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how we thrive against great odds Listen Now LATEST EPISODES The AfricanOptimist. A podcast to explore the possible. The AfricanOptimist podcast explores what it takes to make your mark in a changing Africa. ​ If you’re wondering what it takes to survive and thrive, join Sanja Gohre for bi-monthly conversations with the new doers and thinkers across the continent. Listen in as she talks with a wide range of people who shar e their journeys of triumphs and tribulations, tips and tricks, analysis and insight, and most of all, their inspiration on how and why they survive and thrive. PODCAST Never miss an episode, subscribe now. Enter email here SUBSCRIBE Thanks for signing up, we'll email you when a new episode drops. About the host The AfricanOptimist podcast is hosted by Sanja Gohre, a social scientist by training, born and living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Curious about developments across the African continent, she talks to the thoughtful and the driven to find out how they are influencing their worlds. Find out more

< Back to all guests #10 Gus Le Breton - on influencing EU law, the challenges of processing wild-harvested fruit, the future power of baobab harvesters and the need for ‘courage, my son’ 18 June 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Gus Le Breton, widely known as the African Plant Hunter , is a distinguished botanist, entrepreneur and conservationist specializing in the diverse flora of Africa. With a deep passion for indigenous plants, Gus has spent decades exploring and documenting Africa's rich botanical heritage, focusing particularly on the medicinal and nutritional properties of native species. As the Board Chair of the African Baobab Alliance, Gus Le Breton leads initiatives to promote and protect the iconic baobab tree, known for its extraordinary health benefits and ecological importance. Under his leadership, the Alliance fosters sustainable harvesting practices, supports local communities, and drives international awareness and market development for baobab products. He is also on the board of Trustees of the FairWild Foundation , responsible for the the FairWild Standard . The standard ‘has 7 Principles and 24 Criteria addressing three themes: the ecological, socio-cultural and business requirements for sustainable wild collection’. Gus' extensive knowledge and commitment to sustainable development have earned him recognition as a leading voice in the conservation of African plant life. Through his work, he continues to champion the economic potential of indigenous plants, aiming to create sustainable livelihoods while preserving Africa's natural biodiversity. 2 Episode Description It is hard not to think of the Greek myth of Sisyphus when you listen to Gus Le Breton tell the unfolding story of the production and sale of the African indigenous baobab fruit. Much like the Greek king Sisyphus who was condemned by the Greek god Zeus to keep rolling a stone up a hill only to see it roll back down again when he reaches the top, Gus seems to face a new challenge just as he deals with an old one in this telling of his baobab tale. At face value, this episode seems like an entrepreneur’s story of how to create and export an indigenous food. But it is so much more than that. It is the open account of the struggles and successes of an almost 30-year journey to make the unique African baobabs (a keystone species of the planet) economically viable, in the hope that this can reduce poverty for its wild harvesters and lead to the long-term preservation of this ancient resource. It is also a masterclass in the details of what it takes to get to market, influence legislation and create demand for what nature has to offer, but many take for granted. And unlike Sisyphus, Gus did manage to successfully push some big boulders over the hill, and also loves his work and does not see it as punishment, but his cautionary tale still holds. Perseverance is key. A note on Sisyphus In 1942 French writer Albert Camus used the myth of Sisyphus in his book with the same name ‘Le Mythe de Sisyphe’ to illustrate how absurd and meaningless life is. In it he marvels how futile the human need is to find meaning in one’s life, given the ‘unreasonable silence’ of the universe in response. In a surprising twist however, Camus ends on an optimistic note, as satisfaction can be found in the task itself, and not in a short-term outcome. ‘The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.’ Camus writes. ‘One must imagine Sisyphus happy.’ 3 Show Notes 00:00:53 Giants of Africa - The Little Big Baobab Book by Dr Sarah Venter 00:01:07 ‘The Panke Baobab in Zimbabwe , which had a circumference of 25.5 m (83 ft 7.9 in) and had nearly 400 m3 (14,126 cu ft) of wood and bark, was at least 2,450 (±40) years old when it collapsed and died in 2011. This not only makes it the oldest hardwood tree to be accurately measured but also the oldest known angiosperm (flowering plant).’ 00:01:16 A guide to South Africa's biggest baobabs: The quest for quiet giants . 00:01:27 The Legend of the Upside-down Tree 00:01:35 A Savannah is a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees 00:01:46 The three-minute guide to the Boabab fruit 00:02:07 About Gus Le Breton 00:02:30 The African Plant Hunter Youtube channel 00:04:38 Traditional uses and local perspectives on baobab (Adansonia digitata) population structure by selected ethnic groups in northern Namibia and some modern uses 00:13:06 Beauty in Baobab: a pilot study of the safety and efficacy of Adansonia digitata seed oil 00:14:44 Safire is the Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources 00:15:46 'On behalf of this network, the French NGO CRIAA (later Phytotrade) commissioned specialist research into the properties of the oil. Through this process, MDA was alerted to the potentially high commercial value of marula oil as a cosmetic oil, giving scientific weight to the marketing claims regarding marula’s magical properties, also highlighting commercial potential in the pharmaceutical and food industries. This included the fact that the marula fruit contains up to four times the Vitamin C of oranges, and the oil has a range of properties that make it attractive to the cosmetics industry: Marula oil is naturally processed. This high-stability lipid is under research and development for the natural products and cosmetic sector.' in 'Bridging the Gap: A Strategy for the Commercialisation of Marula Products from the Wild: Creating Incomes for the Rural Poor’ , 2001 00:16:23 Southern African Marula Oil Producers Network - no online presence found for the network, but they features in this interesting presentation: 1st Regional Workshop on Marula Sector Development , November 2019, by Cyril Lombard. Also worth a read; there's lots to learn in this pdf: ’ Catalysing Market Development ’ chapter 9 00:16:35 Marula Natural Products 00:16:53 Body Shop make-up made with marula oil 00:17:41 The Gods Must Be Crazy is a film by South African director Jamie Uys (1921-1996) that came under fire for its stereotypical portrayal of ‘Bushmen’, now referred to as San. In the film, a pilot carelessly throws a Coke glass bottle out the window, and it lands in the middle of a community of San in the Kalahari desert of Botswana. What unfolds is the effect that the one and only Coke bottle, symbolic for throwaway consumption culture, has on this nomadic community, depicted in the film as a group without any violence, crime, punishment or ownership. Read interviews with the director about the 1984 here and here to make up your own mind about some of the criticisms of the movie at the time. 00:21:35 EU Novel Foods Regulatory Framework . Also quite interesting, a short comparison of food regulations around the world . And, some European companies planning to launch in the US or Singapore before EU , because the approval process is quicker and more efficient. 00:21:55 A GMO , or genetically modified organism , is a living plant, animal or microorganism that has been subjected to biotechnology. GMO developers use biotechnology to alter that living organism's fundamental characteristics. Biotechnology includes techniques such as using synthetic genetic sequences to change the organism's genetic material (i.e. DNA or RNA), or forcing the combination of very unrelated organisms that would not normally reproduce in nature. 00:26:06 Phytotrade Africa 's aim is to create social and economic value through the sustainable use and conservation of southern African plant biodiversity. 00:26:45 The European Food Safety Authority is an agency of the European Union set up in 2002 to serve as an impartial source of scientific advice to risk managers and to communicate on risks associated with the food chain. We cooperate with interested parties to promote the coherence of EU scientific advice. We provide the scientific basis for laws and regulations to protect European consumers from food-related risks – from farm to fork.’ 00:28:52 The European Food Safety Authority introduced a separate category of Novel Foods based on a traditional food 00:31:36 Wild harvested means the gathering of plants that have grown without human intervention. These ingredients are found in the wild, often in their native origin. Without resources like temperature control, fertilizers and pesticides, wild grown plants must use their own defences for survival. Read: WILD CHECK - assessing the risks and opportunities of trade in wild plant ingredients, 2022 FAO report . ‘Thousands of consumer products around the world contain ingredients obtained from wild plants. Wild harvest accounts for some or all of the harvest of the majority of plant species in trade (between 60-90 percent). Wild-harvested plants often come from the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and many have been used traditionally or by local communities for generations. While these products have global markets and provide critical sources of income, they can also have deep ties to particular cultures and places.’ (Opening of Executive Summary) 00:32:42 The Fair Wild Foundation’s mission is 'to enable transformation of natural resource management and business practices to be ecologically, socially and economically sustainable throughout the value chains of wild-collected products. Our vision is a fair and wild world where biodiversity is conserved through sustainable harvesting; collectors, workers, and their communities are respected and treated fairly; and resilient businesses participate in responsible value chains'. Excerpt from the 2023 report on Fair Wild Standard.' Read the 2023 updated Fair Wild Standard . 00:34:12 ‘So you want to be a baobab processor?’ Part 1: Understanding Your Market ; Part 2: Powder Processing ; Part 3: Oil Processing 00:40:44 African Baobab Alliance 00:41:17 Emerging research on the benefits of baobab 00:45:14 Amarula is a cream liqueur made from the marula fruit, and is sold in over 100 countries in the world. 00:48:26 Whitley Neill Whitley Neill Gin is a premium gin brand crafted in small batches using a combination of traditional and exotic botanicals, including juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, cassia bark, orris root, and citrus peel, along with less common botanicals such as cape gooseberries and baobab fruit. One of the distinctive features of Whitley Neill Gin is its African-inspired botanicals. 