67| CHAIR, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS| SOUTH AFRICA



In 2022, Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka took home the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Lifetime Achievement Award at the 7th annual Leading Women Summit. The former UN Women Executive Director’s recent appointment as the Chairperson of The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Advisory Committee on Human Rights is just one example of how success has no age limit.



“Dr Mlambo-Ngcuka has devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality, and social justice, and her experience will help the IOC enhance respect for human rights across our three spheres of responsibility,” said IOC President Thomas Bach in a December statement after her appointment.



Mlambo-Ngcuka was born in Clermont, a township of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, which housed multiple notable residents like Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita (chairperson of the Standard Bank Group), actor Muzi Mthabela and former anti-apartheid activist Eric Mtshali.



Having attended schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, and England, the start of Mlambo-Ngcuka&#8217;s illustrious career began in the 1980s when she started at some of the world&#8217;s largest organizations in Geneva, to take up the position as the coordinator at World YWCA, where she established a global program for young women.



“I owe most of my breakthroughs to supportive and tough leadership of both men and women who assigned me to take up roles I learned a lot from,” Mlambo-Ngcuka says to FORBES AFRICA.



She was in Geneva from 1984 to 1989 and then returned to South Africa where she spearheaded TEAM in Cape Town, an ecumenical organization that focused on upskilling women, and where she was held to a high standard as a leader in the women&#8217;s movement, especially in the fight against apartheid.



“These were leaders who were both inspiring and they set the bar high and gave support when I faced challenges.”



Mlambo-Ngcuka has dedicated her career to “issues of human rights, equality and social justice, with a specific emphasis on gender and youth development”. In a 2022 interview with Global Citizen, she reflected about being part of the apartheid regime as a young South African activist which is why she has so much respect for young people fighting for equal opportunities today.



“[Young people] will take whatever steps necessary to achieve their objectives,” Mlambo-Ngcuka told Global Citizen. “&#8230;This is where you can see that it is really necessary to open up and allow young people to play the role they want to play in providing leadership and solutions in society.”



Her political career in South Africa also consisted of her working “tirelessly” to build and create policies and programs to diminish inequality, which began in 1994 when she became a member of the first democratically-elected South African Parliament. In 2005, she became the first woman to hold the position of Deputy President, the highest-ranking female political leader in the history of South Africa.



According to the University of the Witwatersrand, located in one of South Africa’s biggest economic hubs; Johannesburg, her 2005 appointment as the country’s first female Deputy President was not “only a win for women but it paved the way for sharper policies to unlock bottlenecks that suppressed economic growth”.



Mlambo-Ngcuka was happy to see change.



“Men are still dominating in most fields,” Mlambo-Ngcuka says. “Change is slow and it will not be permanent if we don&#8217;t focus on making it permanent.”



In data released by the World Bank showing the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments for South Africa was only 33% in 2008. In 2021, that number rose to 47%, making South Africa the second-highest in having female members in parliament, Rwanda being the first with 61%.



“As women get into decision-making in parliaments, private sector boards, civil society,” Mlambo-Ngcuka further tells FORBES AFRICA, “they must ensure policies and special measures that promote women and sustain those roles. Ensure women gain irreversible momentum.



“Younger women have to keep rising and taking up space. The older good men and women must provide a support system, offer them opportunities and continuous push. Education in this context is critical but education alone is not enough; own drive and support are necessary. Young women must never forget the importance of sisterhood and organizing.”



In 2021, after completing her term as United Nations’ (UN) Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, her colleagues and friends bid her farewell describing her as a visionary inter-generational champion.



But this not mean slowing down in any way for Mlambo-Ngcuka as she continues to be engaged and affiliated with organizations committed to education, women empowerment, and gender equality.



“In 50 years, we should not be talking about female leaders, we should just be talking about leaders.” Mlambo-Ngcuka concludes. There should be a representation of women at higher echelons as a norm.



Both men and women should play an equal role in leadership with no spotlight on women. This is what we are working towards.”


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<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/lists/2023/02/14/50-over-50-success-at-every-age/">For the full 50 Over 50 List </a>

Untitled

Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka: ‘I Owe Most Of My Breakthroughs To The Supportive And Tough Leadership of Both Men and Women’

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Topline</h2>



With South Africa’s consistent rolling blackouts, President Cyril Ramaphosa at his annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) held in Cape Town yesterday said that the country is in the “grip of a profound energy crisis, the seeds of which were planted many years ago”. Ramaphosa announced last night at SONA that plans have been put in place to appoint a Minister of Electricity to address the increasing power cuts in the country. Experts, organizations and the people are weighing in on this decision, with some calling it a “joke” and “a bad idea”.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



For almost a year now, South Africa&#8217;s primary electricity supplier, Eskom, has been effecting rolling blackouts, known as load-shedding, jumping between stage 3 (a power outage of two hours) to stage 6 (no power up four hours).



In Ramaphosa’s address to the nation, the president stated that the National Disaster Management Centre has classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster.



“We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects,” Ramaphosa said. “The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply.”



This then led to his announcement to “fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve long-term energy security” by appointing a minster of electricity. Ramaphosa told all those in attendance that experts have agreed that this plan is the most realistic route to end load-shedding.



The minister, according to Ramaphosa, will work with the Eskom board and management on ending load-shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay.



