Unlocking Africa

Terser Adamu
  • 5.0 (14)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Terser Adamu, who is an Africa Business Strategist, International Trade Adviser, and Director at ETK Group, hosts the award-nominated Unlocking Africa Podcast. During each episode he shares his thoughts on how to unlock Africa’s economic potential in the 21st century. This is delivered through engaging and thought-provoking discussions with innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and business leaders who are unlocking Africa’s economic potential. Whether you're a business leader, an aspiring entrepreneur, have a comfortable side hustle, or want to take your business to the next level, each episode is jam-packed with information and insight that will enable you to take immediate action and implement key strategies to successfully launch and grow your business in Africa.

  1. 2d ago

    What Does It Take to Turn Africa’s Perishable Harvests Into Global Products? with Funmilayo Ishola

    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 Funmilayo Why 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  2. Sep 28

    From Ethiopia to Africa: Building a Digital Healthcare Platform for over 500,000 Patients with Beamlak Alemayehu

    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 Beamlak Why 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  3. Sep 21

    Millions of Streams, Little Ownership: Is Nigeria Building a Music Industry or Just Exporting Talent? with Shola Bamidele

    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 Shola Why 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 Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Shola: Instagram - Loom Rooms Website -  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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  4. Sep 14

    Why The Good Roll Is Betting on Ghanaian Bamboo to Disrupt the $350 Billion Paper Industry with Sander de Klerk

    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 Sander Why 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 Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Sander: LinkedIn - Sander de Klerk and The Good Roll | B Corp Website -  https://thegoodroll.nl How to get priority investment access to The Good Roll - Get priority access 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  5. Sep 7

    Why Do So Many African Businesses Die With Their Founders? Succession, Stewardship and Legacy with Lydie Murorunkwere

    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 Lydie Why 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 Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Lydie LinkedIn - Lydie Murorunkwere and ML Corporate Services 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  6. Aug 31

    What Happens When Rural African Women Gain Access to Mentorship, Education and Economic Opportunity? with Linda Latsko Lockhart

    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 Linda Is 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 Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Linda LinkedIn - Linda Lockhart and Global Give Back Circle 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  7. Aug 24

    Why Isn't Africa Turning Its Science Into Billion Dollar Companies? with Houda Ghozzi

    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 Houda Africa 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 Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Houda LinkedIn - Houda Ghozzi, PhD and Open Startup 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

  8. Aug 10

    Can Africa Build a Sustainable Fashion Value Chain From Raw Material to Retail? with Madelaine Fourie

    Episode 234 with Madelaine Fourie, General Brand Manager at Sappi Verve, a business operating at the intersection of forestry, sustainable materials and global fashion value chains. Sappi Verve produces dissolving wood pulp from woodfibre, an essential raw material used to manufacture fibres such as viscose and lyocell that ultimately become the fabrics found in everyday clothing. From its forestry and manufacturing base in South Africa, Sappi forms part of a global textile supply chain that connects African natural resources with fashion markets around the world. In this episode, Madelaine explains the hidden journey behind many of the clothes we wear and why the fashion supply chain often begins in a forest plantation rather than a factory or retail store. She explores how wood grown in South Africa is transformed into dissolving wood pulp before being exported, converted into fibre, spun into yarn and eventually manufactured into clothing. The conversation examines whether Africa can capture more value from this process by developing stronger local and regional manufacturing capabilities rather than remaining primarily at the beginning of global value chains. Madelaine also explores how rising expectations around sustainability, traceability and transparency are reshaping the global fashion industry. As consumers and regulators demand greater evidence about where materials originate and how products are manufactured, she explains why traceability is becoming increasingly important and how developments such as digital product passports could create new expectations for businesses throughout the supply chain. What We Discuss With Madelaine Could the clothes in your wardrobe actually begin their journey in an African forest?Why does Africa supply materials to global fashion brands while capturing only a fraction of the value created from them?Could Africa build a fashion value chain that takes products from forest plantations all the way to finished clothing?Is sustainable fashion an overlooked industrialisation opportunity for Africa?What would it take for Africa to turn its natural resources into more factories, higher value exports and better jobs?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss How Cascador Is Helping Africa's Growth Stage Businesses Navigate the "Messy Middle"? Make sure to check it out! Connect with Terser: LinkedIn - Terser Adamu Instagram - unlockingafrica Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu Connect with Madelaine LinkedIn - Madelaine Fourie and Sappi 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: www.etkgroup.co.uk info@etkgroup.co.uk

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5
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

Terser Adamu, who is an Africa Business Strategist, International Trade Adviser, and Director at ETK Group, hosts the award-nominated Unlocking Africa Podcast. During each episode he shares his thoughts on how to unlock Africa’s economic potential in the 21st century. This is delivered through engaging and thought-provoking discussions with innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and business leaders who are unlocking Africa’s economic potential. Whether you're a business leader, an aspiring entrepreneur, have a comfortable side hustle, or want to take your business to the next level, each episode is jam-packed with information and insight that will enable you to take immediate action and implement key strategies to successfully launch and grow your business in Africa.

Information

  • Creator
    Terser Adamu
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    242
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Unlocking Africa
  • Show Website
    Unlocking Africa

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