Limitless Africa: Recent Episodes
TRUE Africa
Welcome to Limitless, the podcast series that looks at African solutions to African problems.
Are tech startups the answer to Africa's unemployment problem? Can we stop fake news from spreading on the continent? How do we raise a generation of Drogbas?
These are just some of the topics we’ll be tackling.
And we’re not looking for simple answers. Just as Africa’s potential is limitless, so are the possible solutions to any challenges the continent faces.
During each podcast episode, we’ll be asking three very different subject experts to give their take on each question. This will come as no surprise but they don’t always agree.
Made possible with a grant from the U.S. Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
Three activists on how they came out and what their sexuality means to them.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
LGBT rights are often seen as contradicting religious teachings. We talk to three young queer people about how they use faith in their activism.
Thuli Mjwara works at the Inclusive & Affirming Ministries (IAM) in Cape Town, South Africa.
Tom Twongyeirwe Junior is a National Coordinator at Universal Coalition of Affirming Africans Uganda and a 2023 Obama leader.
Gloria is a human rights defender and a feminist working in Ghana.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chef Fatmata Binta promotes and preserves culture through food in Ghana. Her ‘Dine on a Mat’ experience, where she immerses guests in the full Fulani dining experience, won her the prestigious Basque Culinary World Prize in 2022. Chef Binta has also set up the Fulani Kitchen Foundation for women and girls. The organisation promotes the farming of fonio, an ancient African grain, among rural women.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we asked three African foodies about the dish that reminds them of home.
Chef Binta is the founder of Fulani Kitchen Foundation. She is the winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize.
Chef Helt Araujo runs the Flor Do Duke restaurant in Luanda, Angola. He’s part of the research project Ovina Yetu which catalogues Angolan ingredients.
Food entrepreneur Yasmine Fofana founded the blog Afrofoodie and founded Abidjan Restaurant Week.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this extended episode, we hear further from two of the young female agricultural entrepreneurs featured in the previous episode. They are using agritech to provide food security in their communities and combat climate change.
Gislaine Matiedje Nkenmayi is a farming entrepreneur in Cameroon. With her company Mumita, she helps farmers grow more and preserve any excess produce.
Gugulethu Mahlangu is an aquaponics farmer and the owner of House Harvest, a 14-hectare farm that produces vegetables in Boksburg, Gauteng province in South Africa.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Agriculture employs more than two thirds of those working in Africa. But farming is hard as farmers are impacted by extreme weather conditions.
In this episode we talk to some young farming entrepreneurs who are rising to the challenge.
Gislaine Matiedje Nkenmayi is the CEO of Mumita, an award-winning start-up helping small-scale farmers grow more in Cameroon.
Gugulethu Mahlangu is a young aquaponics farmer in South Africa. She is the founder of the smart farm, House Harvest in Gauteng province.
Angela Odero is the CEO and co-founder of Rio Fish Limited. She is on a mission to promote sustainable fish farming among women and to end the sex-for-fish trade in Kenya.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Actor Denim Richards is Colby on the TV show Yellowstone set in Montana, USA. So why invite Denim on Limitless Africa? Well, four years ago he decided to make a new life for himself and move from California to Botswana. Now he runs successful production companies in Gaborone and Johannesburg, runs masterclasses for actors all over the continent, and has just been named a director for Media, Arts and Culture for the African Union.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Streaming is becoming more popular but platforms like Netflix, Showmax and Amazon Prime Video are still pushing a lot of Western content. We asked a Nollywood producer, a Hollywood star, and an arthouse film director: Can we get more African storytelling on these digital streaming platforms? And how can we make money for ourselves, not the fat cats in Hollywood?
Denim Richards is an actor in the hugely popular US TV series Yellowstone.
Samira Vera-Cruz is a Cape Verdean independent film director, producer and actress.
Kunle Afolayan is one of Nollywood's most successful directors and producers, signing a three-film deal with Netflix in 2021.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Limitless Africa correspondent Dimpho Lekgeu talks to Claude about the upcoming election in South Africa and speaks to democracy activist Yanga Malotana.
What are the big issues in South Africa's election on 29th May? And how do these affect young people?
The views expressed in this episode belong to their speakers. Limitless Africa and its sponsors do not support any of the candidates or parties discussed in the episode.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It’s a year of big elections in Africa. In South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda to name a few. But in some of those countries, the opposition is weak or non-existent. And the election result isn’t in doubt. So should young people bother voting? We asked three activists working for democracy this very question. No surprise - they don’t all agree.
Yanga Malotana is a project officer for the Democracy Development Program in South Africa.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor founded the #FixTheCountry movement a non-partisan movement advocating for good governance in Ghana.
Seth Karamage is a development economist specialising in peacebuilding and good governance in Rwanda.
The views expressed in this episode belong to their speakers. Limitless Africa and its sponsors do not support any of the candidates or parties discussed in the episode.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Africans are known for their hustle – and the data proves it.
According to research by the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Stanford University, Africa has the highest percentage of entrepreneurs among working-age adults of any continent in the world.
But sadly, we’re not all Tony Elumelu or Elon Musk… We asked three guests: how can we teach Africans to be better entrepreneurs?
Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur with technology businesses in the US, UK, Canada, as well as many African countries. She’s known on Twitter as @africatechie where she tweets tech insights to her 140 thousand followers.
Professor Bitange Ndemo may teach entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi but he has some reservations about whether the subject can be taught.
Thami Pooe founded a social enterprise called Tshimong which teaches young South Africans to debate. But he also found that it helps them learn soft skills vital for entrepreneurship.
Did you enjoy the episode? Please let us know what you think here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As a region, Africa accounts for around 20% of US aid. In fact, development projects throughout the continent depend on this money.
But some argue that there is little evidence that aid produces economic growth. Instead they say aid encourages a culture of dependency and corruption.
This week on #LimitlessAfrica we ask an aid worker, an activist and an economist: Does aid create more problems than it solves?
Mutemi Wa Kiama an activist from Nairobi, Kenya known for campaigning against aid in the shape of international loans. He thinks aid loans create spiralling debt which only benefits those in power.
Pedro Matos has worked for the World Food Programme in Africa and Asia for over a decade, and has a slightly different point of view. Matos was part of the team which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. He now works in Sudan, delivering food and assistance to over six million people.
Albert Honlonkou is the Director of the National University of Applied Economics and Management in Benin. In this episode Honlonkou is interviewed by journalist Rachida Houssou
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As James Brown once put it, it’s a man’s world. But in this episode we talk to three women who don’t think that’s true. And they’re proving it by doing the most in male-dominated industries.
What challenges do they face? How do they make their voices heard in their place of work? And what are the positives of being one of the only women in those industries?
Linda Mabhena-Olagunju runs a wholly African female-owned independent power producer, and operates one of Africa's largest wind farms.
DJ Elly is one of Angola’s biggest DJs.
Kah Walla, politician and entrepreneur, was the first woman to stand for president in Cameroon in 2011.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When it comes to gay rights on the continent, Africans are conflicted. In Nigeria, Uganda, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania and many other countries, it’s illegal. But in South Africa, Cape Verde, Angola, Gabon, being gay is not a crime.
Many think that being gay is un-African. In this episode we asked our guests the question: Can LGBT rights ever be part of African values?
Kat Kai Kol-Kes is a performance artist, musician, writer and activist. She is known for being the first public figure from Botswana to openly identify as a trans.
Va-Bene Fiatsi is a trans performance artist from Ghana who explores gender fluidity. Right now, the Ghanaian parliament is considering enacting anti-gay legislation which could lead to up to 10 years in jail. As an activist, Fiatsi is on the frontlines actively opposing it.
Sheba Akpokli from Togo works as a lawyer in Canada and is a strong advocate for LGBTIAQ+ people.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Across Africa, young entrepreneurs are making their dreams happen in challenging circumstances. Here three very different young Africans explain how they made their first million.
Maya Horgan Famodu is an American-Nigerian venture capitalist, originally from Minnesota in the US. She has a VC firm called Ingressive Capital. Her latest fund is worth $50m. She’s invested in some of the biggest startups in Africa.
Moulaye Tabouré is the Malian CEO and founder of ANKA, an online sales platform for African fashion and crafts based in Cote d’Ivoire. The company has raised $6.2 million in its series A funding although it has since announced it is closing its marketplace.
Moutagna Keita is a Guinean-born inventor and successful businessman. He studied at Harvard University and worked in America. He came back to Guinea to launch his portable ultrasound machine.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Souleymane Bachir Diagne is one of the foremost scholars of Islamic and African philosophy. Currently a professor at Columbia University in New York, he remains deeply connected to the continent and to his home country Senegal. Before moving to the US, he taught in the humanities department at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar for 20 years.
During our conversation, he gave illuminating historical context to the democratic crisis in Senegal. He explained why Senegalese democracy is so resilient. This interview was recorded before the election so forgive us for not discussing the result.
We also talked about the situation in Israel and Gaza and the relationship between Jews, and Muslims. We also discussed the wedge this conflict has driven between the black and Jewish communities. And we talked a lot about the concept of Ubuntu, the idea of a common humanity, and how that idea can help us frame our attitude towards the current conflict in the Middle East.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Many wars have been waged on African soil. But it also means that Africans have something to say about conflict resolution. At a moment in time, where conflict seems to be all around us, Limitless Africa wanted to highlight three approaches to peace.
Souleymane Bachir Diagne is one of the foremost scholars of Islamic and African philosophy and a professor at Columbia University in New York
Joseph Nkurunziza is a medical doctor and CEO of Never Again Rwanda, a peace-building NGO which works in 22 out of the 30 districts of the country.
Former refugee Victor Ochen supports local communities still affected by war with his organisation AYINET, the African Youth Initiative Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma is an award-winning Zimbabwean novelist who teaches at the acclaimed Iowa Writers Workshop in the US, like many literary icons before her. And she's only 36 years old.
