How did your journey into fashion begin?
Whilst working for Telkom I began designing and making dresses for myself and soon built a loyal client base. I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of my dressmaking, I then decided to study and in 1997 enrolled at Natal Technikon for fashion. In my first year at Natal Tech I won my first award, the Du Pont Lycra Award which included a trip to Paris. In my third year, I won the Rothman’s July Young Designer Award. After completing my third year, I entered the M-Net Anglo Gold Africa Designs competition. I was one of the winners and part of the prize was a trip to New York where I got to showcase my range at the New York Fashion Week in 2000. Having my range showcased at the New York Fashion Week opened the door for me to be able to enter and showcase my designs at the SA Fashion Week.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31331" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31332" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
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Where would you be if it wasn’t for fashion?
If it wasn’t for fashion, I think I would be a social worker or a church worker.
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Item of clothing every man/woman should splurge on?
An item of clothing I think every woman should splurge on is a 50’s flared, knee length summer dress, with a defined waist line. It’s an all-time classic. Much like the one attached.
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Your inspiration comes from?
I’m always inspired by the Sishweshwe prints I use and universal trends mixed with my perceptions of what’s around me and my original background.
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Your best and worst fashion buy?
Animale, an international clothing brand launched in the early 70s, is my personal style so all my purchases from them are best buys. Also a handmade shoe that I bought from San Marina in Sandton, I really love that shoe. I really can’t think of a worst buy right now because I’m generally so picky when buying things I rarely buy things I don’t like whole-heartedly.
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How would you describe your label?
I would describe it as individualistic, with an afro touch and global appeal. It embraces femininity and it’s for the non-conformist and unconventional woman who knows no boundaries when it comes to going places. It is characterized by significance, timelessness and elegance.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31328" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31329" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580.jpg 386w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
What would your ultimate
achievement be?
My ultimate achievement would be having my brand being sought after globally.
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Career highlight?
I get to travel the world.
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How long did your MBFWA collection take to put together?
It took me something like two months to put my collection together for the MBFWA.

Bongiwe Walaza

The Non-conformist Who Wanted To Work At A Church

Paddling through sewage and fending off angry gun wielding fishermen is just another day for Nkosi Mzolo and the rest of the Soweto Canoe &amp; Recreation Club (SCARC). It is all part of a day’s training on the murky waters of the Power Park Dam in Soweto. It is the price they pay for the chance to win Africa’s most famous canoe race, the Dusi Canoe Marathon.
On any night, you will find these dreamers on the dam. Scholars, welders and clerks all paddle hard for the chance of a brighter future as a professional.
In February, 817 canoeists flocked to the Msunduzi River, which is nicknamed the Dusi, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is a 120-kilometer canoeist’s hell ride that sweeps paddlers from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on treacherous white water rapids. A race in freezing water and high temperatures, that forces you to run over jagged rocks while carrying a 20-kilogram canoe. Five hundred kilometers away, in the sludge, Soweto has its own challenges.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31317 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“The conditions in Natal are a lot hotter. The river is very different from Johannesburg. You can go down the Jukskei but it’s totally different. The Dusi is rocky, but the Jukskei river is rockier. The [Dusi] rapids are bad, they have huge ones. We are willing to face stomach bugs to practice in Johannesburg’s river; the Dusi is cleaner,” says Mzolo.
Cholera, E. coli and bilharzia in the dirty dam are a mere occupational hazard for Mzolo. More worrying is the anger he faces from fishermen who cast their lines where Mzolo wants to launch his canoe.
“We had problems with some of them before. They come and drink and smoke drugs. Only recently have they started using it. The problem is their lines get in the way of the paddles. One guy got so angry he pulled a gun on one of our teenagers who had tangled his line by accident. We’ve been here for six years, can’t they respect our space?” says Mzolo.
The man, who spends every moment he can on the water, spends the rest of his time saving lives.  He has been a paramedic for five years, and is studying to be a doctor. The night before we spoke, he delivered a baby in Hillbrow, in the Johannesburg CBD.
In a previous Dusi race, Mzolo needed a medic of his own. A kilometer into the race, he hit the Ernie Pearce Weir, a three-meter watercourse that narrows. Usually people take it one-by-one, but those in the lead go down it like sardines, he says. This was where Mzolo ran into trouble. Crammed into the weir with six other canoes, Mzolo went under. Six more went over him. When he surfaced he knew two ribs were cracked. He forfeited the race while in hospital.
“I’ll never miss a Dusi, its fun but it’s really hard,” he says.
This time next year, many more hopefuls will be paddling through the sludge of Soweto for the slim hope for glory.

Dusi Marathon

Paddling Through  Sewage And facing Guns

A little girl, not more than three years old, touches the lifeless body of her seven-year-old sister who has just succumbed to Ebola. She cries when her sister does not respond. They are both in the isolation ward at the Kailahun Treatment Centre at the epicenter of the Ebola crisis in eastern Sierra Leone. With the death of the last member of her family, the little girl’s world has shrunk. Who knows, if it will close in on her as well.
It’s a heart-breaking scene, but Esther Wanjiru, a volunteer doctor from Kenya with Medecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, has witnessed it many times over the last few months.
“Just days earlier, we had to prise the seven-year-old away from her little sister. They didn’t want to be separated, but both were very ill and [the older] simply became too sick to continue caring for the little one,” says Wanjiru.
Each time death comes calling at this Ebola camp, Wanjiru says it’s a terrible experience.
“When you watch this on television, these are Ebola patients. But when you are here, these are families suffering great tragedy.”
Wanjiru, 27, is on the frontline of the Ebola crisis along with countless other volunteer doctors who are putting their lives at risk to care for the sick and dying.
It’s a mammoth task trying to contain a virus that has the potential to decimate whole populations in days.
Wanjiru arrived in Kailahun District in July for a second mission with Doctors Without Borders. On her first mission, she had been shaken by the sight of the isolation wards.
“I had never seen anything like it before,” she says. However, returning yet again to the wards, she hopes the African public understands the magnitude of the Ebola scare.
“It’s high time the world woke up, this virus has spread so fast.”
The virus, Wanjiru claims, takes away more than a victim’s life and its ramifications are not stated enough.
“I quickly realized there are many factors, it’s not just about isolation wards, but about kids being left alone, communities who are afraid and patients being left to die in their homes. These are things that are not being addressed. Pledges are not enough, we need people in the field, we need more people hands-on.”
Wanjiru fears for her life, every day.
“Yes of course I’m scared, it’s one of the deadliest diseases on earth. When I left for the mission, my family thought I was crazy. But as a doctor, I thought if I can help in any way, why not? This virus can affect many countries and by doing this, I’m also helping protect my family, my friends and my country,” she says.
After her arrival, Wanjiru was briefed on the dangers and procedures in the field. And although she does not don the most convenient – or flattering – of ensembles, she is now used to the protective gear.
“Luckily it’s not that hot at the moment. I find the most difficult part of the clothing is having my face covered, but if it gets too much, I go outside for a break.”
The doctor works an 80-hour week, sometimes more when on call. Wanjiru’s day consists of ward rounds and daily briefings. And despite the long hours, she says she wakes up thinking about her patients from the previous day. Death is a constant here.
She remembers a toddler and his mother, both of who survived and were reunited. Their survival is a small triumph.
Wanjiru returns to Kenya in October and is looking forward to having chapatis (Indian bread) again. But the trip home may be temporary. The young doctor says she’s willing to return to the ward “in a heartbeat”.

