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AFRICA’S RICHEST PEOPLE 2023

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Part 2: Ventures And Valuations: Africa’s Billion-Dollar Startups￼

<h2 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-wemimo-abbey-co-founder-esusu">Wemimo Abbey Co-Founder, Esusu</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“We like to call ourselves [social] justice capitalists.”</blockquote>



Wemimo Abbey, co-founder of Esusu, a company which reports rent payments to major credit bureaus helping renters establish their credit scores and owners maximize returns, says the company was born out of personal struggles.



Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria, and was raised by his mother, along with two sisters, after his father passed away when he was just two years old. Despite having less than a secondary school education, his mother ensured he went to one of the best high schools they could find. This took the family from the lush tropical climate of Lagos to the freezing climes of Minnesota in the US.



“During that transition, something important happened. We didn&#8217;t have a credit score. We walked into one of the largest financial institutions to borrow money [and] were turned away. We had to go borrow money from a predatory lender at over 400% interest rate.”



His mother pawned his father’s ring and borrowed money from church members to make payments. This led Abbey and his co-founder, Samir Goel, to start a company premised on the idea that no matter where you come from or the color of your skin, your financial identity shouldn’t ring fence your path in life.



Aside from establishing credit scores, Esusu gives zero-interest rent relief paid directly to landlords when people cannot pay, so people are not evicted.



Abbey says they’re not solving homelessness backwards, adding that they operate on the social aspect of ESG – to give data-driven improved credit scores.



After university, both Abbey and Goel quit their corporate jobs, combining savings and $100,000 in credit card debt to fund the startup. After being rejected by almost 326 potential investors at the time, Abbey says it’s a scrappy story of realizing potential. Today, Esusu covers three million rental units in 50 US states, across real estate asset classes including affordable public housing, luxury student housing, military, and everything in between. They’ve grown from a staff of 20 to 200 in under two years. Not to mention, they’re making an impact despite their youth; Goel is 28, Abbey is 30.



“At Esusu we like to call ourselves [social] justice capitalists. Doing good and doing well isn&#8217;t mutually exclusive,” Goel says. He argues they are in the best position to create solutions for the demographic that not only looks like them but also are going through similar challenges.



They started with a savings model, digitizing age-old collective community savings techniques. However, they soon learned people already knew how to save, so they pivoted their model after realizing most consumers didn’t have access to affordable financing in an emergency.



“It&#8217;s quite obvious that we don&#8217;t look like everyone else in Silicon Valley. But I think beyond that, one of the things we realized is a lot of the people we were talking to lacked proximity to the issues that we were trying to solve,” says Goel. He says that, from their perspective, they’re serving the majority, as there are more people who are credit invisible like immigrants, minorities, and low-income households. Within these brackets, there are more people living paycheck-to-paycheck than those who are not.



Abbey reflects that a mobile phone is a powerful tool for digitizing African economies and unlocking opportunities. “We&#8217;re very excited that on the African continent with the emergence of new technologies, borrowing money doesn&#8217;t have to be a derivative of your father&#8217;s last name anymore.” He adds that it has become more about credit risk and financial profiles. These innovations, he notes, means the world is seeing Africans create solutions for Africans.



“So this is the movement of the African continent from this aid-based, poverty-ridden continent to a new era of innovation, technology, championed by its youth population. We think the movement is just getting started. So, it&#8217;s common business sense [for] the folks in Silicon Valley making these investments on the continent. My opinion – the best is still yet to come.”



Goel says Esusu does not look like other unicorns in the US, as their capitalization table is 75% black and brown women, the management team is 93% people of color, first- or second-generation immigrants and women. The company as a whole is composed of people of color.



Abbey says when they were declared a unicorn, they were immensely grateful. The company tells the story that it’s possible to invest in a minority-owned business and outperform other companies. Overall, Esusu tells a story of the impact and effect capital can have in the lives of many.



Abbey observes that a lot of African countries are young with the oldest around 60 years old, unlike the US which is over 300 years old. “If you look at the rate of growth, it&#8217;s actually accelerating compared to where places like the United States were when they were at this age,” he says.



It’s a renaissance that technology is going to revolutionize the way the continent thinks, and the way other places think about Africa. The narrative is changing from tourism and wildlife to which high-growth startups to invest in.



“We need to do more of the showing and stop telling people. Let the record speak for itself! Relegate the rhetoric, consider there’s something genius and there&#8217;s something special about the folks that come from the continent. And we&#8217;re just getting started. Because we&#8217;re young, we&#8217;re vibrant, we have ideas that can really change the world,” Abbey concludes.

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UNICORNS-Esusu: Digitizing African Economies In A New Era

<h3 class="has-text-align-center" 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"> &#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

<h4 id="h-mitchell-elegbe-co-founder-and-ceo-interswitch">Mitchell Elegbe Co-founder and CEO, Interswitch</h4>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“If you know you only have one opportunity, the way you use it is quite different but if you felt you could squander this one and get another opportunity, then your approach will be different.”</blockquote>



For Mitchell Elegbe, the journey to building one of Nigeria’s most respected businesses, Interswitch, was driven by the passion to solve a social problem. He encountered the problem years ago in his youth when he tried to withdraw money from an ATM while abroad when his card was seized and he was left stranded.



“I made up my mind that one day I would conquer this problem,” recalls Elegbe.



When he returned to Nigeria, he noticed how the issue of getting money out from banks was creating a social menace. At the time, there weren’t many bank branches available and the only way one could withdraw funds was to physically go into a bank and wait to be served. This could often take up to three to four hours. The tedious wait times invariably led to clients taking out much more than they needed to avoid a repeat journey.



“This was usually on weekends, typically on Friday, when people wanted to have enough money to spend, and if you [knew] Nigeria at the time, spraying cash was the norm. What this did was create a lucrative business for robbers. So, it was normal for people to attack you on Fridays because they [knew] there was a lot of money at home,” says Elegbe.



This was Elegbe’s mountain. The next question he needed to figure out was how lucrative the solution was and at what price point people were willing to pay to have it. As a result, he developed an approach which he terms as “the Tropical Savannah method” and one that forms the bedrock of Interswitch’s success.



“You have the Silicon Valley method and then the Tropical Savannah method and there is a key difference. What you find is that people get money and they buy market shares and they don’t tell you if that market they are buying will end up paying for the services. In Africa, where you have the Tropical Savannah, you don’t give free things and take it back.



“If all I need is a sachet of water, don&#8217;t give me a bottle of coke for free. Let me pay for my sachet of water. The day you start giving coke for free then get ready to sustain it. If you tell me you can’t give me coke anymore and I need to start paying for it, people will stop because the best I can pay for is the water because that is what I can afford,” says Elegbe.



In other words, you need to design your services to meet people at their point of need in the Tropical Savannah. Otherwise, at that point where you are now ready to monetize from your customers, you will not be able to.



“This is why a lot of fintechs are suffering and that is what is happening globally and why the valuations are crashing. In the Tropical Savannah, prove your model and show that there is somebody to pay for it at a price point that will make it profitable and then you can begin to scale.”



That method allowed Interswitch to raise only $500,000 against an initial $1 million target and still turn a profit in the first year of business.



“Sometimes in life you get just one opportunity and you need to grab that one. If you know you only have one opportunity, the way you use it is quite different but if you felt you could squander this one and get another opportunity, then your approach will be different. With Interswitch, I knew there was no way we could go back to people to ask for more money. Because if they could give us $1 million, they would have. So we had to make the money; we had to work.”



And with that, Interswitch was able to disrupt the traditional cash-based payments system at a time when Nigeria’s banks were still struggling to open enough branches to meet customer demand.



“I did not think we were creating anything fantastic because the process of making cash available via ATM was already well-established in other parts of the world. The challenge we had in Nigeria was that the infrastructure was not there. Power was a big problem, telecoms was not where it should be, and when we started in 2002, the GSM license was not where it should also be,” says Elegbe.



What that meant was Elegbe had to take a bet on the future.



“So, we basically made a bet that we were going to build an online real time payment infrastructure and we were going to make a bet that we can manage and design out the challenges of power and that telecoms will improve because if people were spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get a GSM license, it only makes sense that I could do a good job with those licenses. So, the bet was to attempt to create an online real-time payment infrastructure.”



That is exactly what they did and that bet has paid off significantly. From attracting a $200 million investment from Visa who took a 20% stake in the business, which pushed the company into unicorn status to the recent injection of $110 million joint investment from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to scale its digital payment services across the continent, Interswitch has been at the helm of democratizing cash transactions to 200 million Nigerians over the past two decades.



“The vision at that time was to leapfrog and to take Nigeria where it was at a very backward stage to a stage where it was more advanced. So, we wanted to create enough innovation to drive the penetration and adoption for electronic money and to that extent we were able to achieve that,” says Elegbe.



For Elegbe, the goal was never to become a unicorn. In fact, he did not even know what that term meant.



“I only began to know about the term unicorn when someday we got to know that Interswitch was now being described as a unicorn. In all my years running Interswitch, unicorn was never the goal for me. It was more of the ability to take one problem at a time, solve it, see the impact it was having on people and be encouraged by the problem we are solving.”



“In our case we began to hear about the unicorn thing when Visa invested in us [to] a valuation that was about a billion dollars. The objective was to just keep solving problems and getting joy when you see the problem solved. The idea of a unicorn is knowing that you are a billion-dollar valued business but for me it is just a mark and means nothing. Sooner or later everybody will get there. The real issue is what impact are you making with the technology that you have deployed,” says Elegbe.

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UNICORNS- Interswitch: Joy From Solving Problems

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center">“I hope it will serve to show others that this is actually a really big opportunity. I think we’re still in the early innings.”</blockquote>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-ham-serunjogi-and-maijid-moujaledceo-and-president-respectively-chippercash">Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled CEO and President (respectively), ChipperCash</h2>



By Marie Shabaya



THE UGANDAN-BORN CEO OF FINTECH unicorn, Chipper Cash, Ham Serunjogi, grew up watching his parents solve problems. Today, overcoming challenges is a daily routine and forms a culture of thought inherited from his upbringing.



“As an African, you’re in problem-solving mode all the time. For me, it was [multiplied] by ten, my parents were both self-employed, solo entrepreneurs, and [they had] a continuous problem-solving mindset,” recalls Serunjogi, speaking with FORBES AFRICA from San Francisco, California. 



Serunjogi fondly recalls the early memories that shaped his own entrepreneurial stature.



“We grew up on a farm so initially [my parents] were trying to figure out how to get the farm going. Eventually, they had a dairy business and they had to figure out how to get that going. My dad is a computer scientist by training and he had an IT firm as well and he had to figure out how to get that going and how to manage a small team…it left such a strong mark on me. I always wanted to do something of my own when I grew up.”



After completing high school in Kenya, Serunjogi made his way to the US to study at Grinnell College, a private liberal arts institution in Iowa State. It was here that he would meet his long-time friend and co-founder, Maijid Moujaled, from Ghana.



Moujaled who is now President of Chipper Cash was, like Serunjogi’s father, a computer scientist and had started a popular coding club at Grinnell. The two struck it off immediately noticing that they both saw the world from a similar vantage point.



“When I met Maijid, he was of a very similar mindset around the fact that there were so many opportunities in Africa for us to make a positive impact. We happened to be among the few [Africans] who got to go on and get educated in the US and we saw that as a privilege and an opportunity to learn in a new place and see how people solve problems in that area. For us, payments [in Africa] was [where] we felt that we could make a positive contribution,” he explains. 



“When I met Maijid, he was of a very similar mindset around the fact that there were so many opportunities in Africa for us to make a positive impact. We happened to be among the few [Africans] who got to go on and get educated in the US and we saw that as a privilege and an opportunity to learn in a new place and see how people solve problems in that area. For us, payments [in Africa] was [where] we felt that we could make a positive contribution,” he explains.



During their time at Grinnell, the two men began conversations around building a money transfer app that would enable Africans to easily make cross-border financial transactions; a gap which the antiquated continental banking system struggled to address for decades. They went on to establish ChipperCash in 2018, with combined savings of $30,000, launching a Beta version of the app in July that year. The service was simple but revolutionary, initially allowing users to send money between Uganda and Ghana, for free. It was a game-changer, not only was it easy-to-use it also overcame the cost hurdles presented by other alternatives available on the continent. In November 2018, they received their first injection of investor capital after 500 Startups, the San Francisco-based early-stage venture fund, agreed to put in $150,000.



Raising funds wasn&#8217;t easy. The founders had pitched to 50 VC outfits before the 500 Startups investment and many of the investors they had been in contact with were wary of an African prospect. Serunjogi, in an interview with Forbes earlier this year, notes that some of them were not just apprehensive but even averse to the idea of investing in an African startup with one investor reportedly telling Serunjogi, “regardless of what the metrics are, I have to apply a discount to this business because it’s in Africa”.



“With the pain we’ve gone through trying to raise money in a space where there has historically been no one [from the continent] raising money and the trauma of being overlooked that comes with going against those odds, I hope it will serve to show others that this is actually a really big opportunity. I think we’re still in the early innings,” he now reflects.



Today, ChipperCash is imbued with the spirit of its founders and has more than overcome initial hurdles. The company is highly-rated among investors, riding high with a $2.2 billion valuation after raising a total of $300 million to date with backing from noteworthy titans like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and a roster of blue chip VCs. Their most recent funding round closed in late 2021.



ChipperCash employs 350 people spread across their San Francisco headquarters and Africa offices in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. Their impressive growth, over the last four years, has enabled them to support a growing client base of 5 million in seven African countries. In addition to low-cost money transfers, they have also expanded their product stable with a crypto-trading service and a platform where their continental customers can purchase US stocks. Last year, the company’s revenues were well over $75 million up from $18 million in 2020.



However, for ChipperCash, reaching unicorn status was never the objective. While it remains a great vote of confidence from the market, signaling early success, the founders’ sights remain fixed on their initial motivations for founding the business, insists Serunjogi.



“Our task is to provide a platform that can help people move their money easily, invest in assets across the world easily, [and] interact with the online economy easily. Essentially, meet people at the fabric of their financial lives in Africa.”



Nevertheless, surpassing the $1 billion valuation mark is a feat for any business, African or otherwise, and very few from the continent have managed to scale such heights. The fact remains that Serunjogi and Moujaled have shifted the needle on what is possible for Africa’s innovators and entrepreneurs, establishing themselves as trailblazers in the fintech arena.



“If nothing else, I hope that ChipperCash can serve to show that there is a massive opportunity in Africa and maybe even pave the way for others who are more talented, more capable than Maijid and myself to come and do even more important work,” says Serunjogi.



“Africa offers the last great opportunity for exciting innovation in the world today.”


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Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled by Ethan Pines for Forbes 130L-03-0027

UNICORNS-Chipper Cash: A Chip Off The Old Block

Venturing into the world of entrepreneurship is often strenuous and risky business. But the rewards far outweigh the costs. Since 2013, the added prize of being lauded as a ‘unicorn’, that is a business valued at $1 billion or more, has become highly coveted among the entrepreneurial class. On the continent, very few can claim this status. FORBES AFRICA spotlights African founders who have scaled these heights, making their mark on the world at large and redefining the African story of success. 



