For those listeners in North America, February is Black History Month. Week in and week out on this podcast, we’re all about how our Black present syncs with our history and all things forward for people of the Black diaspora worldwide. This week’s conversation zooms in on a healthcare infrastrucutre solution that has the potential to transform how emergency response services are designed and implemented with the realities of African communities in mind. My guest this week, Folake Owodunni is the co-founder and CEO of Emergency Response Africa (ERA), a health tech company revolutionizing access to emergency care in Africa, beginning with Nigeria. With over 15 years of experience across healthcare, marketing, and consulting in Nigeria, the U.S., and Canada, she brings a dynamic and cross-sectoral approach to solving complex health challenges.

Under her leadership, ERA has managed over 4,500 medical emergencies, reducing response times by up to 80%, and forging partnerships with forward-thinking state governments including Edo, Ogun, and Rivers.

Also a certified First Responder with the Canadian Red Cross, she is passionate about Africa’s rising tech ecosystem and making fast, reliable emergency medical care accessible to all Africans using technology. Recognized for her innovation and impact, she has received multiple awards and development grants, including the Google Black Founders Fund, JICA’s Next Innovation with Japan Award, The Professor Grace Alele-Williams Alumni Impact Award, and most recently, the global Aurora Tech Award.

As you’ll hear in the conversation, ERA is appealing to the the Black/African Diaspora to get involved! Health is wealth so #listenandlearn how you can forward ERA’s mission to deliver fast, reliable emergency care across Africa.

Where to find Folake?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram

What’s Folake reading?
Tessa Afshar’s Jewel of the Nile
Finding Flow: The Psychology Of Engagement With Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalhi
[The CEO Only Does Three Things: Finding Your Focus in the C-Suite](link https://www.scribd.com/document/898002899/A-CEO-Only-Does-Three-Things) by Trey Taylor

What’s Folake listening to?
Diary of a CEO Podcast
[The Lazy CEO](link https://www.thelazyceo.com/)

Other topics of interest:
Ogun State, Nigeria
Kitchner - Waterloo, Canada
Meet Dr. Ola Brown of Flying Doctors Nigeria
About The Prosperity Paradox
African Journal for Emergency Medicine
About Biblical Fiction

Special Guest: Folake Owodunni.

I met this week’s guest, Derrick N. Ashong, earlier this year in Nairobi at the Charter Cities Institute, 2025 New Cities Summit. At the summit, we connected as storytellers that share Ghanaian heritage and formative years spent in Brooklyn, New York. In a glocal citizenship twist, we later came to find that we met virtually years prior through mutual connections in the media and arts spaces. Derrick’s work leverages his international upbringing which informs his company’s vision for Turning Culture into Currency for creators and fans worldwide. He does this as founder and CEO of TBTM, a media fintech that uses content to onboard global audiences to inclusive financial solutions, with partners like Mastercard. While still a student at Harvard, he played a supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, and went on to top charts with his band, winning a Billboard Songwriting Award. As a host and producer, he pioneered multi-platform interactive content with Oprah Winfrey, and major media platforms including ABC-Disney and Univision, earning three Emmy nods and a Royal Television Society Award. His original Take Back the Mic television series has won seven major international awards and achieved 1.1 Billion media impressions worldwide. He has delivered electrifying speeches on issues of Youth Culture and Tech for UK Parliament, the United Nations, and the world’s most elite business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Wharton, Cambridge and London School of Economics. He has interviewed celebrities and global luminaries ranging from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan, to Zoe Saldaña, Kevin Hart and Steven Wozniak, among others. Most recently, he has delivered keynote speeches for Mastercard, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and Kigali, as well as SuperReturn Africa--the continent’s top investment forum. In this conversation we get to know even more about the next phase of Derrick’s vision for flipping the script on creative industry infrastructure in Africa. #Listenandlearn more!

Where to find Derrick?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On YouTube

What’s Derrick reading?
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series
Lord of the Rings by J.J.R Tolkien

Other topics of interest:
About Larteh in Ghana
Where are Dansoman and Adabraka in Accra?
What was music streaming like in the early 2000’s?
Soulfege performs Sweet Remix
About Uechi-Ryū Martial Arts

Special Guest: Derrick N. Ashong.

