SCIX African Trade Talks

Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of two books, "A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions" and "Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture".

He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.

Sihlobo is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University.

Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa's Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018.

He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).

Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day, The Herald and Farmers Weekly magazine.

His weekly podcast, "Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo", is available on all podcast platforms.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Fort Hare and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Wandile's entrepreneurial journey...01:20

-Why it's so difficult to get into agriculture as an African...02:30

-What is stopping Africa from achieving its potential economically?...06:20

-How to go about feeding the world...09:55

-The future of tech in Africa is dependent on the regulators...14:05

-Value chain and agro-processing, and what is its potential...18:30

-The impact of the ASFTA in regards to agriculture...21:30

-And much more...

Amanda is an economist, management consultant and project manager with over 13 years' experience providing cross cutting advisory services to solve business issues, increase productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness of organizations.

She has extensive experience working with executives in national government institutions, multilateral agencies, the private sector, indigenous organizations, and academia in both advisory and business development roles.

Amanda has delivered projects and results across various competencies including capital raising, transaction advisory services, international development project design, market and feasibility studies, data analytics and governance, strategy and operations, enterprise performance management, public policy advisory, technical assistance, project management and change management for transformation initiatives.

Amanda previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, leading business transformation and international development assignments. She has been retained by the World Bank, the UK Department for International Development and Umeme Limited to provide strategic advisory services.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Amanda's entrepreneurial journey...01:30

-Advice for those interested in investing in Africa...04:15

-The highest and lowest cost items Amanda markets...08:45

-Lessons in diversity learned from international travel...12:20

-Top 3 factors or dealbreakers that influence Amanda's business decisions...16:30

-What is the right investment mechanism...21:05

-Books and podcasts Amanda recommends...23:20

-And much more...

In this episode, Our guest is Adam Molai. Adam is the founder and chairman of TRT Investments, and is also the founder of Jawa Kickstarter.

Adam Molai is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, founder and chairman of Pacific Cigarette. He also has companies in property development, retail, farming, transport and logistics, petroleum/lubricants, and mining and commodities.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Adam reflects on his early challenges as a venture capitalist...00:45

-The importance of and inherent risks found in friends and family fundraising...06:15

-What inspired Adam to start his angel investing firm...10:15

-Adam's highest and lowest ticket item...13:45

-Lessons Adam can share with anyone wanting to invest in Africa...16:15

-The top 3 dealbreakers and factors that impact an investing decision...19:00

-Where to invest right now...20:50

-Adam's thoughts on the ASFTA...24:50

-Books, podcasts, and networking platforms Adam recommends...30:00

-And much more...

Wael Amin became an entrepreneur at an early age founding his first company while still in college. After graduating at the age of 18, Wael Co-Founded ITWorx, and led its growth over a period of 20 years from start-up to one of the largest and most influential IT companies in the Middle East. Through its history, ITWorx has created more than 5000 jobs, expanded to 12 countries across 4 continents and won countless industry accolades. During his tenure at ITWorx, the company acquired Egyptian startup Otlob.com incubating it to become the largest e-commerce property in the Middle East before eventually selling it, it has also successfully incubated and spun off a number of successful startups, in Laserstorm, NetCelera, and ITWorx Education. Having produced more than 200 entrepreneurs responsible for 100+ Egyptian technology start-ups, ITWorx is generally considered the most impactful company in the Egypt IT ecosystem.

Wael holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science (1993) and an MBA (2004) from the American University in Cairo ("AUC"). He is a frequent lecturer on the transformational impact of technology and a guest lecturer at the AUC MBA program. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Wael's entrepreneurial journey...00:45

-Lessons to share with anyone wanting to invest in Africa...02:20

-Wael's highest and lowest ticket items...05:15

-The impact of technology on commerce observed during Wael's travels...06:10

-What we've forgotten when it comes to fundraising...13:00

-What Wael likes and doesn't like when it comes to investing in Africa...14:15

-Books and podcasts Wael recommends....16:30

-And much more...

In this episode, our guest is Maxime Bayen. Maxime is the head of venture building and lead venture partner, catalyst Fund. He's also co-founder Africa, the Big Deal.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Maxim's experience doing business in Africa...00:45

-Big lessons learned to share with anyone interested in investing in Africa...03:00

-What is the highest and lowest ticket items Maxime invests in?...06:30

-Travel lessons, and impact from technology on investing...10:10

-Top three dealbreakers and impact makers on making a decision to invest...12:45

-The one thing Maxime wants to share with our listeners...17:10

-And much more...

Marcus Watson Marcus is a partner and investment director at Kawi Safi Ventures.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Marcus' career journey from lawyer to African entrepreneur...04:00

-Advice for anyone wanting to invest in Africa...03:30

-The process for accessing funds from Kawi Safi...08:30

-Lessons learned traveling the continent of Africa and beyond...14:30

-The top 3 factors, positive and negative, that make or break a deal...20:00

-Investment insights shared from our guest...25:00

-Resources recommended by Marcus...27:00

-And much more...

Kamsy has several years of experience in Africa's financial services industry, and works for one of Africa's largest banks, Access Bank.

Please note the views expressed in this podcast are those of our guest, not necessarily those of the bank.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Kamsy's experience and changing views regarding investing in Africa...01:00

-What can be done differently to access funds outside of going straight to the banks...05:00

-Lessons learned in Kamsy's experience, and the impact of technology on his work...08:30

-Why do people fail to get funding from banks?...11:30

-Kamsy's thoughts on the ASFTA...16:00

-The book Kamsy recommends to all his associates and colleagues...20:15

-And much more...

Judith Li is the Director of Programs at the Westerwell Foundation, based in Berlin, Germany. In this episode, Judith shares hard lessons learned operating a startup servicing the African community, the need for return on investment vs. return on impact, how the lack of infrastructure inhibits entrepreneurial growth, and sound advice for anyone interested in investing time and resources in the African economy.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Judith's entrepreneurial journey and the quest to impact one million people...00:45

-About the Westerwell Foundation....04:10

-Lessons learned regarding startups in Africa...07:20

-Be the one being chased, not the one doing the chasing...09:30

-Travel experiences, and the impact of technology on the modern business world...12:00

-Advice for those interested in investing in Africa...14:15

-Judith's thoughts on grant funding...20:20

-Network recommendations for African entrepreneurs...22:45

-And much more...

Hio Sola-Usidame, founder and CEO of One Port 365, shares how his company massively improves the efficiency of sending cargo throughout Africa, tips on how to go about fundraising on a large scale, the benefits (and challenges) of operating a continental-sized business and much more!

Here's what you'll discover in today's episode:

-Hio Sola's personal background...00:55

-What is Hio Sola's business, and what problem is he solving with it?...04:30

-Hio's fundraising efforts: wins and challenges...11:30

-Traveling throughout Africa opens the mind!...17:30

-Movement of talent vs. movement of mere people...20:15

-How scalable is this business?...23:00

-A book Hio would like to recommend to our listeners...27:00

-And much more

Marcus Watson Marcus is a partner and investment director at Kawi Safi Ventures.

In this episode, you'll discover:

-Marcus' career journey from lawyer to African entrepreneur...04:00

-Advice for anyone wanting to invest in Africa...03:30

-The process for accessing funds from Kawi Safi...08:30

-Lessons learned traveling the continent of Africa and beyond...14:30

-The top 3 factors, positive and negative, that make or break a deal...20:00

-Investment insights shared from our guest...25:00

-Resources recommended by Marcus...27:00

-And much more...