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True power is living the realization that you are your own healer, hero, leader.” – quoted by Diego Perez
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Indeed, success has always been built on that simple principle. The African story of the recent past has belied that. This needs to be regained and reinforced.



I was in Lusaka some weeks ago attending the launch of the Lobito Corridor project; an ambitious rail line brought together for deliverance by the mighty United States (U.S.), the beleaguered European Union, three ambitious African nations and two of Africa’s premier institutions, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and African Development Bank (AfDB).



They unveiled plans to link the copper-rich regions of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Angolan port of Lobito. A corridor replete with hopes. A smooth trade route from the world’s richest copper belt to the Atlantic Ocean to facilitate the transportation essential in the region, fostering business and trade.



This is in perfect harmony with Washington’s increased soft-power strategy reflecting a broader geopolitical intent to strengthen ties with Africa.



Not that this is altruistic though. The global clean energy transition requires significant amounts of critical minerals vital to the manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, batteries etc. And they are crucially essential in several applications of the defence, ICT and pharmaceutical industries.



Add to that the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act and the pressure to bring manufacturing back to American shores.



To make America great again will need raw materials from across the Atlantic. Interestingly, the accelerated pace of the transition will require six times more mineral inputs by 2040.



But the net-zero objectives of the Global North will not be achieved without Africa’s green minerals.



Africa holds substantial reserves  of bauxite, chromium, cobalt, copper, gold, iron, lithium, manganese, platinum, uranium and more.



Thus, the great race ahead; strap on your belts for the ride.



Yet, China’s present dominance is all-pervading at the moment; positioned as they are with its longer history and sheer size of investments in the core sectors in Africa.



Overall, China has spent more than a trillion dollars in projects to secure the supply of key resources.



Therein lies the ‘once-in-a- lifetime’ opportunity.



Usually, when elephants fight, the grass suffers.



This time around, the African savannah holds the strings to the entertainment ahead.



For African leaders, the question is less about the U.S. or China but more about what Africa can negotiate out of its resource advantage.



Africa must capitalize on its mineral endowments to drive transformative sustainable growth, economic diversification, and local and regional development through value-added processing and manufacturing; it must optimize the resource value to underpin productive transformation, integration into global trade systems and development of local industries.



Sustainable mining as a catalyst for the local procurement of goods and services, the shared use of infrastructure as well as an anchor for renewable energy development is a fair aspiration.



Yet it is crucial to ensure that all this does not come at the detriment of African communities, bearing the brunt of vested interests, pollution, and environmental damage.



A substantial amount of critical minerals is to be found in areas of rich biodiversity, fragility, and conflict, as well as lands traditionally belonging to indigenous peoples.



But events have conspired in Africa’s favor.



We hold the key to solving significant global challenges.



Hence, we should be agnostic and seek partners that will drive our economic objectives as equals in the global fight for equity and prosperity.



African institutions such as the AFC are at the forefront of embedding these priorities into policies.



The continued success will hinge on: a) balancing the criticality of access to mineral resources with the African perspective on environmental and social risks; b) improved infrastructure for local value addition, refining, processing, and developing local downstream industries; and c) inspiring international cooperation to shift from historically-exploitive, extractive and export-driven models into sustainable investments, technology transfer, capacity-building and financing models that lift the continent meaningfully.



If mining fails to be a catalyst for sustainable development supporting renewable power generation, local procurement and infrastructure, we will have failed.



The Lobito Corridor promises to be that potent example where the corridors of power ensured that it’s not another rail line to transport our riches but will enrich us, the people on the continent, in its wake. And thus, help to solve the world’s problems while serving its own people.



Diplomacy and negotiations change. All of that needs the ‘self-belief’ that it’s our tryst with our destiny and we have to run with it ourselves.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES CONGO MINING COBALT

Digging Deep: Why Africa Must Capitalize On Its Mineral Endowments

Feedback from the Davos meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has always been useful. Historically, the discussions with world leaders, both political and corporate, provide insight into what is expected in the year ahead. The post-event mood after the meetings was generally vibrant but 2024 was a departure from the past. Is it because WEF is losing its luster or because world leaders did not want to face the tough questions that were expected at Davos? Geopolitically, it was a disaster, as several world leaders were missing from the January 2024 WEF meetings; France’s Emmanuel Macron was the only leader from the G7 countries. Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Rishi Sunak and many other leaders were conspicuous by their absence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was present for a special address. The Russians were missing and so were their oligarch parties that are part of the pomp and show during Davos.


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Africa has been gaining in prominence at the WEF meetings and delegations from South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana and a few other countries continue to be torchbearers for the continent. Some inter-esting debates on technology, AI and the challenges of the future were thought-provoking this year but to a large part, there was nothing to write home about. In 2018, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, along with several other multilaterals, founded the Africa Investment Forum as an alternative to WEF Davos. The vision was to move away from talk and politics to a platform for action. For African countries, this platform is far more valuable than the money that gets spent in participating in Davos. The outcomes are measurable and are focused on Africa and our leaders need to focus on answers relating to the African continent and not be bystanders to the deafening silence at a global platform.



The unanswered and embarrassing questions before world leaders include, but are not limited to, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and climate change. The issue of Ukraine will remain unsolved as long as the West continues to fuel and fight a proxy war against Russia. Although, the United States’ (U.S.) Repub-lican party has reportedly applied some brakes to the funding of the war, there is relentless hysteria being stirred regarding Russia’s aggression and intent to start similar campaigns along other parts of its border. Finland and Sweden are the most recent additions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which now has 32 members.



We can only speculate that despite any adjectives that have been used to describe Putin, one thing that he most certainly is not, is a fool who would even, in all his arrogance, think that Russia could take on the collective might of NATO in a conventional war. Looking purely at data that is in the public domain, Russia has 40% of the ground troops, 20% of aircraft and 28% of the naval power of NATO. This is a disincentive for Russia to go to war with any NATO country. Where Russia has a distinct advantage is in nuclear capability and this should not be taken lightly. Putin has made his intention clear; if NATO gets involved or pushes his hand, he has limited choices.



When Ukraine began its quest for membership to NATO, Russia warned them not to do so for reasons that are known to the whole world. None of the superpowers want their cold war enemies setting up bases near their borders. What would the U.S. do if Russia were to set up a base in Mexico? The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 almost brought about a nuclear war when the U.S. found out about the Soviet Union’s plans to establish nuclear weapons in Cuba.



History has taught us many lessons and self-preservation is an adequate motivation for nations to act in self-interest. The only way fighting between neighbors can come to an end is if the two (with the help of affected and interested neighbors) sit down to talk. This can only happen if NATO countries take a step back to stop fueling the war through money and weapons, stop expand- ing NATO and ask Russia to stop any further aggression. By now, Putin would also have understood that continuing this conflict is not sustainable, even for Russia.



The discussion on Ukraine is not complete without acknowl- edging the growing conflicts of interest. Other than in supplying weapons, Western countries, mainly the U.S., have significant economic interests in Ukraine, most of all in securing agricultural capacity for all times to come. Several major multinational corporations owned and controlled by some of the largest U.S. financial institutions are alleged to be the beneficiaries of privatization and concessions in Ukraine. Unfortunately, as the media continues to report on the horrific consequences of war, there is silence on the conflict of economic interest that will continue to catalyze the war.



We are also facing a major crisis in Gaza. It has been six months since the attack carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7 2023. I do not believe that there is any human being with a soul who will condone the killing and suffering of innocent women and children at the scale that is going on in the war between Israel and Hamas. This time around, the U.S. is supporting Israel and has time and again blocked any move made at the United Nations Security Council calling for a stop to the bloodshed. What is going on in Gaza will have far greater consequences for the world than the war in Ukraine. The world is likely to get more and more polarized and instead of progressing forward and making the world a better place, there is going to be more hate and regression.



In the last two years, these two conflicts have cost the world far more than any other recent crisis. Some Pentagon sources have quoted that the direct cost of the war for Russia in Ukraine, to date, has been more than $210 billion. This does not include the economic loss to the world in the form of price escalation, the slowing down of economic activity and the setting up of duplicate and expensive supply chains. Financial weekly newspaper Barron’s has quoted Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sources projecting the global cost of lost output in excess of $2.8 trillion. WEF sources quote figures for the destruction in Ukraine to be between $400 billion and $1 trillion. The German online platform Statista has projected that it will conservatively cost about $410 billion to rebuild Ukraine. These are numbers that for the common man mean very little, other than point to an alarming fact that people in Ukraine will stay below poverty levels for a long, long time. Imagine if this money was poured into developing countries to help them with infrastructure, education, healthcare, energy transformation, agriculture, water and food security.



Agriculture and food production in Africa needs to be catalyzed on a war footing. There is a lot of land in Africa that is currently been bought and/or being leased by multinationals with a view to creating clusters to export agricultural products. There needs to be scrutiny by the African Union and African multilaterals on how to manage the needs of African nations. Why export food when there are so many nations in Africa that continue to import food products? We need compelling incentives for Africans and African-owned companies to grow the agricultural base in Africa.



My favorite activity after the end of a long day at work has always been to watch local and international news networks and catch up on current affairs. In the last few months, my interest has largely been in catching up with elections in different parts of the world. With more than two billion people going to the ballot in over 50 countries this year, a lot of interesting discussions are going to take place on the future of many countries and on geopolitics in general.



Talking about elections; the U.S. elections have always been of interest. It took me a long time to somewhat understand the elections system. It was always interesting to watch the primaries, Super Tuesdays and town hall debates: a seemingly well-structured election system to finally select leading candidates for the Republicans and Democrats who then battle in a final contest for a winner-takes-all. This year has been with mixed emotions but mainly disappointment. I was 13 years old when the Watergate scandal broke in 1972.



We used to hear the news on the radio for updates on the case leading to Richard Nixon’s resignation; the only president in U.S. history to resign, although three others have been formally impeached.



These blemishes aside, one has looked up to the leadership in the U.S.; Barack Obama was my most recent favorite. We are not to judge who Americans choose to lead them but for a country with over 340 million people, I most certainly think that there is enough talent to bring in younger, smarter and less-conflicted individuals to lead the most powerful country in the world.



The sitcoms will continue for the rest of 2024 but sadly, the fate of the world in many ways will rest on the decisions made by Americans this year.



I am ending this piece on a sad note; it’s a personal loss. My business partner of over 20 years, Zafar Siddiqi, passed away at the end of February. We take a lot of things in life for granted; life is one of them. We just believe that what happens to others will not happen to us. Death pauses us when it happens close to home. Each of us rely on familiar faces (personally and professionally) when we have moments of triumph or periods of uncertainty. Coming home after his burial, I was left with the sad real- ity that the face I was so accustomed to turn towards, for over two decades, will only smile from a picture in my office. We both have been through some of the biggest challenges setting up our media and education businesses; one thing we mutually agreed on was to never give up. We put our faith, our blood, sweat and tears into these dreams and built them one brick and one day at a time. Today, we have the best teams and people around us, but the loss is of someone who shared my pain each day of this journey. Rest in peace, dear Zafar.

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From WEF To War To Polls And Politics, An Interesting Year For The World

Lauded as the key to Africa’s economic fortunes, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been met with much excitement. Indeed, this area holds great economic promise for the continent but there are some glaring gaps that require consideration – particularly from a social dimension. Established in 2018 by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA entails the creation of a consolidated marketplace for goods and services throughout the African continent. 



According to a 2022 World Bank report, this agreement could generate vast economic benefits, embracing 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. If fully implemented, the agreement is expected to increase income by 9% by 2035 and help uplift 50 million individuals from extreme poverty. It aims to boost intra-African trade, promote industrialization, foster economic diversification, and ultimately lead to increased economic growth and job creation. As the agreement outlines, this integration will be strengthened and underpinned by allowing the free movement of individuals across the continent.



Yet, there has been little consideration of the impact of this movement on social security, an important policy tool that addresses socio-economic challenges, contributes to long-term development, and promotes a more equitable and resilient society. 



In Africa, particularly, its impact cannot be overlooked.



Without the necessary safeguards in place, the AfCFTA exists as nothing more than a romantic ideal. Intra-African migration has increased by 30% in the last decade and is on an upward trajectory. However, existing systems may find themselves under strain as demographics shift and the demand for services and support transcends traditional geographical boundaries under AfCFTA. As it stands with current policies, African migrant workers and their families may lose their social security benefits when they return to their home nations because these benefits are often limited to specific territories. 



Compounding these concerns is the limited scope of social security coverage on the continent. According to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) World Social Protection Report, only 17.4% of the population in Africa receives at least one social protection benefit compared to 46.9% globally. This low level of access to social protection is attributed to the labor market structure on the continent and limited domestic resources allocated to social protection. As AfCFTA takes hold, there is a need for social security coordination to expand social protection coverage, especially for migrant workers and their families.



There are some considerations. First, it should guarantee the equal treatment of all workers in order to prevent unfair discrimination against migrant workers. Second, it must consider all elements of a worker’s career to ensure comprehensive insurance coverage and the determination of benefits. Third, there should be a recognition that residency, employment, or economic activity in one state allows for the acquired rights and benefits to be upheld in another state. 



Fourth, the applicable laws should be established to prevent double benefits or double obligation to contribute towards a social security scheme. Fifth, these efforts must make social security benefits transferable or exportable by reducing restrictions on the payment of benefits and receipt of services when workers reside in a different country. In this regard, African countries should adopt crucial policy measures to develop the social dimension of this area by ratifying and implementing the existing ILO conventions and recommendations regarding migration and social security. 



The equality of treatment, among other principles and standards, should be incorporated into domestic law. Moreover, African countries must also conclude social security agreements to coordinate and ensure the portability of social security rights and benefits. In this regard, bilateral labor arrangements or Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) should include social security provisions. Additionally, unilateral measures developed by sending and receiving countries must be taken, such as the inclusion of national social protection floors. Beyond social security, the social dimension should include initiatives that address practical obstacles to the AfCFTA, such as language barriers, xenophobia, exorbitant cross-border remittance fees, and lack of information and awareness.



As researcher and postdoctoral fellow Balkissa Diallo argues, “For the true elimination of trade barriers, AfCFTA efforts must embed the facilitation of African migration into their structures — and also consider existing dynamics that prevent this from happening.”



If AfCFTA has any real hope of succeeding, it must also integrate with society beyond the economic policies and trade agreements.

Safaricom Plc Headquarters and Kiosks Ahead of Earnings

Developing Further The Social Dimension Of The African Continental Free Trade Area

Five years ago, I couldn’t imagine asking boards and business leaders whether robots would one day run their companies.



However, the massive increase in awareness of the potential of large language models is forcing executives to explore how to use robots and artificial intelligence in day-to-day decision-making.



In fact, the rise of executive robots has already started.



For example, in May 2023, Forbes reported that Dictador, a progressive premium brand rum distiller, had appointed an AI CEO called Mika.



It is gimmicky for sure, as humans are still very much controlling her AI strings, but as Mika reportedly said in an interview with Reuters, “My decision-making process relies on extensive data analysis and aligning with the company’s strategic objectives.” She went on to explain how she was devoid of personal bias, which helps ensure that strategic choices are prioritized in line with the organization’s best interests, not hers.



This sounds amazing. So, is Mika the forerunner of the mass adoption of AI for corporate governance and leadership roles?



For once, the likely answer is yes, absolutely.



For starters, the demand for a solution like this is apparent.



Humans regularly make bad decisions, and more often than not, this leads to someone losing a lot of money.



Why, for example, did OpenAI’s board sack Sam Altmann (before he returned as CEO in November last year)?



What led Elon Musk to rebrand Twitter to X?



And why didn’t Silicon Valley Bank diversify its risk away from startups?



