West African cuisine has gained increasing popularity worldwide as more indigenes at home and in the diaspora continuously share the influences that inspire their palates and dinner tables.
Minjiba Cookey is one such. She is a well-traveled Nigerian foodie, but her kitchen at home is where her heart is, and where all her culinary adventures finally lead her to.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29524 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_5119-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_5119-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_5119-600x398.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_5119-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_5119-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_5119.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
She documents her passion for culinary delights and her adventures with taste, texture and color on her blog, On Nom Lagos. The idea of fusion and creating exciting food experiences is a thrill her blog intends to ignite in a diverse readership.
The blog, which draws influences from various countries, regularly shares updated recipes and images of different dishes and dessert offerings.
“I was inspired to start the blog when I moved back to Lagos a couple of years ago. I hadn’t lived in Nigeria for a very long time. I love food and use it as a tool to explore my life experiences. I thought it would be great to share my adventures with food, all the flavors I came across and the inspiration and influences they draw from. This blog really represents my love affair with food,” says Cookey.
She initially ran a small bakery out of her home kitchen in Nigeria. Cookey now intends to create and share African lifestyle convenience products that have aided her in the kitchen. She also wants to play an advisory role to restaurants.
“African cuisine is highly versatile and is enjoying a worldwide wave of popularity. West African cuisine for instance, shares a few common ideologies, yet, there are so many variations to its translation in individual countries. Africa is a rich source of inspiration for food and there is so much to explore still,” says Cookey.
Cookey’s blog currently enjoys over 14,000 hits with 406 visitors per week. She also recently teamed up with an online lifestyle publication for her column ‘Om Nom Lagos Eats’. She is also in the process of working on a television cookery show, the content being fusion food with an African twist.
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“The aim is to produce a show that is of world-class quality, which sits comfortably alongside cookery shows from around the world that I enjoy watching myself. I have always known that food was my natural home so I am enjoying this journey, learning and growing as each day unfolds,” says Cookey.

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West Africa On A Plate

Kirumira Rose Namubiru is one of Uganda’s busiest and most well-known sculptors, specializing in the human form. Yet, when we meet her, Namubiru, a doctorate and senior lecturer at the School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University in Uganda’s capital Kampala, says recognition did not come easily.
Her very first outdoor exhibit was marred by controversy. Namubiru had been assigned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1987 to create two sculptures for their offices in Kampala. She cast what later became the famous Mother Uganda and UNDP sculptures.
Mother Uganda, a semi-nude sculpture of a black woman, was hugely criticized because people thought it depicted nudism and sexism – two topics taboo in most African cultures.
The controversy was widely covered in the local press.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29518" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Lilian-Mary-Nabulime-standing-with-some-of-her-works-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Lilian-Mary-Nabulime-standing-with-some-of-her-works-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Lilian-Mary-Nabulime-standing-with-some-of-her-works-300x400.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Lilian-Mary-Nabulime-standing-with-some-of-her-works-600x800.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Lilian-Mary-Nabulime-standing-with-some-of-her-works-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Lilian-Mary-Nabulime-standing-with-some-of-her-works.jpg 767w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />
“I was just starting [out]. I got many threats. I didn’t know what to do or say, but my professor, the late Musango Gwantamu, stood by me. I explained that the sculpture wasn’t naked but a portrayal of the beauty of the motherland [of] Uganda, in [the] shape of a woman,” says Namubiru.
In the end, the dust settled and the sculpture stands till today. Namubiru jokes she now wishes she had made her work even more beautiful.
“I could have rounded the bust a little bit more and given it more hips,” she says. More importantly, Namubiru says she was encouraged to carry on as she realized her work could create an impact.
Namubiru’s sculptures are displayed around the world, most notably: The Page (1995) in Winnipeg, Canada; Ambassador (1999) in the US, Omumbejja (1997-2010) in Denmark, and Friendship (2000) in Changchun, China.
She built her reputation fusing traditional visual art skills, techniques and knowledge with style, tending towards the decorative.
Her original exposure outside Makerere was at the international artists’ workshop at the Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Botswana in 1994. Soon, she felt the need to organize exhibitions in Uganda similar to those she had attended in other countries. In 1998, she successfully organized the first-ever international artists’ workshop in Uganda.
Namubiru foresees a brighter future for female sculptors due to growing synergies among artists globally. She however calls for more funding and enforcement of policies targeting art.
Art For AIDS
A senior lecturer at the School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University, Lilian Mary Nabulime created sculptures on a wide range of themes before switching her focus to HIV/AIDS during her PhD studies at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The reasons were also personal.
Traumatized by the suffering of her husband and other relatives who had the condition, she felt the need to initiate a campaign that could spread awareness about the disease so prevalent in her home country Uganda.
Using translucent soap bars, Nabulime sculpted male and female genitalia depicting the lives and experiences of women living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Over the years, these creations have become important tools in awareness campaigns.
Nabulime’s models have created a sculptural language that transcends literacy barriers and ethnic differences and divides to reach the largest possible audience. During her master’s degree in 1992, curvy tree stumps were her trademark but she also fashioned installations from the roots of trees.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29520 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922-203x300.jpg" alt="" width="203" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922-203x300.jpg 203w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922-300x443.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922-600x886.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922-768x1134.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922-694x1024.jpg 694w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0922.jpg 693w" sizes="(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px" />
“One time there was a heavy storm that brought down huge trees at the university. The exposed roots inspired me to get into root sculpturing. I made quite a number of them, some in huge sizes,” says Nabulime.
She sought assistance from the German Cultural Society for her first exhibition, held at Sheraton Kampala Hotel, along were two other male painters. Although she only sold a handful of pieces, the exhibition brought numerous opportunities. She went on to participate in over 50 exhibitions and hundreds of workshops in Africa and beyond.

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Nudism Or Beauty?

