african entrepreneurs

African markets are largely informal. So while our examination of workforce and training programs in the fast few episodes focused on formal and salaried jobs, we know that most Africans aren't going to get these types of jobs. So, our exploration of the future of work needs to span much further than that. Where there are no formal jobs, what does it look like to help stimulate the development of the informal sector and microenterprises? And what role does technology play?

In this context, we hear a lot about platforms and their role in creating jobs or income-generating opportunities. But what are the platforms actually good for? And what is their actual impact across African markets? In this episode, we're going to dig into the vertical platforms digitizing microenterprises across the continent. 

3:46 - Defining jobtech platforms, with the Jobtech Alliance's Chris Maclay.

9:10 - What does it look like to build the infrastructure for microenterprises? With Kandua's Sayo Folawiyo. 

12:16 - Exploring what verticalization looks like, and why it is necessary, considering the specifities of the home services sector.

17:25 - Vertical platforms can do a particularly good job at helping small businesses grow. We focus on a particularly large sector, the restaurant industry, with Caantin's Njavwa Mutambo. 

21:20 - A retrospective conversation between Sayo Folawiyo and The Flip's Justin Norman. 

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Throughout this season, we've heard about this disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace. It's often a skills and training issue. 

Even where there are jobs, there's still this disconnect between demand and supply. But what are we training people for when there are few jobs or income-generating opportunities? 

In the past few episodes of this season, we've explored the talent networks, the remote work platforms, the workforce enablement programs, and the multi-stakeholder initiatives to attract more global roles to the African continent. All of these interventions work to better connect supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and often there is a necessary training component to these interventions to equip African talent with the skills to do the jobs in question.

Edtech and tech-enabled skilling platforms have a role to play too, considering the size and scope of the challenge at hand. So in this episode, we're going to explore these programs working to tackle this problem at scale across the continent.

6:39 - We explore the disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and the talent deficiency, with AltSchool Africa's Adewale Yusuf.
9:19 - The business model question is important. The recruiting agency model is at odds with the scale of impact programs seek to achieve, explains Stack Shift's Chris Quintero.
10:48 - Short-form programs need to get really good at developing curriculum that's in line with the demands of the market, especially if they're charging talent directly for their service. We hear from AltSchool Africa's Carlin Henikoff.
14:18 - We explore this challenge with a focus on tertiary education, with Kibo School's Ope Bukola.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Throughout this season, we've heard about this disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace. It's often a skills and training issue. 

Even where there are jobs, there's still this disconnect between demand and supply. But what are we training people for when there are few jobs or income-generating opportunities? 

In the past few episodes of this season, we've explored the talent networks, the remote work platforms, the workforce enablement programs, and the multi-stakeholder initiatives to attract more global roles to the African continent. All of these interventions work to better connect supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and often there is a necessary training component to these interventions to equip African talent with the skills to do the jobs in question.

Edtech and tech-enabled skilling platforms have a role to play too, considering the size and scope of the challenge at hand. So in this episode, we're going to explore these programs working to tackle this problem at scale across the continent.

6:39 - We explore the disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and the talent deficiency, with AltSchool Africa's Adewale Yusuf.
9:19 - The business model question is important. The recruiting agency model is at odds with the scale of impact programs seek to achieve, explains Stack Shift's Chris Quintero.
10:48 - Short-form programs need to get really good at developing curriculum that's in line with the demands of the market, especially if they're charging talent directly for their service. We hear from AltSchool Africa's Carlin Henikoff.
14:18 - We explore this challenge with a focus on tertiary education, with Kibo School's Ope Bukola.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

How do we tie interventions - whether traditional education or boot camps or training programs - to job outcomes? As we'll explore in this episode, it requires a demand-led approach and starts with employers. 

In this episode, we're going to focus on the platforms doing the matching - those that are explicitly working to better connect supply and demand in the job marketplace, to achieve the employment outcomes we wish to see across the continent. 

4:03 - We start our exploration on matching with the traditional jobs marketplaces, with The African Talent Company's Hilda Kragha.
6:26 - What kinds of roles are most in demand across the African content?
8:15 - Taking a demand-led approach, with Generation's Dr. Mona Mourshed.
14:05 - How do we get more employers to consider evolving their hiring practices, in the context of such an inefficient labor market?
17:34 - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's b-mic Sayo Folawiyo, and its Founder, Justin Norman.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

How do we tie interventions - whether traditional education or boot camps or training programs - to job outcomes? As we'll explore in this episode, it requires a demand-led approach and starts with employers. 

In this episode, we're going to focus on the platforms doing the matching - those that are explicitly working to better connect supply and demand in the job marketplace, to achieve the employment outcomes we wish to see across the continent. 

