Meet the CEO of Afripods

I recently had the great fortune of connecting with Molly Jensen, the CEO of Afripods. A fellow audiophile and advocate for African creators, if you haven't checked out the free pan-African platform yet, you definitely want to!

TPC: Molly, how would you describe Afripods to a 80 year old?

MJ: For an 80 year old I'd say, Afripods is a platform that allows you to share your recorded audio (like WhatsApp voice notes or a radio show) with your friends on the internet. With Afripods, your friends can listen to you from anywhere across the globe.

TPC: What do you find special and unique about the platform? MJ: Afripods is primarily focused on the African creator. We are a free pan-African podcast hosting platform based in Nairobi, Kenya with a vision of building the largest library of African audio stories on the planet. We want to see African creators take up space and get paid for their content. With Afripods, we are building the technical infrastructure of digital storytelling and have created an advertising funnel for audio on demand content. Currently, no hosting platforms pay African creators and with Afripods we are building the ability for podcasters to capture opportunities and get paid for the work they love to do.

TPC: The African podcasting industry is definitely growing. What are the most exciting opportunities for podcasting in Africa today? MJ: With the rapid growth of podcasting on the continent, there are limitless opportunities for creators. We have seen in Q1 live shows have been incredibly popular across Africa in multiple regions as well as content creators selling merch. We have seen podcasters become syndicated on radio, and have also seen radio stations share their content as podcasts in various countries. It's been an exciting time from a growth perspective and we are certainly just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Africa will do with the digital audio opportunity.

TPC :Which African country is producing the largest variety of podcasts? MJ: We know that South Africa, Nigeria & Kenya have the most podcast research available which would create the understanding that one of those three countries are producing the most podcasts with the most variety but as podcasting continues to grow and research continues to be done, it is possible that there are countries producing tons of audio content that hasn't been as widely accessible yet.

TPC: What genre of podcast is most popular on the continent? MJ: Globally, we see a huge interest in true crime/investigative journalism podcasts and I think we see that also translate to the continent. Additionally, conversational and interview style podcasts are quite popular due to lower barriers to entry.

TPC: Radio has always been a strong way to get a message to the masses. How do you see the intersection of radio and podcasts playing out on the continent? MJ: Africa has a rich oral history and a tradition of storytelling that is embedded through the culture of the continent. Radio has been the most widely consumed media in Africa due to the accessibility of it, and the trust that African people have in the medium. It is exciting to see as we leap through digital transformation that audio on demand, like podcasting, becomes more common and accessible. We are seeing podcasting as the fastest digital growing medium on the fastest digital growing continent in the world with an opportunity to see Africa become the largest podcasting market in the world.

TPC: Lastly, what was the last podcast you listened to? MJ: Most recently, I listened to Sincerely Accra and The Unartiste Podcast, both from The Gold Coast Report in Ghana.