“We cannot undo the mistakes that were made in the past, the capacity that was not built, the damage that was done to our power plants due to a lack of maintenance, or the effects of state capture on our institutions. What we can do is to fix the problem today, to keep the lights on tomorrow and for generations to come.”



Business Unity South Africa (Busa), a non-profit representing cross-cutting organized business interests in South Africa, said in a statement they “are not convinced that declaring a State of Disaster will help address the crisis”.



“It must be seen as a low point in the life of our society that mismanagement and lack of governance has created circumstances in which a State of Disaster has to be declared,” said Cas Coovadia, BUSA CEO, in the statement. “We believe the appointment of a Minister for Electricity in the office of the President is a bad idea that will add to the confusion and turf wars rather than solve the problem. It is yet another example of failure to take bold decisions and opting instead for the soft but expensive option of adding another ministry rather than holding those ministers responsible for the crisis accountable.”



The crisis has already had a big knock-on effect on businesses which, according to expert Chris Blair, has an impact on the productivity of employees which subsequently has a negative effect on their income.



Blair, the CEO of 21st Century, a remuneration and HR consulting company in Africa, adds in a statement that South Africa currently is losing R900 million ($50 million) per day because of power outages.



“One of the most immediate impacts of inconsistent power on the South African economy is decreased productivity,” Blair says. “Power outages and fluctuations can lead to significant downtime for businesses and industries, particularly those that rely heavily on technology and machinery, such as manufacturing and tech companies.”



Blair says that right now, it is essential that government and other stakeholders take steps to ensure that power systems are reliable and consistent, to protect the economy and the wellbeing of citizens.



“By prioritizing the development and maintenance of reliable power systems and educating citizens on energy conservation, we can work to mitigate the effects of inconsistent power and create a more stable and prosperous economy for all.”



Distraught South Africans immediately took to Twitter to express their views on the president&#8217;s announcement: 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StateofTheNationAddress2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StateofTheNationAddress2023</a> Minister of Electricity already at work <a href="https://t.co/f09zOug9Dp">pic.twitter.com/f09zOug9Dp</a>&mdash; Trinet StraightTalker (@trinet12) <a href="https://twitter.com/trinet12/status/1623918709676060672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tutjourn2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tutjourn2023</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StateofTheNationAddress2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StateofTheNationAddress2023</a> Electric cars? Minister of electricity? While some people couldn’t even watch sona because of loadshedding. What difference will it make vele? <a href="https://t.co/uQu6HZEyDE">pic.twitter.com/uQu6HZEyDE</a>&mdash; unokwanda_journ (@obendalo04) <a href="https://twitter.com/obendalo04/status/1623920529907539968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">I’m chilling here with minister of my heart . We are shook . We will have a Minister of Electricity??? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SONA2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SONA2023</a> .&mdash; Solomzi Thandubuntu (@Solphendukaa) <a href="https://twitter.com/Solphendukaa/status/1623750544115347456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Minister of Electricity? What a joke my darlings🫠SONA2023&mdash; MaMiya⚖️ (@Phumla_N) <a href="https://twitter.com/Phumla_N/status/1623751969373319174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A transition to a low-carbon economy that could cost up R1.5 trillion</h2>



In his speech, the President also announced plans that fall part of the process to ensure energy security.



“Through the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, R1.5 trillion ($845 billion) will be invested in our economy over the next five years in new frontiers such as renewable energy, green hydrogen and electric vehicles,” Ramaphosa says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-quotes">Key Quotes</h2>



“The energy crisis is an existential threat to our economy and social fabric&#8230;”



“We will emerge from this crisis with an electricity system that is more efficient, more reliable and more competitive.”

2023 State Of The Nation Address In Cape Town

Social Media Reacts To Ramaphosa Appointing New Minister Of Electricity Amid South Africa’s Disastrous Energy Crisis

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Topline</h2>



Heading into the 65th Grammy Awards yesterday, Africa already celebrated the nine artists who had been nominated for the prestigious music awards. However, the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles saw four artists take home a Grammy in their respective categories which had the continent continuing the celebrations last night.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



By far the biggest buzz on social media has been for 27-year-old Nigerian singer Tems who won a Grammy Award in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category for her contribution to the hit song Wait for U – a collaboration of musicians Future and Drake. This win has made her the second female artist from Nigeria to win the award.


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<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57459" width="579" height="386" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 579px) 100vw, 579px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


“It’s incredible,” Temilade “Tems” Openiyi told Rolling Stone Magazine last night. “I get to work with people that five years ago were on my playlist. I was jamming to them and now I am working with them&#8230;and I feel like this is only the beginning.”



Openiyi has quite the busy year as the singer has also just been nominated for the 2023 Oscars for co-writing Lift Me Up, one of the songs in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.



South African artists Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman took home a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for their collaboration Bayethe.



“I think the beautiful story is we met with Wouter chatting about this at the South African Music Awards,” Bantwini said after winning the Grammy about how he met Kellerman at the South African Music Awards. “So we met at the awards in South Africa talking about this particular moment, and today we’re at the Grammys. Come on!”



“This award is not just for us, it’s for everyone back home,” Bantwini said in a statement. “This moment is testament to the fact that our dreams are valid and we can accomplish anything we set our minds on.



“I want every young kid in the ghetto in South Africa to dream big and believe that we deserve to be recognized on the biggest stages in the world.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-night-for-africa">Big Night For Africa</h2>



The awards were hosted by South African comedian and former The Daily Show host, South Africa’s Trevor Noah for the second time (the first time being in 2022).



