Valentine Dzvova, the CEO of African Equity Empowerment Investments, strategically navigated rough waters when Covid hit leading to financial growth at a challenging time.



African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), a fully black-owned and black-controlled investment company situated in southern Africa, faced a turbulent last quarter, but despite this, is probably one of the few in a pandemic-stricken continent that has managed to grow by 44%.



The captain at its helm, Valentine Dzvova, reveals that the strength of the company, majorly focusing on fishing and IT, has been the diversity of its portfolio.



“Having diversity is absolutely vital to weather any storm, with the most recent example being the storm brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Dzvova.



Dzvova, from humble beginnings in Zimbabwe, saw her career scale new heights when she was made Chief Executive Officer of AEEI last year. Having come in when interim results were due and the company’s Chief Financial Officer was leaving, Dzvova dove straight in at the deep end.



“It also helps that I’m not a stranger to AEEI because during my years as an auditor clerk and auditor manager, AEEI was my client as well, so it was almost like rejoining family because they’ve known me from when my career began back in 2007,” she says.



Rising through the ranks at PKF International (a global network of accountancy firms) saw Dzvova familiarizing herself with the likes of AEEI as she was promoted to supervisor and then manager shortly after completing her articles.



Balancing her current role with her home-life has been no easy task, as she states; “I have to be very strategic about how I spend my time, I have to work late at night because you know, during the day, I would have mini emergencies at home that would need my attention, so certainly it has been challenging.”



Dzvova was inspired by ‘career days’ in high school and seeing other girls pursuing accounting inspired her to do the same. She achieved success by completing both board exams successfully in her first attempt while still continuing with her daily workload. Joining AEEI was the culmination of her determination and tenacity.



“The previous CEO and his team did a fantastic job so I joined with there being a very solid foundation already in place,” she says of her predecessor.



Under her leadership, AEEI ensured no jobs were lost during the Covid-19-induced lockdown period as operational costs were streamlined and these practices were also encouraged amongst AEEI’s suppliers and partners.



And about the future, she says: “We are looking at offloading some of our smaller investments so we can really focus on the major ones which are Information Technology and fishing; these are the areas where we feel our strength lies.”



As Dzvova reflects on her growth strategy, she emphasizes the need for one thing – liquidity.



“Cash is king and there has never been a time that this has been more true than right now. With lockdown, businesses weren’t able to trade as normal, so revenue wasn’t coming in but there were still employees and suppliers to pay, so if one didn’t have cash on hand, you were basically dead in the water which is why a lot of businesses closed.”



Dzvova’s expertise, coupled with her business acumen, has seen AEEI grow by 44% and its basic earnings per share increase by 101.3%. It is clear she brings the same enthusiasm for business to everything she believes in.



“Certainly as women, we wear many different hats at the same time and as a result, there is so much more responsibility on us and we just have to work that much harder for everything to fall into place. As women, we have our focus pulled in different directions at different things and it takes a lot of hard work to master this and it’s all the nasty back-ends that no one else sees which is where all this hard work happens,” she says about juggling her multiple roles.

Val Head Shot 2

How to PANDEMIC-PROOF Your Business.

Nicola Kavhu is serving up a new menu of realities and possibilities in the 21st century African diet, promoting healthy eating while respecting and protecting the creatures that share our planet.



BY ALASTAIR HAGGER



AFRICANS LOVE THEIR MEAT. AT LEAST that’s the reductive, persistent narrative, even when the data tells a more complicated story: according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), average meat consumption in African countries per capita is around 20kg annually, compared to approximately 70kg in South America, Europe and the United States, and a staggering 100kg or more in Australia. On a planet where the mass of animals raised for slaughter outweighs wildlife by a factor of 15 to 1, associated FAO data also reminds us of the environmental impact of these industries and the related threat to the ecosystems of developing countries: meat and dairy production now accounts for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. One young African chef is serving up an appetizing alternative: a new menu of realities and possibilities in the 21st century African diet, a way of promoting healthy eating while respecting and protecting the creatures that share our world. Nicola Kavhu, aka Chef Cola, is the creator and owner of African Vegan on a Budget, a brand based in Zimbabwe and South Africa that “focuses on spreading the word on veganism through entrepreneurial projects, collaborations and content creation”.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50399" width="709" height="473" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px" /></figure></div>



A Zimbabwean raised in the heart of New York – “my palate danced when I was growing up!” – Cola then trained at the renowned PLANT café in Cape Town, South Africa, where she rose to become head chef before striking out on her own to create African Vegan on a Budget in 2016.



“The idea was to actively promote the reality that people can thrive on a healthy plant-based diet on a budget,” she says. “To prove that a nutritious plant-based meal could feed an average family for less. Over three years, I repeatedly showcased this by hosting dinners in Harare and Cape Town for twenty to thirty people, with three courses and dessert, on a budget of between two and three hundred US dollars. This became my business model. It is about unlearning and re-educating people, especially about their myths and beliefs when it comes to veganism.”



The Instagram-nourished success of these suppers caught the attention of Damien Mander, founder of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), and its all-female vegan anti-poaching unit Akashinga (‘The Brave Ones’).



Cola and Mander subsequently established the Back to Black Roots Kitchen and Garden, which provides three vegan meals a day to over 170 rangers stationed in the IAPF camp in Nyamakati, Zimbabwe. 



“So first day, walking into the kitchen, change was not really wanted,” Cola says. “But I didn’t give up. It took me about a year and a half to balance the reason why I was there as a trained chef, and the reason why I was there for them. Our job is to fuel the rangers so that they are able to do their job effectively. They prefer eating indigenous ingredients, so I made an effort to find out what ingredients are available in their community at that particular season, and made sure we incorporate that into their diet.” This patience and co-operative vision is beginning to pay dividends, and developing into a rubric that similar organizations might be encouraged to emulate. 



“We have a lot of work to do yet, but we’re getting there,” she says. “I have a team of six chefs, all trained by African Vegan on a Budget on how to prepare plant-based nutritious meals. The project we are creating is a business model I feel you should follow if you are in the anti-poaching industry. It’s contradictory to go and protect animals in the bush the whole day and night and then come back to the camp and eat one.”



Like those of the bulk of the food service industry, her other ambitions have had to become adaptive and agile in this pandemic-ravaged economic climate.



“It’s changed my operations in ways I didn’t realize I would experience at this stage of my business,” she says.



Like those of the bulk of the food service industry, her other ambitions have had to become adaptive and agile in this pandemic-ravaged economic climate. “It’s changed my operations in ways I didn’t realize I would experience at this stage of my business,” she says.



This enforced reflection has also reinforced her determination to value and nurture the team that has joined her on this transformative journey. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50400" width="491" height="327" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px" /></figure></div>



“Operations and plans change every day. I’m literally on my toes, still trying to build a team, and take care of them,” she says. “So this pandemic has taught me to be selfless. In business! That’s so weird!”

Chef Cola photograph 2 by Sasha Musa

The Entrepreneur-Chef On A Mission To Protect The Planet

Chika Madubuko is using technology to connect the at-home elderly to trained care-givers in Nigeria.



THE GLOBAL DIGITAL HEALTH MARKET IS growing by leaps and bounds and billions, and Chika Madubuko, the CEO and Founder of Greymate Care, is wanting to make the most of it whilst creating impact. With money not the only objective, it was the opportunity to serve those who needed quality healthcare the most that guided her.



Born in the northern region of Nigeria, Madubuko attended the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Anambra State, where she studied microbiology, before progressing to biotechnology and bioengineering at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom (UK). 



