Building the Businesses and Infrastructure Behind Africa’s Creative Economy with Solomon Sonaiya

Episode 244 with Solomon Sonaiya, Co Founder, Business Development Director and Group Head of Entertainment at Livespot360, an integrated media and entertainment company building the businesses, infrastructure and commercial platforms behind Africa’s creative economy.Solomon has played a central role in Livespot360’s evolution from a record label into a creative business spanning live experiences, television production, brand marketing, talent partnerships and entertainment infrastructure. Through its venues, production equipment businesses and cultural properties, Livespot is building the capacity to create, deliver and commercialise entertainment at scale. Its work includes television projects involving NBCUniversal, Amazon and ITV, alongside partnerships with brands such as Fenty Beauty, Heineken and Access Bank.In this episode, Solomon explores what it takes to turn Africa’s global cultural influence into lasting economic value. Drawing on Livespot360’s journey, he discusses the commercial decisions behind investing in venues and production infrastructure, the importance of owning intellectual property, and the challenges of building sustainable entertainment businesses. We also explore how African companies can work with global platforms and brands while strengthening local capabilities, developing talent and retaining a greater share of the value they create.What We Discuss With SolomonWhy Livespot360 expanded beyond a record label to build businesses across Africa’s entertainment value chain.What Africa’s shortage of professional venues and production infrastructure means for creative businesses and investors.Why owning festivals, entertainment formats and intellectual property can change who profits from African culture.How African production companies can build relationships with global broadcasters, streaming platforms and brands.What it will take to turn Africa’s creative talent and cultural influence into sustainable careers and lasting commercial value.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why African Banks Reject Borrowers They Don’t Understand? Make sure to check it out!Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 243 with Dalumuzi Mhlanga, Founder and CEO of Notto, an alternative credit bureau building the infrastructure to help financial institutions assess creditworthiness and expand responsible lending across Africa.Dalumuzi has more than a decade of experience spanning telecommunications, technology and international development, working at the intersection of data, systems and economic opportunity. He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MSc and MBA from the University of Oxford. Through Notto, he is helping lenders understand financial behaviour that conventional credit records often overlook, including rent, utility payments and mobile money activity. Operating across South Africa and Zimbabwe, Notto has analysed more than one billion transaction records to support more informed lending decisions.In this episode, Dalumuzi examine why access to credit remains restricted even when banks have money available to lend, and what happens when economically active people and businesses remain invisible to conventional credit systems. He explains why adopting alternative data is increasingly an implementation challenge, examining what banks need to change across risk management, compliance and decision making to turn better information into meaningful access to finance.Are African banks rejecting risky borrowers, or borrowers they simply do not understand?Could paying your rent and electricity bills reveal more about your creditworthiness than a conventional credit score?If banks have money to lend, why is better financial data still failing to unlock credit?Will alternative credit scoring open doors for excluded borrowers, or create new ways to shut them out?How many viable African businesses never get the chance to grow because lenders cannot see their economic potential?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Moove, Flutterwave and LemFi: Inside Silverbacks Holdings Investment Strategy? Make sure to check it out!Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 242 with Nana Afoah Appiah Korang, Chief Investment Officer and Executive Board Director at Silverbacks Holdings, an alternative investment firm backing high growth companies across technology, sport, entertainment, fashion and the wider creative economy in Africa.Nana is an experienced private equity investor, entrepreneur and board director with expertise spanning deal origination, investment execution, portfolio management, fundraising and exits. She began her investment career at Goldman Sachs before joining Emerging Capital Partners, one of Africa’s largest private equity firms, where she served as a Director and senior investment professional. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Amayi Foods Limited, a women led food systems company focused on advancing food sovereignty in Africa.Silverbacks Holdings has built exposure to more than 240 companies with a combined valuation exceeding 10 billion dollars. More than 75% of its exposure is concentrated within fewer than two dozen core investments, including Moove, Flutterwave, Wave, LemFi, OmniRetail and Sabi, alongside businesses across African sport, film, media and fashion. Since its establishment in 2019, Silverbacks has completed ten profitable exits, including returns of nearly 30 times from LemFi, more than 24 times from Flutterwave and five times from OmniRetail.In this episode, Nana draws on her experience as both an investor and entrepreneur to explain how investment decisions are made in complex and rapidly evolving African markets. She explores the realities of building a concentrated portfolio, supporting companies through different stages of growth and creating opportunities for investors to realise returns.The conversation also examines Silverbacks’ approach to sectors that have traditionally struggled to attract institutional capital and its continued backing of Moove, including participation in the company’s recent 250 million dollar Series C round. Nana reflects on the lessons Silverbacks has drawn from its portfolio and what they reveal about the next generation of African businesses.What We Discuss With NanaIs Africa genuinely facing an exit problem, or are investors applying the wrong expectations and time horizons?At what point does strong investment conviction become dangerous overexposure?Why is earning hard currency becoming increasingly important for African companies seeking to survive currency volatility and expand internationally?What did Silverbacks recognise in companies such as LemFi, Flutterwave, OmniRetail and Moove before their value became widely recognised?Can Africa’s sport, entertainment, fashion and creative industries generate the scale and investment returns traditionally associated with technology companies?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss What Does It Take to Turn Africa’s Perishable Harvests Into Global Products? Make sure to check it out!Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 241 with Funmilayo Ishola, Founder of Dehydrator Hub Agrifood Technology Limited, a Nigerian agrifood company tackling post harvest loss by transforming perishable produce into higher value, shelf stable ingredients.Using hybrid solar powered dehydration and a Processing as a Service model, Dehydrator Hub gives farmers and women led agribusinesses access to processing infrastructure without requiring them to invest in expensive equipment. The company also provides training, regulatory compliance support and market access to help entrepreneurs build commercially sustainable food businesses.Dehydrator Hub has rescued 65 tonnes of food from post harvest loss, helped participating farmers increase their incomes by 25 per cent and trained more than 2,500 women in food processing and entrepreneurship. Funmilayo is also a recipient of the 2026 Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award, which supports women led enterprises developing scalable solutions in health and food security.In this episode, Funmilayo shares the experiences that led her to establish Dehydrator Hub and explains what she has learnt from building the business within Nigeria’s agricultural value chain. She discusses the practical realities of turning perishable crops into commercially viable ingredients, matching processing capacity with market demand and preparing the company for its next phase of growth.What We Discuss With FunmilayoWhy increasing agricultural production will not solve Africa’s food security challenge without investment in processing infrastructure.Who captures the value when agricultural produce is processed, and how can more of that income reach farmers?Can Processing as a Service remove the financial barriers preventing women led agribusinesses from entering food manufacturing?Why processing food does not automatically create value unless businesses can meet regulatory standards and secure reliable buyers.Could decentralised processing hubs become the missing infrastructure connecting Nigeria’s farmers to food manufacturers and export markets?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss From Ethiopia to Africa: Building a Digital Healthcare Platform for over 500,000 Patients? Make sure to check it out!Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 240 with Beamlak Alemayehu, Founder and CEO of Medanit Digital Health, Ethiopia’s first integrated, multi channel digital healthcare access system connecting patients with doctors, medication and mental health services through a mobile application, website and low bandwidth call centre.Beamlak is a clinical nurse and social worker whose experience of long waiting times, misinformation, medicine shortages and fragmented healthcare services inspired her to build a more accessible and patient centred alternative. Medanit has registered more than 50,000 users across Ethiopia, delivered over 58,000 medications and facilitated more than 78,000 consultations and healthcare support interactions. Beamlak is also one of the 2026 recipients of the Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award, which supports women led businesses developing solutions in health and food security.In this episode, Beamlak shares her journey from working directly with patients to building one of Ethiopia’s emerging digital healthcare companies. Drawing on her clinical experience and the lessons learned from growing Medanit, she explores what it takes to use technology to redesign the patient journey and build a healthcare business within a complex and underserved market.What We Discuss With BeamlakWhy building more hospitals and training more doctors may not solve Africa’s healthcare access crisis if patients still cannot navigate fragmented services.Can digital healthcare remain affordable for low income patients while generating enough revenue to build a commercially sustainable company?Could patient data help Africa predict demand, reduce medicine shortages and strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains?What does it take to earn trust, protect patient data and maintain clinical quality while delivering healthcare through technology?Can Medanit transform a locally adapted Ethiopian platform into a scalable African business serving 500,000 people?