Although not every African musician won in their category but in total the artists presented made up 11 nominations at the Grammys this year.



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Artist </td><td>Country</td><td>Category </td><td>Result</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Temilade “Tems” Openiyi </td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Best Melodic Rap Performance: &#8220;WAIT FOR U&#8221; — Future featuring Drake &amp; Tems</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Temilade “Tems” Openiyi</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Rap Song: &#8220;WAIT FOR U” — Future featuring Drake &amp; Tems</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Temilade “Tems” Openiyi</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Album of The Year: Beyonce’s Renaissance (As a featured artist)</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu- Burna Boy</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Best Global Music Album: Love, Damini</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu- Burna Boy</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Global Music Performance: &#8220;Last Last&#8220;</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Angélique Kidjo</td><td>Benin</td><td>Best Global Music Album: Queen of Sheba</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Angélique Kidjo</td><td>Benin</td><td>Best Song Written for Visual Media: The Woman King.</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Edrisah Musuuza-Eddy Kenzo</td><td>Uganda</td><td>Best Global Performance: Gimme Love</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Rocky Dawuni</td><td>Ghana</td><td>Best Global Performance: Featuring Blvk H3ro &#8211; Neva Bow Down</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Wouter Kellerman</td><td>South Africa</td><td>Best Global Music Performance Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>South Africa</td><td>Best Global Music Performance Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Zakes Bantwini</td><td>South Africa</td><td>Best Global Music Performance Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>Won</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

65th GRAMMY Awards – Red Carpet

Another Historic Night For African Music: Nigeria’s ‘Tems’ Wins Big

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Topline:</h2>



As the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for global business and political leaders in Davos, the Swiss alpine resort, continues, activists from the global organization, Fight Inequality Alliance, have released a statement calling for governments to “tax the rich”.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



A report released by Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and Patriotic Millionaires, reveals national wealth taxes on the richest people in 60 countries could raise $1.7 trillion in revenue.



“Activists protesting this week are asking a simple and pointed question of their governments – why won’t you tax the rich?” asks Jenny Ricks, Global Convenor of Fight Inequality Alliance, in a statement. “People are facing deepening crises from the cost of living to a lack of decent work, the impacts of the climate emergency to underfunded public services teetering on the brink, whilst the richest get richer.”



The figures in the report show that the $1.7 trillion could have been raised by wealth taxes on the ultra-rich in 2022 alone and used to tackle inequality in 60 countries across the world.



According to the Fight Inequality Alliance report, over the last decade, the inequality divide has grown sharply as a total number of people in the world with at least $5 million in net wealth has grown by 53% while ‘individuals with a net wealth of $50 million or more, have enjoyed similar growth levels’.



“Meanwhile, the global billionaire class has more than doubled and their wealth has skyrocketed at a similar rate – 99.6%,” read the statement. “This is a gain of more than $5.9 trillion – almost twice as much as the combined GDP of Africa – a continent with over 1.3 billion people.”



The sentiment for a call to tax the rich is reasonable, but is it realistic?



Don Griswold, a progressive tax and economic policy analyst, lawyer, columnist, and anticorruption activist, tells FORBES AFRICA why this ask may be difficult for governments to respond to.



“The super-rich globally are avoiding and evading massive amounts of all kinds of tax and have been for years now. And that is the cause of just massive problems globally. It&#8217;s undermining democracy everywhere.”



According to The Washington Post, governments around the world lose about $427 billion each year to tax avoidance and evasion, and this is having a ripple effect on other issues like the climate crisis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Climate inaction</h2>



Since the start of WEF on Monday, Davos has seen activists staging protests against a number of issues. Some 1,500 business leaders, including global energy firms are in attendance, which has led to a majority of the protests in Davos centering around the climate crisis as activists demand stronger action.



However, this “horrific problem”, as Griswold says, of tax avoidance and tax evasion has misdirected the focus of world leaders.



“It&#8217;s a horrific problem, not only for the massive redirection of government resources into private pockets, or rather keeping those resources in private pockets when they belong to the people. But it&#8217;s also having a bigger ripple effect in terms of creating completely appropriate distrust of the system by everyone else. And misdirecting resources away from achieving climate resilience and the rest of the global goals, the UN Sustainable Development Goals [that we have].”



The climate crisis has attracted its fair share of news on the African continent, which hosted the COP27 conference late last year.



Julia Fish, South African climate activist and climate finance campaigner of Fund our Future, tells FORBES AFRICA that before taxing the rich can become a reality, governments would need to get their own houses in order first.



“Promises were made at the 2009 COP conference in Copenhagen to channel $100 billion a year to emerging nations to help them adapt and mitigate against climate change by 2020,” Fish says. “This figure has fallen significantly short year-on-year. Agreements on how to distribute the money or who can draw on it are also still unclear.”



Fish further says that trust is in “short supply” for countries as those responsible for the crisis are meant to keep up with their commitments while the “least responsible are on the frontlines already dealing with catastrophic climate change”.



“The effective tax on the world’s richest nations has been missing in action, never mind a tax on their largest political campaign contributors who will pay their way out of a tax instead of paying their fair share,” Fish says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Examples of how much national wealth taxes could raise in Africa: </h2>



(Source: Fight Inequality Alliance)



In Kenya, a wealth tax of 2% on the millionaires and 3% on those with wealth above $50 million would raise $730 million annually.



