Two taxi commuters who went on to become friends and tenacious business partners selling gourmet cuisine out of a food truck.

Look right, look left. You may well be sitting next to your future business partner.
That’s what happened to Hezron Louw, the Johannesburg-based co-founder of Sumting Fresh, on one of his taxi commutes years ago, and one that set him off on another journey altogether in a food truck.
“I met this guy in the taxi. And he was reading a magazine about cakes and we started talking about cakes. And every day for about two and half years, we would meet in the same taxi line and we would talk about food,” recounts Louw, when we meet him at Grant Avenue, a trendy street in the garden suburb of Norwood in Johannesburg.
This is where Sumting Fresh is rustling up and selling taste. The gourmet food company also sells out of a food truck at Johannesburg’s vibrant food markets.
The guy Louw met in the taxi, chef Andrew Leeuw, would go on to found Sumting Fresh with him in 2012. But before that, the friends-turned-business partners had hurdles and hiccups to overcome.
“We had 12 years apart in between before we saw each other again,” says Louw, the self-taught chef and media personality.
Louw and Leeuw grew up in the suburb of Ennerdale four blocks from each other but never met until the day destiny connected them at the taxi rank.
<div id="attachment_37499" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37499" class="wp-image-37499 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297.jpg 1366w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Hezron Louw; the background illustration has co-founder Andrew Leew on the right.</div>
They were students at the time – Louw was studying for a BCom in accounting while Leeuw was studying to become a chef.
Though Louw dropped out of his course to work in the banking sector, Leeuw completed his studies and worked at resorts.
The common ground in their friendship was their deep, abiding love for food.
“One day, I was driving down the road with my brother and I see Andrew. I shout ‘hey my guy’, he shouts ‘hey my guy’. We had forgotten each other’s names,” he says.
They went to have a beer and three months later, Sumting Fresh was born with merely no capital.
“We had a trailer and we would use my brother’s VW Golf to pull it… We were situated at Becker Street in Midrand for about two years,” says Louw.
Armed with no market research, the risk-takers parked their vehicle there in the hope of one day luring enough clients and becoming successful.
Besides their love for gastronomy, all they had between them was R20,000 ($1, 366) and some pots and pans they received from family.
Reality kicked in soon after.
“Yho! It was dismal,” exclaims Louw.
They were selling lunch to middle-income employees for R35 &#8211; R50 ($2 &#8211; $3) per meal at the time, and their cost price was also as much. They weren’t making any profit.
“Here we were out on the streets selling expensive food at low prices. Our business was a complete loss. Sometimes we would split R175 ($12),” says Louw, reminiscing the cash-strapped days.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/10/18/no-wasted-opportunities-for-swazi-entrepreneur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: No Wasted Opportunities For Swazi Entrepreneur</a>
Fortunately, they had a support system at home including family members and partners.
“I was literally a working poor person. I was extremely poor!” says Louw.
Things got worse. Both co-founders had children and families to look after.
“The business was on its knees, we couldn’t afford milk, nappies [for the children]; we just couldn’t afford anything.”
But the ambition to succeed was strong.
“What was very fortunate was Andrew and I are very optimistic people. We always knew we wanted Sumting Fresh to work. Even though the situation was depressing and hard, when he was down, I would pick him up, when I was down, he would pick me up,” says Louw.
As they leaned on each other, they learned determination.
<blockquote>“The main reason our business is still around is persistence. We would knock on doors and we would insist on getting customers.</blockquote>
“What a lot of entrepreneurs always miss out on is that they always paint the perfect picture [of their business]. They go out and tell how great things are and how great their businesses are. Then people [potential investors] think ‘why do you need my help’?” says Louw.
Their fortunes changed after an encounter with South African entrepreneur Miles Kubheka, the founder of Vuyo’s selling modern African cuisine.
“He used to have a restaurant in Braamfontein. He was driving past, and tasted our chicken wings,” says Louw.
Kubheka was impressed and approached them to work for him. They kept declining.
“We would say ‘no, we can’t’, we are living our dream. He came every day for three months and offered us a job and money so we would quit Sumting Fresh… But this one day, we were so broke we couldn’t anymore,” says Louw.
They shut the trailer and became employees.
“It was great, there was fire and they would tell us at 1 o’clock, it’s lunchtime.”
It took just three days for them to quit because the feeling of working for someone was “strange”.
This time, their return to business would change their financial fortunes.
“Now you are charged up and you see what is possible… [working for Vuyo’s] was a motivation to push us,” he says. The pair continued to work for Kubheka at Fourways Farmers Market on Sundays, until the idea came to also sell on their own at the food market.
It took three months until they received approval to sell their fried chicken strips with cheese. They were soon shoveling money with a bucket yet it had a hole in it.
They made money at the market and lost it all at Becker’s Street during the week, until they decided to close the store. But this was the beginning of new ideas and business opportunities. They expanded to the Neighbourgoods Market, where they met customers from all spheres of life.
“Where we are from, where we started and what we planned for our business is completely different. We thought we would be street food giants. It took us so long to open our eyes and see that,” says Louw.
They took on corporate clients and yet again made the mistake of expanding when not ready.
<blockquote>“Chasing the money can cost you money… that is one thing we need to learn as entrepreneurs. Not every customer is your customer,” he says.</blockquote>
Sumting Fresh finally found its niche.
It now turns over R6 million ($410,033) annually compared to the R600 ($41) monthly profit seven years ago.
They have parked their food trailers at festivals such as the Bushfire Festival in Swaziland, the OppiKoppi music festival in South Africa, and cater for private parties and corporate companies, in addition to running the restaurant in Johannesburg.
Louw is currently one of the judges for the Standard Bank campaign, My Fearless Next, encouraging budding entrepreneurs to turn their side hustles into their main businesses.
The founders of Sumting Fresh have shown how good company and good food can eventually spice up the bottom line.

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The Foodies With A Drive For Business

In the mountainous kingdom of eSwatini, a former pre-school helper is turning trash to treasure.

