Namibia is now the most gender-equal country in Africa and sixth in the world, but there are mixed views on the reality in the southern African country.



PATIENCE MASUA, 22, RECENTLY MADE HISTORY in Namibia when she became the youngest member of parliament. If anything, it affirms Namibia’s newfound status as the sixth most gender-equal country in the world, a step ahead of even globally-renowned Rwanda, according to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2021 Global Gender Gap Report released in March. Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 12th time on the list. Namibia and Rwanda are the only two African countries in the top 10. 



Vesselina Stefanova Ratcheva, the report’s Insights Lead, tells FORBES AFRICA: “What we see in the data is that there is political empowerment; we’ve seen this closing of political gender gaps, which is one of the reasons why Namibia has done so well.” 



There are more reiterations of this. Gender Links (GL), a southern African women’s rights organization, says in a 2020 report that women constitute 46% of Namibia’s parliament, narrowly missing the 50% mark. GL further states that “Namibia and South Africa are now tied for the highest representation of women in parliament in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)”. 



But there are other voices that need to be heard too, on the gender-related issues in the country. “Namibia on the list is a huge contradiction,” says Namibia-based gender mainstreaming consultant, Penohole Brock. “It’s our gender awareness that is lacking overall. You have women in leadership positions that continue to uphold conservative views and patriarchy.” 



In October last year, a wave of protests against gender-based violence broke out in Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek. The #ShutItAllDownNambia protestors called for the government to do more to stop the spread of rape and the killing of women. On October 10, EWN reported that the protest was quickly dispersed by police and the Special Reserve Force using tear gas, rubber bullets and batons. 



Since then, was it possible more political attention was given to improve issues? “But it could be that politicians made a conscious choice to drive forward the number of women that are represented in government so that they can help solve these issues,” Ratcheva says. “But I wouldn’t say certainly that it is, without knowing.” 



Brock counters by saying that although Namibia ticks all the representation boxes, she questions what representation actually means, and how there are still gender issues in the country. 



“Political parties are placing women in parliament now, but when you talk to the women, they say that the men still dominate the space. From a quantitative gender audit, Namibia seems okay on paper, but a qualitative gender audit will show major red flags.” 



Since its conception in 2006, the Global Gender Gap Report has highlighted the evolution of gender-based gaps in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. 



The 2021 report shows how it will now take 135.6 years – up from 99.5 years – to close the global gender gap. The pandemic has pushed back gender parity by a generation. Sub-Saharan Africa has made slow progress, as this region will take 121.7 years to close the gender gap. 



More than half of the countries in the region (20 out of 34) made progress towards gender parity in the past year, though only Namibia and Rwanda have closed at least 80% of their gaps. Ratcheva’s first assessment of the report is that “this is a risky time for gender parity”. 



She further explains that the issues of gender equality and equity plus Covid-19 equal an incredible amount of backsliding. This could result in that 136year figure increasing in the years to come. 



“Covid-19 is posing challenges to all of us in very different ways. Unless there is a concerted effort to reinvest in gender parity and to put in place the foundations for gender-equal recovery, there could be a lot more of that backward progress,” she warns. 



Although politically, Namibia seems to be on the right track in achieving gender parity, Brock argues that from a local authority level, there is still much to be done. 



“Gender parity and our 50/50 representation policy should be seen as a first step and not the end goal to combating gender inequality. If gender awareness and gender sensitivity are not pursued at all levels and taken seriously, then ideals of patriarchy will be impossible to dismantle.”

NAMIBIA-CRIME-DEMONSTRATION

‘A Risky Time For Gender Parity’

Temitope Mayegun has made a name in Nigeria selling natural oils from fruits, seeds and vegetables, but it was a greasy path to follow.



From stock trading to skincare, in the last four years, Temitope Mayegun has built a company that sells what she calls “natural skincare products” but to achieve that, she first needed to change the mindset of Nigerians.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I got divine inspiration,” she says, “to start a company that will enrich lives and inspire a healthier and happier world.” The founder and CEO of Avila Naturalle in Nigeria felt she needed to first educate people about the toxic and unsafe chemicals they were hitherto using for bleaching and skin whitening, considering how sought-after they are in Nigeria.



The former stock broker was also frustrated she couldn’t find an all-natural skin product without bleaching or whitening ingredients harmful to the skin, so she created her own.