“All I wanted to do at the time is solve problems with bio-tech, with everyday biological systems, creating drugs and industrial solutions,” says Madubuko.



After graduating, the third-born child in a family of five children, decided to take a leaf out of her entrepreneurial parents’ handbook and venture into business development and sales in the UK before relocating to Nigeria to continue as a business development manager at Novus Agro, a multisided platform that organizes smallholder farmers into accessible groups for all those who want to transact with them.



By that stage, Madubuko had already caught the entrepreneurial bug and was looking for new direction. 



“When I was about to leave the UK, I toyed with the idea of creating a homecare startup and I was a certified care-giver but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. Given my success in business development, I decided to give it a try and some people told me this was a real problem Nigerians were facing.”



The cultural norm in Nigeria is that when a loved one is sick, other members of the family take care of the person. Traditionally, this role was reserved for wives or mothers who stayed at home. However, with the significant gender shift in recent years and more women employed or entrepreneurial and no longer staying at home 24&#215;7, this has led to challenges for the elderly who need round-the-clock home care.



This is where Greymate Care comes in. Born out of the personal pain Madubuko faced when looking for a care-giver for her grandmother in the village, she based her service offering around providing trained professionals to care for vulnerable family members.



“Greymate Care is an online platform that connects the elderly to vetted care-givers right [in] the comfort of their homes… In Nigeria, there is no database where you can simply go and find a care-giver or someone who has been trained and background-checked. Greymate Care solves that problem by training people who want to become care givers and making sure they have guarantors and they are available to be deployed to your home. We reduce the turnaround time of finding a care-giver from about two months to let’s say an hour or maximum 48 hours.”



Each care-giver on the platform has to provide two references who act as guarantors for the individual and those references have to be in senior positions in credible organizations to qualify. That extra check has made Greymate Care a trusted provider in Nigeria, says Madubuko.



A recent article by Deloitte estimates that sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to become the fastest-growing region in the world in the area of e-health.



The proliferation of these services is mainly driven by rapid adaptation of mobile technology as well as the internet.



Deloitte estimates the mobile penetration rate for the continent is close to exceeding 80% with a large number of the population utilizing mobile phones for not only communication but also integrating business services.



Greymate Care is hoping to tap into this growing trend to provide access to health information and curb the shortage of good healthcare professionals especially in remote areas.



Greymate Care is hoping to tap into this growing trend to provide access to health information and curb the shortage of good healthcare professionals especially in remote areas.



For Madubuko, a major impetus for her new healthcare company is to provide employment through working with global agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme to train youth to become care-givers, an initiative that has created over 1,000 jobs on the e-health platform thus far.

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Meet The Entrepreneur Who Is Changing the Game In Geriatrics

Jay-Z reaped a massive windfall selling a piece of his champagne brand to luxury goods giant LVMH – but it doesn’t beat stars like Dr. Dre or Kylie Jenner when they sold their stakes in major companies.



By Abigail Freeman,Forbes Staff



It turns out Jay-Z’s luxury champagne brand is worth more than “half a B.”



The partnership announced on Monday between Jay-Z and the wine and spirits division of LVMH makes the billionaire rapper the latest celebrity to pocket a windfall by selling part of a consumer brand to a major distributor. The deal appears to have valued the brand, Armand de Brignac, at more than $600 million, which would land him a cash payment of at least $300 million—about $50 million more than he would have made based on the $500 million value he rapped about in Meek Mill’s 2018 song “What’s Free.” &nbsp;



The founder of RocNation sold 50% of the champagne business to LVMH’s Moët Hennessy in a move aimed at “taking the business to new heights across the world,” according to Moet’s CEO Philippe Schaus.&nbsp; LVMH is known to bid competitively, and that certainly appears to have been true for this latest deal.&nbsp;



Forbes&nbsp;values the deal for the bubbly wine, known by its nickname Ace of Spades thanks to its logo design and several of Jay-Z’s lyrics promoting it, at roughly $630 million, based on conversations with five beverage analysts and industry insiders. That’s double&nbsp;Forbes’ previous valuation of the brand. The terms of the deal have not been publicly reported by LVMH or Jay-Z, whose company will still handle production. Neither side would comment, but based on analyst estimates, Jay-Z likely pocketed at least $315 million in the deal.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The multiples for Armand de Brignac—based on the category and volume size of the brand—far outreach brands that don’t have that celebrity ownership,” says beverage market analyst Eric Schmidt.&nbsp;



Still, it’s not the biggest celebrity cash out by a long shot: Kylie Jenner sold 51% of her cosmetics company to Coty in a deal that valued the brand at more than $1 billion; she got $540 million pre-tax. Rapper-Producer Dr. Dre sold his audio product company Beats to Apple in 2014 for $3 billion, pocketing $585 million himself before taxes.&nbsp;



Plenty of other pop stars have followed suit, not just selling out or selling stakes but often partnering with global giants. LVMH struck an earlier deal with Jay-Z protégé&nbsp; Rihanna in 2017 to launch Fenty Beauty, and most recently invested indirectly in her lingerie line Savage x Fenty earlier this month. The value of her stakes in both businesses totals $530 million.&nbsp;



“With celebrity association, particularly in the earlier years, the valuation of a company could be higher by three to seven times,” says food and beverage marketing consultant Arthur Gallego. “But I don’t think it works for every celebrity. There’s got to be something authentic about it.”



Jay-Z’s<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/11/06/why-jay-zs-champagne-news-isnt-so-new/?sh=17b1677528d3">journey with Ace of Spades</a>&nbsp;began in 2006, a year after he signed Rihanna to her first record deal. At the time, the Brooklyn-born mogul called for a boycott from Cristal champagne after CEO Frédéric Rouzaud said, &#8220;What can we do? We can&#8217;t forbid people from buying it,&#8221; in response to being asked about the brand’s popularity among rappers at the time. Later that year, Jay-Z debuted his champagne brand by featuring its signature gold bottle in his &#8220;Show Me What You Got&#8221; video.



The popularity and strong sales of Ace of Spades helped boost Jay-Z’s fortune to $1 billion by 2019, earning him&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;recognition as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2019/06/03/jay-z-billionaire-worth/?sh=28eea6cf3a5f">first hip-hop artist</a>&nbsp;toreach the 10-figure milestone. The latest deal will likely bump that figure up, while leaving him with other assets to monetize, including RocNation’s entertainment business, music streaming service Tidal, an athlete representation agency, his master recordings and music publishing rights, and a second liquor brand, D’usse.



Here is how his windfall stacks up against some of the most notable celebrity deals inked in the past five years.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-george-clooney">George Clooney</h3>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50129" width="403" height="268" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1148820506-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



British liquor giant Diageo purchased the movie star’s tequila company Casamigos in 2017 in a transaction that valued the company at up to $1 billion including $700 million up front and another $300 million based on performance over the following 10 years. The A-list actor netted more than $200 million pretax, making him Forbes’ top paid actor of 2018. He cofounded the company with nightlife entrepreneur Rande Gerber (husband of supermodel Cindy Crawford) and real estate tycoon Mike Meldman in 2013. Clooney, Gerber and Meldman each invested $600,000 apiece as equal partners to start up Casamigos, which loosely means house of friends, and then reinvested profits, earning them an impressive ROI. The star and his pals are still involved in the business.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Kylie Jenner</h3>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50131" width="378" height="566" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205228158-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)</figcaption></figure></div>



Jenner used $250,000 of her earnings from modeling to pay an outside company to make her first 15,000 lip kits, which sold out in minutes in 2015. Kylie Cosmetics quickly became one of the fastest growing makeup brands, thanks to the reality TV star’s massive social media following—now at 265 million followers across Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Cosmetics giant Coty Inc paid $600 million for a 51% stake of the brand in January 2020; she pocketed $540 million, pretax. She still has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2020/05/29/inside-kylie-jennerss-web-of-lies-and-why-shes-no-longer-a-billionaire/?sh=520c80cc25f7">an estimated 44.1%</a> stake—with Kris Jenner owning a small stake—in the brand, and she and her team oversee all creative efforts.  



