Barely two years after his first sip of wine, Joseph Dhafana was head sommelier at the iconic La Colombe restaurant in Cape Town and began to explore making his own wine. His Mosi Wines and Spirits is a household name today.



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“We can’t all be actors or artists to tell our stories but I chose to tell mine by bottling it.”
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With its prolific wine region and world-class restaurants, Cape Town has long been the jewel in South Africa’s tourism crown. Yet the industry isn’t powered by good food and wine alone, but rather, by the dedication of its people. People like Joseph Tongai Dhafana, sommelier, wine judge and founder of Mosi Wines and Spirits. Impressive title aside, it’s Joseph’s story that truly sets him apart.



Dhafana now lives in Cape Town but grew up in Zimbabwe, an entire world away from his current life. He was raised in Chirumhanzu in the Midlands province, by parents who were subsistence farmers.



“I remember waking up as early as 03:00, going to the field to till the land with an ox-drawn plough. Then, when the sun rose I would run back home via the river to take a bath and get ready for a 12km walk to school – sometimes barefoot,” he explains. “These early mornings before school were very tough but they made me who I am today.”



This resilience is what would ultimately change the course of his life forever. In 2008, at the peak of Zimbabwe’s crisis, Dhafana made the difficult decision to leave his home country in search of better opportunities in South Africa. “Leaving was very painful and I had never dreamed of living outside Zimbabwe,” he says.



Initially, he worked as a gardener in Riebeek-Kasteel, a small town 80km outside of Cape Town, which led him to work in the garden for a local bar. Here, he moved to washing dishes and waiting tables and was soon promoted to barman, where life took another fortuitous turn. Here, Dhafana celebrated his 29th birthday and had his first taste of wine – a sparkling wine from nearby Riebeek Valley Wine Co. His first thoughts? “I didn’t like it,” he says simply. “I remember, the wine was quite tart and astringent with cutting acidity and that was very foreign to my palate.” He adds, “Now I can describe it but back then I had no words to explain how I felt. They now call me the ‘wine poet’.” &nbsp;



Despite a rocky start, this taste of wine awakened something in Dhafana, and before long he had enrolled to do a course at the Wine &amp; Spirit Education Trust; he joined the Cape Wine Academy and eventually, the South African Sommeliers Association, the Michael Fridjhon Wine Judging Academy and Court of Master Sommeliers Europe. Barely two years after that first sip, Dhafana was head sommelier at the iconic La Colombe restaurant and began to explore making his own wine.



“I had saved money and bought grapes to make a barrel each of Chenin Blanc and Syrah… in Riebeek-Kasteel, where it all started.”



Today, Joseph’s Mosi Wines and Spirits – named after breath-taking Victoria Falls nestled between Zimbabwe and Zambia – is a household name. Regularly appearing on the wine lists of the country’s top restaurants, there is no denying that his hard work and determination have paid off. “Seeing people swirling and sipping my wine just melts my heart,” he says. “I believe wine is a bottled story and this brand has a lot to say.”



Dhafana’s story is nothing short of remarkable, but as he says, there are a lot of stories like his out there. “I am proud of the person I am today but I am thankful to those who helped me.” He doesn’t take this gratitude lightly and now helps others wanting to enter the industry. “The journey has just started because I am already helping young up-and-coming sommeliers and wine stewards to do better than what I did.” And it doesn’t end there. Along with his work as a sommelier and a wine judge, he also helped establish and captain Team Zimbabwe at the World Blind Tasting Championships in 2017 and 2018, documented in the documentary, Blind Ambition. He is a board member of the Black Cellar Club, a non-profit that aims to promote a responsible wine and beverage industry in South Africa and is a judge for the country’s biggest annual restaurant awards, hosted by Eat Out magazine.



Having triumphed over immense challenges, Dhafana’s continued commitment to wine has enriched the industry. “We can’t all be actors or artists to tell our stories but I chose to tell mine by bottling it,” he adds.

Joseph Dhafana image supplied

From Zimbabwean Refugee To ‘Wine Poet’ In South Africa

In a significant development for Africa&#8217;s digital landscape, Lagos-based Itana, formerly known as Talent City, has announced that it secured $2 million in pre-seed funding.



The investment is led by backers, including LocalGlobe, Amplo, Pronomos Capital and Future Africa, marking a step toward realizing Africa&#8217;s inaugural Digital Free Zone.



Founded by Luqman Edu, Coco Liu, and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, this funding is pivotal in realizing their vision to enhance Nigeria&#8217;s ease-of-doing-business index, stimulate foreign direct investment, and catalyze employment opportunities within the nation.



As of early 2022, the self-described charter city, backed by Charter Cities Institute and Pronomos Capital, a Peter Thiel-backed venture fund, had secured over $10 million for the project situated within Alaro City, in the Lekki Free Zone, just outside of Nigeria&#8217;s largest city, Lagos.



&#8220;We are building an online jurisdiction that allows global companies to remotely incorporate and operate in a Nigerian Digital Free Zone in partnership with Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority to develop relevant policies for a groundbreaking &#8216;virtual city.&#8217; Itana Free Zone will be powered by a one-stop-shop platform for business and government services, including taxation, business visas, banking, capital repatriation, and supportive legislation for businesses. We will also be building a business marketplace, working with trusted service providers including legal, tax, banking, and more. We hope to help the businesses in our zone navigate the business landscape and operations with transparency and clarity to enable growth,&#8221; Itana tweeted on the announcement.



Aboyeji, one of the co-founders, emphasizes the importance of creating a conducive environment for Nigerian tech companies to thrive locally.



&#8220;In 2016 when I incorporated @theflutterwave, my first Delaware company, I never imagined incorporating a Delaware company would become the default for Nigerian companies looking to go global. For me, it was just a clever hack. But it became a movement.



&#8220;Post SVB crash crisis, incorporating a Delaware company and getting a bank account from Nigeria has quietly become a little more stressful. With the ascension of one of our own, @bosuntijani, as Minister, it has become imperative to bring our tech companies home. However, to do so, we need the right regulatory environment with the right benefits and opportunities that allow them to compete globally from right here in Nigeria,” tweeted Aboyeji. &#8220;This is why I’m so grateful for @ItanaAfrica and the incredible cast of mentors and investors who have come together to make this possible. If you are a Nigerian company and you want to come home, head on to itana.africa and incorporate your FZE today. Super excited to welcome you home.&#8221;



The announcement of Itana&#8217;s funding has garnered enthusiastic support from the tech community.



Pronomos Capital tweeted: &#8220;We&#8217;ve been working with the @ItanaAfrica team for 3 years now, and we love them, their concept, and its traction. Also big fans of @iaboyeji&#8217;s leadership, and since co-founders Luqman &amp; @cocobliu joined, it&#8217;s been build mode beast time!&#8221; Victor Ndukwe tweeted: &#8220;Super proud to be a part of the dream team. Building the gateway to the digital economy in Africa is audacious, and with the right kind of folks around, it becomes one of the most exciting journeys. Cheers to a prosperous Africa as we build to expand its trillion-dollar economy!&#8221;

Luqman Edu and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji marking a step toward realizing Africa’s inaugural Digital Free Zone; Image supplied

$2 Million Pre-Seed Funding For Africa’s First Digital Free Zone

Kenneth Odoemenam, the founder of KenChu&#8217;s Farm Services, is making an impact in Nigeria’s aquaculture industry by training others in catfish farming.



Kenneth Odoemenam, the founder of KenChu&#8217;s Farm Services, is among the 80% of fish farmers engaged in catfish farming in Nigeria, which is Africa&#8217;s third-largest fish producer, according to data from the World Bank.



With aquaculture production reaching 313,231 metric tons, Nigeria&#8217;s fisheries and aquaculture subsector plays a vital role in the country&#8217;s economy, contributing 5% to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supporting the livelihoods of approximately 24 million people, as reported by the World Trade Organization (WTO).



Driven by the desire to challenge the notion that farming is exclusive to older individuals, Odoemenam embraced catfish farming and turned it into a thriving venture. With continuous learning and a passion for the craft, he steadily improved and scaled up his operations, establishing himself in the industry.



His journey began with an abandoned pond within his family&#8217;s compound in Port Harcourt, the capital and largest city of Rivers State, located in the southern region of Nigeria.



The catfish farmer tells FORBES AFRICA: &#8220;We had a pond constructed on our family compound by a family friend, initially intended for fish farming but left unused. Recognizing the opportunity, I decided to start my catfish farming journey using that very pond.


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<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-0898-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59433" style="width:448px;height:597px" width="448" height="597" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-0898-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-0898-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-0898-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-0898-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-0898-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


&#8220;After completing my first degree in Industrial Chemistry from Abia State University in 2017, I attended an enlightening agribusiness seminar that included specialized training in catfish farming. Eager to dive into this promising venture, I began with small-scale experiments, but initial results were not as I had hoped. Undeterred, I remained determined and committed to learning and seeking guidance from experienced individuals.&#8221;



During the early days, he encountered learning curve challenges in understanding the intricacies of proper management, water quality, feeding schedules, disease prevention, and other essential aspects. He overcame with dedication to learning and seeking guidance which has helped him improve the management of the farm and achieve better results.



He also confronted the capital challenge to scale up operations. &#8220;As a young farmer, securing the necessary finances to invest in infrastructure, equipment, and fish stock can be challenging. Although I have been exploring different avenues, such as applying for grants, to secure the required funding.&#8221;



Leveraging his background in data analysis and a master&#8217;s degree in Environmental Chemistry and Pollution Control, he found innovative ways to integrate technology and sustainable practices into his catfish farming enterprise.



&#8220;I began my catfish farming journey while working as a data analyst. As my catfish farming enterprise grew and flourished, I made the decision to transition into full-time catfish farming. I am now fully dedicated to running and managing my catfish farm. Moreover, leveraging my expertise and experience in the field, I have also taken on the role of training and consulting for other catfish farms, sharing my knowledge and insights to contribute to the success of fellow farmers in the industry,&#8221; says Odoemenam.



KenChu&#8217;s Farm Services focuses on providing comprehensive farm consultancy, training, and farm setup services; offerings which its founder notes are essential to support aspiring aquaculture entrepreneurs, existing fish farmers, and investors seeking to venture into the sector.



His three-year old YouTube channel, Catfish Farm Enterprise, has become a valuable platform for sharing his expertise and knowledge, and it has over 5,700 subscribers and 151 videos.



&#8220;YouTube offers the opportunity to collaborate with other young farmers across Africa, by showcasing the work and achievements of young people in the aquaculture sector. My channel acts as a powerful marketing tool for my catfish farming enterprise. As my channel gains subscribers and viewership, it helps build my brand&#8217;s reputation and recognition within the agriculture and aquaculture community. The exposure gained through YouTube has attracted customers interested in my products and services,&#8221; says Odoemenam.



Through KenChu&#8217;s Farm Services, he has achieved milestones, including training over 100 individuals in catfish farming and providing setup services for more than 20 catfish farms across the country, contributing to the growth of the aquaculture sector and generating employment opportunities.



His ebook, Guide to Successful Catfish Farming, and the development of an automated farm record sheet exemplify his dedication to promoting efficiency and sharing valuable insights with aspiring farmers.



Looking ahead, Odoemenam envisions a bright future for KenChu&#8217;s Farm Services and the aquaculture sector as a whole.



&#8220;The aquaculture sector holds immense promise, particularly in Nigeria, where there is vast untapped potential. At KenChu&#8217;s Farm Services, we will capitalize on this opportunity and make a significant impact in the industry,&#8221; says Odoemenam.



He plans to expand his consultancy and training services to support aspiring aquaculture entrepreneurs and existing fish farmers. By embracing technological advancements, promoting sustainable practices, and focusing on capacity building and research, he aims to play a vital role in driving the growth and development of the aquaculture industry in Nigeria.



Odoemenam remains a beacon of hope and inspiration for young farmers and entrepreneurs. With his unwavering passion and determination, he is proving that the agricultural sector holds immense promise, and young people can actively participate and excel in this rewarding field.

Kenneth Odoemenam; image supplied

The Nigerian Data Analyst-Turned-Catfish Farmer Empowering Entrepreneurs In Aquaculture  

Opportunity abounds for retailers giving used clothing a second lease on life, but while some are reveling in the country’s current economic climate and contributing to the circular economy, the high-end designers are finding it difficult to compete and cope.



In an open-air market in Yaba, Lagos, Tobi Iddrisu, is getting ready to open her boutique and welcome the day’s first customers. She opened the store almost a decade ago with the goal of selling second-hand clothes from China.



Since that time, the store, as well as Iddrisu, have gone through several iterations. For the former, life began as a second-hand children clothing store before moving to incorporate toys and finally transitioning to focus on second-hand fast fashion goods for Gen Z and millennial women.



These days, her suppliers come from places like London, Germany and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but China still leads the pack. Lately, her brother in Germany has begun sending her some electronic devices like old iPads, laptops and LED television sets which, according to Iddrisu, are beginning to sell rapidly.



For Iddrisu, the shift from her nine-to-five job as a customer service clerk at First Bank Nigeria to a second-hand market trader, has proven to be one of the best decisions of her life, for a number of reasons.



In those days, she took home a meager N250,000 ($330) and struggled to make that stretch to cover her monthly expenses, which included fending for her two boys.



Today, her sons are in one of the top private schools in Lagos and Iddrisu has also ventured into the real estate market with two rental units in her name. Moreover, she is now able to provide employment opportunities to five disadvantaged individuals who Iddrisu employs as sales assistants.



“Things were very good when we started but now there is a lot of competition. Those who supply quality second-hand goods are still thriving because the economy is very difficult,” says Iddrisu.



For her and many other second-hand merchants, business is booming. Cash-strapped Nigerians who cannot pay the prices in high-end retail outlets are flooding to markets in Yaba, Katangua and Asuwani to make their naira stretch as far as possible.



“We sell goods at least 200% or cheaper than those sold in boutiques on the island and for people who are already struggling to make ends meet, how can they buy brand-new items? This goes for all items like hair, cosmetics and electronics. It is simply not affordable buying these things brand new,” says Iddrisu.



The World Poverty Clock, a tool which provides up-to-the-minute poverty data across the world, puts Nigeria as the country with the second highest level of poor people at 71 million after India.



