Shows
Global TennesseeGlobal Tennessee - Episode 004 - Where Are We Going? Afshin MolaviThis special edition of Global Tennessee is an extended presentation by Afshin Molavi, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Institute at John Hopkins University, SAIS and Co-Director, emerge85 Lab. Molavi's "Where Are We Going?" presentation is a remarkable collection of his insightful assessments of global trends and facts on the ground that shape the world we live in and where it is headed. You will finish this edition of Global Tennessee much better equipped to deal with the news and information that shapes your world.2018-11-191h 24
The 85%Learning Languages and Life Experiences from RefugeesMeara Sharma talks with Aline Sara, founder of a startup called NaTakallam: “we speak” in Arabic. The organization pairs refugees and displaced people, right now mostly Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with people all over the world who want to learn Arabic. It leverages the gig economy to create a remote income stream for refugees, many of whom aren’t allowed to work, and it also helps language learners practice the kind of conversational Arabic not often taught in formal settings. Beyond that, it’s about making connections across worlds of difference and deepening understanding on both sides of the conversation. Meara an...2018-08-3100 min
The 85%How Cryptocurrency Can Reshape Financial Systems in the Emerging WorldThis week on the podcast, we talk with Tricia Martinez. She’s the founder of Wala, a financial services app, and Dala, a cryptocurrency that goes with it. Based in Cape Town and currently operating in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Uganda, Wala enables people to send digital money -- Dala -- to family across borders, as well as borrow, make transactions, and save. Many of these consumers haven't had a formal bank account before, or they conduct their lives primarily in cash -- both of which pose challenges to financial freedom.
Tricia and producer Meara Sharma discuss why banks have fa...2018-08-2800 min
The 85%Overcoming Stigma Around Reproductive Health Through E-CommerceThis week we talk with Joanna Bichsel, the CEO and co-founder of Kasha, an e-commerce platform based in Rwanda that delivers reproductive health and personal care products to largely rural, low-income women.
The company is committed to helping women in the emerging world access products that are often stigmatized, like birth control and pregnancy tests, through mobile ordering and discreet delivery systems.
Kasha started in Rwanda in 2016 and has recently expanded into Kenya. Producer Meara Sharma talks with Joanna about her journey to working in tech and health in emerging countries, the importance of women-centric business models, and East Africa's...2018-07-1700 min
The 85%The Rise and Fall of the Makoko Floating SchoolStories of social change in the emerging world tend to involve new and exciting ideas, bold visions, and innovation. But sometimes there’s a disconnect between how a project is shown to the outside world — through press, fundraising, accolades — and how it actually functions on the ground. Like in the case of the Makoko Floating school in Lagos, Nigeria.
Makoko is a massive slum built along the Lagos lagoon — many of its houses are on stilts, and canoe taxis are common. When a school there needed an extension, Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi got involved and designed a radical new structure that woul...2018-07-0400 min
The 85%Tony Seba Says Energy As We Know It Will Be Obsolete By 2030This week, we bring you a conversation with Tony Seba, a serial entrepreneur, educator, and thought leader on disruption. He’s the author of the book "Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation – How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030." Emerge85's Afshin Molavi recently spoke with Tony Seba at a conference on sustainability at the International Finance Corporation, IFC, in Washington DC. They talked about how the way we get around is set to radically change, and the particular impact that will have on the emerging world.2018-06-1900 min
The 85%Ian Bremmer on the Failure of GlobalismThis week, host Afshin Molavi (@AfshinMolavi) talks with Ian Bremmer (@ianbremmer) about his new book, "Us Vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism." It's a clear-eyed, often bleak examination of the fallout from a globalized world: how those who have been left behind are expressing outrage and fighting for survival, and what governments are doing about it. Bremmer is president and founder of Eurasia Group, a leading global political risk research and consulting firm, as well as a frequent speaker, columnist, and author of several other books including "Every Nation for Itself" and "The End of the Free Market."2018-06-1200 min
The 85%The Blazing Aspirations of India's 600 Million Young "Dreamers"More than half of India’s 1.3 billion people are under the age of 25. As the UN has noted, “Never before have there been so many young people,” and “Never again is there likely to be such potential for economic and social progress.” But the challenge of educating and employing hundreds of millions of young people is staggering, perhaps even inconceivable. At the moment, less than 17 percent of India’s graduates are immediately employable.