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Kim Kardashian West</h3>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50132" width="424" height="282" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1205274440-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)</figcaption></figure></div>



Kardashian West sold 20% of KKW Beauty to publicly traded Coty in a deal that closed in January, and took home $180 million pre-tax. Kardashian West still has a 72% stake, worth an estimated $500 million. The new partners plan to enter new beauty categories together and expand overseas. In the works: a skincare line set to launch in fiscal year 2022. Kardashian West filed for divorce from Kanye West, her husband of seven years, in February; the couple had signed a pre-nup. 



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Rihanna</h3>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-1024x705.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50133" width="491" height="338" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-1024x705.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-2048x1410.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208055829-600x413.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px" /><figcaption>. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)</figcaption></figure></div>



The pop star has made the bulk of her fortune from Fenty Beauty, the makeup brand she started with LVMH in September 2017. Forbes estimates that LVMH owns 50% and she owns 15%, or $450 million worth, of the $3 billion (est. value) brand. Fashion house Fenty, which she launched less than two years ago as a joint venture with LVMH, has been less successful. Following a decline in business at Rihanna’s Fenty clothing line, LVMH said it is halting the luxury fashion house after less than two years of operation. Rihanna also has a roughly $80 millionstake in lingerie line, Savage x Fenty, a joint venture launched in 2018 with TechStyle Fashion Group. Investors in the business include L Catterton and Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners. 



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Kanye West </h3>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47745" width="413" height="275" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-scaled-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1144131570-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px" /><figcaption>. (Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty Images for Coachella)</figcaption></figure></div>



In a deal perhaps more reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s partnership with Nike or rapper Diddy’s Ciroc vodka with liquor giant Diageo, West gets much of his money from a profit sharing agreement with Adidas.&nbsp; West owns 100% of his super popular sneaker brand Yeezy. But it’s a complicated deal in which Adidas handles all the production, marketing and distribution, and West receives a royalty of approximately 11% of Yeezy revenue. Based on estimated revenues of $1.3 billion in 2019, West likely received royalties of over $140 million.&nbsp; That was more than either Jordan, who earned $130 million from his cut of Air Jordan sales, or Diddy, who pocketed $50 million, the bulk of his earnings, in beverage partnerships, mostly from Ciroc. Based on the royalty stream,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;valued West’s business at nearly $1.3 billion.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Additional reporting by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelineberg/">Madeline Berg</a>.

2020 Roc Nation THE BRUNCH – Inside

Here’s How Much Jay-Z Made On His Ace Of Spades Deal—And How It Stacks Up Against Other Celebrity Cashouts

London-based Ghanaian entrepreneur and computer science specialist Patrick Adom is inducting children into the fascinating world of jigsaw puzzles while teaching them about African culture.



AS COUNTRIES begin to grapple with the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, rapid adoption of activities outside the traditional content- streaming platforms is now beginning to gain traction.



The puzzles market is one such. Focusing on jigsaw and 3D puzzles as well as board games, it was estimated to be worth a staggering $11.88 billion globally in 2019 and on track to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.6% from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research.



The lockdowns implemented the world over spelled disaster for many who lost their jobs and livelihoods.



But Patrick Adom, a computer science specialist, saw a silver lining. Inspired by his daughter, the IT professional decided to see it as an opportunity and take a chunk of the lucrative puzzles market with his African-inspired creation, Very Puzzled.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Africans are patriotic and want to pass down their heritage to their family. So, our sales have grown..”</blockquote>



Known for its success in improved visual and enhanced cognitive skills, Adom wanted to create a jigsaw concept that not only helped people learn more about Africa and the African diaspora, but also something that was fun and engaging for the whole family.



“I wanted children to be able to also learn without realizing that they are learning anything, and [offer] something the family can do together and start a conversation and use that to do further exploration on their own,” says Adom.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50050" width="357" height="237" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px" /><figcaption>Photo supplied </figcaption></figure></div>



After graduating from Kingston University in the United Kingdom (UK), where he studied Computer and Information Systems in 2000, Adom continued his further education with an MBA in general management from Liverpool University before working in various roles within the IT industry.



But throughout his career, the entrepreneurial bug which bit him when in secondary school, where he would buy and sell hip-hop posters to his fellow classmates, was always looking for an awakening.



“I saw that there were not a lot of things around my daughter that focused on her cultural heritage and I thought jigsaw puzzles were an innovative route that nobody was doing. I found an illustrator and it so happened that the illustrator had a map of Africa that was very bright and colorful that resonated with me and so I reached out and asked if it could be customized for me.



“They agreed and I paid them and they delivered the customization I wanted. I then looked on a platform called Alibaba and from there, I was able to secure a manufacturer in China. I made 100 pieces to test the market and reached out to black-owned shops in London to generate buzz about the products and also using Instagram and social media to let people know about the product,” says Adom.



His hard work paid off. Very soon, the products were out and people were buying it.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I made 100 pieces to test the market and reached out to black-owned shops in London.”</blockquote>



Now, Adom has his eyes set on raising further investment and funding to expand the company’s unique offering. He began drilling down and creating puzzles for other countries like his hometown Ghana, South Africa, and Jamaica. 



“Africans are patriotic and want to pass down their heritage to their family. So, our sales have grown and we continue to add more stockists to our list and that helps grow the business as well. We reached the bold decision to approach a number of premiership clubs to make their own jigsaw puzzles for them featuring their intellectual property and we got licensing agreements with four premiership clubs so that was a huge success for us,&#8221; says Adom. 



The move comes at a cost as Adom has to pay licensing fee to the clubs, a risky move but one he needs to make to help broaden the appeal to a wider pool of consumers, the key to draw in the ever-elusive tranche of investors who will eventually help his business scale, and he can make his own indelible mark on the map of Africa.

Patrick Adom

The Entrepreneur Who is Piecing Africa Together One Puzzle At a Time

Key Speakers and Interviews at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum

The Forbes Billionaires’ List: Africa’s Richest People 2021

Rwanda is renowned for its green and immaculate public spaces. And 35-year-old Viateur Ndahayo is a flower farmer playing his part, beautifying the city of Kigali with his ornamental flora.



At Gacuriro, a leafy neighborhood in Kigali, dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans, Ndahayo shows us around his RWF250 million ($255,000) nursery. He has come a long way to be in this prized spot.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49738" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ndahayo-giving-directions-to-his-workers-600x450.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Ndahayo giving direction to his workers</figcaption></figure>



After primary school, he could not pursue his secondary education due to limited means. As a firstborn, he had to help his widowed mother bring up his siblings.&nbsp;



“I was competent and excelled in my studies but my mother’s land was too small to finance our education,” he recalls.