Today, from a humble start in 2017, her company retails over 350 products in the skincare division, 90 products in the food division and 10 products in the water and drinks division.



But it took a lot of ground work and research to start with.



“I saw that many people believe your skincare product should enhance or change your skin color,” recalls Mayegun.



With a degree in accounting from the University of Lagos as well as an International Masters in Business Administration from Eaton Business School; and having done a Harvard Business School Executive Leadership course, Mayegun’s most valuable qualification would prove to be a diploma she obtained in an organic and natural skin school in London.



Equipped with the knowledge of the goodness of natural products, Mayegun set out on the cumbersome path of changing perceptions.



“It was difficult because a lot of people were not ready to change their bleaching and whitening products. So, we did not follow the crowd even though there was pressure to go into whitening and pressure to create products that will let customers bleach their skin,” says Mayegun.



To combat stereotypes, Mayegun knew she had to create a unique product. She began with 30,000 units of pure coconut oil.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I had to create campaigns to educate the public on the importance of using natural products.”</blockquote>



“At the time, there was no pure coconut oil on the market. Most of them were watered down with other edible oils which reduces the quality. I had to create campaigns to educate the public on the importance of using natural products and sell them on the superior quality of our products.”



The hard work paid off and Mayegun sold out her 30,000 units, which was two cartons of pure coconut oil, in just two days. It was time to expand her business and with that, she needed to find capital.



“I started asking friends for a loan but I could not raise the money. I went to microfinance companies looking for a $10,000-loan and they said I needed collateral which I didn’t have.



“There were times when I worked between 17 and 21 hours a day. I would be trying to convince people on why they should use coconut oil for their skin. I knew people were not ready for natural products but I kept pushing and after a while, I got a lot of people asking for coconut oil and it was not easy meeting the demand,” says Mayegun.



Soon, word got out and the distributors came calling. Today, Avila Naturalle offers multiple natural essential oils made from carrots, avocado, hibiscus and mustard.



“When people saw our mustard oil, they were shocked that there were these oils in Nigeria. So, they bought in bulk to resell. We were the first to produce essential oils in Nigeria. People were asking if we bought them from abroad and dilute it with other products which was the norm. We are the only company that sells 100% pure natural oils from fruits and seeds.”



The sizeable beauty and personal care market in Nigeria is what Mayegun has sets her sights on.



“To make this happen we have created a multi-channel natural body care and household brand with multiple product lines, which combines a dynamic distribution network with a retail strategy as well as e-commerce,” she says, also referring to changing consumer habits in the post-Covid world.



With just $100 and a burgeoning global supply chain network, Mayegun has built a million-dollar company manufacturing natural body and hair care products and foods in Africa.

temitope mayegun

The Natural Route To Business Success

Insect farming is providing the planet a cheaper alternative source of protein. And South African startups bringing it to the mainstream say there’s no business like the bug business. Could the future of food be insect-protein?



An insect in your meal? What was once food faux pas is now a deliberate culinary concoction.



Insect-based proteins are slowly finding their way into agricultural production lines and the menus of discerning diners. It’s a growing industry also looking to primarily help meet the demands of an increasing population, with several startups now pioneering this sector in Africa.



But nutritional bugs are not new to palates across the world; it’s just the way they are being given new meaning that’s gaining currency in the continent&#8217;s farming communities. “Eating insects is nothing new, but the key is to provide a functional equivalent to animal protein that is more sustainable,” says Dr Leah Bessa, co-founder of South African company Gourmet Grubb, which produces a dairy alternative from insect-proteins.



“We found that people were quite willing to try our product. While there is still a mental barrier (to insect-proteins), the market will change quite quickly – it took a long time for plant-based alternative proteins to become accepted, but now they are commonly available.” Gourmet Grubb has positioned itself at the intersection of novelty and environmental sustainability. Based in Cape Town, it farms insects from spent grain. The environmental costs to such farming are considerably lower than animal farming, a major contributor to pollution and land use globally. “South African palates can be quite conservative, but it’s a matter of availability and exposure before tastes change,” continues Bessa.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We found that people were quite willing to try our product. While there is still a mental barrier (to insect-proteins), the market will change quite quickly – it took a long time for plant-based alternative proteins to become accepted, but now they are commonly available.”</blockquote>



In South Africa, mopane worms (a species of emperor moth) fall under the category of edible insect-proteins that most people are familiar with. Once a regional staple in the Limpopo province of South Africa, household consumption of it has been on the decline as people move to more Western diets, despite increased interest in the Western world in new forms of protein – so says Dr Bronwyn Egan, a pioneer in insect-protein research at the Larry Leach Herbarium, University of Limpopo.