On a sunny afternoon in May, Swaziland entrepreneur Lungile Beuta sets up her stall in the swaying sugarcane fields of Malkerns, a small sleepy town with a magnificent view of the mountains in the landlocked country now known as ‘the Kingdom of eSwatini’.
May is also when the annual bushfire festival brings together thousands of music-lovers from around the world to this little strip of land for a cultural fiesta. Beuta’s stall selling bric-a-brac is set up in a corner of the marketplace surrounded by other stalls.
A banner fronting her stall and created out of used paper packets says ‘ban-twa-na’ – the name of her business – meaning ‘children’ in siSwati. Around her are more empty packets and wrappers that contained chips, snacks and sweets. It’s a riot of plastic and color at first glance, but passers-by soon realize this isn’t just meaningless rubbish, but everything from purses to pencil cases to handbags made out of them.
<blockquote>“For me, there’s nothing more that brings joy than making these products,” says Beuta.</blockquote>
The 43-year-old grew up in Mbabane, the mountainous capital city of the kingdom.
After high school, she wanted to study design. Her parents sent her to Technikon Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she pursued a diploma in fashion design.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/09/26/ghanas-wastepreneur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Ghana’s Wastepreneur</a>
In her last year at college, tragedy struck. A week before the 21-year-old Beuta’s graduation, she was asked to leave for Swaziland immediately. Her mother had gone missing. Her world came apart.
Even today, Beuta is hopeful she will one day find her mother.
“We tried to search and search and it didn’t help. We were told to look here and go there, but I still do have the hope that she is alive. That’s me. And people look at me like ‘ok, she should be in her 70s’ and I’m like, ‘is there anything wrong with that’?”
As Beuta gets emotional, passers-by stop by her stall, intrigued by her products. One customer asks for Beuta’s business card. She wants to make a bulk order of her bags for a wedding in South Africa.
“Thank you for giving us something worthy to buy,” the client says.
Her sorrow forgotten, Beuta’s face lights up. The over five years in this business has been worth it.
After her studies, she had been a self-employed designer, working from home. It didn’t work. In 2006, she secured a job as a helper in a pre-school in the town where she lived. Beuta loved children, would help them learn nursery rhymes and take them for nature-walks. She would also pick up the waste scattered in the streets a few meters from the school.
Beuta planned on giving the children farewell gifts for their end-of-year party. She then had the idea of creating beautiful objects out of the waste packets she picked up. With her sewing skills, she made them pencil cases out of used chips packets. The children loved them.
“Their parents were like ‘hmm, chips? Why are you giving my kids chips?’ And I had to tell them, ‘no it is actually a chip bag’,” she says.
“It was exciting and then the parents were like ‘ok, you know what? Why don’t you try and turn this into a business’.” The rest was history.
Beuta decided to join the Swaziland Fair Trade (SWIFT) to attain crucial skills selling handicraft and running a business.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2018/07/31/kingdom-calling-at-the-bushfire-festival/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Kingdom Calling At The Bushfire Festival</a>
Her husband worked with Beuta to get her business off the ground. They would collect the waste bags, she would sew them and he would manage the brand and finances.
She says the business has since grown by 75% and she plans to employ more people to help with the production and grow her business into a wholesale company.
In 2016, she participated in 100% Design South Africa, a large curated exhibition platform for sourcing high-end contemporary design in Africa. She stocks her products in stores and hotels around the country and has become a SWIFT board member.
“I use [the profits] to support my family. I am now able to save and not just [live] hand-to-mouth, which is important,” says the mother of two.
Besides the growth in the business, she is content she can also give back to the environment.
“…you’ve got the aspect of knowing what you are doing out there for the environment as well, because we have a major problem here in Swaziland, with plastic flying all over the place, and people burning plastic,” she says.
Beuta has also expanded to up-cycle cans, washing powder packets, newspapers, magazines, maize meal packaging and more into nifty key holders, coin purses, eye glass cases, wallets, sling bags, shopper bags.
This year, she has also introduced limited edition Afrocentric laptop bags, toiletry bags and backpacks.
In her search for more success, Beuta hopes that one day she will also find her missing mother, who she says has been her biggest inspiration.
Nothing is life is a wasted opportunity for this Swazi entrepreneur.

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No Wasted Opportunities For Swazi Entrepreneur

Every time she visits, the Princess of Africa is blown away by the love, respect and order she finds in Japan. 

FORBES AFRICA meets singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and humanitarian Yvonne Chaka Chaka, fondly called the ‘Princess of Africa’, in her home office in the wealthy suburb of Bryanston in the north of Johannesburg in South Africa.
Framed pictures of her travels and accolades as a musician and humanitarian adorn the walls.
On her desk are a stack of magazines, some of them in Japanese.
One of the covers has Chaka Chaka posing with a mic in one hand, the other held out.
The cover line reads: ‘We love Japan. Hold my hand and we will walk together’.
<blockquote>“I love the Japanese so much and they really love me back,” says Chaka Chaka glancing at the magazine. And she has traveled to Japan too many times to count.</blockquote>
But nothing beats the first time she visited the country.
Ten years ago, she was invited to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
Traveling from the City of Gold, Johannesburg, to high-tech Tokyo, she could immediately tell she had entered brand-new territory.
The language, the food, the cultures were so different.
“Japan is just too nice. There are so many people but it is so clean,” says Chaka Chaka.
“I remember my first time when one of the organizations that we worked with, wanted me to go to a place called Kamaishi, where there was an earthquake and I agreed and said that’s fine,” she says.
Little did she know it was going to be a trip she would never forget. She traveled with her humanitarian advisor.
“They said we were going on a train. Ah I was so angry. I said, ‘what! I don’t get in a train’.”
Chaka Chaka prefers road travel but she nevertheless obliged.
“So we got to the station and I saw people with suitcases and I don’t like carrying suitcases. So we did and we got onto the platform and it’s just packed and packed.
“The station there is like the airport, it’s massive but with more people on the trains. It’s like hundreds of platforms and ‘I’m like, I don’t want to be here’.”
They were about to board the Shinkansen, Japan’s high-speed railway, which is a bullet train. 
To her surprise, it exceeded her expectations.
“We got into the train and the order!” she now exclaims.
“There’s so much order it hurts.”
“When the train comes, it stops right here and people queue, there’s no chaos.”
Chaka Chaka watched in awe as everyone waited in a line.
“Arigato gozaimasu [thank you],” she hears some of the staff say to the passengers and bow in respect.
“You know that bending, it shows the love and respect. Everything is just respect, order, cleanliness and meticulous. The Japanese are so meticulous and there’s a lot that we can learn,” says the singer.
During her trip, she also visited Kumamoto which is a city on the Japanese island of Kyushu. They were just recovering from heavy rainfall that had caused floods and landslides.

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“Families were staying in makeshift houses and parents brought their kids to a place where I was talking. And it was so amazing. These kids were like three-year-olds and four-year-olds and they would leave their shoes and you would see hundreds of shoes packed nicely,” she says.
“They are taught from such a young age… and they don’t take what’s not theirs.”
“I had the chance to sit with the advisor of the prime minister and I was asking them, ‘how do you get things so much in order?’ And they said, ‘you know, we teach kids from school. When children finish at school they clean the classes’.”
The famous African was also impressed by the recycling bins available throughout the towns, a bin for every kind of waste.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/travel/2018/09/28/executive-travel-wajes-south-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Executive Travel: Waje’s South Africa</a>
“That one is for paper, that one is for bottles and that one is for this… And I was feeling so bad because I had finished and I threw in a bottle of water in the wrong bin,” she recalls, laughing.
“There’s a lot we can learn from just loving ourselves, respecting ourselves, respecting time and respecting culture. The Japanese still abide by their culture, you know. I mean they wear their kimonos with love,” she says.
She also had the chance to wear her own kimono, which she enjoyed.
That first trip gave her so much insight she frequently visited Japan.
The one place she often visits is Kamaishi to support children affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that tore the city apart.
She has even been given the title of ambassador to Kamaishi City.
Her last visit in March was to Masaka, a central region in Japan, where she was with a Japanese NGO for children called Ashinaga. Her next trip will be in March next year and she is already looking forward to it.
As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Chaka Chaka has the opportunity to travel to numerous countries, but it’s clearly the land of the rising sun that has marked many a new dawn for the Princess of Africa.

