An Enron-like accounting scandal at South Africa-based furniture group Steinhoff International wiped out billions of retail tycoon Wiese’s fortune. After a four-year battle, he’s back as one of Africa’s richest, and at peace with the world.



Christoffel “Christo” Wiese exudes an air of calm that betrays no hint of the chaos that turned his world turned upside down for more than four years.



In December 2017, the then-76-year-old South African billionaire was informed about serious accounting fraud at retailer Steinhoff International, where he was both chairman and the largest shareholder. Those irregularities turned out to total $7.4 billion in falsified transactions over a span of nine years from 2009 to 2017, a PwC investigation found–making the Steinhoff affair the South African equivalent of the 2001 Enron debacle.



Steinhoff International had acquired Wiese’s discount clothing retailer, Pepkor, in 2015 for $5.7 billion in stock and cash; and he became its chairman a year later in May 2016. Wiese stepped down as chairman in mid-December 2017, soon after the accounting fraud was made public. While it was eventually proven that Weise had no role in the fraud, the 90% drop in the share price of Steinhoff–by far Wiese’s most valuable asset–pummelled his fortune, from an estimated $5.6 billion in March 2017 to $1.1 billion on the 2018 Forbes list of Africa’s billionaires and then off the ranks altogether by the time Forbes’ World Billionaires list came out a few months later that year.



Now, following a multi-year legal battle that ended in a $500 million settlement consisting of cash and stock, Wiese is back on Forbes’ newly released <a href="https://www.forbes.com/lists/africa-billionaires/">2023 list of Africa’s billionaires</a>, tied at No. 18 with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion.



Asked about his ordeal last week, Wiese described his initial reaction–and what he’s grateful for. “It came as a huge shock to discover that this [Steinhoff] fraud was in the core of the business,” Wiese recalled in a Teams video call from his office in Cape Town, South Africa. The other shock? “That the people who were committing the fraud managed to get through all the gatekeepers,” he added, ticking them off: internal auditors, external auditor Deloitte, the South African Reserve Bank, international banks that were lending Steinhoff billions of rand, the South African and Frankfurt, Germany stock exchanges (where the company’s shares trade) and the ratings agencies.



What did Wiese know? Nothing, he insists. “People said, ‘But Christo, you were the chairman.’ And I said I chaired four board meetings in the entire time,” Wiese explained. “I am supposed to know what all the other gatekeepers missed?”



Despite his comments, Wiese–and the investment community–had been alerted to concerns about Steinhoff as early as a decade before the furniture seller admitted its problems. In 2007, Sean Holmes, a South Africa-based analyst for JP Morgan, published a critical 56-page report that questioned Steinhoff’s earnings and pointed to poor financial disclosure and a lack of transparency, according to the 2018 book Steinheist: Markus Jooste, Steinhoff &amp; SA’s Biggest Corporate Fraud. The book also recounts a 2009 meeting Wiese had with an analyst at a different firm who shared 40 slides that delved into concerns such as Steinhoff’s inflated assets and its “suspiciously low tax rate.” (That was years before he sold his company to Steinhoff). Then in 2015, right before Steinhoff shifted its primary stock listing to Frankfurt, a German tax authority raised concerns about the company’s accounting. Wiese said a forensic accounting firm the board hired shortly afterward failed to find any issues.



In fact, Wiese had demonstrated supreme confidence in Steinhoff as a business (or took a huge risk, depending on your perspective). In September 2016, he borrowed $1.8 billion from banks to finance the purchase of more shares in Steinhoff, lifting his ownership stake from nearly 20% to 25%. To guarantee the loans, Wiese pledged the vast majority of his Steinhoff shares as collateral. When Steinhoff stock tanked at the end of 2017, the banks took control of his shares. The loan transaction was ring fenced around the Steinhoff shares, so that in case of default, the banks could not go after Wiese’s other assets, a spokesperson for Wiese said.



Markus Jooste, a South African and the former CEO of Steinhoff International–who ran the company during the years of the accounting fraud, will be tried in Germany in April, South African media reported on Friday. In the spring of 2021, German prosecutors were reported to have charged Jooste and three colleagues with balance sheet fraud. Jooste, who has denied the allegations in the past, could not be reached for comment.



Altogether, Wiese claimed he was defrauded out of $5 billion (59 billion Rand) and sued Steinhoff for that amount in 2018. It took until late January 2022 for Steinhoff to get South African and Dutch courts (Steinhoff is headquartered in Amsterdam) to sign off on its settlement for shareholders–Wiese and thousands of others–and creditors. Wiese’s roughly $500 million (8 billion Rand) settlement came in the form of cash plus a 5% stake in listed retailer Pepkor Holdings (which is now 51% owned by Steinhoff International). Wiese says he accepted far less than he initially sought, partly to put a halt to the negotiations, which kept dragging on. Steinhoff funded the settlement with Pepkor shares and cash raised from selling off assets–though it still owns 50% of U.S. company MattressFirm and a few other holdings.



Wiese was never in danger of losing his fortune entirely. Besides his Steinhoff stake, he owns more than 10% of listed supermarket chain Shoprite Holdings, Africa’s largest retailer–a kind of South African Walmart, with a hard focus on low prices. It had $10.7 billion revenues in the most recent fiscal year, 145,000 employees and nearly 3,000 stores across southern Africa. In the wake of the Steinhoff accounting nightmare, Wiese sold off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his Shoprite shares, lowering his stake from 18% in 2017.



Other Wiese holdings include industrial investing firm Invicta Holdings, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, which has investments in China, Singapore, the U.K. and a small business in the U.S. Via another firm, Tradehold Ltd., he owns industrial businesses in South Africa and commercial property in the U.K. And through Luxembourg-listed firm Brait PLC, Wiese owns stakes in Virgin Active health clubs and two South African firms: a fashion label and a consumer goods business.



“Christo has been a massive risk taker his whole life,&#8221; Syd Vianello, a retail analyst in Johannesburg, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2016/03/01/the-billionaire-african-behind-the-continents-greatest-retail-empire/?sh=14de17223a7a">a March 2016 profile of Wiese</a>. “Africa is not a place for sissies.” Wiese, who calls himself an incurable optimist, agrees. “I’ve been in business for 55 years,” he says. “I just accept that the world is always difficult.”



Wiese’s journey to become Africa’s biggest retail tycoon took a meandering path. After attending Stellenbosch University, he started working for his cousin’s husband’s discount firm PEP in 1970. Four years later he decided he wasn’t good at working for someone else, and wanted a job that required less hours so he could start a family. Following a detour that included buying, running and then selling a diamond mine, Wiese went back to his cousin, who’d grown PEP and added Shoprite, a grocery chain, and offered to buy him out. The cousin accepted.



He focused on maintaining low prices and serving poor customers of all races–at a time of apartheid. In 1986, Wiese spun off Shoprite and PEP (now called Pepkor) into separate public companies, maintaining control of both. By 2014, Wiese says he controlled the two largest retail businesses in South Africa, and there was really no way to grow more domestically due to antitrust concerns.



That is when he turned to Steinhoff, which did business in Europe and South Africa. “I came to the conclusion that here was a business with a very strong balance sheet, strong cash flows, experienced management and international operations,” he recalled. It didn’t turn out that way.



Now 81, Wiese said he has no plans to retire. “I nearly died in 2021 with Covid, so I’ve come to realize that I’m not necessarily destined to live forever. But my problem is I don’t play golf or do stuff like that. For me, my business is my pleasure.”



Plus he certainly has no desire for Steinhoff to be his final chapter.



“I was not going to let this almost unbelievable disaster spoil my life,” Weise reflected on the Steinhoff matter. “I have a lot to be grateful for. I love my country, I’ve got a wonderful family, wonderful friends. I just decided to carry on with my life.”



By <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/">Kerry A. Dolan</a>

How South Africa’s Christo Wiese Sued His Way Back Into The Billionaire Ranks

FORBES AFRICA was at Expo 2020 Dubai to witness the tech-filled finale of the multi-billion-dollar, 182-day global event that also brought all of Africa.



The party was on for six months.



And on a balmy night, under a gold dome in a grand spectacle of sound and light that saw hundreds of performers and several thousand diverse and starry-eyed visitors, the curtain came down on the Expo 2020 Dubai that brought through its gates an estimated staggering 23 million visitors.



The closing ceremony of the world gala in the UAE emirate last night (March 31), had thousands of visitors streaming in well into the wee hours for the live shows, fireworks and pyrotechnics.



Tech reigned.



Even as Grammy award-winning singer and headline crowd-pleaser Norah Jones said it’s her first trip to Dubai and dazzled in a grey sequinned dress at the piano singing the soulful Come Away With Me, and as thousands thronged every inch of space on the walkways – dodging baby strollers and e-scooters – to hear global pop sensation Christina Aguilera, the true star of the show was the Al Wasl gold dome, the all-rounder of the mega event.



The intricate lattice dome’s eye-popping technical specs? At 67.5 meters tall and comprising 13.6 kilometers of steel, it weighs 2,544 tonnes – “as much as 25 blue whales”. And under it, a sea of humanity gazing at an immersive 360-degree projection system with giant fabric screens.



At the closing event, the baton was handed over to the Japanese city of Osaka, where the next expo will be held in 2025.



The UAE, which celebrated its 50th year during the expo and changed its weekend to Saturday and Sunday in keeping with the West, is home to multiple nationalities. The expo, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is being seen as “the start of a new beginning”.



Africa was well-represented too. The colorful African stalls in the world souq areas were quite the magnet for crowds, with hand-woven African baskets and print sandals selling at Dhs100 ($27) a piece.



The African Union pavilion located within the Opportunity District at the expo site spoke to the Agenda 2063 aspirations of the continent and strengthening trade links between the Middle East and Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It’s been a great experience,” says Coumba Dioukhane, a spokesperson at the Côte d&#8217;Ivoire pavilion, even as crowds queue up around us to get their expo passports stamped by the West African country.



“We were able to showcase the Ivory Coast from an economic, social and cultural point of view; this was an opportunity to show to the whole world where we are, and the investment opportunities we have.”



Similar sentiments at the Sierra Leone pavilion.



The salesman at the store inside points to the python skin for sale and a crocodile skin handbag selling for Dhs1,500 ($408). “But you know we also have gold and diamonds,” he says with a glint in his eye. “Our country was hidden but not anymore. The last six months here in Dubai have been incredible.”



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had also been at Expo 2020 Dubai, at his country’s pavilion three days before the finale, calling it “a seminal event… as we strive to recover and rebuild in the wake of the pandemic”.



Some enduring connections for Africa in this glistening city in the desert.

Closing Ceremony Held For Expo 2020 Dubai

World Fair Ends With Festivities, Pyrotechnics And High Tech

Cresco Labs, the Illinois-based cannabis producer, will acquire New York-based Columbia Care for $2 billion in an all-stock transaction.



If the deal is completed, Cresco will become one of the country’s largest cannabis producers and retailers with over 100 dispensaries across 18 states.



“We couldn’t be more excited,” says Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Cresco. “It’s a unique opportunity to create industry leadership; it&#8217;s a very important time with some sort of federal regulatory reform, we think, on the horizon.”



Marijuana is still illegal on the federal level but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2022/01/10/where-is-cannabis-legal-a-guide-to-all-50-states/?sh=236d4f45d19b">37 states have some sort of regulated market</a>, with 18 allowing adult-use sales. Last year, legal sales totaled $26 billion in the U.S. and by 2030 the legal market will grow to around $65 billion, according to Cowen.



Nicholas Vita, the co-founder and CEO of Columbia Care, will join Cresco’s board but Bachtell is expected to lead the company.



Reuters first&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/exclusive-cannabis-producer-cresco-nears-2-bln-purchase-columbia-care-sources-2022-03-23/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported late Tuesday</a>&nbsp;that the two companies were nearing an agreement.



The deal will have hurdles, including divesting a number of dispensaries and a few licenses in states where the two companies overlap, like Arizona, Florida, Illinois Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. New York, where medical marijuana is legal and the state’s adult-use market is in the process of launching, is projected to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2022/02/20/cannabis-grey-market-new-york-city-wild-west-of-weed-empire-cannabis-club-uncle-budd/?sh=48d813ce4e4f">a $4.2 billion market within five years</a>. “It’s a great opportunity where we do have overlap—they are incredibly valuable states that that people want to be in, so there&#8217;s a good market for divestment,” says Bachtell.



Columbia Care will expand Cresco’s presence to states like long-standing cannabis markets like California and Colorado, as well as states like New Jersey and Virginia, which have both passed adult-use but haven’t launched sales yet. “We have the material markets of today, but [Columbia Care] has the markets of tomorrow,” Bachtell says.



Under the terms of the deal, Cresco will acquire all the issued and outstanding Columbia Care shares. Columbia Care shareholders will receive 0.5579 of a Cresco Labs share for each Columbia Care share, which represents a 16% premium based on the closing price Columbia Care and 19% premium of Cresco Labs shares. Columbia Care shareholders will hold approximately 35% of Cresco Labs.



“Since our founding, our mission has been to deliver the best outcome for our stakeholders,” Vita said in a statement. “In an evolving industry, the opportunities to better achieve our mission through consolidation led us to this historic moment.”



Both companies are publicly listed in Canada due to the U.S. federal ban on cannabis. Columbia Care and Cresco have seen their stock prices crater 50% over the last year, but they are not alone—the entire industry has had difficulty keeping stock prices up as the U.S. government has not made meaningful progress in cannabis reform during the Biden administration.



The combined company will have the second-largest retail footprint in the industry after Trulieve. (Cresco has 49 dispensaries and Columbia has 99.)



The new company will also diversify the number of states in which the bulk of Cresco’s revenue comes from. Right now, 80% of its revenue is derived from Illinois, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. If the deal closes, those states will only make up 50% of the company’s revenue, with states like Colorado and Florida and New Jersey climbing up the list.



“We focus on cannabis like the consumer packaged good that it is, and having access to 70% of the addressable market is how we turn our brand portfolio into the Miller High Life, Coca-Cola and Johnnie Walker Blue Label of cannabis,” says Bachtell.



By Will Yakowicz, Forbes Staff

Screenshot 2022-03-24 at 13.52.20

Cannabis Company Cresco Labs To Acquire Columbia Care For $2 Billion

In the before times, when December meant holiday parties packed with coworkers crowded around canapés, SAP North America had regional events in hotel ballrooms or office buildings that could host thousands of workers in black tie dress and live bands. Then last year, when the pandemic ushered corporate soirees online, SAP hosted its own version of the virtual fȇte: An online concert where Sting performed.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This year, says the division’s president, DJ Paoni, the company considered hiring another musician or entertainer for a virtual event, but decided against it. “That was fun, that was great, but we all acknowledged we’re staring at the computer screen all day long anyways,” he says.&nbsp;



Instead, SAP will reimburse each employee nearly $100 for the celebration of their choosing, with most planning some kind of small team get together, such as dinner and drinks or volunteering at a food bank before going to a restaurant. “There wasn’t a big appetite for large group gatherings, but people still wanted to get together and enjoy some festivities, if on a smaller scale.”&nbsp;



This year, small is in when it comes to in-person office holiday parties—if they’re happening at all.



As 2021 ends and the work world enters its second holiday season upended by Covid, companies are tiptoeing back to in-person gatherings, substituting all-out soirees with much more modest affairs. A fall&nbsp;<a href="https://www.challengergray.com/blog/in-person-parties-stage-a-small-comeback-but-22-still-unsure-how-to-celebrate-year-end/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survey</a>&nbsp;of 182 human resources executives by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas found that 7% of respondents said they are having virtual events this year, down from 17% in 2020. Nearly 27% said they are having some kind of in-person party, with or without Covid-19 modifications, compared to about 5% last year. (Most others were unsure, making local plans or not hosting an event at all.)



“The corporate market, although it feels like they want to, are not throwing large holiday parties this year,” Andrea Correale, founder of New York-based caterer&nbsp;<a href="https://elegantaffairscaterers.com/about/who-we-are/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elegant Affairs</a>, said in an email. “We are catering to smaller yet special in-office events.”



Meanwhile, some are shifting their plans amid concerns about the new omicron variant.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-africa-coronavirus-vaccine-f8589633da585bae7a169d3d17045387" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reports</a>&nbsp;that at least 50 people in Oslo, Norway infected with the variant are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-cases-at-norway-christmas-party-provide-clues-on-new-variants-spread-11638554033" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">connected to a corporation’s recent Christmas party</a>&nbsp;may be giving some pause.



“We’re hearing that [companies are] having to make difficult decisions,” says Jim Emanuel, an advisor with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shrm.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Society for Human Resources Management</a>. “There’s a [desire] to engage and bring people back together. However there’s a risk: Do we do it at the cost of exposing employees to this variant that we know little about?”



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/expedia-group/?sh=153405776c4d">Expedia Group</a>&nbsp;says they are doing smaller, team-driven, end-of-year celebrations, rather than a large centralized event.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/okta/?sh=1233986c411f">Okta</a>, the identity management company, never planned a large, company-wide party for its more than 4,500 employees, but offices and teams are arranging for smaller celebrations, some of which will be in-person or hybrid, as well as giving people more time off, including the week of Thanksgiving and the week after Christmas.



Catherine Lenson, managing partner and chief people officer for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/softbank/?sh=2f445b0d6cf8">SoftBank Investment Advisers</a>, says its U.S. teams aren’t doing much beyond small informal outdoor gatherings, while in the U.K. there are some low-key dinners planned.



She doesn’t know of any teams planning a virtual event like they had last year, which included a “well-intentioned” virtual quiz. “It was peak 2020,” Lenson says.



Some companies are postponing their events out of concern over the new variant.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.simplybusiness.com/welcome/simply-business-insurance/?&amp;mkt_medium=ppc&amp;mkt_source=adwords&amp;mkt_campaign=mvp&amp;mkt_content=11719619705&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAqbyNBhC2ARIsALDwAsA861ZkN2DQGy_SHMXrYn9U-ywEtzUVJzvytduVDcoCPG40tAZRufwaAmXZEALw_wcB&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Simply Business</a>, a Boston-based online business insurance brokerage with 250 employees, was going to fly in employees from cities like Atlanta and host a party at the bowling alley and arcade Lucky Strike, requiring proof of vaccination or a recent negative test, as well as masks when not eating or drinking.



