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how we thrive against great odds Listen Now LATEST EPISODES View More The AfricanOptimist. A podcast to explore the possible. The AfricanOptimist podcast explores what it takes to make your mark in a changing Africa. If you’re wondering what it takes to survive and thrive, join Sanja Gohre for bi-monthly conversations with the new doers and thinkers across the continent. Listen in as she talks with a wide range of people who shar e their journeys of triumphs and tribulations, tips and tricks, analysis and insight, and most of all, their inspiration on how and why they survive and thrive. About the host The AfricanOptimist podcast is hosted by Sanja Gö hre, a social scientist by training, born and living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Curious about developments across the African continent, she talks to the thoughtful and the driven to find out how they are influencing their worlds. Find out more

MEET THE GUESTS Want to know more? Click on a guest below for their bio , shownotes , transcript, episode and more. Load More

< Back to all guests #14 Lita Miti-Qamata - From Local to Global: How African Entrepreneurs and Creatives Can Protect Their Ideas and Commercialise them 4 August 2025 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 2 GUEST BIO Lita Miti-Qamata is a Partner and IP lawyer at Adams and Adams, one of Africa's leading law firms. Based in Johannesburg, she's been practicing since 2010 after earning her LLB from the University of the Western Cape. Lita specializes in helping brands navigate the complex world of intellectual property across Africa. Her work spans trademark litigation and prosecution, brand commercialization, domain name disputes and the increasingly important areas of internet and social media law. She regularly advises multinational companies in fashion, technology, and energy on protecting and enforcing their brands throughout the continent. Beyond her corporate work, Lita is deeply committed to making IP accessible to smaller businesses through pro bono projects and educational initiatives. In 2025, she joined the board of Lawyers for the Arts, South Africa, furthering her mission to support creative entrepreneurs. Her client roster includes some remarkable success stories. She's been the legal counsel for fashion designer Thebe Magugu since he won the prestigious Louis Vuitton Prize for young designers in 2019. In 2023, their professional relationship took an unexpected turn when Thebe asked Lita to model one of nine dresses in his Heritage Collection for British Vogue—each dress celebrating a different South African culture through the 'Mother and Child' motif. Adams and Adams was founded in Pretoria in 1908 by Harry Adams, the son of English missionaries, the firm has grown from its humble beginnings to become a continental powerhouse. Today, it operates 23 associate offices across Africa, with intellectual property as its flagship practice alongside dispute resolution, commercial, and real estate law. 2 EPISODE DESCRIPTION Two years ago, Mita stood up at an IP workshop in Johannesburg, pulled out a Coke can, and made intellectual property law make sense to me for the first time. ‘Everything you need to know about IP is right here on this can,’ she said, and then delivered the clearest explanation of trademark law probably everyone in that room had ever heard. I knew right then I had to get her on the podcast. Here's something that might surprise you: while ‘protect your IP’ has become a rallying cry among African entrepreneurs and business owners, African brands account for just 2% of the world's 11.6 million trademark filings. There's clearly a gap between knowing we should protect our intellectual property and actually doing it. In this conversation, IP lawyer Lita Miti-Qamata from Adams and Adams walks us through why that Coke can holds the key to understanding intellectual property protection. She explains why Coca-Cola's CEO would grab the company's trademark certificates before anything else if their building was on fire, and tells us how bizarre it can get - somebody actually managed to trademark the smell of freshly cut grass. This is the first episode in our IP series. Lita breaks down the five types of intellectual property you can protect, then takes us deep into trademarks: what they are, how to apply for them, how to think strategically about international protection, and why having a long-term IP strategy isn't just legal housekeeping—it's essential for building real wealth over time from your ideas. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by intellectual property law or wondered whether it's worth the effort, this conversation will change how you think about protecting the intangible assets that could—and should—become your most valuable business assets. 3 SHOW NOTES 00:51 Thebe Ikalafeng is the founder of the Brand Leadership Group (a multi-disciplinary branding advisory group at the intersection of strategy, creativity and intellectual property law) and Brand Africa (a non-profit pan-African movement for a brand-led African agenda). He also pioneered the ‘ Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands’ initiative, widely referenced as the definitive barometer of brands in Africa. Listen to him on AfricanOptimist episode 12 . 00:58 Africa accounts for a small portion of the global trademarks , representing only 1.9% of the world’s 11.6 million trademark filings. In 2023, Asia led with 66.7%, followed by Europe with 17.2%, Latin America and the Caribbean with 7.1% and Northern America at 5.8%. 02:05 Adams & Adams is 'Africa’s largest intellectual property law firm with an award-winning commercial, real estate and dispute resolution law practice. They are 'a gateway to African markets, with a network of over 200 legal professionals working in four major cities in South Africa and 23 associate offices across Africa.’ 02:09 Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, patents , copyright and trademarks , which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish. 02:46 The workshop was held on 12 June 2024, organised by Lawyers for Arts South Africa (LASA), and hosted by Bowmans with the support of Adams & Adams. (I am peaking out at the back right.) 05:35 The Coca-Cola trademark is a multifaceted legal protection for the company's brand elements. It includes the iconic Spencerian script logo, the distinctive bottle shape, and other visual and verbal trademarks. The company has been diligent in protecting its trademarks, engaging in legal battles to prevent infringement and maintain brand integrity. 06:26 The red on the soles of Christian Louboutin shoes were inspired by his assistant painting her fingernails red while he was reviewing prototypes in his Paris workshop. 06:38 In 1999, the first Community Mark for a smell was granted to Vennootschap onder Firma Senta Aromatic Marketing of Holland. It registered ‘the smell of cut grass’ for tennis balls (though the trademark seems to have expired). And for those interested in all things tennis, there is more IP in a game of tennis than first meets the eye. 07:38 Trade secrets are intellectual property (IP) rights on confidential information which may be sold or licensed. Trade secrets encompass both technical information, such as information concerning manufacturing processes, pharmaceutical test data, designs and drawings of computer programmes, and commercial information, such as distribution methods, list of suppliers and clients, and advertising strategies. 09:16 A patent is a form of intellectual property that grants an inventor exclusive rights to their invention, typically for a limited period, in exchange for publicly disclosing the invention. The patent holder has the right to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing the invention without permission. In essence, a patent provides legal protection for new and useful inventions, encouraging innovation and technological advancement. In South Africa, ‘individuals may file their own provisional patent applications. It is however, advisable for applicants to seek the assistance of the patent attorneys. If a provisional patent application is filed, the strength and scope of protection ultimately obtained will depend on the wording and content of the description of the invention.’ For an invention to be patentable, it must meet the following criteria : it must be novel (new and confidential), must have an inventive step and must be capable of being used or applied in trade, industry or agriculture. 09:58 The design of a product is often as important as the product itself. ‘ Design registration is an area that is often underestimated and ignored by local designers. Registering a design obtains strong statutory protection for a period of up to 15 years. This protection grants exclusive rights for the designer to manufacture, import and/or use the design and prevents others from doing so. There are two types of design which can be registered in South African: aesthetic and functional designs.’ 14:06 ‘ Copyright is a property right to a work that has been created and exists in material form, such as a song or film. The principle of any kind of property is that the owner may use it as they wish, and that nobody else can lawfully use it without the owner’s authorisation. Copyright protection affords the copyright owner certain exclusive rights which enable the copyright owner to exploit the copyright work for financial gain and to stop unauthorised exploitation by third parties.’ 19:17 Vetkoek is a traditional South African fried dough bread. It is similar to the Caribbean Johnny cake, the Dutch oliebol, and the Mexican sopaipillas. It is also known by the Xhosa and Zulu name igwinya. The word vetkoek literally means 'fat cake' in Afrikaans and has its roots deeply embedded in South African history. Try this vetkoek recipe ! 19:24 Sandton is known as Africa’s wealthiest square mile, and is considered the financial centre of Johannesburg. The suburb of Sandton was established in 1969 when Sandton (a combination of the two suburbs Sandown and Bryanston) was promulgated as a municipality in its own right. However, it lost its status as an independent town after the re-organisation of South African local governments when Apartheid ended. It is the home to the largest stock exchange in Africa and is home to numerous corporate headquarters. 19:29 Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is often referred to as ‘The Mother City’ by locals and boasts some of the most stunning natural beauty to be found anywhere on the globe. 21:04 A title deed is a legal document that serves as proof of ownership for a property. It's the official record that confirms who owns the land or house and includes details like the property's description, owner's information and any restrictions. It's essential for buying, selling or transferring property and is kept by the Deeds Office, or by a financial institution until a mortgage or bond is fully paid off. 22:25 Adams and Adams is a law firm founded in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1908. 