Getting Here

Iyinoluwa “E” Aboyeji is a Nigerian entrepreneur who has built two of Africa’s fastest-growing tech startups and took early retirement leave by age 28. E co-founded Andela, now a leader connecting Africa’s top software developers with tech companies from the U.S. and around the world, having originally secured $24 million in funding from Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation. After three years, E left Andela to co-found Flutterwave, an online payment solution connecting Africans to the global economy, securing $20 Million, processing 100 million transactions worth $2.6 Billion since inception. These experiences, plus a valuable lesson learned at 14 – which he mentions in his TEDx talk “When will Africa’s Elite Grow Up?” – brought him a new perspective in life and in business. Tune in to learn what he believes is the future and possibilities within Nigeria and Africa and what businesses should aim to deliver in order to become truly successful.

This is a special episode in Spanish with an English transcription, in which Soledad’s journey will invite you to believe change is attainable. From an early age Soledad was taught to be an independent thinker and carve her path in the world through hard work and determination. Despite being told Civil Engineering was a career for men, she went on to graduate at the top of her class in an 8:100 women to men ratio. When the goals she set forth for her cabinet were deemed as “too high” or “unachievable,” her results surpassed any previous term’s results and became Latin America’s benchmark for housing projects for those in need. She invites all listeners to become engaged citizens and for policymakers to fight against the resistance that is constant in the public sector.

In this episode, Forsan shares the remarkable life altering opportunity that enabled him to quit being a construction worker in Palestine and become a student at Brandeis University, how failing to jump-start a venture led him to make history in an even bigger organization, and much more.

In this episode, Christine shares her love for the ocean, her journey on eXXpedition, an all-female crew that sailed across the Atlantic studying the health effects of microplastics, her journey founding Blueye Robotics, and the initiatives of EntrepreneurShipOne; a platform that enables bright minds to meet, learn and innovate at sea.

Kriti Sharma is an Artificial Intelligence specialist and a leading global voice on ethical technology and its impact on society. She built her first robot at the age of 15 in India and has been building innovative AI technologies to solve global issues, from productivity to inequality to domestic abuse, ever since. Founder of AI for Good, an organization creating the next generation technology for a better, fairer world. Kriti also leads AI and Ethics at Sage. In this episode we cover the day-to-day fear most women in Kriti’s hometown experience, her first robot creation, meeting President Obama and leading mobile products for United Kingdom's largest software group company while she was in her mid 20s. 

Anu came from a small town in India and working in a call center in Mumbai, to become the CEO at Rocket Internet Asia and co-founder of EFI Hub (acquired by Acorn Capital). Marked with extreme obstacles and gender discrimination both in her home and at work, Anu continues to break barriers one after another.

American technology executive, author and judoka. First American to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships, CEO of 7 Generation games and the Julia Group. Forbes 40 women to watch over 40 and mother of Ronda Rousey, Olympic judo medallist and former MMA champion. In this episode, AnnMaria talks about how her love for sports and math let her succeed and achieve her dreams. Her determination to be the first woman to win a judo world championship, her professional career in tech and how she founded 7-generation games, as well as her work with the Spirit Lake Reservation.

Richard Nares is a CNN Hero award recipient who is the Co-Founder of the Emilio Nares Foundation; a program dedicated to helping children diagnosed with cancer from low-income underserved families meet basic needs such as door to door transportation so patients can actually make it to their cancer treatments. In this episode, we talk about Richard and his lovely wife Diane’s journey as parents, their son’s battle with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, and the inspiration and life mission conceived from a tragedy.

Nate Martin is a former senior executive in Microsoft and Electronic Arts whose love for gaming led him to become the father of Escape Rooms in America with his company Puzzle Break. Escape rooms popularity is exploding with fans among public figures like Ariana Grande and Barack Obama. Puzzle Break is headquartered in Seattle with locations in New York, Massachusetts and on Royal Caribbean ships. Nate is a Business Journal 40-Under-40 honoree. In this episode, Nate talks about his upbringing, the unusual way he got into the technology business and how he decided to materialize his gaming background into a profitable business.

From educator at the world's most distinguished educational institutions to fashion model gracing the covers of GQ, Essence & Code Magazines. Rashid Silvera is an educator with an M.T.S. degree from Harvard Divinity School and an Ed. M. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In April of 1983, Silvera became the fourth black male model to appear on the cover of GQ magazine. His appearance would mark the last time an African American male model would appear on a GQ cover. Silvera also appeared on the covers of Essence magazine and CODE magazine, and was the first African American male to model for a Polo Ralph Lauren advertisement campaign. In this episode, Rashid talks about his roots, his upbringing and all of the events that led to him to be the first African American male model for Polo Ralph Lauren. Follow Us: Our Website Facebook

Simona Miculescu is the first woman in Romania's diplomatic history to be granted the rank of Ambassador. She is currently serving as Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office in Belgrade since July 2015. Prior to this, she was the Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations in New York, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. She also served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Romania. In this episode she talks about growing up in Romania, living through Ceaușescu's dictatorship, Romania's civil war and how she became the first woman in Romania's history to be granted the rank of Ambassador. Follow Us: Our Website Facebook

Dan Liburd is the Head coach of strengthening and conditioning for the Brooklyn Nets and former straightening coach for the Pittsburg Stealers. There are only 32 head strengthening coaches in the NFL from a field that has 40.000 certified registered strengthening and conditioning coaches, so it’s a very coveted spot. In this interview, Dan talks about where he got inspired, who are his biggest heroes, how he got into the NFL and the cool perks, among many things. You can check out his website here too, where he talks about a healthy lifestyle and training. Check out the video interview here Follow Us: Our Website Facebook

Alexander Torrenegra is a Colombian entrepreneur. He founded multiple companies Voice123, VoiceBunny and Torre. He is one of the investor sharks on Shark Tank Colombia. He was featured in MIT's TR35 Colombia's list of Top Innovators Under 35 in 2012. In this episode, we talk about growing up in Colombia during Pablo Escobar's time, how childhood bullying led to his first venture, starting from scratch in the United States and how a vacant job led to the creation of the largest voice acting market in the world, Voice123. To view the video interview, click here ###Resources named by Alex Platform Revolution Planet Money Podcast Follow Us: Our Website Facebook

Ben Stillman is an American film producer of Black Bear Pictures, a production company nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, nine Golden Globes, and ten BAFTAs. Ben assisted in the development of the Oscar-winning film The Imitation Game in 2014. He has produced four films including Broken City, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and Gold (2016) starring Matthew McConaughey in 2016. To see the video interview, click here Follow Us: Our Website Facebook

Ndaba Mandela is an author, mentor, spokesperson, entrepreneur, political consultant, and the grandson of Nelson Mandela. He was born in Soweto, South Africa. He is active in keeping the legacy of his grandfather alive and introducing Nelson Mandela to a younger generation. To view interview video, click here Ndaba talks about his life as a child in Soweto, a township outside of Johannesburg, meeting his grandfather for the first time in prison, his school days, living with his grandfather and how the African Rising foundation was born, a foundation committed to publicizing the positive image of Africa to the world. Get Ndaba's Book "Going to the Mountain: Life Lessons from my Grandfather" here About Africa Rising Foundation: Africa Rising Foundation website Facebook Twitter Follow Us: Our Website Facebook