Attendees at the just-concluded Women Deliver 2023 Conference in Kigali exchanged ideas and experiences through thought-provoking discussions that set the stage for the unveiling of new and transformative policy frameworks supporting women’s rights and issues.



In the heart of Kigali, Rwanda, the BK Arena and Kigali Convention Centre buzzed with excitement as women from all corners of the world gathered for the Women Deliver 2023 Conference (WD2023), from July 17-20, held for the first time in Africa.



Held under the theme, Spaces, Solidarity, and Solutions, the sixth Women Deliver Conference aimed to ignite collective action, empower the feminist movement, and foster a world where gender equality and women&#8217;s rights thrive.



A wide range of topics, including abortion access, LGBTIQQ rights, gender-based violence and impact of the climate crisis on women and girls, were discussed, along with focus on fostering youth engagement and elevating the perspectives of young women in the global gender equality movement.



The event saw an impressive turnout with thousands in attendance. Notable speakers included renowned personalities such as activist Malala Yousafzai. Also in attendance were four heads of state including Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame – with his wife and first lady Jeannette Kagame – Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, and the President of Hungary, Katalin Novák.



One of the most significant announcements came from the collaboration between Women Deliver and Open Society Foundations, a grant-making network founded and chaired by Hungarian-American business behemoth and philanthropist George Soros.


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Together, they unveiled a new funding facility to address, among other things, neglected areas of female sexual health and reproductive rights. The room erupted in applause as the audience recognized the potential of this facility in empowering marginalized women and girls who have long been denied access to basic healthcare.



As the conference progressed, it became evident that the commitment to drive change extended beyond the arena’s walls. More than 40 organizations came together to launch a powerful campaign addressing the gender nutrition gap. Their collective call urged governments to take transformative action, shining a spotlight on the stark inequalities that persist globally in women&#8217;s and girls&#8217; nutrition.



Another momentous step forward was the unveiling of the RESPECT Women website. Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Women, and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this policy framework and online platform has been designed to combat and respond to violence against women and girls. The website&#8217;s potential to create a safer environment and promote gender equality and women&#8217;s empowerment was met with resounding support and recognition.



Perhaps the most moving moment at the conference was when UNFPA introduced Kigali Call to Action: United for Women and Girls&#8217; Bodily Autonomy. This powerful call placed bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and gender equality at the core of the agenda. With a clear focus on women-led organizations and the feminist movement, the call aimed to drive coordinated and collective action towards gender equality by 2030.



The conference&#8217;s commitment to empowering future generations was expressed with the launch of the Women Deliver Emerging Leaders Program to provide young people with trust-based funding, knowledge, resources, and leadership opportunities in the pursuit of gender equality and reproductive



health advocacy. As the torch was passed on to the next generation, the attendees celebrated the potential of these emerging leaders to create a lasting impact on the global stage.



Throughout the conference, attendees engaged in thought-provoking discussions, exchanging ideas and experiences, leaving no stone unturned in their quest for progress. Challenges were acknowledged, and the urgency to address them collectively was clear.



The importance of funding for gender equality advocacies resonated strongly among the attendees. Julia Fan, Senior Manager for Youth Engagement at Women Deliver, emphasized that funding remains a critical aspect in driving forward the agenda for gender equality and women&#8217;s empowerment.



Alongside the vibrant discussions and inspiring stories of progress, Soraya Hakuziyaremye, the Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, too offered valuable insights. She acknowledged the strides Rwanda has made in promoting women to leadership positions, highlighting that this progress did not happen overnight but has been the result of extraordinary leadership that recognized gender equity as a vital indicator of the nation&#8217;s progress, almost three decades ago.



While there were successes to celebrate, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Board Chair of Women Deliver, also addressed a pressing concern shared by many attendees.



She remarked: &#8220;What concerns most women today here is that progress in gender equality has been slow and uneven, and a major space where all countries have failed is violence against women. It is sad to sit and talk about this here again; I was talking about this 10 years ago.&#8221;



While gender issues still persist, efforts to combat them also have a history, starting with the Beijing Declaration in 1995 that opened the door for women’s issues to find mainstream recognition globally, leading to the Platform for Action adopted unanimously by 189 countries. In the words of Mlambo-Ngcuka, “it was a defining moment when women’s rights received the status of human rights”.



The development and acceptance of the Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights in 2005 has also come a long way. The protocol has one of the highest number of ratifications for an instrument in the African Union (AU) and has objectively established a uniform basis for protecting the rights of women and girls in Africa. Forty nine of the 55 AU member states have signed the Maputo Protocol thus far.



Reflecting on the week&#8217;s transformative experience. Rania Dagesh, the Deputy Regional Director for eastern and southern Africa at UNICEF, expressed her sentiments: &#8220;The past week at Women Deliver has been phenomenal; there have been moments of reflection, profound exchanges, and valuable learning. I am truly grateful for participating.&#8221;



As the final moments of the conference unfolded, the atmosphere was one of hope, determination, and camaraderie.

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From Rwanda To Beyond: New Collaborations And Collective Action At Women’s Conclave

The second session of the United Nations (UN) Habitat Assembly was held at the UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, recently, under the theme A sustainable urban future through inclusive and effective multilateralism: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in times of global crises. Saudi royal, Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, the Secretary-General of Alwaleed Philanthropies and Goodwill Ambassador for UN-Habitat in the Arab region, was also present as she spoke to FORBES AFRICA about social and affordable housing on the continent as well as the role of philanthropy in economic development.



You were recently reappointed as Goodwill Ambassador to UN-Habitat, what does your role entail?



I work closely with UN-Habitat to advocate for sustainable urbanization, and to help address urban challenges and their implications on societies, economies, and environments in the Arab world. Obviously, a component of this is funding and resources, however, through Alwaleed Philanthropies, we see our role as a facilitator and convenor to sustainable change. In practice, this means leveraging our influence to connect governments, organizations, and communities to each other, and working with our partners to bring concrete solutions; something I will be continuing to do in my role as Goodwill Ambassador to UN-Habitat for the Arab Region.



I would also just add that with our global population continuing to grow, it’s critical that we take the steps necessary to ensure that all people are able to live in safe and sustainable settlements, which is why it is a privilege to be able to help advance UN-Habitat’s agenda and work towards delivering SDG11: sustainable cities and communities.



What are the highlights of your partnership with UN-Habitat?



The four-year partnership between Alwaleed Philanthropies and UN-Habitat has helped to advance the discussion on sustainable urbanization in the Middle East and demonstrate why it is so important for the region’s development agenda. And in doing so, we have seen a significant increase in resource mobilization and targeted, sustainable humanitarian support that has helped to create more resilient societies throughout the region.



I’m incredibly proud of every project we have been able to work on with UN-Habitat during this partnership, but some notable achievements that spring to mind are rehabilitating damaged housing and improving living conditions for 4,000 families of internally-displaced people in Yemen; upgrading seven health facilities’ water and sanitation capabilities in conflict-affected Iraq; and providing 25,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic in Sudan.