00:51:48 The Acai palm is a species of palm tree cultivated for its fruit (acai berries), hearts of plam (a vegetable), leaves and trunk wood. 00:52:36 Check out ‘Revitalise’ , which uses baobab puree in this smoothie 00:53:02 Look out fo this baobab Twinings superblend tea 00:53:38 'Baobab (Adansonia digitata L., Malvaceae) is a multi-purpose tree species native to Africa. Its fruit pulp of the African baobab has very high vitamin C content, fifteen times that of orange, and can be used in seasoning, as an appetizer and to make juices. Seeds contain appreciable quantities of crude protein, digestible carbohydrates and oil, whereas they have high levels of lysine, thiamine, Ca and Fe. They can be eaten fresh or dried, ground into flour and thus added to soups and stews. Processing eliminates a number of anti-nutritional factors present in the seed. Also, watch: Baobab’s superfruit, Africa’s gift to you 00:54:38 The science of superfoods: Really beneficial, or just marketing? 01:04:12 Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. It entered into force on 12 October 2014. Access and benefit-sharing (ABS) refers to the way in which genetic resources may be accessed, and how the benefits that result from their use are shared between the people or countries using the resources (users) and the people or countries that provide them (providers). 01:09:38 The African Baobab Alliance 4 Time Stamps 00:00 Introduction to Baobab and Initial Reactions 00:38 Welcome to the African Optimist Podcast 00:51 The Baobab Tree: A Natural Marvel 02:06 Gus le Breton: The African Plant Hunter 03:52 Challenges in Commercializing Baobab 05:23 Early Efforts and Setbacks 07:11 The Struggle with Industrial Agriculture 10:31 The Journey to Market Baobab 20:16 Navigating Regulatory Hurdles 31:46 The Importance of Wild Harvesting 34:04 Processing Baobab: Challenges and Solutions 38:36 Challenges of Traditional Baobab Processing 39:43 Ensuring Quality and Standardization 40:35 Formation of the African Baobab Alliance 42:11 Collaboration vs. Competition 44:11 Creating Demand for Baobab 48:14 Marketing Challenges and Success Stories 54:37 The Superfood Debate 57:13 Importance of Research and Consumer Awareness 59:25 Fair Trade and Value Distribution 01:07:29 Future Prospects and Investor Insights 01:08:38 Final Thoughts and Encouragement 5 Transcript AfricanOptimist ep10 Gus le Breton .pdf Download PDF • 141KB Back to top ^ More on Gus Le Breton Website The African Plant Hunter Business Gus is the Founding Partner of B'Ayoba , the only baobab producer in Africa to be Fair Wild -certified. He is also the Founding Partner of Katavi Botanicals , KAZA Natural Oils , Hutano Foods , River Brewing Co , Victoria Falls Distilling Co . Videos The African Plant Hunter Youtube channel ‘So you want to be a baobab processor?’: Part 1: Understanding Your Market Part 2: Powder Processing Part 3: Oil Processing Other Articles Director's Report on the Wild Plants Dialogue , African Wildlife Economy Institute, 2022 Bridging the Gap: Phytotrade Africa's experience of the Certification of Natural Products , by Welford and Le Breton, Forests, Trees and Livelihood s, 2012 Africa’s “forgotten” food crops key to support climate-resilient, healthy and profitable food systems , Food Ingredients Food, 2023 Baobab trees all come from Madagascar – new study reveals that their seeds and seedlings floated to mainland Africa and all the way to Australia , The Conversation , June 2024 How We Made it In Africa This episode is featured on the online business publication How We Made it In Africa . Read all about it here .

MEET THE GUESTS Want to know more? Click on a guest below for their bio , shownotes , transcript, episode and more.

< Back to all guests #11 Sarah Dusek - on becoming an entrepreneur who thinks BIG, and a venture capitalist who helps African women think BIGGER - an insider’s guide to scaling and pitching your business. 3 September 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Sarah Dusek is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is using gains from her business endeavours to help fund female entrepreneurs across sub-Saharan Africa. She began her career in her early twenties in a non-profit in Zimbabwe, southern Africa, but left eight years later when she became disillusioned by the sector’s short-term project-driven approach as it seldom led to sustainable development. She soon began exploring the potential of business to effect systemic, and long-term, change and in 2009 co-founded the leading outdoor hospitality company Under Canvas with her husband on his family farm in Montana. Dubbed the founder ‘who put glamping on the map in the United States’ , the couple went on to sell their outdoor lifestyle brand for $100 million less than ten years later. Following the sale, the Duseks co-founded a new eco-travel company, Few and Far, that ‘creates extraordinary eco-hospitality experiences that endeavour to protect and preserve wild places around the world’. In all its management plans, the company's focus is on conservation (environment) and social impact (job creation in surrounding communities), as well as regeneration through its carbon sequestration projects. They also co-founded Enygma Ventures, a venture capital fund with an explicit mandate to close the gender and funding gap for female entrepreneurs across sub-Saharan Africa. Sarah and her husband moved to Cape Town, South Africa, with their two sons in 2019. She currently splits her time between South Africa and the United States. On 2 September 2024, Sarah released her first book Thinking Bigger, a business book aimed at demystifying the entrepreneurial journey and the over complicated and inaccessible world of funding for female entrepreneurs. Structured in 10 chapters to mirror a traditional 10-page pitch deck, Sarah unpacks what venture capitalists look for in a potential business and what aspiring entrepreneurs need to include in a winning pitch deck. Sarah weaves her own entrepreneurial journey through the entire book, showing in each chapter the long and rewarding journey of growing her small four-tent business into the $100 million sale it was a decade later. 2 Episode Description I have read many entrepreneur biographies, but none so captured the grit, persistence and flexibility it takes to create a truly successful business like Sarah Dusek does in her book Thinking Bigger - and in her generous share in this week’s conversation. Sarah describes in vivid detail her journey from being flat broke and living in a camper van to growing and selling her business Under Canvas (co-founded in 2009 with her husband) for $100 million almost ten years later. ‘Iterate’ and ‘fail fast, fail often’ are two start-up mantras on constant repeat in innovator circles, but both sound more like they belong in a factory than in the day-to-day running of a typical business. Sarah shows us what these clichés look like, without graphs, spreadsheets or bullet points, and speaks candidly about the identity shift needed to change from being her husband’s ‘helper’ to becoming the CEO of their company. Her story of turning four tents into a $100 million outdoor lifestyle brand is not so much about a series of dramatic events, but about an openness to change direction, be flexible, grab opportunities and respond to people’s needs - and a willingness to tweak one’s dream a little, when that dream in its current form, is hitting a ceiling. Sarah gives us all a glimpse into how successful businesses position themselves in such a way that they can scale. She shares how she moved away from being solely focused on growing a successful small business, to shaping the business into something of much greater value with a much bigger return on her initial investment. Sarah also gives us glimpses into the venture capital world, first through her own experiences trying to raise ‘big money’ and then as a venture capital investor herself, who has for the past five years been helping female entrepreneurs across sub-Saharan Africa successfully pitch and scale their businesses. The heart of Sarah’s own story and that of her approach to investing in female entrepreneurs, lies in her book’s title, as she encourages, cajoles, pushes, and entreats women to Think Bigger , so that ultimately women can help shape the world around them, create big businesses that can effect big change and ultimately, influence the trajectory of economic growth on the continent. The book, and this episode, are ultimately a clarion call for women to get 'unstuck', think big and execute even bigger. 3 Show Notes 00:00:34 The Rocky Mountains is a formidable mountain range stretching from Canada to New Mexico in the United States. They are a testament to the Earth's geological processes, formed over millions of years through tectonic plate movement and volcanic activity, and represent a unique and dramatic landscape that include mountain ranges, alpine lakes (formed by glacial erosion and deposition), glaciers and volcanoes. 00:00:41 The word 'safari' originates from the Swahili language, which in turn comes from the Arabic word 'safar' meaning 'journey'. The Swahili word 'safari' can be used to describe any type of journey, not just those involving wildlife. The term was popularized in the West by the British explorer Richard Francis Burton, who traveled extensively in East Africa in the 19th century. Burton was fascinated by the Swahili language and culture, and he used the word 'safari' to describe his journeys throughout the region. 00:00:44 Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa. It shares borders with South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. It boasts some of the most iconic tourist destinations in the region, including the World Heritage Site 'Victoria Falls', 'the greatest sheet of falling water' , flowing from the Zambezi river. 'You have the jewel of Africa in your hands,' said President Samora Machel of Mozambique and President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to Robert Mugabe, at the moment of independence, in 1980 about the falls. 'Now look after it.'' 00:01:27 Sarah Dusek's first book is called Thinking Bigger . Excerpt from the Amazon blurb: 'Sarah Dusek shares personal anecdotes highlighting obstacles that women face in business and how to overcome them. She reveals the metrics that really matter to venture capitalists and how to pitch them successfully. Her book delves into the art and science of creating a winning "pitch deck"―the standard formula for pitching to investors, from crafting a compelling story to using data and design to make a lasting impact.' 00:01:32 Under Canvas was founded in 2012 and has since ' grown to include 11 safari-inspired Under Canvas locations, as well as a new luxury outdoor resort brand called ULUM. The leader in upscale, outdoor hospitality, Under Canvas camps have received awards from the likes of Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure as some of the best resorts in the U.S. and the world.' 00:06:40 Montana, Spanish name for mountain, is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the western United States. It has the largest grizzly bear population in the US and has more cattle than people. 00:20:50 This is a modified reference (which Sarah also makes in her book) to the 1989 movie Field of Dreams , in which a whispered voice tells Kevin Costner's character Ray Kinsella that 'If you build it, they will come', referring to a baseball field that he should build in the middle of his cornfields. 00:35:14 Yellowstone, America's first national park, is located in southern Montana. This is one of the first Tripadvisor reviews on Under Canvas when it first opened in Yellowstone West in 2012. 00:49:48 For those who want to go down a rabbit hole on the 'tool of persuasion' - the 10-page pitch deck 00:54:51 For a little taste, here is a glossary of 90 Essential Venture Capital terms and how Venture Capitalists make decisions according to the Harvard Business Review. 00:01:12 Sign up to Sarah's newsletter on sarahhdusek.com or apply during the next round of funding through Enygma Ventures . 4 Time Stamps 00:00 Introduction to the AfricanOptimist Podcast 01:18 Sarah Dusek's Journey: From Zimbabwe to Montana 06:00 The Birth of Under Canvas 09:57 Challenges and Pivots in Entrepreneurship 20:16 Overcoming Doubts and Embracing Risks 29:24 The Tent Rental Business 33:10 Creating a Tented Hotel Experience 36:57 Overcoming Initial Challenges 37:48 Living Conditions and Staff Living Conditions 38:37 Realizing the Business Potential that Can Scale 41:14 Understanding Venture Capital 42:47 Shifting Mindsets and Building Value 49:56 The Importance of a Pitch Deck 54:44 Facing the VC World 01:02:02 Embracing Thoughtful Capitalism 01:05:41 Empowering Female Entrepreneurs 01:11:58 Conclusion 5 Transcript africanoptimist ep11 Sarah Dusek Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 140KB Back to top ^ More on Sarah Contact Sarah Dusek Enygma Ventures Few and Far Article The Power of Knowing What You Want Book

