Writings
Recent
Africa’s Next [$] Billionaires
Africa continues to be framed as the “final frontier”: a vast, youthful market whose growth is preordained by demography and digitization. And yet – the facts are incomplete.
[Useless] Demographic Dividend
In recent development data and reports, Africa’s demographic future has been described as its greatest economic opportunity.
Every 30 Seconds
I was standing on the factory floor at the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, and I could not help but focus on the thirty-second mark.
Big Bet[s]
Shah writes about the idea that meaningful change rarely comes from incremental programs or cautious reforms. It comes from bold, coordinated investments in ideas that seem almost unreasonable at first—ideas that aim to move entire systems rather than tweak the edges of them.
Q2 Systems
It was in a Waymo ride in San Francisco at the 2025 TechCrunch Disrupt Conference that we knew clear as day that Q2 Systems had to bet on autonomous systems.
How We Are Going to Do More, and Better: 2026 African Business Conference Takeaways (UoM)
The African Business Conference at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business brought together students, founders, professionals, and builders from across disciplines and geographies — all in one room, thinking seriously about Africa, diaspora, and what comes next.
A LinkedIn Recap: Ten Years In
LinkedIn did something new this year: it gave us a recap. When I first saw it, my immediate reaction was that it was cheesy. And then I clicked through it anyway. And I found myself pleasantly surprised.
Nebula Capsule 3 Review: A Projector that Turned My Room in a Cinema
(Organic User Review. No Sponsors) Last winter, when I was setting up my room in
Avatar: Fire and Ash (A [Biased] Review)
While I was talking through the game with one of my mentors and the co-chair of my company, Leo, I started describing the characters and the environment I was imagining. At some point, the conversation paused, and he said that what I was describing felt very Avatar.
50 Years Later: Why the Maize Mill Is Still King
My grandfather owned a maize mill in Chikwawa. It was the family mill, and my father worked in that maize mill as a child. When my parents later moved to Mangochi, my dad started two more maize mills.
