Thabo Molefe, famously known as ‘Tbo Touch’ in entertainment circles, is not your typical, hunky, media personality. In all frankness, mention of his name rarely inspires dreamy emotional reactions from adoring fans. And even though he does his fair share of kissing babies and dishing out top-notch prizes on his many media platforms; the lion’s share of the coverage is about his “annoying” American accent, tabloid titbits of his personal life and how he is supposedly the world’s biggest name-dropper; hell-bent on importing American culture to Africa.
As someone who is no stranger to his drive-time show on South African Metro FM, and the many television shows he has hosted; I was not surprised or put off by the strong American influence which marks his speech and content. With Touch, it is definitely all about hip hop, basketball and “swag”.
“What a lot of people do not know is that my family has a very strong exile background,” he says. “My connection to the US is enforced by the fact that I was raised there, schooled there and I even lost blood there,” he continues, explaining that his father, Vernon Molefe, was assassinated there because of his political activism.
“My father had a project which saw him working with South African struggle icons. Through the Nelson Mandela Education Fund, he facilitated troubled South African kids to be taken to the States to be educated , away from the horrors of the apartheid uprisings. So one can say that I feel indebted to his cause,” Touch elaborates. He says his father was shot seven times in 1992, and that his murder remains unsolved to this day.
“I was taken in by Bishop Noel Jones who became my guardian, as a way of paying homage to my late father,” he says.
The month of July is of significance to Touch. This month brings to a climax his plans of returning to permanently live in the United States, and as he puts it—this time he’s going there to make huge investments, and not to look for hand-outs, like before.
“I feel that I have come full circle as Tbo Touch. In as much as I am grateful for the opportunities that I have been given by the national broadcaster (SABC) since my return to the country seven years ago; I feel it is time to take my radio show, The Touch Down 3-to-6, to New York, where it will be broadcast live on a daily basis for the next three years. This has never been done on African radio before, and what it basically means is that instead of calling up big name artists like Jay Z or Mary J. Blige and speaking to them telephonically, I will have them live in studio interacting with our South African listeners,” he says with palpable excitement.
“This has taken many months to set up. My team and I have been at pains to get the national broadcaster’s buy-in, but now I can announce that it is all systems go. We have set up our own studios in New York, and we have engineers on-site working around the clock to make sure that the show runs seamlessly. The radio show will also feed content to other programs as well. Top American broadcaster Ryan Seacrest has been doing it for years; I feel it is now my turn to do it for South Africa.
“No one can debate the fact that New York is the hub of the entertainment, and more specifically, music industry, so really one has not achieved global recognition until you have a New York footprint.”
While this is clearly great news for him as a broadcaster, Touch says he won’t be the only one benefitting from this new arrangement.
“One of the main reasons I am this excited about the venture is because the show, even though broadcast from New York daily, will continue to play African music.” For many decades, Africans have been flooded with American music and culture, so it is about time someone takes ours to them.
“I am hoping this will give local artists another avenue to be exposed and “picked up” by the real captains of the music industry—the kind of artists that practically live on the Forbes’ richest lists. And I am hoping this will be an opportunity where collaborations and meaningful partnerships between those artists and African artists can be fostered,” he says.
Music and radio are not the only elements central to Touch’s relocation; television station SABC1 has also commissioned him as an NBA Basketball sport correspondent, which means he will be courtside every week, linking fans to the game and its icons.
“The culture of basketball and the NBA has been continually growing around the continent since the late 90s, sadly though we could only watch re-runs and old games, but now we will stream it to the continent with no serious delays. As a game that I personally love as well, I am also very excited that I will be experiencing it up close and sharing that experience with the sport’s many African fans,” says Touch.
Not only does Touch seem to have the entertainment side of things well-covered. He is also gearing up to become a businessman in the hospitality industry, which may come as a surprise to many.
“My relocation will also coincide with the launch of a restaurant franchise I am opening up in Manhattan with my business partner Jeff Christie. The restaurant will have a special twist—its main commodity will be trading in wine from South Africa, and we will also have a live-streaming camera linked-up to another franchise in Cape Town, so that patrons on either side can have a kind of shared experience,” he explains.
“The restaurant’s music catalogue will also consist entirely of South African and African music. So I am working very closely with the South African Department of Tourism on this project, as I believe that the restaurant will have an impact on more people wanting the actual South African experience,” Touch says. He needed to raise $450,000 to get the business on its legs, which he did subsequent to getting many doors slammed in his face.
Asking him whether he will consider living in South Africa again, seems a bit foolhardy at this stage for a man with his kind of plans, but alas it has to be asked. “My concert production company, called Touch Lives, will continue to be based in Johannesburg. Touch Lives hosts four major concerts every year, and I will be here for each one. I also have a two-year-old son who will continue to be based here, even though his mother and I have come to an agreement that he will spend some time with me in New York. In many ways South Africa is still my home,” he concludes.

Touching African Lives From The Big Apple

Carlo Van Wageningen’s working space is not his private office on the fringes of Nairobi , nice though it is, but rather a narrow corridor running between two high-range mountains near Kenya’s border with Sudan and Ethiopia.
The 250km corridor, along Lake Turkana and cutting through Kuala and Nyiru mountains, enjoys gusts of wind all-year round. It has a stunning 24,000 acre geography that lends itself to the newest obsession of generating wind power. Wageningen, the chairman of Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), finds the space and wind quite inspirational, and has turned them into his working station for seven years.
“A good wind resource is tantamount to an oil discovery,” he says, clearly a euphemism for the lucrative nature of green and cheap energy in era of expensive oil. “It’s good to look for oil, but it’s even better to exploit the wind.”
LTWP, the company he founded seven years ago, will begin construction of 365 turbines in June in this arid region. The wind farm is valued at $775 million and is expected to produce 300 megawatts (MW) of power to be fed into Kenya’s national grid.
This will be Africa’s largest wind farm, dwarfing Morocco’s $300 million plant, with a capacity of 140 MW generated from 165 turbines. Wageningen says the wind farm is expected to begin producing power in 2014 at a threshold capacity of 50 MW, reaching its full capacity of 300 MW in 2015.
Like many great businesses today, the wind farm idea was mooted in the most unlikely way. In 2004, Wageningen and his Dutch entrepreneur friend, Vuillem Dollem, who had cut his teeth in agribusiness, were drinking coffee, from enamel cups, at a Nairobi café when wind became a topic.
“Dollem used to do sport fishing,” recalls Wageningen. “He was baffled by the amount of wind he was met with during his expeditions.”
Dollem had always been a fan of wind energy, if you will pardon the expression. In those days, oil prices were cheap at $20-a-barrel and wind technology was still rudimentary. Motivation for cheaper alternative energy was sparse.
In 2004, when prices rose, hitting $50-a-barrel in 2005, Wageningen started looking at the wind opportunity seriously. So, he got his two investment partners, Christopher Staubo and John Mwangi, to buy into the idea and soon they were six.
“I had little knowledge in wind but simply sensed it was a very good time to do it. I brought in partners and other entrepreneurs from Netherlands who were mature in wind energy,” he says.
Most of the partners liked what they saw. Lake Turkana was an impressive site with vast space and few people.
“We knew from an environmental point of view it would be easy,” he says.
Wageningen and his partners guarded jealously the project lest it be taken up by other cash-flush investors. For two years they did feasibility studies.
Then the dream turned nightmare.
The new company faced logistics challenges. Turkana is an investor’s version of hell on earth. For starters, it’s a semi-arid region and with no physical infrastructure–no roads, power or even water.
“It became clear that we would have to go large and spend really good money on constructing power lines&#8230; and roads to transport materials and turbines.”
Despite these costly troubles, there was one consolation: the wind was ideal for power production. It rates better than US and European wind farms.
The wind blows in off the Indian Ocean as a low-level jet and hits the Ethiopian islands. The thrust diverts part of it to the Far East, creating monsoons, the rest is attracted by the low pressure in the Sahara desert to blow through the Turkana corridor towards Sudan.
“When it hits the two mountains it’s compressed and creates a venturi effect that accelerates the wind. There’s no such phenomenon anywhere else in the world,” says Wageningen
The wind project proved a hard sell to Kenyan investors and private equity firms. “We approached a number of local investor groups who basically said, ‘Thank you very much, but no thank you,’” Wageningen recalls.
His first overseas stop was the Netherlands. The project needed lots of funds initially—around €5.5 million ($6.8 million)—for a comprehensive feasibility venture. They got €4 million ($4.9 million), thanks to two prominent Dutch wind investors who convinced others to invest in the Kenyan project. The initial investors raised the difference.
“As entrepreneurs we said we will not be scared because of the cost. We are looking at 300 MW and a yield of 50% to 65% of installed capacity. In the US on-shore wind farms average 26-27% yield, meaning for every one megawatt of wind power installed the actual power per year is 270KW. In our case we’ll get 500-600KW,” says Wageningen.
The company expects to reach a financial close for the project as soon as the World Bank gives guarantees to investors. The wind farm is financed 70% debt and 30% equity. The African Development Bank is arranging loans to cover 70% of the project cost, with the remaining 30% from private investment funds and co-developers.
Seven years later, €17 million ($21.2 million) has been spent for no energy. By the time of financial close, Wageningen reckons they would have cast €23 million ($28.7 million) to the wind.
This kind of investment is for those with a long-term view. It will take 12 years for the wind farm to break even though Wageningen says there will be a dividend payout to investors in between.
“This is normal for projects of this size if you consider that the six founding fathers of this project have been working for six years. It is a deferred salary, and we hope to get it one day. The passion has been more important than the money. To do something like this as a first case, we feel proud. We are driven a lot more by dedication; of course the money will be very welcome.”
On completion, the power generated from the wind farm will form 17% of total installed capacity in Kenya. Together with geothermal, the new sources of power by 2015/16 will represent at least 40% of power pool/mix and could halve tariffs.
Managing such a huge project is no walk in the park. Wageningen says he works with a construction management plan that identifies the various interfaces.
“Once construction starts, we know what starts and what follows. You need prudent management to ensure each one of these contractors works and meets targets.”
Wageningen, who holds a high school diploma and a number of specialized courses in personnel and project management, says success in business is about thinking big and outside the box.
“It’s about experience. I have been so diversified. And I don’t work alone. I have strong teams,” he says.
Wageningen has always been a trouble shooter, after the experience he gained working for the United Nations. He worked for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for 12 years in Rome, Niger, Benin and then Zimbabwe until 1988 when he joined Fata European Group, an Italian engineering company, in Kenya.
Five years later, the parent company collapsed, but he decided to stay on in Kenya and went into entrepreneurship.
“I have had a number of businesses,” he says. “Some have been successful while others have failed. You can’t win them all.”
His first venture was Sally Days, a furniture maker, in 1993, which he exited after selling his stake to the local partner and went into technology.
“I have always liked innovation. Even with furniture we were doing it in a different way. We started garden furniture made of wood. Those days you’d only see metal furniture not even plastic and even shelter umbrellas were metal. That always bewildered me. Kenya was rich in wood and cotton, and we found a way to use it,” he says.
It turns out Wageningen is the serial entrepreneur who sets up businesses and sells. “I like seeing success and going for something new. That excites me,” he says.
Wageningen was the first to bring plastic cards, like credit cards, to Kenya. He sold the businesses when it had 70% market share, and went into telecommunications as a franchisee for Global Star in 22 African countries. But the US parent company collapsed and left him high and dry. In 1996/7 he invested in a small bank in Nairobi and today Chase Bank is a big player in the financial services industry.
“I’m not sure. Maybe when this wind farm is up and running something exciting may just come up,” he says.
Lake Turkana Wind Power has opened a whole new investment world for Wageningen and Kenya as a country. He is looking at expanding the project, technology allowing, to 2,000 MW. Before he came in there were only a handful of turbines in the country. Now there are at least a dozen projects awaiting approval. The government is developing a comprehensive wind atlas to attract more investors.It is very predictable wind, but the investor had to measure and observe its trends for close to six years–just to be sure.
“The wind pattern is predictable. We know when power will go down and maximum production, and so we can inform the power distributor in advance. We have no turbulence, something that turbines don’t like–gusts of wind at 29m/s, like a hair drier.”
In Europe wind can drop in 10 minutes by 50% , and if providers are not prepared you suddenly get blackouts. Lake Turkana Wind Power has entered into a contract to sell power to Kenya Power at a cost of less than $.10 per kilowatt hour, making it Kenya’s cheapest energy source, next to geothermal energy.
A 428-kilometer transmission line will also be built to link the wind farm to the national grid at an additional cost of $188 million. For a world slowly turning to wind power after being let down by hydro-electricity, gusts of high-speed winds have become a precious resource.