Her debut novel House of Stone is set during the Gukahurundi massacres that took place immediately after Zimbabwean independence and remain shrouded in secrecy. Her second novel Digging Stars also received glowing reviews. It deals with an equally uncomfortable history. She charts the similarities between the reserves allocated to native Americans in the US and those allocated to indigenous people in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
This is a must listen for anyone interested in African fiction, interested in reading it of course but also interested in how it is produced. Novuyo gives us a peek behind the scenes of some of the most prestigious writing institutions in the US, telling us what it's like to be a young African woman professor there. She's equally clear-sighted about the situation in Zimbabwe and what it's like to come back home with your partner when you are queer.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Many diaspora Africans are choosing to return to the continent. These ‘repats’ - as they’re often known - are keen to seize new opportunities. But they also return to give back - building businesses, families and fulfilling lives on the continent. In this episode, three repats tell us how and why they moved to Ghana, Cape Verde and Cote d’Ivoire.
Joli Moniz left New York for Cape Verde to set up a tourism business called A Vontade Tours. She helps other repats settle into their new life.
Paola Ndengue is originally from Cameroon though she spent most of her life in France. She runs a popular newsletter on media and the creative industries in Africa called Africa Digest.
Abdul Abdullah is a Ghanaian American cultural entrepreneur and founder of the AfroFutures Festival, a music and culture festival based in Accra. He grew up in the Bronx but now does business in Ghana.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Extended episode: Mmeli Hlanze and Sizo Hlophe are part of the team behind Antidote Music - an independent record label and music consultancy company based in Eswatini. In business since 2012, Antidote Music is now one of the most established labels in the country. They focus on Eswatini electronic music.
Music from Nigeria and South Africa is taking over the mainstream, you can’t deny it, but what about the other rich cultural influences on the continent? In this episode, Claude talks to those who are fighting to get their sound heard and asks them which African artists are going to blow up this year.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Extended episode: Moses Bwayo is a filmmaker from Uganda. His documentary feature Bobi Wine: The People's President has been nominated for a 2024 Academy Award.
But first, a little on his subject, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, otherwise known as Bobi Wine. Popstar turned politician, he's the current leader of the National Unity Platform, and ran against President Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 presidential elections. Bobi Wine has been imprisoned and intimidated countless times for challenging a man who has been in power in Uganda since 1986.
Documentary filmmaker Moses Bwayo spent five years following Bobi Wine and documenting his activism. Moses was arrested, imprisoned, and shot in the face with rubber bullets by police while filming.
I spoke to Moses Bwayo about Bobi Wine and why he means so much to young people in Uganda. But we also talked about Moses’ own path and what he’s sacrificed to bring Bobi Wine’s story to the silver screen.
This is an episode about the importance of telling stories and how imagining a different narrative can get you in trouble with the status quo.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My name’s Claude Grunitzky and I'm a journalist and investor. I’m also the host of Limitless Africa, the podcast that asks the questions that matter to Africa.
And exciting news: we're back! In season two, we're still having conversations with some of the most fascinating people on the continent. We're still releasing 15-minute episodes that get right to the heart of the matter with some of Africa's best minds. But we'll also be going deeper, I'll be talking to our guests in longer episodes.
We're doing something that I don't think any other podcast does: we're giving the amazing people shaping the continent the time and the space to really have their say.
We'll be talking food, fashion, football. Coups, fake news and climate change. Social media, malaria and making money.
Series two is out soon so please subscribe on Apple, Spotify or whichever podcast platform you prefer to get each episode as soon as it drops.
That's Limitless Africa, the podcast which lets Africans have their say.
And thanks as always to our sponsors - the US Department of State and the Seenfire foundation.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
RE-RELEASE: many diaspora Africans are choosing to return to the continent. They’re keen to seize opportunities back home. Many of these returnees – known as ‘repats’ – are highly educated and skilled.
But do repats’ foreign university degrees and western world CV’s give them an advantage? Or does adjusting to life back home have its own difficulties? Join host Claude Grunitzky and guests:
Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur. She is one of the continent’s most powerful business women. She has set up tech businesses in the USA, UK and Canada as well as many African countries.
Gabriel Curtis was the Minister for Public Private Partnerships in Guinea until the military coup last year. He lived in the US before coming back to work in the Guinean government.
Nicole Amartiefio is the creator of the TV series “An African City”, which follows five women who are repats themselves. Nicole relocated to Accra, Ghana from the US a decade ago.
We wanted to re-release this episode as the question of term limits is ever contentious. Yoweri Museveni has run Uganda since 1986. Paul Biya has been president in Cameroon for nearly forty years. Paul Kagame could rule Rwanda till 2034 because many Rwandans voted for and continue to vote for him.
Should we force presidents to leave office? We invited three guests on the podcast to help figure it out.
Evan Lieberman is a Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Kah Walla is a Cameroonian politician and entrepreneur and the first woman to stand for president in Cameroon in 2011.
Pearl Pillay from Johannesburg, South Africa, heads up a think tank that works to encourage youth participation in politics and civil society.
The ‘family’ and ‘tribe’ are a traditional way of organising African societies. But they can also be a source of conflict. Unscrupulous leaders can stoke tensions or focus resources on certain groups.
In this week’s episode, Claude asks three guests from south, east and west Africa about how we can stop ethnic interests from influencing politics in Africa. Is the idea of ethnic groups at odds with the idea of a modern state?