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On The Ebola Frontline

The Ebola virus is spreading across Africa, taking fear with it.
“They say Ebola has no cure. The unknown has arrived. Nobody knows how to deal with this Ebola, not even the government!” John-Thomas Mensah, an Accra-based taxi driver tells FORBES AFRICA in the Ghanaian capital.
The Ebola scourge has spawned new social rules, with people being told they are not allowed to hug or shake hands. New superstitions have arisen, with some believing that drinking or bathing with salty water and eating the West African plant, bitter kola, will treat the disease. Some businesses are cashing in on the rush for disinfectants, soaps and hand sanitizers.
In August, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the West Africa Ebola outbreak a public health emergency. It triggered global alarm as countries stepped up precautions and testing. It is the largest Ebola outbreak to date and began in Guinea in March. Liberia has been the worst hit, with 70% of the casualties. Ebola has infected nearly 5,400 and claimed 2,630 lives, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria recorded eight deaths as at the end of August.
Beyond medicine, the epidemic has dampened business and left the informal economy, that fuels West Africa’s cross-border commerce, in a coma. Millions of West Africans are traveling traders and workers who crisscross the region’s porous borders for their daily bread.
Nigeria, which accounts for around 168 million of West Africa’s 260 million people, has not shut its borders, but almost every other country in the region has stopped border traffic, all in a bid to restrict the spread of Ebola. In late September, Nigeria declared itself Ebola-free.
Airlines discontinued flights to and from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and neighboring countries. Freight rates to West Africa are expected to rise as ship owners avoiding the region are choosing to berth at alternative ports. In mid-August, a Chinese-flagged ship heading out of Sierra Leone to Cape Verde had its crew quarantined in Sao Vicente.
The Ebola scare has also reared its ugly head in South Africa. The most worrying was a patient in August who displayed low risk symptoms and was admitted to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital as a precaution. Luckily, the patient tested negative for Ebola at the special diseases ward at the hospital.
“The patient is in isolation and there is no need for the general public to panic. He will not be put in contact with another patient. He is in isolation, in a special ward that deals with hemorrhagic fever,” says Joe Maila, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.
Eleven hospitals across South Africa were issued with protective gear in readiness for any possible outbreak, says Maila.
East Africa is also taking precautions.
The health sector there is poorly funded and all member states agree that they need to coordinate efforts to keep Ebola at bay. Little of this is evident on the ground.
Uganda has suffered from Ebola in the past and claims it is well prepared. Together with Rwanda and Burundi, Uganda borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has confirmed strains of the virus.
The region is on high alert and any slight indication of the virus in these countries may lead to the type of isolation experienced in West Africa. Business, including East Africa’s fledging oil and gas sector, will be hit.
WHO classified Kenya as a high-risk area because of the number of flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the infected countries. Kenya Airways, the third largest carrier on the continent, is feeling the pinch after suspending some of its flights to West Africa. RwandAir and Ethiopian Airways are yet to follow suit but promise stringent surveillance.
Help has come from far and near. The United States’ (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has about 60 disease detectives and other health experts in the region. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has reportedly committed $14.5 million. The Wellcome Trust and Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) have also announced a joint $10.8-million emergency research fund.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, through his Dangote Foundation, has given $3.2 million to the Ebola Emergency Operation Centre in Lagos, where the nation’s first case of Ebola was found in Liberian-American national Patrick Sawyer who died in a Lagos hospital four days after arriving from Liberia.
Despite these measures, and assurances by the WHO and local authorities, sections of the international community continue to fear that Ebola could spread across the vast African continent. With multinationals placing travel restrictions to West Africa, trips to Africa are either being postponed or canceled. The tourism sector in East and Southern Africa has been the hardest hit.
Ebola is not going away in a hurry.

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Africa’s Worst nightmare

One of the major highlights for the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2013 was the launch of the X-Gen. It is a new trading platform that was introduced in a bid to improve and deliver a first-rate technology platform. The system will also enable the NSE to host other exchanges across the region and acts as a great impetus for new market participants to enter the African capital market space.
The NSE was established in 1960 as the Lagos Stock Exchange and as of December 2013 had 200 listed companies with a market capitalization of around $80 billion.
The NSE closed the year with two new equity listings on the main board, while the bond market recorded 19 new listings with an uptick in the value of new issues.
The bourse also had a re-launch of its Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) for small and medium companies. It introduced a new market structure for trading equities and Fixed-Income Market Making.
“In 2014, the Exchange’s primary focus will be on growing the capital market in preparation for achieving emerging market status. The NSE will facilitate access to and participation in the market; increase our footprint on the continent and deploy a risk framework to safe-guard the market venue,” said Oscar Onyema, the CEO of the NSE, at the exchange’s yearly review for 2013 and outlook projections for 2014.
“Our goal is to get promoted to the emerging market index,” he added.
The NSE started operations in Lagos in 1961 with 19 securities listed for trading. Data on listed companies’ performances are published daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.
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Nigerian_Stock_Exchange_7D_0001

