Doers Within Us Podcast

Alexander Thomson-Payan is a Babson Alumnus (Class of 2006) and Founder of Thomson Group International (TGI).  TGI is a pan-African holding company based in Luanda, Angola with offices in Miami, London, and Hong Kong. TGI's portfolio companies operate in Telecommunications, Logistics/Supply Management, Transportation, Mobile Technology, and Real Estate Development sectors.

In 2007, Alexander at the age of 22 raised over $100,000 from his friends and set on a journey to Angola to start Electrix, a mobile phone distribution company and TGI's first venture. Prior to this experience, he worked at Brightstar, Inc. the largest telecommunications distribution company in the world, now sold to SoftBank.

By 2015, TGI portfolio companies generated over $2 million monthly from selling phones and supplying oil explorers with supplies.  Alexander serves as the Honorary Consul of Colombia to Angola, Vice President of Global Shapers, a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, and a Board Member of the US-Angola Chamber of Commerce.  Additionally, he founded an NGO called 100% for Love. This charity based in Angola wherein 100% of all received donations will go directly to feeding children in hospitals, orphanages, and villages.

He is multilingual and fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Mandarin (he studied 9 hours per day when he was young). In this episode, he shares his bi-nationalistic background (American dad and Colombian mom- born in Saudi Arabia), his career development with an outstanding mentor a Brightstar, Inc. to becoming an entrepreneur of his own.  He provides some fascinating insights on Angola, several industries he has worked in, advice to aspiring entrepreneurs (specifically for Africans in Diaspora), and more.  son Alumnus (Class of 2006), and the Founder of Thomson Group International (TGI).

Victor Asemota is a technology entrepreneur and investor who serves as a board member and advisor to leading fintech and investment firms across Africa. He is Africa Partner for Alta Global Ventures, the founder of SwiftaCorp, and an advisory board member of Assets and Resource Management.   

A co-founder of the African Diaspora Mentorship and Investment Network, Victor is committed to the growth and mentorship of the next generation of talent on the continent. He volunteers as a global mentor for the Google Launchpad startup community and the Interaction Design Foundation where he is the continent manager for Africa.   

Educated in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, he has been a pioneer in the African Information Technology industry.  

Victor's Ted talk on a future built on role models (mentioned in this conversation): https://www.ted.com/talks/victor_asemota_a_future_built_on_role_models 

The book that Victor mentioned in the conversation: https://www.amazon.com/Winners-successful-strategies-entrepreneurs-businesses/dp/0030018870

Victor's twitter handle: https://twitter.com/asemota 

Victor's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asemota/

David Akinin is changing the way informal sector retailers source and interact with brands in Namibia. He is the Founder and CEO of JABU. He and his team recently raised $3.2 million. JABU (YC S21) is a B2B marketplace and last-mile distribution partner, offering tech-enabled, route-to-market development and merchandising for FMCG brands in undeveloped areas while helping unbanked businesses grow through efficient delivery, an affordable product basket, inventory management, and credit facilities.  

Headquartered in Windhoek, Namibia, they are reinventing the way retailers in the informal sector order, stock, and receive supplies for their shops in Southern Africa.  

Akinin was kind enough to spend sometime on JamanInclusive, a platform within Jamani Corporate Group, LLC. We're more than pleased  to have him share the story of JABU, Lessons learned, and what of advice to entrepreneurs and simply every human who wants to make an impact on the world out there.

Pelkins Ajanoh is A Harvard Scholar and A Young Entrepreneur! A young Cameroonian born in Limbe, Pelkins rose to prominence when he obtained the highest score at the GCE Advanced Level in Cameroon. He then moved to the US where he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he graduated in 2018 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics. His goal of improving his community and creating a difference in people’s lives inspired him to launch a tech-enabled agribusiness CassVita Inc with his childhood friend Nembu Milton. 

The company they created is one of the fastest growing companies in Cameroon with endorsement from the Minister of Economy and got international recognition when MIT sent 3 students to Cameroon for internship in the Summer of 2018. CassVita products are available worldwide including in the US market. 

Besides founding CassVita, Pelkins has also been a Product Manager at Microsoft and has patented novel technologies for self-driving cars while working for General Motors. He is currently pursuing dual Master’s degrees in both the Harvard School of Engineering and the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Kara Diallo is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Specialist for the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub. He is based in Dakar, Senegal, and provides technical assistance and training to export-ready businesses across the region on AGOA and U.S. import requirements.

In addition to this work, Kara also assists U.S. companies in finding, vetting, and doing business with West Africa-based companies, thus providing critical market linkages between these two entities. He also collaborates with governments and private sector representatives on the development of national AGOA export strategies.

Mr. Diallo’s experience within the region and deep understanding of AGOA comes from his work for the former Trade Hub (2016–2017), where he coordinated and supported the activities of the AGOA Trade Resource Centers (ATRCs) in West Africa. Mr. Diallo also previously served as Trade Advisor at the ATRC in Bamako, Mali, from 2010 to 2012, where he led all AGOA-related activities.

Mr. Diallo is a citizen of Mali and holds a master’s degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Blida in Algeria.

More about Diallo here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diallo-kara-a27a2692/?originalSubdomain=sn  

More about West Africa Trade & Investment Hub: https://westafricatradehub.com/?fbclid=IwAR1VkHfPV41y_nLthPob3YsL2-Twucx-8Lr0jHBbVJASmSjDDJit9r_KKvg

Upon graduation, Timbo joined Google where he spent seven years working in product management and marketing. Highlights of his time at Google include thelaunch of Google Maps across EMEA, and taking Chromecast from idea to launch, filing seven patents along the way.

In 2014, Timbo took a sabbatical from Google and used this time to travel across East and West Africa. It was during this time he recognised some of the addressing challenges that people living in these territories faced, and he decided to dedicate his time to finding solutions. The result of this exploration was OkHi.

As OkHi’s CEO and Co-Founder, Timbo launched the company in Nairobi on the back of validating the addressing problem space in Kenya, He now leads the company as they prepare to officially launch in Nigeria.

Timbo holds a MEng from the University of Oxford.

Ibrahim Aroyewun is Product Lead (Payments) at Seerbit, a Pan-African enterprise payment platform that enables fast, seamless, inclusive and secure payments for leading local and global companies present on the continent.

At Seerbit, Ibrahim manages a team of product managers, designers and engineers that are responsible for building the brand's customer centric online and offline payment products, which are tailored to the different verticals in Africa.