Saloni Wahi puts down her cup of coffee and shakes her head. The café we are in is buzzing with young TV journalists and executives respectful of her presence. Saloni smiles and exchanges a word with each of them, inquiring about their work, asking about their families, radiating the warmth she is synonymous with.
It is hard to ignore her; and harder to describe her. A few minutes with her and you are convinced no one description would suffice: she is wife, mother, businesswoman, artist, gourmet chef, philanthropist, and above all, a perfectionist.
“Credibility is everything to me,” she says, thumbing through a sheaf of papers. She is organizing a fundraising event for the ABN Education Trust on September 8, and there is much to do, details that need to be ironed out. Yet, you can tell it’s not the event she’s worried about. It’s the beneficiaries that are her real remit: children in need, women in despair, single mothers who are abandoned.
There’s pathos in her voice as she talks about acts of kindness that can change the lives of the less fortunate.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are in India or Africa, children are the same everywhere. To me, giving back is integral to my being,” she says.
Originally from Delhi in India but based in Dubai since 1989, Saloni moved to Johannesburg in 2007 after her husband, Rakesh Wahi, along with Zafar Siddiqi, set up the ABN Group, which includes CNBC Africa and FORBES AFRICA.
In 2011, they began talking about setting up a foundation, the ABN Education Trust, for their charitable activities, and decided on two causes. The first to develop skills in financial journalism by providing bursaries for a few children, drawn from disadvantaged families, each year at the University of the Witwatersrand and University of Johannesburg. During the graduation, they are offered internships and subsequently have the option of fulltime work with the Group.
“I received a bursary from the ABN Trust and the icing on the cake was the life-changing opportunity to work for an internationally-affiliated media company. Today, I get to live my dream every day,” says Leigh-Ann Carey, one of the beneficiaries who is now a trainee producer with CNBC Africa.
The second segment the Trust prioritized was orphans.
“We started working with an orphanage in Alexandra. Most children were abandoned by HIV-infected parents. It is creditable how the founders and caretakers of the orphanage have worked tirelessly to help children that would otherwise have died or ended up on the street,” says Saloni.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29507 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Saloni-Wahi_7644-1-300x212.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="212" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Saloni-Wahi_7644-1-300x212.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Saloni-Wahi_7644-1-600x423.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Saloni-Wahi_7644-1-768x542.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Saloni-Wahi_7644-1-1024x722.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Saloni-Wahi_7644-1.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Over the years, through the Trust, Saloni has committed her resources towards caring for the children, participating in Christmas parties, gifting them provisions, and buying them a bus to safely commute in.
“None of our efforts would have seen fruition without the efforts of the entire team at the ABN Group, particularly Roberta Naicker, Nola Mashaba and more recently, Sian Schlebusch. We are currently working with the orphanage founders and management to find a permanent shelter for the children. This is a critical requirement,” she says.
Saloni has made a significant financial commitment towards this cause. In addition, the ABN Group has also been blessed with support from partners such as the IDC that has contributed directly to the orphanage.
“Our intention is to help facilitate resources for these causes and take these initiatives to other parts of the continent where we are setting up meaningful businesses. We would be expanding these activities to Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. Along with Roberta and the team, I will be now looking at how to put a formal structure to the foundation in these countries,” says Saloni.
Philanthropy is not new for the Wahis. Hailing from an illustrious business family in India, Saloni says she has seen acts of kindness from a young age. Marrying into an equally-philanthropic family has allowed her to continue to do social good all through her life which is integral to her existence.
And like most people, Saloni’s journey has not been without significant responsibilities.
“When my husband started out in business after leaving the Indian Army [in 1988], I had a challenging life. Ricki [Rakesh] was traveling to Russia and other parts of the world as he was trying to make a success in a very different world from the Army. Not only did I have the responsibility of bringing up Sidharth and Shweta, but I had to double up to support all the executive functions of the small trading business we had established.”
She continued through thick and thin as the solid anchor for the family making sure the children never missed anything and Rakesh had all the support he needed at work.
“I could never have achieved anything without her indulgence, positivity and perseverance,” says Rakesh, “she has truly been my compass and Rock of Gibraltar.”
With a continued focus on education, the Group has recently set up a university in Ghana with Lancaster University in the UK; it’s their second initiative after the Murdoch University in Dubai; and they offer scholarships to students on both campuses.
Excerpts from the interview with Saloni:
Your philanthropic take on wealth creation?
My great grandfathers had established charitable trusts in India and I have seen the family’s involvement in schools and hospitals in North India that benefitted children from disadvantaged families. Their work has outlived their time on earth. This is true wealth creation. Both my husband’s parents have been involved with setting up institutions to benefit the poor. For me, as a woman, if the work my husband and I are doing is carried forward and built on by our children, I would consider myself blessed. Both children have been involved with the Trust through their own contributions. Sidharth, our son, is a Trustee, while our daughter, Shweta, a young fashion designer, has raised significant funds through her own initiatives and has recently offered fashion school bursaries in Mauritius.
How important is it for African businesses to give back?
Africa occupies a unique position – on the one hand, it is the cradle of mankind and has abundant natural resources. On the other hand, it’s a young continent with respect to its economic development. For all-round inclusive economic growth, it is imperative private business plays an important role along with the state. While a lot is being done by both corporates and individuals, given the magnitude of the continent, and the nascent stage of its development, a lot more needs to be done.
Is enough being done to educate women, especially in areas such as reproductive health?
There are several programs undertaken by developed countries on issues of malnutrition, infant mortality and reproductive and maternal health. I do not believe enough is being done. Providing care in the early years of an infant is crucial for mother and child.
I would also like to highlight the prevalence of ‘single mothers’ across the continent. To my mind, this is what makes the African woman most vulnerable. There is a need to educate both boys and girls about the importance of family values and taking ‘basic responsibility’ for nurturing the infants they bring into this world. Education on the ‘development of a responsible family unit’ will be significant  in solving issues like crime, HIV, unemployment, and will provide protection for the girl child. The approach has to be preventative rather than only curative or crisis-based.
Any advice for juggling work and family?
You need to balance your life and set clear priorities. These must not be compromised either at work or on the family side. The second most important aspect is sharing responsibilities with your partner. This is critical for the right balance. Yet another aspect is developing hobbies. We tend to neglect what we are passionate about. Besides the Trust and my involvement with the family investments, I am passionate about cooking, golf and pottery.
A charity auction and fundraising morning with the theme ‘Heavenly White High Tea’ will be held in aid of the ABN Education Trust on September 8 at 54 on Bath, Rosebank, Johannesburg. To book a table, call +27113840314.

Going  Above & Beyond

CrossFit is a form of functional exercise fast gaining popularity among fitness enthusiasts across the world, and that   is now taking Africa by storm.
Also promoted as a competitive fitness sport, CrossFit incorporates high-intensity training, including Olympic weightlifting, plyometric exercises, powerlifting, gymnastics and calisthenics. Founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai of the United States (US), it has over 9,000 affiliates worldwide, most of which are in the US. Africa is a relative newcomer to CrossFit, yet there are already 119 affiliates in South Africa alone.
CrossFit prepares your body for real-life situations involving strength, fitness and endurance, and it’s widely accepted that those who do this type of training are the fittest. This idea was created after the CrossFit community founded The CrossFit Games, a competitive event that claims the winner is ‘the fittest on earth’. Based on programs used to train policemen, firemen and military forces, one of the biggest things it drives is a sense of community.
Many women are reluctant to try it, but South African Nicole Seymour, who holds the title of ‘the second fittest woman in Africa’, speaks about how she overcame her fears, and how her goal is to become a competitive international athlete:
<ol>
<li>What made you take to CrossFit?</li>
<li>We were at home flicking through channels on ESPN and happened to come across the Games. It was awesome to see people doing crazy things and pushing their bodies to the limits. I love challenges and I remember saying to my husband that is something I would love to do. Shortly after, I fell pregnant with my second child so the Games became a distant dream. The following year, my husband decided to enter me into the opens so he didn’t leave me a choice. I was nervous but excited.</li>
<li>What can you say with regard to women in CrossFit?</li>
<li>I think it allows women to feel empowered and realize what they are capable of. Both men and women are treated equally. It’s phenomenal how CrossFit has changed so many lives. You get out of CrossFit what you want. You need to progress slowly and make it a lifestyle. It takes you back to your childhood and activities that everyone should naturally be able to do.</li>
<li>Your thoughts on the stigma that ‘women who lift are masculine’?</li>
<li>It is one of the biggest misconceptions. I say, try it and find out for yourself. Either you love it or you hate it. I have yet to find a lady that regrets starting CrossFit as it really impacts on so many areas of your life. You will find everyday activities such as carrying kids, shopping etc a lot easier and less stressful and your overall quality of life will improve.</li>
</ol>
I love muscles, so for me, it’s awesome. The most important part is to be happy and content with yourself. I can honestly say my physique is a lot smaller, leaner and more athletic since I have been doing CrossFit.
<ol>
<li>Has your outlook of CrossFit changed?</li>
<li>It’s a very humbling sport. Some of the workouts are so deceptive, they look easy but you soon find out otherwise. There is honestly no space for arrogance in this sport. One minute you are up and the next you are down. Anything can happen.</li>
<li>Do you believe CrossFit is the future of fitness in Africa?</li>
<li>I do. It really takes you back to the ‘caveman days’. It is such a fun way of getting fit and active and the best part of all is you’re not doing it alone. There is generally a group of people next to you sweating and working just as hard as you.</li>
</ol>