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Millions of Streams, Little Ownership: Is Nigeria Building a Music Industry or Just Exporting Talent? Make sure to check it out!Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 239 with Shola Bamidele, Founder and CEO of Loom Rooms, a creative ecosystem helping African artists develop their craft, strengthen their identities and build sustainable businesses around their work.Based in Egbeda, Alimosho, outside Lagos’s traditional creative hubs, Loom Rooms was established to address one of the biggest weaknesses within Nigeria’s entertainment economy: the lack of structure surrounding creative talent. Through creative spaces, development pathways and a collaborative community, the company connects artists with producers, engineers, designers and other professionals while helping them understand contracts, protect their intellectual property and develop lasting careers.In this episode, Shola explains why Nigeria continues to produce globally successful artists without building enough sustainable creative businesses around them. He explores why millions of streams and international recognition do not always translate into meaningful income or ownership, how poor contracts and weak intellectual property protection prevent creators from retaining value, and why Nigeria’s financial system still struggles to invest in creative businesses.What We Discuss With SholaWhy does Nigeria produce globally successful artists but so few sustainable creative businesses?Why do millions of streams and international visibility not necessarily translate into meaningful income or ownership?Is the global success of Afrobeats creating a generation of visible artists without creating a generation of owners?Why does an industry projected to exceed one billion dollars still struggle to attract bank credit and patient investment?Is Nigeria building a genuine creative industry or simply exporting talent whose long term value is captured elsewhere?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why The Good Roll Is Betting on Ghanaian Bamboo to Disrupt the $350 Billion Paper Industry? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with Shola:Instagram - Loom RoomsWebsite -  https://www.loomroomsmusic.com/Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 238 with Sander de Klerk, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Good Roll, a sustainable paper company building an integrated bamboo value chain between Ghana and global paper markets.The Good Roll began as a European consumer brand selling sustainable toilet paper and using part of its revenue to improve access to sanitation. It has since evolved into a much broader industrial business, processing Ghanaian bamboo into pulp for the global paper industry, tissue products for its consumer brand, and, from 2027, biochar and carbon credits produced from bamboo waste.The company generated more than €5.5 million in revenue in 2025 and has secured a $50 million long term pulp offtake agreement. Its production facility in Akosombo employs more than 86 people, while over 3,000 farmers are ready to supply bamboo. By 2030, The Good Roll aims to operate seven production lines, work with 15,000 farmers and generate more than €175 million in annual group turnover.In this episode, Sander discusses the company’s €5.2 million investment raise, and explains why The Good Roll is moving beyond sustainable toilet paper to challenge the structure of the global paper industry. He explores the economics of processing bamboo close to where it grows, what it takes to make Ghanaian pulp competitive in international markets, and why controlling the value chain could allow more income and industrial value to remain in Ghana. What We Discuss With SanderWhy The Good Roll is inviting members of the public to become shareholders through its €5.2 million investment raise.Why The Good Roll is betting that Ghanaian bamboo can disrupt a $350 billion global paper industry.Can bamboo pulp produced in Ghana genuinely compete with the world’s established suppliers?Why does Africa continue exporting raw materials while surrendering most of their economic value?Does a $50 million offtake agreement prove demand, or simply introduce a much bigger execution risk?Can The Good Roll reach €175 million in annual turnover without sacrificing the social and environmental mission that made it distinctive?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why Do So Many African Businesses Die With Their Founders? Succession, Stewardship and Legacy? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with Sander:LinkedIn - Sander de Klerk and The Good Roll | B CorpWebsite -  https://thegoodroll.nlHow to get priority investment access to The Good Roll - Get priority accessMany of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 237 with Lydie Murorunkwere, Founder and Managing Director of ML Corporate Services Ltd, Rwanda’s first locally owned licensed Trust and Company Service Provider, and Chairperson of the Rwanda Trust Companies Association.Over the past two decades, Lydie has worked with entrepreneurs, investors, family businesses and institutions across Africa, helping them establish governance, ownership and succession structures designed not only to support growth, but to endure. Her work challenges the idea that succession is simply a legal or technical process. Instead, she argues that it is fundamentally a human issue shaped by fear, family relationships, culture, responsibility and the willingness of founders to prepare others to lead.In this episode, Lydie explains why many successful African businesses remain dangerously dependent on the individuals who created them, and what founders must do to build institutions capable of surviving beyond their leadership. What We Discuss With LydieWhy making yourself indispensable could become one of the greatest threats to the future of your business.How Africa’s dependence on founder led companies is limiting investment, growth and economic continuity.Why inheriting a family business does not necessarily mean the next generation is equipped to lead it.How poor succession planning causes African businesses and family wealth to disappear across generations.Why governance can help African businesses attract investment, manage growth and survive beyond their founders.