Prior to Seerbit, Ibrahim was Product Manager at Guaranty Trust Bank in Nigeria, where he led the bank's product ideation, design and development efforts targeted to SME’s and large corporates across Africa.

Ibrahim has over 5 years of product creation and management experience and has spent his time building products for both government agencies and private-owned businesses in Nigeria. Across the product creation value chain, he is especially well versed in customer segmentation, product discovery and growth.

Ibrahim holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Biochemistry from The University of florin in Nigeria and graduated with top honors. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Information Technology at the Prestigious University of Lagos.

She is a passionate, motivated entrepreneur in the tech industry aspiring to contribute to machine vision. She is curious but optimistic about the positive changes that AI could bring to our next generations. She is eager to be a part of this movement to make a change while achieving her career success.

In this episode, we talked about local and foreign investments in Vietnam, the best food and place to visit in Vietnam(according to Chia), the best and worst advice she has ever received, her advice to female entrepreneurs out there, and the legacy that she wants to leave behind.

Her story will continue to inspire you as you listen to this second portion of a 2 part series of our conversation. This episode is as well dedicated to all young female entrepreneurs breaking boundaries in leadership, technology, AI, machine learning, and fields that males have dominated for decades.

Techvico is a vision-based sensor fusion startup focusing on solutions for machine based in Hanoi, Vietnam.

More information:

Chia on LinkedIn

A recent article on Chia: How one Penn State grad is helping businesses ‘see’ with intelligence

Adebayo Alonge is a young and inspiring African who is on a mission transform the healthcare system in Africa beginning with tackling counterfeit drugs on the continent (along side his cofounders of RxAll Inc., Amy Kao and Wei Lui)

More about Adebayo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adebayo-alonge-309b1814/?originalSubdomain=ng

RxAll Inc: https://www.rxall.net/

Marco Antonio Sánchez Garcíais the Foreign Affairs VP at CONCAMIN México. He is also the Founder OF Porto ((Clothing Brand) & Real Emporium Club (Real Estate).

He has sold two companies: SAGA (Clothing Brand) and Bull & Midas (Consulting firm with services for entrepreneurs)

More about Marco:https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcosaga/

In this episode, I interviewed Sompetch (Pack) Katisomsakul, the co-founder of SNEAK (An app that gets your Travel Plan Instantly Done by Using Photos) headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

His co-founder and wife, Thunyathorn Fah Penbumrungvong wasn't on this episode but she, however, has an influential role in this story. 

Learn more about Thunyathorn Fah Penbumrungvong and Sompetch (Pack) Katisomsakul, their entrepreneurial and love journey, importance of discipline and execution, marketing and oppportunities in Thailand, some applicable life and entrepreneurial lessons from Pack, and more. 

Learn More about these co-founders: 

Sompetch (Pack) Katisomsakul:https://www.linkedin.com/in/packkatisomsakul/

Thunyathorn Fah Penbumrungvong:https://www.instagram.com/thunya.fah/

SNEAK: https://www.getsneak.com/

At a session in JamanInclusive in 2020, we talked about intellectual property in Africa 

On this chat we have:

Damian Felchlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianfelchlin/

Kevin Richardson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardsonkn/

Liz Llorens: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizllorens18/

Norman Musengimana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/norman-musengimana/

Michelle Montolio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmontolio-0124/

Emily Sha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-sha-3487a91a/

Teta Isibo is the Founder and CEO of Inzuki Designs. Teta is a self-taught fashion designer and entrepreneur passionate about youth entrepreneurship and mentorship, women empowerment, Africa's development, Business and leadership, Innovation, Rwanda, fashion design, interior design, all things design. 

#MadeinRwanda campaigner
-Forbes 30 most Promising young entrepreneurs in Africa 2017 list
-Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs , Public Sector Federation (PSF) Board member (2014-2016)
-YALI-Mandela Washington Fellow (2016)
-CollectiveRwanda Founding member

A Harvard Scholar and A Young Entrepreneur! A young Cameroonian born in Limbe, Pelkins rose to prominence when he obtained the highest score at the GCE Advanced Level in Cameroon. 

He then moved to the US where he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he graduated in 2018 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics. His goal of improving his community and creating a difference in people’s lives inspired him to launch a tech-enabled agribusiness CassVita Inc with his childhood friend, Nembu Milton. 

The company they created is one of the fastest growing companies in Cameroon with endorsement from the Minister of Economy and got international recognition when MIT sent 3 students to Cameroon for internship in the Summer of 2018. CassVita products are available worldwide including in the US market.

Besides founding CassVita, Pelkins has also been a Product Manager at Microsoft and has patented novel technologies for self-driving cars while working for General Motors. He is currently pursuing dual Master’s degrees in both the Harvard School of Engineering and the Harvard Business School.

Links to important aspects of this episode:

Cameroon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroon

Pelkins Ajanoh: https://www.pelkinsajanoh.com/

Harvard MS/MBA Program: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/academic-experience/joint-degree-programs/school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences/Pages/default.aspx

CassVita: https://cassvita.com/

Listen to other highlights here on this podcast everywhere that you listen to your pod. 

Highlight of this episode is Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu- Founder of SoleRebels is an International footwear based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

From the humblest of beginnings, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu has built SoleRebels into the planet's fastest growing African footwear brand.

She has created world class jobs, empowered her community and country while presenting a galvanized, dynamic face of African creativity to the global market.

A trailblazer in every respect, Bethlehem has shifted the discourse on African development from one of poverty alleviation orchestrated by external actors, to one about prosperity creation driven by local Africans maximizing their talents and resources.

Known as the Ecommerce pioneers of the African continent, Bethlehem took SoleRebels ecommerce engagement to the next level. Moving beyond the groundbreaking online retail partnerships she forged years back with the planets ecommerce giants Amazon, Endless, Javari, Amazon UK and the EU’s #1 online footwear retailer spartoo.com, Bethlehem led the launch of SoleRebels state of the art, fully ecommerce enabled global website. 

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is an entrepreneur in the public interest. He is passionate about partnering with missionary talent and capital to build an African future. He spent the last few years as the CEO of Flutterwave, a business building payments technology and infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy. 

Over those years, he led the company to become one of the fastest growing payments technology businesses of all-time processing over $2 billion across over 50 million transaction with annual revenues of millions of dollars a year. It also attracted significant investment from experienced players in the global payments arena such as Y Combinator (investors in Stripe), Greycroft (investors in Braintree), Greenvisor Capital (Led by the Former CEO of Visa), Mastercard amongst others.

