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Top 20 Best Business Podcasts in Africa This Year

November 25, 2024

Top 20 Best Business Podcasts in Africa This Year

Experience, books, blog posts, and videos usually make up the curriculum of the self-taught entrepreneur, but business podcasts offer their own distinct value. They let you listen, learn, and grow while you’re getting ready in the morning, going for a jog, driving around, or even working on your business.

But, with more than three million podcasts available, how do you choose where to start?

To help you out, we’ve rounded up 20 of the best business podcasts for aspiring and established entrepreneurs in Africa. Whether you’re looking for practical marketing advice or a motivational push, these top business podcasts are worth a listen.

What is a Business Podcast?

Business podcasts are audio series dedicated to sharing insights and tips about business. Typically there will be a host or two who discuss specific business-related topics in episodes that run from 20 minutes up to 1.5 hours, often with a special guest who’s brought on to share their unique perspective on the topic. Topics often center around online marketing tactics, social media strategies, tech and culture trends, and entrepreneurial success stories.

20 Business Podcasts

1. Today Africa Podcast

Hosted by: Orji-Oko Uzor and Chibuike Orji-Oko
Made for: Africans looking to start or grow their business and non-Africans looking to invest in Africa.

Today Africa Podcast is about learning from the remarkable stories of African entrepreneurs, innovators, business leaders, experts, etc. We interview them and share the stories behind their businesses and careers. In each interview, we ask how they got started, how they grew, and how they run their business today.

These stories are inspiring and also provide specific advice and a blueprint for starting a business. By sharing these stories, we want to help others get started and thrive. You can also watch every episode- in full- on our YouTube channel.

As a bonus, guests on Today Africa Podcast often share their business models, their hobbies, and other information you usually won’t get from other shows.

2. Duct Tape Marketing

Hosted by: John Jantsch
Made for: Small business owners looking to learn more about online marketing on a budget.

John Jantsch has been running this weekly podcast for more than a decade, interviewing experts, authors, successful entrepreneurs, and thought leaders about business hacks, the ins and outs of online marketing, and more.

There’s valuable content here on subjects in all areas of digital marketing. The podcast dives into the technical, like getting more results from Google Ads, as well as the more abstract, like building a memorable personal brand, or the role of authenticity in marketing.

You’ll not only get business advice about how to differentiate yourself from the competition and make your venture truly unique, but also content covering everything from new trends in marketing (like voice search) to increasing productivity.

3. HBR IdeaCast

Hosted by: Sarah Green Carmichael
Made for: Entrepreneurs who are scaling and running into growing pains, especially when it comes to building a team.

IdeaCast is the brainchild of the Harvard Business Review and features weekly discussions about business management, often through interviews with industry experts and business leaders.

It has actionable advice on everything from networking to business management. In particular, this is one of the best business podcasts for those managing a team of employees and contractors.

If you’re planning on growing your team to scale your business (or if you’ve already done so), these episodes are a must-listen. Host Sarah Green Carmichael frames advice around real-life case studies of small business owners everyone can earn from.

4. The $100 MBA Show

Hosted by: Omar Zenhom
Made for: Entrepreneurs interested in the process of running their own business, not just growing one.

The $100 MBA Show attracts 50,000 listeners daily by offering advice on how to run a business using predictable patterns to your advantage. Host Omar Zenhom is always upbeat and energetic, and his passion for efficient processes translates into valuable information successful entrepreneurs can use to build a better marketing flywheel or improve business operations.

In addition to growth, this podcast also offers advice tailored specifically to those who want to avoid or resolve common problems that are likely to pop up along their business journey. If owners are feeling stumped, they can also submit questions for possible inclusion in an upcoming podcast.

5. The Copywriter Club

Hosted by: Kira Hug and Rob Marsh
Made for: Business owners who write their own copy or who want to learn about the craft of high-converting writing.

Every week, catch an in-depth interview with experts on how to write compelling copy that feeds a content marketing strategy and converts for top brands.

Great copywriting bolsters nearly every marketing activity: from your product descriptions, site copy, email marketing, PPC campaigns, and more. Marketing still lives and dies on the words you use to communicate.

This podcast can help you create copy, hone your online marketing skills, and build a content marketing machine that converts, including product descriptions and marketing campaigns.