With a heavy heart, Ndahayo made the decision to drop out of school and concentrate on growing flowers. Little did he know he was sowing the seeds for a successful future.&nbsp;



“I grew flowers as an experiment because it was not a common activity here. Only one Belgian company used to do it,” he says. Ndahayo explains that when the Belgians flew back home from Rwanda, the people who took over their business weren’t doing it properly.



“I had never seen colored plants before as I was used to green ones. They caught my attention and made me very inquisitive.



“I didn’t envisage a profitable business growing flowers, I was just driven by passion.”



He had no formal training but started selling in 2000. “I realized I can make a living from this and even employ others if I put in more effort.”



But he needed land, seeds and equipment.



“I knew the project would succeed but had no money to finance it. So I approached a friend of mine who had three goats. I pitched my project to him and convinced him to sell them.”



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49734" width="331" height="248" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A-worker-packing-flowers-into-a-wheelbarrow-600x450.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px" /><figcaption>A worker packing flowers into a wheelbarrow,</figcaption></figure></div>



“They paid us RWF21,000 ($21) but my friend changed his mind after a while because he saw no immediate profit,” recounts Ndahayo. He returned the capital three months later. “What pleases me is that afterwards, he realized I had not lied. I taught him the business and he’s doing well.”



Ndahayo lived on the outskirts in Nduba and had to travel to Kigali to sell his products. “I had to package up to 10 flower vases in a carton and carry them on my head because I had no transport. I would receive RWF1,000 ($1) to RWF3,000 ($3) for each.”



Slowly, he established connections and made a name for himself. It required courage and patience.



“At times, I felt hesitant about what I was doing and my colleagues thought I was crazy. But the passion I had kept me going,” he says. He conducted his own research and consulted others, thereby developing expertise in the trade over time.



“I made mistakes but drew lessons from them. It cost me a lot but benefitted me in the end.”



In 2008, he set up his nursery. It was the year he started reaping the fruits of his labor. &nbsp;



Today, he boasts nurseries with up to 270 types of flowers and plants such as Hemerocallis, Agapanthus blue, Roystonea palm and Ixora red, to name a few. He’s become a go-to flower grower in Kigali.



“If you can’t find a given flower here, don’t expect to find it anywhere else,” one of Ndahayo’s customers tells FORBES AFRICA.&nbsp;



Ndahayo claims to have mentored most of Kigali’s flower farmers.



While his profits vary depending on seasons and other aspects, he says he makes a minimum of $1,000 a month. If he wins a bid to supply flowers, that could go up a staggering 50 times.



He says the fact that Rwanda is a country that cares about cleanliness and the environment has been an enabling factor for his business. Nonetheless, he believes more support could be provided to those in flower farming.



“For example, you can’t go to a bank and secure a loan for this business. They’ll tell you we don’t trust it. But I’m telling you, it’s profitable although it’s a long-term investment,” he asserts.



Married with two children, Ndahayo lives in his own house. “I’m glad that I’m one of the people in this country who can add a brick on another,” he laughs.



Ndahayo employs more than 10 people on a permanent basis. He is hoping to expand his business by venturing into green house agriculture and has now formed a company called Green Smart Farm.



And his advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs?



He mentions the Kinyarwanda proverb ntiwakama inka utaragiye, which loosely translates to “you can’t milk a cow you’ve not fed”. He explains that genuine success takes ambition, hard work and patience.



“Life is a battle and you must commit to win.”



By Steven Muvunyi

IMG_6340

Rwandan Entrepreneur Who Is Reaping The Rewards With Booming Flower Business

Phiwe Mngadi is teaching other women make-up skills and empowering them to launch their own beauty businesses.



Phiwe Mngadi learned the intricate art of micro-blading (eyebrow tattooing) as an extension of what she already knew: nail art and make-up, which she picked up while still at high school.



She didn’t know then that years later, she would turn entrepreneur with her own outfit, the Plush Art Studio, in Johannesburg.



The make-up artist, who has now turned teacher, started in the beauty industry as a nail technician at the age of 17. Self-taught, even way back, instead of attending her matric dance, Mngadi was gainfully employed making her classmates look glamorous for their special day.



She has since not looked back. Having worked in beauty salons in and around Johannesburg to gain more knowledge and experience in the industry, she has now built her own personal brand.



“You learn a lot that way,” says Mngadi of her journey.



In 2015, she resigned as a salaried employee working in salons. She knew she had plenty to offer as an entrepreneur and launched Plush Art in vibrant Soweto and has since expanded to Africa’s richest square mile – Sandton in Johannesburg.



Her focus is permanent make-up and micro-blading.



“You don&#8217;t need a specific background or qualification to be in the business, that&#8217;s what I love about this industry. Having said that, my journey has been interesting because I&#8217;ve started teaching women from different walks of life on how to do permanent makeup and this includes doctors, lawyers, cashiers, teachers, and anyone with the drive to learn the skill with respective qualifications,” says Mngadi.



She adds that she has made an impact in invariably helping women start a new career in the beauty business and become self-sufficient.



With Covid-19 and the world shutting down, she says Plush Art Studio somehow managed to stay afloat.



“I had savings to overcome the stress that came with not working. Business did take a hard knock but women are always desperate to do their brows, so when the country opened, we were back in business and making sales again,” she says.



Mngadi says she has traveled across Africa imparting what she knows. She also has a worked with South African celebrities such as Natasha Thahane, Thando Thabethe and Palesa Madisakwane.



From Soweto to Sandton, she is leaving her mark.

Plush Art

Nailing The Art And Making A Mark

All Omphile Magasa knew was baking, so the 30-year-old took to it as a full-time entrepreneur, and is perhaps one of the few to have tasted success in 2020.  



After losing her salaried job in 2017, Omphile Magasa had no choice but to wipe her tears and turn on the oven to bake. After all, she had to raise her daughter and had debts to pay. 



Magasa, founder of Baked By Opy, was born and raised in Mabeskraal, a small village an hour’s drive away from Rustenburg in South Africa’s North West province.



At the age of seven, Magasa inherited her grandmother’s passion and skill for baking. Raised by her grandparents, the young baker remembers how she was always assigned tasks to help her ‘grandma’.



“It got to a point where I was always craving cakes; always buying pre-mix products and I remembered that I grew up in a family where we baked all the time; we know how to make cakes from scratch,” says Magasa.



In 2015, three years into her IT career, she started making biscuits and cakes to sell at work for R100 or R150 ($7 or $11) a bucket for extra cash.



Magasa was then motivated to explore her baking skills. With the help of online tutorials, she baked a cake for her daughter’s first birthday. Magasa then posted a photograph of it on her social media accounts. This caught the attention of an old school mate who wanted a customized cake too.



This was her first official client, which led to the birth of Baked By Opy.



Unfortunately, Magasa lost her full-time job at the time.



“When you get retrenched, it’s something you never really expect, you think about your debts, child support and I started looking for another job, but my partner reminded me that I’ve been baking and I was probably retrenched because I was too focused on my baking,” she laughs.



“I started baking more, I started posting more on social media because I had more time, I took on more orders and the business started growing and I turned over about R17,000 in 2016/17.”



In 2020, Magasa says she felt the pinch of the lockdown in South Africa only during alert level five. However, business picked up rapidly when she got back to baking action in May. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;Covid was a blessing in disguise&#8230;.&#8221;</blockquote>



“My business grew bigger during the lockdown. Covid was a blessing in disguise, everyone was home, including the kids, so parents would get customized cakes. Things just started going crazy, I even employed people. When businesses were retrenching, I was hiring and I still intend on hiring more people,” she says.



Magasa also employed an accountant to balance her books.



