Africa Emerging with Tutu

Hello everyone, this is Tutu Ademola your host on the Africa Emerging podcast. We have now come to the end of Season 1. I would like to say a big thank you to our listeners for the positive feedback and taking out time to listen to inspirational stories of Africans making positive impact.

Welcome to episode 10 the of Africa Emerging Podcast, my guest on the show today is Kemi Arosanyin she is an International trade development specialist working as the Director for Africa Trade Expansion programme World Trade Center Miami in charge of outreach to 48 countries in sub-Sahara Africa. The world trade center Miami is a member of WTC association with global headquarters in New York part of global network of the over 300 world trade centers across 90 countries globally, promoting 2 way trade between the west and other global market, facilitating market access, provide trade assistance, advocate for trade, support SME to come into the Americas market and SME within the US market.

In this episode of the show we talked about her academic background, professional background, how to stand out in a team, getting into a role in corporate America, career progression. She also talked about how she overcame challenges encountered during the initial integration in corporate America.

She gave a lot of insight about opportunities of trade in Africa, Africa trade expansion, talked about legislation such as AGOA – Africa Growth and Opportunity Act - The purpose of this legislation is to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the United States and the region.

Talked about the initiative such as Intra-Africa trade fair and Africa Continental Free Trade area to promote regional trade on the Africa continent creating a platform and a market access instrument to maximise the opportunity.

She was so passionate about this initiative. I really enjoyed this conversation and hope you enjoy it too

Hello everyone, welcome to episode 9 of the Africa Emerging Podcast. My guest on the show today is Dotun Olowoporoku. He is currently an Associate Investment Director at Novastar Ventures, a VC firm focused on investment in transformational early stage start-up business that enable access and provide economic opportunities for low-income and mass market population in Africa.

On the show today we talked about his previous start up, journey from been an academic to entrepreneur and becoming an investor. He gave his thought about the African tech eco system where he sees the industry in another 5-10 years. He also gave advice on what entrepreneur should look out for before seeking funding ''don’t focus on raising money first, as much as money been a life line, focus should be on the customer first, the problem you are solving, how are you solving the problem and how quickly you validate the solution and getting the solution to them as quick as possible''.

The conversation was quite informative and intellectual. I enjoyed it and I hope you do.

Hello everyone, welcome to Episode 8 of the Africa Emerging Podcast.

My guest on this Episode of the show is Yemi Osunkoya. He is the Director and Designer of Kosibah Couture www.kosibah.com

In this episode of the show we talked about his natural passion for drawing, and how he was inspired by designers in the 50's from a very young age and the huge support from his Parents and family to follow his passion.

We talked about reason why he decided to choose this niche area in the Fashion industry making bespoke, luxury made to measure Kosibah Couture.

We talked about the power of collaboration with the right network.

In his 28 years of been in business one key lesson Yemi shared is the need to ‘Stay in your own lane’ don’t feel obliged to keep up with the 'jones'.

He gave snippets into some celebrities he has dressed in the past, though for Yemi, his focus is making each client feel special and memorable whether a celebrity or not.

We also talked opportunity of sharing his knowledge by taking on interns. He also gave advice for up-coming in the Fashion industry. The conversation was such an interesting one, Yemi displaying a true passion for what he does. I hope you enjoy it too. 

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