So, this desperate, often frustrated generation of young Indians are charting their own course. This is the generation that features in journalist Snigdha Poonam’s new book, "Dreamers: How...2018-06-0500 min
The 85%Tech Titan Nandan Nilekani Says the Time for Data Democracy Is NowNandan Nilekani (@NandanNilekani) is one of India's most successful tech leaders. In 1981, he co-founded Infosys, the massive IT and outsourcing company. After more than 35 years there, he became the architect of the Indian government's Aadhaar program, the biometric database that has registered more than a billion Indians with an ID number to access a range of government and private services. He's also invested in several startups and founded the digital education platform EkStep. In his recent book, "Rebooting India," Nilekani argues that data and technological innovation hold the key to improving Indian society, from healthcare to education to anti-corruption. Emerge85...2018-06-0100 min
Events at USIPData Democracy: People and Power in the Digital AgeNandan Nilekani is the co-founder of Infosys and former chairman of Aadhaar, India’s massive biometric identification system. The U.S. Institute of Peace, PeaceTech Lab and emerge85 discussed with Nilekani on India’s emerging data economy, which seeks to restore individuals’ control over their personal data while fueling public and private sector innovation.
Speakers
Nandan Nilekani, Featured SpeakerCo-Founder, Infosys
Sheldon Himelfarb, ModeratorFounder & CEO, PeaceTech Lab
For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/data-democracy-people-and-power-digital-age
2018-05-2247 min
The 85%To Combat Traffic Jams, Think Outside The RoadIf there’s one thing that unites the world’s fastest growing cities, it is the mind-numbing experience of being stuck in traffic. Across the emerging world, the cost of congestion, which cuts into work hours and erodes people’s well-being, amounts to economic losses in the billions. This week, we’re going to take a look at two cities where experimental solutions to traffic have cropped up. Aya Lowe (@AyaloweCNA) reports from the Philippine capital Manila, where startups are building dorms for people who suffer hours-long journeys to work. And Lucinda Elliott (@lucinda_elliott) takes us to São Paulo, Br...2018-05-1500 min
The 85%Branko Milanović on Global Inequality: What Do We Do?We're back with more from Branko Milanović, professor at the City University of New York’s Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, and author of the book, "Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization." Last week, producer Meara Sharma talked with Milanović about the factors that have driven inequities among nations and societies for centuries. While the last two decades have seen, for the first time since the industrial revolution, a decline in global inequality, the gulf that divides the haves from the have-nots remains extreme. So this week, we’re going to talk about solutions: how that gulf c...2018-05-0800 min
The 85%Branko Milanović on Global Inequality: The Long ViewWe talk a lot on this show about how economic developments in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East are reshaping the global order. We’re also interested in another aspect of that story: the challenge of income inequality in the emerging world.
Branko Milanović (@BrankoMilan) is a rockstar in the field of income inequality. He’s a professor at the City University of New York’s Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, and his most recent book is Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization. Our producer Meara Sharma had a wide-ranging conversation with Milanović about the forc...2018-05-0100 min
The 85%An Ancient Islamic Toothbrush Goes MillennialThe global Islamic economy - comprised of products and services that embody Islamic ethics - is a multi-trillion dollar industry. But Islamically-branded products are often seen as traditional rather than hip and cutting-edge. This week, Rabiya Jaffery of the podcast Kerning Cultures (@kerningcultures) brings us a story of a new company that is trying to shift that perception, by reimagining an ancient Muslim toothbrushing tradition for today’s youth.2018-04-1700 min
The 85%In Brazil and India, Turning Trash into a ResourceAs countries move up the development spectrum, they tend to produce more trash, and across the emerging world, governments are struggling to keep up. The result is serious environmental and health hazards that often reinforce pre-existing inequalities. On this episode, we’ll hear about efforts to deal with waste in Brazil and India, two countries where rapid urbanization and industrialization has made trash a pressing problem. Zoe Sullivan (@zoesullnews) reports on a favela in Rio de Janeiro that, in the face of official neglect, is taking trash matters into its own hands. And, we talk with Wilma Rodrigues, founder of Sa...2018-04-0300 min
The 85%Pakistani Cinema's New WavePakistani cinema is going through a renaissance. After years of authoritarian policies that stifled the film industry, the country is producing more movies than it has in decades. We talk with journalist Samira Shackle (@samirashackle) about the history of Pakistani cinema and the new wave of films that are tackling subjects like radicalization and gender politics in groundbreaking ways. Plus, a conversation with acclaimed Pakistani actor, director, and producer Adnan Malik (@adnanmalik). He tells us about his journey into film, how cinema is changing the global narrative about Pakistan, and why his new movie, "Cake," is a "true international film."
...2018-03-2000 min
The 85%Argentine Wine Needs a RevolutionArgentina has a rich tradition of winemaking that dates back nearly 500 years. But today, the country's famous wine industry is in crisis, thanks to a complex array of factors – including bad weather, price volatility, and the rise of craft beer. This week, reporter Frederick Bernas (@frederickbernas) tells us about the challenges plaguing Argentine wine, and what producers are doing to breathe new life into the beverage.
