Why Isn't Africa Turning Its Science Into Billion Dollar Companies? with Houda Ghozzi
Unlocking AfricaPlay episode
Show notes
Episode 235 with Houda Ghozzi, Founder and CEO of Open Startup, a pan African organisation focused on connecting African innovation with global opportunity through investment readiness, deep tech commercialisation, cross border partnerships and ecosystem development.
Over the past decade, Open Startup has supported thousands of founders and startups across more than 20 African countries. Its latest focus is The Science Road, an initiative designed to help deep tech and research led ventures make the difficult journey from scientific and technical development to market readiness, investment and global scale. This comes at a critical moment for the continent. Africa has more than 300 active deep tech startups that have collectively raised around 3 billion dollars over the past decade, yet the ecosystem remains fragmented, funding gaps persist and universities often struggle to connect research with industry and commercial opportunities.
In this episode, Houda explains why Africa's deep tech challenge is not simply about producing more research, but turning scientific breakthroughs into commercially viable companies.
What We Discuss With Houda
Africa has the scientists and the research, so why isn't it producing more globally competitive deep tech companies?Why does so much promising intellectual property remain inside African universities instead of becoming products, companies and industries?Why might the venture capital model that built Africa's software startups not work for the continent's next generation of deep tech companies?Can Africa build globally significant deep tech companies while keeping intellectual property, talent and economic value on the continent?Could deep tech move Africa from adopting technologies developed elsewhere to owning the scientific innovation that powers the industries of the future?Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Can Africa Build a Sustainable Fashion Value Chain From Raw Material to Retail? Make sure to check it out!
Connect with Terser:
LinkedIn - Terser Adamu
Instagram - unlockingafrica
Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu
Connect with Houda
LinkedIn - Houda Ghozzi, PhD and Open Startup
Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:
www.etkgroup.co.uk
info@etkgroup.co.uk
