This week we head off in a new direction, and a new podcast... The Opportunity is Africa. Podcast home page: https://lunarmobiscuit.com/podcasts/ Africa Business Radio: https://www.africabusinessradio.com/podcast/28 Site visits of some of these companies: https://lunarmobiscuit.com/a-whirlwind-tour-of-east-africa/ Read the book at lunarmobiscuit.com/the-next-step See the results of The Next Step at youtube.com/fledgellc More advice at lunarmobiscuit.com/blog Music by Kevin MacLeod -...

This week was recorded in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania talking to Joseph Kadendula, founder and CEO of Swahili Honey (formerly known as Central Park Bees). In this podcast, Joseph and I talk about the challenges that come from growth, from large, unexpected orders, and from building a complex logistics chain of hundreds of small farmers in Africa. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes See Joseph tell his original vision and watch a video update at...

This week was recorded in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania talking to Elly Timothy (a.k.a. Elia Timotheo), founder and CEO of East Africa Fruits. In this podcast, Elly and I talk about focus, both finding focus by trimming the least profitable products as well as grabbing new opportunities when they arise, and satisfying customers in that process. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes See Elly tell his original vision and get a tour of the current production facility at...

This week is an interview Matthew Benson, co-founder and CEO of eFuse, the LinkedIn for E-Sports. In this podcast, Matthew and I talk about the stage of startup right before launch, his journey to ELab in Europe, and what might happen post-launch. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Sign up for eFuse at https://efuse.io/ Read the book at lunarmobiscuit.com/the-next-step See the results of The Next Step at youtube.com/fledgellc More advice at...

This week is an interview David Giles, co-founder and head of Santo de Piedra Mezcal, a luxurious, high-end alcoholic spirit made by hand in Oaxaca, Mexico, sold around the world. In this podcast, David and I talk about global logistics and cashflow, and how both take an attention to detail to keep a company growing. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes See David tell the backstory at http://fledge.co/fledgling/agua-piedra-mezcal/ Read the book at...

This week is an interview Ben Cook and Muralee Balaguru, founders of Zirconia, an innovating material sciences company with a breakthrough for concrete, the world's the common building material. In this podcast, Ben, Muralee and I talk briefly about simplifying a complicated message, but mostly we talk about why everything takes long than expected, even when you expect it to take longer. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Read the book at...

There is a molecule that your body uses to fight infection and to promote healing. It's the same molecule used by your cat or dog, by every bird, fish, and insect. It's been around for hundreds of millions of years, 100 times more potent than bleach, but safe enough to spray in your eye, to breath as a fog, or to drink. The molecule is HOCL, a.k.a. hypochlorous acid. The problem has been that HOCL is unstable. It breaks down in your body seconds after its created by your white blood...

Three years, 85,000 day-old chicks and 6 million eggs later, Oreeggs is on track to be the largest producer of consumable and hatched eggs in Eastern Uganda. Eggs are the most affordable source of protein in this region that is fraught with protein malnutrition. Oree Oscar Daniel, founder and CEO interprets chicken-talk and tells the story of Oreeggs in this short talk from the Fledge accelerator Demo Day. Video and more details at fledge.co/fledgling/oreeggs Post your questions to...

Bees make great fences to keep the wild elephants off of farmland, and there are more elephants in Botswana than any other country in Africa. Kalahari Honey trains farmers in bee keeping, then collects, bottles, and packages that honey for sale in pharmacies and markets in Botswana, Lesotho, and Namibia. Mavis Nduchwa, founder and CEO tells the story of Kalahari Honey in this short talk from the Fledge accelerator Demo Day. Video and more details at fledge.co/fledgling/kalahari-honey Post...

The area around Lake Victoria in Africa is home to 100 million people, nearly all who live without access to electricity. This is a hilly region, with hundreds of year-round rivers and streams, and thousands of waterfalls. Bieera Energy has been created by Kisii University to deploy off-the-shelf micro-hydro power plants to take advantage of the megawatts of untapped, clean, carbon-free energy to bring electricity to the region. Video and more details at fledge.co/fledgling/bieera Post...

The 10 million people living in Western Kenya consume 400,000 chickens per day. But they currently only grow 120,000 of those locally. Chicken Basket was founded by Abisai Nandi to address this opportunity, working with hundreds of local Kenyan farmers, mostly women and youth, to meet the need for chickens in Kisumu, Kenya and the rest of Western Kenya. Video and more details at fledge.co/fledgling/chicken-basket Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Read the book at...

Who made your shoes? What are they made of? Fuchsia Shoes works with artisans in Pakistan, Nepal, and ultimately across South Asia to make beautiful, comfortable, unique shoes and accessories, and shares the stories of the makers with their customers. Afshan Abbas, founder and CEO tells the story behind two of these artisans and the progress of Fuchsia Shoes in this short talk from the Fledge accelerator Demo Day. Video and more details at fledge.co/fledgling/fuchsia Post your questions...

This week is a recording of Demo Day from Fledge14, the conscious company accelerator in Seattle. See demo-day.fledge.co for the video version of this event. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Read the book at lunarmobiscuit.com/the-next-step See the results of The Next Step at youtube.com/fledgellc More advice at lunarmobiscuit.com/blog Music by Kevin MacLeod - incompetech.com

This week is an interview Mavis Nduchwa, founder of Kalahari Honey. In this podcast, May and I talk talk about the importance of focus, how you find focus, and sometimes how it finds you. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Read the book at lunarmobiscuit.com/the-next-step See the results of The Next Step at youtube.com/fledgellc More advice at lunarmobiscuit.com/blog Music by Kevin MacLeod - incompetech.com

This week is an interview Elias Mabiria from Kisii University. In this podcast, Elias and I talk compare the University of Washington and its 200+ person commercialization department with Kisii University, a 16,000-student public university in Western Kenya. Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Read the book at lunarmobiscuit.com/the-next-step See the results of The Next Step at youtube.com/fledgellc More advice at lunarmobiscuit.com/blog Music by Kevin MacLeod -...

The biggest hangup entrepreneurs face in The Next Step curriculum and in business planning in general is the financial model. My lesson of "tell a story with numbers" doesn't always sink in, and in this podcast for all of you afraid of spreadsheets, afraid of numbers, or who need this lesson repeated in a different way I take another crack at teaching financial modeling . Post your questions to www.quora.com/profile/Luni-Libes Read the book at...