You can read more about the Argentine wine industry in Frederick's piece for our website: https://emerge85.io/articles/can-the-new-middle-class-save-argentinas-wine-sector/2018-03-0600 min
The 85%85% Extra: The Filipino Middle Class in the GulfThe rise of the global middle class is a central component of the emerging market narrative. In Asia, the middle class consumer is one of the most powerful economic drivers of the future. By 2030, according to some estimates, Asia will host nearly two-thirds of the global middle class, and this group will account for 40% of global consumption.
But what about the middle class in the Arabian Gulf countries? In places like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, expatriate communities have been integral in building the Gulf. Filipino expats in particular form the backbone of the middle class there. In...2018-02-2200 min
The 85%Cape Town's Water ReckoningCape Town, South Africa is in the throes of an epic water crisis. Severe drought, population growth, overconsumption, poor infrastructure, and years of mismanagement have depleted the water supply, and the city is fast approaching "Day Zero," the day people's taps will be turned off. Emerge85 editor-in-chief Joseph Dana (@ibnezra), who recently moved to Cape Town, reflects on life in a city on the brink of running out of water, and visits a spring where an informal economy and community has formed around water collection. He also talks with Marelise van der Merwe (@Marelisevdm), a reporter for the South African...2018-02-2000 min
The 85%How Pollution is a Drag on DevelopmentFrom Lahore and Delhi to Hanoi and Guangzhou, the most polluted cities on earth are in the 85 world. On this episode, we consider how the problem of pollution looms over the world's fastest-growing places, damaging both public health and economic development.
First, journalist Pia Heikkila (@piaheikkila) reports from Delhi, where consistently hazardous levels of smog have given rise to a new anti-pollution industry. Then, we talk with Urvashi Narain, a senior environmental economist at the World Bank, about the economic and social cost of pollution, and what governments around the world are doing about it.2018-02-0700 min
The 85%NAFTA: The View From MexicoThis week, Canada, Mexico, and the United States begin yet another round of talks about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement – what President Donald Trump has deemed "the worst trade deal in history." On this episode of the podcast, we focus on NAFTA from Mexico's perspective: how it has affected the country, and what's at stake if it collapses.
First, reporter Maya Kroth (@theemaya) brings us a story about a craft beer brewer in Tijuana whose success depends upon a free flow of supplies across the border.
Then, host Joseph Dana talks with Carlos Bravo Regidor (@carlosbravoreg) a...2018-01-2300 min
Beyond the HeadlinesSaudi Arabia and the Future of the Regional Order from emerge85From our friends on the 85% podcast, we consider the changes unfolding in Saudi Arabia from a regional perspective. In conversation with emerge85 Lab editor-in-chief Joseph Dana, emerge85 co-director Mishaal Al Gergawi (@algergawi) and Mina Al-Oraibi (@AlOraibi), editor of the UAE's leading English-language newspaper The National, discuss the challenges facing Saudi Arabia, what western media are missing, and the future of the regional order.2018-01-0534 min
Beyond the HeadlinesSaudi Arabia and the Future of the Regional Order from emerge85From our friends on the 85% podcast, we consider the changes unfolding in Saudi Arabia from a regional perspective. In conversation with emerge85 Lab editor-in-chief Joseph Dana, emerge85 co-director Mishaal Al Gergawi (@algergawi) and Mina Al-Oraibi (@AlOraibi), editor of the UAE's leading English-language newspaper The National, discuss the challenges facing Saudi Arabia, what western media are missing, and the future of the regional order.
2018-01-0534 min
The 85%Saudi Arabia and the Future of the Regional OrderSaudi Arabia is in a moment of profound transformation. From allowing women to drive to rounding up prominent businessmen at Riyadh's Ritz Carlton, the actions of the royal family - driven by crown prince Mohammad bin Salman - captured the world's attention in 2017, and will only continue to do so in the year ahead. In this special edition of the podcast recorded in Abu Dhabi at The National newspaper, we consider the changes unfolding in Saudi Arabia from a regional perspective.
In conversation with emerge85 Lab editor-in-chief Joseph Dana, emerge85 co-director Mishaal Al Gergawi (@algergawi) and Mina Al-Oraibi (@AlOraibi), editor...2018-01-0200 min
The 85%The Emerging World in 2017In this year-end conversation, Emerge85 Lab co-directors Afshin Molavi and Mishaal Al Gergawi sit down with Joseph Dana, the lab's editor-in-chief, to take stock of 2017 in the 85 world and consider what lies ahead. They discuss the return of growth, unexpected shifts in Iran and Saudi Arabia, why Americans still use iMessage, spices, horror movies, and much more. Don't miss it.
