#14 Colin McElwee, Co-Founder of Worldreader | Making It Real Podcast with Jan Brinckmann

Colin McElwee is the Co-Founder of Worldreader. He has a degree in Economics from the University of Manchester and a MBA from ESADE Business School, where he also was the Executive Director of Marketing and Communication from 2001-2010. From 2012-2014, Colin was an invited member of the Global Agenda Council for Africa of the World Economic Forum. Colin has extensive for-profit and not-for-profit experience around the globe. He was an economist for several Brussels-based lobbies to the European Commission. Colin was also the Global Marketing Controller for Scottish & Newcastle where he oversaw Formula 1 sponsorship and product distribution to over 150 countries. He co-founded Worldreader in 2010 with the vision of creating 100's of millions of readers in sub Saharan Africa. 

More about Worldreader: https://www.worldreader.org

Follow Worldreader on Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldreaders

Contact Colin: Colin@worldreader.org

Colin McElwee, Co-Founder of Worldreader | Making It Real Podcast with Jan Brinckmann | Episode #14

00:00 What is Worldreader about?

01:28 Is Worldreader an NGO?

02:44 How did Worldreader get started and what did you do before it?

06:58 Going from a vision to making it real

09:27 How did you get started with Worldreader?

14:52 Advice on how to form first relationships when you're starting out

16:47 Networking in times of Covid

19:33 Approaching developing markets

22:28 How did you get Worldreader to where it is now?

25:17 Taking Worldreader to the next level

28:23 From the first few hundred readers to 300,000 users

32:55 Making high-quality content accessible in Africa

37:21 About content contribution

40:38 Do you have a guiding concept to make things real?

44:29 What is for you personally most rewarding about entrepreneurship?