26:36 The CIPC , the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, is an agency of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in South Africa. 29:26 The Nice Classification is an international system used to categorize goods and services for trademark registration purposes. It divides goods into 34 classes and services into 11 classes, totaling 45 classes. This system, established by the Nice Agreement, ensures consistency in trademark applications and helps streamline the registration process across different countries. 37:02 The ‘first to file’ rule in trademark law means that the person or entity who files a trademark application first, regardless of whether they were using the mark before others, generally has priority in obtaining trademark rights. This contrasts with the ‘first to use’ system, where priority is based on who was first to actually use the mark in commerce. In South Africa, first-to-use is generally superior to first-to-file; however, it is easier for owners to enforce registered trademarks than their common law equivalent, as trademark registration is prima facie proof of national ownership and validity. Ownership of a trademark is established on a first-to-use basis. Registration is not mandatory to establish rights. Owners of unregistered trademarks may rely on common law rights, acquired through use, to challenge later applications for registration. 38:30 OAPI is the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle, a union of 17 predominantly French-speaking countries which was formed when the former Libreville Accord (concluded in 1962 by 12 countries) was revised in Bangui in 1977 and the Bangui Agreement was concluded. The Accords of Libreville and Bangui established common intellectual property laws and a single Intellectual Property Office, situated at Yaoundé, Cameroon, to have effect in all member countries. View map of IP requirements across Africa. 38:42 A Community Trademark, now known as a European Union trademark (EUTM), is a single trademark registration that provides protection across all 27 member states of the European Union. It's a way to secure trademark rights throughout the EU with a single application, rather than needing to register in each country individually. 39:53 WIPO stands for the World Intellectual Property Organization. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to promote the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights worldwide. WIPO fosters international cooperation on IP matters, provides services to creators and innovators, and acts as a forum for addressing cutting-edge IP issues. The Madrid Protocol is an international treaty that streamlines the process of registering trademarks in multiple countries. It allows trademark owners to file a single application, in one language, and pay a single set of fees to potentially cover over 100 member countries. This system, administered by WIPO, aims to simplify and reduce the cost of international trademark registration. 44:55 Thebe Magugu featured Lita Miti-Qamata in his ‘Heritage Dresses’ campaign , which celebrates South African cultures through a "Mother & Child" motif. The campaign, specifically the Vatsonga Heritage Dress, portrays women as totem poles carrying objects on their heads, inspired by Magugu's own family and African women. Lita Miti-Qamata was one of the muses chosen by Magugu for this campaign, alongside other notable women in various fields. 45:08 Thebe Magugu is a young fashion designer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally from the small town of Kimberley, he moved to Johannesburg to study fashion design, fashion photography and fashion media from LISOF. After winning best graduate collection, he interned and worked for a selection of designers fashion institutions and retailers. After two years, he began his namesake label, THEBE MAGUGU - a South African fashion brand primarily operating within the field of women’s ready to wear. 45:31 Thebe Magugu won the LVMH prize in 2019. 47:14 Lindiwe Mazibuko was born in Eswatini and grew up in KwaZulu-Natal. She was the Democratic Alliance party's first black parliamentary leader and South Africa's first black Leader of the Opposition. In 2014 she resigned from active politics to return to higher education. Nadia Nakai is a Zimbabwean-South African rapper who burst onto the music scene in the early 2000s. She appeared on South Africa’s e.tv’s hip-hop show, Shiz Niz, and became the first female rapper to win the show’s Mixtape 101 competition. Sithembile Xola Pearl Thusi is a renowned South African actress, model, television host, and radio personality. She gained international recognition for her role as Dayana Mampasi in the ABC thriller series Quantico and starred as the lead in Netflix's first African original series, Queen Sono. Thusi's acting credits also include The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Tremors 5: Bloodlines, Catching Feelings, Kalushi, and Fistful of Vengeance. In 2020, she became the first African collaborator with international cosmetics giant MAC, releasing two limited-edition makeup kits. She also co-owns the Black Pearl haircare line with Afrobotanics and holds ownership in Black Rose Gin. To date she has 4.9 million followers on Instagram. Zandile Tshabalala is a Soweto born fine art painter who graduated with a BA(FINA) degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2022. In her work, she uses acrylic to depict narratives around the inclusion of black women within the art canon and was primarily influenced by the lack of or displacement of black women within nineteenth century Western art. Her works have been seen in exhibitions in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Great Britain, Germany and the United States. 47:56 Africa Fashion International is a Marketing, Retail and Development Platform for African Luxury Fashion. It was founded in 2007 by Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe , a long-standing member of the Harvard Kennedy School and the World Economic Forum, with the aim of promoting refined African fashion brands on the global stage. 51:14 Ndebele designs are vibrant, geometric patterns traditionally painted on the exterior walls of homes by Ndebele women in South Africa. These designs, characterized by bold colors and black outlines, are more than just decoration; they are a form of cultural expression, carrying symbolic meanings related to Ndebele life, including marriage, coming of age, and status. 51:53 The actual phrase cultural appropriation first appeared in print in 1945 and is attributed to the late professor Arthur E. Christy. And it's been a topic of very heated debate ever since. 52:32 In Zulu, ‘Bayede' is a royal salute, meaning ‘Hail the King!’ or ‘All hail the King!’. It's a term of respect and honour specifically used when addressing the Zulu monarch. The term is also used to honour other prominent individuals or high officials. Bayede is also the brand name of a South African wine founded by Antoinette Vermooten and launched in 2009. 54:04 What’s a ‘Covfefe’? Trump Tweet Unites a Bewildered Nation 55:21 A bunny chow is a South African street food consisting of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with flavorful curry. It typically features Durban-style curry, which can be made with lamb, chicken, or vegetables. The bread acts as both a container and a utensil for scooping up the delicious curry. 57:19 The term ‘ escalator ' was originally trademarked by the Otis Elevator Company as their brand name for their moving staircases. However, due to widespread adoption and generic use by other companies and the public, it lost its trademark status and became a generic term for any moving staircase. This resulted in Otis losing the opportunity to exclusively own the term and its associated brand recognition. 58:44 Listen to episode 12 of the AfricanOptimist with Thebe Ikalafeng 58:51 2% of brand s that are trademarked come from Africa 4 TIME STAMPS 00:00 – Introduction 00:26 – What is Intellectual Property (IP)? 00:53 – Africa's share of registered trademarks 01:15 – Guest Introduction: Lita Miti-Qamata 02:40 – Workshop for creatives and IP 05:25 – The Five Types of Intellectual Property 08:51 – Trademarks vs. Brands 11:17 – Copyright explained 12:21 – Trade secrets and confidential information 14:43 – Patents and designs 16:45 – How long does IP protection last? 19:31 – Registering and protecting your trademark 22:00 – The value of a registered trademark 25:20 – Trademarks as business assets 27:55 – Enforcing your rights without registration 31:20 – How to start the trademark application process 34:20 – Choosing the right owner for your trademark 36:13 – What can be trademarked? 38:20 – The Nice Classification system 41:00 – Prioritizing what to protect 44:09 – Staggering protection as your business grows 47:08 – Trademark ownership and rights 50:59 – Registering in other countries and regions 54:02 – WIPO and international registration 57:36 – First to file vs. first to use 01:00:14 – Working with Thebe Magugu (fashion designer) 01:08:26 – Cultural appropriation and IP 01:13:48 – Can you trademark common terms? 01:17:12 – What fails to get registered? 01:21:25 – The state of trademark registration in Africa 01:24:48 – Closing remarks and where to find more information 5 TRANSCRIPT AfricanOptimist ep14 Lita Miti-Qamata Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 151KB Back to top ^

< Back to Home MEET THE HOST MOST LIKELY TO SAY: There is always a solution. Sanja Göhre is a multi-skilled audio-visual and content producer whose career spans over 25 years . She has travelled widely to cover stories from a range of different countries , including Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Greece, Kenya, Mozambique, Pakistan, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Some of her most formative professional years were spent in Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked within the United Nations system for four years, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the newly founded The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria . Back home in South Africa, she led a small research team working on the National Heritage Monument’s Long March to Freedom (a collection of 100 life-size bronzes of some of Africa’s most iconic liberation heroes) and then managed 10 southern African countries as Senior Communications Manager for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Sanja has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Journalism and Politics and a Joint Honours in Economics and Journalism from Rhodes University, South Africa, and a Masters in Social Sciences from the Open University, United Kingdom. She is an avid advocate of human-centred design and has added to her skills by studying UX Design through the Interaction Design Foundation, as she believes the discipline of UX thinking can be usefully applied to some of Africa’s most pressing problems.