By: Marie Shabaya, Chanel Retief, Lillian Roberts, and Peace Hyde



IN POPULAR IMAGINATION, UNICORNS CONJURE up the picture of a rare but beautiful mythical creature described by the ancients as resembling a horse, with a single horn emanating from the center of its forehead. A timeless symbol of purity and uniqueness, this rich symbolism also translates to the world of business. In the startup lexicon, a unicorn is also a rarity and defined as a relatively young company, usually less than 10 years old valued at $1 billion or more by public or private investors.



According to CBInsights, a New York City-based market intelligence company, as of October 2022, there were over 1,200 unicorns in the world. Popular unicorns include the artificial intelligence (AI) company, ByteDance, from China that is valued at $140 billion; Elon Musk’s spacecraft engineering firm, SpaceX, valued at $127 billion and Chinese online fashion retailer, Shein, valued at $100 billion. Some former unicorns include Airbnb, Facebook and Google. Furthermore, according to the report, the total cumulative valuation of these rarified businesses is $3,871 billion.



In Africa, the rise of these mythical commerce creatures is not different.



A few years ago, the continent saw the emergence of its first unicorn with the pan-African online retailer, Jumia Group. The company had capitalized on a major gap in the virtual market building a customized platform where consumers in 14 African countries can order their groceries, shop the latest fashion or order takeaway from their favorite restaurants online. In 2019, Jumia became the first brand from the continent to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), after commanding a valuation of $1.6 billion the previous year. Since then, six more businesses have entered this very elite club, illustrating that the rate of unicorns forming on the continent is fast accelerating.



“I suppose the rise of African unicorns is starting to validate the potential of African companies,” says Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, a company in South Africa that invests in early-stage, high-growth technology businesses.



“So, it’s one thing to say ‘I want to invest in African businesses’, and then someone will say, ‘well, what’s the potential, how is my investment to make money’…as a continent, [we’re] an emerging market or frontier market.”



While continental startup ecosystems are relatively young compared to more developed markets such as the United States (US), Israel, or the United Kingdom (UK), they are growing at around 15% faster than these more mature markets each year, according to Lessem.



“And in 2022, the African venture capital (VC) market is set to be the only region in the world to have grown year-on-year,” Lessem tells FORBES AFRICA.



“So, while on a relative basis Africa is a small part of the global startup and VC sector, it is growing, and growing quickly, and with a maturing ecosystem and the continued influx of capital, its place on the global venture stage is set to continue, with many more unicorns to follow as a result.”



According to a study by Mastercard, the global payments giant, on the state of fintech in African markets, startups within this sector boasted exponential growth in 2021. In terms of funding, the study showed that the continent’s fintech startups recorded 894% year-on-year growth in 2021.



“[What] Africa has to do as a continent is figure out [how] we overcome some of [the] barriers that make it difficult to build big enterprises and can we make it easier to do business across the continent?” Sarah Dusek, an Investor and Co-founder of Enygma Ventures and Co-founder of Under Canvas Inc. says to FORBES AFRICA. “Money movement across the continent is still very challenging. And that’s where we’re seeing most of the unicorn space happen right now, in fintech.”



Nigeria emerged as a leading fintech hub across the Middle East and Africa as startups there accounted for a third of all funding deployed into fintech in 2021.



The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) noted in October that, within the first half of this year, African startups captured $3.5 billion in venture capital investment. The industry group further stated that the funding, raised by 300 different companies, represented a total growth of 133% compared to the same period last year.



“I think we have the potential for having a lot of unicorns on the continent. But equally, this ecosystem is really young,” says Dusek. “So if you think about how old the sort of Silicon Valley model of investing in the US is, it [is] 50 years old. [In Africa] we are under a decade in the venture capital model. Only $4 billion was invested in 2021 on the whole continent into businesses. So there&#8217;s no way we can have a lot of billion-dollar companies, when we&#8217;ve only invested $4 billion a year.”



However, there is a reason for the low investment volumes. Investor perceptions have long been marred with challenges and stereotypes that have been difficult to eradicate. However, Lessem believes that this is mostly due to lack of data.



“Africa is still a pretty new market&#8230;so investors will always be quite wary. The other challenge is when anything is new, there are very few data points,” Lessem explains. “So as a foreigner to go and say, ‘okay, well, I want to invest in Uganda’, what data do they have to draw from? In researching, you would see that it is probably hard for you to find some of the data you were looking for. ”



“I think it&#8217;s a bit of a chicken and egg [scenario],” Dusek adds. “Because I don&#8217;t think we can break those stereotypes without going to these places in the first place. If you look at most of the unicorns&#8230; how many of them are out of Nigeria? Most of them [are]&#8230; and that is just about building companies in big markets with big opportunities. And that&#8217;s actually one of the biggest challenges for Africa, we are a continent, not one country.”



Starting a business on the continent is not easy and is one that is riddled with a multiplicity of issues.



“Whereas I think in Africa, there is a perception that if you fail, it&#8217;s almost built for life, which I think is true, in terms of the stigma that comes with it. People almost don&#8217;t want to embrace failure. So I like to fail quietly. The only concern and a chance of failing quietly, is [that] for you to get assessed for business, you have to put yourself out there.”



Lessem further notes that one needs to remember that without meaning for it to happen, legislation and regulatory frameworks will always play a role in what businesses you invest in, particularly in Africa.



“Each country is different [and] we have very different legal systems. In southern Africa, we are very English and Dutch-law based. The same would be for Nigeria and Kenya. But then you look at Mozambique and Angola, and that will be Luciferians, which would be very kind of your Portuguese type of law, which is a little bit different.



“And then Francophone Africa; the DRC, Senegal, that would be French Civil Code. When you make an investment, you have to sign a subscription agreement and [understand] what you are actually signing in for [particularly if] you don&#8217;t have experience in the various kinds of laws [of] the country.”



Moreover, there is a reason why most of the continent’s unicorns are in West Africa or have founders from the region.



“Nigeria is a powerhouse economy in Africa with access to hundreds of millions of tech-savvy consumers who have access to mobile phones,” Lessem adds. “It stands to reason that it will attract VC funding and produce powerhouse startups. But taking a step back, and looking at what defines a unicorn, which loosely is a VC-backed early-stage business that has raised capital at $1 billion or more valuation.”



Lessem further compares Nigeria to South Africa. In terms of consumer numbers, Nigeria is far larger. However, from a capital markets perspective, South Africa has much more depth. What this means is traditional venture investors may lean towards markets such as Nigeria where their funding could play a more meaningful role, and potentially impact more people in the process.



“South Africa, on the other hand, has many other capital options besides venture capital funding and depending on the type of business can look to venture capital or to other capital pools as appropriate,” Lessem says. “That being said, venture capital funding plays an important role in South Africa, as well, especially for businesses looking to scale internationally and this is where we are going to see many unicorns emerging from South Africa in the coming years.”



And now that we are seeing growth happening in the unicorn space for Africans, the next barrier is breaking what could easily turn into a boys&#8217; club if more women are not welcomed into the space, as one can intimate from the unicorns profiled within these pages. But that, according to Dusek, can only happen with more investment.



Women make up 58% of Africa’s self-employed population and businesses founded by women ultimately deliver higher revenue—more than twice as much per dollar invested—than those founded by men. This should make women-owned companies more attractive to investors. However, with all the data and research available, we are yet to see a female-founded and led unicorn from the continent.



“Women have shown that they are capable of accelerating the economy but this is only possible through the provision of equal opportunities. With decades of gender disparity issues, women are not asking for preferential treatment but for the same opportunities as men,” says Dusek.



“To tackle Africa’s socio-economic challenges, we need to invest in women-led businesses, because when women work, they drive impactful changes in society. We already know that women-led businesses are statistically more profitable than male-led ones, [they are] more likely to repay debt, and more likely to continue to operate after the first five years in business.”



The story of African unicorns has been two years in the making for FORBES AFRICA. We’ve been watching the markets for the growth of these billion-dollar outfits and those behind them. The founders within these pages have not only grown and scaled their businesses, despite the odds, but have been thinking beyond reaching unicorn status, because for them, the work has just begun!  



<a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-dec-jan-2023/">For full list of unicorns, get your digital copy here</a>


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Part 1: Ventures And Valuations: Africa’s Billion-Dollar Startups

AFRICAN STARTUPS ARE RAISING UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNTS AT RECORD SPEED. FOR NOW, THE CONTINENT IS THE ONLY REGION IN THE WORLD SEEING A RISE IN VENTURE CAPITAL FLOWS. PERSPECTIVES FROM WEST AFRICA.



AS FUNDING FOR STARTUPS FALLS ACROSS the globe, Africa it seems is undergoing a renaissance in this regard.



“We are seeing a time where funding for African startups rose to a massive $3.14 billion in the first six months of this year alone,” says Eric Idiahi, Co-Founder and Partner at Verod Capital, a leading West African private equity investor. “That is unprecedented and it really shows the interest in the continent!”



African entrepreneurs are raising money to solve pertinent socio-economic problems on the continent ranging from financial inclusion, providing access to healthcare for the underserved and vulnerable, and bridging the education gap.


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“Africa investment firms and angel networks have started putting money into African companies,” says Dr Akintoye Akindele, yet another West African entrepreneur, who is the Founder of investment vehicle Platform Capital in Nigeria.



“It took African entrepreneurs almost 10 months to raise $1 billion in 2019. It took the same group eight months to raise $1 billion in 2020. It took them four months to raise $1 billion in 2021 and it has taken them less than six weeks to raise $1 billion in 2022. That means capital is coming in faster into deals and last year for the first time in our history, African investors invested more than European investors. This is a major milestone.”



Akindele is himself focused on inviting investors “to see Africa the right way”.



“This is because we know the narrative that exists about Africa and the negative questions we get asked.”



The thesis of Platform Capital is that it deploys long-term capital to startups whose center of gravity is Africa.



“Africans need long-term, nurturing and patient capital. Four to five years is too short in Nigeria for a business to turn capital around and grow and deliver profit to capital providers. I believe from my experience that five to six years does not create enough alignment,” says Akindele.



Based on their extensive research and experience investing in over 100 portfolio companies with a valuation north of $1.5 billion, Platform Capital invests in businesses that will become top in their sectors in 15 years. Akindele also believes his investments should be sector-agnostic.



“I believe in Africa, we should not be choosing what we cannot invest in&#8230; whether it’s energy, telecom, agriculture, infrastructure or value-added services like gaming, I believe consumers need their basic needs met and then on the back of that we can evolve.”



Akindele’s primary focus is those sectors fundamental to the development of Africa.



“We invest in key areas that Africa needs to catch up on&#8230;so things like technology infrastructure, agriculture or food value chains. They form our anchor sectors and that represents about 60% of our portfolio. Then, when you have people who have electricity, food and water, they then go into the next sector like finance as well as education or healthcare&#8230;Then our final sector is robotics, artificial intelligence, such as one of our companies that do smell cyborgs,” says Akindele.



The company he is referring to is Koniku, a synthetic biotech company that creates ‘smell cyborgs’ that can detect a range of compounds in the air in real-time, and which recently partnered with Airbus to launch biotech solutions for aviation.



The company has so far reportedly raised $49.2 million in four rounds and is part of a long line of African startups bucking the trend of venture capital (VC) investment worldwide.



According to Yaa Agyare-Dwomoh, a consultant with growth strategy consulting and research firm Frost &amp; Sullivan, African VCs reached $1.8 billion, up 150% compared to $730 million in the same period in 2021 and was subsequently, also the only region in the world to record three-digit growth in the first quarter of 2022.



As the biggest catch-up market, Africa’s advantage lies in its need for innovative solutions to leapfrog years of underdevelopment. For some pioneers like Oshiorenoya Agabi, the Nigerian-born scientist based in Silicon Valley and Founder and CEO of Koniku, that need for innovation has brought the continent to the age of biotech solutions.



The company, which was founded in 2017, is using technology to combine traditional computer cells with living biological neurons.



“We are creating a device capable of thinking in the biological sense like a human by creating neurons that are sensitive to particles and are able detect smell. By this method, the solution can be used for particle detection for aviation, military or agricultural application,”says Agabi.



Apart from biotech, the figures show that it is fintech that attracted the largest funding by sector by far, mostly spurred by the need to extend banking and financial services to millions of unbanked and underbanked Africans across the continent. “Fintech is now the most popular sector for investments in Africa. In 2021, fintech funding broke the $1 billion funding barrier and continued to receive the largest amount of funding on the continent, representing 54% of all venture funding deals. In 2022, the fintech sector was responsible for the biggest deals securing two-thirds of the total funding for Africa’s technology firms,” says Dwomoh.



And this trend looks set to continue.



“Despite the global trend of tech companies struggling to raise money, African VCs are still raising money at record speed,” adds Akindele.



An unexpected side effect of the coronavirus pandemic has been the need for inclusive development in areas that fundamentally impacts society. This new trend known as impact investment has also consequently been on the rise in the African VC space.



Impact investing is based on the notion that when money is managed effectively, it has the added benefit of positively impacting the lives of people as well as creating a return on investment.



Africa is home to the youngest population in the world, with a median age of less than 20 years, and 70% of the population under the age of 30. According to the Global Impact Investing Network 2020 survey, almost half of global impact investment capital goes to the African continent.



Raised to appreciate poverty and wealth at the same time, Akindele is also a firm advocate of his investments positively making an impact on his portfolio companies. Platform Capital writes cheques anywhere from $10,000 to $10 million with most of the companies in the portfolio growing by 500% in terms of money raised, according to Akindele. As an African advocate, each investment the firm makes has to have an impact that



is transformational to the continent and its people and most importantly, makes a profit.



The new influx of money into Africa is just an attestation of everything entrepreneurs like him have consistently been working towards.

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VENTURE CAPITAL IN WEST AFRICA: The Funding Surge

Despite the economic outlook in the region, the high-net-worth segment has been growing over the last decade, reaching a crescendo with the recent entrance of new foreign private banks and wealth management services into the regional market. FORBES AFRICA takes a look at these movements on how the wealthy and ultra-rich in East Africa are changing the way they manage their assets.&nbsp;



BY MARIE SHABAYA



OVER THE LAST decade, five East African nations have seen a net-positive growth in total wealth, according to figures from New World Wealth. Leading the pack are Rwanda (60%), Ethiopia (52%) and Uganda (50%). Delving deeper into this picture, Kenya, a growing economic hub for the region, has the highest per capita wealth in East Africa, and ranks eighth on the continent, at $1,700.



This makes a strong case for the new financial services now available to high-networth individuals (HNWIs) in the region. In fact, East Africa is now a growing market for wealth management services and experts. This is echoed by the changing trends in how this segment has been holding their wealth.



Traditionally, investment options for the wealthy and ultra-rich were concentrated predominantly in land, real estate (property and buildings) as well as cash. Over the last few years, there has been a marked shift with this capital being held in sovereign bonds or fixed income securities.



Why the shift? Charles Mwaniki, a business journalist who has been covering the regional financial markets for over a decade, notes that what we’re seeing now is the result of movements from the past decade, whose effects are now being compounded.



“The big shift I’ve seen is the move towards the professional management of wealth. 



Previously a lot of [wealthy] people were having to manage their own wealth in private family offices or as private individuals but over the last seven years, we were coming out of a period of plenty, between 2004 and 2015, when there was ample opportunity to make money,” he says.



