Listen To Your Footsteps

In Episode 147 of Listen to Your Footsteps, Kojo Baffoe speaks with Lebo Motswenyane, founder of Lucky No8 Concepts, about the relationships, decisions and unseen work behind event production.
From her childhood in Khuma, Klerksdorp, to a Rotary exchange in the United States and a career spanning Levi’s and Speakers Corner, Lebo reflects on the experiences that expanded her world and helped her find her own lane. She shares how public relations led her into events, and why becoming a mother helped shape her decision to start a business.
The conversation moves beyond the finished production: staying composed when things go wrong, working with clients and other agencies, paying people on time and giving young talent a chance. Lebo also speaks candidly about retrenching almost 30 people during COVID, winning Netflix business at a financial low point, and how those experiences changed her approach to responsibility and resilience.
Now, in what she calls her teaching era, she is thinking about the knowledge she can pass on, and how the business can grow without her being in every room.
A conversation about entrepreneurship, motherhood, belonging and the architecture of bringing people together.
Listen to the episode, follow Listen to Your Footsteps, and share it with someone building a business or finding their own way. If the conversation resonates, leave a rating or review on your listening platform.
#ListenToYourFootsteps #LeboMotswenyane #EventProduction #Entrepreneurship

In this LTYF Moments from the very first episode of Listen To Your Footsteps podcast, I look back at memorable moments from the conversation with Papama Mtwisha, founder of the children’s clothing label Butter Pudding and the ‘Africa Your Time Is Now’ fashion brand. We trace the path from dreaming of being a housewife to becoming a fashion designer, fashion editor, and ultimately an entrepreneur whose brand is worn across the continent.
We talk about the seven years an idea lived on an iPad before it became a business, the fear of walking away from a steady pay check when you have school fees and a bond, and why the name "Butter Pudding" - simple ingredients, timeless results - became the philosophy behind an entire brand.
From the "Africa is the Future" to the “Africa Your Time Is Now” movement to a deliberate decision to manufacture locally on the continent, this is a conversation about trusting your timing, defining success on your own terms, and what happens when the universe conspires to meet you exactly where you are.

There was a piano in the Yenana home in King William's Town that was never meant for Andile. It was bought for his older brother - his mother hoped music might ground a son she feared the Struggle would swallow. It didn't. What it did do was give Andile something to pick the lock of, quietly, with a pair of scissors, every time his brother left for his lessons.
Thirty years after we first met at the University of Natal, Andile Yenana - pianist, composer, band leader, educator - sat down with me to trace a life in music. From a party home in the '70s and '80s, with the aunt in the brunette wig whose month-long visits gave his first album its name, We Used to Dance. Through marimbas in a Catholic church, a reggae band in King William's Town, and the Friday nights at Gustav's that shaped a generation of South African jazz.
We talk about what it means to find your voice - and what Zim Ngqawana's wife said when he told her he'd found his. The night Bafana Bafana won the Africa Cup of Nations while he was crossing Johannesburg to fetch sheet music. A composition born on a boat moored off Tripoli. A payslip line item. And how Thembisa - a song he nearly didn't record - ended up sampled by J. Cole.
Also: why leaving Johannesburg might be the best decision he ever made, and what it means when your family is the music.

South African artist Msaki traces the moments that shaped her creative journey — from dismissing her own gift as a teenager, to leaving university after hearing music in the dark room, to stepping back from performance to protect her heart. Across ten memorable moments, she reveals why creativity comes from overflow rather than barrenness, how collaboration means inviting others into your weakness, and what it means to catch songs that are already hovering in the silence.
Check out the full episode here from February 2026

In Episode 145 of Listen to Your Footsteps, Kojo Baffoe speaks with Tshiamo Maremela, founder of A Very Cool Studio, about the journey from a curious childhood in Wedela to art, media, cultural strategy and business leadership. Tshiamo reflects on the different selves we show the world, leaving university with a portfolio rather than a degree, and learning to lead while grieving the loss of a mentor.
Their conversation turns to a question facing African creative industries: who benefits when a brand draws on culture? Tshiamo explains why contracts, ownership and business systems matter as much as the work people see, and why a strong creative business needs to function beyond its founder.
This is a conversation about making space for many interests while building something that lasts.
Listen now, follow Listen to Your Footsteps, and share the episode with a creative or founder who is thinking beyond the next project.
#ListenToYourFootsteps #TshiamoMaremela #AfricanCreativeIndustries #CreativeEntrepreneurship #CulturalStrategy