4:03 - We start our exploration on matching with the traditional jobs marketplaces, with The African Talent Company's Hilda Kragha.
6:26 - What kinds of roles are most in demand across the African content?
8:15 - Taking a demand-led approach, with Generation's Dr. Mona Mourshed.
14:05 - How do we get more employers to consider evolving their hiring practices, in the context of such an inefficient labor market?
17:34 - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's b-mic Sayo Folawiyo, and its Founder, Justin Norman.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

What's particularly exciting about remote work is that it's not constrained by the demand from the local market. The jobs can come from anywhere in the world.

But it leaves us with a big question: why are global employers looking to hire African talent? And how can African markets take advantage of the opportunity and capture more of these jobs for its citizens?

This episode is another case study, on what it looks like to develop the global business services industry in a country like South Africa.

3:50 - Understanding how the global business services sector works, with Genesis Analytics' Mark Schoeman. What compels global organizations to open a delivery center in a given market?
8:27 - The most important consideration is the development of a scalable skills pipeline.
12:03 -  The work largely becomes building the talent pipeline to service demand. We explore what that looks like with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator's Sharmi Surianarain.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

What's particularly exciting about remote work is that it's not constrained by the demand from the local market. The jobs can come from anywhere in the world.

But it leaves us with a big question: why are global employers looking to hire African talent? And how can African markets take advantage of the opportunity and capture more of these jobs for its citizens?

This episode is another case study, on what it looks like to develop the global business services industry in a country like South Africa.

3:50 - Understanding how the global business services sector works, with Genesis Analytics' Mark Schoeman. What compels global organizations to open a delivery center in a given market?
8:27 - The most important consideration is the development of a scalable skills pipeline.
12:03 -  The work largely becomes building the talent pipeline to service demand. We explore what that looks like with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator's Sharmi Surianarain.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

We know that local economies are not going to create enough jobs or income-generating opportunities for such a rapidly growing African population. But at the same time, for countries in the global north whose working-age population is shrinking, where's the labor going to come from?

The solution to both of these problems might be the same:  remote work. 

In this episode, we're going to explore three buckets of remote work: the sexy, high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, the services-based IT work and business process outsourcing, and lastly, the increase of non-technical work that's delivered or fulfilled through digital means.

4:39 - Exploring high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, with Andela's Jeremy Johnson. 

10:18 - Andela's model, and the type of talent they've worked with, has evolved since its founding in 2014.

12:30 - Product companies are looking for a specific caliber of talent from an experience level. What does this mean for the future of work in Africa if experience level is such an important requirement? This is where Fred Swaniker and the African Leadership Group come in, which is focused on connecting talent to global services companies. 

19:28 - Whereas there's an ever-increasing demand for software developers, it takes a long time to train developer talent. So what about roles that aren't technical, but that can still be fulfilled with technology? We discuss with Shortlist's Paul Breloff.

23:11 - The talent networks are going to play an increasingly important role in bridging supply with demand, with a sector-specific focus. Consider the model "Andela for X". 

25:03 - One vertical platform creating opportunities for non-technical talent is Caret, the Nigerian-based platform focused on customer success. We speak to its founder, Tolu Agunbiade. 

28:22 - A retrospective conversation between The Flip's b-mic Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

We know that local economies are not going to create enough jobs or income-generating opportunities for such a rapidly growing African population. But at the same time, for countries in the global north whose working-age population is shrinking, where's the labor going to come from?

The solution to both of these problems might be the same:  remote work. 

In this episode, we're going to explore three buckets of remote work: the sexy, high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, the services-based IT work and business process outsourcing, and lastly, the increase of non-technical work that's delivered or fulfilled through digital means.

4:39 - Exploring high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, with Andela's Jeremy Johnson. 

10:18 - Andela's model, and the type of talent they've worked with, has evolved since its founding in 2014.

12:30 - Product companies are looking for a specific caliber of talent from an experience level. What does this mean for the future of work in Africa if experience level is such an important requirement? This is where Fred Swaniker and the African Leadership Group come in, which is focused on connecting talent to global services companies. 

19:28 - Whereas there's an ever-increasing demand for software developers, it takes a long time to train developer talent. So what about roles that aren't technical, but that can still be fulfilled with technology? We discuss with Shortlist's Paul Breloff.

23:11 - The talent networks are going to play an increasingly important role in bridging supply with demand, with a sector-specific focus. Consider the model "Andela for X". 

25:03 - One vertical platform creating opportunities for non-technical talent is Caret, the Nigerian-based platform focused on customer success. We speak to its founder, Tolu Agunbiade. 

