Boardroom Banter

Is it possible to do well while doing good in Africa?  This week in the Boardroom, we spoke to Ebenezer Asante, the Senior Vice President for Markets at MTN Group, whose leadership and business philosophy left us speechless. Hailing from Ghana and with a footprint of impact and success across the continent, Ebenezer firmly believes that it is possible to prioritize ethics and integrity while simul...

From growing up in rural Kenya to standing at the forefront of building and using cutting-edge technologies over the past 20 years- Joseph Makokha joins us in the Boardroom this week to unpack a life and career unlike no other. Joseph currently holds a Ph. D. and Master's degree from Stanford University and practices research and engineering at the intersection of people and technology.  In re...

While at the helm of a fast-growing and thriving pan-African healthcare company, failure was a far-fetched concept to Steven Adjei. Until it wasn’t.  After scaling into unknown territories and encountering multiple crippling setbacks, years of work and hard-earned capital went down the drain. In this episode, we sat down with Steven to unpack the realities of scaling profitable businesses in Afric...

Hailing from the gold coast, and currently breaking barriers in Britain, this week's guest, Akosua Bame, is an accomplished management consultant with a very specific skillset: Reviving dying corporations through mindset transformation.  After 20 years of success in her craft, Akosua has pioneered a unique and trademarked approach to catalyzing change that starts with the mind of an individual...

In this episode of Founders Friday- Yuri, Sean and Boniface are back in the Boardroom like they never left! With a heated battle between Twitter and the new kid on the block; Threads, the trio discusses the facts, figures and factors behind the latest social media spectacle. We also dig into the underlying trends surrounding big tech and the race to capture as much data as possible. Should we be w...

This week in the Boardroom, we had a fascinating conversation with Ilya Strebulaev, the Unicorn Whisperer. Over his 20-year career at the center of Silicon Valley’s startup gold rush, he has turned the art of investing in startups through Venture Capital and Private Equity, into a science.  He is a tenured Professor of Finance and Private Equity at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a leadin...

In this week's episode, we dive into a conversation on the extraordinary life and work of Ahva Sadeghi, a changemaker leading the evolution of digital talent pipelines as a social entrepreneur, economist and C.E.O of Symba.  Through deep reflections on culture and identity, Ahva shares childhood experiences, pivotal moments in her early career, and the fascinating evolution of her identity thr...

Forever on the move, forever setting trends, forever doing that which they say cannot be done, G-Money is a man that lives up to his motto.  As a UK-born, Jamaican-rooted and Kenyan-bred international DJ, radio host and events extraordinaire, Gmoney has a lifetime of experience building communities around the prevailing sounds of a generation.  In this episode, we explore how a multicultural upbri...

In the increasingly globalized world that we live in, it’s important for us to learn how to be keepers of our values as Africans as we live and work in different multicultural environments. In today’s episode, we welcome Wadzanayi Mutema (Wadzy) to the Boardroom to unpack what it truly means to be culture custodians and global citizens. Wadzy is from Zimbabwe and has expansive experience working i...

With the advent of digital payments and similar finance innovations across Africa, important questions surface about the future of money, it’s role in our society and the tools that will eventually stand the test of time.  To answer these questions we spoke to Tauriq Keraan, a digital payments veteran, former C.E.O of South Africa’s first digital bank known as Tyme Bank and the current Group Execu...

From the peak of a stellar, accomplished and global career as a Fortune 500 executive, this week's guest reflects on the composition of what success means to us as Africans. After spending 30 years building global brands, championing development and mobilizing cutting-edge ideas, Yaw Nsarkoh sits down with us to unpack the composition of the modern-day Pan-African. In this episode, we take a w...

Can you recall the most memorable workplace you've ever been a part of? What made it stand out? Was it the leadership, your colleagues, the work atmosphere, the compensation, or a combination of factors? In this episode, we have the pleasure of hosting Gary Cookson in the Boardroom. Gary is not only a father of four and a dedicated husband, but he also runs a successful business called EPIC in...

