The New Wealth Creators is the first of its kind list by FORBES WOMAN AFRICA. Herein is a collection of female entrepreneurs on the African continent running businesses and social enterprises that are new, offbeat and radical.



These 20 women have been selected because they have created significant impact in their respective sectors by transforming a market or company, or innovating a product or service, and are pioneering their organization(s) in generating new untapped streams of income.



VIEW THE FULL LIST|<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/03/11/the-businesses-of-the-future-20-new-wealth-creators-on-the-african-continent/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Businesses Of The Future: 20 New Wealth Creators On The African Continent (opens in a new tab)">Businesses Of The Future: 20 New Wealth Creators On The African Continent</a>



These women come from across the continent, from the villages and the suburbs, and are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. They have all adopted sustainable development initiatives in one way or another to help solve Africa’s problems.



They may be wealth creators but their businesses, ironically, did not stem from a need to make money,&nbsp; but rather from the need to solve Africa’s persisting socio-economic challenges.



&nbsp;Economically empowering women has shown to boost productivity. It increases economic diversification and income equality, in addition to other positive developmental outcomes.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Simply put, when more women work, economies are likely to grow.</blockquote>



FORBES WOMAN AFRICA put in months of rigorous research, searching near and far for these inspirational entrepreneurs.



We took into account their business model, new ideas, potential, struggles, social impact, growth, influence, resilience and most importantly, their innovation.



Speaking to FORBES WOMAN AFRICA last year at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa’s Minister of Science and Technology, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, said: “Innovation [is] becoming the cornerstone for our economy going forward.”



As Africa’s population is reported to increase by 53% by 2100, according to the United Nations, new solutions must be created in order for us to keep up.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/03/08/naomi-campbell-africa-is-one-of-the-leading-continents-in-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Naomi Campbell: Africa Is One Of The Leading Continents In The World</a>



One question remains: can Africa translate its significant population growth into economic development, and invest this wealth to improve the quality of life?



Entrepreneurship could very well be the answer, or at least, one of the answers.



Last year, the Founder and Chair of the Alibaba Group Jack Ma paid Africa a visit to discuss tangible investment and technology development.



He encouraged African entrepreneurs to take giant leaps in solving the challenges facing the continent and to take advantage of the digital economy.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="565" height="487" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NWC9.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39576" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NWC9.png 565w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NWC9-300x259.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 565px) 100vw, 565px" /><figcaption>From left to right:&nbsp;Rachel Sibande, Arlene Mulder, Miishe Addy, Sarah Collins, Dineo Lioma, Jessica Anuna. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla Assistant Photographer: Gypseenia Lion</figcaption></figure></div>



He said that opportunities lie where people complain.



And these women, through their businesses, have identified just that.



Vijay Tirathrai, director of the Techstars Dubai Accelerator, shared the same sentiments with FORBES WOMAN AFRICA.



“The new wealth creators, for me, are entrepreneurs who are very conscious about finding solutions in the market place, but from a lens of having social impact or having impacted the environment,” he says.



Tirathrai believes that while servicing consumers, new wealth creators are also “making a safer and a greener planet in the process, eliminating diseases, improving health conditions and advocating for equality for women”.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Women on the African continent have been making headway as drivers of change, and in many ways, they embody new wealth.</blockquote>



They are the true wealth.



As FORBES WOMAN AFRICA, we seek to celebrate such women.



Through this list, money is no longer the central indicator of new wealth creation.



It is about job creation, contributing to healthy societies, recycling waste, giving agency to those who are financially excluded and developing solutions for some of the socio-economic problems we grapple with.



IN PICTURES | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/03/13/in-pictures-leading-women-summit-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Leading Women Summit 2019 (opens in a new tab)">Leading Women Summit 2019</a>



These women may all come from different places but they are bound together by one common thread, and that is the thread of new wealth creation.



This compilation is innovative, exciting, inspiring and shows what businesses of the future may look like.



Meet the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA New Wealth Creators of 2019.

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WATCH | The Making Of The New Wealth Creators Cover

The FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit which was hosted the by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government took place on International Women’s Day (Friday, 08 March) at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre. 



Full list of winners | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Leading Women Summit award winners (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS_Winnerboards_Twitter.pdf" target="_blank">Leading Women Summit award winners</a> 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS16.jpg" alt="" data-id="39660" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39660" class="wp-image-39660" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS16.jpg 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS16-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS16-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS16-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption>Naomi Campbell. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="562" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS18.jpg" alt="" data-id="39661" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39661" class="wp-image-39661" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS18.jpg 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS18-300x211.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS18-600x422.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS18-768x540.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption>Saloni Wahi, Rakesh Wahi, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Roberta Naicker. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="750" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS11.jpg" alt="" data-id="39662" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39662" class="wp-image-39662" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS11.jpg 750w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS11-300x240.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS11-600x480.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption> Managing Editor of FORBES AFRICA and FORBES WOMAN AFRICA, Methil Renuka. Picture: GABHISATV </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS14.jpg" alt="" data-id="39663" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39663" class="wp-image-39663" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS14.jpg 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS14-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS14-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS14-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption> Noëlla Coursaris Musunka. Picture: GABHISATV </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



READ MORE about the New Wealth Creators | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Businesses Of The Future: 20 New Wealth Creators On The African Continent (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/03/11/the-businesses-of-the-future-20-new-wealth-creators-on-the-african-continent/" target="_blank">Businesses Of The Future: 20 New Wealth Creators On The African Continent</a>



The 2019 Leading Women Summit was a full-day event, with an audience of over 500 women.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="654" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-1-1024x654.jpg" alt="" data-id="39650" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39650" class="wp-image-39650" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-1.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-1-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-1-600x383.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-1-768x491.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Award winners at the 2019 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="765" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-2-1024x765.jpg" alt="" data-id="39651" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39651" class="wp-image-39651" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-2.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-2-300x224.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-2-600x448.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-2-768x574.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Judith Kepher-Gona, Uchenna Pedro, Arlene Mulder and Nosipho Mkhupheka. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="690" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-3-1024x690.jpg" alt="" data-id="39652" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39652" class="wp-image-39652" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-3.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-3-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-3-600x404.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-3-768x518.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Hon Mr Sihle Zikalala, Saloni Wahi, Wendy Luhabe and Rakesh Wahi. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="711" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-4-1024x711.jpg" alt="" data-id="39653" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39653" class="wp-image-39653" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-4.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-4-300x208.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-4-600x417.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-4-768x533.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>eThekwini mayor, Zandile Gumede, congratulating an award winner. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



The goal was to bring together leading, influential women to share their ideas that are idea-focused, and on a wide range of subjects, to foster learning, inspiration and wonder – and provoke conversations that matter. The 2019 theme for the event was the “New Wealth Creators”.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS13-1024x682.jpg" alt="" data-id="39668" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39668" class="wp-image-39668" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS13.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS13-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS13-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Forbes Woman Africa Cover Stars &#8211; The New Wealth Creators. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="493" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS15.jpg" alt="" data-id="39669" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39669" class="wp-image-39669" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS15.jpg 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS15-300x185.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS15-600x370.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS15-768x473.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption>Panel Discussion: The Blue Economy: New Wealth From African&#8217;s Ocean. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="657" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS17-1024x657.jpg" alt="" data-id="39666" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39666" class="wp-image-39666" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS17.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS17-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS17-600x385.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS17-768x493.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Panel Discussion: South Africa&#8217;s Young Intellectuals. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS19.jpg" alt="" data-id="39667" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39667" class="wp-image-39667" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS19.jpg 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS19-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS19-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS19-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption>Panel Discussion: The Future Economy: How CEOs Can Lead Value Creation. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



The <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="New Wealth Creators list (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/03/11/the-businesses-of-the-future-20-new-wealth-creators-on-the-african-continent/" target="_blank">New Wealth Creators list</a>, which is the first of its kind, was unveiled at the Summit. It is collection of female entrepreneurs on the African continent running businesses and social enterprises that are new, offbeat and radical. 



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Naomi Campbell: Africa Is One Of The Leading Continents In The World (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/03/08/naomi-campbell-africa-is-one-of-the-leading-continents-in-the-world/" target="_blank">Naomi Campbell: Africa Is One Of The Leading Continents In The World</a>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="768" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-7.jpg" alt="" data-id="39656" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39656" class="wp-image-39656" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-7.jpg 960w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-7-300x240.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-7-600x480.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-7-768x614.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /><figcaption>Sonto Mayise (KZN Convention Burea) and Roberta Naicker (MD of the ABN Group). Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="923" height="613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS10.png" alt="" data-id="39658" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39658" class="wp-image-39658" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS10.png 923w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS10-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS10-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS10-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px" /><figcaption>Renuka Methil and Salomi Wahi. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-8 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-61-1024x682.jpg" alt="" data-id="39671" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39671" class="wp-image-39671" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-61.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-61-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-61-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-61-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS221.jpg" alt="" data-id="39672" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39672" class="wp-image-39672" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS221.jpg 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS221-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS221-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS221-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></figure></li></ul>



READ MORE |<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" Naomi Campbell Announced As Headline Speaker For The 2019 Forbes Woman Africa Leading Women Summit (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2019/02/07/naomi-campbell-announced-as-headline-speaker-for-the-2019-forbes-woman-africa-leading-women-summit/" target="_blank"> Naomi Campbell Announced As Headline Speaker For The 2019 Forbes Woman Africa Leading Women Summit</a>



The Summit celebrated a host of female trailblazers, game-changers and pioneers in African business and society. 



