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



The stock market reached new record highs again on Monday thanks to a positive third-quarter earnings season so far, with investors largely optimistic about upcoming results from Big Tech companies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 0.2% on Monday, while the S&amp;P 500 gained 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.9%.



Both the Dow and S&amp;P 500 closed at new record highs as the stock market’s winning streak continued on the back of positive third-quarter earnings.



Of the 117 companies in the S&amp;P 500 that have reported earnings so far, some 84% have posted results that were above expectations, according to data from Refinitiv.



While earnings season has been upbeat so far, investors are looking ahead to earnings from major technology companies this week, including Facebook, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.



Shares of Facebook, which reports after the market close on Monday, fell earlier in the day before rising over 1% in afternoon trading; The company has been under pressure recently following the release of the ‘<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/10/25/here-are-the-biggest-facebook-papers-charges-zuckerberg-caves-to-communist-government-and-lets-celebrities-break-the-rules-more/">Facebook Papers</a>’ whistleblower documents.



Tesla stock, meanwhile, surged 12% to a new all-time high on Monday—bringing the company’s market value to more than $1 trillion—after Hertz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/10/25/tesla-amasses-1-trillion-in-market-value-after-hertz-places-biggest-electric-vehicle-order-ever/?sh=6366c038156e">announced</a>&nbsp;it placed the company’s biggest order ever and bought 100,000 Tesla cars.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number-26-billion">BIG NUMBER: $26 BILLION</h2>



That’s how much Elon Musk’s net worth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizahaverstock/2021/10/25/elon-musk-is-nearly-14-billion-richer-after-hertz-order-pushes-tesla-stock-to-record-levels/?sh=5d56b6ef7248">jumped</a>&nbsp;on Monday as Tesla shares skyrocketed. With a net worth of $255.8 billion, according to&nbsp;Forbes’ estimates, the Tesla cofounder and CEO is the richest person on the planet—worth more than any billionaire&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;has ever tracked.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND:</h2>



The major averages have all registered strong gains so far this month, with the Dow and S&amp;P both up more than 5%, while the Nasdaq has gained more than 4%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE:</h2>



Despite supply-chain concerns and labor shortages, the “rising tide of earnings is lifting all the boats and adding fuel to the bull market fire,” says Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR:</h2>



“There could be more gains to come in the final two months of the year,” predicts Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial. “Seasonal tailwinds, improving market internals, and clear signs of a peak in the Delta variant all provide potential fuel for equities heading into year-end.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING:</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/10/25/tesla-amasses-1-trillion-in-market-value-after-hertz-places-biggest-electric-vehicle-order-ever/?sh=6366c038156e">Tesla Hits $1 Trillion In Market Value After Hertz Places Biggest Electric Vehicle Order Ever</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/10/25/pinterest-shares-plummet-12-after-paypal-ends-rumors-of-a-45-billion-deal/">Pinterest Shares Plummet 12% After PayPal Ends Rumors Of A $45 Billion Deal</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/10/22/heres-why-facebook-twitter-and-google-shares-are-sinking-even-as-the-market-sits-near-record-highs/">Here’s Why Facebook, Twitter And Google Shares Are Sinking Even As The Market Sits Near Record Highs</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/10/25/here-are-the-biggest-facebook-papers-charges-zuckerberg-caves-to-communist-government-and-lets-celebrities-break-the-rules-more/">Here Are The Biggest ‘Facebook Papers’ Charges: Zuckerberg Caves To Communist Government And Lets Celebrities Break The Rules, More</a> (Forbes)



By Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff

Elon Musk Betting On Tesla IPO To Fund Electric Car Maker

Stocks Close At Record Highs After Tesla Hits $1 Trillion In Market Value

With the cannabis economy gradually opening up in Africa, leading players to talk about the commercial opportunities as also the consumer and patient wellness it offers. What are the barriers to building something new from the ground up in this space?



BY PETER ENGELBRECHT



HAVING SPENT 25 years working with high-growth startups as a Chartered Accountant, Mark Corbett, the Managing Director of Highlands Investments, found himself working with a cannabis company based in Lesotho, a landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa.



“I was intrigued by a category that was causing so much disruption across multiple industries including healthcare, consumer brands, tobacco, alcohol, and agriculture. I felt it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of this evolution and play a role in what is essentially the end of another prohibition.



“I am also a very firm advocate for the move away from lifestyle medications like opiates to more sustainable plant-based medicines like cannabis and psilocybin,” Corbett tells FORBES AFRICA.



With a new career in medical cannabis, he has found it to be equally exciting and frustrating. 



“Excitement because of the obvious opportunity to both change the way consumers engage with plant-based medicine and to generate much-needed employment and growth in markets like Africa; frustration because legislation and regulators around the world are moving unbelievably slowly to legalize and formally regulate the industry. This allows the black market to thrive and prevents patients from having access to standardized, regulated and clinically-tested medicines.”



Lesotho began paving the way for the cannabis market in 2017 and was one of the first African countries to grant licenses for the cultivation of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.



Warren Schewitz, CEO of Goodleaf, a CBD company based in South Africa, says: “We have a license to grow up to 200 hectares at our farm in Kolojane, Lesotho. We currently have the infrastructure to grow 20 hectares of CBD and THC cannabis and target 600kg-700kg of dry flower per hectare.”



In South Africa, cannabis is decriminalized for personal or recreational use within the confines of one’s personal property and has been lowered in its scheduling status from a schedule 7 to a schedule 6 for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and schedule 4 for Cannabidiol (CBD). The difference between THC and CBD is that THC is psychoactive which sparks the proverbial “high” when smoked. CBD on the other hand is a non-psychoactive substance that has neuroprotective properties.



Regarding the legal aspects of the cannabis business in South Africa, Schewitz says: “Our cultivation business, Highlands Pure, is located in Lesotho and our consumer brands business, Goodleaf, is headquartered in South Africa. In terms of our growing operation, the Lesotho government has taken a progressive stance to cannabis legislation and is very supportive of local cannabis cultivators&#8230; The government is now incredibly focused on building a cannabis economy and we anticipate the sale of medical cannabis within the next 12 months. On the recreational side, private cultivation and consumption for personal use within the confines of one’s private dwelling are allowed and we also anticipate this to become more mainstream in the next 24 months.



“The current evidence shows that progressive cannabis regulation supports the formal economy and can have real benefit to consumer and patient wellness, the relevant authorities have to work through all the scenarios and implications&#8230;and this takes time.”



Highlands Investments services both the South African CBD wellness market and the global THC and CBD markets, with the bulk of their products destined for the European medical cannabis market.



The medical cannabis industry is still in its early days, especially in Africa, and as with any other medication, in order for you to become a manufacturer, producer, or distributor, one would need to break down the barriers that govern the industry.



“The barriers to entry are extremely high,” says Corbett. “Investors believe that once they have a license, they are good to go. That couldn’t be further from the truth and tens of millions are needed to invest in a fully-fledged certified cultivation business that can service the needs of the medical and wellness markets.



“There are plenty of clinical trials ongoing for cannabis and until they are complete, the number of registered cannabis medicines will remain low. However, in a few years’ time, one would expect to see dozens of registrations being granted in categories like pain and epilepsy and this will lead to a massive industry globally.”



Schewitz predicts the future of the cannabis market in Africa. “The African market has multiple opportunities both in terms of its unique history and relationship with cannabis, huge consumer opportunity and low-cost growth and manufacturing. We have some of the most well-known global cannabis strains (Durban Poison, Malawi Gold) and also the average consumption of cannabis is almost double what it is anywhere else. We have 40 million cannabis users on the continent which is significant.”