< Back to all guests #1 Efosa Ojomo - About the 'Prosperity Paradox', disruptive & market-creating innovations and why capital has to be patient in Africa 14 January 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Efosa Ojomo ( @efosaojomo ) is a renowned Nigerian author, researcher and speaker . He is a leading expert on disruptive innovation, which he defines as innovations that create new markets and make existing products and services more accessible and affordable in low and middle-income countries. He is the director of the Global Prosperity research group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation , a think tank based in Boston and Silicon Valley, and is a senior research fellow at the Harvard Business School. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Innovation . In January 2019, Ojomo and late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen published The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty . The book outlines a powerful framework for creating prosperity, and concludes that the key to economic development is not to focus on copying the developed world, but rather to identify and invest in disruptive innovations that can create new markets and opportunities for the poor. In a review, the Wall Street Journal wrote that the book provides ‘a better way to fight poverty’ as it returns ‘the entrepreneur and innovation to the centre stage of economic development and prosperity’. His work has been published and covered by the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, Quartz, Forbes, Fortune, The World Bank, NPR, and several other media outlets. He has presented his work at TED ( a 2019 TedTalk on corruption and innovation which has garnered over 2 million views), the Aspen Ideas Festival, the World Bank, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and at several other conferences and institutions. Ojomo is a recipient of the 2020 Thinkers50 Radar award , the world’s most reliable resource for identifying, ranking, and sharing the leading management ideas of our age. The award is given to emerging management thinkers who have the potential to shape the future of business at an event that is described by the Financial Times as ‘the Oscars of management thinking’. Efosa graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in computer engineering and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. His influence extends beyond the business and academic realms, as his work continues to inspire individuals and organisations to embrace the principles of disruptive innovation as the key driver of global prosperity. 2 Episode Description Did you ever come across that popular optical illusion, which invited you to look at a black and white picture, and then prompted you to describe what you saw? Did you first see the old woman or the young woman? (read this for a little background on this phenomenon) This is what this week’s episode reminded me of. Efosa Ojomo invites us to look at emerging markets, and concedes we can see them one way (let's call it, ‘the old woman way’) but then challenges us to look at the same picture in a different way (the ‘young woman way’), to understand what market-creating innovations can do to create a different outcome for countries and their people, in short, to enable them to prosper. In the episode he discusses the principles of The Prosperity Paradox and explains why ‘sustaining’ and ‘efficiency’ innovations don’t lead to inclusive prosperity, but ‘market-creating’ innovations do. He uses clear examples to illustrate what is possible if policy-makers, investors, companies and individuals (entrepreneurs) change their approach to struggling economies and invest long-term in solving a problem. He highlights the limitations of common economic development models, which tend to be top-down, and offers a new framework for economic growth. 3 Show Notes 03:32 The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly 05:34 Awarded the Nr 1 Management Thinker in the World Professor Clay Christensen 13:33 Author Karen Dillon 18:17 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference WWD23 20:24 Richard Leftley and MicroEnsure 20:28 The Story of Tolaram’s Indomie Noodles (video) 23:19 About Tolaram 27:13 Efosa Ojomo’s TED talk: Reducing corruption takes a specific kind of investment June 2019 and TEDxBYU A Counterintuitive Solution to Poverty: Stop Trying to Eradicate It , March 2019 34:12 Research by Lant Pritchett 38:12 Richard Leftley and MicroEnsure in Africa 43:24 MasterCard Foundation Africa Growth Fund 4 Time Stamps 02:49 Efosa Ojomo tells the background story to his book The Prosperity Paradox 06:35 Why Efosa moved to the United States 08:18 Why the story of a young girl carrying water at 3am changed Efosa's trajectory 11:01 The genesis of The Prosperity Paradox 16:24 The importance of understanding the key categories of consumption and non-consumption 17:54 Explanation of three different types of innovations: ‘sustaining’ innovations, ‘efficiency’ innovations and ‘market-creating’ innovations 22:14 The inspiring story of Indomie Noodles and how they created a new market in Nigeria 24:52 The need for countries to take ‘internal risks’ and invest in key infrastructure themselves 29:23 Barriers to consumption and how they represent opportunities to companies and entrepreneurs, not obstacles 32:42 Push vs pull investments and how pull investments create a whole new ecosystem around a newly created market 34:59 How to approach the reality of the existence of a small middle-class in a country 38:00 What it looks like when a country commits and invests long-term 42:18 Why capital coming into Africa needs to be patient 44:25 What young African leaders and individuals can do, to contribute to creating market-creating innovations 46:05 Efosa’s next book 47:03 How optimistic is Efosa? 5 Episode Transcript AfricanOptimist#1 Efosa Ojomo Transcription .pdf Download PDF • 125KB Back to top ^ More on Efosa Ojomo: Ted Talks by Efosa Ojomo (videos) TED talk: Reducing corruption takes a specific kind of investment, June 2019 TEDxBYU talk: A Counterintuitive Solution to Poverty: Stop Trying to Eradicate It , March 2019 Articles by Efosa Ojomo The process of market creation demystified , by Efosa Ojomo Our latest research - Accelerating the adoption of solar energy in Nigeria: A market-creating strategy , by Efosa Ojomo & Sandy Sanchez What is disruptive innovation? by the Clayton Christensen Institute Books by Efosa Ojomo

< Back to all guests #7 Sithuli Mbeje - on mobile abattoirs, bringing processing closer to home and doing what needs to be done 15 March 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Sithuli Mbeje is a South African food technologist with over a decade of experience in the food and retail industry. He has a background working with major local and international food companies, specializing in research and development, and particularly in new product innovation. He is the founder of AfriFood Technologies, a company focused on developing solutions for a more sustainable food future. His innovative approach to food waste and supply chain efficiency aims to transform market access opportunities for emerging farmers and food entrepreneurs. According to Mbeje, creating shorter supply chains by bringing processing closer to the source, results in the creation of local food systems, reduced food waste, and better value for small scale farmers and consumers, as well as the entire food value chain. AfriFood Technologies’ signature product is a mobile abattoir designed to support the implementation of circular food economies in rural communities. This innovation addresses challenges in remote areas by providing a more accessible and efficient meat processing solution. Sithuli was a winner in the 2021 Mail & Guardian's Greening The Future Awards and was a participant in the SAB Foundation's Tholoana Enterprise Programme, an intensive 18-month mentorship and development programme for entrepreneurs. 2 Episode Description In Episode 1, disruptive thinker and author Efosa Ojomo highlighted that the potential for prosperity in Africa lay in finding solutions to persistent problems and in doing so, creating new markets. In this episode, we shine a light on Sithuli Mbeje’s journey to developing a mobile abattoir - his response to the problems faced by livestock farmers across Africa when they want to convert their cows to meat. In graphic details he outlines the different steps involved in this process, both in the large industrial abattoirs, as well as his much smaller and compact roving mobile unit. In our conversation he speaks about what gave him the idea for a mobile abattoir, how it fits into his philosophy on food waste and food security and how it is still possible to create value even if you do not follow a linear growth model. He highlights how mobile abattoirs can also serve an important role during outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, a recurring problem across many countries in Africa, as well as in conservation projects that rely on collaborative efforts between farmers and conservation agencies. He speaks of his drive to combine knowledge gained from years in the food processing and retail space with his understanding of food practices back home in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to create new food processes and systems to ensure a more sustainable meat supply chain across Africa. 