Prior to helping to co-found and lead Flutterwave, Iyinoluwa co-founded Andela - Africa's largest engineering organization with over 1000 software engineers which has received investment from Mark Zuckerberg and Google Ventures amongst others. 

Iyinoluwa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies from the University of Waterloo; and sits on the board of several institutions including Paris’ Share Africa Project, Rainbow Educational Services Limited and Filmo Realty.

 He served as the Deputy Director General for Madam Oby Ezekwesili’s 2019 Presidential Campaign, he is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree and a member of Nigeria's Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council.

Saran Kaba Jones-Founder of Face Africa

"Saran Kaba Jones is the Founder and CEO of FACE Africa, a community development organization working to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and services in rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa.

Saran was born in Liberia but left in 1989 at the young age of eight, shortly before the country's civil war began. The daughter of a career diplomat, Saran spent her formative years living in Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, France and Cyprus before moving to the United States in 1999. She returned to Liberia almost 20 years later to find a country in desperate need and made it her mission to help, specifically focused on access to safe drinking water and sanitation and empowering women and girls through education and skills training." (Excerpt from Face Africa's Website) 

Paul Rios was born and raised in Queens, NY to an Argentinean mother and a Puerto Rican father. Sadly, as luck would have it, "he plays soccer like a Puerto Rican and baseball like an Argentine."  

Since it was obvious from an early age that he was not destined to be a sports pro, he dedicated himself to collecting degrees: B.S. - Mechanical Engineering (Columbia University), M.S. - Mechanical Engineering (The Georgia Institute of Technology), MBA (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management).  

Unfortunately, he realized that collecting degrees turned into quite an expensive hobby, so in 2011 he joined HubSpot and tried his hand at sales... and that is when things got interesting for Paul.  Since 2012, he has been spearheading HubSpot's expansion into Latin America and Brazil, and his primary focus being to develop HubSpot's go-to-market strategy in these markets.

At Hubspot, his execution consists of both channel sales and direct sales, and he directly manages (or managed) four teams:

- Spanish LatAm Direct Sales 

- Spanish LatAm Partner Channel Sales 

- Brazil Direct Sales - Brazil Partner Channel Sales

Paul story is very interesting and he is excited to be involved in other emerging markets such as Africa and South East Asia.

This episode is so rich with information, and Paul doesn't fall short of sharing inspiring and life lessons that literally change your perspective on life.

Please apologies for the background information noise, Paul was so nice to do this interview while juggling his responsibility of being an amazing dad (in these times of the COVID-19 pandemic- the line between work and family life is blurred).

The Rapper Bas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas_(rapper)

The Messenger Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6edUPIFs1qCBOQ3dLWs20r

To join Reading Community on Zoom Monday to Thursday at 10 PM EST.

The book we're reading April 19th to April 30th: The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa

Link to purchase the book: https://www.amazon.com/New-Harvest-Agricultural-Innovation-Africa/dp/0199783195

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Thank you so much for stopping by this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please feel free to follow this channel

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.

Personal Website: https://www.jacobfohtung.net/

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Please feel free to follow this podcast. See you in the next episode! -:)

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/dgno_15feb21_e.htm

To join Reading Community on Zoom Monday to Thursday at 10 PM EST.

The book we're reading April 19th to April 30th: The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa

Link to purchase the book: https://www.amazon.com/New-Harvest-Agricultural-Innovation-Africa/dp/0199783195

Zoom ID: 819 6693 7962

Passcode: q3BRQZ

Thank you so much for stopping by this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please feel free to follow this channel

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.

Personal Website: https://www.jacobfohtung.net/

More collective projects: https://linktr.ee/Jfohtung1

Sign-up to connect here: https://calendly.com/jacob-fohtung/30min

Please feel free to follow this podcast. See you in the next episode! -:)

Aliko Dangote: https://www.forbes.com/profile/aliko-dangote/?sh=70da785b22fc

Dangote Group: https://www.dangote.com/

To join Reading Community on Zoom Monday to Thursday at 10 PM EST. 

The book we're reading April 19th to April 30th: The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa

Link to purchase the book: https://www.amazon.com/New-Harvest-Agricultural-Innovation-Africa/dp/0199783195

Zoom ID: 819 6693 7962

Passcode: q3BRQZ

Thank you so much for stopping by this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please feel free to follow this channel

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.

Personal Website: https://www.jacobfohtung.net/

More collective projects: https://linktr.ee/Jfohtung1

Sign-up to connect here: https://calendly.com/jacob-fohtung/30min

Please feel free to follow this podcast. See you in the next episode! -:)

Mohammed Dewji: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moodewji/

MeTL Group: http://www.metl.net/

To join Reading Community on Zoom Monday to Thursday at 10 PM EST.

Zoom ID: 819 6693 7962

Passcode: q3BRQZ

Thank you so much for stopping by on this channel. I hope you enjoyed this video. Please like, comment, subscribe and click the bell icon to get notifications of all videos related to the themes above.

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.

Personal Website: https://www.jacobfohtung.net/

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Thank you so much for stopping by on the pod. I hope you enjoyed this episode on Sangu Delle.

More about Sangu Delle: http://www.sdelle.com/

His Book (Making Futures): https://cassavarepublic.biz/product/making-futures/

 Please like, comment, subscribe and click the bell icon to get notifications of all videos related to the themes above.  

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.  

Personal Website: https://www.jacobfohtung.net/​

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Please feel free to Like, Comment, and Subscribe to this channel. See you in the next video! -:)

My Initial Take on Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa:: How a Continent Is Escaping Silicon Valley’s Long Shadow by Nicolas Friederici, Michel Wahome, and Mark Graham

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Thank you so much for stopping by on this channel. I hope you enjoyed this video. Please like, comment, subscribe and click the bell icon to get notifications of all videos related to the themes above.

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.

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The Next Factory of the World by Irene Yuan Sun and The New Harvest by Calestous Juma Books for April 2021  

To join Reading Community on Zoom Monday to Thursday at 10 PM EST.  

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Thank you so much for stopping by on this channel. I hope you enjoyed this video. Please like, comment, subscribe and click the bell icon to get notifications of all videos related to the themes above.   

Feel free to like, recommend any book as well on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and everything finance.  

