Afropolitan
Afropolitan
Podcast Description
Welcome to the Afropolitan Podcast hosted by Eche Emole, co-founder of Afropolitan.Afropolitan is creating a digital nation to enable Africans and the diaspora to build abundant lives. The internet enables people to organize around shared values at scales that were previously unthinkable before the current century. If it were a country, Facebook would be the largest one globally. With the advent of cryptocurrency, the next Facebook will not be a social network with a passive online community but rather a full-blown digital nation coordinated by its native currency and a unifying mission.In Africa, our knowledge and history has been passed down through oral tradition. That oral tradition continues till this day, but today we call it podcasting. We seek to preserve our history, achievements and knowledge not just for today, but for the future.In each episode, our guests share their working formulas, the hard facts about leaving familiar terrain, embracing the unknown, and staying relevant afterwards. Listen to the Afropolitan podcast, where we extract the blueprints of fearlessness, innovation, and progress from Afropolitan citizens who are building the future of a bold and progressive nation. Join the network of abundance → https://linktr.ee/afropolitangroupAfropolitan Website → https://www.afropolitan.io/Read our Manifesto https://afropolitan.mirror.xyz/qkBv4y7MidTpDZJVEIEBC4EZi70v30IrCXLCZ-F6eMs
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast emphasizes themes of entrepreneurship, personal growth, technology, and community empowerment. Specific topics include the impact of fintech on unbanked populations, the evolving landscape of NFTs, and stories of resilience from various founders. Episodes showcase guest experiences in areas like digital marketing strategies or navigating the crypto economy, aiming to inspire and educate listeners about contemporary trends and cultural narratives.
The Afropolitan Podcast
Hosted by Chika Uwazie & Eche Emole
This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a mirror to the soul of the African diaspora.
Each week, co-hosts Chika & Eche sit down with founders, culture-shapers, and bold thinkers to explore the truth behind the highlights, shedding light on grief, growth, legacy, power, identity, and everything in between.
You’ll hear the stories you won’t find on panels.
The questions most people are too afraid to ask.
The answers that stay with you long after the episode ends.
From billion-dollar builders to first-gen visionaries, we go there.
About Afropolitan:
Afropolitan is building a digital nation for Africans and the diaspora—powered by culture, capital, and code.
The podcast is one piece of a global movement to create infrastructure for Black and African ambition at scale.
This is the sound of a new era.
Raw. Soulful. Unapologetically Afropolitan.
Watch on Youtube as well
https://www.youtube.com/@Afropolitan?sub_confirmation=1
Austin Avuru at Afropolitan Live | Building Institutions That Last in Africa
AUNTY’S SCULPTURE COLLECTION
A limited collection by Anthony Azekwoh x Afropolitan. 200 pieces. Application only.
Apply here: https://formless.ai/c/q1GB9jAzOWTr
In this episode of The Afropolitan Podcast, we sit down with Austin Avuru—Nigerian geologist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Seplat Petroleum—to explore what it really takes to build institutions that last in Africa.
From his early years at NNPC to co-founding one of Nigeria’s most successful indigenous energy companies, Austin shares a rare long-term perspective on discipline, governance, succession, and the hidden cost of success. This is not a hype story. It is a builder’s story.
We discuss why most African businesses collapse after the founder exits, why managing success is harder than starting from nothing, and why building in Nigeria is difficult but absolutely possible.
🔗 FOLLOW AFROPOLITAN
Website – https://www.afropolitan.io
Instagram – https://instagram.com/afropolitan
Twitter – https://twitter.com/afropolitan
Book 1:1 with Eche – https://convo.vip/echeemole
Book 1:1 with Chika – https://convo.vip/chikauwazie
SPONSORS
VBan – Use code AFROPOLITAN → https://vban.com
Inverroche Gin → https://www.inverroche.com
Risevest → https://click.risevest.com/gb0g/afropolitan
Convo → https://convo.vip
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:45 What it really takes to build in Nigeria
1:36 Discipline, focus, and one step at a time
2:18 Would he still choose Nigeria today
2:48 Starting his career at NNPC
3:49 Founding Platform Petroleum
4:36 Co-founding Seplat and acquiring Shell assets
5:02 Why Seplat listed on the London Stock Exchange
5:14 “We listed to save the company from ourselves”
5:47 Managing success as the biggest risk
6:27 Why African companies don’t survive founders
7:47 Why Platform Petroleum still exists today
8:27 What NNPC represented in the 1980s
10:08 Comparing NNPC to Saudi Aramco
11:06 Losing his father at age six
11:36 His mother’s role in shaping resilience
12:59 Returning to his childhood school after 60 years
14:14 The missed opportunity to go abroad
17:49 Acquiring IOC assets with audacity
18:50 Negotiating directly with Shell
19:41 Convincing global investors
20:42 Almost failing the LSE listing
22:06 How trust unlocked approval
24:36 Rebuilding market confidence
25:54 Scaling from 22K to 100K barrels/day
27:00 Why scaling breaks businesses
29:00 Choosing the right partners
30:23 When to walk away
32:04 Why indigenous entrepreneurs must step up
35:47 What a family office really is
36:25 Why he refused to write a will
37:00 Structuring wealth to avoid conflict
40:09 Lessons from the Dangote refinery
44:08 Energy transition and Africa’s right to develop
47:49 What a just transition really means
50:35 Wealth discipline and philanthropy
53:23 Advice to Africans in the diaspora
55:35 Why Afropolitan exists
57:30 Rapid fire
59:39 Biggest hiring mistake
1:00:10 Best business advice received
1:01:26 One word for the diaspora: “It’s possible”
1:02:05 Leaders he wants to see next
1:03:22 Final reflections on legacy
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