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’s conversation dovetails themes that have become very present in my perspectives in the past year. Our conversation takes place in one of my locals, which happens to be a new-ish local for my guest--Brooklyn, New York. My guest, Ambassador Martin Kimani is a native of a soon-to-be local for me--Kenya. And we are both decidedly on a #PanAfricaProgress mission. Getting to this point, Ambassabor Kimani has spent his career operating at the intersection of diplomacy, security, and political legitimacy, working across national, regional, and multilateral systems to resolve conflict, build institutions, and negotiate power.

As Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN, he served as president of the Security Council and the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS. His Security Council address of February 2022, delivered on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and viewed by millions, affirmed a core element of his leadership: the ability to bring moral clarity and strategic grounding to moments of international rupture. Earlier, in his career, he directed Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Centre and served as the President’s Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism advising three presidents through national and regional crises, from emergency evacuations to constitutional brinkmanship.

This year he stepped into a new role as President and CEO of The Africa Center in New York marking a new phase in his work where diplomacy, strategy, and narrative converge. At the same time his Pan-African portfolio, alongside his continued engagement with the United Nations, positions him as the current President of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

Where to find Martin?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram

What’s Martin reading?
A Wreath for Udomo by Peter Abrahams

Other topics of interest:
About Mombasa, Kenya
Nyeri, Kenya
Kiambu, Kenya
About the Kikuyu People
Ambassador Kimani’s Security Council Speech
The First Pan-African Congress in London
The Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester
Who was George Padmore?
Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe
African Nationalism

Special Guest: Martin Kimani.

We’re talking about the business of teaching and learning from a design thinking perspective with my guest, fellow Stanford University alum, visionary educational leader and the founder and CEO of Roundtrip Ticket Home, an organization dedicated to helping educators reimagine school systems through design thinking, Kalimah Fergus Ayele. With almost 30 years of experience in education, her journey began as a Peace Corps Volunteer, teaching Chemistry in East Africa. Her career has spanned five countries, enriching her global perspective on learning, and bringing a deep understanding of urban educational landscapes to her transformative work.

Most recently, she served as the Head of NYC Campus for The Winchendon School where she led an innovative educational oasis in Manhattan, guiding high school students through real-world learning and a unique city-wide field study program designed to connect them with their passions. In this conversation we truly experience the roundtrip journey of a little girl growing up in Brooklyn and St. Croix, building on Pan-African rooting from an early age, who manifested her new and now as a global citizen ready for her next adventure.

Where to find Kalimah?
@roundtrip Ticket Home
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook

What’s Kalimah reading?
All the Way to the River by Eizabeth Gilbert

What’s Kalimah watching?
aka Charlie Sheen on Netflix
Orgasm Inc: The Story of One Taste on Netflix

Other topics of Interest:
About St. Croix
Sleepy Hollow, New York
About the United States Peace Corps
About Brooklyn’s African Street Fair and International African Arts Festival
Courageous Conversation + Glenn Singleton
About the American University in Cairo
On Montessori Education
On Friends or Quaker Schools

Special Guest: Kalimah Fergus Ayele.

As the season of academic studies begins in many institutions across parts of the world, including New York City where I have spent many years working with charter schools to open their doors to children and families, it’s a flashback moment for my guest and me to the days when she was first granted a charter to begin her social enterpreneurship journey as a school leader and founder. Dr. Elaine Ruiz Lopez is the Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of the International Leadership Charter High School, a rigorous college prep charter high school in the Bronx, New York where over 95% of its scholars graduate within four years enrolling in the college of their choice. In 2024, she expanded her vision opening a middle school in 2024.