Casting Money To The Wind

Christopher Okocha, or Chris, as he was referred to, was one of the passengers on the ill-fated airline that carried 146 passengers and a crew of seven from the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport in Abuja, Nigeria’s  capital, to the Murtala Muhammed Airport in the commercial hub of Lagos. He was one of the many Nigerians who constitute the nucleus of the country, who through their daily motions, are pivotal to the overall development of this giant of Africa. A young and visionary man, he had been married for about two years to the love of his life, during which time he became a father to his daughter. Chris’ life is a sad example of the misfortune that befell several families, as many like his small child lost fathers, while others like his young wife have become widows. The devastating crash wiped out whole families who were on board the airline, while children were left orphaned. The families of the victims have all experienced an irreparable loss; they are left bereaved and despondent, left alone with memories of their kin that do little to soothe the pain.
In the hours after the crash, a pervasive cloud of gloom hung over the country that had been weary from similar incidents that occurred in the past. Nigeria is no stranger to airline crashes. Its unenviable record of 10 air crashes in the last 20 years means that it has had an average of one fatal crash in every other year since 1992. A particularly disastrous spell in the 12 months between October 2005 and October 2006, saw three commercial airlines—each carrying a substantial number of passengers—meet a similar fate. After six years of relative safety, Nigerians bore a palpable sense of relief and cautious optimism at the changing fortune of the country with regard to airplane crashes. Many believe these incidents had become a thing of the past, but the crash of Dana Air flight 0092 represents a calamitous setback, which due to the scale, is a visible scar that has blighted the consciousness of the nation. Among the passengers on the flight was the group general manager of public affairs for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Levi Ajuonuma, a respected journalist who was chief spokesman of the state owned oil corporation for nine years. Likewise, Ehime Aikhomu, the son of a former vice president who held office under the military in the 90s, also lost his life in the incident.
The airline involved, Dana Air, is a subsidiary of Dana Group of companies, which is owned by the Hathiramani family. The family has lived in Nigeria for over four decades, they control a number of subsidiaries that play in the automobile, consumer goods, pharmaceutical and aviation industries. The airline has been operational since 2008, with a fleet of five planes that fly across various regions of the country. The aircraft involved in the crash was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 which was commissioned in 1990, when it was bought by its previous owners, American Alaska Airlines. The plane was reported to have had a history of incidents including a wiring incident that caused smoke to fill the cabin in 2002, while it was being used by Alaska Airlines. Dana Airlines is reported to have bought the plane in 2008.
As a result of this airplane crash, Nigeria’s aviation authorities are now faced with the enormous task of restoring the shattered confidence of the public in the aviation sector. This is despite comments by both local and international regulatory agencies in the aftermath of the crash that significant improvements have been made in the country’s aviation sector in terms of adherence to safety procedures and international standards. In 2006, the industry regulators issued a recapitalization order to airline operators. This led to a significant reduction in the number of carriers with only eight able to meet the new requirements. Since then, the carriers had operated remarkably well, with no major incidents recorded. But notwithstanding, some experts had indicated that airline maintenance and overall safety practises in the industry were not what they should be. On the evidence of the recent crash, it appears that they have been proven right. Dana is now liable to pay compensation worth over $15 million to families of the crash victims, in line with global practices and rates for airline passenger insurance. It is reported that about 70% of the insurance risk was retained with foreign-based insurance companies; therefore the local companies will avoid taking a massive hit from the claims. Thus, for both the aviation authorities and the airlines, the long and arduous task of addressing the challenges in the sector has just begun.