These are people who live below the poverty line of $2. The problem is further exacerbated when you consider the rate of inflation which, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), stood at an all-time high of 22.41% in May 2023.



This report also estimates that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of the monthly changes in the price of goods and services paid by Nigerians, rose to 24.82% in May. The NBS further cites that about 133 million Nigerians are living in multi-dimensional poverty.



From a lack of forex which has brought trade to almost a complete standstill since the beginning of the year, a devaluation of the naira coupled with challenges in swapping old naira notes for new ones, to the recent fuel subsidy crisis, the country’s economic woes seem far from over.



The report by the NBS shows that the inflationary rise was attributed to food and non-beverage products, electricity, gas and other fuel as well as clothing and footwear. Several initiatives that should have offered advantages to Africa’s largest economy, have also, unfortunately, been met with barriers to entry by Nigeria.



The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), for example, was supposed to provide regional integration of goods and services between African countries. However, Nigeria’s food import substitution policy is not favorable with the goals of the AfCFTA, according to a report by the World Bank.



This was further buttressed when, in August 2019, Nigeria’s former president, Muhammadu Buhari, closed Nigeria’s borders, effectively blocking trade between the country and its neighbors for about a year. The move was an attempt to stop neighboring Benin from re-exporting rice to Nigeria for a significantly higher margin, thereby reducing dumping of the product.



That closure has also led to an increase in the prices of clothes in the second-hand market.



“We get some items from neighboring countries like Benin and Ghana, and when the government shut down the border, a lot of vendors who were relying on their supply from these countries were affected. The lack of supply has increased the cost of some items in the second-hand market and they keep rising even today,” says Iddrisu.



According to American news platform, CBS, the global second-hand market is estimated to hit $350 billion by 2025 and for personal shopper, Bobby Smith, the surge in demand for second-hand products is great for business.



“I usually deal with high-end clients who want exclusive designer wear at affordable prices. For example, most of my clients are interested in second-hand exclusive designer bags which tend to have amazing resale value. I have seen a trend in clients opting for quality, used designer items instead of those brand-new ones from stores because they want to be economical with their spending, given the current economic climate,” says Smith.



The current economic state has actually led to sales orders from individuals with a higher disposable income opting for fairly-used designer items than brand-new ones.



“I am a club promoter in Ikoyi and that means I have to look my best every night. Most of my business comes from meeting [with] new venues and offering my services to the owners, which includes bringing in a crowd that would patronize their goods and keep the club buzzing. My appearance is extremely important so I need to keep up with the trends. I shop second-hand designer wear because there is a lot of originality especially if you know the right stores, because most designers never repeat their styles so you get one-of-a-kind pieces,” says Tola T.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



But not everyone is happy about the boom in second-hand clothing. For Lola Amusan, a fashion designer in Lagos, who makes her money designing customized, ready-to-wear clothes, it is a major issue.



“We actually create bespoke clothes for our customers and so the current state of the economy is having a big impact on our bottom line. You cannot comfortably cost how much an item is because every day you go to the market, fabric prices are changing. The unstable power supply means I am running my business on [a] generator 24/7, which means I am spending a lot of money on fuel,” she says.



About 25% of the Nigerian population are considered to be Gen Z and have an insatiable appetite for fashion pieces, according to Iddrisu.



“The young ladies of today want trendy items that no one has and they want items that are not too expensive so they can change them regularly without breaking the bank. Some of our tops sell for as low as N2,000 ($2) to N5,000 ($6),” she says.



Another contributing factor to the growth in the second-hand market relates to the volume of charitable clothing donations from the West. There are various news articles on how Africa has become fast fashion’s dumping ground, a trend which is leading to significant climate change issues for the continent.



As much as the second-hand market is great for cash-strapped Nigerians, there is also a detrimental effect on the local textile and garment industries.



“We simply cannot compete with the second-hand market and I feel the current state of the economy is going to drive a lot of designers, like myself, out of business. Something has to be done,” says Amusan.



One solution that has been suggested by experts is to perhaps transform the fashion economy into a circular one. A circular economy is one where waste is minimized by reusing and upcycling as well as leasing garments. Some have also advocated for an import ban of used clothing into Africa.



But the problem with that is it leaves millions of impoverished people in Africa’s most populous economy without the means to purchase affordable clothing. As it stands, Nigeria’s inflationary problems seem to have a long way to go before subsiding and the current President Bola Tinubu has his work cut out for him.



For people like Iddrisu, times are great and the boom in second-hand clothing is now birthing yet a new opportunity for her in the consumer electronics sector, in which she has opened a brand-new store in Ikeja, as well as provided employment to a further 10 individuals. It’s just another way that she has used the current economic climate to give herself and her employees a second chance at happiness and fulfilment.

Woman Goes Clothing Shopping

Less Is More: Nigeria’s Second-Hand Fashion Market Booms As Inflation Soars

Akintola Williams, who celebrated his 104th birthday on August 9, is a trailblazing figure in the Nigerian accounting world. He played a pivotal role in placing Africa on the global accounting map alongside a major South African firm led by Howard Pim. The centenarian explained that several factors, including dedicated teachers and a determination to succeed, contributed to shaping him into the accomplished individual he has become.



Akintola Williams, who turned 104 years old on August 9, is a revolutionary figure in the accounting world, both in Nigeria and on the continent. His role alone in placing Africa on the global accounting map, alongside a South African firm led by Howard Pim, has been pivotal and inspiring.



In a 2011 interview, Williams attributed his longevity to moderation in all aspects of his life. He emphasized the significance of simplicity, avoiding controversies, taking ample rest, and engaging in mental, physical, and spiritual exercises.



“The key to my longevity is moderation. In everything I do, I strive to be moderate – a little of this and a little of that, not too much. Whether it&#8217;s what you eat, what you drink, or whatever you do, just be moderate and you&#8217;ll live a refreshing, strong, and fulfilling life,” he told Vanguard News.



Due to his academic prowess, he received a United African Company (UAC) scholarship from 1939 to 1941 for higher education at Yaba Higher College in Nigeria&#8217;s largest city, Lagos. Here, he earned a diploma in commerce. He furthered his education at the University of London in 1944, focusing on banking and finance, and graduated with a bachelor&#8217;s degree in commerce in 1946.



In 1949, at the age of 30, he became a qualified chartered accountant in England – the first Nigerian to achieve this feat.



Williams has explained that several factors, including the dedication from his teachers and a will to succeed, contributed to shaping him into the person he is now.



In various media, he was quoted to have said: “I would say a number of things made it possible for me. First, [there] were masters in the favorite subjects which eventually was necessary for my profession in accounting, namely, mathematics.”



He returned to Nigeria in 1950, working as an assessment officer at the Inland Revenue until March 1952, when he left to establish his own accounting firm, Akintola Williams and Co.



This firm reportedly became the first indigenous chartered accounting firm in Africa, expanding beyond Nigeria to Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Swaziland as well as Ghana, Egypt, and Kenya. As Nigeria gained independence in 1960, his firm developed relationships with significant clients in insurance, utilities, railways, and ports.



Williams retired in 1983 at the age of 64, but he continued to contribute to humanity through mentoring and supporting the growth of other indigenous chartered accountancy firms.



In 2004, his practice merged with two other accounting firms to form Akintola Williams Deloitte (now Deloitte &amp; Touche), the largest professional services firm in Nigeria. While Williams&#8217; leadership contributed to Deloitte&#8217;s growth across Africa, he also made an impact beyond accounting, including his involvement in promoting arts, culture, and music.



Williams held key positions, including President of the Association of Accountants in Nigeria and founding President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He played a role in establishing the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1960 and remained an advisor to its operators.



The Akintola Williams Arboretum at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation headquarters in Lagos and other honors such as the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 1982 and Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) in 2001, recognize his outstanding achievements.



In April 1997, Williams was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to the accountancy profession and his promotion of arts, culture, and music through the Musical Society of Nigeria.



On May 8, 2011, the Nigeria-Britain Association awarded him for his contributions to democracy and development.



As a pioneer and pacesetter, Williams laid the foundation for numerous institutions in Nigeria. He served on various boards, including the Federal Income Tax Appeal Commissioners, the Coker Commission of Inquiry, and the Commonwealth Foundation.



His contributions have left a lasting legacy, and it’s been said that, even to this day, Deloitte Africa continues to uphold his values and positive impact across the continent.

Akintola Williams, an icon in Nigeria’s accounting world; image supplied

The 104-Year-Old Pioneering Nigerian Chartered Accountant Still Inspiring Many  

Kenyan fashion entrepreneur Ruth Abade uses upcycled materials to create vibrant clothes and accessories with sustainability sewn into them.



&#8220;It was something I’ve never seen. I was like, ‘maybe this is what they mean by the end of the world?’ The sky looked orange. And then it just went really, really dark.”



In June, the New York skies were flooded with apocalyptic color, as Canadian wildfires moved south and the smoke transformed the global center of fashion into a burned sienna hellscape.



Kenyan fashion entrepreneur Ruth Abade is in the city for trade shows, describing by video call this ominous reminder of the consequences of unfettered consumption: the world’s most charismatic metropolis reduced in minutes to incandescent shadows.


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She is the owner of Blackfly Designs, an apparel, jewelry and textile company with practical sustainability embedded in its seams.



Abade and her dozen-strong team, based in Kibera’s Toi Market in Nairobi, use upcycled materials to create one-of-a-kind clothes and accessories buzzing with quirky innovation.



Blackfly’s bomber jackets pop with the vibrancy of re-purposed Indian saris; its shoulder bags are clever, jazzy patchworks of African fabric off-cuts, finished with expertly curated scraps of leather and salvaged metal fittings. The jewelry pieces are geometric alignments of the rough and the smooth, metallic juxtapositions of the polished and the well-traveled.



An industrial designer by training, Abade spent a year in Florence learning leather bag design before her skills coalesced into a business in 2012.



“So I took my industrial know-how into fashion, because I needed to survive! And then when your clientele grows, you harness all these scrap pieces as off-cuts, so I needed to develop another prototype. You have to embody the whole thing as one 



item. So we decided that if you’re going to use scrap pieces, you’re going to use them all the way. You have to always be diverse when it comes to creation, because it never stops.”



The brand grew so fast that the company began buying off-cuts from other tailors, generating a business model that initially presented challenges in how it would grow and become accessible to a wider market.



“When you’re doing one-offs, it’s difficult to sell to big retailers,” Abade says. “It’s also very difficult to sell to small stores, because they need to make a mark-up. And I wanted to create a product anybody can afford. So I had to make a decision. Either I build my own store – or people just come to the workshop.”



The brand now sells directly to its Nairobi base and from its website; it eschews the influencer and social- media-driven demand for the latest must-have, a wasteful production cycle which floods the market with cheap copycats that often end their short lives in African landfill.



“It doesn’t matter to me whether the business expands tremendously or not,” she says. “You have to stay true to the reason why you do it. We started this because of the overflow we had, but it’s also the joy of working with the suppliers who have always had our back, where the person is willing to sacrifice anything for you – because you’ve been with them for 10 years, and never gone away.”


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<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-59363" style="width:534px;height:401px" width="534" height="401" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 534px) 100vw, 534px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photos by Lars Johansson</figcaption></figure></div>


Abade has also been careful to shun the economic thirst-trap of the easy business loan, and has instead instituted a solidarity fund within the company to allow employees to contribute to a monthly kitty accessible when any of the team need to borrow without risk. Staff are able to access these contributions when they leave, a structure that encourages an understanding of fiscal responsibility based on mutuality and trust.



“You have to sit down with your people and be candid,” she says. “I run my business like a family, so they see the struggles.



When you have a conversation like that with people, they understand where you’re coming from.”



Mindful of the steady international growth in upcycling, and the resultant price increase in scrap material and off-cuts, Abade is now gradually shifting her focus towards printed textile production, using quality cotton fabric made by women and sourced from Tanzania. She believes her prints will open up a new niche demand for a local twist on an African fashion stalwart, with Blackfly aiming to become the leading Kenyan producer of the traditional Indonesian batik prints embraced with such joyful ubiquity in the west of the continent.



“I have a big responsibility to produce a technique that when seen anywhere in the world, people will say, ‘This is Kenyan batik, without a doubt’. Because you can’t train people if you don’t have a specific technique,” she explains.



“I’m experimenting in order to find something uniquely Kenyan – painting more than stamping; using pastel and muted colors, but in very strong combinations. I think the market is hungry for something new. And big brands are starting to really think about organic cottons, so everybody’s giving themselves a timeline to work with. We have to be ready for that timeline.”



As the North American skies clear, Abade looks ahead with hope, the creative fire still burning in her belly. “I have to remember that regardless, I’m an artist, before a businessperson. And working with artists, I think, is a nightmare,” she laughs. “But as long as it feels good – that’s what we’re going to do.”

P1000559 Photo credit Lars Johansson

Upcycling On The Fly: Fashion Forward In Kenya

Nana Kwasi Wiafe’s home country is a prevailing motif in his work that goes from fashion to home furniture to authentic storytelling.



When your name is associated with a Beyoncé production, recognition is in your stars. But Ghanaian Nana Kwasi Wiafe has always been a creative force. He contributed to Beyoncé’s 2020 musical album, Black is King, as part of the styling team that took home an Emmy Award in 2021 for ‘Outstanding Costume’, but his credits also include styling British-Ghanaian actor Michaela Coel in kente prints for the cover of US-based lifestyle magazine, Variety.



Wiafe is recognized for his collaborations with brands like Diesel, Dior, Apple Inc and HBO but it is his own spin on telling authentic Ghanaian stories that led him to his true passion and purpose, Very Ghanaian, a company he launched in 2019.



He describes it as a travel lifestyle brand showcasing his love and patriotism for Ghana, and proof that his country can also produce top-of-the-range fashion.



“As a stylist, I meet a lot of people and they always double-check if I am Ghanaian and I always respond that I am ‘very Ghanaian’. When I decided to create this brand, it was the name I went with. It meant that I am unapologetically Ghanaian and proud of who I am,” affirms Wiafe.



He credits his artistic genes to his dad who used to sell clothes but was also like a sculptor.