“My accountant was telling me that it’s important I register for VAT because the business is turning over a million now.”



With the festive season in South Africa, she is receiving multiple orders.



The customized delicacies range from R750 to R19,000 ($52 to $1,300).



From selling biscuits in a bucket, to packaging Christmas desserts for companies, her business has had a sweet ending this year.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

Omphile Magasa

From A Childhood Hobby To Making Dough And A Sweet Year Ending

To improve Africa’s chances and ensure the safe storage of Covid-19 vaccines, Zeynep Harezi, and Karpowership based in Istanbul are working on innovative power generation solutions.



There is still a strong debate about Africa’s chances of receiving the Covid-19 vaccines when they become available in 2021: how will the continent store it?



Although organizations like GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, are closely working with global pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and AstraZeneca to ensure that Africa does not get left behind, there are other important considerations the continent needs to consider when it comes to receiving inoculation.



One such factor is the availability of consistent power to keep the vaccines refrigerated in order to remain potent and safe. According to a Reuters report, most vaccines require cooling of between two and eight degrees Celsius with the Phase 1 trials of the Covid-19 vaccine requiring storage in an environment as low as -80 degrees Celsius.



According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 50% of all vaccines are destroyed due to issues like temperature control. To improve Africa’s chances and ensure the safe storage and implementation of the vaccines, Zeynep Harezi and her Karpowership organization is hoping to introduce innovative power generation solutions that will enable Africa to succeed in not only the fight against Covid-19 but also power infrastructure development.



The 32-year-old Turkish-born managing director of Karpowership has a background in philosophy and economics, having graduated with a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. Harezi once dreamed of becoming the president of Turkey when she was a child, a choice that was greatly influenced by the country’s first female prime minister at the time. But it was her uncle who would set her sights on helping Africa improve its power infrastructure.



“When I was six years old, my uncle would tell me that he was going to build power plants inside ships and send them to countries all over the world. But he would also tell me about the mermaids in Atlantis so I was never sure where the line of reality was and where it was just story-telling,” recalls Harezi.



But her uncle’s stories were not tall tales after all. In 1996, the family-owned business entered the energy sector in Turkey when there was privatization of it. At the time, Karpowership was the first company to have an export licence and began exporting electricity from Turkey to Iraq.



“Then, many mining companies in Africa approached us and said ‘can we please build land-based power plants for them’ because they could not get reliable electricity and we told them instead of building land-based power plants in remote locations, we could build them inside ships or on barges much faster and with a better design to have increased efficiency and we can deliver them much faster than land-based power plants,” avers Harezi.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:36% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49312" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The long-term vision is to eradicate non-access to electricity. Everyone in the world should have access to electricity; it is a basic human right and we have the technology to deliver it.”</blockquote>
</div></div>



So, the organization began building floating power plants for mining projects in Africa. But before they could sell them to the continent, the Iraqi minister of energy requested an energy power plant for their southern city that had access to the sea. Harezi had just the right floating power ship to send. The next two power ships were subsequently supplied to Lebanon before finally their first supply was delivered to Ghana in 2014.



“The long-term vision is to eradicate non-access to electricity. Everyone in the world should have access to electricity; it is a basic human right and we have the technology to deliver it. As Karpowership, we can deliver baseload utility scale floating power plants to the remotest countries in the world with the highest risk of execution and construction, and we can deliver in less than 30 days. So, there is no excuse for anyone in the world to have no access to electricity and we can do it at a very low cost,” says Harezi.



Africa’s population growth is higher than other regions, hence the demand for electricity surpasses the planned increase of power supply. This means there is always a gap between supply and demand. This is a natural fit for Karpowership. Harezi says it can deliver between 25% to 80% of a country’s total electricity on one ship in less than 30 days. And there are “other advantages too” of this model.



“The regular infrastructure-related challenges of Africa are usually to do with project finance, construction risks, execution risks and the timeline. So, a project is usually promised to be operational in three years where as the project finance only lasts for two years and the actual construction takes another three to five years. So, the project that was promised for three years ends up not being finished for another eight years,” says Harezi.



Such solutions could give Africa a fighting chance in the Covid-19 vaccine race. With the company currently providing most of the national electricity in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Senegal, it seems poised to disrupt the African energy sector in a pandemic era.

image0 (2)

Floating Power: ‘No Excuse To Not Have Electricity’

With her education startup in Dar-es-Salaam, Shama Kheraj is creating young innovators, offering workshops at the intersection of STEM, entrepreneurship, and creativity.



At UpStudio Africa’s bright and roomy space in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, you see children huddled together in small energetic groups, working on projects that solve complex problems, or trying to program robots coding their next move. Outside of their classroom curriculum, this is a space where they can explore their passion for today’s technology and tomorrow’s not-yet-born professions.&nbsp;



UpStudio’s founder, Shama Kheraj, is able to relate. Growing up in Tanzania, she noticed that her own early education was didactic. Although she initially set out to do a business degree at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, she soon realized she was drawn to education and social impact. So after completing her master’s in education policy and management at Harvard and working at an education nonprofit in the US, she returned home to change the status quo.&nbsp;



She quit her senior managerial education consulting post at one of the world’s top firms, Dalberg, earlier this year, to create a space for children to have the flexibility to explore emerging fields.



“When I initially opened and talked to parents about product design, it was hard for them to conceptualize what product design is. Because, from their perspective, there&#8217;s not a lot of new products Tanzania is making… we’re often importing rather than building from scratch. So understanding that there is an opportunity within that space has been really difficult,” says Kheraj.&nbsp;



She sees her venture solving a bigger issue at hand on the African continent. Unemployment is on the rise and her work is trying to funnel through as many entrepreneurs and innovators, creating the next generation of jobs. Kheraj believes that the next 20 to 30 years will look radically different in Africa, especially with the growth of the ICT sector. Despite the current focus on the delivery of digital products, she sees more designers, engineers and creators thinking about creative spaces and how to design products for users. 



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-681x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48845" width="346" height="520" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-768x1154.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-1022x1536.jpg 1022w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-1363x2048.jpg 1363w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LEGO-Creative-Boost-at-UpStudio-Africa-scaled.jpg 1703w" sizes="(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px" /><figcaption>LEGO Boost Creative at UpStudio Africa.</figcaption></figure></div>



As a startup, UpStudio receives no external donor funding. It aims to become completely self-sustainable in a market where it can be difficult to sell what can be deemed an ‘extra-curricular’ activity to parents.&nbsp;



On the flip side, unlike most startups like itself, UpStudio offers workshops at the intersection of STEM, entrepreneurship, and creativity. This includes both hard and soft skills like product and industrial design, artificial intelligence, coding, and even photography and film. Workshops are facilitated by Kheraj or guest facilitators who are experts in their fields in Tanzania and abroad. 



“The idea is not only to expose [children] to innovations, but give them the platform to think beyond what is existing today such that they&#8217;re thinking about what might not exist. It might be very conceptual, but can help them imagine a future that they would like,” she says.



Despite being in the works for a few years, UpStudio opened in February and did not anticipate that within a month, would have to move all workshops online when the pandemic hit. At this point, Kheraj was hit with a new curveball when parents were sometimes no longer in a position to afford the workshops, or did not want to overwhelm children who already had to adjust to online learning with more screen time. It’s been a slow but steady start, in her opinion, but multiple children have still stuck through this tough time to stay active and occupied. She is also constantly learning how to better price her services with changing circumstances.&nbsp;



“I&#8217;ve been looking at, every now and then, introducing a new voice within the creative space that might be different from what parents have access to. So maybe, parents already have access to some things in schools today, but not access to someone who teaches photography [for instance],” she adds.



