In season six of Happy Porch Radio, we are talking about the circular economy across the African continent.

Today, we welcome Joanna Bingham and Deborah Nartey of Footprints Africa to provide us with some really powerful context to set the scene for a new season.

Footprints Africa is an organization that supports small and medium-sized businesses to adopt future-friendly practices, address the challenges of growth, and create new jobs, while using supply chains as a tool for development. In this episode, Joanna and Deborah share some insights on the work and research that their team is working on, going on to provide three examples of powerful entrepreneurial projects that embody the circular economy in Africa: Ecodudu, Kaluku Wear, and Pyramid Recycling. We touch on power dynamics, parallel evolution, and the exploitation of Africa’s rich resources as an essential framing context.

Next, we dive into the role of perception in shaping behavior and how decentralized systems of repair are valued by certain cultures and not by others.

We explore the value of perception and mindset, along with the challenges and barriers that these two factors can create. Joanna tells us more about African Footprints’s focus and aims and, in closing, Joanna and Deborah share their hopes for the future of Africa’s economy with us.

We hope you join us for some mindset-shifting insights from this impressive duo today!