These are just a few of this partnership’s far-reaching impacts and we look forward to continuing to help deliver SDG11 and address the key challenges that many of the most vulnerable face today.



As Africa pursues goals towards affordable housing, what would you describe as ‘proper housing’?



Our belief is that ‘proper housing’ is about more than just a roof, it is an opportunity to better the lives and futures of people – housing is a precondition for access to employment, education, health, and social services – and it must be accompanied by the necessary infrastructure including water and waste management and sanitation services.



I firmly believe that the provision of this sort of housing is a basic human right and as the African continent continues on its development journey, it is critical that this forms part of it.



Through your experiences, what key lessons were learned through the process that other African countries can emulate to deliver social and affordable housing?



An important lesson that came out of our projects was the need to collaborate with relevant stakeholders. It is through pooling resources and expertise that we can overcome global challenges, which is why we partner with many of the world’s leading organizations. Involving authorities to explain our projects’ objectives and agree on the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder is particularly relevant to deliver adequate housing.



We also understand that for a project to have lasting, sustainable impact you cannot just drop the money and run – you must be in it for the long haul. This is why we work with communities to develop different tailored solutions to their most pressing challenges, from gender mainstreaming adaptation to community-based and self-help housing. Our vision of resilience cannot be met without investing in social transformation.



What are some of your housing projects in Africa?



We have a long history of supporting projects in Africa, to help address the Covid-19 pandemic which had such a devastating impact on the continent. However, when it comes to housing, our flagship project on the continent is undoubtedly the Nubian Vault. The project has helped to provide both housing and job opportunities in Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Ghana, and Senegal, by training young people to build Nubian houses. As a result of this partnership, families are now living in healthier houses and local revenue was generated and reinvested in the local economy, with 13,900 project beneficiaries.



What do you see as the role of philanthropy in development and how can partnerships work better towards the SDGs?



We truly believe that philanthropy is an integral part of the development landscape and is helping to address some of the world’s most complex challenges. There is the funding that philanthropic organizations provide; however, effective philanthropy is about so much more than the provision of funds. We adopt a humanity-first approach to philanthropy which is grounded in an understanding that to make a sustainable, long-lasting impact, the interests and needs of beneficiaries must be the foundation of everything we do. And this means actually taking the time to work with beneficiaries throughout the project lifecycle to ensure we maximize its impact and deliver solutions that will stand the test of time.



When it comes to delivering the SDGs, we have seen first-hand the positive impact that partnerships can have on accelerating development. And it is important that organizations within the philanthropic sector do not lose sight of the value of these partnerships and continue to look to work with stakeholders from a variety of sectors – from governments to development organizations – to help many of the most vulnerable meet the SDGs.



What does Africa portend to Alwaleed, anything in the pipeline?



We have multiple projects in Africa and are keen to expand our support on the continent. We obviously have the aforementioned Nubian Vault project, whilst during the Covid-19 pandemic, we partnered with the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to support 10 countries in their efforts to address the repercussions of the pandemic – these included Niger, Senegal, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Mauritania and Cote d’Ivoire. Similarly, in partnership with the Carter Center for Global Alliance to combat the spread of guinea worm disease in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia, we reached 1 million people and participated in the drop of cases, approaching the goal of global eradication.



Of course, there is always more to be done, and we are constantly in conversations with potential partners – many of whom are based in Africa – to explore ways of combatting some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Princess Lamia; image supplied

Princess Lamia: From Affordable Housing To Philanthropy In Africa

<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-nomhle-mliswafounder-and-ceo-summerhill-farmzimbabwe">Nomhle Mliswa Founder and CEO, Summerhill Farm Zimbabwe</h4>



Farming is not for the fainthearted,” Nomhle Mliswa says to FORBES AFRICA in the middle of her harvesting season. Mliswa founded Summerhill Farm in 2007, a 345-hectare farm located in Doma, Mhangura, in the Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe. She employs 350 people, two-thirds of which are women. She offers one of the few tillage services in Zimbabwe providing tilling for other farmers.



The mixed farming includes small grain crops, maize, soya beans, potatoes, wheat, cattle, chicken, and goats. Mliswa uses smart agriculture practices: precision farming, a zero-waste policy based on a Just in Time strategy that ensures the swift delivery of goods and land profiling to ensure mitigation and adaption, water harvesting, storage and drilled boreholes.



Summerhill Farm adheres to Sustainable Development Goals, namely SDG 13 on Climate Action, Environmental Management and Conservation, as well as employment structure informed by SDG 5 on gender equality, offering equitable practices for both male and female employees.



Employees also get sanitation and decent housing, informed by SDG 6.



Mliswa has established a local school for young children and a clinic within Summerhill Farm, in line with SDGs 3 and 4. This allows the women to work and maintain their families. The farm also has a shop for employees, sponsored ball games for the community, and employees are given potato and chicken rations, in line with SDG 1 and 3.



There is a Climate Desk, assisting local farmers with critical weather information. And Mliswa does not shy away from further CSR–the farm assists with repairing local road networks and bridges.



Summerhill Farm is run by a single mother with a spinal injury–but neither of these things has held Mliswa back in creating a successful diversified farm using smart agriculture. She wants to do more for preserving the environment, implementing mitigation measures, creating awareness with women on global warming, and hosting more educational tours for schoolchildren.

Nomhle Mliswa

‘Not For The Fainthearted’: A Zimbabwean Agriculturalist’s Journey

The next boom in world football over the coming 10 years will surely be in the women’s game, largely because the potential is so great. And the impact the African sides can make.



Africa will send a quartet of teams to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time, which includes two debutants at the tournament to be staged in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.



It will be a month-long celebration of&nbsp;football and the great strides the women’s game has made in recent years to create a product that has a growing army of fans and admirers.



Just what impact the African sides can make remains to be seen. Nigeria have appeared at every tournament played since 1991, while continental champions South Africa will play their second finals having debuted in 2019.



North African side Morocco and southern African nation Zambia take their places for the first time, but are packed with potential.



The World Cup has been expanded from 24 teams to 32 this year, providing an extra spot for the continent.



South Africa have been drawn in something of a Group of Death that includes Sweden, who are ranked number three in the world, Italy and Argentina, who are both also well ahead of them in the global rankings.



Sweden were runners-up at the 2003 World Cup and have won bronze on three other occasions, including last time out in France in 2019. They have also won the silver medal at the last two Olympic Games.



Italy are ranked number 16 in the world and were quarterfinalists four years ago, though perhaps Banyana midfielder Refiloe Jane, who has been based in that country for the last few years, will be able to add some insight.



Argentina are appearing at a fourth World Cup but have yet to get past the group stages, so may be the team Banyana should target. They are ranked 28 in the world, still well ahead of South Africa’s 54.



