This week’s conversation is a milestone coming to you in two parts. We're 300+1! And my guest is a return voice with serious currency in the public service media and reparatory justice movements. Born in Sierra Leone, Makmid Kamara is a human rights leader, reparatory justice advocate, and development communications practitioner, with almost 20 years’ experience working with national and international development, human rights, and grantmaking organisations in Africa and the United Kingdom. He is the Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East at the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), where he is leading the organization’s grantmaking efforts to support independent media. He is also the Founder of Reform Initiatives (LBG), an organization working with policymakers, political leaders and affected communities to advance the cause of reparatory justice for historical crimes against Africans and people of African descent. When he last joined us, he was the founding Director of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), based in Accra, Ghana. Prior to ATJLF, Makmid worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London as (Ag.) Deputy Director of Global Issues and Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Team; he served as interim Country Director for Amnesty International Nigeria and as a West Africa Researcher.

As a Rotarian, a Global Atlantic Fellow and an Obama Foundation Leader - Africa, Makmid seamlessly connects his service mindset with a level of technical expertise and professionalism that inspires and is consistently moving the dial on #PanAfricanProgress.

Where to find Makmid?
On Glocal Citizens
On LinkedIn

What’s Makmid watching?
Manchester United

Other topics of interest:
Freetown, Sierra Leone and Reparatory Justice
East Legon, Accra
About James Deane, co-founder IFPM

About Khadija Patel
Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
About the Nama People and The Landless Peoples Movement in Namibia
The [Wakati Weti Festival](link https://www.wakatiwetufestival.org/WWF2025#/aboutwakatiwetu?lang=en)
African Futures Lab
Deep South Solidarity Fund
Baraza Media Lab

Special Guest: Makmid Kamara.

This week’s conversation is a milestone coming to you in two parts. We're 300+1! And my guest is a return voice with serious currency in the public service media and reparatory justice movements. Born in Sierra Leone, Makmid Kamara is a human rights leader, reparatory justice advocate, and development communications practitioner, with almost 20 years’ experience working with national and international development, human rights, and grantmaking organisations in Africa and the United Kingdom. He is the Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East at the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), where he is leading the organization’s grantmaking efforts to support independent media. He is also the Founder of Reform Initiatives (LBG), an organization working with policymakers, political leaders and affected communities to advance the cause of reparatory justice for historical crimes against Africans and people of African descent. When he last joined us, he was the founding Director of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), based in Accra, Ghana. Prior to ATJLF, Makmid worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London as (Ag.) Deputy Director of Global Issues and Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Team; he served as interim Country Director for Amnesty International Nigeria and as a West Africa Researcher.

As a Rotarian, a Global Atlantic Fellow and an Obama Foundation Leader - Africa, Makmid seamlessly connects his service mindset with a level of technical expertise and professionalism that inspires and is consistently moving the dial on #PanAfricanProgress.

Where to find Makmid?
On Glocal Citizens
On LinkedIn

What’s Makmid watching?
Manchester United

Other topics of interest:
Freetown, Sierra Leone and Reparatory Justice
East Legon, Accra
About James Deane, co-founder IFPM

About Khadija Patel
Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
About the Nama People and The Landless Peoples Movement in Namibia
The [Wakati Weti Festival](link https://www.wakatiwetufestival.org/WWF2025#/aboutwakatiwetu?lang=en)
African Futures Lab
Deep South Solidarity Fund
Baraza Media Lab

Special Guest: Makmid Kamara.

As part of my thought gathering and as five years of storytelling with dynamic diasporans becomes six, this week's compilation is a reflection on visionary entrepreneurs doing essential work improving food systems, as stewards of earth’s abundant resources, and by building and delivering value to communities. Each of these guests - Luther Lawoyin, founder and CEO of Pricepally in Nigeria; Nana Opoku Ageyman-Prempeh, CEO of Grow For Me in Ghana; Wellington Baiden, CEO of Portal Forest Estates also in Ghana; and Asmeret Berhe-Lumax, founder of the One Love Community Fridge Project in the US, engages daily with the realities of the global challenges we are all facing - the availability and access to affordable, quality food; improving the livelihoods of those that deliver that food; and planning the land for the long haul.

The great thing about each of their entgerprises is that they are all growing and going strong with mission critical works, AND you can help ensure their continued success with your time, investment and/or donations.