“He displayed the clothes like an art installation and people were so intrigued that they would come by and just look at it. So, being an artist was in my blood.”



Wiafe dropped out of university after a one-year diploma in business administration and a chance encounter with the show, America’s Next Top Model that inspired his modeling career.



He also wanted to change the stereotypes around modeling. “For me, it was all about showcasing self- acceptance, authenticity and self-love.”



After working as a model, his course changed.



“I realized that I saw myself as an executive. I wasn’t getting a lot of stylists to help style me for [photo]shoots and I had to pay for them and didn’t have the budget for it at the time,” he remembers. His response to these setbacks was to do the styling himself.



Very Ghanaian is now in four stores across Ghana offering international sales via its website.



“We are also launching a new project called Very Ghanaian Home; focused on Ghana-inspired furniture. Very Ghanaian is going towards a heritage legacy brand and also creating a movement,” says Wiafe, who believes that the key to improving Ghana’s creative space is to foster collaboration between brands.



“Your ability to grow in the space lies in recognizing that no man is an island. When you collaborate, you increase your chances of delivering the best possible outcome for your client.&#8221;



He is also the creative director of THOUARTKWASI, a “high-end styling brand that creates fashion editorial looks for global brands with an African twist”.



“I believe I am sharing the beauty of Ghana and Africa with the world. It feels amazing to be able to inspire the world using Ghanaian culture and heritage,” says Wiafe.

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The Creative And Stylist ‘Unapologetically Ghanaian’

Aisha Shehu is using fashion to shift the narrative of the Fulani people in Nigeria.



Aisha Shehu is on a mission to show the world the beauty of the Fulani culture as a modern Fulani woman.



The cultural detail and distinctive colors of the traditional outfits of the Fulani tribe always resonated with Shehu. Both her parents were civil servants so she credits her entrepreneurial spark to her creative and artistic side, which was a constant during her formative years.



However, her path to becoming the next emerging fashion trendsetter was an unconventional one.



The Fulani tribe is a nomadic tribe of herders who migrate with their cattle in search of land rich with grass and water. Where previously determined by the change in seasons, more recently,



climate change and desertification have led Fulani herdsmen to migrate to lands belonging to sedentary farmers, reportedly resulting in violent clashes between the two.



Despite this negative narrative of the Fulani in the media, Shehu, the founder of luxury clothing brand BABAYO, is looking to change that through the power of fashion. Born in Lagos to Fulani parents from Gombe in north-eastern Nigeria, Shehu grew up wearing traditional Fulani clothing during major public holidays such as Nigeria’s Independence Day. However, knowing her parents would not pay for her to attend fashion school, Shehu opted to go to business school in France instead. She also did a one-year degree in fashion while there. The plan was to start her own fashion business and put the skills she had acquired abroad to work.



“My mother told me to give her my CV so I could start looking for jobs. It took me long to create one not because it was hard to do, but because I did not want to return to the oil and gas sector and a nine-to-five job,” recalls Shehu.



Rather than look for employment, she came up with another plan. With the savings she accumulated teaching English to children in France, as well as money she made from her work experience in the oil and gas sector, Shehu decided to rent a space for her



business, buy her first sewing machine and hire a tailor.



For Shehu, ground zero involved coasting through the fashion business with no real strategy in mind



in terms of how to differentiate herself from the competition. She dabbled in casual, formal and bridal couture to make ends meet. The real turning point for the brand happened by default and not by design.



“Two years ago, when I was going through my closet with my sister, we found our old Fulani outfits that we wore as kids – the traditional ones. I remember saying how weird it was that we could not wear this all the time. And that is when the conversation started. From there, we wanted to find a way to make it modern, accessible and functional.” Before Shehu embarked on the new brand direction, she ran the idea by a few 



people. “They were like, am I sure this is the right time because of the backlash in the media?”



For Shehu, the answer was a resounding yes. The only way forward was to showcase the beauty of her culture.



And just like that, things began to take off. BABAYO began to form its own identity. The outfits became a hit and very soon, Shehu was designing variations of her latest creations, infused with other cultural elements.



The turning point came about through social media.



In 2021, she was contacted by Lagos Fashion Week, Nigeria’s top fashion event, on Instagram.



“I came home and got an invitation for the next emerging designers and people to look out for, and I was blown away because I didn’t know anyone.”



That invitation was for a digital show. The following year, Shehu got invited again but, this time, she was on the runway.



“I got called again! For a small and unknown brand like us to do a runway show was a big deal because you are walking alongside other established brands who have been around for years. I got to do that for Lagos Fashion Week; I took a bow on stage and that was a breakthrough moment for the brand.”



Since 2017, Shehu has increased her client base organically, with customers ordering her pieces from all over the world, including Qatar, Japan and Australia. She has also made it to the top 12 out of 400 designers to be accepted into the fashion accelerator program created by the African Development Bank. The long-term vision of BABAYO is to become a dominant brand in the luxury fashion sector. But the heart of it will always be the cultural heritage of the Fulani.

narrative

Sartorial Diplomacy: Shifting The Narrative, One Outfit At A Time In Nigeria

The couple bringing cashew butter to store shelves and healthy eating plans in Tanzania.



When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Mohamedhussein and Sabiha Rashid were left with a large shipment of cashews they were expecting to export from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates, as part of their maiden entrepreneurial venture together as husband and wife. Airports shut down cargo operations, and for weeks, the cashews had to be stored in their apartment in Dar es Salaam.



Sabiha had to find something to do with them.



Having watched numerous episodes of Shark Tank and attuned to entrepreneurial thinking, it struck her that she could convert them to cashew butter. Sabiha had gone vegan for a year while at university in England and had experienced first-hand the benefit of switching her food choices.



“I used to eat cashew butter, but I never thought of why nobody was making these things in Tanzania, although the country is one of the largest producers or growers of cashews globally,” she says.



So, out of her home kitchen, she started making the butter, as well as conceptualizing the product and packaging.



“I was experimenting and made lots of different flavors, made people taste it, but from day one, I said that if I’m starting a business, even if it’s a home business or just online, I need to make sure that what I’m putting out there is really amazing.”



She was pleasantly surprised by the response she received for the Instagram page she started on her product.



“It really caught on… it was the start of a small revolution, a healthy revolution.”



For three months, the small venture operated out of the couple’s apartment – it even blew up several food processors – but the demand grew and they had to soon find a dedicated space to enable production.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
&#8220;PEOPLE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF CASHEW BUTTER – IT’S FOREIGN TO THEM… ALTHOUGH THE RAW MATERIALS ARE THERE, I THINK IT’S AN UNORGANIZED SECTOR THAT NEEDS A LOT OF WORK.”
</blockquote>



Farmers’ markets helped gauge the public need, and it was time to formalize the business.



Three years down, and produced out of three factories, their product, ’rosho, a catchphrase derived from the Swahili word korosho for cashews, has grown.



But it wasn’t easy to get here. ’rosho only uses organic cashews, so processing has been expensive. Additionally, as food production is



largely underdeveloped in Tanzania, as in other parts of Africa, prices are high.



“We’ve really struggled with getting hold of good food technicians, microbiologists and all of these [professionals in different fields] that we require and also expertise in terms of machinery for production, packaging, etc…” rues Mohamedhussein.



’rosho’s conscious consumers have stayed supportive though. Says Sabiha: “There are tons of options imported [to Tanzania], but prices are very high and a lot of times, we get the leftovers, so they’re close to expiry. People are not happy with the quality they’re getting from the imported stuff… We are a better and local option.”



They have also had to ride out the initial skepticism. “People didn’t understand the concept of cashew butter – it’s foreign to them… So, although the raw materials are there, I think it’s an unorganized sector that needs a lot of work,” adds Mohamedhussein.



“I think as a company, for us, there has been so much problem- solving, so much innovation that we’ve had to do,” says Sabiha, “so much independent research, because there aren’t any bodies by the local government that you can reach out to for advice, although the government has been supportive. There have been



a number of trials and working with local engineers to innovate and be more efficient.” ’rosho also exports and within Tanzania, is popular among tourists for its local appeal. The company hopes to have a better impact on smallholder farmers. The founders say the factories currently employ only women and pay them 80% more than the minimum wage.



“That’s what we’ve tried to do, to give our customers a different sense of fulfillment when they’re buying from us,” says Mohamedhussein. “And to also sort of pave the path for other organizations and companies to come and do something more innovative

tanzania story

From Raw To Reward: Bringing Cashew Butter To Stores In Tanzania

Time is money for London-based luxury watchmaker William Adoasi, and he is now using it to support quality education in sub-Saharan Africa.



William Adoasi grew up in one of the roughest council estates in London and for as long as he could remember, wanted to get out. His parents emigrated from Ghana to the United Kingdom (UK) before Adoasi was born and, being the first of seven children, he saw first-hand the chaos that surrounded his estate in Peckham, South London.



A social housing project built by local authorities to provide shelter and other amenities like schools and shops, council estates in the UK have become notorious as breeding grounds for various social problems over the years.



This prompted two former prime ministers, David Cameron and Tony Blair, to advocate for the redevelopment of these estates citing their propensity to entrench poverty as well as create an environment for criminality to thrive, as the core reasons.



To shield Adoasi from the negative elements of the estate, his parents encouraged his education. Adoasi did well enough in school to secure a scholarship and move into a private boarding school in the midlands, and finally, out of the council estate.



“One day a fight broke out in a rugby game between my team and another team and I heard some of my teammates calling the other team ‘council estate scam’, not knowing that I grew up on a council estate myself. It really shaped the way I am in terms of my drive because there is always a part of me that wants to disprove the myth of a council estate boy who does not amount to anything in life,” says Adoasi.



Initially the drive was simply motivated by his need to create a luxury life far away from the tentacles of poverty that always gripped his childhood. His determination to succeed led him to drop out of university to start a sports academy, with which he made a six-figure income by the age of 19.



“I [ran] that for two years until the government pulled the funding, which meant that it wasn’t viable anymore,” says Adoasi.



After that stint, he worked in London as an insurance broker and recruiter. During this time, he went back to school and finished his education and, very soon, began to think outside the confines of his nine-to-five job for a way to make more money.



He was always interested in watches and by the time he was in the city, Adoasi was making enough money to upgrade his taste to the high-end brands, the likes of Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. That was when his light bulb moment happened.



“I wanted to find a middle ground of a watch that was super premium and has a high-end aesthetic, made with high-end materials but with a price point that wasn’t wild… I started speaking to multiple factories and haggling prices down between the factories until I perfected my sample batch,” says Adoasi.



At the age of 26, he quit his job and became the founder and lead designer of Vitae London.



“I felt that working in the city was a drain on me and that I had to do something with a bigger purpose where I wake up everyday and my motivation was not just money. Vitae means ‘lives’ in Latin. Our mantra from the get-go was to be the watch brand changing lives,” says Adoasi.



After launching the brand, Vitae London got shortlisted by Richard Branson to receive a startup loan of £20,000



(approximately $25,000 today) out of 10,000 applicants. To date, the brand has raised a total of $190,000 from the likes of US-based venture capital firm, Backstage Capital and, with that, total sales revenue to date is around £1.3 million ($1.6 million).



Adoasi has also kept his promise – 10% of everything the company makes goes back to empower children in sub-Saharan Africa to receive quality education. Through a partnership with charity organization, House of Wells, he has supported over 10,000 children with school uniforms and finance.



Vitae London is also currently stocked in leading US retailers, Macy’s and Nordstrom. The partnership with billionaire mogul Branson also helped attract other celebrities to the brand.



As Adoasi reflects, two things stand out for him.



“Firstly, entrepreneurship is about creating something much bigger than yourself… Secondly, money is a great motivator but if it is the only reason you get out of bed, then you have an unfulfilled life.”<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="15" height="14" src="">His next milestone is to be able to go to his parents and tell them they no longer need to work, and from the looks of things, time is on his side

peace11

Time To Tell: The London-Based Watchmaker Supporting Education In Africa

Isaac Oladipupo, the CEO of Afrilearn, co-founded the edtech startup with Gabriel Olatunji-Legend in 2019 with a bold vision: to provide affordable, world-class education for Africans anywhere.



For millions of children and young people in Africa, access to quality education is often limited by factors such as poverty, conflict, distance, and lack of infrastructure. To address this challenge, Afrilearn CEO, Isaac Oladipupo and co-founder Gabriel Olatunji-Legend drew inspiration from their own experiences to create something innovative.



According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 98 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school, and many more are enrolled in schools that fail to provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life.



Revolutionizing education in Africa with a gamified learn-and-earn feature, Afrilearn provides curriculum-relevant class notes, exam practice, animated video lessons, and a personalized learning dashboard that enable elementary and high school students (ages 6-18) to study easily and “achieve exam success in a single sitting”.



The inspiration behind Afrilearn came from the founders’ personal experiences of the educational challenges faced by students in Nigeria and across Africa.



“Imagine a world where every child, no matter their background or location, has full access to quality education and the tools to prepare them for lifelong success. That vision is what inspired the birth of Afrilearn,” Oladipupo tells FORBES AFRICA.



“When my exceptional co-founder Gabriel Olatunji-Legend and I struck out to build Afrilearn in 2019, we observed that for most young Africans, quality education is largely unaffordable, inaccessible and boring. Having personally witnessed the severe educational challenges faced by students in Nigeria and across Africa, resulting in high level of illiteracy, poor school grades, and failed dreams – we recognized the need for an urgent solution. We realized that technology offered the best opportunity to solve this challenge for generations to come, and Afrilearn was created to bridge this gap,&#8221; says Oladipupo.



One of the unique features of Afrilearn is that it offers both free and subscription-based accounts for its users. This means that students can access most of the platform’s content without paying anything.



However, if they want to enjoy exclusive benefits such as downloadable class notes, instant homework help with detailed explanations, coding lessons, live classes, personalized learning plans and much more, they can opt for a paid subscription.



“Our commitment to inclusivity led us to introduce free accounts, ensuring that no child is left behind due to financial constraints. Today, Afrilearn is widely renowned as the free, fun and effective app for the best school grades, uniting learners from top private schools, public schools, underserved communities, and even homeschoolers. We have evolved into a driving force for educational equity, turning learning into a joyful journey and transforming lives one lesson at a time.