TRAGEDY ON A SUNDAY

While Spain faces a 23.6% unemployment rate and a forecasted 1.7% economic decline this year, Angola is the world’s fastest growing economy of the last decade, with an impressive 12% growth forecast for 2012. Ten years after the civil war (1975-2002), Angola has risen like a phoenix from the ashes.
Few could have predicted this. Ivan Pizarro (37), along with his brother, David (43), and José María Sánchez Soler (52) opted for Angola in the middle of Spain’s construction bubble. “People lived in a Peter Pan world, they spent crazy amounts of money. Our friends called us nuts when we left,” Ivan recalls.
Eight years later, Global Telesat has been named Most Innovative Company in Africa by Spanish newspaper El Mundo, while most of the Pizarros’ friends in Spain are struggling. “Do you see this pile here? All Spanish and Portuguese applications. Most of our Spanish friends have tried to get a job at Global Telesat. We’ve hired 10 of them.”
More than that, the European economic meltdown has been advantageous for Global Telesat. “We are able to recruit Europeans we didn’t have access to before. And all the European companies fleeing to Angola need the internet.”
Global Telesat’s history began in 2003. Its founders were commissioned to build a satellite cyber cafe for the Spanish soldiers in Iraq, which they did from their parents’ garage during the Christmas holidays. “The company that commissioned us then offered us a telecommunications license in Equatorial Guinea via José María, so we rushed to create Global Telesat and flew there,” Ivan says. They “escaped” after three days.
Instead, they decided to embark on a similar adventure in Angola. Off they went, with $10,000 among the three of them plus “two very cheap, old and tired second-hand jeeps”.
“José María and I managed to find a house in the city center, which was in a really bad state. It cost $2,500 a month and needed $50,000 worth of renovations,” Ivan says. Due to investment expenses, the three only managed to cover costs during the second year. “We almost went bankrupt twice. Luanda’s incredibly high cost of living was the toughest aspect of getting started.” For Sánchez Soler, finding the appropriate local partners in Angola was the number one difficulty, before “bureaucracy and a very slow business rhythm”.
The Pizarros and Sánchez Soler started out doing a bit of everything, including fixing and selling computers and VSATs (very small aperture terminals). They briefly ran an LED display business. “It was a rough time, in a tense environment. We knew nothing and no-one, lived without furniture and worked from our sitting room for almost two years, until we could afford our current office.”
Soon, Global Telesat embarked on one international high-profile satellite internet project after the other. It created the well-publicized, first continental satellite internet connection from Morocco to Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar in 2004; connected the Spanish army in Herat and Kabul to the world-wide web in 2006; and built satellite cyber cafes for soldiers in Libreville and Kinshasa during the UN supervision of the Congo elections in 2007.
Officially registering Global Telesat in Angola was not easy. Sanchez Soler and David bought an existing, but inactive debt-free, Angolan company in 2004. It had a so-called ‘alvara’ (permit), which allows you to import and export and is “a must for every company in Angola”. Ivan points to a huge pile of documents in the cupboard behind him. “Never start a company in Angola,” he says jokingly. “You need each one of those, and each requires 20 letters to a given ministry. It takes years to complete the whole process.”
Angola ranks 168 out of 182 countries on Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, but Ivan says Global Telesat won’t accept or pay bribes. “That has both disadvantages and advantages. We miss out on many business opportunities because of that, but at the same time, it secures lots of deals with the type of people we want to work with: embassies, NGOs and international companies and organizations.”
Judging from Global Telesat’s achievements, one might wonder exactly what opportunities it has missed out on. The company recently became the first in Angola to own a European teleport. It has the exclusive rights to RascomStar in Angola and owns RascomStar’s only European teleport. Global Telesat is also the only Angolan representative of MWEB and Israeli joint venture company SkyVision, one of the world’s leading satellite operators.
With around 50 employees, the majority of them Angolan, Global Telesat provides satellite internet and electronic security equipment to major clients, including the Cuban and Angolan governments; Angolan state oil company Sonangol; Interpol; the Angolan Immigration Service (SME); beer brands Cuca, Ekka and Nocal; Unicef; the Angolan armed forces (FAA); embassies; and international NGOs. Its annual turnover in 2011 was between $4 and $6 million. This year, it forecasts an $8 million turnover. Global Telesat has grown a steady 25% annually.
The fact that Multitel, MS Telecom, ITA and Dimension Data are Global Telesat’s main competitors is anything but a problem. “What makes doing business in Angolan telecommunications unique and fun is the fact that almost all of the competitors are friends. We even share houses sometimes,” Ivan says.
Ivan studied electro-technical engineering after specializing in telecommunications in Ireland. He accepted a job there at Dell and experienced the boom and burst of the dotcom bubble while at Dell. He then moved to Hewlett-Packard in Barcelona and various smaller IT companies before becoming project manager of Siemens Germany. For four years, he oversaw the implementation of GSM satellite stations in the Middle East, USA, China, Pakistan and Brazil. He also brings extensive satellite internet experience from some time as a political activist.
Originally a technical engineer with a telecommunica-tions specialization, David has seven years of electronic security experience at Digisoft in Spain.
Sánchez Soler studied piloting then physics in Granada. He worked as a salesman at Spain’s first private, commercial IT group, Centre de Càlcul de Sabadell, for eight years. At the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, and together with David, he developed software to feed 20,000 people a day on behalf of the company, Jomipsa. Next, as Jomipsa’s commercial director, he dealt with more than 50 countries, including Angola, until 2003. Jomipsa designed and manufactured combat food rations for armies.
After Angola’s civil war ended in 2002, the nature of doing business with Angola changed drastically. “But Jomipsa didn’t want to invest in Angola, so I jumped out and looked for partners. In December 2003, we founded food company SPA (Societdade de Produtos Alimentares, Lda.), which we closed after internal differences.” Global Telesat was next.
What makes Global Telesat stand out, as much as its breakthroughs, is its well of remarkable stories. One example is that of its first employees.
“Our guards were constantly being harassed by Jehovah’s Witnesses or Igreja Universal members,” Ivan says. “When I came back from work one day and caught them reading these pamphlets, I got angry. ‘If you’re bored,’ I said, ‘I’ll give you something interesting to read.’ I gave them books on telecommunications and IT, and they got excited. After work, we allowed them to sell satellite internet connections and electronic security products. They decided to copy the church guys and attack in couples, which worked. They were then hired by Global Telesat.”
One of these former guards specialized in satellite internet installations, one in sales and the other in electronic security. Two of them now own their own companies.
Global Telesat is trying to make a difference in Angola. “Among other projects, we have offered hundreds of professional courses for internet installers. We may soon get support from the Ministry of Education,” says Ivan.
Global Telesat consists of a satellite internet and an electronic security department. Ivan heads the internet branch; David the security branch. Sánchez Soler, the company’s CEO, lives in Spain. All three own equal shares. It is a structure that works.
Global Telesat’s satellites are located in a ring around the earth at a distance of 38,000km from the earth. From that position, they perform a 24-hour rotation around the globe.
Monthly corporate rates for Global Telesat’s satellite internet connections start at $300 and can reach upwards of $50,000. A once-off investment starts at $3,000. “After that, the price difference with a terrestrial is not that big,” Ivan says. “Satellite internet reaches any place in Angola, including its most deserted areas and oil rigs in the middle of the sea. This is the key advantage of satellite internet over fiber-optic internet.” And prices are going down, mainly because of Global Telesat’s access to Africa’s RascomStar satellite.
“Look!” Ivan says. He hands me his mobile phone, which shows moving images of Global Telesat’s office. “What you’re seeing is being recorded right now by our camera systems and broadcast over the satellite. A simple internet connection allows me to check my premises on my iPhone. “This is a killer in Angola, because people can monitor their business without being present, even from another continent.”
Adds David: “Since the war, Angolans feel the need for more safety. That includes electronic security, which is lacking.” Global Telesat also offers automatic fire detection and extinguishing equipment.
“We had two competitors in 2004, Infortel and AfriAlarm, but their prices were double what ours were. We’re not the biggest electronic security firm in Angola, but unlike our competitors, we operate professionally according to European quality standards. We offer the best equipment available. Our surveillance cameras’ definition, for example, is up to four times sharper than those of our competitors.”
Many of Global Telesat’s electronic security systems are used to prevent labor abstinence, for instance, through fingerprint controls. At the end of the month, the fingerprints are reviewed and registered and salaries are paid accordingly.
“Apart from equipment that could, in theory, be used for spying, we also offer anti-spying equipment such as mobile phone frequency blockers or tools that can localize hidden cameras,” David says.
The Pizarros and Sánchez Soler have never regretted setting foot in Angola. “Unlike Europe, rules and regulations are no major obstacle here,” David says. “You can truly set up your business according to your wishes. Plus, Angola is a country full of companies rich in financial resources.”
“After 27 years of war, Angola offers immense room for growth and so many opportunities,” Sánchez Soler agrees. “Competition is not as high as it is in Europe. We moved to Angola at a time when hardly anyone in Spain knew Angola. We bet on Angola, and we won.”

Internet For Africa, Olé!

It was fear more than ambition that drove Venancio Matusse to become one of Mozambique’s richest people. Terror swept through the mind of Matusse as he stood helplessly watching his baby son fight for breath on a December morning in 1997.
The diagnosis from the doctor was grim. Little Venancio Junior needed heart surgery and that meant an expensive mercy trip across the border to South Africa. The doctors who could save the child’s life were at the private Sunninghill Hospital, in Johannesburg, a seven-hour drive away.
“I had to try to find money for the surgery. My friends in private business lent me the money, but when I came back I realized l could not pay for the health of my kids; my job did not provide for that, so it set me thinking,” he says.
Until then 48-year-old Matusse, who was born in the wilds of Gaza Province, lived a quiet life in academia at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, where he lectured in engineering.
“My training as an engineer and teaching at university gave me a way of looking into opportunities. For me, an opportunity is a challenge.”
The first challenge for Matusse was to set up in business before he left the security of a university post. As an engineer, his skills were in demand, as the economy of Mozambique began to stir after decades of stagnation. There were consultancy jobs on offer in Maputo and Matusse worked on everything from quarries to roads and railways.
“I decided in those early days that the result of my consultancy was going to be shares instead of money. I needed capital more than I needed cash,” he says.
The breakthrough came when Matusse became one of 42 shareholders who make up an elite group of consultants called Mozambique Gestores, specializing in big projects like ports.
Since then, Matusse has built up an impressive portfolio of interests in companies employing 300 people and turning over tens of millions of dollars. Among them: Paper Soft, an IT solutions company; engineering company BMG; a 45% stake in management system solutions companies Socarto and Ambisig; and a partnership with a Portuguese consulting company.
“I have a problem with routine. I acquire companies and let my partners run them,” he says.
It was another glorious Maputo morning when we met at the Polana Hotel, perched on a cliff overlooking the deep blue Indian Ocean.
The Polana, with its wrought-iron staircases, large chandeliers and white pillars, always puts me in mind of the Titanic. It is the hotel where the deals are done these days. With a glance around the luxurious lounge, you can pick out the tables where business people from Mozambique are cutting deals with foreign investors.
Matusse is fresh from a memorable Friday night out in Maputo. For a good night out in Africa, the capital
of Mozambique must be at the top
of the list.
“I work hard and I play hard,” he says with a smile.
We sit down around the marble table. Matusse comes across as unassuming, softly spoken and keen to tell his story—a man bold enough to talk of his connections with President Armando Guebuza.
“You will find him in my companies, but from long before he was president,” he says breezily.
Fernando Lima, a journalist based in Maputo, believes President Guebuza is encouraging a new breed of entrepreneurs like Matusse in Mozambique.
“The president likes smart people and young people with ideas. What we are seeing is the emergence of an educated and committed black elite,” says Lima.
Another journalist, who asked not to be named, says: “Matusse is close to the president, has influence and can open doors for people.”
Matusse himself is concentrating on business and looking to the future. In 2002, he launched his own investment and consultancy company, Mutxisso, named after his great-grandfather. The company concentrates on attracting investment and supplying skills in projects for what is arguably Mozambique’s greatest need.
“We need infrastructure. The weak points in Mozambique are infrastructure and training.
It hasn’t always been plain sailing,” he says.
“I have made mistakes in choosing people. I always try to retrain people if I can, which is not always the best option.
“I have also made mistakes in projects. Once I had to turn around two factories, both making spare parts for locomotives. The factories had only one customer: CFM, the national freight railway company of Mozambique. That proved a problem to have all our eggs in one basket… I think all of this has taught me perseverance; you have to be focused on what you want.”
Matusse is reputed to be one of the richest people in Mozambique. He says he doesn’t know what he is worth; merely that he doesn’t owe anyone anything.
And what of young Venancio Junior, the sickly son who set off his father’s remarkable entrepreneurial career?
He is now 15 years old, healthy, a footballer and as strong as a horse.
“One day he says he wants to be an engineer, and the next day he comes to me and says he wants to be a footballer,” chuckles Matusse.
“He is going to be an engineer; I just haven’t told him yet!”