Supermodel, philanthropist and cultural innovator, Naomi Campbell was the headline speaker among other global influencers in business, sport, science, entertainment and leadership.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-9 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="750" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS211.jpg" alt="" data-id="39674" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39674" class="wp-image-39674" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS211.jpg 750w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS211-300x240.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS211-600x480.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption>Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Former Miss South Africa and Miss Universe. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-51-1024x682.jpg" alt="" data-id="39675" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39675" class="wp-image-39675" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-51.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-51-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-51-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-51-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-10 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="511" height="768" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-10.jpg" alt="" data-id="39664" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39664" class="wp-image-39664" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-10.jpg 511w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-10-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS-10-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 511px) 100vw, 511px" /><figcaption>Nomfundo Gumele. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="480" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS20.jpg" alt="" data-id="39665" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=39665" class="wp-image-39665" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS20.jpg 480w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS20-300x375.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LWS20-240x300.jpg 240w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /><figcaption>Simidele Adeagbo, Winter Olympic Athlete. Picture: GABHISATV</figcaption></figure></li></ul>

Gugu-and-Naomi

IN PICTURES | Leading Women Summit 2019

NWC8

Businesses Of The Future: 20 New Wealth Creators On The African Continent

It’s a gloomy Monday afternoon in the leafy Johannesburg
suburb of Greenside, South Africa, but inside the photo studio where we are,
the mood is festive as Madagascar-born Ylias Akbaraly transforms himself from a
humble, down-to-earth entrepreneur in modest casual wear into a stately
capitalist wearing a nifty-grey Italian designer suit, dark tie and light-blue
shirt. 



Madagascar’s wealthy businessman, who estimates his worth at
just over a billion dollars, has come to share his story of how in under 30
years, he turned a small family business with a turnover of almost $34,000 and
employing 20 people, to an empire with revenue expected to exceed $265 million
in 2019 and employing 3,000 staff.



The multinational conglomerate that he created through
discipline, hard work and seizing opportunities, now has tentacles beyond his
island state extending to Mali, Ghana, Mauritius, France and soon the United
States (US) and Canada, to name a few.&nbsp; 



A phone-call to his parents was all it took for the silver
fox to embark on this transformative journey. 



The ebullient 59-year-old describes the moment: “It was a
very special situation. I was doing very well in the US, I was living in
California – can you imagine, beautiful state, beautiful weather, good friends.
I could work there. I had some opportunities to work at the Bank of America at
that time, so I called my parents and said I am going to stay in the US, it is
better.” 



His parents were saddened by his decision, they asked him to
return and join the business.



In 1992, he did.



“I decided to come back and be with the family and thank God
I decided to come back. I don’t regret it, I am very happy, and they were very
happy,” the man who calls himself a spiritual person tells FORBES AFRICA. 



On his return, Akbaraly worked for Sipromad, a small retail
business focused on detergents that his father, Sermamod, the son of Indian
immigrants, established in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, in 1972 after a
stint selling shoes, shirts and ties.



Warmly, Akbaraly says: “I came back, I saw a very small
business, but my parents were happy, they had a very peaceful life, and things
at home were very nice and joyful.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I worked with my father, I assisted him, I wanted to change things but I was facing a generational conflict in business. But my father is very intelligent so step-by-step he let me change things.” </blockquote>



Full of fresh ideas from his time spent working and studying
in both France and the US, Akbaraly began to give his personal touch to
Sipromad. He created a team, and hired new people and professionals. 



The company started doing a lot of research; it went to see
some local suppliers who asked Sipromad to change the packaging, pricing and
color of its products, which it did. It extended its product lines. 



For example, instead of offering its products in big boxes,
it offered them in medium and small, so that it could target different
consumers, says the man known as one of Madagascar’s wealthiest.&nbsp; 



“At the same time we had our ear to the ground, we went to
see retailers and our customers to find out what they wanted, as the buyer is
king,” Akbaraly adds. 



From this exercise an important lesson was learned. 



“You have to adapt your product to the market, this is the
base of an entrepreneur, to adapt his way of doing things.” 



Through these changes, the business started growing its
market share and diversifying. It now operates in several sectors including
broadcasting, agribusiness, real estate, technology, finance, renewable energy,
tourism, aviation and industry. 



Akbaraly, a staunch believer in ‘free leadership’, becomes
animated when he explains how Sipromad was able to see opportunities in these
sectors.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It is a question of opportunities, it is a question of courage, I believe a lot in teamwork because with my colleagues, we talk, we debate, we change, we decide together.” </blockquote>



“I believe that business is a creation,” he adds. To explain
his point, he draws an analogy to an artist with his palette, who mixes his paint
as he sees the potential beauty it can create. 



Like the artist who mixes his colors, business is a creation
of the opportunities you take, reckons Akbaraly. 



“This is why understanding the market, understanding what is going to happen in five years, is important so that you can take decisions when you have opportunities in front of you, we are very proactive, very fast in taking decisions and we are not scared, we are not afraid because we work very hard,” Akbaraly says. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The rationale for diversification&nbsp; </h4>



What is striking about the clusters Sipromad operates in is
that they are vastly different. 



Akbaraly claims the rationale for this is that it comes down
to the businessperson you are: “There are two types of businessmen. Some prefer
to stay in the same sector, to invest in the same sector and develop in the
same sector, to integrate. Our strategy was diversification. We thought about
it and the outcome of our discussions and debates was to diversify the business
as it protects you if you are facing problems in one sector.”



The architect of this multi-sector business also suggests
the market demanded it: “Today, when we see how we became big and how we became
so strong in business, it is because we diversified our business for different
markets. 



“Now things are changing because of this diversification, now we can synergize because sometimes our customers are interested in detergents, tobacco, soap, so we can synergize and propose many products to one customer because of our diversification. This is a big advantage because one customer is able to buy products from different sectors of our company.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Reinvesting profits</h4>



The growth was funded by reinvesting a 100% of the company’s
profits back into the family empire, explains the mogul with an international
outlook. 



“When you don’t distribute your profit it means your profit becomes a strength for your company… when you show the bankers that your money is reinvesting and you don’t distribute your dividends and you tell them, ‘ok we have this type of investment, we can bring 30%, we can raise 70% from you’, it gives our financial partners very big security and they follow us. this is how we raised money to reinvest, diversify and buy equipment, buy raw materials and increase our business.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">‘Reputation very important’</h4>



But it wasn’t just Sipromad’s shrewdness in capital raising
that allowed it to expand but its reputation.



Candidly, Akbaraly says: “We are very careful about our
management. Reputation is very important, because of our serious work, our engagement,
our products, our customers, our suppliers, we created a name and when you do
that, you create your brand, and because of that, when foreigners come to
invest in Madagascar, they come to Sipromad. 



Those that have partnered with the company include Orange
Money in mobile banking, Italy’s Tozzi Green in hydropower, Brink’s for the
transport of money, and Apple, to name a few.



Last year, the global company did a joint venture with one of Morocco’s largest banks, Banque Centrale Populaire, to buy Mauritius-based Banque des Mascareignes and its subsidiary Banque des Mascareignes – Madagascar.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Analogue to digital</h4>



Akbaraly says the company’s reputation led to its
partnership with Rohde &amp; Schwarz based in Munich, Germany, and its purchase
of Thomson Broadcast. These deals catapulted it to another level.



Akbaraly, with fervor, explains further: “As we have a very
strong IT department, we set up Broadcasting Media Solutions (BMS), which
specializes in broadcast, because of our reputation, we were approached by
electronics group Rohde &amp; Schwarz.&nbsp; 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“They came to us and told us ‘we know you have a very serious business, you have a very good maintenance team, do you want to work with us in Madagascar to sell our products in broadcast and maintain them?’ Of course we did!”</blockquote>



From Madagascar, Sipromad partnered with Rohde &amp; Schwarz
in Mauritius and Morocco and subcontracted for the electronics group after it
won a tender in Zimbabwe and Ghana.



In the process, Sipromad became a player in the broadcasting
space. In 2018, BMS bid for a contract in Mali for the deployment of a
nationwide, end-to-end digital terrestrial television (DTT) turnkey roll out,
it lost to France’s Thomson Broadcast. Refusing to give up, Akbaraly discovered
Thomson had financial problems and decided to buy it.



Thomson not only allowed Sipromad to expand into Mali but
transformed it to a truly global business with operations in France, Israel,
Cape Verde, Bangladesh, India, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.



Akbaraly says it is looking to expand to Pennsylvania in the
US, to Canada, Angola, Sierra Leone and South Africa. In Africa, it plans to
migrate countries from analogue to digital broadcasting.



The visionary says Sipromad’s dream is for a pan-African
company to become a leader in broadcast.



But Madagascar will always remain his core. Full of love for his homeland, he speaks highly of it: “It is my center of energy, we call it plasma, I am here because of Madagascar, it was the source, the beginning, the start and my grandfather taught me, my mother’s father [who said] ‘don’t forget Madagascar because you have been protected by the flag of Madagascar, Madagascar was your protector, do the best, develop your business all around the world’, but the source, the energy, the key, the chi is Madagascar.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Balanced life</h4>



The father of four believes his success comes from living a
balanced life, surrounding himself with the right people, being spiritual and
positive. 



“If you want to be successful in life, you have to create
positive energy, how you create it is according to your behavior, according to
what you do, how you behave with others.” He reckons the energy was passed on
from his family through education, their good attitude and transparency.



The martial arts veteran follows a very strict routine. It’s
the reason he has been called the monk of business. 



“My life is very well-organized, because I wake up in the morning between 4AM and 4.30AM and pray; spirituality first, then meditation, yoga, and take some water, fruit and then I go for my sports, usually I start at 6 o’ clock, for a minimum of one hour a day and then I go to the office.



&nbsp;“When you’re at a certain level of business, you have to be very well-organized, you cannot afford to go outside in the night to clubs, to sleep late. This is not possible, otherwise in the morning, you cannot wake up early, your day starts badly… that is why one day, one of my very close uncles told me ‘your life is like a Buddhist life, it is like a monk’. I think at a certain level you need to have this type of life. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, and I don’t eat meat.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Philanthropy, education and inclusion</h4>



It is Akbaraly’s deep spirituality, love for his country and
sense of justice that led him to use his wealth for the greater good of
humanity. In 2008, he and his Italian wife, Cinzia, who shares and developed
his spirituality, founded the Akbaraly Foundation.