“Revenue generated from subscriptions helps us continuously improve and expand our offerings, ensuring that Afrilearn remains a sustainable and impactful platform,” says Oladipupo.



Support from notable organizations, including United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the African Union (AU) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, has enabled Afrilearn to further develop its content library, ensuring that it aligns with the national curricula and meets the highest educational standards globally.



“It has facilitated partnerships with schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), enabling us to reach even more students in need,” says Oladipupo.



He adds: “Beyond financial assistance, the backing of these organizations has also bolstered our credibility and reputation, attracting more educators and experts to collaborate with us. This network effect has elevated Afrilearn’s influence in the education sector, amplifying our mission to provide free, world-class education for Africans, anywhere.”



However, more support is needed to introduce more advanced courses and specialized subjects to cater to the diverse interests and career aspirations of students globally.



Oladipupo envisions the platform’s role in shaping the future of learning: “Every child deserves the opportunity to experience Afrilearn and our ultimate goal is to serve the world. We will continue to expand our content library, covering a broader range of subjects and topics.



“To this end, we are actively seeking collaborations and partnerships with educational institutions, governments, and organizations. Through strategic alliances, we aim to reach more students and expand our impact on the education sector. We envision a future where access to quality education is no longer a privilege but a fundamental right for every child.”



Oladipupo recalls with fond memories, some success stories of users, including students, teachers and parents: “I remember Adeola, who cleared her West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in one sitting and is now pursuing her dream of becoming a software developer. A teacher, Abdullahi, shared with us how he experienced improved classroom engagement and student performance after using Afrilearn’s resources. The Osagie family, homeschooling their children, consider our platform a valuable educational partner tailored to each child’s learning needs,” he says.



“The joy and transformation we witness in the lives of students, teachers, and parents motivate us to push the boundaries of educational innovation further. Afrilearn’s impact extends beyond the classroom, empowering individuals to realize their full potential and become agents of positive change in their communities.”

Isaac Oladipupo; image credit Afrilearn 1

Beyond The Classroom: Nigerian Edtech Entrepreneur’s Aim ‘To Serve The World’

Earning the support and trust of the community surrounding the Malaika school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was vital in its early days, and still is today, says the non-profit’s founder and philanthropist, Noëlla Coursaris Musunka.



In the heart of Kalebuka – a village in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – the Malaika school, which opened its doors in 2011, has just celebrated its first graduation.



Empowering girls through education has been a key focus of the grassroots non-profit organization and founder, model and philanthropist, Noëlla Coursaris Musunka tells FORBES AFRICA that having the support structure that she has, has been vital.



“It has been challenging to help the community recognize the value of girls’ education when it has been a part of their culture to prioritize boys’ education and expect girls to do domestic duties only.



“When we gather the community to play sports we teach them about equality, social cohesion and the value of education. This has helped them to recognize why girls should be educated and to be supportive of this,” she says.



The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimated that the out-of-school population in sub-Saharan Africa reached 98 million in 2021.



However, the organization noted that “important data gaps have been filled in countries that have large out of school numbers but where no administrative data of good quality has been available for over a decade”. This included the DRC (5.9 million).


<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/2023/08/ROB3606-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59153" style="width:662px;height:440px" width="662" height="440" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ROB3606-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ROB3606-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ROB3606-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ROB3606.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Noëlla and a student. Image Supplied. </figcaption></figure></div>


Since its establishment, Malaika has developed into a primary and secondary school, and a community center and organic farm has been added, along with the refurbishment of 30 wells in the area.



“It has been extremely important to earn the trust and support of the community. Our mission is to empower girls and their communities and if community members were not interested in taking part then our work would have had minimal impact,” Musunka says.



“Our school, and our community center that provides vocational education and training to youth and adults, have been better because of the community’s help and support.&nbsp;Having their buy-in with our community center where they come to play sport and learning together has been wonderful to see and when whole families come and benefit from education, the girls at our school benefit even more.”



She also emphasizes that the support of the community was vital in getting the girls to school in the early days, and that many have been volunteers and helped to maintain the premises and land over the years.&nbsp;



Students at the school receive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and can learn concepts like VPL, Blockly and Scratch languages as well as other basic and advanced computer skills.



Along with this, the school teaches sustainable farming practices and ensures that the community has access to basic needs, like clean drinking water, all of which can give the community what it needs to uplift itself in the long-term.



“I would like to see more investment in education and community development. Malaika is a sustainable ecosystem that can be duplicated in any context and we have created a toolkit in order to support others to create a similar provision in their communities.



“I would also love to see more focus on sustainable development. There also needs to be a holistic emphasis, including focus on infrastructure and health needs. There needs to be provision that can empower a community with lasting change,” says Musunka, who lives in the United Kingdom with her husband and children, and was named one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential &amp; Inspirational Women in 2017.



As a mom, a feminist, and a believer in the right to access to education, health, and opportunity, her advice to young girls and women on the continent is to bet on yourself and aim high.



“Keep working hard and don’t give up even if things don’t seem to be going your way, just keep following your passion.”

_ROB7761

Pushing For Change In The DRC: School-Founder On The Challenges And Rewards Of Prioritizing Girls’ Education

Former The Apprentice star Samuel Brooksworth is capitalizing on the remote working revolution by getting young skilled people to work from Africa for organizations around the world.



The market for remote workplace services is set to grow from $20.1 billion in 2022 to $58.5 billion by 2027, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets, a sector research and growth advisory firm in the United States (US), and Samuel Brooksworth, the CEO and founder of Remoteli is here to seize it.



The savvy London-born Ghanaian businessman is also famous for being on The Apprentice reality TV series on BBC One in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2016.



He got to sell his ideas and display his sales skills, which he has been honing from a young age, on the show. He started young.



At university, with his twin brother Andrew, he revitalized the African &amp; Caribbean Society, growing it from just 15 members to over 600 people. They then went on to launch a t-shirt business, JC Range, featuring Christian-themed messages and sold at youth events and major gatherings across the UK.



Their t-shirts did well and they quickly realized they had a knack for sales. After graduation, Brooksworth joined Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, a UK car rental service where once again his skills were put to test.



“At Enterprise, there was a culture called Elite Club where the top sellers in the organization are [rewarded] for their hard work. In my first eight months at the organization, I made [it to the] top five consistently out of about 500 people in the region. To put this in context, most people only make the Elite Club once or twice every one or two years and some sales people have never made it to the club. So when I [accomplished] that, it put my name at the top of the organization and I got the attention of area managers and different regional individuals,” recalls Brooksworth.



It was not long after that his wife, an avid fan of The Apprentice, insisted he too apply for the show. He did, and a week later, he received the call. For Brooksworth, getting on the show was not to win. It was to leverage the platform to gain visibility for his latest business idea.



“I felt I got the exposure and after the show I was able to connect with people I didn’t have access to beforehand. When I went on the show, the business idea [I presented] was similar to what I am doing now. On the show, they rejected the business idea but years later it has actually become one of the most successful businesses of any candidate. It’s a beautiful moment that what they didn’t see has grown to be as big as it is now,” says Brooksworth.



It came with a lot of hard work.



In a 2019 article in The Guardian, he writes: “I was taught by my parents that I needed to work 10 times harder than my white friends in order to be seen as equal. As a child, this made no sense. I thought education was very black and white. If my answers were right, they were right; if they were wrong, they were wrong. Why then would I need to work harder just to receive the same grades?”



&nbsp;His big business opportunity came during the Covid-19 pandemic.



“I was speaking to various senior executives, business leaders and C-Suite individuals [about] the challenges during the pandemic and a lot of them were struggling. They were paying huge bills [for] offices that were empty,” says Brooksworth.



However, it was a trip to Ghana with his wife that solidified the idea for his business, Remoteli.



“There were so many young people who were unemployed but were sharp and on the ball. But when I spoke to the adults, they would say the young people are lazy and don’t want to learn. I thought that was not true, rather there were not enough opportunities and if you give them the skills, I believed that they would thrive.”



Brooksworth decided to get these skilled young people to work remotely in Ghana for organizations around the world.



His company, Remoteli, is a tech-led on-demand staffing organization providing remote workers for companies and individuals worldwide offering a range of services – from virtual assistants to web developers and social media managers. The company has not raised any money yet and has grown rapidly by bootstrapping and word-of-mouth referrals.



“We are helping combat the rising graduate unemployment rates in Africa by providing opportunities for unemployed youth,” says Brooksworth.



The organization has grown rapidly from two employees to over 100 staff and they are currently in the business hubs of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.



The pandemic has changed the way organizations work forever and for Brooksworth, the time to capitalize on this is now and in doing so, he is making a tidy profit and helping fellow Ghanaians get high-paying jobs with global companies whilst working from the comfort of their homes in Africa.

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The Ghanaian Capitalizing On Remote Working

Old woman walking with her dog and her wares through the streets of Makhanda, Eastern Cape, in 2021

Cityscapes: Snapshots Of South Africa’s Thriving Informal Economy

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli on her passion for equipping and investing in the continent’s future game-changers and also changing the food narrative on the continent.



Why can’t a continent with over 60% of the world’s unused arable land grow enough food to sustain itself? For as long as she can remember, Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli has pondered this serious question about Africa.



Nwuneli, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and expert on agriculture and food ecosystems, fondly recalls growing her own avocados in the backyard of her family home in Enugu, Nigeria, and selling them at wholesale prices to women in the market. From that experience, Nwuneli knew she would always work, in some capacity, in the agriculture sector.



Her mother has been a staunch supporter of Nwuneli and her four siblings pursuing their passion. To help Nwuneli hone her business savviness, her mother would constantly share annual company reports with Nwuneli when she was an undergraduate student at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.



“That helped me with business and I enjoyed going into the social impact side of business. When I started school, I was passionate about Africa and Nigeria; [this was] when I moved to the United States,” says Nwuneli.



Her love for Africa led her to co-found the African Business Conference when she attended Harvard Business School which is now the largest student-run conference focused on business in Africa.



“The theme was reversing the African brain drain in 1999 and, at that time, no one was trying to come back to Africa. But we were already focused on that,” says Nwuneli.



After brief stints with McKinsey &amp; Company where she worked on numerous projects, including the transformation of the South African Police Service, Nwuneli joined the Michael Porter project in the Middle East to help Palestinian entrepreneurs scale and access their markets. That is when a conversation changed things.



“While I was there, a Palestinian asked me, ‘Why are you helping our country when yours is such a mess?’ I was like, it is one thing for Nigerians to say Nigeria is such a mess but for a Palestinian to tell me that my country was a mess, that was a wakeup call and this is one of the reasons I started working on initiatives back home.”



At 25, she joined investor and entrepreneur, Fola Adeola, and his FATE Foundation initiative, where she served as the pioneer executive director, to help empower Nigerian entrepreneurs.



“From an early age, we understood the reality that what is going to save our continent is not poverty alleviation but wealth creation. We had to create jobs for ourselves and others and, at the time, unemployment rates were still high. At the time the stats were saying 70% of our youth were unemployed and when young people are unemployed, they are seen as liabilities, not assets. The challenge was how can we transform this into positive change and wealth creation,” says Nwuneli.



Part of her initiatives involved organizing the first business plan competition for Nigeria as well as an investment forum and incubator to help young people create and scale their business.



Through working with the FATE Foundation, Nwuneli realized that it is one thing to teach young people how to make money, but another to instill the importance of creating businesses that are steeped in values, ethics and succession.



To help address this gap, she founded LEAP Africa. LEAP is an acronym for leadership, effectiveness, accountability and professionalism.



“The vision was to inspire and empower the next generation of African leaders. LEAP is 21 years old today and we work in eight African countries. I was the founder and on the board until this year.”



In 2007, Nwuneli’s husband suffered from a gunshot to his knee, which led the family to relocate to Senegal.



“He took a job with a private equity fund in Senegal. I have always wanted to make an impact in the food ecosystem and I thought this was a good opportunity to solve the food problem. My first project was with Oxfam [International], who needed a West African strategy for the food crisis and from then on, I started writing a lot of reports in and around Africa. That is what has birthed what we call Sahel Consulting, which now works across Africa, and our head office is in Abuja. I am the chair of the board.”



Nwuneli believes Africa can feed itself and the world. Through her consultancy work, she advises various institutions on how to improve the food scarcity issues plaguing Africa. That was when she moved on to her next venture, Aace Foods.



“I came up with Aace Foods because I realized so much of the food in Africa was imported and, as a continent, we had a high rate of malnutrition. Aace Foods processes food from local African farmers like spices and snacks, and our vision is to displace imports and also nourish our people,” says Nwuneli.



She has now come full circle when it comes to agriculture. Through her not-for-profit organization, African Food Changemakers, Nwuneli provides a platform for food and agriculture entrepreneurs in 37 countries to scale their business and change the food narrative on the continent.

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‘What Is Going To Save Africa Is Not Poverty Alleviation But Wealth Creation’: Nigerian Entrepreneur On What Can Drive Positive Change

Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo is endeavoring to meet the needs of new moms in the West African region by providing products that are natural and non-toxic.



Mothers shouldn’t have to choose between what works and what is good for their children. This is reportedly the premise behind American A-lister and self-made entrepreneur, Jessica’s Alba’s Honest Company. During her pregnancy in 2008, the actor realized that she couldn’t find affordable natural baby products. Her response was to fill that gap. In 2015, the Honest Company was valued at about $1.7 billion.



Here, on the African continent, Alba’s success story resonated with another new mom–Amal Botanicals’ founder, Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo.



Born in Kaduna State in Nigeria, Isah-Ikharo was surrounded by entrepreneurship. Although her mother and father worked as a lecturer and immigration controller respectively, they both dabbled in side hustles. Isah-Ikharo’s mother opened a provision shop while her dad co-authored a best-selling book on small business and food processing. Isah-Ikharo, however, took an unconventional path towards realizing her entrepreneurial prowess.



Her early career was in the accounting field where she worked as a chartered accountant for various organizations, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service in Nigeria. Her specialism was taxation as well as forensic accounting. The plan was to build her career in the accounting field and perhaps rise to the top with her own firm. That is until she got pregnant and, like Alba, her maternal, protective instincts for her unborn children kicked in.



