Leona Archary, Director at Bigen Africa talks about South Africa’s agriculture sector and the ambitions of industry and government. Leona also serves as Interim CEO of the South African Agricultural Development Agency (AGDA) which is a private sector-led initiative that is mobilising funding and support to the smallholder and black commercial farming sector through improved partnership models across the agricultural value chain.

“We are finding a lot of commitment from the commercial farming sector to grow and develop the emerging black farmers in our country, and I think the impact in the years to come is going to be substantial in terms of the number of jobs that we can contribute to the economy” - Leona Archary, Interim CEO of the South African Agriculture Development Agency (AGDA)

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Africa Practice and its management.

Ruud Jansen, Executive Secretary, Gaborone Declaration for Sustainable in Africa speaks with Marcus about the importance and growth of Natural Capital Accounting, as well as the Community of Practice for Africa project that the GDSA has recently launched. Ruud also addresses the concerns of climate change and ecosystem conservation, as well as where the African countries sit in terms of involvement in Natural Capital Accounting.

"Our mission is to incorporate the value of natural capital into public and private sector policies in decision making and planning" - Ruud Jansen, Executive Secretary, Gaborone Declaration for Sustainable in Africa

"Before you invest in a company, one looks at balance sheets and assets that the company has. Funny enough, with Government we don't have that, we have human capital, produced capital but natural capital simply does not enter into that equation and Governments should think in terms of balance sheets. We withdraw from natural capital to generate benefits to the economy, we need to figure out how much we are withdrawing down from our natural capital assets and to what extent" -Ruud Jansen, Executive Secretary, Gaborone Declaration for Sustainable in Africa

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Africa Practice and its management.

This week Marcus speaks with Simon Anholt, a leading public diplomacy specialist who has a new book just out, called The Good Country Equation, which contains many anecdotes from his experience advising governments all across the globe, plus a series of recommendations for ‘’repairing the world in one generation’’.

Simon gives his honest insights about globalisation, multilateralism, and political leadership.

“All the problems in the world are basically caused by two things; the way people behave and the way countries behave. People’s everyday acts - omissions and commissions - that cause problems of climate change, pandemics, conflict, human rights abuses and the other things the world is facing today; and how countries behave, specifically governments. There is a fundamental tendency to compete instead of collaborate. Those are the things we need to fix! ” - Simon Anholt

“The gold standard of good governance in the twenty-first century is harmonising your domestic and international affairs. You do the right thing for the people in your own territory and at the same time you do the right thing for the people of other countries and the rest of the planet. It is perfectly possible, and in fact it makes better policy if you do it.” - Simon Anholt

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Africa Practice and its management.

This week Marucs speaks with Kola Masha, Managing Director of Babban Gona, one of Africa’s leading social entrepreneurs and lead coordinator of the GiveFood.ng initiative.

Kola gives his views on the importance of collaboration for managing the COVID19 crisis and how GiveFood.ng is supporting the most vulnerable. LISTEN HERE

Givefood.ng is an emergency food relief platform that leverages technology and existing food supply chains to provide tens of thousands of meals to those in need in Nigeria. Givefood.ng was formed by a coalition of leading public and private partners including The Lagos State Government, Babban Gona, Spar, Shoprite, Foodco, Justrite, Dufil, UAC, Flour Mills, Golden Penny Foods, FCMB, Dalberg, Whitten & Roy Partnership, Africa Practice, Facebook, and Trace TV.

“What GiveFood.ng has taught me is that the solutions exist. They may not all be resident in one organisation, but if we can get the right group of people together, the right structures, then we can solve many problems much faster than we anticipated.” Kola Masha, MD of Babban Gona ( and Lead Coordinator for GiveFood.ng)

“A critical part of the system was around motivitating everyday Nigerians to recognise this challenge and step forward and provide as little as $1 to provide a meal to persons in need. A key part of that coalition has been the strategic communication partners. Here in Nigeria, Africa Practice has played an incredible role in leading that whole aspect of the initiative .’’ Kola Masha, MD of Babban Gona ( and Lead Coordinator for GiveFood.ng)

Marcus talks with Jonathan Pell, CEO of Adam Smith International, about the recent announcement that the UK Government will merge its Dept for International Development and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. What are the implications for the UK’s partnerships with African nations? How has the international system responded to the Pandemic and did Britain engage?

“There are lots of question marks as to whether funding of the multilateral system is delivering the results that are necessary. Questions over the effectiveness of the international system will become even more prominent following the announcement of last week.’’ Jonathan Pell, CEO, Adam Smith International.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Africa Practice and its management.

Marcus talks with Gyude Moore, Senior Policy Fellow at the Centre for Global Development and a former Government Minister in the Liberian Government.

Gyude shares some of the lessons he learned when managing the Ebola outbreak and draws parallels with the current Covid-19 pandemic. Marcus and Gyude discuss the #BlackLivesMatter movement and African Government's response to the discrimination of African citizens in China, Geo politic views and Africa’s debt.

‘’I was uncomfortable hearing ‘official Africa’ get involved [in response to the killing of George Floyd]. The AU made a comment, yet not a single African government made a comment about a South African beaten to death. This idea that somehow because it's happening in America, African govts should get involved; when the same thing is happening at home.’’ George Floyd will get a measure of justice in the US. There are thousands of people who have faced extra judicial killing in Africa who will get no justice at all.’’ - Gyude Moore.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Africa Practice and its management.