3 Show Notes [00:03:35] Checkers is a large supermarket chain that is part of the bigger Shoprite Group . Shoprite Group is Africa’s largest fast-moving consumer goods retailer. Its core business is in food retailing, complemented by furniture, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, ticketing, digital commerce, and financial and cellular services. Checkers 'boasts three store formats - supermarkets, smaller-format convience stores, large-format hyper stores - and an award-winning grocery delivery service.' [00:03:35] Foot and mouth disease is a severe, highly contagious viral disease of livestock that has a significant economic impact. The disease affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants. It is a transboundary animal disease (TAD) that deeply affect the production of livestock and disrupting regional and international trade in animals and animal products. The disease is estimated to circulate in 77% of the global livestock population, in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as in a limited area of South America [00:08:20] KwaZulu Natal's carcass grading system [00:15:22] Meat Naturally ' brings together livestock farmers, NGOs, meat buyers, and stakeholders in the meat value chain. By providing education, farming resources, grazing expertise, and market opportunities, Africa’s rangelands and wetlands are being restored every day'. [00:17:28] Offal , also referred to as variety meats is the name for internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. Worth a read: The Offal-Eater’s Handbook: Untangling the Myths of Organ Meats [00:18:06] KwaZulu-Natal is one of 9 provinces in South Africa. It covers an area of 94 361km ² , the third-smallest in the country, and has a population of 11 065 240, making it the second most populous province in South Africa, with just over half its population living in rural areas. [00:03:35] Haggis is a dish made from the liver, stomach or heart of sheep or cows. Whatever meat is used is usually mixed with onion, oatmeal and suet before being boiled in the animal’s stomach. Haggis recipe . [00:20:37] Woolworths SA is South Africa’s largest retailer with more than 700 store locations throughout South Africa and 10 other African countries. Known by locals as 'Woolies', it is known for its high quality and equally high prices. The retailer also has a multichannel focus, with an online presence across its major brands. It is part of Woolworths Holdings Limited, the South African-based retail group. The company also owns a clothing and homeware retailer and has stores in selected African countries and the Middle East. [00:43:48] Karan beef ' is one of South Africa’s leading suppliers of beef products and continuously sets the benchmark for excellence in the local beef industry'. 4 Time Stamps [00:00:00] Pull quote and welcome to the AfricanOptimist podcast [00:02:39] What is a mobile abattoir? [00:03:41] Exploring the traditional meat processing journey [00:08:20] The different grades of meat in commercial meat processing [00:10:43] The downside of commercial abattoirs [00:14:41] How mobile abattoirs benefit local livestock farmers and the environment [00:17:46] Reducing waste by using mobile abattoirs [00:21:30] The founding moment of the mobile abattoir concept [00:24:21] Linear vs circular economies [00:25:49] The workings of a mobile abattoir [00:30:42] The challenges while creating the mobile abattoir [00:33:09] Early Memories of ceremonies and slaughter [00:37:10] Future of AfriFood Technologies [00:39:22] The need to upskill communities in agro-processing [00:42:10] Resistance from commercial farmers [00:44:28] Reflections and Advice 5 Transcript africanoptimist ep7 Sithuli Mbeje Transcript .pages Download PAGES • 348KB Back to top ^

< Back to all guests #13 Claudia Castellanos - The blow by blow account of how you dust off an old family recipe and build it into a super hot brand, while being fair to suppliers and the planet 18 July 2025 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 GUEST BIO Claudia Castellanos is the co-founder and CEO of Black Mamba Foods , an international food brand that was launched from the tiny kingdom of Eswatini in southern Africa. Eswatini, previously known as Swaziland, is a lush landlocked country known for its rich cultural heritage, world-renowned festivals and its monarchy, one of the last absolute monarchies in the world. Claudia is a Colombian who came as a volunteer to Eswatini in 2008, fell in love with the country, lost her heart to Joe (born in Eswatini) and has stayed there ever since. Together the couple co-founded and run Black Mamba Foods, a brand with a strong social and environmental ethos that manufactures and distributes specialty food products worldwide. The company sources its fresh ingredients (mainly chillies and herbs) from Guba , a local permaculture training organisation that manages a growing network of smallholder farmers. In this three-legged partnership, Black Mamba gets organically grown ingredients, the farmers get a sustainable income, and the local ecosystems get restored with the use of regenerative agriculture methods. This brand, from a small country, packs a mighty punch, supporting over 1,000 individuals from rural communities. Through Black Mamba , Claudia has become a vocal activist for transforming food ecosystems with a simple yet powerful premise: food can only be truly good if it’s good for you, good for the planet, and good for the people who grow it and make it. Previously, Claudia worked in trade marketing and sales for Danone in Italy, and for Technoserve as a consultant, entrepreneurship coach and mentor. She holds an MBA from ESADE Business School and a Finance and International Relations major from Universidad Externado de Colombia. She is a fellow of Vital Voices (an organisation that works to elevate women’s leadership around the world) and The DO (a global platform for accelerating a new economy that is sustainable, innovative and equitable), a member of EY Winning Women (worldwide network of successful and inspiring women entrepreneurs) and of Ecco (Eswatini Climate Coalition). In 2020, Claudia received the Women in Africa Award for her work with Black Mamba . 2 EPISODE DESCRIPTION We hold a delightful conversation with entrepreneur and self-proclaimed food rebel Claudia Castellanos who takes us on the rollercoaster ride of growing an international business that started with her and her husband’s first sale of 400 bottles of chilli sauce from a tiny stand at a music festival in Eswatini, southern Africa. Have you ever had a secret family recipe that wowed all who got a taste of its magical concoction and thought - let’s package it, and sell it, and wait for the orders to roll in? When Claudia got a whiff of her husband Joe’s own forgotten chilli recipe, and a sniff of his compelling name of a potential brand for said recipe, Black Mamba , her marketing ears perked up and she thought exactly that. What follows is nothing short of a gutsy tale of what it really takes to turn a single recipe, on a fat-stained paper, into an international, super hot brand with a venomous bite. This, despite insisting on local production, permaculture training, organic certification, glass bottles, pure ingredients, fair prices and facing revolving staff at retailers, naysayers who don’t get it, crazy deadlines and serious competition from rows and rows of other chilli sauces sitting neatly on supermarket shelves. I have never thought of selling anything I have cooked or baked (though have thought many times of my mother-in-laws sought-after Christmas biscuits), and yet there were lessons here even for me - it’s about life, choices, serendipity, hard hard work, a never say die attitude and dare I say it, a good dose of optimism in a world not slanted in that direction. Claudia was very generous in her sharing of every detail. It is a rare insight into how a couple who knew nothing about retail, and manufacturing, in a country not known for its chillies, managed to build something truly special. If you need a touch of inspiration, and a load of really well-earned and practical business advice - this episode is for you! 3 SHOW NOTES 03:10 Eswatini is a small, lush landlocked country in southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides, except in the northeast, where it shares a border with Mozambique. In 2018, the country formerly known as Swaziland officially changed its name to the Kingdom of Eswatini. This change was made to honour the country's 50th anniversary of independence from British rule and to reflect the nation's indigenous name, which translates to ‘land of the Swazis’. The greatest Queen Mother and Regent in Swati History was Queen Labotsibeni Mdluli, fondly known as Gwamile, the ‘Indomitable One’. She was an astute leader and diplomat, and unbeknownst to many, was part of the founding of South Africa’s political party, the ANC (then known as the SANNC) and helped fund the launch of its newspaper, Abantu-Batho . 07:30 MBAs Without Borders (MWB) is an international non-profit charity that empowers social entrepreneurs in developing countries by recruiting top global MBAs to provide on-the-ground consulting to small business owners and non-profits in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The programme embeds MBA graduates' business acumen and skills into local organizations, including NGOs, social enterprises, and development programmes. They provide consulting services to help these organizations improve their management, financial capacities, and access to capital, ultimately promoting economic growth. 