The idea was conceptualized while Cinzia was in hospital for
cancer. She wanted to do something for Madagascan women because they are the
foundation of life, the center of energy, the plasma of the world, says
Akbaraly. 



In Madagascar, they set up prevention centers to assist
women with breast and gynaecological cancer.



The country is among the poorest in the world, it saddens
the philanthropist when he reflects on it: 



“We are not happy because when you see people you know that
are not in a good situation, they don’t have shoes, they don’t have enough
food… you need justice, life needs to be fair. My dream, and I hope it will
materialize, is to fight against poverty, to give a better life to our
population so that they can go to school and have hospitals.” 



It is for this reason that the foundation’s aim is to fight
against extreme poverty. Its projects extend to health, education and
sustainable development.



“Right now, we are in discussions in the US with MIT
[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. We would like to sign an agreement
between MIT and Thomson, and one university of IT in Madagascar, to offer our
young generation of Madagascans IT and maybe send them abroad,” says Akbaraly,
who is a firm believer in the power of education.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



In countries where Sipromad operates, it prioritizes
corporate social investment. In Mali, for example, together with the
government, it is investing in radio to transfer education to parts of Mali,
Akbaraly says.



The foundation also makes contributions. In Rwanda, for
example, it is contributing $100,000 to the launch of new hospitals, says the
businessman. 



His sense of justice doesn’t just extend to the foundation’s
projects but also to his own organization. 



Women and men are paid equally for the same work. More and
more women are being placed in executive positions because they are very good,
Akbaraly says.



His fight against poverty lives out in the projects his
company chooses to focus on. 



“That is why we are investing a lot in the industry sector;
we just built the [Orange Telecommunication] Tower,” a 33-storey headquarter building,
the tallest in the world’s fourth largest island, and known as the “pride of
the nation”. 



“We are doing so many investments, we hire people, we give them jobs. We are, right now, in another project for real estate, what we can do is to invest, to hire people, to fight against unemployment, to give them a chance to buy things, to go to the restaurant, to have good food and at the same time with the profit to share in the project of CSI, this is the positive energy, this is the karma, this is important in life because in life you have to be fair, you cannot accept that some people are in this situation while others are in a better situation,” Akbaraly reflects. Throughout his career, he has received accolades. The one he is most proud of is the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman from India in 2009. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Succession planning </h4>



Akbaraly is under no illusion he will hold on to power forever. He is hard at work preparing the next generation to take over Sipromad, because in a few years’ time, he wants to do something else, he tells FORBES AFRICA. “I want to do more for others. Really to share with others,” the monk of business says with a smile.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Additional inputs:</h4>



Akbaraly and Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the United Nations, have forged a friendship over the years. “Ylias is a self-made millionaire who started from humble beginnings,” Douste-Blazy says. “We’ve had many interesting conversations about geopolitics and other trends around the world.”



Douste-Blazy talks about Akbaraly’s humility and how he lets
his work speak for itself. “He is very discreet. When you see him walk down the
street, he is not loud about his wealth. He walks freely without guards or
expensive cars.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="688" height="434" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39419" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe.png 688w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe-300x189.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe-600x378.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px" /><figcaption> Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the United Nations. Picture:Supplied</figcaption></figure>



Douste-Blazy expends that Akbaraly’s business strategies
have captured the attention of many.&nbsp;
“Akbaraly is respected in France, his acquisition of Thomson [Broadcast]
was very important&#8230;.The assets that he has acquired show him to be a smart
businessman.”



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



 “I have much respect for my friend and peer Ylias Akbaraly. He is the textbook definition of a visionary entrepreneur. The transformation of his group of companies was single-handedly spearheaded by him. 



 “From their international expansion to endeavors in tourism, manufacturing, energy, real estate, they were all strategically invested by him. There’s much to take note of in this story. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="684" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-684x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-37430" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-684x1024.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-600x899.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use.jpg 1367w" sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" /><figcaption>Mohammed Dewji, CEO, MeTL and Africa&#8217;s youngest billionair as per FORBES.</figcaption></figure>



“What many may not know is in addition to his many accolades, I must say his piety seeps through all his endeavors, both professionally and personally. His strong faith has propelled him to be even more grounded and thus become the successful businessman he is today.” &#8211; Mohammed Dewji, CEO, MeTL Group, and Africa&#8217;s youngest billionaire



-With inputs from Unathi Shologu

ylias-2

The Monk Of Business: Ylias Akbaraly Talks About Secret To Success And Plans To Take Africa With Him

It’s a balmy 80 degrees on a mid-December day in Singapore, and something is puzzling Allen Day, a 41-year-old data scientist. Using the tools he has developed at Google, he can see a mysterious concerted usage of artificial intelligence on the blockchain for Ethereum. 



Ether is the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency (after bitcoin and XRP), and it still sports a market cap of some $11 billion despite losing 83% of its value in 2018. Peering into its blockchain—the distributed database of transactions underpinning the cryptocurrency—Day detects a “whole bunch” of “autonomous agents” moving funds around “in an automated fashion.” 



While he doesn’t yet know who has created the AI, he suspects they could be the agents of cryptocurrency exchanges trading among themselves in order to artificially inflate ether’s price. 



“It’s not really just single agents doing things on their own,” Day says from Google’s Asia-Pacific headquarters. “They’re forming with other agents to have some larger group effect.” 



Day’s official title is senior developer advocate for Google Cloud, but he describes his role as “customer zero” for the company’s cloud computing efforts. 



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="The Coffee Farmers Betting On Blockchain To Boost Business (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/02/19/the-coffee-farmers-betting-on-blockchain-to-boost-business/" target="_blank">The Coffee Farmers Betting On Blockchain To Boost Business</a>



As such it’s his job to anticipate demand before a product even exists, and he thinks making the blockchain more accessible is the next big thing. 



Just as Google enabled (and ultimately profited) from making the internet more usable 20 years ago, its next billions may come from shining a bright light on blockchains. If Day is successful, the world will know whether blockchain’s real usage is living up to its hype.



Danish researcher Thomas Silkjaer is using Google&#8217;s BigQuery to map publicly available information about XRP cryptocurrency addresses. The craters represent some of cryptocurrency&#8217;s largest exchanges.



Last year Day and a small team of open-source developers quietly began loading data for the entire Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains into Google’s big-data analytics platform, BigQuery. Then, with the help of lead developer Evgeny Medvedev, he created a suite of sophisticated software to search the data.



In spite of a total lack of publicity, word of the project spread quickly among crypto-minded coders. In the past year, more than 500 projects were created using the new tools, trying to do everything from predicting the price of bitcoin to analyzing wealth disparity among ether holders. 



When it comes to cloud computing, Google is far behind Amazon and Microsoft. Last year Google pocketed an estimated $3 billion in revenue from cloud ser­vices. Amazon and Microsoft, meanwhile, generated about $27 billion and $10 billion, respectively.



Day is hoping that his project, known as Blockchain ETL (extract, transform, load), will help even the playing field. But even here Google is trying to catch up. Amazon entered blockchain in a big way in 2018 with a suite of tools for building and managing distributed ledgers. 



READ MORE |<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wealth/2019/02/01/blockchain-startups-showed-no-signs-of-life-in-2018/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Blockchain Startups Showed No “Signs Of Life” In 2018 (opens in a new tab)">Blockchain Startups Showed No “Signs Of Life” In 2018</a>



Microsoft got into the space in 2015, when it released tools for Ethereum’s blockchain. It now hosts a range of services as part of its Azure Blockchain Workbench. But while Amazon and Microsoft are focusing on making it easier to build blockchain apps, Day is focusing on exposing how blockchains are actually being used, and by whom. 



“In the future, moving more economic activity on chain won’t just require a consensus level of trust,” says Day, referring to the core validating mechanism of blockchain technology. 



“It will require having some trust in knowing about who it is you’re actually interacting with.” In other words, if blockchain is to go mainstream, some of its beloved anonymity features will have to be abandoned.



A native of Placer County, California, Day got his first computer at the age of 5 and a few years later started writing simple programs. A fascination with volcanoes and dinosaurs turned his interest to life sciences, and he ultimately graduated from the University of Oregon with a dual degree in biology and Mandarin in 2000. From there he headed to UCLA to pursue a doctorate in human genetics and helped build a computer program to browse the genome.



 This Silkjaer image uses data for the XRP cryptocurrency to show the movement of funds across the entire ledger of transactions, culminating in a snapshot of funds in an actual user&#8217;s wallet.



It was at UCLA where Day began relying on distributed computing, a concept that is core to blockchains, which store their data on a large network of individual computers. In the early 2000s Day needed to analyze the massive amounts of data that make up the human genome. To solve this problem he hooked many small computers together, vastly increasing their power. 



“Distributed-systems technology has been in my tool kit for a while,” Day says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I could see there were interesting characteristics of blockchains that could run a global supercomputer.” </blockquote>



Hired in 2016 to work in the health and bio­informatics areas of Google, Day segued to blockchains, the hottest distributed-computing effort on the planet. But the talents he had honed—sequencing genomes for infectious diseases in real time and using AI to increase rice yields—were not easily applied to decoding blockchain. 



Before Day and Medvedev released their tools, just searching a blockchain required specialized software called “block explorers,” which let users hunt only for specific transactions, each labeled with a unique tangle of 26-plus alphanumeric characters. Google’s Blockchain ETL, by contrast, lets users make more generalized searches of entire ecosystems of transactions.



To demonstrate how customers could use Blockchain ETL to make improvements to the crypto economy, Day has used his tools to examine the so-called hard fork, or an irrevocable split in a blockchain database, that created a new cryptocurrency—bitcoin cash—from bitcoin in the summer of 2017. 



This particular split was the result of a Hatfield and McCoy “war” within the bitcoin community between a group who wanted to leave bitcoin as it was and another who wanted to develop a currency that, like cash, was cheaper and faster to use for small payments. 



