Season Finale: Navalayo Osembo, Co-Founder of Enda, on Building an International Sportswear Brand Made in Africa

How to Make It in Africa

Navalayo is co-founder and CEO of Enda Athletic, Inc. She's a graduate of the London School of Economics, and has worked internationally including the U.S., UK, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya where she utilizes her diverse skills as an accountant, a lawyer, risk manager, and in international development. She's from a town near Eldoret, Kenya, that has produced generations of the world's greatest distance runners. Prior to creating Enda, Navalayo started a sports academy in Bungoma, Western Kenya, to provide sports protegees from disadvantaged backgrounds access to much needed professional training without compromising their education. In order to maximize social impact in Kenya through sports, Navalayo teamed up with her co-founder to create Enda Athletic Inc, a made in Kenya running shoe brand that creates jobs, invests in local communities, and spurs economic development through exports. About the host: Fadel Jaoui, an economist, started this podcast to celebrate African entrepreneurial success stories, to hear the originals and changemakers behind them, and to draw lessons to inspire many more stories across the continent. This virtuous cycle is fundamental to pool talent and investments, and ultimately create startup “unicorns” that would benefit Africa’s prosperity. Fadel is a strong advocate of entrepreneurial ecosystem building and private sector development as true engines of sustainable economic growth. And he is a firm believer in leveraging innovation and technology to leapfrog development constraints and scale up social and economic impact. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Oxford University, as well as degrees from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He started his career in investment banking in London, and has held various positions in International Financial Institutions (views are his own).