“I had my triplets in 2013 and that is when my entrepreneurial career started. My children were born premature and, even when I was pregnant, I had a high-risk pregnancy and I was told to stay away from some products and cosmetics. All the products I had bought for my children, which were conventional baby care products, were not suitable for them. I needed something more natural and toxic-free to use on them because they were in the incubator and they were still receiving therapy,” says Isah-Ikharo.



According to a report by news distribution platform, GlobeNewswire, the global baby care products market is estimated to reach $26.84 billion by 2030. In recent years, the term ‘baby products’, which broadly denotes all products made for infants under the age of three, has become increasingly popular.



In Nigeria, in particular, market and consumer data provider, Statista, estimates that the baby and child market segment is expected to grow annually by 19.15% (CAGR 2023–2027).



The problem for Isah-Ikharo was that there were no products on the market that she felt she could trust. That is when she began to do her own research and, with the help of her personal Instagram page, she started sharing how she dealt with taking care of the triplets and the experimental products she was using.



“I was getting response[s] from people asking me what I was using and this was coming from all over Africa. I also discovered that there were other mothers on my page and they needed to hear more from me.”



To help her formulate her products, Isah-Ikharo took a course with a cosmetic science formulation company in London, with a special focus on children. Once she got her certification, she began creating her own unique formulation, which she shared with family and friends.



“They kept demanding it and I needed to put a price on it to help restock my raw materials because I was giving it [away] for free for a while. And that is how Amal Botanicals actually started,” says Isah-Ikharo.



Her first products, which included a moisturizing cream, soothing shea oil, bubbly bath wash and African black bar soap, were immediate best-sellers.



“When I started, I only had the vision. No one understood what I was trying to do and they thought it would not survive. Starting a business for a delicate niche like babies was risky because people are very careful about what they use on their children. So, trust in [the] brand I was building is very important.”



Today, Amal Botanicals is still self-funded and has grown organically with products being shipped to all 36 states in Nigeria as well as to Ghana. But the growth has not been without its challenges.



“One of the difficult challenges we have had relates to sourcing raw materials and we all know how the exchange rate has impacted businesses globally. Right now, most of our packages are still imported because we want to be able to compete with the global brands out there and hence, there is [a] high cost of importation. Our packages are imported from China and the back and forth from our manufacturers can become very tedious,” says Isah-Ikharo.



With minimal barriers to entry in Nigeria, Isah-Ikharo has her vision cut out for her–of becoming one of the biggest suppliers of quality natural baby care products.



“The beauty industry in Nigeria is plagued by people with substandard products. Because it is easy to enter, we have people with no certification mixing products together without following the due process of formulation and this can be dangerous to customers, and harms our industry,” says Isah-Ikharo.



But like Alba, Isah-Ikharo is determined to build a leading baby care brand in Africa and with sales of her products consistently selling out, the future certainly looks bright.

Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo of Amal Botanicals, image supplied

More Than An Infant Business: How This Nigerian Entrepreneur Is Getting Baby Care Right

<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-spencer-hornefounder-and-ceo-cloudlinesouth-africa">Spencer Horne Founder and CEO, Cloudline South Africa</h3>



Savoring the mild nippy weather in New York City, a far cry from South Africa’s autumn sun, Spencer Horne seems to have come full circle.



The Spencer Horne who was born in the small community of Kales River, Cape Town.



The Spencer Horne who, from an early age, developed “an obsession” for engineering fueled by his love for trains.



The Spencer Horne who grew up as a dreamer and has always been keenly aware of this rhetoric of structure versus agency; what determines outcomes for individuals or communities?



The Spencer Horne who is in New York, a long way from home, ready to answer this question with regard to his business, Cloudline.



This should be a full circle moment for him, but it is not.



“It doesn&#8217;t seem like it because I feel like the work is only just beginning,” Horne chuckles in a Zoom interview with FORBES AFRICA.



Using battery- and solar-powered propulsion to deliver carbon emission-free flight operations, Cloudline is an aerospace company building a network of autonomous airships that delivers goods and services across the globe. According to Horne, air is an “underutilized resource”. Getting anything into the air in general is difficult as also expensive. “[For conventional aircraft], putting those aircraft in the air comes at a high capital cost and keeping them there comes at a very high energy cost,” Horne elaborates. &#8220;That&#8217;s expensive in monetary terms; it&#8217;s expensive in carbon terms. And we are at the heart of the technology that we&#8217;ve developed to address those two major barriers to more widespread use of the air for getting things done.”



When Cloudline started out, they identified the infrastructural gaps that exist within African regions and saw a massive opportunity.



This is the key role that Horne plays in the agricultural space. Although he does not constitute Cloudline exclusively as an agritech, their business contributes significantly to farmers.



“I think in the agricultural sector, in particular, we&#8217;ve seen the role data has played in transforming the way in which precision agriculture is being done.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="665" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC02238-1-1024x665.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58472" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC02238-1-1024x665.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC02238-1-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC02238-1-768x499.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC02238-1-1536x998.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC02238-1-2048x1330.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">&nbsp;Horne with Mbali Gushu, chief operating officer, and Anton Erasmus, chief engineer.&nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div>


Precision agriculture is a part of the larger conversation around the green revolution. According to experts, this way of farming uses data from multiple sources to improve cultivation for farmers, whether it is used for crop yields and/or to increase the cost-effectiveness of crop management strategies including fertilizer inputs, irrigation management, and pesticide application.



Afgri, a South African agricultural services company, thinks of this type of farming as “site-specific and information-specific”. 



“If you think about Cloudline in the context of the way in which data is gathered today, that&#8217;s against the backdrop of satellites…so this is one of the big places where Cloudline plays a role in that agricultural revolution. And to tie it in with more mainstream applicability, and lowering costs, we can think about the ways in which that grows these markets. From just the top-tier largest commercial farms, it makes it more accessible to more people. That is the kind of thing that makes both business sense and development sense.”



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Improving yield, efficiency and profitability in agriculture comes down to the harvesting of technology. At its forefront are the agritech innovators bringing transformative change to the continent’s green economy. FORBES AFRICA profiles some of Africa’s biggest agripreneurs, inventors, and agribusiness leaders changing the way we think about farming, food security and climate resilience. They have cultivated a passion for smart agriculture and are leading the charge for social change not only for the sector but for the continent – and for humanity’s sustainable future.



<a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/shop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read about all the innovators in our June/July issue by getting 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/2023/06/twitter-banner-agri-1024x341.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58451" width="592" height="196" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/twitter-banner-agri-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/twitter-banner-agri-300x100.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/twitter-banner-agri-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/twitter-banner-agri-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/twitter-banner-agri-2048x683.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px" /></figure></div>

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Africa’s Green Economy: ‘AIR IS AN UNDERUTILIZED RESOURCE’

Gaurav Dhar, a tech investor and second generation fintech entrepreneur in Dubai, has a keen eye on the sector in Africa, saying the continent will see larger and larger funds coming into enabling environments–and there are also some key lessons from the Middle East.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center">
“THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA HAS ITS OWN PATH OF ADOPTION FOR TECHNOLOGY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE DIFFERENT ECONOMIES… THERE IS HUGE POTENTIAL BUT THE UNLOCKING OF IT HAS TAKEN DIFFERENT TRAJECTORIES…”
</blockquote>



At the Dubai Fintech Summit in May, Gaurav Dhar is outside the lavish Madinat Jumeirah hotel where the event is being held, walking out of the venue into the afternoon sun in a dapper blue suit. Like the weather by this chic coastal property, he is warm and welcoming, referring to our chat a few weeks earlier.



As the Group CEO of Marshal Fintech Partners, these are the events you will typically find him at in the spiffy Middle Eastern emirate, those that focus on investments, fintechs, startups, venture capital, entrepreneurship and innovation.



Just like Dubai, the city he was born and raised in, his specialties too are as dynamic and diverse. 



Like any third generation expatriate, Dhar says he has a great sense of pride locating his activities out of the glistening emirate, yet doing business for the world, even for Africa.



“I consider myself an ambassador of the UAE. I have Indian roots, but for all intents and purposes, I consider myself an honorary Emirati. Because there is this pride when you [have been] part of the story of building this country in some way, shape or form.” Dhar’s grandfather came to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the early 1970s to become the General Manager of General Motors, when the country had just been carved out as seven emirates from its hitherto existence as the Trucial States.



Dubai was still a dusty city being developed around a port, bringing in tidings and tidy profits from the sea.



“The UAE was its own little paradise, and now is this behemoth global player… Our business evolved along with the country–it was a very side-by-side story,” says Dhar about how after his grandfather, his father, Anil, too followed in the late 1970s and took to “the landscape that was fresh, exciting, mixed and new”.



He worked at Unilever and Texas Instruments before “manifesting his own destiny” and deciding to go his own, turning around an office furniture and supplies company, slowly implementing it also as a technology-focused enterprise, incorporating typewriters, photocopiers and fax machines, as more and more businesses in the region started looking for ways to formalize and store work.



“My father wanted to follow the next trend…and understand the space where again, he could control his own destiny, as opposed to waiting for Xerox or Microsoft to tell him what to do, how to build or what his revenue could be,” recalls Dhar. Called Marshal Equipment and Trading LLC, the company started in the UAE, expanding across the Gulf Cooperation Council states and Africa. “It has been profit-generating for over 35 years and consistently growing,” says Dhar, speaking from his new office on Dubai’s ritzy Sheikh Zayed Road, also home to the almost-kilometer-long Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. When his father started his business, it was in a small office in Deira–a historic district bursting with character, old forts, wind towers, the legendary Clock Tower and the shimmering waters of the creek.



As a curious child growing up in this space, watching the business evolve, Dhar’s answer to questions while studying at Doon School in India was always that the family was in “payments technology”. His mind was already on the job.



The business grew from one country to another and so did the public penchant for payments technology slowly gaining currency in the boardrooms and bourses of Dubai as “people also started understanding the blocks that make up the fintech system”.



When Dhar–who studied law at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and calls himself “a second generation fintech entrepreneur”–first started exploring fintech, it also took a little convincing to get Dhar’s dad, who is 70 this year, to get on board.



“When we started talking in 2015 about the concept of nonprofit generating companies that are pure valuation-based, you can imagine his reaction, as a businessman, it was initially to say this is not going to fly, this is not going to work as a concept, because it’s very easy to spend money, but it’s very difficult to make money.”



Dhar started spending time in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India and other places to understand more of what was happening in the “high-risk, high-return, high-failure-rate” venture capital space in this regard.



About seven years ago, Dhar, in his personal capacity, started investing in fintech in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the United States, and three years ago, the company’s name changed to Marshal Fintech Partners–as it got acquired by a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East.



With over 19 years of experience under his belt in various aspects of business, Dhar now has a well entrenched interest in fintech ecosystems and solutions.



“It’s very exciting to be a part of this evolution, where the ecosystem from a startup or investing point of view has started maturing and we were part of that as it started again…



“If I were to have an intellectual conversation in detail about payments technology with my father, he is extremely wellequipped, because he was there as it was being written, assembled, and literally adopted by all parts of the ecosystem in the Middle East, so he’s extremely capable,” smiles Dhar.



The business growth has been organic, as the entire ecosystem works mutually on codependency and reciprocal relationships from a technology, landscape, business and venture capital perspective. Along the evolution journey, through these collaborative interactions, Dhar says he has also formed networks and friends with “tangible value exchange” and “a genuine desire” to drive economic growth and create job opportunities in the Middle East and Africa.



The Middle East has historical ties with Africa, and Dhar continues to build connections on the continent, often featuring founders of African fintechs and Web3 startups on the podcast series (on Spotify, Apple, YouTube) he hosts every week. “The continent of Africa has its own path of adoption for technology, infrastructure and the different economies… there is huge potential but the unlocking of it has taken different trajectories…



“Let’s not forget that the Middle East has a lot of sovereign wealth, and they have been engaging in investing internationally for decades…So along with that wealth comes access to knowledge, learning, and exposure, so it has been much faster.



“I think the African continent again has it in pockets, but it’s not been [able to] move that timeline faster to have the whole continent benefiting from the influx of capital. So these are very separate ecosystems with different outcomes,” he says.



But there is no doubt there are massive opportunities and synergies between both regions.



“What you’re going to see is larger and larger funds in Africa, either pooled from Europe, or within Africa itself. Entrepreneurship still needs funding and fueling.”



“Whoever is going to be the most-friendly regulator is going to win, then the most-friendly telco operator is going to gain massively; and then the third is with the government allowing people to understand subsidized ecosystems to spark long-term talent staying in those ecosystems, and the understanding of educating properly what is happening in that ecosystem.” Effective partnerships between the government and the private sector is one thing the Middle East has done extremely well, he adds. 



“They have written the playbook for this essentially–the marriage between the government or the federal ecosystem and the private sector has been very close. They talk to each other and push each other to do bigger and better things. And one of these things in the UAE is the venture capital space. And that perhaps is something that needs to happen more in Africa.”



Also a board member of the MENA FinTech Association, a trip to Africa is on the cards soon, but when Dhar is not spending his time on advisory boards and “giving back” to the entrepreneurial community, he dabbles in his other interests: F&amp;B, collecting vintage cars and hosting vintage car rallies every year, where all roads eventually lead to Dubai.

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Guru Of Fintech: The Dubai Entrepreneur With An Eye On Africa

Reitumetse Kholumo, the 25-year-old founder of Kwela Brews, is working to ensure that indigenous knowledge systems and makers of homegrown alcohol (umqombothi) earn their rightful place in South Africa’s formal economy.



In apartheid-era South Africa, it was popularly known that if women could not find domestic work, they would turn to brewing beer in their backyard – even though it was illegal– as a means of making ends meet. Eventually, alcohol was supplied at scale that largely supplanted these traditional brewers.



While women from all walks of life are no longer excluded from working in the formal alcohol market, monopolies such as pay disparities continue to reign.



This is something 25-year-old Reitumetse Kholumo hopes to change.



She was in her second year of chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, when on a field trip to one of the top brewers in the country, what stood out for her was the lack of representation.



She was studying bioprocessing and curious about indigenous African beverages, sought lessons in brewing from her grandmother.