Personal Website: https://www.jacobfohtung.net/ 

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My Initial Take on Long Walk to Freedom: Auto-Biography of Nelson Mandela

A Long-time friend as well as an entrepreneur and innovator at heart. He prides himself as a startup builder and mentor in Africa and Asia. He is the CEO and co-founder of FreshBox Rwanda. FreshBox Rwanda is disrupting the produce supply chain in Kigali by bringing cold chain solutions to sub-Saharan African markets.

In this episode, he provides some great insights into Entrepreneurship practices in Rwanda, East Africa, and overall Emerging Markets.

Beyond his passion his entrepreneurship and building startups as well as helping others through the use of technology in emerging/frontier markets, he likes exploring new places and meeting wonderful people along the way.

Abinav Gautam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhinavkgautam/

Initial Take on Africa's Billionaires: Africa’s Billionaires: Inspirational Stories from the Continent’s Wealthiest People by Chris Bishop

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She is passionate about accelerating the success timelines of womxn and BIPOC entrepreneurs so that they can build sales engines for their businesses faster and catch up in a male-dominated startup scene.  

Making an impact is important to her, and she is actively looking for opportunities to give back to the community whether it’s through speaking or collaborating on events and projects (so can reach out to her- her contacts below!). 

She has been building startups since she was 19, an experience she likes to think has been informed by my immigrant entrepreneur parents. I have a diverse background in business, design thinking, and social impact that has helped me challenge norms and push boundaries.  She co-created my first company (a clothing company) when she was 19 and sold it before her 23rd birthday. The brand’s clothing was seen on Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Gym Class Heroes during the heyday of Warped Tour in the mid-2000s. Before her co-founder and her exit, our clothing was in 250 major retailers worldwide, including Hot Topic and Zumiez.  

In 2011, she co-founded a non-profit that fixed and prevented broken water systems in Cameroon and India by building community ecosystems of water maintenance care (this is different than many other Water NGOs because Water Collective co-creates [(pulls versus push- a theory mentioned in the Book: The Prosperity Paradox by Professor Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, Karen Dillon) with locals from decision making to implementation]. She led an international team to secure clean water for over 80,000 people. The organization has been recognized by Forbes, DevEx, African Business Review, and ELLE Magazine.  

Through her current work at Ascent Strategy, She has helped numerous women founders go from side-hustle to full-time business owners by helping them step into their sovereignty and accelerate their sales.  

She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, a Fred Alger Finance Award winner, and named one of the world’s 100 most inspiring women by Salt Magazine and Diageo.  

Sophia Sunwoo's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-sunwoo/

Ascent Strategy: https://www.ascent-strategy.com/

You can work with her by signing up here: https://www.ascent-strategy.com/workwithme4 

Hard Lessons from 14 years of entrepreneurship: https://www.ascent-strategy.com/insights/2021/2/5/4-hard-lessons-from-14-years-of-entrepreneurship

Water Collective: http://www.thewatercollective.org/

She is passionate about accelerating the success timelines of womxn and BIPOC entrepreneurs so that they can build sales engines for their businesses faster and catch up in a male-dominated startup scene.

Making an impact is important to her, and she is actively looking for opportunities to give back to the community whether it’s through speaking or collaborating on events and projects (so can reach out to her- her contacts below!).

She has been building startups since she was 19, an experience she likes to think has been informed by my immigrant entrepreneur parents. I have a diverse background in business, design thinking, and social impact that has helped me challenge norms and push boundaries.  She co-created my first company (a clothing company) when she was 19 and sold it before her 23rd birthday. The brand’s clothing was seen on Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Gym Class Heroes during the heyday of Warped Tour in the mid-2000s. Before her co-founder and her exit, our clothing was in 250 major retailers worldwide, including Hot Topic and Zumiez.

In 2011, she co-founded a non-profit that fixed and prevented broken water systems in Cameroon and India by building community ecosystems of water maintenance care (this is different than many other Water NGOs because Water Collective co-creates [(pulls versus push- a theory mentioned in the Book: The Prosperity Paradox by Professor Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, Karen Dillon) with locals from decision making to implementation]. She led an international team to secure clean water for over 80,000 people. The organization has been recognized by Forbes, DevEx, African Business Review, and ELLE Magazine.

Through her current work at Ascent Strategy, She has helped numerous women founders go from side-hustle to full-time business owners by helping them step into their sovereignty and accelerate their sales.

She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, a Fred Alger Finance Award winner, and named one of the world’s 100 most inspiring women by Salt Magazine and Diageo.

Sophia Sunwoo's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-sunwoo/

Ascent Strategy: https://www.ascent-strategy.com/

You can work with her by signing up here: https://www.ascent-strategy.com/workwithme4

Hard Lessons from 14 years of entrepreneurship: https://www.ascent-strategy.com/insights/2021/2/5/4-hard-lessons-from-14-years-of-entrepreneurship

Water Collective: http://www.thewatercollective.org/

Cicy (Shengnan) Zhang graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2018, wherein she focused on areas such as Education innovation and social entrepreneurship, and more. She is also the Chief Human Resource Officer (Chief "Heart" Resource Officer she will say) at BrainCo and a life Coach. She has studied at the Yangming Philosophy Academy, which she elaborates more on in this episode. 

One of the amazing things about the Yangming Philosophy Academy is a 10-year plan that guides its participants to develop a vision of their lives in the next 10 years. Cicy provides a very clear and insightful description of that in this episode as well.  

Cicy grew up in China and later on attended the Beijing International Studies University. After some work experience,  she applied twice and then got admitted in her second attempt into the Harvard Graduate School of Education (She has a really interesting story here on her second attempt and such a key life lesson to pay attention to).

Cicy is also the co-founder of YouthPower. YouthPower was founded in 2012 by three college students who aspired to transform China’s traditional test-oriented education system by embedding leadership and social innovation into school curriculums. Through experiential extracurricular activities, implementation of yearlong social projects, and intercultural exchanges, YouthPower’s mission is to nurture responsible citizens who can bring positive change to China’s society as future leaders of tomorrow. 

Initially started in Beijing, YouthPower has expanded to 27 cities all over China and currently works with more than 700 high schools, impacting over 30,000 high school beneficiaries.

Cicy's life journey and commitment to a cause is an example of a "Doer in an Emerging Market" and someone whose mission is to help others fulfill their life purpose through education and practicing philosophies such as the Yangming Philosophy of Academy. 

Cicy also mentioned some really important life lessons in this episode especially to those that feel "lost" or don't feel like having a purpose. Please watch to the end.

