The Salary Scramble With Lee Kasumba

The global fashion industry is worth $2.5 trillion. Africa's share? $31 billion, barely 1%.

Papy Kaluw knows what that gap feels like. He left Congo as a child, dropped out of university, taught himself fashion, and built Urban Zulu from nothing. Today, he's dressed celebrities and opened pop-ups in Manhattan. But the journey from selling T-shirts outside Market Theatre to running a global brand has been anything but glamorous.

In this conversation with Leslie Kasumba, Papy gets honest about why he left South Africa, whether his brand will outlive him, and the question no one asks: is there actually money in this business?

This is not a victory lap. It's a founder sitting inside the tension between scramble and stable.

Join us on The Salary Scramble With Lee Kasumba as Papy Kaluw breaks down the one thing every entrepreneur fears: your own paycheck taking a chunk out of your business.New episode out tomorrow!

Oma Areh has worked with everyone from Coca-Cola to Davido to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She's a PR powerhouse, film producer, and now a pioneer in the $26 billion micro-drama industry. But her journey started with a column called "How to Get the Man of Your Dreams" at age twenty and a father who announced the end of the Biafran war at sixteen.

In this episode of The Salary Scramble, Oma sits down with Lee Kasumba to talk about why African storytelling has been undervalued, what it takes to build a multi-arm creative ecosystem, and why she's betting big on vertical storytelling. She also gets real about the month she couldn't make payroll, the client she fired, and why Nigerian women don't need anyone's permission to be excellent.

If you've ever wondered how the creative economy actually works and how to survive the scramble, this one's for you.

You've worked with global brands. You've built a reputation over six years. You've done everything right.

And then one client doesn't pay for six months. Your reserves disappear. Your staff is counting on you. And you realize: the business you built can't pay itself.

In this clip from The Salary Scramble, 'Oma Areh gets real about the month she couldn't make payroll and what that moment taught her about resilience, responsibility, and the hidden cost of entrepreneurship.

New Episode out today!

You've worked with global brands. You've built a reputation over six years. You've done everything right.

And then one client doesn't pay for six months. Your reserves disappear. Your staff is counting on you. And you realize: the business you built can't pay itself.

In this clip from The Salary Scramble, 'Oma Areh gets real about the month she couldn't make payroll and what that moment taught her about resilience, responsibility, and the hidden cost of entrepreneurship.

New Episode out tomorrow!

He became a vegetarian because meat was expensive and his student stipend was low. Then it became fashionable. Then it became political. Then he realized he was wearing leather shoes.

In this chapter, Sanza Sandile traces his complicated relationship with food from hot dogs and boredom in a dormitory to exploring vegetable stalls in the new South Africa, from Rasta consciousness to the uncomfortable truth about wanting to save the planet without knowing which animal to start with.

Before the dinner club. Before the gastronomic smuggler. Before he became one of the most talked-about cooks on the continent, he was just a student in Johannesburg, missing home, making pap and spinach, and figuring it out one meal at a time.

Sanza Sandile Shabalala doesn't call himself a chef. He calls himself a cook, a storyteller, and a gastronomic smuggler. But somewhere between growing up in Soweto in the 80s, co-hosting the radio shows that shaped a generation at YFM, and building the legendary Yeoville Dinner Club, he became something else entirely: a founder who refuses to look like one.

In this episode of The Salary Scramble, Lee Kasumba sits down with her former radio co-host for a conversation about food, money, and building on your own terms. They trace Sanza's journey from strict vegetarian to Pan-African table, from five-rand pasta days to charging premium prices without apologizing.

No restaurant. No investors. No ads. And somehow, still standing.

This is not a typical founder story. It's about dignity for the people washing dishes, a table where everyone eats with their hands if they want to, and a business model held together by saving, giving, and an unshakable belief that there is never nothing.

He used to think Ethiopian restaurants were just shebeens with sour-smelling beer. He wanted to save the planet but couldn't pick an animal. And before he became one of the most beloved chefs on the African continent, he was just a guy in Yeoville who loved breast and thighs.

In this teaser from The Salary Scramble, Sanza Sandile Shabalala, the gastronomic smuggler himself talks about the first non-South African dish that stopped him in his tracks. Spoiler: it was injera. And it changed everything.

Full episode drops soon. Until then, listen to this.

When passion pulls you in a new direction mid-degree. After two years of engineering, our guest realized he was spending more time on his political science and economics electives than his core classes.

The identity crisis he feared? It never came. Instead, he found surprising support and a lesson in trusting yourself.

If you've ever feared changing direction, or wondered whether it's too late to follow what actually excites you, this conversation is for you.

Victor Williams ran NBA Africa. But his story starts in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

His parents could have stayed overseas. They chose to come home. That choice shaped everything.

From a government school in Freetown to Harvard. From Goldman Sachs to launching the Basketball Africa League. Now he's betting on the continent again as founder of Lions Range Group.

This is a conversation about following your gut, building where you come from, and why sports is Africa's most underrated economic engine.