Revist the full episodes with links to how to engage with each guest here:
A Revolution of Solutions with Luther Lawoyin
Crowdfunding African Agribusiness with Nana Opoku Ageyman-Prempeh
Portal into Agro-Forestry with Wellington Baiden
Connecting Communities with Asmeret Berhe-Lumax

Special Guests: Asmeret Berhe-Lumax, Luther Lawoyin, Nana Opuku Agyeman-Prempeh, and Wellington Baiden.

This week we continue to reflect on GlocalCitizens@5 and we’re flashing back to our Womens' Herstory series in March 202. Ghana-based, London-born international award-winning journalist, playwright, global public speaker and entrepreneur, Esther Armah – a self-described ‘global black chick’ – has lived, worked, loved, and created across three cities in three countries on three continents – London, New York, and Accra. She is the Executive Director of the Esther Armah Institute of Emotional Justice and she leads a global team in Ghana, Chicago and London. Her most applauded work, which she describes as “more of a purpose than a profession” is centred on the concept of EMOTIONAL JUSTICE.

Pubilshed in 2022, her groundbreaking book Emotional Justice: A Roadmap for Racial Healing argues that the crucial missing piece to racial healing and sustainable equity is emotional justice—a new racial healing language to help us do our emotional work. She continues to build on this apparatus with complementary storytelling expressed via her breadth of creative media expertise. As part of EAIEJ’s third annual September event HEALING HARM | HEEDING HISTORY, themed WELLNESS in the face of WARFARE she’ll be hosting a screening and dialogue for her short film '...goodbye to the EMOTIONAL MAMMY' later this week.
Saturday, 20th September @ 6pm
African Film Society
East Legon, ACCRA
Tickets are SOLD OUT but be sure to follow and sign up for a screening near you!

Where to find Esther?
www.theaiej.com
On LinkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram
On YouTube

Other topics of interest:
Million Women March
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Steve Beko
Oliver Tambo
Women in the ANC
Truth and Reconciliation Commission South Africa
New Heritage Theatre Group
Danceworks London
www.iamadinkra.com
ICYMI - Nana Amoako-Anin's episodes - Part 1 and Part 2

Special Guest: Esther Armah.

The spirit of summers past visits with us this week; it’s another Glocal Citizens @‌5flashback forward episode. In 2023, my guest this week, Hawa Kombian joined us for a two part conversation while she was based in her adopted home country, Canada. Today she's back in Ghana spreading new wings as a leadership strategist, resilience coach, and organizational advisor dedicated to helping mission-driven organizations sustain their impact without sacrificing their people.

With 14+ years of experience in social impact leadership, public speaking, and organizational change, she has worked with leaders across North America, Africa, and Europe to prevent burnout, build resilient teams, and create lasting cultural shifts at both the individual and organizational levels.

And that’s where we’re picking up this week’s conversation. As a sought-after speaker and facilitator, she integrates mental resilience, emotional intelligence, and strategic leadership to help leaders navigate high-pressure environments without falling into unproductive burnout loops.

Where to find Hawa?
Hawa Kombian Consulting
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Soundcloud

What’s Hawa reading?
Dead Money by Jakob Kerr

Other topics of interest:
Gambaga, Ghana
About Najong #1
“Yaya hanya” and other beginning Hausa
P4 Pilates, Accra
Kukun Open Mic in Accra

Special Guest: Hawa Kombian.

This week’s guest is another Glocal Citizens connection. In spring 2024, Amma Gyampo reached out to me me about connecting me with a like mind in education. That was the beginning of ongoing conversations with Laureen “Laury” Adams. With over 20 years of experience spanning both international and U.S. contexts as a classroom teacher, school leader, coach, designer, and professor, Dr. Laury possesses a unique skill set. This includes shaping innovative curricula, effectively supporting learning communities of all sizes, and coaching leaders to drive impactful change. Her design background informs her expertise in project-based learning approaches, performance assessment, and liberatory praxis. She collaborates with schools and education organizations to design critical, responsive, and loving curricula, assessments, and professional learning opportunities. Laureen is the founder and Executive Director of the Tutu Institute of Education for Liberation. As well as Senior Director of Professional Learning at ASCD Ghana.

