Theme: Agriculture Did you know that 65% of the world’s arable land is in Africa? And yet, despite the incredible advantage that Africa has over other continents, it imports 85% of its food. 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa depends on agriculture for their livelihoods and indeed 90% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa is produced by smallholder farmers. Our guest in this episode is Dr Apollos Nwafor, Vice President, Policy and State Capability at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). AGRA has, over the years, helped restore 13 million hectares of land while training and financing over 15 million farmers concurrently. Having been part of the massive agricultural improvement, Dr Nwafor still believes that Africa’s most significant potential lies in Agriculture. How then can Africa build back better and become a net exporter of food? In this episode, he outlines some critical adjustments in the Agricultural sector whose prompt and rapid implementation will transform the Agricultural industry, create jobs, and build families in the continent. 60% more food must be produced in the next 15 years to meet the needs of a growing population in Sub-Saharan Africa. What ways can you get involved and participate in seizing one of the greatest opportunities on the African continent? Tune in and find out more.

Did you know that Africa has the highest entrepreneurship rate in the world? Well, the World Bank reports that 22% of Africa’s working age population are starting a business. Female entrepreneurship rate in Africa stands at 27%, again, the highest rate in the world. This translates to African women being twice as likely to start a business as women elsewhere in the world. All looks great and glamorous until you realize that Sub-Saharan Africa also has the highest rate of small business discontinuous standing at a rate of 8.4%. Looking at Kenya for instance, 60-80% of the new business do not leave long to celebrate their third anniversary. Now, what could be the problem resulting in such a high rate of business failure? Our guest Dr Olufunso Somorin might have the right answer. He is the Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank. He leads the Bank’s work on climate change and green growth in 13 African countries. Beside his engagement at the Bank, Dr Somorin is a Director at Profectus Capital Group, a boutique investment firm providing financial and advisory services to SMEs in key sectors and industries in Africa. Dr Somorin holds a PhD in International Environmental Policy from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He has published more than 25 peer-reviewed articles on climate policy, natural resources management and sustainable development in many leading scientific journals.

As businesses compete for the digital 'real estate' the need for digital marketing firms and individual freelancers is on the rise.  How the do you penetrate the market and remain on top of the game and ahead of the competition?  This week, our guest speaker Nnadozie Ebere answers answers these questions. Ebere is a student at the African Leadership University. He will share his journey as a founder of Tori Branding, a digital marketing company. He has also previously worked as a marketing consultant for ALU in Rwanda and as the global marketing intern for Hult Prize among others.