Students can explore whatever topic sparks their interest. “The flexibility that comes with not working within the school system provides is being able to do these dynamic courses focused on different age groups and really be able to not just support one school, but provide support to multiple schools at the same time,” she says.



But she acknowledges how difficult it can be to find people to facilitate workshops. UpStudio relies heavily on bringing in technical expertise and shorter-term partnerships, where Kheraj provides guidance on education pedagogy.



Her passion for working with young children keeps her going through all the hurdles. UpStudio allows them to explore different sectors of knowledge and innovation so that when they&#8217;re going into university, they&#8217;re already aware of all the opportunities. 



“You can&#8217;t be expected to be in one sector or one field for the rest of your life. You will need to create more individuals that can be dynamic… we anticipate that what the world needs is people who are able to kind of move across, but then are also socially responsible,” she says. 



-By Inaara Gangji

Proposed Article Header – Shama Kheraj

Beyond Schooling: ‘We Anticipate That What The World Needs Is People Who Are Able To Kind Of Move Across…’

Covid-19 has left many businesses in disarray. But not OneCart, South Africa’s on-demand grocery delivery service that rewarded its founders Lynton Peters and Ariel Navarro with record growth.



“What was in that first order when we started, do you remember, Ari?” Lynton Peters, the CEO of OneCart, asks his co-founder and COO, Ariel Navarro.&nbsp;



“Probably water and bananas,” Navarro laughs.&nbsp;



“What are people buying now?” Peters asked again.&nbsp;



“Everything!” Navarro laughs again.&nbsp;



When South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, declared the National State of Disaster on March 15 and imposed a strict Level 5 lockdown on March 27, this prohibited large public gatherings, local and international travel, and schools and universities from continuing in-person classes.&nbsp;



The ides of March brought with it fear, frenzy and public panic as South Africans flocked to their local supermarkets to stock up on essentials such as toilet paper, soap, cleaning agents, non-perishables, disinfectants and sanitizers. &nbsp;



This is when OneCart went from serving about 150-250 shoppers a day to almost 10 times that number today.&nbsp;



“I think what worked in our favor was that consumers were more willing to or wanted to stay at home. So what we saw was obviously a greater adoption of our product in terms of growth. What we saw was, in essence, about 500% growth during Covid, so it was quite significant,” says Peters.&nbsp;



The on-demand grocery delivery platform allows consumers to shop from multiple stores in a “single cart”, hence OneCart. So instead of having to walk across the entire shopping center where perhaps food retailer Woolworths could be located on one end and Pick n’ Pay on the other, OneCart gives you a “virtual mall” experience on your single device. Groceries are then delivered to consumers within two hours or at a time preferred by them.



“I think the inspiration behind building OneCart and founding OneCart was just to create a way for consumers to shop online the way they would usually shop offline when they&#8217;re at a mall,” Peters explains.



The unprecedented outbreak of the coronavirus has brought on-demand grocery service platforms like OneCart to the forefront, according to an international report by Future Market Insights (FMI) released in June. More new consumers are converting to online shopping for buying provisions rather than risk standing in a supermarket queue. This is the reason OneCart has seen a massive surge on its platform in the past few months. 



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:31% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48799" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Lynton-Peters-CEO-OneCart-scaled.jpg 1706w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“There is also the fact that in 2018 we only did 30 orders in an entire month and now we have 30,000 orders a month.” – Lynton Peters  </blockquote>
</div></div>



But this exceptional growth does not come without its pain points, and founders Peters, 34, and Navarro, 31, know that. February, March, and April of this year have been the toughest months the company has experienced since their inception in 2016. Like many businesses ploughing through the pandemic, they were forced to look at how OneCart could operate while still keeping employees, employers and consumers safe.&nbsp;



Realizing there is indeed an opportunity for OneCart to succeed, especially since consumers did not want to find themselves at shopping centers, it fell on Peters and Navarro to quickly understand the demand and heightened traffic on the website and application. And with the increase in usage, this then involved the company to expand its operations.



“We doubled the number of collection locations we were in, we almost tripled the staff complement. We were definitely oversupplied in a few areas in order to catch up with the backlog that we had hit. So, there were a lot of challenges we faced during that time,” recalls Navarro.&nbsp;



But this operation did not just happen overnight.



After having over 10 years of experience in the corporate world as an electronic engineer in the software and electronics industry, and later as an innovation consultant both locally and in Singapore, Peters decided in 2016 to do market research for OneCart in Johannesburg to test the validity of the concept. While in Morningside, a commercial and residential suburb in Sandton, the business hub of Johannesburg, Peters was met with owners from multiple retail stores, one of them being Mr. Pet (an upmarket retail store which sells food and accessories for pets). Mr. Pet turned out to be a business owned by Navarro’s father.  



“I expected this older guy to come out and instead this young guy comes out,” Peters laughs with Navarro as he recalls the memory of their first meeting. “And when he came in, we started talking about tech and innovation. And I guess we just started talking about our backgrounds. And I was involved in the entrepreneur ecosystem before I was transitioning from corporate at the time. And I guess we just kept on chatting and probably like speaking for about six months before finally deciding to come together.”&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:auto 38%"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48800" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ariel-Navarro-COO-OneCart-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The only way to really understand how the systems work was to get there and actually do everything from the ground up. So there was no, you know, fancy apps like we have today that did everything for us.” – Ariel Navarro </blockquote>
</div></div>



Back then, like any startup, the hard work started with Navarro and Peters running around and doing everything, which included taking orders on WhatsApp (as they did not have an app as yet), buying the actual products, and delivering them to the consumer.&nbsp;



“The only way to really understand how the systems work was to get there and actually do everything from the ground up. So there was no, you know, fancy apps like we have today that did everything for us,” Navarro says.&nbsp;



“When we started the business, it was just literally Ari and myself running everything. So the only person that we could hire was a shopper and we did that in December 2017,” Peters explains. “I remember there was a point where we were physically doing all the shopping and delivering or ordering. We literally had to do everything.”



“I remember with those first few orders, but it was almost like there was a panic in the air when there was an order because it was so new that we just wanted to get that one order right. And you are so nervous when you see the order come in, you&#8217;re like excited but nervous,” says Navarro.



In the early days of OneCart, consumers were limited to just Johannesburg which presumably could have taken a large toll on the actual company as operations were also limited. Now, most of OneCart’s consumers, ranging from a wide variety of ages, are largely based in four of South Africa’s most popular cities: Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Durban. And though they do not deliver in the townships or informal settlements, Peters has said this is something they do plan on expanding to. 



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-682x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48797" width="260" height="389" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-682x1024.jpg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-768x1153.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-1023x1536.jpg 1023w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OneCart-Shopper.jpg 1154w" sizes="(max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px" /><figcaption>OneCart shopper</figcaption></figure></div>



A lot has changed since the on-demand grocery delivery platform officially launched in 2018. For one, they have over 200 personal ‘shoppers’ and over 100 drivers.&nbsp;



“There is also the fact that in 2018, we only did 30 orders in an entire month and now we have 30,000 orders a month,” Peters says.&nbsp;



Ahead of the March lockdown, the duo noted a huge increase in consumers stockpiling even though they were prohibited to do so by South African Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel on March 19, when he announced regulations to control the pricing of goods after noting price hikes implemented by retailers.



