Afri-CAN by Pharo Foundation

In this episode, we explore why science is investable, why it matters more than ever in an age of growing scepticism, and how Africa’s young people can be inspired to see science as a creative and powerful force for solving society’s most urgent challenges. The conversation also highlights the new telescope being built in Namibia as part of Sera Markoff’s BlackHolistic ERC Synergy Grant, and what it represents for African science, global collaboration, and the future of discovery.Our guests are esteemed scientists Sera Markoff, Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a leading member of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, and Tolullah Oni, Clinical Professor of Global Public Health and Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Cambridge and Founder & CEO of UrbanBetter. Together, they offer a thoughtful conversation on science, innovation, data, culture, creativity, and the importance of making science more inclusive, exciting, and relevant to the next generation.

What if food security is only half the story?In this episode of Afri-CAN, we sit down with Nassir Katuramu, CEO of Solid’Africa, to explore a question that does not get asked enough: if a country can produce enough food, why do so many people still struggle to access the nutrition their bodies actually need? Solid’Africa is a Rwanda-based organisation focused on ending nutrition insecurity, and its work starts with one simple but powerful idea: food should not just fill people up, it should help them heal. We unpack how Solid’Africa identified a major gap in access to nutrient-dense meals, especially for vulnerable hospital patients, and built a one-of-a-kind model around medically tailored meals designed to support recovery. The conversation also looks at how the organisation works across the supply chain and alongside government to make that model possible at scale. It is a thoughtful conversation about food, health, dignity, and what development looks like when we focus not just on feeding people, but nourishing them.

What does climate action look like when it starts on the farm?In this episode of Afri-CAN, we speak with Jon Saunders, COO of SunCulture, about how the company is helping smallholder farmers across Africa through affordable solar-powered technology. SunCulture’s model centres on off-grid solar systems designed to improve access to irrigation and farm productivity, while also making that technology more accessible through financing and support. We explore the story behind SunCulture, the problem they are trying to solve, and why this work matters far beyond agriculture. At the heart of the conversation is a bigger question: how can climate innovation strengthen food security in Africa, and why does that matter not just for the continent, but for global stability too? This is a thoughtful conversation about technology, resilience, and what it takes to build practical solutions that meet people where they are.

What really helps young people make the transition from school to work in Africa: technical skills or soft skills?In this episode of Afri-CAN, Wendy Cunningham from the World Bank makes the case for soft skills — or, as she puts it, socio-emotional behavioural skills — as a crucial part of employability and success. She explores how these skills affect earning potential, job opportunities, and business performance, and explains which ones matter most for both employees and entrepreneurs across Africa.The conversation also looks at the bigger picture: how investing in these skills among young people could create lasting change across the continent. From education to enterprise, this episode asks whether Africa may need to think differently about what truly prepares people for work.

How can African education systems support both academic results and the deeper life skills students need to succeed?In Music, Consciousness, and Student Success, we explore how music and consciousness-based learning help develop the “whole child” — strengthening resilience, focus, and long-term outcomes from pre-school to tertiary education.Guests: Kimball Gallagher (Juilliard-trained pianist, founder of 88 International) and Tahirih Danesh, PhD (Law) (CEO, Africa College Foundation; leading Education Town).Follow Afri-CAN on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for more conversations on innovation, development, and what’s working across Africa.

Impact investment is booming, and up to half of it now targets environmental goals. But how do fisheries in Africa and other developing regions actually access that capital? In this Afri-CAN episode, we dig into the blue economy with Kaspar Baumann, Partner at impact-investment firm Clarmondial, and Amanda Lejbowicz, Fisheries Sustainability Expert at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). They explain how fisheries standards and certification work, why investors need robust evidence of environmental performance, and how governments, financiers and coastal communities can align around sustainable fish stocks, decent jobs and export growth. From improvement programmes and loan guarantees to the realities of measuring environmental impact on the water, this conversation shows how sustainability can move from a label on a packet to a genuine investment signal, and what that might mean for countries such as Somaliland.

When a university degree can increase someone’s income many times over, who should carry the risk of paying for it – the student, the state, or society as a whole? In this episode of Afri-CAN, we explore how Income Share Agreements (ISAs) are changing access to higher education in Africa. Instead of taking on traditional debt, students commit to paying back a small percentage of their income only once they have meaningful employment, with built-in caps and protections. The result is a revolving fund that can support generation after generation of learners. Our guests are Batya Blankers, CEO and Founder of Chancen International, and Nkazimulo Zitha, Managing Director of Pharo Schools. Together they unpack what it means to say “youth are investable”, share data on graduation, employment and repayment rates from Chancen’s ISA model in Rwanda and South Africa, and reflect on how Pharo Schools thinks about sustainable financing across its scholarship and school networks. It is a thoughtful, hopeful conversation that goes right to the heart of education, finance and development.