Among her other roles on boards and consulting she is a Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor at Claremont Graduate University. She recently co-authored This Teachable Moment: Engaging Our Kids in the Joy of Learning to support parents and caregivers with providing project-based learning experiences at home. Download your free copy and #listenandlearn more about Laury’s work in session at SXSW EDU 2025.

Today, July 1st, Ghana marks its 65th Republic Day. Our conversation speaks to many of the themes we continue to work to realize as the country sheds its colonial character as a sovereign, free republic with Ghanaians leading and steering our social and economic destiny.

Where to find Laury?
https://www.liberatorylove.com/
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook

What’s Laury reading?
One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
Finding Your Leadership Soul by Carlos R. Moreno

What’s Laury watching?
Forever, a new series

Other topics of interest:
About Long Beach, California
NYC Teaching Fellows Program
Envsion Academy Charter School
Teach for America
Sponsors for Educational Opportunities
'Love” in Twi

Special Guest: Laureen Adams.

It’s the eve of the Lunar New Year - the year of the Wood Snake, which in combination represent growth, flexibility, tolerance, wisdom, intuition, mystery, and cunningness with hints of furtiveness. These themes are a fitting context for this two-part conversation with Ghanaian-Brit, Akua Ofosuhene. Akua is an active and vocal plant medicine advocate and a psychedelic guide specializing in Psyliosibin (magic mushrooms) and Ayahuasca. Advising on intentions and integration she helps her clients get the most out of the psychedelic experience by teaching them other supporting healing modalities furthering healing and growth. She has spoken at the UK's largest psychedelic conference, Breaking Convention where she is also on the management board, Oxford University, UCL, Drug Science, Psychedelic Society UK, and at many other events and podcasts. As the founder of African Spiritual Practices Events and Retreats she will be facilitating her first Ayahuasca retreat in Ghana, with plants grown locally in Ghana, February 16-22, 2025. The podcast is no stranger to this sector, listen and learn more from mental health futurist, Sara Reed and stay tuned for an upcoming conversation with writer and professor, Dr. Nicholas Powers about his newest work, Black Psychedelic Revolution.

Where to find Akua and register for the upcoming retreat?
https://www.akuao.com/
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On TikTok
On X
On YouTube

What’s Akue reading?
Addiction Expert, Gabor Maté and his book Hold on to Your Kids
Diane Benscoter and Shoes of A Servant

What’s Akua watching?
The Real Housewives

Other topics of interest:
Who was Okomfa Anokye?
About Mampong
Gyetiase Village
Yaa Asantewaa War
A brief history of Denim Styles in the 1970s
About Camden Lock Market
About Carnaby Street
A Punk Perspective
Kirikou and the Sorceress Animated Film
Social-economic Impacts of Ebola in West Africa
EMDR - Rapid Eye Movement Therapy
EFT Tapping
African Perspectives on Igoba
Creator of eutaptics® FasterEFT™, Robert Gene Smith
Byron Katie and The Work
Ayahuasca Plant Science
The Ayahuasca Manifesto

Special Guest: Akua Ofosuhene.

It’s the eve of the Lunar New Year - the year of the Wood Snake, which in combination represent growth, flexibility, tolerance, wisdom, intuition, mystery, and cunningness with hints of furtiveness. These themes are a fitting context for this two-part conversation with Ghanaian-Brit, Akua Ofosuhene. Akua is an active and vocal plant medicine advocate and a psychedelic guide specializing in Psyliosibin (magic mushrooms) and Ayahuasca. Advising on intentions and integration she helps her clients get the most out of the psychedelic experience by teaching them other supporting healing modalities furthering healing and growth. She has spoken at the UK's largest psychedelic conference, Breaking Convention where she is also on the management board, Oxford University, UCL, Drug Science, Psychedelic Society UK, and at many other events and podcasts. As the founder of African Spiritual Practices Events and Retreats she will be facilitating her first Ayahuasca retreat in Ghana, with plants grown locally in Ghana, February 16-22, 2025. The podcast is no stranger to this sector, listen and learn more from mental health futurist, Sara Reed and stay tuned for an upcoming conversation with writer and professor, Dr. Nicholas Powers about his newest work, Black Psychedelic Revolution.

