respective roles at hybrid investor, venture builder and accelerator company, Founders Facto…

This is the first episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series dealing with investing in African blockchain tech. And we're stoked because it's the first to feature two voices.The first voice you'll hear is that of Hope Ditlhakanyane. Hope is a venture capital pro helping African tech founders land the resources and support they need to build and scale th…

This throwback bonus episode features a chat with Ray Youssef taped in 2019. Ray is Co-founder and CEO of Paxful, a US-headquartered peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace he dubbed at the time the "Uber for money" with a mission to “make the poor rich”. (A rambunctious ambition, to be sure.)That year, Ray was one of the speakers at the Blockchain Africa…

This African Tech Conversations episode features Sonya Kuhnel. In 2014, Sonya co-founded Bitcoin Events, a company that hosts some of South Africa's leading cryptocurrency and blockchain events - not least, the annual Blockchain Africa Conference. Sonya is also the Co-founder at Xago, a startup offering an XRP cryptocurrency exchange, gateway and p…

Thinking about starting or joining a DAO? In the last of a three-part share focusing on how DAOs work, Nigerian creator, scientist and knowledge worker Justin Irabor offers a handy take about whether or not you should.OP-ED: How African Digital Currency Innovation Found Roots in a Village by Michael Kimani for Kenyan Wallstreet (kenyanwallstreet.co…

Self-taught software developer and serial digital product creator Emmanuel Babalola is Director for Africa at the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance. Emmanuel is also the interim CEO of a social payments app for cash and crypto called Bundle. In this conversation with Musa Kalenga, Emmanuel shares a little bit about his personal Web3 journey …

This is the second of a three-part share explaining how DAOs work. In this episode, Nigerian creator, scientist and knowledge worker Justin Irabor offers pointers on setting up a DAO.OP-ED: How African Digital Currency Innovation Found Roots in a Village by Michael Kimani for Kenyan Wallstreet (kenyanwallstreet.com/sarafu-communi…al-currencies/)EDI…

This is the first episode of a three-part UNAJUA series that explains how Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) work.Nigerian creator, scientist, and knowledge worker Justin Irabor presents the series. ‌‌On this podcast, Justin tackles the question, Why DAO? by offering reasons why anyone intent on building valuable things on the Web would …

In this instalment of African Tech Conversations, Michael Kimani talks Musa Kalenga through his somewhat unlikely personal blockchain journey—a story that begins with a laptop, $600 and repurposed writing skills and leads to the birth of the Blockchain Association of Kenya.Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur ba…

This is the second episode of the African Creative Business, Today (ACBT) capsule mini-series, which explores in-trench personal and professional realities at the intersection of creativity, business, and technological change.In this podcast, Nigerian visual artist Ayanfe Olarinde talks about how her art journey emanated from personal scribbles gra…

This is the third and final instalment of our three-part Web3-themed UNAJUA series featuring Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur Michael Kimani.On this podcast, Michael will draw on his live industry experience to offer examples of Web3 plays in Africa worth keeping an eye on, and he'll hint at trends in the space that he's…

On this UNAJUA podcast, Michael Kimani briefly introduces Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (commonly known as DAOs). He also shares a bit of the emerging trend of building internet businesses designed to share the commercial upside with users, explaining how internet entrepreneurs interested in building Web3 solutions would do well to lean in…

In this opening episode of an UNAJUA Series focused on demystifying the ‘Web3’ trend and unpacking how it is unfolding within an African context, Michael Kimani offers ‘minimum viable responses’ to pertinent crowdsourced questions.Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur based in Nairobi. Michael has advised numerou…

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listenIn the third and final episode of this music industry-themed UNAJUA series featuring Yaw Asamani, Yaw takes sets out the pros and pitfalls of music streaming and outlines the potential for smaller artists to enter the orbit of some of the world's biggest musical acts. Yaw reckons that the music industry i…

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listenThe second instalment of this music tech-themed UNAJUA series featuring Yaw Asamani addresses how global streaming platforms aren't necessarily geared towards enabling African artists to cultivate sustainable livelihoods. Yaw also explains how artists might make leverage audience analytics to build and ex…

In this music tech-themed UNAJUA series, Yaw Asamani taps his live industry experience to explore how African artists are using a plethora of social and technological platforms to find their voices, build audiences and monetise their art. Listen in to learn how the streaming era has ushered in lucrative opportunities for African artists to develop …

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listenChristiaan Steyn is the head of a new South African insuretech startup called MiWay Blink. In the second episode of this two-part conversation, Christiaan lets us in on developing an insuretech startup during a pandemic and building on the success of its incumbent parent company. MiWay Blink was launched …