The Fear That   Made A Fortune

How would Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet have met during the internet era? Would it have been in person, as their eyes met across the dance floor at the Capulet Ball, after he confirmed her location via a foursquare update? Or would he have sent a virtual wink to her BBM, the pin of which he coaxed from a mutual Facebook friend?
In 16th-century Verona, the star-crossed lovers were blamed for being reckless; in the 21st century, their only danger would be the accusation of being anti-social in public, as their thumbs did the talking. Countless hours would be spent sending each other their most flattering, photoshopped images, taken on the beach or a Friday night. These would be complemented with blushing and pouting emoticons and beating hearts.
Juliet’s Facebook status updates would reflect an acute case of infatuation. She would post a YouTube video of Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ on her wall. Her friends would comment: “So, who’s the lucky guy? &lt;3” Her nurse—these days, her life coach—would share a photograph, using instagram, of a sports brand billboard encouraging her to: “Just do it!”
Romeo’s workout video to LMFAO’s ‘Sexy And I Know It’ would be posted on YouTube, in an attempt to impress his new love. It would go viral within a few days. He would have to be fit for the secret balcony rendezvous: he would have to jump her wall and give the security guards the slip.
Meanwhile, lying on her bed, Juliet would use her notebook to dote on her lover’s talents in his flickr albums. While browsing through his professional expertise on LinkedIn, she would receive a BBM text saying, ‘Meet me on your balcony in 10.’ He would be heartbroken about being unable to tag himself “—with Juliet ‘Jules’ Capulet” in his Facebook status. To keep it secret, Romeo would open another Facebook account, with a red Ferrari as his profile picture, under the alias, Italian Stallion. He would use this new profile to stalk her wall and compare himself to photographs of her previous boyfriends.
Tybalt, Juliet’s protective cousin, infuriated with Romeo for sneaking into the Capulet Ball, would challenge him to a duel through Google chat. Romeo would decline, and Mercutio—his right-hand man—would accept the challenge on behalf of the Montagues. It would end in Mercutio’s death. In his final moments, while clutching at his chest, Mercutio would tweet @RoMeo, @JCapulet13 ‘A plague upon both your houses #caughtinthecrossfire.’ He might be re-tweeted by someone caught in the I’m-doing-this-because-everyone-else-is-doing-it sharing trend. Romeo would avenge Mercutio’s death by killing Tybalt. #TybaltRIP. Please retweet!
Lord Capulet would discover the love affair through the iCloud application, which would indicate that Juliet was at the Montague estate. Upon her return, a row would ensue. In a tantrum she would leave to meet Friar Laurence, the spiritual healer slash yoga instructor. He would Google search the name of the best sedative to help her feign death in an attempt to escape a proposed marriage with Paris. He would shun the messenger—who in the original story fails to deliver the message, resulting in Romeo’s suicide—in favor of multiple social media alternatives, in case Romeo’s cellphone were to go through to voicemail.
The friar would spare Paris’ life. While mourning at the Capulet burial crypt, the friar would divert Paris’ attention from Romeo’s presence with his new tablet. “What can’t you do with it?” Paris would ask, as Romeo slipped past to prevent confrontation. While Shakespeare would still be credited for penning the world’s greatest love story ever told, with the help of social media the story would end differently. The lovers’ tragic double suicide would be avoided, hence Shakespeare would have saved the lives of three young people. It would no longer be “a story of more woe” as the happy couple would elope after booking a room in Las Vegas via booking.com. They would, however, have to remember not to ‘Facebook check in’ their location.

How Much do average apps make?

@Juliet: Did My <3 Love Til Now?

Nostalgia is a thing of the future as far as one of the newest old radio stations in Africa is concerned. The breezy sound of LM Radio in Mozambique is back with a vengeance, with plans to broadcast across the whole of Southern Africa.
LM Radio was about the dream as much as the sound. Hopeful songs of love and laughter from LM, Lourenco Marques—as Maputo was known in those days—the city of palm trees, prawns, piri piri, sunshine and sand. The Monte Carlo of Southern Africa where smart yellow taxis ferried holidaymakers through the wide pristine streets of the city to the aroma of ground coffee and fresh bread.
This was the Mozambique of the 1960s and 70s where LM Radio made its name. There is a generation of boardroom executives in Southern Africa who grew up listening to LM Radio, under the bed sheets or in a boarding school dormitory. LM Radio had that allure of the underground as it played records the national broadcasters of neighboring countries refused to touch. Out of the African night came the sound of the Beatles—banned in South Africa after John Lennon said they were bigger than Jesus—The Who, Herman’s Hermits, Pink Floyd with a sprinkling of home-grown pop. Many who were youngsters in that era can’t remember exactly what the national broadcasters were playing, but recall it was difficult to dance to.
<div id="attachment_656" style="width: 228px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-656" class="wp-image-656 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Gerry-Wilmot-in-Office-during-seige-218x300.jpg" alt="" width="218" height="300" />Gerry Wilmot with a shrivelled orange in the wake of the seige</div>
It was this frustration with the establishment that led to the birth of LM Radio in 1936. Advertising man, GJ McHarry, from Durban in South Africa, wanted to hear jazz on the radio. The South African Broadcasting Corporation refused to touch it, so McHarry headed north to set up a station at Radio Clube de Moçambique.
The new station hosted big band music and variety shows before studio audiences. It brought the sparkle of tinsel town, with Latin dash, into the dowdy farms, barrack rooms and mining camps of Southern Africa. It prospered in the 1950s and became hip in the 1960s and 70s. Heavens, even young Cliff Richard paid a visit to the station that played his records. By 1969, it was estimated nearly nine million people, in South Africa alone, were tuning in.
A symbol of its success was that, in 1972, the SABC bought LM Radio for a massive R60 million—a fortune back then. The National Party government was twitchy about independent radio stations broadcasting from outside South Africa’s borders. The station struggled on through the turmoil of Mozambique’s painful independence before it closed on October 12, 1975 with a simple announcement on air saying: “For us it has been 39 happy years.”  The new government in Mozambique took over the station to air educational broadcasts.
Fast forward to September 21, 2010 and radio engineer, Chris Turner, and his team were putting the finishing touches to a radio transmitter fixed to the top of a 10-story concrete block in Maputo, ahead of the first full broadcast of the revived LM Radio.
The tiny studio was also in the tower block, but has since moved to small offices in the basement of Hotel Cardoso.
“The lifts in the tower block didn’t work very well,” says Turner.
LM Radio is Turner’s dream and radio is his life. He grew up in Cape Town with one ear fixed to the radio and was an avid fan of LM Radio.
“They played Elvis, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and you didn’t hear it anywhere else. Everyone in my age group has a memory,” he says.
Turner started a pirate radio station from his bedroom by the time he was 12. The police came to his home and closed down the station three times, but that didn’t deter Turner who grew up to train as a radio engineer.
To follow his dream, Turner and his wife sold property to raise the $3 million capital to open the station. It wasn’t easy; there were hours spent poring over Mozambique’s often pedantic bureaucracy.
The reward was that LM Radio is expected to break even in its first year, ahead of forecasts. The target is to achieve R12 million ($1.5 million) turnover in five years. It is taking advertising from South African supermarket chains to corner shops.
“We are about quarter of the way there,” smiles Turner.
LM Radio is banking on a large English-speaking population in Mozambique, largely South Africans; plus it broadcasts on medium wave in Lesotho, the Free State and in Johannesburg through community station Radio 2000. The station claims between 55,000 and 75,000 listeners a week, with a target of 125,000. Turner plans to apply to broadcast in Zimbabwe and Zambia, followed by the rest of Southern Africa where he thinks there is an even bigger pool of people who want to listen to Elton John and Abba.
“I think there is something in the music of the 1970s. It is feel good music, happy music. A lot of people write and tell us that our music lifts them up,” says Turner.
When LM Radio was reborn, in keeping with the theme of the station, there were blasts from the past. DJs, who were veterans of the original station, went back on air as if it where yesterday, rather than the last century, that they signed off. Reg de Beer, a veteran presenter who died in January, came back as did Nick Megens, a Dutch national, who had got into broadcasting at Radio Clube while working at his father’s company in Maputo.
Megens, who lives in Johannesburg, survived one of the most fraught chapters in the LM Radio story. It all began one spring morning with a frantic phone call from station manager, Gerry Wilmot, telling him to come into Radio Clube as soon as possible.
Megens was living on Catembe Island, just off the coast, and took the ferry over to Maputo. As he jumped into a taxi he knew this was no ordinary day as thousands of people running in panic through the streets of the capital buffeted the vehicle. This was September 7, 1974. I Shot the Sheriff by Eric Clapton was number one on the day Portugal signed the Lusaka Accord handing the liberation movement, FRELIMO, control of Mozambique within a year. It was a shock to many of the white Portuguese after more than four centuries of colonial rule.
“People were giving away the keys of their houses on the streets and later that day I saw people at the airport, holding one suitcase, weeping,” says Megens.
When Megens got to Radio Clube he found it bristling with guns. Armed white militia had taken over the radio station because they feared the Portuguese, or FRELIMO, may use it for propaganda. The show went on; for 10 days Megens broadcast with a couple of gun-toting militia men at his back.
“All I could think of was, ‘what happens if one of these guys goes to sleep and his gun goes off, the bullets are going to fly around the room?’”
The militia brought in supplies to their prisoners on air. The only problem was that it was just oranges and cigarettes and Megens didn’t smoke. His stomach rumbled while cartons of cigarettes piled up against his wall. Station manager, Wilmot, demanded the newspaper photograph him holding a shriveled orange in protest.
When the Portuguese Army ended the occupation by storming the radio station they lobbed in a couple of hand grenades.
“It is not a nice sound,” says Megens.
Nearly 40 years on, LM Radio is a nice sound and that is maybe why it has overcome closure, political chaos, civil war and scores of desperate men with guns.

