Glocal Citizens - Episodes Tagged with “Africa”

Episode 78: Cultivating a Productive Pandemic Pivot with Maya Gilliam

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens!
This week I had the treat of hosting a woman with sights on a healing revolution. Maya Gilliam is a serial entrepreneur as owner of Hempress Farms and Ma’ati Spa located in her native, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as global graphic design firm, III Eye Digital. A graduate of Howard University, she spent her early career in media focusing on sports with stints at USA Today and the NBA. In search of a way to reduce her screen time, she studied massage therapy and other wellness disciplines which led to the founding of Ma'ati Spa, LLC in 2012. Her business was hard hit by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which inspired Maya into applying her hemp cultivation skills to transforming her spa business and merging spaces with Hempress Farms, LLC. Hempress Farms is a licensed boutique, family owned, artisanal hemp grow. Her products are sustainably produced and responsibly sourced from seed to bottle. The merged space is the only hemp tasting room in downtown Winston-Salem.

Another certified #GlocalCitizen, Maya continues to hone her love for travel and luxury as she explores replicating her enterprise experience in Africa given the changing policy landscape in the industrial and medicinal hemp sectors. That's how we were able to connect in Accra on her recent African tour which included a stop in Rwanda. Listen in and get know more about what's now and next for Hempress Farms.

www.hempresshealer.com
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Twitter
On Facebook

What's Maya listening to?
Burna Boy
Afrobeats

Other topics of interest:
Yadkinville, North Carolina
The Hakuna Group
My Hempress Farms gift
Bella Canna Enterprises
CannaAfrika

Special Guest: Maya Gilliam.

Episode 60: Investing in Urban Improvement with Jonas Parby

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

This week's guest is my first "World Banker." Born and raised in Denmark and currently based in Nepal, Jonas Ingemann Parby is a Senior Urban Specialist in the South Asia Region with the World Bank. Jonas has led and worked on lending operations and analytical products in more than 20 countries across Latin America, Africa, South East Asia, and South Asia. His expertise focuses on local governance and decentralization, urban resilience, municipal finance, and housing. Before joining the World Bank Group, Jonas served as Adviser at DANIDA (Danish Agency for Development Assistance) and worked for several international NGOs. Prior to relocating to Nepal with his wife and daughter, Jonas lived and worked in the United States, Cambodia, Thailand, Uganda, and Peru. Fluent in five languages, Jonas also has a particular fluency in nature where he finds the best kinds of mindset hacks through his global and local adventures. In this conversation we learn quite a bit about the project development process at the World Bank and some of the solution-scaping activities that Jonas has been involved in implementing.

Press Play @
00:10:17 "Why the Where?"
00:14:24 "Jonas' Glocal Speak"
00:42:57 "Jonas' Mindset Hack"

Where to find Jonas?
On [LinkedIn](linkedin.com/in/jonas-ingemann-parby-24b6042)
On Facebook
On Instagram
On Twitter

Other topics of interest:
Nepal Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project
On Climate Change Mitigation
On Namaste
Danish Children's Songs

Special Guest: Jonas Ingemann Parby.

Episode 44: Impact Investing for Diverse, Inclusive Growth with Tara Sabre Collier

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

This week I catch up with Tara Sabre Collier. She’s a UK-based international strategist and impact investment professional with a track record of supporting social enterprise growth, private sector development and startup ecosystems, especially across emerging markets in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. Tara's passion is inclusive economic development, especially for Afrodescendant and indigenous communities and women and girls. Recognizing the importance of actual lived experience in delivering effective development interventions, for more than eight years living in the field in emerging markets and also gathered on-the-ground work experience across 18 countries on five continents, including Nigeria, UAE, Brazil, Peru, South Africa, Jordan, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, UK, Qatar, and others. Tara has firsthand entrepreneurial/ venture building experience in both emerging and developed markets, as well as an Oxford MBA (Skoll Scholar) in Strategy/Entrepreneurship plus an NYU MPA in International Policy & Management and a BA Magna cum Laude from Spelman College.
Sit back and enjoy an insightful conversation about inclusive economic development from the impact investor’s perspective.

Where to find Tara?
On LinkedIn
On Twitter @globalcreator

What’s Tara listening to?
Hadiiya Barbel
Mayra Andrade

Other topics of interest—
• The Babylon App
• Bubble
• Racial Equity Index
• Index for Racial Equity
• Human Centered Design

Special Guest: Tara Sabre Collier.

Episode 41: Empowering Patients using Healthtech Interconnectivity with Dr. Muri Raifu Part 2

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Autumn Glocal Citizens!

For the next two episodes, we’ll be visiting with healthtech entrepreneur and neurosurgeon, Dr. Muri Raifu. Muri is another Ghana native, by way of Nigeria. A scholar-athlete at Amherst College in Massachusetts, in addition to his medical training Muri also received his MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Currently based in Los Angeles, California, Muri is blazing a trail both in his private practice, and his start-up Talamus Health which is in the business of improving and unifying healthcare delivery in emerging markets, helping patients interact with and share their health information with a connected circle of providers.

Since launching in 2018, Talamus is emerging as a go to solution for health service providers partnering with more than 1,000 healthcare providers across Africa. Other notable early achievements include being named Most Scalable SME at the United Nations ITU Global Awards in 2018 and making Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World list in 2019. This conversation is another Glocal Citizens gem where we take a seat on a coming of age and career tour with Muri from Ghana, across the US and back, across Africa.