07:53 Gone Rura l was founded by the late Jenny Thorne in 1992 (who first started small income-generation projects in the 1970s) with the mission of creating economic empowerment for rural women in Eswatini through basket weaving. It offers home-based work to over 700 rural artisans in often remote communities, and provides market access, product design, materials and training to the women in order to earn an income for their beautiful traditional handcraft. The brand has gone on to become globally recognized for producing high quality table ware, contemporary home products, lighting and woven wall art. 11:22 Technoserve is ‘a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty. At TechnoServe, over ’90% of our staff are from the countries where they work. This local expertise allows us to apply world-class analysis within the local context, designing and delivering tailored interventions. Our embedded approach addresses real adversity faced by real people, wherever they are.’ 12:37 ‘Le Cordon Bleu ’s name (blue ribbon in French) and logo are a direct reference to the French order of knights of the Holy Spirit, founded in 1578, also known as 'Chevaliers du Saint Esprit', whose members wore a medal suspended on a blue ribbon. The feast that followed the knighting ceremonies had a reputation for being very grand, and the food spectacular. Le Cordon Bleu school’s prestige in Paris in the early 20th century contributed to the expression of being a 'Cordon Bleu', meaning a talented chef. As Philéas Gilbert wrote in La Revue Culinaire in 1939, the lessons at Le Cordon Bleu symbolise culinary talent pushed towards utter perfection. It all began in 1895, when journalist Marthe Distel founded the first weekly culinary magazine of the period, La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu . The magazine had 20,000 subscribers. Marthe Distel rapidly came up with the idea of inviting subscribers to take part in free cuisine lessons, with chefs demonstrating recipes. The magazine reflected the great French bourgeois cuisine of that era but also demonstrated an openness to world cuisines as it was published in several languages.’ 14:07 The Bushfire festival is a diverse, inclusive and family-friendly music and arts festival set in the beautiful farmland and mountains of the peaceful Malkerns Valley in Eswatini. It is one of Africa’s largest multicultural gatherings. The first festival was held in 2007, with the goal of creating a platform for artists and addressing social and environmental issues. The festival's founders, Jiggs and Sholto Thorne, envisioned it as a vehicle for creative activism, encouraging dialogue and action on pressing challenges. The festival was sparked by small gigs at House on Fire , an event space built on the Thorne family farm. 22:38 Pick ’n Pay is a major retail business in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, operating over 2,279 stores across multiple formats in eight countries across Africa. It offers a wide range of products, including food, groceries, clothing, and general merchandise, across various store formats like supermarkets, hypermarkets, and online. The company has a significant presence in South Africa and other African countries, including Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In 2025 Pick n Pay had a total of 570 supermarkets, including company-owned, franchise stores, and hypermarkets. They employ 90,000 people across their company-owned and franchise operations. This number includes both Pick n Pay and Boxer employees. 24:08 Swazi Candles is a manufacturing company established in 1982 in Eswatini. Their ‘core business is candle making, both traditional paraffin wax as well as soya candle tea lights’. They are known for their vibrant use of colours and their unmistakeable patterns. Their colourful, handmade product range also features wax encased LED lights, pure vegetable glycerine soaps and maroela oil body balm. They export to over 20 countries. 27:14 Fair trade is trade between companies in developed countries and producers in developing countries in which fair prices are paid to the producers. ‘ Fair trade traces its roots to 1946 when Edna Ruth Byler, a volunteer for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), visited an MCC sewing class in Puerto Rico, where she discovered the talent the women had for creating beautiful lace and the extraordinary poverty in which they lived despite their hard work.’ 29:10 USAID, an acronym for the United States Agency for International Development, was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to administer civilian foreign aid programmes. It emerged from the merger of several existing foreign aid agencies and was tasked with promoting global economic prosperity, strengthening democracy and providing humanitarian assistance. . On 20 January 2025, US president Donald Trump issued an executive order to reevaluate and realign United States foreign aid, freezing all foreign aid for a 90-day review, effectively terminating many USAID projects around the world at short notice. 29:12 The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID TradeHub) engaged with partners across the region to increase sustainable economic growth, global export competitiveness and trade in targeted southern African countries. It supported these objectives by increasing exports from southern African countries to South Africa and the United States (under the AGOA ), boosting capital and technology flows from South Africa to other southern African countries and providing targeted trade facilitation support to Zambia. The USAID TradeHub worked with market actors to identify and resolve enterprise constraints and to implement sustainable solutions through market-based trade and investment facilitation services. The hub was based in Pretoria, South Africa, with resident representatives in Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. The programme worked with Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia. 29:58 Burger King partnered with Black Mamba in 2012. 32:09 MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking reality show based on the original British MasterChef . The original MasterChef cooking competition series was created by British film director Franc Roddam, inspired by a desire to prove that the UK had talented home cooks. The first series aired on BBC in 1990, and the show has since become a global phenomenon with numerous international adaptations. Roddam conceived the idea after hearing people in Hollywood mocking British cuisine. He wanted to showcase the culinary skills of home cooks in Britain. The original series focused on amateur cooks competing to be crowned Britain's best. MasterChef has since been adapted in over 65 territories worldwide. 32:27 A bakkie is a colloquial term used in South Africa for a pickup truck. It's a very common and widely used term that originates from Afrikaans, where bak means ‘container’ or ‘tray’. 34:37 In South Africa, SPAR is a retail chain with a network of independently owned stores that operate under various formats like SPAR neighbourhood stores, SPAR Express (often at petrol forecourts), KWIKSPAR (convenience stores) and SUPERSPAR supermarkets. It is part of SPAR International, a global organisation that originated in the Netherlands in 1932 as DESPAR and followed a cooperative model aimed at leveraging collective purchasing powers for better deals. South Africa was the first country outside of Europe to join in 1963. 34:38 Checkers is a well-known supermarket chain in South Africa, owned by sister retailer and discount chain Shoprite since 1991. It was founded in 1956 by Norman Herber in Johannesburg and was later expanded and made successful by Raymond Ackerman. Checkers has 308 Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores in southern Africa, specifically in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Shoprite Group owns Checkers since 1991, and is ‘the largest South African retailer by market capitalisation, sales, profit, number of employees and customers.’ It operates in nine other African countries, employing 163,000 employees across 3417 stores. 35:04 Food Lovers Market , originally known as Fruit & Veg City, is a South African retail company with over 100 stores across southern Africa. Brothers Brian and Mike Copping opened their first Fruit & Veg store in Cape Town in 1993 and have overseen its expansion over a period of 30 years. It is a family business that transformed from a single fruit and veg store into South Africa's largest privately-owned retailer. The company incorporates sister brands like Food Lover's Eatery, FreshStop, FVC International, Seattle Coffee Company, Diamond's Discount Liquor, and Market Liquors. 40:18 GUBA - short for Grow, Unite, Build Africa - is ‘a social enterprise organisation dedicated to the advancement of diaspora Africans and Africans back home through various socio-economic programme and initiatives’. It was established in 2009 in Malkerns in Eswatini. At the heart of their work is permaculture ; a thinking tool for designing low carbon, highly productive human & environmental systems. Their focus is on abundant food systems, appropriate technologies, social innovation and support for local entrepreneurship. 