Cannabis is also making headway in the battle of opioid addiction.



As the opioid crisis grows and solutions need to be found for chronic pain, companies like the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company, Labat, a player in the world’s cannabis economy, are looking to uncover the opportunity to replace opioids with medical cannabis in the management of chronic pain. Cannabis posits itself a possible solution to the negative side effects of opioids, namely sedation and respiratory depression.



Dr Shiksha Gallow, Medical Director at Biodata, also the Principal Investigator of a study into the potential use of cannabis to treat chronic pain, says research shows cannabis is an effective pain medication and that “the potential is really going to be good”. 



“If we look at South Africa in 2018, we had 17,029 people that had died from an opioid overdose. So although they are effective in pain management, it is also linked to a plethora of side effects and the main side effect being dependence which leads to a possible overdose. On the other hand, if we look at cannabis, it is a very safe medicine and no one has ever overdosed on whole-plant cannabis and the reason is actually scientific because cannabis doesn’t have any brainstem receptors.



When we look at dependency, cannabis is safe because its addiction rate is only 9%, where drugs like opiates are sitting at around 30% addiction rate,” she says. The more people like Dr Gallow conduct research into the medicinal benefits of cannabis, the easier the laws regulating cannabis might become. Only time will tell when the cannabis economy will see its own high on the continent.

Hand holding bottle of Cannabis oil in pipette isolated on white

Weeding Out Challenges in the Cannabis Economy

TOPLINE More than two years after its IPO plans unraveled in spectacular fashion, WeWork began publicly trading on the New York Stock exchange on Thursday, with shares rising after merging with a special purpose acquisition company.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Trading under the ticker “WE,” WeWork shares rose by 13% on Thursday.



WeWork raised $1.3 billion by going public with blank check company BowX Acquisition Corp., which is headed by Sacramento Kings owner and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive, in a deal that was first announced in March.



The company’s roughly $9 billion valuation is a steep drop from 2019, when WeWork was valued at $47 billion by SoftBank Group during its initial efforts to go public that year.



As part of the deal, SoftBank, which spent $10 billion to acquire an 80% stake in WeWork and save it from a cash crunch in October 2019, will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wework-m-a-bowx-acquisition-idTRNIKBN2BI1F4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">retain</a>&nbsp;its majority stake in the company.



Filings show that WeWork is still losing money: $3.5 billion in 2019, $3.2 billion in 2020 and $2.1 billion in the first quarter of this year alone, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b0c047d0-6e7e-42c1-89c8-ee5f96d01a12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">included</a>&nbsp;a non-cash settlement of around $500 million with former CEO Adam Neumann, per a&nbsp;Financial Times&nbsp;report.



WeWork posted $3.2 billion in sales in each of the last two years (excluding its China operations, which it sold a majority stake of last year) and expects to do so again in 2021, according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001813756/000119312521095509/d29340dex992.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">investor presentation</a>&nbsp;BowX filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.



The real estate and workspace firm does expect its revenue to start growing again, however, targeting $4.6 billion next year and about $7 billion by 2024.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“This company is here, is stronger than ever, and no doubt that we’re going to be celebrating many more milestones,” WeWork’s executive chairman, Marcelo Claure, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/21/wework-goes-public-through-spac-.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> CNBC on Thursday morning. “Two years ago, the value of WeWork was zero and the fact we’ve taken it from zero to $8 billion to $9 billion is great.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number-1-6-billion">BIG NUMBER: $1.6 BILLION.</h2>



That’s how much WeWork founder Adam Neumann is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2021/10/21/weworks-ousted-cofounder-adam-neumann-regains-billionaire-status-as-company-goes-public-via-spac/?sh=3146076622a6">worth</a>&nbsp;after the company went public on Thursday, according to&nbsp;Forbes’ estimates. While down from the $4.1 billion he was worth during WeWork’s peak in 2019, it’s still enough to make him a billionaire for the first time in two years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR:</h2>



Neumann still has some voting power and owns an estimated 7% stake, or around 48.5 million shares, of the newly public company through an entity he controls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND:</h2>



WeWork’s original plans to go public via the traditional IPO route imploded in disastrous fashion two years ago. Starting in August 2019, the company’s IPO filing revealed that it had lost $1.9 billion in 2018 and was on track to burn through its remaining cash. The company’s visionary founder, Adam Neumann, was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/09/24/embattled-wework-founder-adam-neumann-steps-down-as-ceo/?sh=3803c6c07fed">ousted</a>&nbsp;as CEO shortly after in September 2019, following reports of irregular corporate governance and self-dealing. WeWork’s new leadership quickly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/09/30/weworks-new-leadership-officially-cancels-ipo-plans/?sh=3a54b4d165c5">cancelled</a>&nbsp;the planned IPO as investors grew increasingly concerned about the company’s precarious financial position. Facing huge losses that put it on the verge of financial collapse, WeWork was eventually bailed out by its largest shareholder, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which provided a $10 billion lifeline to acquire an 80% stake in the company. WeWork’s valuation progressively dropped since, to $7.3 billion at the end of 2019 and $2.9 billion in early 2020.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2021/10/21/weworks-ousted-cofounder-adam-neumann-regains-billionaire-status-as-company-goes-public-via-spac/?sh=21735b22a6ca">WeWork’s Ousted Cofounder Adam Neumann Regains Billionaire Status As Company Goes Public Via SPAC</a> (Forbes)



By Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff

WeWork Debuts Goes Public On New York Stock Exchange

WeWork Shares Rise 13% After Going Public Via SPAC Merger

TOPLINE El Salvador acquired roughly $21 million worth of bitcoin on Monday, President Nayib Bukele announced, buoying the crypto market ahead of making history Tuesday by becoming the first country in the world to formally adopt the digital currency as legal tender. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



El Salvador&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1434968475928248331?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bought</a>&nbsp;its first 400 bitcoins in two lots on Monday—worth an estimated $21 million based on bitcoin’s value at the time of the announcement—according to a series of tweets by Bukele.



Bukele said the country had plans to buy “a lot more” when announcing the first salvo of 200 bitcoins.



The purchase comes as El Salvador makes history as the first country to make bitcoin legal tender Tuesday.



The law enacting the change,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=867e05eeaa3b">approved</a>&nbsp;by an overwhelming majority in June, places bitcoin alongside the U.S. dollar as El Salvador’s national currency.



Bukele said he hopes the initiative will boost foreign investment, financial inclusion and generate jobs, and bitcoin can be used to make purchases and pay tax.&nbsp;



The value of bitcoin jumped around 2% to just under $53,000 on Tuesday morning following Bukele’s tweets—though the volatile token dipped around 3% later that morning—its highest value since the cryptocurrency market crashed three months ago.     