But Missy Steiman, the company’s vice president of people, says concerns over the new variant prompted them to postpone the larger event until January and send out gift baskets and allow teams to plan small dinners for 10 people or less if interested. “We want to do this—we want to get together—but we don’t know how long the variant is going to take to dissipate.”



<a href="https://sourcecodecommunications.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SourceCode Communications</a>, a 40-person public relations firm based in New York, was also going to fly in out-of-town staffers and had planned an in-person party in a private room at the Empire Diner followed by singing at a private karaoke room. Yet despite plans to require proof of vaccination and an onsite negative rapid test, the omicron variant prompted them to postpone their plans.&nbsp;



“Holidays are time for friends and family and loved ones to be together,” says Jeanne Hernandez, who leads human resources. “We don’t want to impact the health and safety of our team members or that they’d possibly take something home.”



<a href="https://www.eckertseamans.com/our-people/walter-m-foster" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walter Foster, an employment lawyer in Boston</a>, says the new variant is “causing agita” for the companies he advises. For “most of my clients, that’s the major question. They were really hopeful they could do something this year.”



Others say the omicron variant isn’t having a huge effect. Tal Brodsky, the senior director of business development at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thriver.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thriver</a>, an online marketplace for workplace services, says he’s not seeing clients change their plans. Many large Fortune 100 companies are already offering workers the choice of attending a slightly larger celebration, a small team outing or a virtual event, he says, depending on their comfort level.&nbsp;



Yet many are also planning in-person events in their office suites, where there’s less exposure to outsiders and no contracts to cancel if cases pile up. “The variant is a perfect example: If something changes, you might want to change headcount, and that’s very hard to do when you have deposits down.”



<a href="https://bravoevents-online.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greg Jenkins</a>, an event planner based in Los Angeles, says his clients haven’t changed plans due to the variant either, though at least one has recently reminded employees to get booster shots. “It’s not the five alarm fire here [in Los Angeles],” he says. “Part of that is because the vaccination rate is fairly high.” He says many are hosting events that don’t include significant others and are held during work hours as employees increasingly value time with family.&nbsp;



Foster, the employment lawyer, says there’s yet another type of holiday party his clients are considering this year: None at all. Uninspired by planning another virtual event, and nervous about hosting something in person, they’re planning charitable donations, giving out extra bonuses or sharing gift certificates to pick out swag—and then calling it a day. “There’s a number of companies that are just throwing in the towel because of the logistics,” he says. “Covid exhaustion is very, very real.” 



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/"></a>By Jena McGregor, Forbes Staff

Office Christmas

Coronavirus Didn’t Kill The Office Holiday Party. It’s Just Making It Smaller.

With Expo 2020 Dubai opening to a lavish and spectacularly starry night in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on September 30, the world fair with the theme, Connecting Minds, Creating the Future and a message on global cooperation and a sustainable future, will be well-represented by the African continent.



The opening ceremony featured stunning visuals and world-class acts, at Al Wasl Plaza, where legendary Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, enthralled with the song, The Prayer.



Each of the 191 participating countries will have its own pavilion at the six-month event opening on October 1.



To a query from FORBES AFRICA about Africa’s participation, the organizers had earlier said:&nbsp;“For decades, the UAE and Africa have enjoyed strong economic ties. Africa has a lot to offer, and the Expo will provide a platform for African nations to tell their story and promote a continent that is ready to move forward and a secure place to do business. For the first time in the 170-year history of World Expos, every African nation will participate, each with its own pavilion, while the African Union will also host its own pavilion at Expo 2020. Building on the long-standing friendship between the UAE and Africa – one based on mutual respect and a shared vision – Expo 2020 offers African nations the opportunity to showcase their individual visions for the future.”

City skyline in Dubai

‘Every African Nation’ At Expo 2020 Dubai As World Fair Opens

In recent years, surrogacy has become increasingly popular among single women and gay couples. For heterosexual single men, it’s still a rather unusual path to follow but that is changing.



BY PAULA SLIER



SOUTH AFRICAN MEN ARE MAKING HISTORY, choosing to become single fathers by choice. In March, Wesley Hayes, a 35-year-old divorce attorney won a year-long battle to legally register his daughter, Justine Filly – her second name reflects Hayes’ love of horses. 



Andrew Martin, a fertility lawyer who heads his own firm in Cape Town, has successfully registered a number of babies for single fathers through surrogacy over the past decade. One of Martin’s clients is a 46-year-old Johannesburg business consultant, Gavin Phillips*. 



Since November 2019, Phillips has undergone three unsuccessful IVF journeys and is now about to begin his fourth. 



“I’ve always wanted children and after I lost my father to Alzheimer’s in 2017, the need to extend my family, and have a legacy, became more intense,” he says. 



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:21% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="612" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-612x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51482 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-612x1024.jpg 612w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-179x300.jpg 179w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-768x1286.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-917x1536.jpg 917w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-1223x2048.jpg 1223w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Tasneem-scaled.jpg 1529w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">It’s exciting and I hope it’s something we see more of. We have the technology to do these things and there are definitely men who would make good parents and if we can help them, it’s a lovely thing for us to be able to do. – Dr Tasneem Mohame</blockquote>
</div></div>



Phillips was married and unfortunately despite efforts to have a child, those efforts did not bear fruits. “After we got divorced, I considered adopting a child, and then I started to research surrogacy.” Traditionally, it’s heterosexual couples who go this route. Globally, one in six such couples struggle to conceive, regardless of whether they come from low-, middle- or highincome countries. But in recent years, surrogacy has become increasingly popular among single women and gay couples. 



For heterosexual single men, it is still a rather unusual path to follow. Dr Tasneem Mohamed, an obstetrician gynecologist practising at the BioART Fertility Centre in Johannesburg, has dealt with only two requests in the last two years from single men wanting to have babies. 



“I think maybe a lot of men out there don’t know it’s an option for them,” she says. “And probably a lot of them who’ve thought about it just get shut down by their families. It’s a lot of responsibility raising a child on your own, but maybe once single men know it’s possible, we could see more of them coming forward. 



“It’s exciting and I hope it’s something we see more of. We have the technology to do these things and there are definitely men who would make good parents and if we can help them, it’s a lovely thing for us to be able to do.” South African law stipulates that those seeking surrogacy as well as the surrogate herself must be South African or resident in South Africa. 



“This is to protect local South Africans from being taken advantage of by foreigners coming and using them as surrogates,” explains Dr Yossi Unterslak, a gynecologist and reproductive medicine specialist at Vitalab Fertility Clinic in Johannesburg. 



“There’s no restriction on the egg or sperm donor. But if it’s a single man seeking surrogacy, it has to be his sperm.” 



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:34% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51483 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dr-Yossi-Unterslak-2048x2048.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Shop around and find a clinic that is close, affordable and offers treatment but also be careful. – Dr Yossi Unterslak</blockquote>
</div></div>



As much as 40% of patients seeking fertility treatments at Vitalab come from abroad – the vast majority from countries in Africa where such treatments are inferior in quality. 



“Shop around and find a clinic that is close, affordable and offers treatment but also be careful,” warns Dr Unterslak. 



“There are countries that allow cross-border surrogacy like Ukraine and India, which are quite popular.&#8221;



“Look at the law to make sure you are not going to go through the expensive process of generating embryos and then after the baby’s born, there’s an issue getting the child back into your country.” 



Surrogacy does not come cheap. Success rate the first time around is around 67% which means the bills can add up. Phillips estimates he’s already spent nearly a quarter of a million rands (about $17,000). 



“There’s the buying of eggs, the fertility clinic, lawyer fees and treatment cycles. Legally, the surrogate can’t earn money from doing this and so I also contribute towards costs of her pregnancy, her medical aid and life insurance. There is a provision in the agreement that says that she is required to try at least three times. The fact that we are on our fourth shows you that these surrogates care and commit to these surrogacy journeys with deep empathy and altruism.” 



But the process can be laborious. The first step is choosing a donor. 



“You get to see their health records, family history, whether they smoke, take meds, drink, how much they exercise,” says Phillips. “You get to find out their eye color, hair color, height. You get an idea of their academic ability, their sporting ability, whether they’re introverted or not and you get pictures of them up until the age of 11 because of anonymity concerns.” 



Out of 27 possibilities, Phillips eventually found a donor he was happy with. He donated his sperm to fertilize her eggs. Once the fertilization had taken place, mature embryos (blastocysts) were then frozen until the surrogate had been prepared through various stimulation treatments to receive a blastocyst transfer (IVF). Unfortunately, after three attempts, and although the surrogate fell pregnant each time, the pregnancies did not progress, resulting in miscarriages.



Phllips, then, in an effort to give the surrogacy route another try, decided to change donors and also underwent personal genetic testing to determine if there were any chromosomal abnormalities (of which there were none).



“I’m hopeful, my new donor has got good qualities in terms of what I would like for a child, but genetics can go back six generations. So, you might see something from your great, great, great, great grandfather come out in your child. Not everything is a guarantee but what you want is really healthy eggs from a successful donor (a donor that has donated eggs in the past that has resulted in a pregnancy).”



Phillips has also sent the embryos he has available from this fertilization cycle for additional genetic testing called Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy (PGT-A). This helps mitigate any risks around implanting embryos that could present with chromosomal abnormalities, prior to commencing with the next round of IVF. If all is normal in the results, a fourth round of IVF will proceed.



Says Phillips: “I feel I have given myself the best chance available for success. I know that 50% of the success is in the hands of science and the rest is in the hands of a higher power – if the stars align, I could be a father in 10 months’ time. Sadly, there’s still a stigma attached to single men having children on their own and the argument that a child allegedly needs a mom. I’ll be the mom and the dad, and I’ll protect and nurture my child with everything I have. I also won’t give up until I have completed this beautiful journey. My child/children will know how much love went into conceiving them,” he says.



Both Phillips and Hayes feel that the concept of a nuclear family is changing. No longer does it mean two point four children and a husband and wife. 



Families today come in all shapes and sizes – single mom, two moms, two dads, single dad.



“Relationships are not my forte,” admits Hayes. “I’m very independent and I don’t necessarily find myself best suited to living with somebody and having to make joint decisions about a child. I’ve done enough divorces to know that it’s an unpleasant business and in a number of cases, the children are used as a pawn in the divorce proceedings. As a single parent, I don’t have to concede to anyone. It sounds very selfish, but I don’t have to take anybody else’s opinion into consideration.”



But the process can be quite invasive. “I had to undergo psychometric testing and a psychological evaluation. The social worker looked into my circumstances and interviewed my family and friends to see what my environment was. I also had to prove that financially I am able to look after a child. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but it is invasive.”



But it was all worth it the moment he saw Justine for the first time. 



“I wasn’t there for the actual birth itself and arrived moments after she was born. I found her in a little incubator and I just recognized her. I immediately saw small bits of myself looking back at me,” he smiles.



“Africa is by and large a patriarchal society so I can’t see why being seen as the head of a family and being seen as the father of a child without a mother is an issue. There are many single fathers who’ve lost their wives for various reasons.



“Nobody can say that my daughter is unwanted. She was absolutely 110% planned and a 150% wanted and is unimaginably loved. Just as thousands of children don’t have fathers, I think it’s going to become more commonplace that children don’t have mothers.”

Wesley Hayes and daughter3

Daddy Cool: How More Single Straight Men Are Considering Surrogacy

<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51362" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51362" class="wp-image-51362" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, 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class="wp-image-51368" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-8-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-8-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-8-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-8-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-8-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51369" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-scaled.jpg" 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data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51370" class="wp-image-51370" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption"> </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51371" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51371" class="wp-image-51371" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption"> </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51372" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51372" class="wp-image-51372" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51373" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51373" class="wp-image-51373" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption">Young boxers participate in activities at a new Fight With Insight boxing gym, launched on Youth Day at Hillbrow in Johannesburg, South Africa, with founder Luke Lamprecht, the gyms assist in training and feeding inner-city youth in Johannesburg; photographs by Yeshiel Panchia</figcaption></figure>



Today marks 45 years of the Soweto Uprising in South Africa, when thousands of unhappy schoolchildren challenging an apartheid regime fearlessly took to the streets protesting being taught in Afrikaans. June 16 1976 ended in fire, fear and tears. Commemorated as Youth Day in South Africa, FORBES AFRICA captures the rousing emotions of today, but in a boxing ring in inner city Johannesburg, where the youth now bond over sport as part of a broader upliftment program.



June 16 is a hallowed day in South African history, observed as Youth Day commemorating the student uprising of 1976 in Soweto which saw students lead demonstrations against an education system that would eventually lead to menial jobs. Some 20,000 students partook in what was to be a peaceful protest, but when the day was over, at least 176 had been killed by the bullets and brutality of apartheid. The children laid down their lives but it marked a new chapter in South Africa’s liberation struggle.



Across South Africa today are events marking the memory of that fateful day, and FORBES AFRICA joined one such occasion of hope and healing in Hillbrow, a residential neighborhood in Johannesburg, for the opening of a third gym for inner-city youth by Fight With Insight, a youth empowerment initiative directed by Luke Lamprecht, a child protection and development specialist.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Children have had dreams put on hold or broken altogether; schooling has been disrupted; families separated; and food and social security systems taken away from them.”</blockquote>



Lamprecht founded the first such gym in Johannesburg in 2006, and chose Youth Day this year to mark the opening of his latest outlet, offering daily training to aspiring boxers as also supplying healthy meals to them. “2020 has been a bad year to be a child,” says Lamprecht to FORBES AFRICA, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic that put the brakes on the social and psychological development of young children, and dried up the support networks and sustenance that many of them depended on to lead normal lives.



“Children have had dreams put on hold or broken altogether; schooling has been disrupted; families separated; and food and social security systems taken away from them.”



His initiative aims to meet some of these deficiencies, offering camaraderie, exercise, food and above all, belief and purpose to children in need. The advocacy aspect is not new to the personnel at Fight With Insight, as they have provided training and food even within Covid-19 lockdown restrictions all of last year. At their height, they served 1.4 tonnes of food a day. However, this June 16 marks an easier time than the last, with children ending training before their meal by breaking a paper chain – symbolizing breaking free of the challenges and restrictions that hold them back.



Many of the urban youth at the center say they find both their physical and emotional sustenance inside the ring. They are in it to win this perennial fight called life.

Fight With Insight (2 of 13)

Youth Day Photo Essay: Gloves On For The Big Fight Called Life

Ruth Wasserman Lande has made history as the second-ever, and only female, South African to be elected to Israel’s top legislative. &nbsp;



When you sit down for coffee with Ruth Wasserman Lande, her warm brown eyes lock onto yours and before we even start the interview, she’s interested in learning more about me. It’s heart-warming – and unusual. It’s not every day a diplomat asks the questions she does and is so genuinely interested in the answers.



But then again Lande is not your everyday politician. She made history this year after becoming the second-ever, and only female, South African to be elected to Israel’s top legislative. The last time a South African served in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) was in the 1960s.



Lande went on to narrowly lose her seat during elections held at the end of March. But in a coalition government announced on Monday, June 14, she re-entered the Knesset.



Born in Israel, Lande was nine when her family moved halfway across the world to her native Cape Town in South Africa. After growing up in a poor Israeli neighborhood where children from all backgrounds – Morocco, Georgia, Russia, Lithuania – played together, she found the “huge houses with huge fences and swimming pools” of South Africa startling. It was 1985 – five years before Nelson Mandela would be released from prison and apartheid begin to be dismantled.



“I saw people locking their fridges and locking their houses. It was shocking for me because in Israel everything was open. Everything was sort of simple there. So the Moroccans were a little more black and the Russians were a little more light and everybody was all sorts of colors. We just didn&#8217;t care. We didn&#8217;t see it. So it impacted me in a very big way as a child that the color a person was could mean he’d be better off economically than another.”



That impact followed her into adulthood.



“I&#8217;m very involved in working with minority groups in Israel, with the less privileged, not only Arabs, but also Jews of lower socio-economic income, people with disabilities, people who are on the autistic spectrum. I think I have a kind of affinity to those who have a more difficult starting point.”



She believes the eight years she spent in South Africa – “a lifetime at that age” &#8211; increased her sense of calling to be active in society. She attributes her excellent English to her South African schooling and also her ability to feel comfortable in very different situations, again useful qualities for women in leadership.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I have a kind of affinity to those who have a more difficult starting point.”</blockquote>



Returning to Israel at the age of 17 to join the Israel Defense Forces as a “lone soldier” – she had no immediate family in Israel – she waitressed on weekends to make ends meet. She served in the intelligence division and rose to captain.



Later, she joined the Foreign Ministry, volunteering to work in Egypt where she became the deputy Israeli ambassador, a post she held for three years. She studied Arabic for eight hours a day and is today fluent.



“I think that Israel is a magnificent nucleus for countries in Africa because there&#8217;s such a pluralism of societies, communities and cultures in Israel that, despite the difficulties and imperfections, everybody can find their place here.&nbsp;Also, the knowledge and expertise that is being exported from Israel in the fields of water, technology and farming to many countries in Africa is something that I am very proud of. It’s important to help, to give, to contribute.”



Lande has two masters’ degrees, one from Harvard University, and also worked as an advisor to former Israeli President Shimon Peres.



“I really believe that what you give, the universe gives back. It doesn’t have to be financial but it has a lot to do with energy. As a member of Knesset, I feel I can be heard more. I care about this country and I want to make the society in it more viable, more equal, better, and maybe that sounds very presumptuous, but I try in my own way.”



– By Paula Slier

IMG-20210427-WA0060

On A Mission Far Away: The South African In The Knesset

Temitope Mayegun has made a name in Nigeria selling natural oils from fruits, seeds and vegetables, but it was a greasy path to follow.



From stock trading to skincare, in the last four years, Temitope Mayegun has built a company that sells what she calls “natural skincare products” but to achieve that, she first needed to change the mindset of Nigerians.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I got divine inspiration,” she says, “to start a company that will enrich lives and inspire a healthier and happier world.” The founder and CEO of Avila Naturalle in Nigeria felt she needed to first educate people about the toxic and unsafe chemicals they were hitherto using for bleaching and skin whitening, considering how sought-after they are in Nigeria.