The overall economic climate during this time was one of a financial boom, allowing for the expansion of the HNWI segment in the region 



“It was a two-fold thing. One, it introduced a lot of new money into the economy and a lot of people got wealthy or got money that was investible within that period. Secondly, the people who already had money were making it more easily. It was easy to multiply wealth. So, you didn’t need much help to make money; there were opportunities everywhere…in trade, in the stock market, in bonds. But, from around 2014-15, it suddenly became a lot more difficult to make money here.”



What followed was an extended period of decline in both the stock market and the banking sector. Beginning in 2016, banks restricted their lending to the private sector due to a legislative cap on commercial lending rates.



“Trade also became more difficult. People started realizing [that they] needed help to unlock opportunities, to see where the money is and that is where they increasingly turned to professionals, especially those who had made new money in the decade before. Suddenly, there were no opportunities in the stock market, they didn’t know how to invest offshore, they didn’t know how to play the property sector so they turned to professionals,” posits Mwaniki.



This has seen a rise in dedicated wealth management units in some of the more established banks and lenders in the region, with new entrants joining the market as recently as this year. Stanbic Bank Kenya, formerly known as CfC Stanbic, is one of the larger service providers in the region, providing a private bank offering to both individuals and corporate clients with at least $1 million in investible assets. New entrant, Old Mutual, from South Africa, opened its doors to highnet-worth clients with at least KES 10 million ($83,130) in investible assets in July this year while I&amp;M Capital, a fund manager, launched in mid-2021 and famously raised $5.8 million in its first six months, indicating the growing demand for such services in the region.



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“ PUTTING IT SIMPLY, MOVING CAPITAL OUTSIDE OF AFRICA CAN OFTEN MEAN DIRECT ACCESS TO CHEAPER DEBT FINANCING AND A GREATER ARRAY OF PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL SERVICES TO INVEST BACK INTO THE REGION OR CONTINENT. ” – JON DE JAGER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF C|T GROUP UK
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A majority of wealth in the region is family-led and organized by kin either in business structures or by ownership. This allows for wealth management efforts to be compounded over the generations, a model which has worked well in other markets. Tsitsi Mutendi, who consults for private family offices in the region draws a line between the services offered by the new private banks and the niche services required for those over a certain wealth threshold. 



“A family office is particularly created for ultra high-net-worth individuals and families. It makes sense to open a single family office, dedicated to one family and the management of its wealth and investments. It’s usually families that are worth a $100 million or more that can afford a single family office. Where you start off with your ‘Mom &amp; Pops’ store growing to bigger business, you can still have an accountant managing finances or a private bank managing income. When it gets to $100 million and above, in terms of net worth, a dedicated office has a better overview of what the asset holding looks like, what the available wealth in terms of finances looks like and what investments are being made. Family offices tend to hire investment managers as investments at this level tend to be larger.&#8221;



According to this year’s Africa Wealth Report, Nairobi is one of Africa’s wealthiest cities, anchoring the region with $48 billion in total private wealth with an estimated 5,400 HNWIs. Those over the $100 million net worth bracket, however, only number 12 with a healthy crop of multi-millionaires (net worth of over $10 million) at 260 individuals. Mombasa, Kenya’s coastal second city, plays host to 800 HNWIs with a combined wealth of $7 billion. Dar-es-Salaam, the Tanzanian capital and home to Africa’s preeminent billionaire, Mo Dewji, has the region’s second-largest HNWI community with 1,300 individuals holding a total of $24 billion in private wealth. The Ugandan capital, Kampala, which has seen marked growth in total wealth over the last decade is home to 900 HNWIs worth a cumulative $16 billion.



Many of these developments are being led by family wealth either through burgeoning businesses or the expansion of pre-existing wealth. Mutendi contends that this may be due to new perspectives on wealth building.



“We have a melting pot of different family businesses and different drivers to wealth [that is] being built. The movement of the world as well as the different generations and how [they] perceive wealth, manage wealth and [their] history within the wealth pocket [is a contributor]. The nouveau riche is usually centered on one demographic but it is one that is coming into wealth after many years of being disadvantaged with financial status. With funds moving out of the continent, you have different push and pull factors.”



These factors are the back-end of much of the wealth growth that we’re observing in the region.



According to the 2022 Africa Wealth Report, investment migration is fast becoming a popular option for the continent’s affluent families. In fact, it’s a proven wealth management and legacy planning tool with 19 of the G20 countries already implementing policies that encourage inward investment in exchange for citizenship or residence rights. Henley &amp; Partners, a London-based investment migration consultancy who authored the report, noted that they saw an 18% rise in inquiries about these programs from African clients in 2021.



Jon de Jager, Managing Director of C|T Group UK, an advisory firm working with African HNWIs, explains that the movement of capital goes beyond wealth migration and has been a prominent trend.



“There has been a trend of East Africa capital being consolidated outside of the continent although, equally, there has been significantly more wealth generated within the region. Jurisdictions outside Africa have historically been a more attractive base from which 



HNWIs can invest internationally across developed economy capital markets. Putting it simply, moving capital outside of Africa can often mean direct access to cheaper debt financing and a greater array of personal and financial services to invest back into the region or continent,” he says.



However, access to these foreign financial markets isn’t always guaranteed for African investors. Enhanced due diligence checks, Know-Your-Customer (KYC) standards among other regulations often bar HNWIs from the continent from transitioning to some of these offshore locations. Whilst this has happened in the past, now it is more difficult to achieve due to regulatory requirements.



“There is often a fundamental lack of understanding of the East African region, and of Africa as a whole. HNWIs originating from the continent of Africa are often classified in the same bucket and lazy assumptions can be made as to their source of wealth or political connections, for example. We have worked very hard the last few years in establishing a credible and detailed fact pattern for individuals looking to move their capital into different markets. It is often assumed that documents are lacking for the region to meet enhanced KYC requirements, but that is not the case. What many African HNWIs need is an opportunity to explain, transparently, the facts behind their background and business history,” notes de Jager.



Scrutiny aside, HNWI capital from the region is still finding its way to more stable settings, offshore.



“Dubai in particular has recently become a popular destination on a global basis, not just from Africa. This has partly been for protection; while Kenya has no doubt become a major economic hub, and I believe will gain further momentum as such, there has been some political instability that can trigger capital flight.



Another market that we see movement to is Singapore. It is perceived by many as a stable and fast-growing economy in Asia and we are seeing this trend not just from businesses in East Africa. Singapore does offer tax advantages to offshore non-resident companies and as a result is becoming the gateway to Asia’s banking and investment markets,” notes de Jager.



However, capital flight is not the only trend we’re seeing within this segment. A movement towards reinvestment in the region, and continent, may be due to a rise in locally-based wealth management services and offerings. While growth of this market has been slow, it does signal hope for HWNIs looking to consolidate their wealth within African economies.



“There is still domination from foreign entities or agents and representatives of larger institutions that have come to the continent that are encouraging family businesses or offices to invest offshore. At the same time, our wealth advisory industry is growing at a snail’s pace. Our institutions are opening up more to setting up family office offerings and private wealth offerings over and above private banking.



It’s the right start, over the past five years there has been a move towards more customised offerings and collaborations with institutions that can offer their clientele prestige banking that goes over and above what is available on the continent,” explains Tsitsi Mutendi who has been working in various African wealth markets.



Jon de Jager, agrees, noting that while offshore markets offer a buffer from prevailing instabilities in African economies, HNWIs from the region are seeking to return their capital to their home jurisdictions as long as conditions permit.



“There is an appetite as well as a continual desire to reinvest in Kenya, East Africa and generally across the continent. Especially now, due to the global demand of natural resources, we have seen a significant drive to reinvest in Africa. At the same time, it is noteworthy that six African start-ups were listed among the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers of 2022. Just as we have seen with M-Pesa, these start-ups are solution-driven and are leading the way in solving issues such cyber security, climate change and food security. In this context, I am positive that this will attract investment in Africa.”



What is important for the region’s wealthy demographic is choice. Given the myriad push and pull factors at play on the continent from economic to political instability, HNWIs often seek options that safeguard their hardwon multigenerational wealth or new avenues that enable them to build newly acquired money.



This is true for all investors, African or otherwise, so flight to economic safe havens is a natural strategy for this segment.



“It is natural for a successful entrepreneur to expand their horizons on an international stage by adding other geographies to their investments, in or outside of Africa, just as it is for a HNWI from Europe, for example, to invest in Africa. Establishing a presence outside of the continent for this purpose is necessary and efficient. Restrictive policy interventions are unlikely to facilitate growth within the region while persistent allegations of corruption or kleptocratic behaviours will always put off investors. Social factors, like high rates of crime, also come into play; issues like this simply add to reasons to move elsewhere in search of returns. Innovation is certainly attractive in terms of investing in Africa, but these must be supported by good governance and strong rule of law in establishing a stable environment in which to operate,” insists de Jager.



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“ THE NOUVEAU RICHE IS USUALLY CENTERED ON ONE DEMOGRAPHIC BUT IT IS ONE THAT IS COMING INTO WEALTH AFTER MANY YEARS OF BEING DISADVANTAGED WITH FINANCIAL STATUS. WITH FUNDS MOVING OUT OF THE CONTINENT, YOU HAVE DIFFERENT PUSH AND PULL FACTORS. ” &#8211; TSITSI MUTENDI
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Already, estimates indicate that wealth on the African continent is set to increase by 38% in the coming decade and this may be due to factors already at work within the continent’s markets. A key point, to capture this growth for the long-term, is ensuring that younger generations are equipped to take over the management of wealth sooner rather than later. According to Mutendi, at the family office or business level, this means having strong family governance structures that are flexible enough to incorporate the incoming generation, and their ideas, as they build.



“Africa’s got so much potential, there is still a vast amount of wealth that is coming from the continent and is going outside of the continent. So, there is so much possibility for families building wealth. They just have to continue cultivating innovation, especially the next generation…they are the ones that will build on the wealth that is currently being created,” she says. This is particularly important for East African families, says Mwaniki who has picked up on new patterns through his observation of the regional financial markets, noting that the younger generations are the ones leading the charge in new investment trends. “These are fairly young, wealthy people. Some of [their wealth] has been here but has been held by their parents. Once they inherit land they dispose of it because they don’t see themselves managing a farm, for example. So they invest in NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), cryptocurrencies or bonds. They are looking for options that will generate regular and high returns. Land you can hold but if you don’t have another source of income, it’s an idle asset. They are turning more and more to incomebearing instruments,” he says. When all is said and done, wealth creation remains a positive development across the continent. Kenya, the regional leader in continental rankings, is one of the ‘Big 5’ markets that account for more than half of total wealth in Africa.



The steady growth of HNWIs here will undoubtedly signal expansion in neighboring jurisdictions, encouraging more robust regulations and stable economic environments for their capital; wealth migration, notwithstanding, remains a mitigating factor.

Counting the Somaliland shilling

What East Africa’s Tide Of WEALTH Looks Like

FORBES Oct.Nov27125

MAKING CENTS OF INVESTMENT: The Professionals Behind Wealth Preservation In South Africa

The world of wealth is ever-changing, yet everlasting. High-net-worth individuals are constantly having to keep up with their wealth and the factors that impact it, like the pandemic, rising inflation and the economy’s boom and bust cycles. Safeguarding their money through volatile markets is of utmost importance. For the first time in 11 years, FORBES AFRICA is honoring the keepers of these vaults, who have persevered in the toughest of times. We speak to 10 of south Africa’s experts who specialize in wealth advisory and management services. A common theme: wealth preservation, not only in South Africa but across the continent, which is key to the growth of any economy, even as times and trends change. 







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Art Director: Lucy Nkosi WORDS AND CURATION: Chanel Retief &amp; Lillian Roberts Photography: Katlego Mokubyane; Assistant: Sandile Mkhize Studio: NewKatz.Studio by Katlego Mokubyane, Johannesburg Styling: Katlego Magano of Oak Ave Hair &amp; Makeup: Thapelo Letsebe Videography: Daniel Kopolande Video Editor: Chanel Retief 



<a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-october-november-2022/">Get your copy of your October/November issue now available.</a>

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The Wealth & Money Cover Stars: Meet The Professionals Behind Wealth Preservation In South Africa

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THE PLAYLIST: AFRICA’S TOP 20 MUSICIANS

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">But the business side, you have to learn about it. Because that’s not natural, we’re not born with that knowledge, you need to learn it.</blockquote>



Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1.2 Million YouTube Total Average Views: 382 Million SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORTH Instagram: 15.3 Million Twitter: 5.3 Million Facebook: 7 Million TikTok: 1.8 Million



In 2018, Tiwatope Savage won Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, becoming the first woman to win the category. It marked a milestone but also the responsibility to do more for both young Africans and African women trying to enter the industry.



Currently on her European Tour and speaking to FORBES AFRICA from Norway, Savage says: “I feel like I carry a lot of that burden, as a female, as a leader and female Afrobeats artist. Coming into the game, there really wasn&#8217;t that many females doing it, and there still isn&#8217;t. But there&#8217;s more now than when I started.”



Savage was born on Lagos Island in Nigeria and describes her upbringing as quite strict as the only girl growing up with three brothers, which is why she started in the music industry quite late.



“But it felt good to be protected. And my parents were very strict about us getting good grades in school. My dad and my mom did listen to music, but I didn&#8217;t grow up in like a musical home where my parents were into music or singers. It was more like ‘you&#8217;re going to grow up to either be a doctor or a lawyer, not a musician,” she explains.



This is quite the common theme for many young women on the African continent where it was expected that you either enter a traditional career or a ‘traditional’ home where you would become a housewife.



This is also why Savage chose to go into music much later, in fact, she obtained her business degree first.



“I got my first degree in business and accounts. I also went to Berklee College of Music. I studied jazz. So I got a second degree in music.”



The business degree has come in handy too for her as an artist.



“It’s called the music business,” laughs Savage. A lot of artists, in her opinion, would find it difficult to succeed in this industry not because of their lack of talent but due to a lack of knowledge when it comes to the business aspect of things.



Savage jokingly calls herself “shrewd”, diligently going through all her contracts, business details, and the receipts “for even just a Starbucks coffee”.



“It&#8217;s as important, sometimes even more important for you to be able to handle the business element because the music thing, and the entertainment part comes naturally; that&#8217;s a gift that God has given to you naturally,” Savage explains. “Sometimes you don&#8217;t even have to think about that, you just have to harness that gift. But the business side, you have to learn about it. Because that&#8217;s not natural, we&#8217;re not born with that knowledge, you need to learn it.



“At the end of the day, you can&#8217;t leave your business or your finances to complete strangers unless maybe your mom or your brother is managing you.”



Savage moved to London when she was 11 but says her heart has always been with the continent even when in America collaborating with artists such as Snoop Dogg and Fantasia. It was when in Los Angeles in 2012 that Savage was inspired by the growth of the Nigerian music industry, around which time Afrobeats was gaining in popularity.



Savage chose to move back to Nigeria.



What made her return? She puts it simply: “It was the sound.”



“There was something so raw about it. There was a soul that I wasn&#8217;t getting from the music that I was surrounded by, living in America… I would find myself listening to it in the car, in my house. And, obviously, but when I go out to clubs, or when I go out to wherever; I probably wasn&#8217;t intrigued then. And I found that I was bored. I just wanted to go home and listen to the latest Wande Coal song.”



And so she did.



“It&#8217;s so good to be African now. We are so proud of it and we’re shouting about it from the rooftop.”