Guns Could Not Silence The  Romantic Voice Of The African Night

The beginning of the new millennium was a perilous time for tech startups. The marketplace teemed with would-be entrepreneurs licking wounds inflicted by the crash and burn of the dot-com bubble. Funding was considerably more difficult than during those heady days when a new breed of internet man—a pioneer, a maverick, and occasionally a fool—could seduce investors in the manner of Scheherazade.
In South Africa, dot-com bubble survivors were numerous and generous with their tales of woe, but another phenomenon was afoot as well: the advent of broadband internet, increasingly becoming more accessible for the man in the street.
Lungisa Matshoba, East London-born and mathematically gifted, was starting a Bachelor of Business Science degree, specializing in computer science and finance, at the University of Cape Town.
“I had decided I would be an entrepreneur by the time I finished my degree,” he says. “I knew the richest people in the world were entrepreneurs and while that motivated me to an extent, over time my drive was less about money and more about wanting to build something.”
The opportunity presented itself in the form of a new technology called Voice over Internet Protocol, or as it’s known by its somewhat sexier acronym, VoIP. Using VoIP, a telephone call is made over the internet as opposed to copper phone lines. It’s considerably cheaper as pricing is not distance dependent. If you are reading this magazine, you’ve probably used Skype—the original VoIP product and still a market leader.
VoIP technology entered the consumer market in 2004, thanks to the introduction of broadband. In South Africa, the cost of communication was depressingly high. Even more so for Matshoba, who was juggling cellphone minutes and beer on a skinny student budget.
The rest, as they say, is history. The company, Yeigo—a Navajo word meaning “with spirit”—was born of the efforts of the five founding members, three of whom remain—Matshoba, Rapelang Rabana and Andrew Snowden.
Matshoba was the brains behind the software, which he developed alongside his team for close to a year, without funding. His ability to keep the remainder of his four-person team, all recent graduates, motivated over that period is testament to the drive of a man who harbors little doubt of the potential success of his idea.
“We got through the year by trusting that by the time the next month came, we would have a working product and be on our way to securing funding.”
In 2006, the company approached a group of angel investors who provided funding on what Matshoba terms “a gut trust” of the people involved and the product.
“Our business plan was raw and unfinished, but we were enthusiastic and I think that counted for a lot.”
The product was released into the market in 2007, aimed at the group’s contemporaries and marketed on a shoe-string budget using social media and Google Adwords. The key appeal for potential customers was that aside from convenience, Yeigo’s product was free.
“We weren’t focused on monetization during the early stages; we were more concerned with gathering critical mass. We used a business model similar to Facebook,” says Matshoba.
Swiss-headquartered telecoms operations Telfree Group Communications, a VoIP operator that services MTN and Vodacom, bought 50% of Yeigo in 2008—just two years after inception.
Telfree re-packaged and re-launched the product into a paying business market. Since then, the nature of the company has changed, focusing on cloud-based telephony services for smaller businesses, which Matshoba says is his way of creating value in the South African market where copper-based telephony remains relatively high.
“A telephony system for a business unit has a flat cost regardless of whether the company employs two or 100 people. Our product basically moves all telephony services into the cloud and customers pay per user and are able to expand gradually as their business grows.”
Matshoba is convinced that the growth of Yeigo, which now employs nine people, is in Africa where he envisions more cloud computing products, aimed at small business, in service sectors broader than telephony.
“We are sitting in a third world environment and not all companies are realizing that we need to adapt first world products and services to suit this market.”

The Cash-Strapped Entrepreneur  With His Head In The Clouds

Deep in the heart of the hot and dry mining town of Carletonville, west of Johannesburg, is the modest headquarters of a small company trying to move mountains.
Natalie Killassy grew up in Carletonville—the heart of South Africa’s gold mining industry—and knows the often harsh life of mines and miners. Her family have lived there for generations and when she was a child, she often felt the grief of mining accidents. The deep mines of Carletonville burrow down around 4km into the earth and are prone to lethal seismic activity that can bring shafts crashing down.
<div id="attachment_647" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-647" class="size-large wp-image-647" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CTP2641-1024x632.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="293" />Staff working on the backfill bags in the bag factory</div>
As director of Stitch Wise, Killassy has made a business out of helping to rebuild the shattered lives of injured miners, while at the same time trying to prevent others from suffering the same fate.
Stitch Wise is a safety gear company which makes huge bags that save lives underground. Miners pour backfill—liquid mud created by blasting that solidifies—in the bags. The bags save the cost of transporting waste to the surface, as well as providing a shield against rockfalls underground.
It has taken 16 years to build up Stitch Wise, which sprang from an 18-month study into the world’s deepest gold mines. For the first eight years, the business did not pay dividends as every cent was reinvested.
“We come from humble beginnings where we couldn’t afford forklifts to lift the bags as they surfaced. We only had one sewing machine and today everything is automated,” says Killassy.
Nearly a third of her workers are injured miners who are trained to make the bags and patented safety equipment. The company is 26% owned by its employees through a broad-based black economic empowerment trust.
<div id="attachment_649" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-649" class="size-large wp-image-649" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CTP2689-680x1024.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="714" />Stitch Wise Director, Natalie Killassy, standing next to her patented bag material</div>
“Businesses are built on people and we need to add value to people’s lives—that helps you build a business. You need to allow them to take ownership, through that you develop pride… Social entrepreneurs are people who do things that touch their hearts,” says the softly spoken Killassy.
The mining companies—AngloGold  Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold—have poured money into the idea and Killassy is trying to get companies to spend more on safety.
The company was chosen by Endeavour, an Oppenheimer family funded NGO, and became part of the group in 2004. Endeavour selects promising entrepreneurs, assists them in improving their business models and has so far picked 300 in 25 countries.
“It is quite a rigorous process; they basically panel beat your business and you as an entrepreneur.”
<div id="attachment_650" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-650" class="size-large wp-image-650" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CTP2724-1024x680.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="315" />Knee and arm pads produced by disabled staff at the safety gear factory</div>
With innovation and experienced mentors backing her, Killassy’s Stitch Wise is setting its sights on the rest of the continent and South America’s Chilean mines.
“Mining is going to be around for a long time and we need to grow with it.”
Killassy grew up in the tough world of mining in Carletonville. She has grown to be as tough in business.