Later on, she did a humanities elective about how engineering affects the broader public, specifically with a lens on how the profession was used to engineer apartheid. “I then looked at things a bit differently, being conscious of the fact that if I become a brewer, I’m just one brewer, but there are so many African women who are brewing on the ground, and the engineering solutions that exist do not address their problems,” she says to FORBES AFRICA.



Kholumo entered the informal industry from a bio-engineering perspective, believing the challenges to be efficiency and safety. 



While these are valid concerns, once she met the women making beer, she found other more pressing issues.



“When I met more women, their issues were more related to the market itself – they don’t have consistent buyers.”



Part of the reason was the prevalence of low-cost tier beers competing with traditionally-brewed beer.



“The women that brew authentic traditional African beer, they know how to brew safely. Efficiency is something that we are building on in a way that will complement their indigenous knowledge and how they usually brew.”



As the founder of Kwela Brews, Kholumo isn’t going to impose her ideas but rather collaborate with the women to assess the process, and see what they can adopt in their daily practices.



Kwela Brews became a distributor to solve the main problem: finding regular buyers in their relevant low-income communities.



“So, what we do is we pay the women for the brews, and we also supply them with the ingredients that they like. They’re my bosses, if anything,” she laughs.



In 2022, Kwela Brews began testing the market with products – going to Jazz in the Native Yards, a concert hosting South African musicians, primarily held in the Gugulethu township of Cape Town.



They have also now partnered with a local restaurant in Stellenbosch that sees traffic from international students and tourists, so they are widening their reach. 



“In the near future, we’re going to be doing tastings and collaborating on events just to de-risk it for them, but also so that we can learn what the market requires.”



Still completing her master’s degree in chemical engineering at Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, Kholumo’s broader interests are the beneficiation of indigenous bio-products when it comes to nutraceuticals and therapeutics. “What I want more than anything is to create a space where indigenous brews are appreciated, as they come from the indigenous knowledge-holders.” 



She says each batch of her brew tastes different because it will have different micro-organisms, which are good for people’s gut microbiomes. 



“Different women from different tribes will have different ways of brewing, and this is all over sub-Saharan Africa. So I feel like there’s a lot of potential there.”



While she received R20,000 ($1,100) in funding from the University of Cape Town’s student pitch competition, hosted by Akro, along with UCT InvestSoc and UCT Entrepreneurs Society in 2021, she quickly used the startup money. In 2022, she was on the Mastercard Foundation program that gave her another R120,000 ($6,500). And even though it’s an alcoholic product, she wants to eventually get certification about benefits for gut microbiome. She’s raising the bar for homegrown alcohol to be distributed and sold at scale. After all, as they say in South Africa, local is lekker (good).

Kholumo hopes to change the landscape for indigenous brew-masters1

Stirring It Up: The 25-Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Wants to Put South African Traditional Beer Makers On The Map

Despite the public roasting Levi’s took for flirting with AI, smaller clothing sellers who model their own products online maintain a growing interest in replacing themselves with the computer-generated kind.



On Tracy Porter’s&nbsp;clothing site, it’s all Tracy Porter.



Thin, blonde and 5-foot-10, the 55-year-old entrepreneur poses in each and every one of her designs. Her husband uses his iPhone to snap pictures, which they often take on the wildflower-strewn bluffs overlooking the beach 15 minutes from their home in California’s Santa Ynez Valley, before uploading them to their e-commerce site, The Porter Collective. There, you can see Porter in her striped midi dress, in her multicolor crocheted cardigan and in her black-and-white rattan visor.



Porter said she’s been searching for ways to replace herself as a model, not only to lighten the load but to bring some diversity to the site. Humans, however, are prohibitively expensive. So she’s been testing a new artificial-intelligence service from Israeli startup&nbsp;<a href="https://botika.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Botika</a>. She said the images look so realistic that when she showed her sons, they told her she was out of a job.



“I’m actually excited about that. I don’t want to be our model anymore,” Porter said with a laugh.



After Levi’s endured a scorching backlash in March for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.levistrauss.com/2023/03/22/lsco-partners-with-lalaland-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its plan</a>&nbsp;to bring more diversity to the site with AI-generated models – critics flayed the company, which had 2022 sales of $6.2 billion, for not simply hiring more humans – it would be no surprise if big clothing retailers have gotten skittish about using, or admitting they use, nonhuman models. That same public disapproval hasn’t yet extended to the many mom-and-pop clothing shops, whose budgets, like Tracy Porter’s, would collapse under the costs of professional hair, makeup and photography – even without inflation, rising borrowing costs and a recession that feels as if it’s been looming forever.



Services like Botika let brands easily display their clothing on various (computer-generated) fashion models. However, they are still working to add more ages, body shapes and ethnicities.BOTIKA



“In the current economy, customers are mostly looking to optimize costs,” said Eran Dagan, cofounder and CEO of Botika, which caters to small businesses and plans to start subscriptions for its AI model service at just $15 a month. It’s preparing to launch on Shopify and has a waiting list of over 1,000 customers. Dagan said Botika has gotten interest from sellers on resale platforms like Poshmark and Depop, where entrepreneurs typically photograph clothing on themselves and crop out their heads.



Another company in the space,&nbsp;<a href="https://lalaland.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lalaland</a>&nbsp;— which is still set to power Levi’s attempt to go AI — said its recent growth has been driven mainly by small and medium-sized businesses. While the company declined to disclose revenue figures, cofounder and CEO Michael Musandu said business has picked up significantly over the last eight months and sales have grown by eight- or nine-fold.



“We’re helping emerging brands that are just starting out and have zero budgets, or low budgets, to actually plan photoshoots,” said Musandu. “We really help level the playing field by representing the underdog.”



The fact remains that for everyone, photoshoots are pricey, and while shoppers are increasingly demanding that clothes be shown on a variety of models, no brand has an unlimited budget to do that. Tracy Porter used to hire outside photographers, models and hair and makeup stylists to shoot her products, but it would cost $5,500 every time she brought them out. If she outsourced photography for her multimillion-dollar business today, she estimates it would set her back $500,000 a year. “It’s just too much money,” she said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“What I’d like to do is take an image and see it on different sizes. Small, medium and large. But I don’t want to have to hire all the people to do that.”Tracy Porter, small business owner
</blockquote>



Which is how Porter landed on modeling the clothes herself. However, that makes it difficult for shoppers with a different body shape or ethnicity to get a sense for how her products would look on them. “What I’d like to do is take an image and see it on different sizes. Small, medium and large. But I don’t want to have to hire all the people to do that,” said Porter. “Because there will be no profit left in our company and we’ll have to close.”



Another small business owner, Jacob Flores, is looking forward to more easily finding models that reflect his customer base. The 50-year-old former web designer from San Antonio, whose online store Blissfully Brand sells skintight dresses, skater skirts and bell bottoms in colorful prints inspired by fashion from the 1960s and 1970s, has a lot of customers in their 40s and 50s. But many models for hire tend to be much younger.



Flores recently started using Lalaland, where he can hand-select digital models from a library, dress them in his products and upload the images to his site without leaving the house. For $300 a month, he gets 50 images, enabling him to display more of his clothing on models much faster. He was previously limited to doing photoshoots four times a year, where he would pay $900 to get as many shots of a few models in 20 outfits as he could in two hours.



Now he plans to do photoshoots just once or twice a year on location so he can show his clothing at the beach or on a city street. He also sees AI being helpful with social media ads, allowing him to target certain audiences with tailored images.



Richard Evans, founder of wellness startup Juro Miru, also opted to include some shots on AI models to launch his new e-commerce site, in addition to images of clothing laid on a flat surface.



Startup Juro Miru displays some of its products on AI models.SCREENSHOT OF JURO MIRU WEBSITE



As for shoppers, it can be impossible for them to tell whether they’re looking at a real or fake model. There are no clear rules for disclosure, although companies are beginning to think about it. TikTok is reportedly working on a tool that will give creators a way to say whether they’ve used generative AI.



“When you’re presenting an image that could easily be mistaken for an actual person, I think you should disclose that it’s a computer-generated image,” said David Danks, a professor at the University of California, San Diego whose research explores the ethical issues around artificial intelligence.



Porter is wrestling with this question, among others. “How would you even know? Do we have to say? Are we supposed to say? There are a lot of questions,” she said. Her friends seem afraid of AI and have told her they think it will put models out of work. “It’s a constant dinner table conversation for us.”



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurendebter/"></a>By Lauren Debter, Forbes Staff

Pacific Islander woman wearing artificial technology mask

Clothing Entrepreneurs Can’t Wait To Fire Themselves As Models And Hire The AI Kind Instead

Tanzania’s beer-guzzlers have a locally-brewed option as this entrepreneur attempts to change the country’s drinking culture with a social enterprise.



By Inaara Gangji



&#8220;Tanzania has a rich beer history. Each tribe has its own beer. They were producing beer [even] before the Germans,” Swiss native and Tanzania-resident Raphael Flury says, in an interview with FORBES AFRICA.



That was perhaps the impetus for running his own outfit – a first-of-its-kind craft brewery and brewpub located in Arusha, Tanzania 



When Flury acquired Twiga Brewery and its talented team in 2015, he wanted to offer more options to the Tanzanian market as an alternative to wine and mainstream beers. He got on board Tanzanian native Damian Mosoka as the head brewer, and more locals from the community to create locally-crafted beer.



“It was a desire for better beer but also to combine job creation and social impact. We did the research and thought this would be an interesting way to enter the beverage industry. We wanted to learn on the job about how this industry works,” says Flury.


<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/2023/05/tanzania-beer.png" alt="" class="wp-image-58088" width="407" height="309" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/tanzania-beer.png 407w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/tanzania-beer-300x228.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


The brewery is his second sustainable venture; the first being an organic food company. It was a natural instinct to work with local staff and build capacity before expanding.



In line with its mission, Twiga focuses on premium beers and offering customers an experience – 80% of his client-base is Tanzanian.



“We do small quantities, which is typical for a craft brewery. All our ingredients are of the highest quality, and we give it plenty of time to develop flavors. We aim to offer the customer a fresh tasting beer,” adds Saphira von Moos, Flury’s COO.



Served on draft and bottled, the beer aims to be all-natural, unlike industrial beer produced on a large scale.



“People deserve a premium product, brewed the German way. It is unfiltered with no additives,” echoes Mosoka. However, their challenge is to convince the beer-favoring Tanzanian consumer that locally brewed beer is good, especially since it’s not standard in the market.



“We have an innovative product and a lot of customer interaction as well. You can touch the brewery [the machines and processes] which is an innovative concept in Tanzania.



“Not a lot of people know what a brewery is… but we are constantly trying to change the beer culture, and that Tanzanian SMEs can make quality products just as [well] as international brands,” says Flury.



Another challenge is to convince customers that beers are best enjoyed cold, which is how it is served fresh from the draft. “It’s fun to do all this work and take the customer with you on this journey…” avers von Moos, who also has a mandate to encourage women to join in key production jobs at the brewery.



At the end of the day, Flury wants to be a role model and show other companies that it is possible to create and sustain equitable businesses in Tanzania. 



“As a social enterprise, we mirror our values in the company too. It’s a marathon, it’s not easy, but we want to be sustainable and a hub for young Tanzanian talent,” he says.

tanzania

Tapping Into The Market: What’s Brewing In Tanzania

With over 600 young brand ambassadors and/or business leaders expected to be part of the four-day event, the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa kicked off in Botswana’s economic and political capital, Gaborone, on April 23.



Thousands gathered in Botswana’s capital Gaborone yesterday, April 23, in the historic Main Mall and square, for the pan-African opening of the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa, held for a second year in the southern Africa city.



The four-day event kicked off with celebrations at the outdoor shopping and commercial hub as summit delegates and members of the public swayed to live on-stage music featuring energetic performances from some of Africa’s finest musical talent including Sauti Sol, Stabito, local Botswana artist Dato Seiko and one of the country’s rising stars, ATI.



South African Grammy award-winner Nomcebo Zikode also enthralled the audience with her foot-tapping music and viral smash single, Jerusalema.&nbsp;



The eager crowds gathered outside the Cresta President Hotel, known as a legacy hotel, overlooking the main stage.



“I am thrilled to be attending the 2023 summit,” said Muhle Ndwalane, the Managing Director of Asante Tech Solutions&nbsp;and FORBES AFRICA’s 2022 Under-30 lister. “This is one incredible platform that brings together some of the brightest minds and most innovative leaders from across the world.”



“With this being the first day of the summit, we have really been having fun,” said FORBES AFRICA’s 2021 Under-30 lister, filmmaker and creative director, Ifan Ifeanyi Michael, during the festivities.



“Apart from it being fun, it&#8217;s actually such a good networking experience for me. Meeting people from all parts of the continent, and all over the world; sharing business ideas, and also connecting with individuals who are also very optimistic about changing the narrative of Africa.”



Throughout the summit, attendees are looking forward to riveting conversations with change-makers from Africa and across the globe including the continent’s youngest billionaire Mohammed Dewji and Grammy award-winning artist Davido (who is also set to perform at the Bush Party), but part of the “fun” will be hearing from some of the past listers as well continuing the African growth story.



“This year I’m at the summit to speak on the topic of securing equitable funding, with fellow FORBES AFRICA listers Shaun Shoriwa and Charlot Magayi,” said Dr Brett Lyndall Singh, 2022 Under 30 list-maker, and founder and CEO of AOM GrouP.



“Last year, I came to the summit as an excited delegate, eager to learn from successful young entrepreneurs, and I ended up meeting a fellow lister, who became my co-founder! This year, I’m here to hear more! This summit is the most important event for any serious young entrepreneur, and I’m excited to share, learn and support this wonderful community.”



Held under the theme Entrepreneurial Africa—with Botswana at the Center, the summit will start day two with conversations and panel discussions with several African leaders and elite entrepreneurs, at the Botswana Innovation Hub.

Copy of Copy of Ilan Godfrey for Forbes_T1A5622

‘This Summit Is The Most Important Event For Any Serious Young Entrepreneur’: The Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa Opens In Gaborone 

Winifred Nwania is using her status as a YouTuber and influencer to seek out Nigeria’s rich repertoire of ingredients and recipes to put her country on the global food map.



