Africa50 has partnered with FP Studios, a US based company that offers lifecycle podcast production services, to launch a podcast that aims to shed light on Africa’s infrastructural issues and attract investors to the continent. The podcast series is called Africa Forward and tells the story of how infrastructural changes have transformed people’s lives substantially.
Africa Forward’s first part aired on January 26th of this year. The series is a four part series and attempts to imprint massive infrastructural projects with the life of the people most affected by them.
The first episode featured projects like the Benban Solar Park in Egypt and the Senegambia Bridge located on the border point between Senegal and Gambia.
Inspirational people in tech and other infrastructure related are also going to be covered to highlight the importance of technological and digital transformation as tools that are closely related to and drive infrastructural transformation.
Bethlehem Dessie, the 21-year old coder who is the founder and CEO of iCog – Anyone Can Code and owner of seven patented projects, three in collaboration and four individually, was one of the inspirational figures that was featured on the podcast.
Central News Network (CNN), called Bethlehem the youngest pioneer in Ethiopia’s tech industry for her success in teaching more than 20,000 youth to code. She taught herself how to code at the age of nine. Other featured figures include Professor Benedict Oramah, the President of Afreximbank, and Paula Ingabire, the Rwandan Minister for ICT and Innovation.
Africa50 is a pan-African investment platform that contributes to Africa’s growth by developing and investing in bankable projects, catalyzing public sector capital, and mobilizing private sector funding. It prioritizes investment in medium-to large scale projects in the power, transport, ICT and midstream gas sectors, providing appropriate risk-adjusted return to investors, while delivering development impact.