Using Google’s BigQuery, Day discovered that bitcoin cash, rather than increasing so-called micro-transactions, as the defecting developers claimed, was actually being hoarded among big holders of bitcoin cash.



 “I’m very interested to quantify what’s happening so that we can see where the legitimate use cases are for blockchain,” Day says. “Then we can move to the next use case and develop out what these technologies are really appropriate for.”



Day’s work is inspiring others. Tomasz Kolinko is a Warsaw-based programmer and the creator of a service that analyzes smart contracts, a feature of certain blockchains that is designed to transparently enforce contractual obligations like collateralized loans but with less reliance on third parties, like lawyers. Kolinko was frustrated with his blockchain queries.



READ MORE |<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/agriculture/2019/01/24/ugandan-firm-uses-blockchain-to-trace-coffee-from-farms-to-stores/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Ugandan Firm Uses Blockchain To Trace Coffee From Farms To Stores (opens in a new tab)">Ugandan Firm Uses Blockchain To Trace Coffee From Farms To Stores</a>



In December, Kolinko met Day at a hackathon in Singapore. Within a month of the meeting, Kolinko was using Google’s tools to search for a smart contract feature called a “selfdestruct,” designed to limit a contract’s life span. Using his own software in conjunction with Day’s, Kolinko took 23 seconds to search 1.2 million smart contracts—something that would have taken hours before. 



The result: Almost 700 of them had left open a selfdestruct feature that would let anyone instantly kill the smart contract, whether that person was authorized or not. “In the past you couldn’t just easily check all the contracts that were using it,” Kolinko says. “This tool is both the most scary and most inspiring I’ve ever built.” 



Day is now expanding beyond bitcoin and ethereum. Litecoin, zcash, dash, bitcoin cash, ethereum classic and dogecoin are being added to BigQuery. Independent developers are loading their own crypto data sets on Google. 



Last August, a Dutch developer named Wietse Wind uploaded the entire 400 gigabytes of transaction data from Ripple’s XRP blockchain, another popular cryptocurrency, into BigQuery. 



Wind’s data, which he updates every 15 minutes, prompted a Danish designer named Thomas Silkjaer to create a heat map of crypto flows. The resulting colorful orb reveals at a glance more than a million crypto wallets, including big ex­changes like Binance and London’s crypto debit card startup Wirex, which are neck deep in XRP transactions. 



“Google has been a bit of a sleeping giant in blockchain,” says BlockApps CEO Kieren James-Lubin, who is partnering with Google to sell enterprise blockchain apps. 



In addition to Day’s work, Google has filed numerous patents related to the blockchain, including one in 2018 to use a “lattice” of interoperating blockchains to increase security, a big deal in a world where untold millions of crypto have been stolen by hackers. 



The company is also pushing its developers to build apps on the Ethereum blockchain, and Google’s venture arm, GV, has made a number of significant investments in crypto startups. 



The giant, it seems, is waking up.



-Michael del Castillo; Forbes Staff

1130303166

Navigating Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP: How Google Is Quietly Making Blockchains Searchable

Alex Sunnarborg is a founding partner of Tetras Capital, a New York City-based cryptocurrency hedge fund Forbes estimates to have $30 million in assets under management. Tetras is well known for a recent bearish bet it made: It shorted ether in May 2018, a month when the digital currency’s average price was nearly $700. Today, ether hovers around $100. Before Tetras, Sunnarborg did a stint in investment banking and founded crypto exchange and research app Lawnmower, which was acquired by CoinDesk in 2017.



Forbes:&nbsp;How would you describe your investment strategy?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;In a bull market when everything is going up, especially when bitcoin is going up, altcoins generally will return more than bitcoin. In 2017 when we launched, we were looking to make altcoin trades. [Altcoins are generally considered any crypto asset other than bitcoin.] They historically have more volatility and higher betas.



In a bear market, altcoins are still trading at a higher beta, but to the downside. In 2018, bitcoin fell about 75%, but altcoins fell 95%. It’s funny how strongly they’re still correlated, yet altcoins have a higher beta. Today, if we’re trying to hedge our exposure to this space, before we short bitcoin we look at something with a higher beta.



Forbes:&nbsp;You shorted ether in May 2018, when it was trading above $500. Now ether is at $100. Obviously, that went well. Was it your biggest win for 2018?



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2019/02/02/why-genesis-made-over-1-billion-in-bitcoin-ethereum-and-xrp-loans/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Why Genesis Made Over $1 Billion In Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP Loans (opens in a new tab)">Why Genesis Made Over $1 Billion In Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP Loans</a>



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I would say so, yeah.



Forbes:&nbsp;Where’s the bottom for ether?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;It’s funny, these cryptos don’t have a good way to come to a fundamental value. I can’t tell you ether is fundamentally going to bottom at $50. It was at $10 two years ago, right? These assets trade so much relatively to each other, so I think ether’s short-term bottom would be in line with bitcoin starting to turn. If bitcoin turned tomorrow and rallied, I think ether would, too.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">School Counselors Are The Glue In The School</h4>



Forbes:&nbsp;Over the past few months, we’ve seen issues with ConsenSys struggling and doing layoffs. Do you think that’s a bad sign for the future of Ethereum?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;Yeah. ConsenSys is an integral piece of the Ethereum ecosystem. All the Ethereum decentralized applications and products it supports have had minimal user growth. A lot of them still haven’t launched and are still pretty difficult to use, and the daily active user counts are less than 100.



Augur has about $40,000 of money at stake across all its prediction markets, but the investors behind Augur have put up tens of millions. It has a market cap of hundreds of millions. There’s this massive disconnect between how much money is still tied up in these projects and how much people actually use them.



I’ve also noticed some Ethereum developers basically talking about building on some competing blockchains. People are talking about launching on Dfinity or Polkadot. At least at a high level, it does not look or feel good. It looks like a drop in momentum and steam.



Forbes:&nbsp;Are you currently short ether?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I don’t think I should comment on that right now. We have not held ether since we first published our short thesis in July 2018. We then went short ether, and we have taken that position off three or four times in 2018.



Forbes:&nbsp;Has bitcoin bottomed yet?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I don’t think so, and I think calling that is very difficult. That’s part of the reason I’m really thankful that we’re in the position we are right now. We can hedge ourselves, remain more neutral and not have to call that exact price or timing bottom. I’m not confident right now. Our portfolio is relatively neutral—we have cash and short positions.



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Forbes:&nbsp;What are you buying and holding?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;Obviously, I’m a huge proponent of bitcoin. And if the market were to turn right now, what liquid altcoin sector would we even look at? We’re very biased against anything that did an ICO, because we think they’re pretty much all illegal securities offerings. Just by cutting that out, you are left with a very small handful of assets. A use case I still find interesting, because bitcoin doesn’t have that functionality yet, is private transactions.



Forbes:&nbsp;Among privacy coins, which do you like best?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I think Mimblewimble and Grin are pretty interesting—the fair launch process, the focus on privacy and the inflation. I think zcash and monero are both still interesting.



Forbes:&nbsp;Can you explain what Grin did to create a fair launch?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;There’s only so many projects that don’t launch their blockchain or token without an ICO or some initial funding. Grin tried to use the ethos of bitcoin of saying there’s going to be a genesis block, and people are going to start mining the coin. There’s no way you can buy it or get access to this coin ahead of time. That’s very similar to how monero launched, and both of those attract a lot of interest from people in bitcoin, largely for that reason.



Forbes:&nbsp;What other factors do you look at?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;Another huge thing for me is the security. So, things like that recent Ethereum Classic 51% attack (when users attacked the blockchain with computing power to spend the same coins twice, undermining the primary function of the blockchain). These blockchains where it’s possible to rewrite the blockchain for not that much money relative to how much you could make by double-spending—those are immediately not attractive. Unfortunately, in the crypto space, security and price are generally very correlated. So, as the price of ether falls, it gets less secure.



Forbes:&nbsp;I’ve seen you tweet about the virtual reality Ethereum-based platform Decentraland. Do you like that project?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I find the concept of digital land very interesting, because of its scarcity. I like the concept of digital scarcity. This land asset seems interesting as something I could own and build on, and maybe charge players a fee for. I could sell it to someone else in the future. The value actually makes sense to me. But there’s this other token in Decentraland called mana, which was created via an ICO. You have to use mana to buy land. I absolutely hate this token; it’s totally unnecessary. I think the ICO was just done to raise money. They sold these tokens, and then essentially, they’re backing into what to do with them.



Forbes:&nbsp;I’ve also seen you tweet about EOS and its growing number of transactions. Are you bullish on it?



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/02/12/everybodys-interests-regulate-cryptocurrencies/">Why it’s in everybody’s interests to regulate cryptocurrencies</a>



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;No. The one-year long, $4 billion-dollar ICO seems a little excessive to me. The whole governance system, with 21 block producers that can essentially make, vote, or deny everything, is a weird concept to me.



Forbes:&nbsp;What should investors be monitoring for signals about where the market is headed?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;One of the big, fundamental things I want to see is whether the Fidelity crypto trading product actually rolls out in March. And do people actually start to use it? A very similar question: What’s the status of trading platform Bakkt? Will it get approved, and are people going to use it?



And how does the composition of global exchange volume start to shape up from here? Does volume increase on regulated, brand-name platforms—platforms that the next wave of institutions would actually trust?



What I’m really looking for in all these comments: Will this market actually clean up? Can we start to trust crypto data more, like trading volume numbers? We need more regulated, trusted players to improve the trading venues, because I think right now the SEC and many people are scared of manipulation, hacks and very shady venues for trading.



What would be really good for a market bottom to happen would be for every potential bad thing to happen immediately. I would love to see the SEC come down on people really hard. One of the biggest problems in this space is there are so many bad actors, and so many were related to ICOs. The SEC just has such a massive task ahead of them.



One way to think about the bottom is that it happens when all the bad news gets washed out. At that point the only thing to do is go up, and you can’t really talk about any negative catalysts anymore, because they’ve all happened.



