The ARC Insider

Karen and Tara discuss recent socio-political developments from across Africa, including the announcement of the death of Tanzania’s President John Magufuli and the escalating unrest in Senegal. This week, the presenters are joined by a very special guest, Sonal Sejpal - a leading figure in the world of East African finance and trade. Sonal helped to establish East Africa’s largest legal practice,...

It's a race against time to vaccinate the continent as Covid-19 mutates. This week, Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor speak with Professor Helen Rees - an internationally renowned scientist, recognised for her work on vaccines, HIV prevention and reproductive health.  Professor Rees, “a doctor activist” long before she became a “doctor scientist”, talks about the moral and economic imperative of equal...

Fist fights oil rights and the biggest shake up in Nigeria's energy sector in a generation.   Join Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor in conversation with Energy Analyst Najim Animashaun on why it has taken more than a decade to get new legislation in place to break up the state owned petroleum giant.  

Karen Allen and Tara O’Connor discuss key socio-political events from across the African continent from Uganda’s election to the impact the rollout of vaccines against Covid-19 could have on African economies.  This week, Karen and Tara are joined by Benjamin Haley, partner in the Johannesburg office of Covington & Burling. Ben shares his insights on the impact of the US presidential election on A...

For the last episode of the year, Tara and Karen give a whistle-stop tour of current news stories from across Africa. This week’s guest is a dynamic man from the world of food. A former East African Coca-Cola executive voted among the top 100 business leaders in Africa by Forbes Afrique, Peter Njonjo is the founder of Twiga Foods, the Kenya business-to-business food distribution platform which is...

This week Tara O'Connor and Karen Allen speak with Nigeria’s award winning entrepreneur venture capitalist Maya Horgan Famodu. Maya's talent spotting led to an early investment in Paystack, now the subject of a $200m buyout.  

This week Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor cover elections inside and outside of Africa with a particular focus on how the US election results might impact US-Africa relations. They are joined by Todd Moss, the former US Deputy Assistant Head of State for Africa and diplomatic thriller writer. 

The science of survival -  Epidemiologist and Philosopher Alex Broadbent makes a return visit to The Arc Insider to offer Africa's scorecard on managing the Coronavirus Pandemic. Join this and our regular canter through African current affairs in The Arc Insider 17.

This week, Tara O'Connor and Karen Allen are joined by Lord Peter Hain; they discuss corporate corruption in Africa, his involvement in the Zondo Commission and the inspiration for his latest thriller on dirty money and Rhinos - The Rhino Conspiracy.   

This week Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor are joined by Ferial Haffajee - one of Africa's most formidable journalists. Ferial talks about greed and corruption in the time of corona. 

Zimbabwe has been at the forefront of the news with the arrest of prominent journalists, figures from the world of literature and other opposition voices as the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa tries to clamp down on opposition. On this week's podcast, Karen and Tara discuss Zimbabwe’s economic and humanitarian crisis with Dewa Mavhinga. Dewa is a long time human rights advocate and Sout...

This week Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor have  prized the producers of Queen Sono away from their script writing to join them on the ARC Insider. Tamsin Anderson and Kagiso Lediga take us behind the scenes of the spy series that has taken the continent by storm.

Karen Allen and Tara O’Connor discuss key business and political updates from across Africa.    This week they speak to Yanesh Naidoo on how tech can create jobs in the sachet economy.    Yanesh is Jendamark Automation’s director of digital strategy, selling African-designed, tech-driven production facilities to the global automotive sector.       

This week  Karen Allen  and  Tara O'Connor  are joined by  Kevin Teeroovengadum . Kevin is the founder of PropTech and currently serves on numerous boards of companies in Mauritius. Discussions cover recent troubles in  Mauritius , including the decision by the European Commission to add the Indian Ocean island to its "high-risk" list of countries because of inadequate money laundering controls.

This week on the ARC Insider, Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor are joined by Professor Thuli Madonsela - the former Public Protector of South Africa and current Chair of Social Justice in the Law Faculty of Stellenbosch University. 

Making sense of the African car market in the Covid 19 era - the unique obstacles to going green in the future.  This week on the ARC Insider, Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor are joined by Kia South Africa's Managing Director, Gary Scott. 

Coffee, Vultures and Wind farms - Private Equity in Africa in times of economic uncertainty in the Covid 19 era.    This week, Karen Allen and ARC's Tara O'Connor are joined by Michael Turner - Managing Director of Actis, the global emerging markets investment firm.   

This week Tara O'Connor and Karen Allen speak to Kenyan political cartoonist Patrick Gathara about lockdowns, payouts and Madagascan "Muti" or Medicine. 

Today's podcast focuses on how the world is responding to the coronavirus pandemic and what it means for UK-Africa trade.  This week's special guest is Emma Wade-Smith - the UK's trade commissioner for Africa.   

Karen Allen and Tara O'Connor chat to Kenya's former anti-corruption tsar and human rights advocate John Githongo about the coronavirus in Africa, tough states, corruption and hair.

This week Tara O'Connor and Karen Allen look back on the news on the continent from the past 7 days and discuss the different COVID-19 responses.  They are joined by guest speaker Abel Ekele from Trivoda, a Nigeria based tech company using bluetooth technology to trace COVID-19 cases.

Karen Allen and Tara O’Connor discuss the ongoing response of governments and businesses across Africa to the coronavirus COVID-19.  This week’s special guest is Oghenetega Iortim, founder of gricd, a Nigeria based logistics company that specialises in transporting cold storage items  -health products and food stuffs - around Nigeria.

Karen Allen and Tara O’Connor discuss how countries across the continent are curtailing the spread of the virus and the key political and security issues associated with COVID-19. This week's episode features guest speaker Professor Alex Broadbent,​The Director of the Institute for the Future of Knowledge and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg.

The inaugural episode of the ARC Insider - a podcast series of Africa-focused conversations.