Where to find Akua and register for the upcoming retreat?
https://www.akuao.com/
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On TikTok
On X
On YouTube

What’s Akue reading?
Addiction Expert, Gabor Maté and his book Hold on to Your Kids
Diane Benscoter and Shoes of A Servant

What’s Akua watching?
The Real Housewives

Other topics of interest:
Who was Okomfa Anokye?
About Mampong
Gyetiase Village
Yaa Asantewaa War
A brief history of Denim Styles in the 1970s
About Camden Lock Market
About Carnaby Street
A Punk Perspective
Kirikou and the Sorceress Animated Film
Social-economic Impacts of Ebola in West Africa
EMDR - Rapid Eye Movement Therapy
EFT Tapping
African Perspectives on Igoba
Creator of eutaptics® FasterEFT™, Robert Gene Smith
Byron Katie and The Work
Ayahuasca Plant Science
The Ayahuasca Manifesto

Special Guest: Akua Ofosuhene.

This week on the podcast, our first guest, Cordie Aziz is back with fresh insights from her work and life changes since our first conversation. Cordie, now a mother of three is Founder and Executive Director of Enviornment360 an NGO turned social enterprise that has successfully executed sustainable waste management projects in urban and coastal communities in Greater Accra and Kumasi. Cordie’s achievements include creating of the first successful community plastic collection program in Accra; developing the first waste picker-run sorting center in West Africa; and successfully partnering with local and national agencies as the recycling coordinator for the city of Accra, to name a few. We recorded this conversation during the ramp up to their 10th anniversary celebration at their new headquarters. In this conversation, we catch up on how Cordie is designing her work-life balance with purpose, allowing her to continue to evolve as an entreprenuer while staying rooted in her new role as a working mother.

Where to find Cordie?
Check out the show notes from her first appearance.

Other topics of interest:
Jackson State University
GhScientific
About Australian Aid
What is Verra?

Special Guest: Cordie Aziz.

This week is the finale of our writing as activism series at the 2024 Pa Gya! Literary Festival. It has been such a pleasure bringing the works and words of these writers to a wider audience. It has been a wonderful multi-generational compilation of wisdom across genres. Joining us this week is Ivana Akotowaa Ofori, a Ghanaian storyteller known also by the alias, “The Spider Kid.” She is a weaver of words in many forms, including fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. Akotowaa has been nominated for various awards for her prose writing. Her work is included in the Flash Fiction Ghana anthology, Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories, and the Writivism anthology, And Morning Will Come.

She is also included in the Africa Risen Anthology 2022 with her short story, “Exiles of Witchery”. Akotowaa’s debut novella, The Year of Return (2023) has been published in the US with Android Press and in West Africa with Smartline Publishers.

Writing aside, Akotowaa spends much of her time looking for excuses to make everything purple and this imaginative, playful spirit definitely shines through our conversation.

Where to find Akotowaa?
On the Ceiling
On Akotowaa’s Blog
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On X
On Facebook

What’s Akotowaa watching?
Dr. Who
Sherlock

What’s Akotowaa reading?
The Color Purple by Alica Walker
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
Saltwater Slavery by Stephanie E. Smallwood
Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

Other topics of interest:
Black Girls Glow and the KOSHKA Sound Residency
Burma Camp, Accra
About Roald Dahl
Ananasesem
About Kente Cloth

Special Guest: Ivana Akotowaa Ofori.

This week writing as activism is taking us to a land with a long history of activist thought ans action - Ireland. Born and raised in Nigeria, Dagogo Hart migrated to Ireland at an early age to complete his studies and now calls it home along with his young family. He is a poet, playwright, and spoken word artist whose words have wowed audiences from bar basements to electric picnic stages. He started performing in Dublin in 2016 in open mics and poetry slams, which saw him win the Slam Sunday grand slam and become an All Ireland poetry slam finalist. Since then he has performed for festivals like Electric Picnic, St. Patricks, Dublin Fringe, Drogheda literary festival, Cuirt International Poetry Festival, and First fortnight. He is one-third of the collective WeAreGriot - a poetry collective that curates art events around poetry. His personal works include, The Home Project (a series of poetry films), RedBeard Paddy (a poetry short film), Mmanwu (a play in the 2023 Dublin Fringe Festival), See True (a spoken word variety show) and Boy Child (a spoken-word play), the last two co-written with FeliSpeaks, Talkatives; a hip-hop and poetry slam as part of WeAreGriot. As you’ll learn in our conversation and glean from his works, his poetry is inspired by his hometown in Lagos, Nigeria, and his experience since moving to Ireland.
See Dagogo on stage at Pa Gya! 2024 performing his words here and in discussion about his works here.