But there’s still much work to be done in the industry, especially for women and young people.



“When I started, I didn&#8217;t come into it trying to be sexy, but I was labeled that. It was hard for a lot of people to accept because women shouldn&#8217;t have tattoos, women shouldn’t really wear revealing clothes, especially women who are married or a woman who is a mother,” Savage explains.



“So obviously there was so much backlash. And now, a lot of female artists too, who are coming in, who are sexier, or have tattoos, or are more controversial than me don&#8217;t even get 10% of [the backlash I got]. And that&#8217;s fine. But it was the journey that was hard to get the culture to understand and embrace that. And sometimes, you know, that&#8217;s just your calling and you&#8217;re the scapegoat.”



In a story as old as time, the music industry still has work to do when it comes to equal opportunities for female artists.



Although Savage believes that transformation is only 10% better, the work that needs to happen is for female artists to be given the same sort of preferences as their male counterparts.



“We just want the same equal platform…,” says Savage. However, that said, Savage thinks the future of the African music industry at this point looks promising. This is a fitting sentiment even as the second part of Savage’s Water &amp; Garri album is set to release in August.



“The future looks beautiful right now, it looks like you know when you just have a newborn baby, and it&#8217;s just like it could do no wrong,” she laughs. “I really don&#8217;t know what the future would hold. I can&#8217;t tell but I would only hope that African music will and should become a stable genre.”

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THE PLAYLIST: Tiwa Savage on Why the Business of Music is Important

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 505K YouTube Total Average Views: 21 Million SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORTH Instagram: 465K Twitter: 96.7K Facebook: 2.4 Million TikTok: 37.4K



The winner of five Grammys with 14 albums to her name, Angélique Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today. Time Magazine has called her “Africa&#8217;s premier diva” and she has cross- pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&amp;B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. She recently released Queen of Sheba – it’s on Spotify – with Ibrahim Maalouf from Lebanon. In an exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA from Paris, Kidjo says she is right now, in a moment where “things are blooming in her inspiration zone”. She talks life, work and the road ahead for her – and African music. Excerpts:



Q. At age 21, you became a star in Benin, with the album Pretty. But you had to quietly flee your home for Paris at 23, because of the regime that took over in Benin. It was Paris in the 1980s and you were at the prestigious jazz school, CIM. How did you connect with African music? What were you influences at the time?



A. My permanent influence in my music until now is always the culture and tradition of my country. The magnificent thing I learned from my musical journey doing my trilogy album tracing back the roots of slavery through music, is that there&#8217;s not one music in which I don&#8217;t find Africa, it does not exist. We live in Africa not knowing and realizing the power of our culture, how we have ruled the music on the planet. People can say no to it, but it&#8217;s okay. That fact is it’s never going to disappear. Because we are all from Africa – homo sapiens came from Africa. And for me, in that journey, looking back at my culture was something that empowered me the most. I wrote a song called The Sound of the Drums. Because I have to come back, after all this, I said to myself, ‘I have got to figure out if I am dreaming, if I am fantasizing, I am romanticizing the power of my drums and the music of my continent and my country’. And I went back, the awe was still there&#8230; And I&#8217;ve been booed, been bullied and asked ‘is this classical music, you can’t say this’, and I say ‘I will prove to you one day’. All the way, it’s proving to people that everything I do is to build cultural bridges for people to see not only through music that we have one music, but also we are one humanity, we are all unique.



Q. When you went on stage to receive your Grammy this year (Best Global Music for Mother Nature), was there any other emotion you felt that you didn&#8217;t the previous four times you received the award?



A. I did not expect to win, even though I was nominated three times in that category. Because the competition was tough. Being nominated is already a great honor. For me, each nomination is [proof ] my work is out there. People are paying attention to what I do. When I won, I was humbled and didn&#8217;t know what to do&#8230;



I was in total panic, because I did not expect to win. For me, winning a Grammy is not only my work – and I work hard – but also [that of ] the people that come and share the talent with me. And we have a conversation about climate change on this album with new artists.



Since I&#8217;ve written my autobiography (Spirit Rising), I&#8217;ve been doing a lot of talks at universities, and it&#8217;s always exciting, challenging, thrilling to speak to youth in campuses. They have so many ideas. I&#8217;ve been sitting with deans of universities, telling them how come we do not prepare our kids for the workforce&#8230; You can&#8217;t just give them education and let them run out like that, it’s not productive or constructive for us, because we lose a lot of great people the way we are doing this.



Q. On young people and artists, your album Mother Nature also featured Africa&#8217;s young superstars, such as Mr Eazi, Yemi Alade, Burna Boy&#8230; what was that experience like?



A. What I learned from them is their professionalism – it’s mind-blowing. Every music that had been sent was spotless. I had waited for this day&#8230; And on top of being artists, these are entrepreneurs, they understand they have to be free. [In my time], I had to sign a contract for 10 years&#8230; These kids have the right to do whatever they want. They sat back and learned from my experience, and the experiences of Youssou N&#8217;Dour, and Salif Keita. And they don&#8217;t want to take that road. They want to be free in their own right and they are right to be free. And they have to learn that to last, they need discipline: when you say you have got to deliver, you have to deliver. Because when you come from Africa, it&#8217;s a double tragedy, because they expect you to be late, they expect you to do a job that isn&#8217;t good, everything goes against you.



You always have to prove that what you say is what it’s going to be and you can deliver. 



Q. Is that perception changing globally now?



A. Not really. It’s changing but slowly, because those young artists are filling up big venues, and they are unapologetic and taking whatever opportunity they have to be here. Some people are resisting that thinking that it’s going to be a fashion that will dwindle, but it’s going to last and they&#8217;re going to come to the ball. They&#8217;re going to jump on this boat sooner or later.



Q. What is in the next phase of your career?



A. I don&#8217;t know what the future holds. But what I know deeply at the center of my work is that if you don&#8217;t see your own humanity, you can’t see humanity in anybody. If you have freedom and you are not fighting for the freedom of others, you don&#8217;t have any. It’s not just words for me, it’s fact. When we lose sight of those principles, of those self-evident truths, we put ourselves in danger. Because when we allow the bully to walk away with crimes without being punished, they will knock at your door and do the same thing. Our complacency and silence have allowed many people to live a very difficult life that was unnecessary.



So for me, my energy comes from the fact that I believe that what is true is true, what is fair is fair, and let&#8217;s work together. And in that, there is no concept of color, of language, of religion, nothing!



Q. You have global fame. What does fortune mean to you?



A. Fortune for me has never been a matter of money. Because money is a tool that allows you to buy things. But essential things, money can never buy – such as health, and the air you breathe, which is polluted. You can have billions of dollars in your bank account, but you can’t clean that air.



You have got to be happy with yourself and content with what you have to be able to live a balanced life&#8230; What is our purpose on this earth? And that&#8217;s the question I ask all the time, you have to find your purpose before making any plans. And when you start making plans, don&#8217;t make one, have plan A, B, C, D, E, as much as you can. If one door closes, get to the next one. You can fall all the way beneath earth, but you can always rise if you want it&#8230;



In business, having money is a good thing but my father&#8217;s mother always used to say to me that if you are given the choice to choose between your friend and wealth, choose your friend because your friends, when you need them, will be there. When you are down, they will come and talk to you.



Q. And is social media your thing?



A. That is part of the game. But being on stage is what creates a career. I never liked being in a studio, because I started my career on stage. But I knew that going through the studio was compulsory for me to be able to have a career. So doing both is equally important.



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Artists Perform At The 2022 WOMAD Festival

THE PLAYLIST: An Exclusive Interview with Five-Time Beninese Grammy Award Winner Angélique Kidjo on Closing The Cultural Gap

Elsa Majimbo

The Class of 2022: Money and Meaning 

&#8220;I founded this company when I was sick,” Carla Frankel says with a shaky voice, when we meet in Botswana in April for the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa. When she says that, the people around her listen, as she unravels to FORBES AFRICA the story of how she created the Top Drawer Collection, retailing personalized luxury sleepwear, in South Africa.



“In life-altering moments, I stood at the crossroads and pushed boundaries and used negative experiences to create really great products and experiences, rather than choosing the road of defeat and victimization.”



At the age of 21, Frankel was walking around campus and suddenly felt her feet burn, which actually turned out to be Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis.



“In other words, I had a stroke!” she recounts. Two years before that, Frankel had already been diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases; antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) as well as Lupus. During her second year at university, she had another stroke during a four-hour exam. This resulted in three weeks of hospitalization and Frankel being unable to finish her exams.



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It was during the recovery phase that she realized that the only thing in that “dark period” that lifted her spirits was the pair of matching pajamas her mom had bought for her from retail chain Woolworths.



“We would make quite a moment of them, put on face masks, and watch our favorite movies. Those pajamas with my mom weren’t just pajamas — they were a layer of comfort and safety. They were an armor of sorts to me that helped me feel beautiful and safe even while so disconnected from myself, in this foreign body that didn’t feel like mine.”



Coming into this moment feels almost full circle for Frankel as she admits that she started reading FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 lists five years ago and had always been inspired by the stories of the founders in them.



“I noticed that a large commonality in each person was overcoming challenges to create solutions and innovate. Most of all, I found inspiration in how most of these people made the choice to voyage forward into the path of success despite circumstances being against them.



“A near-death experience is the reason Top Drawer Collection exists, and with every negative health experience I face, a new, even better product is born to meet the need that I would only know how to fulfill by walking through the thorns and making it to the other side.”



Within six months of starting Top Drawer, Frankel says she received orders from South African celebrities such as actor-producer Connie Ferguson and influencer Kefilwe Mabote. Corporates like Unilever were also ordering sleepwear from her. Even when Covid-19 hit, she still managed her business.



“We have reached the market cap for the units that can be produced locally. I sell what I have, and there is a waiting list unbelievably long for those who didn’t manage to secure a set on a restock day. I am very grateful for the desire for the product.&#8221; Frankel says.



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Words and Curation: Chanel Retief Art Director: Lucy Nkosi Additional Research &amp; Reporting: Lillian Roberts Photography: Ilan Godfrey for Forbes Videography and production: Timothy Pierson for Forbes &amp; Chad McClymonds for Forbes Video Editor: Chanel Retief Styling: Katlego Magano of Oak Ave; Assistant: Tumelo Nkwe Hair &amp; Makeup: SnehhOnline Beauty; Thapelo Letsebe Location: Image Lounge, Botswana and 2022 Forbes Under 30 Summit



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#FORBESAFRICA30UNDER30: Meet Cover Star CARLA FRANKEL: ‘With Every Negative Health Experience…A New, Even Better Product is Born’

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When a 16-year-old Brett Lyndall Singh from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, was unable to perform CPR on his sick grandmother, he used this traumatic experience as his calling to become a doctor.



“It kind of cemented the idea of me making sure that I have the skills to be able to save people’s lives,” Singh tells FORBES AFRICA.



The congenial doctor has a spring in his step when we meet him, as he speaks about his journey around the world in medicine and health.



“Unfortunately, I couldn’t study in South Africa due to a lack of space [in medical school],” Singh explains. “And I took a leap of faith and applied to universities around the world and got a great offer from China. And so, I moved to China when I was 17 going [on] 18 back in 2011. I then studied at Wenzhou Medical University for my bachelor of medicine and surgery. I was then able to do some internships and electives at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia.”



When Covid-19 became a vast and ugly reality across the globe, Singh spent days in Covid wards in China, and says was even invited by President Xi Jinping and the Communist party to go to Beijing to volunteer during the pandemic as one of two African doctors.



Singh is now also involved in South Africa’s national response to Covid-19 and is also currently the chairperson of the Global Value Chains working group of the Department of Trade and Industry Cooperation’s national healthcare master plan.



“My job is to unlock the strategy and investment and opportunities around ‘made in South Africa’ medical devices and healthcare products. So, as a doctor, getting involved in research and development and in the healthcare business started with my thesis in combatting sub-Saharan Africa’s malnutrition…



“I am helping to create a device that could make a doctor’s life better, and could also contribute to stimulating the economy of South Africa and Africa… And I’m trying to be the bridge to help technology transfer like what we did in our project for rapid antigen, as well as component manufacturing, so that we can stimulate the economy, do more research and development and go forward.”



When Covid-19 first broke in 2020, whilst with Plame Biotech, Singh’s company Alpha and Omega MedTech contributed to medical advancements in coronavirus diagnostics by way of the KOVIFAST Rapid Antigen Test, which compared to a PCR Test, only needing 15 minutes to identify a test, rather than six to 18 hours.



Alpha and Omega MedTech was soon approved by CDC Africa’s Africa Medical Supplies Platform as an official supplier of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medical Devices. Singh’s company has one of the youngest founding teams to hold a South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) license. His work on diagnostics, and its pairing with digital healthcare in epidemiological tracking was presented at the First International Conference on Public Health in Africa hosted by CDC Africa.



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Words and Curation: Chanel Retief Art Director: Lucy Nkosi Additional Research &amp; Reporting: Lillian Roberts Photography: Ilan Godfrey for Forbes Videography and production: Timothy Pierson for Forbes &amp; Chad McClymonds for Forbes Video Editor: Chanel Retief Styling: Katlego Magano of Oak Ave; Assistant: Tumelo Nkwe Hair &amp; Makeup: SnehhOnline Beauty; Thapelo Letsebe Location: Image Lounge, Botswana and 2022 Forbes Under 30 Summit



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#FORBESAFRICA30UNDER30: Meet Cover Star DR BRETT LYNDALL SINGH: ‘Helping Create A Device That Could Make A Doctor’s Life Better’

Having grown up as a conservative Northern Nigerian, it was ingrained in Fatima Babakura that at a certain age, inevitably, she would have to finish school and then get married “to someone rich who can take care of you”.



But Babakura was never going to let this happen.



“Living in Lagos gave me a different perspective because I was living around people whose mindset was ‘make your own money and then go to school’ so it’s not like you are waiting for someone to come and take care of you’,” Babakura tells FORBES AFRICA. “And because I was privileged enough to experience that, I am not your average Northern Nigerian girl.”



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Babakura is the founder, chief executive officer and designer of Timabee, an accessories brand that “redefines luxury in Africa and beyond”.



Her sharp eye for design, curiosity and yen for imagining a product and bringing it to life motivated her to start Timabee.



Babakura began the brand in her first year of university in Canada.



She had designed a “simple handbag” and given it to her close family friend as a gift.



“I didn’t even think it was that great,” she laughs. But continuing on with her theme to be “curious”, she set out to find a manufacturer who would make this bag.



“Keep in mind, I was an accounting student with no business or fashion background. I did a simple Google search which led me to Alibaba where I found a company that agreed to make me a sample for $150 in December 2013.”



From the pocket money she received from her parents, 17-year-old Babakura set out to spend the $150 which she ended up losing as “I interacted with a fraudulent vendor and had no clue”.



Losing the money did not stop her.



“I was determined to find someone else to make my bag, but this time I was a lot more careful and I did my due diligence researching the company.”



One of the biggest highlights for Timabee was in 2021, when the brand was approved by award-winning American artist and businesswoman, Beyoncé.



“Last year, when Beyoncé’s team compiled a list of black-owned businesses, we were honored to make the list. It just goes to show that as a small, growing brand, the work we put in every day does not go unnoticed.”