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">El Salvador just bought 200 new coins. We now hold 400 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bitcoin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BitcoinDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BitcoinDay</a> 🇸🇻&mdash; Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1435023474494410753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



El Salvador’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender is controversial and questions over logistics have been raised both at home and abroad. Polls&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/56588fee-dca8-450d-a848-80d29f02f45e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suggest</a>&nbsp;most Salvadorans are against the idea and many have taken to the streets to&nbsp;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/bitcoin-protests-and-confusion-in-el-salvador-as-country-prepares-to-make-cryptocurrency-legal-tender-12400516" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protest</a>&nbsp;the change. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said its plans may&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-27/bitcoin-helped-tank-el-salvador-bonds-now-they-re-rising-back" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">threaten</a>&nbsp;an anticipated deal with the country, while some economists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/scepticism-grows-in-el-salvador-over-pioneering-bitcoin-gamble" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warn</a>&nbsp;of the country becoming a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-09/el-salvador-s-bitcoin-bombshell-what-does-it-mean-quicktake" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">haven</a>&nbsp;for financial crime and there are widespread concerns over the potential&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/bitcoins-energy-usage-explained/#:~:text=That's%20roughly%20enough%20electricity%20to,Digiconomist's%20Bitcoin%20Energy%20Consumption%20Index.">environmental impact</a>&nbsp;of bitcoin, which uses huge amounts of electricity. Some of these criticisms—notably environmental impact and crime, which certainly are significant problems—are often raised as if they are insurmountable and without reference to&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/2021/03/28/crypto-bitcoin-carbon-energy-consumption/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">efforts</a>&nbsp;to remedy the issue or context. Bitcoin could be mined using electricity generated from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robday/2021/03/10/bitcoin-could-be-a-climate-disaster-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-one/?sh=22580ba73a65">clean sources</a>, for example, and crypto’s popularity among criminals makes up a small&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/banning-cryptocurrencies-to-counter-crime-is-a-nonsensical-excuse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fraction</a>&nbsp;of illicit financial transactions. Many are excited about the change and Bukele has been open in his hopes it will attract a new cohort of entrepreneurs to the country.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$30. That’s how much each citizen downloading the government bitcoin wallet, Chivo, will receive in bitcoin. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Justo el día más importante de mi vida. 🙄 <a href="https://t.co/n46jprobT7">https://t.co/n46jprobT7</a>&mdash; chivo (@chivowallet) <a href="https://twitter.com/chivowallet/status/1435128539553095680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/56588fee-dca8-450d-a848-80d29f02f45e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Salvador becomes a crypto laboratory with bitcoin gamble</a>&nbsp;(FT)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=867e05eeaa3b">El Salvador Makes History As World’s First Country To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/14/tanzania-considers-crypto-and-boosts-bitcoin-as-nations-line-up-behind-el-salvador-to-embrace-decentralized-finance/?sh=15a7e4434fc3">Tanzania Considers Crypto—And Boosts Bitcoin—As Nations Line Up Behind El Salvador To Embrace Decentralized Finance</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/06/solana-leads-massive-altcoin-rally-as-jpmorgan-warns-crypto-markets-are-looking-bubbly-again/?sh=7828d2c020fa">Solana Leads Massive Altcoin And Bitcoin Rally As JPMorgan Warns Crypto Markets Are Looking Bubbly Again</a> (Forbes)



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

President Bukele Speaks To Congress Since Ousting Attorney General And Supreme Court

El Salvador Goes On A $21 Million Crypto Buying Spree As Bitcoin Becomes Legal Tender

With Covid-19 becoming a reality for countries across the globe, the remote working mode has become the new normal. Nestpick released a study in July highlighting the destinations most attractive to digital nomads in search of a new home, taking into account legislation as well as livability factors such as weather, cost of living, and equality.



In their methodology, a number of factors were taken into consideration such as cost of accommodation, speed of internet, access to home office rentals, remote workers’ immigration etc. Each country was overall rated out of 100. The only African country to be on the index is South Africa with Cape Town ranked 16. The top five cities globally are Melbourne, Australia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Sydney, Australia; Tallinn, Estonia, and London, United Kingdom.



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-most-expensive-cities-in-africa">Most expensive cities in Africa</h1>



Prior to the pandemic, the cost of living was already a question up in the air. Mercer’s 2021 Cost of Living City Ranking of 400 global cities has in a recent report cited N’Djamena (Chad) as the most expensive city in Africa for expatriates with Lusaka (Zambia), the least expensive.



“The rankings provide an important insight for multinationals on the cost of recruiting or relocating an expatriate in Africa, and also help human resources leaders to structure a remuneration package to attract the right skills for an assignment,” Mercer said in the report.



 Based on the ranking, N’Djamena moved up two spots in 2021 from 15th to 13th place, while Lusaka moved from 201 to 208 in the rankings. The report went on to say that given the impact of the pandemic on African economies, organizations could use the cost of living rankings to consider implementing regional pay structures. This will enable people to move more efficiently across borders by mitigating some of the key challenges when it comes to cost of living, pay competitiveness, and purchasing parity.

Clouds Over Lion’s Head and Table Mountain from Helicopter

The Global Cities Digital Nomads Will Love

The pandemic has seen a drastic decline in tourists visiting safari and game parks, but funding and conservation efforts are more critical today than ever before.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I wish to see all the rangers get back to work. These iconic animals need us to speak for them… we have to protect them for the next generation, but it’s hard. So many rangers have lost their jobs.”<cite>Leitah Mkhabela, of the all-female Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit</cite></blockquote>



As the sun sets resolutely over the Kruger National Park, South Africa’s famed wildlife reserve in the Limpopo province, rangers begin their evening patrols on game vehicles and on foot in areas frequented by poachers. And this long, dreary nocturnal expedition in the wild will continue into the wee hours.



As office-goers emptied out of the concrete jungles of the cities during the pandemic, in sharp contrast, these rangers soldiered on in their jobs preserving life in the wilderness.



The pandemic may have seen a drastic decline in their numbers worldwide, but their role is perhaps more critical than ever before.



In a time of a global pandemic that finds its origins in a zoonotic virus, conservation efforts are more important than ever to prevent future contagion from becoming a threat.



With many of the lodges in the 19,485km2 Kruger park struggling to achieve pre-pandemic tourist numbers, novel ways of funding must be found, or many people and animals who depend on the wildlife economy for survival will be without a future.



The rangers, who continue to be employed, count themselves lucky. Many of their colleagues were retrenched in the wake of the pandemic, or had to take hefty pay cuts.   



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;The pandemic took a lot of jobs [in conservation] away, and with it, people&#8217;s dignity. You have people selling their homes, their cars, just to survive.&#8221;<cite>Craig Spencer, former Head Warden of Balule Nature Reserve</cite></blockquote>



And this is a trend worldwide, not just in Africa.



With the spread of Covid-19 from early 2020, many countries took an understandably stringent approach to travel restrictions and lockdowns. In the absence of tested, available vaccines and lack of a clear understanding of the transmission and mortality of the deadly coronavirus, across the world, airports and borders were closed to non-essential travel, thus decimating world tourism numbers.



South Africa was affected too, as it entered a strict 21-day lockdown from March 26, 2020, barring all non-critical work, travel and business. The lockdown has been extended in differing levels until today.



It saw foreign arrivals into the country drop by 71% in comparison to 2019. With the tourism sector contributing almost 3% to the GDP and almost 4.5% of South African employment rates, the lockdowns took aim at the heart of livelihoods supported by the tourism sector – with the wildlife economy particularly hard-hit.



This impact is reflected across the continent as well as globally, with all 10 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries suffering at least a 65% decline in foreign tourists from 2019 to 2020 (Stats SA). According to papers published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which surveyed rangers and conservation efforts across 60 countries, a quarter of rangers saw their salaries reduced or delayed, and about 20% surveyed lost their jobs due to the pandemic, with African rangers some of the hardest hit. “We have not been able to get our usual donations and incomes for our work. Most people are sitting at home without incomes – and in the communities, when there is no money, there is no food. That’s where the poaching comes in,” says Leitah Mkabela, an anti-poaching ranger and team supervisor of the all-female Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit, to FORBES AFRICA.