In South Africa, a wealth tax of 2% on millionaires with wealth over $5 million, 3% on those with wealth above $50 million, and 5% on South African billionaires would raise $4.9 billion annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-interesting-fact">Interesting Fact</h2>



South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was scheduled to travel to Davos for the WEF summit but cancelled his visit to Switzerland to urgently attend to the country’s energy crisis, as South Africa faces multiple stages of rolling blackouts and looming hikes in electricity tariffs.

Activists in Davos stage a protest against World Economic Forum

From Davos To Africa, Analysts On Taxing The Rich And Achieving Climate Resilience

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Topline</h2>



Less than four months after the first case was confirmed in Uganda’s central Mubende district on September 20 last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced yesterday that the country has declared the end of the Ebola disease outbreak caused by the Sudan ebolavirus. The health department in the country has said this has all been due to the robust work in the communities. The last patient was released from care on November 30 when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



When this became the country’s first Sudan ebolavirus outbreak in a decade, it also became the fifth overall for this kind of Ebola. From the 164 reported Ebola cases (142 confirmed and 22 probable), there were 55 confirmed deaths and 87 recovered patients. According to WHO, more than 4,000 people who came in contact with confirmed cases were followed up and their health monitored for 21 days, which left the case-fatality ratio at 47%.



“Uganda put a swift end to the Ebola outbreak by ramping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact tracing and infection, prevention and control,” said Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s Minister of Health in a statement on Wednesday.



“While we expanded our efforts to put a strong response in place across the nine affected districts, the magic bullet has been our communities who understood the importance of doing what was needed to end the outbreak, and took action,” Aceng Ocero added.



The WHO says it helped to protect frontline health workers by organizing a steady supply of personal protective equipment. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General congratulated Uganda in a statement saying that when a system works together, one can defeat a disease.



“&#8230;From having an alert system in place, to finding and caring for people affected and their contacts, to gaining the full participation of affected communities in the response,” Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Lessons learned and the systems put in place for this outbreak will protect Ugandans and others in the years ahead.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-numbers">Big Numbers</h2>



A total of $8.5 million was provided by WHO to assist in helping the country curb this crisis.



The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided more than $22 million for response efforts in Uganda, including contributions from their Emergency Reserve Fund for infectious disease outbreaks.



“This crisis was a reminder that we must redouble our efforts to prevent and urgently respond to infectious disease outbreaks,” said Samantha Power, Administrator of USAID, in a statement on Wednesd

Uganda Battles Seventh Ebola Outbreak Since 2000

Uganda Sees End To Ebola

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



South Africa’s Department of Health has announced the country’s first case of the new Covid-19 Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5. The first case of a new Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, was first detected last week. In a briefing today, the country’s Minister of Health, Joe Phaahla stated that Japan, USA, Brazil, and South Korea are leading with new infections. The department has been advised to increase the level of testing in the country. However, the country will not impose travel restrictions. Phaahla added that Omicron remains the globe’s dominant variant of concern.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key facts</h2>



Phaahla stated in the briefing held on Zoom today that in December 2022, there was a 25% increase in Covid-19 infections globally.



On Saturday, South Africa’s Department of Health noted that they had been “alerted” about the “highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant” and is currently in discussions with the scientists to gather more information including its transmissibility and severity.



According to Bloomberg, Maria Van Kerkhove, a Covid-19 technical lead at the World’s Health Organization (WHO), this week called XBB.1.5 “the most transmissible sub-variant” detected so far in the pandemic.



As of now, the Department of Health has said there is no need to impose travel restrictions on any country. According to Phaahla, Morocco is the only country that has banned travelers coming from China.



On January 6, WHO stated that the Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, is on the increase and had been identified in more than 25 countries.



WHO was following closely and assessing the risk of this subvariant. “Thus was originally first detected in October 2022,” said Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General. “XBB.1.5 is a recombinant of two BA2 sub-lineages. It is on the increase in Europe and in the US.”

Drive-in Testing as South Africa Breaches 20,000 Daily Covid-19 Cases

South Africa Confirms First Case Of Most Transmissible Covid Subvariant

As co-founders of South Africa’s favorite load shedding app, Dan Southwood-Wells and Herman Maritz alert people about rampant power cuts so they can better plan their lives.



THE PHONE GOES PING! AND THEN THE customary alert, that the country is going in to Stage 3 or Stage 4 or even Stage 6 ‘load shedding’ – the infamous word to describe rotating power cuts in South Africa.



Every South African, every single South African, can relate to the train of thoughts and tidal wave of emotions – anger, frustration, helplessness, even depression – that succeed the moment they know they will be hit by load shedding.



The subscribers of load shedding app, EskomSePush, are perhaps better informed, and prepared, for the scheduled power cuts – or the hours that they will be plunged in darkness – thanks to the notifications on the app.



It was “just another day in the office” when Dan Southwood-Wells and Herman Maritz, the founders of EskomSePush, called “the best load shedding app”, had their epiphany for it.



“Dan and I were working together at a banking company building apps for banks,” Maritz opens. “We were building push notifications (automated messages sent by an application to a user when the application is not open) and this was in 2014.



“Then the power just went off! We were unsure if we should just stay or go home because we did not know if this was load shedding, and what stage it was,” Maritz laughs.



Adds Southwood-Wells: “In 2014, or the beginning of 2015, there was that saying going around that was like ‘is there an app for [load shedding]?’ And we thought, ‘hey, there isn’t an app for it’, and we know a little bit about app development.”