28:22 - A retrospective conversation between The Flip's b-mic Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

In the first episode of this season, we argued that the future of work is a traditional development playbook. Considering the nature of most African markets today - informal, fragmented, subscale -  and considering the fact that most employment comes from the agriculture sector, the traditional development playbook says that development starts by increasing the productivity of the informal sector and the agriculture sector, in particular.

These jobs are local jobs. In the context of Africa's rising population, millions of jobs need to be created and millions of local jobs will need to be created. But where are newfound local jobs going to come?

This episode is a case study. We'll explore the decentralized renewable energy sector, or DRE, to see what job creation from a nascent industry could look like. 

Where there are sectors that are growing in importance in size, like the clean energy sector, how can African markets take advantage?

2:59 - The seeds of this episode's exploration were planted during a conversation with Shortlist's Paul Breloff. There are significant opportunities for sectors that are actually creating local jobs, and one sector they are bullish on is decentralized renewable energy.

4:28 - We dig into Power for All's Powering Jobs Census, to explore the scope of DRE's local job creation, with its research director, Carolina Pan.

10:51 - Exploring the second-order benefits of DRE, including indirect and induced jobs.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

In the first episode of this season, we argued that the future of work is a traditional development playbook. Considering the nature of most African markets today - informal, fragmented, subscale -  and considering the fact that most employment comes from the agriculture sector, the traditional development playbook says that development starts by increasing the productivity of the informal sector and the agriculture sector, in particular.

These jobs are local jobs. In the context of Africa's rising population, millions of jobs need to be created and millions of local jobs will need to be created. But where are newfound local jobs going to come?

This episode is a case study. We'll explore the decentralized renewable energy sector, or DRE, to see what job creation from a nascent industry could look like. 

Where there are sectors that are growing in importance in size, like the clean energy sector, how can African markets take advantage?

2:59 - The seeds of this episode's exploration were planted during a conversation with Shortlist's Paul Breloff. There are significant opportunities for sectors that are actually creating local jobs, and one sector they are bullish on is decentralized renewable energy.

4:28 - We dig into Power for All's Powering Jobs Census, to explore the scope of DRE's local job creation, with its research director, Carolina Pan.

10:51 - Exploring the second-order benefits of DRE, including indirect and induced jobs.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

How are jobs created? While throughout the season we're going to be looking at that question primarily through a technology and innovation lens, in this episode we're going to start by exploring this jobs question through a more traditional development and economics lens. Because as we'll see, though the future of work might be remote work or the creator economy or any other nascent categories, the future of work in Africa is also a traditional development story. And it starts with farming.

4:11 - Africa's population is 1.4 billion people. It will double by 2050. Where are the jobs going to come from?
5:50 - Employment and informality, with development economist Louise Fox.
7:13 - The traditional development story starts with agriculture.
10:19 - Step two in the playbook is to invest in an export-oriented industry.
13:13 - Agriculture is an important sector to invest in from a development and job creation perspective. We speak to PE investor Jerry Parkes.
19:15 - The opportunity for an integrated approach across the value chain.
21:43 - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

How are jobs created? While throughout the season we're going to be looking at that question primarily through a technology and innovation lens, in this episode we're going to start by exploring this jobs question through a more traditional development and economics lens. Because as we'll see, though the future of work might be remote work or the creator economy or any other nascent categories, the future of work in Africa is also a traditional development story. And it starts with farming.

4:11 - Africa's population is 1.4 billion people. It will double by 2050. Where are the jobs going to come from?
5:50 - Employment and informality, with development economist Louise Fox.
7:13 - The traditional development story starts with agriculture.
10:19 - Step two in the playbook is to invest in an export-oriented industry.
13:13 - Agriculture is an important sector to invest in from a development and job creation perspective. We speak to PE investor Jerry Parkes.
19:15 - The opportunity for an integrated approach across the value chain.
21:43 - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Introducing The Flip Season Four. African countries will be adding more people to the workforce in the next 10 years than the rest of the world combined. Where are the income-generating opportunities going to come from? 

All this season, we're exploring the future of work. 

Thanks to MFS Africa for their sponsorship of the entirety of Season 4 of The Flip.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Introducing The Flip Season Four. African countries will be adding more people to the workforce in the next 10 years than the rest of the world combined. Where are the income-generating opportunities going to come from? 

All this season, we're exploring the future of work. 

Thanks to MFS Africa for their sponsorship of the entirety of Season 4 of The Flip.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Read Sabi: Platforming Trade in Africa on The Flip.

We’re trying something new - an audio version of this week's partner edition of The Flip Notes, together with Sabi. Along with narration from The Flip's Justin Norman, you can hear Sabi’s co-founders, Anu Adedoyin Adasolum and Ademola Adesina, tell part of the story in their own words.