Decisions like these wipe out trillions of dollars of value every single year. And these three examples are just the tip of the iceberg.



Further, those impacted aren’t just the super-wealthy. Often, it’s the poorest who see their life savings and pensions hit hardest.



All of which means there is a huge interest from everyone, from governments to investors, to find ways to improve decision- making and corporate governance.



We already spend billions of dollars for consultants and business schools to develop leaders and models to help companies maximize profits while minimizing risks.



But these billions will quickly switch to AI alternatives if there is even the smallest of probabilities that technology will help improve a stock’s potential returns.



So, the demand is there.



But how long will we have to wait for the likes of the already hugely-impressive ChatGPT to offer intelligence that can not only answer questions in narrow fields but actually analyze data from multiple sources, draw inferences, consider interdependencies, develop execution plans, draw up funding requirements, consider resource allocations, raise funding and build support along with all the other tasks and activities that are required in any modern-day business?



Mustafa Suleyman, founder of DeepMind and Inflection.AI, explores this question in his recent bestseller, The Coming Wave.



Specifically, he asks how long it will be before machines answer and act on prompts such as “Please design and execute a strategy that will allow me to make $1mill on Amazon in as few months as possible with just $100K of investment.”



His conclusion? “Aside from the legal requirements of registering as a business on the marketplace and getting a bank account, all of this seems to me eminently doable. I think it will be done within the next year and probably fully autonomously within three to five.”



When an industry insider as respected as Suleyman makes a comment like this, we should sit up and listen.



And it makes absolute sense when you consider that a potent combination of factors is driving development in AI. Breakthroughs in machine learning algorithms, dramatic increases in computing power, the abundance of extensive data sets, advancements in cloud computing, enhanced global connectivity, escalating demand across industries and the democratization of access through open-source initiatives are just some of the factors propelling it at exponential rates.



And, of course, the biggest factor of all is perhaps the simple fact that we are now using AI to build AI, as more and more code is being written by machines, not developers. So perhaps the real question isn’t whether or even when robots will run companies. Shareholders and boards might do better considering what types of leaders they need to employ to manage the transition from human to augmented to algorithmic leadership. This is not an easy question to answer. There is no template for designing leadership systems for robots. Perhaps ChatGPT has the answer?

Robot working at desk, 3D Rendering

Expert-Speak: Will Robots Run Companies?

In 1849, Jean-Baptiste wrote “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” – “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” 



Apparently, turbulence doesn’t change reality but embeds it. I don’t agree when I see what’s happening in Africa today. 



A continent long battered and bruised by exogenous factors, now battling climate, the new enemy.



Emissions are shamelessly borderless yet all pervading.



Rivers are running dry, crop patterns are changing and erosion is destroying livelihoods in Africa, despite our near-zero contribution to global warming. For an already beleaguered continent, the specter of ensuing hunger and famine could be a death knell.



Adapting Africa’s food systems to climate change is imperative as a rise by 2 degrees celsius will profoundly affect African food security. And remember that almost $100 billion is spent on food imports currently.



The import bill gets worse with wars and geopolitics that make prices soar making it unaffordable to many. Remarkably, more than 50% of food imports is by the Big 5: Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, and Nigeria.



Large, well-endowed countries are the worst offenders. Worryingly, imports are basic necessities like grain, sugar, and other staples thus underlining the frightening fragility of food security.



Already one in five Africans go to bed hungry.



But this is a continent that is home to 60% of the world’s arable land. Data now shows that barring the Big 5 countries, the smaller ones are actually becoming net exporters of food.



Challenges exist of course: 30% to 40% is added to the cost of goods traded between African countries because of poor infrastructure. In Madagascar, the erstwhile road to the Alaotra-Mangoro region stunted agricultural productivity.



But now a new road has reduced travel time from eight hours to three.



Farmers are thrilled to see an increase in their margins as they reduce their losses.



Sadly, however, the agricultural value per farmworker in sub- Saharan Africa is still only $1,526 while in the United States, it exceeds $100,000. Heartwarming stories of resilience, adaptation and innovation exist, and it means this will improve.



Panuka Farms in Zambia modernized its cold storage and switched to greenhouse cultivation. This reduced food losses and climate-proofed production.



They now supply high-value vegetables such as English cucumber and replaced imported fresh produce to local retailers. New jobs were created as recent graduates now manage the farm.



In Lesotho, Happy C&amp;J Village Farm added a borehole and drip irrigation to directly water individual plants rather than casting spray over a large area. The process conserves soil nutrients and minimizes water waste.



Plastic tunneling protects lettuce, cabbage, tomato, and potato from hail. Thus, crops are grown throughout the year despite the increases in climate change leading to hailstorms and chilly weather.



Scaling up climate-smart practices, strengthening research and seed systems, support from agro-meteorological studies is in vogue for better crop management.



A moot point, however, is how agricultural subsidies in developed countries and intra-Africa tax on food products still unfortunately affect African production.



A population of a billion-plus, forecasted to be two billion, will, therefore, not sit idle. Mouths to feed and poverty will be fertile land for social unrest and untold human suffering otherwise.



Technology is crucial and transference of global knowhow an imperative. Market integration through improved intra-Africa infrastructure, regional cooperation and policy level-support are gradually forthcoming.



Institutions like the Africa Finance Corporation are at the forefront of initiating, developing, and investing in local value-addbased industries, and provide financing and logistics support to enhance export earnings and employment.



Necessity is the mother of all invention.



The African continent is not a basket case. Countless crises, conflicts and catastrophes have been encountered and managed on the continent. We are tough when the going gets tough.



When the world writes us off, we typically rise and survive.



Food self-sufficiency is a paramount condition to growth. It will be our biggest export as well. Let’s make our own granary and then for the world.



We owe it to all humanity

Paul Manga, a subsistence farmer, gathers his withered maize

Food For Thought…Africa Is Not a Basket Case

As we progress further into 2024, a year guaranteed to be full of complexities and uncertainties, the heightened demand for genuine expertise to guide us through our challenges will become more important than ever.



The dilemma we face is that too many people are in a rush to claim their expertise, making it increasingly difficult to discern genuine or real experts from those who are still learning the ropes.



In today’s era of digital self- promotion and personal branding, the term “expert” is thrown around like confetti at a wedding celebration raising the question: do all those who lay claim to the title genuinely warrant it?



So-called experts are everywhere. Individuals self- assign this once prestigious title along with others like coach, consultant, and specialist to impress others, attract fresh business prospects, gain speaking opportunities, or boost their book sales.



A novice cook who decides to share a few recipes on a blog declares himself a culinary expert. A traveler who describes his own limited experiences on a social media platform promotes himself as a world travel consultant.



A person who successfully quits smoking for a few months positions herself as a “quit smoking coach”.



There’s also the individual who completes a coding bootcamp and subsequently calls herself a software development guru, the parent who has raised four children who markets himself as a parenting expert, and the former manager who proudly identifies as a management specialist.



And in the age of social media, many individuals with modest followings or experience in online marketing present themselves as digital marketing gurus. They may offer expert advice on growing one’s online presence, yet that expertise often lacks a solid track record of successfully driving results for clients.



Perhaps even more common are individuals who have made their own personal fitness transformations who brand themselves as fitness experts.



While their dedication to personal fitness is commendable, true fitness or coaching expertise involves a deep understanding of physiology, nutrition, and personalized training plans.



It seems that the whole idea of being an expert doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve dedicated your life to mastering something these days. It’s more like a jacket you can throw on, and it seems like anyone with a tiny bit of knowledge can wear it.



Put simply, being an expert has become a trendy label, applied to anyone with a hint of knowledge.



So if you need the services of a true expert, and you want to gauge the extent of an individual’s expertise, what might you look for?



True expertise isn’t simply being one step ahead of your neighbors on a particular topic. It’s about knowing more than most people in a particular field.



Becoming an expert usually requires substantial education or training, thousands of hours of practice, and a deep understanding of the subject.



And true experts continually learn to stay updated in their field.



Some also regard experts to be those individuals who not only have extensive knowledge and experience in a particular area – but who are also effective communicators who can explain complex concepts to others, making their knowledge accessible and understandable. For those seeking to become experts there are also some considerations.



While, the internet often promotes the notion of instant expertise, genuine greatness is a product of ongoing effort and unwavering commitment.



It means that those on the path to becoming experts must resist the urge to assert their authority prematurely.



It’s also important to recognize that true authority should be conferred upon them by others who recognize their expertise rather than being self-proclaimed. None of us get to call ourselves experts. It’s a term best applied by others to describe an individual’s accomplishments and expertise.



In other words, you can’t claim the expert title yourself. Only when others label you an expert, does it become a reality.



As we start a brand-new year full of challenges, issues, and opportunities, we don’t need more experts but we do need more apprentices or those willing to take the time to develop expertise. If you are finding yourself in need of guidance or expertise, look out for those who embody the principles of unwavering dedication, continuous learning, and a proven track record.



In a world awash with self-proclaimed experts, let’s champion those who have truly earned their stripes, and in doing so, let us collectively raise the standard for what it means to be an expert in 2024.

Businessman Signing Digital Contract On Tablet

Raising The Bar For What It Means To Be An Expert In 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a revolutionary tool, reshaping industries, streamlining processes, and improving decision-making. The success of AI is because we now have access to more data, and we possess adequate computational infrastructure to analyze such data. AI has enormous potential in the legal field, promising to transform how legal practitioners function and individuals access the justice system. 



However, this potential is not devoid of ethical concerns and obstacles.



The function of AI in the legal domain is diverse. AIdriven research tools can rapidly analyze extensive legal databases, furnishing attorneys with insights in a previously unattainable manner. It entails the utilization of chatbots and virtual assistants to provide individuals with legal guidance, thereby enhancing the accessibility of legal information. 



AI saves time and money when producing legal documents using document automation tools.



Predictive analytics can predict legal outcomes, enabling litigants and attorneys to make well-informed decisions. Online dispute resolution platforms provide a viable substitute for conventional litigation, enhancing the efficiency and accessibility of dispute resolution. Nevertheless, as AI gains prominence in law, we must exercise caution and remain vigilant regarding the obstacles to this revolutionary technology.



The first such obstacle is the fairness and bias of AI systems, which are potential sources of concern. Algorithms for machine learning are trained using historical data, which may contain societal biases. AI could perpetuate and even exacerbate preexisting discrimination in the legal system if these prejudices are not addressed. AI development must prioritize fairness and equity, necessitating ongoing vigilance to identify and address bias in AI applications. Secondly, the opaqueness of AI decisionmaking processes raises concerns regarding transparency and accountability. In legal contexts, individuals have a right to be informed of the reasoning behind decisions made by AI systems.



Legal experts and technologists must collaborate to guarantee the transparency of AI systems and allow individuals to contest AI-generated outcomes. However, AI technology is lagging, and AI systems are subjected to the accuracy-transparency dilemma, whereby the more accurate the AI model, the less transparent it is, and vice versa. This is because the high accuracy of the AI model correlates to the increased complexity of the model. Furthermore, the more complex the AI model, the more accurate it is, but this results in reduced transparency of the model.



Thirdly, there is the problem of the security and privacy of individuals. Legal issues frequently necessitate the use of confidential personal data. Implementing robust data protection measures to secure individuals’ rights and privacy is critical.



Legal professionals must thoroughly contemplate the ethical and legal ramifications and enforce rigorous data security protocols when dealing with personal data. This requires technology, which is not necessarily available in many African countries. The African Union (AU) must ensure that groups of countries jointly procure such technologies to reduce the burden of the cost of this technology.



Furthermore, we must train enough people to deploy such technologies. Fourth, as AI’s capacity for legal research and document automation expands, concerns may arise regarding the potential displacement of legal professionals. However, rather than replacing legal professionals, AI should be considered a supplement to their work. By utilizing AI, legal professionals can increase productivity, decrease expenses, and improve their capacity to render expert opinions.



Fifth, legislative bodies and governments must establish transparent regulatory frameworks for AI. These regulations must delineate principles of ethics, foster transparency mandates, and stipulate the responsibility of these AI systems. Achieving an optimal equilibrium between fostering innovation and safeguarding the rights of individuals is a highly challenging endeavor and requires the training of regulators and lawmakers to understand these technologies. 



The AU can be a catalyst to ensure such knowledge is accessible across Africa.



Sixth, a potential benefit of AI in law is its capacity to improve the accessibility of justice. Tools propelled by AI can increase the accessibility of legal information for those who cannot afford legal representation.



Online dispute resolution has the potential to offer economically viable substitutes for conventional litigation. However, we must ensure that these technologies do not exacerbate but rectify existing disparities in access to justice.



AI is not a silver bullet that can solve all legal problems, nor is it the precursor that will end the legal profession as we know it. However, when utilized responsibly and ethically, AI is a tool that has the potential to enhance the agency of legal practitioners and facilitate improved access to justice.



The coexistence of AI and the law can produce a legal system that is more equitable, efficient, and accessible.

AI, Machine learning, robot hand ai artificial intelligence assistance human touching on big data network connection background, Science artificial intelligence technology, innovation and futuristic.

AI And The Law –Navigating The Future Together

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&#8220;The forum offers a delightful vacation on the expense account.” – Quote: unknown, 1981.
</blockquote>



Perhaps true but entertaining, nevertheless.



Let’s plod on.



Davos 2023: the word &#8216;polycrisis&#8217; was on everybody&#8217;s lips as leaders deliberated the cascading crises of the moment.



Attitudes have now hardened further. New and old conflicts have flared up, deepening the schisms between and inside countries and communities.



Flashpoints galore as anger levels reach a crescendo.



Will the year ahead therefore be a period of &#8216;permacrisis&#8217;?



Into this valley of hope,



Davos and it’s ski slope,



Rode the few of us resolute,



In quest for something absolute.



Will the leap year be a time for: ‘Rebuilding Trust’?



Whose trust and whose future though? A preponderance of received wisdom laced with dominant Anglo-Saxon paradigms interspersed with voices from the South can’t cut it.



Did I finally detect fear?



Not greed. Not guilt. Not anger.



A lurking suspicion permeating across I thought.



That the hubris and the presumptions that have dominated the world post World War 2 was not forever.



Alternative axes of powers throwing new arcs of hope to the impoverished and unrepresented.



I listened to President Emmanuel Macron talking of “de-risking, not decoupling”. A tacit admission that the East and the South cannot be ignored.



Heard European Commission President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen speak on the need for solidarity and announcing how “Russia is militarily, diplomatically and technologically isolated and wholly dependent on China”; while news suggests it is perhaps not yet.



Even the mighty United States until today imports a fifth of its enriched uranium from Russia.



At the BRICS panel discussion, erudite ministers from India, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa extolled the virtues of choices in a fickle world of geopolitics. Unity in diversity to manage the common challenges of poverty, climate and health, among others. President Xi Jinping said: “China’s economy is like the Swiss Alps, undulating with peaks and troughs.”



To appreciate the Alps, you need to zoom out and admire from afar.



Same with China.



Broaden your vision and see what it exudes and promises. Profound!



What is then the true test of multilateralism? To smaller countries, it’s about protection. For the powerful, a litmus test to fulfil their obligations. For the international community, it’s how to monitor and create balanced priorities. Davos 2024 aimed to restore collective agency, and reinforce the fundamental principles of transparency, consistency, and accountability.



The goal ostensibly is to back a spirit of open and constructive dialogue to help connect the dots in an increasingly complex and fractured environment.



Déjà vu.



Why now this cry from the developed world?



An attempt to remain on the saddle and lure back the disenchanted who has flown?



My conclusion is simple.



A truly multipolar world based on trade, choices, efficiencies and fair negotiations is well underway.



And therein lies hope and salvation.