Evan Lieberman is professor of politics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He’s just written a book about South Africa’s post-Apartheid democracy called Until We Have Won Our Liberty. He tells us how ethnic interests are sometimes inevitable.
Mutemi wa Kiama is an activist and community organiser from Nairobi, Kenya. He’s part of the movement Wanjikũ Revolution and the media organisation This Is Africa. He’s Kikuyu, the same ethnic group as the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta. But he is very critical of how ethnic groups are used by politicians in Kenya.
Bakary Sambe is the Director of the Timbuktu Institute-African Centre for Peace Studies and is based in Dakar, Senegal. He specializes in radicalisation in the Sahel region. He thinks ethnic conflict can often have deeper causes.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We're re-releasing this episode because we want more of you to hear it. We’re talking about billion dollar companies in Africa: unicorns. Tech people use the word ‘unicorn’ to describe start-ups with valuations of over a billion dollars. In 2020, there were over 500 unicorns worldwide. But only seven of these were African.
So, what are we doing wrong? Or what we can do more right? How can we raise more African unicorns? To find out Claude asked an investor, an entrepreneur and an educator:
Thami Pooe a South African media entrepreneur and social-impact educator. He runs Engage Media, which produces a podcast called “Unicorn”.
Maya Horgan Famodu is a young American-Nigerian venture capitalist and head of Ingressive Capital. She’s invested in some of the biggest start-ups in Africa and offered a valuable perspective.
Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur. She is one of the continent’s most powerful business women. She has set up tech businesses in the USA, UK and Canada as well as many African countries.
Fake news is a big problem in Africa. It can sway elections in Nigeria. Stoke up ethnic hatred in Ethiopia. Bolster business interests in South Africa. Censorship isn’t the answer as it can play into the hands of repressive regimes. So how can Africans stop the spread of false and misleading information and yet still encourage free speech?
To try and figure this out, Claude is joined by three guests:
Samba Dialimpa is on the frontlines fact-checking for readers as the Editor in Chief of the Francophone section of Africa Check.
Aanu Adeoye is a journalist offering an alternative with the entertaining, ground-breaking and trustworthy weekly newspaper The Continent.
Odanga Madung is a researcher behind the scenes working to reveal the mechanics of fake news and to find out who really benefits from misinformation.
For this re-release, Claude speaks to three young Africans who explain when they realised they were not necessarily straight and when they decided to tell their parents, friends and colleagues (and in which order).
Kat Kai Kol-Kes is known for being the first public figure from Botswana to openly identify as a transgender person. She’s come out many a time – to herself, to her family and to the entire world at the age of 24.
Va-Bene Fiatsi is a performance artist from Ghana who explores gender fluidity. She is confident and uncompromising when she performs and speaks but was she always like that? Or is it something she has learnt?
Sheba Akpokli from Togo is an amazing advocate for LGBTIAQ+ people as a practising lawyer. She’s also Catholic and discusses coming out to family and one’s religious community.
Historically Africans have not been well represented in international institutions. This is a problem: these organizations are key to tackling things like climate change and Covid-19.
But with a Nigerian leading the World Trade Organization and an Ethiopian heading the World Health Organization, that could be changing.
But is this happening fast enough? How can Africans make sure their voices are heard on the world stage?
Pedro Matos has worked for the United Nation and the World Food Programme for well over a decade. He was part of the team which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 and he was working till recently in Sudan, delivering food and assistance to over six million people.
Mutemi Wa Kiama is an activist from Nairobi, Kenya. He’s known for campaigning against aid in the shape of international loans.
Dr Oby Ezekwesili is a former Education minister in the Nigerian government and a former Vice President of the World Bank (Africa Region). She was also the co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement.
Made possible with a grant from the U.S. Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
We decided to rerelease this episode to make sure it gets the listenership it deserves.
Andela, Jumia, Flutterwave - these are just a few of the African tech startups now worth over a billion US dollars. Foreign money is flowing in. Some people are getting rich. We ask our three contributors whether these tech startups will create significant employment on the continent.
Maya Horgan Famodu is a Nigerian-American venture capitalist. She is the founder and managing director of Ingressive Capital. The $10 million venture capital firm targets early-stage tech startups across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Gabriel Curtis is the former minister in charge of investments and public-private partnerships in Conakry, Guinea.
Samba Bathily is a Malian entrepreneur specializing in sustainable clean energy and solar solutions. He founded Africa Development Solutions (ADS) and partnered with Akon the American-Senegalese hip-hop artist on the Akon Lighting Africa Initiative.
The Limitless podcast is made possible with a grant from the U.S. Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
Africans are known for their hustle. And on a continent where youth unemployment is high, they have to hustle. For this episode Claude speaks to three young entrepreneurs - a business woman in the music industry, a fashion entrepreneur, and a founder of a tech start-up now worth over $3billion.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji who founded fintech start-up Flutterwave, now worth over $3 billion. He’s now head of Future Africa.
Zaid Osman, who founded the fashion brand Grade Africa which has stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
DJ Elly Chuva, one of Angola’s biggest DJs.
Religion is integral to how many of us live our lives. It also plays a part in how politicians and lawmakers govern us. Is this a good thing? Or can it lead to conflict and oppression?