Angel of The Underground

At a quarter to noon on a slow Friday in November, Aslam Khan is in a hurry. As he leaves his third floor corner office, he punches buttons on his BlackBerry. “I’ll be there in a flash,” he says in a deep baritone voice that doesn’t appear to fit his body.
Khan is the chairman and co-founder of Aviation Leasing Services (ALS) Ltd, an aircraft rental company based in Nairobi. He knows that when it comes to flying, time is of the essence, and he runs downstairs to the hangar where Captain Nahashon Mutea is waiting for him in a chopper.
The journey to Kisumu, a city 500 kilometres west of Nairobi on the shores of Lake Victoria, lends a rare chance to interview the aviation entrepreneur where he makes his money—up in the air. Khan, a renowned rally driver, has a tough race the following day, but right now that is the least of his worries as the helicopter rattles through headwinds.
“Kenya is such a beautiful country,” he says, peering down at the green tea estates hemmed in by forests that dot the Great Rift Valley.
Flying a chopper on a hot and humid day is a study in the business of running an aviation company. Everywhere you look there are risks—turbulence, fog and the deadly possibility of mechanical failure. As co-founder of ALS Ltd 20 years ago, Khan, along with his late brother Ashraf, has piloted the company from a scrappy outfit, with a single Cessna 150 aircraft, to a thriving company with 25 planes and three subsidiaries.
“The aviation business is not for the faint-hearted,” says Khan, who turned 60 in December. “It’s a very sensitive business.”
It is so sensitive that the recent volatility in the Kenyan shilling forced the company to charge Kenyan clients in dollars to avoid exchange rate losses. Even a small rise in interest rates can ground business, he says, given that regular piles of cash are needed to finance operations.
ALS Ltd leases aircraft to humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross and World Food Program as well as oil companies; it also operates charter flights for businesses. The firm has shareholdings in local airlines Safarilink and Severin Air Safaris and runs Heliservices, a wholly owned helicopter division.
Khan is a former Kenya Airways (KQ) pilot with experience in the Kenyan Air Force. He joined the Air Force in 1970, where he completed his training as a pilot. Six years later, he joined East African Airways, which was later absorbed by Kenya Airways when it was carved from the regional carrier in 1977. He says that if it were not for the Air Force, he would probably be doing something different today as his father could not afford fees for a commercial flying school.
“When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a pilot,” he said back at his office at Wilson Airport, near Nairobi, “but I also dreamed of owning a professionally run business. I had achieved my pilot dream; now it was time to chase the business aspiration.”
While at Kenya Airways, Khan says he started saving up and together with his brother, Ashraf, they bought a small Cessna 150 aircraft worth $7,000 so Ashraf could learn to fly. That was a fortune in an era when flying, let alone owning a plane, was a luxury for government officials and rich businessmen.
“We leased the plane to a flying school and discovered that it was an interesting business,” says Khan.
The lease gave them the business name, Aviation Leasing Services, too. As ALS’s fleet of aircraft rose, so did Khan’s position; he became the Airbus captain for Kenya Airways in 1991.
At the time, Somalia was slipping into anarchy as President Siad Barre was overthrown. Sudan was at war. Humanitarian organizations started trooping into the countries to assist the innocent civilians caught in civil war. This presented an opportunity in the relief business which Khan and his brother seized. Most aircraft serving the countries were foreign, mainly from South Africa.
“We got into relief and grew the business over the years,” he says.
Expansion was a problem—in the 1990s, financing was hard to come by, especially for African-owned businesses.
“We had to depend on leasing aircraft from outside because there was some kind of stigma about Africans. We had to negotiate through leasing until we started owning our own airplanes.”
ALS outgrew the stigma and eventually won the confidence of banks to expand its fleet. Khan had to quit his captain’s job in 1992 to take charge of the business and in the same year, his brother and co-director died in a plane crash. Every opportunity in aviation came with competition and as he discovered to his chagrin, pilots were not only rare and sought after, they were also fickle and open to the highest bidder.
“We do a lot of pilot training, but many move on to other airlines. It’s a reality we have to live with. Retention of pilots is a major problem because people tend to move to better conditions and bigger airplanes. We try to have retention schemes and more opportunities for pilots to grow, but it’s hard to stop it.”
With ALS and three other aviation companies, Khan is still dreaming big. Last year, he relinquished the CEO post to Cornwell Muleya, a professional airlines manager from Zambia, partly as a succession plan and to bring in new ideas. Going forward, ALS plans to work with Kenya School of Flying, which is run by captain Martin Ririani, his former colleague at Kenya Airways, who quit to start training pilots.
“We want to set up an academy for flying,” says Khan. “Kenyans are hard-working and there’s huge potential for pilots, even in the region. The only way to overcome supply and demand is to have enough pilots. We’ve got infrastructure to train and the opportunities. Many people leave Kenya to go to South Africa and the US to train as pilots. Local facilities are inadequate, so we are in negotiation with schools in Europe and South Africa to see if we can partner and set up a high-standard flying academy.”
The larger plan is to make ALS a one-stop shop for aviation services and solutions—from leasing aircraft and training pilots to operating scheduled flights. This is a highly capital-intensive business and the founder is scouting for a management buyout to bring in investors.
The idea of a management buyout is more of a succession plan. The business is very much a family culture, he says, and he is looking to change that by turning it into a corporate business. “This is very important,” says Khan, who was voted the best rally driver for 2011 by the Kenya Motorsports Association.
“To achieve success companies have to be run professionally. Family can be involved in the business, but successful companies are the ones that follow corporate governance.”
He says family-owned companies lose out on the contribution given by professional managers, though they enjoy the virtue of trust—critical for business and hard work. But trust can be extended to employees if you find the right ones. Khan says that in a competitive market, even family members find it hard to resist the allure of better opportunities outside. “My niece started with us as a pilot; now she has joined Kenya Airways.”
Reputation is critical and so the company’s operations constantly undergo audits carried out by its customers and industry regulators. The company invested millions of dollars in meeting security and safety benchmarks, including IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification for meeting international aviation safety standards in June 2011. It is the second after KQ in Kenya to get such a certification. In September of the same year, the firm was admitted to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), joining KQ and Precision Air in East Africa.
Khan says this has positioned ALS to partner with major airlines and global aviation firms to expand its market. It can now lease its aircraft to leading airlines and is in talks with national carrier Kenya Airways. It already leases to RwandAir, Southern Star Airlines in South Sudan and an airline in Sierra Leone.
To serve bigger carriers it needs medium-sized planes in the 70 passenger capacity. But that needs more cash, he says, with a single unit going for $10-25 million. “We are looking at Dash 8 models. But then this means we need cash to buy enough parts and staff like crew and engineers etc., and unless it is backed up with a contract, it’s difficult and risky to invest.”
ALS has found itself with idle planes like other airlines—unable to stay afloat due to cash flow problems which ground operations, such as the Southern Star of Juba and an airline based in Sierra Leone, which stopped operations last year.
Piloting and rallying experience has given Khan some of the most important management traits: focus and attention to detail. “Rallying has been very much in the family and when on the rough and at times muddy roads you must focus, just as with managing any business.”
Rallying is an expensive hobby and he has to invest both time and money into it. His best career moment, he says, was when he qualified as a pilot in the Air Force. So does that mean good pilots make good managers?
“Good pilots are not necessarily good managers and good managers are not necessarily good pilots. I’m lucky I got both,” he says philosophically.

From The Cockpit To Corporate Suite

In just six years, Timothy Vieira (38), Nuno Traguedo (44) and Odair Peres (32) have created Angola’s number one advertising giant that advertises for major brands including Cuca, Chevrolet and Kraft Foods.
“Angolans connect with rhythm, music, happiness and bright colors. Those ingredients work magic in
drawing Angolan consumers’ attention,” Peres says at Special Edition’s humble headquarters in the Angolan capital, Luanda. But creating the perfect match between an advert and its Angolan audience does not end there.
Special Edition’s biggest clients include Angolan beer brands Cuca, Eka and Nokal; Argentinean chocolate company Arcor; Angolan TV broadcast company Zapp; Suzuki, Chevrolet and Volkswagen; Kraft Foods (owner of Cadbury); the Ministry of the Interior; and South Africa’s Standard Bank.
One of the reasons Vieira, Traguedo and Peres manage to hook such big fish is that competition in Angola is only a fraction of what it would be elsewhere. “If you’d set up the same company in Portugal, it would be one in a million,” Traguedo says. “Here, it’s one in five.”
More importantly, though, the three owners know what works in Angola and what doesn’t. They understand the Angolan psyche and the country’s troubled past. “Culturally and linguistically, Angola is not a united country and its civil war (1975-2002) only ended 10 years ago. For outsiders, that makes it very difficult to understand how Angolan consumers will react,” says Traguedo.
One of Special Edition’s companies, Key Research, conducts research into Angolan consumption habits. With Bon o Bons, big chocolate bonbons in yellow wrappers that cost 20 (US) cents each, they made a surprising discovery. “Bon o Bons here are sold by the millions. We always thought Angolans had a sweet tooth, but they don’t: these chocolates serve as a lunch substitute for people who work far from home,” Peres says. “That makes TV ads unnecessary, because Bon o Bon’s eaters generally don’t own a TV. So we just offered a free T-shirt per two boxes of chocolate at branded Bon o Bon’s selling points.
“But until recently, people would go to the store and ask for a Brazilian Garoto (when they wanted a Bon o Bon), since it was the only brand that existed here during the war. We created a jingle that constantly repeated Bon o Bon’s name. It worked.”
Special Edition’s history started six years ago, after Traguedo sold his first Angolan company, Publibrinde. “I originally returned to Angola with just $500,” he says, “but the sale of Publibrinde left me with some pocket money. Tim and I, together, invested about $100,000 in the creation of our first advertising company six years ago, Dilal. Tim’s garage was our office.”
Dilal developed into the group Special Edition, of which Angolan-Norwegian investment fund Fundo de Investimento Privada Angola now owns 20%. Six directors have also been given shares. Directors who stay for more than a decade are entitled to their share. “That’s how they stay loyal,” Peres says.
Special Edition’s growth rate has been spectacular from the start. The group employs over 350 people. “Growth has been an average 20-25% annually and annual turnover has reached between $25-35 million,” Traguedo says. “We chose to reinvest in Angola because returns here are still more attractive than in most parts of the world.” Angola’s growth forecast for 2012 is a staggering 12.8%.
Some of Special Edition’s companies offer a clearer illustration than others that advertising in Angola is a custom-made art. Key People, for example, is a recruitment agency. It was originally set up to prevent clients from “stealing” the group’s employees. “Due to Angola’s lack of human resources, qualified Angolans constantly get proposals from other companies. We created Key People to train employees and rent them out to our clients. That way, our clients are happy and we make sure our employees stick with us,” Peres says.
Key Promotion helps Angolans understand how to use various products “primarily via radio, because TV is not accessible to everyone and internet is even worse. During the war, Angolans only had one type of soap. Now there are hundreds to choose from, but people aren’t used to that. They use Omo to wash their clothes, cars and themselves. That’s where Key Promotion comes in,” Peres says.
Press People is a printing company that produces its own pocket-sized magazine with gossip, music, fashion and recipes. It’s for the masses. “They love it!” Traguedo says. “It’s very unlike the other magazines, which cost $7 or $8. That’s quite a lot for the majority of Angolans (two thirds of Angolans live on less than $2 a day). Our magazine costs $1. While other Angolan magazines print 5,000 issues a month, we print 45,000 a week.”
Special Edition currently has nine companies within its holding. The newest additions include the high-tech outdoor company Big Media, “the Angolan government’s choice during national elections”, which has 2,500 billboards across the country; Digital Print, Angola’s leading digital printing company; Key Service, which was set up to analyze the media group’s competition; Angola’s biggest media buyer, On Media, which develops bluetooth advertising, SMS, plasma rental and indoor advertising in shopping malls; IMACOP, which creates light boxes, stands, store decoration and signs; and the PR company, Uanda, which was set up to create a good relationship between clients and the media, and which is part of the largest independent PR firm in the world, the Edelman Group.
With 98% Angolan employees, Special Edition’s three owners are convinced that human resources are key to their success. “We employ the best staff in the industry,” Vieira says. “The commitment I see here is huge compared to advertising agencies in Europe. None of our Angolan employees have studied abroad, but they are all top people,” Peres adds. “One of them learned to create 3D by watching YouTube. There’s a little competition going on. Our people motivate themselves to learn from each other, which is beautiful.”
In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report last year, Angola ranks 163 out of 183 countries. “In Angola, finding a place and qualified people is difficult and the stress involved is a lot worse than in other countries,” Peres admits. “Sometimes you don’t have any water or power or the generator breaks down. But Angolans are happy by nature. If we don’t have electricity, we visit our neighbors and have a glass of champagne. What other people call problems, we call challenges. Nothing is impossible in Angola.”
Special Edition has already booked its first international success. “We managed to convince Arcor to do an Angolan campaign instead of simply translating their existing one, which would not have worked,” Peres says.
“The response was so good that we’ve translated the Angolan Bon o Bon TV ad into English and French. For the first time ever, an Angolan TV spot is being broadcast all over Africa.”
Despite that, says Vieira, Special Edition does not have international aspirations. “Angola is big enough to keep us busy. I believe our story has just begun.”