President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, together with UNDP, launched Timbuktoo, a startup fund with an initial $1 billion target to leverage Africa&#8217;s youth and dynamism.



An ingenious name.



Timbuktu has long been used to describe long, difficult journeys.



A boulevard of broken dreams for European explorers of the past who tried to reach it.



As masters of our own destiny, we in Africa will succeed through new partners and along with the old that still remains good.



Insanity is when you keep trying the same thing and expect different results.



We don’t have the time for that.



And indeed, as they say: You get what you negotiate. Not what you deserve.



Davos told me we have room to dream and space to maneuver.



Most of all, we have choices now to make.



As the world needs us as much as we need them.



A ‘win-win’ finally.



So, let’s seek that perfect world of collaboration focused on global extension and not its extinction.

Day Three Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024

View From The Alps: Davos 2024 A Bugle Call For Multilateralism

In 1943, the Royal Air Force looked for quick fixes to improve the probability that their bombers could complete their missions and successfully return home. One option was to add armor-plating, but what was the optimal placement which would ensure maximum protection without compromising the aircraft’s performance?



The accepted thinking, based on the data collected from returning bombers, was that the wings, nose, and fuselage should be armored up. They, after all, had the most bullet holes.



It took a gifted mathematician, Abraham Wald, to highlight that the best solution would, in reality, be to armor the three areas that never seemed to get hit: the cockpit, the engines, and the tail.



He had correctly hypothesized that the bullet patterns would be evenly distributed and, therefore, the planes that did not return had been taken down due to weaknesses in these three key areas.



This is a wonderful story as it highlights how, if you want to be effective using data for strategic decision-making, you have to think deeply about both the data you have and the data you don’t.



Companies, surprisingly, despite their significant investment in technology, still seem to succumb to their own version of this data selection bias.



For while they do not have to worry about the negative consequences of suboptimal armoring, they do need to optimize the placement of resources, to ensure they provide maximum customer value without compromising their ability to scale profitably.



The data they consistently seem to ignore when making these types of resource decisions is that which exposes the real value they bring to their clients.



I’ll use the case of mid-size Asian bank, DBS Bank, as an example. For years they had managed their business using key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs helped them to focus on efficiently distributing their products to millions of retail customers.



Call centers, for example, would typically focus on reducing call abandonment, queuing times, handling times, and improving first call resolutions.



And I suspect that over time DBS were able to improve productivity and offer a more streamlined service to their clients.



But although these metrics no doubt helped the company reduce its costs, it reportedly added extra ones for their customers.



And the cost that seemingly annoyed their customers the most was the extra hours they had to waste, dealing with the bank.



So it was Paul Cobban and his team who realized they were managing using the data they had, not the data they needed. So they pivoted and reset the strategy to focus on improving just one metric: reducing the time customers spend dealing with them. Now, their teams had to think more deeply about how to ensure their customers didn’t have to call centers, write emails, travel to branches, or wait in long queues.



Cobban estimated that this process was able to “take out at least 250 million wasted customer hours per year”, as per a 2016 article in Forbes.



This helped DBS transform from being recognized as one of the worst banks in Singapore to becoming one of the best and most loved.



It must have taken courage for the team to stop worrying about internal metrics and start trying to develop customer-led ones.



Especially when business schools and consultants are still extolling the virtues of balanced scorecards based on the assumption you can’t manage what you can’t measure.



The truth is, these management systems tend to reinforce selection bias. This occurs as executives often shape strategies around what is straightforward to manage and quantify, rather than exploring the often ethereal data sets that help identify where the real client value lies.



Aligning compensation with easily quantifiable metrics such as revenue, profit margins, or operational efficiency is much simpler than assessing the value a client derives because you saved him time, or amplified his brand, or increased his profits, or made him happier, or reduced his stress levels.



Still, working out the bullet patterns on planes that are hundreds of meters below the sea wasn’t easy either.



Predicting how best to serve your customers, without understanding the actual value you bring them may have worked in a world where change is slow and the future is predictable.



That world, I’m afraid, has gone.

Business people working in a board room with a laptop and digital tablet

Why KPIs Can Kill Companies

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been touted as the key to unlocking the continent’s economic fortunes. Yet, in a continent that grapples with extreme poverty and inequality, what does this tangibly mean?



AfCFTA, an Africa-wide free trade area agreement aimed at establishing the African market as a single market, was formed by 54 of the 55 African Union (AU) nations in 2018. This year has been seen as the year of accelerated implementation of the agreement. As Ijeoma Uju, a Partner at Templars Nigeria, outlines: “Recent developments across the African continent show that the idea of ‘Africa Rising’ remains true and alive. With trade liberalization through AfCFTA, a fast-growing population and increased technology penetration, the opportunities in Africa’s key markets continue to expand. What many see as challenges in Africa, are in a manner of speaking, Africa’s greatest strength for investments and growth.”



The agreement represents not just an economic opportunity but a transformative force that can reshape Africa’s global standing. By fostering collaboration and integration among nations, it encourages shared knowledge and resources while strengthening regional ties. It is envisioned as a way to drive innovation, which could lead to the development of sustainable industries and solutions to pressing social challenges.



According to a 2022 World Bank report, this agreement could generate vast economic benefits, embracing 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. If fully implemented, it is expected to raise income by 9% by 2035 and lift 50 million people out of extreme poverty. It aims to boost intra-African trade, promote industrialization, foster economic diversification, and ultimately lead to increased economic growth and job creation. However, as the bank states, to realize these benefits, the agreement must harmonize policies across regions and interests.



Abrego et al. outline the potential for Africa’s welfare advancement, particularly through reducing Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) with an emphasis on manufacturing and agriculture for income gains. Their research indicates that addressing NTBs, including infrastructure gaps, improving business environments, and reducing transportation costs, is crucial for maximizing these gains. From a policy point of view, the authors call for a reduction of NTBs, an enabling business environment, full liberalization to maximize the welfare benefits, and structural transformation that promotes labor and capital reallocation. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), asserts: “Unless we can deal with these costs and bring them down, it will be very difficult for us to actualize a good implementation of the Continental Free Trade Area.”



There are, of course, some other glaring challenges to consider in implementing this agreement. Firstly, AfCFTA’s benefits might not be evenly distributed, potentially exacerbating income inequality. Those with skills and resources might benefit more, leaving vulnerable populations behind.



Secondly, many nations on the continent lack robust social safety nets. If increased trade leads to job displacements in certain sectors, there might be a lack of adequate social security measures to support affected individuals and families. Thirdly, rapid industrialization and increased trade could raise concerns about labor standards and workers’ rights. Ensuring fair wages, safe working conditions, and job security are crucial for social security, but these may be compromised in the pursuit of competitiveness.



Finally, a significant portion of Africa’s workforce operates in the informal sector without formal social security benefits. Integrating these workers into formal economic activities under AfCFTA poses challenges in ensuring their social security.



Indeed, while AfCFTA has the potential to drive economic growth and create jobs, its impact on social security in Africa will depend on how well governments address the challenges highlighted. Policymakers need to focus on inclusive economic policies, invest in education and skills development, and strengthen social safety nets



to ensure that the benefits of increased trade translate into improved social security for all segments of the population. As those in the ‘Africa Rising’ camp argue, this could be a watershed moment for the continent.



AfCFTA holds immense promise for Africa’s economic growth, but its true success will be measured by our ability to address these challenges and ensure inclusive development. We may well be able to resuscitate the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative, but we need to balance its impact with policy.

Container ship in export and import business and logistics. Shipping cargo to harbor by crane. Water transport International. Aerial view and top view

The Potential Impact Of AfCFTA On Social Security And Inclusive Development

September 2023 was a month of conferences.



It started off with the summit of the Norwegian-African Business Association in Oslo.



A Reuters event in London followed. Then the revered United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. And the month finished with the AIIB Annual Meeting at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Fascinating as always. Thousands of clever people flying around, talking and promising. Everywhere, the Africa question is dominant but cautious. Risk, coups, exchange rates, crime… are oft-repeated words.



The fine balance of today’s geopolitics means Africa has to appease to the rhetoric and the threats of a rejuvenated West while still looking at the East for all things important.



Tough for our leaders, fraught as their countries are with inflation, currency issues, elections, and poverty.



The fundamental architecture where Africa provides the minerals, and the world produces goods they then sell back to the continent creates an imbalance that no amount of Bretton Woods fiddling can resolve.



The climate challenge exposes the hypocrisy too. Africa, home to labor, land, minerals and oodles of sun, wind and water (read renewables).



Why keep manufacturing then outside its shores? At least one eminent minister told me that the Washington Consensus on Trade in the 1980s, which was 40 years after the original Bretton Woods’ party and now another 40 years later, the climate agenda (and the ESG paraphernalia), has one thing in common.



A 40-year itch perhaps.



Extract not engage. Lecture but not lead. Promise but not provide.



Can happy endings come from this relentless pursuit of a status quo camouflaged as aid and grant?



The question is: what then?



Possibly the BRICS bank is the answer to getting an alter ego?



They seem serious albeit the principle of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’-kind-of binding force. Well, my school had said ‘charity begins at home’.



My mother, like all mothers, had told me: “You don’t get what you want, you get what you deserve.” And my little daughter used to say: “United we stand, divided we fall.”



African unity cannot remain a myth. African collaboration cannot be an illusion. African solidarity cannot be confined to speeches. The global quest for minerals, gas and gold interlaced with ‘dead aid’, fits nicely into the greed, guilt, and fear syndrome. How do we collectively enhance that fear factor?



The fear of food shortage when Africa has so much arable land.



The fear of global warming when Africa can absorb it all through its forests.



The fear of energy sourcing when Africa has all the gas, oil and the coal the world needs.



The fear of growth when Africa has the youngest and largest unserved markets.



The fear of supply chain concentration when Africa has the obvious renewable energy- based manufacturing at source (critical minerals) solutions. The fear of mass immigration; fundamentalism when simply adding value to Africa’s resources will create jobs and keep them south of the Mediterranean.



Collective bargaining, anyone?



Into that valley of hope let Africa awake. To take charge and be masters of our own destiny. Maybe we should start with banning Africa’s soccer stars from playing in Europe? That should make them feel the pinch – or at the very least, let’s make a pledge to not export any raw materials without value addition at source. Therein lies the start to a world where jobs exist and prosperity reigns.

African woman plucking tea leaves on plantation, East Africa

The Conundrum Facing Africa. Question Is: What Then?

Many workplaces are experiencing a rise in “pleasanteeism” as the cost-of-living crisis takes its toll on the mental health of employees.



Pleasanteeism refers to the pressure an individual feels to put on a brave face in front of colleagues, regardless of their emotional state.



Not only does pleasanteeism compromise the overall mental wellbeing of employees but it can impact badly on workplace productivity.



All businesses are trying to be more open about emotional wellbeing and establish better support structures for employees, break stigmas and encourage conversations.



While the stiff upper lip mentality is slowly being broken down, many people still feel the pressure to put on a brave face when they feel less than optimal.



Pleasanteeism is on display when employees put up a front – and act as if everything is going well for them – even when they are stressed, anxious, under pressure or in need of support.



Those who have succumbed to this affliction wear a mask of pleasantries to hide their true feelings.



Their aim in concealing emotional turmoil and stress is to avoid coming across as disruptive and problematic to colleagues, especially those in charge.



While many bosses appreciate employees who are regarded as low maintenance, hiding one’s poor mental health represents a false economy.



When employees suffer in silence and are not working at their optimal level, it will impact on an organization in both the short and long term – quite apart from the damage this charade is doing to the individual.



It is not hard to understand why pleasanteeism – sometimes called faked cheerfulness – has taken hold of some workplaces.



Cost-of-living concerns following on so closely from the pandemic, combined with overwork and growing job insecurity, have combined to create not just a perfect storm of worry and anxiety but a category four cyclone.



So strong are the gusts of economic headwinds that they have the potential to rattle – and upend – those individuals with deeply rooted positive dispositions to life and work.



At the same time, there have been even stronger calls for people to become more resilient and ride out tough times.



This has meant many have felt themselves torn between sharing their worries and concerns with others or just putting on a brave face.



Many are choosing the pleasanteeism pathway because we still tend to value positivity over negativity.



From a young age, we are taught to banish so-called bad feelings and pick ourselves up when we fail or fall. We are told to stop whingeing, soldier on, stop being negative and look on the bright side.



As we age, we become part of fix-it-fast cultures that embrace FONO, or the fear of a negative outlook.



FONO makes us drown out negative vibes with buckets of contrived positivity and false reassurances when we tell our colleagues that we are “perfectly okay”.



And when we encounter employees who are brave enough to tell us they are experiencing challenging situations, instead of empathizing with them we are increasingly opting for a toxic quick fix that dismisses the slightest sniff of negativity.



We have become accustomed to pouring overly positive vibes on emotions such as fear, sadness, loneliness or anger to push those who are struggling towards a state of false cheerfulness.



We tell them “everything happens for a reason”, “others have it worse” or “just think positive thoughts” instead of reassuring them that it is actually okay to not be okay.



When a workplace embraces and supports pleasanteeism rather than the expression of raw feelings, employees are denied the chance to feel and express what is going on inside them.



Suppression of those feelings further amplifies the internal feeling of negativity.



Many of the worries and concerns of our colleagues are triggered by factors outside the workplace – and often linked to financial concerns. But just because they are created externally does not mean they will not come flooding into our workplaces.



We should open the door to what is on our colleagues’ minds. Simply being there to listen can make a world of difference.



Although mental wellbeing is more front of mind in workplaces than ever before, many colleagues remain unprepared to talk openly about their problems. The truth is we still have a long way to go to remove the fear of being judged or even punished for being honest about expressing that our health is not as rosy as our pretence suggests.

A young boy dressed as a businessman wears a paper bag with a happy face on it.

The Unpleasant Truth About The Pleasanteeism Crisis

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“What is a greater opportunity to remedy impropriety than through elections..?”
</blockquote>



Human beings are an optimistic species as, despite all that we do contrary to better judgment, we believe that the future will always be better than the past. As the New Year starts, we are all hopeful that 2024 will definitely bring better sense to people, particularly to those in power to make sincere amends to the lapses of the past. What is a greater opportunity to remedy impropriety than through elections and bringing about change; particularly in countries where it is needed the most?



2024 will be one of the most defining years as billions of voters in over 50 countries around the world go to the electoral ballot to choose who will lead them for the next statutory period. These countries include the United States (US), India, Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Iran and many more. The European Union (EU) parliamentary elections are due in 2024 along with Austria, Belgium, Portugal and likely the United Kingdom (no later than January 2025). However, 16 or almost a third of the countries going to the ballot are from Africa, to include but not limited to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Rwanda, Ghana, Tunisia, Togo, Chad and Senegal. While we remain wary of change, in most cases, change brings eventual growth and increases the accountability of leaders.



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1829288006.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60869 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1829288006.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1829288006-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1829288006-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
Republican presidential candidates Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, left, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, right, talk over each other during the NewsNation Republican Primary Debate inside the Moody Music building at the University of Alabama on Wednesday, December 6, 2023 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Also pictured are former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, center left, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. (Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
</div></div>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1244672832.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60868" style="width:730px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1244672832.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1244672832-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1244672832-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


Having lived in South Africa for almost two decades, it’s the country that I remain most concerned about mainly because I love this beautiful country that has been our third home (India and UAE being the first two). Over the last 28 years, there has undoubtedly been a systemic erosion of the popularity and electoral base of the African National Congress (ANC). Ironically, facing marginalization, this is the very party, along with its leaders, that fought to bring about change from apartheid and secured freedom for its majority black, colored and Indian population.



The reasons for its decline remain consistent as for any ruling party: self-serving leadership, blatant abuse of power, total disregard to the needs of the poor and needy, and, finally, the discontentment of the electorate.