Dr Bakary Sambe, the director of the Timbuktu Institute, researches and finds solutions for religion and security issues in the Sahel region.
Dr James Wuye, a pastor from Northern Nigeria, lost his hand fighting Muslims. He has since founded the Interfaith Mediation Centre which works on tolerance.
Harrison Mumia may be Kenya’s most famous atheist. He founded the Atheists in Kenya society.
The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the continent’s premier men's basketball competition. It plans to rival the NBA in the US and to find the next generation of Giannis, Dengs and Ibakas. Host Claude Grunitzky talks to:
Amadou Fall, president of the Basketball Africa League.
Flo Larkai, an ex-player, coach and now a scout with the South Sudanese national team.
Usher Komugisha is an award-Winning African sports journalist and basketball commentator.
From Nollywood to Youtube to arthouse festivals… Host Claude Grunitzky talks to three Africans in the film industry. What challenges and opportunities do they face?
Nicole Amarteifio is the creator of the TV series An African City. She tells us how she taught herself to make films.
Kivu Ruhorahoza is a Rwandan film director who’s shown his films at festivals all over the world. He tells us what governments could do better.
Editi Effiong, a Nigerian film producer who just directed his first feature film The Black Book, one of the biggest projects ever undertaken in Nollywood.
The social movement Black Lives Matter - BLM - was started to highlight racial discrimination in the USA. But some young African activists think we need a #BLM movement in Africa too. Host Claude Grunitzky talks to activists in Senegal, Ghana and South Africa and asks them why BLM matters to them - and to Africa.
Ernesto Yeboah, the founder and commander in chief of the Economic Fighters League (EFL), an anti-corruption movement in Ghana. He organized a vigil in solidarity with BLM, following the murder of George Floyd.
Wise Bayano, an artist from Senegal and one of the three founders of Africa for Black Lives. It’s a social media movement started in Dakar to show solidarity with the activism in the US.
Dimpho Legkeu who is actually one of our producers here at the Limitless podcast. She kept a BLM banner on her social media profiles.
Over 25 million people in Africa are living with HIV. And the continent accounts for almost two thirds of the global total of new HIV infections. But millions of dollars are spent fighting the illness. So what are we doing wrong? How can we rethink the fight against HIV?
Claude spoke to three guests who know what they are talking about.
Bisi Alimi is a Nigerian LGBT activist who recently announced he was HIV positive even though he’s lived with the illness for many years. We asked him why?
Jacqueline Wambui who is an HIV-positive activist from Kenya. She talks about the challenges of having a family and a relationship in spite of it.
Saidy Brown from South Africa was born with HIV. She announced her HIV status on social media in 2017 and thinks we need to talk about the illness differently.
Africa is doing relatively well in getting women into political leadership. Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal and Ethiopia lead the world in terms of women members of parliament. But that’s not the story for the whole continent. And there are still very few female heads of state. Claude welcomes three guests:
Dr Oby Ezekwesili is a Harvard University graduate, former Education minister in the Nigerian government and ex-Vice President of the World Bank (African Region). She also started the movement #bringbackourgirls.
Busisiwe Seabe, one of the leaders of the Fees Must Fall student protests.
Noëlla Coursaris Musunka is a philanthropist, model, and founder and CEO of Malaika. The Malaika school provides free, accredited primary and secondary education to 400 girls in the south-eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
African fashion is booming but why do we still aspire to foreign designers? Claude spoke to a designer, an investor and an entrepreneur about how to get Africans buying ‘Made in Africa’.
Moses Turahirwa, the creative director behind the Rwandan high fashion brand Moshions.
Zaid Osman, an entrepreneur behind the South African streetwear brand Grade Africa. They manufacture in Africa.
Roberta Annan from Ghana founded the African Fashion Foundation which puts money into companies run by African fashion designers.
Climate change is one of the most important issues the human race faces. Global warming will affect where we live, what we eat, and what we breathe.
Listen to three young climate activists from around the continent who aren’t sitting back as the temperatures rise.
Khahliso Myataza is a young South African climate activist from Soweto, Johannesburg. She thinks you can't be a feminist without caring about the planet.
Kemo Fatty is an environmental campaigner from The Gambia and founder of Green Up Gambia. He tells us how his mission is personal
Davis Reuben is part of the Rise Up movement alongside the Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate. He quit a banking job for activism.
Let’s name some of the greats of African football… Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, George Weah, Yaya Touré… But these icons are in the past. What about the future? How can we develop more great African footballers? Is it only about investment? Talent? Or do we need to change our mindset completely?
Kingsley Pungong, founder of Rainbow Sports, a sports company which owns and operates two professional football clubs as well as a US-based sports marketing company. He’s discovered lots of African talent.
Eddie Mensah, Managing Director of the Right to Dream Academy, a successful football school in Accra, Ghana.
Oumou Kane, the Director of the female football department at Mauritanian federation of Football. She’s a champion of female football in a very conservative Muslim country.
Africa has 83,000km of land borders. Many of these borders are a colonial hangover: arbitrarily drawn, ignoring geography, ethnic groups and political entities. But the Pan African dream of iconic presidents like Kwame Nkrumah and Thomas Sankara has yet to materialise.