The Black Mambas, one of South Africa’s most well-known ranger groups, has been one of the few that has managed to retain all of their staff. However, with budget and staffing cuts rife amongst most other ranger organizations and game reserve hospitality, the entire local economy that the reserves support have taken an economic knock that will take years to recover from. At the Balule Nature Reserve where the Black Mambas operate, the variety of lodges are the primary income for the reserve. Part of the Greater Kruger National Park Reserve, Balule is home to dozens of lodges which on average employ 3.5 people per bed, according to former Head Warden Craig Spencer, with the reserve generating an income in the millions of dollars a year, primarily from foreign tourists. The lodges employ almost exclusively from the local communities – with many having had to lay off staff due to the pandemic and recovery rates slow, people have become desperate. “Almost every aspect of conservation depends on the wildlife economy, be it entrance fees at lodges, funding from zoo visits, accommodation…&nbsp; The pandemic hit us very hard,” says Spencer in an interview with FORBES AFRICA. “The pandemic took a lot of jobs [in conservation] away, and with it, people’s dignity. You have people selling their homes, their cars, just to survive.”



Negative impacts due to the pandemic have also occurred at the policy level, which could have far-reaching implications for the wildlife economy, with funds being reallocated away from previous wildlife protection efforts or protection efforts being side-lined in order to stimulate economic growth in challenging times; one such example can be seen in Kenya, which has earmarked a new national roadway, a high-end restaurant and amphitheater within Nairobi National Park, despite reservations from local conservation groups, as documented by the IUCN. South Africa has largely managed to avoid similar challenges, with the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries retaining its $550 million budget for the 2020/2021 fiscal year – however, much of these funds have been allocated to make up for losses in the sector due to declining tourism. While the pandemic has offered a once-in-a-century challenge to the wildlife economy, there is, however, a glimmer of hope. As vaccination rates have increased worldwide, travel has tentatively risen as well. The South African National Parks are seeing increased numbers of attendees, and with the increases in tourism numbers come both community support initiatives and unique fundraisers to support wildlife initiatives. One fundraiser takes the form of the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, which aims to raise monies to support anti-poaching ranger operations by donating to rangers who will run a 21km race on August 21, 2021. With 150 ranger teams competing from across the continent, the competition has already raised several hundred thousand dollars so far. The funds will be used to provide salaries and support ranger services to many organizations. Many rangers have also initiated community assistance programs. The Mambas have provided food parcels for 90 desperate families throughout the lockdown, as well as begun to build community food gardens and opened boreholes during the pandemic, along with their anti-poaching duties. “The iconic animals need us – we have to speak for them. When we face the poachers, some might be from the community you’re coming from,” says Mkabela. “When people are struggling, they will take that bushmeat and sell it for maize meal. The food parcels, the gardens we build, we say ‘we are on your side’ – that’s how we’ve managed to keep the poaching down in our community.” “I think overall it has made the industry more resilient,” says Spencer. “The industry is surviving and growing closer bonds to their communities. We are all in this together.”

Alfred Dunhill Championship – Day One

Covid And Conservation – The Pandemic’s Effects On The Wildlife Economy In South Africa

More than a year of remote working has thrown up some new possibilities, and now, talks of a remote working visa to attract digital nomads to South Africa.&nbsp;



When it comes to finding South Africa’s new normal, there is no one-size-fits-all. As employers and employees hastily adapted to the manifold challenges of doing business remotely from the start of the nationwide lockdown last year, novel understandings of work have emerged.



For many, remote work has become a central tenet of life under Covid-19. In one mid-pandemic study by Michael Page, 79% of the South African respondents indicated they worked from home – pre-Covid, only 26% were permitted to do so by their employers.



The dramatic increase in remote work initially raised concerns regarding a loss of employee motivation and productivity, but a substantial body of research now suggests that shifting away from the office may have the exact opposite effect: some 63% of respondents reported increased productivity during lockdown, with many feeling more satisfied and motivated.



For Amanda Maree, Enterprise People Change Manager at Absa, the transition to working from home was eased by consistent, timeous communication and a well-developed Covid-19 strategy.



Equipped with what was called a ‘Thriving Remotely’ toolkit, Maree could call on her organization for more than tech support. She and her colleagues were advised on matters as mundane as the layout of their workspaces at home, and as weighty as the psychological toll of their new circumstances.



“Despite all the chaos around us,” Maree says, “Absa made me feel like I was still a valuable asset, and treated me as such.”



The Robert Walters Salary Survey of 2021 revealed a similarly positive attitude toward remote work. South African employees surveyed in this study noted improvements in their communication skills, technical proficiencies, and productivity – though a quarter (24%) of employers cited declining productivity as their primary reservation regarding long-term remote work.



While finance, management, and IT-related services have successfully navigated the transition to remote work, often with significant increases in productivity (McKinsey, 2021), other sectors have not weathered the migration as well. Strategies for optimizing remote work rely in large part on the ability of an organization to rapidly reconfigure existing infrastructure and to deploy new resources, but there are obstacles that no degree of careful planning can eliminate entirely.



Mia Jansen van Rensburg, a teaching assistant at the University of Johannesburg, has had to replace her classroom with a WhatsApp groupchat.



“The university has been providing mobile data packages to students, but it’s not always possible for them to dial into video calls,” says Van Rensburg. “The data runs out, and some of them live in rural areas with poor coverage.”



According to her, no virtual class can replace on-campus learning.



In a recent survey of South African employees, more than half of the respondents indicated that they were happy to head back to their workplaces – and 40% reported having carte blanche in deciding whether they’d return or stay put. This has also led to many national economies attempting to capitalise on remote workers expenditure by offering a “digital nomad” visa – specifically aimed at remote workers. The city of Cape Town is leading the call for such an offering in South Africa, engaging with the national government to introduce a Remote Working Visa which would allow remote workers to reside and spend in South Africa.



The remote work revolution has centered around higher LSM demographics. Many critical roles unavoidably require face-to-face contact, and workers in the transport, healthcare, and retail sectors remain vulnerable to the virus. There are things you simply cannot do from afar, and risks that cannot be avoided.



“You can’t ‘social distance’ on an ambulance,” one healthcare worker points out, adding, “you’re constantly worried, even though you’ve taken the necessary precautions.”



It is a sobering reminder that the relative safety of an improvized home office is beyond reach for many South Africans.

Caption: A university teacher prepares to join an online tutorial using Zoom, June 2021.

Remote Work Image (1 of 1)

Shifting To The Office Or Staying Remote?

A NEW GLOBAL CEO SURVEY RELEASED BY PricewaterhouseCoopers in mid-March says that CEOs are voicing record levels of optimism in the global economic recovery.



It&#8217;s a sentiment Mohammed Akoojee, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Imperial Logistics, a company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, conveyed in an interview with FORBES AFRICA in February, on the opportunities and optimism in a crisis-ridden world.



The world Akoojee inhabits is that of logistics and global supply chains that were disrupted when the pandemic hit in 2020, but then, he says: “This has definitely been an opportunity to reinvent ourselves.”



Imperial, a global logistics company focusing on areas such as healthcare, automotive, chemicals and commodities among others, provides services in about 20 markets across the African continent, and aims to take its clients and products “to some of the world’s fastestgrowing and most challenging markets”.



 “If you look at the activities we do in the logistics supply chain, we do everything from transport, warehousing, right through to sales and marketing and demand generation on a product to an end market across Africa,” says Akoojee. 



