Glocal Citizens

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week, Chef Mawuli Dzansi allows us the honor of being his first podcast appearance. And we definitely count that as a win with this rising start in the Ghana food movement. Rooted deeply in his Ghanaian heritage, his passion for food grew as he explored flavors, techniques, and ingredients he discovered while living with his Aunt in Accra. Chef Mawuli’s expertise is largely self-taught, honed through years of dedication and an unrelenting curiosity about food. His experiences as an Executive Chef and his time at a Michelin-starred Kitchen in Amsterdam have shaped his innovative approach to showcasing the vibrancy of African ingredients. He has always been considered unconventional, having led impactful projects like Dawadawa at Impact Hub Accra and The Kitchen By Ghana Food Movement, a food hub designed to train young chefs and promote Ghanaian and West African cuisines globally. He currently works as a private chef and consultant to some of Africa’s bold thinkers and organizations. His serial entrpreneurship journey started from the moment he discovered how to please people’s palatte’s and Prekesse, a hospitality practice focused on private dining, brand activations and culinary consulting, is the culmination of his journey so far—a bespoke dining concept celebrating Ghana’s rich culinary heritage while embracing sustainability and modernity. Working across concept development, sourcing, menu design, and execution of immersive experiences for brands and private individuals his focus is on building considered hospitality that connects food, people, and place through African ingredients and contemporary dining formats. Where to find Mawuli? @Prekesse On LinkedIn On Instagram What’s Mawuli listening to? Omawumi’s In the Music Other topics of interest: Where is Ho, Ghana? Visit Ashaiman On Ewe languages About Ga Fisherfolk Culture Out and about in Surulere, Lagos On “Continental” Cuisine Dikan Center, Accra Akuna Pod The story of the Clubhouse app Chef Mawuli at Odo ValleySpecial Guest: mawuli dzansi.

Greetings Glocal Citizens! My guest this week is building the financial infrastructure that Africa deserves. As Chief Operating Officer of KoinKoin and CEO + Country Manager of KoinKoin Ghana Ltd, a leading African digital asset exchange, Mimi Kufuor is creating digital assets solutions that work for real people. She comes to this work after spending 15 years navigating the most complex corners of institutional finance - from regulatory programmes at Bank of America and Barclays to compliance frameworks at Meta, working alongside the European Central Bank and managing initiatives worth £10m+. In that span, she learned how money actually moves, how regulators operate, and how to build systems that can scale with integrity. She continues working with companies navigating African markets, building compliant exchange operations, or trying to understand how digital assets can solve actual problems. Recognized as one of Africa’s “Top Fintech Voices,” she has shaped policy discourse at UK Parliamentary Summits, Financial Times Live events, and African Fintech Summits. Mimi champions financial inclusion, women’s leadership in fintech, and regulatory frameworks that position Africa as a pioneer in the global digital economy, building infrastructure that empowers individuals and businesses to access decentralized finance. As another certified Glocal Citizen, Mimi and I first connected as housemates in Morocco courtesy of mutual friend that you’ll hear about in our conversation Afua Dabanka, the inspired experience curator behind A Beautiful Life Travel. Last year on our trip to Kenya, I got to know about her work with KoinKoin and it is a pleasure to be able to share her progress a year later. #Listenandlearn more! Where to find Mimi? On LinkedIn On Instagram What’s Mimi reading? The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Other topics of interest: About Old Street in London About East Legon, Accra Recognizing Bullying in the Workplace About INSEAD Executive Programs Kwaku Yaro at Gallery 1957 In conversation with Edward Larbi What is Binance? About the evolution of African currencies Digital Assets 101 CitiFM Breakfast Show, 26 January 2026Special Guest: Mimi Kufuor.

This week the US commemorates the MLK Day holiday - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. He would have been 97. The third Monday of January has stood as the official holiday for 40 years, and no matter what the current US administration attempts at erasure, the Black American Diaspora will never forget. I remember growing up, before 1986 when the day became an official holiday, the majority of my Black classmates did not attend school on January 15th. This is the activism that the Civil Rights Movement inspired for two generations, and activism + grassroots organizing are prime topics in this two-part conversation with long-time comrade, fellow Brooklynite, poet, performer, jazz/soul vocalist, musician, producer, designer, and community strategist, Tai Allen. A native New Yorker by way of Panama, Jamaica, and Virginia, Tai’s life story is filled with a history of progressive stands. From his mother’s family being among those that contributed to the suit that integrated schools across the United States—Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka to his father’s influential network of academics and thought leaders, his craft was in the making for his entire upbringing—without him necessarily knowing it. #Listenandlearn more! Where to find Tai? https://taiallen.com/ On LinkedIn On Instagram On Facebook On YouTube On Soundcloud Other topics of interest: About Yonkers, New York Perspective on Jamaican Migration to Panama About Colón and Panama City in Panama About Saint Ann and Saint Elizabeth Jamaica The Maroons of Jamaica How Scots became a presence in Jamaica… Flyght Tyme, the band About Tai’s connection to Roots Author, Alex Palmer Haley and Palmer Family Ancestry The Five Cases that lead to Brown v. Board About recently shuttered community hotspot, The Brooklyn Moon Cafe and Michael Thompson What was Real Player? The Last Poets Amiri Baraka Yosef Ben-Jochannan “Dr. Ben” About Leonard Jeffries Who is Chi Ossé? Revisit Anna Malaika Tubbs on Glocal Citizens CBC - Congressional Black Caucus What’s happening in policy in Utah? A timeline of policing, law enforcement and resistance in the USSpecial Guest: Tai Allen.

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week on the podcast, I was thrilled to have been able to take advantage of the fact that this week’s guest and I were on the same timezone because he’s literally moving and shaking across Africa and the Middle East full time. Since he last joined us in early 2020, Oswald Osaretin Guobadia has stepped into multiple new roles on top of being an entrepreneur. This includes more roles on boards, becoming a published author--his book In Pursuit - Journeys in African Entrepreneurship, chronicles the journeys of two friends whose experiences in America shaped their approach to starting their own businesses in Nigeria; and a tireless champion for African innovation. Today, Oswald is a senior policy advisor and digital strategy leader with over 25 years building infrastructure and shaping transformative policy across Africa. He is Managing Partner at DigitA, where, since 2023 he has guided projects and policy innovations that have created impact in countries across Africa, helping to set the pace for inclusive digital development and entrepreneurial growth. Oswald’s advisory reach includes serving presidential offices, leading government agencies, collaborating with multilateral partners, and forging public–private partnerships to help build resilient infrastructure and regulatory frameworks. As Senior Special Assistant on Digital Transformation to the President of Nigeria, he steered Nigeria’s largest startup policy rollout, including the acclaimed Nigeria Startup Act—widely recognized as a benchmark for digital economies. He has shared his insights at TEDx, the United Nations General Assembly, BBC Africa, CNBC Africa, and the Wharton Africa Business Forum, and has graced numerous influential panels and stages globally. He believes, “the next startup to impact the world will start in an African village,” and in this conversation you’ll start to understand how this belief is daily practice. Where to find Oswald? On Glocal Citizens On LinkedIn On Instagram On Medium What’s Oswald reading? Ths Four by Scott Galloway Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan Other topics of interest: About the Benin Kingdom UNDP Timbuktu Policy Approach Digitization vs Digitalization What is Zoho? On Digital EstoniaSpecial Guest: Oswald Oseratin Guobadia.