In this week’s episode we ask is it time to rethink red lines on maps? Or do we need to concentrate on dismantling different borders? The borders holding back trade, collaboration and mindsets? In this week’s episode, our host Claude Grunitzky talks to:
Samba Bathily a self-made Malian businessman. He’s launched ventures in over 18 African countries, including Akon Lighting Africa, a renewable energy initiative he worked on with Samba and the American-Senegalese artist Akon. Samba is also a huge champion of the African Continental Free Trade Area, a free trade agreement between 54 African countries.
Mutemi Wa Kiama is an activist from Nairobi, Kenya known for campaigning against aid in the shape of international loans. He’s also part of the Africans Rising initiative, a continent-wide NGO which campaigns for a fair global trading system, and action to combat climate change.
Kah Walla is a Cameroonian politician and entrepreneur and was the first woman to stand for president in Cameroon in 2011. Walla hails from the Anglophone region of Cameroon, which has been affected by a separatist movement since 2016.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It’s easy to get cynical about politics. To say : they’re all the same and things will never change.
But that’s not how you build a better world.
In this episode Claude speaks to three young political activists who are trying to make a difference.
Busisiwe Seabe, one of the leaders of the Fees Must Fall student protests.
Cheik Fall, a Senegalese activist and journalist who started an election monitoring platform.
Kemo Fatty, an environmental activist from The Gambia. Kemo first became interested in political activism because of migration.
FGM refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for cultural or other non-medical reasons.
If hearing that makes you feel uncomfortable, just imagine having to go through it.
Claude talked to three activists in Guinea, Mali and Kenya about how we can end FGM.
Kadiatou Konate is a 20-year-old activist from Conakry Guinea, in West Africa. Kadiatou is co-founder of the Young Girl Leaders Club of Guinea. It has more than 500 members across the country. Their mission is to fight against violence against girls.
Fatoumata Sire Diakate Junior is an activist in Mali. Eight million girls and women in the country have undergone FGM. Fewer than one in five girls and women think FGM should stop. She’s fighting to change minds in a country where the practice is entrenched
Jeremiah Kipainoi is a journalist from Kenya. He produces and hosts the End FGM podcast where he rings up local and national officials and asks them why they’re not doing more to stop FGM.
When it comes to climate change, Africa will be one of the continents which is hit the hardest. You’re probably already seeing the effects of the changing climate where you live.
So how can we do our bit? How can Africa prepare for the century ahead? Can green energy power our future?
Claude spoke to three guests who know what they are talking about.
Samba Bathily is a Malian entrepreneur specializing in sustainable clean energy and solar solutions. He founded Africa Development Solutions (ADS) and partnered with Akon the American-Senegalese hip-hop artist on the Akon Lighting Africa Initiative.
Olasimbo Sojinrin, Director of Solar Sister Nigeria, an Africa-wide American NGO which invests in clean energy.
Linda Mabhena-Olagunju runs a wholly African female-owned independent power producer, and operates one of Africa's largest wind farms.
Poverty, famine, war, corruption, terrorism, refugees… Is that all that Africa is about? In this episode Claude asks if Africa has an image problem and what we can do about it.
Guests this week include:
Moky Makura who heads up Africa No Filter, a not for profit that seeks to puncture stereotypes about Africa by supporting African storytellers and media platforms.
Nicole Amartiefio, the creator of the TV series An African City, which follows five women in Accra in Ghana. She often explores and subverts stereotypes in her series.
Jessica Hope, who heads up Wimbart, an Africa focused PR company based in the UK. She thinks tech is the way to engage people in a modern Africa.
About 70,000 scientists, doctors, economists and other skilled professionals emigrate from Africa every year. This is what’s called the brain drain.
They live abroad, not in Africa.
Should we convince them to stay at home? And how?
Gabriel Curtis a former politician in the Guinean government. Guinea has one of the highest rates of emigration.
Pearl Pillay a youth leader from South Africa who thinks we need to give young people something to stay for.
Lydiah Bosire is an academic. Shefounded a company to help high achieving young Africans study abroad.
Africans are known for their hustle - and the facts back it up.
According to research by the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Stanford University, Africa has the highest percentage of entrepreneurs among working-age adults of any continent in the world.
But sadly, we’re not all Tony Elumelu or Elon Musk… We asked three guests: how can we teach Africans to be better entrepreneurs?
Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur with technology businesses in the US, UK, Canada, as well as many African countries. She’s known on Twitter as @africatechie where she tweets tech insights to her 140 thousand followers.
Professor Bitange Ndemo may teach entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi but he has some reservations about whether the subject can be taught.
Thami Pooe founded a social enterprise called Tshimong which teaches young South Africans to debate. But he also found that it helps them learn soft skills vital for entrepreneurship.
As a region, Africa accounts for around 20% of US aid. In fact, development projects throughout the continent depend on this money.
But some argue that there is little evidence that aid produces economic growth. Instead they say aid encourages a culture of dependency and corruption.
This week on #LimitlessAfrica we ask an aid worker, an activist and an economist: Does aid create more problems than it solves?
Mutemi Wa Kiama an activist from Nairobi, Kenya known for campaigning against aid in the shape of international loans - he was even imprisoned for it. He thinks aid loans create spiralling debt which only benefits those in power.
