After a year of Grit & Growth podcasts, Darius Teter, our host and executive director of Stanford Seed, looks back on his conversations with intrepid entrepreneurs from Africa and India. He not only shares powerful moments but also some of the lessons he’s learned along the way about the struggles and opportunities of entrepreneurship in emerging markets. It’s hard to pick favorites, but some stories held special resonance and, in retrospect, revealed key themes about the long, often l...
Mar 15, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Profile of Purpose: A Tough Nut to Crack Meet Frank Omondi, wildlife biologist turned entrepreneur. As CEO, he took Ten Senses Africa, a Kenyan producer and distributor of macadamia nuts, from the brink of bankruptcy to a modern, sustainable, and successful venture that satisfies customers and supports farmers. Frank Omondi approaches business differently than most entrepreneurs: “I look at business in a way that helps uplift more people. I think the future of Africa's food production lies in th...
Mar 01, 2022•9 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Meet Samuel Appenteng, managing director of Joissam Ghana, a company working to make clean water more accessible to rural communities in West Africa. By collaborating with the communities his firm serves, Appenteng is pumping hope and health into the people who need it most. Unfortunately, the scale of the problem is immense. Appenteng explained, “In sub-Saharan Africa, over 320 million people have no access to potable water. As we went more and more into the rural communities and saw the kind o...
Feb 15, 2022•9 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Meet Afolabi Abiodun, founder and CEO of SB Telecoms and Devices, a company creating HR solutions for small and medium businesses in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa. From street hawker to debtor to entrepreneur, Afolabi is proof positive that a boy from the streets can find success. No one ever doubted that Afolabi had the drive to succeed. But his lack of business knowledge often got him into hot water…and lots of debt. After incurring millions in debt, he actually ran away from home to a...
Feb 01, 2022•9 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Meet Lerang Selolwane, co-founder of Lucient Engineering, a company that’s bringing water, power, roads, and rail to the people of Botswana. By constructing and maintaining the essential infrastructure his country and people need, Lerang is also creating pathways out of poverty. Selolwane is not your typical 20-something entrepreneur. He began his career working for the largest diamond mining company in the world — a job that literally took him around the world. It was an exciting time, but he r...
Jan 18, 2022•9 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Meet Sriram Gopal, founder and CEO of Future Farms, a hydroponics company on a mission to deliver clean, healthy food to all Indians. With a trillion dollar market potential and a vision to make clean food a fundamental right, not a privilege, Sriram is growing his company for a greater good. Sriram always wanted to be an entrepreneur because his father was one, too. Motivated by his role model, Sriram set out to build a business that would also create an impact. Hydroponic farming seemed to be ...
Jan 04, 2022•8 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Meet Wandia Gichuru, CEO and co-founder of Vivo Activewear, a Kenya-based fashion brand made for the modern African woman. In an industry dominated by imports, Wandia is creating clothing that instills confidence and makes a difference in the lives of both her customers and her employees. Wandia didn’t dream of being a designer all her life. But she has always been passionate about making an impact. Now she’s doing that one dress at a time —creating clothes made in Africa, for African...
Dec 21, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 22
How do you convince Africans — both buyers and sellers — to move from informal outdoor markets to e-commerce? Juliet Anammah of Jumia Group is up for the challenge. Listen to her interview for the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series to learn how Jumia is breaking down traditional barriers with technology. Jumia operates in 11 countries. It’s the largest e-commerce platform on the African continent and the first African tech startup to be listed on the NYSE. But e-commerce still repre...
Dec 07, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 21
How can small businesses gain access to the working capital they need? Zach Bijesse of Payhippo and Tunde Kehinde of Lidya are trying to figure it out. Hear how new technologies are changing the future of lending for small businesses in Nigeria, Africa, and the world. With over 200 million people and 40 million small businesses, Nigeria is the perfect spot to launch a fintech company that’s trying to push the boundaries of how businesses get capital. Both Zach Bijesse and Tunde Kehinde saw a hug...