Having assumed his current role at the age of 40 in February 2019, Akoojee says 2020 was not easy, especially referring to some of the industries that took the brunt of the pandemic.



“July and August were challenging because, you know, the liquor and tobacco industries were still restricted and we could not trade them,” Akoojee says.



“Clients have battled with [the] impact [of the] supply chains on their businesses which means our services are needed even more. Especially because a lot of companies that have been manufacturing or have been importing have had to rethink their supply chains based on what the pandemic has done.”



Akoojee states that the logistics sector had no choice but to quickly recover from that shortfall. 



“It’s been a six-month period for us in this financial year of ‘stopstart’,” he explains. “We would just start getting momentum and then there is a hard lockdown. It does make life challenging, particularly in logistics, because [in] supply chain disruptions, the stop-start type of thing has got massive implications on manufacturing.” 



Born in the small commercial town of Zeerust in South Africa’s North West province, from a young age, Akoojee says he grew up feeling prepared that “things happen to you without you knowing them”.



Recalling his humble beginnings as “typical of a young Indian boy growing up”, Akoojee chuckles as he says: “I did not know 100% where life would take me but knew that if I educated myself in the field of accounting and business, it would open opportunities for me.”



Akojee has been with Imperial for 11 years. 



“I’ve had various roles in the organization, from an M&amp;A executive to running a big part of Imperial in Africa to becoming the group CFO to being involved with unbundling of our motor interests, and then becoming the CEO two years ago. It’s been a journey. But it’s been an incredible one and my journey is not done here.”



Akoojee believes that the group has a strong market positioning in Africa.



Although the hardest hit in Africa was South Africa, Akoojee is happy to report that business was not as bad in East and West Africa. In fact, it’s not all bad news. 



“I am positive because our business is in good shape. You know, despite us going backward on profits, we are winning a lot of new business. We have seen good top-line momentum in our commercial function, and our pipeline of opportunities is significant.”



Akoojee’s confidence also seems to be driven by his passion for Africa.



 “We have identified Africa as a massive logistics opportunity. We’ve got a strong network footprint. And why are we excited about the logistics industry in Africa is due to the lack of infrastructure. But the fact that there are so many people on the continent; our services, and the type of logistics we do, talk to that.” 



How does he manage to see opportunity in adversity? 



“I always look at the glass half full rather than half empty… you can look at this crisis as either a massive setback or an opportunity,” Akoojee says. “You’re going to have setbacks in life, you’re going to have things that go wrong. And for me, it’s how you react to those things. For me, the key to a successful company, a successful person in all aspects, is how you react to failure.”

ImperialLogistics_MohammedAkoojee_0041

Africa As A Massive Logistics Opportunity

Topline: After what has been one of the most difficult years in history, the highlights of South African finance minister Tito Mboweni’s annual Budget Speech today.



Key Facts



<ul><li>Economy expected to grow by 3.3% in 2021.</li><li>The budget deficit has been revised to 14% of GDP in 2020/21 in response to the spending and economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic.</li><li>Gross debt has increased from 65.6% to 80.3% of GDP for the year 2020/21.</li><li>To support economic recovery, government will not raise any additional tax revenue in this budget.</li><li>The government has set aside more than R10 billion for the purchase and delivery of vaccines over the next two years.</li><li>Mboweni said taxpayers would not have to pay more as no new taxes will be introduced to fund vaccines.</li><li>Moreover, the minister said: “We increase the contingency reserve from R5 billion to R12 billion to make provision for the further purchase of vaccines and to cater for other emergencies.”</li><li>In addition to looking at vaccines, there is also a provisional allocation totaling R11 billion for the public employment initiative. Mboweni said with this he hopes to create another 180,000 jobs by March, to add to the temporary 430,000 jobs.</li><li>Small businesses felt the brunt of the pandemic during the year. The Department of Small Business Development has allocated R4 billion over the medium term to the township and rural enterprises, including blended finance initiatives.</li><li>The tourism sector in the country also tanked quite a bit due to travel restrictions, thus why the Department of Tourism has reprioritized R540 million over the medium term to establish the Tourism Equity Fund (TEF) as one of the measures to support the tourism sector recovery. The fund will acquire equity stakes in existing tourism enterprises, support expansion of operations and development of new operations.</li></ul>



Crucial Quote



Mboweni made it clear that South Africa is deeper in debt than they have ever been. He further told members in parliament to note that the “government is not swimming in cash”. 



“&#8230;our assessment from the Supplementary Budget in June last year still stands: our public finances are dangerously overstretched. Our borrowing requirement will remain well above R500 billion in each year of the medium-term despite the modest improvements in our fiscal position. Consequently, gross loan debt will increase from R3.95 trillion in the current fiscal year to R5.2 trillion in 2023/24.”&nbsp;



Mboweni stated further that the country owes “a lot of people a lot of money”.

South African Finance Minister delivers the Mid-Term Budget Review in Cape Town

South Africa Budget: No New Tax For Vaccines

TOPLINE Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday as the director-general of the World Trade Organization, becoming the first woman and the first African national to lead the global trade body. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<ul><li>After growing up in Nigeria during the Biafran civil war, Okonjo-Iweala studied development economics at Harvard and earned a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</li></ul>



<ul><li>She has made history throughout her career, becoming the first woman to serve as both the Nigerian finance minister in 2003 and foreign affairs minister in 2006.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Okonjo-Iweala was also the first woman to run for the presidency at the World Bank, where she spent more than two decades.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



The appointment of Okonjo-Iweala clears a major administrative hurdle for the WTO, which has been without an official leader since former director general Roberto Azevêdo stepped down from the position a year early in August. The leadership vacuum came at the same time that the global trade referee faced an upended global supply chain from the pandemic and ongoing tariff disputes between some of the largest economies.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



&#8220;A strong WTO is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



The Trump administration refused to back Okonjo-Iweala for the position last fall, saying she lacked trade experience. While 163 other nations coalesced behind Okonjo-Iweala, the U.S. announced in October it would officially back South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee in the everyone-must-agree race. But President Joe Biden signaled last week he would reverse efforts to block the appointment, all but ensuring unanimous support of Okonjo-Iweala at the WTO.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h3>



When Okonjo-Iweala takes office on March 1, she is set to face significant challenges following gaps in leadership and stalled trade disputes. Former President Donald Trump was highly critical of the WTO and blocked judge appointments on its key decision-making body, upending the organization at the same time that it ramped up global trade disputes.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2020/12/08/power-rising-these-are-the-women-to-watch-in-2021/?sh=f3eb21e767f2">Power Rising: These Are The Women To Watch In 2021</a>



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2020/12/04/african-of-the-year-ngozi-okonjo-iweala/">African Of The Year: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala</a>



By Gina Heeb, Forbes Staff



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ginaheeb/"></a>

US-WTO-SECRETARY GENERAL-NGOZI

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Becomes First Woman, African To Lead World Trade Organization

The largest free trade area in the world, with a combined GDP of $3.3 trillion, came into effect on the first day of 2021. A look at what exactly implementation of a deal of this magnitude means.



By Paula Slier and Sasha Star



AFRICA’S TRADE RELATIONSHIPS HAVE BEEN irreversibly affected by three events – the Covid-19 pandemic and two important trade agreements.



At midnight on 31 January 2020, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) officially came into force. The decision – Brexit – made by 52% of the British population resulted in the EU losing its second-largest economy and the Union Jack isolating itself in terms of trade, effectively quarantining in its own home. But for Africa, the move holds opportunities. Untapped export potential to the UK is large as is untapped UK export to Africa; the latter is worth more than $8 billion.