Pedro Matos has worked for the World Food Programme in Africa and Asia for over a decade, and has a slightly different point of view. Matos was part of the team which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. He now works in Sudan, delivering food and assistance to over six million people.
Albert Honlonkou is the Director of the National University of Applied Economics and Management in Benin. He argues aid creates a culture of dependency,
As James Brown once put it, it’s a man’s world. But in this episode we talk to three women who don’t think that’s true. And they’re proving it by doing the most in male-dominated industries.
What challenges do they face? How do they make their voices heard in their place of work? And what are the positives of being one of the only women in those industries?
Linda Mabhena-Olagunju runs a wholly African female-owned independent power producer, and operates one of Africa's largest wind farms.
DJ Elly is one of Angola’s biggest DJs.
Kah Walla, politician and entrepreneur, was the first woman to stand for president in Cameroon in 2011.
When it comes to gay rights on the continent, Africans are conflicted. In Nigeria, Uganda, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania and many other countries, it’s illegal. But in South Africa, Cape Verde, Angola, Gabon, being gay is not a crime.
Many think that being gay is un-African. In this episode we asked our guests the question: Can LGBT rights ever be part of African values?
Kat Kai Kol-Kes is a performance artist, musician, writer and activist. She is known for being the first public figure from Botswana to openly identify as a trans.
Va-Bene Fiatsi is a trans performance artist from Ghana who explores gender fluidity. Right now, the Ghanaian parliament is considering enacting anti-gay legislation which could lead to up to 10 years in jail. As an activist, Fiatsi is on the frontlines actively opposing it.
Sheba Akpokli from Togo works as a lawyer in Canada and is a strong advocate for LGBTIAQ+ people.
Many diaspora Africans are choosing to return to the continent. They’re keen to seize opportunities back home. Many of these returnees - known as ‘repats’ - are highly educated and skilled.
But do repats’ foreign university degrees and western world CV’s give them an advantage? Or does adjusting to life back home have its own difficulties? Join our host Claude Grunitzky and his guests:
Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur. She is one of the continent’s most powerful business women. She has set up tech businesses in the USA, UK and Canada as well as many African countries.
Gabriel Curtis was the Minister for Public Private Partnerships in Guinea until the military coup last year. He lived in the US before coming back to work in the Guinean government.
Nicole Amartiefio is the creator of the TV series “An African City”, which follows five women who are repats themselves. Nicole relocated to Accra, Ghana from the US a decade ago.
One of the worst things you can say to an African parent is: I don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer or accountant. I want to be an artist!
In Africa, being an artist doesn’t carry the same prestige as other professions. But musicians, painters, filmmakers, and designers all have a huge influence on the way the world sees Africa.
In this episode, Claude Grunitzky talks to an investor in the creative industries, a museum director and a DJ. He asks: Isn’t it time for Africans to respect artists?
Sonia Lawson is the Director of the Palais of Lome, Togo’s first art centre. She explains why it’s important to exhibit local artists where their family and local community can appreciate their art.
Roberta Annan from Ghana runs several investment and venture capital funds including the Impact Fund for African Creatives and the African Fashion Foundation. For her, respect comes down to money! She’s passionate about helping creative people turn their ideas into successful businesses.
DJ Elly is working and actually making a living as an artist. She is one of Angola’s biggest DJs.
Yoweri Museveni has run Uganda since 1986. Paul Biya has been president in Cameroon for nearly forty years. Paul Kagame could rule Rwanda till 2034 because many Rwandans voted for and continue to vote for him.
In Africa, the question of term limits is contentious. Should we force presidents to leave office? We invited these guests on the podcast to help figure it out:
Evan Lieberman is a Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Kah Walla is a Cameroonian politician and entrepreneur and the first woman to stand for president in Cameroon in 2011.
Pearl Pillay from Johannesburg, South Africa, heads up a think tank that works to encourage youth participation in politics and civil society.
In this episode, we’re talking about billion dollar companies in Africa: unicorns. Tech people use the word 'unicorn' to describe startups with valuations of over a billion dollars. In 2020, there were over 500 unicorns worldwide. But only seven of these were African.
So, what are we doing wrong? Or what we can do more right? How can we raise more African unicorns? To find out our host asked an investor, an entrepreneur and an educator:
Thami Pooe a South African media entrepreneur and social-impact educator. He runs Engage Media, which produces a podcast called “Unicorn”.
Maya Horgan Famodu is a young American-Nigerian venture capitalist and head of Ingressive Capital. She’s invested in some of the biggest startups in Africa and offered a valuable perspective.
Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur. She is one of the continent’s most powerful business women. She has set up tech businesses in the USA, UK and Canada as well as many African countries.
The ‘family’ and ‘tribe’ have traditionally been seen as a fundamental way of organising African societies. But they can also be a source of conflict. Unscrupulous leaders can stoke tensions or focus resources on select groups.
In this week’s episode Claude asks three guests from south, east and west Africa how to stop ethnic interests influencing politics in Africa. Is the idea of ethnic groups at odds with the idea of a modern state?