Also, listeners: we'd love to hear from you! We're doing a series about cinema, and we want to know about a recent film you saw from the 85 world -- that's Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East -- and...2017-12-1900 min
The 85%India's Biometric Program Puts a Billion Identities at StakeIndia's Supreme Court is reckoning with one of the nation's most ambitious and contested initiatives in recent years: the biometric identification database known as Aadhaar. Aadhaar has amassed the data—including iris scans, photos, and fingerprints—of more than a billion Indians, and is supposed to improve the distribution of welfare benefits and reduce corruption. But critics argue it has gone too far, representing an intrusion into the lives of Indians as well as a security risk.
Host Afshin Molavi hears from scholar Keith Breckenridge (@BreckenridgeKD) about the colonial-era origins of biometric data collection. And he talks with journalist Samanth Subr...2017-12-0500 min
The 85%In East Africa, Clothing Gets PoliticalUsed clothes from the West are ubiquitous across the African continent. But now, leaders in several East African countries are trying to phase out imports of foreign hand-me-downs, arguing that they stifle local textile industries.
Host Afshin Molavi talks with Simon Allison (@simonallison), Africa editor of the Mail and Guardian, about how the used clothing debate throws issues around trade, aid, and globalization into sharp relief. Plus, a look at fashion and social change in Rwanda with Kigali-based designer Matthew Rugamba (@Mr_rugamba).2017-11-2100 min
The 85%The Man Who Brought Ride-sharing to the Middle EastCareem, the fast-growing, car-hailing app, is the Middle East's only 'unicorn' – a private tech company worth more than $1bn. Abdulla Elyas, co-founder of Careem, talks to host Afshin Molavi about the company, its future, and his own entrepreneurial highs and lows. He also offers tips for aspiring entrepreneurs in the region.
In the second segment, emerge85 collaborator Kerning Cultures offers a reported segment on the social mobility and rise of the Filipino middle class in Dubai.2017-11-0100 min
The 85%Mexico between Two EarthquakesMexico City experienced a major earthquake on September 19, 2017 – exactly 32 years to the day that a similar quake struck the North American city. Journalist and scholar Andres Martinez explains why these two earthquakes can serve as bookends for Mexico 'then and now', pointing out the dramatic gains that have been made over the past three decades in society, politics, and the economy. He also discusses the "two Mexicos" that exist side-by-side in a country that is experiencing dramatic transformation amid challenges ranging from US President Donald Trump to local corruption and drug wars. In the second segment of the show, we of...2017-10-1000 min
The 85%Asia's Air Travel RevolutionThis week Afshin Molavi looks at the air travel revolution reshaping Asia, and also explores why Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan is claiming Dubai as his own city. Molavi speaks with Max Hirsh, a professor at the University of Hong Kong and author of the book Airport Urbanism: Infrastructure and Mobility in Asia. Hirsh argues that the unprecedented airport buildup across East Asia has helped spur an air travel revolution that is reshaping economies and societies across the region. A globally renowned airports expert, Hirsh also tells us about his favorite airports. Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood megastar, considers Dubai...2017-09-2500 min
The 85%Easternisation: The Rise of Asia and Decline of the WestThe fourth episode of the 85% takes us to London, where host Afshin Molavi speaks with Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times and author of the book Easternization: Asia's Rise and America's Decline From Obama to Trump and Beyond. For some 500 years, the West dominated the world. That is no longer true, Rachman argues, suggesting the rise of China, India, and other Asian powers are rewriting our global script.
The extraordinary rise of Chinese travellers are part of that script rewrite, argues lab co-director Afshin Molavi as he sat down with the BBC World News on his...2017-09-1200 min
The 85%The Next Africa: The Great Turnaround Story of the 21st Century?In the third episode of The 85%, host Afshin Molavi sits down with Africa markets specialist Aubrey Hruby to discuss the promise and challenges of African markets in the 21st century. Hruby argues that Africa could become "the great turnaround story of the 21st century," while also noting that the continent's more immediate jobs challenge should be "keeping us all awake at night." Hruby is co-author of The Next Africa: An Emerging Continent Becomes a Global Powerhouse, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.2017-08-2700 min
The 85%Chris Schroeder on Startups in Emerging MarketsIn the second episode of The 85%, host Afshin Molavi sits down with technology expert Chris Schroeder to discuss the power of the supercomputers we all carry in our pockets and startups in Emerging Markets. They also discuss what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur anywhere in the world. In the second segment of the show, Molavi speaks with emerge85's senior editor Joseph Dana about two recent articles on the lab. They detail the debate over mega infrastructure projects in Istanbul and an Uber-style application that could help India's growing garbage problem.2017-08-1400 min
The 85%What Is The 85%?In this pilot episode, co-directors Afshin Molavi and Mishaal Al Gergawi join the lab's senior editor Joseph Dana for a discussion about the lab's origin, mission and goals.2017-08-1400 min