< Back to all guests #2 Jacendra (Jesse) Naidoo - About the most exciting time of his life, bringing an engineer's approach to waste, thoughts on Shared Value vs Shareholder Value and a mention of the New Capitalist Manifesto 14 January 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Jesse Naidoo holds a Master in Business Leadership from the Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) , an academic college within the University of South Africa (Unisa). He has over 20 years of corporate experience in various senior executive positions in telecommunications, engineering, telecommunications engineering consulting, project management, relationship sales, sales management, commercial management, marketing management and business management. In 2011 he started Clothes to Good (CTG), a multi-award winning clothing recycling company that creates jobs, starts micro-businesses and empowers the unemployed, with a special focus on people living with disabilities. In addition, Jesse is actiely pursuing the use of digital technology that will enable CTG to track the life of every item, from the point of collection to its recycled, upcycled or downcycled state. In the long run this means that producers can be held more accountable to fund the recycling of textile waste. He is also eagerly awaiting the technology that is becoming available in the emerging field of biochemical fibre recycling processes , which will reduce the complexity of textile recycling by breaking textiles down into their separate (mostly non-organic) components. The more this complexity is reduced, the more recycling will increase. 2 Episode Description Where others see mountains of waste when looking at discarded clothes, Jesse Naidoo sees major opportunities. Opportunities to resell, upcycle, downcycle and anything else that can be engineered to extend the life of garments and keep them away from landfills - the world’s oldest form of waste disposal. In this episode, Jesse shares his journey from the heart of South Africa’s corporate world, to building a social enterprise dealing with textile waste. Jesse takes us on the step-by-step journey of a pair of recycled pants, and the kind of business thinking required to make the recycling of pants a sustainable activity. He questions the longevity of the continued dominance of shareholder value, and discusses the alternative of ‘shared value’ that can result in a more circular economy. 3 Show Notes 04:57 Centurion lies outside of Midrand, halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, in the Gauteng Province. 25:07 Clothes to Good partner Afrika Tikkun 25:55 Unbelievably, South Africa has no definition or legal framework for social enterprises or social entrepreneurship in the country. Read more in this 2016 ILO scoping study , the useful 2016 UCT Guide to Legal Forms for Social Enterprises in South Africa and in this 2018 GIBS report . 31:27 The Orange Farm community is a semi-rural, undeveloped area 40km (25 miles) south of Johannesburg. It is one of the largest informal settlements in South Africa, with most estimates giving a population of 1 million people. For more info, read this . 34:03 H&M and Clothes to Good 'Mother of Children with Disabilities Micro-Business Programme 36:49 Nim Nims were created at the Tommy Hilfiger Design Sprint Challenge . In 2021 Clothes to Good was awarded the audience prize at the Tommy Hilfiger World Frontier Fashion challenge . It was also shortlisted as one of the top six programmes from 430 applications from around the world. 44:56 South Africa's unemployment statistics Q2 2023 ; Unemployment rate in South Africa from Q1 2019 to Q2 2023 by age group 46:00 Friedman introduced his theory on shareholder value in a 1970 New York Times article, titled, A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits . Worth reading! 54:47 Umair Haque's The New Capitalist Manifesto, building a disruptively better business was published in 2011 and is both a critiqe of the current capitalist system as well as an exploration of alternative ways of conducting capitalism in the future 53:38 Original 2011 Harvard Business Review article , Shared Value - how to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of innovation and growth by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer 4 Time Stamps 02:46 Jesse’s early corporate career in the early 1990s 09:25 The need to keep products out of landfill 10:11 The extent of the dumping problem globally and the realities of microfibre pollution found in our bodies. Global commitment to eliminate production of plastic in fashion by 2050 13:36 The kilogram - the unit of measurement for textile waste and its power to eventually hold producers accountable 16:30 What happens to a pair of pants handed in to H&M 16:59 First audit to see what can be reused 19:53 Recycling plastics into paving blocks 21:23 New developments in sorting 23:54 40% of clothes can be reused in current form 24:01 Clothes to Good’s three dreams: creating micro-businesses, creating employment for people with disabilites, and creating processes that are good for the environment 25:15 Creation of micro-businesses for mothers of children with disabilities 27:15 The difference between a social enterprise and the traditional approach to business 31:17 Stigmatised mothers of children with disabilities running their own microbusiness 35:55 Next steps: upcycling and downcycling 41:23 Challenges of funding 43:05 The growing interest and involvement of youth in this sector 5 Episode Transcript AfricanOptimist#2_Jesse Naidoo_Transcription .pdf Download PDF • 130KB Back to top ^ Videos Jesse's TEDx Johannesburg talk The fashion revolution: turning trash to treasure The Story of Clothes to Good Levi's & Clothes to Good collaborate for good Watch Jesse @09:22 in CNN's African Designers making sustainability fashionable Some interesting background info Designing Climate Compatible Industrial Strategies for South Africa: The Textiles Value Chain , South African Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies Series, August 2022 Textile recycling processes, state of the art and current developments: A mini review , in Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy , Special Issue: Recycling, Vol 37, issue 2, 2019 Connect with Jesse and Clothes to Good

< Back to all guests #7 Sithuli Mbeje - on mobile abattoirs, bringing processing closer to home and doing what needs to be done 15 March 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Sithuli Mbeje is a South African food technologist with over a decade of experience in the food and retail industry. He has a background working with major local and international food companies, specializing in research and development, and particularly in new product innovation. He is the founder of AfriFood Technologies, a company focused on developing solutions for a more sustainable food future. His innovative approach to food waste and supply chain efficiency aims to transform market access opportunities for emerging farmers and food entrepreneurs. According to Mbeje, creating shorter supply chains by bringing processing closer to the source, results in the creation of local food systems, reduced food waste, and better value for small scale farmers and consumers, as well as the entire food value chain. AfriFood Technologies’ signature product is a mobile abattoir designed to support the implementation of circular food economies in rural communities. This innovation addresses challenges in remote areas by providing a more accessible and efficient meat processing solution. Sithuli was a winner in the 2021 Mail & Guardian's Greening The Future Awards and was a participant in the SAB Foundation's Tholoana Enterprise Programme, an intensive 18-month mentorship and development programme for entrepreneurs. 2 Episode Description In Episode 1, disruptive thinker and author Efosa Ojomo highlighted that the potential for prosperity in Africa lay in finding solutions to persistent problems and in doing so, creating new markets. In this episode, we shine a light on Sithuli Mbeje’s journey to developing a mobile abattoir - his response to the problems faced by livestock farmers across Africa when they want to convert their cows to meat. In graphic details he outlines the different steps involved in this process, both in the large industrial abattoirs, as well as his much smaller and compact roving mobile unit. In our conversation he speaks about what gave him the idea for a mobile abattoir, how it fits into his philosophy on food waste and food security and how it is still possible to create value even if you do not follow a linear growth model. He highlights how mobile abattoirs can also serve an important role during outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, a recurring problem across many countries in Africa, as well as in conservation projects that rely on collaborative efforts between farmers and conservation agencies. He speaks of his drive to combine knowledge gained from years in the food processing and retail space with his understanding of food practices back home in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to create new food processes and systems to ensure a more sustainable meat supply chain across Africa. 3 Show Notes [00:03:35] Checkers is a large supermarket chain that is part of the bigger Shoprite Group . Shoprite Group is Africa’s largest fast-moving consumer goods retailer. Its core business is in food retailing, complemented by furniture, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, ticketing, digital commerce, and financial and cellular services. Checkers 'boasts three store formats - supermarkets, smaller-format convience stores, large-format hyper stores - and an award-winning grocery delivery service.' [00:03:35] Foot and mouth disease is a severe, highly contagious viral disease of livestock that has a significant economic impact. The disease affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants. It is a transboundary animal disease (TAD) that deeply affect the production of livestock and disrupting regional and international trade in animals and animal products. The disease is estimated to circulate in 77% of the global livestock population, in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as in a limited area of South America [00:08:20] KwaZulu Natal's carcass grading system [00:15:22] Meat Naturally ' brings together livestock farmers, NGOs, meat buyers, and stakeholders in the meat value chain. By providing education, farming resources, grazing expertise, and market opportunities, Africa’s rangelands and wetlands are being restored every day'. [00:17:28] Offal , also referred to as variety meats is the name for internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. Worth a read: The Offal-Eater’s Handbook: Untangling the Myths of Organ Meats [00:18:06] KwaZulu-Natal is one of 9 provinces in South Africa. It covers an area of 94 361km ² , the third-smallest in the country, and has a population of 11 065 240, making it the second most populous province in South Africa, with just over half its population living in rural areas. [00:03:35] Haggis is a dish made from the liver, stomach or heart of sheep or cows. Whatever meat is used is usually mixed with onion, oatmeal and suet before being boiled in the animal’s stomach. Haggis recipe . [00:20:37] Woolworths SA is South Africa’s largest retailer with more than 700 store locations throughout South Africa and 10 other African countries. Known by locals as 'Woolies', it is known for its high quality and equally high prices. The retailer also has a multichannel focus, with an online presence across its major brands. It is part of Woolworths Holdings Limited, the South African-based retail group. The company also owns a clothing and homeware retailer and has stores in selected African countries and the Middle East. [00:43:48] Karan beef ' is one of South Africa’s leading suppliers of beef products and continuously sets the benchmark for excellence in the local beef industry'. 