Where else to find Dagogo?
WeAreGriot
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On X

What’s Dagogo watching?
Fences (film)
Shōgun (series)

What’s Dagogo listenining to?
Alice Smith sings “I Put a Spell on You”

Other topics of interest:
Surulere, Nigeria
Tralee, Ireland
Cork, Ireland
Visit Dublin, Ireland and the Clondalkin Tower
The Abbey Theatre and The Gate Theatre
Port Harcourt Tourist Beach
More on Chucky Ar la Inshallah
Where are the Irish language speaking towns in Ireland?

Special Guest: Dagogo Hart.

The first Tuesday in November represents the official US election day. As polling evolves for higher participation and greater inclusion, most states offer early voting so millions have already cast thier votes. Throughout this year of elections across the globe, the build up to the two where I have a say, the United States and Ghana, has played a critical role in inspiring my most activist self to move the dial in different ways toward manifesting a new world. Coincidentally, this week on the podcast kicks off our Writing as Activism series in coordination with the Pa Gya! Literary Festival in Accra. Recorded live at the eighth installment of the festivaland in the days that followed, starting the panel, Writing as Activism: Ghanaian Voices and Pan-African Perspectives Across Genres, the conversation starts with a distinguished voices covering works of poetry, screenwriting, and nonfiction scholarship with:

Nicole Amarteifio is an acclaimed Ghanaian-American TV/film writer, director, and producer. She successfully launched the hit web series 'An African City’ - dubbed by CNN and the BBC as Africa’s answer to ‘Sex and the City’.

Returning Glocal Citizen, Nydia A. Swaby is a Black feminist artist, researcher and curator. Her practice engages archives, autoethnography, photography, the moving image, and the imagination to explore the gendered, diasporic and affective dimensions of Black being and becoming. In addition to curating artistic programmes, she creates visual narratives, research and performance texts. Nydia's first book, Amy Ashwood Garvey and the Future of Black Feminist Archives, was published by Lawrence Wishart in October 2024 as part of LW's Radical Black Women book series. She is also developing an artist film, Amy and Me in the Archive, which will be screened at the forthcoming Singapore International Photography Festival 2024.

And Poet Laureate of Jamaica, Kwame Dawes, author of numerous books of poetry and other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. His most recent collection is Sturge Town (Peepal Tree Press, UK 2023). Dawes is Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University. He teaches in the Pacific MFA Program and is the Series Editor of the African Poetry Book Series, Director of the African Poetry Book Fund, and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. He is a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Kwame Dawes is the winner of the prestigious Windham/Campbell Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2022 Dawes was awarded the Order of Distinction Commander class by the Government of Jamaica. He is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica (2024-2027).

Click through to find out more about the Pa Gya! Literary Festival and the Writer’s Project Ghana and watch this and other festival panels at WPGTV.

Where to find Nicole?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube
On X

Where to find Kwame?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On X
On Facebook

Where to find Nydia?
On Glocal Citizens
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On X

Other topics of interest and the Essential Pan-African Activism reading list coming soon!

*This audio recording has been edited for clarity from the original video recording.

Special Guests: Kwame Dawes, Nicole Amarteifio, and Nydia Swaby.

I met Elike Kofi Nkansa, a multifaceted creative with a background in literature and art with a keen interest in fine detailng, one afternoon at a place called the Green Butterfly Market in Accra. He was seated in front of a beautiful portrait tapestry which I eventually purchased after visiting his flagship boutique and seeing a sampling of his portfolio. He trained as an architect and is the designer for his fashion brand, Elike Clothing which has become a household name, particularly in Ghana, and he has clothed many eminent personalites. He is currently costumier for three-time Grammy nominated artiste Rocky Dawuni.
Elike was selected amongst 14 other garment manufacturers in Ghana to spearhead an effort in mass production under AGOA--African Growth and Opportunities Act, through which his enterprise gained the requisite training to engage in mass apparel and textile production. His brand is minimalist afrocentric and heavily inclined in technically and functionally artistic design.
He mentors young artisans in the fashion industry helping to release fresh creativity into the fashion space. Through his art he hopes to forge closer bonds of peace and kinship between peoples wilst empowering women and youth.