Yet, it is the new trade agreement implemented in Africa where interest should really be directed; 54 of the 55 African Union states on the continent have signed up for the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) which came into effect on the first day of 2021. Eritrea is the only country that chose to sit out – and there are various explanations as to why not unconnected to power and politics.



By creating the largest free trade area in the world, 1.3 billion people are now set to benefit from the elimination of tariffs on most goods, the liberalization trade of key services and the address of non-tariff obstacles to intraregional trade. The AfCFTA is estimated to bring Africa annual income gains of more than $130 billion per year.



The deal could not have come at a better time, though this was hardly factored in when the agreement was originally brokered in March 2018. Covid-19 has substantially impacted Africa’s tourism sector that accounts for much of its revenue— particularly for smaller nations — while the trade of goods, oil, and even food has also declined significantly as a result of the novel coronavirus.



“The pandemic has presented a historic opportunity to build a better future,” says the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It stresses that “trade integration, along with domestic reforms to improve revenue mobilization, digitalization, competition, social safety nets, and climate-change mitigation, will be critical for the region’s resilience, growth and job creation”.



An extensive reduction of tariffs is the first step towards this. With 90% of taxed intraregional trade flows being contracted under the AfCFTA, current flows are due to increase by around 16%, or $16 billion.



“The AfCFTA, if implemented as laid out in papers, would usher an economic progression that would make China’s remarkable economic transformation look basic,” claims Ibrahim Anoba, the Managing Editor of AfricanLiberty.org.



“We’re talking about a continent with a consumer market as large as China but with a superior mineral and natural resources concentration.” The potential of the AfCFTA is enormous, but, as Anoba points out, this all depends on the players in the game. “The different thing about the AfCFTA is that it would take an absolute commitment from as many signatory states as possible to be efficient,” he says. “The first phase is the conceiving of the idea. The second is implementation; proper implementation. This is where we’re at. We cannot move further unless we do this right.”



What exactly does implementation of a deal of this magnitude mean, though?



With so many players involved, it is understandable that the AfCFTA will be enforced in stages. The instruments that are already operational include the regulations and administrative rulings applied by governments to determine the source of goods, services and investments known as the rules of origin; the monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers; as well as the schedule of tariff concessions and other specific commitments.



“Long term, the AfCFTA faces a Brexit type of threat from the larger economies which may feel like they are giving up too much autonomy by being part of the agreement,” warns Jamie Mighti, a South Africa-based political analyst. “This risk is higher in Africa than in the European Union because of increased economic disparities between states and Afrophobic attitudes.” Mighti believes that there are substantial levels of antipathy to the business presence of Africans from other states in the large African economies and that this could present a massive challenge to the success of the AfCFTA.



It is not all doom and gloom, however. Mighti is of the opinion that better inclusion of the youth on the continent is an excellent way to ensure that the agreement will thrive, and that more focus should be placed on aiding small and medium-sized businesses, as opposed to large entities. The IMF also feels that tariff reductions should be complemented by policies to reduce non-tariff bottlenecks to trade, and that agriculture-based and less diversified countries should combine trade policies with structural reforms that boost agricultural productivity to better leverage existing comparative advantages.



Overall, the AfCFTA has been packaged as an opportunity to lead Africa down a path of prosperity, or fall into greater economic depravity that will take decades to equalize. As Anoba sums up, “If things go according to plan, we can finally expect Africa to emerge as the global economy’s heartbeat a decade from now.”

Foreman control loading Containers box from Cargo freight ship

Will The AfCFTA Be The Heartbeat Of The Global Economy?

TOPLINE Twitter’s shares plunged 7% in pre-market trading on Monday after the platform permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account Friday — Twitter was one of several sites to deplatform the president for his role in inciting violence among supporters Wednesday, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



After a review of Trump’s recent tweets, Twitter said it felt there was a “risk of further incitement of violence” from the president, who at the time was one of the most followed people on the platform.



The company then virtually chased Trump across the internet to take down posts as the president repeatedly tried to subvert the ban and tweet from other accounts he had access to, such as the official presidential @POTUS account and his presidential campaign account.&nbsp;



The president&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/08/president-trump-responds-to-twitter-account-ban-in-tweet-storm-from-potus-account/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a>&nbsp;he would set up his own social media network in the future.



Twitter also cracked down on the accounts of a number of Trump’s supporters who were encouraging violence and spreading misinformation, like lawyer L. Lin Wood who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/01/07/lin-wood-lawyer-closely-tied-to-trump-permanently-banned-from-twitter-after-claiming-capitol-siege-was-staged/?sh=44dc23851be3">suggested</a>&nbsp;the Wednesday insurrection was a coup “staged” by antifa protesters and described Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor and communist.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



After years of pressure to crack down on misinformation, conspiracy and hate speech from Trump, platforms are now abandoning him in droves after the president incited violence among his supporters Wednesday. Of these, Twitter is the most consequential. Twitter was Trump’s preferred way of engaging with the world around him and the president used the platform for everything from announcing policies and denouncing detractors to spreading hate, misinformation and lies. Trump’s communications channels are certainly narrowing — Facebook also banned the president and right wing app Parler has been practically&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/01/10/conservative-social-media-app-parler-is-pretty-much-dead/?sh=73e7a2a66a53">run off the internet</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



Twitter and San Francisco police are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-braces-for-possible-pro-Trump-15860077.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;preparing for a pro-Trump protest outside the company’s headquarters on Monday in the wake of the ban.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h4>



88 million. That’s how many Twitter followers Trump had when his account was suspended. This made him one of the most followed on the platform.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.axios.com/platforms-social-media-ban-restrict-trump-d9e44f3c-8366-4ba9-a8a1-7f3114f920f1.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All the platforms that have banned or restricted Trump so far</a> (Axios)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/01/08/twitter-permanently-bans-trump/?sh=3969f0e3158d">Twitter Permanently Bans Trump</a> (Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/01/10/conservative-social-media-app-parler-is-pretty-much-dead/?sh=73e7a2a66a53">Conservative Social Media App Parler Is Pretty Much Dead</a> (Forbes)



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-11/twitter-shares-fall-6-following-permanent-trump-ban?srnd=premium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter Shares Fall 7% Following Permanent Trump Ban</a> (Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/10/parler-at-risk-of-going-offline-after-bans-from-amazon-apple-and-google/?sh=31fcce28312b">Parler At Risk Of Going Offline After Bans From Amazon, Apple And Google</a> (Forbes)



-By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

Twitter Permanently Suspends President Donald Trump’s Twitter Account

Twitter Shares Down 7% In Pre-Market Trading After Trump Is Permanently Banned From The Platform

When Victor Terry answered a call from State Farm CEO Michael Tipsord and chief administrator Mary Schmidt in June, he wasn’t expecting the news he received. “To hear them say, ‘Victor, we want to make you our first chief diversity officer,’ was really a moment that’s hard to describe,” says Terry, then an area vice president. “We had already experienced the murder of George Floyd and everything that unfolded Memorial Day weekend, but I didn’t see that coming.”



Perhaps he should have: A seat in the C-suite signals a company’s commitment to the area the role represents. In appointing Terry as CDO, State Farm did just that for diversity and inclusion. But it wasn’t the only organization to mint a new chief diversity officer this past year.