This soon became a “side hustle” for the two gentlemen who officially launched it in 2015, and garnered about 250,000 users.



“I think it was also the time,” Southwood-Wells says. “Everyone was getting over the hangover of Blackberry, and 



slowly getting into iPhones and Android was like a thing. So back then, we were like, ‘oh, this is so cool’. And [the app] did really well in 2015.”



However, soon after that, the duo had to put it to bed for a while.



“All the users went away,” says Southwood-Wells. “There was no load shedding,” Maritz completes.



But the duo returned with the app in 2018 as load shedding once again began to rear its ugly head in South Africa.



The power crisis in South Africa dates back to 2007, when load shedding was introduced.



The current period of widespread national staged rolling blackouts – as electricity supply falls behind demand – that threatens to destabilize the national power grid, has been attributed by the South African government and Eskom, the government-owned entity and primary power generator, to insufficient power generation capacity.



So far, according to business news website BusinessTech, 2022 has been South Africa’s most intensive year of power cuts to 



date, as Eskom’s coal fleet continues to deteriorate. FORBES AFRICA reported in July that South African businesses



were struggling to cope with the numerous power cuts, the worst since 2007. With some areas sustaining six-hour long outages for several days, the currency has also been negatively impacted, with local businesses sounding the alarm.



“[This] is a serious blow to an economy that is already struggling with low growth and a lack of decisive action,” said small business advocacy group Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) in a statement.



President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly newsletter in September that the country’s “widespread public anger is wholly justified”.



“With Eskom forced to once more implement load shedding to protect the national grid, individuals, households and businesses have had to contend with power interruptions for up to four hours at a time,” Ramaphosa added.



According to the Council of Scientific &amp; Industrial Research, the outlook for next year shows that Eskom will face a shortage of 2,001MW or higher for 49 out of the 52 weeks.



Despite this bleak sequence of events and the downfall of many businesses, for EskomSePush, the outcome has been the opposite.



“We are now at 6.7 million users,” Maritz testifies about the company’s growth. “It has gone up quite a lot in the last month or two.”



The duo say it has never been about how many users they gain, but about solving a problem for themselves and wanting to help others.



The “side hustle” became a full-time job for both this year as load shedding became incessantly worse.



“It was kind of good timing in a way, because we didn’t know that this year would be specifically bad for load shedding. But yeah, it’s quite fun to see your side project becoming your main project.&#8221; Maritz admits.



“And we have a lot of fun with this,” adds Southwood-Wells, adopting an upbeat tone to address what is a serious issue. Their whole brand identity is built and centered around keeping the conversation of scheduled load shedding light. For instance, when load shedding is suspended, the user is either greeted with emojis on the notification bar of their phone or opening the app,they find a fun ‘gif’ of Will Smith.



Says Southwood-Wells: “We don’t like load shedding as much as any other South African. But if we can make it just a little bit light-hearted whilst people are finding the information they need to go about their day, then that’s a win; if we can make them smile or sing when the power is going to be turned off, that’s a win.”



“One of the biggest issues at least for me, that I would really like to solve is a lot of what is on South African minds as soon as the power goes off; [they say] ‘it’s load shedding, right?’ But that’s not always the case. It could be maintenance [issues], it could be a planned or unplanned outage where something like cable theft has happened or something has blown up,” says Maritz.



For now, the two are happy to continue building the app, especially since a permanent solution for South Africa’s uphill battle with electricity seems far-fetched.



“We’ve learned with EskomSePush that information is power. We all want to know what’s going on around us. Accurate and timely information gives us peace of mind, providing a sense of assurance in an increasingly chaotic world,” Maritz concludes grandly, even as the power goes off, signaling the end of our conversation on Zoom, and the irony of the times we are in.

Blue and Pink Gradient Motivational Quote Twitter Post

When Information Is Power: Behind The Load Shedding App In South Africa

<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-melvyn-lubega-co-founder-head-of-strategic-partnerships-and-director-go1">Melvyn Lubega Co-founder, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Director, Go1</h3>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> &#8220;I&#8217;m an African passionate about solving significant problems with technology.”</blockquote>



In 2021, just six years after its founding, eLearning platform Go1 became South Africa&#8217;s first tech scale-up to be valued at more than $1 billion. This was thanks to the tenacity of its co-founders South African, Melvyn Lubega, and Australian, Andrew Barnes.



The last time FORBES AFRICA sat down with Lubega was when he made the 2018 FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list, and sitting down with him now he notes that the biggest change since then, rather than the unicorn milestone, was Go1’s exponential growth.



“In 2018, I think we had just over 100 people in the business, whereas today, we have over 700,” Lubega says. “But it&#8217;s not only about hiring more bodies, but more so the depth at which [we are] able to understand the problem we are solving.”



Go1 was founded in 2015 by Lubega along with Barnes, who he met at Oxford and capitalized on a gap in the enterprise training market. The global workplace training platform has now aggregated over 100,000 courses into one subscription, and offers it to private organizations as well as governments around the world.



“I think it&#8217;s realizing the global opportunity in what we&#8217;re building, even though we had our local roots, [has] been the big difference in terms of the size of the prize and of the opportunities,” Lubega says.



Just six years after its founding, Go1 is expected to surpass the value of a billion dollars thanks to its most recent capital raise that is near closing with a formal announcement expected soon.



Lubega was born and raised in South Africa. However, his parents were born in Uganda. His grandfather, having fathered 30 children, had always been passionate about education and was a medical doctor himself. This, for Lubega, is where he drew inspiration around wanting to solve the vocational education conundrum on the continent.