Where to find Elike?
www.elikeclothing.com
On Facebook
What’s Elike reading?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Works by Robert Greene

What’s Elike watching?
Guest Who’s Coming to Dinner
Kramer vs. Kramer

Other topics of interest:
Leklebi Dafor
Coffee and Togo
About the game Chaskele
RIBA - Royal Institute of British Architects
Ghana Institute of Architects
About technical pens
About the Peugot 504
About Ricci Osei and son, Reggie Rockstone
About UT Bank’s Kofi Amoabeng
William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper
About Ambassador D.K Osei

Special Guest: Elike Nkansa.

I met Elike Kofi Nkansa, a multifaceted creative with a background in literature and art with a keen interest in fine detailng, one afternoon at a place called the Green Butterfly Market in Accra. He was seated in front of a beautiful portrait tapestry which I eventually purchased after visiting his flagship boutique and seeing a sampling of his portfolio. He trained as an architect and is the designer for his fashion brand, Elike Clothing which has become a household name, particularly in Ghana, and he has clothed many eminent personalites. He is currently costumier for three-time Grammy nominated artiste Rocky Dawuni.
Elike was selected amongst 14 other garment manufacturers in Ghana to spearhead an effort in mass production under AGOA--African Growth and Opportunities Act, through which his enterprise gained the requisite training to engage in mass apparel and textile production. His brand is minimalist afrocentric and heavily inclined in technically and functionally artistic design.
He mentors young artisans in the fashion industry helping to release fresh creativity into the fashion space. Through his art he hopes to forge closer bonds of peace and kinship between peoples wilst empowering women and youth.

Where to find Elike?
www.elikeclothing.com
On Facebook
What’s Elike reading?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Works by Robert Greene

What’s Elike watching?
Guest Who’s Coming to Dinner
Kramer vs. Kramer

Other topics of interest:
Leklebi Dafor
Coffee and Togo
About the game Chaskele
RIBA - Royal Institute of British Architects
Ghana Institute of Architects
About technical pens
About the Peugot 504
About Ricci Osei and son, Reggie Rockstone
About UT Bank’s Kofi Amoabeng
William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper
About Ambassador D.K Osei

Special Guest: Elike Nkansa.

This week on we’re moving into the new year with some wise words and insights in Part 2 of my conversation with Ghanaian investor and developer of new businesses, Eric Osiakwan. With 25 years of experience spanning 32 countries in Africa gained through a number of successful tech start-ups, Eric is a leading pioneer of internet in Africa. Having worked in multiple countries building internet service providers (“ISP”) and ICT businesses, some of his successful exits include iBurst in South Africa, One2Net in Uganda, and BusyInternet in Ghana, to name a few. Eric also founded and ran the Africa ISP Association for eight years, during which the ISP industry grew by almost 120 percent. He then moved on to leading efforts to build submarine cables on the continent. Eric was part of a public-private partnership in Kenya that built and launched the TEAMS submarine fibre cable, the first to connect East Africa to the rest of the world. He subsequently contributed to the building of terrestrial fibre networks in Ghana and Nigeria. As we learned in Part 1 of the conversation, he Co-Founded Angel Africa List, Angel Fair Africa and currently heads Chanzo Capital, a venture and growth capital firm, investing capital, capacity and community in high-tech startups and scaleups in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.

Where to find Eric?
ericosiakwan.com
On LinkedIn
On [Facebook](Eric Osiakwan)
On [Instagram](Instagram (@eosiakwan))
On X

What’s Eric reading?
Works by Cheikh Anta Diop

Other topics of interest:
How Greater Accra (Tema) is the geographical center of the Earth
About Panafest and Kojo Yankah
On Ghana’s Joseph Project
Year of Return
Full Circle Africa Economic Conference
Stripe Payments Platform
Safaricom and the roots of Mobile Money
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: African Information Society Initiative(AISI)
UNDP Internet Initiative for Africa
What are Internet Exchange Points?
The African Internet Service Providers Association
ICANN and Esther Dyson
About TEAMS
Bongo Hive
About the BenBen App
On Eric’s book KINGS of Africa’s Digital Economy

Special Guest: Eric Osiakwan.

