The Flip

What's particularly exciting about remote work is that it's not constrained by the demand from the local market. The jobs can come from anywhere in the world.

But it leaves us with a big question: why are global employers looking to hire African talent? And how can African markets take advantage of the opportunity and capture more of these jobs for its citizens?

This episode is another case study, on what it looks like to develop the global business services industry in a country like South Africa.

3:50 - Understanding how the global business services sector works, with Genesis Analytics' Mark Schoeman. What compels global organizations to open a delivery center in a given market?
8:27 - The most important consideration is the development of a scalable skills pipeline.
12:03 -  The work largely becomes building the talent pipeline to service demand. We explore what that looks like with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator's Sharmi Surianarain.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

We know that local economies are not going to create enough jobs or income-generating opportunities for such a rapidly growing African population. But at the same time, for countries in the global north whose working-age population is shrinking, where's the labor going to come from?

The solution to both of these problems might be the same:  remote work. 

In this episode, we're going to explore three buckets of remote work: the sexy, high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, the services-based IT work and business process outsourcing, and lastly, the increase of non-technical work that's delivered or fulfilled through digital means.

4:39 - Exploring high-skilled remote work for product-led technology companies, with Andela's Jeremy Johnson. 

10:18 - Andela's model, and the type of talent they've worked with, has evolved since its founding in 2014.

12:30 - Product companies are looking for a specific caliber of talent from an experience level. What does this mean for the future of work in Africa if experience level is such an important requirement? This is where Fred Swaniker and the African Leadership Group come in, which is focused on connecting talent to global services companies. 

19:28 - Whereas there's an ever-increasing demand for software developers, it takes a long time to train developer talent. So what about roles that aren't technical, but that can still be fulfilled with technology? We discuss with Shortlist's Paul Breloff.

23:11 - The talent networks are going to play an increasingly important role in bridging supply with demand, with a sector-specific focus. Consider the model "Andela for X". 

25:03 - One vertical platform creating opportunities for non-technical talent is Caret, the Nigerian-based platform focused on customer success. We speak to its founder, Tolu Agunbiade. 

28:22 - A retrospective conversation between The Flip's b-mic Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

In the first episode of this season, we argued that the future of work is a traditional development playbook. Considering the nature of most African markets today - informal, fragmented, subscale -  and considering the fact that most employment comes from the agriculture sector, the traditional development playbook says that development starts by increasing the productivity of the informal sector and the agriculture sector, in particular.

These jobs are local jobs. In the context of Africa's rising population, millions of jobs need to be created and millions of local jobs will need to be created. But where are newfound local jobs going to come?

This episode is a case study. We'll explore the decentralized renewable energy sector, or DRE, to see what job creation from a nascent industry could look like. 

Where there are sectors that are growing in importance in size, like the clean energy sector, how can African markets take advantage?

2:59 - The seeds of this episode's exploration were planted during a conversation with Shortlist's Paul Breloff. There are significant opportunities for sectors that are actually creating local jobs, and one sector they are bullish on is decentralized renewable energy.

4:28 - We dig into Power for All's Powering Jobs Census, to explore the scope of DRE's local job creation, with its research director, Carolina Pan.

10:51 - Exploring the second-order benefits of DRE, including indirect and induced jobs.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

How are jobs created? While throughout the season we're going to be looking at that question primarily through a technology and innovation lens, in this episode we're going to start by exploring this jobs question through a more traditional development and economics lens. Because as we'll see, though the future of work might be remote work or the creator economy or any other nascent categories, the future of work in Africa is also a traditional development story. And it starts with farming.

4:11 - Africa's population is 1.4 billion people. It will double by 2050. Where are the jobs going to come from?
5:50 - Employment and informality, with development economist Louise Fox.
7:13 - The traditional development story starts with agriculture.
10:19 - Step two in the playbook is to invest in an export-oriented industry.
13:13 - Agriculture is an important sector to invest in from a development and job creation perspective. We speak to PE investor Jerry Parkes.
19:15 - The opportunity for an integrated approach across the value chain.
21:43 - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo.

Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Introducing The Flip Season Four. African countries will be adding more people to the workforce in the next 10 years than the rest of the world combined. Where are the income-generating opportunities going to come from? 

All this season, we're exploring the future of work. 

Thanks to MFS Africa for their sponsorship of the entirety of Season 4 of The Flip.

Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.

Read Sabi: Platforming Trade in Africa on The Flip.

We’re trying something new - an audio version of this week's partner edition of The Flip Notes, together with Sabi. Along with narration from The Flip's Justin Norman, you can hear Sabi’s co-founders, Anu Adedoyin Adasolum and Ademola Adesina, tell part of the story in their own words.

The Flip Notes Partner Editions are our occasional sponsored deep dive of a market or sector or business model, in partnership and behind the scenes with a company whose story benefits the ecosystem. You can read more about the process and guidelines of the partner editions here. 

Subscribe to The Flip Notes: https://theflip.africa/subscribe.

In today's edition of The Flip Notes, we’ll tell Sabi’s story across a few different dimensions:

03:32 - Rensource and COVID’s Creative Destruction
05:45 - Understanding Value Chains
10:30 - The Product
13:42 - Platforms and The Bill Gates Line
15:52 - The Risks
18:04 - The Opportunity

In this episode, we're going to explore web3 in the African context.

The premise of web3 technology, and tools like NFTs, in particular, is that they can and perhaps will create new paradigms and economic models and that these models will have positive implications for creators and fans alike. And we believe that the decentralized and permissionless nature of web3 blockchains and protocols can have especially positive implications across Africa and emerging markets, as well. 

We're going to look at NFTs as a tool, and web3 as a technology and infrastructure that can create new and perhaps more beneficial and inclusive economic models than the status quo. 

In commemoration of this episode, we're also minting a collection of AI artwork entitled Dawn of Bugs, with Senegalese digital artist Linda Dounia. For more information on the collection, the artist, where to mint, and our thoughts on value in the NFT and African art context, check out What is the Value of African Art? NFTs and Web3 Experimentation. The collection, Dawn of Bugs, is available at reserve auction on Foundation.

06:18 - Whenever there is a change in technology, like crypto and web3, there are ultimately new paradigms, as Seyi Taylor explains.
10:09 - For Africans, in particular, new paradigms means a permissionless opportunity to participate in the global digital economy.
12:36 - New paradigms allow for new communities and institutions, and new tools, like NFTs, that have the potential to create new economic models altogether.
14:11 - The opportunity for creators, in particular, is to move from an advertising-based to a commerce-based business model. We hear from Visa's Head of Crypto, Cuy Sheffield. And NFTs can be important for black and African creators in the context of their historical experience as under-monetized and under-credited producers of culture.
20:43 - We explore new communities and institutions like DAOs.
25:19 - Why are Africans particularly interested in building new institutions? A conversation with The Flip's b-mic, Sayo Folawiyo.

Select resources for this episode:

• The Flip's Crypto Glossary
• Why you can't just screenshot an NFT by Cleo Abram
• Who Disrupts the Disruptors? by Packy McCormick
• What Co-ops and DAOs Can Learn from Each Other by Austin Robey
• NFTs and a Thousand True Fans by Chris Dixon
• NFTs make the internet ownable by Jesse Walden
• The Web3 Renaissance: A Golden Age for Content by Li Jin
• Who will own the creator economy? A web2 vs. web3 showdown by Justine Moore

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we’re exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners – MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises – MFS Africa’s API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.

African culture and content is taking over the world - from Afrobeats and amapiano, to Nollywood and Netflix originals, to fashion. To what degree can Africans monetize their creativity not only on the continent but globally? To what extent can Africans, as owners of culture and intellectual property, participate in the upside? And if content has been largely an export product, to date, how do *we* develop the local creator ecosystem, as well?