“It is a tough group, we cannot escape that fact,” Banyana Banyana coach Des Ellis tells FORBES AFRICA. “But we have to believe we can advance. There is no point going to a World Cup and not believing in yourself.



“The tournament in 2019 was a big learning curve for us, but also a great experience and we will bring that into this World Cup.



“Since then we have grown as a team, we are African champions, we have four more years of experience and more players who play overseas. So we have to go there with confidence in what we can achieve.”



South Africa open their tournament against Sweden on July 23, perhaps a blessing to get, on paper, their toughest assignment out the way first.



“We know them, we have played them a few times in recent years and we have been competitive. There is no reason why we can’t be so again.”



South Africa drew their last meeting with the Swedes 0-0 in 2019 and were beaten 3-0 at home a year earlier.



Italy will be new opponents, as will Argentina, but Ellis is also adamant it is about how her side prepares ahead of the tournament.



“We have to be ready, to be in the best shape that we can be as a squad, both physically and mentally, and then make sure we execute our plans in the matches. We cannot ask for more than that.”



Zambia also have a challenging group with Spain, Costa Roca and Japan. The Asian nation were world champions in 2011 and runners-up in 2015, while Spain reached the second round four years ago. Costa Rica’s only previous finals was in 2015 when they exited in the group stage.



Zambia have announced that they will camp in Spain ahead of the tournament.



Football Association of Zambia President Andrew Kamanga says there is much to work on ahead of the World Cup.



“We need to work on the physical side of the team, we need to strengthen the analysis and bring in technical advisors. The coach [Bruce Mwape] will remain in charge of the team, but we need to reinforce the areas where they need additional support,” Kamanga says.



“We will play three friendlies within Europe before the tournament, we want everyone who has a chance to be considered the opportunity to train. We will have local camps and those who make it from there, will go to the next stage.



“The squad to go to the World Cup will only be selected after the training camp in Spain, so the process is quite intense. No-one is guaranteed a place and everyone’s position is up for grabs.”



Nigeria are at yet another finals, but have yet to really fly the African flag, though they too have been handed a horror draw.



They must play hosts Australia, who will be among the tournament favorites, Olympic champions Canada and the tricky Republic of Ireland, who have former Banyana Banyana coach Vera Pauw now in charge.



The Super Falcons are coached by American Randy Waldrum and he knows just what awaits.



“It’s scary, to be honest. Our first two games are brutal,” the Texan said. “Many people have our group ranked as the hardest in the World Cup. The other three teams are all ranked in the top 25 in the world. They all pose different kinds of problems.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-a-first-african-host">A FIRST AFRICAN HOST?</h2>


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<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Danny-Jordaan-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58726" width="492" height="328" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Danny-Jordaan-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Danny-Jordaan-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Danny-Jordaan-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Danny-Jordaan-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Danny-Jordaan-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> ©Shaun Roy/BackpagePix</figcaption></figure></div>


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South African Football Association (SAFA) President Danny Jordaan is under no illusions as to the task ahead of Banyana Banyana in Australia and New Zealand, but has also set his sights on a secondary prize.



Jordaan, who was a key figure in South Africa winning the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is now hopeful of the country staging the 2027 women’s tournament too.



They are up against a combined bid from Belgium, Germany and Netherlands, while Brazil have also thrown their hat in the ring. The United States and Mexico have said they too will join forces on a bid. But Jordaan believes Africa’s time is now.



“When you look at world football, the first men&#8217;s World Cup was 1930. The first World Cup in Africa was 70 years later. As a result, the gap between European and South American football in relation to Africa and Asia is now impossible to close,” Jordaan tells FORBES AFRICA.



“Of the global revenue for football, 80% goes to Europe. Africa is on the margins. Now, if we sit back and do nothing, and the same pattern emerges in women’s football, we are going to struggle to close the gap between in women&#8217;s football as well.



“We want to have a strong bid to hopefully secure the Women&#8217;s World Cup on the African continent because that will inspire and invigorate and strengthen football for women on the continent and close that gap rather than allow the pattern to repeat itself.” 



Jordaan believes it is imperative that FIFA acts to at least try and give African women’s football a shot in the arm. “If we want football to be truly global, then we must increase the competitiveness throughout the world. I think Africa can deliver a winner of the Women’s World Cup long before the men eventually get an African winner.



“Of course, Morocco made it to the semifinals [of the men’s tournament in Qatar last year], but I think it&#8217;s going to be quite a challenge for Africa to eventually win a men’s World Cup.



“That doesn&#8217;t mean you must give up. But I think on the women’s side, we have a greater chance.”



Whether that will come in this tournament Down Under remains to be seen, but Jordaan is hopeful that



Banyana Banyana can at least make the knockout rounds.



“It’s a second consecutive World Cup for us, about 80% of the players are going for a second World Cup, having been there in France 2019. So, they must be over the jitters and have more experience,” he says.



“We want them to go to the second round. But even that second round place is going to be a challenge because we&#8217;re up against Sweden, Italy and Argentina. There&#8217;s a gap of 30 places between us and the rest in that group.



“Therefore, we have to give [the players] enough opportunity to be able to deal with the challenge that they&#8217;re facing. It is very, very important. I think that we have a chance to go through the second round.”



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Nigeria did recently get a morale-boosting 3-0 friendly win over World Cup co-hosts New Zealand to go with victories over Costa Rica and Haiti.



“Probably still a ‘B’ [mark] for the team, we got three goals and a clean sheet, maybe I guess am a little harsh with that grade, but there are still so many things we can improve on,” Waldrum said in the wake of the New Zealand win. “We have got better and better, that’s what we need leading up to the World Cup.”



Morocco have shot from nowhere to be among the leading teams in Africa in recent years, and had in fact not even qualified for the African championship in 20 years before they hosted in 2022.



But there has been a heavy investment in the women’s game in the country, and well as a reach-out to the diaspora to find gems such as English-born Tottenham Hotspur forward Rosella Ayane.



She will be their major threat as they face Germany, Colombia and South Korea in what looks the gentlest of the pools for the African teams.



“There’s a lot of talent in Morocco, and they’ll eventually be picked up and spotted but I’m so proud to be flying the flag for Morocco, for Africa as a continent and for other countries that don’t necessarily get the recognition sometimes that they deserve,” Ayane told Inside the WSL.



&#8220;It’s been an incredible time for the country, for Arab women and for Arab women in sport. Sometimes, I really need to take a step back and actually look at what we’ve achieved because sometimes I can’t put it into words.



“So, it’s been a real journey and one that I’m going to be proud of for the rest of my life.&#8221;



Ayane makes one other excellent point – for all the African teams at this World Cup, it is a chance for the players to put themselves in the shop window and sign professional contracts with top clubs. That is now a dream closer to being realized.



“There’s a lot of talent in Morocco, and they’ll eventually be picked up and spotted but I’m so proud to be flying the flag for Morocco, for Africa as a continent and for other countries that don’t necessarily get the recognition sometimes that they deserve.”



