AfricanOptimist - how we thrive against great odds

In Episode 1, disruptive thinker and author Efosa Ojomo highlighted that the potential for prosperity in Africa lies 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 in 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.

For more information on Sithuli Mbeje, visit his page on the AfricanOptimist website, where you can find his bio, show notes and episode transcript.

Never want to miss an episode? Visit our AfricanOptimist website and subscribe to the AfricanOptimist newsletter.

In 2023, Vogue Business named Erica de Greef and African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) co-founder Lesiba Mabitsela as part of a group of 100 ‘next-gen entrepreneurs and agitators’ in the global fashion world, who are overhauling the current system and designing a different future. 

In this episode, we unpack why Vogue gave them that accolade, how Erica sees fashion as a decolonising tool, what different stories need to be told and how a different approach to fashion can tell those, what to do with White clothes collections buried inside South African and other museums, and how a single archived dress can be re-imagined to fill the gaps in Africa's fashion history.

It is only as recent as 2016 that ‘Africa’ and ‘Fashion’ were used together in the same sentence, and Erica very evocatively explains why. She also explains why the term ‘slow fashion’ might not be the most suitable, or chosen, term for fashion in Africa.

It is only in the last twenty years that South Africa started to develop its own local fashion brands, and in this episode Erica reveals the part she played in that development. 

For those wishing to understand the past erasure of African fashion and its relegation to ethnographic museums and descriptions - and the work being done to change that - this episode is for you.

For more information on Erica de Greef, visit her page on the AfricanOptimist website, where you can find her bio, show notes and episode transcript.

Never want to miss an episode? Visit our AfricanOptimist website and subscribe to the AfricanOptimist newsletter.

In this episode, we could have focused on the tech side of agriculture with Moroccan 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.

For more information on Hamza Chaham, visit his AfricanOptimist guest page, where you can find his bio, show notes and episode transcript.

Never want to miss an episode? Visit our AfricanOptimist website and subscribe to the AfricanOptimist newsletter.

South African GG Alcock has made it his life's mission to help people understand how informal economies work and to relieve you of the prejudices and stereotypes you may harbour about this sector.

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 in South Africa, 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 the SA economy, why families from other countries seem to dominate the spaza (small grocery store) 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.

Visit GG's AfricanOptimist guest page for his bio, show notes, transcripts and more or africanoptimist.co.za to sign up for the AO newsletter.

South African Sipamandla Manqele is a food alchemist, transforming wholesome African ingredients into delicious, nutritious - and convenient - products. She is the co-founder of localvillageafrica, whose mission it is to secure a seat for African food at the global banquet table.

For more information on Sipamandla Manqele, visit her AfricanOptimist guest page. Never want to miss an episode? Visit the AfricanOptimist website and subscribe to the AfricanOptimist newsletter.

Former South African engineer turned Social Entrepreneur Jesse Naidoo shares his journey to Master of recycling textile waste, explaining the opportunities that exist for a single item of clothes in a circular economy. He talks to the AfricanOptimist about the exciting new developments in waste recycling and about creating shared value among communities, not shareholder value. 

For more information on Jesse Naidoo and Clothes to Good, visit his AfricanOptimist guest page. Never want to miss an episode? Visit the AfricanOptimist website and subscribe to the AfricanOptimist newsletter.

Nigerian Efosa Ojomo, co-author of 'Prosperity Paradox', sits down with the AfricanOptimist to share insights into the power of market-creating innovations across Africa and the potential they have to lift African countries out of poverty at scale.

For more information on Efosa Ojomo and his book, visit his AfricanOptimist guest page. Never want to miss an episode? Visit the AfricanOptimist website and subscribe to the AfricanOptimist newsletter.