The reason I worry is that because in the absence of a clear alternative to the ANC, South Africa is headed towards an era of volatile coalitions. The ANC has been slowly fragmenting, akin to the proverbial binary fission of an Amoeba, as more cells are formed from the same nucleus. The likely course is either a very narrow victory for the ANC or a path where each of the nine provinces will form governments through the coalitions of parties coming from the same constitution, similar values and ideologies but with no track record of governance or selfless service to the people. Coalitions don’t survive even with the best intent as there are far too many conflicts of interest between coalition partners. This will lead to a period of stagnation, political instability and economic uncertainty for the next decade.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Coalitions don’t survive even with the best intent as there are far too many conflicts of interest between coalition partners. This will lead to a period of stagnation, political instability and economic uncertainty for the next decade.”
</blockquote>



What will serve South Africa well is its God-given gift and wealth of being a resource-rich country. However, it remains to be seen if this will be adequate, in the absence of a functional bureaucracy, prevailing monopolies and lack of consistency in policies. The economic and political stability, or lack thereof, in South Africa will have an impact on the overall development of the African continent but more so on the 16 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. This will be an interesting space to watch in the coming years.



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1258249339.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60865 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1258249339.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1258249339-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1258249339-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrate as Erdogan leads Turkiye&#8217;s presidential runoff election in Brussels, Belgium on May 28, 2023. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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However, Africa is not the only contributor to growing global economic uncertainty. The real impact will be felt after if there is a change of guard in the US and whether there will be the outside chance that Donald Trump or the Republican Party prevail in the coming election. The jury is still out on whether the US and consequently the EU will continue to push the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other agendas that will force continued hostility with Russia. This would require billions of dollars to be pumped into Ukraine in a senseless war that will only see more bloodshed. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to remain unopposed in his bid to win another presidential term, it’s unlikely that there will be any change in Russia’s objective to ensure that NATO does not spread to its borders. If the Western powers continue to support the war, it’s likely that at some stage the war may expand from a limited campaign in Eastern Ukraine, into the complete destruction of the country. As more time passes, the goal posts will continue to change and positions will get further cemented, which is the opposite of finding a negotiated settlement. No qualified General from any army can say with any conviction that Ukraine has any chance of winning a war against Russia without this escalating into a war against NATO. Nobody will benefit from this and we will continue on a path of self-destruction.


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<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-521724652-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60866" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-521724652-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-521724652-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-521724652-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-521724652-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-521724652-2048x1368.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Voters in queue to cast their votes at polling stations for elections in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. (Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


Under these circumstances, Ukraine needs a change in political ideology and possibly leadership that needs to realign with its former cold war ally and bring back peace into the Black Sea region. The war of ego will seldom be won by the weak. The path to peace is to ensure that neither party sees future threats in each other’s alignments and are not swayed by the agendas of third parties. Peace with Russia and a restoration of energy supply to Europe will reduce the economic pain and pressure in the lives of all European citizens. Continued war and escalation of hostilities as we are seeing currently, is not a solution to the problems in the Black Sea area.



We are likely to see continued problems arising from the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. This problem is likely to spill into different parts of the world as the anti-Israel sentiment is reportedly growing everywhere. No one can condone what happened on October 7 but the killing of over 20,000 Palestinian citizens is not the answer. Hamas is an ideology and will foster itself in some other way to reinforce this ideology. This is a problem that cannot be solved without the consent and direct involvement (through cutting financial and military support) of both the US as one of the key allies of Israel, and Qatar and Iran as the key allies of Hamas. A spread of this war to Lebanon (Hezbollah) or the involvement of Jordan, Syria, Egypt and/or any of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries can destabilize the global economy and most certainly disrupt peace in the region.



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:62% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1774577620.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60864 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1774577620.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1774577620-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1774577620-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
An election official opens a ballot box for votes counting at the headquarters of the New Patriotic Party during the 2023 presidential primaries on November 4, 2023 in Accra, Ghana. This election will determine who becomes the flagbearer of the party in the upcoming presidential elections in December 2024. (Photo by Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
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<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796329343.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60863" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796329343.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796329343-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796329343-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">President Cyril Ramaphosa during voters registration weekend on November 18, 2023 in Johannesburg. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


These two major flash points will determine the global geopolitics in the coming year. The third is the China factor, both in its economic revival and its global geopolitical ambitions, more specifically in the South China Sea, Taiwan and in the Pacific which will remain a cause for concern, but other than periodic posturing, there is no imminent threat seen from China. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries have so far been working closely on economic development and continue to control the largest portion of the global computer and components market. The growth of this bloc will provide stability in the region particularly if trade barriers are removed in the coming period.



Other blocs like BRICS and its planned expansion are unlikely to move the needle in 2024. There is far too much happening elsewhere for the member countries to make any real attempt to do anything earth-shattering that would have a material impact on geopolitics. China and India remain adversaries with absolutely nothing in common except a contentious border and a deep level of growing mistrust. Other than payment solutions and enhancing trade, there is very little that will come from this bloc. India will continue to grow as an economic powerhouse and if the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wins the elections, as is expected, the country will continue on its path to greater growth and stability. It will, hopefully, play a unifying role in global geopolitics through its own mantra of non-alignment.



The United Nations (UN) has lost its standing and I believe that we will continue to see this become a less relevant organization with the only significance coming from its developmental agencies. In my opinion, the UN headquarters should be moved to Switzerland or to any other relatively neutral country so that the current influence is ended and they can be closer to where good needs to be done. The UN Security Council (UNSC) statement on the Gaza atrocities was a passive call for &#8220;urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” Even after this was drafted, the US abstained from voting just to allow some statement to pass. So, 2.5 million people can be completely uprooted and the world watches as we provide unhindered humanitarian access and create conditions to stop hostilities. Well done! We, the citizens of the world, need to be ashamed of ourselves.



The last major event of 2023 was the United Nations Climate Change Conference or the Conference of Parties (COP28) that was held in Dubai. COP28 was no doubt a spectacular gathering of over 70,000 influential people and delegates from around the world and was a year-end tourism and hospitality sector bonanza for the UAE and particularly for the emirate of Dubai. Other than delegates, about 400,000 people registered to attend the event during this period.



Conservatively, even if each person spent an estimated average of $5,000 in airline tickets, hotels, hospitality etc, the income generated would have been close to $1.5 billion to $2 billion in contrast to the hundreds of millions possibly spent on COP28. There were several strategic conversations, and many countries used the opportunity for meaningful bilateral meetings, hosted in one of the finest and safest places on earth. Everything was perfect except that the needle did not move on the urgent need to stop the reliance on fossil fuels.



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796339789.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60870 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796339789.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796339789-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1796339789-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
A general view during a media briefing on voters registration weekend on November 18, 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Electoral Commission of SA confirmed that it is ready to register South Africans to vote in the 2024 elections. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
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The conference’s final statement could not pass with any mention of the slowing down or stopping of the production of fossil fuels; the core of the problem. So, was there a real return on the investment of about $2 billion that was spent by governments and large corporates to attend this event? There have been decisions on tripling renewable energy resources, doubling energy efficiency and the large contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund; however, no action points were set on the reduction or elimination of fossil fuels. When Covid-19 started, the world went on a mission to stop the spread and find a vaccine to eradicate the disease. No one focused on setting up a fund for funerals. Ironically, this is what COP28 resolved to do.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“The war of ego will seldom be won by the weak.”
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Sadly, a large percentage of the global population does not still understand the impact of climate change and what 1.5 degrees above pre-industrialization temperature means. This increased temperature is catalyzing the age of Anthropocene; an age that will lead to the eventual extinction of all human life created solely by mankind’s impact on the global geology and ecosystem. The irreversible 1.5 degree benchmark is close to being breached and the next threshold we will set ourselves will be 3 degrees, by which time the planet will become a less habitable place, particularly for the poor. As stated in various reports, the world needs between $175 trillion to $275 trillion for energy transition; this is 2.6 times global GDP. The commitment of $85 billion at COP28, though noteworthy, falls really short of what is needed and any significant impact is, therefore, a pipe dream. There is a lot for us all to think about and start playing a meaningful role in bringing change. Saving the planet is a collective responsibility.

Haryana Panchayat Elections 2022

A Record Year For Elections, 2024 Will Determine Global Geopolitics

Since the 1980s, the term ‘just transition’ has been touted as the answer to our climate challenges. Against the industrial revolution(s) backdrop, this transition referred to the deliberate shift towards more sustainable and green practices. The ‘just transition’ is the responsible move from a high- to a low-carbon economy. 



Yet, an often forgotten aspect of this transition is the very descriptor ‘just’. The reality is that much climate change action happens in silos. A distinct gap between the Global North and the Global South seems to persist. As Irina Velicu and Stefania Barca asserted in 2019: “Since both ecological and social crises are produced via inequalities, a just transition can be a transition out of the logic of unequal relations — rather than just out of fossil fuels.” In other words, our responsibility extends beyond borders and encompasses more than just shifting to a low- carbon economy. In this regard, there are some glaring challenges.



Firstly, there are financial constraints. Here, the gap between the Global North and the Global South is painfully apparent. Much of the Global South is already explicitly confronted by the impact of climate change, and there is a clarion call for the Global North to help fund interventions. The reality is that the Global South lacks the funding and resources to take on this fight alone. According to UNCTAD, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of just half of the developing world is projected at $5.8 trillion by 2030. Yet, only $83.3 billion was provided and mobilized by developed countries for climate initiatives in developing countries in 2020, $16.7 billion short of the annual goal. 



This has been compounded by the constrained fiscal context in much of the developing world, which the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated. Moreover, many countries in the Global South are still in the initial stages of industrialization and economic development and implementing strict environmental regulations can hinder this progress if they do not have access to critical green technologies such as solar power.



Secondly, the technological gap creates a disparity in implementing sustainable practices. The concentration of intellectual property (IP) ownership in advanced economies has led to difficulties for developing countries to access green technology innovation. This concentration hampers their progress in Global Value Chains and forces them to rely on costly methods to establish domestic capacities. Additionally, there are barriers to transferring green technology. This unwillingness to share IP might similarly hinder global efforts in climate technologies, causing divisions and tensions despite the urgent need for global cooperation. 



Countries with clear policies supporting research, innovation, and technology development tend to have more robust technological capacity, yet there is minimal alignment across developing countries. The Global North is the locus of primary innovation – armed with resources, knowledge, technology and ability. To combat this challenge, a diffusion practice is imperative to assist the Global South in mirroring these practices. Diffusion allows for the sharing of IP, so that innovative practices are easily adopted.



Thirdly, capacity disparities exist between the Global South and the Global North and within the Global South. Alongside financial and technological gaps, there are also infrastructure challenges. Countries in the Global South range from highly industrialized economies to those struggling with basic infrastructure – this is often apparent through service delivery challenges. There are also disparities in education and research capacities. Additionally, it is important to consider the severity of the challenges in the Global South and where they are realistically able to place climate change in our contextual coat hangers. Research demonstrates that the Global South is disproportionately impacted by the setback in the sustainable development goals (SDGs).



A grim reality is that this is a difficult balancing act in many of these regions. The just transition, however, does also have a ripple impact on other SDGs, particularly concerning clean energy, decent employment, economic metrics, inequality and sustainable production and consumption.



Velicu and Barca argue that we need to rethink the just transition through the lens of equality through an approach that focuses on equity rather than equality. In other words, if the Global South received equal diffusion of resources, it would not be as beneficial as if they received an equitable or proportionate resource. As Damian White concluded in 2020: “Decarbonizing, decolonizing, democratizing and de-commodifying our carbon-intensive material world is going to require… the unleashing of enormous amounts of creative labour and inventive praxis to build public institutions, a public ecology and a public culture to allow us to survive and flourish on a warming planet.” What is abundantly apparent is that without bridging these gaps and ensuring the inclusion of the Global South, the just transition will remain a dream deferre

Reports Indicate 2016 Was Hottest Year On Record

Rethinking ‘Just Transition’ In Africa

Over our lifetime, we all come to believe that evolution creates the need for adaptation. Our planet has been through a series of major docu- mented evolutions over billions of years. Since this time-space journey sounds infinite, I will try and peg something relevant as a milestone, which was the extinction of dinosaurs about 66 million years ago; relevant to the extent that my children and now grandchildren seem to still remember the names of several of these species and many businesses have made significant profits thematically illustrating a primitive past that could one day return. 



Other than that, for most people, the history of the world throughout the Stone Age (2.6 million years ago), the Bronze Age (3100 BC) or the Iron Age (1200 BC) through to the start of the ‘Plastic Age’, has little or no meaning. We are so caught up in the ‘now’ that neither the past nor the future, to most, seems to matter. Sub- tle nudges from nature, including but not limited to heat and cold waves, earthquakes, typhoons and even Covid-19, have largely been ignored and subordinated in the pursuit of dominance, greed and materialism. 



As if the crisis in Ukraine and loss of human life were not enough, the ugly head of terrorism once again raised its head with the attack by Hamas on the state of Israel. I will not dwell on the complicated history (going back thousands of years) of the dispute as it opens raw wounds of a debate that remains intensely shrouded in the demise of faith through a trust deficit and growing hatred. For many decades, it appeared that the region was stabilizing as was evident with the announcement of diplomatic and trade initiatives between Israel and the Arab States particularly the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It’s no secret that lasting peace is not everyone’s salvation, and it was not entirely surprising when the pot was vigorously stirred.



As I wrote in my Publisher’s Note in the October/ November 2023 issue of FORBES AFRICA, many developed countries (specifically the Permanent Members or the Big Five of the United Nations Se- curity Council) benefit from wars through the sale of weapons and will continue to want regional conflicts. Global weapon sales crossed a whopping $2.4 trillion in 2022 and will continue to grow faster than most business sectors. While the sales of armaments will al- ways continue to fuel conflicts, there are several other state and stateless actors that benefit from chaos and uncertainty and are the perpetrators of hate and vio- lence. For them (rogue states and stateless actors), the threat of war and aggression is far more systemic and corrosive than war itself as it provides annuity income, of billions of dollars, in aid. As expected, once there is any indication of lasting peace, the threat of income loss immediately induces bloody skirmishes and acts of violence, to return to an uncertain status quo.



October 7 is one such day that, like many others in different parts of the world, will be remembered as one when a few soulless people sacrificed the region’s peace with senseless slaughter in favor of decades of animosity and continued volatility.



The response, by the Israel Defense Forces, to the October 7 attack was, expectedly, swift and lethal.



However, for the Israeli government, it was also a matter of shame that the most respected national intelligence agency, Mossad was caught napping and the loss of face for the Benjamin Netanyahu government resulted in a dual agenda of retaliation as well as diverting attention away from a political fallout for the government in Israel. Sadly, thousands of innocent civilians including women, children, and infants were killed and/or injured on both sides. With no immediate end in sight, more death and destruction is inevitable as missiles and munitions continue to shower deadly ruin on both sides. Billions of dollars are being spent on this destruction and billions will be required to rebuild things that should not have been damaged in the first place.



The United States mobilized its naval fleets in a show of support to Israel and to induce deterrence from other sympathizers for the Palestinian cause. Not to be left behind and to show its own muscle, the Chinese did the same but with no immediate stated agenda. The Western powers have all aligned behind the state of Israel, many have spoken against the acts of terror by Hamas, other nations have called Hamas a freedom movement, many have recommended reverting to the two-state solution, an increas- ing number of countries are planning to disassociate from Israel by shutting their embassies and severing diplomatic ties, but without exception, everyone has called for an end to the bloodshed, to prevent further loss of innocent lives, and expedite aid to the helpless in Gaza.