Bursting Colors, Vibrant  Rhythms And Dazzling Smiles Sell

The African continent’s population has traditionally been polarized into two opposing groups: the impoverished and the well-heeled, with no socio-economic class to bridge the gap.
According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the number of Africans who make up the middle class segment of the population increased to 313 million (that’s more than 34%) during the past three decades.  Steady economic growth and a move towards stable, salaried jobs—rather than traditional agricultural activities—have been cited as some of the reasons for the growth.
The AfDB has further stated that: “Over the past decade, despite a continued global food and financial crises, Africa has been growing at an unprecedented rate. There is increased optimism about Africa’s potential to win the fight against poverty even though it may take decades to arrive at that point.”
Rens Rademeyer, general manager of Bentley Motors South Africa, echoes this sentiment. “Bentley South Africa has seen a steady growth in our target market over the last 10 years. The most interesting finding is that we are attracting influential business clients who represent the core of emerging economies. These are individuals involved in the supply of infrastructure solutions, energy, mining and minerals, housing and food.
“There is no doubt that with the economic crisis in Europe and signs of an economic slowdown in the Far East, the rest of the world will look to emerging economies such as South Africa and others in Africa to invest. The steady increase in new customers for the luxury car market gives enough reason to believe that Africa is on track to meet and surpass the growth of other more established economies.”
There is clearly still a huge disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Statistics also indicate there is a ‘floating class’ of people whose hold on their stature is far from concrete. Middle class in African terms has been defined as those people whose annual income is greater than $3,900 (purchasing power), and includes factors such as education, lifestyle and aspirations.
Where the middle classes emergence has been the strongest, is in territories that enjoy a burgeoning private sector, replete with many local entrepreneurs. As a result, North Africa boasts the highest middle class contingent. Tunisia’s concentration stands at 90%, while Morocco and Egypt follow with 85% and 80% respectively (albeit a large number in these countries fall within the floating category).
Growth in the middle class population has been highest in Namibia, Kenya, Botswana, Gabon, South Africa and Ghana while Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Madagascar, Burundi and Malawi represent the weakest African economies.
Africa’s growing middle class has led to an upswing in the consumption and purchasing of goods such as household items as well as leisure and transportation. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, consumer spending in Africa is set to tip the scale at $1.4 trillion in 2020.
There is also growing confidence in the continent, demonstrated in South Africa recently by the entrance of retail giant Wal-Mart. China’s motoring industry hasn’t been shy to take advantage of their gargantuan purchasing power, and have identified Africa, with its wealth of natural resources, as the perfect target for their global expansion.
Jaguar Land Rover South Africa’s managing director, Kevin Flynn, feels that South Africa greatly influences the rate of growth throughout the continent. “The global car industry has identified Africa as an emerging market and is taking the growth in the continent very seriously. South Africa plays a pivotal role in the expansion of this market, as a gateway to the continent, as well as from an investment and infrastructure perspective. Africa will play an increasing role in Jaguar Land Rover’s global strategy as new products come on stream catering for a growing and diversifying customer base.
“Owing to the constant challenges of poverty and unemployment in many countries on the continent, Africa is not expected to experience the massive growth seen in other emerging markets such as China, Russia and India. The continent will, however, provide a completely new customer to the global motor industry—those who are intent on displaying their stature and success while at the same time demanding affordable solutions.”
The phenomenal growth in sales of heavy vehicles in South Africa last year seems to indicate that economic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa are improving dramatically. Medium, heavy and extra heavy commercial vehicle sales notched up an increase of nearly 20%. Tony Twine, an economist at Econometrix, believes the demand for such vehicles stems from the need to transport goods into the rapidly expanding interior to the north of South Africa’s borders. As long as China continues with its demands for African raw materials, Twine believes this trend will continue.
Luxury brands such as BMW, Mercedes and Audi have seen a welcome increase in sales throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The BMW Group experienced a growth of 1,603 units in the last year in this territory, bringing their annual total to 32,890 units. Audi recorded an even higher growth figure of 3,887 (20,344 total units) while Mercedes logged an increase of 441 units (31,575 total units). Interestingly, Lexus actually experienced a decline of some 300 units in sub-Saharan Africa (1,500 total units sold). African sales are still far below those experienced locally, but the trends in South Africa are seemingly being mirrored elsewhere in the continent.
The best-selling BMW in South Africa is the 3-Series, with 11,035 units sold in 2011. This self-same derivative was also the most purchased BMW in Egypt (817 units) and 431 of these vehicles were sold throughout Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Additionally, there seems to be a growing trend towards the purchasing of large 4&#215;4 vehicles. BMW sold 113 and 112 units respectively of their X5 and X6 range in sub-Saharan Africa. This tendency is echoed by Audi’s sales figures. The most popular derivative locally is the A4, which also happens to be the most desirable Audi in Tunisia. In Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, the preferred option is the Q5, closely followed by the A6.
It therefore seems that African future and desires are inextricably interwoven with those of South Africa. The prospect of a mutually-beneficial and successful future, appear to be well underway.

Riding on Africa For Expansion

Woodstock and Stellenbosch in South Africa’s Western Cape are mere dots on the world’s IT map, but they could be Africa’s answer to Silicon Valley in the United States.
Tech entrepreneur Vinodan Lingham wants to make sure South Africa does get its own Silicon Valley and is putting his money where his mouth is.
Five of Africa’s top 20 tech companies are based in this small area of the Western Cape. Some of these companies are making waves on the global tech scene. One of them is internationally recognized Yola, which came second in FORBES AFRICA’s Top 20 Tech Start-Ups in Africa.
Yola is designed to assist small businesses by creating websites for free, initially. You only pay when your company advances and needs a more advanced website.
Lingham founded Yola in Silicon Valley in 2007 and lives there now. He says although adjusting to American culture was difficult, it only took him six months to get funding for his brainchild from JSE-listed Reinet Investments.
With offices in both San Francisco and Cape Town, Yola started out with venture capital of $25 million, but Lingham admits that starting Yola from scratch was not easy and credits naivety for his courage.
“Naivety breeds confidence. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have gone,” he says.
Seeing a large market opportunity, the likely chances of success crushed any doubts or fears the then 28-year-old may have had. Now 33 and one of Africa’s shining tech stars, Lingham was born in the Eastern Cape in South Africa during apartheid to a poor family, and was raised in a segregated area designated for Indians. With the end of the regime, his family rose to middle-class status so he could go to multi-racial Hudson High School, and then on to the University of Cape Town to study information systems.
“I was a total technology geek at school—definitely very entrepreneurial and probably the only person in school who could program when I was there.”
A successful entrepreneur with a third business to his name now, being a varsity drop-out has not deterred him along the way.
“I dropped out of varsity because my family couldn’t afford for me to study there.”
Being a permanent resident in California’s Silicon Valley for nearly five years now, Lingham has been around some of the tech world’s best brains, and says South Africa still has a long way to go.
“The skills are not at a high enough level. A lot of people go out and do theoretical stuff. There aren’t enough partnerships with businesses. Students come out of varsity with no skills. ”
Matthew Buckland, founder of Creative Spark, a digital agency based in Cape Town and a member of the Silicon Cape Initiative, agrees with Lingham.
“Universities also need to come to the party. Many of the world’s great start-ups were conceived at universities. We have a long way to go, but we’ll get there. Entrepreneurs are the future.”
The entrepreneurial spirit appears contagious in the Cape air. And people like Lingham make it look more attractive and tangible.
“I think Vinny is a machine. He’s an inspiration to many and it’s tough making it in San Francisco. I think it is positive for tech entrepreneurs in Africa. Vinny will gain valuable skills and networks that he’ll bring to the continent,” says Buckland.
Lingham criticizes that entrepreneurial spirit and says that, unlike back in California where most of the tech fundis started their companies during their university studies, he thinks the quality in SA is there but it could be better.
“The quality is there, but there’s not enough [of it]. There are about 50 honors students graduating a year from computer science and even less graduating with a Masters.”
Alan Knott-Craig Junior, owner of MXit, and digital media guru Matthew Buckland agree.
Knott-Craig Junior and Lingham cite the lack of updated cable infrastructure of the cables. Lingham criticizes Telkom’s monopoly as having a direct hand in the slow growth of the technology sector.
All three have a vision for the tech industry on the continent.
“I think there is a burgeoning start-up scene in parts of Africa, but it is still miniscule by world standards. Local venture capitalists need to put down real money on the table. They are far too cautious here, talk a big game and deliver little,” says Buckland.
Knott-Craig wants to conquer Africa through his social networking application; it enables users to use Instant Messages at a cheaper rate than SMSes on any applicable phone, not just smartphones.
Lingham sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but in his view it is obstructed by a confused giant.
“Law makers are getting in the way. South Africans just get ripped off on everything and the money isn’t even going to the poor. The Telkom monopoly hasn’t ended.”
Buckland agrees: “Government needs to come to the party with incentives and tax breaks for start-ups like the governments in the UK and France do.”
Hence the inception of the Silicon Cape Initiative, a vision that Lingham (among others) hopes will produce a mini Silicon Valley. It’s a 20-year non-profit vision, based on the same idea as Silicon Valley in San Francisco. It serves as a networking community, enabling self-started companies to have access to each other, and share knowledge and make it global. Funding for the initiative is foreign, and the aim is to expand SA’s talent to new shores.
“The innovation locally is doing well, but the problem is that globally we’re nowhere close to competing with the world. Companies coming out of Cape Town are trying to build new companies for a new market.”
Buckland acknowledges the efforts made by Lingham and company.
“Silicon Cape is an amazing concept. It’s run as a non-profit company by very busy people who do it on a pro bono basis. For the resources it has at its disposal, it has made amazing strides. Silicon Cape is both an idea for inspiration and a reflection of a reality taking place on the ground.”
He credits the guys in the Cape, saying: “The easy part is joining a corporate and learning the ropes. The hard part is coming up with something innovative—most people shy away from that. South Africans need to embrace failure. Young people have little to lose and can still take chances before reaching 30. Just focus on a certain problem that people aren’t working on.”