This week’s episode is like the jetway bridging me between my two locations this week. From my Continental base in Accra, South Sudanese-Ethiopian-American, Nyamal Tutdeal, who is a conflict resolution and healing practitioner, joins us again to talk about, among other things, one of her homelands--Ethiopia, where I found myself (in Addis Ababa) for the weekend. Many may recall meeting Nyamal on the podcast prior to her move to Accra, and now after a nearly two years, she’s an “Accra-an.” With over a decade of work experience under her belt, Nyamal has developed and managed various programmes related togender, peace, security, and antiracist/race relations. She is a staunch advocate for women's empowerment, human rights, refugees, immigrants, displaced communities, and the fight against early child marriage. Nyamal is a Co-Director and Co-Founder of the NyaEden Foundation. She also works as an Adjunct Professor at both Arcadia University and Webster University in Ghana, where she provides academic support and teaches Introduction to Human Rights, Refugee and Migration Movement, Advocacy, NGO and Civil Society at Webster University Ghana campus. Nyamal is also involved in teaching Conflict Transformation, Restorative Justice, Mediation, and Conflict Coaching in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) program at Arcadia University. Prior to her relocation to Ghana, Nyamal served as the Director of Equity and Inclusion for CORA Services. Nyamal has a B.A. in Human Relations and an M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Nyamal is now at the head of her own consultancy, The Nyamal Group which she launched this year.

Where to find Nyamal?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On X
On Facebook
Shades of Injera

What's Nyamal reading?
Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad by Damilare Kuku

What’s Nyamal watching?
About Star Wars and the Ashoka TV Series

Other topics of interest?
About the Nuer People Demographics in Ethiopia
Civil Conflict in Ethiopia
On Empire, here are some articles that analyze empire and colonization as major drivers of present-day inequality:
"The Empire of Inequality: Introduction" by Himadeep Muppidi - Discusses how colonial empires created enduring global inequality through exploitation, extraction of wealth, and imposition of power structures.
"The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa" by Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou - Economic analysis finding that artificial colonial borders continue to impact economic development and inequality across African nations today.
"The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation" by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson - Research arguing colonialism set up institutions that continue to affect world inequality.
"Imperialism and Colonialism" by Battiston et al. - Reviews how empires led to concentration of wealth and power for imperial nations that remains evident in 21st century global inequality.
“How Western Colonization Launched Capitalism with Violence and Ruin" by Nicholas De Genova - Discusses direct links between violent colonization, slavery, genocide and the rise of global capitalism and inequality.
“The Impact of Colonialism on African Economic Development” by Joshua Settles - Analysis of economic exploitation, extraction of resources, and disruption of existing systems during European colonization of Africa.
SAD - Seasonal Effective Disorder
54th NAACP Image Awards
Sheryl Lee Ralph’s dress and designer, Pistis Ghana
South Sudan’s Political Structure
South Sudan’s Vice Presidents and Fourth VP, Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior
About Hope Resoration South Sudan
About the South Sudanese Civil War
About South Sudan’s Minister of Interior, Angelina Teny
Bella Afrik in Accra
The Mix Accra

Special Guest: Nyamal Tutdeal.

This week I had the opportunity to catch up with Christa Eiise Sanders, an International Education professional with over 20 years of progressively responsible and diverse experience within the field of higher education. She is currently the Campus Director at Webster University in Accra, Ghana. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia University, her expertise includes strategic planning, program development, counseling (with a focus in multiculturalism/diversity); academic oversight, advising and planning. She also has a strong background in creating and managing study abroad programs in Africa and Europe. Growing up in an Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania with educators as parents, academics and higher education have been a mainstay in Christa's life and have opened the door to living ans working in Spain, Germany, and now Ghana. Her publications and research stress understanding of cultural factors on a worldwide scale. and with extensive travel and study experience spanning over 65 countries she is also a polyglot; her languages include Spanish, German, Portuguese and beginning Twi.

Where to find Christa?
blackwomenabroad.org
On [LinkedIn](lhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/christa-sanders-elise/)
On Instagram
On Facebook

Topics of interest:
About Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
On Jamestown, Accra
About the funeral rights of Ga Manye Naa Dedei Omaedru III
Brief history of the Ga people’s migration to Accra
About the Orthodox Coptic Church
About Quaker Schools
About Ashesi University’s Patrick Awuah
About Robert F. Smith
ArtX Lagos

Special Guest: Christa Elise Sanders.

