What happens when community becomes infrastructure? In this episode, Thabiso ‘Blak’ Mashaba, Cultural Economist and co-founder of These Hands GSSE joins us to unpack what it truly means to decentralize development. From the rural landscapes of Botswana to coastal communities in New Zealand, Thabiso shares how community-led innovation centers are reshaping our understanding of infresatructure, policy, and impact.

Today we talk about designing with—not for—communities, and what it takes to build trust, slowness, and deep ownership into the heart of development work.

This conversation is an invitation to rethink where innovation lives, who holds the knowledge, and how African futures are being shaped collaboratively

What does it mean to grow a brand that grows with you? Kenyan designer Sharon Wendo’s Epica Jewellery has shown up on global runways and still, at its heart, it’s a story of personal transformation told through beads that continues to challenge how we see African fashion and craft.

In this episode, we talk about creativity as identity, and the journey behind the beauty: the burnout, the becomings, the business of staying true. We speak about building while still figuring things out and what it means to grow a brand that grows with you.

Fashion and textile designer, illustrator, and creative director Kwaku Kyere is renowned for his relentless creativity and bold, textural designs. Born in Accra, Kwaku's visionary approach propelled him to start Metakay. Today he joins Akoth Otieno to talk about the joys of process, luxury within the African fashion industry and what it means to build for longevity. You can follow Metakay https://www.instagram.com/metakay/?hl=en

For our first episode, we're joined by fashion designer Shahrazad Ess, the founder of Sahrazad, to discuss the importance of community, how her Moroccan heritage informs her work and and grief as a way of individualizing the self.

Follow Sahrazad: https://www.instagram.com/s.sahrazad/

If you'd like to support the show, make a donation of any amount at https://paystack.com/pay/impactchai

Graphics by Malombe Kelvin

Impact Chai is a show about the ideas, people, and cultural shifts shaping Africa’s present and future. Hosted by Akoth Otieno, and rooted in chai-infused conversation and creative inquiry, each episode invites honest dialogue with social scientists, artists, designers, researchers, and changemakers across the continent and its diaspora.

Impact is explored not as a metric—but as a way of living, thinking, and creating—with clarity, care, and creative rigor.

Follow us on Instagram @impactchai

Graphics: Malombe Kelvin

Writer & Copy Editor: Akoth Otieno