Nicole Seymour

The Fittest Women On Earth

In the four decades of entertaining festival-goers, the annual National Arts Festival in Grahamstown has transformed itself from being a small Rhodes University Shakespeare Festival to Africa’s largest extravaganza of art, theater, film, music and more.
The festival’s 40-year anniversary was celebrated with some spectacular performances. And there was the powerful Marikana Musical, capturing the events of the Marikana massacre in South Africa in which 34 striking platinum miners were killed by policemen in 2012.
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The event has evolved, featuring festivals within the main festival. Since its inception in 1997, the Standard Bank Jazz Festival has been one of the highlights. This year, everybody watched to see if it would live up to its reputation. And it did.
The Jazz Festival director Alan Webster invited Grammy award-winning composer and conductor Maria Schneider, who played to a full house. Some of South Africa’s big names in jazz at the festival were Jimmy Dludlu, Hugh Masekela and Sibongile Khumalo.
The Student Theatre Festival’s line-up promised a strong future for South African theater. A number of the plays were around issues and scenes that directly affect the ‘born frees’ – children born post 1994.
Anthea Garman, Rhodes professor and Think!Fest curator, had thinkers and authors in conversation for the duration of the festival. New books were also launched.
The famous Village Green proved to be a popular haunt during the day, between shows, for hot meals and cold beer. Grahamstown’s oldest landmark, 1820 Settlers Monument, had free performances every evening. A number of projects are being developed to position the town as a year-round ‘creative city’.
Ismail Mohamed, director of the National Arts Festival, summed it up as a success.
“Celebrating artistic excellence was central to the festival’s program. We are bold and courageous to take calculated risks on untested works. We have often been surprised by the gems that we’ve discovered.”
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“Often the idea of community theater is associated with black amateurs, and it remains locked in that. When people talk about the mainstream, we often talk about white, musical theater, commercial stuff that plays in Monte Casino [in Johannesburg]&#8230;I still see a lot of that in festivals like this. It still feels like there are certain audiences for certain things. There’s very little crossover in those worlds. So, those who are able to be present, we should be taking on that challenge. I am trying to encourage crossover and encourage exploding these outdated notions about theater.”
– Lindiwe Matshikiza, 31-year-old actor and director of children’s play Donkey Child. She has also starred in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
&nbsp;

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Africa’s Greatest Arts Festival

Italian fashion designer and Lagos-resident
Caterina Bortolussi can be mistaken for a home-grown Nigerian. She fits in seamlessly with Lagos’ thriving social circuit and is always on the VIP list at sought-after city events.
She is the founder of the ethical African fashion label Kinabuti, dedicated to sustainable development in the Niger Delta, and popular among fashionistas, Afropolitans and Nigeria’s entertainment elite.
<div id="attachment_29490" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-29490" class="size-medium wp-image-29490" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Lagos (Nigeria) Kinabuti Collection 2012</div>
“I believe it was God who guided me towards this idea; I just had a dream of designing clothes. I never thought I was going to live in Africa or Nigeria. I didn’t have formal education in fashion and didn’t even know how to sketch but I have been lucky to come across so many amazing personalities that inspired me with their vision and drive,” says Bortolussi.
She had been working in the strife-torn Niger Delta since 2007, when a state of emergency was proclaimed, and there were ensuing kidnappings, curfews and police blocks. She compiled a paper called Peace and Art and saw in art a vehicle to spread peace and inspire the youth.
“This propelled me to start the Kinabuti fashion label in 2010 with the focus of using it to go into areas described as highly unsafe and populated by militants, to provide training [for women and youth] in modeling, silk-screening, cutting and pattern drafting.”
And what does Kinabuti mean?
“It is my nickname. As a little girl, I found it hard trying to pronounce my lengthy name. I used to call it Kina [short for Caterina], and Buti [short for Bortolussi], so when people asked my name, I told them I was Kinabuti.”
Before landing in Lagos eight years ago, Bortolussi was with an investment bank in London. After that, she moved to shipping, but she was on the look-out for something more exciting and creative.
“I have made several career moves, from selling advertising to setting up my own communications agency. But the direction was clear: to set up my own fashion label,” she says.
Bortolussi says settling in Nigeria has not been easy. A lot of capital is necessary to invest in Nigeria due to high costs of starting a business, limited access to credit, lack of power, and market insecurity.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29489 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“There was a time when I lost all my money and was threatened to leave the country but I never lost faith. Nigeria is not an easy place, but teaches you to endure, to be fearless and most of all to have self-belief. Nigeria has plenty of opportunities, in eight of my years here, I have felt its transformation and development and consider myself lucky. Nigeria is a place where dreams can become a reality.”
Through Kinabuti, Bortolussi is also passionate about training young entrepreneurs. She has taken her drive to the ghettoes of Port Harcourt in the south of Nigeria.
South African apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is an inspiration, as she quotes him: “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

Lagos (Nigeria)Kinabuti Collection 2012

Ghetto Glamor

Roxy Marosa is a true example of success through relentless reinvention. And she has been an ardent proponent of that, traveling the world as a motivational speaker, telling people of all ages and statuses that basically, life is what you make it.
The statement sounds easy and effortless when you are blessed with the kind of looks like Marosa’s, but charmed as it might seem, her life has been no fairytale.
Born Rosalia Maletsatsi in Kimberly, the diamond town of South Africa’s Northern Cape, 45 years ago, she was only 10 when she first started entering – and winning – beauty pageants.
At a glance, her life seems to have come full circle. Marosa runs an eponymous beauty studio in Cape Town and has a successful personalized skincare range. It almost seems a given for a former beauty queen to work in a sector affiliated to beauty. But there is more to this soft-spoken beauty with the direct yet friendly gaze.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29482 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Roxy-Pic4.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
More than once, her dreams were shattered. First, when she fell pregnant with her son Tumi a mere two years after matriculating. The pageants and modeling assignments had to come to an end.
Marosa then joined retail major Edgars as an accounts clerk and was later transferred to Cape Town, where she moved in with her partner. For a while, life in the city was ideal.
“I quit my job to study full-time, while my partner took care of our son,” says Marosa. The couple wed in 1998, when Tumi was eight.
The world of glamor beckoned again, when she had taken Tumi for an audition for a commercial, and she was offered a role as well. It was a godsend really, says Marosa, who realized “the man above” was listening to her hopes and dreams.
But her journey was destined for another detour when, in 2000, she was diagnosed with HIV after contracting it from her husband. The couple separated, divorcing seven years later, and Marosa threw herself into facilitating HIV programs and roadshows for corporate giants, and was even sent by the United Nations to do the same in places as disparate as Cape Town and Korea.
“When I returned from a World Aids Conference, my work as a speaker escalated,” says Marosa, who was an ideal candidate to discuss HIV.
“It was a road I had traveled, from fear and negativity, to living positively.”
Marosa turned the hurdles into springboards.
“When I was diagnosed with HIV, I was walking dead. Seven months later, the virus was undetectable. ‘You defy nature,’ my doctor told me before he died.”
She conquered the disease with medication and by practising what she preached as a motivational speaker with international organization Landmark.
“I developed an interest in ontology (the philosophical study of the nature of being) and how people respond to what life brings them,” she says of her four-year stint with the organization.
“I started taking responsibility for the choices I had made. That was the beginning of something really important in my life. I also saw a whole lot of people who were broken by their past – people of different calibres, nationalities and all ages. The outcomes were phenomenal, I knew I was on the right track. I got to be grounded and I realized it doesn’t matter what I did, whether I was on TV or not, I was the same. Because we are all dealt the same stuff.”
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She also developed an interest in chemical products versus natural, organic products. In 2010, Marosa realized a longtime dream when she released her eponymous skincare brand, available online and from her Beauty Studio in Wynberg, Cape Town. Her passion for holistic natural healing led to her meeting Japanese chiropractor Yukari Abe, a keynote speaker at the International Women’s Club, who taught her the Japanese massage technique she now offers clients.
“I develop myself, my business and the people around me on an ongoing basis,” says Marosa, who employs sales consultants countrywide.
Her next goal is to grow her beauty salon brand countrywide. Luckily for her now, time is on he

