Last week I caught up with seasoned entrepreneur Jeffrey Kimathi who shared the inspiration for his journey to start his latest business the BUYU Collection, the challenges of doing business in Africa and his pearls of wisdom for those seeking to start a business on the Continent. BUYU is the latest brand to shake-up the African luxury market, seeking to create […]
“By putting ideas out there you give them the chance to survive; they might not turn out exactly how you had envisioned them, but they’ll probably die if you don’t let them outside of your mind.” – Femi Agbayewa (2015) Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in your every day life, viewing the status quo qua holy grail; sometimes […]
There are few times that I find myself the least interesting person in the room. As I saunter around I get talking to Brian, a Kenyan investment banker based in London. “What do you mean you want to wait 5 more years to go to Ghana? Go now! Africa needs you now!” I’m taking in his every word as we animatedly discuss […]
Movemeback, meet Tayo… Meet Adetayo Bamiduro or ‘Tayo’ – the man transforming Nigeria’s logistics industry through mobile technology. After speaking with Tayo for an hour or so, I believe in his potential and am impressed by the size of his vision. According to him “the beginning of the transformation of Africa [in recent years] started with the introduction of mobile […]
Large amounts of money are sent to Africa every year by individuals from all over the world to support friends, spouses, parents and children. The World Bank estimates that in 2013 alone, approximately $32 billion were sent to Sub-Saharan Africa from individuals abroad. Volumes are expected to continue growing over the next few years, with current and projected figures excluding […]
Having chosen a public place for my Google Hangout with Gbenga, I felt nervous thinking about the noise that surrounded me when I logged on at 17:57. Luckily, Gbenga assured me that he could hear fine and with an air of casual charm ensured that I didn’t miss any of his answers to my questions. In fact, the naturally interested […]
“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself” – Soren Kierkegaard I want to be part of the generation that addresses the challenges facing the continent … Nice and romantic, right? Alas, trying to work out how you do that and what it means both personally and professionally, whilst going about your normal […]
I’ll start with dispelling some of the myths about moving back to Nigeria, as some of my diaspora friends think that Nigeria (Lagos in particularly) is a place of non-stop partying, exclusive celebrity events and easy to make money. I’m not 100 per cent sure where this perception comes from but I would argue that the Nigerian entertainment industry Nollywood, […]
Africa is changing rapidly, with eight of the top twenty fastest growing economies within its borders. Despite knowing this information, it took a friend’s internship at the Nigerian Guaranty Trust Bank in London for me to truly realise the potential within the continent. Following this, I immediately explored the Internet to search for possible internships in Ghana’s financial sector. However, […]
In our first press mention – the gifted Inez Sarkodee-Adoo writes a fantastic synopsis of the TEDxEuston 2014 FacingForward series of talks, which aimed to reflect the ideas and inspired thinking of a new generation of African leaders. In her article, Inez explores the collective function of the African diaspora and their role in the context of the African growth story, […]