Basically, I think we’re pretty close to the bottom, and what would help is if some more of that clarity and action came out. It probably would have been helpful for the bottom if the VanEck exchange-traded fund would have gotten totally rejected; if the SEC slapped some more of these people around and essentially maximum pain came onto the market. At that point we would see where, if any, buyers jumped in.



Excerpted from the February 2019 issue of&nbsp;<a href="https://esp.forbes.com/subscribe?PC=F8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes CryptoAsset And Blockchain Advisor</a>.



-Jeff Kauflin; Forbes Staff

Noted Hedge Fund Says Crypto Hasn’t Bottomed Yet

Yvon Chouinard, billionaire founder of outdoor apparel firm Patagonia, has traditionally shied away from politics. But things have changed for the rock-climbing, fly-fishing outdoorsman since Donald Trump moved into the Oval Office.



On Wednesday, Patagonia announced it has an additional $10 million in profits on its books for 2018 as a result of Trump’s “irresponsible tax cut” last year, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. 



Instead of investing the additional dollars back into its business, Patagonia said it would give $10 million to grassroot groups fighting climate change, including organizations that work in regenerative organic agriculture to help reverse global warming.



“Our government continues to ignore the seriousness and causes of the climate crisis,” Chouniard said in a statement. “It’s pure evil.”



Chouinard laid out his prescription for the U.S: “We need an agriculture system that supports small family farms and ranches, not one that rewards chemical companies intent on destroying our planet and poisoning our food. And we need to protect our public lands and waters because they are all we have left.”



Patagonia, citing news reports, claims the oil and gas industry have been the biggest benefactors of the corporate tax cut, with billions added to its bottom line. 



Meanwhile, the U.S. Global Change Research Program released its fourth National Climate Assessment on November 23, which pointed to the already “frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events” as harbingers of an even more tumultuous future.



“The timing of this tax cut couldn’t have been worse,” Patagonia’s statement asserts.



This bold stance comes one year after Chouinard first declared his opposition to Trump’s decision to reduce the size of Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, two Utah land areas that became federally protected under the Obama and Clinton administrations, respectively. 



In response, Chouinard blacked out Patagonia’s homepage online and replaced it with a simple message: “The President Stole Your Land.”



 If Vaccine Rates Keep Falling, These Diseases Could Make A Comeback The billionaire founder—Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.5 billion—then went on CNN to announce his plans to take Trump to court. 



“I’m going to sue him,” he said at the time. “It seems the only thing this administration understands is lawsuits.” The Trump administration tried to get the case moved to Utah courts, but a judge ruled in September that the case will have to be heard in a federal court in the nation’s capital. The case is still ongoing.



Taking a vocal and public stand against Trump’s policies has not hurt Patagonia’s business. In fact, it’s likely that it has only helped. “Any time that we do something good for the environment, we make more money,” Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario told students at UC Berkeley in April 2017.



But the company mission for environmental conservation and fighting climate change has been around long before Trump. Patagonia has been funding environmental nonprofits since 1985, giving a total of $100 million to such causes. Chouinard also in 2002 cofounded 1% for the Planet, a pledge for businesses to donate 1% of sales to sustainability-oriented nonprofits. To date, the pledge has brought $175 million to environmental and conservation efforts.



Chouinard, now 80 years old, is no longer a part of day-to-day operations for Patagonia, but he shows no signs of slowing down in the great outdoors. Asked on his whereabouts over the past summer, a representative told Forbes, “He is off the grid, taking a well-deserved fishing break.” 



-Angel Au-Yeung; Forbes Staff

Tom Brokaw & 1% For The Planet Fete Major Environmental Accomplishments

Patagonia’s Billionaire To Give Away Millions His Company Saved From Trump’s Tax Cuts To Save The Planet

The once and future richest person in the world (once the Bezos divorce finalizes), Bill Gates will happily apply the dispassionate, sharp-elbowed logic that made him one of the most fearsome business minds of the past century—even when the subject, abstractly, is him, as well as the other, suddenly unpopular members of the Three Comma Club. 



“I think it’s fascinating that for the first time in my life people are saying, ‘Okay, should you have billionaires?’ ‘Should you have a wealth tax?’ I think it’s a fine discussion.” 



It’s a discussion that took place yesterday just a block from Trump Tower, home of America’s first-ever billionaire president. “My opinion is that there should be an estate tax and maybe even higher than we have today. Among The Forbes 400, I don’t think we’d get a majority—Warren [Buffett] and I are sort of against interest on that,” says Gates. “So I think there’s plenty of debate about how capital should be taxed, how estates should be taxed.” 



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But as for the kind of disincentivizing economics lamented by the Beatles in “Taxman” and increasingly championed by America’s far left, Gates remains clear: “The idea that there shouldn’t be billionaires—I’m afraid if you really implemented something like that, that the amount you would gain would be much less than the amount you would lose.” 



In looking at how Gates now deploys tens of billions philanthropically—both the money he and his wife Melinda put into their eponymous foundation, the world’s largest, and that given and pledged by Buffett—it’s critical to understand that perspective. 



Just as Gates views, correctly, that a tax system moving from progressive to confiscatory creates less wealth and innovation overall, he and Melinda examine issues systemically. 



“It’s more evocative to say you’re saving one life than to say you’re saving a million,” he says. “It’s a weird thing.” 



That worldview comes through in the 2019 edition of the Gateses’ annual letter, released this morning. Ostensibly, this year’s letter, which lays out their philanthropic observations and priorities, focuses on nine surprises that have inspired the Gateses to take action. In reality, it’s a valentine to the power of philanthropic investment—the idea of giving not to salve problems, but to solve them. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I think it’s fascinating that for the first time in my life people are saying, ‘Okay, should you have billionaires?’”</blockquote>



The Gateses write about Becoming A Man (BAM), a group counseling program that helps teenage boys stay in school by channeling their anger. (Bill Gates says he had a “touching experience” sitting in on a group, and even took his turn to vent—about learning that global polio cases were going up.) 



And their “toilet fair” in Beijing, designed to inspire a next-gen toilet that can alleviate sanitation issues. Their fixation on Africa, whose young population promises to transform the global labor force. 



All of these initiatives tell a similar story. They’re about “picking novel ideas” or “off-the-wall theories,” as Gates says, and then proving that the concepts work. “Once you find a solution and want to scale that up, it’s usually government money.” 



That’s a sticking point when dysfunctional Washington can’t enact even the most obvious forward-thinking policies. Take foreign aid, less than 1% of the U.S. budget and an expenditure that, since the Marshall Plan, has consistently generated positive ROI, in terms of creating stability and vital trading markets and stemming deadly diseases. 



While Congress rejected President Trump’s proposed foreign aid cuts, Gates remains worried. “It just can’t be ignored, given the intensity of political debate over domestic issues—and if you have one party saying, ‘Hey, helping foreign countries, that’s kind of a sucker’s deal, does it even benefit us?’” 



This shortsighted nationalist streak is a global issue. “We’re very worried that if Brexit goes poorly, at least for a time, [the U.K.] might not see [foreign aid] as a priority at all,” he says. “If the French domestic stuff gets too painful, will they stay generous?” 



In education, Gates has faced similar headwinds. “You get into political policy things in terms of what you’re trying to achieve. It’s tricky.” The most obvious example here: his previous battle for the Common Core education standards, which critics like Diane Ravitch undermined by terming such efforts a “billionaire boys club.”



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“The attack that ‘Why should you even have a say in setting the agenda?’—that has a certain resonance to it,” admits Gates. 



So why should billionaires get to choose what problems we’re solving? 



“Philanthropy is there because the government is not very innovative, doesn’t try risky things and particularly people with a private-sector background—in terms of measurement, picking great teams of people to try out new approaches,” says Gates. “Philanthropy does that.”



Philanthropy, as practiced by the Gateses, also takes risks in the existential terrain political leaders would rather bury their heads in. Bill Gates still worries about nuclear proliferation, an area his partner-in-crime Buffett has championed. He’s been the global leader on the risks around pandemics and also, to a lesser degree, climate change, where his $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund makes big bets. 



Artificial intelligence looms on the horizon as the newest threat brought on by innovation. “In the long run,” says Gates, “AI is a tough problem.”



Notably, Gates does not feel that way about social media. Last century’s boy wonder, who faced scrutiny for what the federal government saw as Microsoft’s monopolistic tactics, clearly has empathy for this century’s boy wonder, Mark Zuckerberg, now a lightning rod for Facebook’s role in the erosion of democracy, as most recently outlined by Facebook investor Roger McNamee. 



“I think what Roger [McNamee] has said is completely unfair and kind of outrageous,” says Gates. “They’re blaming Mark for everything. I mean, Trump was not elected because of Facebook. They say ‘filter bubble.’ All these polarization things. … Well, be clear. I get to read whatever I want to read, I get to listen to right-wing radio, I get to listen to Fox News. You kill Facebook and I can still live in my filter bubble. But filter bubble is not just my Facebook feed, so acting like, ‘Hey Mark, wake up someday and solve the filter bubble problem.’ No, Roger McNamee has no practical solution to the filter bubble thing.” 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“They’re blaming Mark for everything. I mean, Trump was not elected because of Facebook.”</blockquote>



(“It’s hard when you’re in this vortex,” adds Gates. “I was in such a vortex once upon a time. A little bit different because mine was more of a court-related thing than the broad view of whether the software was good or not.”) 



Ultimately, Gates, whose net worth, even after large donations to the foundation, approaches $100 billion, views philanthropy as a vital force for good. And he thinks that potential critics—even a loony potential British prime minister—will come around to that view. 



“When I met with Jeremy Corbyn for the first time, does he view me as the billionaire guy who collected more money than he thinks anybody is supposed to collect?” recalls Gates. 



“Or does he view me as the philanthropist who’s helping improve Africa and hopefully learn about education? Fortunately he was very nice, he viewed me as the second. But I’m sure he had to hesitate: ‘This guy is one of those people that maybe there should be none of’.”