6. Mixerg

Hosted by: Andrew Warner
Made for: Entrepreneurs and business owners keen to hear how other startups were born and how they grew.

Airing several times a week, Mixergy features interviews with startup founders, serial entrepreneurs, and people at the top of their fields.

With episodes on reinvented classic experiences like wedding dress shopping or parking tech for autonomous vehicles, Mixergy is one of the best business podcasts for entrepreneurs looking for business inspiration in unlikely places.

Mixergy also covers case studies on successful businesses, and provides valuable information on different ways to run a business.

7. The Jason and Scot Show

Hosted by: Jason Goldberg and Scot Wingo
Made for: Entrepreneurs interested in and selling in the ever-changing world of commerce and retail.

Jason (also known as the Retail Geek) and Scot share some of the high-level debates and conversations they have about the future of retail and commerce.

The interview-style episodes include insights from industry veterans, but it’s Jason and Scot’s deep dives that are worth listening to for the latest business news and trends in retail. Whether it’s Amazon’s latest experiment, or the move toward VR/AR, listening to these two friends talk is always a good time.

8. eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast

Hosted by: Chloe Thomas
Made for: All ecommerce business owners, especially those who want to develop plans for customer retention or relationship building.

For 30 minutes a week, the eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast gives you actionable insights on how to get more customers and make more meaningful relationships with them.

The show’s strength is its deep dives into everything customer-centric: acquisition, retention, and loyalty building. Beyond its customer-centric point of view, it also features information on the latest online business tech and offers tips on maximizing profit and saving money.

9. Social Media Marketing Talk Show

Hosted by: Eric Fisher
Made for: Small businesses doing their own social media marketing.

Ever feel like you get whiplash from social media channels’ new features? The Social Media Marketing Talk Show keeps you up to date while explaining what changes will mean for you.

Eric Fisher, a member of the Social Media Examiner team, hosts the podcast and regularly features experts like Andrea Vahl and Madalyn Sklar. Their conversation makes the changes happening in social media feel more accessible, so you’ll know exactly how to respond with your social account.

10. eCommerce Fuel

Hosted by: Andrew Youderian
Made for: Six- and seven-figure ecommerce store owners looking to scale.

Andrew Youderian has built several million-dollar ecommerce ventures, so he’s an excellent go-to guy to talk to about everything happening in ecommerce.

This podcast features discussions about managing online businesses, with an emphasis on how to get to six or seven figures—and then grow some more. If you want to think big and take home a good chunk of change too, this should be at the top of your listening list.

11. Goal Digger Podcast

Hosted by: Jenna Kutcher
Made for: Female entrepreneurs who rock their businesses and their personal lives.

Instead of a traditional talk-and-interview format, this several-times-a-week podcast takes on the feel of a live workshop. Jenna Kutcher knows her stuff. The podcast provides specific strategies entrepreneurs can use to market their businesses.

In addition to giving marketing advice in areas of expertise like SEO and Instagram marketing, Kutcher goes deep on subjects other podcasts might stay away from, like work-life balance as a CEO and a mom, and how to make your brand more inclusive.

12. How I Built This

Hosted by: Guy Raz
Made for: Anyone who loves a good entrepreneurial origin story.

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely endeavor, especially in the early days. NPR’s How I Built This fills this gap by sharing the struggles and defining aha moments of the world-class performers behind the companies you know and love.

Host Guy Raz is adept at drawing out untold stories you won’t find on a company’s About page. Unlike other podcasts on this list, and despite its name, How I Built This is less about the tactics and more about the journey. The spin-off series How You Built That is also noteworthy, for its focus on innovative small businesses you may not have heard of.

13. Unthinkable

Hosted by: Jay Acunzo
Made for: Entrepreneurs who want to challenge conventional thinking and grow creatively.

Every week, Jay Acunzo and his guests discuss entrepreneur stories that aren’t being talked about but often have a big impact on how we run our businesses and our lives. This podcast is focused on inspirational stories of people who break away from industry best practices—you’ll hear stories about risky, rebellious, unconventional, and intuition-driven paths to success.

If you’re bored of the same old entrepreneur success stories, Unthinkable is the podcast for getting inside the best business minds and listening to something worth your time.

14. Honest Ecommerce

Hosted by: Chase Clymer
Made for: Anyone in ecommerce who wants real-life examples of proven marketing tactics.