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">WHERE TO NOW?</h3>



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The next big boom in world football over the coming 10 years will surely be in the women’s game, largely because the potential is so great.



While men’s football has, to a point, become saturated, the potential in the women’s game is still largely unrealized.



“Football and women are not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good business. There is a massive 3 billion customer market that is gravely under-served and untapped,” says Victoire Cogevina Reynal from Gloria Football, which is dedicated to growing the women’s game.


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<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Barbra-Banda-of-Zambia-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58730" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Barbra-Banda-of-Zambia-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Barbra-Banda-of-Zambia-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Barbra-Banda-of-Zambia-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Barbra-Banda-of-Zambia-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Barbra-Banda-of-Zambia-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zambia captain Barbra Banda. ©Shaun Roy/BackpagePix</figcaption></figure></div>


It is a point echoed by Ebru Koksal from Women in Football, but she says it can only happen with more resources.



“To grow the system we need a fair distribution of resources. Today, only 2% of the global value and money that football generates goes into women’s football,” Koksal says. 



Cindy Parlow-Cone, President of US Soccer, believes this is a seminal moment for the women’s game and that change is coming.



“The women’s game is poised for exponential growth. I think the time is now to invest in the women’s side of the game across the globe,” she says.
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Poised For Growth: Women’s Football In Africa

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli on her passion for equipping and investing in the continent’s future game-changers and also changing the food narrative on the continent.



Why can’t a continent with over 60% of the world’s unused arable land grow enough food to sustain itself? For as long as she can remember, Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli has pondered this serious question about Africa.



Nwuneli, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and expert on agriculture and food ecosystems, fondly recalls growing her own avocados in the backyard of her family home in Enugu, Nigeria, and selling them at wholesale prices to women in the market. From that experience, Nwuneli knew she would always work, in some capacity, in the agriculture sector.



Her mother has been a staunch supporter of Nwuneli and her four siblings pursuing their passion. To help Nwuneli hone her business savviness, her mother would constantly share annual company reports with Nwuneli when she was an undergraduate student at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.



“That helped me with business and I enjoyed going into the social impact side of business. When I started school, I was passionate about Africa and Nigeria; [this was] when I moved to the United States,” says Nwuneli.



Her love for Africa led her to co-found the African Business Conference when she attended Harvard Business School which is now the largest student-run conference focused on business in Africa.



“The theme was reversing the African brain drain in 1999 and, at that time, no one was trying to come back to Africa. But we were already focused on that,” says Nwuneli.



After brief stints with McKinsey &amp; Company where she worked on numerous projects, including the transformation of the South African Police Service, Nwuneli joined the Michael Porter project in the Middle East to help Palestinian entrepreneurs scale and access their markets. That is when a conversation changed things.



“While I was there, a Palestinian asked me, ‘Why are you helping our country when yours is such a mess?’ I was like, it is one thing for Nigerians to say Nigeria is such a mess but for a Palestinian to tell me that my country was a mess, that was a wakeup call and this is one of the reasons I started working on initiatives back home.”



At 25, she joined investor and entrepreneur, Fola Adeola, and his FATE Foundation initiative, where she served as the pioneer executive director, to help empower Nigerian entrepreneurs.



“From an early age, we understood the reality that what is going to save our continent is not poverty alleviation but wealth creation. We had to create jobs for ourselves and others and, at the time, unemployment rates were still high. At the time the stats were saying 70% of our youth were unemployed and when young people are unemployed, they are seen as liabilities, not assets. The challenge was how can we transform this into positive change and wealth creation,” says Nwuneli.



Part of her initiatives involved organizing the first business plan competition for Nigeria as well as an investment forum and incubator to help young people create and scale their business.



Through working with the FATE Foundation, Nwuneli realized that it is one thing to teach young people how to make money, but another to instill the importance of creating businesses that are steeped in values, ethics and succession.



To help address this gap, she founded LEAP Africa. LEAP is an acronym for leadership, effectiveness, accountability and professionalism.



“The vision was to inspire and empower the next generation of African leaders. LEAP is 21 years old today and we work in eight African countries. I was the founder and on the board until this year.”



In 2007, Nwuneli’s husband suffered from a gunshot to his knee, which led the family to relocate to Senegal.



“He took a job with a private equity fund in Senegal. I have always wanted to make an impact in the food ecosystem and I thought this was a good opportunity to solve the food problem. My first project was with Oxfam [International], who needed a West African strategy for the food crisis and from then on, I started writing a lot of reports in and around Africa. That is what has birthed what we call Sahel Consulting, which now works across Africa, and our head office is in Abuja. I am the chair of the board.”



Nwuneli believes Africa can feed itself and the world. Through her consultancy work, she advises various institutions on how to improve the food scarcity issues plaguing Africa. That was when she moved on to her next venture, Aace Foods.



“I came up with Aace Foods because I realized so much of the food in Africa was imported and, as a continent, we had a high rate of malnutrition. Aace Foods processes food from local African farmers like spices and snacks, and our vision is to displace imports and also nourish our people,” says Nwuneli.



She has now come full circle when it comes to agriculture. Through her not-for-profit organization, African Food Changemakers, Nwuneli provides a platform for food and agriculture entrepreneurs in 37 countries to scale their business and change the food narrative on the continent.

NdidiNwuneliphotoshoot2021

‘What Is Going To Save Africa Is Not Poverty Alleviation But Wealth Creation’: Nigerian Entrepreneur On What Can Drive Positive Change

Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo is endeavoring to meet the needs of new moms in the West African region by providing products that are natural and non-toxic.



Mothers shouldn’t have to choose between what works and what is good for their children. This is reportedly the premise behind American A-lister and self-made entrepreneur, Jessica’s Alba’s Honest Company. During her pregnancy in 2008, the actor realized that she couldn’t find affordable natural baby products. Her response was to fill that gap. In 2015, the Honest Company was valued at about $1.7 billion.



Here, on the African continent, Alba’s success story resonated with another new mom–Amal Botanicals’ founder, Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo.



Born in Kaduna State in Nigeria, Isah-Ikharo was surrounded by entrepreneurship. Although her mother and father worked as a lecturer and immigration controller respectively, they both dabbled in side hustles. Isah-Ikharo’s mother opened a provision shop while her dad co-authored a best-selling book on small business and food processing. Isah-Ikharo, however, took an unconventional path towards realizing her entrepreneurial prowess.



Her early career was in the accounting field where she worked as a chartered accountant for various organizations, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service in Nigeria. Her specialism was taxation as well as forensic accounting. The plan was to build her career in the accounting field and perhaps rise to the top with her own firm. That is until she got pregnant and, like Alba, her maternal, protective instincts for her unborn children kicked in.