4 Time Stamps [00:00:00] Pull quote and welcome to the AfricanOptimist podcast [00:02:39] What is a mobile abattoir? [00:03:41] Exploring the traditional meat processing journey [00:08:20] The different grades of meat in commercial meat processing [00:10:43] The downside of commercial abattoirs [00:14:41] How mobile abattoirs benefit local livestock farmers and the environment [00:17:46] Reducing waste by using mobile abattoirs [00:21:30] The founding moment of the mobile abattoir concept [00:24:21] Linear vs circular economies [00:25:49] The workings of a mobile abattoir [00:30:42] The challenges while creating the mobile abattoir [00:33:09] Early Memories of ceremonies and slaughter [00:37:10] Future of AfriFood Technologies [00:39:22] The need to upskill communities in agro-processing [00:42:10] Resistance from commercial farmers [00:44:28] Reflections and Advice 5 Transcript africanoptimist ep7 Sithuli Mbeje Transcript .pages Download PAGES • 348KB Back to top ^

< Back to all guests #3 Sipamandla Manqele - Exploring African wholefoods, being seen as a 'fallen soldier', adding Africa to the global banquet table and connecting conscious consumers with small-scale producers 14 January 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Sipamandla Manqele is a food alchemist, transforming wholesome African ingredients into delicious, nutritious - and convenient - products that are good for both people and the planet. With her company, Local Village Africa (co-owned with partner Mmabatho Portia Morudi), she is contributing to creating a more sustainable and equitable food system, one plate at a time. The company sources and distributes a variety of African ingredients, including legumes , local honey and ancient grains , and produces a range of products from gluten-free flours , superfood powders and snack bars from the same ingredients. The long-term aim is to create a network of African agripreneurs to supply equitably sourced and sustainably grown indigenous African ingredients, which Local Village Africa then processes and packages into products for discerning consumers. It’s a win-win situation for both ends of the value chain, as the company connects mindful consumers with ethical producers, while promoting demand for more resilient crops and sustainably produced food from the continent. Local Village Africa works with cooperatives and small-scale farmers and offers training, support and access to new markets. The company creates products that cannot be found in mainstream retail spaces, and process the indigenous ingredients into convenient cans or packets for easy consumption. Their signature products can be found on their online shop and at various health shops, including Jacksons Real Food Market and Food Lover’s Market . They have also managed to gain shelf space at selected Dischem and Checkers stores in South Africa. Before Sipamandla took a partner on board, she was included in the Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans to watch in 2019 , a nod to Local Village Africa’s potential and inevitable growth. Both business partners are part of a growing group of passionate advocates pushing for the importance of indigenous African crops for Africa's food sovereignty and development. And for African food to take its rightful, hitherto often neglected, place at the Global Banquet Table. 2 Episode Description In this episode, Sipamandla Manqele shares her journey in building the business ‘Local Village Africa’ and outlines the challenges that startups like her face, and how she solved for them. During the conversation, she speaks passionately about the value of indigenous African foods. She makes a convincing argument for why we should source, but more importantly, process, local ingredients so that they become convenient to use and easy to incorporate into our daily living. A lot of R&D has gone into Local Village Africa’s products, and in this episode, Sipamandla shares what she found, and what she has produced as a result of her investments in time and money. All we can say is: Watch this space. 3 Show Notes 02:04 Local Village Africa 04:13 Quinoa is considered a seed but is eaten like a grain. It is a highly nutritious crop containing more protein than most other plant foods. It orginates from the Andes, where it is referred to as the ‘golden grain of the Andes’ or the ‘mother grain’. FAO The International Year of Quinoa 2013 04:14 Soy ‘The dramatic and sustained exponential growth in world soybean production is unequalled by any other crop in the world.’ 04:15 Maize and Grace: History, Corn, and Africa's New Landscapes, 1500-1999 04:23 Black-eyed bean (also known as black-eyed peas or cowpeas) 04:24 Bambara / Nyimo / Izindlubo . ‘Legume crops such as Bambara are a cheaper source of protein, and it is one of such crops that can provide the much-needed protein and other important nutrients such as zinc and iron to low income groups of people in the country. …Bambara groundnuts out-yield other grain legume crops, such as groundnuts, in less favourable environments. Moreover, its resistance to the effects of climate change and its ability to yield reasonably well when grown in unfavourable environments, and without artificial fertilizers means that it is particularly suitable for the low-input agricultural production systems in the drought-prone regions where it is mostly grown.’ An underutilized Leguminous Crop for Global Food Security and Nutrition. 05:11 Cassava 05:17 South Africa’s Heritage Day 24 September 05:32 Visual representation: What are the most produced cash crops in Africa? Here are the 5 most produced cash crops in Africa 05:54 Teff is one of the earliest domesticated plants. Teff is native to the Horn of Africa , and one of the earliest domesticated crops, with estimates on its domestication as far back as 4000 B.C. The name teff is thought to come from the Amharic word for 'lost' because the seed is easily lost due to its small size. Did the Dutch 'steal' this African food? 05:59 Injera is an Amharic term for Ethiopian bread similar to a pancake, made usually from teff. Injera is thin, prepared from teff flour, water and starter (a fluid collected from previously fermented mix) after successive fermentations. It is a traditional common ethnic staple food consumed in all parts of Ethiopia and Eretria and some parts of Somalia. Whose Injera is it anyway? 07:16 The Bamana people, also known as Bambara (video link) are one of the largest Mande ethnic groups in West Africa, residing primarily in Mali with smaller populations in neighboring countries. Renowned for their strong cultural identity, agricultural prowess and artistic expression, the Bamana have played a significant role in shaping the history of the region. 08:12 ‘Pap en Vleis’ - A South African favourite dish, consisting of a stiff maize porridge and grilled meat 08:55 How Sushi went global Japanese marketing of Sushi and a History of Sushi 10:40 Local Village Africa canned foods and snack bars 11:56 Lusikisiki is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to 2020 statistics, Lusikisiki has a poverty rate of 73%, which is higher than the provincial average of 67%. This means that nearly three out of every four people in Lusikisiki live below the poverty line. Lusikisiki is part of the Wild Coast coastline , ‘renowned for being one of the most beautiful places on the planet’. 13:08 Madumbe or Taro root : Before the Columbian exchange of crops, it was the most widely grown food crop on the planet and also known as the world's oldest crop 14:20 Nigerian author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 14:57 Fonio - ‘the seed of the universe’. The Fonio Cookbook . In this landmark cookbook, chef Pierre Thiam, a native of Senegal, celebrates fonio, an ancient "miracle grain" of his childhood that he believes could change the world. 16:02 How did the Russia - Ukraine war trigger a food crisis? 16:32 The Strange History Of Potatoes And The Man Who Made Them Popular 18:49 Morogo recipe 18:32 Sadza recipe 18:36 Umqa - Hearty easy quick pumpkin recipe (video) and Umqa video goes viral 19:22 Melon (egusi) seeds soup recipe from Nigeria 20:28 Baobab 20:29 Amaranth 26:37 Costs and Benefits of oligopolistic competition in South Africa 26:44 Spaza shops are small informal neighbourhood convenience stores, often run out of homes. A guide to launching a Spaza shop business 27:50 Melrose Arch is an upmarket mixed , office, retail and accommodation precinct in Johannesburg, South Africa 28:12 Rosebank Sunday Market is a modernised flea market that trades on Sundays from the upper parking lot of the Rosebank Mall, found in Johannesburg, South Africa 33:41 Food Miles / The Food Miles Calculator / The Farmer’s Perspective. Bridging the Last Mile to Market 34:21 Driven to Waste: The Global Impact of Food Loss and Waste on Farms / Save one third: tackling food loss and waste in Southern Africa and beyond 34:30 Facing the Facts: Challenges and constraints facing small-scale agricultural productivity in South Africa / The FAO Smallholder Farmers Data portrait The smallholder farmers' dataportrait is a comprehensive, systematic and standardized data set on the profile of smallholder farmers across the world. (In Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania) 38:23 Former South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is often quoted as telling Parliament in 1954: “Blacks should never be shown the greener pastures of education, they should know that their station in life is to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.” though I cannot find the original speech online. Grateful if anybody can send it through if they have it. 42:02 Hibiscus / The month of the hibiscus 43:14 South African Food regulations / Food Advisory Consumer Services Summary / the South African Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act: Regulations: Governing hygiene requirements for food premises, the transport of food and related matters / Starting a food business in South Africa / People’s Food Sovereignty Act 46:48 Recipes from Local Village Africa 46:58 Chef Mokgadi Itsweng and her Veggielicious cookbook 47:28 African Banquet table book 47:34 Cassava 49:40 Triple Bottom Line / 25 Years Ago I Coined the Phrase “Triple Bottom Line.” Here’s Why It’s Time to Rethink It. 53:10 The Gini Coefficient was developed by Italian statistician Corrado Gini (1884–1965) and is named after him. It is typically used as a measure of income inequality, but it can be used to measure the inequality of any distribution – such as the distribution of wealth, or even life expectancy. 