-Randall Lane, Forbes Staff

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“I’m not a businessman—I’m a business, man,” Jay-Z famously rapped more than a decade ago. It’s a lesson that NBA superstars are taking to heart as they recognize their ability to call the shots on and off the court. 



The biggest stars, including LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, have set up companies to manage the opportunities in media, marketing and investing that come along with being global icons.



The NBA’s top 10 earners will make an estimated $540 million this year from salaries, endorsements, appearances, royalties and media pacts. 



The tally is up more than $180 million for hoops’ top earners from five years ago. James is the NBA’s highest-paid player for the fifth-straight year, with $88.7 million, including $53 million off the court. (Kobe Bryant was the last active basketball player to outearn King James.)



James, Curry and Durant are among the rare breed of players who make more off the court than on it. Endorsements provide the bulk of the off-court earnings for the trio. Shoe deals are the driving force, but these stars are increasingly pushing their personal brands into other areas.



James took control of his own marketing in 2006 when he launched what is now LRMR Ventures. A Hollywood production company, SpringHill Entertainment, followed in 2008. 



It has created TV shows like The Wall and Survivor’s Remorse and is working on remakes of the films House Party and Space Jam. James expanded his business empire with his digital media firm Uninterrupted in 2015. It got a boost via a $15.8 million investment from Time Warner the same year.



James has moved past the traditional endorsement model in many cases. He eschewed a $15 million <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2017/04/26/lebron-james-walked-away-from-15-million-in-endorsement-money-from-mcdonalds/1" target="_blank">renewal of his endorsement deal</a> with McDonald’s to double down on Blaze Pizza, where he is an investor and franchisee. 



He teamed up last year with Cindy Crawford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lindsey Vonn to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/lebron-james-other-celebrities-team-up-to-start-wellness-brand-ladder-1543320001" target="_blank">launch Ladder</a>, a health and wellness company, selling protein powders to start. James’ net worth is an <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/11/20/how-lebron-james-built-a-net-worth-of-450-million/#ea330656cfaa" target="_blank">estimated $450 million</a>.



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/" target="_blank">-Kurt Badenhausen</a>Forbes Staff

Los Angeles Lakers v Philadelphia 76ers

The NBA’s Highest-Paid Players 2019: LeBron James Leads With $89 Million

While 2017 was the heyday for the entire crypto industry, in 2018 things turned a little darker.



Falling prices, fears around crypto regulation, lackluster institutional interest, and concerns over the ICO funding model which had run rampant in the previous year, all combined into the perfect storm of crypto doom and gloom.



While much focus is placed on token prices as a barometer of the heath of crypto, a new industry analysis has found the number of blockchain startups in the sector declined precipitously last year.



Novum Insights—which monitors around 9,000 companies in the blockchain and crypto sectors by tracking token trading as well as &#8220;signs of life&#8221; activity on websites, social accounts and GitHub pages—found over 1,811 companies, or 20% of its sample, stopped showing any such signs in 2018, and many simply vanished entirely.



Reasons for the failures identified by Novum range from outright scams and Ponzi schemes where project creators simply vanished, to the more mundane business reasons of poor capital management, business model failures and shifting regulations.



“A large number of companies were shut down in 2018 after India and China’s announcements of considering cryptocurrencies illegal on their soil,” added&nbsp;Novum’s CEO and founder&nbsp;Toby Lewis.



The failures in Novum&#8217;s sample also affected some verticals more than others, with failures affecting more than 30% of crypto companies working in the manufacturing sector, and more than 20% of companies in the entertainment, logistics and agriculture sectors.



The most promising vertical for crypto and blockchain in 2018 was education and academia where slightly over 10% of companies failed.



Despite the downturn, a total of 1,065 new ICOs raised about $21 billion for crypto and blockchain startups last year, although this figure was skewed towards Q1 and Q2 when crypto prices were between 80% and 90% higher.



Novum’s sample of crypto companies—which isn’t necessarily representative of the wider sector—suggests a contraction of business activity in the blockchain and crypto sectors during 2018, given the high level of failures and lower numbers of companies raising capital.



Time will tell if 2019 shows any better signs of life.



-Oliver Smith Forbes Staff

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Blockchain Startups Showed No “Signs Of Life” In 2018

billionaires

Fewer Billionaires, Poorer Billionaires On African Continent In 2019

It’s the end of January. Do you know the status of your 2019 financial resolutions?



If you never made any, or you’ve already let them slip, it’s not too late to start or start over.&nbsp; After all, you’ve probably only gotten one paycheck so far this year&#8212;or maybe none, if you’re a furloughed or working-without-pay federal worker.



Self-improvement or moral resolutions as a New Year’s tradition go back thousands of years to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Babylonian times</a>. During those times, people made pledges to clear their debts or give something back. We still make similar promises today.



The most popular New Year’s resolutions in 2018, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2018/12/13/new-years-resolutions-2019-exercise-healthy-eating" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouGov Omnibus</a>, are exercise more (59%), eat healthier (54%) and save money (51%). Save money beat out lose weight (48%), reduce stress (38%) and stick to a budget (35%).&nbsp; So if you’re making a financial resolution this year, you’ll have lots of company.



It’s easy to forget your resolution, but there are lots of techniques (okay gimmicks) around that will help you remember your promises to yourself and stay on track. Here are 10 savings challenges to participate in 2019.



1. The 52-Week Challenge



Out of all the savings challenges out there, this weekly savings challenge is the most popular and comes in various forms. Every week, you’re supposed to deposit a certain, pre-determined, amount into a savings account, jar or envelope.



If this is your first time saving anything or you’re looking for a small savings challenge for your child to start, then I’d suggest you start off small. Each week deposit $9.64 into a savings account. You can set up automatic deposits with your bank or use savings apps like Qapital. The amount is at your discretion too. You could save less or more depending on what you’re comfortable with. This challenge doesn’t have to last 52 weeks; you can sock away $500 in 30 days,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.myincomejourney.com/how-to-easily-save-500/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">100 days</a>&nbsp;or 6 months &#8211; it’s your decision. Once you’ve accomplished this goal, you can use it to fund a short getaway, a new outfit, give to a charity, designate it an emergency fund or use it as seed corn for your next savings challenge.



Save $1,000



Out of all the 52-week savings challenges, this one is the most widely talked about. A simple variation of this challenge is to deposit a dollar amount equivalent to the week you are in. For example, if it’s week one then deposit $1 and at week 52, deposit $52. (If you’re starting in week 3 of 2019, play catch-up with a $6 deposit.) By the end of the year, you’ll have $1,378. You can also&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.americhoice.org/twists-on-the-52-week-savings-challenge-finally-make-saving-easy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reverse the order</a>&nbsp;for quicker gratification by saving $52 on week 1 and decrease your weekly savings by $1 until you are left saving $1 on the last week of the year. Qapital offers a 52-week rule saving feature that you could use to support this challenge.



Aiming for an exact $1,000 savings goal? Try saving $10 per week for the first four weeks and then save $20 per week until the last week of the year.



Save $5,000



If you’re looking to make a major purchase or build up an ample emergency kitty, then this challenge is for you. You could simplify the process and save $100 a week for 52 weeks. But, you might like challenges where you snowball your savings. There’s one challenge where you save $20 in week one, week two is $35, week three is $45 and week four is $125. The next set of four weeks will go up by $5 to $15 dollars (your choice) and then repeat the process every four-week interval until you reach your $5,000 goal.



Save $10,000



Take on challenges like this for major goals like a first home down payment or a wedding. Deposit $125 on the first week, $150 on the second week, $175 on the third week and $300 on the fourth week. On the fifth week, start the cycle all over again and continue the challenge until you reach $10,000. An amount such as $10,000 or greater doesn’t have to be tackled alone, especially if you’re paying down credit card debt. Partner up with your significant other or family members to pay for a mutual goal and have a built-in accountability partner.



2. Bi-Weekly or 26-Week Savings Challenge



Not everyone can handle saving every week. Some people get paid bi-weekly or twice a month and prefer to save according to that schedule. Thankfully, there’s some challenges that consider that. The $1,000 challenge requires you to save $26 from your first paycheck of the year (or the first week if you want to cut the year short) and then add on $1 to your savings deposit every week (i.e. on week 26, you would deposit $51 into your savings).



To save $10,000, you could alternate between saving $275 or $475 from every paycheck between week one and week 24. That will bring you to $9,000. Then, save $425 on week 25 and $575 on week 26 to reach your goal.



3. Save One-Month Of Salary



Your savings are a hedge against unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances such as job loss.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickunser/2018/12/05/ask-your-employer-for-this-powerful-401k-upgrade/#1bb43d024b5c">Experts recommend saving enough to cover at least a few months</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmoore/2018/04/25/do-you-need-an-emergency-fund/#7bd28395310e">six months</a>&nbsp;of necessary expenses. For this challenge, you can start off with a goal to set aside 8.33% of your annual salary, or one month of salary, by stowing away 10% of your monthly income into your savings account. Throughout the year you can increase it to a higher percentage to increase the number of months you would like to cover. Alternatively, you could increase it the following year when you participate in the challenge again.



4. Round-Up Savings or Save The Change



Your New Year’s Resolution may involve breaking bad habits like overspending or spending frivolously. I’ve found round-up apps to be helpful in helping people like myself see that I do have more money to save and I don’t need to attend Taco Tuesdays every week. Apps such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qapital.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Qapital</a>,<a href="https://www.acorns.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acorns</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://digit.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digit</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://qoins.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Qoins</a>&nbsp;save by automatically withdrawing spare change or extra dollars from your checking account. With Qapital, you can choose how much to round up on your checking account purchases and the loose change gets deposited into a Qapital goals account that is FDIC-insured and backed by one of their partner banks. Some apps like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chimebank.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chime</a>&nbsp;and Qoins have the ability to use your spare change to pay down your debts while other apps like Acorns takes your extra cash and invests it.



