The Bold New Normal

About The Bold New Normal

Welcome to The Bold New Normal, the podcast where bold ideas meet transformative action. I’m your host, Lucy Quist, and I’m here to challenge mindsets, ignite conversations, and inspire you to create the future you deserve. In each episode, we’ll explore the strategies, stories, and solutions shaping a new normal—one where equity, opportunity, and prosperity are not just dreams but realities. Whether you’re a leader, an innovator, or someone ready to take bold steps in your life, this is your space to learn, grow, and act.

Publisher

Lucy Quist

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Jan 2025

Latest episode

24 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

23 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   24 Oct 2026

   S2 Ep10: From Education to Economic Transformation: Patrick Awuah on Building Africa's Future

   What kind of leadership will it take to transform Africa?For Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University, the answer begins with education, but it certainly does not end there.In this episode of The Bold New Normal Podcast, Lucy Quist sits down with one of Africa's most influential education leaders for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, institution-building, culture, economic development and the future of the African continent.Patrick shares the deeply personal moment that helped set him on the path to founding Ashesi: the birth of his first child shortly after the Rwandan genocide, at a time when much of the news coming out of Africa painted a deeply troubling picture of the continent's future.Inspired partly by the transformation of Asian economies such as South Korea, Singapore and Japan, he began asking a bigger question: What would it take for Africa to experience its own transformation?That question ultimately became a mission to educate a new generation of ethical, entrepreneurial leaders.But this conversation goes far beyond Ashesi.Patrick and Lucy explore why technical competence without ethics is insufficient, how institutional culture shapes behaviour, why African leaders must move beyond command-and-control leadership, and what Patrick learnt when Ashesi came within weeks of running out of cash.He also shares a compelling philosophy of leadership: great ambition must be accompanied by great humility.And as Africa's young population continues to grow, Patrick makes the case for an economic transformation in which African countries move beyond exporting raw materials, build productive enterprises, trade more with one another and create prosperity for their own people.This is a conversation about what becomes possible when we stop simply accepting the systems we inherited and start deliberately building the institutions, leaders and economies Africa needs.

2. 

   3 Oct 2026

   S2 Ep 9. Transformation Doesn't Happen by Inspiration. It Happens by Systems | Rev. Albert Ocran

   What will it take to truly transform Africa? For Rev. Albert Ocran, the answer is not another inspiring speech, another brilliant plan or another ambitious vision. It is execution. In this powerful episode of The Bold New Normal Podcast, Lucy Quist sits down with Rev. Albert Ocran, author, pastor, coach and co-founder of the Springboard Road Show Foundation, for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, transformation, accountability, resilience, inclusion and the systems required to turn possibility into progress. Drawing from decades of developing leaders across Ghana and beyond, Rev. Albert challenges one of our most persistent habits: identifying what is wrong without building the disciplines and systems required to change it. He shares his four-part transformation framework of Awareness, Conviction, Practice and Identity, and explains why inspiration alone cannot transform a person, organisation or nation. The conversation also explores the importance of developing young people, creating opportunities for women and persons with disabilities, learning from failure, celebrating what is working in Africa, and building leaders who genuinely want the people behind them to surpass them. And in a deeply practical final reflection, Rev. Albert makes the case for the African church as one of the continent's most powerful, and perhaps underutilised, platforms for transformation. This is more than a conversation about leadership. It is a challenge to every African who believes things can be different to ask: What am I actually building, practising and executing? Watch the full conversation and join us as we continue imagining, and building, The Bold New Normal for Africa.

3. 

   19 Sept 2026

   S2 Ep 8. Africa Has the Ideas. So Why Aren’t We Building Bigger Businesses? | Gideon Brefo

   What does it actually take to build sustainable businesses in Africa? In this episode of The Bold New Normal Podcast, Lucy Quist sits down with Gideon Brefo, CEO of HapaSpace, for a wide-ranging conversation about entrepreneurship, innovation and the ecosystem Africa needs to turn ideas into enterprises that create jobs, solve real problems and scale. Gideon’s entrepreneurial education began long before he entered the formal innovation ecosystem. Growing up around Suame Magazine and Kejetia Market in Kumasi, he watched his parents and relatives trade, solve problems, train apprentices and build livelihoods. Today, through HapaSpace, he helps early-stage entrepreneurs move from ideation to market entry, providing business development support, mentorship and connections to investors. But this conversation goes beyond Gideon’s story. Lucy and Gideon interrogate some of the structural and cultural barriers facing African entrepreneurs: our tendency to undervalue locally made products, expectations that friends should provide their services for free, gaps between academia and industry, limited local investment, fragmented government support and the pressure to build businesses without an enabling ecosystem. They also explore a provocative question: What if some of the models Africa needs to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems already exist within our own communities? From Suame Magazine's apprenticeship culture to nnoboa, collaboration, local capital and the enormous opportunity presented by the African market, this is a conversation about building an entrepreneurial ecosystem designed for African prosperity. In this episode: The difference between livelihood businesses and innovative entrepreneurship Why founders don't always need money first The cultural barriers affecting Ghanaian businesses Why government, academia, corporates and innovators need to work together How African founders can access more local capital Why failure should be treated as information What Suame Magazine can teach us about building ecosystems Why African entrepreneurs must build for standards and scale The opportunity presented by the African continental market Why collaboration may be one of the greatest competitive advantages available to African entrepreneurs If Africa is going to prosper, we need more than people starting businesses. We need an ecosystem capable of turning African ideas into real enterprise. Subscribe to The Bold New Normal Podcast for conversations exploring the ideas, systems and people shaping a more prosperous Africa.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

4.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 31 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

61

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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