Made To Lead with Aziz Garuba

On this episode we chat with The Honorable Ahmed Hussen, Canada's Minister for International Development. We discuss his path from being a refugee to rising to become a Minister in the Canadian government handling different portfolios.

We're back after a hiatus. New episodes launch on November 9, 2023.

Today we chat with Ifę Elizabeth Shabi, a prolific brand consumer brand builder, entrepreneur, CEO, and biochemist focused on creating products and businesses in the beauty industry. She's the founder of beauty brands including Loola Cosmetics, Serumize Skin, and HB Labs, and her work has been recognized by Forbes and Elle.  We discuss her impressive story as a young black female founder in a...

This episode features the fascinating story of Dr. Opiyo Oloya , Superintendant at the York Catholic District School Board.  Dr. Opiyo's story is truly inspiring. He left Uganda, the country of his birth, as a refugee as a 23 year old university student. First into Kenya and then eventually to Canada where the World University Service of Canada sponsored his undergraduate program at Queen's U...

Today we chat with amazing South African multi-award winning jazz pianist and vocalist, Thandi Ntuli . She shares her journey into jazz music, specifically on the piano, which started at a very young age. After high school, Thandi went on to study music formally at the University of Cape Town. In this episode we also discuss some of the emotional events in her life that inspired much of the work o...

We're joined on the show today by Mansa Chintoh , Director, Business & Legal Affairs at Entertainment One (eOne). She shares here story as a first generation Black Canadian finding her path in life that eventually led her to a career as a lawyer in the entertainment industry.  Mansa gives back by mentoring young individuals looking to get into the entertainment industry and volunteers wit...

Before she became Head of Growth at ScaleUpNation, Kimberly Ofori had a very interesting journey that took her from the Netherlands to Dubai and to Spain. Without a colleage degree, she started her full time career in insurance at age 16 and, after a few years, moved on to investment banking and wealth management where she rose quickly up the ranks. An unfortunate turn of events turned an opportun...

In our first episode of Season 3, we chat with Nicole Nomsa Moyo, an Urban & Architectural Designer.  She has a passion for human-centric design, master planning, innovative and disruptive sustainable development, community engagement processes, intelligent future thinking and Africa her beloved continent. Her work “Rising”, was recently selected as one of six international finalists for...

Welcome to Season 3 of the Made to Lead podcast hosted by Aziz Garuba. New episodes of this season are launching April 6 so follow/subscribe on your favourite podcast platform to get notified.

On this episode we continue our conversation with Mide Akerewusi, Founder and CEO of AgentsC. He shares how he got demoted from his executive role, leading him to quit and find another job, and how he eventually decided to venture out and start his own non-profit philanthropy agency.

On Part 1 of a 2-part episode, we sit down with Mide Akerewusi, a British born African living in Canada. Mide is Founder and CEO of AgentsC Inc., a Canadian based international company delivering equity philanthropy and social research services to the non-profit and private sector. He has worked in senior relationship fundraising roles and consulted for a number of the world’s leading non-profit o...

On today's show we chat with one of the youngest executives in a Fortune 500 company Omonye Phillips, Divisional Vice President of Pharmacy Operations at Rite Aid. Her role involves overseeing the operations of 180+ stores and managing a budget in excess of $2B. Omonye has dedicated countless hours to other business, service and philanthropy efforts all focused on empowering others. She shares wit...

Our guest today is Horace Matthews, Vice President, Digital and Information Technology / CIO at World Vision Canada. Horace discusses his life story from growing up in Mandeville, Jamaica to eventually moving to the cold country of Canada in search of a better life for his family. He also talks about how his faith helped him through the initial tough times upon getting to Canada and how he eventua...

From initially hating banking to eventually becoming an executive at Goldman Sachs, this episode is the exciting journey of Mary Mosope Adeyemi, a passionate, people-oriented and purpose driven woman who lives out these traits in various spheres. She is an experienced investment professional currently working as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs supporting the risk focused deployment of credi...

Today's guest is Tapfuma Musewe, Founder of Eschaton Solutions, a boutique firm that promotes sustainable trade and investments with African markets. Having grown up a Canadian citizen, his passion led him to spend most of his working life across Africa. He began in community development, then pivoted to entrepreneurship and established a couple of companies including a logistics company that move...

On today's show we chat with Fenten Jagdeo, Co-founder and COO of Faculty, a venture capital-backed modern grooming company based in San Francisco. Fenton discusses how he went from working management consulting to become a young entrepreneur co-founding his start up in an industry that focused largely on women. He also talks about how his company ended up securing venture capital within a few mon...

Today's guest is Kike Fischer, Chief Risk Officer at Leadway Assurance, the largest insurance company in Nigeria. Kike's rise to become a C-level executive in Risk Management began with a serendipitous encounter in an elevator that eventually led her to supervising a number of trading platforms including the London Stock Exchange. Her inspirational story takes us on her life and career journey acr...

"Action without thought is empty, thought without action is blind" - Nkrumah. This is the philosophy that guides Sam Effah, a Canadian Olympic hopeful of Ghanaian heritage, and a 2-time Canadian Champion and multiple award winning athlete. In today's episode, Sam shares his story of triumphing as a track athlete despite many setbacks from injuries. He also tells how he landed a sponsorship deal wi...

On today’s episode we continue where we left off in our conversation with Seni Sulyman, an experienced executive on a mission to build and develop Africa through technology. Today Seni talks about how he made the decision to move back to Africa after turning down offers from tech giants like Facebook and Google. This decision ultimately led him to building an airline and eventually becoming an exe...

From tinkering with cell phones in Paris, to negotiating with an unexpected individual in New York, to eventually becoming an executive at one of Africa's best Lagos-based tech startups. We discuss these and many other topics with Seni Sulyman, a Harvard MBA grad and business executive whose purpose is to develop exemplary African businesses and leaders who create value through ethical leadership...

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Made to Lead Podcast. I'm excited to welcome you to Season 2! We’ve been working hard over the past few weeks to prepare for this Season and I’m hopeful that you’ll enjoy it. First, I want to say a big thank you to our listeners and guests. This show would not have been possible without you, and I sincerely appreciate each and every one of you. I also want to...

Today's episode features Beau Sackey, Co-founder of Plendify, a B2B market place app for connecting buyers and suppliers in Ghana. Prior to co-founding Plendify, Beau spent over 15 years in management consulting working with Accenture, Deloitte and PwC. He has a breadth of experience working for Fortune 500 companies across several industries including banking/finance, telecommunications, man...

Our guest today is Lisandra Rickards, Founder & CEO of Soul Career, Former CEO of the Richard Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, and a Harvard MBA. She helps executives, entrepreneurs and high-achieving professionals succeed by connecting them to knowledge, opportunities, and systems that support their growth while staying aligned to their authentic selves. She's also done economic research f...

Today we sit down with Amoye Henry, the Co-founder and Executive Producer of the AfroChic Cultural Arts Festival, a program that has created opportunities for over 350 local and international artists, entrepreneurs and cultural practitioners. Amoye, who started her first business at age 12, discusses her journey to becoming a young entrepreneur in the creative space and the challenges and obstacle...

Today we're pleased to have as our guest Tim Akinnusi, CEO and Co-founder of MortgageMarket, a first of its kind South African FinTech company that lets customers apply online and get approved for a mortgage from any of the 5 large South African banks without ever having to set foot in a branch or meet with anyone. On the show, Tim discusses his career path from graduation through to working in ba...