We've all dreamt about it: getting into Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, you name it! But oftentimes we stop in our tracks and give in to our doubts... am I talented enough? Are my grades good enough? Do they even know the obscure local schools I went to? Do they really consider people like me? In this episode, we spoke to Breauna Marie Spencer- the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion withi...

How are you? Like really, how are you feeling? This week's Founder-in-Studio collaboration brings into focus a topic loved and appreciated in the Boardroom: Wellness . As high-energy, ambitious entrepreneurs, young professionals and go-getters- we sometimes need to sit down with ourselves and those around us for a quick P.E.N check. Khushbu Kotak, a mental health advocate and the C.E.O. of Sal...

Welcome to our 100th episode! With reflection and gratitude being guiding values in the Boardroom, we decided to bring back one of our first and most impactful guests, Dr. Mzamo Masito, the Chief Marketing Officer for Google Africa. In this special episode, we explore the unique power of our minds and our ability to turn our situations, no matter how complex and varied, into success. Dr. Mzamo gui...

The rise of the gig economy in Africa has opened up new doors for millions of young, ambitious workers like ourselves looking for flexible employment opportunities and great pay. However, as the use of algorithms for managing and evaluating gig workers and competition from Artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent, we must also consider the human cost of this shift. From the lack of human int...

As changemakers in the making or in practice, a dilemma often faced is the disconnect between our everyday lives and those of the people we want to help or empower. This week’s founder-in-studio, Ziyaan Virji, born and raised in Tanzania, tells us the fascinating story behind “For the Menstruator"- an international social impact enterprise tackling period poverty. As someone who is definitely...

Have you ever found yourself knee-deep in a way of living or thinking that you can’t help but wonder, whose idea was this? Today's episode takes a deep dive into the concept of "Sacred Cows", as introduced in Episode #59 with Steve Boehlke. These are sensitive topics, beliefs or traditions that teams, families, corporations and societies at large practice that can often be hard to qu...

Discover the secrets to unlocking your leadership potential with Steve Boehlke, a global consulting expert and master facilitator of leadership. In this episode, we delve deep into the importance of authenticity and personal identity in leadership and explore strategies for identifying and addressing the blind spots that may be holding one back from unleashing their leadership potential. By distil...

Founders Friday brings with it all the highs, lows, laughs and banter of the week. Today's episode welcomes one of our peers to join us in studio: an entrepreneur in the fashion space. Lynnet Muritu joins us from New York where she runs her luxury fashion brand, Mimi Pambo- exporting accessories and other products from Kenya to the rest of the world. We catch up with her on how the business is...

What has been the most profound learning experience you have gone through in life? Today in the Boardroom we hang out with Gabi Immelman as we reflect on this question and the power of such experiences in shaping who we are today and the work that we do. Gabi is the Co-founder & C.E.O of Mindjoy, an Artificial Intelligence enabled platform that gives educators A.I superpowers to transform less...

Is the grass greener on the other side, or perhaps just the side you choose to water? On this Founders Friday episode we spiced things up by introducing a new segment; peer-to-peer conversations with a 'Founder-In-Studio'. To kick us off, we invited our good friend Jefferson Kangacha to join us in the boardroom from his lovely home in Ithaca, New York. We discussed the concept of “brain dr...

Here in the Boardroom, we are insanely curious about the psychology and process of building truly amazing products /services. So this week our search for incredible builders finds us taking a unique masterclass as we speak to Narek Verdian. Narek is a global tech executive with over 20 years of experience recruiting and managing international tech teams that use disruptive technologies to drive pr...

Top athletes, musicians, entrepreneurs, scientists and any other craft you can imagine, all experience something incredible: The Flow State.  Characterized by the ability to perform at the highest level for extended periods of time with a trance-like obsession, the flow state is key to high performance! In this episode, inspired by a conversation in one of our favorite shows, “The Shop” by UN...

How can we tap into our ability to create and add value to our life and everyone around us? Today in the boardroom, we are joined by Arman Amin, the C.E.O and productmancer at Send More Brains Inc- an international creative design studio based in Toronto, Canada. Arman was born in Canada to two immigrant parents from Iran and grew up in both countries early on. His work today sheds light on the ab...