When Winifred Nwania was 12 years old, her world turned upside down. The happy, idyllic life she and her six siblings were accustomed to in Lagos in Nigeria was shattered overnight when their father passed away.



“In the Igbo culture [of Nigeria], when a person loses her husband, the husband’s relatives come and make life really difficult for the woman, especially if they don’t like her and that was the case for my family. They took my father’s assets, his properties and everything he owned from us and my mother had to start life from scratch,” says Nwania.



In that tragic moment, Nwania would serendipitously find her calling. Noticing her brothers were hungry, Nwania decided to step up to give her mother a breather during the mourning period.



“I don’t know where that strength came from but I decided to do something for my brothers who were hungry and wanted to eat. So, I made the worst pot of jollof rice ever in my life but because I had this winning spirit that my dad had taught me, I changed my strategy the next day,” recalls Nwania.



The next day she decided to enlist the help of her mother. In between running back and forth from the family kitchen to her mother’s room for instructions, Nwania made her second pot of food and this time, it came out a lot better. That was all Nwania needed to convince her that she wanted to spend the rest of her life in the kitchen, cooking for all.



As fate would have it, during her one-year mandatory tenure as a National Youth Service Corps, the Nigerian government introduced an initiative called the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development program to help everyone learn a skill before they left the youth camp.



“It came to my mind that I loved to cook and so I looked for a catering trainer in the camp and I joined her class and the first [dish] she cooked was with yam. She made a yam piccata and I still have the picture to this day. I was so intrigued by how she transformed the yam and I said this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I made up my mind that I [would] delve deeper and make something out of this,” says Nwania.



But first she needed to pay her bills. After graduating from the camp, she joined an oil and gas company where she worked in the finance department to help foot her daily expenses but reserved the weekends for learning all she could about catering.



“I would go online, and on social media for articles and videos and the next step was to go to culinary school. The prices in Nigeria were too high and I couldn’t afford it at the time. So, I decided to go to the website of the school and I went to their curriculum section and saw that they had put the names of the books and the materials that they were going to use to teach the students. So, I took down all the names of the books and I bought them myself and trained myself by practicing in the kitchen.”



Nwania decided to post the images of her culinary creations on her Blackberry phone and soon began to get recipe requests from her followers. Her sister introduced the idea of blogging to Nwania and before long she was building a steady following online.



“I wasn’t really excelling in my nine-to-five job anymore. I was given a task and I was making so many errors and mistakes. My boss came and asked me why. He decided to check my computer and saw that I had so many windows opened about food. None of it had anything to do with my actual job at work and my boss said ‘if you want to go and cook in the kitchen why don’t you go and do that instead of sitting here’. And that is when it hit me. I quit my job without a plan,” laughs Nwania.



Her first plan was to have her own cooking channel and she reached out to every network she could find for a TV spot. No one responded. Yet again, her sister came to her rescue with another plan. This time, she suggested Nwania create her own YouTube channel and self-publish her content.



“At that time, YouTube was not that much of a big deal. So, I went on the platform and there was no one there I could look up to. So, I got a one-man production company and our goal was to get 5,000 subscribers but in the first six months, we got over 50,000 subscribers and grew so fast.”



Zeelicious Food was born. Today, Nwania boasts her own cooking show, My Naija Plate, on DSTv’s Honey TV where she has aired two seasons. She her own cook book and a lucrative YouTube channel with over 840,000 subscribers. Her videos average over a million views with brand partnerships from telco companies and other brands wanting to tap into her growing audience as an influencer.



“The main goal was to actually put Nigerian food on the global food map and help people with the opportunity to have a food repertoire. We are blessed with a very rich array of ingredients and I took it upon myself to research and use them to develop recipes that the people in this part of the world can relate to. The feedback has been amazing with people [even] telling me how I am saving their marriage by helping them be better cooks,” says Nwania.



Next up in building her food empire is to become a qualified nutritionist. Looking back on that fateful day when she was 12, Nwania believes everything happened for a reason. She ponders out loud at the end of our call that it was her mother’s tenacity in the face of unimaginable difficulty that made her a successful food entrepreneur.

Why Success Is On The Menu For This Nigerian Chef

Darey Art Alade of Livespot 360 is using innovation and ideas to build out Nigeria’s entertainment and experiential events industry.



Darey Art Alade and his wife Deola are the powerhouse duo behind one of Nigeria’s leading creative companies, Livespot 360.



From launching global entertainment formats such as The Real Housewives of Lagos and The Voice to producing Last One Laughing, shooting commercials and creating viral radio jingles in Nigeria, Art Alade and Deola, who wear the hats of creative director and CEO respectively, have been at the helm of cutting-edge experiential events in Nigeria for the last decade.



Art Alade also moonlights as one of Nigeria’s most sought-after musical talents and event hosts. His foray into the content production and event space began in his early years when chance and preparation got him his first gig on the radio. Born in Lagos, he grew up surrounded by music. His father was a legendary media personality and musician who counted Nigerian icons like Fela Kuti amongst his friends. His parents met when they were both singing in a church choir years ago which incidentally is also where Art Alade honed his skills as a musician.



“I learned how to make commercials, interview people etc, from the radio. One day, someone hosting the morning show opened up an opportunity for me by not showing up for work and I was there, ready, prepped and I took over and the opportunity built itself. Everything was all about time and chance,” says Art Alade to FORBES AFRICA.



From that early opportunity, Art Alade became the go-to name for event hosting, wedding ceremonies and corporate launches in Nigeria.



“Along the way I met my wife and we ended up releasing and promoting my first album and from then on we continued to make music. We set up a record label and she was running a design outfit at the time and we came together and there was always ideas and creativity and that’s how we started out doing things together and we went into the creative space,” recollects Art Alade.



Nigeria’s creative industry is the second-largest employer set to account for about 2.7 million jobs by 2025 according to research by Jobberman, Nigeria’s leading career site.



Like many things in Africa, innovation comes from a lack of infrastructure or scarcity of resources and Art Alade saw this lack in the entertainment space as an opportunity to provide a solution.



“A lot of things we wanted to do at that time couldn’t be done because there was no infrastructure or experience so it was necessity that forced us to create our own experiences,” says Art Alade.



The first experience they created was Love Like A Movie, a Vegas-style experience where music meets theater at the intersection of cutting-edge production – with Kim Kardashian even flying out to join the party. That was the first time in Nigeria’s entertainment history that a solo artist had launched an album like this.



“I was one of the first to engage in what everyone is doing as a template when it comes to launching an album. So, you have a body of work and then it’s time to perform that body creatively, then you invite the whole industry and make it an experience. That happened years ago and I set the trend as a solo artist,” says Art Alade.



That gave birth to the first iteration of Livespot. As word-of-mouth spread, Livespot production morphed into a content ideation and execution hub responsible for the entire 360-degree delivery of brand activations. The company is so busy that during our call at 9PM, Art Alade was still on set



putting the final touches together for their new experiential event, Gangs of Lagos, Amazon Prime’s first Nigerian Original, which is set to launch in a week. From Heineken to Apple, Netflix to Showmax, Livespot 360 has built a clientele of both blue-chip Nigerian companies and multibillion-dollar global industry giants who have a vision of sampling the growing Nigerian creative space.



“We want to be the go-to creative solutions company not just in Nigeria but across the globe. We want people to come into Nigeria through our eyes because we understand the challenges on the ground. A lot of global brands want to come into the country but sometimes what happens globally doesn’t apply here and you need a nuanced understanding on the ground and the infrastructure to navigate the challenging waters here.”



Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy with over 200 million inhabitants so it is no wonder that all the global entertainment companies are making a play to capture a share of this market. From music labels like Sony Music and Roc Nation to the National Basketball Association’s establishment of NBA Africa and Amazon and Netflix, it’s boom time for Nigeria’s creatives.



“I think the Nigerian entertainment industry is flying but we must not get carried away because it is very important to translate a lot of the hype to actual success. It is about building for the future and we have to invest more and more in infrastructure as well as people by training and educating our technical hands. When the hype is gone, just like Bollywood had its peak, how are we going to trickle that down on the value chain and not just internationally but in Nigeria to invest in the people that will solidify the success?” says Art Alade.



And that is where Livespot 360 wants to make a difference. From investing in people and technology, the company hopes to continue contributing to the Nigerian creative industry and owning the platforms that will shape Nigeria’s entertainment future.

Darey Art Alade, image supplied

Insights Into Nigeria’s Booming Entertainment Industry

For Rachel Moré-Oshodi of RUWAH, financial literacy is a major issue that needs to be tackled to end the cycle of generational poverty for many Africans on the continent.



A basic understanding of your financial health goes a long way in not only how you plan your economic wellbeing but also how healthy an economy is. These small micro financial decisions are so crucial that they are learned by most people by the age of seven, according to Rachel Moré-Oshodi, an investment professional turned entrepreneur, with her solution to teach children about financial literacy called RUWAH.



RUWAH, is a prepaid debit card and financial literacy platform on a mission to educate kids and teens in Africa about generational wealth. As a former investment banker, Moré-Oshodi defines wealth as not just money; wealth is about having a purpose and vision for your life and going for it. She learned the importance of wealth-building after a bitter personal experience – when she lost her father to cancer.



“Growing up, money was not spoken about. When my father died 23 years ago, there was no will that we could find and my mum and kids lost everything. We had a legal battle with some of [my dad’s] family members over assets and we are still in court today,” says Moré-Oshodi.



Originally from Cameroon, she has spent a significant amount of her life helping to raise investments for organizations such as the World Bank, Rand Merchant Bank and Total Energies. But even with that breadth of experience, it was not until 15 years ago that she truly understood the importance of having a firm grasp on financial literacy.



“I have been helping raise money for companies and I thought I knew finance but I didn’t know anything about personal finance. Then I realized I had an issue with money and I didn’t have a relationship with money. The money was just sitting in my bank and going from my paycheck to my bank and I didn’t realize that I had a fear of investing”.



Moré-Oshodi believed it was good and safe to leave the money depreciating in her bank account instead of making the money work for her.



“Until I started to research and educate myself and utilize some of the resources available, that is when things changed. Even though I lost some money, I made so much more and as I was making more money, I wanted to pass it on to my kids.”



So, she started teaching her kids about financial literacy and very soon, friends and family started signing up to learn from her. But it was not until she enrolled on a Harvard program that the idea of RUWAH began to truly crystalize. According to S&amp;P’s global financial literacy survey, African countries score the worst in the world in financial literacy.



For Moré-Oshodi, this is a major issue that needs to be tackled to end the cycle of generational poverty for many Africans on the continent.



“RUWAH is a comprehensive financial literacy program that aims to reduce the knowledge and opportunity gap that exists between kids in Africa and the rest of the world. We teach African kids and teenagers (between seven to 18 years), the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed financially later in life. Our self-paced financial classes, pocket money app, and prepaid debit card will teach them the essentials of personal finance, i.e., what money is, how to earn it, how to save, how to multiply it and use it to achieve their goals,” says Moré-Oshodi.



The goal of the platform is also instilling confidence and providing the foundations for kids and teens to become financially savvy at a young age and secure their financial future intergenerationally. For Moré-Oshodi, tackling this issue requires a psychological approach to looking at money.



“Money is not scarce. It is either you don’t have a good relationship with money or you have an unhealthy relationship with money. In Africa in particular, we feel we cannot make more money and it cannot grow and that is not true. The scarcity mindset instead of the abundance mindset is a real issue. But when you start dealing with that at a later stage it is much more difficult to change that mindset. Money is psychological and money is emotional. Money tells you your value and who you are and where your heart is. I felt instead of dealing with adults, it’s better to deal with children.”



RUWAH leverages technology to make the program accessible to most children in Africa. The platform is device-agnostic as well as user-friendly and tailored specifically to the African landscape, considering the cultural nuances that affects decision-making about money on the continent.

Rachel Moré-Oshodi, pic supplied

‘Scarcity Mindset Instead Of Abundance Mindset A Real Issue In Africa’: The Cameroonian Enabling Financial Literacy

Kene Okwuosa and Moses Babatope set out to deliver world-class movie-going experiences to the Nigerian public and 10 years later, that vision is still going strong.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“We were so passionate about cinema and so passionate about film that not figuring it out was not an option.”
</blockquote>



When Kene Okwuosa and Moses Babatope met for the first time at Odeon Surrey Quays Cinema in London, they had no idea that in just a couple of years they would be redefining the movie-going experience in Nigeria. In October 2002, Babatope was looking for a part-time job while studying at Middlesex University and Okwuosa was the manager in charge of recruiting the new batch of young hopefuls to join the Odeon Cinema universe.



“We had two or three stages in the recruitment process where you speak to a full auditorium and play out an emergency situation. If you do well, then you go to the interview and after your interview, you were told whether you were successful or not. I didn’t have a good session when it came to the scenario part of the interview so I was going to walk myself out when a gentleman called me and said I should do better next time and I am okay to proceed to the next phase. That gentleman was Kene,” recalls Babatope.



A bond was immediately formed between the two gentlemen. Today, they are co-founders of one of the biggest cinema chains, Filmhouse Cinemas, in Nigeria. They are also best friends married to two sisters.



Okwuosa, the group CEO and Babatope, who doubles as the group deputy CEO, offer advanced cinema experiences to the average Nigerian with the official rights to IMAX for the West African region.



In hindsight, the duo never saw their entrepreneurial journey unfolding this way. In fact, there was a time not too long ago that their dream almost didn’t take off.



The duo initially experimented by offering Nigerian movie producers an opportunity to premiere Nollywood movies in the United Kingdom for the first time.



“That was a game-changer. We got real insights about people’s experiences and how they felt during the cinema experience. In all of that, we never thought to ourselves that we can find capital and start our own. Our scenario was ‘let’s go, show our experience and see what happens’,” says Babatope.



Then, they became more audacious.



“The vision started in Nigeria. When we came, we joined a new cinema at the time called Genesis which didn’t go as planned. Our vision was not aligned and we ended up parting ways. But we knew we had to build this thing one way or the other. We were so passionate about cinema and so passionate about film that not figuring it out was not an option. It was an opportunity to step back and say we can do this on our own,” says Okwuosa.



But to have a dream is one thing and finding money to back that dream is another thing entirely.



