logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2025
14m 4s

A traditional job isn’t the only path to...

TED
About this episode

Africa’s booming youth population is often seen as a "jobless generation." But in Kenya alone, young people are already adding more than 530 million dollars a month to the economy through informal businesses. Social entrepreneur Anuj Tanna, who cofounded a social network to connect these entrepreneurs, challenges us to rethink the narrative: What if the informal economy isn’t a problem to fix, but a powerful engine to fuel the future of work?



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
How do the stock market and the economy work? | Oliver Elfenbaum and Richard M. Coffin
How does the stock market work? How do you choose stocks? And what causes an economic recession? In this episode, Modupe shares three TED Ed lessons that answer these questions to help demystify the process and help you become more empowered to take control of your finances.Talks ... Show More
16m 47s
Oct 12
Your job or your sanity? How to not lose both (w/ Guy Winch) | from How to Be a Better Human
If we accept that work-life balance is a necessity, then why are stress and burnout still increasing? Guy Winch is a psychologist and was the first guest ever on the How to Be a Better Human podcast. Guy returns to the show six years later to share strategies on how to stop indul ... Show More
43m 16s
Oct 5
Who controls your city's money? | Trinity Tran
What if your city could borrow money from its own bank instead of private lenders? TED Fellow Trinity Tran is leading the push for public banks — which are owned by the people through their local governments — and shows how this model could ensure your local tax dollars stay in y ... Show More
36m 55s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2025
A corporate job isn’t the only path to success. Here’s where to look next | Anuj Tanna
Are you unemployed, or just an entrepreneur who doesn’t know it yet? Drawing on a decade of experience building a social platform that connects self-employed pioneers in the informal economy, social entrepreneur Anuj Tanna unpacks three surprising levers — from identity shifts to ... Show More
13m 43s
Feb 2024
Could entrepreneurship be the remedy to high youth unemployment?
It’s a common story across the continent. A student graduates from university. They celebrate the end of their hard work with proud family members. But when they start job hunting they find they face fierce competition for a small number of jobs. The International Labour Organiza ... Show More
20m 6s
Aug 2025
A corporate job isn’t the only path to success. Here’s where to look next | Anuj Tanna
Are you unemployed, or just an entrepreneur who doesn’t know it yet? Drawing on a decade of experience building a social platform that connects self-employed pioneers in the informal economy, social entrepreneur Anuj Tanna unpacks three surprising levers — from identity shifts to ... Show More
13m 43s
May 2023
Making money and doing good
Social entrepreneurship is often borne out of the need to address social issues, but it is fast becoming a major contributor to economic growth – contributing billions of dollars to global economies and providing millions of jobs whilst maintaining its core altruistic values of m ... Show More
18m 21s
Feb 2023
Getting into business: Start-up capital in Africa
The amount of accessible funding for start-ups in Africa is growing fast, but lots of it goes to the more developed economies of South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya. We speak to business owners in Nigeria and Uganda and compare their experiences of getting into business. Nnamd ... Show More
18m 43s
May 2023
Business Daily Meets: Tony Elumelu
Nigeria's most well-known economist Tony Elumelu tells us why Africa needs to rethink it's relationship with business. He explains "Africapitalism", the idea that the private sector can transform Africa's economy and society for the better. He also discusses a number problems slo ... Show More
18m 48s
Oct 2024
Episode 112 – Margot Leger – The role and effectiveness of non-formal training programmes for entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic literature review
ntrepreneurship is growing in popularity as a tool to combat the challenges of unemployment and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. A host of training programme offerings have emerged to mitigate the challenges of starting and sustaining a business in this context. Non-fo ... Show More
12m 40s
Feb 2023
What does it take to succeed with a farming start-up?
More than half of people across Africa are involved in agriculture in one form or another. For a long time it was seen as a more traditional pursuit – a way to get by. But younger people are looking at agriculture as a business opportunity. The African Development Bank says mille ... Show More
17m 8s
Jan 2018
Leila Janah (Samasource) - Reversing Poverty By Giving People Work
Entrepreneur Leila Janah describes how her social enterprise Samasource allows people in Africa and elsewhere to lift themselves out of poverty through dignified, fair-wage digital work like photo tagging for companies in Silicon Valley. She celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit ... Show More
54m 35s