Episode Details

Episode 221 with Juliet Oshagbemi, Chief People and Culture Officer Africa at Zipline, a global leader in drone delivery, healthcare logistics and supply chain innovation. Zipline has been operating in Africa since 2016 and is now fully integrated into public health systems across Ghana, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire, delivering blood, vaccines and essential medical supplies on demand at scale.

Juliet brings more than 20 years of experience in human capital strategy and organisational development, with senior leadership roles at Dangote Group where she led talent management and learning across 13 countries, as well as earlier experience with the London Metropolitan Police Service.

We discuss how to build high performing teams behind critical infrastructure in Africa, where logistics, healthcare delivery and technology intersect. Juliet explains how Zipline aligns people strategy with safety, operational excellence and scale, supporting millions of deliveries across complex and fast changing environments. From managing talent across multiple African markets to embedding a unified culture across different regulatory systems, she shares what it really takes to build organisations that can operate reliably at national scale.

We also discuss Zipline’s role in transforming healthcare access across Africa, strengthening supply chains, reducing stockouts and improving outcomes in public health systems. Juliet reflects on why Zipline positions itself as core infrastructure rather than charity, and what that means for leadership, accountability and long term sustainability. She also shares insights on inclusive leadership, local talent development and how organisations can build resilient systems that deliver real impact.

What We Discuss With Juliet

• Building life saving infrastructure where failure is not an option and what that demands from people strategy
• Designing teams and systems that can operate at national scale across multiple African markets with different realities
• Why Zipline positions itself not as charity but as core infrastructure and what that means for leadership and accountability
• The role of local talent, inclusion and culture in delivering high trust public health systems
• What traditional African enterprises and emerging tech companies can learn from each other about scaling talent and building resilient institutions

Did you miss my previous episode where I discus Africa’s Payments Problem Is Not What You Think – Inside Mobile Money Infrastructure? Make sure to check it out!

Connect with Terser:
LinkedIn - Terser Adamu
Instagram - unlockingafrica
Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu

Connect with Juliet
LinkedIn - Juliet Oshagbemi and Zipline

Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:

www.etkgroup.co.uk
info@etkgroup.co.uk