The Floor Worth $80 Billion

It was nine days of hell that Ray Choto will never forget. Live electric wires were pushed into his genitals; it was so excruciating that he snapped the chain of his handcuffs. With his editor, Mark Chavunduka, he was stripped and blindfolded at a military base in Cranborne, a suburb of Harare. Their captors shoved their heads in drums of water. They were forced to do push-ups in the rain, in between beatings, and afterwards their torturers kicked them through the wet grass to clean off the blood.
It all began because of a news story the now late Chavunduka, founding editor of The Standard, Zimbabwe’s independent Sunday newspaper, and Choto, the newspaper’s former chief investigative reporter, wrote in January, 1999 that 23 soldiers, including seven officers, were under arrest for inciting their comrades to overthrow president Robert Mugabe. The authorities wanted to know who leaked the story. The two young African men suffered at the hands of their own people but never revealed their sources.
“As a journalist, my responsibility is to protect my sources. Even if it meant that I was going to be thrown into jail or killed. I was ready for it in defense of ethical journalism,” says Choto, 15 years on.
“The torture was very barbaric. I was handcuffed, put in leg irons, and tortured by way of electric shocks all over my body. They also hit me with wooden planks, clenched fists &#8230;”
Their crime? According to Choto, it was allegedly contravening a section of the Law and Order Maintenance Act. They challenged the constitutional validity of the controversial colonial law and the Zimbabwe Supreme Court declared the provision null and void and the case fell away.
Both were flown to London for psychological and physical treatment. In May 2000, Choto received further treatment in Australia.
Contrary to reports that he fled Zimbabwe, Choto explains that he went to the United States (US) on September 6, 2000 to take up the prestigious John S. Knight Fellowship for professional journalists at Stanford University in California. It was during his first year at the university that Mugabe’s government introduced strict laws that made it difficult for journalists to work.
The program appointed Choto as a senior fellow, extending his stay in the US for another year. This came at a time when Zimbabwe’s government news publications labeled Choto an enemy of the state. He cites an article that detailed a press conference, held by the military and the police, in which they warned the independent media that they were ready to treat those that write negatively about Zimbabwe the same way they treated Choto and Chavunduka.
Choto went home on the first of day of 2002 and planned to be in Zimbabwe for eight days. A senior source in the military agreed to secretly meet him at a hotel in Harare. Choto had called him to tell him that he was in the country and asked if he had time to meet for a drink. The military source sounded hesitant, but agreed. They communicated in code in case the phone was bugged. When they met, the military source asked Choto why he came back in dangerous times and told him to leave the country.
Choto got on a plane and left. He then telephoned family and friends to ask whether he should return. All, including his mother, said no. Choto, now 13 years in the US, says he will not go home as long as the ruling party, Zanu-PF, is in power.
“The loss of my mother in May 2010 was, and remains, a thorn in my heart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to Zimbabwe to see her laid to rest.”
Now a senior editor at the Voice of America (VOA) in the Africa Division in Washington D.C., Choto says that it is challenging to work on stories from a distance.
As Mugabe begins his seventh term, Choto clings on to hope.
“The solution lies in the hands of the people of Africa. They have to elect democratic leaders and reject undemocratic leaders who come to power through chicanery.”
You have to listen to a man who shed blood for his beliefs.   FL

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Bloodied But Unbowed:  The Journalist Prepared To Die