Banks are getting in on the action, too.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/keep-the-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bank of America has a Keep The Change Savings program</a>&nbsp;for its customers that rounds up purchases to the nearest dollar and then deposits the difference into a designated BOA savings account. Be mindful of your bank’s rules for allowing third-party access to your accounts and make sure the savings app you choose offers FDIC insurance.



5. The Weather-Dependent Challenge



Budget blogger Melissa Berry at Sunburnt Saver created a savings challenge that follows the weather. She calls it&nbsp;<a href="https://sunburntsaver.com/weather-wednesdays/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Weather Wednesday</a>. On Wednesday of every week, you look at the highest temperature for that day and then save an amount equivalent to the number of degrees. For Berry, who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., could be depositing over $100 a week into her savings bucket. If you live in Alaska, turn those negative degrees into positive dollar amounts.



6. $1 A Day or The 365-Day Money Challenge



With 365 days in a year and $1 for each day, you could have &#8211; drum roll, please &#8211; $365 in your savings account by the end of 2019. Use this simple strategy towards a gift for yourself, a charity donation or towards a trip. If this challenge is not enough of a challenge, try this idea with young family members. Another version of this is to match your daily savings to the number of the day in the year. If it’s day one then save $0.01; on day 150, save $1.50 and on the last day of the year, save $3.65. By the end of the year, you’ll have $667.95.



7. $5 Dollar Savings Challenge



The $5 Savings Challenge has many forms. There’s one that will help you achieve $7,000 by multiplying the number five by the number of the week you’re in. At week one you would sock away $5 and at week 52 you’d put away $260. Another type of $5 challenge involves physical cash. You may have seen<a href="http://kelseyhomolka-keepingupwithkelsey.blogspot.com/2013/01/5-savings-plan.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;photos of stacks of $5 bills</a>&nbsp;floating around the internet; they are probably flaunting the results from this particular savings challenge. It requires you to take any $5 you come across and physically save it in a jar, shoebox or envelope. Then six months or one year later, deposit all of your $5 bills into your savings account.



8. Monthly Challenges



If you like No Shave November, then you might enjoy these savings oriented monthly challenges too. Budget blogger&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thebudgetmom.com/12-months-12-savings-challenges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kumiko Ehrmantraut of The Budget Mom</a>&nbsp;crafted a list of ways you could save each month of the year. For example, her savings calendar includes Pack-A-Lunch January and Freezer &amp; Pantry May (a challenge she said saved her $300), plus Generic July and No Spend November. Blogger and content manager Irina Vasilescu at Don’tPayFull.com, a coupon website, designed a&nbsp;<a href="https://rockstarfinance.com/5-money-saving-challenges-that-actually-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">similar challenge</a>.



9. The Bad Habit Jar



We’ve all got a bad habit. When British media website Unilad posted a video on their social media of someone putting cash into an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/uniladmag/videos/196378614573949/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“I Am Late Again” jar</a>, I chuckled. Then I realized that’s a pretty clever way of saving money and playfully penalizing a bad habit. Some of us grew up in households where there was a swear jar to curb children from using any language the adults disapproved of. And others can recall&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWSKU3-52pk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Schmidt’s Douchebag jar</a>&nbsp;on the sitcom New Girl. I’m not sure what happened to the money once those jars were full, but I’m sure whatever you have by the end of the year can go towards a nice reward for yourself or someone else or towards your rainy day fund.



10. The Envelope Challenge



Envelopes aren’t going out-of-style anytime soon. Between the envelope budget method and the envelope savings challenge, there’s a rising demand for them. They are a bit easier to carry and move than a jar or shoe box. To start, mark each envelope with a series of numbers; pick a range you are comfortable with such as 1 to 25 or 1 to 150. Throughout the year, fill the envelopes up to the corresponding number. The envelope marked with the number 10 will hold bills and coins equaling $10, while the envelope marked 25 will have bills and coins totalling $25. The 1 through 25 range will total $325.



A New Year’s resolution to save more money is a worthy promise to make to yourself. To make sure you <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/01/31/how-do-you-stick-to-your-new-years-resolutions/#19fa1d836583">stay on task in 2019</a>, try to get specific about how much you want to save, take one step at time, get a support system from friends, family members or like-minded communities and don’t sweat your mistakes. Also, make sure you enjoy your money every now and then so you don’t exhaust yourself with the process.



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/asiamartin/">-Asia Martin</a>Forbes Staff

Images Of The Australian Dollar As Currency Rises to 3-Week High Before RBA Minutes Tomorrow

It’s Not Too Late To Set Savings Challenges For 2019, Here’s Help

Gold climbed to a seven-month high on Tuesday as markets opted for caution before three major macro events and a blizzard of big tech company earnings in the coming days, starting with Apple later. 



Despite the upcoming action &#8211; a key Brexit vote in the UK , Wednesday’s U.S. Federal Reserve decision and Thursday’s conclusion of the latest Sino-U.S. trade talks &#8211; European and Asian stocks held up relatively well.



London’s FTSE rose 1 percent and Frankfurt and Paris both made some ground. Utilities and other safety plays benefited from a series of U.S. profit alerts, including from digger maker Caterpillar, overnight.



News that the U.S had leveled charges against China’s telecom giant Huawei days before the next round of trade talks between Washington and Beijing knocked sentiment.



But it was offset by promises of more economic stimulus from China, which had berated Washington on Monday for blocking the appointment of judges for its World Trade Organisation appeal against U.S. tariffs.



Amid the turmoil, gold broke through $1,300 an ounce to reach its highest since mid June.



“Investors are very cautious with many uncertainties on U.S.-China trade talks and Brexit. Huawei is at the center of dispute, creating very noisy background for the trade talks,” said Margaret Yang, a market analyst at CMC Markets.



“All these are making it more difficult for investors to judge the market’s direction. Money is fleeing into assets such as gold, seeking safety.” ,”



The U.S.-Sino moves, as well as bets that the U.S. Fed will sound more cautious on Wednesday, kept the dollar near a two-week low and heightened the safe-haven appeal of the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc.



Sterling held at $1.3166 and 86.88 pence to the euro before crucial votes later in the day aimed at breaking a deadlock in the UK parliament over Brexit .



The pound has rallied 6 percent from Jan. 4 lows, but further gains may be limited unless lawmakers emerge with a big majority on the votes.



Most European government bond yields were little changed. Weaker economic data and unknowns like the trade feuds and Brexit have all boosted expectations that interest rates will stay low.



New debt deals from Greece, Belgium and Austria were also in the pipeline. The slide in rates has also encouraged governments to launch new bond deals. Even Angola, which has just taken IMF aid, said it was eyeing a bond sale.



In Asia, shares were mixed, with losses for Australia and New Zealand, with their benchmark indices down 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. Japanese and Chinese stocks both recovered from early wobbles to finish in the green.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">WARNING BELLS</h4>



Markets will have more catalysts this week with over 100 of the S&amp;P500 companies reporting results, including Amazon, Apple and Facebook.



Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow and S&amp;P 500 each closed down 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq was off more than 1 percent.



The losses came after Caterpillar and Nvidia Corp joined a growing list of companies cautioning about the crippling effects of softening Chinese demand.



World markets slip on China worries; dollar steady ahead of trade talks



“Both companies are seen as industry bellwethers, and their disappointing results provide further evidence that this time China’s slowdown is for real,” said Rodrigo Catril, Sydney-based strategist at National Australia Bank.



Worryingly, earnings at China’s industrial firms too shrank in December, pointing to more troubles for the country’s vast manufacturing sector, which are already struggling with a decline in orders, job layoffs and factory closures.



Oil recovered after overnight losses. U.S. crude was last up 35 cents at $52.34 a barrel; Brent gained 37 cents to $60.30.



Washington imposed sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA on Monday, a step that is likely to curb its crude exports to the U.S. and ratchet up the pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. -Reuters



-Marc Jones

Gold Bar Casting At Valcambi SA Precious Metals Refinery

Gold Reaches Seven-month High as Stocks, Dollar Struggle

Big Bang Theory&nbsp;may be in its final season, but its stars are still making millions for now. Four of the top five highest-paid TV actors have the CBS hit comedy to thank for their monumental paydays, including top-ranked Jim Parsons, who pocketed $26.5 million pretax in the&nbsp;12 months preceding June 1, 2018.



Parsons claimed the top spot for the fourth year in a row, edging Johnny Galecki (No. 2, $25 million) with additional cash from endorsements and executive producing spinoff Young Sheldon. The pair&#8217;s Big Bang Theory co-stars, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg, tie at No. 3 ($23.5 million) with fewer side projects to juice their main salaries.



 All four Big Bang Theory stars saw their paychecks drop from last year after the original cast opted to take a cut from an estimated $1 million an episode to $900,000 in an effort to boost Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch&#8217;s fee. But they still snag points of the show&#8217;s back-end, which adds an estimated seven figures a year for each. 



Rounding out the top five is&nbsp;NCIS&#8216;s Mark Harmon, who&nbsp;banks big bucks from the CBS police procedural. Like the&nbsp;Big Bang Theory&nbsp;cast, he has smartly negotiated a cut of the show&#8217;s profits.



Together, the world&#8217;s 10 highest-paid TV actors earned $181 million between June 1,&nbsp;2017, and June 1, 2018, down from $185 million in the same period last year.



New to the list is&nbsp;Andrew Lincoln from&nbsp;The Walking Dead, who&nbsp;joins the ranking for the first time thanks to his paycheck from his final season on the AMC show. Expect co-star Norman Reedus to replace him among TV&#8217;s top-earners next year since Lincoln bowed out — and Reedus reportedly negotiated a raise.



The only actor to drop off the ranking is Kevin Spacey, who was accused of several counts of sexual misconduct and was dropped from his role of Frank Underwood on&nbsp;House of Cards. (He&nbsp;has denied the allegations.) With no new episodes in our scoring period, the disgraced actor failed to make the cut.



METHODOLOGY



All earnings estimates are from June 1,&nbsp;2017, through June 1, 2018. Figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders.



