The Flip
Nov 13, 2019
Introducing The Flip
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Introducing The Flip - an editorial-style podcast exploring contextually relevant insights from entrepreneurs and investors changing the status quo in Africa.
The name The Flip comes from the opportunity to flip the script – question some of the pervasive narratives on entrepreneurship, challenge the ubiquity of Silicon Valley thought leadership, and champion the entrepreneurs building a future inspired by Africa.
Produced and hosted by Johannesburg-based entrepreneur and American expat Justin Norman. Sayo Folawiyo is the executive producer and b-mic.
More episodes from The Flip
5 days ago
The Future of Work is Standardization
Where there is fragmentation, informality, and a dearth of infrastructure, there are questions about what the path to formality and standardization will look like. One intriguing answer to that question is conversion franchising, where existing stores are converted into a franchise.
In the future of work context, are microenterprises, their owners, and their employees better off as converted franchisees?
This episode is a case study, with mPharma's Gregory Rockson.
00:00 - We begin this episode's exploration with a question - are subsistence farmers better off as employees of a commercial farm? With Twiga Foods' Peter Njonjo.
06:01 - What does the path to formalization and standardization look like across African markets and sectors? This episode is a case study of conversion franchising, with mPharma's Gregory Rockson.
We define conversion franchising, with help from Next Billion.
07:31 - mPharma started out as an asset-light platform.
09:38 - How mPharma's pharmacy-in-a-box program, QualityRX, got started.
15:38 - From converting franchises one-by-one to pursuing an M&A strategy to convert by the dozen.
21:15 - Is conversion franchising the future of work? Exploring why the model has worked so well for mPharma and pharmacy retail.
25:10- Gregory's theory of change.
27:12 - A retrospective conversation with Sayo Folawiyo and Justin Norman.
This season of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.
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Mar 16, 2023
The Future of Work is Vertical Platforms
African markets are largely informal. So while our examination of workforce and training programs in the fast few episodes focused on formal and salaried jobs, we know that most Africans aren't going to get these types of jobs. So, our exploration of the future of work needs to span much further than that. Where there are no formal jobs, what does it look like to help stimulate the development of the informal sector and microenterprises? And what role does technology play?
In this context, we hear a lot about platforms and their role in creating jobs or income-generating opportunities. But what are the platforms actually good for? And what is their actual impact across African markets? In this episode, we're going to dig into the vertical platforms digitizing microenterprises across the continent.
3:46 - Defining jobtech platforms, with the Jobtech Alliance's Chris Maclay.
9:10 - What does it look like to build the infrastructure for microenterprises? With Kandua's Sayo Folawiyo.
12:16 - Exploring what verticalization looks like, and why it is necessary, considering the specifities of the home services sector.
17:25 - Vertical platforms can do a particularly good job at helping small businesses grow. We focus on a particularly large sector, the restaurant industry, with Caantin's Njavwa Mutambo.
21:20 - A retrospective conversation between Sayo Folawiyo and The Flip's Justin Norman.
Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.
Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.
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Mar 9, 2023
The Future of Work Needs Training
Throughout this season, we've heard about this disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace. It's often a skills and training issue.
Even where there are jobs, there's still this disconnect between demand and supply. But what are we training people for when there are few jobs or income-generating opportunities?
In the past few episodes of this season, we've explored the talent networks, the remote work platforms, the workforce enablement programs, and the multi-stakeholder initiatives to attract more global roles to the African continent. All of these interventions work to better connect supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and often there is a necessary training component to these interventions to equip African talent with the skills to do the jobs in question.
Edtech and tech-enabled skilling platforms have a role to play too, considering the size and scope of the challenge at hand. So in this episode, we're going to explore these programs working to tackle this problem at scale across the continent.
6:39 - We explore the disconnect between supply and demand in the labor marketplace, and the talent deficiency, with AltSchool Africa's Adewale Yusuf.
9:19 - The business model question is important. The recruiting agency model is at odds with the scale of impact programs seek to achieve, explains Stack Shift's Chris Quintero.
10:48 - Short-form programs need to get really good at developing curriculum that's in line with the demands of the market, especially if they're charging talent directly for their service. We hear from AltSchool Africa's Carlin Henikoff.
14:18 - We explore this challenge with a focus on tertiary education, with Kibo School's Ope Bukola.
Season 4 of The Flip is sponsored by MFS Africa.
Follow The Flip on Twitter @theflipafrica and subscribe to our newsletter The Flip Notes at https://theflip.africa/newsletter.
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