Nov 30, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Meet Ankit Agarwal, Founder of Phool, a flower recycling business based in Kanpur, India. By collecting waste flowers from temples and converting them into eco-friendly products, the company is making an impact on both the women they employ who live near the sacred yet polluted Ganges River and the river itself. Ankit’s entrepreneurial journey began with a question from a friend who was visiting the Ganges: “If this river is so sacred, why is it so polluted? And why don't you do some...
Nov 16, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Meet Linda Ampah, founder of KAD Manufacturing and a fashion brand called Cadling Fashions based in Ghana. Linda’s entrepreneurial journey has had all the typical hurdles plus the extra challenges of being a female business owner in Africa. That’s why providing job opportunities for women is central to her mission. Linda has always loved the sound of sewing machines. Now she gets to hear them all the time in her factories where she manufactures school uniforms and makes garments for U.S. brands ...
Nov 02, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on communicating with confidence, featuring Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer in strategic communications. Whether pitching to investors, reporting to your board, or motivating employees, Abrahams has tips and tricks for managing anxiety and making an impact with both what you say and how you say it. Abrahams knows a thing or two about communicating. Whether he’s teaching MBAs at Stanford GSB or hosting his podcast “Think Fast...
Oct 19, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Meet Martin Stimela, CEO of Botswana-based Brastorne Enterprises, and Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and communications expert. As Martin prepares to pitch his business expansion plan, hear Matt’s tips on how to grab attention, harness emotions, and create a lasting connection with your audience. Then listen in on Martin’s actual pitch...and Matt’s feedback. Almost every entrepreneur eventually needs to make a pitch to capture attention...and dollars. Martin S...
Oct 05, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on crisis management and mindset, featuring Baba Shiv, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor of Marketing. From mental to physical preparation, Baba provides insights on cultivating an innovative mindset to help you survive and thrive in challenging times. Professor Shiv is an expert in neuroeconomics and decision making. He works with entrepreneurs—from Silicon Valley to emerging markets—on the practice of innovation and how to build a risk-to...
Sep 21, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Meet Kwami Williams, co-founder and CEO of MoringaConnect, and Brian Lowery, Stanford Graduate School of Business professor, to learn how one Ghanaian entrepreneur overcame fires, floods, theft, and COVID to build a more resilient and successful company. Kwami’s path to co-founding a social agriculture venture in Ghana based on the native Moringa tree was anything but straightforward. As a Ghanaian-American MIT graduate in aerospace engineering, his first love was flight. But on a trip back...
Sep 07, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on the ins & outs of mergers & acquisitions in Africa, featuring Victor Basta CEO of DAI Magister. From attracting potential buyers to navigating due diligence, Victor provides practical, tactical advice based on 30 years of experience shepherding M&A deals in Europe, the Middle East and across Africa. Victor Basta has facilitated deals and strategic exits for founders of fast-growing, tech-enabled companies across Africa. And he truly consi...
Aug 24, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Meet Caroline Wanjiku, cofounder of Daproim Africa, and Victor Basta, CEO of DAI Magister, and learn how one intrepid Kenyan entrepreneur overcame adversity to transform her bootstrapped social enterprise into a strategic acquisition. Caroline’s entrepreneurial journey began like most other ambitious founders. She and her business partner (and eventual husband) created Daproim in 2006 with a vision to make Kenya a destination for IT outsourcing. A chance encounter with the Rockefeller Foundation...
Aug 10, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on the investment landscape in India, featuring Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director of Nexus Venture Partners. A pioneer of venture capital in India, Sandeep shares practical tips for entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding. After working in Silicon Valley and at McKinsey, Sandeep cofounded one of India’s first incubators in the 1990s. Over the last several decades, he has witnessed the tremendous growth of entrepreneurship and investment in India. Tod...
Jul 27, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Meet Aditi Shrivastava, Cofounder and CEO of digital entertainment company Pocket Aces, and learn how the company identified investors to support them on their journey to entertain hundreds of millions of Indians in a rapidly shifting media landscape. Early on in 2013, Pocket Aces identified a huge gap in the market: content specifically designed for India’s youth, where they wanted to consume it—on a smartphone. Fast forward to 2021, and the company is now one of the country’s largest mob...
Jul 13, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Meet Elo Umeh, Managing Director and CEO of Terragon Group, a Nigerian digital marketing and data insights company, and Andreata Muforo and Ido Sum from TLcom Capital, and learn how to make the most of your fundraising efforts to successfully grow your business in Africa. Elo never intended to formally raise money—he initially relied on friends and family to launch Terragon. But as the business grew, so did his vision, and he needed to find an investor that understood the enormous oppo...
Jun 29, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Meet Adam Abate and Tayo Oviosu from Paga, and Victor Basta, CEO of DAI Magister, and hear about the hurdles and high points of an East-meets-West African fintech acquisition. Adam’s entrepreneurial journey began when he and two fellow Ethiopians started Apposit, a consulting firm building technology that would work in African contexts — low bandwidth, low human capital, and affordable. Turns out that was exactly what Tayo needed to create Paga, now the leading payments platform in Nigeria. What...
Jun 15, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on the complexities and opportunities of running a family business, featuring Peter Francis, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer. Peter provides practical strategies, tactics, and firsthand experiences of effective family business management. Peter Francis’ expertise in family businesses goes far beyond the theoretical — he invests in them, teaches a class on them, and is also the former CEO of a sixth-generation family business. So he underst...
Jun 01, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Meet Naomi Kipkorir and Annette Kimitei, the mother-daughter team leading Senaca East Africa, and Peter Francis, lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and hear about finding success and navigating succession in a family run business. Family dynamics can be challenging, not to mention, emotional. But when you add in a business, things can get even more complicated. Especially when the entire family is involved. That’s the story behind Senaca EA, a private security company headquartere...
May 18, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Hear the story of Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, a doctor, and entrepreneur who set out to provide affordable, quality health care in rural India and found himself on the front lines of the pandemic through his network of 15 hospitals. From encountering multiple supply chain disruptions to motivating his team and building a 1,000-bed, no-cost, Covid treatment center in a matter of weeks, Dr. Bajaj has moved mountains to save lives. Leaders across India and in emerging markets globally will find his reflecti...
May 11, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on raising capital, featuring Zach George, general partner at Launch Africa Ventures and co-founder of Startup Bootcamp Africa. Zach provides honest, practical advice on what founders really need to focus on to attract and secure the right investors. Zach George has been investing on the African continent for over 10 years, but his advice to entrepreneurs at any stage of the funding journey — from pre-seed to Series C — is universal. After earning a mas...
May 04, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Meet Faraz Ramji, founder of Norda Industries and Mindfulness Coach, and Dr. Leah Weiss, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer, to hear why mindfulness and emotional intelligence should be part of every entrepreneur’s skillset. In 2017 a factory fire changed everything for Faraz and his team at Norda, a snack food company based in Nairobi, Kenya. Rebuilding the business required more than Faraz ever imagined, most importantly bringing his personal mindfulness practice to work. “I don't w...
Apr 20, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Meet Likitha Maddukuri, CEO and co-founder of Terra Greens, and Baba Shiv, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor of Marketing, and hear how unprecedented adversity can create incredible opportunity … when you have the right mindset. Running an organic produce business in India could be seen by many as challenging enough, but the pandemic of 2020 had other plans. With a national lockdown, supply chain disruptions, and a limited labor force, Likitha had to quickly figure out how to c...
Apr 20, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Meet Arun Iyer, CEO of Alpha Direct Insurance Company, and Zach George, general partner at Launch Africa Ventures, and learn what it takes to transition your funding from friends and family to angel investors and venture capital. Like most entrepreneurs, Arun relied on friends and family to get his Botswana-based insurtech company off the ground. But bringing insurance to the masses — both within Botswana and across the region — required more substantial sums. And thinking small was preventing h...
Apr 20, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Introducing: Grit & Growth with Stanford Graduate School of Business In this new podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business, travel across Africa and South Asia to meet some of the region’s most intrepid and inspiring entrepreneurs as they share stories of trial and triumph. Host Darius Teter also interviews Stanford University faculty and global business experts who provide insights, guidance, and practical tips to help you succeed on your own entrepreneurial journey. Learn more at:&...
Apr 09, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