As of her birthday this past month, she currently made the call to offer 100 hours of free-trial coaching in order the lives of 100 souls through a professional life coaching experience. You can sign up for her free coaching session hours here: https://calendly.com/shengnan-zhang/30mins-coaching-session-with-cicy?month=2021-03

In this episode, Cicy also provides some institutions that helped her along with her entrepreneurial journey, which can be a resource to you as well: 

The DO School: https://thedoschool.com/

Watson Institute: https://watson.is/

I hope you enjoy the episode and some of the important lessons shared by Cicy. Thanks, Cicy for coming as a guest, and many thanks to all our listeners. Without you, this podcast won't mean anything. So, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!

So far, I am in Chapter 10 of this book. This the quickest read that I have done so far. I think the main reason is that it is very relatable personally, and I think it is very engaging as well. 

This book encompasses the "risk and return" of completely throwing yourself into a future that is not that obvious (with some risk) per the alternative. In this case, it was him staying in his current role at Bain and more "not being his "true self"-expressing his "Nigerian-ness" as he stipulated in the book. 

Please take a listen, and I hope you enjoy it. 

The book: https://www.amazon.com/Risk-Return-journey-entrepreneurship-self-discovery-ebook/dp/B07KK7TSKT

Information to join Reading Community on Zoom

Zoom ID: 819 6693 7962

Passcode: q3BRQZ

I read the introduction of the book Risk and Return: A Journey of Entrepreneurship and Self-Discovery in Africa by Yomi Jemibewon, and why it perhaps helpful to every entrepreneur who is fearful and anxious about taking on that entrepreneurial journey. More so, it also speaks a story of doing business in Africa, which I hope to dive into it this month with a reading community (information to join below). 

Risk and Return: A Journey of Entrepreneurship and Self-Discovery in Africa by Yomi Jemibewon: https://www.amazon.com/Risk-Return-journey-entrepreneurship-self-discovery-ebook/dp/B07KK7TSKT

Information to join Reading Community on Zoom

Zoom ID: 819 6693 7962

Passcode: q3BRQZ

Hibla Community Inc. is a small business founded by Jezreel John (JJ) Punzalan and his best friend, Dionela Bigcas pursuing the social enterprise model to provide decent, effective, and ethical working conditions for people of local communities around the Philippines. Currently, Hibla Co is doing business as Magiting Coffee Manila as they sell single-origin specialty coffee sourced from the province of Lipa, Batangas in the Philippines.  

JJ recently won funding from the United States' Mission to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) wherein he will be working with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), the US Embassy, and the US Department of State for 10 months. 

Dionela is also from the development sector with more experience than JJ and currently completing a Masters in Political Economics in International Relations and Development). Dionela and JJ both trust each other as well as perfectly complement each other especially with Dionela's expertise in Finance.  

As JJ states, "We are very different people but we have the same goals." 

For every aspiring entrepreneur out there be inspired by JJ's story and inspiring words as you listen to this episode.  

How can you purchase Magiting Coffee Manila?  

You can put in an order via Magiting Coffee Manila Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/magitingcoffee  

Or on their Instagram's account: https://www.instagram.com/magitingcoffee/?hl=en  

Reach out to them at magitingcoffee@gmail.com

Mr. Kenneth Legesi is an engineer by training and Entrepreneur/Angel/Venture Capitalist in practice is based in London with most of his companies listed below headquartered in Kampala, Uganda. 

He is the co-founder of 97Fund, an Africa focussed early-stage fund & Kampala Angel Investment Network (KAIN), which gathers innovators, entrepreneurs, and Angels under the mutual objective is bringing IDEAs to life. He is also the CEO of Ortus Africa Capital, a platform guides and advises on investment decisions across different asset classes with a focus on Africa  In addition, he co-founded Digest Africa, Africa's leading startup investors use our proprietary data and insights sourced through algorithmic and white-gloved processes to make their day to day investment decisions.

His co-founder for 97Fund and Kampala Angel Investment Network (Kain) is CK Japheth. CK is the founder of Innovation Village Kampala, Uganda's fastest growing engine, wherein they do most of their deal-sourcing. 

At KAIN, Kenneth is always open to welcoming both local and global angels and venture capitalists on his several investment platforms. You can reach out to him directly at klegesi@ortusafrica.com, info@ortusafrica.com for Ortus Capital-related investments, and KAIN-related inquiries. 

My Final Take on the Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty Book by Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon

Some themes in my Review:   

1. Market Creating Innovations  

2. Non-Consumption  

3. Pull vs. Pull   

Thank you so much for stopping by on this channel. 

I hope you enjoyed this video. 

Links to some exciting projects:  

 Link to my podcast: https://anchor.fm/jamani-stories 

Link to the Pre-Entrepreneurship School: https://thepeschool.com/ 

More of my projects can be found here: https://linktr.ee/Jfohtung1

Anirudh shares some insights on entrepreneurship, the venture capital space, and how to approach the Indian market from the outside. He elaborates on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the venture capital space in India and so much more. 

There are so much wisdom and knowledge of Anuirdh assessment of these issues  

You can find Anirudh at https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirudh-garg98/

Mr. Alexandre Lazarow made it on the Pod- He is the Author of OutInnovate: How Global Entrepreneurs from Delhi to Detroit Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley.   

He is also a Partner at Cathay Innovation. Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital platform connecting innovators everywhere. 

Subscribe to his newsletter directly on his website.

You can find him on Twitter @Alex_Lazarow  

You can order his book right now on Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, Indie Bound, and Google Book via his website as well 

David is a Venezuelan, grew up in America, and studied Economics at the University of Chicago. David is a trained investment banker at Credit Suisse from New York to Chile and across Latin America has a knack for developing financial models.  

Thereafter, he has traversed the nooks and crannies of several countries in Africa from Angola, Nigeria, Cameroon, Rwanda, Namibia, and more. As a result, this has come with a diverse range of experiences in several industries (such as construction, informal commercial sector, and more) as well as navigating the implications of coming to terms of being an effective leader.  

In his experience starting and growing Jabu Technologies, an innovative B2B Marketplace for the informal Economy in Southern Africa, he has learned to confront common challenges that entrepreneurs face such as the importance of mentorship, building a good team, mental health, conflicts with stakeholders like employees, and more. He also provides a piece of key advice on how to navigate these shared challenges especially mental health.

JABU is reinventing the way retailers order, stock, and receive supplies for their shops in Southern Africa while developing data insights and driving growth for FMCG brands!  

