For today’s episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Edith Njage, CEO and co-founder of Arielle for Africa. Edith is a serial social entrepreneur aiming to create 100,000 jobs by 2030 through Arielle for Africa’s programming. How exactly is she doing it? She’s providing entrepreneurs in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda with the education, resources and tools they need to start and sustain their businesses. She also has 2 undergraduate and two master’s degrees.

She’s quite an impressive woman and we had such an energizing conversation about her work, some of the challenges she’s had as a Black Kenyan founder in Kenya and how she thinks Africans in the Diaspora can be more active and support entrepreneurs in Africa. 

During the episode, we also discuss:

• Edith’s educational background and how it informs the work she does to support African entrepreneurs 
• How her program is structured to ensure each entrepreneur can create at least 5 jobs and ultimately contribute to the goal of creating 100,000 jobs in Africa by 2030 
• The types of entrepreneurs and business ideas she comes across in each country she’s currently operating in (Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Uganda). 
• Her thoughts on only why only 6% of venture capital investments in Kenya go to Black Kenyan founders
• Parallels between the experiences of Black founders in the US and those of African founders on the continent 
• How Africans in the Diaspora can participate and play a more active role in supporting entrepreneurs  

Resources: 

Learn more about Arielle for Africa: https://www.arielleforafrica.com

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