“Most people consuming insects currently do so as a form of subsistence protein – because it’s cheap and well, free.” According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization in 2013, globally, some two billion people in 130 countries consume insects as a source of protein already, but with population numbers expected to boom to 10 billion by 2050 and global food production expected to grow as much as 70% to meet the new demand, novel and effective food sources are needed. Cost to consumers can play an equal if not greater impact than sentiment, with insect protein being comparable in terms of nutrition to most animal proteins, but considerably cheaper per gram. However, with an increase in consumption and the formalization of insect-protein farming come other challenges.



“The industry needs a baseline nutritional analysis to provide more information as to the benefits of different insect-based proteins, as well as more investigation into the ecology of the insects themselves,” says Egan.



“Once products are out in the market, there is also a need to comply with food safety legislation, and ensure that sustainability and the environment are a key part of production – ideally, before the marketing of insect-protein products, but it seems these will have to happen together.”&nbsp; Innovative companies such as Gourmet Grubb, Ensekta and Kenya’s InsectiPro are expected to make a break into the mainstream, with the estimates of the global insect-protein market at around $8 billion by 2030 (according to Meticulous Research last year), paving the way for new opportunities for growth and investment on the African continent. “Grasshoppers are the tastiest,” laughs Egan, in conclusion.



– By Yeshiel Panchia

Insect Protein 3

Bugs In Your Food? Yes Please, And Spicy!

From Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world, Africa is not only diverse in its people but also in its industries and creativity. For FORBES AFRICA hundredth issue (since the magazine’s inception in 2011), we decided to curate a list celebrating these very ideas, inventions, and influential role models that have spelt Africa’s growth over the last decade.



Singer, actor, philanthropist, activist, businesswoman, and humanitarian, are just some of the words associated with the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka. She talks to FORBES AFRICA:



Q: So, just tell me a bit about yourself, and what led you to be going on this incredible journey?



A: Well, you know, growing up in Soweto, during Apartheid, I mean, I was born in 1965 and so growing up and so were to watching all the atrocities that with knowing that you are just an entity in this country, never allowed to vote, you know. And when my father passed on the government, took the house from my mum, because she was a black single woman and unmarried because her husband had died. Seeing her fight and seeing what that did to my family inspired me greatly in terms of where I wanted to be in life and I wanted to make a difference.



Q: And then, what was it like, for you to reach the heights of your career that you have? I mean, especially given your years of activism during apartheid, and now becoming this kind of meteoric power within Africa?



A: Well, I think just growing in that environment, seeing inequality, and knowing that there&#8217;s very little that we can do, but maybe just to, to get an education and be empowered, because that was the only thing that could have taken us out of our situation, to just get education, even though the education that was given to black people was minimum, but I thought, I&#8217;ll grab what I have and make do with it. So I became very lucky because when I completed my matric, I started singing, initially my mother wanted me to go and study law, I wanted to study to be a chartered accountant and when that didn&#8217;t happen, and I started singing,



That, for me was just a great platform. Because I thought, whoo, this is a great platform to start telling the world about my country, about what inspires me what I&#8217;d like to see, you know, in others, and what I can learn from others, and how to make South Africa a better place. So I was quite lucky that my very first debut single, sold about 25,000 brands in a week.



That was amazing and made me extremely popular. I don&#8217;t know, how did my manager do it for me to be very popular even outside South Africa during those times, and that&#8217;s when the name the princes of Africa came up, so I started traveling to places like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and all those places. For me, it was Africa, lovely Africa accepted me, and Africa has laid out this red carpet for me. And I wanted to, to know, Africa better, I could have wanted to go to live in America, in Paris or anywhere else; but I was very happy to be to be known in Africa, because Africa opened its arms, you know, for me. And yeah, and I&#8217;m just so happy to be an African and a woman for that matter.



Q: So that brings me to my next question. What does being an African icon mean to you?



A: Woah… I don’t regard myself as an icon, I just regard myself as a servant because when people open their arms for you and when people give you a platform to be able to perform, what do you do in return? So for me these people allowed me into their homes without me even asking, that’s when I’m on television; when I perform at a stadium or any function, they leave what they’re doing and come to support me by watching my show.



