In this candid conversation, Mozambican creative entrepreneur Iria Marina shares her journey crossing multiple African borders—from Mozambique to Swaziland, South Africa, Kenya, and beyond. Born in Mozambique but educated across Southern Africa, Iria offers thoughtful reflections on how movement shapes creative identity and business opportunities.

The episode explores both triumphant moments and challenges of cross-border entrepreneurship, with Iria detailing how logistics costs eventually forced her to close her successful fashion company despite surviving COVID. “If a product costs 3,000 rand, then to ship that product is 4,000 rand,” she explains, highlighting the practical barriers to creative business across Africa.

Particularly insightful is Iria’s perspective on border closures between Mozambique and South Africa, revealing the deep economic interdependence between neighboring countries. “You need us. As much as we need your food and stuff, you need us to be buying,” she observes, demonstrating how border politics impact both creative industries and broader economies.

From the challenges of being perceived as South African while maintaining Mozambican identity to the revelation that “I can be a leader, but I don’t want to be a boss,” Iria’s story captures the complex realities of building creative work across African borders.

This content is created as part of the Move Africa project, commissioned by the African Union Commission and supported by Africa No Filter (ANF) with funding from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIZ, the African Union or ANF.