The Flip Notes Partner Editions are our occasional sponsored deep dive of a market or sector or business model, in partnership and behind the scenes with a company whose story benefits the ecosystem. You can read more about the process and guidelines of the partner editions here. 

Subscribe to The Flip Notes: https://theflip.africa/subscribe.

In today's edition of The Flip Notes, we’ll tell Sabi’s story across a few different dimensions:

03:32 - Rensource and COVID’s Creative Destruction
05:45 - Understanding Value Chains
10:30 - The Product
13:42 - Platforms and The Bill Gates Line
15:52 - The Risks
18:04 - The Opportunity

Read Sabi: Platforming Trade in Africa on The Flip.

We’re trying something new - an audio version of this week's partner edition of The Flip Notes, together with Sabi. Along with narration from The Flip's Justin Norman, you can hear Sabi’s co-founders, Anu Adedoyin Adasolum and Ademola Adesina, tell part of the story in their own words.

The Flip Notes Partner Editions are our occasional sponsored deep dive of a market or sector or business model, in partnership and behind the scenes with a company whose story benefits the ecosystem. You can read more about the process and guidelines of the partner editions here. 

Subscribe to The Flip Notes: https://theflip.africa/subscribe.

In today's edition of The Flip Notes, we’ll tell Sabi’s story across a few different dimensions:

03:32 - Rensource and COVID’s Creative Destruction
05:45 - Understanding Value Chains
10:30 - The Product
13:42 - Platforms and The Bill Gates Line
15:52 - The Risks
18:04 - The Opportunity

As MFS Africa announces its $100 million Series C, The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo sit down for a conversation with MFS Africa's Founder and CEO, Dare Okoudjou.

[02:34]- First question, on MFS Africa's recent acquisition of Baxi, and their expansion into Nigeria.
[05:36] - Why Nigeria? And why now?
[09:15] - On MFS Africa's expansion capabilities. 
[12:49] - Beyond remittances. - on trade clusters and markets.
[18:05] - How does MFS Africa think about collaboration in the ecosystem while keeping the discipline to focus strictly on a B2B service? 
[22:26] - On sexiness and fundraising.
[29:51] - On valuations and fintech consolidation. 
[35:39] - Having scaled across 30+ countries, what does Dare think about regulatory fragmentation? And what does he wish happens from a governmental point of view? 

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.

As MFS Africa announces its $100 million Series C, The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo sit down for a conversation with MFS Africa's Founder and CEO, Dare Okoudjou.

[02:34]- First question, on MFS Africa's recent acquisition of Baxi, and their expansion into Nigeria.
[05:36] - Why Nigeria? And why now?
[09:15] - On MFS Africa's expansion capabilities. 
[12:49] - Beyond remittances. - on trade clusters and markets.
[18:05] - How does MFS Africa think about collaboration in the ecosystem while keeping the discipline to focus strictly on a B2B service? 
[22:26] - On sexiness and fundraising.
[29:51] - On valuations and fintech consolidation. 
[35:39] - Having scaled across 30+ countries, what does Dare think about regulatory fragmentation? And what does he wish happens from a governmental point of view? 

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.

As we began our exploration into retail and the so-called B2B commerce platforms, we kept asking about the nature of last-mile retail. Why is it so fragmented? And can we expect retail consolidation? 

In this episode, we explore why retail looks the way that it does in African markets, and how B2B commerce platforms are working to empower retailers in the context of the way in which last-mile retail works to meet the demands of their customers, the mass-market consumers across the continent. 

These platforms aggregate demand at the fragmented last mile, to ensure that products not only get to consumers but get to consumers more efficiently, with the aim to ultimately reduce the costs of goods, which, as we talked about last episode, are disproportionately expensive in African markets.

[05:12] - Why is retail in Africa so fragmented? As Twiga Foods' Peter Njonjo explains, it's largely due to the rate of population growth in urban cities across the continent.
[07:42] - How are B2B commerce platforms attempting to provide solutions for retailers in the context of massive fragmentation? We go on a journey of discovery with ZUMI's William McCarren.
[14:29] - So what exactly do B2B commerce platforms do, and how does retailer aggregation work? Sokowatch's Daniel Yu explains.
[16:52] - And as a result, these platforms can offer embedded finance offerings to SMEs and retailers who may not have previously had access to credit.
[22:07] - On the back of demand aggregation, platforms like Twiga Foods and Sokowatch are both needing to invest further upstream at the supply level of the value chain, as well.
[31:30] - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's host, Justin Norman, and b-mic, Sayo Folawiyo.

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.