The international buzz around contemporary African art has never been louder.
African art has always been celebrated on the African continent, but has singularly failed to be regarded as collectible by most Western mainstream collectors and museums. The most important art works created in Africa have long been considered to be antique and traditional.
Modern African art’s exclusion from the Western mainstream has been controversial, so the pace of change in 2013 has been exhilarating. Major museums in London and New York have showcased leading African artists and have been buying their work enthusiastically.
Dramatic installation art pieces—three-dimensional works that are often created in exhibition spaces—by Ghanaian artist El Anutsui are being displayed by major museums both sides of the Atlantic. And London’s Tate Modern, a leader in art trends internationally, has recently set up an African Art Acquisitions Committee to purchase works by contemporary African artists, an acknowledgment that the Tate’s permanent collection was too focused on Western European and North American art.
The Venice Biennale, possibly the world’s most influential contemporary art exhibition, had record attendances from African countries last year, with the leading prize, the Golden Lion, going to the Angolan pavilion, a major boost for African contemporary art.
It all adds up to a sneaking suspicion that this is the age when African art truly becomes collectible.
Ask Bonhams, the only international auction house to specialize in contemporary African art, and they will tell you the African market is booming. Buyers include international museums and private collectors from Europe, the United States and particularly from Nigeria. And Bonhams deny that it’s a bubble.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31298" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2014/10/Lot-129-Enwonwu-Mirror-300x150.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="150" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lot-129-Enwonwu-Mirror-300x150.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lot-129-Enwonwu-Mirror-600x300.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lot-129-Enwonwu-Mirror-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Lot-129-Enwonwu-Mirror.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
For the last five years, Bonhams have held their annual Africa Now auction.
“Five years ago it was difficult. We didn’t know who our prospective buyers were, we had no mailing list, and it was a daunting prospect,” says auctioneer Giles Peppiatt, the director of contemporary African art at Bonhams.
“Contrast that with our latest sale in May last year which was our most successful yet, we smashed 20 world records for prices made by an artist and we sold 91% of items up for sale. In total we achieved £1.3 million ($2.1 million),” says Peppiatt.
“We sold seven wooden sculptures, made by Ben Enwonwu for the Daily Mirror newspaper in 1960, for £360,000 ($580,000) against an estimate of £80,000 ($129,000) to £120,000 ($194,000).”
Bonhams most notable moment came in May 2012 when an El Anutsui wall hanging made from bottle tops welded together with copper wire sold for £542,000 ($890,000). It is the highest price yet paid for African art at auction.
It’s not surprising that prices for El Anatsui, a celebrated Ghanaian artist living and working in Nigeria, are rocketing. His massive sheets of shimmering bottle top installation art have been bought by major galleries, and last summer he won a major art prize, the Charles Wollaston Award, for his giant installation draped outside the Royal Academy exhibition in London.
Major events in Africa focusing purely on contemporary African Art have been building interest for years. The Joburg Art Fair is well established and has been dedicated to selling living African artists’ work since 2008. The Dak’Art Biennale goes back to 1992, providing a creative platform in Dakar, Senegal for more than 20 years.
International art buyers with deep pockets descend on London during Frieze Week in October, and the auction houses and exhibitions compete to take money from them. This year they are joined by 1:54, a new art fair that was launched in Europe, to take the unique energy from the current African art scene and to sell directly to global collectors in London.
1:54 is the brainchild of Touria El Glaoui, the daughter of respected Moroccan artist Hassan El Glaoui.
“By hosting this fair in Somerset House in central London our intention is to foster exchange between artists, curators, collectors and the public from all backgrounds and nationalities,” says El Glaoui.
The fair has been named after the 54 nations that make up Africa, and aims to represent all countries and styles, as well as artists from the African diaspora.
Edson Chagas, the Angolan photographer whose work became the basis for the winning Angolan Venice Biennale pavilion, is one of 70 artists represented at 1:54, as is Abdoulaye Diarrasouba, known as Aboudia, from Cote d’Ivoire.
Several of Aboudia’s large-scale acrylic on canvas paintings have been bought by the Saatchi Gallery and are soon to appear in a Saatchi exhibition. His style is inspired by graffiti and depicts street life and the traumas of war.
Aboudia was born and worked in Cote d’Ivoire’s capital Abidjan until the most recent civil war in 2010. Now he moves between Abidjan and New York.
“I’m exhibiting at the 1:54 fair because I feel it’s important to show my work to people abroad and to venture beyond the Ivory Coast,” he says.
Aboudia thinks others should follow the example of Charles Saatchi, the owner of the Saatchi Gallery.
“He has the courage to search for new things and nurture them. He doesn’t wait until [artists’] careers have already been developed. Life is about taking risks. Emerging artists benefit from being brought to the world’s attention,” he says.
The fact that quality African art is being widely bought by leading galleries is music to the ears of Oba Nsugbe, a leading Nigerian barrister working in Britain. He is a member of the Tate Modern African Art Acquisitions Committee, which is responsible for delivering a detailed strategy to purchase world class African art.
“This would have been impossible to conceive 10 or 15 years ago. We are placing African art alongside other world class art where it belongs—to be conserved in a world-class forum. What more do you want?”   FL

El-Anatsui-Bonhams-Africa-Now

The Smart Money is  on African Art

Last year, in the shadows of the Zimbabwean elections were whispers of a man who took risks by challenging people to question Robert Mugabe’s 26 years of power. At the click of his mouse he passed out classified information that spread like wild fire. They call him Baba Jukwa.
Jukwa, who calls himself a disgruntled Zanu-PF insider, agreed to an interview with FORBES LIFE AFRICA via Facebook to protect his identity. He has one clear mission: To see Zimbabwe rise to its former glory.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31289 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/3611958575_07df785a50_o-300x202.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="202" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3611958575_07df785a50_o-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3611958575_07df785a50_o-600x404.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3611958575_07df785a50_o-768x517.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3611958575_07df785a50_o.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“Zimbabwe is falling, but its people are not, and these same people shall lift it up as they express themselves through the spirit of freedom… But I will tell you without mincing words, even Mugabe himself is possessed by this same spirit of freedom, only that he suppresses it daily,” he says.
Jukwa’s posts included a prediction of a former Zanu-PF member of parliament, Edward Chindori-Chininga’s death, who died in a car accident after revealing corruption in the diamond sector. Jukwa also posted the HIV statuses of Zanu-PF politicians.
In November, reports accused Jukwa of being Zimbabwe’s information minister Jonathan Moyo. Others believe Jukwa is more than one person because the blogs betray a number of writing styles. Whoever it is, they are certainly an insider.
“I have over the past 33 years worked in a place where everything is naked and bare, so it is not uncommon at all for me to know everything and anything.”
Jukwa says he has no fear because he is a dead man already. All he wants is for the country to be free.
“On that day, when the people have finally freed themselves from the chains of oppression and once again Zimbabwe is a shining nation as the ancestors would have had it, it shall be a great day of celebration, mark my words.”
Across the Atlantic lives a social media guru who could be considered Jukwa’s brother in arms. At least he is unafraid to use his own name. Dressed in torn jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, he looks like an average Joe. His red beard and large earrings may be the reason you give him a second look, but there is more to him than meets the eye.
In 2011, Harper Reed took the job of technology chief for Barak Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. His job was to gather voters with the use of social media. The strategy was a gem and Obama made history again, this time for becoming the first president to be re-elected with the help of his social media campaign.
Although Reed was working for one of the most powerful people in the world, it was not enough to get him into a suit and tie.
“This one time [Obama] walked out of the office on the campaign and walked up to my buddy Dillan and I and the first thing he said to us was, ‘Ah, you guys must be the tech team.’ I think it was our beards that gave us away.”
Flushed with the success of Obama’s re-election campaign, could Reed consult in the tricky politics of Africa?
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31291 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/2011-10-23-22.29.00-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2011-10-23-22.29.00-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2011-10-23-22.29.00-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2011-10-23-22.29.00-600x600.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2011-10-23-22.29.00-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2011-10-23-22.29.00.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“Probably not. For me, if I really supported the person, then yes. The thing is, you must do this because you want to do it and not because you want money. Because it’s politics, you have to treat it that way,” he says.
Reed says it is important to fight media censorship. He speaks of the importance of a transparent government to avoid having the same people in power over and over again.
“In my time in South Africa, I talked to a lot of people about politics and there was this fear of continuation of a single government for a long time without change… If people feel like it really matters to them, they need to step up and solve the problem.”
Unlike Jukwa, Reed lives in comparative freedom.
“People talk a lot of shit on the internet, as you can imagine. It’s just how it works on the internet. People are mean and they can do crazy things. But for the most part, there’s a lot of work done in the United States to make it so that people don’t feel intimidated. I’ve never felt like I had to hide.”
With elections around the corner for some African countries, perhaps it is time to adopt a word that was significant on Obama’s road to victory. A word both feared and revered: Change.   FL

