OverviewSo it’s been a few months since we last released episode and we’re back soon with some more interviews on the bustling business scene in East Africa. We have a number of episodes that you can look forward to. I’ll give you a short preview of the ones to come and also a bit of housekeeping. We’re starting on Thursday 16th August 2018 with Impact InvestingThe view from Beyond Capital, and impact fund, on what they look for when putting in money for social good in the region Behavioural economicsInsights that come from the Busara Center on applying behavioural practices to solve challenges in East Africa. Lots of interesting, and often counter-intuitive insights in that one We’ve then got a few big players in the Kenyan economy. I noticed that there has been a slight bias in previous series around focusing on the “growth start up”. Entrepreneurs who have spotted a gap in the market, and are early on their journey. But with this series we’ve got some more… bricks and mortar businesses going on: Tissue PaperChandaria Industries. So I have a great interview with Darshan Chandaria who is third generation of the family business. They’re one of the biggest manufacturing companies in the region (making tissue paper) and now a host of other activities. He is personally an investor on the TV show Lion’s Den which is the Kenya equivalent of Shark Tank in the US and Dragons Den in the UK. Interestingly in Rwanda it’s called Face the Gorillas, I guess because they are they are a formidable creature in the country. And, I had to Google it, it turns out that in most other countries it’s called Dragons Den. I was hoping there’d be lots of Tiger references in South East Asia, but that’s just Japan where the show is called Money Tigers. Sri Lanka probably has the most interesting version which is called Wall of Tuskers, in reference, one would guess to elephants being the most unnerving creature on the island. SupermarketsTuskys is one of the biggest retail chains in Kenya, and by virtue, East Africa. I think this might be one of my favourite interviews to date. It’s certainly the longest, which I guess is a proxy for how much interesting stuff there was to cover. But again, we’re talking with the CEO of a large bricks and mortar business, employing thousands people across the region. The insights and perspectives that you get is different five people with their laptops coding up a solution to a problem they see WallsAnd then to continue the bricks and mortar analogy we have an interview with Mburu Karanja who runs Cemex. They are, ironically, in the business of disrupting the literal bricks and mortar industry. There’s a technology developed in Italy which is an alternative to making walls with stones, instead making panels from steel mesh, concrete and polystyrene. From what he says it’s superior on almost every measure to building stone structures and seems like it could be a really promising part of the nation building aspect of East Africa. The EconomistAlso whilst I am based most of the year in Kenya, I was back in London over the summer and took the opportunity to meet with Jonathan Rosenthal who is the Africa Editor of The Economist magazine, who sponsored earlier episodes on the show. This was quite fun, as I got to go into The Economist office, in the radio booth that they use for their own podcasts, and also see the magazine in the making, as well as have an interview about a lower case economist’s view of Africa. READ MORE AT:https://theeastafricabusinesspodcast.com/2018/08/12/season-three-preview/

OverviewSo… after a few months away The East Africa Business Podcast is coming back, with more interviews from entrepreneurs and business leaders on the ground in this exciting part of the world. On Thursday we’ll be going live with an interview with Sam Kamande, Head of Data at mSurvey. A company leveraging technology and big data to help businesses improve their customer experience. It’s a great episode, and we even get onto the topic of wearing mascara. After that we’ll have the usual assortment of in depth interviews from diverse industries, including a few from Ethiopia, which is a fascinating place when it comes to business. We’ll learn how challenging it is to implement business models common in other parts of the world, namely ride hailing (i.e. Uber) and restaurant delivery (i.e. Deliveroo), and importantly the strategies entrepreneurs there are taking to overcome. As one of them said, “if we can make it in Ethiopia, we can make it anywhere in Africa” Staying updatedIn terms of some housekeeping there are a few things to update you on. Firstly, we now have a Facebook page, and so if you’d like to get updates of episodes, and learn more about the guests and their companies, please do Like and Follow the page. You can find it by searching for: The East Africa Business Podcast On there we’ll also be resharing episodes from the archives, and so it’ll be a good way to keep an eye out on an interesting topic or business that you may wish to learn more from. Also, if you are listening to this update after hearing previous episodes, then it would be fantastic if you could leave a review of the show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. It’ll help others like you find the show, and generally, I’d just appreciate it. So, I’ll leave it at that for now. Keep an eye out for a new episode hitting your podcast inbox on Thursday 25th January, and look forward to speaking to you then.READ MORE AT:https://theeastafricabusinesspodcast.com/2018/01/21/season-two-preview/