In addition to many life lessons in this conversation, David provided 5 key pieces of advice on what to know as an aspiring entrepreneur in emerging markets and markets in general on the African continent. You don't want to miss that.   

David has a passion for development and the creation of Habitats driven by accountability and geared by the fusion of finance and technology. 

David and Jabu Technologies are currently hiring-so if you are based in Namibia, and you're looking for an internship or job opportunities, reach out to David on LinkedIn or via email at david@gojabu.com.   

David is also on a fundraising round, and he is open to talking to Angel investors, venture capitalists, and more. Please feel free to reach out to him on LinkedIn or via the email above.

This episode is borrowed from another podcast that I had started-Trendsetters, Movers, and Changemakers podcast, this episode is an informative series with Jessica Li, a former VC at Soma Capital as she shares her insights on the following key issues on women in entrepreneurship and VC including:

-Women Pitching companies to VCs

-Female focused VC fund: Some examples below:

Chloe Capital

IFundwomen

January Ventures 

Female Founders Fund

BBG Ventures

SoGal Ventures

-Female focused startup communities:

TopKnot

Swaay

bSmart

Chief-The Private Network for Women Leaders

-Advice for female investors at male-dominated funds

[Great lessons within this episode)

-Advice for female founders

Please check out Jessica Li's blog is now on the Growth Marketing and Content team at ZAGENO Inc. wherein she has interviewed (and continues to) outstanding women in entrepreneurs and VCs. Please check it out.

Luis Maraví is an Entrepreneur, Industrial Engineer & Master in Corporate Finance, with extensive management finance and consulting experience in different industries, from small to big-size organizations.

He is Chief Revenue Officer of Altoke, an easy-to-use Conversational-Commerce mobile application that empowers local businesses in the management and loyalty of their customers. It includes In-Chat Payments and other great tools to increase customer loyalty.

He is co-founder of Perú Proptech, an association of technology companies of the Peruvian real estate and construction industry.

We talked about Altoke and Perú Proptech- some fascinating associations that he is transforming 

In this episode, I share the start of my interest and passion in Emerging markets as an independent study supported by Professor Phillip Kim in the final year of my Babson MBA program.

I was able to travel to Peru to meet amazing entrepreneurs such as Martin Bedoya of Edifica to Tai-Ku Chen in Taipei, Taiwan, and Zahin Hussain in South Korea at that time. 

You can listen to episodes of these entrepreneurs already linked to their names above. 

I am more than looking forward to having you join me in this journey as I share my content on my podcast of doers within emerging markets and exciting projects happening in these economies. 

Accompanying sites to this project: 

1. Jamani Corporate Group, LLC

2. Jamani Stories 

3. Pre-Entrepreneurship School 

4. Personal Website 

Thank you for listening to this episode, and I hope you subscribe or follow this channel for more exciting content on Emerging Markets.

Zahin Hussain, "The Kamala Harris of Canada"- as I referenced in this episode due to her fearlessness, charisma, and work ethic of always leading by example.

In this episode, you will learn about Zahin's meandering yet north stared journey across continents and countries across the world. 

I met Zahin in March of 2019 in Seoul, South Korea on a work-related project on studying emerging markets. At that time, she was an MBA Candidate at Hanyang University, one of the leading private research institutions in Seoul, South Korea. She was also the Program Manager at HUGE Ventures, which designed and implemented an impact-focused entrepreneurship sandbox that provides tailored training, access to networks, and seed funding. 

In Zahin's earlier work traversing several Asian countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, which we went into more details in this episode, she has worked at AIESEC Vietnam as head of Business Development. And in the Philippines, she worked as the Partnerships Manager, Youth of Asia at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), wherein she was exposed to several stakeholders including some leading members of Hanyang University (the President and Vice-President of the institution)  at the ADB Annual Meeting in Japan. This is also where she got to know about the University and its mission to invest in young people and the SDGs. 

With the relationship, she built through her exposure in her role at ADB, she was offered a role at Hanyang University, wherein she saw that as an opportunity to learn more about South Korea, as an economy that sky-rocketed into the 5th largest economy in the world and later on enrolled in the MBA program at the school. She continued making a difference at Hanyang by playing a significant role via HUGE Ventures (aforementioned) and many other related entrepreneurial ventures. 

We also talked about her experience in South Korea in general such as leading the first Asia Pacific Youth Exchange (APYE) program and lessons learned. 

In addition, we talked about her current role as a consultant at United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP), how she got involved, and some of the amazing entrepreneurs she has gotten to work with. 

Currently, in Canada, she has immersed herself in the Toronto entrepreneurial ecosystem, continues her consulting gig with UNDP, and now started a  weekly newsletter called Zany. 

Zany as she describes is a medium that she aspires to channel bottomless curiosities of diverse interests and experiences on various topics into stories and narratives. She is written about bitcoin, the stored value of bitcoin, Jack Dorsey moves on Twitter,  DeafTawk, and even beer. In her upcoming newsletter, she will be writing about Alimentation Couche-Tard and clean energy (which is good for the planet). You can subscribe here. 

Zahin ended with the importance of the concept of narratives and sharing stories and how that permeates across every discipline from governments to startups.  

She further shared that regardless of "where you come from and what you do understanding at every moment, you have the ability to write your own story, and as long as you are alive, you have the chance to write your own story as long as you are alive." 

It was a humbling experience to have Tian Shi, Author of Exceptionally Average: Through their Eyes on Time 4 Emerging Markets: Doers Within Emerging Markets Podcast.   

Tian Shi is currently an undergraduate at Georgetown University following an unconventional path into the world of entrepreneurship. The protagonists in her book also channel this unconventional journey with resilience, hard work, and optimism for something larger themselves. She hopes this book showcases that you have the choice to maximize your talent and build on your passions and ambitions towards building a career that reflects you rather than taking a traditional road of getting a corporate job.    

As Tian Shi describes the book, "Exceptionally Average: Through Their Eyes” a collection of stories featuring entrepreneurs who used innovation to help them unlock their full potential. By marrying their personal passions with their professional aspirations, these inspiring life stories and insights illuminate what it takes to become a successful founder.   For those interested in entrepreneurship, starting business, or looking for a good read, this book is for you.   

You can learn more about her book and read some blog posts with regards to the writing via this link. 

Tian is currently running a campaign for her book via Indiegogo, and you can still support her by pre-ordering a copy here. 