Honest Ecommerce’s weekly podcast is a candid and behind-the-scenes look at the experts driving innovation in ecommerce and digital marketing. There are laughs, insights, and value bombs from host Chase Clymer and his guests, as they share firsthand accounts of real-life marketing situations.

The series tackles everyday challenges for online stores—such as customer retention, omnichannel marketing, conversion rate optimization, and product sourcing—leaving you with a ton of actionable ideas to build a thriving ecommerce business.

15. The Unofficial Shopify Podcast

Hosted by: Kurt Elster
Made for: Ecommerce entrepreneurs who want to grow their Shopify stores.

If you’re a long-time ecommerce store owner, you might have heard of The Unofficial Shopify Podcast. Each installment takes on specific challenges Shopify store owners face—like increasing average order value, using content to boost sales, machine learning, and rebranding—and digs into ways you can apply them to your store.

Kurt Elster, founder of Shopify agency Ethercycle and an ecommerce legend, hosts this podcast for Shopify stores that want to turn into revenue-generating machines.

16. OMG Commerce’s eCommerce Evolution

Hosted by: Brett Curry
Made for: Ecommerce store owners who want an in-depth look at what’s new and what’s next in the industry.

OMG Commerce’s eCommerce Evolution is a weekly podcast from a marketing agency with a focus on search campaigns and multichannel selling. It dives into topics that typically fly under the radar, like B2B ecommerce and story selling, and features inspiring stories about entrepreneurs who’ve sold stores for a million dollars in 12 months.

OMG Commerce CEO Brett Curry interviews merchants, vendors, and experts influencing the industry. Each episode is packed with tactics and advice you can use to take your ecommerce business to the next level.

17. Entrepreneurs On Fire

Hosted by: John Lee Dumas

Made for: Anyone who needs a little inspiration from top business leaders as they embark on their entrepreneurial journey.

John Lee Dumas has been running Entrepreneurs on Fire since September 2012. He sets himself apart from the other best business podcasts by launching a new episode every day. His style is casual and engaging, and there are more than 3,800 old and new installments.

John has interviewed top leaders and innovators, including Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, and Tim Ferriss. The stories are insightful and interesting, and have helped millions of listeners succeed as entrepreneurs.

18. The Retail Exchange

Hosted by: Karl McKeever
Made for: Retailers and ecommerce brands who want to learn from the biggest names in the industry.

The Retail Exchange is broken up into three different categories: the Interview, where host Karl McKeever grills commerce brands on their growth, the Event Review, which dissects the happenings at the biggest events in the ecommerce world, and the Special, which covers the latest trends in the retail industry.

All three shows aim to shine a spotlight on the issues affecting the retail and ecommerce industry, providing insider insights from big-name retailers along the way. The Retail Exchange also highlights opinions from thought leaders in the industry.

19. Mistakes That Made Me

Hosted by: Eman Ismail
Made for: Business owners ready to learn from the mistakes other founders have made.

Email strategist Eman Ismail talks to business owners in an interview-style podcast about mistakes. This unique podcast doesn’t focus on the successful tactics founders used to grow—instead, it highlights the biggest mistakes they’ve made and how those mistakes affected their growth trajectory.

Bringing on board some of the smartest minds in business, Mistakes That Made Me is all about pushing through failure and accepting it as a necessary (and important!) part of building a business.

20. Growing Ecommerce

Hosted by: Mike Ryan
Made for: Entrepreneurs who want to understand their business’s biggest challenges and get practical solutions for moving through them.

Host Mike Ryan is joined each week by ecommerce experts, industry leaders, and data scientists to unpack the latest trends and practical solutions. Every episode features a discussion with a different retail or ecommerce expert to demystify big challenges and present best practices for growth.

What Business Podcasts Do You Listen to?

As you can see, there’s a variety when it comes to podcasts about business. The more you listen, the more you’ll find you prefer certain hosts over others, or certain formats and lengths. But whatever your preference, podcasts can be helpful companions on your entrepreneurial journey.

There are a lot of podcasts on this list, and with new ones going live every day, it can be difficult to keep up with all of them. So we’d like to turn it over to you: What podcasts do you subscribe to that have been a huge help in running and growing your business?

Share it with us by leaving a comment below! And if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out these best books for entrepreneurs.