Frontier Matters

Hannah Ryder on Africa in China

The global conversation obsessively tracks what China is doing in Africa – building ports, extracting minerals, lending infrastructure loans. But almost no one is asking the harder, more strategic question: what does it take for Africa to actually sell into China? In this episode of Frontier Matters, we flip the script. We sit down with Hannah Ryder – one of the leading China-Africa policy experts and CEO of Development Reimagined – to explore where the real opportunities lie for African entrepreneurs looking to access Chinese markets, and how policymakers can direct their efforts for maximum developmental impact. We also discuss: * Why trade is still so one-sided, and how to start balancing it * Which African sectors have the best shot at breaking into China right now * What Chinese policies (like tariff-free access for LDCs) actually mean on the ground * And where to focus policy energy to turn rhetoric into revenue Hannah Ryder is the founder and CEO of Development Reimagined, a Beijing-based international development consultancy. She has served as a diplomat, economist, and senior advisor on China-Africa relations, including roles at the UN and the Chinese government. Her work focuses on practical, locally driven solutions to rebalance Africa’s economic partnerships. A small note: The episode ends a bit abruptly – our apologies for the audio hiccup. But the conversation itself is packed with insight, and we hope you enjoy it. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe – it helps other listeners find conversations that matter.

Efosa Ojomo on Markets, Prosperity and Clayton Christensen

Despite immense expertise and foreign aid, billions remain in poverty. In this episode of Frontier Matters, Efosa Ojomo - co-author of The Prosperity Paradox - joins us to discuss the wishful thinking surrounding global development. Episode Highlights: * The Reality of Poverty Reduction: Exploring why World Bank data shows poverty reduction grinding to a halt, and whether development theories have underestimated the impact of debt and conflict. * The Sequencing Debate: Do markets pull institutions and infrastructure into place, or is state capacity a mandatory prerequisite? * The AI Challenge: How the labour-light, winner-take-most nature of AI challenges traditional methods of job-heavy market creation. * Demand vs. Programs: Analysing the failure of temporary employment initiatives, such as Nigeria's N-Power, versus genuine demand-driven job creation. * Remembering Clayton Christensen: Ojomo shares candid, in-the-room insights about his long-time collaborator and mentor. Follow us at @1914reader on X and Instagram

Carl-Henri Prophète on The Reality of Haiti

Description: Haiti is constantly reduced to superficial headlines of chaos, but the reality is grounded in hard historical and economic facts. In this episode, economist Carl-Henri Prophète provides an unfiltered look at the structural realities driving the nation's current collapse. What we cover: * The Ground Reality: Surviving and moving goods in a fragmented state, beyond the abstract label of "instability." * The Macro Paradox: What the official economic data hides, and the double-edged sword of remittances. * The NGO Illusion: Why international development ideas fail when they hit fragile economies. * History’s Bill: Weighing external punishments (embargoes, indemnities) against domestic governance failures. * The Post-Revolution Trade-off: Did the institutions that protected freedom and prevented a return to slavery also permanently limit long-term economic growth? Please forgive any glitches or cuts in the sound and video. This episode was recorded across 3 countries with varying degrees of internet connectivity between them.

Don Robotham on Bridging The Atlantic Divide

Professor Don Robotham is a long-time friend of the house at 1914 Reader — and a formidable authority on the Caribbean, Jamaica in particular, and the economics of development across both the Caribbean and Africa. In this episode, we sit down with him for a wide-ranging conversation covering the historical legacy of slavery, the critical distinction between growth and economic development, and what the future holds for the intellectual relationship between Africa and the Caribbean. We hope you enjoy it.

Dan Wang on China as a Developmental-State

We sat down with Dan Wang, author of the bestselling Breakneck [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/465161/breakneck-by-wang-dan/9780241729175], to talk about China and what an "engineering state" is in the longer developmental-state tradition. We also talked about the Soviet Union and electric vehicles. Hope you enjoy the episode