40 :32 Regenerative agriculture , while having gained modern prominence recently, has deep roots in ancient and indigenous farming practices. It's a holistic approach to farming that emphasizes rebuilding soil health, increasing biodiversity, and improving water cycles, aiming to create a more sustainable and resilient food system. While the term itself is relatively modern, the underlying principles have been employed by various cultures for centuries. 40:38 W orld Vision is a Christian organisation that ‘empowers people out of poverty. For real. For good. Since 1950.’ The organisation was founded by Bob Pierce three years after he gave his last $5 in his pocket to help care for an abandoned Chinese girl in 1947. Originally based in the state of Oregon, the organisation at first focused on missions service for emergencies in East Asia. Today World Vision has ‘become the largest Christian international non-governmental organisation working in nearly 100 countries worldwide.’ It prides itself on protecting children and their rights in places where others dare not or cannot offer assistance. 57:12  HACCP, short for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, is the internationally recognised risk-based system for managing food safety throughout the food supply chain - from food production and preparation processes, to packaging and distribution. It's a globally recognized method used to identify, evaluate, and control potential hazards throughout the food production process, from raw materials to consumption. Essentially, HACCP helps prevent, reduce, or eliminate biological, chemical, and physical food safety hazards. HACCP was initially developed in the 1960s by the Pillsbury Company for NASA to ensure the safety of food for astronauts. 01:00:00 Clicks is a retail-led healthcare group that was founded in 1968 by Jack Goldin in Cape Town, South Africa. Initially conceived as a drugstore, restrictive legislation in South Africa prevented the immediate realization of Goldin's vision for pharmacies within the stores. It wasn't until 2004 that the first Clicks pharmacy opened after legislation changed to allow corporate ownership of pharmacies. Today, Clicks is a leading health and beauty retailer with over 945 stores and over 730 pharmacies in southern Africa. Makro South Africa was established in 1971, the first Makro store to be opened outside of Europe after the founding of Makro by Dutch Conglomerate SHV Holdings and the German company Metro AG. It began as a wholesale operation, requiring a card for bulk purchases, but has since evolved into a retail giant open to the public. Makro became part of Massmart in 1990, which was later acquired by Walmart in 2011. 01:02 Partners in Food Solutions is an independent nonprofit organisation that links corporate volunteers from their consortium of food companies with promising entrepreneurs in 12 African countries. The nonprofit is committed ‘to improving food security, nutrition and economic development in Africa by empowering their employee volunteers to share expertise and a combined 700 years of food industry experience with dynamic and promising food companies throughout Africa'. 01:02:03 Gus le Breton's AfricanOptimist interview . 01:04 Mr Price Home is a division of Mr Price Group , which opened its first store as a clothing store in Klerksdorp in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1985. It added the Milady’s women clothing brand in 1987, the group’s linen chain Sheet Street in 1996, opened Mr Price Home in 1998 and Mr Price Sport in 2006. It acquired homeware retailer Yuppiechef in 2021 and athletic apparel retail chain Studio88 in 2023. The group runs 3030 stores across 9 divisions, with 2771 in South Africa and a further 259 across Africa. 01:07 Kentucky Fried Chicken is a chicken fast food brand started by Harland Sanders in the United States, who in old photos is recognisable by the white goatee, glasses and unique bow tie. After serving in the army (presumably up to the rank of Colonel) and trying his hand at several careers, he began running service stations in Nicholasville and Corbin, Kentucky. There, he started serving his fried chicken to interstate travellers, eventually perfecting the pressure cooker method and his ‘secret recipe’ of 11 herbs and spices. When he turned 40 in 1930, he bought a roadside motel in Corbin, and began serving his southern style chicken in its 6-seater restaurant. The first franchise opened 22 years laster in Salt Lake City in Utah. The original KFC bucket of chicken was created in 1957. KFC South Africa first entered the South African market in 1971 when it opened its first restaurant in Orange Grove in Johannesburg, after the CEO of KFC’s holding company visited the country to go on safari. It was one of the first fried chicken brands to establish a presence on the continent. Initially, KFC had a mix of company-owned and franchised outlets. However, due to US legislation in 1987, the company had to divest its 60 company-owned stores to a South African holding company. The franchised outlets were not affected by this divestment. KFC reacquired its former assets when sanctions were lifted in 1994. Today KFC has the widest global footprint of any fast food brand with 30,000 restaurants in 150 countries. 01:19 Sarah Dusek's AfricanOptimist interview 01:19: 56 A case for Optimism , a beautifully penned piece of writing by previous WIRED editor Kevin Kelly on the value of and the necessity for optimism. I found this piece after thinking of the AfricanOptimist brand name, and love that Kelly nails it with these words: ‘In the long run, optimists shape the future.’ As Kelly says it, to be a pessimist is easy, because you judge based on the past, but optimists are truly the doers and makers of the future. 4 TIME STAMPS 00:00 Introduction to the African Optimist Podcast 00:23 Claudia Castellanos: The Birth of Black Mamba 01:21 Values Over Profit: The Philosophy Behind Black Mamba 02:52 Claudia's Journey: From Colombia to Eswatini 12:04 The First Recipe and Launch at Bushfire Festival 21:19 Building the Brand: Challenges and Successes 31:01 Expanding Distribution and Overcoming Obstacles 39:34 Sourcing Chillies from Smallholder Farmers 42:36 High Value Crops and Farmer Partnerships 43:59 Initial Farmer Reactions and Market Access 46:38 Challenges and Solutions in Crop Production 54:50 Scaling Production and Food Safety 01:09:41 Recipe Development and Product Innovation 01:17:10 Future Challenges and Optimism 5 TRANSCRIPT AfricanOptimist ep13 Claudia Castellanos TRANSCRIPT .pdf Download PDF • 127KB Back to top ^ More on Claudia Castellanos and Black Mamba Claudia Castellanos on LinkedIn Black Mamba website

< Back to all guests #5 Hamza Chaham - on how SOWIT is bringing digital technology to African farmers and what it takes to get AI powered tools into the hands of smallholder farmers, the real hope for food security on the continent 18 February 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Moroccan Hamza Chaham is the young co-founder of SOWIT , an agritech company offering real-life data to farmers and key decision-makers along the agri value chain. The SOWIT tech platforms power mobile apps that provide farmers with actionable insights regarding their land, to help them efficiently manage their farms and optimize their productions. The company also provides data to help mitigate risk, manage investments, and influence performance. Chaham is pushing ‘precision agriculture’, farming based on actionable data that can reduce waste on inputs and increase yields through improved data-driven decision-making. The data is drawn from an array of AI powered 'tools' and offers data via subscriptions to mobile apps with a fee based on the amount of hectares under review. SOWIT also provides a bundle of services that go beyond the AI info delivered daily to farmer's phones via WhatsApp and voice messages, to include the credit orchestration and real-life support from agents trained in Agritech but living in the communities that are part of SOWIT's areas of operation. SOWIT’s overall mission relies on modelling tailored decision support tools to achieve the highest value in order to fit African farmers' needs and local conditions. SOWIT is currently incorporated in Morocco, France and Senegal. Notably, Hamza is co-author of the landmark report published by the African Union entitled “ Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture ”. The report forms the basis upon which the AU Executive Council issued the Decision EX. CL/Dec. 986-1007 (XXXII), recom mending all Member States harness the opportunities offered by drones for precision agriculture. In 2018, he was recognised as the Marshall German Fund and Policy Centre for the New South Emerging Leader. Chaham was also the former head of international development at AIRINOV. In 2006,Chaham enrolled at Lycée Lyautey au Maroc, where he pursued a Baccalauréat degree in scientific specialization in mathematics, which he completed in 2009. H amza completed this program in 2009. In 2012 Hamza enrolled at HEC Paris and pursued a degree in Grande Ecole, where he completed his studies in Management in 2016. During his time at HEC Paris, in 2013, Hamza participated in an exchange programme at the University of Texas in Austin, where he studied Business Administration. In 2015 he also took part in another exchange programme at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa where he focused on his Master of Business Administration (MBA). 