The Salary Scramble With Lee Kasumba

When passion pulls you in a new direction mid-degree. After two years of engineering, our guest realized he was spending more time on his political science and economics electives than his core classes. The identity crisis he feared? It never came. Instead, he found surprising support and a lesson in trusting yourself.If you've ever feared changing direction, or wondered whether it's too late to follow what actually excites you, this conversation is for you.

Victor Williams ran NBA Africa. But his story starts in Freetown, Sierra Leone.His parents could have stayed overseas. They chose to come home. That choice shaped everything.From a government school in Freetown to Harvard. From Goldman Sachs to launching the Basketball Africa League. Now he's betting on the continent again as founder of Lions Range Group.This is a conversation about following your gut, building where you come from, and why sports is Africa's most underrated economic engine.

From torn paper tickets to double-booked seats, this episode unpacks a reality many still face across the continent. What seems like a small inconvenience reveals a deeper conversation about access, systems, and the true value of experience.This is the real Africa. No filter.New Episode Out Today!

Laila Zangwio, a powerhouse athlete and CEO of HIIT ME UP & SWIMPRO GH, shares her incredible story of perseverance and determination. From defying parental expectations to dominating national triathlons and competing on the world stage, Laila’s journey is a testament to the power of self-belief and hard work. Discover how she overcame financial hurdles, trained without a coach, and earned her place among the world’s elite athletes.

She went 2.5 years without paying herself. She taught class the day her sister died. Her mother told her she was wasting her time.This is Laila Zangwio. Relentless.Before she built HIIT Me Up Ghana, one of the country's premier all-female fitness communities she was a girl who didn't know how to be with girls. A triathlete who funded her own ticket to compete against 800+ athletes. A daughter who had to earn the right to play sports with straight A's.When she finally decided to start her fitness brand, she had no plan. No space. No mats. Just a client who believed in her more than she believed in herself and a birthday post that took her from zero followers to 300 in minutes.She opens up about the question her mother asked that still drives her today, why she made HIIT Me Up all-female, her honest take on Ozempic and Ghanaian food, and why she doesn't shiver when she names her price.This is the story of a woman who proved everyone wrong including herself.

She learned bulimia from her senior sisters. Eat until you can't breathe. Hands down the throat. She thought it was normal.Then she learned about gluttony. And prayed against it.She put herself on the streets. Walked. Jogged. Lost the weight. Then went straight into professional competition.This is not a clean fitness story. This is the messy, uncomfortable truth behind a champion.Laila Zangwo. Relentless.New episode out tomorrow on all platforms!

Be honest: when was the last time you let yourself believe your dream could actually happen? Peter Pearse-Elosia decided to stop treating his passion like a hobby and start treating it like a future. While everyone around him pushed for safety, he pushed back with one dangerous question: What if the dream works?This episode is for anyone who's ever felt crazy for wanting more. For anyone tired of being called impractical for simply believing.Peter isn't here to tell you risks are easy, he's here to prove that playing it safe might be the biggest risk of all.

Everyone wants to earn more but not everyone understands what actually drives salary growth.In this episode, Peter breaks down the gap between effort and reward, and why working harder doesn’t always translate into earning more. If you’ve ever felt stuck, underpaid, or unsure about your next move, this episode is for you.Full episode out today!

She sat on the idea for 10 years. Now her company is about to turn 10.Tiffanie Anderson, founder and CEO of Away to Africa, joins Lee Kasumba on The Salary Scramble to talk about building a bridge between the diaspora and the continent on her own terms.From her first trip to Cape Town as a law student (pre-Africa trending on Instagram) to bootstrapping a business that prioritizes ethical tourism and narrative control, Tiffanie shares what it really takes.She takes us to the places that move her, the stillness of Lamu, the raw beauty of Madagascar and explains why simplicity might be the key to going further in life.She also gets real about the diaspora's relationship with Africa:"You don't walk into a new home and open the fridge. You have to understand the rules of the household."And her non-negotiable rule for tour partners? They have to be African. Black African. No exceptions.Plus: the Craigslist connection who became her first client, why Kiswahili matters, the jollof debate (Senegal wins), and Scramble or Stable.Listen now.

Tiffanie Anderson of Away to Africa on why ownership isn't just about business, it's about narrative. For her, building a company meant being able to control the story that Africa puts out into the world. It meant joining a wave of people across the continent demanding to tell their own stories.Her philosophy is simple: take visitors to the people who can tell it best. That's why her tour partners have one non-negotiable requirement: they have to be African. No exceptions.Full episode out tomorrow!

Tiffanie Anderson of Away to Africa takes us to the places that move her. From the star-filled skies of Lamu, Kenya, to the raw beauty of Madagascar. In a world that never stops, she reflects on the profound power of simplicity and why it might be the key to moving forward.Plus, the moment she realized the world was finally catching up to what she saw coming years ago. Full episode out on Thursday.