With Pre-ordering her book, you will be to get some of these exclusive rewards:   

You will receive a personally signed copy of my book when she publishes 

Your name will appear in the Acknowledgments section of my book 

You will receive early access to the introduction and other excerpts from my book, with the opportunity to review them and give me early feedback. You will have the opportunity to be involved in selecting my cover and title. 

You will be invited to join my Author Community and get behind-the-scenes sneak peeks into the publishing process. 

And much more!  

Thank you so much, Tian for coming to the Pod. I appreciate your time and looking forward to how this book will transform people's lives around the world.  

Here are her social media platforms:

Tian's LinkedIn Profile

Tian's Instagram 

Tian's Facebook

JamanInclusive member, Dancan discusses the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Africa 

Individuals in this chat: 

Dancan Onyango:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancan-onyango/

Chinweotito Atansi P.Eng: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chinweotito-atansi-p-eng-b618876b/

JamanInclusive members discuss Risk vs. Reward in Africa

Individuals on this call: 

Colin Achu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-achu-2a017273/

Kevin Richardson:https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardsonkn/

Dancan Onyango:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancan-onyango/

Dancan Onyango is the co-founder of Jiwo Paro and Babson MBA'20 shared his take on the role of Micro-Finance as a business model and how it works in both developing and developed countries in our weekly sessions at Jamani Corporate Group, LLC called JamanInclusive. 

On this discussion, we had Dancan (an early supporter and regular member of JamanInclusive), Kevin Richardson (Analyst at First Republic Bank and Babson Master of Science in Finance Graduate of 2020), Liz Llorens (Associate Product Support Specialist II at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard | Co-Founder of JamanInclusive), and Miloslav Machon (an early member and supporter of JamanInclusive as well as Assistant Professor/Scientific Researcher at University of Economics, Prague)

In this brief chat, we talked about President Spinelli's management of the COVID-19 pandemic at Babson College. 

President Stephen Spinelli, the current and 14th President of Babson College.  He is also the co-founder of Jiffy Lube. Jiffy Lube is an American brand of automotive oil change specialty shops founded in Utah, United States, in 1971. It has been a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell since 2002 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. He is also an alumnus of the college with an MBA, which he completed part-time while working at Jiffy Lube.  Finally, he is on the board of Planet Fitness, an American franchisor, and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by the number of members and locations.

Luis Marcelo Indacochea is General Manager of Client Partners, a company that is part of Core Partners and the Edifica Group. Client Partners is dedicated to sharing investment opportunities with individuals to together take care and multiply the value of their effort. Our experience and advice are 100% focused on the Peruvian Real Estate sector, mainly housing in Lima. 

This interview was conducted in January of 2019. 

He is the Managing Partner and Director at (Inmobiliaria) Edifica. He oversees six other companies within Edifica Group (Trendy Host Apartments, Produktiva, Net Inversiones, Core Capital SAFI, Street Media, and Asia Sur). 

Benavides has both the vision and plan to transform Real Estate Market not just in Peru but also across Latin America.

This is recorded back in January of 2019

This was the first time I met Tai-Ku Chen, Babson MBA'10 and Entrepreneur in Residence at Darwin Ventures in Taipei, Taiwan on March 21, 2019

Tai-Ku Chen (TK) talks about Venture Capitalism and the Entrepreneurial landscape in Taiwan including the significant role of the Taiwanese Government in both sectors (both historically and currently). He provides so many great insights via his own experience and perspective on the globalization of Taiwanese startups. A conversation you don't want to miss!

Darwin Ventures is a venture capital fund of funds that provides individual and institutional investors (primarily educational endowments and foundations) unique access to investment opportunities that are generally unavailable to most investors. The firm was founded for the purpose of providing selective investments in top-tier venture capital funds. These investments include a diverse group of venture capital partnerships with a focus on US-based early-stage venture capital funds diversified across industry sectors including technology, information technology, and healthcare.

Aldo Fuertes, General Manager at Core Capital SAFI (part of Edifica Group), an Asset Management of Public and Private Investment Funds with innovative strategies, recognizing the ESG approach for the creation of value and investment with an impact on the economic, social and environmental dimensions

He had a very fascinating conversation in this chat about Core Capital and the processes they have in place to be a successful Fund in San Isidro, Peru. 

I was interviewed by Mr. Kevin Richardson, Master of Finance Graduate 2020 and Analyst at First Republic Bank.

Jacob talks about his journey from growing in a health-oriented family in Bamenda, Cameroon. He then decides to study biology in college and later works as a research assistant at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Later, he decided to switch careers and applied to business school at Babson College and later found himself as a podcaster and consultant for startups in Africa and South East Asia.

If you wish to learn more about Jacob's Journey and his future aspirations, you do not want to miss this episode.

This is Part 1 of a 2 Part Series with my conversation with Kevin Richardson, Master of Finance Graduate 2020 and Analyst at First Republic Bank. 

We go through a fascinating paper on the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in Emerging Economies co-authored by Kevin Richardson

More about the paper here

More about Kevin Richardson here

Part 1 of 2 part series of Interviewing Tzu Hui Yang (May) and Chih-Hsuan Lu (Jason) at Garage + in Taipei, Taiwan!

Thanks to these 2 amazing individuals [Tzu Hui Yang (May) and Chih-Hsuan Lu (Jason) at Garage +] for introducing me to some outstanding entrepreneurs at Garage+ as well as providing me with some amazing background about the founding of this shared space earlier this year in Taipei. Jason also shared with me the significance of understanding the definition of "emerging markets" based on metrics such as GDP as well as the history of emerging technologies in Taiwan.

They also shared with me the emerging technologies currently in Taiwan.

A lot of exciting stuff going on in Taipei as of 21st March 2019. Thank you, Tai-Ku Chen (Babson MBA 2011 and Venture Capitalist in Taiwan) and friend for introducing me to May and Jason.

Manuel is a Babson MBA'11 & CEO-CFO @Treca (back in January of 2019).

We had an amazing chat about his upbringing he got into the business, his time at Babson College, and much more.

Treca is one of the main activewear and urban footwear distributors in Peru. He was responsible for the business idea and the structure and operation to grow the business from 0 to more than 60,000 transactions per year. His specific responsibilities included: hiring the management team, negotiating terms with national and international vendors, developing the distribution network across all the channels (traditional, modern, and direct), signing store leasing contracts with shopping malls as well as independent street-view stores. During my CEO-CFO role, Treca transitioned from an SMB (PYME) to a principal tax contributor in the country, opened 15 specialty stores, and managed the relationship with the financial institutions to secure the credit lines needed to be able to grow the business at a CAGR of 30% during 7 years. He was also actively involved in defining the processes with IT management focusing on technology and automation to be able to support the operations.