We live in an age of information overload, where producing research and “impact evidence” has become a priority, but turning all this knowledge into something that genuinely informs the choices of policy makers remains a major challenge. In this episode, we look at evidence synthesis, which is the disciplined process of bringing many studies together and analysing them to see what the overall evidence actually shows. Rather than building reforms around a single striking study, we explore what it means to ground decisions in a shared evidence base and how this can change the way education systems learn, adapt and improve over time. Our guests discuss how this way of working can be woven into the everyday machinery of government, why organisational culture and incentives matter just as much as rigorous methods, and where artificial intelligence might either strengthen or distort the process. From questions of whose evidence is included to the emerging role of “evidence labs” in low- and middle-income countries, the conversation offers a fresh and thoughtful lens on research, power and policy. Joining the discussion are Samuel Kembou, a global lead for Learning and Evidence at the Jacobs Foundation who helps shape dynamic learning and impact measurement across education systems, and Jonathan Kay, Head of Evidence Synthesis at the Education Endowment Foundation who leads work turning global education research into practical guidance for schools and policy makers.

What if we could see poverty from space and respond to it faster and more fairly? In this episode, we explore the new frontier of geospatial AI and Earth observation: the science and craft of observing our planet from space and turning those images into insight. From jagged coastlines and dense forests to changing seasons and expanding cities, satellites are quietly capturing the patterns of life on Earth every day. Our guests unpack how these patterns, when combined with artificial intelligence, can help us understand where need is greatest and how to target support more effectively. They discuss why many popular AI solutions still depend on smartphones and constant connectivity, and why that leaves millions of people invisible to the digital economy. Stories from places like Cameroon and Togo bring this challenge to life and highlight promising examples of geo targeted social protection that work even where the internet does not. Joining the conversation are Dr Rachel Adams, Founding CEO of the Global Centre on AI Governance and a leading voice on AI, inequality and global governance, and Vivek Sakhrani, Vice President of Product and Solutions at Atlas AI who leads the company’s global Geo AI portfolio across international development and supply chain analytics. If you are curious about how advanced technology can serve people who are often left out of technological progress, this conversation offers a clear and accessible guide to a complex and rapidly evolving field.

Across the world, small and medium enterprises carry the greatest financial risk, even when they are the least able to absorb it. What if finance could be rebalanced to make opportunity fairer for everyone?In this episode, we explore how rethinking foreign exchange (FX) risk and moving it from local entrepreneurs to global markets could unlock billions for sustainable projects in developing economies. Joining the discussion are Roopal Kanabar, CEO of Sustainabar, and Christopher Hunter, Chief Risk Officer at Pharo Management.Together, they discuss how innovative financial tools could bridge the worlds of development and finance, lowering the cost of capital, empowering small businesses, and creating a fairer, more resilient global economy.

Good teaching means something different to everyone, and in this episode we ask our guests what constitutes good teaching to them, how to systematise it, and how it can be scaled up.We are delighted to be joined by two teaching experts in this episode. The first is Dr. Fay Hodza, the Global Senior Director of Programmes at PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools). PEAS believe that every young person should have access to a quality education which provides them with the knowledge and skills they need to lead fulfilling and successful lives after school. They support young people to succeed from the moment they start school, right through to graduation from secondary. They run one of the largest school networks in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on secondary schools. Each year, 20,000+ students learn at their 38 schools.Alongside Fay, we have Pharo School’s own Majiwa Benson, the School Principal of Pharo School Homosha. This is our girls only, free boarding school in the remote province of Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia. Despite its remote location and the challenges that come with this, the school is one of the highest performing at regional and national level, with 100% of pupils achieving a grade above the 50% pass rate vs only 8.4% of pupils at national level, for two years in a row. Majiwa joins us to offer his thoughts on how this has been achieved and to share the teaching methods that have served him well across his career.

Welcome back! Season 2 of Afri-CAN is starting on the theme of what it takes to scale up good ideas in development. In this episode, we will concentrate on the policy environment and how one can create a platform which resonates with policy makers and obtain the funding that follows from that. Specifically, this episode looks at Education in the context of decreased development funding globally, and the political deprioritisation of education funding relative to other aspects of development.To help us understand how we have gotten to this point and what can be done to remedy the situation we have three expert guests joining us: Laura Savage, the Executive Director of the International Education Funders Group, Joseph Nhan-O'Reilly, the co-founder and executive director of the International Parliamentary Network for Education, and Geoff Adlide, previously the Director of Advocacy and Communications at the Global Partnership for Education.

Join us for the final episode of season 1 of Afri-CAN! At Pharo Foundation we understand the critical role savings can have and this is integral to our third mission of Productivity - part of which is to remove financial barriers to employment. Indeed, we have seen firsthand what savings can do for people in Savings Groups which we have set up for farming communities in Ethiopia.To discuss savings in more detail we have two guests on this episode:The first is Kenyan entrepreneur, Samuel Njuguna, the CEO and Co-Founder of Chumz - a Kenyan savings platform designed to build better financial habits using behavioural psychology and gamification to encourage its users to save.With him, we have Wangui Kimaru, Senior Programs Manager at Emerging Leaders in Kenya. This is an organisation with a purpose of empowering youth. Wangui initially used the Chumz platform in her personal life and then approached Samuel to integrate this platform at Emerging Leaders. Thanks for listening to season 1 - we look forward to recording season 2!