“I had my triplets in 2013 and that is when my entrepreneurial career started. My children were born premature and, even when I was pregnant, I had a high-risk pregnancy and I was told to stay away from some products and cosmetics. All the products I had bought for my children, which were conventional baby care products, were not suitable for them. I needed something more natural and toxic-free to use on them because they were in the incubator and they were still receiving therapy,” says Isah-Ikharo.



According to a report by news distribution platform, GlobeNewswire, the global baby care products market is estimated to reach $26.84 billion by 2030. In recent years, the term ‘baby products’, which broadly denotes all products made for infants under the age of three, has become increasingly popular.



In Nigeria, in particular, market and consumer data provider, Statista, estimates that the baby and child market segment is expected to grow annually by 19.15% (CAGR 2023–2027).



The problem for Isah-Ikharo was that there were no products on the market that she felt she could trust. That is when she began to do her own research and, with the help of her personal Instagram page, she started sharing how she dealt with taking care of the triplets and the experimental products she was using.



“I was getting response[s] from people asking me what I was using and this was coming from all over Africa. I also discovered that there were other mothers on my page and they needed to hear more from me.”



To help her formulate her products, Isah-Ikharo took a course with a cosmetic science formulation company in London, with a special focus on children. Once she got her certification, she began creating her own unique formulation, which she shared with family and friends.



“They kept demanding it and I needed to put a price on it to help restock my raw materials because I was giving it [away] for free for a while. And that is how Amal Botanicals actually started,” says Isah-Ikharo.



Her first products, which included a moisturizing cream, soothing shea oil, bubbly bath wash and African black bar soap, were immediate best-sellers.



“When I started, I only had the vision. No one understood what I was trying to do and they thought it would not survive. Starting a business for a delicate niche like babies was risky because people are very careful about what they use on their children. So, trust in [the] brand I was building is very important.”



Today, Amal Botanicals is still self-funded and has grown organically with products being shipped to all 36 states in Nigeria as well as to Ghana. But the growth has not been without its challenges.



“One of the difficult challenges we have had relates to sourcing raw materials and we all know how the exchange rate has impacted businesses globally. Right now, most of our packages are still imported because we want to be able to compete with the global brands out there and hence, there is [a] high cost of importation. Our packages are imported from China and the back and forth from our manufacturers can become very tedious,” says Isah-Ikharo.



With minimal barriers to entry in Nigeria, Isah-Ikharo has her vision cut out for her–of becoming one of the biggest suppliers of quality natural baby care products.



“The beauty industry in Nigeria is plagued by people with substandard products. Because it is easy to enter, we have people with no certification mixing products together without following the due process of formulation and this can be dangerous to customers, and harms our industry,” says Isah-Ikharo.



But like Alba, Isah-Ikharo is determined to build a leading baby care brand in Africa and with sales of her products consistently selling out, the future certainly looks bright.

Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo of Amal Botanicals, image supplied

More Than An Infant Business: How This Nigerian Entrepreneur Is Getting Baby Care Right

Gugulethu Mahlangu Founder and CEO, House Harvest South Africa



In 2018, Gugulethu Mahlangu went home to the rolling plains of the Highveld in South Africa. In a landscape dominated by livestock farmers, she planted cabbages, only to soon find them waterlogged.



Counterintuitively, this first failure was the moment she realized she was going to be a farmer.



“I found that there&#8217;s just so many numerous opportunities, especially for young African women. That&#8217;s just what made me cultivate the love for agriculture, because before I really felt like it was roses and sunsets, but when you get in the industry itself, you realize that it&#8217;s a lot of work. It&#8217;s patience, it&#8217;s money, it&#8217;s time, it&#8217;s investing in trying, learning, and picking yourself up back again.”



Mahlangu describes aquaponics as a soilless farming method.



She uses the Deep Water Culture (DWC) method.



In DWC, the nutrient-rich water is circulated through long canals while rafts float on top, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The plant roots hang through holes, absorbing nutrients and oxygen. According to the FAO, this method is commonly used for commercial aquaponics with a high stocking density of fish.



Mahlangu explains that fish provide 10 out of 13 nutrients plants need.



“It&#8217;s economical once it starts, and can provide you with a system that can employ people all year round, because it runs all year round.”



Mahlangu says aquaponics is a climate smart-solution to agriculture. Unlike traditional agriculture that is seasonal and based on economies of scale, aquaponics requires limited space.



“Global warming isn&#8217;t a regional issue. It&#8217;s not an African problem. It&#8217;s a planet problem. So, we are contributing to that positively.”



Technology like aquaponics can be a method of alleviating food insecurity in densely-populated and urban areas.



“Apparently, they say in South Africa, we are food secure. But we are insecure in the way that food gets accessed. Here comes a solution like aquaponics or vertical farming saying ‘I can meet you where you are, I can meet you on your balcony, I can meet you in your township, in your limited space’.”



She has worked as an aquaponics horticulturist at Finleaf Farms. Now, Mahlangu has returned to her hometown of Witbank in the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, to build her own facility, named House Harvest, in an urban setting.



Focused on trial and error, she’s going to gather her own data in the South African context before acquiring an investor and scaling. Since aquaponics is a high investment, she wants to produce high value crops to get an ROI as quickly as possible, focusing on restaurants.



As a 29-year-old emerging farmer, she understands the challenges in this sector.



“I think the first thing is because aquaponics is so new, the government doesn&#8217;t know what you&#8217;re talking about. They know aquaculture, they know about tilapia and all sorts of freshwater fish…So, it sometimes feels like I&#8217;m on a tangent on my own.” Mahlangu feels like a pioneer—on a stressful but exciting journey, she concludes.

Gugu (3)

Africa’s Green Economy: ‘THERE’S JUST SO MANY NUMEROUS OPPORTUNITIES, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUNG AFRICAN WOMEN’

Salima Mukansanga boasts many historic firsts.



We look back at our interview with Salima Mukansanga, the international football referee from Rwanda who is also a listed referee for FIFA since 2012 and continues to make waves. In 2019, she was an official at the FIFA Women&#8217;s World Cup in France.



In 2022, Mukansanga became the first woman to referee at the African Cup of Nations. She was also a referee at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year.



A winner in the sports category at the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards on March 8 this year, she was also a spotlight speaker at the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on the same day, as she dwelt on how she kick-started her career, and how it was a rough journey to stardom.



The trailblazing referee said to FORBES AFRICA after the awards win: “Actually, the inspiration [came] from my mentor, he was a FIFA World Cup referee in 2010 and 2014. So this man, I consider him the one who opens dreams for me, because without him I couldn’t be here…


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“Because, remember the women–in Africa, where we concede that in a field dominated by men there’s no chance–but this man gave me a lot of inspiration, along with my brother and my dad who always tell me ‘you are going to reach higher, just keep following your dreams’.”



When asked if the future holds more refereeing for Mukansanga, she says she is going to do more.



“No, it&#8217;s about the performance. And then, if I&#8217;m not going to be a referee, I&#8217;m going to be part of the refereeing family. Like being an instructor, being a coach, all those things are part of the refereeing career. So, I want to stick with it.”