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Executive Travel: Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s Japan

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Lights Camera Connie!

Tanzanian entrepreneur Mohammed Dewji was abducted on Thursday morning on his way to a gym session at a luxury hotel in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam. 

According to reports emerging, masked gunmen in two cars ambushed the prominent businessman as he walked into the exclusive Colosseum Hotel and Fitness Club, where he is a member.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the incident and two of the abductors are believed to be foreign nationals, says a BBC report.
A Reuters report quotes Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda as saying the businessman was kidnapped by two men as he entered the hotel.
“They fired a gun and then they opened the gate,” Makonda said, adding that security personnel had started a search for Dewji.
Featured as a FORBES AFRICA cover in July 2013 and as FORBES AFRICA’s Person of The Year in 2016, the 43-year-old single-handedly turned his father’s trading business into Tanzania’s largest import-export group.
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“Slowly, slowly, I am planning to take on the whole continent. I am very bullish,” he told FORBES AFRICA.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2013/07/01/1-3-billion-tsar-dar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The $1.3 billion TSAR of Dar</a>
Dewji is the CEO of MeTL active in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils in eastern, southern and central Africa. He is also the main sponsor of football club Simba.
In September, he met with FORBES AFRICA editor Methil Renuka to talk about plans to expand his business into the rest of the continent.
“It was a brief meeting and he had breathlessly related his business plans for the next two years; the new industries in his pipeline, and his desire to develop Tanzania with every new technology and product on the market. He emphasized the value he places on Africa’s human capital, the role of the youth to steer the continent’s bright future, as he has done,” says Renuka.
News about the kidnapping has sent shockwaves on social media and across Africa.
According to FORBES’ Africa Billionaires list released earlier this year, Dewji is worth $1.5 billion.
Update: Family issues reward after Africa’s youngest billionaire goes missing 
The family of billionaire Mohammed Dewji has issued a reward for anyone with information on his whereabouts. 
Dewji’s family has offered 1 billion Tanzanian Shillings ($436,674) to anyone who can help them find the president of the MeTL Group. 
The Tanzanian entrepreneur was abducted last month on his way to a gym session at a luxury hotel in Oyster Bay in Dar es Salaam. 
Azim Dewji, a family spokesperson, said in a statement: “We would also like to show our sincere gratitude to everyone for their tremendous outpouring of love and support that we have received in the wake of such adversity. We urge you to continue keeping MO in your prayers as our nation continues the search for him.” 
Dewji was featured on the cover of FORBES AFRICA in July 2013 and was named FORBES AFRICA’s Person of The Year in 2016. The 43-year-old single-handedly turned his father’s trading business into Tanzania’s largest import-export group. 
Dewji’s personal networth is $1.5 billion, according to the Africa billionaires list released by FORBES earlier this year. He is also Africa’s youngest billionaire.
Read the Family&#8217;s Public notice here<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Public-Notice-Dewji-Spokesperson-15-October-2018.pdf">:Public-Notice-Dewji-Spokesperson-15-October-2018</a>

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Update: Family issues reward after Africa’s youngest billionaire goes missing

Cézanne Britain is the founder and CEO of Britain Renecke, a 100% black, female-owned commercial law firm in South Africa. Her tips for a debt-free life and why she counts memories, not money.

What is your investment philosophy?
I tend to have a conservative investment philosophy that is long-term orientated rather than short-term focussed. While I believe in doing research, I am also guided by my gut feel when making investment decisions.
What advice you would give anyone who wants to invest?
I take a very conservative and long-term view on investments. From a very young age, my focus has been to save as much as you possibly can of your salary and to try and be debt-free as soon as you can. And if you can steer away from short-term credit like credit cards and short-term loans from the get go in your career, that’s probably a good thing. You are going to need to build up your credit but make sure that, for example, if you spend money on your credit card, settle the full amount at the end of the month. Don’t let it draw interest.
What is the most interesting investment decision you ever made?
When my husband and I got married, we didn’t buy wedding rings. We didn’t buy bedroom suites. We spent our money on travel. After the first financial year of business, I wanted to give my husband something to show him and thank him for all his support and I bought him a wedding band and that was two and a half years ago. And it was quality but it didn’t cost a fortune.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/investment-guide/2018/08/03/fashion-fame-and-finances-with-sa-designer-david-tlale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Fashion, Fame and Finances With SA Designer, David Tlale</a>
What was your first big investment?
Buying my first apartment. I have generally invested in immovable property and shares and my education. Of the three, I paid for my own education and worked five jobs a year. Because I didn’t want to have debt when I started this [company] when I was 18 years old. It meant five jobs a year but it meant I graduated without a loan. There were lots of bruises along the way. But I was debt-free. The second thing I had on my list was to buy property. I then bought a bachelors apartment when I finished my articles…I was going on 23.
What lessons have you carried with you since your childhood?
I was fortunate to have parents who taught me the value of discipline, responsibility and hard work from a young age. I think most important of all, have a dream and vision and a fierceness, fearlessness and resilience to succeed.
What is the most expensive item you have?
I don’t tend to collect material things. I tend to spend money on traveling and making memories. Four years ago, I took my mom to Mauritius for the first time. I wanted her to experience what I experience. We spend our money on giving people experiences and giving ourselves experiences because memories last a lifetime. When I talk about long-term investment, I also talk about memories lasting a lifetime. You can’t get those back.
The most expensive trip you have ever taken?
A trip around the world seven years ago.
How do you describe your leadership style?
I learned a long time ago we have to use our power responsibly. I don’t have one type of leadership style, but rather a combination of autocratic, transformational, coaching and visionary leadership.

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Investing In Memories, Not Material

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Moments Before An Air Crash

The Managing Director of the ABN Group, Roberta Naicker, wins the Top Businesswoman of the Year Award at the 2018 Standard Bank Top Women Awards.