The former stock broker was also frustrated she couldn’t find an all-natural skin product without bleaching or whitening ingredients harmful to the skin, so she created her own.



Today, from a humble start in 2017, her company retails over 350 products in the skincare division, 90 products in the food division and 10 products in the water and drinks division.



But it took a lot of ground work and research to start with.



“I saw that many people believe your skincare product should enhance or change your skin color,” recalls Mayegun.



With a degree in accounting from the University of Lagos as well as an International Masters in Business Administration from Eaton Business School; and having done a Harvard Business School Executive Leadership course, Mayegun’s most valuable qualification would prove to be a diploma she obtained in an organic and natural skin school in London.



Equipped with the knowledge of the goodness of natural products, Mayegun set out on the cumbersome path of changing perceptions.



“It was difficult because a lot of people were not ready to change their bleaching and whitening products. So, we did not follow the crowd even though there was pressure to go into whitening and pressure to create products that will let customers bleach their skin,” says Mayegun.



To combat stereotypes, Mayegun knew she had to create a unique product. She began with 30,000 units of pure coconut oil.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I had to create campaigns to educate the public on the importance of using natural products.”</blockquote>



“At the time, there was no pure coconut oil on the market. Most of them were watered down with other edible oils which reduces the quality. I had to create campaigns to educate the public on the importance of using natural products and sell them on the superior quality of our products.”



The hard work paid off and Mayegun sold out her 30,000 units, which was two cartons of pure coconut oil, in just two days. It was time to expand her business and with that, she needed to find capital.



“I started asking friends for a loan but I could not raise the money. I went to microfinance companies looking for a $10,000-loan and they said I needed collateral which I didn’t have.



“There were times when I worked between 17 and 21 hours a day. I would be trying to convince people on why they should use coconut oil for their skin. I knew people were not ready for natural products but I kept pushing and after a while, I got a lot of people asking for coconut oil and it was not easy meeting the demand,” says Mayegun.



Soon, word got out and the distributors came calling. Today, Avila Naturalle offers multiple natural essential oils made from carrots, avocado, hibiscus and mustard.



“When people saw our mustard oil, they were shocked that there were these oils in Nigeria. So, they bought in bulk to resell. We were the first to produce essential oils in Nigeria. People were asking if we bought them from abroad and dilute it with other products which was the norm. We are the only company that sells 100% pure natural oils from fruits and seeds.”



The sizeable beauty and personal care market in Nigeria is what Mayegun has sets her sights on.



“To make this happen we have created a multi-channel natural body care and household brand with multiple product lines, which combines a dynamic distribution network with a retail strategy as well as e-commerce,” she says, also referring to changing consumer habits in the post-Covid world.



With just $100 and a burgeoning global supply chain network, Mayegun has built a million-dollar company manufacturing natural body and hair care products and foods in Africa.

temitope mayegun

The Natural Route To Business Success

Poland’s parcel king, Rafal Brzoska has gone from near-bankrupt to billionaire by not delivering packages to individual houses.



It was the summer of 2016, and the walls were closing in on Rafał Brzoska. The then-38-year-old Polish entrepreneur had spent nearly two decades transforming InPost, a college dorm-room business that shoved supermarket coupons through letterboxes, into a $120 million–a-year commercial mail business. But competing against the government’s postal service was taking a toll. He had $65 million in debt and was frantically trying to find new investors while staving off the repo man.



“One of my key points with the new investors was, ‘I want to repay all the bonds, all the banks, all the people that have lent us money,’ ” recalls Brzoska, who is now 43. “The investors wondered why, and I told them, ‘I want to live in this country, and you only have one name, one face.’ ”



Those investors weren’t interested in Brzoska’s dying postal business but in the automated e-commerce lockers spinoff he had started in 2010. Amazon and other online retailers ship packages for pickup to these refrigerator-sized street lockers, which cost around $20,000 to install. They are popular because mailmen in Europe will rarely leave a parcel unattended on a stoop. That effectively stops porch piracy (54% of Americans say they’ve had a package swiped), but if you miss the doorbell you’re in for a slog to the post office.



On the brink of bankruptcy, Brzoska moved to shut down the mail business in summer 2016 ahead of talks with his rescuer, Advent International. The Boston-based private equity group took InPost private the following April. The $110 million deal paid off the company’s debts and gave Brzoska a further $125 million to nearly double the size of his parcel locker network to 4,400 in a year.



It was both a sweetheart deal and a shrewd one. Poles were late to embrace online shopping, but by 2017 e-commerce sales were growing at a steady 20.4% per year. Then came the pandemic, and online shopping jumped 36% in just 12 months. InPost’s revenues soared to $677 million, up 104% in 2020. Brzoska’s lockers handle 36% of all parcels shipped in Poland.



“There were a lot of reasons to say no to this one, and a lot of people did say no,” says Paul Atefi, a managing director at KKR, which loaned InPost $145 million in 2018 to build new lockers. Brzoska now has 11,734 lockers in Poland and more than 1,100 in the United Kingdom, plus a few hundred in Italy. “But when we started looking at a machine-by-machine basis, it was really compelling. Sometimes the payback was as low as 1.5 years per machine. . . . We love this company.”



The margins are enviable, too. Brzoska charges around $2 per package, and his costs are limited to locker setup, labor and leases for locker space. InPost pocketed $97 million in profit in 2020. “Our automated parcel machines are doubling revenue year-over-year,” he says.



“In Poland they’re targeting to increase Ebitda margins to more than 50%,” says David Kerstens, an analyst with Jefferies International. “And that’s compared to Ebitda for postal operators, such as Royal Mail, that are low single digits.”



Putting lockers within “slipper distance” of shoppers’ homes and offices transformed the business, says Marek Różycki, a consultant who advised Advent on the InPost deal. “If you have to trek a mile to your nearest locker in the pouring rain, that’s not appealing. But in Poland, my nearest locker is 350 meters away. It’s almost like home delivery—and more convenient.”



InPost learned the “slipper rule” the hard way. Advent rolled back Brzoska’s wild expansion to four continents, which left the company thinly spread and overextended. “This was a classic scenario where you have a charismatic, very entrepreneurial individual managing a business that was growing very fast,” Różycki says. “But he took on too many projects with too few resources.”



InPost went public again in January on Amsterdam’s stock exchange, valuing the business at $9.7 billion; Brzoska’s stake is currently worth $1.1 billion. He has persuaded investors that his lockers are a cheaper, greener alternative to fleets of delivery trucks crisscrossing Europe’s cities. One storage unit can do the work of 24 trucks, Brzoska says: “That’s why lockers are the future.”



While Brzoska was mastering the locker business, his main rivals—Europe’s postal services, plus UPS and Amazon, which have experimented with lockers—took a different tack, boosting home delivery and signing up thousands of corner stores to handle package pickups and returns. It was a quick, cheap way to scale versus lockers, but the pandemic-driven e-commerce boom has left bodegas from Berlin to Bilbao with aisles crowded with packages and long lines for returns. “Convenience stores aren’t that convenient for parcel collection, and particularly not during the pandemic,” Kerstens says.



Brzoska’s plan is to cut those lines—and leap ahead in Europe—with a $675 million deal, announced in March, to buy delivery giant Mondial Relay and drop his lockers at the busiest stores in its France-wide network.



Brzoska’s dramatic results have not gone unnoticed. Alibaba and Allegro—Poland’s e-commerce powerhouse, which accounts for a quarter of InPost’s sales—now have lockers in Poland, while Europe’s postal giants, such as Germany’s Deutsche Post, are also betting on parcel machines.



Brzoska isn’t the underdog this time, and he won’t shy from a fight. He credits his star sign and lucky bead bracelets—incongruous against his tailored suits—for the fact that he survived earlier rounds with postal heavyweights. “I told my team: ‘I am a Scorpio. I will survive, and you will survive with me, because Scorpios are always like this, fighting until the very end.’ ”



By Iain Martin, Forbes Staff

Amazon Warehouse Employees Prepare For Their Busiest Time Of Year

The Future Of Internet Shopping Might Not Be Home Delivery

Sweden-based Klarna is Europe’s biggest privately held fintech company with 4,000 employees and a $31 billion valuation, pumped up by investors like Softbank, General Atlantic and BlackRock. The company has become elephantine in such a short time by offering customers the ability to make purchases and pay later, making money by charging merchants to utilize Klarna’s payment technology. Today Klarna names a new investor: rapper, designer and producer A$AP Rocky.&nbsp;



“It’s a radical way to approach the crediting system,” says Rocky (real name Rakim Mayers), 32. “It helps people with financial literacy.”



In addition to the company’s tremendous growth, Rocky was motivated to invest in Klarna from his own experiences growing up in Harlem. He notes the difficulties making payments, especially on student loans with interest, for people from low-income backgrounds. “You’re setting yourself up for financial debt,” he says. “There’s no system that helps us deal with things when it comes to student loans, the IRS, banking or credit.” He describes Klarna as a “layaway plan” at a global scale.



This is a new chapter in the “funny history” (Rocky’s words) between the performer and Sweden. In August of 2019,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2019/08/14/aap-rocky-found-guilty-of-assault-handed-suspended-sentence-over-stockholm-brawl/?sh=24f16c994ebf">Rocky was released</a>&nbsp;back to the United States after the country held him in pretrial detention—on an assault charge—after a post-concert fight in Stockholm. Rocky’s cause sparked international outrage, fueled in-part by then-President Donald Trump, who lashed out on Twitter to advocate for the rapper’s release and return to the U.S.&nbsp;



Now, reclaiming his relationship with Sweden as an investor in one of the country’s most significant companies, Rocky (who starred on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2016/02/09/aap-rockys-sequel-a-cash-prince-aims-for-the-fashion-crown/?sh=4c5f206a6052">2016&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;30 Under 30 cover</a>) will curate upcycled and vintage fashion experiences in the Klarna smartphone app.&nbsp;



For Klarna’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/sebastian-siemiatkowski/?sh=599119366e25">billionaire CEO and cofounder Sebastian Siemiatkowski</a>, bringing Rocky to his cap table is a strategic brand move. Klarna prides itself on being the anti-bank bank: its color is bubblegum pink and it rans ads in major cities with investor Snoop Dogg surrounded by Afghan Hounds. “We’re a very diverse group of people with over 50 nationalities represented, speaking multiple languages that have a very different approach to business,” says Siemiatkowski. “We wanted our brand to represent that—to represent approachability and availability. We also did want to add a portion of fun to it.”&nbsp;



The company’s trajectory has been anything but relaxed. Making the bulk of its revenue from charging merchant fees between 3 and 7%, revenue grew 37% from 2019 to 2020 to $1.2 billion. Klarna has over 90 million active users around the world who make an average of 2 million transactions per day with over 250,000 merchants like Nike, Amazon and Sephora.







Buy now, pay later, however, has led to backlash by critics who say Klarna encourages overspending. “A decade on from the financial crisis, a new generation—some of whom were barely out of primary school during the last credit crunch—is being courted by new types of lenders who are rewriting the language of debt for the Instagram era,” said the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8c751ac6-bb63-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Financial Times</a>&nbsp;in 2018 of Klarna.&nbsp;



The company insists it’s an antidote to the credit system. A representative for Klarna says: “Each new transaction is evaluated before it gets approved, and we have limits in place on how much shoppers can spend when using our services. Every time a customer makes a transaction using Klarna, we reassess their ability to repay and evaluate if the payment option they wish to use is suitable for them at that time.” They also note that customers are banned from using Klarna until their outstanding balance has been paid. The company also rarely charges interest to customers, unlike creditors.



For all these reasons, Rocky believes Klarna is his best investment yet. “I’m really hands-on involved,” says Rocky. “It’s a no-brainer.”



By Alexandra Sternlicht, Forbes Staff

2019 Rolling Loud LA

A$AP Rocky Becomes The Latest Investor In $31 Billion Fintech Platform Klarna

An annual super and hyper-car event that saw the rich and famous and 68 high-performance vehicles – worth over $25 million – burn rubber on South Africa’s open roads. What’s needed? A cool $7,000 and a lot of va va voom.



Pitched as the “most epic super-car rally in the southern hemisphere”, the 2021 Daytona Rally went ahead with much fanfare this year, seeing 68 luxury car owners completing a six-day trip of 1,500km from the South African port city of Gqeberha to Mossel Bay in Cape Town, from May 20. Drivers were treated to five-star hotel stays and red-carpet treatment every step of the way.



“It really is the best thing, a mind-blowing experience every time,” says participant Ismail Peck, who traveled with two friends in a Lamborghini and Audi R8 V10 Performance Quattro. Drivers were treated to a variety of events, from hill-climbs to ¼ mile drift events and more. Sponsored by New York-based IoT company Justworx, the rally is the intersection of high-speed and the high life, with an entrance fee of around $7,000 to participate and drivers treated to luxury accommodation and experiences during the trip. Originally limited to 50 participants, numbers were upped to 68 drivers due to high demand, with many wanting a freeing experience after a year of pandemic restrictions. “The race draws the cream of the crop in South Africa,” says Killarney International Raceway commentator Gary Fleming. With the total estimated value of participant vehicles being in excess of $25 million, it’s no surprise there were some ancillary benefits, with Mossel Bay Deputy Mayor Dirk Kotzé making clear that the city’s participation was part of a broader plan to stimulate local businesses, and luxury goods worth $20,000 being auctioned to support local charity efforts. Local residents were primarily excited at the opportunity to see many of these rare, high-performance vehicles up close, with many taking to social media to express their enjoyment and share images and videos of the event, which included some previously unseen vehicles in South Africa including the McLaren Senna and Ferrari F8 Tri Turbo.



“I was so lucky to have seen the convoy on the N2 into Cape Town this morning,” one attendee said. “What an awesome spectacle.” While the event was not spectator-driven due to Covid-19 concerns, hundreds of spectators did end up being able to view the rally, with the hope that the next event will be post-pandemic.



“It can become a public spectacle… I think it will be one of the biggest events in South Africa…” says Fleming. Phoenix Events CEO Mark Castell, who co-ordinated the logistics and transport of the vehicles, support and security, ensured that pedestrian and road safety was a priority. Commenting on the extension of the rally to six days for this year’s event, he says: “The feedback is always fantastic but the drivers wish for more time behind the wheel… It’s for the love of racing.” “I can’t say what we did on the roads, but we got there quick,” quipped another excited driver.

daytona

Fast, Furious And Fancy In South Africa: Strapping Up In A Lamborghini Over 1,500Kms

TOPLINE Champion tennis player Naomi Osaka announced Monday afternoon on Twitter that she will withdraw from the French Open after organizers fined her $15,000 over her decision to boycott press conferences during the event for mental health reasons.



KEY FACTS The decision came one day after Roland Garros, the organizer of the French Open, announced that Osaka would be fined for not attending a mandatory press conference Sunday morning in Paris.



Osaka, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, beat out Romanian player Patricia Maria Țig in straight sets Sunday morning, but skipped out on the traditional post-match presser after saying last week that facing media questions can be harmful for athletes’ mental health.



&#8220;I never wanted to be a distraction,&#8221; the 23-year-old said on Twitter Monday, adding that she&#8217;s &#8220;suffered long bouts of depression since the U.S. Open in 2018&#8221; and gets &#8220;huge waves of anxiety before&#8221; speaking in press conferences.



CRUCIAL QUOTE &#8220;This isn&#8217;t a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago,&#8221; Osaka said Monday. &#8220;I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://t.co/LN2ANnoAYD">pic.twitter.com/LN2ANnoAYD</a>&mdash; NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) <a href="https://twitter.com/naomiosaka/status/1399422304854188037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



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



Osaka&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/naomiosaka/status/1397665030015959040?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;on Twitter last week that she would not do any press conferences during the open because she felt they perpetuated a disregard for athletes&#8217; mental health, citing examples of athletes breaking down in a press room after a tough loss. “I believe that the whole situation is&nbsp;kicking a person while they’re down,&nbsp;and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it,” she said. After Osaka didn’t show to the Sunday press conference, organizers of the four Grand Slams—the world’s most prestigious tennis tournaments, including the French and U.S. Opens—said in a statement that “a core element of the Grand Slam regulations is the responsibility of the players to engage with the media, whatever the result of their match.” They also warned that&nbsp;if Osaka further violated any media obligations, she could receive additional fines, as well as face suspension from the Paris tournament and even future&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/statement-from-grand-slam-tournaments-regarding-naomi-osaka" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Grand Slam tournament suspensions</a>.



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



Osaka received an outpouring of support on social media following her tournament withdrawal, with many people—including celebrities, politicians and fellow athletes—wishing her well and applauding her decision to speak up about mental health. “As athletes we are taught to take care of our body, and perhaps the mental &amp; emotional aspect gets short shrift,” Martina Navratilova, often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Martina/status/1399443582671540231" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;shortly after Osaka’s announcement. “This is about more than doing or not doing a press conference.”



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



$37 million. That’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2020/05/22/naomi-osaka-is-the-highest-paid-female-athlete-ever-topping-serena-williams/?sh=64b43cdf1fd3">how much money</a>&nbsp;Osaka made from May 2019 to May 2020, according to&nbsp;Forbes, making her the highest-paid female athlete of all time.&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/30/naomi-osaka-fined-15000-and-faces-suspension-over-boycotting-press-conferences/">Naomi Osaka Fined $15,000 And Faces Suspension Over Boycotting Press Conferences</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2021/05/30/naomi-osaka-fined-15000-for-french-open-media-boycott-repeat-violations-could-mean-default-from-the-tournament/">Naomi Osaka Fined $15,000 For French Open Media Boycott, Repeat Violations Could Mean ‘Default From The Tournament’</a> (Forbes)



By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

gettyimages-1198783851-594×594

Naomi Osaka Withdraws From French Open After Media Boycott Fine

Insect farming is providing the planet a cheaper alternative source of protein. And South African startups bringing it to the mainstream say there’s no business like the bug business. Could the future of food be insect-protein?



An insect in your meal? What was once food faux pas is now a deliberate culinary concoction.



Insect-based proteins are slowly finding their way into agricultural production lines and the menus of discerning diners. It’s a growing industry also looking to primarily help meet the demands of an increasing population, with several startups now pioneering this sector in Africa.