“Ninety-nine percent of the people sending me messages were women. They supported me…Even if she doesn’t know me, it doesn’t matter. It’s each and every woman, especially African women, who want to reach higher, like me,” she also said on receiving the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Sports Award.

FIFA World Cup 2022 – Referees Media Day – Friday 18th November

The Rwandan Football Referee Shooting For The Stars

Is Africa’s tech industry missing out on top female talent?



By Tiana Cline



While African women continue to defy the odds as they assume various political leadership roles, the continent’s tech industry faces a serious gender issue. Despite endless global conversations around diversity within the tech sector, women still face significant barriers and are noticeably underrepresented in many roles, making it difficult for them to enter – and eventually lead – the industry.



According to a global women in leadership study conducted by IBM, gender equity is not a women’s issue, it’s an organizational one. “Women are significantly underrepresented at nearly every level of the workforce,” says Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Chief, a private network of executive women on a mission to change the face of leadership. “If companies prioritize gender diversity across their entire organizations through policies, investments, and a culture that meaningfully supports women, we’ll see a transformative impact — equity for everyone in the workplace and stronger, more resilient businesses.”



The study found that in Kenya, for example, there is even more stagnation in senior professional and non-executive managerial positions. Even though there are some incredible African women in IT like Catherine Muraga, the Managing Director at the Microsoft Africa Development Centre in Nairobi and Kendi Ntwiga, who heads up misrepresentation at Meta, the percentage of women hasn’t budged since the 2019 drop — and at a senior manager, it has even declined somewhat. And while the pandemic continues to have a disproportionate impact on women at work, in Kenya, geopolitical unrest was ranked the number one disruption facing women.



While Kaplan is happy to see slight progress in the representation of women at the C-suite and board level, she maintains that it is imperative that companies do more to fill the pipeline that leads to powerful positions.



One global technology company that is making massive strides in creating a place for women in technology is Cisco and more so, their Vice President for Middle East and Africa, Reem Asaad. Born in Egypt, Asaad moved to the United States at the age of 16 to study computer science.



“I had to leave because there weren’t a lot of accessible universities at the time and I wanted to study computer science. I went to the University of Houston in Texas and that was the beginning,” she says. Now based in Dubai, Asaad’s focus is collaborating with government, customers and partners but creating and developing female leadership is her passion. “Cisco should mimic the communities that it serves. That’s already inclusive and a starting point. We have amazing resources in Africa and we need to invest in female talent,” says Asaad. “Africa is fascinating because we talk about diversity in the region as if it’s something you have to do but our region is diverse by nature.”



Within her role, Asaad is working hard to change the diversity ratio in the Middle East and Africa. She is responsible for 77 countries – some advanced, others emerging – and within those countries, there are over 2,000 languages and six time zones to take into account.



“Cisco operates in 95 countries and 52 of those are in the mid-East and Africa. It’s diversity whether you like it or not, from age groups to colour to ethnic backgrounds. What you learn when you work in this region is how to understand the difference between equity and equality,” she says.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-equality-or-equity">EQUALITY OR EQUITY?</h3>



One McKinsey study on women in the workplace found that gender disparity can emerge as early as the first promotion opportunity – women account for 48% of entry-level hires but only 38% of first-level managers.



This ties in Asaad’s view that even though mentoring and coaching can help grow women into leadership positions, being on the ground is what gives her true visibility. “It’s important because if you don’t know the women around you, those women who could be the next leaders, you will miss them,” she says. “With men, you tend to hire someone because they have ‘potential’. With women, historically, it’s different. You always have to prove yourself in that position. This is a narrative we have to change. We need to hire female leaders because you see the potential.”



For Asaad, this is the difference between equity and equality: equality means giving everybody the same opportunity and the same tools and assuming that you will get similar outputs. Equity is the exact opposite. “Equity is giving everybody what they need. It’s about understanding that people have different strengths and weaknesses. For women, there are certain barriers, certain challenges… what if you could help them to bypass these things?” she asks. “Then women in positions of power can be treated on an equal footing to their male counterparts—judged for their actions and output alone.



Post-pandemic, the hybrid world of work has helped to level the playing field for women to take on leadership roles. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the rate of women participating in the IT sector is now higher than Silicon Valley. “You will be amazed at the number of female engineers, the quality, dedication, commitment and retention that you get,” adds Asaad. “One of our first engineers that got CCIE certified is a female leader in Saudi. We have the talent, but we need somebody to recognize that these women are out there and give them the opportunity.”



Digital transformation is a big part of job creation. Despite geopolitical challenges, governments with an appetite for innovation breed talent and new roles like the chief sustainability officer, renewable energy analyst or green engineer require future-forward skills. “In Africa, we have the skillsets. We have the workforce. We have Cisco Networking Academies that can step in where needed and females have a very big part in this transformation,” she says. “My role is to solve for three things: getting women in the door by managing unconscious bias to open access. Once women are in, how can you involve and retain them? And once they have been there, how can we progress them to goals.

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Let’s Tech About It: Why This Industry In Africa Has Gender Issues

Nomcebo Zikode, the multi platinum-selling South African singer-songwriter who won the Grammy in February for Global Music Performance with Wouter Kellerman and Zakes Bantwini, will be performing at the pan-African welcome celebration of the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa in Gaborone, Botswana, on April 23.



The artist, who is the founder of the Nomcebo Zikode Foundation, was also at the eighth annual FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 8 in Pretoria, South Africa, where she spoke on stage about her tough journey to becoming a successful singer.



She outlined her trials and triumphs before performing the foot-tapping hit song Jerusalema and evoking tumultuous applause and cheers from the audience at the SunBet Arena.



She also won the 2023 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Entertainer Award at a glittering ceremony in the evening on the same day.



Speaking to FORBES AFRICA after the win, she said: “You know, people have read everywhere about my struggles. But I did not focus on my struggles – I kept on pushing. That is why today, [I am] the woman who is a Grammy winner, because I didn’t give up. I kept on pushing. I am so happy as an African woman.”



From being a backing singer to an artist receiving recognition, Zikode is a part of South Africa’s burgeoning music landscape.



“There’s so much that is happening in this industry – when I say so much I mean going through so much. So, for me as a woman, to be recognized by FORBES AFRICA is great,” Zikode added in March.



Zikode worked with Master KG on the 2019 hit single Jerusalema and later remixed with Burna Boy, the song debuted at Number 1 on Billboard Music Charts. It became an anthem in South Africa and across the world as “a feel-good” song during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nomcebo Zikode, image supplied

‘I Didn’t Focus On My Struggles, I Didn’t Give Up’: South Africa’s Grammy Winner Nomcebo Zikode

Winifred Nwania is using her status as a YouTuber and influencer to seek out Nigeria’s rich repertoire of ingredients and recipes to put her country on the global food map.