For over 11 years, the ABN Group, home to the FORBES AFRICA and CNBC Africa brands, has diligently told the African growth story and shared the perspectives of the titans of industry.
For over a decade now, Durban-born Roberta Naicker has been an intrinsic part of the company’s journey, and as its Managing Director, is today a success story herself.
In August, which is regarded as Women’s Month in South Africa, Naicker won the Top Businesswoman of the Year Award at the 2018 Standard Bank Top Women Awards.
The function, at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, drew over 650 guests from corporate companies, government departments and the entrepreneurial sphere.
<div id="attachment_37297" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37297" class="size-medium wp-image-37297" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/strikeaposephotography-0243.jpg 1241w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Roberta Naicker. Photo provided.</div>
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The awards were to recognize outstanding leadership in individuals and organizations that have stepped up and shaped the role of women within the private and public sectors.
“It was not an easy task, but with a dedicated group of men and women, we’ve been able to position Africa as the continent of tomorrow,” said an elated Naicker about the ABN Group as she received her award in a room filled with the prominent and the powerful.
In March 2008, Naicker was hired as the head of finance of the group, and had to find her feet in the media industry.
She currently serves as a board member, is the Chair and Managing Director of ABN Productions, ABN Pictures and the ABN Training Institute, Chair of the ABN Education Trust, and Chair of ABN Nigeria and Kenya.
She speaks to FORBES WOMAN AFRICA about winning and why she believes gender parity will be achieved faster with the 4th Industrial Revolution.
How does it feel winning? 
I was genuinely surprised and grateful to be awarded Businesswoman of the Year. This award is as much an award to me, as it is an award to ABN for recognizing potential and helping it grow. My journey with ABN has been a cherished adventure which started in 2008. I have held the position as MD since 2011. This award is a special milestone for me personally and professionally. It is a testimony to the guidance of the Board, the support of the management and the hard work of every single member of the staff.
What do you attribute your success to? 
Success is not a one-person game, it is team work. It is all the people who stand behind me – the staff, the management, the executive team, the Board and the shareholders. My success and growth is attributable to being able to work with so many wonderful people and being able to bring the best out of them. Our Vice-Chairman, Rakesh Wahi’s trust and faith in my leadership, and steadfast support has been very crucial in defining my career.
What has changed in the media landscape in the last decade since you joined? 
A decade is a long time and a lot has changed. The media landscape has evolved so rapidly. We stand in the middle of the 4th Industrial Revolution, one in which technology impacts everything we do and is evolving at such a rapid pace. The media industry is one of the most impacted industries. The digital revolution has drastically changed how the world consumes media especially news media, and at this time it is important to be one step ahead!
You came in taking up a position in an industry new to you, what advice would you have given yourself at that time? 
My advice has always been [to] take one day at a time, and give your 100% for that day. It has worked so well for me because each day brings new highs, new challenges and new opportunities and it brings me great satisfaction to give each of these my 100% best.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2018/09/27/celebrating-five-years-with-the-founder-publisher-rakesh-wahi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Celebrating Five Years With The Founder &amp; Publisher: Rakesh Wahi</a>
What are you looking forward to? 
Over the past 11 years of operation in Africa, we are proud to have created employment opportunities, promoted the development of women within the organization and a niche for financial journalism on the continent. The group still aims to their spread our wings across the continent, a goal which keeps me up at night and brings me back to work in the morning with enthusiasm and energy.
How would you describe your leadership style? 
My leadership style has also grown with the company. I have been able to lead the organization through its journey across the African continent and watch us become Africa’s largest business news aggregator. I don’t believe leadership style can fit into one box but the term I guess which suits this journey the most is ‘transformative’.
Will there be a time when gender will not be a topic in the workplace? 
Women represent the largest disruptive force in business. We are currently the largest unserved market in business. Sheryl Sandberg has beautifully put the answer to this question – it lies in more women in more positions of power. Empowered women empower other women. While this is not something that will happen overnight, I believe we are on the right path, and I believe that this journey will arrive at its destination.
We are leapfrogging in tech and the 4th Industrial Revolution, but when do you think we will achieve gender parity? 
It is because of the 4th Industrial Revolution that I believe gender parity will be achieved faster. The internet has changed the way we consume news; every consumer is also a contributor. The internet has brought people from all over the world together. With a click of a button, we can connect to women across ages, cultures and countries. It can be an amazing tool for empowerment and it can be used to create momentum to women’s issues. Women always had a voice, now we have a platform where we can use it and be heard.
What are some of the views you have on the gender pay gap existing in Africa? With so many women in the media profession, how do you advise this must change? 
Based on statistics released in 2015, women collectively represent the second-largest economy in the world. Yet it is a widely-known fact that women are paid 25% to 40% less than men globally. Women are the single-largest productive economic force, and drive almost every economic indicator for businesses. This gap will close only if there are more women in power, empowering other women. As mentioned earlier, this is not an overnight phenomena, but a journey. One which has gathered more momentum, and one which will surely get us to a better world with more empowered women only if we keep at the journey.

strikeaposephotography-7864

‘Gender Parity Will Come Sooner’

For one of the biggest robotics competitions on earth, a team of Generation Z-ers from South Africa made their way to Mexico accompanied by a robot with the fists and fury to fight. 

You have heard of the South African national rugby team, the Springboks.
But these are the Springbots, the team of Generation Z-ers that represented the country at the Olympics of robotics, in Mexico in August, and came home placed sixth, also winning a gold medal from Walt Disney for their creativity and inspiring story.
We meet them a month before their trip, as they prepare for the battle, armed with their weapons – an iPad and a controller – and a robot no more than a meter tall made up of aluminium, wires, motors and gears.
In anticipation of the FIRST Global Challenge (FGC) 2018, one of the biggest bot fights on earth, 18-year-old Mikhaeel Reddy demonstrates how with the press of a button, he is able to get the robot to lift and drop things.
Also 18, Barbara Moagi, another team member, connects and programs the robot via an app.
Reddy and Moagi are part of a group of four including Tshenollo Mokwana and Masana Mashapa, and say they are the only team from South Africa at FGC this year, competing with 175 other teams from across the world and with students aged 14 to 18.
The robot they have built features an image of former South African president Nelson Mandela raising his fist in triumph (as he famously did on the day of his release from prison). It’s the team’s tribute to the late leader on his centenary year.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/07/19/the-tech-disruptor-on-the-move/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Tech Disruptor On The Move</a>
“We have decided to call this robot Madiba,” say Reddy and Moagi to FORBES AFRICA, a name they decide on in the midst of the interview.
With jolts and jerks, and in rotating motions, Madiba, the robot, deftly moves around. Reddy works some magic on his pedals, and in an instant, Madiba grows to two meters tall.
“We don’t know if we can build a better world for our kids but we can build better kids for the future,” says Jason English, the CEO of CG Holdings and the team’s sponsor.
Madiba is only a small step in the quest for greater victories.
<div id="attachment_37237" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37237" class="wp-image-37237 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Springbots-272.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />From left: Jason English, Roxanne Reddy, Mikhaeel Reddy, Wernich Van Staden, Barbara Moagi. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
The Springbots are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) enthusiasts hoping to be the next generation of scientific leaders working together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems such as food security, energy shortage and access to clean water.
With the FGC’s theme this year being energy impact, the robots assist to fuel power plants, initiate renewable energy plants, and build a resilient transmission network.
“It’s like playing Lego, just a little bit more difficult,” says the team’s mentor Wernich Van Staden.
“A lot of children don’t have the means to say ‘I went to school that enabled me to do this’.”
The skills equip the students to be able to assemble solar panels and hydroponic systems that water crops.
“The robot’s key focus is to be able to pick up energy cubes to deposit into combustion plants, solar panels, and be able turn the wind turbine within the game-playing field,” says team captain Reddy.
The Springbots are participating at FCG for the second time. Last year, they came 77th out of the 175 teams that participated in Washington in the United States (US). They lost their final match to Poland.
“The purpose is not to win, the purpose is to build alliances with people and network…and create a positive impact in the world,” says Reddy, who wants to become an engineer.
He says the networking skills have also helped him understand the world better.
Some of the other African teams that participated this year were Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Gambia and Ghana.
Ghana had an all-girls team. Last year, the FGC made headlines when Afghanistan’s all-girls robotics team were denied visas to participate in the competition. It took an intervention from President Donald Trump’s administration to grant them admission to the US.
For the Springbots, one of the biggest challenges was receiving sponsorship.
The four students are from public schools, therefore acquiring funding was not easy.
“Corporates are not willing to sponsor robotics because they are not aware of what it is. It is something new so they are afraid of it,” the team’s manager Roxanne Reddy says.
At the moment, robotics is not part of the curriculum in South African schools, but the team hope their efforts will be a step in the right direction to influence policy-makers to include it as a subject to prepare the youth for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“It’s not just about robots, it’s also about the coding, and programming of these robots,” says English.
The happy outcome has been the launch since last year of a robotics club in their school and they have already received over 200 applications. The team are now back and Madiba has returned too with more insights on changing the world.