“Today, we issue directions under the Disaster Management Act and regulations under both the Competition Act and Consumer Protection Act, dealing with pricing and supply matters during the national disaster to ensure we do not have unjustified price hikes or stockpiling of goods,” said Patel.



“People would initially buy in bulk, trying to stockpile out your essential items like toilet paper, which was quite a significant one. The stores were running out of that one. But then we had to get to a point where we had to limit the number of items in a basket. And now, I think the trend is sort of normalizing again,” Peters says.&nbsp;



Though the company has experienced difficulties, there are “war stories” beyond Covid-19 that have motivated them to not give up. The one that comes to mind is in 2019 when they had run out of funds and were forced to take out a loan in order to pay their staff. Another one would be during Covid-19 when they had sleepless nights for three months as they had to think of how they would expand operations while keeping every one of their staff members safe.&nbsp;



“We have had many instances where we should have given up but we persisted. If we think of war stories we also think about the times where we didn’t give up because we believed in ourselves,” Peters says.&nbsp;

OneCart Founders Peters (left) Navarro (right)

The 500% Leap From Store to Door

Social entrepreneur Lufefe Nomjana’s business model is as fresh as the superfood he advocates. 



Creating a value chain to benefit business and residents in South Africa’s informal townships requires skill and perseverance, but that is the incredible success story of entrepreneur Lufefe Nomjana with his Spinach King franchise.



Nomjana has grown his business from an initial stake of R40 ($2), four bunches of spinach and the use of a neighbor’s oven in 2011, into a franchise operation that currently has five stores, and growing, and distributes products into selected retails outlets in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces of South Africa.



And it is all built around the concept of nutritious eating and promoting a healthy lifestyle, something Nomjana believes is under-valued by township retailers. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;



“With Spinach King, we are not changing what people are eating, but providing a healthier version of it,” Nomjana tells FORBES AFRICA. “For example, our spinach bread, our green burgers and sandwiches.



“We are not saying to people, don’t eat burgers. We are rather saying when you do, have it inside a gluten-free spinach roll and with a spinach smoothie instead of a soft drink.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-1024x823.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48767" width="423" height="340" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-1024x823.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-300x241.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-768x617.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-1536x1234.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-2048x1645.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1-600x482.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px" /><figcaption>Spinach King supports small scale farmers. </figcaption></figure></div>



“People assume that healthy eating is not important to residents in the townships, but that is not the case at all. Attitudes are changing and people are seeking healthier options.”



After the instant success of the business, Nomjana was nominated by the United Nations for a scholarship at the University of Milan in Italy, where he enrolled for a course centered on nutrition and food sciences that he ultimately finished at the University of Cape Town.



It armed him with the skills to take his business to the next level, which was to open a retail outlet in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.



“It is a bakery from which we produce and supply our products, but also has a café and juice bar set-up for retail. That was in 2016 and it is still doing very well, even through these tough times with Covid-19.”



Soon afterwards, a Dutch student doing an MBA visited Cape Town and caught onto the concept, providing Nomjana with his first franchise opportunity.



“He loved it so much that he pitched it to the University of Amsterdam as an outlet for their students and we set that up in 2017. It was doing very well until Covid-19, when campuses were closed, but they pay royalty fees every six months and it has been a great learning curve to have the brand in another country.”



Nomjana also has an outlet at the Old Mutual head offices in Cape Town that service their 9,000 staff members, another success, and has just launched a fourth store in Philippi Village, also in the Mother City, a 6,000 square-meter business space where entrepreneurs can run their operations at a fraction of the cost of normal retail rental and overhead rates.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48768" width="424" height="318" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2-600x450.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px" /></figure></div>



“We will be opening a fifth store in Langa (Cape Town) on September 24. That has been in the planning for two years, but is also a story that shows some of our challenges.



“All of our ingredients are organic and grown locally close to our stores. But for this, you need land and in Langa, it took some time to find the right space to grow our spinach and so on.



“Usually we speak to schools who have available land, or residents, who become part of our value chain.



“They grow the ingredients for us and we buy from them for our retail operations, but we also assist them in selling what we don’t use into retail stores. So it is a win-win, we get our ingredients at a good price, but we also help to keep our suppliers sustainable.



“We have got around 50 ‘gardens’ in the townships from where we source our ingredients directly and so this is a large value chain that not only benefits us as a business, but also the wider community.”



Nomjana has also recently developed a distribution warehouse and café in Maboneng, Johannesburg, from where he now sells his products into Spar, Wellness Warehouse and other outlets in Gauteng.



“That will keep us busy for the rest of 2020,” he says. “But in 2021, the plan is to grow into the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal [also in South Africa], they have great potential.



“And, of course, ultimately we would like to franchise this concept into Africa in the coming years. Where you have the space to grow vegetables, you can turn that into a thriving business. What we have done with Spinach King is proof of that.”



-By Nick Said

nicksaid

The Entrepreneur Who Started Out With $2 and Some Leaves

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“You need to decide what you want to achieve. Get rid of naysayers — those who say to you that you can’t do it. Never allow anyone to tell you it can’t be done. In my dictionary, ‘can’t’ doesn’t exist,”<cite>—Folorunsho Alakija, Nigerian businesswoman</cite></blockquote>

Quote 2 (1)

Quote Of The Day

Sherika Wynter was on a roll.



Since releasing an insulated luxury tote bag for professionals in 2018, and subsequently selling out three times, her Maryland-based research and development company Thomas &amp; Wynter had been featured in&nbsp;British GQ&nbsp;and the&nbsp;International Business Times&nbsp;and on several local news segments.



She walked into February 2020 with more notches on her belt: a Google small-business award and a joint venture deal with a prominent Black law firm to create another product for professionals.



“We were growing exponentially,” says Wynter, a Black entrepreneur who, with cofounder Shallon Thomas, started the business in 2014.



As the coronavirus threat escalated in early March, their sales declined, nearly hitting zero by&nbsp; April. That same month, Wynter laid off almost every member of her five-person team, save for one contract worker.



“Right now, we’re treading water and have applied for ten different grants with no success. It’s a little daunting, but we’re trying to carry the company on our backs,” Wynter says.



It’s no exaggeration to say that the pandemic has decimated small businesses and early-stage ventures, especially those&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uschamber.com/report/special-report-women-owned-small-businesses-during-covid-19#:~:text=Poll%20Shows%20Coronavirus%20Pandemic%20Disproportionately,year%20ahead%2C%20new%20data%20show." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">owned by women</a>&nbsp;and people of color. Black women sit at this juncture, bearing a disproportionate share of the virus’ impact.



For years, Black women have created new businesses at a rapid clip,&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.kansascityfed.org/~/media/files/community/blackwomenbusinessesreport.pdf?la=en" target="_blank">far outpacing</a>&nbsp;other racial and ethnic groups. But strong financial headwinds from the pandemic and a lack of access to new funding sources threaten to wipe out decades of economic progress, leaving Black female business owners in a state of perpetual uncertainty, waiting for relief they fear will never come.



The face of female entrepreneurship overall is becoming a lot less white. Black women represent 42% of new women-owned businesses—three times their share of the female population—and&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://usafacts.org/articles/black-women-business-month/" target="_blank">36% of all Black-owned</a>&nbsp;employer businesses.