But nutritional bugs are not new to palates across the world; it’s just the way they are being given new meaning that’s gaining currency in the continent&#8217;s farming communities. “Eating insects is nothing new, but the key is to provide a functional equivalent to animal protein that is more sustainable,” says Dr Leah Bessa, co-founder of South African company Gourmet Grubb, which produces a dairy alternative from insect-proteins.



“We found that people were quite willing to try our product. While there is still a mental barrier (to insect-proteins), the market will change quite quickly – it took a long time for plant-based alternative proteins to become accepted, but now they are commonly available.” Gourmet Grubb has positioned itself at the intersection of novelty and environmental sustainability. Based in Cape Town, it farms insects from spent grain. The environmental costs to such farming are considerably lower than animal farming, a major contributor to pollution and land use globally. “South African palates can be quite conservative, but it’s a matter of availability and exposure before tastes change,” continues Bessa.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We found that people were quite willing to try our product. While there is still a mental barrier (to insect-proteins), the market will change quite quickly – it took a long time for plant-based alternative proteins to become accepted, but now they are commonly available.”</blockquote>



In South Africa, mopane worms (a species of emperor moth) fall under the category of edible insect-proteins that most people are familiar with. Once a regional staple in the Limpopo province of South Africa, household consumption of it has been on the decline as people move to more Western diets, despite increased interest in the Western world in new forms of protein – so says Dr Bronwyn Egan, a pioneer in insect-protein research at the Larry Leach Herbarium, University of Limpopo.



“Most people consuming insects currently do so as a form of subsistence protein – because it’s cheap and well, free.” According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization in 2013, globally, some two billion people in 130 countries consume insects as a source of protein already, but with population numbers expected to boom to 10 billion by 2050 and global food production expected to grow as much as 70% to meet the new demand, novel and effective food sources are needed. Cost to consumers can play an equal if not greater impact than sentiment, with insect protein being comparable in terms of nutrition to most animal proteins, but considerably cheaper per gram. However, with an increase in consumption and the formalization of insect-protein farming come other challenges.



“The industry needs a baseline nutritional analysis to provide more information as to the benefits of different insect-based proteins, as well as more investigation into the ecology of the insects themselves,” says Egan.



“Once products are out in the market, there is also a need to comply with food safety legislation, and ensure that sustainability and the environment are a key part of production – ideally, before the marketing of insect-protein products, but it seems these will have to happen together.”&nbsp; Innovative companies such as Gourmet Grubb, Ensekta and Kenya’s InsectiPro are expected to make a break into the mainstream, with the estimates of the global insect-protein market at around $8 billion by 2030 (according to Meticulous Research last year), paving the way for new opportunities for growth and investment on the African continent. “Grasshoppers are the tastiest,” laughs Egan, in conclusion.



– By Yeshiel Panchia

Insect Protein 3

Bugs In Your Food? Yes Please, And Spicy!

The Bezos of Black Wall Street: A century ago, O.W. Gurley built an empire of African American businesses in Tulsa. Though it all came burning down in the massacre of 1921, new generations of entrepreneurs rose from the ashes.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1318520952-1024x669.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51188" width="710" height="463" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1318520952-1024x669.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1318520952-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1318520952-768x502.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1318520952-1536x1004.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1318520952-2048x1339.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Greenwood Cultural Center/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



Ottowa W. Gurley knew he would never be a success in the Jim Crow South. Born on Christmas Day 1868 to freed slaves in Huntsville, Alabama, he grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he was largely self-educated. Gurley married his childhood sweetheart, Emma, became a teacher, and then took a relatively cushy job with the U.S. Postal Service—but he dreamed of a better life in America. Along with his new bride, Gurley risked everything to join a stampede of homesteaders seeking freedom, opportunity and wealth in the Great Oklahoma Land Rush.



On September 16, 1893, the 25-year-old entrepreneur joined the Cherokee Outlet Opening, running fifty miles before finally stopping at a plot of prairie grass. Standing on a plot of land with Emma, he staked a claim in what would soon become Perry, Oklahoma, one of many towns advertised to Blacks in the new territory.



Gurley envisioned Oklahoma as the start of a new life for Black Americans decades after emancipation—and he was ambitious. He ran for county treasurer, was  made principal at the town’s school, and ultimately opened a successful general store, which he ran for a decade. By the turn of the century, Gurley and his  fellow  homesteaders heard tales of giant oil fields in the nearby boomtown of Tulsa. A gusher well called the Ida Glenn Number 1, the first find in the massive Mid-Continent Oil Field, was making local Tulsans rich—and eventually turned no-name wildcatters Harry Ford Sinclair and J. Paul Getty into oil barons.



O.W. Gurley wanted in.



He sold his store and land in Perry and moved about 80 miles to Tulsa in 1905,  taking the second major risk of his young life. He bought a large tract of land on the north side of the Frisco train tracks. On a barren plot, he started to map out a city for upwardly mobile Blacks, who, much like himself, were looking for opportunity. After emancipation, Blacks who had followed the Native American “Trail of Tears” as slaves, could now claim land. They migrated westward, through Kansas in the 1870s and 1880s, and then blazed Gurley’s path through the Oklahoma territory in the 1890s. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The significant thing about Greenwood is it was not just a Black thing” says James O. Goodwin. “It was quintessential America.”</blockquote>



Gurley knew freemen and sharecroppers would make their way to Tulsa, so he built a grocery store on an avenue he and others named Greenwood, after a town in Mississippi. Then he subdivided his land into residential and commercial lots. As Gurley expected, Greenwood soon became a beacon of wealth, education and advancement—rivaling areas of New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Doctors, lawyers and realtors flourished, luxury hotels were built, and millionaires were minted. And because all of those businesses were Black-owned, Booker T. Washington himself dubbed  Greenwood “Negro Wall Street.”



“Greenwood was perceived as a place to escape oppression—economic, social, political oppression—in the Deep South,” says Hannibal B. Johnson, a Tulsa-based historian who has written numerous books about Greenwood, including Black Wall Street. “It was an economy born of necessity. It wouldn’t have existed had it not been for Jim Crow segregation and the inability of Black folks to participate to a substantial degree in the larger white-dominated economy.” 



In the first two decades of the 20th century, Tulsa transformed from a dusty frontier into a thriving metropolis. Gusher after gusher was discovered and the city soon became the oil capital of the world—and Gurley’s Greenwood began to boom with it. Between 1910 and 1920, Tulsa’s population nearly quadrupled to more than 72,000 and the Black population rose from below 2,000 to almost 9,000.



By 1920, a walk through “Black Wall Street” meant traversing more than 35 bustling city blocks, with the locus being the intersection of Greenwood Avenue and Archer  Street, adjacent to Tulsa’s Frisco rail tracks. The Acme Brick Company supplied building materials to the townhouses, apartments, theaters, and hotels that lined the streets. And by 1910, Black bricklayers had their own trade union called the Hod Carriers Local 199. 



Entrepreneurs also began to emerge. John Williams and his wife, Loula, built a confectionary store and erected the opulent Dreamland Theater. Simon Berry built a private transportation network of Model T. Fords and buses, which transported residents through Greenwood and all the way to downtown Tulsa. Berry soon began chartering planes for Tulsa’s increasingly wealthy oilmen.



Though the population was relatively small, Greenwood also had two newspapers, including the Tulsa Star, founded by A.J. Smitherman. Others built pool halls, auto repair shops, beauty parlors, grocers, barber shops, and funeral homes. There was a Y.M.C.A and a roller skating rink, a hospital, and a U.S. post office substation. With all this activity, Greenwood’s economy was gushing like one of Getty’s wells. It was calculated that every dollar spent in Greenwood circulated the Black economy nearly thirty times as business thrived. 



Along with this massive prosperity, the community invested in houses of worship and schools. By 1920, Greenwood had a handful of churches, most notable by the impressive Mt. Zion Baptist Church built in 1909. The district had its own elite high school, named after Booker T. Washington, which boasted a curriculum that would prepare students to eventually study at colleges like Columbia in New York, Oberlin in Ohio, and historically Black colleges such as Hampton, Tuskegee, and Spelman.



Freshman studied algebra, Latin and ancient history, as well as core subjects like  English, science, art and music.  Sophomores took economics and geometry, while juniors advanced to chemistry and trade-oriented subjects such as civics and business-spelling. Seniors studied physics and trigonometry, as well as vocal music, art and bookkeeping. So important was education in upwardly mobile Greenwood that teachers were among the highest paid workers. Many had their own Steinway pianos in their apartments, while the school’s principal, E.W. Woods, lived in a six-room townhouse.



Amid this bustling landscape, O.W. Gurley continued to expand his empire. At Greenwood’s peak, he owned and rented out three brick apartment buildings and five townhouses near another one of his businesses, a grocery store. He then built the Gurley Hotel, started a Masonic Lodge, and opened an employment agency for migrant workers. As Greenwood’s premier entrepreneur, Gurley built ties with residents in white Tulsa, just across the Frisco tracks, and was eventually made sheriff’s deputy, charged with policing the Black population. All told, Gurley’s portfolio was estimated to be worth more than $150,000 at the time, or nearly $5 million today.



And he wasn’t the only entrepreneur to tower over Greenwood. J.B. Stradford was born in 1861, to a freed slave named J.C. Stradford, who had been emancipated in Stratford, Ontario. After settling in the South, J.C. (for Julius Caesar) named his son J.B. (for John the Baptist). The younger Stradford immediately began fulfilling his father’s dream. He graduated from Oberlin and Indiana Law School, then moved to St. Louis and Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where he opened pool halls, shoeshine  parlors, bathhouses and boarding houses. After one of his hotels went bust, Stradford moved to Tulsa in 1899 and began planning the creation of a Black community on the outskirts of town.



When Gurley arrived in 1906, the two worked in tandem building up Greenwood. Like Gurley, Stradford focused on real estate, building rentals units. The crown jewel of his portfolio was the Stradford Hotel on 301 N. Greenwood, at the time, the largest Black-owned hotel in America with 54 suites, a gambling hall, dining room, saloon and a pool hall. Stradford had built his hotel to be equal in luxury to the finest lodgings in the white Tulsa, and it stood as the big monument to Greenwood’s rising success, valued at $75,000 (or about $2.5 million today). 



“The significant thing about Greenwood is it was not just a Black thing. It was quintessential America,” says James O. Goodwin, owner of weekly newspaper The Oklahoma Eagle, which traces its roots to Greenwood’s Tulsa Star, where his grandfather worked. Goodwin was born in Tulsa in 1939, the son of a Black Wall Street resident. “It was like any other developing neighborhood, whether that’s Irish, or Greek, or Jewish,” he explains. “These people embraced faith, they believed in education and hard work. They believed in capitalism and freedom.”



“People should look at Greenwood as a part of Americana, and not some aberration or a freak of nature,” he adds. 



Even the first World War couldn’t derail Greenwood’s prosperity, but the disparity and tension between White and Black America was prevalent. After hundreds of thousands of Black veterans returned to Jim Crow and segregation, there was “Red Summer” in 1919, a period of white supremacist terror that dovetailed with vestigial communist fears from the 1917 Russian Revolution. Lynchings and race riots occurred across the country and the dormant Ku Klux Klan reemerged. Tulsa did not escape the racial tensions. When Oklahoma was granted statehood in 1907, the first acts of the legislature were to institute segregation. Smitherman, the publisher of the Tulsa Star, began to document lynchings across Oklahoma, in towns such as Dewey, Muskogee and Bristow.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Greenwood shows that when we are left to our own devices and don’t have a knee to our neck, we can achieve extraordinary things,” says John W. Rogers Jr.</blockquote>



The violence finally exploded in Tulsa on May 30, 1921, when a Black shoeshine man named Dick Rowland was accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, Sarah Page, in the elevator of a downtown office building. The next day, the story was prominently featured in the white Tulsa Tribune, inflaming locals. A large mob formed around the jail in Tulsa where Rowland was being held and as rumors of a potential lynching circulated through Greenwood, a group of armed men marched to the jail to protect him. Tensions flared and local power brokers, including O.W. Gurley, tried but failed to make peace. According to witnesses, there was a scuffle between a white man and a Black man, a shot was fired, and a little after 10 p.m. a riot had broken out.



By the early morning of June 1, an armed white mob had already started burning Greenwood to the ground.



At 5 a.m. the mob began a full-bore assault on Black Wall Street. Some eyewitnesses in accounts from the 2001 Commission to study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, reported that kerosene bombs were dropped from airplanes to demolish buildings, and when the assault was over, as many as 50 whites and 200 Blacks were dead, and more than 35 square blocks had been destroyed. Those who survived the riot were rounded up by the National Guard and put in internment centers for many weeks and months. Greenwood’s total property loss neared $2 million (over $50 million now), according to some estimates, and Gurley and Stradford both lost the bulk of their fortunes as their hotels and townhouses were burned. 



Most of the bodies were never recovered, presumed to have been buried in a mass grave that has still never been located. And no one was ever prosecuted or punished for the biggest racial massacre in American history.



“Greenwood shows that when we are left to our own devices and don’t have a knee to our neck, we can achieve extraordinary things,” says John W. Rogers Jr., the chairman of Ariel Investments and great-grandson of J.B. Stradford, ‘Tulsa proves that African American can build great businesses and be extraordinary successful.”



“On the other hand,” Rogers adds, “It shows you that unfortunately so many times in our history, when Black folks get a few steps ahead, we get pulled back down… It’s why the wealth gap in this country is so dramatically worse than it was 25 or 40 years ago.”



For Black Wall Street’s principal&nbsp;architects,&nbsp;O.W. Gurley and J.B. Stradford, the 1921 Tulsa riots yielded decidedly different fates. Gurley and his wife, Emma, were eventually released from the National Guard’s internment camp, while Stradford fled Greenwood, along with other residents like the Tulsa Star publisher A.J. Smitherman. Eventually, Tulsa’s police tried to blame both Stradford and Smitherman as agitators of the riot. Both had become known for challenging the uglier facets of white authority—like segregation and lynchings—and were indicted among dozens of Greenwood citizens. Gurley became a witness in the prosecutor’s grand jury case, testifying that Stradford and Smitherman had given orders to angry Blacks congregating and looking to defend Rowland from his lynching. A few whites Tulsans were indicted, but none were ever convicted.&nbsp;



With nothing left of Black Wall Street, Gurley left Greenwood for Los Angeles, where he died in 1935, with little indication of wealth. Stradford headed to Independence, Kansas, and then to Chicago. Though his hotel and wealth were lost in the destruction of Greenwood, his enterprising spirit passed down generations.&nbsp;



“My mom would often talk about how her grandfather had owned this extraordinarily successful hotel that was firebombed and destroyed during the Tulsa race riots,” says John W. Rogers Jr. “It inspired her to become a lawyer because she saw her father use legal skills to stop her grandfather’s extradition back to Tulsa. He would have been lynched if he came back. It had a profound impact on my mom.”&nbsp;



Rogers’ mother, Jewel, was the first Black woman to graduate the University of Chicago Law School. In 1955, President Eisenhower appointed her as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and in the 1960s. She became the first black woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court, and eventually became an influential figure in Corporate America and national politics.



Rogers graduated from Princeton University in 1980 and founded the first Black-owned mutual fund company in 1983. “J.B. Stradford was a leader among leaders in Tulsa… He wasn’t one to kowtow,” Rogers says of his great-grandfather. “Building a business and being willing to challenge authority… and fight for economic fairness, it’s something that was passed down generation-to-generation.” His $10 billion in assets Ariel Investments, known for its value-oriented style, is a trailblazer among a handful of thriving firms on the new Black Wall Street.



Billionaire Robert F. Smith’s $57 billion Vista Equity Partners towers over the private equity industry for its stellar returns. The same industry leadership can be seen at Baltimore’s $13 billion in assets Brown Capital Management, a Black-owned firm known for uncovering small, unheralded companies such as Tyler Technologies that eventually grow into S&amp;P 500 Index titans.



Though Rogers and his family stand as an emblem for economic gains that connect directly to Greenwood and Black Wall Street, the 1921 riots exemplify America’s deep and systemic economic inequities. The value plowed into Black Wall Street and lost—about $50 million in present day dollars—barely scratches the surface of the opportunities denied and dreams deferred.



As Rogers explains, that Greenwood money never got a chance compound. Families didn’t take their accrued wealth and reinvest it, diversify, or expand. He points to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which shows that between 1992 and 2013, the net worth of Black people who graduated from four-year colleges dropped 55%, while white wealth rose 90%. The staggering statistic reveals decades of lost capital compounded.



“The effects of us not having multi-generational wealth and not having economic opportunity continues in our society today,” says Rogers, who supports reparations for descendants of Black Wall Street. In 2003’s Alexander v. The State of Oklahoma, hundreds of plaintiffs tracing their roots to Greenwood sued the state for $20 million in reparations, but the case was dismissed.



“All of this comes down to wealth. Wealth creates opportunity to have a better education and to live in a better neighborhood,” says Rogers, who cites Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “Many white Americans of good will have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice.”



“King’s words are just as valuable today,” Rogers says. “It’s why the story of Greenwood is so important.”



By Antoine Gara, Forbes Staff

TOPSHOT-US-VOTE-DEMONSTRATION-RACISM

The Epic Rise Of Black Wall Street And The Entrepreneurs Who Built It

TOPLINE On the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, people all over the world gathered to remember the man whose death kicked off worldwide protests and ushered in a new chapter in the fight against racism and police brutality



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



Members of the Minneapolis community gathered together Tuesday at George Floyd Square, named for the place where Floyd was murdered in police custody a year ago, to mourn and pay their respects.



Events to mark the anniversary of Floyd’s murder were also held as far away as Berlin, Germany, where activists held a socially-distanced demonstration to remember Floyd.