Springbots-280

The Fight of a Bot Named Madiba

South African inventor and investor Stafford Masie on the economy that will unfold as a result of bitcoin offering greater capability than cash.

South African technology entrepreneur and artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiast Stafford Masie has headed Google in South Africa, invented Payment Pebble (a payment solution), and has had over 20 years in IT. At a recent lecture to engineering students at the University of Johannesburg, Masie said: “The future is already here. It is just unevenly distributed.” He also spoke to FORBES AFRICA on the tech forecast for 2019.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/30-under-30/2018/06/04/under-30-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Under 30 Technology</a>
AI gone rogue
Almost all industries have been impacted by AI and Masie believes it has potential to lose control.
“AI is the difference between the third and fourth industrial revolution. We now have this algorithm in the world that says we should measure companies by output so companies are trying to do more with less. [Companies are thinking] ‘get rid of the humans and let’s build automation and we increase our operating margin and our share price goes up’. That is not sustainable. That’s the world in which we find ourselves today. AI has already gone rogue. There is no expert of AI in the entire world. It’s still very early.”
Masie says should be seen as plural and not singular.
“Take a look at Uber. It’s a coalition of disparate AIs and a dual special awareness of intelligence. It’s intelligence on the phone, it’s intelligence in the car, it’s all of those things coming together to deliver on that service. That’s AIs, not an AI.
“AI does not need to take away jobs. AI is makes us look in the mirror and ask, ‘should we be doing that work?’ I don’t think we should. I think we have a higher purpose. We need to start rethinking this notion of employment and jobs and start thinking about work. Humans should be released from doing what they are doing today. A job that measures efficiency and productivity will ultimately be taken over by robots…We were not meant to do jobs that measure efficiency and productivity. We were meant to be [creative]. We need to allow humans to have a purpose.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/brand-voice/2018/09/10/africas-top-30-tech-start-ups-opens-for-entries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Africa’s Top 30 Tech Start-Ups Opens for Entries</a>
Bitcoin will unlock the third economy
Despite experts predicting the fall of Bitcoin and its technologies, Masie predicts otherwise.
“The Bitcoin world is going to be interesting to watch over the next year. That’s very exciting. I just think because it’s still so infantile, it’s still so small. I think Bitcoin wasn’t built for the people who are actually using it today. It was built for the people not financially included in the world today. And what’s exciting in the next few years is to see those people being unlocked and emerging. We have the formal economy, then we have the informal economy. The formal economy has all the financial instruments that you and I use. The security, the credit cards, the bank accounts etc. Then you get the formal economy which is cash.
“But I think bitcoin is going to establish a third economy, and that third economy will surface new transaction types, new value exchange instruments that we still haven’t imagined today and that will come to the fore.
“What excites me more is this third economy that will emerge because Bitcoin offers greater capability than cash. You can program your money. You can expand it, you can create contracts around it. You can exchange value without a third party and that’s what am very excited to see within the next 12 to 24 months, that’s really big for me.”
The tech smoothie
“I’m excited to see what will happen in retail over the next four months. That’s the big one. I can feel it in the water. All the retailers are looking immensely at investing in technology, better customer service, optimization and then there’s logistics in the supply chains driving down production costs, doing more with the humans that they have, sweating their assets, etc. In retail, when you start mixing up the Internet of Things, AI and Bitcoin, that little smoothie looks very interesting to me.”

Stafford-Masie_KM

The Third Economy?

Busi Mabuza, the Chairperson of the Board of the Industrial Development Corporation, on the BRICS summit and why we need to start talking as an African bloc.