Professor Liu, Day-Yang is the Vice President of the National Taiwan University of Science & Technology (NTUST) 

NTUST commonly referred to as Taiwan Tech, a public technological university located in Taipei, Taiwan. NTUST is ranked 8th

We talked about innovation and entrepreneurship in Taipei, Taiwan. This was recorded on March 21, 2019

I interviewed the co-founders, Jack (Chi-Kang) Wu and Leo Hsu of CoolSo at Garage+ in Taipei, Taiwan on March 21st, 2019. They are both very humble and extraordinarily talented individuals who are driven to make the lives of individuals with Musculoskeletal Disorders much more seamless for a more inclusive society using AI and VR applications.    

"CoolSo aims to create a groundbreaking gesture control device that is more reliable, user-friendly, and versatile than any other solutions currently on the market.  We use patented muscle bio signal technology developed by the founder. The technology is capable of measuring individual finger movement for detailed gesture control, and without the drawback suffered by other solutions on the market. such as being immune to human body perspiration which affects detection accuracy of EMG technology, or sunlight which affects the camera-based solution.  We currently focus on AR and VR applications and also pursue cooperation partners in the medical/re-habitation and sports equipment industry." 

I hope you enjoy this conversation that I had with them. 

Euler Bropleh originally from Liberia is the Founder and Managing Director of VestedWorld. He is a U.S. trained Lawyer with some Mergers & Acquisitions experience in China and now the Managing Vested World as he goes through interesting deals of early-stage companies across Africa.  He has a very inspiring story from growing up in Liberia, transitioning to the United States, and now transforming the continent of Africa through his work. 

Beyond Euler's work, I can sense and feel his kindness, warmth, graciousness as well as his unwavering passion. After listening to this episode, you will undoubtedly agree that Euler has a grandiose vision to transform the African continent and underserved communities through his amazing work at VestedWorld. 

You don't want to miss this episode.  

Martin Benavides, a successful multi-sector entrepreneur in Lima, Peru. We talk about the struggles during COVID-19, opportunities in Peru, and  South America, as well as all his leadership and managerial traits that I think is exemplary for an entrepreneur and leader.

He is a Managing Partner of Inmobiliaria Edifica, and also oversees the operations of 6 other companies within his portfolio (Trendy Host, Produktiva, Net Inversiones, Core Capital SAFI, Street Media, and Asia Sur). Martin has both the vision and plan to transform Real Estate Market not just in Peru but also in Latin America.

Mr. Efosa Ojomo, Harvard MBA Class of 2015 Graduate and Global Prosperity Lead at the Clayton Christensen Institute is one of a kind. He is a  caring, creative, charismatic, smart, and humble individual. He loves his work and he is more than passionate about sharing it with the world for practical change especially across Emerging Markets.  

The Quotes that stood out for me from Mr. Ojomo in this episode, "Writing a book is like running a marathon that you're not sure you're going to finish and even when you finish, success is often based on people watching the tape on you running the marathon." 

I think it is fair to say that Mr. Ojomo is one of the most authentic voices on how we should the future of Emerging Markets. He is the Co-Author of the book, The Prosperity Paradox.  This is the last book that Late Professor Christensen co-authored whom Efosa considers as a "Father figure," advisor, mentor, and friend.  This book was also co-authored by Karen Dillon whom Efosa considers the best editor that he has made in his life. He says what makes Karen special "is that she meets you where your work is and makes it better..."

We talked about Mr. Ojomo's upbringing in Nigeria, his journey to becoming a global researcher for the past 8 years, writing the book: The Prosperity Paradox, his work with Late Professor Christensen & Clayton Christensen Institute as a Global Prosperity Lead. 

We ended up the episode with Mr. Ojomo sharing some great advice how governments, entrepreneurs, and investors should observe, think, and act on Emerging Markets in 2020 and moving forward. 

Below are Mr. Ojomo's social media handles and recent work at the Clayton Christensen Institute: 

Efosa's Twitter  

Efosa's LinkedIn 

Efosa's personal page 

Efosa's Ted Talk titled, "Reducing Corruption takes a specific kind of Investment." 

A Harvard Business Review Article Efosa's Co-authored: A Decade In, It's Time to Supercharge the Giving Pledge 

The book: The Prosperity Paradox co-authored with Professor Clayton Christensen and Karen Dillon

Thank you so much for listening to this episode, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please subscribe, drop a message or just say hi at jacob@jamanicorp.com. See you in the next episode.

Vaidehi Tembhekar is currently a Program Manager Intern at Ring (founded by Babson Alumnus and acquired by Amazon for $1 Billion USD). She is also a second-year MBA Candidate at Babson College and the Co-Founder/CEO of Busy Boda (https://busyboda.co.ke/)  

In this episode, she shares her childhood experience growing up in a household with a role model in her dad who was an entrepreneur for over a decade; her journey co-founding Busy Boda with her younger brother; the challenges as well as the opportunities she encountered developing the Busy Boda platform with some iterations to stay in business within the COVID-19 world. We conclude the episode as she talks about the impact and timing of technology in Kenya & Africa as a whole. Finally,  she also provides us with special advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on this continent.

I had an extensive, inspiring, and rich-content conversation with Jessica Li- A VC @ Soma Capital & Content Head @ Elpha (Y-Combinator S19)  To name few: we talked about her growing up in Indiana, China, and New Jersey- and that has shaped her mindset as VC today; role models in her life; family challenges (as she turned them into opportunities); Getting into Venture Capital (experiences at Global Board, TechStars, Rough Draft Ventures); China as an emerging Market (one was working with Oliver Hart-2016 Nobel Laureate in her Summa Honor Thesis at Harvard 2019); the historical and current state of entrepreneurship and investments in China as well as other emerging markets such as India, Brazil and many more (especially in her role as VC  @ Soma Capital founded by the owner of Sacramento Kings); her role as the Head of Content @ Elpha (Y Combinator S19, a platform for women to speak candidly online with 19K+ members) and many more.  

You really don't want to miss listening to this episode-  Fir any inquiries, you can reach out to Jessica on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-li-12b74968/  On Instagram @ jessicaloveli via email @ jessica@somacap.com