Kwame Som-Pimpong

  • No. 71: Anthony Scaramucci and Henry Blodget on Failure

    For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of adversity. Psalm 24:16 I discovered a new podcast earlier this week, Masters in Business, with Barry Ritholtz. Two of his recent interviews were with Anthony Scaramucci, head of Skybridge Capital, a hedge fund and host of the SALT Conference, probably…

  • No. 70: President Obama is Going to Kenya: Dumb or Nah?

    Witney Schneidman, Fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote this rebuttal of Harvard professor Robert Rotberg’s Politico piece which panned President Obama’s upcoming trip to the country for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit as a bad idea. Quick thoughts: I’m not sure President Obama tacking on a trip to Ethiopia would go over well with Africa watchers,…

  • No. 69: George Magnus Goes Deep and Wide on China’s Ambition

    Former UBS Chief Economist wrote this fantastic analysis of China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road plan – essentially a remix of the Silk Road we heard about in Disney movies… Magnus questions the likelihood of China realizing this plan due in large part to the difficulty of having the renminbi accepted globally as a reserve…

  • No. 68: African Fashion’s $31 Billion Opportunity

    What image comes to mind when you think African fashion? A dashiki worn by a person with an afro? A wax printed dress? A band of kente cloth thrown across a college graduates shoulders? I, for one, have a pretty limited knowledge of the diversity of Africa’s fashion aesthetics, and it has been exciting to…

  • No. 67: Pay Attention to the Air Through Which You Walk

    Chinedu Echeruo gave a talk at Stanford University’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series on the value that creativity unleashes into the world. In it, he shared a parable David Foster told in a speech to Kenyon College’s 2005 graduating class. There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish…

  • No. 66: Watch Halt and Catch Fire

    The New Yorker profile on Marc Andreessen I wrote about earlier today mentioned an AMC show, Halt and Catch Fire. I had never heard of it, but just…You should watch the show. Messed up people (who isn’t?) build a PC from the ground up in the days when PCs weighed more than your one year…

  • No. 65: Marc Andreessen and Jean-Yves Ollivier Could Have a Lot in Common

    Marc Andreessen’s frenetic pace on Twitter has fascinated me for the past year. He seems to devour a ton of information and makes nice connections between the current technology landscape and the history and theory that got us to this point. The New Yorker did a helpful profile on him – the kind that makes…

  • No. 64: What Does a Black Princess Look Like?

    Imagine being able to pull up a film on Yaa Asantewaa for your daughter when she asks to watch TV. I am frustrated with the dearth of animated films with black princesses as the star characters. After my daughter’s 30th viewing of Frozen, I looked for other films with a black princess. So far, I…

  • No. 63: What is Happening in Africa’s Cybersecurity Space?

    Andreessen Horowitz just wrapped up a series on the current cyber security landscape. It got me thinking about what the cybersecurity landscape looks like in African countries. In particular, I’m interested in cybersecurity work going on at the intersection of telecommunications and banking. Nigeria has a policy of reducing the circulation of cash in the…

  • No. 62: Africa’s Top Mayors

    I am a huge fan of cities and their ability to create an environment in which people can thrive, so seeing the results of the African Mayor Awards last week was pretty cool. Awarded at the 2nd Africa Urban Infrastructure Investment Forum, the mayors of Praia, Cape Verde; Kinondoni, Tanzania; and Accra, Ghana were the…

  • No. 61: Bridging “Trade not Aid” 

    I gave a presentation earlier this week on how investment was key to moving the needle on transforming economic engagement with African countries from development aid to infrastructure. Here is my brainstorm in preparation for that talk, with some edits. During the IMF Spring Meetings a couple weeks ago, I heard a theme of working…

  • No. 60: 10 Reasons to Listen to Hugh & Crye’s The Protagonist Podcast

    I binged on Pranav Vora’s podcast, The Protagonist, this week. Pranav is founder of Hugh & Crye, a really cool startup men’s clothier that targets lean and athletic men. The podcast contains interviews with the founders of nine DC-based startups. I finished the last episode yesterday and here are some thoughts on why you should give…

  • No. 59: President Obama’s Business in Africa Advisory Council Held First Meeting This Week

    Last year, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker stood up the President’s Doing Business in Africa Advisory Council, a group of small, medium and large US businesses currently engaged in business on the continent and tasked with helping shape U.S. policy for business engagement with the continent.  The makeup of the council is very interesting. You’ve got…

  • No. 58: Do You Remember the T-Mobile Sidekick?

    Do you remember the T-Mobile Sidekick? Did you ever ask how it was made? I sure did not.

  • No. 57: The Diaspora Connects Over Dinner

    A couple weekends ago, I had a blast at a Dine Diaspora event that focused on connecting folks of African descent. We had a delicious meal prepared by Chef Dadisi Olutosin, and discussed Africa’s leadership challenges among other issues. The diversity of backgrounds among the participants was cool to see. There was a restaurateur, an investment…