If there’s one person who knows what’s good for investment, it’s Busi Mabuza, the Chairperson of the
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), a national development finance institution promoting economic growth and industrial development in South Africa.
Exactly a month after the BRICS Summit, which brought together Brazil, Russia, India and China to South Africa in July, we met with Mabuza for her views on why such forums are key for Africa:
What, according to you, was the biggest outcome of the BRICS Summit?
The countries’ focus was on attracting investment, so we had presidents of the BRICS countries coming with goody bags to the country, especially President Xi Jinping who made quite a substantial commitment to investment in South Africa. What I liked most though was the ‘BRICS Plus’ approach. The invite to other African countries to be part of some of the sessions of BRICS, because with the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, I think we need to start talking as an African bloc.
South Africa has a minute population compared to the other BRICS countries for us to be an attractive preposition to those large economies….we have to speak with the voice that talks for the rest of Africa as well. I also liked the fact that there was conversation in a concerted [way] at a BRICS women’s forum…I didn’t see the evidence of it taking shape yet, but the fact that it was a topic of discussion, that there were initiatives around it…I think is very promising and exciting.
One of the conversations at the conference was the focus on an open economy, what would that mean for South Africa and the rest of Africa?
We should have free trade between the BRICS partners and South Africa, precisely because South Africa is quite a small economy compared to the BRICS partners.
We export raw material to those countries, they export into South Africa finished goods. So the trade still needs to be developed. We need to migrate upwards in terms of our trade mix and portfolio mix, so that if the economies are open, if the trade is open and the tariff barriers are done away with, then it shouldn’t be to the detriment of one economy. There has to be a win-win complementarity.
The other aspect I think very important is the movement of people. We have visa requirements sometimes which are quite onerous and I think there was a lot of time dedicated to talking about those obstacles. People find that when they have investments in South Africa and bring professionals to the country, they can’t stay for a long enough period for them to actually get the business up and going before they go back in order to meet the visa requirements. I think the government is making a concerted effort on that front in trying to make sure visa requirements are not as stringent and do not become an obstacle for our trading partners.
As African countries, we now need to start working towards bringing down all the tariffs, trade tariffs and the non-tariff barriers between exchanging goods and services amongst the different African countries. It’s going to take long because some of the issues are quite complex…So that would be my understanding of opening up the economy. I think there are risks on the one side and opportunities on the other side. What’s important is we move in an orderly fashion and ensure that as we do so, there is a win-win proposition for all countries.
How important are summits such as BRICS for South Africa?
It feels as though we are reintegrating into the rest of the world. I think we were almost at some stage a pariah state but I think the fact that we have been received so warmly since the new president [Cyril Ramaphosa] early this year is a great positive because it means there’s a lot of goodwill in the rest of the world for us.
South Africa’s economy has been sluggish, mainly because of lack of investment. There are other challenges. Our unemployment rates are shocking. I was looking at the statistics compared to our BRICS partners – we are at 27% officially…The need is for us to attract not just the political goodwill of the BRICS partners, but their hard cash into the economy. Not just the portfolio flow – we are not looking for people who are going to buy shares on the stock exchange and sell them as quickly as they bought them if things go wrong – we are looking for people who will bring projects into South Africa, people who will create jobs for South Africans.
[For example], the Chinese, are known for bringing their local projects that they build in countries. But I think as long as the balance is a significant majority – South Africans employed in those projects – then it will be to our benefit. Then there are opportunities for us to show them a thing or two. We do well as far as women’s representation is concerned, not in the private sector, but in the public sector; we are still ahead of our BRICS partners.
You will be amazed that our rail and road infrastructure in terms of area is way ahead of the other countries. So there are opportunities for us to see whether our skill is taken to those countries.
At the IDC, how do you promote women in business and youth?
In the recent past, we have realized something we should have known a long time ago. People focus on what is measured, and we have therefore started measuring the amounts that are collected and dispersed to youth-owned and women-owned businesses and that has done wonders for us. Four years ago, we didn’t know how much of our funding was being dispersed to companies owned by women or was being dispersed to companies owned by young people.
Now, because management is incentivized to disperse a certain percentage of our funding to women-owned and youth-owned businesses, we are seeing more and more. There are years when – I think it was the previous financial year – we overshot our targets in terms of the amounts dispersed to youth-owned and women-owned businesses. We of course pay attention to our employment equity profile within but we also look at the employment equity performance of the businesses we invest in. That’s a space where we have seen sluggish progress but I think now that we are focusing on it, when people come and look for investment, we probe their employment equity profile. We see male management teams and we ask them why and how long it’s going to take them to bring in female talent and young people. And I expect that we will start seeing a shift on that front as well.
And if the IDC portfolio companies start living as good examples of what this country should be doing more and more, then I will be happy.
In August, the IDC approved a funding of R16.7 billion ($1.1 billion). What kind of businesses will that money go towards?
The companies are diverse. We need to be focusing on industrial development and a significant majority of the companies that benefitted from our R16.7 billion disbursement were industrial companies. However, because of where the economic cycle is, there’s quite a number of distressed companies. We’re a development financial institution, therefore, we would like to think of ourselves as patient investors. And where companies are distressed, but we can see there’s an opportunity to be viable down the line, we want to support them…
What are the new industries the IDC is currently looking at?
In fact, we have a new division called New Industries. We have recognized that for IDC and South Africa to remain relevant, we need to understand the 4th Industrial Revolution.
The new era businesses cannot be valued in a similar fashion as one would value the retail company where you look at the profits and you say ‘ok, the business is doing well’.
There, you look at the technology, you look at the potential of that technology and you support the business on that basis.
I was fascinated there is a company in South Africa working in the Internet of Things (IoT) space because it is tempting to assume that those new technologies are just being developed in the rest of the world but that South Africans have actually started companies in that space is exciting for me.

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Why We Need ‘Hard Cash In The Economy’

Two entrepreneurs, time zones apart, are working on building cutting-edge blockchain tech and communities in a big office they call the world.

Typical of the times we are in and the digital industry they promote, these two entrepreneurs work closely together, but in separate time zones.
Their work? Creating an open-source blockchain that will change the way we purchase and use digital assets.
We meet Riccardo Spagni in Johannesburg at 6.30 on a cold Johannesburg evening. Spagni, dressed in a pink t-shirt with an imprint of a pony on it, in his Woodlands office, is the lead maintainer of the Monero project. Dialing in for this meeting is his colleague and co-founder, Naveen Jain, who is based in Oakland, California.
This is an everyday mode of communication, in building their open-source blockchain protocol to help businesses and people manage, transfer and use digital assets. And they’ve called it Tari. For the uninitiated, the open-source model is a decentralized software-development model that encourages open collaboration.
<div id="attachment_37103" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37103" class="wp-image-37103 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Riccardo_GL-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="493" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Riccardo_GL-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Riccardo_GL-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Riccardo_GL-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Riccardo_GL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Riccardo_GL.jpg 1985w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Riccardo Spagni. Photo by Gypseenia Lion</div>
<blockquote>“I like to see myself as the Elon Musk of South Africa, because I’m from South Africa as well,” says Spagni.</blockquote>
He has had a knack for cryptocurrencies ever since 2011 when he found himself mining around in the ecosystem. In 2013, he founded Monero, which provides increased privacy through encryption of transactional information by using robust and recent encryption tools available to safeguard investments. It basically protects any transaction by offering parties absolute anonymity.
Jain got involved in Monero as a miner and also fell in love with cryptocurrencies.
“So when Naveen said to me ‘wouldn’t it be cool to like put natively digital assets on a blockchain’, I was like ‘hmm why’,” recalls Spagni.
Through research and understanding the advantages, Spagni changed his mind.
“I came to realize there was nothing in the market that fit the needs for a highly-scalable and highly- robust native digital assets protocol. So that’s basically what we set out to build,” he tells FORBES AFRICA.
The Tari project will exist to allow companies transfer assets such as loyalty points, gaming points and tickets from one platform or user to another without losing value.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/bitcoin-blockchain-billions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bitcoin, Blockchain And Billions</a>
“The people issuing loyalty points remain the people issuing loyalty points. And the people writing games remain the people writing games. We are not disrupting any of that. What we are disrupting is them having to provide all that infrastructure on the backend for the issuing of their natively digital assets,” says Spagni.
The team already has investors backing them but they are working two years ahead of the actual launch.
“The real secret of sophisticated software systems is it takes long to build over time…We are doing something that hasn’t been done before, so we are not expecting this to be a walk in the park and our real mission right now is to build the best team in the world that wants to overcome the challenges along the way,” says Jain, on the call from California.
They aim to build a global team able to contribute and work on the project with them, which is one of the stages they are currently at.
“From our point of view, blockchain systems are global systems, they are not geographically focused in any way, shape or form, the network is a global network and so it’s very important that we take a global perspective from the beginning of the project,” says Jain.
Their key focus recruiting contributors has been in Johannesburg.
<blockquote>“There’s an incredible wealth of untapped talent in South Africa,” offers Spagni.</blockquote>
There’s a huge opportunity to bridge the gap and create a Tari lab in Johannesburg where developers can come and work on cutting-edge blockchain tech.
But the developers in Johannesburg will only be a segment of the team. The rest would be scattered around the world creating not only an ecosystem of blockchain but an ecosystem of a working community through online interactions.
“It’s weird because there are people all over the world and there are tons of people in this space that I respect and they are scattered all over the globe so we are constantly talking. It’s like being in a big office with some of the brightest minds on the planet,” says Spagni.
“Sharp people like to work with other sharp people and when you are exposed to that global community of people who are all throwing in and developing this open-source software that’s pretty amazing,” he adds.
One of the biggest industries the team aims to tap into is the gaming industry worth $10.3 billion in the United States alone.
Usually users would buy a game, play it and accumulate points. Once they get bored of the game, they play another and the points they accumulated in the first game goes to waste. But with Tari, the user would be able to transfer their end-game wealth into another game.
“Then nothing is ever wasted and they don’t have to build up infrastructure in one game to abandon it. So that excites me a lot,” says Spagni.
Similar to Bitcoin, Tari’s software will be open-source as well, meaning anyone would be able to have access to it. Jain believes this will allow them to gain the trust of users and businesses.
<div id="attachment_37105" style="width: 650px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37105" class="wp-image-37105 size-full" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Naveen.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="960" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Naveen.jpg 640w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Naveen-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Naveen-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Naveen-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />Naveen Jain. Photo Supplied.</div>
“The most powerful mode you can build is community so if you have a large group of people that are philosophically and ideologically aligned with your mission, and then you don’t really need to keep the software itself under lock and key,” he elaborates.
“You can open-source it with a highly permissible licence. Because anyone can use it and what it does is it creates trust. I think we’re in a new world.”
Although to some businesses, this may be a problem as they choose to keep their intellectual property, open-source is seen as a disruptor many have an appetite for.
A survey done by Black Duck Software and North Bridge in 2015 found that 78% of companies run on open source. What may have sounded as crazy a few years ago for businesses to put out their data has now became the norm. They found that open-source systems are critical to reducing potential security, legal, and operational risks while allowing companies to reap full benefits.
“To actually create this kind of a system, to earn people’s trust, that’s just a huge challenge and tremendous amounts of fun. I wake up every day, really excited about this incredible opportunity that we have within the Tari community to pull this off and make it happen,” says Jain, before ending yet another call to his colleague in Johannesburg and beginning yet another day of building an open-source world.