She designed her own prom dress at 16 because nothing in stores felt like her.Years later, she packed two babies, 13 months apart into a double pram and showed up to fashion class anyway. Her mentor took one look and said: "It's in you. You should start."Yousra Elsadig listened.In 2018, a blazer made from traditional Sudanese wedding fabric went viral. Since then? London, Paris, and Milan Fashion Week. Young Sudanese women message her daily: "We aspire to be like you."But her fabrics feel like home. They smell like home. And now, with war in Sudan, she's lost access to them."We've gotten the world's attention at the wrong time. It hurts to carry on."This one stayed with me. Meet Yousra Elsadig: designer, mother, trailblazer. Full episode live now.

She designed her own prom dress at 16 because nothing felt like her.She started her brand pushing a double pram with two babies, 13 months apart.Her viral Garamasis suit put Sudanese fashion on the map in 2018.Now she's shown at London, Paris, and Milan Fashion Week.Yousra Elsadig joins us to talk about it all including the heartbreaking reality of getting the world's attention at the worst possible time for her country.

She googled a fashion class, packed up a double pram with two babies 13 months apart, and showed up anyway.That moment of survival became the start of something bigger.Yousra Elsadig on:The mentor who told her: "Carry on being different. You will get there."Why Sudanese fabrics "smell like home" and why she carries that into everything she designsThe social responsibility she feels to make impact, not just fashionAnd why she'll never separate fashion from her soulFrom a viral blazer to almost landing in a museum, this is the story of a woman who built what she couldn't find.For Yousra, fashion isn't just fabric. It's home. Listen Thursday to hear why Yousra says: "Fashion lifts me. It feeds my soul. I can't separate the two."

So how does a skirt, worn with an Adidas jumper, no less almost end up in a museum?Ask Yousra Elsadig.She joined us on The Salary Scramble to trace the dots from her early days: the local fashion classes, the "light bulb" entrepreneurship programs, and the pivotal moment she committed to her brand somewhere around 2016–2018."I never looked back," she says. And thank goodness for that.Because her love for Sudanese fabric has led to moments she never could have scripted. Like seeing her designs displayed as cultural artifacts. Like realizing that what she wears carries stories, memories, and a piece of home.Press play this Thursday for a conversation about identity, museum-worthy fashion, and the power of not looking back. 🎧🧵

“The first time I realized I could actually do this as a business? Game changer.” — Abokuma EllisFounder of Purple Twirl Events, Abokuma Ellis sat down with Lee Kasumba on The Salary Scramble and kept it all the way real.From landing her very first client on Facebook to building one of the most intentional event brands out there.We talked money; what events actually cost, where the budget really goes, and how she prices her work.How the Ghanaian and Nigerian wedding industries have evolved from when she started to now.Why she loves when clients bring their biggest dreams — and she gets to bring them to life (with their money 😄).Her honest advice to founders who think they’re ready , because entrepreneurship is always the highlight reel. From weddings to funerals, and everything in between, Abokuma plans it. Because in our culture, life is a full circle… and someone has to plan it all.Honest. Insightful. Unfiltered.Full episode out now.

Okay so you know how Oprah said the best part about having money is she can just do whatever she wants? Abokuma Ellis felt that. Just from the other side.She runs Purple Twirl Events now, but when she was starting out she noticed something interesting especially about the difference between the Ghanaian and Nigerian wedding industries 🇬🇭🇳🇬. Two neighboring countries. Two totally different vibes back then.And people? They saw the opportunity. They showed up. They built whole businesses around it. Now she gets clients who come to her with these big beautiful dreams for their events. And she gets to be the one who makes it happen. With their budget. Which honestly? Kinda the dream. ✨New episode of The Salary Scramble drops Thursday. Abokuma keeps it real about all of it.

It started with one client. From Facebook.Now Abokuma Ellis runs Purple Twirl Events, one of the most intentional event brands out there.In the first teaser for The Salary Scramble, she shares:✨ How she turned a dream job into a real business✨ Why her clients became her most powerful marketing tool✨ What it actually takes to build with vision Full episode drops Thursday. You don't wanna miss this one.

First-class flights, soft girl era... that's what Lee envisioned for her future. Then the entrepreneurial wave hit, and suddenly, she had no choice but to dive in. Was she prepared? Nope.This podcast is the real, unfiltered story. We're sharing the nitty-gritty of being an entrepreneur and not just Lee's journey. Hear from other entrepreneurs as they talk about the paychecks that drive them crazy, the constant question of 'what's next,' and where we're all really headed.This is The Why Behind The Salary Scramble.

The Jingle of the Salary Scramble with Lee Kasumba