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.

After a decade as Nigeria's leading financial literacy advocate, Tunji Andrews realized education alone wasn't enough. Inspired by an elderly lottery agent from his childhood who fell into poverty, he founded Awabah to bring pension solutions to Nigeria's informal sector workers.

In this candid conversation, Tunji reveals how his company is using local language and cultural understanding to make retirement planning accessible to everyone from street vendors to market wholesalers. He shares surprising insights about customer behaviour, his contrary bet on focusing on pensions rather than payments or loans, and the personal cost of founder resilience.

Listen for valuable lessons on market segmentation, regulatory relationships, and why sometimes you need to "survive first, then scale."

Yassine Laghzioui, CEO of UM6P Ventures and Director of Entrepreneurship at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, joins The Grinders Table to discuss building Africa's innovation ecosystem through deep tech investment.

When Yassine chose to return to Morocco while his peers stayed abroad, he embarked on a journey to transform how innovation happens in Africa. In this conversation, he shares why Africa doesn't need "savers" but rather builders and executors, how constraints drive innovation more effectively than abundance, and why he believes Africa will become a global leader in deep tech within the next decade.

We explore Yassine's philosophy that "entrepreneurship is not a job, it's a mindset," his approach to identifying promising deep tech founders in environments with limited data, and why he's particularly excited about Africa's potential in agricultural technology and green tech.

This episode offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone interested in the future of innovation in emerging markets.

In this reshared episode, Uwem speaks with Massimiliano 'Massi' Spalazzi, former CEO of Jumia Nigeria and early employee who helped scale the company to become Africa's first tech IPO on the NYSE.

Key highlights:

• The origins of Jumia in Nigeria and early challenges of building an e-commerce pioneer
• How Jumia introduced cash-on-delivery to transform online shopping in a low-trust environment
• Building specialized teams when talent was scarce and the impact on Africa's tech ecosystem
• Balancing scale, growth and profitability across African markets
• Leadership lessons from managing distributed teams across the continent

Whether you're building an e-commerce business, scaling across African markets, or interested in the evolution of tech in Africa, Massi's insights remain essential listening for entrepreneurs and business leaders.

In this episode of The Grinders Table, we speak with Jelle Schuitemaker, co-founder of Goal 3, whose innovative patient monitoring system has reduced child mortality by 42% in African hospitals.

Jelle shares his journey from first encountering global inequality in the Philippines to building technology that's transforming healthcare in low-resource settings.

We explore the philosophical foundations of his work, the tension between impact and profit, and how his faith-driven purpose guides his mission to provide fair and accessible healthcare for everyone.

A must-listen for anyone interested in purpose-driven entrepreneurship, global health innovation, or the intersection of faith and business.

In this enlightening conversation, Ghita Zniber, co-founder of Kalys Ventures, shares her unique journey from rugby player to venture capitalist. Discover her "first follower" philosophy reshaping African startup investment and how a childhood conversation with her father about values became the foundation for her business approach.

Ghita reveals why she embraces being a generalist in a specialist's world, how Kalys Ventures supports African startups, and their strategic focus on the Moroccan diaspora. She offers invaluable advice on building founder-investor relationships, maintaining partnerships, and avoiding common capitalization pitfalls.

Whether you're a founder seeking investment, an aspiring investor, or simply curious about the evolving African tech ecosystem, Ghita's fresh perspective offers insights that challenge conventional venture capital wisdom.

Time Stamps:00:00 - Introduction03:42 - Rugby lessons that shaped her business approach07:14 - The childhood values conversation that changed everything13:15 - Discovering her true calling as a "first follower"24:23 - Investment philosophy at Kalys Ventures33:35 - Maintaining strong partnerships35:59 - The vision for African investment47:06 - Rapid fire advice for founders48:36 - Power, money, fame or pleasure?