Having worked in the field of education since 1980, over ths course of her career she has held various leadership positions in public schools and universities. In 2017, she was one of the recipients of the Distinguished Women Award (Mujeres Destacadas) presented by El Diario, the largest Spanish daily newspaper organization in the country. In 2022 as one of 100 Bronx Power Women. In 2023 she received the Educator of Excellence Award from the Black Latinx Asian Charter Coalition (BLACC). She is a founding member of the Latino Charter Leaders Roundtable and its current Chair.
Her first book, The Fight for Equity in the Bronx: Changing Lives and Transforming Communities One Scholar at a Time was published last summer and stands as a testament to years of focusing her vision as a servant leader as well as the manifestation of generations of purpose driven living and adaptating to new shores, creating home in other lands.

Where to find Dr. Ruiz Lopez and the International Leadership Charter High School?
Buy her book @ here!
Saturday (and weekends), September 13th - October 12th, 2025 at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition as part of “the art of Nuyorican Soul: A Love Letter from the Diaspora to the Island” exhibition.
International Leadership Charter Schools
On LinkedIn
On Instagram

What’s Elaine reading, watching and listening to?
Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
My Grandmother’s Hands by Dr. Resmaa Menakem
Lupin on Netflix
CeCe Winans
Yolanda Adams

Other topics of interest:
About Historical Puerto Rico
On Immigrants and Migrants
The Bronx is Burning and other stories about struggle and settlement in The Bronx
What is the Jones Act?
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on PBS
Find our more about charter schoos via the New York City Charter School Center

Special Guest: Elaine Ruiz Lopez.

Over the week/weekend just passed, the world recognized International Women’s Day as well as Ghana’s 68th Independence Day. Both happenings inspire thoughts, reflections, and movement in my heart and mind especially as I, we sit in constant review of the world we are making, remaking and re-imagining for our now. My conversation this week, in our continued March Herstories Month series is with British-Ghanaian, Elvina Quaison, is with a diasporan working intently with and within communities engaged in this re-imagining. She's now based back in the London after relocating to Brussels since our last conversation. In her time in the EU hub, she supported diaspora and government representatives as Diaspora Engagement Specialist for the EU Global Diaspora Facility (EUDiF), a pilot project funded by the European Commission and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). Elvina recently took on the role of CEO with Shabaka, a values-driven consulting and research organization focused on diaspora and migrants' humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery. She has worked in the international development field, with a focus on African diaspora, for over 20 years; her experience spans diaspora engagement in humanitarianism, development, private and public sector as well as within civil society. She specializes in diaspora and private sector investment with a focus on the utilization of diaspora investment to enhance economic growth in countries of heritage and residence. Our conversation is a wonderful flash forward offering a hopeful persective on how #dynamicdiasporans are engaging with the concept and a #borderlessmindset, and #manifestinganewworld.

Where to find Elvina?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram

What’s Elvina reading?
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Other topics of interest:
Notes on serving on boards
On Belgium’s Human Zoo
Brussel’s AfricaMuseum
On the brutality of Belgium’s King Leopold
On Onyekachi Wambu
A conversation with Sophia Stewart, creator of The Terminator and The Matrix
Shifters Play UK
About Supacell

Special Guest: Elivina Quaison.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been learning more and more about the Women of Africa Post-Pandemic Empowerment and Advocacy Programme with guests from Egypt to Scotland to Nigeria with a range of business, health and well-being perspectives. This week we’re back in Nigeria with the women that started it all, Glocal Citizen, Adebisi Bright. Dr. Bisi Bright is an international award-winning scientist, social entrepreneur, health systems researcher, adjunct lecturer, consultant clinical pharmacist, and public health manager. She is 1st Vice Chairman and CEO of LiveWell Initiative LWI, a self-sustaining nonprofit healthcare social enterprise, which has impacted over two million Nigerians and thousands of Ghanaians with health literacy, improved overall health, and wellness.

She is the brain behind the Post-pandemic Womens' Empowerment Programme of Africa which is a Gilead-Sciences, Inc. USA-supported regional program empowering all women in Africa and visiting ten nations with a goal of empowering all the Women of Africa in the post-pandemic era and to equip them tools for mental health and resilience. When we last spoke with Bisi, it was during the pandemic and we got to know how LWI was doing it’s part to equip communities with necessary health supports. In this conversation you’ll learn about the impressive strides the Bisi and her colleagues have made in services and in innovation all while continuing to live well!

Where to find Bisi and more information about the PPWA program?
www.livewellng.org
On LinkedIn

What’s Bisi cooking?
Jollof rice
Ogbono soup

Other topics of interest:
Global Public Health University
Health Technology Assessment
About Value-based Healthcare
International Alliance of Patient’s Organizations
More about Block Chain technology in healthcare

Special Guest: Adebisi Bright.

It’s Leo season and birthday week for both my guest and me as well as fellow Glocal Citizen and birthday celebrant Muhammida El Muhajir, which is how I was introduced to my guest, Ghanaian-born, Rita Kusi. Rita is a highly respected, passionate, and result-oriented strategic human resource professional with 20 years of experience as a generalist in the field. Currently, she serves as the CEO and Senior Consultant at Keeping 'U' Simply Intact (KUSI) Consulting, a boutique Digital HR and Marketing consulting firm providing HR and Marketing services to clients across Africa and the United States. She is also the Team Lead of Execution and Strategy for the Global Conference on Human Resources in Africa (GCHRA), a gathering of visionary human resource, business, and technology leaders to empower Africa’s workforce. Keep watching this space for collaborations around their upcoming conference happening October 24-25, 2024 in Accra, Ghana.
She has distinguished herself as a mentor, coach, and fervent advocate for professional development. Rita is on a mission to revolutionize the role of HR within organizations.

Her career highlights, including being the first black woman to hold a directorial position in a prominent U.S. condominium firm and recognition as one of the 50 most influential young Ghanaians in 2018, underscore her exceptional leadership. In 2023, she was voted and named “Ghana’s Most Respected CEO in HR Management” at the 6th Ghana Industry CEO Awards by The Business Executive.

Where to find Rita?
Visit http://kusiconsulting.com for more on their services.
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On X
On TikTok
On Youtube

What’s Rita reading?
Unbroken by Trishia Bailey

Other topics of interest:
Where is Bolgatanga “Bolga”, Ghana
Kumasi, Capital of Ghana’s Ashanti Region
Akan Proverbs
Ghana’s Labor Laws in Transition
About the US Diversiy Visa Lottery Program
Impact Hub Accra
iSpace Accra
Who is Gary V?
About Johnny C. Taylor

Special Guest: Rita Kusi.

This week we have a Glocal Citizens first so keep reading!
I first met my guest, Robert “Bob” Bush, Jr., more than 15 years ago in a cute bistro in the Meat Packing District in New York City. At the time, he had been living in the Middle East for a couple of years as Managing Director and Senior Advisor for the Corporate Office of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoumis, Prime Minister of the UAE. As you’ll hear in the conversation this was in many ways a culminating role, that started to take shape while backpacking around the world after university.

He continues to “live” in the Middle East, but in true Glocal Citizens style, his work and life have taken him through Europe, back to the US, Africa and the far East. Bob is now President and CEO of Cajary Majlis, the exclusive distributor of Mutombo Coffee, co-founded by NBA Hall of Famer and Global Humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo. Cajary Majlis, an international trader of commodities and a distributor of food and feed products from around the world, uses its networks, talents, and resources to solve challenging problems related to building commodity businesses in emerging markets.

Throughout his 30+ year professional career, he’s established himself as a seasoned senior investment executive with experience across industries (advanced manufacturing, financial services, energy, ICT, e-health, life sciences, security, and retail), geographies (USA, Europe, China, Middle East and Africa), as well as asset classes (venture capital, private equity, Islamic finance). He also advises the European Commission on Public Private Partnerships and is an SME advisor for the EC’s Horizon 2020 Initiative. In the spring of 2020, he became an advisor to Ahmed bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre in the UAE. He speaks frequently to governments, universities, and corporates and is a contributing writer to Forbes Middle East online edition.

So now the treat! For all of you coffee lovers and lovers of coffee lovers, Mutombo Coffee is offering an exclusive perk for GC listeners. Use GLOCAL10 discount code at checkout and receive a 10 percent discout on your order. Buy now here!
As an added perk, from now until June 15, 2024, Mutombo Coffee will donate 10 percent of sales for those using the Glocal10 code to the Glocal Citizens platform. This is great timing as our community is growing and we love any and all the support that helps to inspire action.

Where to find Bob?
MutomboCoffee.com
On LinkedIn

What’s Bob reading?
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Other topics of interest:
East St. Louis' Challening Past
Gateway Arch
See Dubai’s Transformation
About [Dikembe Mutombo](linkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikembe_Mutombo) and understanding his health challenge
Dikembe Mutombo’s - We Are Family Foundation
Coffee Science
About Mohka Port in Yemen
Africa and Coffee
Regenerative Agriculture 101

Special Guest: Robert Bush, Jr..

Sasheen has worked with such newsmakers and celebrities as President Barack Obama, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, actor/director Robert Duvall, singer/songwriter Annie Lennox and director Jonathan Demme. Her latest film, Birthing Justice, addressing Black maternal health outcomes, debuted at the Congressional Black Caucus, screened for 200 countries at the United Nations and is used as a continuing education course by the American Medical Association. It currently airs on PBS.
She is also dedicated to service as a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and serves on the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation Digital Media Entertainment Advisory Council.

Be sure to spread the word via the links below about her upcoming inaugural Plenty of Pie Talent Incubator Cohort - Deadline is April 30th.

Where to find Sasheen?
www.plentyofpie.net
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook

What’s Sasheen watching?
Maigret
Blood of the Vine
Nordic Thrillers

Other topics of interest:
About CUNY - aka City College in Harlem
Hankcock Park, Los Angeles
Silver Lake, Los Angeles
Los Feliz, Los Angeles
Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles
Ted Milner’s Executive Temps
About Blockbuster
What are lenticulars?
About The Division
The Tavis Smiley Show
About Aerospace Engineer, Hal Walker
Prentice Penny
Sasheen’s Emmy-winning episodes of Lost L.A. - Three Views of Manzanar and Discovering the Universe
The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act
About fellow Stanford Alum and basketball standout Darren Allaway
Color Congress

Sasheen has worked with such newsmakers and celebrities as President Barack Obama, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, actor/director Robert Duvall, singer/songwriter Annie Lennox and director Jonathan Demme. Her latest film, Birthing Justice, addressing Black maternal health outcomes, debuted at the Congressional Black Caucus, screened for 200 countries at the United Nations and is used as a continuing education course by the American Medical Association. It currently airs on PBS.
She is also dedicated to service as a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and serves on the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation Digital Media Entertainment Advisory Council.

Be sure to spread the word via the links below about her upcoming inaugural Plenty of Pie Talent Incubator Cohort - Deadline is April 30th.

Where to find Sasheen?
[plentyofpie.net](www.plentyofpie.net/demystify-entertainment)
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook

What’s Sasheen watching?
Maigret
Blood of the Vine
Nordic Thrillers

Other topics of interest:
About CUNY - aka City College in Harlem
Hankcock Park, Los Angeles
Silver Lake, Los Angeles
Los Feliz, Los Angeles
Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles
Ted Milner’s Executive Temps
About Blockbuster
What are lenticulars?
About The Division
The Tavis Smiley Show
About Aerospace Engineer, Hal Walker
Prentice Penny
Sasheen’s Emmy-winning episodes of Lost L.A. - Three Views of Manzanar and Discovering the Universe
[The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act](lin https://tcf.org/content/data/black-maternal-health-momnibus-tracker/)
About fellow Stanford Alum and basketball standout Darren Allaway
Color Congress

Special Guest: Sasheen Artis.

