IGNITE Insights and Solutions

Ehi Binitie Clearspace Labs: In this series, business leaders and innovators from the Ghanaian and African Diaspora / Black Business Community talk about the future of doing business in Africa and across the Diaspora community. In this episode, Ehi talks to Amma Gyampo, Co-Founder ScaleUp Africa about his work deploying emergent technologies to achieve global impact and doubling down on values in times of uncertainty. He also makes the case for applications of basic services deployed via high-tech solutions for the mass markets and essential services needs of the African population. The smartphone moved from being a luxury device to an essential device. B2B tech interventions will make an immense difference at a fundamental level if the target problem is clearly defined. The knock on effect will be on the consumer. AI: All the major telcos are already using AI for customer service, sales, healthcare in Africa. AI is also being deployed for back office processes. For SMEs, AI presents and entrepreneurial and efficiency opportunity. Top ScaleUp Tips: Focus on the problem. Keep it simple and focus on what creates money based on what people find useful.

Joe Mensah & Gary Stewart - demonstrate the impact of bold leadership required from the corporate sector and share their respective experiences at KOSMOS Innovation Centre and WAYRA (Telefonica's flagship entrepreneurship and innovation programme) Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and requires innovation to optimise its potential. To date, KIC has created 16 start up companies, training over 500 entrepreneurs and has been well received in Ghana and globally for its innovative approach to helping SMEs. Bridging the gap between big business and small business: Telefonica's flagship innovation programme used the power of a large corporate to add value to its start up cohorts: revenue, investment, support. Listen to learn more.

Tomi Davies talks about the problem of Silo working and the lack of commercial viability of the startups taking part in the myriad, below par SME and Entrepreneurship programs. Angel investing will only thrive by engaging those with a vested interest in the host city, those with a passion for where they live and choose to invest. Corporate Sponsored Ecosystems and Programs should be designed with Entrepreneurs. Corporates have seen an erosion in their R& D budgets and now should realise the importance of SMEs and innovators to their future competitiveness. ''The only way to take advantage is to find ventures that address your industry needs, work with them and then over time they become a unit or acquisition prospect for your business.''

In this power packed session, led by journalist and Emotional Justice policy advocate, Esther Armah, this dynamic panel explores an often overlooked element of Africa's historic legacy and trauma; what does it mean to deal with the legacy of untreated trauma that shapes how we craft our economy privileging a model that does not reflect our lived experience? The session reflects upon the collective value systems, leadership mindset and transformation ''from standing still towards scaling up'' in a manner that fits our own circumstances and innate needs as a continent. This conversation also highlights the critical role of 'African sisterhood' and how we can lead, as well as the need for the call to action of Scale Up Africa - a B2B Development Advisory firm specialising in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainable Development - to engage the Diaspora and Africa in building the Continent of the future through, what Taaka Awori has called a 'Tuned In Leadership'. How might such change allow a people, a nation and a Continent to collectively scale up by better understanding how it stands still due to our legacy? Panelists: Taaka Awori, CEO Busara Africa; Esther Armah, Executive Director, The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice Amma Gyampo, Co-Founder ScaleUp Africa

Almaz Negash has built up one of the most respected ''It is so important to get them to the place they need to be to build up their businesses and their revenues to realise the Development of Africa.'' The Diaspora is one of the most generous and sacrificial, sending $40bn in revenues, 3 x more that what Africa gets from Aid and Foreign Direct Investments. As such it is imperative for African Governments to be more intentional and work more closely with the Diaspora community. Silicon Valley is very much growing in investing in Africa and ADN has worked to build bridges between Africa and Friends of Africa. Building relationships leads to trust and then action. Diaspora Bonds are another option that Almaz talks about the Eritrean post-war effort to rebuild the country. The fact that they did this in 1998, this is a great example of what the Diaspora can do to supplement the development efforts of Governement. Alot of countries have attempted this route. The other options include real estate, SMEs, agriculture - the kind of investment needed 60% of the population works in the sector - as such there are alot of Diaspora opportunities in that entire Supply Chain. The culture of dependency needs to be broken and we must focus on empowering more to create sustainable businesses. Remittances should go towards viable business models and Diasporans should enable more Africans to sustain themselves. Blended Funding is the way to go. Grants will get you off the ground but once you have refined your proposition and plans, you can then seek out new private investment to help you sustain and grow the business. Corporate Partnerships - integrated partnerships, ecosystem building and dealing with some of the deficienies. This is a way to tap into external, open innovation and to boost corporations' merger and acquisition prospects. Governments could give tax free investment for Disaporans changing the remittance culture to investment partners. African Diapsora Post Covid Investment Symposium: Dr James Mwangi (Equity) focussed on Public Private Partnership which is critical to our Development. Access to opportunities and investment in SMEs: what kind of investment - grants, impact investment etc. There is a need for broader ecosystem development and support for Diaspora to invest. Take advantage of Free Trade and open migration. ''I see hope. change will take time but we do have some strong African eosystems that are accountable, transparent, capable.''

In this series, business leaders and innovators from the Black and African Diaspora talk about the future of doing business in Africa and across the Diaspora community. In this episode, strategic entrepreneurship advisor Noreen Makosewe talks to Amma Gyampo, Co-Founder ScaleUp Africa about her work developing entrepreneurial ecosystems across Africa. Africa requires a more localised approach to ecosystem building in order to see more effective programmatic results. Government policy is key to making sure that entrepreneurship thrives but despite the resources being pushed towards this 'empowerment' space across Africa, the challenge remains the success rate of these programs and performance of the SMEs that go through them, remain wanting. There is a need for data, information and simple conversations that translate to support at the grassroots.

Nana Ama Dowuona: In this series, business leaders and innovators from the Ghanaian and African Diaspora talk about their experiences of doing business in Africa, their Diaspora Stories and plans to contribute to African Entrepreneurship and Development. In this episode, Nana Ama talks to Amma Gyampo, Co-Founder ScaleUp Africa, about her return to Africa and work as a lawyer. The conversation also touches upon how to transform the approach of professional service providers in serving the SME segment, as well as changing the perception of SMEs in Boardrooms as sources of ESG, R&D, Innovation and even profit rather than cost or pure CSR.

Izzy runs a uk based training consultancy building high impact training and start up ecosystem support programs to help people from diverse backgrounds to start and scale their businesses. She compares the UK and Ghana ecosystems, notes how chronically underfunded entrepreneurship ecosystem support organisations are and also cites the role of larger companies in terms of capacity building, investing as well as reaping the benefits of loyalty and stronger local suppy chains. ''Corporates need to leverage their talent and step away from vanity metrics by working with academia and SMEs as strategic procurement and growth partners.'' Large mulitnational corporations can work with ScaleUp Africa to improve their supply chain outcomes in terms of diversity, ESG and access to innovation.

Lade Araba talks to Amma Gyampo about how Public and Private sector funding can come together to build social impact businesses in Africa. The missing middle funding gap affects most SMEs in Africa where they are too big to access some sources of capital like micro-financing and too small to attract others interested in bigger 'ticket sizes' such as Private Equity investors. Due to the lack of support and quality issues within the ecosystem, the role of Business Development Service providers (BDS) and intermediaries that can introduce investors to the right SMEs in Africa is critical.

Lawyer Adu Ampofo, CEO of Velia Consulting, talks about how she supports African entrepreneurs and clients to scale up their businesses from a regulartory and compliance perspectives. Velia helps SMEs with their legal obligations to ensure they protect themselves and to regulate their activities to help them secure investment and to manage risk.