Tari-online

Building Blockchain Tech With The World As Their Official Address

With Africa having a big share of the global malaria burden, technologists are developing new, cost-effective ways to detect the disease – minus the needle. 

A needle, blood drawn and waiting time are the three aspects of a traditional malaria test.
In Kampala, Uganda, 24-year-old Brian Gitta has created a device that eliminates all of the above, in a first for malaria testing.
Matibabu, meaning ‘treatment’ in Swahili, tests malaria without drawing blood and can deliver results instantly.
The device, clipped on to a patient&#8217;s finger, beams a red light, and the results are available within a minute on a mobile phone linked to the device.
Growing up, Gitta had a passion for computers and went on to pursue a degree in computer science at the University of Makerere in Kampala.
Little did he know his eagerness and passion for tech would lead him to the medical field.
“I’m not one who grew up saying I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. I mean I’m not a doctor but I’m glad I can make a change in the medical realm from there,” Gitta tells FORBES AFRICA.
Gitta, who is often in and out of hospitals, now runs Matibabu, a company that takes its name from the device he created. He runs it with a team of six full-time staff. Although he is the CEO and founder of Matibabu, he prefers to be called a team leader.
It all started six years ago. In his first year at university, Gitta got together with his fellow students to change the way malaria was diagnosed. The prevalence of malaria continues to be high in Africa, rated as a top killer.
“I remember the first year when we started it, a lot of people were excited about what we were doing,” Gitta says.
Their project got them accolades such as the UN Women&#8217;s Empowerment Award in 2013.
“I think what we are doing has a lot of potential and we can definitely do something about this.”
The team decided to turn the project into a company with a social objective. But nothing prepared them for what was to come.
<div id="attachment_36983" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36983" class="wp-image-36983 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Brian Gitta. Picture Provided: James Oatway</div>
<blockquote>“As a bunch of people that didn’t know how to run a company, neither did we know how to do anything in terms of management; we actually had to learn on site, so we made a lot of mistakes in the beginning,” says Gitta.</blockquote>
But the more word got out about the company, the more support Gitta and his team received.
They got to learn more about strategic solutions, and managing development processes and the expectations of partners.
The prestigious 2018 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation they won in Kenya in June, have now helped them map the product for the world.
Gitta won prize money of $33,000. He will also receive support, funding, mentoring and business training from the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom.
In 2016, he was on an MTV Base panel discussion with billionaire Bill Gates to share his views on the future of technology, innovation and development in Africa, with a group of African youth.
Gitta aims to create a low-cost malaria-testing device for medical institutions. Currently, the price is set at $100, but he hopes to lower the cost so it’s more accessible.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/11/24/birth-control-mosquitoes-malaria-cure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Birth Control For Mosquitoes – Is This The Malaria Cure?</a>
Gitta, himself once a victim to malaria, was frustrated with the healthcare system in Uganda. Blood tests had failed to diagnose his condition. He says this is one of the common problems malaria patients face. Another is people would rather self-diagnose than seek medical help.
“There’s a lot of self-medication because people tend to treat every fever as malaria and that creates additional strain&#8230;,&#8221; says Gitta.
But he believes with Matibabu, these issues may be eliminated.
Far from Kampala, in the South African capital of Pretoria, Professor Leo Braack at the University of Pretoria has been studying malaria for over five years.
“The new device developed by Gitta and his colleagues suggests multiple potential benefits not just for patients, [but] especially small children intimidated by the current need for a drop of blood,&#8221; says Braack.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), children under the age of five are at a high risk of malaria because they are more susceptible to infection, illness and death.
Braack believes this device could be the first of its kind in the world. However, that may provide a challenge for Matibabu to enter the market.
<div id="attachment_36984" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36984" class="size-medium wp-image-36984" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-600x398.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Leo Braack. Photo Provided.</div>
&#8220;The device still has a way to go before it will be widely accepted within the medical and scientific communities, and ultimately it will depend on cost-effectiveness, and particularly how accurate and sensitive the diagnosis is,&#8221; he says.
“If the device has a margin of error, it is better that it has false-positives than false-negatives. It is better to treat a false-positive person than to ignore a false-negative person who may go on to get seriously ill.
“The ideal is to get the device to reach as close to 100% accuracy and sensitivity, [it’s] very difficult to reach.”
Despite the immense strides taken in eradicating malaria, one of the biggest challenges is the mosquito’s resistance to insecticides and drugs.
Technology has introduced short-term solutions to combat outdoor mosquitoes.
<div id="attachment_36985" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36985" class="size-medium wp-image-36985" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes.jpg 1362w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Vinet Coetzee. Photo provided</div>
Like Gitta, Dr Vinet Coetzee, a lecturer from the University of Pretoria, has been on the quest to identify affordable, non-invasive ways to detect malaria. Her method was tested in Nigeria on children.
“The device uses sensitive skin color measurements in the palm of the hand coupled with Artificial Intelligence to accurately detect whether a person has malaria or not,” says Coetzee.
According to Coetzee, sensitivity is the ability of the method to correctly identify people who have the disease. In this case, WHO recommends a sensitivity of 95%.
The University of Pretoria has filed a provisional patent for this method and Coetzee and her team are currently working on improving the device and its overall accuracy.
She was selected as a Next Einstein Forum fellow and member of the World Economic Forum Young Scientist Community for her work on the bloodless malaria detection device.
Dr Taneshka Kruger, who has been studying malaria since 2012, also believes technology can aid in the fight against malaria. Her focus in malaria research is malaria education and awareness, and public health, looking into new and modern ways to inform communities in both malaria-endemic and non-malaria areas through the use of social media and mobile apps.
<div id="attachment_36987" style="width: 217px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36987" class="size-medium wp-image-36987" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-207x300.jpg" alt="" width="207" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-207x300.jpg 207w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-300x436.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-600x871.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-768x1116.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-705x1024.jpg 705w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443.jpg 1410w" sizes="(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px" />Taneshka Kruger. Photo provided</div>
<blockquote>“In order for malaria elimination to be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa and globally, new and innovative methods and strategies need to be developed that focus on all aspects of the disease,” she tells us.</blockquote>
“The institute [University of Pretoria], in collaboration with Travel with Flair, also developed the ‘Malaria Buddy’ app to inform mainly tourists about malaria. The app is continuously expanding with the aim to become a one-stop malaria information app,” she adds.
WHO is tracking the E2020 initiative in 21 countries identified as having the potential to eliminate the disease by the year 2020. Six of them are African – Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Comoros, South Africa and Swaziland.
The African region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden.
In 2016, the region was home to 90% of malaria cases and 91% of malaria deaths. Therefore, a lot more effort and focus to eradicate malaria is necessary.
Despite only being in the field for a few years, Gitta is positive that with these technological enhancements, the fight against malaria will surely end.
&#8220;I think the strides toward elimination are happening although it will take a bit of time. But we just want to be a part of the journey as a whole,” says Gitta.
“I think the opportunity has been humungous and I don’t look at age as a definition of how to be an entrepreneur and that’s what makes this generation a big difference,” he says. 
Hopefully, the new generation of tech tools they develop will also offer a big difference to malaria cure.
<blockquote>&nbsp;</blockquote>

