What If Instead? Podcast – A Conversation with Dr. Andrews Ayiku

The podcast’s mission is to make experiments of your own feel as normal as watching videos on your phone. That’s exactly what Dr. Ayiku described doing. He describes a radically different way of looking at technology:

 

Too often, he argued, we take something made somewhere else in the world and then distribute it locally. Instead we need to make it in ways that fit the local specifics – whether that’s repurposing ubiquitous coconut husks or building awareness about breast cancer treatments. It’s only by knowing the facts on the ground, that we can use technology and other solutions effectively.

 

The “insteads” are simple. First, waste: Coconut husks are everywhere in the city of Accra. Why not use them? 

 

Then there’s public health. Dr. Ayiku gives an example of a medical doctor asking with a clear “what if instead.” He recounts her saying:

The number of people I’ve been able to trace to change their mindset. Why don’t you come for treatment? Why do you want to stay away? Nobody’s doing [it]. So you see how the whole thing works. 

This is eminently practical. And it scales in a way that’s the furthest thing from “one size fits all”:

 

Now she’s building a community around that idea. How to sell it, how to grow it, how to touch people. Because government will not do that. Nobody will do that unless she solves it. So these are key things I’m telling people to follow up. People suffering from chronic illnesses.

Dr. Ayiku focuses on mindset – and a kind of mindset contagion, as an alternative to the cookie-cutter models that too often lead us to assume some outside solution will do the job.

 

That’s changed my mindset that everything is possible. You need to create a community and have an impact. I’m more concerned about the impact, Alejandro…. It’s not about the profit. But how many people do you think you can impact this year? How many lives will you be able to change? How many people will you bring…into this solution that you have?

One doesn’t need to wait around for resources in order to do this, Dr. Ayiku emphasizes. Instead, the key is to do it, and draw resources to what you’re doing:

 

You don’t need much money to do this. You need a mindset, you need… devotion, you need your effort. You need to be committed to solve this social issue.

You are just coming with a solution, but I let the community, the stakeholders, the opinion leaders own this. So it’s easier for them to call them for a meeting. It’s easier to assemble them. It’s easier to get them to accept. You don’t have to talk a lot.

Tune in to hear the full interview: 

 

 

Dr. Ayiku also writes regular articles in Ghana’s leading business periodical, such as: https://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/empowering-social-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-rebelbases-impact-on-students-and-lecturers-worldwide.html 

 

What if Instead? is produced by Srijan Banik and the team at Social Impact Lab at BRAC University, which Banik founded. Cohosts Mim and Alejandro’s One Size Fits None: Time for an Entrepreneurial Revolution, is forthcoming from Emerald Publishing in summer 2025.