“We understood that we did not have the last names that would open doors in Nigeria for us to get investment but we were convinced that if we could just get started and figure it out, we would learn and figure it out on the way,” says Okwuosa.



Okwuosa and Babatope spent two years knocking on every conceivable door they could find in Nigeria trying to raise capital and convince investors to bet on them. As luck would have it, the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011 had established a creative industry fund, which was being managed by the Bank of Industry, a development finance institution in Nigeria.



“At this time, we just came from London and we assumed we would fill out a form and wait for the call. We did that and no one called us back. We got as far as being invited to pitch properly for a loan for one million dollars. They were impressed. We had no security or collateral but they were taken by the passion and management expertise we had to set up cinemas,” says Okwuosa.



They became the first company to access the fund and with that injection, they opened their first Filmhouse Cinemas, which was a three-seat cinema in Surulere in December 2012. Okwuosa and Babatope set out to deliver world-class cinema experiences to the Nigerian public and 10 years later, that vision is still going strong.



But Covid-19 was by far the biggest singular challenge they faced as a business and the biggest one they faced professionally.



“Within a period of three months, it looked like everything we had worked hard for during the seven years prior was going to evaporate and this was the reality. I was really depressed,” recalls Babatope.



The company had to close its doors to the public for seven months effectively cutting off all revenue.



“On the one hand, we were not generating anything and on the other hand we had stock that was wasting away. We also had equipment and machinery that needed some access to be maintained so they would be in good working condition when we opened. Also, the government didn’t understand the importance of our sector or prioritized it at all,” says Babatope.



But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. For the budding entrepreneurs at Filmhouse, this came in the form of multimillion blockbuster Nollywood releases as well as the highest-grossing film of all time, Spider-man: No Way Home, when the lockdown ended.



“These were all released in the [peak] of the Omicron [wave] in 2021 and we just hosted the official premiere of Black Panther Wakanda Forever during the Covid era and it’s looking to be the number one film of all time and we are hopeful it will be the first billion-naira film out of our country,” says Babatope.



Another way the company survived was with the help of global streaming platforms that were hungry for quality Nollywood movies. Filmhouse had expanded their offering to also include FilmOne, a content production and distribution business, with a host of blockbuster hits under its belt.



“Back then everything was going to streaming so the catalogue we had built over the years, we were able to monetize that and that was able to help sustain things while the cinema revenue took a hit. As the largest supplier of content to our streaming partners, Netflix and Amazon, everyone wanted content so we were able to boost supply and through that we also strengthened our studio relationships as well,” says Okwuosa.



The company currently stands at 400 employees strong. The key to their continued success they say is their ability to build a sense of community.



“It was a huge part of my growing up so I always understood the power of community. In our time in Odeon, that was the core of everything that drove us passionately. When you think about cinema it is a communal experience as well and that has been at the center of a lot of decisions going forward,” says Okwuosa.

Moses Babatope and Kene Okwuosa

Redefining The Cinema Experience In Nigeria

Désire De Oliveira, a pioneering Civil Blaster and Managing Director of Laduma Blasting in South Africa, has worked in one of the most male-dominated industries of all – construction and mining. And all she wanted to really do was hone her skills as a French pastry chef.



In her 65 years, Désire De Oliveira has never stopped moving, running her own financial accountancy business for 30 years, raising four kids, qualifying as a French pastry chef, and starting the Seaside Lodge B&amp;B in Salt Rock in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province in 2006.



Seaside Lodge B&amp;B remains consistently booked and was one of the accommodation businesses that survived Covid-19.



She’s also the first woman of color in KwaZulu-Natal to be a certified Opencast blaster (mining) and a certified Civil blaster. To put it simply: blasting is where rock gets blown into pieces with small amounts of explosive – a trickier process than one might think.



“Every accountant will tell you, the smaller the gross profit, the bigger the margin – that’s the business you’re looking for,” De Oliveira says to FORBES AFRICA. So when the owner of Laduma Blasting wanted her to partner in the business, due to her knowledge of its operations after doing its books, she agreed to make it her sole focus for one year.



She intended to return to her first passion – baking – after the year was up.



She put up the capital and he put up the blasting knowledge. In her first six months, she brought in significant business. Eventually, De Oliveira took over the company entirely and decided to get qualified as a blaster, while having a licensed blaster on hand to learn from.



It was not an easy road, as industry professionals told her she would need at least 10 years’ experience to find jobs in the sector. In 2015, she received her Learner Civil blaster, by 2016, her Opencast blaster certificate for mining, and in 2021 she finished her Civil blaster requirements.



And she’s managed to get the jobs they said she could not.



“Though everything I have succeeded at seems a walk in the park, that is because I embrace life for what it is. I have no regrets. Every hardship seems to have been used as a challenge. Looking back now and joining the dots, because of my belligerent attitude to life, I’m a non-conformer, not a follower, am also not a pushover, and certainly not a dreamer. Everything I have done, has been done my way – there’s been no mentors. I also do not carry baggage, none at all, life is too short,” De Oliveira explains.



Three of her family members contracted Covid-19 in December 2020, including herself. Her husband Peter Rutsch died due to Covid-19 in January 2021.



“It was a big shock. I missed him because as much as we didn&#8217;t see each other, we were good. He encouraged me. He let me do my thing. He did his thing. Nobody pulled each other back.”



She battled for four months with long Covid. Laduma Blasting was closed for that time too, and she had to pick up the pieces and start work again.



De Oliveira has spent the last 40 years working on average 19 hours a day, 360 days a year, including seeing to the children, cooking and caring for the home.



Home maintenance and childcare is called ‘invisible labor’, and something an Oxfam analysis valued at $10.9 trillion per year globally.



De Oliveira did not have an easy life as a woman of color in apartheid South Africa; facing the double blow of racial discrimination in all sectors including work and patriarchal attitudes, as well as surviving sexual abuse at a young age.



“Like most previously disadvantaged South Africans having lived through apartheid, we came with no capital, were not properly educated, worked hard, but could not command decent salaries – the old adage still prevailed, black people being paid far less than their white counterparts – that’s only starting to change now,” she says.



She thinks every mother in her situation wished for a better education for their children. After the 1994 elections in South Africa, the possibility of a good education started to be a reality, except she and other people did not have the finances to access it.



Now, she has managed to give her children a good education.



“I think I&#8217;ve done that my whole life, working on my own and steering my own ship so I don&#8217;t live off other people. I&#8217;m independent. So, it worked well for me that I didn&#8217;t have anything.”



Despite having long Covid and asthma, De Oliveira is preparing to run the Comrades Marathon for the 13th time this year. And she’s even thinking of opening another business.

Desire De Oliveira, first women in KZN to have a blasting license

Blasting Through The Glass Ceiling In South Africa’s Mining and Construction Sectors

Ghana’s Dikan Centre that opened recently was a result of Paul Ninson’s need to get African creatives to tell the story only they knew best about the continent.



For as long as Paul Ninson can remember, storytelling has always been a part of his DNA. Growing up in Kumasi in southern Ghana with his grandparents, Ninson would fall in love with storytelling by listening to the many community and historical accounts of his village told by his grandparents and decided even from then, that he would contribute in some way to telling his own story.



“I was always looking for a way to express myself. I used to draw a lot when I was a kid and I studied visual arts in school. When I reached university, I studied textiles but it wasn’t enough for me,” says Ninson.



One day, a friend of his returned from the United States with a camera and that is when things began to get interesting. Ninson was introduced to a new world of photography. At the time, he had a side hustle creating graphic designs and printing T-shirts but he decided to wrap that business up and sold his iphone to get himself a camera too.



“I decided to use photography as a medium to express myself and tell my own story. I wanted to tell real stories of my experience as a Ghanaian and my experience as a young man growing up in Ghana and the things I know and things I’ve seen and things I am motivated to talk about,” says Ninson.



To differentiate himself from the other Ghanaian photographers, Ninson adopted some ideas from a book he read called Blue Ocean Strategy. At the time, he was making ends meet as a photographer by taking images during events but he knew photojournalism was his true calling.



Instead of documenting his experiences in Ghana, Ninson decided to invest in telling more of a pan-African story. He saved up money and traveled to a village in Kenya famous for having no men and started snapping.



“My content was different and the pictures I was posting was different. That uniqueness earned me an admission to one of the best photography schools in New York, the International Center of Photography,” recalls Ninson.



All of a sudden, a world of opportunities opened up to Ninson. He spent his free time at the New York public library where he began to immerse himself in the thousands of books and images available to him. That was when he had his biggest epiphany about photography.



“I loved books and the library had pictures of thousands of images about Africa including one of Kwame Nkrumah (Ghanaian politician) which I had never seen before in my life. So, it triggered me to find out why these pictures existed in America thousands of miles away but not in Ghana or Africa for that matter. And that is how the idea of a photo library began.”



Ninson already knew he did not want to graduate and jump into the hustle and bustle of feeding the beast that was the American media industry.



“I did not want to join a queue of photographers waiting to just sell images to the New York Times for example. I was thinking about media in the grand scheme of things and I wanted to build my own ecosystem in Ghana rather than be in a queue and be a supplement to other institutions,” says Ninson.



Today, that small dream has evolved into “the biggest photo library in Africa” as Ninson calls it, the Dikan Center, which opened in December last year with 30,000 books. Ninson has built a media landscape in Ghana to finally empower him and other creatives to tell their own stories and also make



a living out of it. He began by sending books back home and started crowd-funding to raise $1 million to kick-start the center.



“I want to provide visual education for Africans. Now we are more than a library. We have education programs, we have a gallery that stands as a means of distribution. We also have a story lab and studios and a community center which is a space for people to come and enjoy free internet and resources for everyone to hang out and collaborate,” says Ninson.



Africa’s story has in the past always been narrated by outsiders and for people like Ninson, Africans are perfectly capable of telling their own stories. That initial love for storytelling which has followed him all his life has today mushroomed into a movement bringing together thousands of Africa-centric images told through the power of a lens and perhaps most importantly, by African creatives.

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Retelling The African Story Frame By Frame, The Man Behind Ghana’s Biggest Photo Library

Nigerian entrepreneur Adeshola Cole of Tritek Consulting on the road to achieving the milestone.



Adeshola Cole is no stranger to hard work and perseverance. When she was just two years old, she was sent to a foster home in Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK) where in her 10 years, she experienced bullying and severe racism.



“I was the only black child within that village and was constantly ridiculed because of the way I looked. It was a lot of bullying. I think that’s why I am who I am today because I am quite a strong a person and I am not afraid to fight for what I want,” says Cole.



By age 12, her parents relocated Cole back to Nigeria where she lived until graduating from Lagos State University with a degree in literature and English before moving back to the UK. Throughout those years, Cole had a passion for the arts and dreamed of becoming an actor one day. But as life would have it, it was a career in tech that would eventually give Cole her true purpose in life.



That realization did not come easily to her. From doing several odd jobs in the UK upon her return to make ends meet like cleaning hotels as well as working as a chambermaid and working for a betting company for about three years, Cole found herself working in the financial services sector.



“That was the eye-opener that I needed from a professional perspective. I joined NatWest Bank. I started off as a cashier and worked my way up to be the bank manager. That role really opened me up to customer service and leadership and responsibility because I had to manage so many people with different levels of expertise.”



After a 10-year stint with the bank, Cole became frustrated with the limitations of the financial industry for people of color.



A friend of hers suggested she look at project management and business analysis and on completing the course, Cole found her true calling.



“I became a project manager and from there I just had the passion for helping a lot of people and mentored a lot of aspiring professionals who went on to get numerous jobs within tech. In March 2017, Tritek consulting was birthed and as they say the rest is history.”



Today, Cole is a mentor and coach recognized for her work in helping the black community transition into the tech space. Her firm is a project management and business analysis company that provides training and practical work experience with mentorship support. The company has grown from just two customers about five years ago to over 3,000 candidates on the platform with over 500 success stories and 180 of those testimonials coming last year alone.



“Ultimately the goal is to help people get into tech and our numbers have increased to over 200 percent post Covid. Having a vision and going with that vision to see it grow is a huge motivation in itself.”

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200% Post-Covid Growth Helping The Black Community Transition Into Tech

Faisal Al Deleigan has been a banker but is more renowned for his culinary skills. The food entrepreneur offers consultancy services to restaurants also mentoring chefs in Africa.



By Ross Holland



Faisal Al Deleigan was an investment banker for 10 years and had promising career prospects but longed to deepen his understanding of the culinary arts and pursue cooking, which had long been a hobby of his.



Time passed and he had to make a decision – it was going to be one or the other. Finance or food.



“You can’t be focused on two things at once&#8230;” says the Bahrain-based Al Deleigan to FORBES AFRICA. He chose food, and used his business prowess and culinary skills to become a chef.



He now runs a popular F&amp;B business and is the founder of Chef Faisal Consultancy, which has advised over 115 restaurants throughout the Gulf region.



His connection to Africa?



Al Deleigan is a professional member of the Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), a premier global body for hospitality and food service with members based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.



Through his consultancy, Al Deleigan mentors business owners and aspiring chefs from the three regions.



Chef Theo Doss Dosseh, a colleague of Al Deleigan’s and currently a chef at the US Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, mentions that the two regularly exchange ideas on certain dishes and value each other’s input when it comes to gastronomy.



Deleigan has developed and created over 2,415 original recipes, many of which are vegetarian and vegan promoting a healthy lifestyle.



He has a master’s degree in business from the New York Institute of Technology and also studied in Italy and England where he mastered global food techniques and developed his international fusion style of cooking.



His passion for food came from his mom, who he recalls had a very modest kitchen but took pride in her cooking.



“My mom is a good cook&#8230; she would always try something different, from different countries even.



“There would be guests visiting us from different places and people from different nationalities and they’d bring food… she would always want to know how it was made.”



The connection between food and family continued into his adulthood. Al Deleigan is inspired by many people, but none more so than his wife and two kids, he says. Everything he does is for them and they inspire him in every step he takes.



With Valentine’s Day and romance round the corner, the chef recommends dishes such as his specialty Balsamic Steak (tenderloin beef made with mashed potato and some alluring ingredients) and the Heart Pancake (with mixed berry sauce). Both young and old will surely flip for his dishes.

Category: Entrepreneurs