54:22 UCT - University of Cape Town / University of KwaZulu-Natal / University of Fort Hare - all in South Africa 01:01:03 Food Lover’s Market 01:03:03 Jackson’s Real Food Market and Eatery 01:03:04 Farm Table 01:03:10 Local Village Africa Online Shop 01:03:13 Faithful to Nature Online Shop 4 Time Stamps 02:36 Understanding Local Village Africa 03:47 Exploring Local Village Africa’s range of African indigenous products 04:50 Background on Indigenous Foods in African communities 06:08 The Significance of Sourcing Ingredients from Africa 07:57 The Absence of African Foods in the Global Banquet Table 10:30 09:52 Promoting Traditional Indigenous Foods 11:45 The Origin and Early Beginnings of Local Village Africa 15:29 The Challenges and Successes of Promoting Indigenous Foods in Retail 22:40 The Importance of Community Development and Local Farming 33:35 The Decision to Not Become a Large-Scale Farmer 34:05 Tackling the Last Mile: From Farm to Table 34:51 The Vision and Strategy: Bridging the Gap 35:04 Empowering Communities: Training and Development 36:11 The Importance of Small Scale Farmers 36:27 Challenges in Working with Untrained Farmers 36:36 The Power of Partnership in Business: Splitting Efforts for Success 37:38 The Complexities of working with Communities 38:11 Breaking the Cycle: Overcoming the Poverty Mindset 38:45 The Local Village Africa Approach to Empowering Communities 40:57 Sourcing Farmers in Other Countries 43:00 The Entrepreneurial Journey: Challenges and Learnings 45:40 Targeting the Conscious Consumer 49:36 The Triple P Business Model: Balancing Profit, Planet and People 53:54 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs: Embracing Humility and Patience 59:57 The Future of Local Village Africa: Vision and Goals 01:01:15 The Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship 01:02:53 Where to Find Local Village Africa Products 5 Episode Transcript AfricanOptimist#3 Sipamandla Manqele Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 133KB Back to top ^ Recipes from Local Village Africa Greek Sorghum Risotto with Parsley Pesto, Feta, Olives Bambara Nut Chilli Con Carne Further interesting background info The Lost Crops of Africa Vol I GRAINS (free view or download) From the book description: " When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruits—"lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation." The Lost Crops of Africa Vol II VEGETABLES (free view or download) The Lost Crops of Africa Vol III FRUITS (free view or download)

< Back to all guests #4 GG Alcock - how the informal economy can disrupt the formal economy, how humans are not dots and slashes and how we are incentivised to be successful not brave 04 February 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio GG Alcock provides advisory services on the inner workings of 'Kasinomics', a hybrid slang term for township economies ( kasi meaning township, short for lokasie ( Afrikaans for location ) and informal economies. He was the former CEO of the specialist marketing company Minanawe for over 20 years, which led mass marketing and mass activations in this informal space. He and his team used their combined street smarts and intimacy with township life and culture to create numerous campaigns that rolled out in these areas post-1994 - South Africa’s first year of democracy - before the company was sold to French multinational Publicis. GG’s services have been used by local and multi-national companies to help them gain a foothold in the untapped markets of townships, especially as these urban areas emerged from the economic constraints placed on black business owners during apartheid. His extensive experiences across various townships have been captured in his two books, Kasinomics and Kasinomic Revolution (both published by Johannesburg-based TraceyMcDonald Publishers ) and paint a picture of a vibrant, strategic and hard-working space that is often misunderstood by mainstream media and corporates trying to capture a broader market. He has been an activist, a shebeen owner and an entrepreneur a couple of times over, but it is his unique upbringing in a rural Zulu village that sets him apart from others in his field. By his own admission in his first book, Born White Zulu Bred , it is not so much the fact that he speaks Zulu fluently that allows him to access places closed to most white South Africans but that he grew up immersed in Zulu rural life and culture, providing him with a unique perspective afforded to few white South Africans at the time (and even now). ‘I grew up in deep poverty on the banks of the Tugela River. My home was a mud hut with no running water beyond the river that ran below the rocky terrace on which our hut was built. The river was our bath and our laundry. My brother and I were as barefoot and brown as the local Zulu kids and we grew up as Zulus.’ -GG Alcock in Kasinomics 2 Episode Description GG Alcock is not a new voice commenting on the South African economy, but is a voice that bears repeat hearing, as there are still many people, myself included, who do not know what is happening in these informal economies or if we do, understand how and why they tick as they do. As somebody who has a foot each in the informal and the formal economy, and because of his unique upbringing and ‘first-person’ understanding of Zulu culture, he is in a unique position to be a messenger on both, to both sides. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, and includes his thoughts on the misunderstood stigma of South Africa being the most unequal country in the world, what the biggest import - hair extensions! - tells us about our economy, why families from other countries seem to dominate the spaza sector, and how rich township business owners would rather go cashless and pay tax, than bear the risk of storing and carrying millions of rands, in cash. He focuses on why South Africans have reason to be optimistic about their country, how the many economic activities in the townships should be celebrated rather than misrepresented, and why he thinks the formal sector needs to watch out for the ‘revolution that is being unleashed’ by their informal counterparts. He ultimately invites you to remove the prejudices and stereotypes that keep being perpetuated about these informal spaces, to see a space that has the potential and power to liberate the South African economy as a whole - and across the continent, where similar informal spaces hold the same key. Although the term ‘Rainbow Nation’ has been mocked and cast aside as a fake construct, I still quote GG down below because I believe that this quote captures best where his heart lies. ‘This book is about the revolution taking place in this sector, about the unquantified scale and the power of this as an economic engine for countries - and most importantly, as a means of life and success for the majority of our low income populations.’ GG Alcock in Kasinomic Revolution . Elsewhere, in Kasinomics , he writes that: 'There is no glamour in poverty and the drive to escape the poverty I grew up in was a powerful incentive.' It is this upbringing that incentivises GG's interest in seeing the informal sector thrive. 3 Show Notes 00:07 The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction movie and depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. 01:04 Msinga lies about 3 hours inland from Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa 01:11 Born White, Zulu Bred 01:15 Kasinomics & Kasinomic Revolution 04:00 Daily Maverick is a South African daily online publisher serving up a blend of news, investigations, expert political analysis, and opinion. Not usually associated with ignorant headlines. 04:09 Shoprite is the largest supermarket retailer in Africa, with over 150,000 employees operating in 3,326 stores across the continent. Read their timeline , watch an interview with 'Shoprite King' Whitey Basson or watch an interview with the author of the book 'The Rise and Rule of the Shoprite King' 04:15 Watch 'Good Business' , a documentary about Pick ’n Pay and its founder, Raymond Ackerman. Imdb movie description: 'A man's fight to build an ethical company in an unethical country. The true story of Raymond Ackerman's commitment to grow Pick 'n Pay retail chain, birthed during South Africa's apartheid regime and coming of age in the countries freedom.' Quite a description. 04:46 The Story behind Time's cover in Inequality in South Africa . 04:58 Page 29, Figure 8.1, in the 2021 SA General Household Survey shows that slightly more than eight-tenths (83,6%) of South African households lived in formal dwellings in 2021, followed by 11,7% in informal dwellings, and 4,2% in traditional dwellings. 05:22 Khayelitsha means 'New Home' in isiXhosa (one of South Africa's 12 official languages - it added sign language in 2023) and lies about 30 km outside of Cape Town. 05:32 Read Factfulness - Ten Reasons we are wrong about the world and why things are better than you think. " Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts." 08:39 A Stokvel is a type of credit union in which a group of people enter into an agreement to contribute a fixed amount of money to a common pool weekly, fortnightly or monthly. This financial system is not unique to South Africa, and exists worldwide. They are also known as Chama in Swahili-speaking East Africa, Tandas in South America, Kameti in Pakistan, Partnerhand in the West Indies, Cundinas in Mexico, Ayuuto in Somalia, Hui in China, Gam’eya in the Middle East, Kye in South Korea, Tanomoshiko in Japan and Pandeiros in Brazil – to name but a few examples. 08:53 ‘Dis kak!’ Afrikaans (one of South Africa's 12 official languages) for ‘That’s bull@#$%^! You are talking rubbish.’ 09:13 StatsSA . 2021 General Household Survey - p.29 Figure 8.1 shows that slightly more than eight-tenths (83,6%) of South African households lived in formal dwellings in 2021, followed by 11,7% in informal dwellings, and 4,2% in traditional dwellings. 09:32 The Gift of the Givers Foundation is the largest disaster response non-governmental organisation of African origin on the African continent. 10:09 Had never heard of this before, am adding it to the reading list: Heineken in Africa 13:01 Spazas. Small convenience stores, often selling staples like bread, milk, cold drinks and cigarettes (staple?:) ), mostly run from homes. I looked for a good definition. Loved this one, from Bogosi Mothshegwa : Spaza Shop Lessons, Lesson #1: 'Always squeeze the bread 🍞 at the bottom. And check the date if you must' , whose family ran one of these shops, which he likens to 'a mini Pick-n Pay, Checkers or Woolies'. ' It is as convenient as convenient can get. We sold everything, at the same time, there wasn’t everything to buy. It’s the craziest thing, if you desperately needed something, sometimes you wouldn’t find it, but again, you’d find anything and everything you needed.' The term spaza is from the isiZulu language, meaning hidden or camouflaged. Spaza shops are now legalized on the condition that they obtain a trading license in accordance with Business Act 71 of 1991 ) . South African spaza shop market bigger than Shoprite 13:23 The Nielsen Company is an information, data, and market measurement firm. New York based, it a ttempts to provide its clients with valuable insights into global consumer behavior and marketing information. 14:27 Kota - slang word derived from the 'quarter' loaf of white bread that serves as a delicious, carb-loaded, dense 'bowl' containing any number of various artery-clogging and fat-drenched fillings that make it the most satisfying cheap shareable fast food to come out of South Africa. 14:28 Shisanyamas - Follow Bloomberg's Shisa Nyama index for a real picture of the impact of South Africa's inflation. For those who dream of opening a shisanyama business, a first step: A guide to launching a shisanyama business in South Africa . 