According to an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whos-reaching-c-suite-2020-16-roles-have-momentum-george-anders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis of nearly 100,000 U.S. C-suite appointments</a>&nbsp;by LinkedIn, while overall C-level hiring declined 18% year-over-year, some roles, such as that of diversity chief, saw great growth. CDO appointments increased at a rate of 84% as a proportion of total C-suite hires in 2020 as compared to 2019—more than any other C-level role—with Terry, as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sonymusic.com/sonymusic/sony-music-group-appoints-tiffany-r-warren-executive-vice-president-chief-diversity-and-inclusion-officer/#:~:text=New%20York%2C%20October%2014%2C%202020,Chief%20Diversity%20and%20Inclusion%20Officer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sony Music’s Tiffany R. Warren</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/ContentDetailsViewer.page?ConceptType=PressReleases&amp;id=1607452098783-458" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UPS’ Charlene Thomas</a>, being among those tapped to serve as their companies’ firsts.



Recent years have seen C-suites expand to encompass titles beyond the traditional CFO, CMO, COO and, of course, CEO. And while some newcomers have been sector-specific—think, <a href="https://investors.virgingalactic.com/news/news-details/2020/Virgin-Galactic-Announces-Michael-Colglazier-as-Chief-Executive-Officer-in-Preparation-for-Commercial-Service/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Virgin Galactic’s chief space officer</a>, Michael Colglazier, named in July—most mirror the state of business and, more broadly, the world. “We’re going through a crisis, but at the same time, C-suites and boards are saying, ‘We need to reset,’” says Radhika Papandreou, senior client partner at Korn Ferry. “They need to make sure they have the right talent to not only recover, but to use the recovery as an opportunity to innovate.” And so it’s no wonder so many chief diversity officers made their debuts in 2020 amid the national reckoning on racial injustice.



For Terry, who had spent the better part of his 23 years with the insurer driving diversity and inclusion through its African American employee resource group, his appointment meant formalizing the organization’s efforts, facilitating company-wide conversations about race and creating a D&amp;I governance council. “This group is charged with refining and shaping our enterprise strategy,” Terry says. “While I have the formal title, and it’s something where I have a high degree of ownership and accountability, the truth of the matter is for any diversity and inclusion initiative to be successful, it has to live in the business, it has to be integrated into everything that we do.”



Diversity officers aren’t the only chiefs who have been in demand as a result of the events of 2020. When the coronavirus pandemic forced countless companies to embrace remote work overnight, chief revenue officers found themselves more reliant than ever before on marketing and technology to maintain healthy bottom lines. Some corporations consolidated these functions under the role of chief growth officer.&nbsp;



“You can have such a rigid split that it’s hard for everyone to cooperate and work together, to build the kinds of projects that are multi-teamed,” says George Anders, senior editor at large at LinkedIn and author of the study. “Having a chief growth officer provides a way that someone can look over the walls and see how all the pieces fit together.”



Chief growth officers were hired at a rate of 46% in 2020—second only to CDOs—after several years of steadily gaining steam, with such <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-found-57-routes-c-suite-youre-problem-fixer-step-right-anders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appointments increasing 42%</a> from 2015 to 2019. Gap and eBay were among those organizations to tap their first CGOs, naming <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201124005379/en/Gap-Inc.-Appoints-New-Chief-Growth-Officer-and-New-President-and-CEO-of-Banana-Republic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Asheesh Saksena</a> and <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ebay-names-julie-loeger-global-chief-growth-officer-301183002.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julie Loeger</a> in November and December. Meanwhile, Mars Wrigley expanded the responsibilities associated with its existing global growth officer role upon promoting <a href="https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases/mars-wrigley-introduces-new-chief-growth-officer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cathryn Sleight</a> to the job in July.



sumer behaviors and tastes have changed amid Covid-19, having all of these areas under one umbrella has paid dividends, chief among them partnerships with food delivery services DoorDash and goPuff, and the acquisitions of Kind and Nature’s Bakery.



But that’s not to say Sleight works in a silo. In fact, she often finds herself collaborating with one of her more traditional counterparts: the CFO. “We need to make sure that the programs we put in place have strong ROIs and are delivering the right level of growth to ensure we capture our fair share of the profit pools,” she says. “Working things through together, you get much better solutions.”



If the state of the C-suite is a reflection of the state of the world, it should come as no surprise that chief medical officer appointments increased in 2020. While it certainly isn’t a new position—or at least not in hospitals and healthcare companies, where it’s long been commonplace—and its growth rate wasn’t as high as that of CDOs and CGOs—LinkedIn pegs it at 4%—the coronavirus pandemic has spurred its expansion into new industries. PepsiCo and Tyson tapped <a href="https://www.pepsico.com/news/press-release/pepsico-appoints-dr.-pietro-antonio-tataranni-as-chief-medical-officer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Pietro Antonio Tataranni</a> and <a href="https://ir.tyson.com/news/news-details/2020/Tyson-Foods-Launches-New-Nationwide-COVID-Monitoring-Strategy-Expands-Health-Staff/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Claudia Coplein</a> for their newly created chief medical officer roles in November and December, and <a href="https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1459/royal-caribbean-group-names-dr-calvin-johnson-global-head-public-health-and-chief-medical-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Royal Caribbean hired Dr. Calvin Johnson</a> as its first CMO and global head of public health in July.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I don’t think these were knee-jerk reactions to what we’ve gone through. Some of this had already been thought about in board and C-suites—the pandemic accelerated the decisions.”-Radhika Papandreou, senior client partner, Korn Ferry</blockquote>



“Truth be told, if you’d asked me a few months earlier, I would not have believed you,” says Dr. Johnson of his appointment. “In a word, it was the pandemic. It literally stopped Royal in its tracks.”



The travel and hospitality industry has been hard hit by Covid-19, and cruise companies, including Royal Caribbean, were among the first to feel its effect, their common spaces and close quarters ideal settings for outbreaks. While Royal Caribbean did have healthcare infrastructure in place, as well as individuals to oversee it on a part-time basis, it didn’t have a dedicated leader, let alone one who had the ear of the CEO.



“A lot of C-level titles are created when companies have a crisis,” Anders says. “In 2019, we saw a lot of tech companies creating chief people officers. That happened to coincide with a sense that some tech companies were having a hard time getting the human side of their companies right.”



Like all medical chiefs, Dr. Johnson is responsible for delivering care to patients, in his case passengers and crew. He oversees more than 60 medical sites on ships sailing all around the world. During a global public health crisis, this means being in constant communication with his fellow executives. “Normal crew movement, which before wouldn’t necessarily have to have medical or public health involvement, now does because it involves ensuring the crew coming on board isn’t coming on with the virus. It is testing, screening and educating, from a prevention perspective,” Dr. Johnson says. “For crew rotating off, it’s ensuring they’re not taking the virus off and into the community.”



Would Royal Caribbean have needed a chief medical officer had it not been for Covid-19? It’s hard to say. But as reactive as the appointment—and that of this year’s other C-suite recruits—may have been, it’s not likely to result in a transient tenure. “I don’t think these were knee-jerk reactions to what we’ve gone through,” says Papandreou. “Some of this had already been thought about inboard and C-suites—the pandemic accelerated the decisions.”



-by Vicky Valet, Forbes Staff

Businesswoman looks across city at sunrise

The New C-Suite: How 2020 Shaped Corporate America’s Executive Ranks

Although Donald Trump-led arguably the most Africa-adverse American administration in history, analysts warn not to expect too much from his successor, Democrat Joe Biden. A look at the likely impact of his win on the US-Africa economic dynamics.