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‘I Was Walking Dead’

The biggest year of Queen B’s career comes courtesy of a massive tour. The superstar singer played 95 shows, bringing in an average $2.4 million per city, according to Pollstar. She also dropped her most innovative album. Titled simply Beyoncé, the record hit iTunes in December with barely any publicity; the single Drunk in Love has already sold more than one million copies.
But Beyoncé doesn’t stop with music – she’s built a small business empire. She earns millions endorsing companies like H&amp;M and Pepsi. She has a line of fragrances with names like Heat, Rise and Pulse, and then there’s her clothing company House of Dereon, which features jeans, shoes and accessories. All together, we estimate that Beyoncé earned $115 million between June 1, 2013 and June 1, 2014.
The singer is embarking on another big year highlighted by her first world tour with her husband, Jay Z. Their On The Run tour, which kicked off June 25 in Miami, will be short (only 20 dates are set) but lucrative for the pair, who can claim the crown as the most powerful celebrity couple in the world.
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Jay Z also places high on the Celebrity 100 this year, in sixth place with an estimated $60 million in earnings. That comes from a variety of sources, including his latest album, Magna Carta … Holy Grail; dozens of live shows; his growing Roc Nation empire and business ventures ranging from his 40/40 nightclub chain to his D’Ussé cognac.
FORBES’ annual Celebrity 100 list ranks the top stars from the worlds of movies, TV, music, sports, books and modeling based on money and fame.
We estimate earnings by talking to lawyers, producers, agents and other in-the-know folks to figure out how much over 200 celebrities earned from entertainment-related business in the past year. That includes things like music sales, upfront pay on movies and endorsement work. Our time frame for earnings this year is June 1, 2013 to June 1 2014. We don’t deduct for things like taxes, agent fees or the other expenses associated with being a celebrity.
We measure fame in a variety of ways. We count how many times each celebrity was mentioned in print, on TV and radio. We factor in a score from StarCount for social media power over 12 platforms including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. This year we’ve also added an impact score, similar to the one we use for our Power Women list. Based on reporting by our editorial staff, the number measures the impact each celebrity has on the entertainment industry and our culture overall. We put all of those numbers into an algorithm to come up with our final list. Justin Bieber had the highest ranking for social networking power but because of his low impact this year, he only ranked 33rd on our list, down from ninth last year.
In second place, is LeBron James. We estimate that the basketball player earned $72 million last year. James recently announced that he’s opting out of his contract with the Miami Heat to become a free agent. That could mean an even richer payday for James, who earns big endorsing companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s — or not if he decides to sacrifice salary to build a stronger roster around him.
In third place is Dr. Dre, who earned more in the past 12 months than anyone in the history of the Celebrity 100. We peg Dre’s earnings at $620 million thanks to Apple’s purchase of his Beats by Dre for $3 billion. Last year’s No. 1, Oprah Winfrey, falls to fourth place this year with an estimated $82 million in earnings. The talk show host’s eponymous cable network, OWN, is finally turning around (it became cash-flow positive in 2013) and Winfrey helped make Lee Daniel’s The Butler a hit. But the three celebrities ranked above her just have more influence and power at this moment.
Rounding out the top five is another talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres, who we estimate earned $70 million in the last 12 months. The new queen of daytime TV broke the Internet this year when she posted what has become the most famous ‘selfie’ of all time. Aside from the ratings success of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the 56-year-old is beefing up her producing roster. Her production company is working on pilots for the CW and NBC, and cable network HGTV will air a DeGeneres-produced design competition series next year.

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Beyoncé Tops Celebrity 100 List