Floyd’s brother, Philonise, along with other members of the Floyd family traveled to Washington, D.C. to encourage lawmakers to <a href="https://wgntv.com/news/george-floyd-family-meets-with-biden-as-congress-mulls-police-bill/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pass a police reform bill</a> making its way through Congress.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109483.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51181" width="557" height="371" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109483.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109483-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109483-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px" /><figcaption>ATLANTA, GA &#8211; MAY 25: People gather to march and memorialize the life of George Floyd on the anniversary of his death on May 25, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Floyd&#8217;s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked protests and movements around the world. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109132.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51182" width="490" height="327" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109132.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109132-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1233109132-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" /><figcaption>ATLANTA, GA &#8211; MAY 25: A mural of George Floyd painted downtown to memorialize the life of George Floyd is shown on the anniversary of his death on May 25, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Floyd&#8217;s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked protests and movements around the world. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232456603.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51184" width="559" height="373" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232456603.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232456603-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232456603-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 559px) 100vw, 559px" /><figcaption>People celebrate the sentence of former police officer Derek Chauvin as guilty of the murder of George FLoyd, at the mural in tribute to George Floyd in the neighborhood of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, on April 21, 2021. (Photo by Robert Bonet/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1244161665.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51185" width="586" height="391" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1244161665.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1244161665-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1244161665-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px" /><figcaption>BOGOTA, COLOMBIA &#8211; JUNE 03: A woman with a necklace of Africa is seen in front of the headquarters of the American embassy during a demonstration against police brutality against George Floyd and deployment of US armed forces to Colombian territory on June 03, 2020 in Bogota, Colombia. Protests spread across cities around the world in response to the death of African American George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Diego Cuevas/Vizzor Image/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1320092921.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51183" width="686" height="457" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1320092921.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1320092921-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1320092921-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 686px) 100vw, 686px" /><figcaption>MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA &#8211; MAY 25: Candles illuminate a makeshift headstone for George Floyd at the Say Their Names Cemetery on May 25, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. People gathered to remember Floyd, who died at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin one year ago today. Chauvin was found guilty on three counts of murder and manslaughter. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Minneapolis Remembers George Floyd On Anniversary Of His Death

The World Remembers George Floyd One Year After His Death

<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=28bb8a6a1b23">Jeff Bezos</a>&nbsp;didn’t have to wait long to reclaim his throne as the richest person in the world: A few hours after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/05/24/bernard-arnault-becomes-worlds-richest-person-as-lvmh-stock-rises/?sh=355a97ab2ad9">losing</a>&nbsp;the title to French luxury fashion magnate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/?sh=23d080666fa4">Bernard Arnault</a>, he’s now back at No. 1 after Amazon’s shares ticked up when markets opened in New York. As of 1:30 pm ET, Bezos leads with a fortune of $188.4 billion, ahead of Arnault’s $187.3 billion.



The two men entered the weekend on level terms, worth $186 billion each, after shares in Arnault’s&nbsp; luxury goods conglomerate LVMH rallied in the second half of last week. LVMH stock performed even better on Monday, closing nearly 1% higher and boosting Arnault’s fortune by $1.7 billion—enough for him to briefly eclipse Bezos and become the world’s richest person for a few hours. Then Amazon shares ticked up more than 1% as of 1:30 pm ET on Monday, making Bezos $2.4 billion richer today.



Arnault has briefly ranked as the world’s richest person several times already: Just before the markets closed on Friday in the U.S., Arnault was about $100 million&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/05/21/french-luxury-tycoon-bernard-arnault-is-now-tied-with-jeff-bezos-for-richest-person-in-the-world/?sh=364d38d42b91">richer</a>&nbsp;than Bezos, before ending the day with the same net worth. At around 10:30 am ET on December 16, 2019, Arnault&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinstoller/2019/12/16/french-billionaire-bernard-arnault-was-briefly-the-worlds-richest-person-today/?sh=43b1d3ad7ce1">pushed</a>&nbsp;past Bezos to claim No. 1 for the first time, until Amazon shares closed higher and Arnault fell back to number two.



While Bezos is now trading the top spot with Arnault, he was previously locked into a tight competition with Tesla CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=5a9c30fe7999">Elon Musk</a>, currently the third richest person in the world with a net worth of $150.8 billion. In early January, Musk overtook Bezos to become the richest on three separate occasions—on January 8, 12 and 14—before the Amazon founder definitively clawed his way back on January 15.



All three men have seen spectacular growth in their net worths throughout the pandemic, collectively gaining more than $300 billion. Since Forbes calculated net worths for its 2020 World’s Billionaires list at the worst of the market crash in March 2020, Bezos has gotten more than $75 billion richer, compared to gains of nearly $127 billion for Musk and $111 billion for Arnault. Bezos’ net worth peaked at a staggering $200 billion on two occasions: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/08/26/worlds-richest-billionaire-jeff-bezos-first-200-billion/?sh=495faf434db7">first</a> in August 2020 and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/04/28/jeff-bezos-is-once-again-worth-a-staggering-200-billion/?sh=287e3af24b4e">again</a> late last month in April 2021.



By Giacomo Tognini, Forbes Staff

Jeff Bezos’s India Visit Marked By Probe and Protests

After Briefly Dropping To No. 2, Jeff Bezos Is Again The Richest Person In The World

TOPLINE Amazon is preparing to make a $9 billion investment in the company’s film and television offerings by purchasing vaunted Hollywood studio&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/24/amazon-reportedly-close-to-buying-mgm-for-nearly-9-billion/?sh=74c23a063d4c">MGM</a>, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759?mod=hp_lead_pos1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;Monday, the latest in a string of major acquisitions the company has made to boost its standing in even more areas of people’s lives—here are the most notable:



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



Amazon’s largest acquisition to date was when it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40306099" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">purchased</a>&nbsp;Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion.



The company has also spent more than a billion dollars on shoe ecommerce giant&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/amazon-closes-zappos-deal-ends-up-paying-1-2-billion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zappos</a>&nbsp;($1.2 billion in 2009) and autonomous vehicle company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2020/06/27/amazon-buys-zoox-why-self-driving-technology-is-existential/?sh=7714dde17c0f">Zoox</a>, which is&nbsp;<a href="https://zoox.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">developing</a>&nbsp;a self-driving rideshare service ($1.2 billion in 2020).



Other pricey acquisitions include smart doorbell maker&nbsp;<a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2019/new-filing-amazon-spent-1-65b-acquisitions-2018-headlined-ring-pillpack-deals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ring</a>&nbsp;($839 million in 2018), online pharmacist PillPack ($753 million in 2018), video game streaming platform&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-buys-twitch-2014-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitch</a>&nbsp;($970 million in 2014), robotics company&nbsp;<a href="https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/amazon-com-buys-kiva-systems-for-775-million/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kiva Systems</a>&nbsp;($775 million in 2012) and&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2010/11/08/confirmed-amazon-spends-545-million-on-diapers-com-parent-quidsi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quidsi</a>, the parent company of Diapers.com and other ecommerce sites ($545 million in 2010).



Amazon has invested in its cloud computing arm Amazon Web Services—which now makes up the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2021/amazon-apple-facebook-google-acquisitions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">majority</a>&nbsp;of the company’s operating income—by purchasing more than a dozen companies in that sector, including $500 million for mobile video service&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/03/amazon-acquires-elemental-technologies-for-a-reported-500-million-in-cash/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elemental Technologies</a>&nbsp;in 2018 and $20 million for cyber security startup&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/09/amazon-aws-harvest-ai/?ncid=rss&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&amp;sr_share=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">harvest.ai</a>&nbsp;in 2017.



In addition to its expected MGM purchase, Amazon has also invested in the film industry by acquiring&nbsp;<a href="https://venturebeat.com/2015/10/30/25-years-of-imdb-the-worlds-biggest-online-movie-database/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IMDB</a>&nbsp;(purchased in 1998 as part of a $55 million acquisition with two other companies), DVD rental service&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9aa7315e-2482-11e0-8c0e-00144feab49a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lovefilm</a>&nbsp;(for £200 million or approximately $317 million in 2011) and film grosses website&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2008/digital/news/imdb-links-up-with-box-office-mojo-1117997423/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Box Office Mojo</a>&nbsp;(in 2008 for an undisclosed amount).



Amazon has strengthened its foothold in the book industry where it got its start by acquiring companies like audiobook seller&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-acquires-audible-for-300-million/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audible</a>&nbsp;($300 million in 2008), social network&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/amazon-acquires-social-reading-site-goodreads/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goodreads</a>&nbsp;(in 2013 for an undisclosed amount), book publisher&nbsp;<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2012/06/04/technology/amazon-avalon-books/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Avalon Books</a>&nbsp;(in 2012 for an undisclosed amount) and used bookseller&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2008/08/01/amazon-to-acquire-abebooks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AbeBooks</a>&nbsp;(in 2008 for an undisclosed amount).



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



“Amazon has an inventive, customer-obsessed, long-term oriented culture where entrepreneurs thrive,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement to&nbsp;Forbes, adding the company helps those it acquires “to accelerate their businesses and delight customers with the help of Amazon’s resources and technology.” “We operate in a diverse range of businesses, from retail and entertainment to consumer electronics and technology services, and have thriving, well-established competition in each of these areas,” the spokesperson noted.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h3>



Amazon and other tech giants’ acquisition practices have been criticized by lawmakers, who have accused the companies of practicing anti-competitive behavior by buying up smaller rivals. “As gatekeepers to the digital economy, these platforms enjoy the power to pick winners and losers, shake down small businesses, and enrich themselves while choking off competitors,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who chairs the House Antitrust Subcommittee,&nbsp;<a href="https://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/cicilline-opening-statement-big-tech-antitrust-hearing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in his opening statement for a hearing concerning Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. “Their ability to dictate terms, call the shots, upend entire sectors, and inspire fear represent the powers of a private government.” Amazon has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/statement-by-jeff-bezos-to-the-u-s-house-committee-on-the-judiciary" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied</a>&nbsp;the antitrust allegations against it and maintains that it competes with other platforms like eBay, Etsy, Walmart and Target and brick and mortar stores worldwide, noting the platform’s sales make up less than 4% of U.S. retail.



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



Sources cited by the&nbsp;Journal&nbsp;say a deal between Amazon and MGM could be finalized as early as this week, though nothing has yet been finalized and “there are no guarantees they will ultimately reach an agreement.” Should the deal go through, MGM’s library would substantially bolster Amazon’s streaming platform by giving it access to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/amazon-acquire-mgm-1234954655/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">thousands</a>&nbsp;of additional film and television titles, helping Amazon Prime better compete with other streaming powerhouses like Netflix. MGM’s century-long history dates back to the silent era, giving Amazon access to films like the&nbsp;James Bond&nbsp;franchise and&nbsp;Rocky&nbsp;films and newer properties like&nbsp;The Handmaid’s Tale&nbsp;television series. (Golden Age classics made at the studio before 1948 like&nbsp;The Wizard of Oz&nbsp;and&nbsp;Gone with the Wind&nbsp;have already been sold to Warner Bros, however, the&nbsp;Journal&nbsp;notes.) The reported $9 billion deal comes after MGM was most recently valued at $5.5 billion in December, the&nbsp;Journal&nbsp;reports, though its stock price has soared in response to news of the expected deal.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/24/amazon-reportedly-close-to-buying-mgm-for-nearly-9-billion/?sh=74c23a063d4c">Amazon Reportedly Close To Buying MGM For Nearly $9 Billion</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-nears-deal-to-buy-hollywood-studio-mgm-11621880759" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon Nears Deal to Buy Hollywood Studio MGM</a>&nbsp;(Wall Street Journal)



<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2021/amazon-apple-facebook-google-acquisitions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How Big Tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions</a>&nbsp;(Washington Post)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnchmielewski/2021/01/30/mgms-back-on-the-block-and-floating-a-10-billion-price-tag-dont-count-on-it/?sh=7f1cb80eb740">MGM’s Back On The Block And Floating A $10 Billion Price Tag. Don’t Count On It.</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff

Amazon Package Deliveries On Prime Day

Amazon’s Biggest Acquisitions Have Allowed It To Become A Marketplace For Nearly Everything

TOPLINE Three researchers working at a Wuhan virology lab went to the hospital with Covid-like symptoms weeks before the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in China on December 8, according to newly disclosed U.S. intelligence obtained and reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday—corroborating previous State Department findings and casting further doubts on the longstanding assertion that Covid-19 did not escape from a lab.



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



The State Department previously&nbsp;<a href="https://2017-2021.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that U.S. officials have &#8220;reason to believe&#8221; several researchers inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology faced &#8220;symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses&#8221; last fall, but it didn&#8217;t specify that the researchers were hospitalized or the exact timing of their illnesses.



Unnamed officials familiar with the intelligence reportedly gave the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal&nbsp;varying accounts of the new information&#8217;s veracity, with one person saying it needed further investigation while another described it as &#8220;very precise.&#8221;



“The U.S. continues to hype the lab leak theory,&#8221; China&#8217;s Foreign Ministry, which did not immediately respond to&nbsp;Forbes&#8217;&nbsp;requestfor comment, said in a statement to the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal.&nbsp;



In its statement, the Foreign Ministry pointed to March&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-convened-global-study-of-origins-of-sars-cov-2-china-part-annexes.pdf?sfvrsn=3065bcd8_5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">findings</a>&nbsp;from the World Health Organization saying it was &#8220;extremely unlikely&#8221; that Covid-19 originated from a lab leak and that it was instead more likely the virus spread from bats to humans.



However, after the report was released, WHO head Tedros Ghebreyesus called for a deeper investigation on the matter,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-30/who-chief-critiques-covid-report-says-lab-leak-study-needed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">saying</a>&nbsp;the probe didn’t adequately assess the possibility of a lab leak.



Forbes&nbsp;is awaiting comment from the State Department.



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



Many scientists last year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/05/10/a-timeline-of-the-covid-19-wuhan-lab-origin-theory/?sh=370c029e5aba">initially dismissed</a>&nbsp;claims that Covid-19 originated in a Wuhan lab, but the theory quickly became a hot-button issue among conservative lawmakers casting blame onto China for the pandemic. However, as widespread vaccination helps the U.S. turn a corner on the virus, a growing number of domestic officials—from both sides of the aisle—are once again calling for investigations into the origins of Covid-19. Secretary of State Antony Blinken&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/04/11/biden-secretary-of-state-condemns-chinas-acts-of-genocide-against-muslim-uyghurs/?sh=26f49b7050ca">condemned</a>&nbsp;China last month for its lack of transparency during the pandemic&#8217;s early days, saying the country failed to give international health experts real-time access to information about the virus&#8217; spread and urging the country to help put in place a stronger global health security system to revisit the pandemic&#8217;s origins.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h3>



Though the virus was first confirmed in December 2019, WHO researchers have since&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/possible-early-covid-19-cases-in-china-emerge-during-who-mission-11612996225" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">identified</a>&nbsp;more than 90 potential Covid-19 cases dating as far back as October of that year.



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



Asked earlier this month whether he was confident Covid-19 developed naturally, Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation&#8217;s top infectious disease experts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fauci-not-convinced-covid-19-developed-naturally" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">responded</a>: &#8220;No actually&#8230; I am not convinced about that. I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened… Certainly, the people who investigated it say it likely was the emergence from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could have been something else, and we need to find that out.”



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



<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-on-sick-staff-at-wuhan-lab-fuels-debate-on-covid-19-origin-11621796228?reflink=share_mobilewebshare" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate On Covid-19 Origin</a>&nbsp;(WSJ)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/05/10/a-timeline-of-the-covid-19-wuhan-lab-origin-theory/">A Timeline Of The COVID-19 Wuhan Lab Origin Theory</a> (Forbes)



By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

gettyimages-1201569878-594×594

Report: Wuhan Lab Staff Went To Hospital With Covid-Like Symptoms Before Confirmed Outbreak, New Intelligence Finds

From Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world, Africa is not only diverse in its people but also in its industries and creativity. For FORBES AFRICA hundredth issue (since the magazine’s inception in 2011), we decided to curate a list celebrating these very ideas, inventions, and influential role models that have spelt Africa’s growth over the last decade.



Singer, actor, philanthropist, activist, businesswoman, and humanitarian, are just some of the words associated with the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka. She talks to FORBES AFRICA:



Q: So, just tell me a bit about yourself, and what led you to be going on this incredible journey?



A: Well, you know, growing up in Soweto, during Apartheid, I mean, I was born in 1965 and so growing up and so were to watching all the atrocities that with knowing that you are just an entity in this country, never allowed to vote, you know. And when my father passed on the government, took the house from my mum, because she was a black single woman and unmarried because her husband had died. Seeing her fight and seeing what that did to my family inspired me greatly in terms of where I wanted to be in life and I wanted to make a difference.



Q: And then, what was it like, for you to reach the heights of your career that you have? I mean, especially given your years of activism during apartheid, and now becoming this kind of meteoric power within Africa?



A: Well, I think just growing in that environment, seeing inequality, and knowing that there&#8217;s very little that we can do, but maybe just to, to get an education and be empowered, because that was the only thing that could have taken us out of our situation, to just get education, even though the education that was given to black people was minimum, but I thought, I&#8217;ll grab what I have and make do with it. So I became very lucky because when I completed my matric, I started singing, initially my mother wanted me to go and study law, I wanted to study to be a chartered accountant and when that didn&#8217;t happen, and I started singing,



That, for me was just a great platform. Because I thought, whoo, this is a great platform to start telling the world about my country, about what inspires me what I&#8217;d like to see, you know, in others, and what I can learn from others, and how to make South Africa a better place. So I was quite lucky that my very first debut single, sold about 25,000 brands in a week.



That was amazing and made me extremely popular. I don&#8217;t know, how did my manager do it for me to be very popular even outside South Africa during those times, and that&#8217;s when the name the princes of Africa came up, so I started traveling to places like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and all those places. For me, it was Africa, lovely Africa accepted me, and Africa has laid out this red carpet for me. And I wanted to, to know, Africa better, I could have wanted to go to live in America, in Paris or anywhere else; but I was very happy to be to be known in Africa, because Africa opened its arms, you know, for me. And yeah, and I&#8217;m just so happy to be an African and a woman for that matter.



Q: So that brings me to my next question. What does being an African icon mean to you?



A: Woah… I don’t regard myself as an icon, I just regard myself as a servant because when people open their arms for you and when people give you a platform to be able to perform, what do you do in return? So for me these people allowed me into their homes without me even asking, that’s when I’m on television; when I perform at a stadium or any function, they leave what they’re doing and come to support me by watching my show.