Creating Africa’s Own  Geek Valley

Among motorcycle brands, none are more luxurious, or expensive, than the limited-production bikes made by ECOSSE Moto Works. It was founded in 2001 by mechanical engineer, Donald Atchison, and the company has since made a name for itself as the maker of extreme, unique and desirable motorbikes. The company’s tag line sums up its position nicely: “Exquisitely engineered for a fortune few.”
The first bike to roll off ECOSSE’s production line was the Heretic; named after Atchison’s desire to go against the grain in terms of traditional bike manufacture and design. Named by FORBES as Bike of the Year in 2006, the Heretic boasts the finest materials. All ECOSSE bikes make use of aluminum and carbon fiber parts, with attention to detail, the likes of which were unheard of on a two-wheeled vehicle. Every possible part is handcrafted and machined at its Denver headquarters. The power plants (available in engine capacities ranging from 1,640cc to 1,966cc) come in the form of hand-built American V-Twins, producing up to 130hp at the rear wheel. This, combined with a light curb weight, enables the Heretic to hit 60mph in 2.8 seconds. Bringing this bike to a halt are six massive pistons which arguably have more stopping power than a Moto GP bike. The Heretic has three riding modes: dragster, cruiser, and road racer, and 12 different foot control positions make it suitable for any size rider. Each bike is engraved with its own unique production number as only 100 have ever been made, and the price? Anywhere between $69,000 and $79,800 (excluding import duties and so forth).
A steal for only $120,000 is the MV-Augusta F4CC. Only 100 of these fighter-jet inspired superbikes have been made, and they sport accoutrements one would expect to find on a bike at this price point: Brembo brakes, titanium exhaust, mechanical slipper clutch, carbon fiber bodywork, a saddle made of Alacantara, a weight of just 187kg and power tipping the 200hp mark. The F4CC was designed as a tribute to company founder Claudio Castiglioni, and was intended to be the finest bike ever made. The engine has titanium valves and the engine is mated to a magnesium gearbox. Each bike comes with a number-matched Girard-Perregaux watch—just to sweeten the deal.
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A bike with an equally crazy price tag is the MTT Turbine Superbike. It’s the second motorbike ever to be powered by a turbine engine: a Rolls-Royce Allison model that produces 320hp. The Guinness Book of Records has named it the most powerful production motorbike—and it’s yours for $150,000. You’ll need a bit of spare cash handy; the MTT runs on jet fuel (but it can deign to run on diesel if necessary). Giving the bike a jet fighter feel are the optional extras: radar detection with laser scrambling, a rear-mounted camera and optional passenger seat. Oh, and the MTT isn’t governed. It can be expected to reach a mind-altering 370km/h.
The ECOSSE Titanium Series is a sub-genre of the Heretic range. As the name implies, it has a chassis and exhaust system made exclusively from this lightweight yet intensely strong material. The pinnacle of the Titanium Series is the FE Ti XX which has a 2.4-liter aluminum engine that produces a scintillating 225hp. The Titanium’s gas tank is made of carbon fiber, Kevlar and fiberglass, which help to dissipate energy in the event of a crash, and thus prevent a costly rupture. Not to be outdone by MV-Augusta, when a customer buys an ECOSSE Titanium Series bike, they receive a BRM timepiece from the French boutique watchmaker. The watch echoes the unique design elements of the owner’s bike and each wristwatch bears the bike’s serial number. And the cost of this motorbike plus watch combo? A gargantuan $300,000! A client from China ordered one of these machines without fluids with the intention of displaying it in his home as a work of art.
When it comes to innovation and class-leading technology, all of the vehicles mentioned here pale in comparison with ECOSSE’s mighty ES1—arguably the world’s lightest, fastest and best handling superbike (albeit still in production). The ES1 started life in a virtual world and only 10 of these 1,000cc vehicles will ever be manufactured. The bike weighs an astonishingly meager 120kg and develops 200hp. So how did they skimp so much weight? By ditching the frame, of course. Instead, the ES1 has a double swing arm attached directly to the engine. In addition, the ES1 has 50% less drag than any current superbike. This has been achieved by lowering and ‘narrowing’ the rider. In other words, the foot pegs are placed close together. Power is delivered to the rear tire via a centrally mounted countershaft that carries the chain. Rather than the usual offset method, this allows the riders feet to be positioned more narrowly. The ECOSSE ES1 is expected to command the most expensive price tag of all production motorbikes: $350,000.
The Dodge Tomahawk was the world’s most expensive non-street legal concept ‘bike’ back in 2003. Powered by a liquid-cooled 8,277cc V10 engine—sourced from a Dodge Viper—the power plant kicks out a whopping 500bhp. This behemoth weighs in at 680kg and has two front wheels and two rear wheels which move independently. Back when the Tomahawk first appeared and was offered up for sale, the asking price was $555,000. And if you thought this would make it unsellable, think again. Nine units were actually purchased. Chrysler is rumored to be contemplating going into mass production with these bikes for a far less jarring $250,000 (R1.98 million). We’ll take two, then.

Jet Set Without Leaving  The Ground

<h4> FORBES AFRICA (FA): How is Samsung’s partnership with the Africa Cup of Nations boosting the development of football in Africa and what was the company’s strategy behind its involvement in the tournament?</h4>
KK Park (KKP): Football is a passion we share with our customers in Africa, and Samsung is thrilled to play a part in this celebration of African football. As an official sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations since 2008, Samsung has provided many programmes for fans to engage both inside and outside the football stadiums. For example, we have sponsored the ‘Samsung Fair Player Award’ for each game, contributing to the spirit of good sportsmanship in football. Our Africa Cup of Nations sponsorship forms just a part of our commitment to sport on the continent.
Our commitment to football in Africa is also part of our broader strategy of constantly looking for opportunities to engage with our consumers and to help them do the things they love. Just two weeks ago, Samsung and Chelsea FC hosted a Youth Football Camp in Ghana and Ivory Coast to improve the skills of children, aged between nine and 13. We also sponsor the Nigerian national football team.
By supporting sports and recreation initiatives at local, regional and international levels, we believe we can make a tangible difference in the lives of young people and our customers across the continent.
<h4>FA: How important is the African continent to Samsung’s bottom line? What is your growth target for the next five years and how do you tailor your products for the continent?</h4>
KKP: Our belief is that Africa is an incredibly important market for a variety of reasons. The growth of the market is tremendous, and so is the opportunity to develop new lines of business and even new products. For us, Africa is blazing a new path, and Samsung plans to be part of that. One of the ways in which we’re supporting African consumers is our Built for Africa product line. ‘Built for Africa’ was born from our legacy of constant innovation. Our specific insight was to take our products and to look for ways of making them even better. Often this means improving a product to help our consumers navigate their local environment. For example power surges often damage electronic products in Africa. Therefore we created products such as our SurgeSafe TVs, Triple Protector Air Conditioners, and Duracool Fridges—ll with built-in surge protection. This initiative has already seen enormous success, and we are very excited about the next generation of Built for Africa products that we will be unveiling at our Africa Forum 2012, this March in Cape Town.
<h3>FA: How does Built for Africa fit into your overall strategy for the continent?</h3>
KKP: The key to our engagement with Africa is our belief that we need to contribute to African society not only through localized products, but also by supporting the development of talent in the region. This means that Samsung is deeply committed to growing capacity in Africa. You can see this reflected in our Hope for Children program, which consists of three initiatives meant to help ensure the education of the next generation of Africans. First, we are opening our Samsung Electronics Engineering Academies, which support the development of African engineers and then help graduating students find jobs within Samsung. Our current goal is to develop 10,000 electronics engineers across the continent by 2015. Second we have developed unique Schools, Solar Powered Internet  portable schools aimed at increasing accessibility to education and connectivity in remote rural areas with limited or no access to electricity. Finally, we have our Mobile Education program, which involves working with universities and content developers in different African countries to customize mobile apps and educational content for Africa.

Category: Technology

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