Rwanda’s natural beauty is distracting. Almost every suburb in its capital Kigali boasts a vista of rolling green hills, and in the city, new skyscrapers glisten in the sun.
It’s difficult for visitors to imagine that the country, run like an efficient corporation and often referred to as Africa’s Switzerland today, was once the scene of a mass tragedy that claimed a million lives. President Paul Kagame’s ‘Vision 2020’ is a strategy to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country, working on all its strengths. Luckily, besides natural resources, Rwanda is also blessed with a young generation with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Teta Isibo is one such youngster making a mark. When she quit her job in urban planning in the mayor’s office in Kigali to become a businesswoman, she knew her plan was in line with that of her country’s.
“Rwanda has instilled in us confidence as youth, and that’s safety. I don’t know if I would have been able in another country to say well I didn’t study fashion and I didn’t study business, but I want to do a fashion business and I’m going to,” says Isibo.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29474 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1523-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1523-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1523-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1523-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1523-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1523.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Five years on, the 28-year-old is a self-taught designer and founder of Inzuki Designs, a local company started in 2010 specializing in jewelry, accessories and home décor with a Rwandan touch.
“We’re trying to create a contemporary African lifestyle brand that portrays the new Rwanda, the new Africa, that shows a different side of Rwanda, a different side to Africa. It’s not just sad stories, it’s not just our past, but it’s also the hope that we have and this whole new energy we have in Rwanda and Africa as a whole.”
The bright colors of her statement jewelry pieces in her Kigali store are a departure from the customary black-and-white color scheme of Kinyarwanda culture. Inzuki Designs uses traditional local materials such as cow horn, beads, palm leaves and sisal, a fiber made of grass that typically grows in East Africa’s Great Lakes region.
Starting with a capital of $4,000, she believes she is on the right track.
“We are not yet where we want to be in terms of success. Our sales volume has increased by over 75%.”
Inzuki is named after the Kinyarwanda word for bees, and Isibo likens her clients to bees, bold women who aren’t afraid of color. And bringing her designs to life are women’s cooperatives, such as that of Bernadette Bankundiye’s, who started in her home backyard in the Kigali neighborhood of Kagugu.
“My friends saw me working and were inspired to join me. As time went by, we started working together, sharing ideas, meeting to discuss our plans and artwork,” says Bankundiye.
By 2009, Bankundiye and the women in her neighborhood formed a cooperative to supply Inzuki Designs. While it is still too expensive to patent her products in Rwanda, Isibo has worked hard to ensure the loyalty of the cooperatives she works with so that her designs are not replicated and that the quality surpasses that of the many markets in the city.
The exchange with Inzuki Designs is more than just supply and demand. For many of the women who are part of these cooperatives, it’s a means of rebuilding their lives post the genocide.
“Through Inzuki, we have been able to move on with our lives. Our children have been able to go to school, we all have benefitted from medical insurance, improved our lifestyle, built our own homes. We are happy and feel Teta stands out as a role model for all young girls and women,” says Bankundiye.
As determined as these women are to move on, the events of 1994 are unforgettable. Born in Kenya, Isibo was raised in Uganda where her family lived as refugees after the first attacks against the Tutsis in 1959.
“We were young but we could understand what was going on. It was a very sad time for everyone. You’d switch on the TV and you’d see bodies floating into Lake Victoria in Uganda. We were old enough for my parents to explain to us that these were Tutsis being killed,” says Isibo.
Her late father was a translator and interpreter who spoke 10 languages. Both her parents have worked for the United Nations in Tanzania; her mother still does.
Returning as a young woman educated in the UK and fluent in English has given Isibo an edge. In 2008, English replaced French as the official medium of education and business, and refugees returning from Anglophone countries would benefit the most from the  ‘Vision 2020’ program.
The government has also placed great emphasis on gender equality and today Rwanda’s parliament boasts the highest number of women anywhere in the world. While women played a remarkable role in the reconciliation process, those gains have not quite reached the private sector. Still, Isibo believes Rwanda’s gender policies have given her a platform to build her career.
“Being a woman in business here is not like it would be in another country. You don’t think ‘I can never make it, I don’t have a chance’. They really push to promote you.”
When Isibo won a national entrepreneurship competition that provided the funds to kick-start her business, her male competitors in the ICT and agriculture sectors assured her that her strategy to turn fashion and design in Rwanda into a viable industry was a winning one.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29475 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1527-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1527-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1527-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1527-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1527-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_1527.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Isibo is determined to capitalize on the country’s vision of becoming a regional technology hub. She is set to launch an online store for her growing international clientele.
“All my marketing is [through] social media. I’ve never paid for marketing. I just do great photoshoots in which the models are my friends. I think that’s the great thing about having a network because we all help each other. I know if I’m stuck with something, I can call upon one of my friends and get some pro bono advice and I know that I can do the same for them.”
The country is determined to overcome its past and it is the young men and women like Isibo who will reap the benefits of a reconciled Rwanda in 2020 and beyond.

IMG_1541

The Bold THE Dutiful

Cape Town-born Hilda Lunderstedt is a  shrewd businesswoman and considered a pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry for bringing the nutrients and vitamins trend to South Africa.
Two years shy of 50, Lunderstedt has been in pharmaceuticals for almost 30 years now. She founded NutriLida, a vitamin, mineral and supplements business, in 2001 with a meager pension payout. Eager to build a client base, she sold her first batch of products at a 50% discount. Nine years later, NutriLida was sitting at a staggering nine-figure value. Lunderstedt cashed in, selling the business to South Africa’s second biggest pharmaceutical player, Adcock Ingram.
Today, she spends her time looking for investment opportunities in the international health, wellness and beauty industry. But her starting point is a far cry from the opulence she enjoys today.
She studied pharmacy at Stellenbosch University, graduating in 1987. Her father decided to enroll himself for medical school at the age of 35 in pursuit of his dream of becoming a doctor. Her choice of studying Pharmacy was an extension of her father’s dream for her.
“I honestly didn’t want to be a pharmacist. I just didn’t see it as part of my dream. I just knew that I wanted to do something related to beauty,” she says. Her father’s dream for her proved to be stronger than her affinity for the beauty industry at the time.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29469 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-300x217.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="217" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-300x217.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-600x435.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-768x557.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-1024x742.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Armed with a BSc degree in Pharmacy, she succumbed to the lure of Johannesburg. With her bus ticket in hand and the promise of a job in a start-up pharmaceutical company described “ripe for growth and ready for takeoff”, Lunderstedt made the move to the City of Gold. In six weeks, the company had closed shop and the promise of success in Johannesburg had more than lost its luster.
“Everybody said don’t go to Johannesburg. That place will chew and spit you out. It did. My pride took a beating but more importantly, I simply didn’t have the money to go back to Cape Town.”
With empty pockets and her degree in hand, Lunderstedt maneuvered herself into a local hospital’s pharmacy division. Tasked with the procurement function, she discovered her exceptional ability to sell products and steadily began to grow and cultivate a global network, a network that would prove to be the key to unlocking her future success.
In the early 2000s, the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa was booming, with new pharmacies and products mushrooming in every major city.
“Back then, nobody knew anything about this untapped world of natural food supplements and vitamins. I knew I was on to something.” Lunderstedt was finally able to converge her love for health and beauty with her training in pharmacy.
Before long, she had latched onto a breakthrough – grape seed extract – that would change pharmacy as it was known in South Africa. She cracked the formulae that would unleash the therapeutic benefits of the extract, from healing wounds, treating high cholesterol, repairing nerve damage, and even preventing cancer. Convinced by her findings she quit her job to solely focus on bringing grape seed extract in product form to South African shelves.
Her laughter bubbles over as she recounts how once she had the formulae she reached out to partners in China for production.
“People said you can’t just transfer money to China so I arranged to fly and go meet the production team on the factory floor. I sat wide awake on the 15-hour flight keeping a sharp eye on my small bag of dollars!” A flight and a wad of money later, her product was shipped to South Africa ready to hit the shelves.
“In my first year of business, I got over every fear that I had ever had, professional and personal.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29471 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-217x300.jpg" alt="" width="217" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-217x300.jpg 217w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-300x415.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-600x829.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-768x1061.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-741x1024.jpg 741w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882.jpg 740w" sizes="(max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px" />
Lunderstedt never looked back, moving from grape seed extract to other nutricare products. Finally her biggest breakthrough came with bringing probiotics to South Africa, catapulting NutriLida into the big league. She sold the company to Adcock Ingram in 2010 for “hundreds of millions of rands”, making her one of the country’s richest women today.