HISTORICALLY, IT HAS NOT MATTERED MUCH for Africa whether Democrats or Republicans sit in the White House. This is largely because the United States (US) has never really had a coherent and constructive Africa policy. So, although outgoing Republican president Donald Trump led arguably the most Africa-adverse American administration in history, analysts warn not to expect too much from his successor, Democrat Joe Biden.



Biden was vice-president in the Obama administration that preceded Trump. But whereas Trump once called African countries “shitholes”, Biden at least is promising to “reengage with the world”.



“He will be more engaging with countries, including Africa,” believes Jannie Rossouw, interim head of Wits Business School in Johannesburg. “Trump really isolated the US from many regions, from very many continents, it was bad relationship all over the place.”



Judd Devermont, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, agrees.



“I think Biden is going to focus on rebuilding partnerships and that includes at the multilateral level to the state level, to the subnational level,” he says.



“So I think you will first see a refocus on climate change and strengthening international adoptions, which will be of benefit to Africans. It’s clear that Biden is very supportive of the Continental Free Trade Agreement. That is incredibly important. But he has also talked about the importance of subnational governance and particularly urbanization. And so I think we have the potential to see the next administration work with African countries at these multiple levels to unlock their economies.”



Devermont expects the biggest African economies – Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya in particular – to receive significant attention, while the prospects for Ethiopia also look promising.



But Biden has his work cut out for him. Domestic challenges like tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, an economic recession and reckoning with racism are likely to keep him busy during his first few months in office. When his attention finally shifts to international affairs, climate change and trade wars with China can expect to dominate the agenda.



But instead of disparaging Beijing at every turn, like Trump did, Devermont expects there will be a focus on “transparency around norms, around standards, ensuring that African economies are open to US investors. And the more negative elements of a Chinese engagement will be blunted or curbed through shared partnerships with Africans around how foreign countries should invest in their countries, how to form partnerships in their countries.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Another expectation is that American legislation allowing sub-Saharan African countries preferential entry into the US market will be extended.



Rossouw believes that “Biden will try to find a call partner in countries in Africa, and that might be beneficial, especially for the bigger economies in Africa, such as South Africa. If Johannesburg was an independent country, it would be the ninth largest economy in Africa. So naturally, the interest will first be in the big economies and then there will be spillover effects to the smaller economies.”



Biden has in the past committed Washington to helping the continent manage the challenges of a burgeoning population. The United Nations’ projection that Africa will be home to a quarter of the world’s population by 2050 led him to suggest an urbanization initiative. This would include partnerships between African and American cities planning for growth in critical sectors like energy access, climate change, transportation and water management.



“Urbanization is the key transformation that the continent will undergo in this century and ensuring that African cities, most of whom sit on the coasts, are open for business will be a huge opportunity for US companies,&#8221; says Devermont. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t underestimate how important that initiative, depending on what it develops into, can be for the US-Africa economic relationship.&#8221;



Equally important is that the Biden administration reach out to companies that remain skeptical or ignorant about opportunities in Africa and address some of the risks and myths they have about investing on the continent.



Trump’s mission was to make America great but his administration largely disengaged with one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. Time will tell whether his successor fares any better. 



-By PAULA SLIER AND ALLISON GOSNEY

US dollar on the Africa map background

Will The United States Re-Engage With Africa?

TOPLINE As the bull market for stocks rages on and even bests pre-pandemic levels, some American households are bouncing back much more slowly than others, unearthing a pattern indicative of a K-shaped (or lopsided) economic recovery, Goldman Sachs said on Sunday–and without additional fiscal relief, it could take years for employment to fully recover.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



The biggest driver of the K-shaped recovery taking shape is that pandemic job losses were &#8220;highly concentrated in virus-sensitive industries&#8221; like retail, leisure and hospitality–all of which disproportionately employ low-wage workers, Goldman analyst Joseph Briggs wrote in a weekend note.



Some companies have turned to technology in an effort to boost productivity in the absence of real workers, and it’s working (which is bad news for American workers): Productivity is up 4% this year despite major job losses, according to Moody&#8217;s Analytics, which now estimates the 22 million jobs lost this spring won’t come back until early 2024.



While stimulus measures have helped keep overall disposable income afloat during the pandemic, Americans making less than $30 per hour are feeling the most economic pain.



Slowed wage growth has also been markedly worse for lower-income workers–further contributing to the disparate economic recovery, the Goldman report goes on to say.



Goldman projects a lack of new fiscal relief will cause a fourth-quarter decline in disposable income that will hit the bottom 25% of earners &#8220;particularly hard,&#8221; while also weighing on consumer spending this winter.



The outlook for lower-income workers will get &#8220;significantly worse&#8221; if Congress doesn&#8217;t pass another fiscal stimulus package of at least $700 billion in the first quarter, Goldman notes, adding that additional relief coupled with widespread vaccination could actually help yield a V-shaped recovery, which is characteristic of a quicker, more equitable economic bounceback.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



&#8220;The largest pandemic casualties have been less productive industries including retailing, leisure and hospitality, while the biggest winners have been in more productive industries like technology, wholesaling and professional services,&#8221; Moody&#8217;s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi said in a weekend note, adding that within industries, smaller businesses have fared worse than their larger, more productive counterparts, which are more able to afford large investments in technology and organizational changes. &#8220;This is clearest in retail. Tens of thousands of mom and pop retailers have failed and mid-sized publicly traded retailers have filed for bankruptcy, while the retailing behemoths gobbled up market share. They knew those changes would entail difficulty for their labor forces, [but] the pandemic has effectively given businesses cover to make these wrenching changes.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



November marked the best month for stocks in over 30 years, but the labor market and other economic indicators are flashing serious warning signs. Despite record-low mortgage rates, higher costs pushed pre-owned home sales down in October for a second month in a row, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors released on Monday, and new manufacturing data showed that production output and new factory orders are also falling as Covid-19 cases surge to new highs nationwide. “Storm clouds are gathering,” George Ratiu, a senior economist at Realtor.com&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy/u-s-housing-manufacturing-data-suggest-economic-recovery-slowing-idUSKBN28A2IX?il=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Reuters on Monday</a>. “This winter could pose an unusual challenge for many people across the country, unless Congress takes significant actions.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



Potential relief before January. Goldman says it expects Congress to pass a small fiscal package in December that could extend the expanded unemployment insurance benefits set to expire at year’s end.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h4>



Despite highly encouraging vaccine-trial results from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in the past month, a &#8220;parabolic&#8221; surge in the number of Covid-19 infections is threatening to overwhelm hospitals around the country and has already triggered new lockdown measures on businesses. In a note to clients last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/11/23/13-million-americans-lose-jobs-covid-cases-skyrocket-but-double-dip-recession-is-unlikely-moodys/">Moody&#8217;s said</a>&nbsp;the resurgent virus could stall or even backtrack the economic recovery in the coming months and force another 1.3 million Americans into unemployment.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/11/23/13-million-americans-lose-jobs-covid-cases-skyrocket-but-double-dip-recession-is-unlikely-moodys/">1.3 Million More Americans Could Lose Their Jobs As Daily Covid Cases Skyrocket, But A Double-Dip Recession Is Unlikely, Says Moody’s</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/11/24/dow-jones-industrial-average-hits-record-30000/">Dow Jones Industrial Average Hits Record 30,000–Reaching A Historic Milestone As 11 Million Americans Remain Unemployed Amid Pandemic</a> (Forbes)



-By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

Category: Economy

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

More from Economy