Where to find Muri and Talamus?
On Talamus
On LInkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram

What’s Muri lightening to?
Fela Kuti
Bob Marley
Shatta Wale
Sarkodie
Talib Kweli
Mos Def

Art and science of interest—
PCR Primers

Wangechi Mutu Kenyan Visual Artist
Yinka Shonibare British-Nigerian Artist
Sanford Biggers Harlem-based Visual Artist
Amoako Boafo Ghanaian Painter
Dotum Popoola
Hyperrealist Artists in Nigeria

Special Guest: Muri Raifu, MD.

Episode 40: Empowering Patients using Healthtech Interconnectivity with Dr. Muri Raifu Part 1

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 05:00:00 -0400

Autumn Glocal Citizens!

Where to find Muri and Talamus?
On Talamus
On LInkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram

What’s Muri lightening to?
Fela Kuti
Bob Marley
Shatta Wale
Sarkodie
Talib Kweli
Mos Def

Special Guest: Muri Raifu, MD.

Episode 35: Amplifying Literacy with Cliff Schmidt

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we meet Cliff Schmidt, is the Executive Director of Amplio Network, a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides inclusive digital technology to help governments and global development organizations widen their reach and impact in rural, remote, off-grid communities. Amplio, formerly known as Literacy Bridge launched in Ghana in 2007 and has since grown to serve communities in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia. Check out how Amplio's Talking Book technology - an easy to use, rugged, tool designed with real users in mind, is unlocking invaluable access to knowledge sharing.

Where to find Cliff and Amplio?

What’s Cliff watching and reading?

13th
How to Be An AntiRacist by Ibram X. Kendi

Other topics of interest—

Special Guest: Cliff Schmidt.

Episode 27: On Becoming Borderless with Muhammida El Muhajir

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 01:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens! Last weekend, June 19th marked a more widespread interest and awareness around the observance of Juneteenth, the day when slavery ended in “earnest” for black people in America. I mention this in the context of my guest this week, Muhammida El Muhajir, because, the global mood has landed squarely on ideas of liberation, liberation in the most basic form—a freedom to breath. For Muhammida, that meant becoming borderless and crafting a life founded in the safety and security of Accra, Ghana. Born and raised in the US, Muhammida relocated to Ghana in 2014 and has not looked back. She is a magical marketer and is taking the digital PR and marketing space to new levels in Ghana and beyond. You’ll truly enjoy and pick up many insights on how to transition from inertia to inspiration in this discussion with another certified Glocal Citizen.

Where to find Muhammida and Wax Print Media?

After the El Muhajir touch:

Special Guest: Muhammida El Muhajir.

Episode 24: Globetrotting, Facebook and Sci-Fi with Akua Gykekye

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 13:00:00 -0400

This episode marks my last conversation from the road for the time being. Wrapping up my Winter 2020 tour, I had the pleasure of meeting with Akua Gyekye at a bustling London eatery—please pardon the sound. Akua is Facebook’s Public Policy Manager for Africa and MENA Elections; she focuses on issues relating privacy, safety and security, freedom of expression, the impact of the Internet on economic growth, and new opportunities for democratic engagement in these regions.

Before joining Facebook, Akua, who is qualified to practice in NY and the UK, was a project finance lawyer, at Clifford Chance. Other roles took her to Nigeria and Liberia as a legal adviser and rule of law specialist at the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation; and as an anti-corruption lawyer at USAID. Akua also has government experience (the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), NGO experience (the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, Lawyers Without Borders) and experience working for international think tanks (American Society for International Law, the European Institute, the Brookings Institute).

Another of our Global Ghanaians, Akua grew up in Germany and completed portions of her secondary and higher education in the US. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Society, International Relations and Spanish from American University, a Law Degree from Cambridge University in England and a Masters of Laws in International and Comparative Law from the George Washington University Law School.

Where to find Akua?
On LinkedIn
IG @akuag8

*What’s Akua reading and other Sci-Fi recommendations? *
Brave New Girl by Chloe Brotheridge
What I Know for Sure by Oprha Winfrey
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

What's all that noise in the background?
Check out GRANGER & Co in Notting Hill

Special Guest: Akua Gyekye.

Episode 23: The Evolution of a Specialist Generalist with Kwame Acheampong Part 2

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 26 May 2020 06:00:00 -0400

From Lagos, I traveled to London in early March 2020 where I met COO of LinkCommerce.com, Kwame Acheampong. Kwame is another of those definitive glocal citizens that I love to visit with. Ghanaian by parentage, he grew up in both Europe and Ghana and has lived and worked in a number of countries across the globe. Kwame is an innovative, results driven entrepreneur, with extensive experience in technology, sales, digital marketing, online advertising, digital and web environments, ecommerce and multimedia, especially music production. He describes himself as responsible, dependable, practical, proactive and organized multi-tasker, problem solver and people person, thrives in diverse, fast-changing environments with steep learning curves. Prior solidifying himself as a true “techie", Kwame worked as a Sound Engineer, which presented him with the unique opportunity to work with some of the world’s top artists and numerous music and creative projects. Be sure to stay tuned for both Parts 1 and 2 of this fun and information packed hour with Kwame “tha Prof” Acheampong.

Where to find Kwame?

More about Kwame’s music story?

What's Kwame Reading?

Blinkist

Special Guest: Kwame Acheampong.

Episode 22: The Evolution of a Specialist Generalist with Kwame Acheampong Part 1

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 19 May 2020 03:00:00 -0400

Where to find Kwame?

More about Kwame’s music story?

What's Kwame Reading?

Blinkist

Special Guest: Kwame Acheampong.