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Guerilla Bloggers

When Vivian Kleynhans grew up in the remote fishing village of Paternoster on South Africa’s West Coast, not in her wildest dreams did she think that one day she would sign a major export deal with the world’s largest discounter, Walmart.
Last year, that happened.
Kleynhans, 49, shipped four 40-foot containers of her Seven Sisters wines to the United States (US), where Walmart has been selling them in more than 500 stores countrywide since September.
“We are hoping to ship this amount every three months from now on, if sales go well,” says Kleynhans.
Although she’s not allowed to disclose the size of the contract, Kleynhans is certain of one thing: “This deal will change our lives.”
Even before Walmart discovered the Seven Sisters wine brand, Kleynhans had made a success of the label that she launched in 2005 from scratch.
After growing up with six sisters and a brother in a poor village, survival was difficult. Straight after graduating from high school, Kleynhans had to take a secretarial job at a construction company to help her family financially. When she didn’t get a promotion a few years later, she started working for a real estate agent, then moved into human resources and soon thereafter joined an insurance company.
She slowly worked her way up, gaining business experience with every new employment she entered.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31284" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/MG_8361final-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MG_8361final-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MG_8361final-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MG_8361final-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MG_8361final.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“Throughout my career, I was working towards owning my own business that could provide a legacy for my family. Eventually, I felt ready to set up my own company,” says Kleynhans.
She launched African Roots Wine Brands in 2005 after the South African government set up a trust to help formerly disadvantaged people enter the wine industry. Her idea was to sell wines that would represent her family and her cultural history.
For a year, Kleynhans searched for the right wine farm to partner with. She wanted a farm that could provide her with seven different wine styles—one for her and each of her six sisters. She eventually teamed up with Swartland, a winery located in the region where she grew up.
“My vision was to build a company that my sisters could be part of. Because we are seven, I wanted to partner with a winery that could provide us with a wide range of styles,” she says.
Each sister personally helped create their own varietal. The result: a Bukettraube Odelia, Rosé Twena, Moscato Yolanda, Sauvignon Blanc Vivian, Pinotage Dawn, Merlot June and Cabernet Sauvignon Carol.
That same year, Kleynhans took the Seven Sisters range to the Soweto Wine Festival near Johannesburg. It was the first trade fair she had ever attended. As luck would have it, she met an American importer, Selena Cuffe of Heritage Link Brands, who invited her to present her wines in the US.
It was a tough start. Without an advertising budget to speak of, Kleynhans had to market her wines by doing road shows across the US, garnering customers one by one. It was a tedious strategy, but it paid off over time.
The first container of Seven Sister wines left South Africa in 2007. A year later, Kleynhans shipped four containers. In the third year, she sent nine. By early 2013, African Roots Wine Brands was selling 110,000 bottles a year in 42 states to supermarkets, wine stores, specialty stores and discounters. Buyers included major chain stores, such as Whole Foods, Super Value and Disneyworld.
“Over the years, we managed to become an established brand in the US. Our drive is to grow a household brand,” says Kleynhans.
She also landed a four-year contract with American Airlines, which served the Vivian Sauvignon Blanc on all of its flights.
“It was one of the first big business deals we signed. It helped us a lot to stay in the game,” she says.
Ironically, it took Kleynhans longer to enter the wine market in her home country.
“South Africa only woke up after we made a name for ourselves in the US. We’ve been trying for some years to get into the South African market. But it’s so saturated, we struggled to gain entry,” says Kleynhans.
When Walmart bought a 52% stake in South African chain Massmart in mid-2011 for a whopping $1.59 billion, South African antitrust authorities, concerned that the deal would lead to job losses and product domination, obliged the retail giant to set up a $20 million-fund to support small suppliers.
It was through this fund that Kleynhans eventually managed to place Seven Sisters on Massmart’s Makro shelves in South Africa.
A second Walmart development fund, this time aimed at providing $20 billion to small, women-owned suppliers, represented the jackpot. Kleynhans had been supplying Seven Sisters to American retail warehouse chain Sam’s Club, one of Walmart’s sister companies, for a while.
“Walmart was looking for companies all over the world to find suppliers that met the criteria for the fund. The buyer from Sam’s Club hooked us up,” says Kleynhans.
From there, the deal snowballed. In December 2012, Walmart’s global sourcing manager visited Kleynhans at the nine-hectare farm she had just bought in Stellenbosch, one of South Africa’s top wine regions. He invited her to spend a day at Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas in February last year. A month later, Kleynhans was invited to Walmart’s global supply summit. Shortly thereafter, she sealed the deal.
For Kleynhans, this is just the beginning. She recently planted her own cultivars—a Shiraz and a Chardonnay—which are tended by her brother, John Brutus, a viticulturist. The first bottles of the new label, to be named after her brother, will be sold from a boutique cellar on the estate by 2015.
Kleynhans is also opening a restaurant on the farm. Like all her ventures, the eatery will stay in the family and be managed by all seven sisters.
“It will be run like my mother’s dining room.”   FL

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Stateside  Sisterhood Success

