Afri-CAN by Pharo Foundation

After a short summer break we are introducing to season 2 of Afri-CAN. Watch this space for full episodes out soo.

Join us for the final episode of season 1 of Afri-CAN!  At Pharo Foundation we understand the critical role savings can have and this is integral to our third mission of Productivity - part of which is to remove financial barriers to employment. Indeed, we have seen firsthand what savings can do for people in Savings Groups which we have set up for farming communities in Ethiopia. To discuss savin...

According to the World Bank, a 1% increase in female education participation, can result in a 0.3% increase in average gross domestic product and gains of up to $15-30 trillion in lifetime productivity and earnings. In Africa specifically, we see the highest rate of female entrepreneurial activity globally, with approximately 24% of women engaged in business ventures. So, for Pharo Foundation, it...

This episode takes place in-person at Pharo Management's London Office - the emerging market hedge fund which finances Pharo Foundation. In this special episode we take a look at philanthropy from the perspective of the philanthropist - discussing how they choose their causes and how they allocate their resources. To discuss this, we have Pharo Foundation's own founder, Guillaume Fonkenell...

An estimated 250 million children in low and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching their full developmental potential. Given Early Childhood Development (ECD) is one of Pharo Foundation's flagship programmes this is an important topic to us and we were keen to bring in Saving Brains experts to discuss this further. Saving Brains invests in bold, evidence-based innovations that nu...

This episode explores how we can optimise and increase access to healthcare through innovation, in contexts which are resource poor, such as Africa. To discuss this, we have brought on Niek Vesteegde, a tropical doctor turned entrepreneur, and Founder and CEO of Goal 3 - a social enterprise dedicated to transforming paediatric and neonatal healthcare through scalable, sustainable and data-driven s...

As Pharo Foundation's missions progress and we look to scale up our cost effective and evidence-based interventions, it's clear to us that utilising a range of innovative financing instruments to scale up our missions is critical. Among these instruments, outcomes-based financing is gaining traction and proving very effective. At its core, this method relies on a pre-agreed set of outcomes being a...

In a previous episode we spoke with Oxfam about how far we should go in introducing innovations that challenge local culture. In this episode, we focus on how this translates to the education that we provide to our youth. We explore how we can leverage local culture to shape our youth into unique critical thinkers. To address this question, we are focusing on Somaliland and our guests are two resp...

This episode focuses on one of the most important questionsin philanthropy: how do philanthropic organisations go about ascertaining that they are indeed doing all the good they set out to do in the first place? While most development philanthropists are well-intentioned, whether these goodintentions end up improving development outcomes is not a foregone conclusion. So, to help us look at how to...

In this unique episode we are joined by Kidus Asfaw, Founderand CEO of Kubik - an Africa-based start-up transforming plastic waste into low-carbon construction materials that are cheaper and faster to build with than cement. Joining Kidus is our youngest guest to date, Helen Tekalign. A prodigious young student and already the winner of many local STEMcompetitions, Helen is in 8th grade at Pharo S...

This episode focuses on innovation in the most basic sense: the introduction of something new into an existing cultural context. Oxfam's Raissa Azzalini and Zakarie Abdi discuss sustainable, culturally appropriate, and environment-friendly Water, Sanitation and Hygiene solutions in fragile contexts.

This episode examines whether there are any lessons for Africa to learn from the development experience of East Asia. We want to look at what factors led relatively poor East Asian countries to develop so quickly and even saw them become technological innovators in the space of just a few decades. To make comparisons between these two continents and see how East Asia’s history can apply in Africa,...

There is a cliché that the diaspora’s migration crowds out opportunities for home grown talent and national innovation through the so-called ‘brain drain’. However, there are many initiatives that defy this cliché and in this episode, we explore the many modalities through which the diaspora can make a positive difference both at an individual level and on a national scale, leading to increased in...

In this episode we explore the various existing models of philanthropy and whether those working in this sector can/should innovate in the way they do philanthropy. We cover a variety of models from direct delivery to effective altruism through flexible funding, and we reflect on their implications for measuring impact. Our expert guests are David Nash, Community Director at Effective Altruism UK,...

According to the inter-continental panel on climate change, Africa is the continent most affected by this process. As such, in episode three we have brought in expert guests to tell us what the most cutting-edge environmental innovations are today, how we can support African innovators, and what it takes to get an idea from innovation to application. Our guests are Anuradha Bajaj, Chief Innovative...

For episode two we welcome Professor Panos Hatziandreas, head of Lebawi International Academy in Ethiopia, and Dr. Anne Makena, co-director of the Africa Oxford Initiative, to discuss innovation in the context of African education. If done right, a good education system is arguably the best means of lifting a population out of poverty. Our expert guests explore what it means to get it right in the...

In Afri-can’s first episode, Pharo Foundation CEO Tom Mason and Chicago Booth Business School Jean-Pierre Dube debate the role of risk-taking, experimentation and profit in driving African innovation. Drawing on their experience, they bring examples of how the private sector acts as a catalytic investor, which enables economic development in Africa.

Pharo Foundation's Global Director of Partnerships and Communications, Francesca Beausang, introduces our new podcast series Afri-can. In this series, she will be hosting a range of guests from the worlds of academia, philanthropy and business, to explore new approaches to development with a specific focus on African innovation. Look out for our first set of three episodes, which will go live...

Ahead of the release of our first episode on February 15th, this trailer outlines what the brand new Afri-can podcast is about. Our host, Francesca Beausang, looks forward to introducing you to her expert guests and exploring the ideas and concrete innovations through which Africa is becoming a model of innovation-driven development for the world.

When a university degree can increase someone’s income many times over, who should carry the risk of paying for it – the student, the state, or society as a whole?  In this episode of Afri-CAN, we explore how Income Share Agreements (ISAs) are changing access to higher education in Africa. Instead of taking on traditional debt, students commit to paying back a small percentage of their income  onl...