Evan Lieberman is professor of politics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He’s just written a book about South Africa's post-Apartheid democracy called Until We Have Won Our Liberty. He tells us how ethnic interests are sometimes inevitable.
Mutemi wa Kiama is an activist and community organiser from Nairobi, Kenya. He's part of the movement Wanjikũ Revolution and the media organisation This Is Africa. He’s Kikuyu, the same ethnic group as the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta. But he is very critical of how ethnic groups are used by politicians in Kenya.
Bakary Sambe is the Director of the Timbuktu Institute-African Centre for Peace Studies and is based in Dakar, Senegal. He specializes in radicalisation in the Sahel region. He thinks ethnic conflict can often have deeper causes.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Fake news is a big problem in Africa. It can sway elections in Nigeria. Stoke up ethnic hatred in Ethiopia. Bolster business interests in South Africa. Censorship isn’t the answer as it can play into the hands of repressive regimes. So how can Africans stop the spread of false and misleading information and yet still encourage free speech?
To try and figure this out, Claude is joined by three excellent guests:
Samba Dialimpa is on the frontlines fact-checking for readers as the Editor in Chief of the Francophone section of Africa Check.
Aanu Adeoye is a journalist offering an alternative with the entertaining, groundbreaking and trustworthy weekly newspaper, The Continent.
Odanga Madung is a researcher behind the scenes working to reveal the mechanics of fake news and to find out who really benefits from misinformation.
According to the latest figures from UNESCO, 52 million girls are not in school in Africa. Four million girls will never step into a classroom. They won’t be able to read or write, they won’t be able to understand medical prescriptions, safety instructions or help their children with homework.
That’s why women’s education is often at the forefront of development work in Africa. But the UN admitted that while the gender gap has narrowed, progress is stalling.
Claude spoke to three women who’ve all made it their mission to educate girls. What are we getting wrong? How can we keep girls in school?
Noëlla Coursaris Musunka is a philanthropist, model, and founder and CEO of Malaika. The Malaika school provides free, accredited primary and secondary education to 400 girls in the south-eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cara Myers is the co-founder of the Mozambique School Lunch Initiative, a non-profit organisation which invests in community-owned school lunch programs to improve child nutrition and get children in school.
Djénéba Gory is a Malian education specialist, who graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is the co-founder of Suadela, an organisation which aims to build up the negotiation skills of girls.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
It is incredibly brave to admit to yourself and others that you aren’t straight. Especially in parts of Africa where religion, tradition and atittudes can mean coming out as gay, bi or trans has serious consequences.
For this episode, Claude speaks to three young Africans who explain when they realised they were not necessarily straight and when they decided to tell their parents, friends and colleagues (and in which order).
Kat Kai Kol-Kes is known for being the first public figure from Botswana to openly identify as a transgender person. She’s come out many a time - to herself, to her family and to the entire world at the age of 24.
Va-Bene Fiatsi is a performance artist from Ghana who explores gender fluidity. She is confident and uncompromising when she performs and speaks but was she always like that? Or is it something she has learnt?
Sheba Akpokli from Togo is a advocate for LGBTIAQ+ people as a practising lawyer. She’s also Catholic and discusses the difficulties of coming out to family and to a religious community.
Historically Africans have not been well represented in international institutions. This is a problem: these organizations are key to tackling things like climate change and Covid-19.
But with a Nigerian leading the World Trade Organization and an Ethiopian heading the World Health Organization, that could be changing.
But is this happening fast enough? How can Africans make sure their voices are heard on the world stage?
Pedro Matos has worked for the United Nation and the World Food Programme for well over a decade. He was part of the team which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 and he was working till recently in Sudan, delivering food and assistance to over six million people.
Mutemi Wa Kiama is an activist from Nairobi, Kenya. He’s known for campaigning against aid in the shape of international loans.
Dr Oby Ezekwesili is a former Education minister in the Nigerian government and a former Vice President of the World Bank (Africa Region). She was also the co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement.
Made possible with a grant from the U.S. Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Andela, Jumia, Flutterwave - these are just a few of the African tech startups now worth over a billion US dollars. Foreign money is flowing in. Some people are getting rich. We ask our three contributors whether these tech startups will create significant employment on the continent.
Maya Horgan Famodu is a Nigerian-American venture capitalist. She is the founder and managing director of Ingressive Capital. The $10 million venture capital firm targets early-stage tech startups across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Gabriel Curtis is the former minister in charge of investments and public-private partnerships in Conakry, Guinea.
Samba Bathily is a Malian entrepreneur specializing in sustainable clean energy and solar solutions. He founded Africa Development Solutions (ADS) and partnered with Akon the American-Senegalese hip-hop artist on the Akon Lighting Africa Initiative.
The Limitless podcast is made possible with a grant from the U.S. Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
Welcome to Limitless, the new podcast series that looks at African solutions to African problems. We'll be asking the big questions:
How do you stop ethnic interests influencing politics? How do we stop fake news spreading on the continent? Do repats have an unfair advantage?
And we’re not looking for simple answers. Just as Africa’s potential is limitless, so are the possible solutions to any challenges the continent faces. During each episode, host Claude Grunitzky will be asking three very different guests to give their take on each question. This will come as no surprise but they don’t always agree.