&#8220;I&#8217;m an African passionate about solving significant problems with technology,” he explains. “Education has had such an impact in my life, and something which has been ingrained in me since I was young&#8230;The role of education and excellence have [allowed] me incredible opportunities.



“So we just want to see the transformative effect. Something that has been very humbling in the business and we&#8217;re very fortunate about is that we have been able to upskill over five million people.”



Furthermore, technology has been the catalyst of this change and has also been the pioneer of taking this edtech to new heights, which includes the unicorn status. The fact that most of the unicorns are in the tech space, in Lubega’s opinion, has a lot to do with what problems are being solved at the moment.



“I think entrepreneurs are often solving smaller problems. And I think in sectors where the biggest problems exist is where the most value can be created and hopefully captured.”



However, Lubega is very cautious about Go1’s unicorn title. “It is humbling but it certainly wasn&#8217;t a target for us, if I&#8217;m being honest,” Lubega says. “Because for us, we were still working and building our business. Yes, we&#8217;re growing… [But] the reality is that we were still just building our business and trying to have an impact, because even before we raised the unicorn round, we [are] still targeting to get to a billion learners.”

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UNICORNS- Go1: How Education Can Move The World

Being the first of anything may always feel like an honor but there is a different sort of pressure that comes with that label. Just ask Nonkululeko Gobodo, who in 1987, became the first black female chartered accountant in South Africa.



“So, when I completed my studies, I was really protesting,” Gobodo tells FORBES AFRICA. “I was saying, no, I did this for myself, I don&#8217;t need all this attention. I&#8217;m a shy girl from the Transkei, please just leave me alone.”



But it was a journalist from the national public broadcaster SABC who allowed her to come to terms with all this attention and allowed her to “awaken” to her full potential.



“He told me that it&#8217;s not about me and that I am a role model to other women, to young children. And, and then I realized from that time that I have to succeed not just for myself, now I have to succeed for all these people who are now looking up to me,” Gobodo says.



From the racism and sexism that came from becoming a chartered accountant in the 1980s, to the myriad complexities that came with building one of the country’s biggest accounting firms, Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo, now known as SNG Grant Thornton, Gobodo now highlights all her trials, tribulations and triumphs in her new autobiography, Awakened … To My True Self.



“Being a black woman gave me purpose,” she explains. “I made it my life’s mission to prove to myself and others that there was nothing I could not do or be. There is a need to strive towards a more just and equitable society and the reality is that we are all different personality types and each one of us comes with our own traits and strengths. When we make an effort to understand each other instead of categorizing people into stereotypes we will see more collaboration and creativity in the world.”



Gobodo believes this story is long overdue as you get to know what the “cost of firsts is, the challenges of being a pioneer, finding one’s purpose and doing whatever it takes to bring it fruition”.



“Because I grew up in Mthatha, and at that time was sort of independent, and we didn&#8217;t have the [same] harsh conditions that the rest of South Africa had at the time,” Gobodo explains “so when I was growing up, I was very naive about this whole issue of racism, or sexism, or believing that I won&#8217;t be able to make it in life because I&#8217;m a black woman, it&#8217;s something that never occurred to me when I was growing up. Because my parents were in business, and my mother was an equal partner with my father in the business,” says Gobodo.



“The whole theme of the book is around my journey of ups and downs, making mistakes, dealing with my mental illness and how I overcame that. And, how I dealt with sexism and racism in my life by refusing to accept those people&#8217;s opinions around me.”



For Gobodo, when it comes to oppression, the main reason people are oppressed is because of lack of knowledge and a belief that they are bound by oppressive systems of the world, be it politics, economic systems, religion, or by other people who may seem to have more power.



“But my theme in the book is that black people and women have to awaken to who they truly are, because they are not defined by the myths that have been said about them in society.”



Gobodo featured on the cover of the August 2019 issue of FORBES AFRICA.

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The Trials And Triumphs Of Being A Pioneer In South Africa

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As 433 million Spotify users across the world get a peek at what their most popular songs are in 2022 as per ‘Spotify Wrapped’, it does come as a surprise that in sub-Saharan Africa, there’s been a 93% year-on-year increase in the popularity of K-Pop streams.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Background</h2>



According to Swedish audio streaming and media services provider, Spotify, this year, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for over 3 billion hours of streaming for the East Asian musical genre K-Pop.



K-Pop is a form of popular music originating in South Korea that has dominated the music industry globally. The virality of South Korean artist Psy’s 2012 smash hit Gangnam Style, first saw the rise of the genre.



“It’s clear from this data that K-Pop is not just a passing phase, but has a devoted and growing African fandom,” says Spotify’s head of music for sub-Saharan Africa, Phiona Okumu.



Some of the key markets contributing to this increase are Nigeria, where there was a 267% increase in K-Pop streams, Ghana with 236% and Kenya that saw a 140% increase.



Although genres like Amapiano and Afrobeats continued to be on the rise on the continent, it did gain a lot of popularity in 2022 across the globe. According to Spotify, Amapiano became South Africa’s hottest genre, with artists like Ntokozo Mdluli, known professionally as K.O, claiming the seat for the most-streamed song in South Africa with his single SETE.



FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 alum, Kabelo Petrus Motha (Kabza De Small), was 2022’s most streamed artist.



Spotify reported that Amapiano surpassed a billion global streams as they predicted it would in May this year.