The World&#8217;s Highest-Paid Actors 2018



1. Jim Parsons



Earnings:&nbsp;$26.5 million



Primary Show:&nbsp;Big Bang Theory



2. Johnny Galecki



$25 million



Big Bang Theory



3. (tie) Simon Helberg



$23.5 million



Big Bang Theory



3. (tie) Kunal Nayyar



$23.5 million



Big Bang Theory



5. Mark Harmon



$19 million



NCIS



6. Ed O&#8217;Neill



$14 million



Modern Family



7. Eric Stonestreet



$13.5 million



Modern Family



8. Jesse Tyler Ferguson



$13 million



Modern Family



9. Ty Burrell



$12 million



Modern Family



10. Andrew Lincoln



$11 million



The Walking Dead



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/">-Natalie Robehmed</a>Forbes Staff

The 24th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards – Show

Highest-Paid TV Actors 2018: Jim Parsons Leads With $26.5 Million

As his 60th birthday drew close, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kochouseph-chittilappilly/#920bafbf05a1" target="_blank">Kochouseph Chittilappilly</a> couldn’t help but acknowledge that life was good. The business magnate had built from scratch an empire comprising electrical and electronic equipment and amusement parks. Nonetheless, Chittilappilly was overcome by the urge “to do something larger with my life.” 



In 2011, two months after he turned 60, the tycoon checked into a hospital in Kochi city in south India, accompanied by his anxious family. There he underwent a four-hour surgery to remove one of his kidneys, but not because it was diseased or dysfunctional. Chittilappilly had agreed to donate the organ to an ailing trucker, who was a complete stranger.



Chittilappilly’s ambition was to start a kidney exchange or what he hoped would be the first link in a long chain of kidney donors. A member of the recipient’s family (in this case, the trucker’s wife, whose kidney wasn’t compatible for her husband) had to agree to donate their kidney to someone else in need. This unorthodox act of charity ultimately unravelled as a string when one recipient lacked clan support, but it was a turning point for the original giver.



Since then, Chittilappilly has handed over the running of his two listed companies,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS820US820&amp;q=V-Guard+Industries&amp;spell=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj455OhmYXgAhVwh-AKHRx5DEMQBQgpKAA&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=882" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">V-Guard Industries</a>&nbsp;(revenue: $320 million) and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wonderla.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wonderla Holidays</a>&nbsp;(revenue: $38 million), to his two sons and chosen to mostly focus on philanthropic pursuits. In 2012 he set up the eponymous&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kcfoundation.in/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">K. Chittilappilly Foundation</a>&nbsp;to which he donates the major part of his annual earnings, including dividends ($1.2 million in 2017).



&nbsp;There’s plenty left. Chittilappilly debuted on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes’ Billionaires list</a>&nbsp;in 2018 with a net worth of $1.2 billion. While he hasn’t signed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2018/05/30/fourteen-more-philanthropists-join-the-gates-buffett-giving-pledge/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Giving Pledge</a>, he has promised to give away a third of his fortune in his lifetime and has transferred some shares of his listed units to a trust earmarked for charity. (The recent stock market and rupee meltdown has shrunk his net worth to $850 million.)



Chittilappilly, who had a low profile until his kidney donation thrust him into the spotlight, is well-recognized today as the biggest advocate of organ donation in his home state of Kerala. “In a single stroke, Kochouseph has changed how society views organ donations. It has led to a new awakening,” says his pal C.J. George, founder and managing director of financial services firm Geojit, who also sits on the board of V-Guard.&nbsp;



Organ donation is a hot issue in India. According to one government estimate, India has 200,000 new kidney transplant candidates every year but only 7,500 selfless donors. This wide gap between demand and supply creates inducements to the poor to sell their kidneys to well-off patients. In recent years this illegal trade has been uncovered even in some well-known city hospitals in Mumbai and Delhi.&nbsp;



A 1994 law forbids selling human organs for transplants, but underground operators find ways around it. “The law is very good, but it is often flouted,” says Vivekanand Jha, executive director of the George Institute for Global Health, a Delhi research outfit focusing on non-communicable diseases.



Apart from a paucity of living donors, age-old religious and cultural taboos prevent the donation of organs after death. For Chittilappilly, breaking such taboos to increase the supply of organs from both living donors and cadavers has become a personal mission.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c48c72ca7ea4364f4a14fcf/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt=""/></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">“He has changed how society views organ donations. It has led to a new awakening.”</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c48c73f4bbe6f7020fccc22/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt=""/></figure>



Seated at a conference table that occupies the bulk of his corner office, the soft-spoken Chittilappilly comes across as more of a social activist than a successful industrialist. A collection of trophies and plaques, denoting the numerous awards he and his companies have received, are arranged against one wall as is a framed quote that reads “I’m gonna make the rest of my life the best of my life.”&nbsp;



In lieu of legal organ sales, his foundation annually recognizes families of poor post-death donors with cash awards ranging from $1,400 to $7,000. “In the absence of social security in India, if the head of a poor household falls ill and dies, the family has to undergo immense financial hardship,” notes its executive director, George Sleeba.



The Foundation also underwrites the cost of dialysis treatment for more than 3,000 poor patients every year. Recently, it broadened its scope to cover other ailments such as filariasis, a parasitic disease spread through mosquitoes that causes elephantiasis where the lower limbs swell to unnatural proportions. And after floods struck Kerala recently, Chittilappilly wrote a $700,000 check to provide immediate assistance and rebuild houses.&nbsp;



One of six siblings, Chittilappilly grew up amid rice fields in a village near the temple town of Guruvayur, where he dreamed of becoming a scientist. His land-owning family was relatively well-off and generous. His parents paid the school fees of children who couldn’t afford them. After graduate studies in physics and electronics, Chittilappilly joined a small firm that made voltage stabilizers, a much-needed product in India where electricity supply can be erratic.&nbsp;



But the firm wasn’t doing well due to financial issues. Confident that he could make a superior product, Chittilappilly wanted his own venture, but no bank would give him a loan. “The failure rate of businesses in Kerala, which was ruled by a Communist government, was high,” he recalls. In 1977 he borrowed the equivalent of $1,400 from his father and started out in a small shed with two workers.&nbsp;



V-Guard grew on the back of an inefficient, state-owned electricity transmission network in south India. With frequent brownouts, every home with any electrical gadget needed a voltage stabilizer.&nbsp;



But labor troubles came early, and Chittilappilly had to personally load goods onto trucks. To circumvent militant unions, he outsourced manufacturing to groups of women, whom he trained to ensure quality standards. Over the years he added an array of products such as pumps, electric water heaters and kitchen appliances.&nbsp;



Again facing scepticism by banks, Chittilappilly thought Kerala could use an amusement park. Its many migrant workers would bring back memories of such fun abroad, he figured. “Moreover, there’s a lot of technology behind the curtain in an amusement park, and that excited me,” he explains. Since opening his first theme park in Kochi in 2000, he has added others in Bangalore and Hyderabad with a fourth being built in Chennai.



Chittilappilly says that the philanthropist in him emerged late. “My first three priorities used to be business, business, business,” he admits. But with both of his companies listed in the past decade, he had new wherewithal. Encouraged by his family, he bought land to build an old-age home for destitute women in his village. He also built a hostel for poor rural girls.&nbsp;



The idea of donating his kidney took root after a distant relative died of renal failure. When he told his family, “we thought he was joking,” says son Mithun, a Melbourne Business School grad, who runs V-Guard as managing director. Chittilappilly’s wife, consumed with worry, tried to dissuade him from taking the risk and suggested he donate money instead.&nbsp;



In a memoir he subsequently wrote, Chittilappilly explained that true charity isn’t about giving accumulated money or goods but rather “what’s ours.” He joked to loved ones that he was only giving away an old kidney and was confident that the risk was minimal: “I had the best doctors taking care of me. My philosophy was, I can’t climb Mount Everest, but this I can do.”



After a battery of tests determined he was medically fit, Chittilappilly sought to identify a worthy recipient. He contacted Davis Chiramel, a Catholic priest who had donated his kidney to a total stranger in 2009. Chiramel was also the founder of the Kidney Federation of India, a nonprofit to promote organ donation in Kerala. (Chittilappilly is now a patron along with Middle East tycoons M.A.Yusuff Ali of the Lulu Group, developer P.N.C. Menon and jewelry retailer Joy Alukkas.)&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c48c72ca7ea4364f4a14fcf/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt=""/></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Chittilappilly&#8217;s interested in philanthropy emerged later in life. “My first three priorities used to be business, business, business,” he admits.</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c48c73f4bbe6f7020fccc22/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt=""/></figure>



Chiramel recalls that he was initially incredulous that a businessman of Chittilappilly’s stature was willing to take such a step and asked to meet his family. Once satisfied, he made the connection with the truck driver.&nbsp;



As per Indian rules, an organ donor is preferably a “near relative.” Not being related to the recipient, Chittilappilly had to contend with a thicket of bureaucratic approvals requiring an affidavit and an appearance before a medical ethics committee. “One day a police officer even visited my home to check if I was getting paid for my kidney,” he laughs.&nbsp;



Prior to surgery, rumors circulated that it was a publicity stunt and he wouldn’t go through with it. Two weeks after being discharged from hospital, Chittilappilly was back at work. He insists that he leads a normal life today with no restrictions. “I’m not conscious at all of having one kidney.” (His recipient, too, remains in good health.)



Chiramel of the Kidney Federation relates that Chittilappilly’s organ donation was a huge boost. It has brought in hundreds of volunteer donors and an even greater number signing organ donor cards that will kick in once they die. The Federation has 1 million on file now.&nbsp;



Chittilappilly says that the media frenzy following his kidney donation took him by surprise. But it has helped him land speaking gigs (such as TedX), which he uses to spread the good word and recount his unusual tale. “Honestly, for me, it wasn’t such a big deal,” he says. “All you need is a little bit of courage.”&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">-Naazneen Karmali</a>Forbes Staff

Category: Wealth

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