Episode 04: When challenges meet tech solutions in Africa - Featuring SweepSouth’s Aisha Pandor
Release Date: 12/02/2020
S2 E8: The Case for Diversity with Soula Proxenos
Creating Markets
In the final episode of Season 2 of Creating Markets, we talk to professional board member Soula Proxenos about what it means to lead both from inside and outside of a company. We learn where she found her fighting spirit and why it is important to have not only women, but a diversity of people represented and listened to at the highest level of an organization. Proxenos tells us why diversity is very good for business.
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S2 E7: Creating Digital Safe Spaces for Women featuring Sairee Chahal
Creating Markets
In this episode of Creating Markets, IFC speaks with Sairee Chahal, the CEO and founder of Sheroes, a women’s only social network. Born out of a legacy of women-only spaces in India, with the Sheroes platform, Sairee’s goal is to create peer-to-peer networking across a range of topics from financial literacy to health and wellbeing. She tackles the challenge of making a safe space for women in the digital age, and notes that when women are included financially, economies perform better.
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S2, E6: Funding “hidden gems” in Africa featuring AECF’s Victoria Sabula
Creating Markets
As the CEO of the African Economic Challenge Fund, Victoria Sabula looks for innovative companies to fund. In this episode, IFC speaks with Sabula about what it means to support local businesses across Africa, what investment can do for a community and how to get more African businesses “investor ready.”
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S2, E5: Connecting Brands to Buyers in Latin America - featuring Santiago Sosa
Creating Markets
In this episode of Creating Markets, IFC speaks with Santiago Sosa, co-founder of the online commerce platform Nuvemshop about what it takes to start an online business and how to scale it. We also speak about the opportunities for growth and investment in Latin America and how to support small business owners so they can thrive.
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S2, E4: How Creative Financing can Connect Africa featuring Andile Ngcaba
Creating Markets
In this episode of Creating Markets, IFC speaks with Andile Ngcaba, the chairman of Convergence Partners, a private equity fund that specializes in information and communications technology (ICT). He talks about impact investing and the rewards that have come from decades on the ground building digital infrastructure across the African continent. He also shares the exciting future ahead for a continent that is fast becoming digital.
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S2, E3: A bank for women in India featuring Chetna Sinha
Creating Markets
In this episode, IFC speaks to Chetna Sinha, founder of Mann Deshi Mahila Cooperative Bank, a bank in India aimed at rural women. Chetna speaks to us about what financial literacy means for women, why it’s important to have access to a bank account and what financial institutions can do to empower women in India.
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S2, E2: Decentralizing Health Care in Ghana - Featuring Redbird’s Patrick Beattie
Creating Markets
In this episode, IFC speaks with Patrick Beattie, the co-founder, and CEO of health tech company Redbird. We talk to Patrick about what drew him to work in West Africa, what it means to decentralize the health-care system, and how to help patients manage chronic disease by putting them in the driver's seat.
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S2, E1: Designing Green Buildings for Better Livelihoods
Creating Markets
IFC talks to Sarah El Battouty, the founder of one of Egypt’s leading environmental design and auditing companies, ECOnsult. In this episode, she talks about charting her own path away from her family’s expectations, and making green buildings affordable, accessible, and respected in Egypt.
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Episode 08: How one Indian investor found self-confidence on the Internet - Featuring Shuvi Shrivastava
Creating Markets
IFC talks to Shuvi Shrivastava, Vice President at Lightspeed India, where she invests in startups in the fintech and consumer tech sector. In this episode, she talks about how she landed on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list and highlights the struggle with self-confidence, both in herself and other entrepreneurs and investors in India, where opportunities for investment are increasing by the day.
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Episode 07: The logistical challenges of rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine in Africa - Featuring Mohammed Akoojee of Imperial Logistics
Creating Markets
For the second part of this two-part series on logistics, IFC talks to Imperial Logistics CEO Mohammed Akoojee again to discuss how African nations are planning for the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. Akoojee dives into some of the considerations and essential factors that go into one of the biggest vaccination campaigns the continent has ever seen, including vaccine scarcity, cold chains and making sure the doses are secure.
info_outlineIFC talks to entrepreneur Aisha Pandor about how she came up with the idea for her business, the sacrifices of pursuing it, as well as how she has focused on building a sustainable company in Africa’s tech industry.
Pandor is the co-founder and CEO of SweepSouth, an online platform that connects domestic service providers with potential employers in South Africa.
For more information about the initiatives mentioned in this episode, go to:
Full report: e-Conomy Africa 2020
Africa Talks Tech: Transforming Africa’s Digital Marketplace (video)
SweepSouth highlights the pay and working conditions of domestic workers (case study)