05:11 - A brief history of the creator economy. From aggregation theory to 1000 true fans.
07:59 - We start with the platforms, and TikTok's Boniswa Sidwaba.
11:11 - A challenge with creator monetization for African creators is the value of their audience to an advertiser. We hear from YouTuber Tayo Aina, with a cameo from another YouTuber, Hank Green.
15:33 - Because of limited monetization opportunities from the platforms directly, creators ink brand partnerships and sell direct to their audience. 
19:49 - The challenge with monetizing an audience directly in a market like Nigeria is the poor macroeconomic situation. So content remains largely an export product, says Iroko's Jason Njoku. 
23:17 - But the local fanbase is still incredibly important, and the local infrastructure still needs to be built. It's what Mr Eazi is trying to do for the music industry. 
29:22 - How do we make sure value accrues back to the markets from which the content comes?
31:42 - Our retrospective conversation between The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo.

Resources referenced in this episode:

• What is Aggregation Theory? by Ben Thompson
• 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly
• So...TikTok Sucks by Hank Green
• Tayo Aina's YouTube Creator Academy

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.

Food prices are disproportionately expensive in African markets. In some countries, consumers spend 50% or more of their income on food. It's a logistics problem and a retail fragmentation problem, and it's also an agriculture and processing problem. So in this episode, we explore the agriculture and processing value chains on the continent. 

[04:44] - Lack of processing capabilities is a problem in African markets. But processing capabilities are hampered by inconsistent supply from smallholder farmers, as we discuss with ReelFruit's Affiong Williams.
[08:33] - We speak with Releaf's Ikenna Nwezi about the company's interventions in the palm oil value chain in Nigeria.
[16:05] - On the importation and exportation of raw and processed foods, and the markets served by processors on the continent. 
[22:03] - How do farms increase their efficiency? We talk precision agriculture with Revolute Systems' Jacobus Els.
[28:43] - A retrospective conversation with The Flip's Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman.

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.

How can Africans receive greater access to quality healthcare? That's the problem we'll attempt to explain in this episode, and it's a wicked problem.

In this episode, we go deep into the healthcare value chain from diagnostics to labs to clinics and pharmacies, to better understand how it all works and how those we speak to in this episode are working to get improved care to Africans across the continent.

[04:49] - Today, there is a greater trend towards reactive, not proactive medicine, due to high out-of-pocket spend for medical care, as 54gene's Dr. Jumi Popoola explains.
[07:01] - The high degree of out-of-pocket spending coupled with low incomes ultimately creates the problem of low accessibility to high-quality healthcare, about which we speak to Ilara Health's Emilian Popa.
[11:05] - Medical care starts with diagnostics. How do we get cheaper and more accessible diagnostics to the last mile? And why are diagnostics so important in the first place?
[16:39] - Also, how do we get more payers into the healthcare ecosystem to pay for diagnostics? 
[21:39] - Fragmentation of pharmacies and healthcare facilities at the last mile is also a problem. We hear from Suleman Sule with Field Intelligence.
[25:46] - We speak to Zipline's Israel Bimpe. When it comes to high-value essential medicines, perhaps on-demand delivery is required to increase availability and reduce waste. 
[32:47] - 54gene's ultimate mission is to ensure the treatments being used on the continent are the right treatments and, through their biobank, to participate in the research process to develop new drugs and treatments for Africa and beyond. 
[36:45] - A retrospective conversation between The Flip's Justin Norman and Sayo Folawiyo. 

This season is sponsored by MFS Africa.

All this season, we're exploring value chains. And in the payments value chain, no fintech has a wider reach on the continent than MFS Africa. Through their network of over 180 partners - MNOs, banks, NGOs, fintechs, and global enterprises - MFS Africa's API hub makes connects over 320 million mobile wallets across 30+ countries in Africa.