It is a land of a few million people, where it will take generations to recover from the dastardly acts and ensuing retaliatory violence that most did not wish for and are innocent bystanders of. Sadly, neither the people of Israel nor the people of Gaza will ever, or for a long time, be the same again.



As the attention was diverted from the Ukraine conflict, even the Russian government ironically decided to give lessons to Israel on restraint. Although vehemently denied, Iran’s hand has allegedly been seen as the indirect architect of this massacre. But they are most certainly not alone in this. A sanctioned coun- try with limited access to global supply chains cannot be acting in isolation. While Russia, China and Iran have been overtly called, by frenzied media networks, the new axis of evil, there are many more shades of deceit blended into this painful mosaic, painted with the blood of innocent victims. There are those that fund these campaigns, many that provide safe corridors, others that harbor the nerve centers and finally, the worst, those that arm the non-state actors with training and weapons. The top five global intelligence agencies know exactly what is happening around the world. However, this repository of collective intelligence is revealed selectively and in drips to afford self-serving outcomes. It’s a grand chess board where sacrifices are made for a very specific outcome in a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world where sadly, human life, particularly in the emerging and developing world, has little value.



The world is polarized to such an extent that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) could not get the wording right for a statement on the conflict as various drafts were vetoed and/or rejected by one or the other member of the Big Five. The trust deficit is so wide that Israel picked a part of a statement made by the Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres and demanded his resignation. His fervent calls for restraint have been misunderstood as indifference to terrorism. No one in their right mind can condone an attack on innocent civilians but it’s equally deplorable to see a lack of any restraint from Israel after the immediate response.



Destroying tunnels in Gaza is not going to end the recurrence of terrorism, as technology and human intent will find alternatives. The obvious solution to end this carnage is, as in any conflict, for the conflicting parties to rationally agree on a formula for peaceful co-existence.



It is imminently needed to contain other stake- holders of this conflict by following and stopping the flow of money and weapon sales to stateless actors. Equally important, the Israeli government, as the dominant player, must take responsibility for, firstly, its failure to act on intelligence of impending danger and secondly, held accountable for escalating this campaign, for fear of a political fallout, into a bloody war that could have been avoided. Who will bring accountability to the attack by Hamas or reactions from Israel? Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. The UN has once again proven to be a toothless and dysfunc- tional organization and we, regrettably, live in a world where there is no recourse for the developing world.



The second Secretary-General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold’s quote is framed at the UN building in New York: “The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell.”



How true is this in a world where the mighty prevail and, once again, the suffering of people will be left to be forgotten and the scars to heal with the passing of time?



People and countries continue to fight each other over matters that are inconsequential, particularly when extrapolating these over a period of a million years. Philosophically speaking, this is nothing but self-inflicted suffering almost as if humanity, in the form of a metaphorical moth, is speeding towards a raging fire, ending in self-immolation. Sadly, even if some trigger-happy cowboy brings the current life on the planet to an end in the form of a nuclear fallout, Planet Earth will self-heal as it has done for billions of years and re-emerge with a form of life that will once again be given a chance, to move away from barbarism, and make the world a better place. The reality is that 99% of every form of life that existed from the time of the dinosaurs is now extinct. We live in the age of Anthropocene – “significant human impact on earth’s geology and ecosystems, including but not limited to, human-caused climate change”. Regrettably, humans are mindlessly burning the candle at both ends and destroying both their own kind as well as ruthlessly destroying all other life.



As we get into the last phase of this year, I sincerely hope and pray that good sense prevails and leaders who can influence the course of current conflicts introspect and use their high offices to bring people to- gether to settle differences through negotiations and diplomacy. I pray that people move away from finding differences through race, religion and color and focus on morality and spirituality; this is our only salvation. With this prayer, I wish all our readers a very happy, peaceful, and prosperous 2024.

WhatsApp Image 2023-12-11 at 18.04.1411

‘A World Where The Mighty Prevail And Suffering Will Be Forgotten’

Finance is a crucial change agent in society, government, and technology.



The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally altering the financial world. AI is a form of technology that confers intelligence on machines. In my 2013 book, Economic Modeling Using Artificial Intelligence Methods, I demonstrated how



AI could forecast economic indicators, predict stock prices in stock exchanges, perform credit scoring in banks, and model complex financial instruments such as options, futures, and derivatives. In our 2017 book, Artificial Intelligence and Economic Theory, Evan Hurwitz and I demonstrate how AI affects how economists think about demand and supply, pricing, and behavioral economics. Utilizing AI’s capabilities, the financial sector is on the verge of massive disruptive changes that present new opportunities and risks. This article examines how AI affects economic systems, specifically the financial sector, markets, and the government.



Using machine learning, predictive analytics, and natural language processing, AI has the potential to revolutionize the way institutions operate. Additionally, AI opens up new avenues for customer service, risk management, and business advice.



For example, AI-powered chatbots and virtual helpers help with customer service around the clock, simplifying user interfaces and making it easier to answer questions quickly.



Consequently, they enhance consumer experience and reduce expenses. For instance, in risk management and credit scoring, AI algorithms can examine enormous amounts of data to identify patterns and assess risk levels. This makes financial services available to a larger population.



In the investment world, robo-advisors have become popular. They use AI’s analytical capabilities to offer cheap, personalized financial advice. Through these changes, AI is making it easier for more people to use financial services and driving the global financial system to be more open to more people.



AI is also changing the way financial markets work. For example, AI has changed how stocks are bought and sold with high-frequency algorithmic trading. AI can analyze vast financial data in milliseconds to identify trends and make trades. This is a substantial improvement over traditional methods making markets move faster, more open and work better. However, increased market speed ushers market stability and systemic risks, requiring protection and strong oversight to avoid these problems.



Regulators worldwide seek to deal with AI’s problems, such as data protection and algorithmic transparency. Accordingly, there should be a balance between encouraging innovation and protecting the financial security and consumer interests in regulations. AI can simplify compliance procedures, monitor



financial transactions in real-time for illicit activities, and predict market glitches, making regulators more proactive.



In the African market, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a trade deal that aims to increase trade significantly within Africa, offers unique opportunities for AI.



The agreement covers a broad range of aspects of Africa’s economy, such as digital trade and the protection of investments. Moreover, the number of countries in the AfCFTA will make it the largest free trade area globally, linking 1.3 billion people in 54 countries with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. AI can make the AfCFTA work better and reach its goals.



For example, AI can help improve trade logistics by making delivery systems, customs processes, and tracking and tracing more efficient. It can find the best ways to move goods, predict delays, and give traders real-time information. In addition, AI can analyze trade data to identify patterns, trends, and connections. This can help policymakers make better choices and predict and respond to future trends better.



AI-powered systems can make cross-border e-commerce more efficient, a sector expected to grow under the AfCFTA. AI can create personalized product recommendations and automate customer service. In education and training, AI can help people acquire the skills they need for an African economy that works better together.



However, for AI to achieve the goals of the AfCFTA, it is essential to have good AI governance and regulation. Furthermore, we need to invest in digital infrastructure and education.



In conclusion, AI is vital to changing how the world’s economic system works. It affects financial services, markets, and regulation. AI is ushering in a new age of innovation and efficiency.



However, as AI continues to change how the financial world works, a cautious and thorough approach is needed to make the most of its prospects and manage its risks well. There needs to be strong regulatory frameworks, investments in AI literacy and skills, and a commitment to ethical AI values. These objectives are essential if we want an AI-driven financial future that is both prosperous and sustainable in Africa.

Manager engineer control Innovation of robotics  automation robot ai Business data analytics process management

How Artificial Intelligence Affects The Financial Sector In Africa

For many, the reality of raising a family is an arduous journey – and often a silent one. In recent years, there has been remarkable progress in the field of reproductive technologies. These technologies include medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. In fact, the global assisted reproductive technology market size was valued at $28.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $42.5 billion by 2030, according to a research report published by Spherical Insights &amp; Consulting.



In the African context, research suggests that our constantly and rapidly changing lifestyle is fundamentally impacting fertility. Fertility has emerged as a medico- sociocultural problem. The continent also has a higher prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI), and postpartum and postabortion infections, which contribute to both male and female infertility.



In fact, a 2019 study conducted by Ombelet and Onofre found that infertility had a higher prevalence in low-resource countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. At the time, it was estimated that more than 180 million couples were impacted by infertility in the region. As the authors concluded: “The magnitude of childlessness in African countries has dimensions beyond its prevalence.” At its core, infertility is a human rights issue that demands attention.



In the 21st century, what are the ethical implications of reframing our creation of humans? As we venture into our own ‘brave new world’, we must do so with a framework in place. We find ourselves in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), defined by great disruption to technology, industries, and society, which calls for changes to policy and our approaches.



There are two broad factors to consider in this shift: how do we safeguard core legal values – such as equal treatment under the law, procedural fairness, and due process and adequate access to justice for all, for instance – and how do we adapt to these broad societal changes? There are also key concerns in our own context. Infertility in Africa is impacted by epidemiological barriers as there is a lack of data informing the burden of infertility, the need for reproductive technologies and even access. Moreover, inequalities are starkly presented in conversations around access both from a geographical standpoint and a financial perspective.



Ombelet and Onofre’s study found that “more than 98% of the continent cannot afford In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) because it is either too expensive or because of a lack of IVF centers”.



In 2018, Botha et al. found that ‘inaccess’ was driven by the confluence of widespread poverty, inadequate government or insurance support, insufficient resource allocation for capacity building, and the absence of facilities. There are also challenges in the cultural, religious, and societal perception of both infertility and its treatment, which are pervasive in many parts of Africa. In some cases, this is largely the impact of limited knowledge of the public, patients, and even healthcare providers. This is coupled with restrictive health policies, which have to be challenged.



What is required is a comprehensive and culturally sensitive approach that takes into account the socioeconomic context.



Some solutions include raising awareness and education about available treatments and the benefits and risks; addressing cultural and religious beliefs around the technology and encouraging open dialogue; making artificial reproductive technologies more affordable on the continent through reducing 



costs; comprehensive healthcare coverage and public-private partnerships; and increasing research capabilities and data collection in this field to allow for infrastructure development.



Additionally, as other technologies of the 4IR have demonstrated, we need sound ethical frameworks. This will be the basis for our approach to regulation. This will require the legal fraternity to keep up with developments in the space and respond accordingly. While there are broad ethical frameworks in place, it is imperative that we get more specific as these technologies shift from theory to practice. Researchers Pepper and Slabbert state: “Legislation in its broadest sense should be seen as a permanent work- in-progress requiring ongoing review.” 



This is how we continue to break barriers and explore the unknown ethically. Legislation is largely reactive. In the 4IR, however, there is an increasing argument for a proactive approach.



What is apparent is that as these technologies increasingly emerge, society needs to respond accordingly. If we have any hope of ensuring greater access and acceptance, then we must ensure that we are adapting to this shifting context. As the biologist and author of Daedalus, JBS Haldane, once poignantly wrote, “We can foretell little of the future save that the thing that has not been is the thing that shall be.”

doctor analysing cell samples in a clinical fertility laboratory

The Ethics And Legality Of Artificial Reproductive Technology In An African Context

I attended the US-Africa Business Summit in July in Botswana, a country I have lived in in my youth, as a bachelor and then as a parent to boot.



The kids were born in the country’s new and first private hospital, GPH, efficient and chic, way back in the 1990s.



The conference center is equally so today – sparkling, purpose-driven, punctuated by smart cops along the brand-new roads leading there. A hallmark of Botswana. No wastage. Elegantly done at just the right time.



I left Botswana 25 years ago and have traveled the globe a bit. A journey that made me understand geopolitics and see its hypocrisies. Yet, this Kalahari country of my youth quietly got so many things right: control over its primary resources, universal free health, education, buffering cattle farmers from market volatilities, infrastructure, institution building, respect for the law, clean elections, conservatism, and a policy-driven government staying true to its manifesto.



A case study on getting things done.



Yet, many of my old friends, prosperous and welcomed as they have been in their adopted country, remain critical.



I dare say I left them unmoved. Familiarity breeds contempt?



But if the country still had many flaws, diamonds too need imperfections to shine.



The weather that week was the quintessential Kalahari winter I had long forgotten. Cold and crisp in the shade and warm in the sun, dry in its core but embracing in its reach; epitomizing the Motswana spirit.



‘What you see is what you get.’ A GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) per capita of about $20,000, Africa’s best credit rating, and a literacy rate of about 90%. The country has shown what planning and execution can achieve in only five decades.



I have a special bond with it.



1966 is my birth year and the year of Botswana’s independence.



At that time, one of the poorest – with a GDP per capita of about $70 per year – landlocked and two-thirds desert, it has transformed itself from being hopeless to a developed country today.



The country’s tale of self-rule is intertwined with that of white supremacy to prevent a marriage between an African chieftain destined to be the first President and his white British fiancée. They overcame it against all odds while maintaining peace with an unapologetic British government and an apartheid neighbor, South Africa.



It is a story of love and self-belief.



And above all, supreme diplomacy from a rustic but wise nation to forge a modern nation. Indeed, a testament to the rural fabric of fortitude and patience.



If indeed a country’s future lies in its history, this country’s common sense is its foundation.



While there, my evenings were laced with nostalgic dinners. Soaked in old stories, revealed, regaled, and rekindled.



Touchingly, those lovely people of Gaborone, the country’s capital, served up my favorite cravings and my special indulgences. Bonded with love and tied with memories.



Humane but often elusive. Serene indeed to see people from yesteryears making time for you. The President is an imposing figure with conviction; he’s articulate and clearly visualizes a thriving, peaceful Botswana.



And indeed, he is so comfortable as an African thought leader.



I recalled the days of a ‘quiet’ Botswana.



Now, their charismatic leader espouses African collaboration, instilling hope, and embracing the wisdom that deliverance for Africa must come from ‘us, the people’.



He reiterates the enormous possibilities, the need to share knowledge within Africa and the necessity of collective bargaining.



The miracle that the continent survives despite the incessant barrage of exogenous influences should embolden us for greater things, not derail us.



I bow to Botswana, the cradle to my young impressionable days where the seeds of inspiration were sown in me.



I learned the joys of networking, collaborating, and understanding different cultures in this little unheralded town.



I learned humility was a tool, humanity a constant and hubris a disease. For prosperity, peace, and progress. In a continent of discontent, Botswana is that beacon of hope and tranquility. May it drive the destiny of Africa. A harbinger of greatness and a poster boy of solidity in the maligned and exploited continent of Africa. Thank you, Botswana, as you seek your rightful place among the great nations of this world.

Gaborone, South East, Botswana 27 April 2017 aerial panorama of  Main Mall

A Homecoming: To The Beacon Of Hope And Tranquility

Traveling for work these days is not as simple as booking a flight, packing a suitcase and heading for the nearest airport lounge.



With the price of airline tickets sky-rocketing and the cost of hotel rooms in the stratosphere, companies are encouraging employees to get better bang for their travel buck.



To cut costs, bosses suggest cramming more meetings into the time away, driving to destinations instead of flying and – yes, you guessed it – sharing a hotel room with a colleague.



Many bosses have tried to dress up shared accommodation arrangements by telling employees that cohabitating is the perfect opportunity to build camaraderie and team work.



Some have been more direct and told staff that room shares might prevent a reduction in head count if they are forced to tighten their belts down the line.



Others have told staff it is not unlawful to ask colleagues to share rooms and recommended that they go with the flow and “buddy up” to save their company dollars.



But just because employees can share a hotel room does not mean they should.



Sharing with a colleague can be bad under any circumstance let alone if you are feeling unwell, experiencing “gassy” conditions, are prone to allergies or experience congestion during the evening.



And it can be uncomfortable to share a room with an early riser when you are a night owl or when you are forced to endure your colleague’s snoring or realize your roommate is a sleep walker.