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The Reluctant Pharmacist

The first thing you notice about a FOMI Collection handbag is the unmistakeable African pattern that adorns it. Next is the intricate stitching that binds it, followed by the refined leather finish.
And then you know the origin of this luxury product – Ethiopia.
The handbags and accessories are the creation of Afomia Tesfaye, the Ethiopian-born founder of the FOMI Collection that’s now sold in the airy, arty boutiques of Los Angeles (LA).
Although Ethiopian, Tesfaye has not lived in her home country since the age of three. That’s when her family moved to England, leaving thereafter to Washington DC in the United States (US), where her father served as the Ethiopian Ambassador to the US, before relocating yet again to San Diego, California.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29463 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Original-20-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-20-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-20-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-20-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-20-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-20.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
Tesfaye went to the University of California in LA, and visited Ethiopia in 2010. That’s when she was struck with the idea of starting her own business in her home country.
“My professional goal was to someday develop a design company, and on a visit to Ethiopia, I began playing with the idea of starting a business. At the time, I really had no idea what I wanted to do,” says Tesfaye.
But she was determined to pursue her dream, even giving up her public relations job for it.
“I began by visiting tanneries and was so impressed with the quality of the leather. That sparked the idea to work with leather in some way and handbags felt like a natural way to begin,” she says.
The following year, she designed a small collection of handbags and wallets she took back to America and sold to small boutiques in LA. As fine wine would be received, so were her products, and they were soon sold out.
Her next big break was receiving an order from Anthropologie, the famous American women’s clothing retailer with over 175 stores globally. There were however snags to Tesfaye’s start, as with every new business.
“The first couple of seasons, I dealt with so many issues: discolored leather and suede, lack of available zippers and accessories within the country, shipping merchandise that arrived late to retailers [and so on],” she says.
But she admits that just as she was developing as a designer, Ethiopia’s manufacturing capabilities also strengthened and “the mistakes have lessened”.
Today, Ethiopia is considered an emerging textile hub, and international retail brands such as H&amp;M and Primark are looking to set up shop in the East African country as its textile industry’s production grows more globally competitive. UK supermarket chain Tesco also plans to expand its sourcing operations to Ethiopia.
It is however easy to overlook that Ethiopia, like many other African countries, has a wide gap between rich and poor, and an even smaller demand for luxury goods than its major African counterparts.
Nevertheless, Ethiopia’s GDP in 2013 was larger than its East African neighbors. According to the World Bank, Ethiopia’s GDP in 2013 was recorded at $46.8 billion, followed by Kenya at $44.1 billion and Tanzania at $33.2 billion.
FOMI Collection’s luxurious tassels will therefore sooner or later find a stronger demand from the same expanse that provides it with material and labor.
All the leather Tesfaye sources for her products are Ethiopian indigenous materials, a variation of highland sheepskin, goatskin and cowhide. Highland sheepskin in particular is considered to be among some of the most refined leather.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29464 alignright" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Original-35-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-35-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-35-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-35-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-35-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Original-35.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“I want FOMI Collection to be appreciated for its quality and aesthetical value, not for people to buy it because they pity Ethiopia. I use a small workshop in Addis Ababa and work with several skilled men and women who are paid well above the standard salary. The more successful I become, the more people I am able to employ, which is the value that I bring to the country,” she says.
Her work between her birthplace and LA also means her collection gets the best of both worlds in terms of design and creativity.
“In Ethiopia, I often drive outside the capital city for work, in chaotic traffic passing goats and donkeys on the side of the road. LA is the polar opposite, it is the mecca of entertainment, fashion and art which is stimulating in so many other ways. I am creatively and culturally inspired in both cities and feel lucky to be able to experience life in such different environments.”

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Buy For Quality, Not For Pity

Tracey Chiappini-Young does not sell teddy bears, she sells histories.
The founder of the Capetonian luxury soft toy brand Taunina says “a teddy bear is something so special to everyone”.
“I still have my grandmother’s [and] it’s something that is passed down. It really is an heirloom,” says Chiappini-Young.
She founded Taunina with Karen Jansen, her business partner in Cape Town three years ago. In the years since, her brand’s growth has almost tripled with a 100% year-on-year rate. She insists their success rests on their very specific kind of business model.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29460 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Studio-2-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Studio-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Studio-2-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Studio-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Studio-2.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Taunina is an operation driven by women, more specifically, women with traditionally limited economic options. In fact, the latter end of the Taunina name is the acronym NINA – No Income, No Assets. So far, close to 600 women have been trained and hired by the Taunina workshop. Chiappini-Young hopes to help more women realize their potential as her workshop continues to grow.
It’s the detail that makes Taunina’s bears. Each artist works on a bear and injects her own flair into the creation. But the design process is ordered. After healthy discussion, a core creative team decides the collection’s theme. After that, three chief embroiders set a color scheme for the collection. However, the buck always stops with the artist and the teddy bear she is working on.
“She’ll play around with the colors, then she’ll choose the thread,” says Chiappini-Young. Within a chosen collection, the embroiders create their own sub-collections. And another creative meeting decides which ones make the cut. The finished product is accompanied by a sewn-on foot-stamp, initialed by the artist. Each bear comes christened with a name and has its own passport. A Taunina trademark stamp sits comfortably in each toy’s left ear. The embroidered bespoke teddies start from $375 apiece.
Chiappini-Young’s entry into the luxury space had an odd impetus. She began in the financial services sector, working with private equity firms and asset management outfits. But she felt unfulfilled and hungry to be a part of the empowerment of other people.
“I definitely thought about it for a long time,” she says. The concept actually came about 12 years ago, in a very different skin.
“I was 28 or 29 and I had a pre-30 crisis [I felt] that I wasn’t doing enough in South Africa.”
The crisis led to a book, How to Help, written during lunch breaks and researched after work that helped her craft her perspective on philanthropy.
“My feeling is really that money is one very small part of the problem, the most important thing is the skills transferred,” she said, on a call from her Cape Town workshop.
Taunina is “new age luxury” according to its founders. Chiappini-Young met her Brazilian partner whilst enrolled at a business school in New York. They began to consider the power of luxury.
“We decided we were going to build a luxury brand which was not about financial return. It was [going to be] about social impact,” she says. The two women got to work, learning much from their mentors and teachers, and set out to build a different kind of luxury brand. Beyond the profit, they want to give their artists “the strength to believe in themselves, to believe that they are artists”.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29456 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Zip-Zap-landscape_6345-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Zip-Zap-landscape_6345-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Zip-Zap-landscape_6345-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Zip-Zap-landscape_6345-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Zip-Zap-landscape_6345-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Zip-Zap-landscape_6345.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
But the strength of the Taunina brand is not really invested in the aesthetics of their teddy bears. Instead, their most prized assets are the stories each of the bears they create carry with them. Chiappini-Young is hopeful that these stories will also carry the brand for years to come.
“I hope it becomes the thing that everyone talks about and they are sitting around a table in New York, London and Paris sharing a story of their teddy bear and the artist’s family&#8230;with pride and empathy,” she says.