So I just think sometimes we become taken away and think we are doing our fans a favor, when no they aren’t as it’s their love and support that makes us who we are. So I never take anything for granted. I appreciate every single moment that I’m granted by the people who have supported me through all these years because I would not be Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the princess of Africa without the support they have given me and my music.



So I don’t think I’m an icon, I just think I’m a servant and I’m asked by a higher authority to do this work and continue to serve my continent in the role that they have given me.



Q: And you also have the awards to show for it. Speaking of, what was it like for you getting the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum?



A: You know, 2012 was just a very amazing year for me. There was going to Davos for the first time, and I&#8217;ve been traveling all over, you know, and then I get invited to Davos for this honor.



So, I went to Davos, but already, oh, wow, I mean, icons and more. It was just something to be nominated, and, even if I didn&#8217;t win, the fact that I&#8217;m counted amongst these people, it matters to me.



And I was very, very chuffed, I must say, you know, because, you know, the World Economic Forum, it&#8217;s the, it&#8217;s the highest sector in business, you know, and it&#8217;s serious people who go there, then you have precedents from different countries, and there&#8217;s few activists that go there and, civil society, you know, but I was very, very chuffed and, and really honored to have been given this award by the World Economic Forum and one of my favorite people was sitting right at the front then and kept on cheering for me, it was the Archbishop Tutu, and it was just so amazing



And, yeah, it was it was just that crazy moment for me and I kept on pinching myself, but it was just, amazing.



Q: There are a lot of black female African singers in the continent currently, but there are very few who own their own music label and their own production company, tell me what that experience has been like for you and kind of being part of the marginalized population when it comes to doing something like that.



A: You know, I was quite lucky when I started singing and I was found, you know, I guess I was at at the right place at the right time and the very first music, which was extremely popular, was written for me. And when I thought, when I saw that there was longevity in the music industry, because I was getting famous, and I was making money at the time, then because I came from a very poor family, and I thought, I&#8217;m not going back to the life that I lived.



I started investing in different things, you know, because I bought, I don&#8217;t know if in 1980 or in 1990, Yvonne Chaka Chaka will be there, or things like that. So every royalty I earned was, invested in some way, either through short term investment, like five years, or things like that. And when I thought I saw that, the, this is the real career that I really want to get into.



I decided, I want to leave a Gallo at the time and in1993, I started my own label, Chaka Chaka music. So I started writing my own songs, and I thought, I want to own my catalogue, because



most of those, most of those old, very popular songs, I don&#8217;t own them. They were written for me, and they owned by Universal Records, or Gallo, depending on who was buying what record company at that time, or buying what catalogue.



So that had taught me a lot, you know, and I look back, and I learned from artists like Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and all the other big art. So for me, it was like I will pay for my own producers, I will pay my own studios and effects, I decided to build my own studio, you know, and I do everything in house.



Q: What has that experience been like for you?



A: It hasn&#8217;t been a very good experience, really, because, you know, I don&#8217;t have the manpower that the big record companies have. Sometimes people battle to get my music, I do have a license deal with Universal Records, because they have no recourse and they&#8217;re not going to benefit much. They don&#8217;t put the music in the shops.



You know, lo and behold, things have changed. You can put things now on mp3 people can download people don&#8217;t buy CDs anymore. So you can release a single and put your music, you know, on different platforms here and get that money. But even with that streaming that people rave about, there&#8217;s still no good policies, and what royalty should be paid and things like that. But I&#8217;m just happy that I can put my music in any platform, my own YouTube channel, and people can listen. And, I own it, the fact is that it&#8217;s mine and it&#8217;s my catalogue, and I own it. So there&#8217;s disadvantages and advantages, but you know, it is my IP I hold it, you know, and it&#8217;s mine, and if anybody wants to come and offer me, whatever, I would sell it at whatever price without any middleman.



Q: And I think your savviness as a businesswoman comes through there but not just there, I mean, you&#8217;re on the board of so many different companies, which sector has been interesting for you to be a part of and a bit of a learning experience?



A: Well, really, I love my humanitarian work. I really love it because, you know, working with, UNICEF, GAVI Global Fund, and all those NGOs, if I may call them all or centres, have opened my eyes, and broadened my horizon. You know, just going to different countries. I remember going to, I think it was Tanzania and somebody, you know, a woman had walked for like two hours as her child was sick and as she got to hospital the child was declared dead.