In South Africa, Amapiano started out as an underground genre where music was shared amongst artists and producers via applications such as WhatsApp, Okumu said to FORBES AFRICA in August.



“It has since become one of the most popular genres on the continent and has gained great momentum internationally. Amapiano musicians are dominating the South African music landscape.”



“South Africans can be proud of what their creatives in music are achieving. They are making noise in the right places, and at the right time,” says Warren Bokwe, Spotify’s Artist and Label Partnerships Manager in South Africa.



“Streaming has become instrumental in not only enabling the discovery of African music abroad but also in exposing African listeners to new and unexpected sounds,” Okumu adds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Numbers</h2>



According to Macrotrends, Spotify’s net worth as of December 2022 is $15.02 billion.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – Season 8

The Rise And Rise Of An East Asian Music Genre In Africa

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2022 has been a great year for African music, and it seems that this streak is set to continue as yet another artist from the continent has broken barriers and is being recognized globally. Edrisah Musuuza, popularly known as Eddy Kenzo, has become the first Ugandan to be nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



This week, the Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, which will be handed out on February 5, 2023 in Los Angeles.



Musuuza went to Instagram to express what an honor and a great time this is for his country to make it to the list of nominees for the awards.



&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t believe that I&#8217;m nominated in @recordingacademy,&#8221; he shared on Instagram.



And then tweeted: “We are so grateful to God almighty for such a great moment in our country. Fellow artists thank you, this is for all of us. Uganda thank you for raising me. East Africa stand up.”



Musuuza was nominated alongside Ghana’s Rocky Dawuni; South Africa’s Wouter Kellerman; Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode; and Burna Boy are all running for Best Global Music Performance.



Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo has also now been nominated for Best Global Music Album.



Nigerian superstar, Tems, is also in the running alongside international rappers, Future and Drake, in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category for the song, ‘Wait For U’.

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Uganda’s First Grammy Nomination Adds To Record Year For African Music

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World-leading AIDS researcher, South African Quarraisha Abdool Karim, has been elected to serve as the seventh President of The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (UNESCO-TWAS).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



A Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at Columbia University, USA, and pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Abdool Karim will serve as president from 2023 until 2026. The South African professor succeeds Sudanese mathematician Professor Mohamed Hassan.



“It is a real honor and privilege to be elected as President of TWAS,” said Abdool Karim in a statement released by TWAS. “And to have the opportunity to build on the strong foundations established over four decades by my predecessors in realizing the aspirational vision of the founder, Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, on the use of science to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in the developing world.”



Abdool Karim was included in the Women In Science list released by FORBES AFRICA in 2021.



According to TWAS, this is the first time that the 16-member council will comprise of exactly eight men and eight women. Abdool Karim will also be the first woman to serve in the role of TWAS President. Furthermore, this is the first time the council will include a Vice-President and council member from the Global North.



The TWAS Council, elected by members every four years, is responsible for supervising all academy affairs. TWAS treasurer Korean physicist Young Hee Lee, Director of the Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics of the Institute for Basic Science and Professor at Sungkyunkwan University in the Republic of Korea, said that Abdool Karim is an accomplished scholar, scientist and health policy leader.



“&#8230;With deep knowledge of what it takes to training developing world scientists and make a powerful real-world impact with her research&#8230; I am confident that under their guidance the Academy will not only continue to build scientific capacity through research, education, policy and diplomacy — but also expand its activities and programmes, taking TWAS to new heights,” he added.



In her statement Abdool Karim emphasized that while much progress has been made in collaboration with the global network of science academies and strategic partnerships, much more remains to be done during these socially, politically and economically challenging times.



“This is also an opportunity for scientific excellence in developing countries to flourish as we continue to find solutions to the ongoing and new challenges that face the most vulnerable in our communities,” she added. “And ensure that we can all realize our full potential as one people in a safe planet that ensures a sustainable future for all who inhabit it.”

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South African To Be First Woman To Head The World Academy Of Sciences

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Survivors and Thrivers: The Women Fronting Some Of South Africa’s Coolest Startups

AS AFRICA’S ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA industry continues to grow globally because of its projects and people, Mo Abudu is excited to see how far it goes.



“It’s about representation, isn’t it?” Abudu tells FORBES AFRICA. “Really, I want stories about me, for me, by me. It has been missing.”



Known to the world as a Nigerian media mogul, Abudu says: “The biggest challenge in our industry are the gatekeepers who continue to not give us the opportunities we need, and that we justifiably deserve; we deserve those opportunities&#8230;I am pleased about the work happening in media around the world, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.”



Combining her entrepreneurship skills and passion for storytelling, in 2013, Abudu founded the entertainment channel EbonyLifeTV. Currently, the station has about 30 shows under production. And although she jokes that projects can be in production “for forever”, she believes that more production companies should do what she has.



“The trick to getting there is being prepared and being ready. It’s about building those relationships; it’s going out to these industry events around the world. They’re not going to come and find you; you’re going to have to go out and find them.” Abudu says. “The highlight, for me, is always about making great shows. I’m always fascinated by the idea that I can wake up and I know that we’re working on a new production.”



She has been rated one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television by The Hollywood Reporter.



However, the thing Abudu is most excited about is the future of African media.



“For the future of Africa, I’m most excited about the stories that we’re telling, the production values get better and better&#8230; I remember, growing up, the first black show I could relate to, that came out on television in those days was a show called Fame. It was about this dance academy in New York.