2 Episode Description In this episode, we could have focused on the tech side of agriculture with agripreneur Hamza Chaham, because it is digital technology that is really turning agriculture into an exciting scientifically based business. And his company, SOWIT, is using AI powered tools like sensors and probes, trackers and drones, in their work with farmers, government and food producers to successfully help optimize yields. For Hamza, however, this is not where the hope for food security lies. Agritech involves powerful tools, but it is the farmer who ultimately needs to use them. And given that the majority of smallholder farmers grow their crops on a mere 12% of the worlds farmland, yet feed 80% of people in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, it is with these smallholder farmers, where tech can have the biggest impact in the future. But how to get this tech into the hands of farmers, who often are not digitally savvy and rely on traditional methods to grow their food? That is the focus of today’s insightful conversation with Hamza as he shares his journey to understanding that the farmer, is at the centre of the push for innovation and food security, not technology. 3 Show Notes [00:01:24] SOWIT - bridging the information gap across the agri value chain [00:01:50] ‘Frontier technologies for smallholder farmers', United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, November 2021 [00:05:29] ‘Parrot pulls plug on airinov’ , Future Farming, July 2019 [00:23:42] Social Media: 84% of Moroccans Use WhatsApp in 2021 (Survey) [00:24:34] The general adult literacy rate in Morocco was 77% in 2022 , compared to the estimated 40% literacy rate among Moroccan farmers. [00:31:40] World Bank - some interesting reading [00:31:42] IFC 4 Time Stamps [00:00:47] Podcast intro [00:02:24] Interview begins - About SOWIT [00:03:16] SOWIT’s intangible offer: information, not inputs and equipment [00:05:18] Increase in demand for data-driven agri info in the last 10 years [00:09:58] Daily problems that farmers face [00:11:58] How Hamza made the transition from being a drone tech man to farming [00:14:11] At which point Hamza realised he was going to focus on smaller farmers [00:16:02] What SOWIT does when it arrives on a farm [00:20:05] Reactions to the tech by farmers [00:21:46] How farmers interact with technology [00:25:01] SOWIT’s business model [00:28:59] SOWIT’s subscriptions and bundles [00:29:31] How does the subscription model work [00:31:29] Who is funding the whole bundle? [00:32:57] Long-term funding solution - de-risking farmers to bankers [00:34:59] How Hamza sees risk [00:38:04] Farmers within the value chain - how others in the value chain must share the burden of farmers if they want to benefit from their labour [00:42:33] Give an example of where SOWIT has had an impact [00:46:59] What difference has SOWIT made on the ground [00:50:10] What does the increase in knowledge do for the farmer [00:52:28] Where SOWIT operates in Africa [00:53:46] The challenge with scaling up and plans to head south [00:56:13] The low moments in Hamza’s entrepreneurial journey [00:57:40] Why people should be excited about what SOWIT is doing [00:58:37] What Hamza would tell people who say 'nobody wants to go into farming anymore’ [00:59:40] What are stereotypes or prejudices that people have about Morocco that Hamza wants to put to rest [01:01:48] Interview ends 5 Transcript FIN AfricanOptimist EP5 Hamza Chaham Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 189KB Back to top ^ More on Hamza Chaham and SOWIT: Publication (contributing research by Hamza Chaham) Drones on the hor izon, transforming Africa's Agriculture , AU & Nepad Videos by SOWIT SOWIT's YouTube channel Press coverage of SOWIT and Hamza Chaham Articles and videos

About AfricanOptimist Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here... Go to all episodes A Case fo r Optimism Kevin Kelly It is extremely difficult to create a desirable future without first envisioning it. To imagine is really the first step in creating anything. History is filled with accounts of people who held an optimistic belief others thought unlikely, or even impossible. This optimistic pre-visualization is a necessary component of change. Since we cannot be certain of the future, optimism is only a belief -- a stance that could be incorrect. On the surface, an optimistic belief might seem no more valid than the stance of pessimism. But the deep history of new ideas makes it very clear that the optimistic stance of believing something is possible is a requirement to make anything new real, and is thus more powerful than pessimism. In the long run, optimists shape the future. About the host Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here...

< Back to all guests #6 Erica de Greef - on Vogue Business’ accolade as one of 100 global fashion ‘agitators’, using African fashion as a decolonial tool, re-imagining Western 1960s dresses and Africa’s ‘folded’ fashion 04 March 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Erica de Greef is a prominent figure in the realm of fashion curation and research. Having dedicated years to the exploration and preservation of Africa's rich sartorial legacy, Erica is celebrated for her groundbreaking work in uncovering untold stories and shedding light on often overlooked aspects of the fashion history. Her research transcends mere garments, delving into the societal, economic and political dimensions that shape Africa's fashion landscape. As a curator, Erica de Greef orchestrates exhibitions that not only showcase the aesthetic brilliance of African fashion but also challenge perceptions and provoke thought on issues of identity, representation and globalization. Through exhibitions, digital media and scholarly publications, she strives to foster a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the diverse tapestry of African fashion, both past and present. Erica lectured for 14 years at LISOF School of Fashion (now Stadio School of Fashion), with two years as Head of Department. There she interrogated and overhauled the fashion curricula and promoted critical fashion knowledge with a strong local content, enabling the development of projects of research and display that engaged with notions of fashion, history, society and identity. Many of her students moved on to become celebrated South African designers, including Wanda Lephoto, Thebe Magugu, Rich Mnisi and Ella Buter (Superella). In 2019 Erica co-founded the African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) with partner Lesiba Mabitsela. The institute ‘shares the work of local and global African fashion pioneers, academics, makers, thinkers, students, critics and leaders through fashion-driven decolonial research projects and digital platforms’. Their focus is on 'rewriting fashion histories that speak to afro-centric ways of wearing, knowing, making, and styling, often absent in fashion books, exhibitions, and imaginations’. One of their notable current projects is the creation of a glossary of terms for African fashion, under the umbrella concept of ‘The Fold’ - inspired by the fact that a lot of African fashion involves the folding of textiles in unique ways in different countries across the continent, and the notion that a folded material has an intrinsic characteristic of potentially hiding something in its folds. After successfully completing a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand (2011), Erica completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Higher Education at the University of Cape Town (2013), both with distinction. She holds a PhD from the Centre for African Studies from the University of Cape Town which posits how absences in local museum fashion/dress collections could be redressed through a digital (both film and the internet) reimagining in contemporary curation. 2 Episode Description In 2023, Vogue Business named Erica de Greef and African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) co-founder Lesiba Mabitsela as part of a group of 100 ‘next-gen entrepreneurs and agitators’ in the global fashion world, ready to overhaul the current system and show us a different future. In this episode, we unpack why Vogue gave them that accolade, how Erica sees fashion as a decolonising tool, what different stories need to be told (and how a different approach to fashion can tell those), what to do with white colonial clothes collections buried inside South African and other museums, and how a single archived dress can be re-imagined to fill the gaps in African fashion history. Erica discusses the evolution of African fashion, from being marginalized to gaining global recognition and challenging the traditional narratives within the fashion industry. The conversation covers various topics including the redefinition of African fashion, the importance of acknowledging fashion as a cultural expression beyond Western influences, the journey and role of AFRI in shaping new fashion narratives, and the personal experiences that have influenced Erica’s approach to fashion research and education. Erica explains why the words ‘Africa’ and ‘Fashion’ were never placed together as a phrase in the past and also explains why the term ‘slow fashion’ might not be the most suitable, or chosen, term for fashion in Africa. It is only in the last twenty years or so that South Africa started to develop its own local fashion brands, and in this episode Erica reveals the part she played in that development. For those wishing to understand the past erasure of African fashion and its relegation to ethnographic museums - and the work being done to change that - this episode is for you. 3 Show Notes 00:46 ‘The Devil wears Prada’ - lumpy blue sweater scene 01:27 The African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) 01:33 The Vogue Business 100 Innovators: Next-gen entrepreneurs and agitators 02:52 Lesiba Mabitsela 12:53 The identity politics of wax print. - a fascinating insight into Dutch wax print’s political history. And what looks like a fantastic film, here's the trailer for the Wax Print film 13:53 LISOF is now known as Stadio Higher Education 17:23 Malick Sidibé (1936-2016) wa s a Malian photographer who was noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako , Mali. The Archive of Malian Photography hosts 14,309 scanned negatives and corresponding metadata from the archives of Malick Sidibé. This figure represents about 10% of his complete archive. 