Beer to brew and dragons to slay—it’s the top of the to-do list for South Africa’s small but growing brigade of microbrewers.
Brewers may have the dream of creating the perfect amber liquid and the business savvy to unleash it on the world, but the bureaucratic and legal hurdles to get their product to market are nothing short of a Kafkaesque nightmare.
South Africa has around 90 operational microbreweries at present and dozens more backyard brewers regularly making their appearances at brew-offs and small beer tasting events. But more than staking a claim on local palates, they want to capitalize on the craft beer revolution and become major players.
To brew, to distribute and to sell beer requires licenses and here lurks the untamed, fire-spewing monster. The licensing process is a notoriously clunky and costly process by the time paperwork and the attorney or consultant fees are thrown in. Worst of all, there are no apparent reasons why it should be this way.
Ndumiso Madlala is the founder of MadMead, the company brewing Soweto Gold. Madlala is a former master brewer for South African Breweries (SAB). In 2011, he decided to go it alone to become as he calls it a mini-SAB that is able to target the rising black middle class in Soweto.
“People in townships are getting robbed because they’re not getting to taste the beer styles that craft brewers are putting out there,” says Madlala.
Madlala is a 51% majority shareholder of his company. He had to secure private funding from a Swedish investor and get sponsorship from the Independent Development Corporation (IDC) to plug huge financial gaps before he even got started. It cost in the region of $790,000 to get his brewery on target to brew three million liters a year when they opened for business at the beginning of the year.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31280 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_145062103-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_145062103-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_145062103-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_145062103-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_145062103-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/shutterstock_145062103.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“The license process has cost us R12,000 ($1,184) and we had to use a liquor license consultant too. We had to go through the usual things like tax clearances, police clearances and all of that but we had to wait month after month with no developments,” says Madlala.
Eventually MadMead struck a deal with established microbrewery Nottingham Road in KwaZulu-Natal to piggyback on their license to start brewing.
“You have to secure premises for brewing in a certain area, away from schools and churches and you have to have a lease agreement before you apply, which means you end up paying rent for months and not using it for brewing,” he says.
It is a frustrating wait and a blow to business innovators who are chipping away at a market previously cornered by the giants of SAB and Brandhouse.
Natalie and Stephen Meyer, the co-owners of the Clarens Brewery in the Free State, applied for their license in 2006, which she says may have been a time when licensing was a little easier.
They started out as seasonal home brewers making the most of windfall produce on their cherry and apple farm. When they decided to get into the industry to sell their brew, it cost them around $1,184, including lawyer fees and a four-month wait. When they moved to a more prominent location in the tourist town a few years later they had to reapply for their license. This time it cost them $1,677 and a nine–month wait.
“The typical process is that you have to eventually get a lawyer who starts legal proceedings against the liquor board, giving them 28 days to respond. Only then will the board get into action,” she says.
Meyer is frustrated that as a small business, an entrepreneur and an employer in a sector that ticks many boxes for success, they are not better supported.
“I know guys who have had to wait anything between two and four years and then eventually have to get lawyers on board, which of course costs money, to get a license,” she says.
“It makes no sense,” says Thea Blom, owner of Oakes Brewhouse in Modderfontein, west of Johannesburg.
It is an all-woman microbrewery that is a perfect addition for the historical village within the suburb.
“Craft beers are really on the map right now and we knew this would be a great fit for the village,” says Blom.
But they were forced to brew under court interdict until their license was finally approved, 18 months later.
“With the liquor boards making licensing processes so impossible, it just means more people will simply operate illegally. It’s crazy because the more people you have properly licensed the more people they could have on the tax base and they can audit them anytime,” she says.
Marius Blom of Couzyn Hertzog &amp; Horak attorneys, who does licensing applications in all nine provinces, says the long delays are stifling start-up businesses and tying up the liquor boards in court cases. Costs are ultimately passed onto taxpayers. These numerous failings have left the entire licensing process a sham.
“There is a lack of knowledge of the law; a lack of administration, which can be as basic as proper filing; and a lack of capacity or plain inefficiency,” says Blom of the majority of the provincial boards as well as the National Liquor Authority.
Blom says, in the years after 1994, the National Liquor Authority was decentralized into provincial boards with the intention of making licensing simple and cost effective.  The opposite has happened. He adds that while alcohol has been regarded a dangerous commodity for the last 100 years in need of regulation, 90% of all alcohol sellers in this country today do so illegally in unlicensed taverns and shebeens.
Microbrewers though must still face off the dragon of licensing and are left wondering why they are the ones left to put out fires.

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Hopping Hurdles

Glistening black feathers of a swan’s tutu gently float to the Russian dance floor as I glide dreamily across the stage in this cold and curious country. I feel the first sight of dark brown skin dancing this Russian classic is met by warmth, as strong as the theater lights, by the Moscow audience.
I arrived at the birthplace of my dreams where I was the first black ballerina in history to perform The Dying Swan to Mother Russia, a ballet first presented in St. Petersburg in 1905. I followed in the glorious and deft footsteps of the legendary Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. It is a death, choreographed by the great Mikhail Fokine, I relived a hundred times in 40 cities and five time zones, over two months.
Russian ballet impresario Ruslan Nurtdinov invited me to perform in a Russian gala, based around my Dying Swan, titled Black Swan Gala. This dance became the symbol of the new Russian ballet in the early 20th century and is now a symbol of the new African renaissance. I was hoping to change minds and win friends with a powerful performance during a long journey.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31250 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/photo-by-Susanne-Holbaek-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/photo-by-Susanne-Holbaek-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/photo-by-Susanne-Holbaek-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/photo-by-Susanne-Holbaek-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/photo-by-Susanne-Holbaek.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
As an African ballerina on the road, I had to face the difficulties of this marathon, touring the length and breadth of the largest country on Earth. In my 30 years, I have been lucky enough to travel the world with my dancing, but I have never experienced anything like Russia. In a few words: Russia was bitter-sweet. My sense of humor and internal strength pulled me through the tough 20-hour train rides, 15-hour bus rides, constant jet lag, ever-changing casts of dancers and a brick wall-like communication barrier. I was blown away by the complex language. In crucial times of urgency: I could not understand, I could not answer and had to rely on a bizarre form of sign language to get by.
I was as foreign to the Russians as all of Russia was to me. From the first steps off the plane to our first performances in St. Petersburg, to the backwaters of central Russia, everyone looked at me strangely. I was assured by the tour managers that I was not suffering from paranoia and that as a black woman I am an oddity in the eyes of many Russian people. A dedicated, focused, hardworking and steadfast nation at first glance, Russians fulfilled all my pre-conceived stereotypes of a tough country. This all changed once I started socializing with the dancers and different communities during the tour. Warm, loyal and kind-hearted are characteristics that I now associate with a Russian personality. There is a strange comfort in being unfamiliar to the unfamiliar. It leads to cultural exchanges that allow for growth, development and tolerance.
The journey was the fruit of Joburg Ballet, the company I work for. I owe thanks to the CEO, Dirk Badenhorst, who always supports and encourages South Africans to take advantage of these international opportunities. Dirk believes in a term called ballet diplomacy, a concept that is central to the vision of Joburg Ballet. As a black African ballet ambassador I believe that the art of dance acts as a tool to strengthen the ties and friendships between nations. Ballet diplomacy works towards defining dance as a universal language that breaks down borders and boundaries and unites different cultures, languages and backgrounds.
With parts of Russia still fixed within the old fashioned Soviet ideals of the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia With Love, my tour to this magnificent country was certainly a learning curve. I was blessed to perform before thousands of ballet-hungry audiences in a culture that has a rich and traditional love affair with the art form. It took me on a journey back in time to the age of the Russian dynasties of tsars and queens.   FL