So I just think sometimes we become taken away and think we are doing our fans a favor, when no they aren’t as it’s their love and support that makes us who we are. So I never take anything for granted. I appreciate every single moment that I’m granted by the people who have supported me through all these years because I would not be Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the princess of Africa without the support they have given me and my music.



So I don’t think I’m an icon, I just think I’m a servant and I’m asked by a higher authority to do this work and continue to serve my continent in the role that they have given me.



Q: And you also have the awards to show for it. Speaking of, what was it like for you getting the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum?



A: You know, 2012 was just a very amazing year for me. There was going to Davos for the first time, and I&#8217;ve been traveling all over, you know, and then I get invited to Davos for this honor.



So, I went to Davos, but already, oh, wow, I mean, icons and more. It was just something to be nominated, and, even if I didn&#8217;t win, the fact that I&#8217;m counted amongst these people, it matters to me.



And I was very, very chuffed, I must say, you know, because, you know, the World Economic Forum, it&#8217;s the, it&#8217;s the highest sector in business, you know, and it&#8217;s serious people who go there, then you have precedents from different countries, and there&#8217;s few activists that go there and, civil society, you know, but I was very, very chuffed and, and really honored to have been given this award by the World Economic Forum and one of my favorite people was sitting right at the front then and kept on cheering for me, it was the Archbishop Tutu, and it was just so amazing



And, yeah, it was it was just that crazy moment for me and I kept on pinching myself, but it was just, amazing.



Q: There are a lot of black female African singers in the continent currently, but there are very few who own their own music label and their own production company, tell me what that experience has been like for you and kind of being part of the marginalized population when it comes to doing something like that.



A: You know, I was quite lucky when I started singing and I was found, you know, I guess I was at at the right place at the right time and the very first music, which was extremely popular, was written for me. And when I thought, when I saw that there was longevity in the music industry, because I was getting famous, and I was making money at the time, then because I came from a very poor family, and I thought, I&#8217;m not going back to the life that I lived.



I started investing in different things, you know, because I bought, I don&#8217;t know if in 1980 or in 1990, Yvonne Chaka Chaka will be there, or things like that. So every royalty I earned was, invested in some way, either through short term investment, like five years, or things like that. And when I thought I saw that, the, this is the real career that I really want to get into.



I decided, I want to leave a Gallo at the time and in1993, I started my own label, Chaka Chaka music. So I started writing my own songs, and I thought, I want to own my catalogue, because



most of those, most of those old, very popular songs, I don&#8217;t own them. They were written for me, and they owned by Universal Records, or Gallo, depending on who was buying what record company at that time, or buying what catalogue.



So that had taught me a lot, you know, and I look back, and I learned from artists like Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and all the other big art. So for me, it was like I will pay for my own producers, I will pay my own studios and effects, I decided to build my own studio, you know, and I do everything in house.



Q: What has that experience been like for you?



A: It hasn&#8217;t been a very good experience, really, because, you know, I don&#8217;t have the manpower that the big record companies have. Sometimes people battle to get my music, I do have a license deal with Universal Records, because they have no recourse and they&#8217;re not going to benefit much. They don&#8217;t put the music in the shops.



You know, lo and behold, things have changed. You can put things now on mp3 people can download people don&#8217;t buy CDs anymore. So you can release a single and put your music, you know, on different platforms here and get that money. But even with that streaming that people rave about, there&#8217;s still no good policies, and what royalty should be paid and things like that. But I&#8217;m just happy that I can put my music in any platform, my own YouTube channel, and people can listen. And, I own it, the fact is that it&#8217;s mine and it&#8217;s my catalogue, and I own it. So there&#8217;s disadvantages and advantages, but you know, it is my IP I hold it, you know, and it&#8217;s mine, and if anybody wants to come and offer me, whatever, I would sell it at whatever price without any middleman.



Q: And I think your savviness as a businesswoman comes through there but not just there, I mean, you&#8217;re on the board of so many different companies, which sector has been interesting for you to be a part of and a bit of a learning experience?



A: Well, really, I love my humanitarian work. I really love it because, you know, working with, UNICEF, GAVI Global Fund, and all those NGOs, if I may call them all or centres, have opened my eyes, and broadened my horizon. You know, just going to different countries. I remember going to, I think it was Tanzania and somebody, you know, a woman had walked for like two hours as her child was sick and as she got to hospital the child was declared dead.



And I had a lump in throat. I thought, things that me and you take for granted could have saved this child. What really got to me most was, this woman did not want to leave the body behind. She said, I&#8217;m going to have to piggy back him dead as he is, and go back home, because what am I going to say to my husband.



That traumatized me so much, and so those are the things that I see happening around, and if I can do my little bit to help, I really try, I can&#8217;t be everything to everybody. So when I go, when I go and do all my humanitarian work, it&#8217;s good to be on the podium with the likes of the Bill Gates of the world and ministers or presidents but for me, it&#8217;s when I go to those people, you know who have absolutely nothing but make do with the little that they have.



So for me, there is proper empowerment, when you go to people, listen to them, not tell them what needs to be done, listen to them, because they know they have problems, all they want is a hand up, not a handout.



So when you empowered them it will level the playing field for people where the environment is conducive for them to function, they would do that. And when people are healthy, when they are educated, they know how to fend for themselves. So that sector really has really, really made me love that sector.



Q: Working in that sector has also led to collaborations with other people who have the same feeling as you I’m sure, who for you has been one of your favorite people to work with or collaborate with bat on stage or in studio?



A: I mean, I&#8217;ve performed with different people really, from Bono to Beyoncé. I think everybody are doing their bit. You know, I mean, there&#8217;s a lot of people out there, who, who would do a lot about education, you know, something about the health sector, excuse me, the health sector, others would want to see girls, you know, having sanitary pads. So all the people that have worked with, I must say, they&#8217;ve been amazing, because they do their little bit, wherever. And I think it&#8217;s important that we all do our little bit in our small corners.



I’ve also gotten to work with a lot of young people like Berita, and Lira and we’ve just rereleased Umqombothi with Amanda Black And it&#8217;s just been so amazing to work with young people just to hear from them, what inspires them? And how would they do things now, you know, because during our time, there was no social media, you know, you just had to sing, go to the go to the shows. And, and that was it, there was really nothing. It was just newspapers, magazines, and television. So now, our young people have got all these platforms, to expand their talent and showcase their talent. And they can be watched by people everywhere in the world, and it&#8217;s very, very good.



Q: You also have such an array of experiences to your name, most recently your Motherland tour documentary, what was that like?



A: Motherland tour for me, I was quite lucky.



Because I worked so well, with different organizations like a Global Fund, GAVI, malaria people, and it was easy for them to to fund the motherland tour because I did not want to be a Goodwill Ambassador that just goes there and give cheques and go.



I wanted to know, if they said, we&#8217;re supposed to go to Uganda, or Kenya or Malawi, I really wanted to know, what am I there for, what are the pre people&#8217;s problems? What are the challenges they go through? How do we help them to help themselves, so I really wanted to get engaged.



And I think they just liked that mind-set. I think at first they could not understand they could not believe, you know, they just thought that I would just come and look pretty to have makeup and tick a box off and be done, but I wanted to be there for the people for real.



You know, for me for the things that I&#8217;ve been asked to be a goodwill ambassador, I thought it&#8217;s a great platform to then do what is right. Go to those people don&#8217;t only go there when there&#8217;s cameras, but go there for real, ask questions, learn from them, help with their struggles and challenges, open doors for them, you know, if they can&#8217;t get to the Minister, or the First Lady, or the president? And I&#8217;m able to do that, why wouldn&#8217;t I do that? And in the past 15 years doing all of that, that&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;ve done. And that culminated to doing the motherland tour, you know, because it was the stories of these African women who are really trying to do good in their communities. So we documented that as I was traveling from Sierra Leone, Ghana, and all those other places.



Q: My last question, what is the mantra or motto that you live by?



You know, my mantra is that we&#8217;re born with nothing. And when we&#8217;re born, we&#8217;re here to demonstrate what we&#8217;ve been asked to come and do. So each and every one of us has some form of good. And when we die, we take absolutely nothing. So there&#8217;s no need to be selfish, greedy, or wanting to kill one another. Because you know what, we can&#8217;t take everything that we&#8217;re fighting for and what makes us greedy or selfish with us when we die. So we just die with absolutely nothing. So let&#8217;s just enjoy the life whatsoever in life. And that&#8217;s it. 



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2021/04/01/the-100th-issue-100-innovations-inventions-icons-from-africa/">For more on the 100 Innovations, Inventions &amp; Icons From Africa (Forbes Africa)</a>

The DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards 2020 in South Africa

THE 100th ISSUE:  A Conversation With the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka

TOPLINE Speaking to Oprah Winfrey on their new Apple TV+ program about mental health, Prince Harry said the royal family met “every single ask, request, warning” for help with harassment he and wife Meghan faced in the press and on social media with “silence or total neglect,” building on revelations from a bombshell interview with Winfrey earlier this year where Meghan revealed she suffered from suicidal thoughts and was refused help from the royal establishment.



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



Prince Harry&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/05/21/prince-harry-accuses-royal-family-total-neglect-bullying-apple/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;he “felt completely helpless” with the attention he and Meghan were getting in the press and on social media, spending four years “trying to make it work” as members of the royal family,&nbsp;



The revelations, reported on by multiple outlets, were made on his newly released mental health documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-me-you-cant-see/umc.cmc.4amwght1qtt8ioilwr0mgnf6d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">series</a>&nbsp;with Winfrey titled, “The Me You Can’t See.”



The Prince, sixth in line to the throne,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/21/prince-harry-charles-trauma-diana-death-oprah-meghan-markle-" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;his family did not discuss his mother’s death (he was 12 at the time) and expected he and his brother to just deal with the resulting distress and press attention.



He said his father, Prince Charles, told him that because he suffered when he was younger, that is how it would be for him and brother William.



Prince Harry, who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57187138" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a>&nbsp;he turned to drink and drugs as an adult in order to cope with the trauma of his mother’s death, said he was told to “play the game” to make his life easier and that he felt “bullied into silence.”



Harry&nbsp;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/harry-accuses-royal-family-of-total-silence-and-neglect-in-documentary-12312388" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;therapy, which he began four years ago, has been helping him “take on anything.”



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



Prince Harry said the deterioration of he and his wife’s mental health was one of “the biggest reasons” they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/02/19/harry-and-meghan-will-not-return-as-working-members-of-britains-royal-family/?sh=1ff86117658c">stepped away&nbsp;</a>from the royal family and that he felt ashamed he could not go to his family when Meghan was feeling suicidal. He said they were “feeling trapped and feeling controlled through fear, both by the media and by the system itself which never encouraged the talking about this kind of trauma.”



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



Apple TV’s The Me You Can’t See, made up of five episodes, is airing on Friday 21 May. Oprah and Prince Harry are set to&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/scobie/status/1395414173824258053?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appear</a>&nbsp;on Good Morning America Friday to discuss the series.&nbsp;



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



Both Prince William and Prince Harry issued statements&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/20/princes-william-and-harry-slam-deceitful-bbc-interview-with-princess-diana/?sh=3295be8a2fc2">excoriating the press’ treatment</a>&nbsp;of their late mother, Princess Diana, Thursday after an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57189371" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">independent investigation</a>&nbsp;outlined a multitude of moral and professional failings over BBC reporter Martin Bashir’s famous 1995 interview with the royal. Prince Harry said the “ripple effect” from the British media’s “culture of exploitation” led to his mother’s death and, worryingly, has not changed since. “Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed,” he said, who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/03/09/meghan-and-harry-mark-final-duty-with-the-queen-before-they-bow-out-as-senior-royals/">stepped away from royal life</a>&nbsp;in part due to the way the British media treated his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/20/princes-william-and-harry-slam-deceitful-bbc-interview-with-princess-diana/?sh=3295be8a2fc2">Princes William And Harry Slam ‘Deceitful’ BBC Interview With Princess Diana</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/21/prince-harry-charles-trauma-diana-death-oprah-meghan-markle-" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prince Harry says trauma of Diana’s death led him to use alcohol and drugs</a>&nbsp;(Guardian)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/02/19/harry-and-meghan-will-not-return-as-working-members-of-britains-royal-family/?sh=1ff86117658c">Harry And Meghan Will Not Return As Working Members Of Britain’s Royal Family</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/03/08/devastating-allegations-british-press-reacts-to-harry-meghan-interview-with-oprah/?sh=6ccc52d057ab">‘Devastating Allegations’: British Press Reacts To Harry-Meghan Interview With Oprah</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Global Citizen VAX LIVE: The Concert To Reunite The World

Prince Harry Accuses Royal Family Of ‘Total Neglect’ In New Apple TV Series

TOPLINE Embattled co-working giant WeWork lost $2.1 billion and more than one in four of its customers during the first quarter, according to the Financial Times, as the coronavirus pandemic and a nine-figure settlement with former CEO Adam Neumann placed strain on the company as it prepares a second try at going public later this year.



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



The company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/60ea2f72-586f-4f3e-b153-3455b93539b8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revenue fell by half</a>&nbsp;compared to the first quarter last year, according to the&nbsp;FT, dropping from $1.1 billion to $598 million as it shed 200,000 customers, accounting for roughly a quarter of its membership.



The first-quarter losses also include Neumann’s settlement earlier this year, which saw the ousted founder walk away with about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-softbank-group-wework-settlement/softbank-announces-settlement-with-former-wework-ceo-neumann-idUSKBN2AQ34U?il=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$500 million</a>, according to media reports.



WeWork outspent itself as the company shuttered unprofitable locations: Between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/60ea2f72-586f-4f3e-b153-3455b93539b8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">restructuring-related costs</a>&nbsp;swelled from $56 million to $494 million, according to the&nbsp;FT.



WeWork hopes the one-time expenses to unload locations will help the company meet its goal of profitability, and told potential investors in March that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/60ea2f72-586f-4f3e-b153-3455b93539b8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">annual revenues would soar</a>&nbsp;as coronavirus infections slow down, estimating that the company would go from earning $3.2 billion in 2020 to a staggering $7 billion by 2024, according to the&nbsp;FT.



The firm’s tough quarter comes as new CEO Sandeep Mathrani&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/60ea2f72-586f-4f3e-b153-3455b93539b8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cuts costs</a>&nbsp;to prepare for a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2021/03/26/wework-will-go-public-via-spac-deal-at-9-billion-valuation-less-than-20-of-its-2019-softbank-valuation/?sh=1f838fc234eb">second shot at going public</a>&nbsp;later this year via a SPAC merger with BowX Acquisition Corp.



WeWork said the company would be valued at $9 billion, including debt, with the SPAC deal that would include&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2021/03/26/wework-will-go-public-via-spac-deal-at-9-billion-valuation-less-than-20-of-its-2019-softbank-valuation/?sh=1f838fc234eb">a $483 million investment</a>&nbsp;from BowX.



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



WeWork’s first-quarter cash fall is only the latest stumbling block for the company. In 2019, WeWork’s first attempt at going public failed after the company pulled its<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2019/09/17/wework-delays-20-billion-ipo-as-valuation-plunges/?sh=7c8644cb58ff">&nbsp;$20 billion initial public offering</a>&nbsp;at the last second, sending the valuation tumbling. Neumann stepped down later in 2019, and sued the company he founded the following year after SoftBank, WeWork’s largest shareholder, tried to back out of a $3 billion deal to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/02/26/wework-founder-adam-neumann-softbank-reach-settlement-in-legal-battle/?sh=d78fb6379e70">buy WeWork shares</a>&nbsp;from Neumann and other early employees. In 2021, the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns battered the company even further as much of the world’s workforce worked from home.



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



<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/60ea2f72-586f-4f3e-b153-3455b93539b8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WeWork loses $2.1bn and a quarter of its members as lockdowns bite</a>&nbsp;(Financial Times)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2021/03/26/wework-will-go-public-via-spac-deal-at-9-billion-valuation-less-than-20-of-its-2019-softbank-valuation/?sh=1f838fc234eb">WeWork Will Go Public Via SPAC Deal At $9 Billion Valuation—Less Than 20% Of Its 2019 SoftBank Valuation</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/02/26/wework-founder-adam-neumann-softbank-reach-settlement-in-legal-battle/?sh=5899c67279e7">WeWork Founder Adam Neumann, Softbank Reach Settlement In Legal Battle</a> (Forbes)



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

WeWork Presents Creator Awards Global Finals At The Theater At Madison Square Garden – Inside

WeWork Reportedly Lost More Than $2 Billion In 1st Quarter

TOPLINE The president of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach on Wednesday offered to increase the number of medical professionals available in Tokyo to help out during the Olympics, amid growing calls from Japan’s medical community to cancel the games which are scheduled to start in just nine weeks as the country continues to witness a surge in Covid-19 cases.



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



Speaking in Tokyo on Wednesday, Bach rejected calls for canceling the Olympics and insisted that the IOC will hold “safe and secure” games, the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-health-coronavirus-pandemic-olympic-games-sports-a8dfa4edeea0efbbd498c9a788581c06" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Bach promised that medical help would come from various national Olympic committees and be available in the Olympic village and sports venues, however, details on this were extremely thin.



The IOC president said he believed more than 80% of the residents of the Olympic Village, which accommodates competing athletes, would be vaccinated or booked for vaccination ahead of the Games.



Bach also said “hundreds of sports events” have been held safely during the pandemic and noted that none of the “test events” held recently in Tokyo turned out to be “virus spreaders.”



Bach’s address comes at a time when doctors organizations in Japan have warned of a collapse of the country’s medical system and that the event has the possibility of increasing the spread of the infection.



Nikkei&nbsp;<a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/19/national/medical-workers-vaccine-rate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that less than 40% of medical workers in Japan have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and the problem is more severe in Tokyo and other major urban centers where the vaccination rate among health workers is less than 30%.