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Art With Heart

Think back to the magic and memories of your favorite cartoons such as Tom &amp; Jerry and The Powerpuff Girls. How many of them had characters of different races or, at the very least, were in a language other than English?
Uganda-born entrepreneur Akaliza Gara, founder and managing director of ICT company Shaking Sun and Yambi Animation Studios, has been asking these questions for a long time. As an entrepreneur in Rwanda’s animation industry, she now hopes to use animation as a tool to tell African stories to the world and in turn, promote and preserve her continent’s rich culture.
From an early age, Gara has been exposed to a world that gave her the liberty to dream beyond conventional careers. Her mother was a teacher and her father, a lawyer, worked for the United Nations, various NGOs and government institutions.
“I had an unusual upbringing. My family moved to a new country, on average, every three years. By the time I was 21, I had lived in seven different countries,” she says.
Gara began her high school in Switzerland, spent two years in Kenya and completed her schooling in South Africa. After that, she moved to Canterbury, England, where she took a BSc in Multimedia Technology and Design. She was miles away from home but never felt out of place.
“Most of the Africans would hang out together. Sometimes I would be walking on the street and I would see another African, someone I had never met, and we would give each other a little nod of acknowledgement,” says Gara.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29451" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/GirlsInICTDay_2013-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GirlsInICTDay_2013-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GirlsInICTDay_2013-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GirlsInICTDay_2013-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GirlsInICTDay_2013-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GirlsInICTDay_2013.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
In her final year of university, she applied for her dream job as an animator at Pixar Animation Studios, in the United States, known for blockbusters such as Toy Story, Monster’s Inc. and Finding Nemo.
Three months went by and Gara, anxiously waiting, hadn’t heard from them. She decided to call them.
“I managed to hack a website and get a phone number for a top person at the company. I gave him a call and asked for a job. He was, understandably, quite confused and angry that I had got his number. He told me to call human resources, said ‘good luck’ and hung up. I was very disappointed, for some reason, I expected him to be impressed with my initiative and offer me a job.” After graduation, Gara moved to Uganda’s capital Kampala. The rejection from Pixar sparked something in her that made her even more determined to prove her mettle.
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While looking for a job in Kampala, Gara’s uncle informed her of the fantastic opportunities in the ICT sector, for youth and women, in Rwanda. Having researched the country, Gara saw the many opportunities and relocated. One of her main challenges was overcoming the language barrier and speaking Kinyarwanda, the local language.
For the first two years, Gara worked as a private consultant and also started to save for a master’s degree in animation. However, she found her clients were more interested in her skills than her qualifications.
She shifted her focus and put RWF5 million ($7,500) of savings towards her company Shaking Sun. The company, launched in 2009, is a multimedia enterprise specializing in graphic design, animation and web development.
“The field is largely male-dominated and there are many challenges for women in the field shared by those of us in Africa and outside Africa. One is the lack of female role models. The stereotypical image of an ICT expert is a young white man, so many young girls grow up without even considering their field because they see ICT and technology in general as a boy’s thing.”
In 2013, Gara received the opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of the team that created Rwanda’s first animated series, The African Tales. The series was part of The Know Zone, a project focused on educating the youth through animation. The episodes were five minutes long and aired on national TV station, RTV, for 15 weeks.
The African Tales reignited Gara’s lifelong dream of becoming an animator and instead of seeking out a world-renowned animation studio to work for, she started her own company Yambi Animation Studios.
“When I was a kid, most of my favorite cartoon characters were male and usually white and almost always American. I want to create characters that represent my culture and values for the generation of African children growing up today.”
Gara is determined to educate young women about opportunities in the ICT field. She is part of a number of initiatives such as Girls in ICT Rwanda, a group of female ICT entrepreneurs and professionals encouraging teenage girls in Rwanda to consider ICT as a career as well as be part of the Microsoft 4Afrika Advisory Council, which seeks to help change the perception of women in ICT in East Africa.
Gara never got her dream job at Pixar but it drove her to become a frontrunner in African animation. Everything in life happens for a reason, and Gara firmly believes that to be true.

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What Do You Do If You Can’t Be At Pixar?

Catherine Masitsa is a very optimistic woman. She knows she will be in business until the end of time.
“I know people will still be getting married when Jesus comes!” she says.
A trained veterinarian with an MBA in Strategic Marketing, Masitsa is a feisty entrepreneur making a decent living from Kenya’s growing wedding industry that is said to contribute KSh70 billion ($797 million) to the Kenyan economy and expected to grow to KSh100 billion ($1.14 billion) by 2015.
These figures are not captured in any government documents or financial projections. Kenya’s wedding industry is a gold mine made up of multiple smaller suppliers like caterers, wedding consultants, dress-makers, beauty consultants, photographers, DJs, honeymoon planners et al. While the industry as a whole represents a lot of money, each of the component parts is much smaller, some smaller than the others.
These smaller composite suppliers can be very local and likely will be small and privately-owned, traditionally the types of businesses that do not necessarily report financial information to any agency other than the Kenya Revenue Authority. This is in sharp contrast to larger industries, comprised of companies that make public their profits making it easier to find information. Secondly, many of the smaller components like caterers, DJs, photographers, printers of invitation cards, also do other events that are not necessarily bridal events.
Masitsa’s own story runs in tandem with Kenya’s growing wedding industry. She had never dreamt she would be a part of it when growing up in rural Kenya. At the height of her veterinary career when she was in her mid-20s, she got bored of her job, quit and went into publishing without any knowledge of the business. In 2000, she started Going Out magazine with only KSh45,000 ($500) and it is only when she was in the publishing business that she learnt how advertisers in Kenya operate.
“Advertisers wanted publishers to nail their market. They expected you to know what your target audience was doing every hour of the day. The Going Out audience was wide and I noticed a gap in niche magazines,” she says.
After her own wedding in 2003, Masitsa was inspired to start a wedding magazine – Samantha’s Bridal Wedding, which was the first bridal publication in Kenya. Eleven years later, it has become a major player in East Africa’s wedding market, evolving into a wedding media and lifestyle company.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29443" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-002-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-002-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-002-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-002-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-002.jpg 681w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
The Show That Changed It All
A turning point in Masitsa’s entrepreneurial journey was in 2008 when Kenya went through post-election violence.
“After publishing Going Out for eight years, I had to shut it down. That year, we had no advertising and we couldn’t publish for about six months. We used to give the magazine for free. You can’t publish when you have no adverts. I simply lost the passion,” she says. The same year, she also shut down another publication she owned – Business Woman.
Magazines are very capital-intensive and Masitsa found it impossible to repay her bank loan.
She had a KSh7 million ($80,000) bank loan and a KSh3 million ($34,000) overdraft. Overnight, the bank loaded the KSh7 million on the overdraft and she now had a debt of KSh10 million ($114,000) to repay.
“They say in war, you pick the soldiers who look like they can survive. That is how I stopped publishing the two magazines and picked Samantha’s Bridal because it was more promising,” she says.
Masitsa put her house on the property market so she could clear the bank debt. She ended up paying the bank KSh32 million ($364,000).
“After I found a buyer for my house, my documents at the Ministry of Lands suddenly disappeared. For eight months I had a buyer with money but I had no documents and the bank interest was increasing.” One day she went to the Ministry office and started crying. The officer took pity on her and in two days her documents were found. She sold the house for KSh28 million ($318,000) and was left with a balance of KSh4 million ($45,532). What saved her were the real estate investments she had.
“Then, I was in my 30s. The good thing about being in your 30s is that you have a very huge appetite for risk. If you don’t utilize your 30s, you will never take any risks. Now in my 40s, I take more calculated risks.” In the same year (2008), she launched a TV show called Samantha’s Bridal and that changed her fortunes for the better.
Masitsa realized that if she was not on television, people would never know her magazine existed. This is what motivated her to get into producing television shows centered on weddings.
“TV stations pay me for the cost of production. I specialize in producing good TV lifestyle content because there are so many things that go on in weddings. When you watch the show, you can tell about the fashion trends in Kenya, youth issues, finance, music etc. It is a window to society. They are telling their story through an event.”
According to a survey commissioned by Samantha’s Bridal, over 28,000 couples get married in Kenya annually in a formal wedding ceremony, an increase of up to 10% over the last five years. On average, 26 businesses are involved in the staging of one standard wedding.
“The annual average spend per wedding is KSh800,000 ($9,000) to KSh1.2 million ($13,700) making the wedding expense the biggest single expenditure other than buying a house and a car for most people,” says Masitsa. She says these are just conservative numbers.
“I have seen a wedding worth KSh200 million ($2.3 million) and another that cost only KSh7,000 ($80). Weddings are recession-proof. Couples will stop at nothing to show the world the true meaning behind ‘what’s love got to do with it!’ when it comes to the wedding budget,” she says.
In Kenya, couples are engaged for an average of 16 to 17 months before marriage. During that time, on a national average, couples spend about KSh1.3 billion ($14.8 million) on engagement rings, wedding rings and other jewelry, KSh7 billion ($80 million) on gowns, suits and tuxedos, flower girl outfits and bridesmaids’ dresses, dresses for guests, and KSh2 billion ($22.7 million) on honeymoons.
The survey also revealed that annually, engaged and newlyweds spend millions of shillings on new home purchases.
“They are responsible for a big segment of the wedding registry gifts and furniture industry. In addition, each couple spends an average of KSh700,000 ($8,000) on fitting out their homes with furniture and household electrical appliances,” says Masitsa.
In East Africa, Ugandans and Tanzanians spend more than Kenyans. This spend is driven by the fact that weddings are community affairs and families spend a lot of money on their children. It is very normal for them to hold a fundraiser, while in Kenya, the couple foots most of the bills.
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Fairytale Weddings
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29441" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-003-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-003-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-003-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-044-046-Catherine-Masitsa-003.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Those who can spend, spare no expense on lavish weddings. There are couples who fly in Bollywood stars to perform at their weddings so as to create a personalized experience for their guests. A bride recently flew in the Cake Boss to bake her cake.
There is a couple who spent KSh200 million ($2.3 million) for an eight-day wedding.
“For all those days, they had an open bar and French champagne for 3,000 guests. The bride’s dresses were valued at more than KSh4 million ($45,500), each made of real diamonds and she wore a new outfit every day. Family members flew in from all parts of the world. The couple hosted them in high-end hotels in Nairobi.”
In another wedding, the groom wanted to replicate Prince William’s wedding suit. He went to the UK and bought three military suits each valued at KSh3.5 million ($40,000) – for himself, his best man and the page boy. Then there are those who make their wedding planners sign contracts with non-disclosure clauses.
“However, there is nothing new under the stars. It is about creating experiences for wedding guests from the moment they arrive – how you put those elements together makes it a truly unique experience. If the money was budgeted for, the couples spend it. They don’t want to look at their wedding pictures and feel bad.”
Masitsa describes a wedding as the launch of the couple’s new life together to the public.
“The way you launch a Toyota is not the same way you launch a Benz!”
With Kenya’s wedding market projected to grow steadily, there are already international designer brands setting up shop in Kenya. The Echo Boom, also known as Generation Y or the Millennial, is the next big generation to move into the ‘engagement zone’.
Eighteen million Kenyan men and women, born between 1980 and 2000, make up this generation. This group offers bridal marketers an opportunity to reach a larger audience than in the past and also an increase in market share.