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To Russia With Style—From Russia With A Headache

Africa continues to grip New York and is not likely to let go of its tight hold anytime soon. 2013 was an exciting year of celebration and progress for all things Africa and there is no doubt that this will continue well into 2014 and beyond. It has been impressive to hear policymakers, entrepreneurs and media so willing to talk about Africa in a new and different way, so much so that some commentators are now complaining that they are tired of hearing that ‘Africa is rising’. Some people are never pleased!
It is not just in New York, however—other parts of the East Coast, such as Washington D.C., have also been highlighting African progress. In October, I was honored to moderate a panel on African technology and entrepreneurship hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus at their annual Africa Braintrust event. The Braintrust, hosted by Californian congresswoman Karen Bass, who has been deeply passionate about the relationship between Africa and the United States for many years, also featured the presidents of Somalia and Burkina Faso, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Blaise Campaoré respectively.
The annual United Nations General Assembly was also well attended. British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng appeared with a throng of his celebrity friends including actor Jamie Foxx, Nigerian oil tycoon Kola Aluko, millionaire Tony Elumelu, and a number of key people from the African Development Bank. Boateng introduced his latest non-fashion venture, the Made In Africa Foundation, which aims to lift 200 million Africans out of poverty through infrastructure projects and the new Africa50 Fund. They had the privilege of ringing the NASDAQ stock market opening bell to mark the launch of the fund. Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, also paid a visit to the New York Stock Exchange to ring the closing bell, making history as the first Nigerian to do so.
The African diaspora in New York has been getting a lot more attention from the media lately. One of these is Amini Kajunju who is the president and CEO of the Africa-America Institute. She will be honored in 2014 as the Advocate of the Year. And who can forget that yet again an African—Geoffrey Mutai from Kenya—won the New York City Marathon in an incredible time of 2:08:24. In fact, eight of the top 10 placed athletes were from Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Impressive stuff.
Another New Yorker making waves is Derrick Ashong. The television presenter and musician is the first African with his own show on American network TV. He is an anchor of Latino TV channel Fusion’s new show, where he covers politics, cultural events, the day’s big headlines as well as the entertainment and social media trends that matter most to young Hispanics and millennials. Although he is not covering African topics directly, it is important that someone like him represents the continent in this way.
An exciting arrival for 2014 is the New Africa Centre, based in an upscale part of Harlem. The institute is spearheaded by Mo Ibrahim and his daughter Hadeel and aims to showcase the best of African art and intellect. The Ibrahims will be raising up to $60 million to renovate the center and host an art gallery, museum, theater, policy institute and executive club. It is expected to be a magnet for Africans, Afrophiles and investors. Guests at the opening included Bono, Harry Belafonte and the reverend Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren, musicians Youssou N’Dour and Angélique Kidjo and basketball legend Dikembe Mutombo.
“There is no African institute in this city where we can exhibit our art and culture and hold debates about African issues,” says Hadeel, who is to be the co-chair of the new center’s board.
African business continues to thrive with New York private equity groups, such as Blackstone, KKR and Pinebridge Investments, investing in the continent. Such companies believe that there is much more to come in terms of Africa’s growth and development and that there are huge economic opportunities available. This is a good sign, particularly as the Obama administration and other vested parties desire an increase in foreign direct investment.
Here’s to Africa, onwards and upwards!   FL

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Onwards And Upwards In New York

Sicilian-born Silvio Zaccareo says most Italian recipes only have four or five ingredients.
“The French are probably our prime rivals when it comes to food. But where they use more exotic ingredients in their dishes, we like to keep it simple.”
Silvio, 36, is a civil engineer by trade but a chef by choice. In between risotto and pasta preparations at the Villa Rosa Kempinski’s Lucca Café and Deli Ristorante, he shares an interesting career story spanning 16 years of cooking and in the process reveals some secrets behind the art of Italian cuisine.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31228 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/3-Arunga-300x209.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3-Arunga-300x209.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3-Arunga-600x419.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3-Arunga-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3-Arunga.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“We take a lot of pride in preparing and enjoying food. It is not just to fill the stomach. It is a way of life.”
Another tip is using ingredients in season. Even though technology makes it easy to find products all year round, it is important to use seasonal vegetables. Silvio explains there is a distinct difference between a tomato harvested from a greenhouse in February and one ripened under the European sun in August.
After a two-year stint at a fine dining fish restaurant, this self-taught chef moved on to a trattoria where he picked up quite a few secret family recipes.
“Italian recipes are selflessly guarded. Most often it’s about the number of ingredients—the original ragù for example only contains beef, bacon, celery, carrots, onions and tomato sauce—and the rest is left to the cooking process.”
At Lucca you will find Silvio easily interacting with patrons and getting their feedback. To him it is important to integrate the local palette to that of authentic Italian dishes.
“With our cooking at Lucca we are trying to get as close as possible to the original Italian kitchen. We don’t want to be just another Italian restaurant abroad,” he says as he rushes off to prepare another order.