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



“For obvious reasons, we cannot give [athletes] every detail yet, but the most important principle is very clear: the Olympic Village is a safe place and the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be organized in a safe way,” Bach said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h3>



In a letter sent to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last week, the Tokyo Medical Practitioners’ Association&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-health-coronavirus-pandemic-olympic-games-sports-a8dfa4edeea0efbbd498c9a788581c06" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warned</a>: “The medical systems responding to COVID-19 are stretched thin, almost to their limits. The reality is that the entire medical system faces an almost insurmountable hardship in trying our best to respond with coronavirus measures.” The letter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/tokyo-doctors-call-cancellation-olympic-games-due-covid-19-2021-05-18/#:~:text=SportsTokyo%20doctors%20call%20for,Games%20due%20to%20COVID%2D19&amp;text=A%20top%20medical%20organisation%20has,the%20start%20of%20the%20Games.mes." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">added</a>&nbsp;a “strong request” for authorities to convince the IOC to cancel the games.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



2.2%. That’s the percentage of Japan’s 126 million-strong population who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 according to Bloomberg’s global vaccination tracker. Reuters previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/unused-covid-shots-piling-up-japan-amid-slow-rollout-2021-05-07/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a>&nbsp;that this was the slowest rollout among wealthy countries.



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



The organizers of the Tokyo games have said they will need about 10,000 medical personnel during the Olympics and have also asked for 500 extra nurses and 200 sports medicine specialists. Several districts near Tokyo have warned that they will not give priority to treating Olympic athletes and at least 40 Japanese towns have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/05/13/around-40-japanese-host-towns-drop-plans-to-house-incoming-olympic-athletes-over-covid-concerns/?sh=730af04f1c10">abandoned plans</a>&nbsp;to host visiting athletes amid concerns about inadequate resources. The increasingly unpopular decision to press forward with the event has also faced pushback from Japanese citizens online and a petition to call off the games has now crossed 373,000 signatures.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.change.org/p/%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%85%E3%81%AE%E5%91%BD%E3%81%A8%E6%9A%AE%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E3%82%92%E5%AE%88%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81%E3%81%AB-%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E4%BA%94%E8%BC%AA%E3%81%AE%E9%96%8B%E5%82%AC%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%92%E6%B1%82%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99-stoptokyoolympic?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_28685503_ja-JP%3A0&amp;recruiter=1199662576&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=copylink&amp;utm_campaign=share_petition&amp;use_react=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The petition</a>, which was launched earlier this month, argues that it is “highly possible” the Olympic Games will become a “superspreader” event that will “cause danger and fear to healthcare workers, citizens and participants.”



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/05/18/thousands-of-japanese-doctors-warn-tokyo-cant-handle-olympics-amid-recent-covid-19-outbreak/?sh=60b858b6a304">Thousands Of Japanese Doctors Warn Tokyo Can’t Handle Olympics Amid Recent Covid-19 Outbreak</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/05/13/around-40-japanese-host-towns-drop-plans-to-house-incoming-olympic-athletes-over-covid-concerns/?sh=23d75b561c10">Around 40 Japanese ‘Host Towns’ Drop Plans To House Incoming Olympic Athletes Over Covid Concerns</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/05/07/tens-of-millions-of-unused-covid-vaccine-doses-are-reportedly-piling-up-in-japan-as-it-witnesses-a-surge-in-cases/?sh=7bd74d2541c9">Tens Of Millions Of Unused Covid Vaccine Doses Are Reportedly Piling Up In Japan As It Witnesses A Surge In Cases</a> (Forbes)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

A protester holds up a sign which calls for the Cancellation

Olympics Chief Offers Additional Medical Help For Tokyo As Pressure Mounts To Cancel Games

Unexploded World War II bombs, protests over trees, water and animal habitats, union scrutiny and a labor review have hindered Tesla&#8217;s Berlin Gigafactory plans — but the biggest hurdle may come in the form of strict German regulations.



By Alan Ohnsman, Forbes Staff &amp; Sofia Lotto Persio, Forbes Staff



Tesla had hit its stride in November 2019 when&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/11/12/willkommen-elon-musk-says-next-tesla-gigafactory-will-be-in-germany/?sh=163614f68b03">Elon Musk announced a massive electric car plant in Germany</a>, the heart of European auto-manufacturing. His Silicon Valley company was riding a booming share price fueled by the start of a string of quarterly profits and, more importantly, its Shanghai Gigafactory was coming together at an astonishing pace: It was about to begin making Model 3s just 11 months after the groundbreaking.&nbsp;



Emboldened by that success and cash from an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7a3c8d9a-57bb-11e9-a3db-1fe89bedc16e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">emissions credit sales deal with Fiat Chrysler</a>&nbsp;to fund it, the carmaker’s billionaire CEO and cofounder aimed to replicate it in leafy Grünheide, Germany, site of the future $4.9 billion (€4 billion) plant 24 miles east of Berlin. “Giga Berlin will come together at an impossible-seeming speed,” Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1287598172508958721?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;in July 2020. It hasn&#8217;t worked out that way.



Physical construction is nearing completion, but the plant may not start making Model Ys until 2022, months after an initial target of July 1–or even later, pending environmental approval from the state of Brandenburg. Tesla has had a much harder road than Musk envisioned. The company had to remove unexploded World War II shells at the site. It’s faced stiff opposition from environmentalists over chopping down hundreds of acres of trees, the plant’s voracious water needs and the disruption of bat and animal habitats. The plant is being <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/top-union-sets-sights-works-council-teslas-german-gigafactory-2021-05-07/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eyed for organization by IG Metall</a>, Germany’s biggest labor union. The project is also under scrutiny for a possible <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/authorities-open-labour-probe-german-182635315.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">violation of labor laws during construction</a> and may be fined for installing sewer pipes without permission.



“Although things looked good regarding the Tesla facility up to a few weeks ago, a different reality can lie behind a facade,” says Matthias Schimdt, an independent auto analyst based in Berlin. He sees the project unfolding much like the capital city’s new airport, which was built quickly but saw its opening delayed nearly a decade as it struggled to win final approval to operate from German authorities. “This mustn&#8217;t be a carbon copy situation for Tesla, which is located just a stone&#8217;s throw from the new airport that eventually came into service last year,” Schimdt says. “It just goes to highlight that things aren&#8217;t easy in ‘bureaucratic hell’ Germany.”



Delays fulfilling Musk’s quest to tap the lucrative European market complicate the electric-car impresario’s efforts to stay ahead of mounting competition in battery-powered vehicles, especially from German automakers like Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. Tesla may be the world’s most valuable carmaker, but it’s far from the biggest, having just a fraction of the production capacity of German, U.S., Japanese and Korean auto giants, delivering just under 500,000 vehicles last year versus VW’s 9.3 million. And while the company’s plant in China was a critical addition to its long-time production base in Fremont, California, Tesla can’t meet Musk’s long-held goal of producing millions of electric vehicles annually without Giga Berlin and a second U.S. auto-assembly plant under construction near Austin, Texas.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It just goes to highlight that things aren&#8217;t easy in &#8216;bureaucratic hell&#8217; Germany.”<cite>Auto analyst Matthias Schmidt </cite></blockquote>



“Coming off the incredibly fast build of the Shanghai factory, they might have miscalculated how quickly they could get Berlin up and running–perhaps not fully accounting for the significant differences in regulatory and environmental standards,” says Garrett Nelson, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research. Construction also happened amid logistical and supply chain headaches related to the Covid-19 pandemic, he says. “Tesla is doing everything possible to stay on track with its guidance, but the reality is that first production could be delayed until early 2022.”



The company hasn’t confirmed reports that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/teslas-berlin-gigafactory-to-be-delayed-another-6-months-report-11619992994" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Musk agreed to a six-month delay</a>&nbsp;for the plant a few days after reassuring investors and analysts on Tesla’s April 26 results call that “both Texas and Berlin are progressing well.”



“We expect to have initial limited production from those factories this year and volume production from Texas and Berlin next year,” Musk said on the call. But during a surprise visit to the Grünheide construction site&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/elon-musk-visits-teslas-delayed-european-gigafactory-state-minister-says-2021-05-17/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monday he told reporters</a>&nbsp;&#8220;I think there could be less bureaucracy. That would be better.&#8221;



&#8220;There should be some kind of active process for removal of rules. Otherwise, over time, the rules will just accumulate and you get more and more rules until eventually you can&#8217;t do anything,&#8221; Musk said, according to Reuters.



Analysts have already adjusted their models for Tesla to reflect the slowdown. “Giga Berlin is an early 2022 story,” says Dan Ives, an equity analyst for Wedbush. “Given the red tape in Europe this timeline remains bumpy but needs to be running by March 2022–otherwise production issues would be hampered.” 



Germany’s role as a global auto powerhouse, with its strong parts supply base and reputation for high-quality engineering, lured Musk over other countries he eyed as sites for Tesla’s European plant. (He&nbsp;<a href="https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/108395/tesla-gigafactory-europe-to-be-built-in-germany-not-uk-as-elon-musk-blames-brexit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">considered the U.K.</a>, but uncertainties related to Brexit ultimately proved too big a gamble.) Aside from selling vehicles in Germany, Tesla planted its flag there in 2016 with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2016/11/08/tesla-buying-germanys-grohmann-engineering-to-automate-accelerate-production/?sh=100c31523354">acquisition of Grohmann Engineering</a>, rebranded Tesla Grohmann Automation. The chance to square off against the country’s auto giants–which are also now aggressively focused on closing the electric vehicle gap with Tesla–on their home turf added to its appeal. For Economics Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-02/germany-promises-musk-whatever-he-needs-for-tesla-berlin-plant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Altmaier</a>, Tesla’s decision to “build a highly modern factory for electric cars in Germany is further proof of the attractiveness of Germany as an automotive manufacturing base,” he said when the project was announced in 2019.



Given the headaches he’s run into, Musk may be “wondering whether that ‘Made in Germany’ stamp on the underbody of each model leaving the factory was worth it,” says analyst Schmidt.



Grünheide, in the state of Brandenburg, sits in what was East Germany, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/06/east-germany-has-narrowed-economic-gap-with-west-germany-since-fall-of-communism-but-still-lags/ft_19-11-01_eastwestgermanyecon_3/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remains poorer than the rest of the country</a>&nbsp;since reunification 30 years ago. Local politicians were thrilled at the prospect of a project that would bring thousands of jobs and prestige to the area. “The whole region can look forward to new opportunities of development now thanks to the Tesla project which has really put Grünheide on the map globally,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gruenheide-mark.de/m/politik/person/31026/pamela-eichmann" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pamela Eichmann</a>, chair of the Grünheide (Mark) local council, told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/locals-views-on-german-tesla-plant-irreconcilable-as-production-start-faces-delay/a-57405731" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deutsche Welle</a>&nbsp;this month.



While the town’s leaders might be rooting for the factory, plenty of others are not. The plant occupies a space between the A10 highway and Fangschleuse railway station, but it’s also a few miles from the Löcknitztal nature reserve that’s had protected status since 1984 and been registered as a fauna-flora-habitat area (FFH) since 1998. Grünheide literally translates as “Green Heath” from German.



So when one of the first steps to ready the 300-hectare site for Musk’s gigafactory was&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/joergstb/status/1227992011699052545?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chopping down about 430 acres of forest</a>, it wasn’t the best start–particularly for a company whose motto is “accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”



Environmentalists temporarily blocked tree-cutting operations in early 2020, but Tesla <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/21/tesla-gets-german-court-approval-to-chop-down-trees-for-gigafactory-4.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">won court approval,</a> initially to remove 92 hectares of trees, and then 82.8 hectares more. Musk downplayed the quality of the trees he cut down, tweeting in January 2020 that “this is not a natural forest—it was planted for use as cardboard &amp; only a small part will be used for” the Berlin gigafactory. The company has also pledged to <a href="https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-gigafactory-berlin-reforestation-video/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plant three times</a> as many trees as it cut down, though <a href="https://www.zmescience.com/science/agriculture-science/cutting-down-trees-and-planting-new-ones-is-wrecking-the-soil/#:~:text=Continuously%20cutting%20down%20forests%20and,crucial%20minerals%2C%20new%20analysis%20shows.&amp;text=It's%20always%20a%20good%20idea,you%20cut%20some%20old%20ones." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scientists generally warn</a> that planting new trees is not as effective as a carbon-capture strategy as maintaining existing ones. Local environmental groups were also concerned about the disruption deforestation would <a href="https://www.loecknitztal.de/home/stellungnahme-zu-tesla/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cause to animals</a> inhabiting the forest. Site preparation in Grünheide <a href="https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/tesla-searches-bats-and-resettles-ants-preparation-german-gigafactory" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">included relocating bats and ants</a> living in the forest and removal of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-defuses-wwii-bombs-at-tesla-gigafactory-site/a-52157407" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seven unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. during World War II</a>.



The amount of water the plant will use and its impact on the region also concern local environmentalists, “because most of the factory ground belongs to a drinking water protection area and very close to the factory are two nature protection areas which are very sensitive to changes in the ground water level,” says Christiane Schroeder, managing director at the Brandenburg branch of NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union), one of the oldest and largest environmental non-profits in Germany, and a leading opponent of the Gigafactory.



Making matters worse, Tesla ran afoul of the district’s water authority, which discovered water pipes that had been installed without its permission. Tesla was allowed to continue construction work on April 12 after a brief suspension, but still faces a potential fine for the infraction, the Brandenburg Ministry for Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection tells&nbsp;Forbes. Separately, the State Office for Occupational Safety and other agencies are&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/authorities-open-labour-probe-german-182635315.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported to be investigating whether Tesla violated rules</a>&nbsp;for minimum wages, working hours, conditions and worker housing during plant construction.



Ultimately, the plant won’t be permitted to begin production until it has secured all necessary permits, a process that can grind on, Schmidt says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Very close to the factory are two nature protection areas which are very sensitive to changes in the ground water level”<cite>Environmentalist Christiane Schroeder </cite></blockquote>



IG Metall, Germany’s biggest labor union with 2.2 million members, represents workers at Tesla’s engineering unit there and initially&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-tesla-gigafactory-germany-idUKKBN1XM2M0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">welcomed the company’s gigafactory plan</a>. It had previously attempted to organize Tesla’s Grohmann unit, but the company boosted salaries there to block the effort. The union intends to set up a works council and organize future employees at Giga Berlin, union chief Joerg Hofmann&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/top-union-sets-sights-works-council-teslas-german-gigafactory-2021-05-07/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Reuters this month</a>.&nbsp;



That’s anathema to anti-union Musk. In California he’s worked to keep the United Auto Workers out of Tesla’s Fremont plant–a union factory in its previous incarnations as both a Toyota-General Motors joint venture and GM facility. Tesla was found to have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/case/32-CA-220777" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">engaged in unfair labor practices by the National Labor Relations Board</a>, including efforts to interrogate workers it suspected were part of the union push at Fremont. That 2019 ruling was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/25/tesla-nlrb-ruling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">upheld in March 2021</a>&nbsp;and Musk was ordered to delete a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/998454539941367808?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2018 tweet</a>&nbsp;discouraging Fremont workers from joining the UAW. (He has yet to do so.)



For now, IG Metall is waiting for operational details for the Grünheide facility, including whether Tesla intends to follow the round-the-clock, three-shift approach used in the U.S. and China, and adhere to German wage and working condition rules. “We give Tesla the benefit of the doubt regarding what the labor standards will look like in the long run,” says Birgit Dietze, IG Metall’s regional head. 



Long-time China auto analyst (and Tesla owner) Michael Dunne, whose ZoZo Go consultancy works with auto and parts makers across Asia, thinks Tesla’s exceptionally fast start in China led it to move too quickly in Germany. “I imagine Tesla thinking something like, ‘China is rife with regulations, licenses and government intervention, but we sorted that out in less than a year. Bring on Berlin!” he says. Powerful government allies eased the way for Tesla in China, that’s not an option in Germany, Dunne says. “One’s a democracy, the other one’s not. It’s rule by whim in China. Unlike in Germany, there&#8217;s no court of public opinion.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I imagine Tesla thinking something like, ‘China is rife with regulations, licenses and government intervention, but we sorted that out in less than a year. Bring on Berlin!”<cite>Zozo Go founder Michael Dunne </cite></blockquote>



In Germany, groups like Schroeder’s NABU have a right to make their opposition known. The environmental activist tells&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;the group has discussed their concerns with Tesla, but that the company has only been receptive to some of the issues raised, the easiest to accommodate. “I think Elon Musk is more into his own business and into new technology than really in preventing climate change,” she says. “He sees a great opportunity to sell his inventions as ‘part of the solution’ but doesn’t realize that he creates new problems as a side effect.”&nbsp;



In retrospect, Musk might have been better off building the plant in adjacent EU countries, says analyst Schmidt. “Perhaps they are slowly starting to ask themselves if they really should have looked just a few kilometers further east toward the Polish or Czech borders, where things would have have been more freewheeling,” he says. “There’s good reason Porsche decided to manufacture the Cayenne SUV–one of their most profitable models–in Slovakia!” &nbsp;

gettyimages-490597722-594×594

The Rules Even Elon Musk Can’t Break

TOPLINE A new U.K. study has found that more than 95% of Britons vaccinated with just one shot of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine develop Covid-19 antibodies, a figure that rises to almost 100% after the second dose, adding to mounting evidence from the real-world deployment of the vaccines that show they are effective and useful tools in bringing the pandemic under control. 



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



In a study of more than 8,500 people from England and Wales, who did not have antibodies before their first shot and provided a total of 13,232 antibody samples, 96% developed antibodies 28 to 34 days after receiving their first dose, according to research from University College London (UCL).



The&nbsp;<a href="https://ucl-virus-watch.net/?page_id=913" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a>, which is being prepared for peer review, found this figure to rise to 99% within seven and 14 days of their second shot for recipients of both vaccines, evidence that they provide protection against the coronavirus.&nbsp;



While those receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine developed antibodies faster than those receiving the AstraZeneca shot, rates were practically identical after a period of four weeks.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Many groups at a greater risk from Covid-19—including those with underlying conditions like diabetes and cancer, those taking immune system suppressing drugs and older adults—produced fewer antibodies after a single dose, a potential problem for countries like the U.K. where the second dose is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/05/14/study-finds-12-week-gap-between-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-dose-generates-35-times-higher-antibody-response/?sh=5fe5400da6a3">delayed</a>&nbsp;by several weeks in order to vaccinate more people.



However, a second shot boosted antibody levels to the standard high levels, something Professor Rob Aldridge, the chief investigator of the study,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/18/96-of-britons-develop-antibodies-after-one-covid-jab-study-finds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;underscores the “importance of getting the second dose.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Aldridge described the findings as “reassuring &#8211; vaccines are our way out of the pandemic.”