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss What Happens When Rural African Women Gain Access to Mentorship, Education and Economic Opportunity? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with LydieLinkedIn - Lydie Murorunkwere and ML Corporate ServicesMany of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 236 with Linda Latsko Lockhart, Founder and CEO of Global Give Back Circle, an organisation focused on expanding education, financial inclusion and pathways to dignified work for women and girls across Africa. Since 2006, Global Give Back Circle has supported more than 6,000 girls through tertiary education, engaged more than 4,000 mentors and built programmes across Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana.At the centre of its economic empowerment work is HER Lab, a model designed around the realities facing young women in rural communities. Rather than treating education as the end goal, HER Lab connects vocational skills, mentorship and personal development with employment, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion and access to markets. It also works with families and community leaders to address the social expectations that can prevent women from participating fully in economic life. Through its Economic Empowerment 4 HER partnership with Mastercard Foundation, Global Give Back Circle is now scaling the model across rural Kenya, with the ambition of reaching 3,000 young women directly by 2028.In this episode, Linda explains why women's economic empowerment requires much more than simply providing education or vocational training. She explores what Global Give Back Circle has learned from two decades of working with women and girls, why entrepreneurship has become such an important pathway for rural women, and how access to finance, markets and supportive communities determines whether skills actually translate into income.What We Discuss With LindaIs Africa underestimating the economic cost of keeping millions of women out of work, entrepreneurship and financial systems?Why 76 percent of the HER Lab boarding graduates surveyed became entrepreneurs, and what that reveals about the shortage of formal employment opportunities in rural Africa.Why teaching someone to start a business is not enough, and why access to real customers and commercially viable value chains matters more.What happened when attitudes towards women working in construction shifted from just 19 percent to 94 percent in the surrounding community.Could artificial intelligence widen the economic divide facing rural African women, or give them an opportunity to leapfrog it?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Why Isn't Africa Turning Its Science Into Billion Dollar Companies? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with LindaLinkedIn - Linda Lockhart and Global Give Back CircleMany of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]

Episode 235 with Houda Ghozzi, Founder and CEO of Open Startup, a pan African organisation focused on connecting African innovation with global opportunity through investment readiness, deep tech commercialisation, cross border partnerships and ecosystem development.Over the past decade, Open Startup has supported thousands of founders and startups across more than 20 African countries. Its latest focus is The Science Road, an initiative designed to help deep tech and research led ventures make the difficult journey from scientific and technical development to market readiness, investment and global scale. This comes at a critical moment for the continent. Africa has more than 300 active deep tech startups that have collectively raised around 3 billion dollars over the past decade, yet the ecosystem remains fragmented, funding gaps persist and universities often struggle to connect research with industry and commercial opportunities.In this episode, Houda explains why Africa's deep tech challenge is not simply about producing more research, but turning scientific breakthroughs into commercially viable companies.What We Discuss With HoudaAfrica has the scientists and the research, so why isn't it producing more globally competitive deep tech companies?Why does so much promising intellectual property remain inside African universities instead of becoming products, companies and industries?Why might the venture capital model that built Africa's software startups not work for the continent's next generation of deep tech companies?Can Africa build globally significant deep tech companies while keeping intellectual property, talent and economic value on the continent?Could deep tech move Africa from adopting technologies developed elsewhere to owning the scientific innovation that powers the industries of the future?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Can Africa Build a Sustainable Fashion Value Chain From Raw Material to Retail? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with HoudaLinkedIn - Houda Ghozzi, PhD and Open StartupMany of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:[email protected]