1-Arunga

Trumpeting Africa from Dublin to MILAN

Sicilian-born Silvio Zaccareo says most Italian recipes only have four or five ingredients.
“The French are probably our prime rivals when it comes to food. But where they use more exotic ingredients in their dishes, we like to keep it simple.”
Silvio, 36, is a civil engineer by trade but a chef by choice. In between risotto and pasta preparations at the Villa Rosa Kempinski’s Lucca Café and Deli Ristorante, he shares an interesting career story spanning 16 years of cooking and in the process reveals some secrets behind the art of Italian cuisine.
“We take a lot of pride in preparing and enjoying food. It is not just to fill the stomach. It is a way of life.”
Another tip is using ingredients in season. Even though technology makes it easy to find products all year round, it is important to use seasonal vegetables. Silvio explains there is a distinct difference between a tomato harvested from a greenhouse in February and one ripened under the European sun in August.
After a two-year stint at a fine dining fish restaurant, this self-taught chef moved on to a trattoria where he picked up quite a few secret family recipes.
“Italian recipes are selflessly guarded. Most often it’s about the number of ingredients—the original ragù for example only contains beef, bacon, celery, carrots, onions and tomato sauce—and the rest is left to the cooking process.”
At Lucca you will find Silvio easily interacting with patrons and getting their feedback. To him it is important to integrate the local palette to that of authentic Italian dishes.
“With our cooking at Lucca we are trying to get as close as possible to the original Italian kitchen. We don’t want to be just another Italian restaurant abroad,” he says as he rushes off to prepare another order.

DSC_5791-Edit

Seasonal and Simple

The art of portraying real life through a camera lens is common practice but, in the past year, great stories with roots to Africa can be seen on global movie screens.
12 Years A Slave, based on a true story, is currently being rated as one of the greatest films ever made about American slavery. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup, a freeborn African-American kidnapped into slavery for a dozen years. Kenyan actress, Lupita Nyong’o, in an excellent performance, portrays Patsy, a plantation slave caught up in a tangle of abuse and liaisons between her master, mistress and Northrup. Hollywood was abuzz when she recently bagged the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ award at the Oscars.
Two other recent releases are Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom which premiered in the 2013 Toronto Film Festival in September and is based on Nelson Mandela’s autobiography; and Half of a Yellow Sun which is adapted from the novel about the Nigerian civil war in the late 1960s, written by Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  With this in mind, it is no surprise that the movie Nairobi Half Life has brought Kenya’s film industry to the world’s attention. It is loosely based on a real-life story and features Joseph Wairimu as Mwas, a young man who leaves his rural home to pursue his acting dream in Nairobi and ends up joining the criminal world in a bid to survive.
What stands out is that the film is a debut for 32-year-old director Tosh Gitonga whose inspiration came from hearing and reading stories on the lives led by youth on the other side of Nairobi.
“When the police shot dead a gang in broad daylight a few years ago, it was front page news for a week. People followed the story keenly and I asked myself, ‘Why can’t we portray that on our screens? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a film scene with a police flying squad car chasing down a Toyota full of gangsters on Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue?’”
He says that directing Nairobi Half Life moved the story from a primetime news item to a meaningful narrative.
“It makes the audience reflect on who these gangsters really are. Why do they choose a risky life? What circumstances led them to these desperate choices?”
The film premiered at the 2012 Durban Film Festival in South Africa and received a Best Actor Award. That marked the beginning as other awards from festivals in Verona, London, Dubai, Kenya, Nashville and Los Angeles began rolling in. The film got selected as the Kenyan entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar for the 85th Academy Awards but did not make the final shortlist. It marked the first time Kenya has submitted a film in this category.
It has enjoyed box office success in Kenya, grossing $118,000 in only two theater screens. In Africa, Nairobi Half Life screened in Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania and did successful tours in the United States and Europe throughout the past year.
In Hollywood terms, this success is relatively modest and reflects the long journey ahead for Africa’s film industry. The biggest challenge is that most African films have American or British actors taking lead roles. The credits roll with familiar names like Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris and Thandie Newton. There was a public outcry in South Africa when Jennifer Hudson got the lead role in Winnie.
“It’s about bankable actors. The film backers and studios have to make a return on their money. It’s a business and until the African market becomes formidable with low piracy levels, lead actors of films based on African stories will not be Africans,” says Gitonga.
He adds that Nairobi Half Life was shot on a budget of $500,000 due to a training initiative led by German director Tom Tykwer, with the support of the German government. Each year, after a rigorous selection process, 10 to 12 African filmmakers are selected to go through a two-week workshop where they learn the art of making films of an international level and interact with global professionals.
“If the cost hadn’t been subsidized, the budget would have been $1.2 million; a sum that is quite difficult to raise for African filmmakers.”
Gitonga describes himself as a cinema freak who got into the industry by chance during an internship at a film studio. He drifted to the directors departments and honed his skills by directing extras, eventually becoming a first assistant director for several films like Justin Chadwick’s First Grader.
“I never went to film school but spent 10 years learning in the field and got selected as the director through this training initiative, which is one of the best things that ever happened to the African film industry because we have passion and talent but lack the resources. They fund the workshop and film which helps bypass the countless short films one has to do to prove that you are a good filmmaker and can be trusted with money. I now have much better chances as I have a full feature-length film under my belt,” says Gitonga.
He adds that film distribution, where the masses get to watch the movie at affordable prices similar to buying milk and bread, needs to be resolved.
“We have to create a culture of movie going which increases the consumer appetite and results in more films being made, more movie theaters and DVDs available for sale at local stores.”
Perhaps if filmmakers across the continent merge to tell our own stories, it will create a cult following in the theaters. A semi-autobiographical film based on Kenya’s best-selling fictional book by John Kiriamiti, My Life in Crime is currently in production. The film with a proposed budget of $4 million has combined the best of Nollywood and Riverwood—Nigeria’s and Kenya’s film industries. The film rights are owned by Kenyan producer Janet Kirina, Nollywood’s superstar Jim Iyke has the lead role and the script writers are Kenyan.  Time will tell whether this venture will be successful, remembering Chinua Achebe’s famous words: Until lions tell their tale, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

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