This week on the podcast we’re back on the trailblazing path and once again, it is all about Destination Africa! Our guides are my guests, the Ghanaian-Briton duo Abena and Ekow Richardson, the co-founders of Destination Africa, which, through programs, workshops, dvds, channels, live streams and other merchandise offers a wealth of knowledge in African languages, culture, heritage and lifestyle. With backgrounds in software engineering, the hair and fashion industries, and professional basketball the Destination Africa journey began for Ekow once he became a father with the decision to apply his passions to inspiring and empowering the next generation of young leaders. As a homeschooling mum, Abena is also the main facilitator for Destination Africa. She uses her energetic, coordinated, innovative, loving, exciting, and disciplined teaching style to deliver results while her partner uses his IT skills as the technological mind behind all things Destination Africa. Together this family affair is one to watch as a primer on planning a relocating a family and a business in uncertain times.

Where to find the Richardsons?
www.destinationafrica.com
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Youtube
On Whatsapp

Other topics of interest:
Exotic Park, West Legon
Winneba, Ghana
San kofa a yenkyiri
About Fante people in Ghana
A survey of Ghana’s Parliament
About civics education in Africa
Kumapim Royals International Band’s Time Changes

Special Guests: Abena Richardson and Ekow Richardson.

This week, we’re venturing west from Ghana along the coast to Sierra Leone by way of the US to settle here in Accra. My guest, Joannes “Joe” Hotagua is a Sierra Leonian-American, Strategic Advisor with 16 years of professional experience helping startups monetize their digital assets and Fortune 500 brands reach their target customers through digital media advertising. He’s a modern-day iteration of the Ad Man. Early in his career, Joe was responsible for using email marketing and affiliate advertising to drive product purchases and lead generation for direct-to-consumer companies. In 2012, he began his investment career by personally investing in PeepsOut, a minority-run Livestream mobile app, allowing users to see the crowd size at bars and restaurants in real time. At its peak, there were 90 restaurants and bars (in two cities) on the service, and $350K was raised in funding. His current business, based in Freetown, focuses on improving the lives of underrepresented and underserved populations and operates in four sectors: African Startup Advisory, African Film Production, E-commerce, and Real Estate. Joe’s e-commerce platform, Authentic African, is both an e-commerce store and social media broadcast. The e-commerce mission is to connect the diaspora with their African roots through African handmade products while helping local African entrepreneurs build their businesses internationally. The @Authentic_African social media broadcast delivers history, news, and culture to the African diaspora. This conversation was another great opportunity to reflect on the shared mission many of us African content creators have around manifesting a new Africa, a new world.

Where to find Joannes?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On Twitter
On YouTube
On TikTok

What’s Joannes reading?
Clash of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
The Silk Roads: New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
Silk Road by Eileen Ormsby
American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

Other topics of interest:
Lungi, Sierra Leone
About Sierra Leone’s Mende and Mandingo people
Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio
On Ebonics
On Pidgin languages
About Roc-A-Fella Records
Kazaa, LimeWire and the evolution of MP3 streaming platforms
On Programmatic Advertising
Boomerang, the film
On Frederick W. Smith of Fed Ex

Special Guest: Joannes Hotagua.

Esther, a Ghanaian Brit also has acclaimed experience as a multi media journalist, documentary maker and playwright with productions appearing on stages in New York, Chicago and Accra. She's a radio show host, a fellow podcaster as creator of 'THE SPIN', and has beed a television political commentator on MSNBC, CNN, GRITtv, BET and MSNBC. As a writer, her work has been published in The Guardian, West Africa magazine, Gawker, AlterNet.org, Salon.com, and The Huffington Post. Esther is truly a women on a change maker's mission addressing the systematic challenges that are pervasive throughout ALL cultures, and hers is a story you'll not want to miss.

She is currently living, working and playing mostly in Ghana; Esther still calls NYC and London "home" too.

Where to find Esther?
www.theaiej.com
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Facebook
On Instagram
On YouTube

Other topics of interest:
Million Women March
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Steve Beko
Oliver Tambo
Women in the ANC
Truth and Reconciliation Commission South Africa
New Heritage Theatre Group
Danceworks London
www.iamadinkra.com

ICYMI - Nana Amoako-Anin's episodes - Part 1 and Part 2

Special Guest: Esther Armah.