Having taken the pro-women approach when it comes to running her business, she wants to encourage many women, including those who may look like her, to feel empowered to start enterprises.



“Starting Timabee as a young girl, there were many mistakes I made as I did not seek out mentorship earlier on due to the fear of being rejected. I learned a lot through trial and error, many of which cost the company money and could have easily been avoided had I sought mentorship,” Babakura says. “This is a major reason why I have set up Timabee global resources, a concept aimed at helping entrepreneurs in the accessory business navigate their way to global recognition and achieve success. I truly believe in paying it forward and so in the next three years, I hope to open a mentoring school specifically for high school and university students where they can have hands-on experience on the business of fashion especially as it relates to Africa.



“Many girls from Northern Nigeria aspire to marry rich as a ‘career path’, sadly. I believe that through my mentorship program, the right mindset will be the foundation for future success especially since I will be an example to them through my achievements as a Northern girl.”



Words and Curation: Chanel Retief Art Director: Lucy Nkosi Additional Research &amp; Reporting: Lillian Roberts Photography: Ilan Godfrey for Forbes Videography and production: Timothy Pierson for Forbes &amp; Chad McClymonds for Forbes Video Editor: Chanel Retief Styling: Katlego Magano of Oak Ave; Assistant: Tumelo Nkwe Hair &amp; Makeup: SnehhOnline Beauty; Thapelo Letsebe Location: Image Lounge, Botswana and 2022 Forbes Under 30 Summit



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#FORBESAFRICA30UNDER30: Meet Cover Star FATIMA BABAKURA- ‘I am not your average Northern Nigerian girl’

“RISKING YOUR JOB FOR 10 MINUTES OF SLEEP&#8230; THAT’S CALLED SACRIFICE&#8230;” says Majimbo, donning her iconic sunglasses. “If I get up on time then what is the snooze button for,” she asks, proceeding to crunch on a crisp, perfectly-rounded potato chip.



When you think of that Kenyan accent, the 90s-themed sunglasses, the potato chip, and the hallmark giggle, Majimbo immediately has you thinking “iconic”.



Just ask any one of her loyal followers on Instagram.



The Nairobi-born Majimbo, who spent her days playing chess and attending college, was not aiming to be an internet sensation with her laughter-inducing, pared-down vid- eos when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.



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“I made these videos to make myself laugh and then one day my friend told me that I had gone viral,” she tells FORBES AFRICA.



The videos became a sensation and Majimbo a social media star. Two years on, Majimbo sits with over 2.5 million followers on Instagram.



At this year’s Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa, she said: “Growing up, I always knew I would be iconic. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I knew it would be done.”



Once Majimbo’s videos broke the internet, she immediately informed the journalism institution she was attending and dropped out; she did not even tell her parents.



“I think it was a relief for me because I always say this, I never like[d] school,” Majimbo says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large">“ONE THING PEOPLE ALWAYS GET WRONG ABOUT ME THOUGH IS THAT I AM ALWAYS HAPPY. I HAVE BAD DAYS TOO GUYS.”</blockquote>



On set at the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 photo- shoot in Gaborone in April, Majimbo’s energy was infectious.



“One thing people always get wrong about me though is that I am always happy. I have bad days too guys,” she laughs.



At just 20 years old, Majimbo has already graced the covers of Teen Vogue, Verified, Harper’s Bazaar, and GQ South Africa. She has been featured in Maison Valentino campaigns and has won ‘entertainer of the year’ awards for both GQ South Africa and FORBES WOMAN AFRICA.



Currently, the young starlet is on her way “to make that Hollywood money” in her new home in Los Ange- les where Majimbo’s short documentary, Elsa, will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.



“You’re going to see me on the big screen,” she promised at the summit.



When it comes to her millions of followers, she always ensures that she is authentic and inspires them to go after their dreams.



“Enjoy your life&#8230; it’s never that deep. People will try and discourage you and you can do whatever you want,” Majimbo says. “Chase that bag until it starts chasing you.&#8221; 



Words and Curation: Chanel Retief Art Director: Lucy Nkosi Additional Research &amp; Reporting: Lillian Roberts Photography: Ilan Godfrey for Forbes Videography and production: Timothy Pierson for Forbes &amp; Chad McClymonds for Forbes Video Editor: Chanel Retief Styling: Katlego Magano of Oak Ave; Assistant: Tumelo Nkwe Hair &amp; Makeup: SnehhOnline Beauty; Thapelo Letsebe Location: Image Lounge, Botswana and 2022 Forbes Under 30 Summit



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#FORBESAFRICA30Under30: Meet Cover Star ELSA MAJIMBO- ‘Chase That Bag, Until it Starts Chasing You’

From teacher to actuary to entrepreneur, CEO and corporate titan, Sello Moloko has had an illustrious journey that could inspire any young African. Taking over as chairman of the Absa Group from April 1, he is all set to make his mark in defining the future of banking.



By GODFREY MUTIZWA



Photographer: Katlego Mokubyane Studio: Newkatz Studio, Johannesburg Art Director: Lucy Nkosi Make-up artist: Okuhle Mciteka Behind-The-Scenes: Chanel Retief



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SOLVING PROBLEMS MAY BE PAR for the course for mathematicians, but incoming Absa Group Chairman Sello Moloko may be about to get his sternest examination yet.



Absa Group remains without a substantive Chief Executive Officer, a year since the unhappy departure of former central banker Daniel Mminele. Mminele lasted 15 months in the group after succeeding Maria Ramos in 2019.



Ramos had led the bank for a decade during which it had been a part of Barclays.



“Look, there is a lot of work that needs to be done inside the organization,’’ Moloko says in an interview with FORBES AFRICA on March 8.



“It has to find a new direction and new leadership that would work towards ensuring that we redefine our culture. So at this point we have the excitement to redefine our culture, and operating in 12 countries in the continent, we have to show that leadership from the top.’’



Arguably the first item on Moloko’s in-tray will be the appointment of a new CEO. Mminele, a former deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, had joined Absa in January 2020 amid much excitement after Barclays quit as a controlling shareholder. In his departure statement, he spoke of the importance of aligning the CEO and board on strategy and culture.



It is an axis Moloko is well aware of.



Thabo Leeuw, his friend and business partner of more than three decades tells FORBES AFRICA: “[Moloko] is a mathematician. So, solving problems is something that comes 



naturally to him&#8230; So figuring out ideas, in my short corporate life, I found that it is often an either/or, you don’t quite find in one person a combination of those skills, but it’s certainly something he possesses in abundance. He has an ability to dream, but an ability to also dispassionately and very rationally approach a problematic situation.”



Industry experience has certainly forged the present-day Moloko. He served as Chairman of gold and platinum producer Sibanye-Stillwater for more than six years, working with CEO Neal Froneman as he transformed the company into South Africa’s biggest precious metals producer.



He is also Chairman of Telkom, South Africa’s third largest mobile phone operator, a company that has tenaciously competed against industry behemoths MTN Group and Vodacom Group, and he has previously served as Chairman of General Reinsurance Africa, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.



Alignment between the CEO and the board is paramount, he says.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-54882" width="396" height="594" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FORBES-COVER8415-By-Katlego-Mokubyane-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px" /></figure></div>



“The new CEO has to work into the culture of the organization and help define a new culture because as you know, this is a business that was taken over by Barclays and had to find a different culture and then obviously Barclays disinvested from South Africa and so it had to find its new direction. So the key thing is to find new leadership and work with that leadership toward ensuring that we redefine the culture of Absa that will return the glory days back to Absa.’’



To be sure, the bank has been rediscovering some its former magic. Acting CEO Jason Quinn in March reported an almost tripling in 2021 earnings on record first-half profit even as the bank recovered from the impact of the coronavirus.



He also reported profitability above pre-pandemic levels, lifted by transactions and customer activity levels also back to 2019 levels.



With more than 30 years in the financial services industry, Sello Matthews Moloko is at home in banking.



A teacher in his teens, the young man from Soweto’s Seana Marena High School says his short teaching stint opened his eyes to the deficiencies of the Bantu education system imposed on the black majority by the apartheid rulers.



“The year I spent teaching was the most gratifying. It presented the opportunity to impact fellow teenagers positively in an education system that was already failing us then. Besides the honorable impact mission, 1983 gave me the break to introspect and to make a critical decision about the direction of my tertiary education.’’



That path was to take him to the University of Cape Town and later to the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, where he completed a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours (Mathematics major) and a post graduate Certificate in Education in 1988 and 1989 respectively.



His corporate journey started in 1989 in the pensions industry doing actuarial work at Alexander Forbes, which resulted in him pursuing actuarial studies. His career took off in earnest when South Africa attained democratic rule in 1994, enabling him to join the asset management industry in 1996 with South African businessman and entrepreneur Mzi Khumalo’s Capital Alliance. With new opportunities opening up, he suspended his actuarial studies.



“In hindsight, that was a good call,’’ he says.



At Capital Alliance, progress was rapid, culminating in his being appointed deputy CEO in 1997. It wasn’t long before he was noticed, and two years later, began the journey at Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM), then the largest money manager in the country.



Four years later, he was CEO, and to-date there remains an emotional attachment.



“OMAM provided a great opportunity for growth,’’ he says.



But the entrepreneurial bug was ever present and three days after resigning from OMAM, what had been meant to be an exploration of job prospects turned into a business discussion and so Thesele Group was born with R15 million seed capital from Sanlam Private Equity.



He has never looked back.



“The seed was planted in 1996 whilst in the proximity of the trailblazing Mzi Khumalo at Capital Alliance,’’ he says. “The idea was however dominated by the desire to gain more commercial experience and the itch to ascend the corporate ladder. These roles, whilst time consuming, have been invaluable in my overall professional development.’’



It has certainly worked.



Today, the company co-founded with Leeuw has a portfolio that includes financial services companies MandG Investment Management which manages more than R300 billion ($20 billion), DG Capital, a specialist financial services group, car rental, waste management, property and manufacturing businesses.



Alongside it, is the Thesele Foundation, which targets education, entrepreneurship and skills training.



“I was introduced to Thabo by a friend some 34 years ago and we have maintained a strong relationship since. Through our respective careers, me in investment management and him in corporate finance, we have always shared ideas almost daily,’’ he says.



“We often spoke about forming an entity together. When the opportunity presented itself, and I was unemployed and his firm was a takeover target, we took the plunge. One could say, the stars aligned. What has kept our partnership enduring is deep trust, mutual respect, common purpose and holding each other to account.’’



Beyond his corporate and entrepreneurial journey, Moloko has been true to his desire to give back to the community.



Between 2005 and 2007, he was President of the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP), where he spearheaded a program to assist young black professionals enter and grow in the industry, work which continues to-date. He believes the challenge to create employment is a shared responsibility between all social partners.



“The big thing is not about what government can do. I think the challenge that we have is youth unemployment. It’s a universal problem that we have. We need to empower them with skills. We do quite a lot of work with the Thesele Foundation around coding to ensure that we empower them with skills to be able to find their way in life,’’ he says.



“I think it needs to be a united effort. I had an engagement with some business leaders a few weeks ago wherein we said we need to work together as business and solve it together rather than looking for marketing points.’’



It is work he intends to carry into his Absa Chairman’s office, expanding on the work the company is already carrying out. He cites the Thesele Foundation where 4.7% of all dividends declared are channeled in work impacting children and young people.



“It’s one of the things I am going to put on the agenda of Absa to say, how do we also as a financial institution become an enabler, particularly with funding small businesses to ensure that the issue doesn’t become a constraint. And we also do need to solve the issue of education particularly around the areas where I grew up like Soweto.



“So I’m involved in a number of fundraising initiatives that seek to solve the problem. It is important for me being somebody that visits a place where I grew up. I am concerned with what I see and I try in my own small way and encourage other business leaders to join me on the journey to solving some of these problems.’’



It’s continuation of work he and Leeuw have been involved in through their company and foundation. Withinthese firms, Moloko seeks to make a dent on a scourge that faces South Africa and the rest of the African continent: youth unemployment.



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But he recognizes today’s youth is different to the youth of his days but he has got some advice.



“Their business proposition is key&#8230; so is the strategic depth, attitude, energy and the ability to execute. Attitude is important as it talks to, for example, the individual’s ability to receive feedback and capacity to handle difficulties along the commercial journey.



“My distinct impression is that the younger, modern-day entrepreneurs tend to lack patience. Many youngsters rush into entrepreneurship before they acquire basic commercial skills. Patience is a key attribute in business and helpful in tough periods which materialize from time to time.’’



Moloko joins banking as the traditional financial industry faces



one of its biggest challenges through ever-evolving technological changes. Fintech has barged in like nothing before it, threatening a large chunk of traditional income streams but Moloko thinks banking’s “death” has been greatly exaggerated. It is defining the future and will adjust as required, he says with a smile.



“I’m not necessarily convinced that banks will be obliterated from the face of the earth. I think banks will be reinvented, in essence, and as technology comes, new and better ways of doing things will evolve. The traditional banking model will of course be challenged. However, because of security issues etc, there will be a heightened role that regulators need to play. Banking will not die, it is the form that will change. And I think it will be changed quite significantly.’’



What of crypto and its promise of revolutionizing the financial system as we know it?



“Look, the future of money is not going to be the same. I think with the changes in technology, the way we engage and deal with money is going to be very different. So technology has been a significant disrupter. The future of money is uncertain and we are definitely defining as we go along. And banking isn’t going to be what it is today.



“You know, my son was asking me that the other day, if I have a crypto strategy for myself, or my own investments, and my response was, ‘I’m struggling with understanding the economics of the crypto space’. Maybe I’m old school. But we’ve gotto have an open mind-set, lest we become a Kodak.’’



As well as his strong conviction that banking will survive current changes, Moloko also sees South Africans overcoming their current challenges, put in stark focus recently by a World Bank study showing the country remains the most unequal society in the world, nearly three decades after the dawn of democracy which brought majority black people into the economic mainstream.



“I’m optimistic that our country has the will, has the plans to be able to navigate its challenges. But we’ve got to solve the economy first. Going forward, it will require very decisive, execution-based type of leadership. But simultaneously as we fix this economy, we have got to solve youth unemployment by finding programs that will empower this youth. So we need to be able to give them skills to create jobs and by opening this economy to enable that kind of entrepreneurship to happen. ‘’



Clearly, South Africa will need the skills of the problem-solver to enable its youth to help build an economy that can take its place among the growing economies of the continent but for that dream to be realized, more will need to share it and own it.



With inputs by Lillian Roberts

FORBES COVER8419-By Katlego Mokubyane

The Problem-Solver In African Business

FROM TEACHER TO ACTUARY TO ENTREPRENEUR, CEO AND CORPORATE TITAN, SELLO MOLOKO HAS HAD AN ILLUSTRIOUS JOURNEY THAT COULD INSPIRE ANY YOUNG AFRICAN. TAKING OVER AS CHAIRMAN OF THE ABSA GROUP FROM APRIL 1, HE IS ALL SET TO MAKE HIS MARK IN DEFINING THE FUTURE OF BANKING.