Brian-Gitta_36x

The Bloodless Battle Against The Malaria

It’s an early morning in May and as the sun rises, red, orange and yellow hues bathe the swaying sugarcane fields of Malkerns, a small town in the landlocked southern African country of Swaziland.
Swaziland, renamed ‘the kingdom of eSwatini’ in April this year on its 50th birthday, awakens to the sounds of the rustling wind and chirping birds. Very soon, these natural notes will be replaced by the cacophony and camaraderie of thousands of guests jetting into the country for the annual Bushfire Festival, a three-day fiesta of art, culture, music and food in the last week of May.
It’s a busy time of the year for a kingdom that is one of the world’s last remaining monarchies.
Within the Bushfire Festival arena, djembe drums beat to the rhythm of the heartbeat of Africa. Revelers indulge in traditional feasts at the food markets as the musicians take center-stage.
The likes of South Africa’s Samthing Soweto, Brazil’s Flavia Coelho, Nigeria’s Yemi Alade and Mali’s Salif Keita are present, offering a profusion of sounds and melodies.
In the camping arena is a confluence of cultures, as over 29,000 guests who have traveled here to attend the festival make new friends and form unlikely collaborations.
Many stop to admire a hand-crafted grass hat worn by a young woman who has traveled from Lesotho. Anna Thai is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States.
“The people here are very relaxed and accepting of each other. There are so many from different countries, so many languages and so many different faces and I really enjoy the diversity of it,” she tells FORBES AFRICA.
What started as a cultural meet around a small amphitheater, where artistes performed in front of a crowd of no more than a hundred, is today one of Africa’s most talked-about festivals.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_36776" style="width: 955px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36776" class="wp-image-36776 size-full" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM.jpg" alt="" width="945" height="628" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM.jpg 945w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jiggs-Thorne_KM-768x510.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 945px) 100vw, 945px" />Swazi-born Jiggs Thorne. Photo by Karen Mwendera.</div>
<blockquote>“We started off as kind of a charity running a business and very quickly learned that it needed to be a business running a charity.” &#8211; Jiggs Thorne</blockquote>
Swaziland-born Jiggs Thorne, the founder and director of the festival, always had a passion for the arts, but admits he had to learn the business aspect of the festival the hard way.
“The important thing is I never studied to become a festival director and that’s the thing with entrepreneurs, you are driven by passion; the kind of passion that gets you up and creates that drive you need to make something work. And you have to be incessant,” Thorne tells us.
Born in Manzini, he was inspired by his parents who owned a restaurant. He went on to pursue a degree in drama and politics at the University of Natal in South Africa.
In 1994, when he finished his degree, he decided to return to his home country and apply his passion for the arts. Thorne wanted to develop the local arts scene.
In 2000, he set up House On Fire, the eclectic venue where the festival is now held.
However, its business model wasn’t sustainable, and Thorne realized that if he didn’t act quickly, his dream would slowly fade away.
“Well, I was very much an artiste and I think I’ve become entrepreneurial along the way and we started off as kind of a charity running a business and very quickly learned that it needed to be a business running a charity,” he says.
The Bushfire Festival came into being.

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“It was always about a positive light, warmth, about celebrating diversity,” he says.
A majority of the funding came from sponsorships, and partnerships – the festival is called MTN Bushfire.
With his brother Shelton, Thorne fine-tuned the business model to keep its mandate as a creative arts platform and business at the same time. As Thorne came from an arts background, he had to depend on others to make his dream work.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2012/07/01/setting-fire-swaziland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read More: Setting Fire To Swaziland</a>
“There needs to be integrity in the way in which you deal with people so I think that’s kind of paramount in this equation where you are dependent on others to make it happen,” says the 48-year-old father of two.
The festival grew beyond what Thorne had imagined, he says, contributing over E50 million ($3.7 million) to Swaziland’s economy.
“When the king travels overseas, people ask him about Bushfire, you know. So it’s quite a surreal thing that the concept that came up all those years ago in a sense has become owned by others,” laughs Thorne.
This year, the local newspapers, radio stations and social media were abuzz with news on the festival.
Thorne owes its success to his team and his parents who left the legacy for him and the family to build on.
“It was kind of the fire they started and it’s a light that we’ve been able to follow. They are the legacy, says Thorne, who runs the festival with his siblings and extended family.
“Entrepreneurship is something that you don’t really study, you learn, and it’s something that takes over, and it’s kind of all-encompassing,” he signs off.
After the curtains come down on the festival, it’s back to the idyllic sights and sounds of Swaziland, until next year, when the little town of Malkerns will fire up again.

DSC_0568

Kingdom Calling At The Bushfire Festival

Author: Karen Mwendera

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA