Policy, Talent, And Markets: Building Real Growth In Africa

In this episode we welcome Foster Awintiti Akugri, a Ghanian innovation strategist and fintech leader with over a decade of experience driving product development, market expansion, and strategic partnerships across Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. 

Foster brings insight into how Africa is shaping the future of technology: a young, fast-growing workforce and vast reserves of critical minerals are poised to shape chips, batteries, AI, and the global services economy. But enterprise tech needs to meet the market - build local support teams, price in local currency, and partner with banks on financing.

Foster also spotlights his work with Hacklab, a foundation dedicated to training thousands of young people in digital innovation, and its challenge-driven pipeline that gives students and builders access to real tools and real problems, turning open innovation into credible hires and production-grade prototypes.

To follow along with Foster Akugri's incredible work leading the next generation of fintech talent, visit his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fosterakugri/

Chapters

• 0:06 Setting The Stage With Foster
• 2:12 A Portfolio Career In Policy And Tech
• 5:15 Africa’s Entrepreneurial Reality Check
• 10:58 The Golden Triangle Of Growth
• 18:00 Cutting Red Tape Inside A Bank
• 24:55 Partnerships And Local Context
• 29:18 Toward A Single African Market
• 36:10 Demographics, Minerals, And Opportunity
• 42:00 Localizing Cloud And Pricing Models