Unlocking Africa

Episode 218 with Ayotunde Alabi, CEO of Luno Nigeria, one of Africa’s leading cryptocurrency platforms. Ayotunde brings over a decade of experience across finance and technology, with leadership roles at Spektra, ARM HoldCo, FBNQuest and Heritage Bank. As a SEC Sponsored Individual with certifications from the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers in Nigeria and the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment in the United Kingdom, he sits at the intersection of traditional finance, fintech, and digital assets. In this episode, we explore how cryptocurrency, fintech, and regulation are transforming Africa’s financial system in 2026. With new tax regimes, increased regulatory scrutiny, and rising capital r...

Episode 217 of the Unlocking Africa Podcast with Amadou Daffe, CEO and Co founder of Gebeya, a leading pan African technology company building talent ecosystems, digital marketplaces, and AI powered platforms to unlock Africa’s global competitiveness. As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, a critical question is emerging: will Africa simply consume AI tools built elsewhere, or will it build, own, and capture value from AI within the continent? Amadou shares how Gebeya’s latest platform, Gebeya Dala, developed in partnership with Cassava Technologies, is helping African entrepreneurs, creators, and SMEs move from using AI to building AI driven products. From enabling users to turn ideas into f...

Episode 216 with Derrick Edem Akpalu, Co Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Revna Biosciences, a biotechnology company advancing precision medicine, genomics, and molecular diagnostics across Africa. Derrick is leading a mission to transform healthcare outcomes by building world class diagnostic and research capabilities that address some of the continent’s most pressing medical challenges. Through Revna Biosciences, he is helping bring advanced genomic testing, clinical research partnerships, and personalised treatment selection closer to the patients and healthcare providers who need them most. Derrick explains why precision medicine could play a significant role in the future of healthcare across Afric...

Episode 215 with Luc-Etienne Dandrieu, General Manager of AlphaSeeds, a philanthropic investment company supporting sustainable agribusiness SMEs across Africa. In this episode we explore the future of African agribusiness, agricultural investment, and food security, and how patient capital can unlock new opportunities for entrepreneurs across the continent. Luc-Etienne brings more than twenty years of experience across agriculture, food systems, research and development, and sustainability management, with previous roles spanning global food companies and Mercy Ships Switzerland. In this conversation we examine one of the most critical challenges facing African agriculture today: the massive financing gap fo...

Episode 214 with Foulo Basse, President and Chief Executive of The Brazzaville Foundation, an organisation leading Africa’s battle against falsified medicines, counterfeit drugs, and pharmaceutical crime across the continent. Fake and substandard medicines are one of the most urgent yet under reported public health crises in Africa. From ineffective antibiotics and compromised malaria treatments to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, falsified medicines are costing lives, undermining trust in health systems, and fuelling organised criminal networks that exploit regulatory gaps and weak border controls. In this episode, Foulo Basse explains why rising seizures of counterfeit medicines across Africa...

Episode 213 with Sander de Klerk, CEO and Founder of The Good Roll, a fast growing ecosystem reshaping the global paper industry through circular production, ethical sourcing, and socially inclusive solutions rooted in Africa. Recently named EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2024, Sander is building far more than a sustainable consumer brand. What began as The Good Roll, producing tree friendly toilet paper from recycled paper, has evolved into a fully integrated value chain anchored in Ghana. At the heart of the model is bamboo pulp production, working with thousands of farmers and creating hundreds of jobs while supplying sustainable raw materials to producers across Africa and Europe. Sander explains ho...

Morocco and Senegal have signed 17 new economic agreements following the drama at the Africa Cup of Nations final. These agreements cover agriculture, infrastructure, fisheries and mining, sectors that drive trade, investment and long term growth across Africa. Why does this matter? Because intra Africa trade and African led investment are essential for economic integration, job creation and regional resilience. This is not just diplomacy. It is structured economic cooperation between two African economies. Watch to understand what this means for African trade, investment and long term growth. #africa #morocco #senegal #africancup #africantrade #intraafricatrade #economicgrowth #africanbusiness #africaninvest...

Episode 212 with Nicola Goldstein, HR Tech entrepreneur and Co Founder of Breedj, an artificial intelligence powered talent marketplace transforming global hiring in Africa. With over fifteen years of experience in international recruitment, outsourcing, Employer of Record services, payroll compliance, and remote workforce management, Nicola joins the Unlocking Africa Podcast to explore how Africa can position itself at the centre of the future of work. Breedj is building the infrastructure for cross border hiring by enabling international companies to source, hire, onboard, and pay African talent in full legal compliance. Through artificial intelligence driven talent matching, Employer of Record solutions, a...

Episode 211 with with Kanessa Muluneh, serial entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Nyle Investment Group, a diaspora focused investment firm connecting global capital with high impact opportunities across Africa. Kanessa exited her first company at 21 and has since spent over a decade building, scaling, investing in, and advising businesses across Africa’s most important growth sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, technology, and the digital economy. In this episode of the Unlocking Africa Podcast, Kanessa brings a rare founder operator investor perspective to how Africa can unlock sustainable economic growth in the 21st century. She explains why Africa’s economic future will not be driven by tech...

Episode 210 with Francis Osifo, Co Founder and CEO of Rayda, a global IT asset lifecycle management platform supporting remote and distributed teams in over 170 countries. As remote work reshapes how companies hire globally, one critical challenge remains under discussed: how businesses actually equip, manage, and retrieve devices for employees across borders. In this episode of the Unlocking Africa Podcast, Francis Osifo explains how Rayda is solving this problem by building the infrastructure that enables global remote work, particularly in emerging markets such as Africa. Francis shares how Rayda has simplified device procurement, onboarding, management, retrieval, and recycling to keep remote teams produc...