Besides, being forced to witness your colleague in a towel or their sleepwear, share their soap when you shower and navigate their toiletries in the bathroom all go way beyond the call of duty.



It is important in the modern workplace that we get to know our colleagues though we only want to learn about work- appropriate aspects, not their more intimate or private sides.



Sharing rooms erodes the professional boundaries that we spend considerable time establishing.



You will not view your colleague Anna the same way if you become aware that she downs three shots of vodka each evening to help her to sleep. You will probably have a different view of Alan if you have been forced to listen to his raunchy sleep talking. And you will most likely have an alternative view of Alice after witnessing her 10-step bedtime regime, which includes two hours of reading before retiring but leaving a light on throughout the night.



If that is not enough to seal the case against sharing a hotel room with a workmate, there is more to consider.



Some people have medical conditions they would prefer not to disclose or be forced to manage in front of colleagues.



And of course the risk of sexual harassment is very real when unwanted advances take place behind closed doors in a shared hotel room.



Some employees will get around the problem of shared hotel rooms by paying for their own single room. Yet paying out of their own pockets is neither a reasonable nor fair solution to this escalating dilemma.



What is needed is for more workers to push back and make the point work travel is draining and that it is important to be well-rested to be effective in their line of work.



The more workers oppose shared accommodation arrangements then the greater the chance that employers will listen.



There is also the prospects of employers reducing costs by using cheaper hotel chains, making greater use of day trips without overnight stays and organizing virtual meetings as an alternative to travel.



But if the boss does require room-sharing, secure your employer’s assurance they will cover the expense of booking a separate room if your roommate’s behavior affects your ability to get a good night’s sleep.



Employees who travel for business to benefit their employer should be treated with the respect and regard they deserve.



This includes privacy and safety, a place for downtime away from colleagues and the opportunity to relax without having to worry about the views, emotions, routines and rituals of their colleagues.



Forcing employees to get to know each other in such an intimate way is not appropriate and can end up diminishing or destroying otherwise good working relationships between individuals.



To put this matter to bed once and for all, companies must refrain from asking employees to share rooms when traveling for work.



The risks will always outweigh the savings.

Interior of hotel room with twin beds

Sharing Rooms On Work Travels: The Good, Bad And Ugly

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming companies and economies worldwide, including in Africa. Data is an essential component in the training of AI systems. Unfortunately, the lack of accurate, high-quality data is a significant impediment in Africa. Synthetic data, or data generated by a computer, may be used to train AI models. While synthetic data offers tremendous opportunities for African innovation and development, it poses significant risks that must be carefully assessed.



Gathering real-world data in many African regions is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming.



These obstacles are brought about by various factors, including social, cultural, technological, and infrastructural deficiencies. Understanding and managing varied cultural traditions and languages may be challenging, especially when gathering data from multiple locations and people. As a result, synthetic data provides a solution by enabling researchers and businesses to create massive databases tailored to their specific needs. 



Data poverty is a lack of access to high-quality data and the ability to use such data appropriately. It’s a significant issue that hinders economic progress, decision-making, and innovation and worsens poverty. The data availability and consumption discrepancy between Africa and the rest of the world reflects more profound disparities and has significant repercussions. 



As a result, critical innovations in health, education, and transportation operate better for the rest of the globe than for Africa. For example, due to Africa’s relative data scarcity, AI systems in Africa have fewer data sets to learn from than the rest of the globe.



Synthetic data is presented as a strategy to supplement this data scarcity. The generative adversarial networks (GANs) AI method is often used to create synthetic data. GANs consist of two neural networks (akin to an artificial brain), the generator and the discriminator. The generator produces new data, while the discriminator discriminates between real and fake data. 



After they are trained adversarially (i.e. generator producing synthetic data while the discriminator differentiating fake from real data), the generator and discriminator become as good as possible at their respective tasks. One benefit of using synthetic data is that personal or sensitive information is frequently eliminated, minimizing the risk of privacy violations. This is particularly important in businesses where data privacy is vital, such as healthcare. Furthermore, by making data more available, synthetic data may lower the barriers to entry for firms and inventors.



However, synthetic data has significant drawbacks. One of them is that the models used to generate synthetic data significantly influence its quality. It reflects limitations in data (such as bias and small size), resulting in compromised and less accurate AI models and potentially perpetuating inequality, injustice and poverty. This is not the intended consequence, so there is a need to develop ethical guidelines for using synthetic data. These should first guarantee that synthetic data is anonymized for privacy protection and does not include identifiable information that may be connected back to persons.



Second, synthetic data must adhere to data protection norms and regulations governing personal information use. Third, synthetic data should accurately replicate the underlying real-world data without inserting biases or distortions. One way to achieve this is to increase data size used to generate synthetic data. Fourth, synthetic data and the processes used to create it should be disclosed. 



Fifth, explicit procedures for generating, managing, and using synthetic data should be developed and publicized. Sixth, detect and prevent misuse, as well as monitor and audit the use of synthetic data regularly. Seventh, acquire informed consent from individuals whose data were utilized to produce synthetic data, if applicable. Eighth, clarify how synthetic data will be utilized and what privacy controls will be in place. Ninth, prevent biases in synthetic data from reinforcing stereotypes or discrimination.



Tenth, keep cultural norms and values in mind while developing and exploiting synthetic data, especially when it represents different populations. Eleventh, since GANs are used to generate synthetic data and are computationally costly, consider the environmental effect of data collection, storage, and production and seek to offset any negative impacts. Twelfth, establish specific processes for exchanging synthetic data with other institutions or researchers while meeting ethical standards. 



Thirteenth, collaborate with relevant stakeholders, such as ethics committees or review boards, to ensure that synthetic data activities are handled ethically. Synthetic data has the potential to be a game-changer in Africa’s AI journey, managing data scarcity, increasing privacy, and encouraging innovation. As Africa embraces AI and synthetic data, a balanced approach is essential. Policymakers, companies, and academics must work together to guarantee that synthetic data is used correctly and ethically.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) concept. Electronic circuit. Communication network.

Synthetic Data As A Double-Edged Sword In Africa’s AI Revolution

If you wanted to be a great footballer, would it make sense to avoid kicking the ball for the first two minutes of every game?



The intuitive answer is obviously no.



There is no reason to believe that doing nothing could ever be a good strategy.



But surprisingly, we know that Lionel Messi does exactly that.



He quite literally just walks around and watches, which explains why he rarely scores in the first five minutes and in the first two minutes of a game.



There is, however, method to this madness because not only does Messi use this time to quieten his nerves, but he also uses it to develop his game plan.



Pep Guardiola, who coached him from 2008 to 2012, explained that he’s not being lazy. He is actually incredibly engaged, as he is watching the opposition in order to understand where the defensive weak points are.



Messi provides a unique example of how, by analyzing and then acting on data, we can give ourselves a competitive edge.



And data analysis, when done well, can also help companies unlock huge opportunities by allowing them to make decisions that, like Messi’s, seem intuitively wrong.



Take Yongqianbao, a Chinese financial services provider.



By analyzing consumer behavior, they know that people who type faster are less likely to default, which in turn allows them to provide credit at better rates than their competitors.



Another example comes from the video streaming industry. Conventional wisdom has always been that you should give your customers an interface that provides them with plenty of choices about what to watch. Choice was seen as a key feature if you wanted your app to be successful.



But thanks to TikTok, we have learned that giving consumers a choice isn’t a feature; it’s actually more of a bug.



Think for a minute about how you interact with TikTok on your device.



You just open the app and start watching, right? If you like what you see, you keep watching. If you don’t, you scroll on.



TikTok has ignored the conventional wisdom and removed choice to ensure they collect better data for their algorithms. This, in turn, allows them to deliver incredibly- accurate content based on what we actually want, not what we think we want.



Our taps and swipes have enabled them to create a platform that reportedly has over 1 billion users and average viewing times that are estimated to surpass YouTube by 12 or more minutes a day.



Anecdotes like this showcase why leaders should think less about using their “experience” or “intuition” when making decisions and instead invest more of their time and money into data-led decision-making.



Indeed, when we zoom out, it should not be surprising to learn that nine of the most valuable companies in the world are successful either because of their clever use of data or because they help their clients better use data at scale.



But if data is indeed the new oil, why do the majority of companies seem unwilling or at least unable to monetize it in the same way the top tech firms have?



Historically, cost would have been the obvious answer, but this is less relevant today, as cloud and other related technologies are making it easier and cheaper for everyone to analyze data at scale.



This leads me to conclude that the real barrier to tech- enablement comes down to the organization’s cultural maturity.



If you want to truly embrace the power of data across an organization, you can only do this if you grant more people the authority to investigate and use algorithms to make business decisions in real-time. This means delegating decision-making. Encouraging continual learning. Allowing experimentation. Accepting that mistakes will be made. Not many organizations have leadership teams that are bold enough to truly trust their people with these levels of autonomy.



But those that do have will have a significant advantage because true digitization only comes when you are both tech-enabled and human- empowered.

Businesswoman viewing graphs on digital tablet in business meeting

Data Offers Huge Opportunities.But Only If You Trust Your People

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“The conduct of the Big Five leaves a lot to be desired in the management of conflicts, trade agreements and in financial grants.”
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There has been an explosion in the number of conferences in Africa over the last 12 months. While the diary was always busy, it seems like anyone not engaging with or traveling to some part of Africa exploring ideas, would be missing out. The themes follow the flavor of our present time; the environment, energy (in all its avatars), trade, agriculture, infrastructure, and the complete value chain of finance and education. Most global multilaterals and institutions were in Africa this year and we had a bird’s eye view of almost all the discussions through some very insightful interviews on our television platform, CNBC Africa. The cherry on the top was the BRICS Summit meetings in South Africa with a clear message to the west that the new-world alignments are an indication of the future of our world where a rebalance is inevitable; the incongruity of the past has to be realigned giving a greater voice to developing economies.



I have over the last several years, like many others, been raising an important issue; the relevance of the United Nations (UN) as it stands today. This was further underscored by none other than the Secretary General of the UN. A bit of history will provide context. The League of Nations was the first inter-governmental organization that was established after World War I to ensure peace and stability. It lasted 26 years. The United Kingdom (UK), Japan, Italy and France were the four permanent members of the executive council and only 58 countries (its highest level of member states) were part of the League of Nations. Italy and Japan left the League for their roles in aggression and conflicts. The United States (US) never joined the League of Nations and some departments of the League of Nations were transferred to the UN, which was formed in 1945 after World War II.



The UN has played a constructive role over the last eight decades in maintaining world order, selectively distributing wealth, and while significant good has come from the institutions that have formed part of the UN, the convergence and selective streamlining of power has created ongoing conflicts of interest. At the nerve center of the UN are five permanent members of the Security Council – the US, UK, China, Russia and France (Big Five). The selection criteria for this pedestal was circumstantial and relevant to 1945 as the ‘Big Five’ played a leading role in World War II and had notably amassed the largest number of nuclear weapons.



It has taken over eight decades for the saying, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ to bring to the fore the conflicts of interest that exist in the world today. Benito Mussolini’s words from 1935 – at the time of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War – that “the League is very well when the sparrows shout, but no good at all when the eagles fall out” resonate with the same fervor as we see the Big Five go about the business of the UN; from the power of veto to the allocation of resources. Little has changed in the behavior of the strong.



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“The vicious circle of centralized global control is creating a vortex that is detrimental for the future of mutual benefit and co-existence.” 
</blockquote>



There are several other moving parts particularly relating to Africa. The western powers colonized Africa with the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal splitting the spoils of a resource-rich continent. The umbilical cord of slavery and colonization did not get severed even after African nations secured their independence and remain the agricultural and mineral resource hinterlands of colonial powers. With education, transparency, the immediacy of information and stark poverty, people have started questioning the hold colonial powers, large multinational corporations and other state actors continue to have over African nations. The uprisings in Niger, Gabon and many other African nations that were French colonies have resulted from inequitable deals (notably uranium from Gabon) that France continues to enjoy from the former colonies. On the one hand, these former colonial powers talk of corruption in Africa but on the other, are the very propagators of this corruption.



The other bloc that needs review is the Commonwealth constituting 56 countries which were mostly former colonies of the UK; 21 of these are in Africa. The head of the Commonwealth is King Charles III and this congregation is now nothing more than an inconsequential talk shop under the ceremonial traditions of a faded empire. The colonial era has ended but the desire to control and have the developing world continue to be subservient to the British Empire has not ended.



Let’s examine the relevance of the two former colonial powers (UK and France) in the context of their economic and political clout in the new world order. While there is a lot of historic wealth and institutional strength in these countries, it’s no secret that they are declining powers. Significant money that has been invested into these two economies over the last two decades has come from the Middle East, China, Russia and the Indian sub-continent. The internal economies are not as resilient as before and political uncertainties and the global sustainability of institutions will be questionable. Both the UK and France have strong tourism and education sectors that are thriving because of student mobility and visitors/tourists traveling from emerging countries.



Additionally, indigenous population growth in both the UK and France has been on the decline; the recent demographic growth has come from migration from all parts of the world. Interestingly, even the sports teams of these countries have a large representation from Asia and Africa. The glaring question is whether these nations should still be part of the Big Five?



The conduct of the Big Five leaves a lot to be desired in the management of conflicts, trade agreements and in financial grants. The US’ share of the global armament market in 2021 was about 38%-40% of the approximately $127 billion. It is in the national interest of the US to fuel conflicts around the world; the same goes for China, the UK, France, Russia and Germany. In a sad dichotomy, the custodians of peace are also the largest arms dealers. They have trade deficits and unemployment when there are no conflicts.



The crisis in Ukraine today is the most recent example of the world being held ransom by a permanent member of the Security Council. But the conflict did not start with that. It’s no secret that the US and EU have been expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and have created instability where it did not exist. The current conflict in Ukraine will embolden China to act recklessly with their own aggression which will also go unchecked. What will continue to thrive will be arms sales to countries that need food for their people and not more guns. These arms exports and other resource-based contracts are allegedly linked to financial aid and grants that are disbursed by multilaterals. There are wheels within wheels when approvals of grants are given to poorer nations.



Another important aspect of note is the power of sanctions. Each time there is a conflict, there are sanctions that have resulted in the forfeiting of overseas assets by defaulters where the dominant nations are the judge, jury and executioners. All overseas assets and reserves of most nations today are held in US dollars, British pounds or in euros which are the default reserve currencies. What was seen as a strength earlier is now being seen as a weakness and threat by emerging economies. Sadly, the vicious circle of centralized global control is creating a vortex that is detrimental for the future of mutual benefit and co-existence. &nbsp;



Over the last few decades, there have been calls from emerging economies to grow the permanent membership of the UN. This has been largely ignored owing to the veto powers of the Big Five. The developed world as we know it today is unlikely to retain their status as other emerging economies begin to overtake them in economic and military might. In recognition of this, the G20 was formed which included the 19 major economies of the world and the EU as an economic bloc. The reality is that there are so many countries in the EU that are protected through their belonging to the EU. The global financial crisis brought out the weaknesses in the economies of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIGS) that have not recovered and with continuing problems will at best remain marginal economies in the near term. Europe in general will face a decline as we progress through the first half of this century. India, in its leadership role of the G20 since December last year, has played an important role in ensuring that the African Union, as an economic and regional bloc, gets a permanent seat at the G20.



The real question is whether the expanded G20 with limited powers (other than to the Big Five) will be seen as adequate by the emerging powers. Consequently, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in the alliance) has increasingly been seen as an answer to the frustration that has come about from the high-handed behavior of western nations led by the US.



There were many disparities that emerged during the pandemic and African countries, along with other emerging economies, faced the brunt of their citizens (as one example) being given lower priority for vaccinations. The need for indigenization and self-reliance has become a part of every country’s national agenda.



The BRICS meetings in South Africa have now led to the expansion of the bloc with the addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. While there is a long way to go in expanding the BRICS mandate, the BRICS bank (New Development Bank) has been established and each of the countries is setting up mechanisms for bilateral trade and payment settlements in currencies other than the reserve currencies. With the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, Afreximbank has already taken steps to launch the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) as a cross-border payment system for African countries and has committed significant resources as a credit advance to underwrite this project which will save African countries an estimated $5 billion in annual transaction costs. The impact of all this will be seen in the not-so-distant future.



We are going through perhaps the most defining phase in human evolution. On one side, technology and innovation are disrupting the world and on the other, there are deliberate steps being taken for the realignment of bilateral and multilateral partnerships that will see a very polarized world in the short-term. Let’s hope and pray that when the dust settles, the world is a more inclusive, harmonious and fair place that is respectful to all citizens of the world, where opportunities are not based on religion, ethnicity, gender or any other man-made obstacle. I am reminded of the words of the former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lech Wałęsa: “The path to a brighter future of the world leads through honest reconciliation of the conflicting interests and not through hatred and bloodshed. To follow that path means to enhance the moral power of the all-embracing idea of human solidarity.”



Amidst all the geopolitics, FORBES AFRICA turns 12 this month. My congratulations to Sid, Roberta, Renuka and the entire team at FORBES AFRICA who work tirelessly to keep the wheels turning slowly but surely towards showcasing the best in entrepreneurship in Africa. I also thank all our sponsors and readers for your continued support.

Rakesh Wahi

The New-World Alignments: An Indication Of Our Future

&#8216;Sustained crisis’. I came across this terminology in a Harvard Business Review article recently, and it immediately struck a chord with my struggles running my company and also with what I see in the world around me.



The Covid-19 pandemic was a global crisis that came out of the blue, and we were all in it together. It did not matter which country we lived in or what our backgrounds were. It was a common fight.



But post-pandemic, we are dealing with a world that has become economically volatile for varying reasons, and it is becoming clearer that each country will first protect its own people and its own interests. Likewise, it has hit the interdependence of certain structures with a fragility like never before. And this has not abated since 2020.



For countries that are largely donor-dependent for their development needs and for humanitarian aid spending, vulnerabilities have increased. The aid narrative comes with its own politics and interests.



Several studies point to the fact that foreign aid is not as generous as it used to be.



In 2022, Ukraine accounted for a large chunk of foreign aid. And now many donor countries are facing pressures of their own from the post Covid-19 economic downturn to geopolitical vulnerabilities and political instabilities that have persisted over a long time.



Developing economies struggle with unsustainable debt burdens, rising food costs and liquidity crises. It is estimated by the World Bank that 7% of the world’s population will still be living in poverty by 2030.



For entrepreneurs in many countries, the ecosystem has changed significantly. Inflation persists and markets continue to shrink. Doing business has become costlier and more complex and negotiating the scale of challenges more difficult.



With increased advanced technological interface in business operations, the ecosystem demands a different resilience that government and business leaders must adopt and adapt to at a faster pace.



The common man is forced to navigate his needs confronted with higher prices, declining savings, more borrowing and employment loss. 



In Nepal, where I am, the middle- and lower-income demographic is struggling with job cuts, unpaid salaries, cutdown on consumer expenditure and access to loans. There is a relentless outflow of Nepali youth entering the international labor market. The country’s central bank macroeconomic report shows that in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, the government has issued permits for over 660,000 Nepalis to work abroad. This number excludes Nepalis going to India for work and the migration of students. 



When young people see no future to build their lives in their country, it hurts the productivity and pride of the nation; but there is nothing to hold them back.



A crisis response is effective within a contained timeframe but when there is a prolonged state of crisis, the response needs to be inspired by a wider and more inclusive approach.



I ask what then is the lifeblood that will enable countries to navigate what is now a sustained crisis? Can countries do it alone?



Does this mark the departure of multilateralism? Why are the terms ‘deglobalization’ and ‘dedollarization’ increasingly making the rounds of panel discussions and economic reports?



The lifeblood perhaps lies in our ability to pause, reflect and continue. I believe that sustained crisis can only be overcome by sustained action. However, action must come from deeper values of integrity, innovation and compassion in the unfolding world order. It requires leaders – government and business – to be focused, flexible and decisive. Economic growth and social progress must be given equal emphasis. It requires citizens across the world to be more aware about their choices and actions. This is, perhaps, each one’s obligation and opportunity to create a meaningful world.



A writer-photographer from Nepal who keeps the values of freedom and compassion at the core of her work

Kathmandu, city view

‘Sustained Crisis Can Only Be Overcome By Sustained Action’

Nolwazi* lives in a township in South Africa. She works in the informal sector and was recently turned down for a loan of $80,000.



Having heard her story, I can’t understand why she was denied the loan. And I think this is indicative of why African entrepreneurs have more advantages than ever.



If you think you’d have taken the same decision as the bank, I need to add a few more details.



Nolwazi might live in one of the poorer areas of South Africa, but she is certainly not poor. She chooses to live there as she can run a thriving backroom rental business.



She started out renting one room from her formal dwelling but now lives in a property where she can rent out 11 units at a time. She also owns a second property which she rents out to students. Her average backroom income is now approximately $8,000 per month, which is probably substantially more than the bank manager who declined her loan application.



She wanted the loan to build student accommodation on land she already owned next to a major university.



After six weeks of deliberation, the bank turned down her application.



The story doesn’t finish here because Nolwazi decided to run an experiment.



She went to a different branch of the same bank and, applied for a car loan of $80,000 for a new Mercedes. It was approved in 20 minutes.



Why would a bank prefer to lend $80,000 for something that depreciates when they could have taken the safer bet of funding a valid capital-based business enterprise?



It was GG Alcock, best-selling author of Kasinomics, who got me thinking about the answer to this question when he drew my attention to this and other stories from township entrepreneurs.



The backroom rental industry, which Nolwazi forms part of, is estimated to generate over R50 billion ($2.6 billion) per annum, as owners rent out their rooms for accommodation, storage, corner shops (spazas), garages, takeaways, workshops, hair salons, beauty parlors and other services.



Nolwazi’s story isn’t, therefore, unique. It’s an allegory that showcases how vibrant the informal sector is and why millions of Africans are choosing to stay in townships, either for cheaper rents or to run their own entrepreneurial ventures.



And it’s a story that supports my view that local African entrepreneurs have never had so much opportunity, for two key reasons.



The first is that big businesses will always find it challenging to identify and exploit the informal sector because of a mix of prejudice and ignorance.



I’m speaking from experience here, as in all of my years working in financial services, I can’t remember ever being asked to investigate opportunities in the informal sector. Instead, established businesses are predisposed to focus on improving what they have, whereas entrepreneurs are the only people looking to solve existing problems in new markets.



The second reason entrepreneurs will win in these markets is because of the democratization of virtually everything you now need to run a successful business.



This is a relatively new phenomenon which is being driven by the confluence of improved technologies, more financing options and the ability to access skilled labor from anywhere on the planet.



And if you need a guiding hand that helps you navigate every step from idea to IPO, hundreds of African-based incubators and accelerators are now designed to help you do exactly that.



What was once the preserve of the wealthiest companies in the wealthiest countries is now accessible in virtually every major African city. Simply put, if you identify an opportunity and have enough grit and determination to give it a go, it’s never been easier to convert your dream into reality.



Oh, and if you were wondering what happened to Nolwazi, I’m happy to report she eventually did receive her loan.



And no, it was not provided by one of the large incumbent banks.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="15" height="14" src="">The opportunity for African entrepreneurs has never been so great.



– The writer curates thought leadership events that help executive teams transform their organizations; visit coliniles.com

Suburb in Soweto township

New Advantages And OpportunitiesFor African Entrepreneurs

Albert Einstein once said, “We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.”



Einstein’s words deeply resonated with me as I pondered Africa’s human capacity.



The continent’s population, particularly its youth, are arguably a vital but often untapped resource in Africa’s story.



Africa’s population is growing at an astounding rate. The African Development Bank estimates that it has increased by 2.42% per year for the past 30 years. By 2050, it is projected to grow to 2.4 billion and is expected to expand to 4.2 billion in the next century. Currently, of the more than 1 billion people who live in Africa, half are under the age of 20. As the bank declared: “Human capital promises to be the key driver of African growth.”



Alongside this promise, there are expectations of access. Yet, a growing population presents its own risks. For example, access to healthcare, education, employment and sustainable development are fundamentally challenged. How do we begin to address these growing challenges? 



The African Union (AU) has outlined a human capacity development plan based on six key factors: transformative leadership, citizen empowerment, tapping into Africa’s potential, skills and resources, evidence-based knowledge and innovation, capacity developers and integrated planning.



Yet, a key question is how do we begin to implement this plan when the continent is demonstrably lagging behind in science, technology and innovation – prerequisites for global competitiveness? Our burgeoning youth population is not enough – we need to begin reframing our understanding of human capacity development to leverage it as a resource effectively. 



In recent months, I have argued that our adaptation to the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), which refers to rapid changes to technology, industries, societal patterns, and processes, needs to be accompanied by societal impact. In other words, as we embrace intelligent technologies, we must remain human-centric in our approach. This entails ensuring that this technology complements our human capacity.



It calls for the application of technology to ameliorate some of our most pressing humanistic challenges. Necessary in this process is an investment in education that equips the youth with the necessary skills, fostering ethical, technological development, promoting localized research and development, promoting human and intelligent technology collaboration, addressing disparities, and facilitating responsible technological adoption. This ensures that we tap into the potential of the 4IR while prioritizing the wellbeing and empowerment of humans.



As Africa continues to grapple with developmental challenges, merely embracing the 4IR is not enough. Policymakers and institutions must ensure that the shift is mindful of the knock-on effect on society. This calls for an ubuntu approach to leadership. In the African Journal of Social Work in 2020, Jacob Rugare Mugumbate and Admire Chereni defined ubuntu as: “A collection of values and practices that people of Africa or of African origin view as making people authentic human beings. While the nuances of these values and practices vary across different ethnic groups, they all point to one thing – an authentic individual human being is part of a larger and more significant relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world.”



An ubuntu leadership style goes beyond the traditional hierarchical notions of leadership and focuses on building strong relationships, fostering social cohesion, creating purpose, and encouraging environments that promote collective well-being. Ubuntu offers an alternative approach to current leadership models in that it prioritizes interconnectedness and seeks to build bridges between different communities and groups. There is an argument to be made that this is the very lens we should be viewing the 4IR through. This is how we ensure that our approach emphasizes humanity and allows for a more just and equitable world to emerge. Critical in this process is seeing the continent’s growing youth population as a tool for 4IR with societal impact. Africa’s youth have the potential to become active participants and beneficiaries of technological advancements. We have to begin investing in our youth to realize this potential fully.



As the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, phrased it: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to empower individuals and communities, as it creates new opportunities for economic, social, and personal development. But it also could lead to the marginalization of some groups, exacerbate inequality, create new security risks, and undermine human relationships.” 



Ubuntu, and by implication, investment in human capacity, I would argue, emerges as the great divider between these realities.

Real estate agent on a meeting with customer at home – wearing face mask

Developing Human Capacity Should Prioritize The Continent’s Growing Youth Population

The June/July 2023 issue of FORBES AFRICA was my favorite reading for the month as it touched on a subject close to my heart – agriculture. In a conversation with Dr Akinwumi Adesina (President, African Development Bank) a few years ago, he talked about the importance of agriculture (one of his ‘High 5’ pillars is ‘Feed Africa’) and the need for the youth in Africa to engage in the sector. His famous words to me at the time were “we need to make agriculture sexy again so that the younger generation is motivated to enter this sector that can transform lives”. 



His words were inspired not only by the historic impor- tance but also by the opportunities being created by innovations in the sector. It was therefore hearten- ing to read stories of young ‘agripreneurs’ from all over Africa who are, through agritech, trying to bring innovation into the agricultural ecosystem and create more efficient supply chains from seed to soil to market.



Agriculture in Africa, as in a number of Asian economies, is the most important sector contributing an average of 20% to 24% of the total Gross Domestic Product of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In absolute terms, there are about 33 million smallholder farms of which an estimated 35,000 commercial farm units are in South Africa; 5,000 to 7,000 of these farms produce 80% of the agricultural output in South Africa.



Farmers living in these smallholder farms (who largely use their hands for cultivation) contribute 70% of the food supply on the continent. Corre- spondingly, 65%-70% of Africans rely on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood.



Considering that Africa has most (about 60%) of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, the continent imports between $35 billion to $45 billion of food/agricultural products each year, since only about 10% of the available land is being cultivated. This stems from poor infrastructure development and therefore limited access to a large part of the 700 million hectares to 800 million hectares that can be cultivated. Other than land, other areas that need machinery, technology, infrastructure development and distribu- tion. 



The most critical of all factors is easy access to low-cost finance and while financial institutions talk a good talk, very few provide reasonably-priced working capital to farmers. To make the continent self-suffi- cient, there is a need to invest almost $75 billion to $80 billion annually in the agricultural sector in Africa and there needs to be a concerted effort by policymaker to ensure that the banking sector comes to the party failing which, the continent, despite all its natural ad- vantages, will be unable to feed its growing population and alleviate poverty. 



An important factor today, not just in agriculture, but across all industries, is educa- tion and relevant literacy across all demographics.



A few years after the launch of CNBC Africa in 2007, I started a thought leadership discussion on the Future of Education in SSA. Over the years, we have identified areas including redefining the purpose of education to make it more relevant to today’s times. Each year, we have had some brilliant minds from around the world join the deliberations to bring forth different global perspectives. 



At the 2023 virtual sum- mit in July, we decided to unpack some of the current challenges, particularly relating to youth unemployment in Africa that has reached alarming levels. In many countries, more than 40% of fresh graduates do not find stable employment, even a year after finish- ing university. Part of the problem is the historic gap between the jobs being created and the number of students graduating from university. This problem, however, is being compounded by the transformation of existing jobs that require new skillsets, which ap- plicants do not have; nor can these be secured through unstructured staff development programs.



Owing to a very difficult history of colonization, the African education landscape is unique in its evolution reasonably-priced internet. SSA today has only 22% internet access compared to a global average of 63%. Furthermore, broadband access in Africa comes at a very high cost. In terms of afford- able pricing, India has the fifth lowest internet data rates in the world, with the cost of data at about 17 US cents per gigabyte. In comparison, South Africa at $2 per gigabyte is almost 12 times higher in price than India. The other important nuance is the low Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 9.4% in Africa.



We live in a world today where artificial intel- ligence (AI) is responding to queries predicated on existing datasets. The debates are ongoing about the role of AI in all aspects of the future. No one can predict this accurately but it’s safe to say that if you can imagine something, coding, creativity and AI will find a solution. 



It sounds surreal, but it is the best time to be alive, as we have witnessed more possibili- ties in the last few years than we have seen in decades of analog. ChatGPT, the new kid on the block, has challenged the education arena with so many dimensions and has created a fear of redundancies and whether machines will take over most jobs. 



While these are genuine, short-term apprehensions, we do know that job displacements from what computers and machines can do are different from functions performed by human beings relating to creativ- ity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and problem-solving. As some jobs are being taken over by automation, more are being created that will continue to replace the older ones in the form of supervision of automated systems, programming, and maintenance. 



As an exam- ple, during the internet era, new jobs relating to web design and development, digital marketing and cyber security, to name a few, were created. Now, with blockchain, AI and virtual reality, the world is opening up to workplace transformation, where coding, computer sciences and creativity will play an important role in creating job replacements in areas that we are yet to discover.



Another important dimension that was discussed during the Future of Education Summit was the impor- tant and underlying role of the economics of transfor- mation. Conservatively, unemployment costs for coun- tries run into billions of dollars of wasted resources each year. Global GDP could go up by trillions of dollars if unemployment is curtailed. On the other hand, the cost of reskilling is estimated to be between $10,000-$20,000 per new graduate joining a company, which is cumu- latively running into billions of dollars for employers. What this points to is that these costs to business can be optimized if there is closer collaboration and conversations between governments, academic institu- tions, and the corporate world.



In practical terms, the most transformative out- comes are going to come from industry where large employers will define their needs to educational in- stitutions. Colleges and universities need to adapt to these requirements by designing bespoke curriculum that will increasingly become industry-certified. The day is not far when human resources (HR) departments in organizations will be driven by professors who will articulate the needs of the establishment and act as an interface with academia.



The role of humanities will continue to increase critical thinking and creativity into sciences making up for the inherent deficiencies in machines. This blend of the two worlds of Arts and Sciences, which have always been historically segmented into silos, will provide the solutions in the future world of AI. In this context, one of the most interesting discussions was on the concept of “a factory within a university” or “a university within a factory”. 



The possibilities are endless, and the deliberations were animated and intense, but the trend line was clear that for a progressive continent, investment in capacity building is in education so that the future generations of youth have equal opportunities as their peers in other parts of the world.



An important event for us at the ABN Group is the annual All Africa Business Lead- ers Awards (AABLA) ceremony that recognizes business leadership on the continent in vari- ous categories. Being an entrepreneur, I know from three decades of experience that building a business at the best of times is a challenge.



However, when you establish businesses in emerging markets like SSA, where you cannot take anything for granted, the skills, adaptability, perseverance and commitment needed requires leadership to be a lot more versatile and humane. To recognize these heroes from amongst us, we hosted the event for the sec- ond time at the Convention Centre in Sun City, South Africa, before a gathering of 450 business leaders from across Africa.



The event this year was attended by a large contingent of international business leaders from Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, the US and the UAE. We were also privileged to have in our midst, and perform- ing for our guests, two-time Grammy award- winner, Wouter Kellerman. An issue that limits greater participation is the restriction on business visas by South Africa. 



Many guests from Nigeria and Rwanda were unable to trav- el for the AABLA. As we talk about increasing strategic relationships, inter-Africa trade and other collaborations, we are still unable to develop a basic agreement on cross-border travel for Africans. These barriers need to be lifted at the earliest to have meaningful people-to-people engagements for better understanding and social engagements that are essential for building a strong foundation for collaborations.

The Important Conversations Around Agriculture And Education In Africa

The unfortunate developments relating to the Black Sea grain shipments are not good news for India and the African continent. Food prices and security are threatened and big power rivalry is ensnaring us developing countries once again.



India believes the G20 agenda should be protected from this rivalry and it has done its best, during its presidency this year, to keep the development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in focus.



The country has also challenged the G20 membership to accept the African Union (AU) as a peer. Given the Indian emphasis on heralding the voice of the Global South during the presidency, it is befitting that the largest regional organization of the Global South, the AU, should be a G20 member rather than an invitee.



This initiative is unprecedented. Since the G20 was formed, no new members have been admitted.



In January 2023, India sought a collective articulation of the Voice of Global South (VoGS) through a virtual summit.



Having Africa speak for itself is important. The continent suffered deeply from the impact of Covid-19 and the Ukraine crisis.



African countries enthusiastically participated in the VoGS summit manifesting their expectations and priorities.



President Macky Sall of Senegal, the AU chair in 2022, formally sought AU inclusion into the G20 and several AU partners like the United States (US), European Union (EU) and China enunciated support.



While it remains uncertain if Africa’s partners intend to use this as a step to include other candidates by opening the membership issue, for India, it is a leap of faith to champion the AU alone and not be held back by claims of ASEAN, Latin American institutions, and permanent invitees like Spain.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote to all G20 members seeking the inclusion of the AU as a member of the G20 and would like this announced at the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023. Through this direct approach, India placed the proposal on the agenda of the G20. Each G20 member now must state a clear response to this.



Some who vocally articulated support for the AU bilaterally have to abide by their commitment. Others who were quiet would need to break their silence. It’s also worth noting that this issue was also discussed in the Modi-Biden summit, and Modi included it in his address to the US Congress in June.



This is a significant recognition of Africa, by one of its oldest and steadfast partners, India, which has shown its commitment to ensure that African voices are audible in all international fora. Clear examples include the Bandung Conference in 1955 and NAM from 1961 which were Indian-supported efforts for Africa to be heard after decolonization. The ‘AU-in-G20’ initiative is a 21st century ‘Bandung moment’ for resurgent Africa.



Added to the fact that Africa and India lack a permanent presence in the United Nations (UN) Security Council and that the UN reform process is crawling slowly, stymied by China, among others, India has decisively grasped the opportunity afforded by its presidency of the G20 to enable Africa its largest opportunity for representation at an intergovernmental forum on a permanent basis.



The AU <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/decisions/42725-Assembly_AU_Dec_839_-_865_XXXVI_E.pdf">adopted a decision at its summit in February</a> 2023 to obtain its place at the G20. Presently, the African Union Commission and the African Union New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU-NEPAD) are invitees and South Africa is the only African member. The AU-NEPAD invitation was specially created when NEPAD was a separate entity.



One thing is certain, since 2008 when the G20 transitioned to a summit, Africa has changed remarkably and it needs the platform to be able to speak for itself.



– The writer is a former Ambassador of India to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, ASEAN and the African Union

Redeveloped And Illuminated ITPO complex

‘African Union Must Be In The G20′

If the thought of being told to fly something up the flagpole, put on a record to see who dances or stir-fry things in the ideas wok makes you want to lose your lunch, you are not alone.



Jargon monoxide – a dangerous concoction of distasteful, pungent and sometimes colorful language – is seeping into workplaces to create nauseating conditions for those forced to inhale the noxious fumes.



Every workplace has its fair share of jargon, buzzwords, bizspeak and abbreviations.



Sometimes the language serves a useful purpose like condensing a complicated process into a single word or phrase to save time.



But when it slips out of the boss’ mouth once too often it is usually for the wrong reasons, which is when jargon monoxide poisoning takes place.



More and more workers have been “circling back” only to discover their boss’ misused business babble has created unnecessary “pain points”.&nbsp;



This has arisen from those in charge either failing to “bring to the table” some “fully baked”, “out-of-the-box thinking”, “putting lipstick on a pig” to camouflage the truth or disguising the fact they are simply not capable of doing the “heavy lifting”. &nbsp;



In other words, workers are being contaminated by jargon-mongering bosses who seem intent on using the latest cringeworthy cliches to hide the truth, cover up stuff-ups or obscure the fact they lack what it takes to get the job done.



It is necessary to “drill down”, “unpack” or “open the kimono” to get a “high-altitude view” on how workers are exposed to jargon monoxide on a daily basis.



The truth is many bosses allow gobbledygook to seep from their mouths and into the workplace to conceal the fact they are not “best of breed”: in other words, to obscure their ineptness.



So when “parking a project” rolls of your boss’ tongue, it probably means an initiative was an unmitigated disaster under their direction.



If the same boss suggests there has been a “wrong-siding of the demographic”, it is safe to assume their poor public relations caused customers to become extremely disgruntled.



Other bosses restrict their polluting ways to using buzzwords to disguise negative messages and, in doing so, compromise transparency.



Some bosses substitute the term “redundancy” with the likes of “trimming the fat”, “cutting capacity”, “delayering”, “downsizing”, “right-sizing”, “right-shoring” and “moving to an outsourced model” – all jargon used to make sacking staff sound more palatable than it actually is.&nbsp;



And you might have noticed how many bosses resort to “going forward” (or its close relation “moving forward”) when they have no clue about what they ought to do in the aftermath of a challenging situation like a pandemic, public relations nightmare or financial crisis but still need to say something.



“Going forward” conveys that an embattled boss is leading their people on a purposeful path to a brighter future.&nbsp;



Yet the overused phrase is ambiguous in relation to specific actions, timelines and accountability and could easily be substituted with “I don’t have a clue what to do next”.



Perhaps of more concern is the fact that at the very time we are trying to reduce spiralling levels of antagonistic behavior, bullying and harassment in our workplaces, some bosses poison their workplaces with newfangled aggressive office speak just to appear as part of the “in-crowd”.



Common phrases of aggression including “you smashed it”, “you are killing it” and “you crushed it” – somewhat ironically – are all buzzwords used to denote progress rather than destruction.



Think, too, about the impact on others of hearing the boss say “there is only one throat to choke”, the team is a “dysfunctional circular firing squad” or that you are a “decision sniper”.



Climbing the corporate ladder is often synonymous with losing the ability to speak or write clearly. The higher the climb, the greater the use of overblown language.



It should not be that way.



It might be time for all good bosses to “give 110 per cent”, “lean in” and take a closer “look under the bonnet” to get better “optics” on the impact of their poisonous prattle on those around them.



“At the end of the day” it is perhaps best to keep in mind that jargon monoxide is a language which can pollute and poison an otherwise healthy workplace.



For those in charge, do not let it loose. And for those lower down the “food chain” and at high risk of contamination, avoid breathing it in.



The writer and professor is CEO with the Australian Institute of Management Western Australia and a workplace and social affairs expert.

Co-workers having meeting with laptop in conference room

Time To Move The Needle On ‘Jargon Monoxide’ In Our Workplaces

We all live and we all die, what makes us different are the things we do and the impact of our actions on the world. When it comes to the human mindset, we only think in terms of human-dominated ecosystems. However, with the climate crisis now upon us, the environment is everybody’s business, especially for those in business.



For entrepreneurs and industrialists, the time has come to not just reflect but to put into meaningful action the values that drive work. It is time to think about impact not just on our species but the world in its entirety, to create entrepreneurship beyond the terminology of just buying and selling, and to truly understand that profit is an output, not a purpose.



Research suggests that companies that struggle to answer the purpose question, or that answer it only in terms of the hard metrics of profit, market share and shareholder returns are most likely to encounter lower employee engagement, higher turnover, an uninspiring work culture, and lack of respect for the environment and communities they operate in. This is irrespective of whether the company has prestige, market dominance or great potential for growth.



As per the Climate Risk Country Profiles developed by the World Bank Group, Nepal, where I live, and South Africa, both share climate vulnerabilities.



Nepal is experiencing changes in temperature and precipitation at a faster rate than the global average. From the loss of lives to the loss of livelihoods, natural hazards in different parts of the country put people and ecosystems in distress year after year.



What does climate risk really mean and how does it affect us? Climate risk is commonly defined as extreme changes in weather, floods, disasters, rising sea levels, erosion, biodiversity loss etc. Why does it matter is simple–because people suffer due to these risks, it changes how we live, it changes our health, our livelihoods, our environment.



And where do businesses factor in? The opening statement of a PricewaterhouseCoopers article reads: “The race for net zero has captured the imagination of countries and companies alike. And not a moment too soon: the latest report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) must peak no later than 2025 to avoid the most dangerous and irreversible effects of climate change.”



It goes on to state that companies are not paying enough attention to their decarbonization commitments. Citing what businesses can lose, the report gives the example of how extreme weather events can cost a business conglomerate several hundred million dollars as soon as 2030 due to supply chain disruption. The examples are many and eye-opening. Businesses are forced to give due consideration to reports and articles such as these not just for the financial implications on their operations but also because governments around the world are aligned to the Net Zero Commitment including the top polluters– the US, China, EU and India.



The private sector does have a crucial role in fighting climate change. From reducing the carbon footprint of their product to cultivating climateconscious practices at work, businesses need to tackle their climate and social impact.



Consumers must commit to eating, traveling, living and shopping more mindfully. 



Governments must pledge to tangible actions that go beyond policy discourse and debates. Even as the world feels increasingly complex and unpredictable, meaningful action is needed to maintain a natural balance in how we use our resources and treat the world we inhabit. 



Climate change then is not just an ecological, environmental, social or economic issue, it is really about our personal ethics and the choices we make from moment to moment.



We do not have another planet to move to, what then do we choose for our children and the generations to come?



The writer-photographer from Nepal who keeps the values of freedom and compassion at the core of her work

Businesswoman giving presentation in board room

‘The Environment Is Everybody’s Business, Especially For Those In Business’

How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.



“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”



This passage from American writer Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises perfectly summarizes the process almost every organization eventually faces. 



Or at least it did up until Tuesday, May 2. Because that was the day when ChatGPT claimed its first victim, the online education platform Chegg.



It seems gone are the days when companies could expect a death spiral of years and years before the CEOs called it a day. 



Blockbusters and Blackberry are two examples that spring to mind. But Chegg’s stock plummeted by more than 50% in just a few hours, and at the time of writing this piece, it was worth just a third of what it was prior to the launch of ChatGPT.



The reason of course, why every business ultimately fails is because the market shifts.



In Blackberry’s case, they lost out as consumers decided they didn’t want keyboards.



For Blockbusters, their customers decided to stay at home and stream.



And for Chegg, Wall Street is predicting that they will lose their students to generative AI.



What’s fascinating and scary though, is we have just entered a phase of business disruption that is exponential in nature. AI, Cloud, 5G, IoT and a host of other technologies are working perfectly in concert to allow anyone in the world to develop new products and services at a fraction of historical costs in record time.



ChatGPT is a case in point. 



On release, it registered 1 million users in one week and hit the 100 million mark within two months. That’s 5x faster than TikTok managed; 30x faster than Facebook. So with barriers falling left right and center because of technological advancements, what must boards do to improve their company’s survival chances?



If you guessed innovate, you are partially right. Boards absolutely need to impress on their executive teams the importance of doubling down on their innovation strategies.



But this will only work if boards think laterally about deliberate actions they can take to encourage their executive teams to become less hubristic.



Because leadership hubris is the catalyst of inertia, not innovation, and inertia is what ultimately kills most organizations. To be fair to executives, they operate in environments that encourage overconfidence.



When you are running a successful multi-billion dollar business, it’s not easy to consider the possibility that it could be fallible, or worse, that it might fail on your watch. I for one don’t know many CEOs who’ll admit they are fearful of being disrupted. And those that do typically fail to place the necessary disruptive business bets.



How can companies remove hubris from their executive teams? 



I humbly suggest by setting up environments that culture a certain amount of fear and a huge amount of curiosity. One of the best examples of a leadership team that encourages this is Amazon. Jeff Bezos is well-known for emphasizing the importance of staying paranoid and maintaining a sense of urgency.



In his 2017 shareholder letter he wrote: “Day 2 business is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.” 



The goal?



To encourage his team to continually think like a startup, not a multi-billion dollar listed entity. And this idea then gets consistently reinforced in a multitude of ways, ranging from their choice of building names



(Amazon’s head office is named Day 1) to how they encourage executives to make decisions carefully when the outcomes are irreversible, but quickly in all other instances (the two-door/ one-door model).



These systems and frameworks were deliberately introduced to encourage healthy levels of paranoia that in turn, helped motivate a culture of curiosity.



It should not be surprising when successful innovators state that “curiosity” is mission-critical. What is surprising is how knowing this, so few boards demand their leadership teams implement systems to agitate and encourage curiosity.



Perhaps this was acceptable when we lived in a world where change was glacial. But in a world where bankruptcy may skip the slowly part and just come suddenly, boards need to stop worrying about the risks of doing business and start cultivating leaders who understand the need to adapt or die and have the curiosity and courage to attempt to do just that. 



– The writer curates thought leadership events that help executive teams transform their organizations; visit coliniles.com.

Category: Op-Ed