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$2.3 Million For A Wedding?

Joy Ndungutse’s two-storied home in the upscale Kagugu area of Kigali is a fitting showcase of her artistic taste and talent. There are woven baskets on the walls, wooden chests and African figurines by the stairs, and an open patio featuring plush red cushions and a view of Rwanda’s rolling green hills.
Ndungutse, 57, is sprawled on a sofa, and offering homemade organic juice. “Try it,” she insists. Her large-heartedness becomes more evident when she says: “My whole life is devoted to the welfare of women. I want them to win awards and be motivated. You empower a woman, you empower a community.”
Ndungutse is referring to the brand she founded and has made her so famous, from Kigali to Madison Square in New York. Gahaya Links, a range of home décor and tribal jewelry handcrafted by Rwanda’s rural women, is sold across all Macy’s stores in the United States (US).
To think Ndungutse’s life started in a dingy refugee camp in Uganda.
<div id="attachment_29434" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-29434" class="size-medium wp-image-29434" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5250-300x209.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5250-300x209.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5250-600x418.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5250-768x535.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5250-1024x713.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5250.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Joy Ndungutse Founder of Gahaya Links</div>
Born poor into a family of “farmers and cattle-keepers”, Ndungutse spent her childhood in Uganda as a refugee with her parents, far from her hometown in Rwanda.
“I have seen and felt hunger, there is nothing I don’t know about suffering, and that is the reason I do what I do,” she says. She had eight siblings growing up, and while her father went looking for food, her mother would boil water to give the children hope there was food coming.
“We would see the steam and imagine food on the plate. The mothers suffered the most, that is why I really wanted to work hard and do something for the lot of rural women,” she says.
Ndungutse would see her mother and sister weaving baskets and that income paid their school fees. She soon studied to become a secretary, and found herself winging her way to the US. But her refugee upbringing never left her mind. That was to shape her career in the years to come.
“I was a very good secretary. I met my husband in Washington and lived in the US for 15 years until the war started in Rwanda. I had both my children in the US.”
In 1994, she returned to Rwanda and saw the country in shambles in the aftermath of the genocide. She wanted to help rural women left hopeless by the tragedy.
“I was not a rich woman, but I had skills to share, having studied design in America. I knew how to weave baskets.” Ndungutse’s business venture literally started under a tree in a small village called Gitarama in Rwanda’s southern province.
She began by teaching 20 women, and that figure has now grown to a network of 5,000 Gahaya Links weavers. She taught them traditional weaving in turn empowering them.
“I told the women they should change the way they weave and make it income-generating. I taught them to make quality products under that tree,” says Ndungutse, who also roped in her sister Janet Nkubana to help. The baskets were made from local materials like sweet grass, bamboo and papyrus. A visiting friend from New York saw them and placed an order. The handcrafted baskets were a hit.
“The products appeared in Parade magazine in the US and that was an opening for us. We subsequently did an exhibition in the US and Macy’s loved our products. We have been displaying our products in Macy’s since 1997. We are very strong partners with them. We have also done O bracelets for Oprah, have done necklaces and bags for Kate Spade, and I once gifted baskets to Bono and he wrote a letter thanking me,” says Ndungutse.
Along with her sister, who continues to be her business partner, Ndungutse’s next task was to train the women and step up production to make it sustainable. Her mother offered her large home, where she trained the local women.
“We trained the trainers and they trained others, creating a network. We now have 75 cooperatives across Rwanda.”
Ndungutse says Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched her products at Macy’s to show his support for the people of Rwanda.
“President Kagame inspires me. I do not want to fail him. I tell people he is our hero. He is very committed to the empowerment of women in Rwanda. How many presidents would stand in a department store to launch a product?”
Ndungutse also has a line of jewelry sold by American retail major Anthropologie. There have been awards as well, notably from The Museum of Arts and Design in New York. She has now put up a new factory in Kicukiro district in Kigali and has added a textile component.
“My life is simple. I laugh a lot and like to have a good time. I work hard, even on weekends. Next year, we are planning to open in the European market. Our designs are inspired by tradition, and positioned for the high-end luxury market,” says Ndungutse.
<div id="attachment_29436" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-29436" class="size-medium wp-image-29436" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5260-300x208.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="208" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5260-300x208.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5260-600x416.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5260-768x533.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5260-1024x711.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joy-Ndungutse_5260.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Joy Ndungutse</div>
The basket-weaving program has no doubt fostered a sense of security and entrepreneurship among the women she supports.
“Basket-weaving has a reconciliation factor. We are working with all women not [differentiating them as] Hutus and Tutsis. Through the weaving, they have been able to forgive each other; they don’t live in anger. I feel wealthy when I see the change in their lives. They are able to hold their heads high and support their families. I may retire soon, but I want to leave a legacy of women who become real entrepreneurs. When that happens, I will die a happy woman.”

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