High levels of educational attainment, coupled with overcoming barriers to corporate advancement, have prompted Black women to pursue entrepreneurship, where they’ve become a potent economic force. Majority Black women-owned firms&nbsp;<a href="https://www.colorlines.com/articles/report-black-women-are-fastest-growing-group-female-entrepreneurs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">grew 67%</a>&nbsp;from 2007 to 2012, compared to 27% for all women, and 50% from 2014 to 2019, representing the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascityfed.org/~/media/files/community/blackwomenbusinessesreport.pdf?la=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">highest growth rate&nbsp;</a>of any female demographic during that time frame.



“There’s this assumption that entrepreneurship is a tech startup that’s venture-capital-funded because we see so much about Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. People discount informal entrepreneurship and part-time business creation, which creates a narrow view of entrepreneurship,” says Donna Kelley, who has led research on the rate of Black entrepreneurship and serves as a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College.



But the decade-long boom in Black business creation masks deep inequities in access to the financial resources needed to create businesses that reach maturation, which is widely recognized as past the five-year mark. There are fewer established Black female business owners relative to their high rate of entrepreneurship, Kelley says. “This is persistent over time, which tells us that fewer of them are sustaining their businesses into maturity.”&nbsp;



In America’s business ecosystem, it’s not uncommon for companies to operate in the red for years before becoming profitable. Their lasting power is often made possible because of outside investors or their ability to secure loans from commercial banking institutions or credit unions. But Black entrepreneurs have historically been locked out of these funding opportunities.&nbsp;



“A commonality for Black people, especially women, is that it takes longer to obtain capital, and so they have to put in a lot more sweat equity,” says Laquita Blockson, director of social innovation at Agnes Scott College and co-investigator on a study about the success of African American women-led entrepreneurial ventures.



The lack of access to capital also dictates, in part, to which industries Black women flock. “If you don’t have the personal resources to get your business up and running, you may pick businesses that are easy to get off the ground, but that are crowded with competition for similar products and services, and less opportunity for differentiation,” Kelley says.



Many of those businesses are in industries that have been severely affected by the pandemic, with about 40% of revenue generated by Black-owned businesses in the hardest-hit sectors, including leisure, hospitality, transportation and retail.&nbsp;



“Hair salons, catering, restaurants or anything related to events . . . all of that shut down, and so the success of business owners in those industries depends on how much they have in reserves or were able to get from the federal government—both of which pose challenges for Black entrepreneurs,” says Jeffrey Robinson, founding assistant director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers Business School.&nbsp;



When Sundrae Miller was forced to close the doors to her Adara Spa on March 26, she immediately sought out new funding sources. She received $2,300 under the Paycheck Protection Program, a $64,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan and deferred her spa’s mortgage payment for one month. The Small Business Administration covered the next six months.



“That was my saving grace. If I hadn’t received that mortgage break, I’m afraid I’d be out of business,” says the Raleigh, North Carolina, resident.



Adara Spa reopened to the public on May 22, but business remains slow, and she fears a second state-mandated closure as winter approaches. In November, she’ll have to restart her mortgage payments.



Hunting for business grants has become like a full-time job for Miller, who often finds herself searching and applying for sources of capital until 2 a.m. She has applied for 21 grants to date, securing $23,000 from five of them. While the additional funding may seem sizable, Miller says she lost $20,000 each month her spa was closed and is losing $10,000 monthly since reopening at half-capacity. “I have a few grant applications out right now and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Okay, Lord, please let something come through,’” she says.



Little of the $670 billion PPP funding reached&nbsp;<a href="https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-publication/crl-cares-act2-smallbusiness-apr2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Black business owners</a>, largely due to built-in structural limitations, such as stipulations around minimum headcounts and revenue requirements. When Wynter received a $1,000 PPP loan for her research and development company, she laughed. “They said, ‘Here’s a 30-year loan for $1,000,’ and I said, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ It was a slap in the face.”



Others had some success. The majority Black-owned architecture and engineering firm Sabir,&nbsp;Richardson &amp; Weisberg (SRW) received a $150,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan and a $280,000 PPP loan less than one month after applying for each.



“We usually have far under three months of runway. Without the PPP loan, we would have had to lay people off and not take a salary,” says Yvette Richardson, one of the company’s four partners, three of whom are Black.&nbsp;



Access to capital is a major predictor of business success and Black entrepreneurs find it difficult to weather economic duress, reach scalability and pivot away from unsustainable business models without financial backing.



“A lot of Black businesses will not survive this pandemic without more help. That is the sobering truth,” says Asahi Pompey, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation.



Black business owners who apply for funding have a rejection rate three times higher than that of their white counterparts, according to a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses report that surveys participants in a program bearing the same name.



Some 43% of Black-owned businesses in Goldman Sachs’ entrepreneurial program say they are likely to lose their cash reserves by the end of 2020, versus 30% of the overall program’s population, and 31% say less than 25% of their pre-Covid revenue has returned, compared to 16% of the overall population. The report defines growth-oriented entrepreneurs as individuals with businesses that have revenues of around $150,000 and two to six employees.



“This data lays bare the structural inequities Black people face and that’s born out in their entrepreneurial endeavors,” Pompey says. Already, Covid-19 has shuttered 41% of Black-owned businesses, compared to just 17% of white-owned businesses.



Blockson warns that not only will Black female entrepreneurs find it difficult to survive this period of economic downturn, but also that those who temporarily close shop will find it far more challenging to reopen.&nbsp;



“It will be a huge shock in the economic system, and it is raising alarms,” she says. “But I am also very hopeful and optimistic that this could be a great opportunity for those who are positioned for it and able to make a shift.”



Some Black businesses are getting creative and diversifying their offerings to stay afloat. SRW, for example, has sought out more healthcare projects and is dabbling in HVAC technology, anticipating the services clients will need as the demand for indoor ventilation systems grows.&nbsp;



However, many small businesses aren’t easily adaptable without a massive infrastructure overhaul, which requires a significant financial investment. And most Black and women-led businesses only have a few weeks to a month of cash flow.&nbsp;



“This is a critical moment in time that is going to set us on a trajectory that could certainly be problematic in terms of the state of Black businesses for years to come,” says Goldman Sachs’ Pompey.



When small businesses flourish, so do their communities, and Black business owners often intentionally locate themselves in Black and Brown spaces, acting as economic spigots in these neighborhoods. Their erasure comes with far-reaching consequences, including the loss of jobs, community development and new economic opportunities for residents of underserved areas.



Nearly 75% of Black business owners in Goldman Sachs’ survey say they recently mentored others in their communities, compared to 50% of white business owners.



“It’s not just that it’s a single business that shuttered. It’s that it’s a pillar of the community and someone who’s a leader or a mentor. The blast radius impact of the pandemic on Black communities is something that can’t be overstated,” Pompey says.



The pandemic’s paradoxical silver lining is that it has brought increased attention to revitalizing small businesses, which provide almost&nbsp;<a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41523.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">half of all jobs</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. At the same time, a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has generated an influx of support for Black-owned businesses and corporate grants that cater to Black entrepreneurs.&nbsp;



Wynter is capitalizing on this surge in public interest and has seen a spike in online sales since the national reckoning on racial injustice began in June. Sales jumped from 7 orders in May to 87 in June, she says. “People have really been a free marketing mechanism for small businesses, which has been a blessing.”



Even still, she and her cofounder are wary about the longevity of their company. They tapped into their savings in September, putting a combined $8,000 into the business, and are raising new funds through a friends and family round.



“As a business owner, you plan and you try to bob and weave through things,” she says. “But there is no way to bob and weave this pandemic. You have to take its hits and hope that you don’t get knocked out.”



-By Ruth Umoh, Forbes Staff

Category: Entrepreneurs

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

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