<a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-april-may-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Get Your Digital Copy Here</a>



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Untitled design (3)

Get Your Digital Copy Now: The Problem Solver

SAM DARWISH HAS CHOSEN EMERGING MARKETS AS THE UNIVERSE IN WHICH TO GROW AND CONNECT. READ ON ABOUT THE TOWERING AMBITIONS OF THIS ENTREPRENEUR WHO ROSE AS AN ENGINEER TO RUN ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST PROVIDERS OF TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE, RECENTLY LISTED ON THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">We went through a lot of hardship, but what that period gave me was a lot of focus and determination. I became an avid reader, thanks to my father’s modest bookshelf, and I used to read his books regularly with a passion. There was nothing to do because you could not go out and play in the streets. The easiest thing for me, which was the most valuable thing for a kid to do, was to read.</blockquote>



SAM DARWISH is no stranger to adversity. He spent his early childhood trying to survive the hardships brought on by the brutal civil war that gripped the West Asian country of Lebanon that he called home. Today, he is Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, the largest telecommunications infrastructure company in Africa and one of the very few with global operations and aspirations.



With a current valuation of $7 billion, as per the company’s Q3 results last year, IHS Towers is one of only a handful of unicorns in Africa.



In October last year, Darwish marked another milestone by listing IHS Towers on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a lifelong dream for the telecom entrepreneur, and a move you don’t often hear about in Africa.



“When I rang the NYSE bell on October 14 2021, it was a privilege. I don’t think anyone of similar background or path has done this before. We are talking about ringing the opening bell of the NYSE, the largest stock exchange on earth and the pulsating heart of the global capital markets,” exudes Darwish when we meet him for this recent interview via Zoom.



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From Lebanon to Lagos, he is beaming with pride in his business suit, but in scaling to those heights, taller than his towers, he has had to face some pretty low moments.



The trauma he faced in his early years seem like a lifetime ago for him now. Growing up during those bleak war-torn times in Beirut, Lebanon, Darwish had to find ways to not just survive but make meaningful sense of his long days.



“When you are a kid, you don’t realize that everyone around you is dying but over time you realize the adversity of the situation; when electricity is cut for days, when you see your father taking the battery out of the car and bringing it to the house so that he can light a bulb or turn on a small TV; you start to realize that things are not normal,” recalls Darwish of those dark times.



This difficult childhood helped embed two important traits in Darwish – the thirst for knowledge and the value of perseverance.



“We went through a lot of hardship, but what that period gave me was a lot of focus and determination. I became an avid reader, thanks to my father’s modest bookshelf, and I used to read his books regularly with a passion. There was nothing to do because you could not go out and play in the streets. The easiest thing for me, which was the most valuable thing for a kid to do, was to read.”



After receiving a Bachelor of Engineering degree – with distinction – in 1992, he joined MCI, a telecom carrier, as a satellite systems manager and over the following years became one of a small number of cell phone engineers in Lebanon.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-default">We are the undisputed leader of telecom infrastructure in Africa. Our plan, however, is global. Excluding China and India, there are over three billion people in the emerging markets with less than a handful of infracos with a global emerging market focus.</blockquote>



A chance encounter with a group of Lebanese entrepreneurs who had acquired a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) license, brought Darwish to Nigeria.



“I helped set up the mobile phone network in Lebanon in the 1990s with Telecom Finland, and thought that coming to Nigeria would just be a two-year period to help set up another GSM network before continuing on to the United States.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.00.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54296" width="399" height="596" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.00.png 550w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.00-201x300.png 201w" sizes="(max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px" /><figcaption> Photos by Maike Schulz/Gruber Photographers</figcaption></figure></div>



“Emigrating to the US had been my dream since I was young. I saw the US as the land of opportunity, the land where a person is respected as an individual with liberties guaranteed by its Constitution. In my opinion, this is the fundamental thing that defines America which is also why I’m delighted to have become a citizen,” says Darwish.



That two-year layover in Nigeria turned into 23 years.



During that time, Darwish set up IHS Towers, when the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo privatized the telecoms industry and issued licenses to telecom companies.



“I came from a country of four million people to Nigeria, a country of 150 million people. I felt like Alice in Wonderland given the size and the scale of the country. Yet despite the large population, there were barely any telephones in the country. I think at the time there were about 8,000 mobile phones and only a few hundred thousand fixed telephone lines,” says Darwish.



Nigeria is where he was able to put to test his perseverance and tenacity, traits acquired from his childhood.



“I think it’s important to persevere. Everyone has goals, dreams and aspirations. The difference between people who make it and those who don’t comes down to perseverance. You may fail once, twice or many times but you keep pushing until you make it. Along the way you may stop, reassess and potentially chart a new path to get to your goals. But one thing is for sure, never stop trying.”



No one believed the potential of the mobile telephony market given the high cost of service in the initial years. However, Darwish believed there was a way to reduce communication costs and make mobile phones accessible to anyone who wanted to get connected.



So, in 2001, he set up IHS Towers and started building towers for Africa’s mobile network operators (MNOs).



One of his first clients was Motorola who chose IHS Towers to provide all services related to building and running their towers.



A decade in, and there was more to report.



By 2010, IHS had shifted its focus towards the ownership model.



“We asked ourselves, ‘why don’t we own the towers ourselves and lease them to carriers’? Up until then, MTN, Orange and Vodafone all built their own towers. With each tower, these MNOs had to spend scarce resources on building their own towers, paying rent to landlords and setting up their own power supply; a very inefficient operating model. When we build a tower, we lease space for wireless antenna to several MNOs on the same tower. The infrastructure-sharing saves expenses for MNOs and also allows them to focus on their core business,” notes Darwish.



By 2012, the company had raised its first $79 million equity funding led by the International Finance Corporation.



In 2014, Darwish told FORBES AFRICA he was looking to raise $1 billion for his tower infrastructure business. Today, that investment stands at multiple billions of dollars, representing over 35,000 towers under management in 11 countries across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.



Along the way, his personal networth has also grown in excess of $500 million, his team confirm. (In the 2014 story on him in FORBES AFRICA, his wealth was cited as $200 million as valued by the Forbes wealth unit in the US.)



“We cover 750 million consumers globally – we either already operate or soon will operate in some of the largest emerging market countries – Nigeria, Brazil, Egypt and South Africa. We are the undisputed leader of telecom infrastructure in Africa. Our plan, however, is global. Excluding China and India, there are over three billion people in the emerging markets with less than a handful of infracos with a global emerging market focus.



“So much potential to grow! The average age in the emerging markets is 20 compared to 40 in the US or 45 in Europe. This is the future, and the universe in which we will grow. For example, there is no reason why IHS cannot be in 30 markets over time. We are the only company with African origins that has come from Nigeria, to list on the NYSE with approximately 35,000 towers pro forma including our MTN South Africa acquisition. This makes us uniquely skilled to tackle the global emerging markets challenges and succeed,” says Darwish.



One of the key reasons for listing on the NYSE, as opposed to an African stock exchange, was to help combat negative stereotypes about Nigerian-origin companies.



As Darwish puts it, this is an issue of governance.



“Investors want to know that you adhere to the best corporate governance practices and that you are a sustainable business. In my opinion, Africa suffers not from a lack of opportunities but from a perceived lack of governance. Investors expect a very high level of governance practices in terms of sustainability, gender equality, and ESG such as whistle-blowing, code of conduct&#8230; and companies need to have zero tolerance towards unethical behavior as part of their DNA to be able to attract capital to scale and grow,” Darwish says.



By coming to New York, Darwish is telling the world that this is the level of governance IHS Towers adheres to. “After all, the NYSE and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) must approve your listing, banks must authorize it, you have the New York State and the Department of Justice watching you. We are now bound by the highest levels of scrutiny.”



Also, according to Darwish, only sustainable companies can scale in emerging markets because of the limited resources available to them compared to their counterparts in developed markets. So, he believes unless a company is respectful to the environment and community around its operations, there is no way it can scale.



“There isn’t enough to simply carve out and keep a piece. Companies need to expand their universe of opportunity and benefit collaboratively. That’s what building connectivity does.”



Another strategic reason for choosing the NYSE was due to the capital-intensive nature of the business. After investing billions of dollars, Darwish believes they have barely scratched the surface.



“If you look at Africa today, only about 40% of Africans have access to 3G or 4G mobile services, compared to 85% or higher penetration in the developed markets. On the continent, 5G is only available in South Africa. I believe that internet access will evolve in two ways in Africa; 5G services will be offered to address the high-speed mobile communications needs of consumers and fiber to the home or business will be deployed to solve high bandwidth connectivity demand. Both types of networks are substantially underdeveloped both in Africa and other emerging markets and require billions of dollars of investments.”



Consider IHS’ primary geographies – Africa and Latin America. According to Darwish, the average American consumes about 11GB of data a month compared to 1GB in Nigeria and 2.5GB in Brazil. This means there is room for tremendous growth via the provision of better and broader broadband connectivity. This requires greater access to capital which is best found in deep-pocketed destinations outside Africa.



“Remember the most fundamental premise for telecom connectivity is that every human being wants a bigger, wider broadband pipe no matter where they are or who they are. It’s up to us to satisfy that demand. The Covid-19 crisis taught us that whilst the world could survive with less planes, cars and trains, it couldn’t survive without the phone!” says Darwish.



So where can you find that type of money? New York, says Darwish; the NYSE has 10 times the depth of the London Stock Exchange, he adds, and that was his primary goal.



With the new inflow of capital investment, Darwish has embarked on some key strategic acquisitions.



In October last year, the company signed a partnership agreement with the Egyptian government to erect and lease to MNOs 5,800 telecom towers in Egypt during the first three years of the license term. However, IHS plans to expand further as it believes the country is on an upward trajectory.



The following month, IHS Towers signed agreements to acquire 5,709 telecom towers in South Africa from Mobile Telephone Networks Proprietary Limited (MTN), one of Africa’s leading mobile telecommunications groups.



IHS Towers will also provide Power-as-a-Service (PaaS) to MTN at approximately 12,800 sites across South Africa (including the acquired 5,709 sites). On closing, the company says this will make IHS the largest independent towerco in South Africa. In addition, IHS will become the main towerco in the three largest economies in Africa, further strengthening its leadership position on the continent.



Within the company, the growth trajectory has earned Darwish plaudits.



William Saad, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of IHS Towers, talks about his dedication and commitment to success: “Since the first day we co-founded IHS, his focus has been on building strong foundations to be ready for where we are today. Some people dream and talk about their dreams, but, Sam, when he dreams, he turns the dream into a goal and ensures it comes true. That only happens with dedication, long hours, sacrifices, research, learning, planning&#8230; and the proof is the size and geographic spread of IHS today.”



“In my five years working closely with Sam, I’ve been wowed by his ability to successfully lead a company operating in so many complicated places. What I’ve seen as truly special, has been his ability to successfully grow the company’s footprint and bottom line while at the same time truly being devoted to employee wellbeing,” attests Mel Immergut, the former Chairman of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley &amp; McCloy.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">I believe that internet access will evolve in two ways in Africa; 5G services will be offered to address the high-speed mobile communications needs of consumers and fiber to the home or business will be deployed to solve high bandwidth connectivity demand. Both types of networks are substantially underdeveloped both in Africa and other emerging markets and require billions of dollars of investments.</blockquote>



IHS’ signing of the MTN deal coincided with the completion of an agreement with TIM S.A., a Brazilian MNO and fiber operator. IHS acquired a 51% controlling interest in FiberCo Soluções de Infraestrutura S.A. (FiberCo), a former subsidiary of TIM S.A., which includes TIM’s secondary fiber network and assets, in addition to the provision of fiber optic infrastructure services as an Open Fiber Network Service Provider. FiberCo will complement as well as help further develop IHS’ tower footprint in Brazil (currently comprising of around 5,000 towers) in addition to generating revenue from fiber-to-the-X services.



“Brazil has about 200 million people, and Latin America is a few years ahead of Africa in terms of telecom sector development. FiberCo’s network passes over 6.5 million locations; 3.5 million of which is Fiber- to-the-Home and 3.4 million Fiber-to-the-Cabinets. This deal makes us one of the top fiber players in Brazil and positions us for the imminent 5G growth,” says Darwish. Whilethisdealisattractivefromareturn perspective, the main reason Darwish is excited is because of its importance to Brazil’s 5G network rollout.



“Up until now, location has been the most important part of cellphone network rollouts. FiberCo’s 70,000km of fiber strands run through the busy streets of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, etc. This network complements the roughly 5,000 towers we own, and the land bank we acquired last year. This combination makes IHS the most strategically placed digital infrastructure operator in Brazil to assist with the rollout of fast 5G networks by MNOs and other telecom operators. Very exciting!”



The new acquisitions undoubtedly make IHS Towers one of the largest telecommunication infrastructure companies globally. The focus for Darwish now is to use IHS’ increased platform and capital base to help advance Africa’s development through further deployment of digital infrastructure.

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‘THE COVID-19 CRISIS TAUGHT US THAT WHILST THE WORLD COULD SURVIVE WITH LESS PLANES, CARS AND TRAINS, IT COULDN’T SURVIVE WITHOUT THE PHONE!’

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Q&A With the AFRICAN OF THE YEAR: Nana Akufo-Addo

Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s President, has repositioned the country in the global marketplace as one reliant on its own resources and strengths. He is redefining economic development and it’s resonating across Africa. In an exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA, he dwells on the new focus of the West African nation that has in recent years consistently been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. 



IN 2019, WHEN GHANA’S PRESIDENT NANA AKUFO-ADDO shared his vision for the national transformation agenda through the Ghana Beyond Aid (GBA) charter, the mandate for his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was simple – move away from the traditional view of a Ghana dependent on aid to grow the economy and focus on its core competitive advantages.



Much before that, at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 in Ghana’s capital Accra where a local journalist asked whether France was going to extend its support to other countries in Africa that were nonFrench colonies, the Ghanaian president, serving his first term, had interjected with: “We can no longer continue to make policy for ourselves in our continent on the basis of whatever support that the western world can give us. It will not work, it has not worked and it will not work.” A visibly uncomfortable Macron could all but muster a somewhat embarrassed smile at the audience.



But the video of this speech went viral and the remark won AkufoAddo praise on social media. The president followed by tasking his government to implement the GBA strategy document and charter for a more prosperous Ghana.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter 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">Congratulations to President of Ghana H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo (<a href="https://twitter.com/NAkufoAddo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NAkufoAddo</a>) for the well-deserved and earned <a href="https://twitter.com/forbesafrica?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@forbesafrica</a> African of the Year 2021. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AfricanOfTheYear?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AfricanOfTheYear</a> <a href="https://t.co/H3EHwqhG9D">pic.twitter.com/H3EHwqhG9D</a>&mdash; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (@MaEllenSirleaf) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaEllenSirleaf/status/1467812557067067398?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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After years of negative growth and economic challenges, AkufoAddo had a new vision for Ghana when he assumed office in 2017, and that was for the country to look within, to its own capabilities. Central to his thinking of growing Ghana’s economy was offering free senior high school education to children who would otherwise not receive it.



Since its implementation, a total of 1.6 million students have reportedly benefited from the program. 



“We do want, and we shall work, to take Ghana to where she deserves to be, a prosperous and dynamic member of the world community which is neither a victim nor a pawn of the world order,” Akufo-Addo said in a speech at the 75th anniversary celebrations of North Rhine-Westphalia, a top industrial region in Germany. During the visit, the president expressed his determination for Ghana to wholeheartedly participate in the global marketplace not only as a supplier of raw materials but as a leading exporter of manufactured goods.