15:15 Mogodu Mondays 15:21 Tripe is made from the stomach lining of animals and is widely used as a source of low-cost protein. Look at the picture in the link and then understand why GG laughs at my face of, well, horror. I used to look all neutral about tripe, cos it's very uncool to say you don't like it, just like it's uncool to say you don't like oysters. But that phase has passed. 17:03 Fruit & Veg City (established in 1993 in Cape Town and now known as Food Lover's Market ) is a large retail supplier of fresh produce. 'At the heart of the business is a keen desire to be the best green grocers, butchers, cheesemonger and fishmongers'. From their website. 17:09 City Deep Fresh Produce market - now known as the Joburg Market - is the largest fresh produce market in Africa, measuring a total of 65 000m2. Trade takes place in three warehouse-like food hubs (the Fruit Hub, the Potato & Onion Hub and the Vegetable Hub) and four of the halls are populated by wholesalers who sell smaller quantities of the commodities traded at the market. 19:04 Vetkoek , also known as amagwinya, is deepfried bread that is crispy on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside. They were introduced to South Africa by the Dutch, though I really struggled to find any great info on its history. If you have any, please share! 19:05 Dombolo is steamed bread which can either be made as a loaf or as dumplings. Find the recipe in Dorah Sitole's 40 years of iconic foods . 21:25 ‘Carrying a Checkers’ - in the Dictionary of South African English : ' any plastic supermarket packet with handles', evolved over time because of the ubiquitous packets from Checkers, one of South Africa's largest retail stores. Talk about marketing for free! 21:33 Chappies - South Africa's iconic bubble gum made to outsell America's pink Wicks gum. 25:13 ‘Sissies’ - a derogatory slur for someone who is regarded as cowardly. Of British origin, in the mid-1800s. 25:23 Hearing Grasshoppers Jump - the Story of Raymond Ackerman . Raymond Ackerman is a South African retail icon because he turned Pick 'n Pay into one of South Africa's largest supermarket retailers after buying four stores from the founder in the 1960s. He came from a retailing family; his father Gus founded Ackermans clothing group after World War 1. The Ackermans retail group was later sold to competitor Greatermans, which started the supermarket group Checkers, now part of bigger rival Shoprite. It is at Greatermans where Ackerman started his career in retail, when he was also put in charge of launching the Checkers supermarkets. 28:06 Hawkers are informal traders, often of fruit and vegetables, but also of baked or cooked goods as well as snack foods. 'Don't treat hawkers as a nuisance, they feed the city's poor communities, cheaply and efficiently.' I couldn't believe when I saw that: Hawkers need a licence to operate in Johannesburg . 28:21 Baragwanath taxi rank is a busy taxi rank opposite the Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg. It is 1.4 km long and 50 m wide and has been accurately described as a 'mall without walls' due to the many hawkers that line the rank's road. 30:19 South Africa's 1998 Competition Act and the Competition Commission Rules 34:11 ZCC Church is one of the largest African initiated churches in Southern Africa and the second in Africa. It was founded by Bishop Engenas Barnabas Lekganyanein in 1910 and is known for its distinctive blend of Christian and traditional African religious practices. Lekganyane wanted to establish a Christian church that would accept the lifestyle, culture, political development, and history of Africa. Listen to some beautiful hymns on the official ZCC Youtube channel. 34:14 The Nazareth Baptist Church (Church of Shembe) religion is a combination of Zulu culture and Christianity that has been based on the old testament of the Bible. It is the second largest African initiated church in South Africa and was founded by Isaiah Shembe in 1911. Shortly after the church's founding, Shembe acquired the farm in KwaZulu-Natal that became his holy city of Ekuphakameni. He also established an annual pilgrimage to the sacred mountain of Nhlangakazi, 85km north of Durban. He was noted for his 'dramatic healings, vivid parables and uncanny insights into people's thoughts' . He composed music, wrote many moving hymns , and provided his followers with a rich liturgical tradition based on modified forms of traditional Zulu dancing. 39:13 Model C schools - former white schools in South Africa, that admitted students of all races under the guidance of their governing bodies. This category no longer exists. 40:44 Listen to Efosa Ojomo in AfricanOptimist Episode 1 . 42:05 Tolaram Group and their journey 42:24 Sandton Square, first built as a brutalist high rise building in 1973 and now known as Nelson Mandela Square, is a high-end shopping centre situated in the rich Johannesburg suburb of Sandton. It is marketed as the richest square mile in Africa due to the highest number of millionaires living in this area , as well as being the base for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and most of South Africa's leading banks and law firms. The 2023 Wealthiest cities report revealed that Johannesburg, home to 6.2 million people, hosts 14,600 high net-worth individuals, thirty of them being dollar centi-millionaires and two are dollar-billionaires. 43:11 Kantar is a London-based and 'the world's leading marketing data and analytics business and an indispensable brand partner to the world’s top companies, including 96 of the world’s 100 biggest advertisers the world's.' 44:33 Snail soup or 'Ofe ejula,' is 'a highly revered delicacy among the Igbo people of Nigeria. Ofe Ejula is quite pricey in African restaurants because snails are hard to find.' 44:56 The history of instant noddles (there is even a museum about it! 46:00 Maggi is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century through Swiss entrepreneur Julius Maggi. The Maggi company was acquired by Nestlé in 1947. 50:43 Unilever is a British multinational fast-moving consumer goods company founded in 1929 following the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. It is headquartered in London, and employs 127,000 people across the world and represents over 400 brand names in 190 countries. As far back as 1883, the UK founder launched Sunlight Soap, a South African kitchen cleaning staple. Omo is Unilever's largest detergent brand and used extensively across Africa. 53:37 Harvard Business School interview with Nando's co-founder Rob Brozin about Nando's. 54:21 Michael House is a private senior school for boys founded in 1896 by the Anglican Church in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 57:18 Tiger Brands is a South African packaged goods company and one of South Africa's oldest ongoing businesses, having started in Newtown, Johannesburg, in 1921. It has produced some of South Africa's most consumed brands, including Jungle Oats, Mrs Ball's Chutney, All Gold Tomato Sauce and Black Cat Peanut Butter. In addition to the company's South African operations, Tiger Brands has direct and indirect interests in international food businesses in Chile, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho and Cameroon. Corporates move into township economy . 59:45 Value-added tax (VAT) is collected on a product at every stage of the supply chain where value is added to it, from production to point of sale. Currently stands at 15% in South Africa. 01:00:48 Shop2Shop is a South African company founded in 2017 ' Providing informal business owners with better working capital solutions that create opportunities to run a safer and more profitable business. 01:00:49 The Flash Group is 'a South African fintech that strives to make people's lives easier by using technology'. 01:00:50 Kazang 'makes it safe and easy for spaza shops and informal traders to sell prepaid airtime, data, electricity and other services from their devices or the Kazan mobile app. 01:01:31 Selpal - a South African FinTech company that operates specifically in the township and informal economy, or the “Unseen Economy”. 01:02:47 Capitec - Harvard Business Review on ' How Capitec Became South Africa's biggest Bank '. 01:02:48 Standard Bank was established in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1862, then known as The Standard Bank of British South Africa. It started doing business in a tent in Johannesburg, then known as Ferreira's Camp, in 1886, when it became the first bank to open a branch on the Witwatersrand gold fields. 01:02:50 Yoko is a South African fintech start-up offering solutions designed specifically for small business. ' In South Africa, 70% of the adult population use bank cards as their primary form of financial transaction, yet at the same time, fewer than 20% of small businesses are set up with the hardware and technology to accept cards as a form of payment.' 01:04:11 The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in South Africa gives short-term relief to workers when they become unemployed or are unable to work because of maternity, adoption and parental leave, or illness. It also provides relief to the dependants of a deceased contributor. Pay as you earn (PAYE) or Employees’ Tax refers to the tax required to be deducted by an employer from an employee’s remuneration paid or payable. 01:04:21 ' Business registration in Rwanda typically takes a maximum of 3 days if all the required documentation and information are provided accurately and in a timely manner.' Ease of setting up business in South Africa . 01:04:31 The Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) does registration of companies, co-operatives and intellectual property rights (trademarks, patents, designs and copyright) and maintenance thereof. 4 Time Stamps 01:47 Challenging pessimism: A different perspective on South Africa's economy 02:33 Misconceptions of inequality and unemployment in South Africa 05:39 About perspective: understanding media bias and historical bias 07:29 Examples from township economies 09:56 The Informal Economy: A closer Look at the success stories 12:41 Understanding the consumer: The key to success in the informal economy 12:57 The evolution and success of the spaza sector 28:01 Cooperative competition and an intimate understanding of your customer key in the informal sector 33:09 ‘Counter-Revolutionaries’: the cost of ignoring the township market 34:18 The power of township youth 34:52 Palesa - success of a young township entrepreneur 35:33 ‘Bluetooth’ in township schools - good business 36:23 Misconceptions about township youth 37:45 The success story of a township hair salon owner 38:15 Difficulties in changing stereotypes 40:43 The success of Indomie noodles in Nigeria 41:08 Successful campaign of launching Parmalat cheese slices into townships 49:31 How black business owners struggle to get loans for their business, but not cars 58:08 The importance of recognising the informal economy; ignore at your own peril 01:04:43 The future of the informal economy 01:08:09 The revolution in the informal economy 01:10:06 The importance of financial and legislative support to the informal economy 01:10:11 Conclusion: the power of opening your eyes 5 Episode Transcript AfricanOptimist EP4 GG Alcock .pdf Download PDF • 163KB Back to top ^ Article Lucrative informal economies in our midst , Heather Dugmore GG Alcock, Author & Businessman , the Legacy Project Video The Township Economy. Crossfin Conference Books

