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Legacy Roundtable

A conversation platform by AfroSwissters. It links personal journeys with questions of business, culture, identity and legacy, across generations, professions and countries.

Legacy means more than inheritance here: the businesses people build, the knowledge they pass on, the relationships they keep and the opportunities they open for others.

Three conversations · 2025

Talking Business

The business and investment strand of the Legacy Roundtable: three online conversations on what it takes to build and invest in African markets. Created and moderated by Tallulah Patricia Bär, developed with Collins Kotia, CEO of Zaria Mobility in Kenya.

Format
Online, on Zoom, 45–60 minutes
Dates
7 May, 21 May and 4 June 2025
Host
Tallulah Patricia Bär
Partner
Collins Kotia, Zaria Mobility (Kenya)
7 May 2025

From Remittance to Investment

Recording
The question

How can money sent home build lasting businesses, infrastructure and wealth, alongside what families need today?

With
  • Collins Kotia, CEO, Zaria Mobility (Kenya)
  • Questions and contributions from the audience
What came up
  • Trust is the main obstacle: unclear use of funds, unreliable intermediaries, corruption, and policies announced but not implemented.
  • Market entry is practical work: background checks, local knowledge, registration, licences, running costs and ongoing support.
  • Pooling money: collective diaspora funding such as Kwanda, with transparent management and reporting.
  • Digital payments: M-Pesa, Orange Money, MoMo, TapTap and Wapi Pay, and what transfers cost, how fast and how traceable they are, including between African countries.
  • Every market is different: banking and connectivity in The Gambia compared with Kenya’s digital finance.
  • Tax and incentives: special economic zones, double taxation, and the gap between policy and practice.
  • Sectors raised: education and EdTech, beauty and cosmetics, renewable energy, the creative and blue economies, mining and forestry.
Takeaway

Willingness to invest needs a dependable route into action: credible information, workable structures, accountable partners and knowledge of local conditions.

21 May 2025

Women Leading Innovation: Business, Tech & Beauty in East Africa

Recording
The question

What does building and investing across African markets actually take, especially for women founders and diaspora entrepreneurs?

With
  • Danielle Ciribassi Seck, on returning to Senegal and building an advisory business where business information is scattered
  • Jane Theodore, on building a software company around practical problems of institutions, and the first clients who took a chance on her
  • Angelina, a Kenyan entrepreneur based in Switzerland, on building an inclusive skincare brand
  • Collins Kotia, on local partnerships and why market entry is rarely straightforward
What came up
  • Trust is built step by step: start with small tasks and don’t depend on a single partner.
  • Differences within Africa matter: francophone and anglophone contexts, communication styles, pace and decision-making.
  • Money across borders creates friction: international payments, currency losses and financing.
  • Women in technology need opportunity and support, starting with girls in STEM.
  • Market entry needs local distribution knowledge, research and relationships with distributors.
  • Sectors raised, as areas to explore rather than investment advice: renewable energy, real estate, agro-industry, mining, oil and gas, EdTech, fintech, AI, creative industries, e-mobility and beauty.
Takeaway

Market entry needs commercial knowledge, cultural understanding and relationships that hold up under pressure. Visibility matters; access to finance, clients and distribution decides what founders can build.

4 June 2025

Ethical Mobility & Sustainable Futures: Reimagining Labour and Return

Recording, part 1
Recording, part 2
The question

How can migration, remittances, return and investment work together while protecting the people involved?

With
  • Anne Mbeyu Mruche, State Department for Diaspora Affairs, Kenya, on ethical recruitment and protecting workers abroad
  • Andrew Kulankash, Remit Call, on remittances that reach the last mile: rural recipients, merchants and digital finance
  • Collins Kotia, on relocation, market entry and local partnerships
  • Questions and contributions from the audience
What came up
  • Ethical mobility needs safeguards: preparation before departure, clear contracts, legal literacy, labour attachés and emergency support.
  • Worker protection and investment belong in the same conversation: what happens during migration shapes whether people can save, send money, return or start a business.
  • Payments must reach rural recipients and merchants, not only cross borders faster.
  • Digital finance brings risks: fraud, scams, consumer protection and unclear regulation.
  • Impact investors weigh social and environmental outcomes, not only financial returns.
  • Affordable electricity, especially solar, enables other enterprise and rural development.
  • Also discussed: regenerative agriculture, blockchain and virtual assets, and anti-money-laundering rules. What speakers said about Kenyan policy reflects June 2025.
Takeaway

Ethical mobility, financial inclusion and investment are connected. Economic opportunity depends on worker protection, usable institutions, accessible infrastructure and trusted relationships.

Across the three conversations

Trust needs structures

Due diligence, reporting, step-by-step collaboration and accountable intermediaries.

Diaspora engagement has many forms

Family support, investment, skills, return and belonging.

African markets need specifics

Country, language, regulation, infrastructure and business culture shape every decision.

Women bring expertise across sectors

Technology, advisory work, beauty, finance and enterprise.

Access shapes what capability can achieve

Capital, distribution, institutional connections and opportunity.

Policy must become usable

Clear processes, and rights and protection for people on the move, alongside economic opportunity.

Upcoming dates

Past events