When Winifred Nwania was 12 years old, her world turned upside down. The happy, idyllic life she and her six siblings were accustomed to in Lagos in Nigeria was shattered overnight when their father passed away.



“In the Igbo culture [of Nigeria], when a person loses her husband, the husband’s relatives come and make life really difficult for the woman, especially if they don’t like her and that was the case for my family. They took my father’s assets, his properties and everything he owned from us and my mother had to start life from scratch,” says Nwania.



In that tragic moment, Nwania would serendipitously find her calling. Noticing her brothers were hungry, Nwania decided to step up to give her mother a breather during the mourning period.



“I don’t know where that strength came from but I decided to do something for my brothers who were hungry and wanted to eat. So, I made the worst pot of jollof rice ever in my life but because I had this winning spirit that my dad had taught me, I changed my strategy the next day,” recalls Nwania.



The next day she decided to enlist the help of her mother. In between running back and forth from the family kitchen to her mother’s room for instructions, Nwania made her second pot of food and this time, it came out a lot better. That was all Nwania needed to convince her that she wanted to spend the rest of her life in the kitchen, cooking for all.



As fate would have it, during her one-year mandatory tenure as a National Youth Service Corps, the Nigerian government introduced an initiative called the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development program to help everyone learn a skill before they left the youth camp.



“It came to my mind that I loved to cook and so I looked for a catering trainer in the camp and I joined her class and the first [dish] she cooked was with yam. She made a yam piccata and I still have the picture to this day. I was so intrigued by how she transformed the yam and I said this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I made up my mind that I [would] delve deeper and make something out of this,” says Nwania.



But first she needed to pay her bills. After graduating from the camp, she joined an oil and gas company where she worked in the finance department to help foot her daily expenses but reserved the weekends for learning all she could about catering.



“I would go online, and on social media for articles and videos and the next step was to go to culinary school. The prices in Nigeria were too high and I couldn’t afford it at the time. So, I decided to go to the website of the school and I went to their curriculum section and saw that they had put the names of the books and the materials that they were going to use to teach the students. So, I took down all the names of the books and I bought them myself and trained myself by practicing in the kitchen.”



Nwania decided to post the images of her culinary creations on her Blackberry phone and soon began to get recipe requests from her followers. Her sister introduced the idea of blogging to Nwania and before long she was building a steady following online.



“I wasn’t really excelling in my nine-to-five job anymore. I was given a task and I was making so many errors and mistakes. My boss came and asked me why. He decided to check my computer and saw that I had so many windows opened about food. None of it had anything to do with my actual job at work and my boss said ‘if you want to go and cook in the kitchen why don’t you go and do that instead of sitting here’. And that is when it hit me. I quit my job without a plan,” laughs Nwania.



Her first plan was to have her own cooking channel and she reached out to every network she could find for a TV spot. No one responded. Yet again, her sister came to her rescue with another plan. This time, she suggested Nwania create her own YouTube channel and self-publish her content.



“At that time, YouTube was not that much of a big deal. So, I went on the platform and there was no one there I could look up to. So, I got a one-man production company and our goal was to get 5,000 subscribers but in the first six months, we got over 50,000 subscribers and grew so fast.”



Zeelicious Food was born. Today, Nwania boasts her own cooking show, My Naija Plate, on DSTv’s Honey TV where she has aired two seasons. She her own cook book and a lucrative YouTube channel with over 840,000 subscribers. Her videos average over a million views with brand partnerships from telco companies and other brands wanting to tap into her growing audience as an influencer.



“The main goal was to actually put Nigerian food on the global food map and help people with the opportunity to have a food repertoire. We are blessed with a very rich array of ingredients and I took it upon myself to research and use them to develop recipes that the people in this part of the world can relate to. The feedback has been amazing with people [even] telling me how I am saving their marriage by helping them be better cooks,” says Nwania.



Next up in building her food empire is to become a qualified nutritionist. Looking back on that fateful day when she was 12, Nwania believes everything happened for a reason. She ponders out loud at the end of our call that it was her mother’s tenacity in the face of unimaginable difficulty that made her a successful food entrepreneur.

Why Success Is On The Menu For This Nigerian Chef

Molly Jensen’s dream is to build the largest library of African audio stories.



By Alastair Hagger



Tune into the frequency of African radio and the signal is clear – no other medium has reached more people on this continent or resonated more deeply. From the earliest broadcasts in 1920s South Africa to the post-colonial, continent-wide explosion in radio services in the 1960s, to the establishment of the first private commercial station in Burkina Faso in 1987, Africa has long been wired for sound.



But the reach of the airwaves has never been matched by the depth of revenue streams enjoyed by radio stations abroad. Into this aural breach steps the podcast – a medium set to re-dial Africa’s relationship with the broadcast word from passive to thrillingly proactive.



Molly Jensen is CEO of Afripods, a free pan-African podcast hosting platform based in Nairobi.



“My vision is to build the largest library of African audio stories on the planet,” she says.



“We have created an advertising funnel for audio on-demand content, and built a robust library of stories, categorized in up to 50 languages, from the continent and diaspora. We focus on the technical infrastructure, which positions us as the leading platform capturing market share in the region.”



Though Africa’s internet access is the least affordable in the world, according to the AIA (Affordable Internet Alliance), rapid and inevitable network evolution and improvement is already positioning the podcast as an irresistible opportunity for advertisers and creators alike.



“Podcasting is still very much in its infancy on the continent, and advertisers are still learning how to quantify the value of a highly niched group of people and their audiences,” says Jensen. “But an ecosystem like podcasting, which is based on orated content, taps into generations of storytelling, modernizing it in digital communities. The impact of audio-first media cannot be overstated, and podcasting is an exciting extension.”



This ecosystem is growing exponentially as influencers expand into new verticals, and festival and platform pioneers such as Africa Podfest, SemaBOX, Gold Coast Report, The Podcast Sessions and APVA (The Association of African Podcasters and Voice Artists) create dynamic new synergies.



“It’s exciting to see vernacular content grow, because it sheds a light on the rich diversity of Africa, as mother tongues become less common, with podcasting being used as a vehicle to memorialize culture,” she says. “And we are also at an interesting moment in history where Africa is no longer just consuming the narrative of what is cool, but creating it – and exporting culture to a global stage.”

Molly Jensen, photo by Marcus Olang’

The Resonant Rise Of The African Podcast

For Rachel Moré-Oshodi of RUWAH, financial literacy is a major issue that needs to be tackled to end the cycle of generational poverty for many Africans on the continent.



A basic understanding of your financial health goes a long way in not only how you plan your economic wellbeing but also how healthy an economy is. These small micro financial decisions are so crucial that they are learned by most people by the age of seven, according to Rachel Moré-Oshodi, an investment professional turned entrepreneur, with her solution to teach children about financial literacy called RUWAH.



