Limitless Africa

Across Africa, young entrepreneurs are making their dreams happen in challenging circumstances. Here three very different young Africans explain how they made their first million.Maya Horgan Famodu is an American-Nigerian venture capitalist, originally from Minnesota in the US. She has a VC firm called Ingressive Capital. Her latest fund is worth $50m. She’s invested in some of the biggest startups in Africa.Moulaye Tabouré is the Malian CEO and founder of ANKA, an online sales platform for African fashion and crafts based in Cote d’Ivoire. The company has raised $6.2 million in its series A funding although it has since announced it is closing its marketplace. Moutagna Keita is a Guinean-born inventor and successful businessman. He studied at Harvard University and worked in America. He came back to Guinea to launch his portable ultrasound machine.

Souleymane Bachir Diagne is one of the foremost scholars of Islamic and African philosophy. Currently a professor at Columbia University in New York, he remains deeply connected to the continent and to his home country Senegal. Before moving to the US, he taught in the humanities department at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar for 20 years. During our conversation, he gave illuminating historical context to the democratic crisis in Senegal. He explained why Senegalese democracy is so resilient. This interview was recorded before the election so forgive us for not discussing the result. We also talked about the situation in Israel and Gaza and the relationship between Jews, and Muslims. We also discussed the wedge this conflict has driven between the black and Jewish communities. And we talked a lot about the concept of Ubuntu, the idea of a common humanity, and how that idea can help us frame our attitude towards the current conflict in the Middle East.

Many wars have been waged on African soil. But it also means that Africans have something to say about conflict resolution. At a moment in time, where conflict seems to be all around us, Limitless Africa wanted to highlight three approaches to peace. Souleymane Bachir Diagne is one of the foremost scholars of Islamic and African philosophy and a professor at Columbia University in New YorkJoseph Nkurunziza is a medical doctor and CEO of Never Again Rwanda, a peace-building NGO which works in 22 out of the 30 districts of the country.Former refugee Victor Ochen supports local communities still affected by war with his organisation AYINET, the African Youth Initiative Network.

Novuyo Rosa Tshuma is an award-winning Zimbabwean novelist who teaches at the acclaimed Iowa Writers Workshop in the US, like many literary icons before her. And she's only 36 years old. Her debut novel House of Stone is set during the Gukahurundi massacres that took place immediately after Zimbabwean independence and remain shrouded in secrecy.  Her second novel Digging Stars also received glowing reviews. It deals with an equally uncomfortable history. She charts the similarities between the reserves allocated to native Americans in the US and those allocated to indigenous people in South Africa and Zimbabwe.This is a must listen for anyone interested in African fiction, interested in reading it of course but also interested in how it is produced. Novuyo gives us a peek behind the scenes of some of the most prestigious writing institutions in the US, telling us what it's like to be a young African woman professor there. She's equally clear-sighted about the situation in Zimbabwe and what it's like to come back home with your partner when you are queer.

Many diaspora Africans are choosing to return to the continent. These ‘repats’ - as they’re often known - are keen to seize new opportunities. But they also return to give back - building businesses, families and fulfilling lives on the continent. In this episode, three repats tell us how and why they moved to Ghana, Cape Verde and Cote d’Ivoire.Joli Moniz left New York for Cape Verde to set up a tourism business called A Vontade Tours. She helps other repats settle into their new life.Paola Ndengue is originally from Cameroon though she spent most of her life in France. She runs a popular newsletter on media and the creative industries in Africa called Africa Digest. Abdul Abdullah is a Ghanaian American cultural entrepreneur and founder of the AfroFutures Festival, a music and culture festival based in Accra. He grew up in the Bronx but now does business in Ghana.

Extended episode: Mmeli Hlanze and Sizo Hlophe are part of the team behind Antidote Music - an independent record label and music consultancy company based in Eswatini. In business since 2012, Antidote Music is now one of the most established labels in the country. They focus on Eswatini electronic music.Music from Nigeria and South Africa is taking over the mainstream, you can’t deny it, but what about the other rich cultural influences on the continent? In this episode, Claude talks to those who are fighting to get their sound heard and asks them which African artists are going to blow up this year.

Extended episode: Moses Bwayo is a filmmaker from Uganda. His documentary feature Bobi Wine: The People's President has been nominated for a 2024 Academy Award. But first, a little on his subject, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, otherwise known as Bobi Wine. Popstar turned politician, he's the current leader of the National Unity Platform, and ran against President Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 presidential elections. Bobi Wine has been imprisoned and intimidated countless times for challenging a man who has been in power in Uganda since 1986.Documentary filmmaker Moses Bwayo spent five years following Bobi Wine and documenting his activism. Moses was arrested, imprisoned, and shot in the face with rubber bullets by police while filming. I spoke to Moses Bwayo about Bobi Wine and why he means so much to young people in Uganda. But we also talked about Moses’ own path and what he’s sacrificed to bring Bobi Wine’s story to the silver screen. This is an episode about the importance of telling stories and how imagining a different narrative can get you in trouble with the status quo.

My name’s Claude Grunitzky and I'm a journalist and investor. I’m also the host of Limitless Africa, the podcast that asks the questions that matter to Africa. And exciting news: we're back! In season two, we're still having conversations with some of the most fascinating people on the continent. We're still releasing 15-minute episodes that get right to the heart of the matter with some of Africa's best minds. But we'll also be going deeper, I'll be talking to our guests in longer episodes. We're doing something that I don't think any other podcast does: we're giving the amazing people shaping the continent the time and the space to really have their say.We'll be talking food, fashion, football. Coups, fake news and climate change. Social media, malaria and making money. Series two is out soon so please subscribe on Apple, Spotify or whichever podcast platform you prefer to get each episode as soon as it drops. That's Limitless Africa, the podcast which lets Africans have their say.And thanks as always to our sponsors - the US Department of State and the Seenfire foundation.

RE-RELEASE: many diaspora Africans are choosing to return to the continent. They’re keen to seize opportunities back home. Many of these returnees – known as ‘repats’ – are highly educated and skilled.But do repats’ foreign university degrees and western world CV’s give them an advantage? Or does adjusting to life back home have its own difficulties? Join host Claude Grunitzky and guests:Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian entrepreneur. She is one of the continent’s most powerful business women. She has set up tech businesses in the USA, UK and Canada as well as many African countries.Gabriel Curtis was the Minister for Public Private Partnerships in Guinea until the military coup last year. He lived in the US before coming back to work in the Guinean government.Nicole Amartiefio is the creator of the TV series “An African City”, which follows five women who are repats themselves. Nicole relocated to Accra, Ghana from the US a decade ago.