Leading Through Layoffs: A Masterclass with Esi Ansah

More from Grit & Growth All episodes →

1. 

   S4 · E16 · 18 Feb 2025 · 15 min

   Short Takes: Disrupting African Travel, One Ticket at a Time

   Meet Wyclife Omondi, co-founder of BuuPass, a company committed to tackling one of Africa’s biggest challenges: transportation inefficiency. The solution seemed simple enough – digital ticketing – but making it happen took persistence, adaptation, and plenty of strategic pivots. Learn about Omondi’s entrepreneurial journey as he scales to include other modes of transportation and expands across the African continent.

2. 

   S4 · E15 · 29 Jan 2025 · 12 min

   Short Takes: Breaking Barriers with Heavy Machinery

   Meet Santhoshi Sushma Buddhiraju, CEO and cofounder of Autocracy Machinery, a heavy machinery manufacturing company located in southern India. The idea for her company began with a simple question: Why is India, the world’s largest consumer, so reliant on imported machinery? Answering that question entailed bold risks, fearless leadership, and personal sacrifice.

3. 

   S4 · E14 · 7 Jan 2025 · 14 min

   Short Takes: Building a Health(y) Business in Rural India

   Meet Sumit Sinhal, founder and director of Kin’s Health, a growing healthcare company located in West Bengal, India, at the foot of the Himalayas. While most entrepreneurs would see obstacles in delivering care to this remote region, Sinhal’s passion, innovation, leadership, and strategic vision are creating opportunities — for both patients and doctors.

4. 

   S4 · E13 · 19 Dec 2024 · 38 min

   Stories Sell: A Masterclass on Building Trust One Tale at a Time

   Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on sales, featuring Celine Duros, a woman who started her career in sales at 16 and is now both an experienced sales director in emerging markets and consultant to entrepreneurs seeking the secrets to successful sales – whether you’re pitching yourself, managing teams, or selling a specific product.

5. 

   S4 · E12 · 26 Nov 2024 · 37 min

   Securing Seed Capital: Can You Pass the Napkin Test?

   Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on the do’s and don’ts of pitching VCs, featuring Zach George, general partner at Launch Africa Ventures, one of the leading early-stage venture capital funds on the continent. Sitting in the investor seat gives George valuable insights on what entrepreneurs should and shouldn’t do to attract the right kind of investment for their company.

6. 

   S4 · E10 · 16 Oct 2024 · 31 min

   From Downsizing to Thriving: Strategic HR in a Global Context

   Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on strategic HR with Rokhaya Ndiaye, CEO and founder of Ro&Partners, a human capital consulting firm. Gain valuable insights and strategies for shaping your organization’s long-term goals and aligning your people strategies to meet future challenges.

7. 

   S4 · E9 · 24 Sep 2024 · 32 min

   Masterclass on Stanford’s Most Popular Leadership Course

   Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on leadership with Collins Dobbs, a Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer in leadership and a seasoned executive coach. According to Dobbs, becoming a truly phenomenal leader requires a deeper understanding of both yourself and your team, enabling you to navigate tough conversations, develop real connections, and create a culture where people feel safe to offer real feedback.

8. 

   S4 · E8 · 3 Sep 2024 · 31 min

   From Instinct to Insight: Crafting an Intentional Sales Strategy

   Every entrepreneur understands the critical importance of sales to business success. But often, in the early stages of growth, teams tend to focus on marketing without having a strategic plan or process for how to turn leads into sales. Yann Le Beux, co-founder of a research and design firm in Senegal, and Zia Yusuf, a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group and Stanford Seed consultant, share experiences and strategies for building and strengthening your sales strategy.

9. 

   S4 · E7 · 13 Aug 2024 · 30 min

   Masterclass: Rule Makers and Rule Breakers in Business Culture

   Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on cross-cultural dynamics with Michele Gelfand, Stanford Graduate School of Business professor in organizational behavior. Gain new insights and strategies for understanding your company’s culture – from tight to loose – and how you can use that knowledge to build cultural intelligence in your organization, navigate interactions, enhance company-wide innovation, and drive business growth.

10. 

    S4 · E6 · 23 Jul 2024 · 26 min

    Navigating the AI Revolution: Practical Insights for Entrepreneurs

    Is AI part of your business strategy? Well, if it’s not, it probably should be. Ethan Mollick, Wharton School professor of innovation and entrepreneurship, and Arun Jagannathan, two-time entrepreneur, enthusiastically agree on that. In this episode you’ll gain strategic insights from an AI visionary and hear how one intrepid entrepreneur is pushing himself and his company to embrace AI.