RUWAH, is a prepaid debit card and financial literacy platform on a mission to educate kids and teens in Africa about generational wealth. As a former investment banker, Moré-Oshodi defines wealth as not just money; wealth is about having a purpose and vision for your life and going for it. She learned the importance of wealth-building after a bitter personal experience – when she lost her father to cancer.



“Growing up, money was not spoken about. When my father died 23 years ago, there was no will that we could find and my mum and kids lost everything. We had a legal battle with some of [my dad’s] family members over assets and we are still in court today,” says Moré-Oshodi.



Originally from Cameroon, she has spent a significant amount of her life helping to raise investments for organizations such as the World Bank, Rand Merchant Bank and Total Energies. But even with that breadth of experience, it was not until 15 years ago that she truly understood the importance of having a firm grasp on financial literacy.



“I have been helping raise money for companies and I thought I knew finance but I didn’t know anything about personal finance. Then I realized I had an issue with money and I didn’t have a relationship with money. The money was just sitting in my bank and going from my paycheck to my bank and I didn’t realize that I had a fear of investing”.



Moré-Oshodi believed it was good and safe to leave the money depreciating in her bank account instead of making the money work for her.



“Until I started to research and educate myself and utilize some of the resources available, that is when things changed. Even though I lost some money, I made so much more and as I was making more money, I wanted to pass it on to my kids.”



So, she started teaching her kids about financial literacy and very soon, friends and family started signing up to learn from her. But it was not until she enrolled on a Harvard program that the idea of RUWAH began to truly crystalize. According to S&amp;P’s global financial literacy survey, African countries score the worst in the world in financial literacy.



For Moré-Oshodi, this is a major issue that needs to be tackled to end the cycle of generational poverty for many Africans on the continent.



“RUWAH is a comprehensive financial literacy program that aims to reduce the knowledge and opportunity gap that exists between kids in Africa and the rest of the world. We teach African kids and teenagers (between seven to 18 years), the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed financially later in life. Our self-paced financial classes, pocket money app, and prepaid debit card will teach them the essentials of personal finance, i.e., what money is, how to earn it, how to save, how to multiply it and use it to achieve their goals,” says Moré-Oshodi.



The goal of the platform is also instilling confidence and providing the foundations for kids and teens to become financially savvy at a young age and secure their financial future intergenerationally. For Moré-Oshodi, tackling this issue requires a psychological approach to looking at money.



“Money is not scarce. It is either you don’t have a good relationship with money or you have an unhealthy relationship with money. In Africa in particular, we feel we cannot make more money and it cannot grow and that is not true. The scarcity mindset instead of the abundance mindset is a real issue. But when you start dealing with that at a later stage it is much more difficult to change that mindset. Money is psychological and money is emotional. Money tells you your value and who you are and where your heart is. I felt instead of dealing with adults, it’s better to deal with children.”



RUWAH leverages technology to make the program accessible to most children in Africa. The platform is device-agnostic as well as user-friendly and tailored specifically to the African landscape, considering the cultural nuances that affects decision-making about money on the continent.

Rachel Moré-Oshodi, pic supplied

‘Scarcity Mindset Instead Of Abundance Mindset A Real Issue In Africa’: The Cameroonian Enabling Financial Literacy

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The 50 Over 50 List Of Africa’s Female Powerhouses

Désire De Oliveira, a pioneering Civil Blaster and Managing Director of Laduma Blasting in South Africa, has worked in one of the most male-dominated industries of all – construction and mining. And all she wanted to really do was hone her skills as a French pastry chef.



In her 65 years, Désire De Oliveira has never stopped moving, running her own financial accountancy business for 30 years, raising four kids, qualifying as a French pastry chef, and starting the Seaside Lodge B&amp;B in Salt Rock in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province in 2006.



Seaside Lodge B&amp;B remains consistently booked and was one of the accommodation businesses that survived Covid-19.



She’s also the first woman of color in KwaZulu-Natal to be a certified Opencast blaster (mining) and a certified Civil blaster. To put it simply: blasting is where rock gets blown into pieces with small amounts of explosive – a trickier process than one might think.



“Every accountant will tell you, the smaller the gross profit, the bigger the margin – that’s the business you’re looking for,” De Oliveira says to FORBES AFRICA. So when the owner of Laduma Blasting wanted her to partner in the business, due to her knowledge of its operations after doing its books, she agreed to make it her sole focus for one year.



She intended to return to her first passion – baking – after the year was up.



She put up the capital and he put up the blasting knowledge. In her first six months, she brought in significant business. Eventually, De Oliveira took over the company entirely and decided to get qualified as a blaster, while having a licensed blaster on hand to learn from.



It was not an easy road, as industry professionals told her she would need at least 10 years’ experience to find jobs in the sector. In 2015, she received her Learner Civil blaster, by 2016, her Opencast blaster certificate for mining, and in 2021 she finished her Civil blaster requirements.



And she’s managed to get the jobs they said she could not.



“Though everything I have succeeded at seems a walk in the park, that is because I embrace life for what it is. I have no regrets. Every hardship seems to have been used as a challenge. Looking back now and joining the dots, because of my belligerent attitude to life, I’m a non-conformer, not a follower, am also not a pushover, and certainly not a dreamer. Everything I have done, has been done my way – there’s been no mentors. I also do not carry baggage, none at all, life is too short,” De Oliveira explains.



Three of her family members contracted Covid-19 in December 2020, including herself. Her husband Peter Rutsch died due to Covid-19 in January 2021.



“It was a big shock. I missed him because as much as we didn&#8217;t see each other, we were good. He encouraged me. He let me do my thing. He did his thing. Nobody pulled each other back.”



She battled for four months with long Covid. Laduma Blasting was closed for that time too, and she had to pick up the pieces and start work again.



De Oliveira has spent the last 40 years working on average 19 hours a day, 360 days a year, including seeing to the children, cooking and caring for the home.



Home maintenance and childcare is called ‘invisible labor’, and something an Oxfam analysis valued at $10.9 trillion per year globally.



De Oliveira did not have an easy life as a woman of color in apartheid South Africa; facing the double blow of racial discrimination in all sectors including work and patriarchal attitudes, as well as surviving sexual abuse at a young age.



“Like most previously disadvantaged South Africans having lived through apartheid, we came with no capital, were not properly educated, worked hard, but could not command decent salaries – the old adage still prevailed, black people being paid far less than their white counterparts – that’s only starting to change now,” she says.



She thinks every mother in her situation wished for a better education for their children. After the 1994 elections in South Africa, the possibility of a good education started to be a reality, except she and other people did not have the finances to access it.



Now, she has managed to give her children a good education.



“I think I&#8217;ve done that my whole life, working on my own and steering my own ship so I don&#8217;t live off other people. I&#8217;m independent. So, it worked well for me that I didn&#8217;t have anything.”



Despite having long Covid and asthma, De Oliveira is preparing to run the Comrades Marathon for the 13th time this year. And she’s even thinking of opening another business.

Category: Woman

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

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