“And for a while I wanted to be a dancer because that was all I could relate to on television. Everything else that was on TV that portrayed a black person, they were either prostitutes or drug addicts or criminals. And we’ve been stereotyped into those roles over the years. And that isn’t our own. That’s not our only reality.”



Abudu has produced original Nigerian stories such as Netflix’s Blood Sisters, which in the first week of broadcast, garnered 11 million hours.



“We got into the top 10 in the UK, in the US, Germany, and a significant number of other countries. So we’re very proud of how well it traveled; it was dealing with universal themes, which people could buy into. The production value was great, the storytelling was great. It was a story people could relate to, and that’s where we’re at right now.”

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More and Mo African Storytelling: A Media Mogul’s TV Tales

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No African countries feature on the list of top countries for centi-millionaires, according to a recent report from Henley &amp; Partners, the “global leader in residence and citizenship by investment”, but all is not lost. Four countries on the continent – Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Mauritius – are tipped to be the fastest-growing markets for centi-millionaires over the next decade.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



The Centi-Millionaire Report, released by Henley &amp; Partners, is the first global study of ultra-high-net-worth individuals who boast $100 million in investable assets. There were 25,490 centi-millionaires in the study.



The report “pulls back the curtain on” the lives and livelihoods of the super-rich, which destinations they call home, their spending habits, and their wealth management strategies.



The top 10 countries that house most of the centi-millionaires in the world are the United States (US), China, India, the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the Russian Federation.



The US accounts for an incredible 38% of global centi-millionaires, despite only constituting 4% of the world’s total human population, the report reads. However in Africa, South Africa is the top-ranked country with 92 centi-millionaires — it holds 27th position globally.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:44% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="842" height="866" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-26-at-15.19.21.png" alt="" class="wp-image-56695 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-26-at-15.19.21.png 842w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-26-at-15.19.21-292x300.png 292w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-26-at-15.19.21-768x790.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It is true there is still a long way to go to have as many billionaires or millionaires that you see in America, Asia or Europe. But now that there is this trend of an increased number of wealthy individuals on the continent, how can you make sure that it&#8217;s not only the governments that are working on developing our economies, but also the private sector?”<cite>-Ntoudi Mouyelo, Chief Investment Officer of the Kigali International Financial Centre (KIFC)</cite></blockquote>
</div></div>



The African perspective? We rounded up some sentiments.



Ntoudi Mouyelo, Chief Investment Officer of the Kigali International Financial Centre (KIFC), tells FORBES AFRICA that although Africa is not on the top global rankings yet for centi-millionaires, there has been an increasing number of wealthy individuals on the continent.



“One needs to look at where we stand in comparison to other countries or continents,” says Mouyelo. “And we need to look at the trends within Africa. And here we want to change that narrative to say that things are happening on the continent. What you should look at is ‘what is the number of billionaires and millionaires on the continent’, and ‘how has the growth been of their portfolios’. And what you will see is an increase.



“It is true there is still a long way to go to have as many billionaires or millionaires that you see in America, Asia or Europe. But now that there is this trend of an increased number of wealthy individuals on the continent, how can you make sure that it&#8217;s not only the governments that are working on developing our economies, but also the private sector?”



According to Dr Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley &amp; Partners, the largest millionaire migration flows on record are predicted for next year — 125,000 high-net-worth individuals on the move as we enter the new post-Covid world, and against a backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and the ever-present threat of climate change.



“Since the pandemic and the subsequent socioeconomic upheavals and geopolitical struggles, including a war in Europe, the importance of having optionality across multiple jurisdictions in terms of where you can relocate to and reside in is gaining traction,” Steffen says in the report. “And for those who can afford it, such as the centi-millionaires of the world, residence and citizenship by investment is the simplest, fastest, and most effective mechanism available to achieve optionality.”



“The reason why those countries have been listed, starting with Rwanda,” Mouyelo adds, “is because there is a dynamic economy that can leverage [off] a solid ground of legal fiscal framework with a growing number of skilled professionals to serve the economy.”



The Key Drivers Of Wealth



<ol><li> Strong safety and security</li><li>Growth in key sectors</li><li>Strong competition in essential services -According to the report, as a case study, electricity utility Eskom in South Africa shows the risks of government-owned monopolies, especially in critical sectors such as power generation.</li><li>A well-developed and neutral news media -The report further elaborates that it is important that major news outlets in a country are neutral and objective. A well-developed financial media space is especially important as it helps to disseminate information to investors. European and North American countries score strongly here, as do Australia, India, Kenya, New Zealand, and South Africa.</li><li>Strong ownership rights &#8211; “Zimbabwe offers a case in point as to what could happen when ownership rights are stripped. Once assets are taken away, they tend to lose value as it is unlikely that investors would be willing to commit to buying them,” the report reads.</li><li>Highly developed banking system and stock market -Low tax rates: Mauritius, Singapore and the UAE are examples of the power that tax rates can have in encouraging business formation as these countries all boast low tax rates.</li></ol>



“We in Africa, are African, and there is always the [need] to tailor-make those standards to our reality,” Mouyelo comments. “So what you are seeing here is one, to understand what those key drivers are. And second, is to make them work for our local economies, because we have to speak the African language.



“We are not reinventing the wheel, there is a reason why there is a common denominator to all those countries that are successful today, wherever [the continents] they are based. And Africa will be following the same trend. The question is, what is our willingness to go through that path?”

Author: Chanel Retief

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA