Glocal Citizens - Episodes Tagged with “Real Estate Developer”

Episode 168: On Being Authentic_African with Joannes Hotagua

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -0400

April Greetings Glocal Citizens!

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.

Episode 82: From Building Construction to Building Leaders with Mustapha Njie

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens!
My guest this week is Gambian real estate mogul, Mustapha "Youthman" Njie. Mr. Njie has over 30 years of proven experience in the building and property industry. He is the founder and CEO of TAF Africa Global, a Pan-African real estate company that has built homes across eight African countries with dominance in Nigeria and The Gambia. Growing up from a small and humble background, when he founded TAF Africa Global in 1990, the goal was to be the leading property developer in Africa. In 2018, TAF refined its vision as in a mission to develop one million quality homes between 2018 and 2038. Three years in, I’m sure you all are as excited as I am to find out how it's going as well as what's new and next for this signed and stamped glocal citizen.

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.

Episode 81: Making Visible the Unremembered with La Vaughn Belle Part 2

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens!
In the next conversation it's a "Throwback Tuesday" as I reconnect with another old friend who is taking us on a journey between her home country of St. Croix to Denmark and back again. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, raised in and now based in the Virgin Islands, La Vaughn Belle makes visible the unremembered. Borrowing from elements of architecture, history and archeology Belle creates narratives that challenge colonial hierarchies and invisibility. La Vaughn explores the material culture of coloniality and her work presents countervisualities and narratives. Working in a variety of disciplines her practice includes: painting, installation, photography, writing, video and public interventions. Her work with colonial era pottery led to a commission with the renowned brand of porcelain products, the Royal Copenhagen. She has exhibited her work in the Caribbean, the USA and Europe in institutions such as the Museo del Barrio (NY), Casa de las Americas (Cuba), the Museum of the African Diaspora (CA) and Christiansborg Palace (DK). Her art is in the collections of the National Photography Museum and the Vestsjælland Museum in Denmark.

She is the co-creator of “I Am Queen Mary”, the artist-led groundbreaking monument that confronted the Danish colonial amnesia while commemorating the legacies of resistance of the African people who were brought to the former Danish West Indies. The project was featured in over 100 media outlets around the world including the NY Times, Politiken, VICE, the BBC and Le Monde. Belle holds an MFA from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba and an MA and BA from Columbia University in NY. She was a finalist for the She Built NYC project to develop a monument to memorialize the legacy of Shirley Chisholm and for the Inequality in Bronze project in Philadelphia to redesign one of the first monuments to an enslaved woman at the Stenton historic house museum. As a 2018-2020 fellow at the Social Justice Institute at the Barnard Research Center for Women at Columbia University she worked on a project about the ‘citizenless’ Virgin Islanders in the Harlem Renaissance.

This two-part conversation bookends the US Indepencence Day holiday, and at a time when so much about identity and nationalism is begging for long overdue examination, these episodes are healthy food for thought. In true #TBT fashion you'll want to come back to these discussion for the learning and insights into the continued work of deconstructing colonialism.

Where to find La Vaughn and her works?
www.lavaughnbelle.com
I Am Queen Mary
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Instagram
On Facebook

What's La Vaughn reading?
Just As I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson
A Radical Awakening: Turn Pain into Power, Embrace Your Truth, Live Free by Dr. Shefali Tsabary

Other topics of interest:
Teach for America
Helle Stenum
Salsa Cubano
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
About the Virgin Islands

Special Guest: La Vaughn Belle.

Episode 80: Making Visible the Unremembered with La Vaughn Belle Part 1

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0400

Where to find La Vaughn and her works?
www.lavaughnbelle.com
I Am Queen Mary
On LinkedIn
On Twitter
On Instagram
On Facebook

What's La Vaughn reading?
Just As I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson
A Radical Awakening: Turn Pain into Power, Embrace Your Truth, Live Free by Dr. Shefali Tsabary

Other topics of interest:
Teach for America
Helle Stenum
Salsa Cubano
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
About the Virgin Islands

Special Guest: La Vaughn Belle.

Episode 72: Developing Visionary Spaces with Kofi Anku

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 04 May 2021 05:00:00 -0400

May greetings Glocal Citizens! It's a new month and on the heals of May Day celebrations in many parts of the world, my guest this week is a shining example of job creation in an emerging economy. Kofi Anku is a shareholder and board member of Ayi Mensah Park, a vibrant, 200-unit townhouse community at the base of at the foot of the Aburi Hills. Developed by IndigoHomes [https://indigohomes.com/] and Mercury Estates, Ayi Mensah Park stands out as Ghana's first neighborhood scale, town house development. The town house typology optimizes land - an increasingly precious resource and reduces the per unit cost of shared infrastructure and amenities.

Additionally, as Executive Director of Volta Ghana Investment Company, he has overseen land development in Pokuase, Aburi, and Batsonaa for more than a decade. Pokuase Heights, in particular, is a gated community of high quality residences featuring contemporary designs, attractive interiors and a range of amenities. Residents of Pokuase Heights enjoy community water supply, solar power, a two car drive way, and 24 hour manned security. The community is conveniently located 20km from the heart of Accra; and offers great value and and stunning panoramic views at affordable pricing.

In 2015 with EU based partners, Kofi pioneered Ghana’s largest commercial-scale tomato greenhouse. Premium Vegetables Ltd grows high quality tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers in a 5,000 square meter, commercial green house in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Premium Vegetables supplies select supermarkets and restaurants in Accra with the same exclusive greenhouse varieties used by top chefs around the globe. Water is queen in farming and pristine mountain aquifers feed an automated drip irrigation system for the green house. Cool night temperatures and 300 meter elevation in the Aburi mountains create optimal growing conditions for a wide range of herbs and vegetables.

This interview was recorded on location at Kofi's own mountain getaway in the hour before downpours. I hope you all can appreciate the long-missed sounds of place that I hope will again become a part of the soundscape of future discussions.

Where to find Kofi:
On LinkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram
On Twitter
And more about Indigo Homes

What's Kofi listening to?
Cornel West - The Historical Philosophy of W.E.B. Du Bois
The W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture Series - A public address by: The Honorable Condoleezza Rice

Other topics of interest:
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert B. Cialdini
Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois
Marcus Garvey
Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, first President of Nigeria
Chef Binta's Fulani Kitchen
Abeiku Jackson

Special Guest: Kofi Anku.