OverviewWe’ve got a slightly different format for this episode – it’s a recording of a talk that I gave on a recent trip back to London. It was held at a co-working space (@huckletree) to an audience of people interested in learning more about the business scene in East Africa. We have a bit an intro and overview of the main industries in the region before delving into a few other topics which haven’t really been covered so far on the podcast Some thoughts around how technology in the region is being adopted quicker, leapfrogging the developed worldHow the education system means it can be difficult to hire in East AfricaAnd a discussion around the implications of Brexit and the Trump election on the region About half way through we get to Q & As which, in my opinion is the best bit as we get to cover some more contextual questions of the business scene. Some of the questions might be a bit tricky to pick up, but you should be able to work out what’s going on from the resulting discussion. In any case, this is a slightly longer episode than you might be used to, but with the diversity of topics we cover, I hope you find it useful. If you have any thoughts, questions or comments, just drop me a message on Twitter @Sam_Floy or by email [email protected] MORE AT:https://theeastafricabusinesspodcast.com/2017/08/23/special-silicon-savannah-business-lessons-from-east-africa-talk/

OverviewThis is a little episode to update you on what’s going to be happening with The East Africa Business Podcast. The short version is that the podcast is going on hold for a while as I focus on growing my own business in the East Africa region. I’ll explain the context, which should hopefully make a bit more sense. In any case, the podcast will likely be back in the not-too-distant future and in the meantime we can all have a bit of a breather. How the podcast startedAs background I found myself starting this podcast as means to meet entrepreneurs in East Africa. I was interested in learning about the business scene and found that requests to “meet for a coffee to learn about your business” were quite understandably rebuffed with “I’m just too busy running my company” Therefore I thought about ways in which I could equal the exchange and still have that conversation. Almost all of the companies I was looking to talk to were looking for exposure and to generally increase their brand awareness and it turned out to be relatively straightforward to create a set up where I could record a conversation about their business and soon have it appear on iTunes. It turns out that an opportunity to showcase your company to an international audience is a much more attractive proposition than going a coffee with a random guy from Britain. What now?Now however my schedule has begun to fill up a bit. When I started out on my “Try Before You Buy Tour” around the region I essentially gave myself 4 months to understand as much as I could about the business scene in East Africa with a view moving out permanently and starting my own thing. I started by taking a flight to Rwanda and, using savings from my previous start up job in London, I could devote substantial amounts of time to absorb the business environment. After undertaking a “Big Think” in Zanzibar I decided Kenya was where I wanted to move full-time and begun making plans to undertake the transition to Nairobi. Now that I’m here, this, naturally, involves finding a way to live sustainably. I undertook work at a start up in Nairobi and began consulting with other organisations as a means to pay the rent. What spare time I do have goes towards validating the shortlist of business ideas I’m considering, and then putting effort into getting them off the ground. As such, with the podcast not bringing in direct revenue, it’s something to be put on the shelf for the time being. It’s something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed to date and so will be certain to pick it up again as soon as conditions permit. Look in the archiveAnyway, I’m sure that’s more than enough about me For you, the listener, there are many excellent episodes within the archive for you to go back and enjoy if you’re interested in learning more about business in East Africa. If you’ve not subscribed already, just search for The East Africa Business Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or any of the other podcast apps and scroll through the forty plus episodes that are there. All have their nuggets of brilliance and so I’d recommend finding a title which piques your interest and giving it a listen. Nevertheless, I will now highlight some of my favourites for you to try out first: READ MORE AT:https://theeastafricabusinesspodcast.com/2017/06/07/season-one-conclusion/