Disrupt Podcast – Changemakers

Disrupt Africa has partnered the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa’s Business Heroes Programme to release a special four-part podcast series discussing the benefits of the initiative with previous winning founders.

Applications have just opened for the fifth edition of the Africa’s Business Heroes initiative, a philanthropic programme to support African entrepreneurs. Founders from every sector who are using their business to positively impact communities can enter the 2023 competition for the opportunity to win a share of US$1.5 million in equity-free grant funding.

Selected companies will also gain access to mentorship, training, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, as well as a platform to tell their story to the world via the televised ABH Show.

The Disrupt Podcast series speaks to various African founders to find out what impact ABH had on their businesses, and how taking part helped them scale more rapidly.


DP #37: Changemakers – Meet the Jack Ma Foundation’s African Business Heroes, episode 4 – April 16, 2023 – Disrupt Africa has partnered the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa’s Business Heroes Programme to release a special four-part podcast series discussing the benefits of the initiative with previous winning founders. In episode four, co-hosts Gabriella and Tom chat to the two founders about their experiences running social impact businesses on the continent.


DP #36: Changemakers – Meet the Jack Ma Foundation’s African Business Heroes, episode 3 – April 2, 2023 – Disrupt Africa has partnered the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa’s Business Heroes Programme to release a special four-part podcast series discussing the benefits of the initiative with previous winning founders. In episode three, co-hosts Gabriella and Tom chat to the Tesh Mbaabu, co-founder and CEO of Kenyan retail-tech startup MarketForce, about his experiences expanding his business into new markets since taking part in ABH.


DP #34: Changemakers – Meet the Jack Ma Foundation’s African Business Heroes, episode 2 – March 19, 2023 – Disrupt Africa has partnered the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa’s Business Heroes Programme to release a special four-part podcast series discussing the benefits of the initiative with previous winning founders. In episode two, co-hosts Gabriella and Tom chat to the founders of Ivory Coast-based e-commerce startup ANKA and Nigerian agri-tech company ThriveAgric about their fundraising experiences.


DP #33: Changemakers – Meet the Jack Ma Foundation’s African Business Heroes, episode 1 – March 5, 2023 – Disrupt Africa has partnered the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa’s Business Heroes Programme to release a special four-part podcast series discussing the benefits of the initiative with previous winning founders. In episode one, co-hosts Gabriella and Tom will chat to two founders running two very different startups in markets as contrasting as Egypt and Zimbabwe.