The messages were clear and consistent. Endowed with natural resources and human capital, Ghana wanted to take accountability for its own growth and economic development without relying solely on aid from former colonial masters.



The country had not been without its share of crises and difficulties. On the economic front, its over-reliance on gold and cocoa exports meant that there was little in the way of diversification with inflation peaking at 17.46%.



After the president won the 2016 elections and came to power in 2017, new oil fields were found with production starting in 2017 and jumping to 60 million barrels which resulted in a boost in oil export revenues, pushing the country’s economic growth above 6% for each of the three years to 2019, according to Reuters.



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<h1 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-nana-akufo-addo-has-been-adjudged-the-2021-african-of-the-year-previous-winners-of-the-coveted-award-include-rwandan-president-paul-kagame-2018-president-of-the-african-development-bank-akinwumi-adesina-2019-and-world-trade-organization-director-general-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-2020">Nana Akufo-Addo has been adjudged the ‘2021 African of the Year’. Previous winners of the coveted award include Rwandan President Paul Kagame (2018), President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina (2019) and World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (2020).</h1>



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During that period, inflation receded to less than 10% for the first time in six years in 2018, according to figures from Ghana’s ministry of finance. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected a GDP growth rate of 8.8% in 2019 for Ghana as the fastest-growing economy in subSaharan Africa (SSA). A March 2018 article in The New York Times said:“Now, as oil prices rise again and the country’s oil production rapidly expands, Ghana is on track to make a remarkable claim for a country mired in poverty not long ago: It is likely to have one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year, according to the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Brookings Institution.”



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="748" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina-1024x748.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44771 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina-1024x748.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina-300x219.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina-600x438.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina-768x561.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina-1536x1122.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PRST-Adesina.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“I would like to warmly congratulate H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, on being named Forbes Africa&#8217;s &#8216;African of the Year.&#8217; This is an excellent and very well-deserved honour and recognition. As a leader, you continue to push the boundaries of what is possible for Ghana and the people of Africa. You are an embodiment of a remarkable &#8216;can-do&#8217; African spirit&#8230; a spirit of focused determination that seeks to make a difference in the lives of your people and unleash Africa&#8217;s true potential. Once again, congratulations and warm felicitations.&#8221;<cite>Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group </cite></blockquote>




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A May 2019 article in the World Economic Forum concurred: “Just three decades ago, Ghana was in crisis; impoverished and suffering famine, it was on the verge of economic collapse. Fast-forward to the present day, the West African nation has staged a remarkable comeback and is predicted to be the world’s fastest-growing economy in 2019.”



The economic growth was not just buoyed by the discovery of oil but also what many economic pundits considered to be sound fiscal policies wrapped in a peaceful democracy. The world noticed. Companies such as Google, which in its bid to position itself as an ‘AI first’ company with already established centers in strategic cities such as Tokyo, Zurich and Paris, made the decision to open its first Artificial Intelligence center in Africa in Accra in 2019.



Exxon Mobil in 2018 moved to sign a deep-water oil exploration deal with Ghana after the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea drew a new ocean boundary favoring Ghana over the Ivory Coast in 2017, according to a Reuters report.



In 2020, automobile major Volkswagen expanded its footprint in SSA with the opening of a vehicle assembly facility in Accra, making Ghana its fifth vehicle assembly location in SSA (after South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda). And in April 2021, social media giant Twitter sent shock waves across the bigger economic hubs in Africa when it chose Ghana as its regional headquarters.



What has also been loudly clear has been Akufo-Addo’s deliberate strategy to involve the diaspora in the country’s economic growth. In September 2018, the president launched a year-long initiative to commemorate “the 400th anniversary of the firstrecorded forced arrival of enslaved African people to the United States” and dubbed it the Year of the Return, Ghana 2019.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter 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">Congratulations President <a href="https://twitter.com/NAkufoAddo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NAkufoAddo</a> of Ghana on being named the African of the Year 2021 by the Forbes Africa Magazine. Thank you for your great leadership and all you do in positively projecting Africa. We are very proud of you, Your Excellency. 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 <a href="https://twitter.com/forbesafrica?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@forbesafrica</a> <a href="https://t.co/TfAp8lX1Ao">https://t.co/TfAp8lX1Ao</a>&mdash; Akinwumi A. Adesina (@akin_adesina) <a href="https://twitter.com/akin_adesina/status/1467119088245870595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The President called for not just Ghanaians but people of African descent, including African-Americans, to return to Africa, or more specifically Ghana, in what was to be a reconnection with their roots. New visitors arriving to the shores of Ghana were welcomed to a shiny, newly-refurbished airport which was adjudged winner of best airport by passenger volume on the continent according to Airports Council International. In what is perhaps the president’s biggest PR campaign and by far the country’s loudest communication drive, it was estimated that the Year of the Return campaign resulted in an additional 237,000 visitors to Ghana accounting for a 45% increase compared to the previous year and thereby injecting $1.9 billion into the Ghanaian economy, according to figures from the Ghana Tourism Authority.



The country also made strides in the international bond market, raising $3 billion on the international debt market using a four-year zero-coupon bond tranche.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GettyImages-1133592927.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-53595" width="647" height="472" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GettyImages-1133592927.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GettyImages-1133592927-300x219.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GettyImages-1133592927-768x561.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 647px) 100vw, 647px" /><figcaption>President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo delivers the Keynote Address for the 2019 10th Annual Africa Development Conference at Harvard University (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



“This historic bond issuance is a strong signal that investors have confidence in our plan for debt sustainability, economic recovery and growth,” said Ghana’s finance minister Ken OforiAtta, as reported in Reuters.



And where investors have confidence, foreign direct investments (FDI) follow. According to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), despite the pandemic, total investment inflows reached $2,796.49 million in 2020, with a total FDI value of $2,650.97 million accounting for a 139.06% increase over 2019.



This means some 279 projects were registered within the year amounting to an estimate of 27,110 jobs being generated from those projects. Another plus? The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which came into effect from January 2021. Ghana was selected amongst its peers as the trading bloc’s Secretariat. 



The AfCFTA is estimated to create a single continental market for goods and services covering a market of 1.2 billion people and accounting for a combined GDP of $3 trillion.



“As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa,” says Uche Adegbite, Director, Product Management at Twitter on the company’s ‘Twitter’s presence in Africa’ blog post.



These milestones, in a historic pandemic period, could have played a part in the re-election of the 77-year-old statesman for a second term as Ghana’s president, from January 2021.



With a long lineage of political luminaries as ancestors, it was perhaps in Akufo-Addo’s destiny to lead the country.



Prior to assuming office as president, he practised as a human rights lawyer in France and England. His father, Edward Akufo-Addo, who was a lawyer, was the nation’s president in the late 1960s and one of the founding fathers of Ghana.



“Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, an indefatigable visionary, has not only inspired his country but the continent of Africa to rise up and shine. He has, through his aspirations and efforts, transformed Ghana into a modern economy. His influence has reached beyond Ghana to the continent, pleading the case of a Ghana Beyond Aid thereby infusing a great dose of confidence to transform the continent. This is positively changing the narrative and bringing real hope of a brighter future to Africa’s youth. Primus inter pares [first among equals],” says Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC, to FORBES AFRICA.



When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the country revised its 7% growth projections to about 1%, but it did not slip into recession.



The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) recorded an impressive 36.13% in dollar terms for investors in the first half of 2021, with a market capitalization of GHC61.3 billion ($10 billion).



“Ghana has been consistently one of the fastest-growing economies in the world for each of the last four years, notwithstanding the decline of GDP growth to 0.9% in 2020 as a result of Covid-19,” says Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana, to FORBES AFRICA.



Bawumia lists key indicators such as the reduction of lending rates from 32% in 2016 to 21% in 2020, increasing gross international reserves from $6.1 billion in 2016 to $8.6 billion in 2020, the upgrade of Ghana’s first credit rating in 10 years from B- in 2016 to B with a stable outlook, and the implementation of the ‘one district, one warehouse’ as well as the ‘one district, one factory’ initiatives.



Another area of focus is Ghana’s growing youth population.



There is a push to create an enabling environment for technology startups and for small and medium entrepreneurs to thrive.



According to a World Bank report, Ghana Digital Economy Diagnostic, the Ghanaian government is spearheading the adoption of digital financial services (DFS) through the National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy 2017-2023, which makes the government accountable to measures to achieving universal access to DFS as well as creating an Africa-wide payments infrastructure by 2030.



For full Q &amp; A with Nana Akufo-Addo, <a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-african-of-the-year-dec-jan-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">click here to download your Digital Copy </a>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner-1024x341.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-53596" width="748" height="248" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner-300x100.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner-2048x683.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px" /></figure></div>

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AFRICAN OF THE YEAR: NANA AKUFO-ADDO

As FORBES AFRICA celebrates a landmark 10th year, we look back on our stellar collection of cover stars and features and some of the most &#8220;quotable quotes&#8221; from the last ten years. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-Dec_Jan-RGB-793x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52876" width="298" height="385" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-Dec_Jan-RGB-793x1024.jpg 793w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-Dec_Jan-RGB-232x300.jpg 232w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-Dec_Jan-RGB-768x991.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-Dec_Jan-RGB-1190x1536.jpg 1190w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-Dec_Jan-RGB.jpg 1258w" sizes="(max-width: 298px) 100vw, 298px" /></figure></div>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">I often say I can sleep on a mud floor as well as a feathered bed and be very comfortable. It has made me someone who can do without things in life because of what we went through.-Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, December 2020 /January 2021</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“IF WE CONTINUE DOING THE RIGHT THINGS IN AFRICA WE CAN CREATE A VERY EXCITING AND COMPETITIVE GLOBAL MARKET HERE.”– Patrice Motsepe, October 2011 (launch issue)</blockquote>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-28-at-17.31.24.png" alt="" class="wp-image-53194" width="439" height="349" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-28-at-17.31.24.png 686w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-28-at-17.31.24-300x239.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 439px) 100vw, 439px" /></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-782x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52782" width="318" height="416" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-782x1024.jpg 782w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-229x300.jpg 229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-768x1006.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-1173x1536.jpg 1173w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1.jpg 1240w" sizes="(max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px" /></figure></div>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">THERE IS NO BULLSHIT WITH WOMEN. WE DON’T WASTE TIME OUT OF POLITENESS.– Wendy Appelbaum, August 2012</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">You have to sit down and look at your business model and say ‘can it be interrupted’? – Jannie Mouton, July 2017</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">LIFE IS ABOUT TRIPPING AND FALLING AND LEARNING FROM MISTAKES, PULLING YOUR STRENGTHS AND MOVING ON.– Gbenga Oyebode, July 2018</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">It’s not only all about how much money you would have made and what you would have got. It’s about having a little bit of fun.” – Sol Kerzner, October 2014</blockquote>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2018-MARCH-RGB-793x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52852" width="414" height="535" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2018-MARCH-RGB-793x1024.jpg 793w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2018-MARCH-RGB-232x300.jpg 232w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2018-MARCH-RGB-768x992.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2018-MARCH-RGB-1189x1536.jpg 1189w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2018-MARCH-RGB.jpg 1258w" sizes="(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px" /></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-MAR-RGB-793x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-52878" width="336" height="434" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-MAR-RGB-793x1024.jpg 793w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-MAR-RGB-232x300.jpg 232w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-MAR-RGB-768x991.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-MAR-RGB-1190x1536.jpg 1190w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FA-2020-MAR-RGB.jpg 1258w" sizes="(max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px" /></figure></div>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“If you fall flat on your face, beat yourself up and do it again until you succeed&#8230;” – Richard Branson, March 2018</blockquote>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“USING YOUR INFLUENCE TO CREATE IMPACT AND BETTER THE LIVES OF OTHERS — THAT IS WHAT BEING A POWERFUL WOMAN MEANS TO ME.” – Graça Machel, March 2020</blockquote>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-28-at-17.31.36.png" alt="" class="wp-image-53193" width="339" height="384" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-28-at-17.31.36.png 454w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-28-at-17.31.36-265x300.png 265w" sizes="(max-width: 339px) 100vw, 339px" /></figure></div>

quotes

FORBES AFRICA 10TH ANNIVERSARY: FROM PAST EDITIONS- Who Said What

Untitled-2022

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: A Decade of Celebrating Africa’s Bright Young Minds

As FORBES AFRICA celebrates a landmark 10th year, we look back on our stellar collection of compelling cover stories and innovative features, coming up with a star cast of powerful personalities, from business behemoths to captains of industry and exceptional leaders in politics, art and civil society. On these pages that follow are their thoughts, triumphs and testimonials, not just for the magazine but for Africa’s continued growth as we transition together into the future.



By Renuka Methil, Peace Hyde, Yeshiel Panchia &amp; Chanel Retief 



From running her own organization, to becoming the first black woman executive at the head of Naspers South Africa, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa has come a long, meaningful way. She was also the cover of FORBES AFRICA in August 2018 with Stacey Brewer of SPARK Schools. Here are excerpts from a recent interview with the CEO of the JSE-listed company, whose priority is also developing South Africa’s early stage startups and skilling and employing young people:



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.34.44.png" alt="" class="wp-image-52960" width="251" height="388" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.34.44.png 444w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.34.44-194x300.png 194w" sizes="(max-width: 251px) 100vw, 251px" /></figure></div>



Q. You play a big part in South Africa’s tech ecosystem backing startups. How did Covid change your business philosophy and how did you adapt?



A. There was no business immune to the impact, not even in the internet industry. We had many businesses that did well during this pandemic, but we also had businesses that did terribly, because they required face-to-face engagement. And so, as with most companies, we also faced challenges, especially during the hard lockdowns. And from the outset, our first priority was to ensure the safety of our own people. We immediately ensured that we had a work-from-home policy&#8230;The lockdowns led to an acceleration in the general trend towards online, which was underway globally. Whilst we were focusing on ensuring the safety of our staff, we were also looking at growing our businesses. What we saw was significant acceleration. Certainly, if you look at the US, as an example, we saw an acceleration to online, which would typically have taken about seven years, took only one month. Here in South Africa, our online retail business Takealot and our food business, Mr D Food, experienced exponential growth. We believe that a lot of the new online trends will remain, notwithstanding what happens with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic receding.



I believe for many companies, digitization has become a lifeline. And so with technology, it allows them the ability to stay operational, in a world where social distancing has become the norm. And so, we have seen many organizations now having their own platforms, and providing their goods online. And we applaud that, because we want to see more people being digitally available&#8230; But in South Africa, we do need to ensure that people have access for the ability to engage with online goods&#8230;We need both the public sector and private sector working together in order to ensure that we can realize the growth we see in many countries around the world, particularly those such as India, where growth in the tech industry has been phenomenal. And we want to see that here in Africa.



Through the Naspers Foundry, we&#8217;ve also invested in companies such as Aerobotics, in agritech businesses and edtech. Fintech is also so important.