< Back to all guests #5 Hamza Chaham - on how SOWIT is bringing digital technology to African farmers and what it takes to get AI powered tools into the hands of smallholder farmers, the real hope for food security on the continent 18 February 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Moroccan Hamza Chaham is the young co-founder of SOWIT , an agritech company offering real-life data to farmers and key decision-makers along the agri value chain. The SOWIT tech platforms power mobile apps that provide farmers with actionable insights regarding their land, to help them efficiently manage their farms and optimize their productions. The company also provides data to help mitigate risk, manage investments, and influence performance. Chaham is pushing ‘precision agriculture’, farming based on actionable data that can reduce waste on inputs and increase yields through improved data-driven decision-making. The data is drawn from an array of AI powered 'tools' and offers data via subscriptions to mobile apps with a fee based on the amount of hectares under review. SOWIT also provides a bundle of services that go beyond the AI info delivered daily to farmer's phones via WhatsApp and voice messages, to include the credit orchestration and real-life support from agents trained in Agritech but living in the communities that are part of SOWIT's areas of operation. SOWIT’s overall mission relies on modelling tailored decision support tools to achieve the highest value in order to fit African farmers' needs and local conditions. SOWIT is currently incorporated in Morocco, France and Senegal. Notably, Hamza is co-author of the landmark report published by the African Union entitled “ Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture ”. The report forms the basis upon which the AU Executive Council issued the Decision EX. CL/Dec. 986-1007 (XXXII), recom mending all Member States harness the opportunities offered by drones for precision agriculture. In 2018, he was recognised as the Marshall German Fund and Policy Centre for the New South Emerging Leader. Chaham was also the former head of international development at AIRINOV. In 2006,Chaham enrolled at Lycée Lyautey au Maroc, where he pursued a Baccalauréat degree in scientific specialization in mathematics, which he completed in 2009. H amza completed this program in 2009. In 2012 Hamza enrolled at HEC Paris and pursued a degree in Grande Ecole, where he completed his studies in Management in 2016. During his time at HEC Paris, in 2013, Hamza participated in an exchange programme at the University of Texas in Austin, where he studied Business Administration. In 2015 he also took part in another exchange programme at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa where he focused on his Master of Business Administration (MBA). 2 Episode Description In this episode, we could have focused on the tech side of agriculture with agripreneur Hamza Chaham, because it is digital technology that is really turning agriculture into an exciting scientifically based business. And his company, SOWIT, is using AI powered tools like sensors and probes, trackers and drones, in their work with farmers, government and food producers to successfully help optimize yields. For Hamza, however, this is not where the hope for food security lies. Agritech involves powerful tools, but it is the farmer who ultimately needs to use them. And given that the majority of smallholder farmers grow their crops on a mere 12% of the worlds farmland, yet feed 80% of people in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, it is with these smallholder farmers, where tech can have the biggest impact in the future. But how to get this tech into the hands of farmers, who often are not digitally savvy and rely on traditional methods to grow their food? That is the focus of today’s insightful conversation with Hamza as he shares his journey to understanding that the farmer, is at the centre of the push for innovation and food security, not technology. 3 Show Notes [00:01:24] SOWIT - bridging the information gap across the agri value chain [00:01:50] ‘Frontier technologies for smallholder farmers', United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, November 2021 [00:05:29] ‘Parrot pulls plug on airinov’ , Future Farming, July 2019 [00:23:42] Social Media: 84% of Moroccans Use WhatsApp in 2021 (Survey) [00:24:34] The general adult literacy rate in Morocco was 77% in 2022 , compared to the estimated 40% literacy rate among Moroccan farmers. [00:31:40] World Bank - some interesting reading [00:31:42] IFC 4 Time Stamps [00:00:47] Podcast intro [00:02:24] Interview begins - About SOWIT [00:03:16] SOWIT’s intangible offer: information, not inputs and equipment [00:05:18] Increase in demand for data-driven agri info in the last 10 years [00:09:58] Daily problems that farmers face [00:11:58] How Hamza made the transition from being a drone tech man to farming [00:14:11] At which point Hamza realised he was going to focus on smaller farmers [00:16:02] What SOWIT does when it arrives on a farm [00:20:05] Reactions to the tech by farmers [00:21:46] How farmers interact with technology [00:25:01] SOWIT’s business model [00:28:59] SOWIT’s subscriptions and bundles [00:29:31] How does the subscription model work [00:31:29] Who is funding the whole bundle? [00:32:57] Long-term funding solution - de-risking farmers to bankers [00:34:59] How Hamza sees risk [00:38:04] Farmers within the value chain - how others in the value chain must share the burden of farmers if they want to benefit from their labour [00:42:33] Give an example of where SOWIT has had an impact [00:46:59] What difference has SOWIT made on the ground [00:50:10] What does the increase in knowledge do for the farmer [00:52:28] Where SOWIT operates in Africa [00:53:46] The challenge with scaling up and plans to head south [00:56:13] The low moments in Hamza’s entrepreneurial journey [00:57:40] Why people should be excited about what SOWIT is doing [00:58:37] What Hamza would tell people who say 'nobody wants to go into farming anymore’ [00:59:40] What are stereotypes or prejudices that people have about Morocco that Hamza wants to put to rest [01:01:48] Interview ends 5 Transcript FIN AfricanOptimist EP5 Hamza Chaham Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 189KB Back to top ^ More on Hamza Chaham and SOWIT: Publication (contributing research by Hamza Chaham) Drones on the hor izon, transforming Africa's Agriculture , AU & Nepad Videos by SOWIT SOWIT's YouTube channel Press coverage of SOWIT and Hamza Chaham Articles and videos

< Back to all guests #1 Efosa Ojomo - About the 'Prosperity Paradox', disruptive & market-creating innovations and why capital has to be patient in Africa 14 January 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Efosa Ojomo ( @efosaojomo ) is a renowned Nigerian author, researcher and speaker . He is a leading expert on disruptive innovation, which he defines as innovations that create new markets and make existing products and services more accessible and affordable in low and middle-income countries. He is the director of the Global Prosperity research group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation , a think tank based in Boston and Silicon Valley, and is a senior research fellow at the Harvard Business School. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Innovation . In January 2019, Ojomo and late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen published The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty . The book outlines a powerful framework for creating prosperity, and concludes that the key to economic development is not to focus on copying the developed world, but rather to identify and invest in disruptive innovations that can create new markets and opportunities for the poor. In a review, the Wall Street Journal wrote that the book provides ‘a better way to fight poverty’ as it returns ‘the entrepreneur and innovation to the centre stage of economic development and prosperity’. His work has been published and covered by the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, Quartz, Forbes, Fortune, The World Bank, NPR, and several other media outlets. He has presented his work at TED ( a 2019 TedTalk on corruption and innovation which has garnered over 2 million views), the Aspen Ideas Festival, the World Bank, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and at several other conferences and institutions. Ojomo is a recipient of the 2020 Thinkers50 Radar award , the world’s most reliable resource for identifying, ranking, and sharing the leading management ideas of our age. The award is given to emerging management thinkers who have the potential to shape the future of business at an event that is described by the Financial Times as ‘the Oscars of management thinking’. Efosa graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in computer engineering and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. His influence extends beyond the business and academic realms, as his work continues to inspire individuals and organisations to embrace the principles of disruptive innovation as the key driver of global prosperity. 2 Episode Description Did you ever come across that popular optical illusion, which invited you to look at a black and white picture, and then prompted you to describe what you saw? Did you first see the old woman or the young woman? (read this for a little background on this phenomenon) This is what this week’s episode reminded me of. Efosa Ojomo invites us to look at emerging markets, and concedes we can see them one way (let's call it, ‘the old woman way’) but then challenges us to look at the same picture in a different way (the ‘young woman way’), to understand what market-creating innovations can do to create a different outcome for countries and their people, in short, to enable them to prosper. In the episode he discusses the principles of The Prosperity Paradox and explains why ‘sustaining’ and ‘efficiency’ innovations don’t lead to inclusive prosperity, but ‘market-creating’ innovations do. He uses clear examples to illustrate what is possible if policy-makers, investors, companies and individuals (entrepreneurs) change their approach to struggling economies and invest long-term in solving a problem. He highlights the limitations of common economic development models, which tend to be top-down, and offers a new framework for economic growth. 3 Show Notes 03:32 The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly 05:34 Awarded the Nr 1 Management Thinker in the World Professor Clay Christensen 13:33 Author Karen Dillon 18:17 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference WWD23 20:24 Richard Leftley and MicroEnsure 20:28 The Story of Tolaram’s Indomie Noodles (video) 23:19 About Tolaram 27:13 Efosa Ojomo’s TED talk: Reducing corruption takes a specific kind of investment June 2019 and TEDxBYU A Counterintuitive Solution to Poverty: Stop Trying to Eradicate It , March 2019 34:12 Research by Lant Pritchett 38:12 Richard Leftley and MicroEnsure in Africa 43:24 MasterCard Foundation Africa Growth Fund 4 Time Stamps 02:49 Efosa Ojomo tells the background story to his book The Prosperity Paradox 06:35 Why Efosa moved to the United States 08:18 Why the story of a young girl carrying water at 3am changed Efosa's trajectory 11:01 The genesis of The Prosperity Paradox 16:24 The importance of understanding the key categories of consumption and non-consumption 17:54 Explanation of three different types of innovations: ‘sustaining’ innovations, ‘efficiency’ innovations and ‘market-creating’ innovations 22:14 The inspiring story of Indomie Noodles and how they created a new market in Nigeria 24:52 The need for countries to take ‘internal risks’ and invest in key infrastructure themselves 29:23 Barriers to consumption and how they represent opportunities to companies and entrepreneurs, not obstacles 32:42 Push vs pull investments and how pull investments create a whole new ecosystem around a newly created market 34:59 How to approach the reality of the existence of a small middle-class in a country 38:00 What it looks like when a country commits and invests long-term 42:18 Why capital coming into Africa needs to be patient 44:25 What young African leaders and individuals can do, to contribute to creating market-creating innovations 46:05 Efosa’s next book 47:03 How optimistic is Efosa? 5 Episode Transcript AfricanOptimist#1 Efosa Ojomo Transcription .pdf Download PDF • 125KB Back to top ^ More on Efosa Ojomo: Ted Talks by Efosa Ojomo (videos) TED talk: Reducing corruption takes a specific kind of investment, June 2019 TEDxBYU talk: A Counterintuitive Solution to Poverty: Stop Trying to Eradicate It , March 2019 Articles by Efosa Ojomo The process of market creation demystified , by Efosa Ojomo Our latest research - Accelerating the adoption of solar energy in Nigeria: A market-creating strategy , by Efosa Ojomo & Sandy Sanchez What is disruptive innovation? by the Clayton Christensen Institute Books by Efosa Ojomo