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



Dr. Maddie Shrotri, the paper’s lead author,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/18/96-of-britons-develop-antibodies-after-one-covid-jab-study-finds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the findings are from some of the earliest “real-world vaccine studies in the U.K.” Shrotri said the results are “fantastic news,” adding that it is “remarkable” how well the vaccines work given the speed at which they’ve been developed. “It’s a real feat of science in the face of the most devastating pandemic in a century.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



57 million. This is&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">how many vaccines&nbsp;</a>have been given out in the U.K., the vast majority being the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca shots. Just over 20 million people have received their second dose.&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/18/96-of-britons-develop-antibodies-after-one-covid-jab-study-finds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Covid vaccine: 96% of Britons develop antibodies after one jab, study finds</a>&nbsp;(Guardian)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/05/14/study-finds-12-week-gap-between-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-dose-generates-35-times-higher-antibody-response/?sh=5fe5400da6a3">12-Week Gap Between Pfizer Vaccine Doses Generates Higher Antibody Response, Study Finds</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Healthcare professional in protective gloves & workwear holding & organising a tray of COVID-19 vaccine vials

96% Of People Develop Covid Antibodies After Just One Shot Of Pfizer Or AstraZeneca Vaccine, U.K. Study Finds

TOPLINE Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk stirred up the cryptocurrency market with his Twitter account again Sunday when he appeared to hint Tesla would cast out its bitcoin holdings, a move that saw the cryptocurrency plunge.



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



When a Twitter user&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/CryptoWhale/status/1393981793813078017?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">speculated</a>&nbsp;Sunday Musk would ditch bitcoin over the hate the billionaire had received after announcing Tesla would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/05/12/tesla-will-stop-accepting-bitcoin-as-payment-due-to-environmental-worries-musk-says/">no longer accept the cryptocurrency</a>&nbsp;as payment last week, Musk replied with one word: “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1394001894809427971?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Indeed</a>.”&nbsp;



The vague message was enough to push cryptocurrency investors to sell off their bitcoin, and the price dipped nearly 8.5% down to $44,395 a coin Sunday.



Cryptocurrency is notoriously volatile, but Sunday’s dip was bitcoin’s biggest slump in more than three months and represented one of its biggest drops in value since the price first began to rapidly ramp up in January.&nbsp;



Last week, Musk said Tesla would no longer accept the cryptocurrency until bitcoin, which requires colossal amounts of electricity to work with, shifts to&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1392602041025843203" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">more sustainable energy use</a>,



Musk said at the time Tesla would not sell off the bitcoin it already had.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Indeed&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1394001894809427971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



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



$1.5 billion. That’s how much Musk spent on buying bitcoin just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/08/tesla-buys-1point5-billion-in-bitcoin.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">three months ago</a>, in preparation for using the cryptocurrency at Tesla.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Running bitcoin uses&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">more electricity</a>&nbsp;than some countries, according to a University of Cambridge study published in February. Researchers said the cryptocurrency burns through 121.36 terawatt-hours annually, roughly the equivalent of used by countries like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Argentina and Norway</a>.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



Just two months ago,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/03/24/bitcoin-surges-as-elon-musk-says-it-can-be-used-to-buy-teslas/?sh=4e37216b3cb2">bitcoin prices soared</a>&nbsp;when Musk announced Tesla would accept the cryptocurrency as payment for Tesla’s pricey electric vehicles. Musk’s quick reversal last week to suspend Tesla bitcoin payments and the cryptocurrency’s loss of value soon after angered many bitcoin investors, who said the billionaire was&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/PeterMcCormack/status/1393971202738302986?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">misinformed</a>&nbsp;about bitcoin’s energy consumption. Musk has&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1393995872413888518?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bickered</a>&nbsp;with and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1393246529498976258?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">made fun of</a>&nbsp;the bitter investors on Twitter in recent days.



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



Musk is no stranger to playing the cryptocurrency market with his tweets. His current cryptocurrency of choice, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/05/14/dogecoin-stages-a-comeback-amid-cryptos-300-billion-crash-soaring-30-as-elon-musk-and-coinbase-signal-confidence/?sh=258f1752672f">dogecoin</a>, is regularly boosted by the eccentric CEO’s Twitter memes and public enthusiasm. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">👀&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1383103246470811652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/05/12/tesla-will-stop-accepting-bitcoin-as-payment-due-to-environmental-worries-musk-says/?sh=39f2924f6e9f">Tesla Will Stop Accepting Bitcoin As Payment Due To Environmental Worries, Musk Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2021/05/12/elon-musk-says-tesla-stops-accepting-bitcoin-for-car-purchases-due-to-carbon-energy-use/?sh=34e39d386f85">Bitcoin Tanks After Elon Musk Says Tesla Stops Accepting It Due To Carbon Energy Use</a> (Forbes)



by Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

gettyimages-1130598362-594×594

Elon Musk Sends Bitcoin Tumbling With A One-Word Tweet

TOPLINE Israeli air and ground forces attacked Gaza Strip targets Thursday night, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to extract a “very heavy price” in response to rocket attacks from Hamas militants in the territory — but local news outlets say Israeli troops have not launched an actual ground invasion in Gaza yet.



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



Hamas — which controls Gaza — and other militant groups have fired&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-airstrikes.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hundreds of rockets</a>&nbsp;toward Israeli population centers in recent days, and the Israeli Defense Force has responded with heavy airstrikes that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/05/12/israel-palestine-gaza-building-collapse-intl-hnk-vpx.cnn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">toppled</a>&nbsp;several Gaza Strip buildings, reportedly leading to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57097475" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">over 100</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/weary-gaza-marks-muslim-feast-as-violence-spreads-in-israel/2021/05/13/0545e73e-b3ad-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Palestinian deaths</a>&nbsp;and at least seven Israeli deaths.



The IDF has massed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/13/94-dead-in-gaza-conflict-as-worries-rise-of-israeli-ground-invasion/?sh=15598cf97eb6">thousands of troops</a>&nbsp;near the Gaza border in preparation for a ground campaign, and both air and ground troops are “currently attacking in the Gaza Strip,” the military&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1392953390443991040" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said on Twitter</a>&nbsp;early Friday morning, Israel time.



Some&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/13/world/israel-gaza-news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">international</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-steps-up-airstrikes-against-hamas-in-gaza-tries-to-contain-violence-at-home-11620900941?mod=hp_lead_pos4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">media</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-57089065" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outlets</a>&nbsp;claimed IDF troops have already entered the territory, but its forces appear to be shelling the Gaza Strip from Israeli-controlled positions rather than carrying out a ground invasion in the territory, local and regional outlets like Israeli&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/roysharon11/status/1392955293466828805" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">public broadcaster</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/roysharon11/status/1392973698777354243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kan 11</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-13-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Times of Israel</a>&nbsp;and Qatar-based al Jazeera reported.



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



Israeli officials say they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-send-envoy-israel-palestine-gaza-crisis-2115a8db-3453-41e0-a0ea-01b373b0ec68.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aren’t interested</a>&nbsp;in an immediate ceasefire, instead promising to punish Hamas. “I said that we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas and the other terrorist organizations,” Netanyahu&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/1392972151028858880" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said Thursday night</a>. “This operation will continue as long as necessary in order to restore the calm and security to the state of Israel.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h3>



If Israeli troops ultimately enter the Gaza Strip, it would mark the country’s first major ground campaign in the territory in seven years. Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4841877" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pulled all troops</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/02/does-israel-actually-occupy-the-gaza-strip/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">settlers</a>&nbsp;from Gaza in 2005, and Hamas — which most Western countries deem a terrorist group —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-timeline/timeline-key-events-since-2006-hamas-election-victory-idUSL1752364420070620" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">took over</a>&nbsp;the territory in the following year, but Israel and Hamas have periodically exchanged fire since then. During a bout of violence in 2014, the IDF made a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rare ground incursion</a>&nbsp;into Gaza with a stated mission of destroying the territory’s cross-border tunnels.



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



The latest hostilities between Israel and Hamas follow days of unrest and tension. Israeli police&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-israel-jerusalem-076a9ec7e2bd9c065882c64a4ab820a1?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">clashed</a>&nbsp;with Palestinian protesters earlier this week at East Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque, and protesters and police&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/world/middleeast/evictions-jerusalem-israeli-palestinian-conflict-protest.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">faced off</a>&nbsp;last week over planned evictions of several Palestinian families in part of East Jerusalem, an area&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jerusalem-middle-east-lifestyle-government-and-politics-43d4cab031c28da0abf98d694dd169ac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">annexed by Israel</a>&nbsp;decades ago. Plus, violent street clashes have erupted in cities with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/world/middleeast/arab-jewish-violence-lod.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">large numbers</a>&nbsp;of both Jewish and Arab Israelis.



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



The United States has called for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995942104/biden-administration-urges-israelis-and-palestinians-to-de-escalate-conflict" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">de-escalation</a>. Some Biden administration statements have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-call-with-israeli-prime-minister-netanyahu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">relatively muted</a>, broadly defending Israel’s right to self-defense and condemning civilian violence. Meanwhile, the Pentagon&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/553453-pentagon-120-us-military-personnel-moved-from-israel-out-of-an-abundance-of" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said Thursday</a>&nbsp;it has moved 120 U.S. troops out of Israel, and the U.S. State Department is telling Americans to reconsider traveling there.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

Israeli Ground Forces Take Action In Gaza As Death Toll Tops 100 — But Troops Reportedly Haven’t Invaded

With the social scene slowly crawling back to some semblance of normalcy, entrepreneur Bukky George-Taylor is cashing in with an app for customers keen on curated events and experiences in Nigeria.



If there is one person who knows what is hot and trendy in Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country, it is Bukky George-Taylor.



As the CEO and Founder of Robert Taylor Media Ltd., a boutique communications and events company based in Lagos, Nigeria, she is the force behind some of the biggest brand activations and campaigns in the country as well as providing representation for global brands looking to penetrate the African market. 



And her latest creation, a mobile app named CRAWL Africa, launched in Lagos in March, seems to address the need to adapt to a new social life in ‘a new normal’. She calls it Africa’s first social calendar app on a mission to revolutionize social experiences in Africa by presenting a collection of curated experiences for the discerning and upwardly-mobile African consumer.



“Finding information on where to go or contacting establishments in Nigeria and across Africa can be a chore. With no access to 411 or yellow pages in Africa, CRAWL provides you with all the accurate contact information to contact businesses and to tour your city,” says George-Taylor about the new app, which currently has over 100 businesses listed.



With a degree in African-American history from the University of Massachusetts in the United States, George-Taylor has built a firm that services the corporate, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion, beauty and health sectors. This has always ensured her access to the hottest events and happenings in Nigeria.



But why choose to launch an app when the retail and hospitality sector is still recovering from the effects of a raging pandemic?



“The app launched because our city [Lagos] started to open back up with restaurants and smaller events. One of the major reasons was because of travel restrictions; the app was birthed to promote tourism and encourage people to start exploring their own cities.



“The app also enables CRAWLers to save their favorite locations or experiences for future references with a single tap while making suggestions to users based on the preferences they select,&nbsp;such as budget, location, and more.”&nbsp;



As Nigeria’s social scene gradually reopens, the events listings will be reflected on the app. George-Taylor is now also looking at other cities in sub-Saharan Africa such as Accra, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg and Cape Town in which to launch CRAWL Africa.

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Want To Party In The New Normal? This Could Be How

TOPLINE The hotly anticipated Friends reunion will air on HBO Max on May 27, the streamer announced Thursday, releasing a teaser trailer and star-studded list of guest stars for the unscripted Friends: The Reunion—or, “The One Where They Get Back Together.”



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



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MedRN92V6lE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trailer</a>&nbsp;shows the backs of the six central&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;cast members—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer—who will all be participating in the reunion special.



HBO Max described the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/11/13/friends-reunion-episode-to-film-in-march-after-months-of-covid-19-delays/?sh=6a535d3f6593">reunion</a>&nbsp;as a “real-life unscripted celebration” of the TV series, which was filmed on the show’s original soundstage at the Warner Bros. Studio backlot in California.



HBO has previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-miss-hbo-max-launch-1289773/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the show will feature the original cast members reuniting on the show’s sets as themselves “to reminisce,” stressing they “want to make it very clear that this is not a new, original episode of the series.”



Friends: The Reunion&nbsp;will feature such guests stars as David Beckham,&nbsp;Justin Bieber,&nbsp;BTS,&nbsp;James Corden,&nbsp;Cindy Crawford,&nbsp;Cara Delevingne,&nbsp;Lady Gaga,&nbsp;Elliott Gould,&nbsp;Kit Harington,&nbsp;Larry Hankin,&nbsp;Mindy Kaling,&nbsp;Thomas Lennon,&nbsp;Christina Pickles,&nbsp;Tom Selleck,&nbsp;James Michael Tyler,&nbsp;Maggie Wheeler,&nbsp;Reese Witherspoon&nbsp;and&nbsp;Malala Yousafzai, HBO announced Thursday.



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



The&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;reunion special was first confirmed in Feb. 2020 after years of the cast denying the show would return after going off the air in 2004, with the show’s original stars revealing on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B82FMKcBKHL/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram</a>: “It’s happening.” The special was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-miss-hbo-max-launch-1289773/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delayed</a>&nbsp;for a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/11/13/friends-reunion-episode-to-film-in-march-after-months-of-covid-19-delays/?sh=6a535d3f6593">year</a>&nbsp;due to the Covid-19 pandemic, however, after being originally slated to film in late March 2020 and launch with HBO Max. It was unclear when the special would debut before Thursday’s announcement, and the show’s official Instagram account&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNgYJgoHWZm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a>&nbsp;April 10 that filming had only just been completed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



At least $2.5 million. That’s reportedly how much each of the Friends stars are being paid for the one-off special, according to <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/friends-cast-reunion-hbo-max-1203510743/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-officially-a-go-at-hbo-max-1280432/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sources</a>.



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https://twitter.com/DavidSchwimmer/status/1392889872239710210?s=20
</div></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/MedRN92V6lE
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/11/13/friends-reunion-episode-to-film-in-march-after-months-of-covid-19-delays/?sh=6a535d3f6593">Friends Reunion Episode To Film In March After Months Of Covid-19 Delays</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-reunion-special-miss-hbo-max-launch-1289773/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Friends’ Reunion Special to Miss HBO Max Launch</a>&nbsp;(Hollywood Reporter)



<a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a31050315/friends-reunion-special-news-cast-spoilers-date/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Friends Reunion Special Is Coming in 2021</a> (Harpers Bazaar)



By Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff

Friends Television Stills Television

‘Friends’ Reunion To Air On HBO Max May 27 — See Who Will Be Joining The Original Cast

TOPLINE Gaza militant groups launched another round of more than 100 rockets into central Israel in retaliation for the Israeli military&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tzXlZ5_Sds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leveling another Gaza Tower</a>, a move that sent millions of Israelis into hiding in bomb shelters as the conflict’s death toll continues to climb.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232823091-1024x698.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51100" width="734" height="500" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232823091-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232823091-300x204.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232823091-768x523.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232823091-1536x1047.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-1232823091-2048x1396.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px" /><figcaption>TOPSHOT &#8211; Smoke billows from Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 11, 2021. &#8211; Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza exchanged heavy fire, killing at least 26 Palestinians and two Israelis, in an escalation sparked by violent unrest at Jerusalem&#8217;s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. (Photo by ANAS BABA / AFP) (Photo by ANAS BABA/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



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



Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, said the 130 rockets it fired toward Israel Wednesday afternoon were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/12/israeli-bombardment-continues-on-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a direct response</a>&nbsp;to the destruction of Gaza City’s Al Sharuk tower earlier in the day.



Footage circulating on social media Wednesday shows the 14-story tower&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tzXlZ5_Sds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">collapsing</a>&nbsp;after it was targeted for a strike by the Israel Defense Forces.



Besides residential apartments, the building also housed the offices of local and international&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/12/israeli-bombardment-continues-on-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">media outlets</a>, according to reports.



More than 335 Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded in the attacks, Gaza’s health officials said Wednesday, and of the 56 who have been reported killed, 14 were children.



Strikes from Hamas and other Gaza militant groups like Islamic Jihad have injured roughly 100 and killed 6 in Israel, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1392482375490211844?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">21-year-old soldier</a>&nbsp;and an Indian woman who was reportedly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/indian-woman-killed-in-israel-was-struck-by-rocket-strike-during-a-video-call-with-husband-384415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on a video call</a>&nbsp;with her husband when she died.&nbsp;



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



International powers are calling for a ceasefire. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will send top diplomat Hady Amr to the region “to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/world/middleeast/israel-palestine-blinken.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">urge deescalation</a>&nbsp;and to bring calm,” Blinken said Wednesday.&nbsp;



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



Weeks of tension reached a tipping point Saturday when&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/10/hamas-fires-rockets-into-israel---and-threatens-to-launch-more---as-tensions-escalate/?sh=3c99b7b6312c">Hamas fired rockets</a>&nbsp;into Jerusalem after Israeli security forces confronted Palestinian protestors within the compound of the city’s Al Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam. Relations between Israel and Palestinians had been strained over the efforts of Jewish settlers to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/10/hamas-fires-rockets-into-israel---and-threatens-to-launch-more---as-tensions-escalate/?sh=35fdef5d6312">forcibly evict Palestinian families</a>&nbsp;from their homes in East Jerusalem and celebrations of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/jerusalem-alaqsa-templemount-haramalsharif/2021/05/10/17f29614-b161-11eb-bc96-fdf55de43bef_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jerusalem Day</a>, a controversial holiday that marks the anniversary of Israel seizing control of East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War in 1967.&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/05/12/49-dead-hundreds-injured-amid-warning-israeli-palestinian-violence-escalating-toward-full-scale-war/?sh=45955a53424e">49 Dead, Hundreds Injured Amid Warning Israeli-Palestinian Violence Escalating Toward ‘Full-Scale War’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/11/tel-aviv-comes-under-fire-as-israel-and-palestinian-militants-trade-blows/?sh=750d983b557e">“Tel Aviv Comes Under Fire As Israel And Palestinian Militants Trade Blows”</a> (Forbes)



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Category: Featured