What do you do when you discover a $281 billion problem that global pharmaceutical companies can't solve? If you're Ayodeji Alaran, you leave your corporate job and build the solution from your house in Lagos.

In this episode, Ayodeji shares the remarkable journey from pharmacy school to founding PBR Life Sciences, now building one of Africa's largest healthcare datasets. This isn't just another startup story - it's a masterclass in strategic thinking, long-term vision, and the power of being an outlier.

What You'll Learn:

• The "precedence principle" he uses to hire only outliers for his team
• How PBR builds products customers actually want (hint: they never build based on their own ideas)
• Why he believes African businesses suffer from "short-sightedness"
• The difference between building AI models from scratch vs. adapting Western algorithms for African markets
• Why "your entrepreneurial life started way before you started entrepreneurship"

Ayodeji's philosophy that "every problem has a solution" isn't just optimism - it's the foundation for building solutions that could reshape how the world thinks about African healthcare.

Connect with Ayodeji on LinkedIn and follow PBR Life Sciences for updates on their expansion across Africa.

Bernard Laurendeau built Ethiopia's first licensed payment system operator, advised the Prime Minister's office on job creation, and now operates from Tokyo helping Japanese billions find their way into African markets. But he has a contrarian message: Africa needs to stop chasing sexy tech and focus on boring infrastructure first.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why he respects unknown Lagos entrepreneurs more than Mark Zuckerberg
• How Ethiopia needs 10,000 new jobs daily to avoid catastrophe

• Why aid has been "market disrupting" for African development
• The difference between being a cultural chameleon and having real cultural intelligence
• His journey from management consultant to fintech CEO and back
• Why African entrepreneurs are the "Indiana Jones and MacGyvers" of business

Bernard shares candid insights about building in hostile environments, the importance of patient capital, and why African leaders need to become more comfortable with power. His unique perspective as someone who's navigated Ethiopian, French, American, and Japanese business cultures offers invaluable lessons for anyone interested in emerging markets.

Dr. Houda Ghozzi, founder of Open Startup (OST), shares her journey from professor to pan-African ecosystem builder. Following Tunisia's revolution, she transformed uncertainty into opportunity, now helping young entrepreneurs across 19 African countries develop through "hope, skills, and exposure."

Houda discusses entrepreneurship as a common language that transcends borders, the evolution of OST into the "Y-Combinator of deep tech," and why Africa's innovation story requires patience rather than just focusing on exits.

Her insights on cross-border collaboration, AI opportunities, and policy frameworks reveal a compelling vision for Africa's entrepreneurial future—one in which young people build solutions to local problems with global relevance.