< Back to all guests #8 Adam Welz - introducing David Attenborough’s next successor - why ‘climate change’ should be renamed ‘climate breakdown’, how humans have disrupted 11,000 years of relative stability, how nature is reacting to this and why we should care 05 April 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio South African Adam Welz is a name to look out for as a significant new voice in the evolution of ‘climate breakdown’ writing and reporting. It takes a special skill to distill scientific research and isolated stories into a bigger riveting story, but through his articles, and now his first book, The End of Eden, Adam proves he is that rare nature observer who can get it right. As per his website , Adam's writing 'focuses on wildlife, nature conservation and climate change, and has appeared in numerous publications worldwide including The Guardian, The Atlantic and Yale Environment 360. He's directed, shot, researched and scripted a number of movies (mostly documentaries) and is seldom far from a stills camera or two.' (I found this last detail particularly funny as I knew Adam during his student days, and have a vivid memory of a blonde, lanky, long-haired always-moving Adam with a camera slung over his shoulders and a burning, curious look in his eyes). Am so thrilled nothing has changed, though one write-up added binoculars to his tools of the trade. He is a self-proclaimed birder and all around naturalist who has travelled on six continents, with extended periods in the United States and his home country, South Africa. His book was released in September 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing and immediately received ‘a rave review’ by the New York Times . A month later it was fêted by Apple Books as ‘Book of the Month for Non-Fiction’. In an Instagram share in March 2024, Adam marvelled that his book pipped even a rugby biography to the post, reaching #1 in South Africa’s Exclusive Books’ ‘Bestsellers’ category after a successful Cavendish Square launch - a feat by any standards. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with his wife and triplet daughters. 2 Episode Description In this episode, Adam gives us a peak into the writing of his first book The End of Eden and his intentions as well as his difficulties in writing it. He explains why he chose to focus on wild species as the characters of the bigger climate change story, and how he told small stories within a bigger context, and supported by scientific research, to paint the grim picture of a planet breaking down. We delve into why he sees it as important to reframe the ‘limp’ phrase ‘climate change’ and to understand the many linked effects global warming has on all the wild species around us. Adam’s book and this interview helped me look past the usual clichés that are splashed across the mass media pages, and see a different world, with different eyes, and a much better understanding of how to make sense of the isolated shifts that are happening in nature. Shifts that are small, but taken as a networked whole, create a looming terrifying instability and ‘age of uncertainty’ befalling our world. I knew Adam over 30 years ago, but that is not why I am encouraging you to read his book. As a communicator and writer myself, I understand how hard his job was and how magnificently he has done it. Enjoy this conversation, but the meat is in the book. 3 Show Notes 00:39 Sommer - colloquial Afrikaans term meaning ‘just’ or ‘for no real reason’ 01:17 The End of Eden - wild nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown, Adam Welz, 2023 04:47 Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings . 09:57 Sir David Attenborough is a British broadcaster and naturalist who has spent over 60 years bringing the wonders of the natural world to global tv screens through groundbreaking documentary series like ‘Life’ and ‘Planet Earth’. In the podcast episode, I muse how Adam could be Attenborough’s successor, so found this article of particular interest: Why David Attenborough cannot be replaced. The Conversation 10:56 Greenhouse gas emissions are greenhouse gases that are released in the air. They are created by burning fossil fuels or other human activities. Greenhouse gases are mostly carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour that insulate the earth and cause the earth’s temperatures to rise. 11:56 In New York City, the Odds of spotting a rare bird are rising , Lola Fadulu, 2023. Intro: ‘Birds that were once rare in New York City have been making more frequent appearances in recent years, to the thrill of local bird-watchers. But that excitement is tempered by the knowledge of what may be causing these changes: warming ocean temperatures, melting snowpacks and wildfires.’ 13:07 Half of all Species are on the Move - And We’re Feeling it , Craig Welch, 2017 20:04 Historical Climate Change - Understanding rising global temperatures in the context of Earth’s history 24:16 Cognitive linguistics is the study of how our brains and experiences influence how we use language. It's like thinking about the mental connections between what we know about the world and the words we choose. The field emerged in the 1970s as a reaction to other theories. For more, visit the Cognitive Linguistics Society 24:48 Frames, cognition, ideology and Chomsky , Johannes Scherling, 2018 ‘Within the field of cognitive linguistics, Frame Semantics and Conceptual Metaphor Theory are two major and influential players. While Charles Fillmore created his approach to provide a model for how knowledge is stored interdependently in our minds via frames, Lakoff further developed this model to the level of metaphors and gave it a political dimension. He linked metaphors and frames to ideology and the struggle for power, epitomized by his engagement in shaping the discourse used by US Democrats in their struggle for interpretative dominance against their Republican counterparts.’ 31:37 When the Sea Saved Humanity , Curtis Marean, Scientific American, 2018. ‘Shortly after Homo sapiens arose, harsh climate conditions nearly extinguished our species. The small population that gave rise to all humans alive today may have survived by exploiting a unique combination of resources along the southern coast of Africa.’ 36:04 Trailer for the Bee Movie, a 2007 animated movie set in New York 37:03 A colloquial South African word originating from Afrikaans. Usually referring to the butt end of a cigarette, in this case, to little ‘droppings’ of information 38:07 The Iguaca parrot, also known as the Puerto Rican parrot (scientific name Amazona vittata) is the only endemic parrot in Puerto Rico and is considered one of the rarest birds in the world. 41:35 Journey to Antarctica: Mapping Thwaites - Why mapping the sea floor in front of this glacier is so important, by Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stones, 2019 43:00 In-depth: Australia’s Bushfire Emergency , WWF Australia ‘The 2019-20 Australian bushfires were catastrophic in scale and impact - both for people and for nature. Up to 19 million hectares was burnt, with 12.6 million hectares primarily forests and woodlands. Nearly 3 billion animals were impacted by the blazes.’ 47:40 Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon-containing materials formed naturally in the Earth's crust over millions of years from the fossilized remains of dead plants and animals. The burning of fossil fuels releases energy, which can be used for a variety of purposes, including heating, transportation and electricity generation. However, the burning of fossil fuels also releases greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. 50:11 ‘ Apartheid was a unique system of racial segregation and white supremacy in South Africa. For nearly three centuries Africans were dispossessed and exploited by Dutch and British colonists. In 1948 apartheid (‘apartness’) became official policy. The National Party, elected by an all-white electorate, extended and formalised separation and discrimination into a rigid legal system.’ 51:36 Dissolution of the Soviet Union announced at NATO meeting . 55:16 Planting more trees can mitigate climate change, but not on its own , Earthday, 2021 57:15 To Truly Understand the Climate Crisis, Ask the Animals. - The End of Eden is Adam Welz’s moving, chilling elegy for biodiversity as we know it, The New York Times Book Review, Adam Nicolson, September 2023 4 Time Stamps 00:00 Into Quote Adam Welz 00:54 Podcast intro 02:51 Adam Welz gives an overview of his first book ‘The End of Eden’ 05:40 Why Adam focuses on wild species and not humans to tell the story of climate change 07:33 Bridging the gap between micro stories of wild species and a greater context of their situation 08:48 ‘I want you to try and understand what it’s like to be a non-human.’ 10:16 Adam as naturalist filmmaker David Attenborough’s successor 11:29 Why the intro of the book is based in New York City 12:50 You can see the effects of climate change all around you, if you just look, even in big cities 15:57 The lessons we can learn from surviving species 18:15 What we need to survive in this Age of Uncertainty 20:04 Stability of nature in the past 11,000 years 22:49 Climate breakdown as a more accurate description than climate change 24:28 The role of cognitive linguistics framing ‘climate change’ in a particular way in our minds 29:38 The 200,000 - 300,000 years: Earth’s Eden 31:34 How South Africa saved homo sapiens from extinction 31:34 How Adam crafted stories that elicit empathy for wild species in the reader 40:58 How writing the book affected Adam personally 41:40 Adam’s ‘oh shit’ moment regarding climate breakdown 42:57 The effect of seeing Australia’s 2019/2020 bushfires on Adam personally 45:30 The isolation felt by scientists who are constantly exposed to climate change data 47:33 New opportunities present themselves as we all have to move away from fossil fuels 50:09 Earth-changing events do happen - think of Apartheid and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the ubiquity of cell phones within a very short period of time 53:40 Before you come up with solutions, you have to understand. 55:45 ‘You actually have got to be quite careful where you plant trees. They’re not all just a great thing everywhere - you have to plant the right trees in the right places.' 57:10 The response to the book 58:39 Adam’s next book 5 Transcript AfricanOptimist ep8 Adam Welz Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 125KB Back to top ^ More on Adam Welz Articles To Truly Understand the Climate Crisis, Ask the Animals - The End of Eden is Adam Welz’s moving, chilling elegy for biodiversity as we know it, The New York Times Book Review , Adam Nicolson, September 2023 A naturalist finds hope despite climate change in an era he calls ‘The End of Eden’ , OPB, Brian Mann, December 2023 Book