Q. What would you tell FORBES AFRICA on its 10th anniversary? 



A. One of the things I love about FORBES AFRICA is the stories you tell about Africa. You go and meet with CEOs and the leaders of businesses. We spoke about the rise of fintechs, across the continent, and it&#8217;s FORBES AFRICA that will tell the story&#8230; We need to continue to hear this positive good messaging&#8230; Your engagement with leaders has been so pivotal, like the President of the African Development Bank, so we can see the realization of a different, new, vibrant Africa emerging.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-08-17-at-11.59.10-814x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-52963" width="271" height="341" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-08-17-at-11.59.10-814x1024.png 814w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-08-17-at-11.59.10-239x300.png 239w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-08-17-at-11.59.10-768x966.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-08-17-at-11.59.10-1221x1536.png 1221w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-08-17-at-11.59.10.png 1258w" sizes="(max-width: 271px) 100vw, 271px" /></figure></div>



In 2015, when FORBES WOMAN AFRICA spoke to South African singer Lerato Molapo, more famously known as Lira, she was a globe- trotting star. Now, the 49-year-old acclaimed songstress says the pandemic has forced her to appreciate the virtues of virtual performances where there may only be an audience as big as 50 people.



“My trajectory was to be working in South Africa, the United States and in Europe. And I&#8217;ve managed to be doing that for at least consistently the last eight years,” Lira tells FORBES AFRICA in a recent interview.



“The first thing I realized was that Covid wasn&#8217;t personal. A lot of our businesses almost felt like they were in trouble. But I was like, ‘it&#8217;s not personal, it&#8217;s happening to everyone’.”



As someone who has always spoken as “a businesswoman in music”, as in her cover feature in the December 2015 issue of FORBES WOMAN AFRICA, Lira believes that musicians were hit just as hard as any industry. However, she packed her bags, went to Namibia for a couple of months, decided not to stress and found that the opportunities came to her.



“So, while I was in the media, there were opportunities to do shows online. Now, as an artist, the reason I don&#8217;t like the idea of putting on my own show online is that South Africans don&#8217;t attend online shows in numbers,” she says. “The opportunities I was getting was like a corporate or a magazine willing to fund the whole thing. And we just offered to the public for free. So that was wonderful.”



Lira’s message to FORBES AFRICA on its 10th year: “The magazine’s existence, in my opinion, also drives excellence for people to want to be associated with something of such high caliber. So firstly, thank you so much for coming into the country, but also for telling African stories, because the closer the stories are, the more motivating it is.”



Gil Oved, Co-Chief Executive, Bella Thaler Investments, was part of the trend-setting August-September 2017 cover of FORBES WOMAN AFRICA on male gender champions in corporate South Africa. At the time, he was the Group Co-CEO of The Creative Counsel and spoke about gender-parity in business, leadership and life. He returns to speak to FORBES AFRICA about his journey since:



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Q. How did your business pivot during the Covid-19 pandemic and what are your future plans?



A. I would say a more accurate depiction than pivot is a zig zag and then some zag zig for good measure. In the beginning, when it all started unfolding, we decided to pause, catch our breath, zoom out and try get some perspective. We thought it wiser to slow things down and not be tempted to be impetuous or swept up by the panic and discombobulation of the moment. We recognized that the world was in turmoil but also that the volatility and change brings new sets of opportunities. One of them is the potential that Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) hold, and specifically for emerging markets. Though SPACs have been around for a while they never really took off until relatively recently&#8230; We’ve been spending time on that and some other interesting things that have managed to keep my mind occupied during this extraordinary era the world finds itself in.



Q. Your message to readers on our 10th birthday?



A. Such an impressive achievement. A decade of glory. FORBES AFRICA has been the continent’s formidable champion of business excellence and entrepreneurial relevance. It’s the marquee any self-respecting businessperson looks to in order to feel informed and well-read. The magazine and its related initiatives have stood up for the values the continent aspires to and has done so in the most trying of times and on a challenging continent and yet has remained resolute and true to its original promise. I salute you and I thank you for all that you have done and may the next 10 years prove to be 10 times more successful.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Well, I think we’ve got to recognize two things. The continent has enormous potential. I mean the continental economy is bigger than that of India. And we&#8217;ve got all the natural resources that one can wish for. So the potential is enormous&#8230; Secondly, I think people who are writing off the continent are making a bad mistake. They are ignoring Africa, at their peril. But all things are going to get better. And so I remain an ‘Afro-optimist’&#8230; I want to congratulate FORBES AFRICA. And I want to express as an African my appreciation that they saw fit to have this special edition. Again, it is the recognition that Africa deserves.”<cite> – South African businessman Christo Wiese, who was the cover of FORBES AFRICA in March 2013 and May 2016.</cite></blockquote>



September 2012 saw Aspen Group Chief Executive Stephan Saad, on the cover of FORBES AFRICA as ‘Millionaire Medicine Man’. A lot has changed since for the South African pharma major, Aspen, especially now with Covid-19 and the company playing a lead role in manufacturing vaccines. Saad breaks down how to FORBES AFRICA:



Q. Please tell us more about Aspen’s growth?



A. Aspen has reshaped itself over the past 10 years, completing a number of transformational projects across our operations. These changes have allowed us to differentiate Aspen as an emerging, market-focused, specialty pharmaceutical company, anchored by a manufacturing platform with significant sterile manufacturing capacity. During this 10-year period, we have concluded several acquisitions for the intellectual property rights and access to specialty brands, injectable anticoagulants, a sterile manufacturing site in France, and an API business in the Netherlands [to name a few]. Most notably, Aspen is now also playing a critical role in the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines under an agreement with Johnson &amp; Johnson.



Q. What is your message to FORBES AFRICA on its 10th anniversary?



A. We congratulate FORBES AFRICA on this milestone occasion and wish you every success for the future as you continue to focus on publishing news and stories showcasing Africa that are factually accurate, relevant and of a superior quality. We hope to feature in your 20th anniversary presentation!



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.32.18.png" alt="" class="wp-image-52958" width="508" height="215" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.32.18.png 802w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.32.18-300x127.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-13-at-16.32.18-768x326.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 508px) 100vw, 508px" /></figure></div>



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Nigerian politician and philanthropist Tonye Cole featured on the April 2016 cover of FORBES AFRICA as an oil millionaire and Founder and CEO of Sahara Group. Three years on, he says he took a big personal decision to move into politics.



“Three things helped me make up my mind about the move. The first is having traveled across Africa for business and meeting politicians etc, I found out that we were all troubled about the same thing always. There was concern about the type of leadership we had. Secondly, there was a lot of agitation amongst young people. They wanted change but they could not articulate exactly what they wanted. We needed to give them something they could hold on to. And thirdly, no matter how much we built our business at Sahara, I kept seeing that there was a very heavy hand of politics and policies affecting everything we did and so no matter how much we pushed as a business, there was people sitting on one side who would create a policy and that will set us back. So, I reviewed those things and decided that if you were going to impact life and you were going to make a difference, where can you do it in such a way that one decision that you take can impact thousands or millions of people?



“I found out that the only place you can really do this is through policies and government. Philanthropy, which I did a lot through corporate social responsibility, was targeted at certain people. Before leaving Sahara, we had a target of impacting four million people directly through our initiatives. Nigeria has over 200 million people and in politics, one decision you make can impact way more than four million. If you do the right thing, within a year or month, you can touch the lives of over 100 million people in politics whereas in Sahara, one initiative would take us about four years to make an impact.”

Untitled-cover 2

Part 2: Towards The Next Decade

BY: WINNIE BYANYIMA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UNAIDS AND UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS, ALSO NAMED ONE OF ‘AFRICA’S 50 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN’ BY FORBES AFRICA IN 2020.



The 10th birthday of FORBES AFRICA is a moment of pride, reflection, and recommitment for African women’s leadership. FORBES AFRICA has for a decade helped to shine a light on the transformational progress which African women have been



driving. Crucially, the stories which FORBES AFRICA has told of African women’s contribution have not only brought attention to the impact of women prime ministers and presidents, chairs, and directors; they have highlighted too the inspirational leadership of women who are changing lives and building power in the most important way there is &#8211; by working from the community, up.



As the pandemic has reminded us, every woman in their own power counts: the woman nurse pioneering approaches to care at the hospital, the woman trader explaining her new product at the village market, the woman community organizer who carries a megaphone in her informal settlement imparting life-saving health messaging, and many more.



When the story of the Covid crisis is recounted in the history books of our grandchildren, stories from FORBES AFRICA will help let them learn this: it was the women who got everyone through.



As well as pride, this is also a moment for reflection and recommitment.



Whilst women’s leadership is increasingly seen, it remains socially undervalued. Whilst the contribution of unpaid care work has never been more visible, it remains unrewarded and overwhelmingly carried by women. Progress in tackling HIV has been knocked back by the fallout from the Covid crisis, especially impacting women. Five in six African adolescents newly acquiring HIV are girls. Adolescent girls and young women in Africa remain most at risk of missing out on education. Gender-based violence has surged in the pandemic. Yet as countries struggle with the fiscal challenges exacerbated by the Covid crisis, often the sectors that are suffering the biggest budget cuts are those on which women most depend.



It is not only Covid and HIV that Africa needs to recover from. We need to recover from the inequalities – between men and women, between Africa and the rest of the world, between dominant and marginalized communities, between the elite and the majority – which hold back our enormous potential. How can we reform unjust exclusionary laws? How can we deliver on the promise of school completion for every girl and boy? How can we ensure health for all – including sexual and reproductive health for all? How can we build a prosperity that is widely shared? In the face of the colliding crises, it has become clear that we need bold new approaches to how we survive and thrive.



Thankfully, the answers are being articulated by African women leaders; thankfully, too, FORBES AFRICA is helping ensure that their voices are heard.



Women leaders, particularly young women, when given space to share their creativity, will show how to build societies able to overcome any crisis and to unleash the potential of all.



Happy birthday FORBES AFRICA!

winnie

ESSAY: What’s Next For Women Leaders On Africa’s Recovery Path

cover story1

FORBES AFRICA 10th ANNIVERSARY: Towards The Next Decade

In recent years, he has dominated Africa’s rich lists as the continent’s youngest billionaire. Mohammed Dewji, the shrewd entrepreneur and CEO of MeTL Group in Tanzania, has previously been on two FORBES AFRICA covers – in 2013 and 2015. In this new decade, he is eyeing a much bigger chunk of African business.



JUST BACK IN DUBAI AFTER A WHIRLWIND trip dropping off his 18-year-old daughter at the School of Foreign Service at his alma mater, Georgetown University in Washington DC, the 46-year-old Tanzanian businessman, known in the hallowed corridors of the continent’s elite as “Africa’s youngest billionaire”, is more emotional than jet-lagged.



“I had to let go of her, you know, but I’m going to visit DC more often,” says Mohammed Dewji.



He could be speaking for himself too. In FORBES AFRICA’s July 2013 cover, he had said he puts in 100 hours a week growing MeTL into a pan-African conglomerate.



Today, he admits to slowing down “a little bit” – after his headline-grabbing kidnapping incident in 2018 that gave him a new lease on life and made him veer towards philanthropy and impact investing a lot more than before, he says.



But this has in no way decelerated his ambitions to conquer more markets and more milestones.



The astute, hard-nosed businessman running Tanzania’s MeTL Group, operating in areas as diverse as food, agriculture, textiles, trading, energy, financial services, real estate, logistics, and distribution, has a vision for his company that covers every commerce and commodity on the African map.



“My problem is my mind, it runs like a train. I’m trying to slow it down. But I’m not working 100 hours a week anymore; I work 80 hours a week,” he laughs. “I’m still passionate about work, I just cannot have an idle mind.”



The entire MeTL Group, he says, is on course for a targeted revenue this year of about $2 billion. The group had its genesis in the early 1970s as a modest trading house; his father Gulam Dewji, in a few years, turned it into a flourishing import-export business.



Today, the younger Dewji is talking about buying an island with a landing strip “very soon” and venturing into the hospitality business. A half-hour interview with Dewji and he has touched every business there is: his renewed investments in tea, carbonated drinks, macadamia, cashews, textiles&#8230; the list is endless.



But there is the reason for him to feel bullish. With the country’s new President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, taking over early this year following the death of President John Magufuli, Tanzania is waking up to a new vision and positive outlook, hoping to join the continent’s economic giants Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana.



“The new president is so business-friendly, investment-friendly, and FDI-friendly, she is doing good for Tanzania,” says Dewji.



“I have promised her that in the next five years, I’ll employ 100,000. Tanzania is one of the fastest-growing countries in Africa. I am going to continue investing more into the country and of course, in the region.”



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Dewji has his ear to the ground and is well-attuned to the purchasing power of consumers in his target markets in East and Central Africa.



“When I got out of university in Georgetown in 1998-1999, the per capita income in Tanzania was $300. So I was like, ‘okay, how do I become a rich man?’ Today, the per capita income is over $1,000. From the time you wake up in the morning, to the time you sleep, I need to dig deep into your pockets to at least take 70% of your purchasing power, right?” he explains simply.



“So you wake up in the morning, there is tea, sugar, maize flour, carbonated drinks, water; there’s a bicycle, there’s a motorcycle, there’s garments etc etc, So I have been able to just fight to enter. And I’ve been competing with Unilever and Procter &amp; Gamble, and Coca-Cola. I believe that in the next maybe four or five years, my carbonated drinks business, which I am expanding, will be at least over a billion dollars in terms of valuation in East and Central Africa.”



Dewji has big plans in Rwanda.



“I told President Paul Kagame that I was going to invest $50 million. And I’m going to put in an edible oil refinery and a soap plant, I’m going to put in wheat milling, I’m going to put in maize milling, I am going to put petroleum, we’re putting carbonated soft drinks. And they have been amazing. They are punching above their weight. You are welcomed like a king in Rwanda,” says the man, also known to his family and friends as ‘Mo’.



Agriculture is a mainstay business, and in 2022, Dewji says he will be the single largest sisal producer in the world. In addition, he is converting his tea business to organic tea.



“I’m going to invest another $50 million into planting a couple of thousand hectares of new hybrid tea that I can export, and also make more tea locally. I am looking at macadamia in a big way; we’ve invested in Mozambique in the maize milling business, in the cashew processing business. And in textiles, you know that I am one of the largest. If you were to visit my factory, it’s 3,800 people spinning, weaving, processing, dyeing, printing&#8230; For now, I want to also go into denim. We need to create more jobs,” he reels off breathlessly.



Dewji was in Iraq too recently and found a big gap in FMCG – “businesses that I know already”.



In the last few years, he has also found the time to part-own a football club, Simba SC, and is channeling more funds into it.



“And now, we [are among] the top 15 clubs in Africa. We have had back-to-back leagues, and I have invested $20 million. It’s just like having a plane or a yacht; you bleed money. But I just love the club and am so emotional about it.”



In 2015, Dewji also created his eponymous foundation educating underprivileged children right up to the university level in Tanzania, he says. As Tanzania’s only billionaire, he also signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, promising to donate at least half his fortune to philanthropic causes.



“Bill Gates convinced me and I signed the Giving Pledge and it has been amazing. And then, of course, the worst the part was my kidnapping in 2018.”



Kidnapped at gunpoint in Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital, in October 2018, outside his gym at 5 AM, Dewji was released after nine days.



“I went through a near-death experience; they basically stripped me and blindfolded me, and I was in a room with two people, without moving for all those days,” he recalls.



It gave him a new life-altering perspective.



“I think by the age of 50, I want my kids to get a little older, and I just want to step down and do philanthropy, because it gives me a lot of satisfaction. When we run businesses, we invest and we want the maximum per dollar, right? So I look at philanthropy the same way; that you spend that dollar or the $100 or $100 million that you want to put to have maximum impact, and I’m going to focus on that!&#8221;

Category: Cover Story

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