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listenIn the fourth and final instalment of this blockchain-themed UNAJUA series with Citi Group's Ronit Ghose, Ronit explores the philosophical basis for backing the centralisation or decentralisation of global finance. He also tackles the notion of tokenisation and how societal consensus regarding the value o…

Enjoy the first episode of the four-part mini-series African Creative Business, Today (ACBT) capsule mini-series in a slight change of pace. The ACBT series explores in-trench personal and professional realities at the intersection of creativity, business and technological change.In this podcast, self-titled "professional music enthusiast" and live…

Christiaan Steyn is the head of a new South African insuretech startup called MiWay Blink. In the first episode of this two-part conversation, Christiaan reflects on how the COVID pandemic has delivered growth challenges and opportunities for insurance startups and incumbents alike.MiWay Blink was launched in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the …

In this blockchain-themed UNAJUA series instalment, Citi Group's Ronit Ghose talks about how mobile telcos are eagerly peddling digital banking services— disrupting traditional financial corporations in the process. Ronit also explains how blockchain tech is poised to upend mobile payment norms, ushering in a decentralised contract dispensation. Ro…

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listenIn the second episode of this digital money-themed UNAJUA series, Ronit Ghose breaks down the fundamentals of Digital Money 2.0. Listen in to hear Ronit frame terms like cryptocurrency, commercial bank money and electronic money. He also explains why the question of Whose liability is it anyway? is critic…

This opening episode of a crypto-themed UNAJUA Series featuring Ronit Ghose takes a close look at how blockchain tech is (re)shaping the global financial services industry. In this podcast, Ronit answers the question, "Will blockchain-enabled fintech solutions completely disrupt incumbent financial institutions." He'll speak to some of the most sig…

The final instalment of this UNAJUA series featuring Henry Mascot addresses how insurtech startups are either looking to collaborate with insurance incumbents or choosing to disrupt them. Henry cites noteworthy attributes of innovative startups that have made headlines of late. He also talks about how various 'non-financial' sectors are vying to ge…

In this UNAJUA episode, Henry Mascot highlights the untapped gains of Africa's insurance market. Henry suggests how technology might fuel social and economic development and offer insight into how the insurance industry is already proving to be a driver of economic growth. Finally, he touches on three innovative ways that technologies like data ana…

This UNAJUA series opener featuring Nigerian insuretech founder Henry Mascot shares in-trench perspectives about Africa' growing insurance industry. Henry offers insights about the dynamics of insurance adoption, elucidating how economic development plays a vital role in its adoption. Listen in to hear why Henry believes Africa's insurance industry…

In this UNAJUA episode, Vivian Nwakah offers insight into the dynamics of Nigeria's open drug markets. Vivian highlights the counterintuitive ways that drug regulation affects the supply-side logistics of local and international drug producers. She believes that the intelligent use of technological solutions in the supply process will allow for med…

In this UNAJUA series opener, Vivian Nwakah breaks down Nigeria's healthcare scene—highlighting the size of the sector as well as the disparity of healthcare access between the rich and less well off. Vivian Nwakah is the co-founder & CEO of Medsaf, an enterprise pharma supply chain company based in Lagos, Nigeria. Vivian is a serial entrepreneur a…

Part 2 of this UNAJUA Throwback series takes us back to when Lucy Hoffman, co-founder and head of operations at the Cape Town-based mobile content development startup Carry1st, joined Andile Masuku and Osarumen Osamuyi for an extended insight-rich chat—published on March 10th 2020. (Since then, Carry1st has gone on to close a $6 million Series A le…

This UNAJUA Throwback episode takes us back to when Lucy Hoffman, co-founder and head of operations at the Cape Town-based, American mobile content development startup Carry1st joined Andile Masuku and Osarumen Osamuyi for an extended insight-rich chat (published on March 10th 2020). Since recording this conversation, Carry1st has closed a $6 milli…

This UNAJUA podcast is the third and final episode of a three-part series featuring agri-tech founder, Karidas Tshintsholo. In this episode, Karidas addresses how access to market might be improved for African farmers, and how the playing field might be levelled for new entrants.Prior to founding KHULA!, Karidas co-founded a South African media com…

In this episode, South African agritech startup founder Karidas Tshintsholo addresses questions like What effect does access to certified inputs have on overall farmer success? and How can easier access to technical advisory & services improve yields?Prior to founding KHULA!, Karidas co-founded a South African media company called the Money Tree Gr…

This UNAJUA series features a South African agritech founder called Karidas Tshitshonlo. Karidas has a lot of insight to share from his agribusiness adventure thus far, but before we get to that.Karidas T. shares his take on how innovation in agriculture is providing new opportunities not only to the farmers but to the consumers as well. Khula App …