Kicking off February, we have a double-header in conversation with another Stanford Alum and fellow “Track Girl.” Born in Vietnam and raised in New York, Dana Weeks is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of MedTrans Go, a healthcare technology start-up based in Atlanta, GA. Prior to MedTrans Go, she co-founded the Black Angel Tech Foundation, created to support and increase the number of underrepresented minorities in technology. She has also held positions at AT&T, Pfizer, and in several innovative entrepreneurial ventures. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Westminster Schools of Atlanta, and has served as Treasurer of the Atlanta Chapter of Jack & Jill, a Board Member for Blue Owl Capital, and a Board Member for the Alliance Theater of Atlanta. She also serves on several Task Forces and Committees at both Stanford and Columbia Business School, including serving as a co-chair of the Stanford LEAD Council, a member of the Stanford Humanities & Sciences Council, and a founding member of the Women’s Circle at Columbia Business School. It was lovely catching up on the many paths Dana has walked since our days hop, skipping and jumping at the Stanford Stadium.

Where to find Dana?
https://www.medtransgo.com/
On LinkedIn
On Facebook

What’s Dana watching?
The Hallmark Channel

Other topics of interest:
About the Peace Corps
Lusophone Africa
Islands of Cape Verde
Who is Jodi Kantor?
iPhone's launch @ AT&T
Atlanta Influences Everything

Special Guest: Dana Weeks.

Kicking off February, we have a double-header in conversation with another Stanford Alum and fellow “Track Girl.” Born in Vietnam and raised in New York, Dana Weeks is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of MedTrans Go, a healthcare technology start-up based in Atlanta, GA. Prior to MedTrans Go, she co-founded the Black Angel Tech Foundation, created to support and increase the number of underrepresented minorities in technology. She has also held positions at AT&T, Pfizer, and in several innovative entrepreneurial ventures. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Westminster Schools of Atlanta, and has served as Treasurer of the Atlanta Chapter of Jack & Jill, a Board Member for Blue Owl Capital, and a Board Member for the Alliance Theater of Atlanta. She also serves on several Task Forces and Committees at both Stanford and Columbia Business School, including serving as a co-chair of the Stanford LEAD Council, a member of the Stanford Humanities & Sciences Council, and a founding member of the Women’s Circle at Columbia Business School. It was lovely catching up on the many paths Dana has walked since our days hop, skipping and jumping at the Stanford Stadium.

Where to find Dana?
https://www.medtransgo.com/
On LinkedIn
On Facebook

What’s Dana watching?
The Hallmark Channel

Other topics of interest:
About the Peace Corps
Lusophone Africa
Islands of Cape Verde
Who is Jodi Kantor?
iPhone's launch @ AT&T
Atlanta Influences Everything

Special Guest: Dana Weeks.

For this week’s episode I found myself in a hidden gem of a community in East London with a not so hidden gem in the European investment space, Eric Collins. Eric, born an raised in the southern United States, has called London home for the nearly 10 years. He is a serial entrepreneur, investor, technology executive and host of Channel 4 business show, The Money Maker, which is based on the highly successful US show The Profit on CNBC.

Eric has spent much of his career building the value of digital companies through innovative strategies at public and private companies including AOL, TimeWarner, Tegic/Nuance Communications, MobilePosse, SwiftKey/Microsoft and most recently, Touch Surgery, where he was COO. He sits on the boards of companies in San Francisco and London, including Tech Nation.

In 2011, President Obama, a fellow Harvard Law School classmate, appointed him to the Small Business Administration’s Council on Underserved Communities.

Eric is also a brand ambassador for luxury car manufacturer, Audi, and the youth charity The Prince’s Trust.

In 2018, The Financial Times named him among the UK’s top 100 BAME leaders in technology. Since 2019, he has been voted one of the most influential Black people in Britain on The Powerlist.

In his award-winning book, We Don’t Need Permission: How Black Business Can Change Our World (Penguin), Eric argues investing in Black and underrepresented entrepreneurs is the surest, fastest socio-economic game changer there is. And with his work as a Founder and CEO of Impact X Capital we believe him!

Where to find Eric?
www.impactxcapital.com
On LinkedIn
On X
On Instagram

What’s Eric reading?
J. Califoria Cooper

What’s Eric watching?
Purlie Victorious
The Lehman Trilogy

Other topics of interest:
Revisit fellow Glocal Citizen Natasha Moore
Greensboro, North Carolina
Tuskegee University
Bennett College
North Carolina A&T State University
On Charles Blow’s The Devil You Know
Roger Fisher’s Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving
On the Black Power Movement
About the inaugural SBA Council on Underserved Communities and Chair, Cathy Hughes
Audra McDonald & Brian Stokes Mitchell Perform 'Wheels of a Dream' From RAGTIME
First Black Mayor of Charlotte Harvey Gantt
Former Governor of Virgina Douglas Wilder
GiveBLACK
About Ric Lewis
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
About Marshmallow

Special Guest: Eric Collins.

Many words define who he is, but none more so than “immigrant” - and his story represents the stories of millions of brave, hopeful and selfless individuals, many giving up the comfort of familiar spaces to create a new life and future for themselves and those who depend on them. He is all “IMMIGRANTS” and his life’s work is to see his us live more authentically - flourishing and thriving, not just surviving.

This was such an inspiring conversation offering a thoughtful perspective on the type of agility that defines successful entrepreneurship. Tune in and for those of you migrants with loved ones check out Fleri, there's a plan for your needs and the peace of mind we all seek when we can't always be a physical presence.

Where to find Sam?
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Instagram
On Facebook
Fleri on YouTube

What's Sam listening to?
Tim Ferriss
Brene Brown
Esther Perel

Other topics of interest:
Oujda, Morocco
Grameen Bank
Heel the World Luxury Accessories
Makola Market
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana
Bohten Eyewear
Sankofa
More on Self-talk
Nguvu Health

Where to find Mr. Njie?
TAF Africa Foundation
On YouTube
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Instagram
On Facebook

What's Mr. Njie watching?
Mr. Njie talks with Ghanaian YouTuber Wode Maya
How to design a golf course

Other topics of interest:
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohamed Mahathir
Senegalese professional footballer Sadio Mané
What platform do I use to record remote interviews?

Special Guest: Mustapha Njie.

Our paths intersect with her role as Co-founder and CEO of UBONGO, Africa's leading kids' edutainment company. Ubongo creates top quality, localized edutainment to help Africa's 500 million kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Their vision is to equip Africa's next generation with the educational foundation, critical skills and positive mindsets to change their own lives and communities for the better. Over 17 million families in Africa learn with our edu-cartoons and radio programs, and we're rapidly growing across the continent. At Ubongo, she’s lead visionary, series producer/ screenwriter, and does whatever it takes to get our products made, tested and released! Through a distribution relationship with Ubongo, LEAP Transmedia introduced Ghanaian children and families to the program beginning in 2015.

Where to find Nisha and Ubongo?
www.ubongo.org
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Facebook
On Instagram
On YouTube

What's Nisha listening to?
How to Save the Planet Podcast
The Cipher Podcast
Homecoming
Pinna for kids

Other topics of interest:
About Laura Poitras
Ubuntu
Tom Chi @ TEDx

Special Guest: Nisha Ligon.

Prior to joining Medicanja, Andray established himself as an expert in supply chain and demand planning systems in a large scale manufacturing environments particular in the food and beverage industry. In his 20-year career in the FMCG sector he worked in Supply Chain, Sales, Innovations, Trade Intelligence, Distribution and several game changing projects. Guinness, Diageo, Heineken and Red Stripe are among the global organizations that benefitted from his experience. Andray has received numerous awards for break through performances, forecast accuracy, innovations, brand value creation and supply management. In his experience in consultancy and advisory capacities, Andray worked with companies such as Vasttips, the Transport Authorities of Jamaica, Celebrations Brands Limited, Biotech R&D Institute Limited, EG Wellness Brands Limited.

Where to find Andray and Medicanja?
www.medicanjajamaica.com
info@medicanjajamaica.com
On LinkedIn
On Facebook

Who is Andray listening to?
Buju Banton
About Dance Hall

What's Andray reading?
Macolm Gladwell
Jim Collins

Other topics of interest:
Portugal was the first country in the world to decriminalize all drugs
Dunn's River Falls
Frome Sugar Factory
Blue Ocean Strategy
Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO)

Special Guest: Andray McKenzie.