17:24 James Barnor is a Ghanain photog rapher. His quote on his foundation's website is probably more relevant now than it ever was: ‘I came across a magazine with an inscription that said, “A civilization flourishes when men plant trees under which they themselves never sit.” But it’s not only plants – putting something in somebody’s life, a young person’s life, is the same as planting a tree that you will not cut and sell. That has helped me a lot in my work. Sometimes the more you give, the more you get. That’s why I’m still going at 90!’ 18:40 Technically Model C schools don't exist as a separate category but the term was used to denote a former whites only school that is government-funded, however they are administered and largely funded by the parent body. 19:00 SA Fashion Week first began in 1997 by Lucilla Booyzen. Download its 21 years of SA Fashion Week booklet. From the intro: 'In August 1997, in a purpose-designed white marquee in what is now Mandela Square, the heart of Johannesburg’s high-powered new commercial hub, South African Fashion Week rolled out the black carpet and announced itself open for business.' 20:03 Wanda Lephoto ' explores a notion of luxury dress merging African cultures, traditions, identities and approaches with global nuances to form new propositions for representation'. 2 0:06 Rich Mnisi is 'a contemporary, multi-disciplinary brand based in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded by Mnisi in 2015'. 20:08 Thebe Magugu is 'a luxury South African brand'. Worth a watch at the bottom of his home page: a short doccie, 'Discard Theory' ' which he filmed of Dunusa , the street in downtown Joburg where dumped clothes from the U.S. and Europe are sold for a song. 20:10 Superella is run by self-defined 'clothes maker' (not fashion designer) Ella Buter and sells ' easy, free and comfortable layers. Quality clothes that last for years and years. Small production runs. Using the very best natural fabrics' 20:14 Roman Handt is 'a fashion designer / textile scientist' 22:56 Drum magazine was establ ished in the 1950s and ' became an important platform for a new generation of writers and photographers who changed the way Black people were represented in society'. 22:57 Stoned Cherrie began in 2000 and became one of South Africa's most award-winning designer brands, through the use of bespoke textiles and t-shirts emblazoned with political and cultural South African icons 23:06 Black Coffee is the label of South African designer Jacques van der Watt and was founded in 1998 23:51 loxion kulca (a hybrid slang term for location (township) + culture) is a South African streetwear brand co-founded by Wandi Nzimande (who died of COVID in 2021 ) and Sechaba Mogale 24:32 The Space is a retail and online store that sells garments by well-known and lesser known South African designers. They are 'all about local fashion and accessories created by African designers, locally made and distributed'. 24:39 YDE is the Young Designers Emporium, a retailer providing emerging South African designers with an established platform to sell 25:06 Fashion Cities Africa was an exhibition held in Brighton Museum, England, from 30 April 2016 to January 2017. It was 'the first major UK exhibition dedicated to contemporary African fashion'. 25:42 Erica de Greef's PhD thesis 'Sartorial Disruptions' 27:05 Edward Enninful stepped down as British Vogue's editor-in-chief in February 2024 but will stay on at Condé Nast to become Vogue’s global creative and cultural adviser. 28:30 Iziko Museums of South Africa was formed in 1999 and now operates 11 national museums , a planetarium, the social history centre, 3 subject specific libraries and the SAS Somerset, a boom defence ship. It is the oldest museum in southern Africa, and together, all affiliated museums contain about 2.26 million artefacts. 30:27 An ibheshu ( an apron covering the buttocks ) is made of calf skin and is knee length for young men and calf length for older men 31:36 Mode Museum , MoMu, is Antwerps's fashion museum founded in 2002. + ‘ Beyond Desire’ was an exhibition that ran from February to August 2005 and examined the way in which African and Western cultures influenced each other 32:42 History of Museum Africa 34:00 The Bernberg Museum of costume was situated on Jan Smuts Avenu near the Johannesburg Zoo. It was demolished to make way for the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre 35:22 The Sartists are a ' multidisciplinary collective made up of Andile Buka , Kabelo Kungwane , Wanda Lephoto and Xzavier Zulu who are seeking to challenge insular notions about blackness with a documentary approach to style and identity'. 35:34 Santu Mofokeng (1956 - 2020) was a prolific and well-known news and documentary photographer. The Black Photo Album was a collection of private photographs commissioned by urban black working- and middle-class families between 1890 and 195 0. In this work, Mofokeng analyses the sensibilities, aspirations and self-image of the black population and its desire for representation and social recognition in times of colonial rule and suppression. 38:21 Rhodes Must Fall . Rhodes Must Fall is a protest movement that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue of British Imperialist Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The campaign for the statue's removal received global attention and led to a wider movement to decolonise education, by inspiring the emergence of allied student movements at other universities across the world. 39:46 Nelson Mandela's sartorial choices , including a photo of him in the beaded collar (and what few people know: a bedspread draped across his torso - he was in hiding, with nothing else at hand) 40:02 Winnie Mandela - photo of Winnie during the Rivonia Trial, in a black dress with the same beaded collar worn by Nelson Mandela as described in the photo above. 40:13 Iconic photo of a young Miriam Makeba on front cover of Drum magazine, by Jürgen Schadeberg 41:35 Zeitz Mocaa : 21 years: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week 42:02 Curating fashion as decolonial practice: MBlaselo and a Politics of Remembering , Erica de Greef 48:01 The International Fashion Showcase 2019 48:52 Ami Doshi Shah , Kenya 48:56 Cedric Mizero , Rwanda 53:01 The Fold Glossary 53:42 Bark cloth 54:51 Isidwaba 55:54 History of the Iqhiya 01:01:01 The Global Fashioning Assembly 01:02:56 Rolando Vasquez 4 Time Stamps 00:00 Introduction to African Fashion 00:45 The Influence of Western Fashion 01:22 Interview with Erica de Greef 02:05 Erica's Journey into Fashion 05:46 The Role of Fashion in Apartheid South Africa 06:53 The Binary of Fashion and Dress 08:52 Erica's Early Life and Fashion Journey 10:14 The Evolution of African Fashion 12:02 The Impact of Fashion on Society 14:39 The Role of Museums in Fashion History 15:44 The Challenges of African Fashion in Museums 17:54 The Future of African Fashion 38:39 The Power of Clothing in Telling Stories and Fostering Inclusivity 38:57 Exploring How to Re-imagine Nelson Mandela's Lost Wardrobe 39:51 The Lost Fashion of Winnie Mandela and Miriam Makeba 41:30 The Future of Fashion Exhibitions 42:48 The Role of Museums in the Digital Age 46:21 The Journey of the African Fashion Research Institute 48:27 The Power of Digital Exhibitions 50:05 The Fold: A New Perspective on African Fashion 56:47 Slow Fashion 01:01:36 The Future of the Global Fashioning Assembly 01:06:38 Conclusion: The Need for Healing through Fashion 5 Transcript FIN AfricanOptimist Ep6 Erica de Greef_Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 136KB Back to top ^ More on Erica de Greef Articles by Erica de Greef Confronting the Absence of Histories, Presence of Traumas and Beauty in Museum Africa, Johannesburg, Alison Maloney, Wanda Lephoto and Erica de Greef, 2022 Three pairs of Khaki trousers, or how to decolonialise a museum , Erica de Greef Long Read: Fashion, Sustainability and Decoloniality, Twyg Magazine, Erica de Greef, 2019 A collection of academic articles by Erica de Greef Video Masterclass 4: Can we connect slow fashion with our indigenous knowledge? Practicing Decoloniality, the Global Fashioning Assembly @State of Fashion 2022

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