And I had a lump in throat. I thought, things that me and you take for granted could have saved this child. What really got to me most was, this woman did not want to leave the body behind. She said, I&#8217;m going to have to piggy back him dead as he is, and go back home, because what am I going to say to my husband.



That traumatized me so much, and so those are the things that I see happening around, and if I can do my little bit to help, I really try, I can&#8217;t be everything to everybody. So when I go, when I go and do all my humanitarian work, it&#8217;s good to be on the podium with the likes of the Bill Gates of the world and ministers or presidents but for me, it&#8217;s when I go to those people, you know who have absolutely nothing but make do with the little that they have.



So for me, there is proper empowerment, when you go to people, listen to them, not tell them what needs to be done, listen to them, because they know they have problems, all they want is a hand up, not a handout.



So when you empowered them it will level the playing field for people where the environment is conducive for them to function, they would do that. And when people are healthy, when they are educated, they know how to fend for themselves. So that sector really has really, really made me love that sector.



Q: Working in that sector has also led to collaborations with other people who have the same feeling as you I’m sure, who for you has been one of your favorite people to work with or collaborate with bat on stage or in studio?



A: I mean, I&#8217;ve performed with different people really, from Bono to Beyoncé. I think everybody are doing their bit. You know, I mean, there&#8217;s a lot of people out there, who, who would do a lot about education, you know, something about the health sector, excuse me, the health sector, others would want to see girls, you know, having sanitary pads. So all the people that have worked with, I must say, they&#8217;ve been amazing, because they do their little bit, wherever. And I think it&#8217;s important that we all do our little bit in our small corners.



I’ve also gotten to work with a lot of young people like Berita, and Lira and we’ve just rereleased Umqombothi with Amanda Black And it&#8217;s just been so amazing to work with young people just to hear from them, what inspires them? And how would they do things now, you know, because during our time, there was no social media, you know, you just had to sing, go to the go to the shows. And, and that was it, there was really nothing. It was just newspapers, magazines, and television. So now, our young people have got all these platforms, to expand their talent and showcase their talent. And they can be watched by people everywhere in the world, and it&#8217;s very, very good.



Q: You also have such an array of experiences to your name, most recently your Motherland tour documentary, what was that like?



A: Motherland tour for me, I was quite lucky.



Because I worked so well, with different organizations like a Global Fund, GAVI, malaria people, and it was easy for them to to fund the motherland tour because I did not want to be a Goodwill Ambassador that just goes there and give cheques and go.



I wanted to know, if they said, we&#8217;re supposed to go to Uganda, or Kenya or Malawi, I really wanted to know, what am I there for, what are the pre people&#8217;s problems? What are the challenges they go through? How do we help them to help themselves, so I really wanted to get engaged.



And I think they just liked that mind-set. I think at first they could not understand they could not believe, you know, they just thought that I would just come and look pretty to have makeup and tick a box off and be done, but I wanted to be there for the people for real.



You know, for me for the things that I&#8217;ve been asked to be a goodwill ambassador, I thought it&#8217;s a great platform to then do what is right. Go to those people don&#8217;t only go there when there&#8217;s cameras, but go there for real, ask questions, learn from them, help with their struggles and challenges, open doors for them, you know, if they can&#8217;t get to the Minister, or the First Lady, or the president? And I&#8217;m able to do that, why wouldn&#8217;t I do that? And in the past 15 years doing all of that, that&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;ve done. And that culminated to doing the motherland tour, you know, because it was the stories of these African women who are really trying to do good in their communities. So we documented that as I was traveling from Sierra Leone, Ghana, and all those other places.



Q: My last question, what is the mantra or motto that you live by?



You know, my mantra is that we&#8217;re born with nothing. And when we&#8217;re born, we&#8217;re here to demonstrate what we&#8217;ve been asked to come and do. So each and every one of us has some form of good. And when we die, we take absolutely nothing. So there&#8217;s no need to be selfish, greedy, or wanting to kill one another. Because you know what, we can&#8217;t take everything that we&#8217;re fighting for and what makes us greedy or selfish with us when we die. So we just die with absolutely nothing. So let&#8217;s just enjoy the life whatsoever in life. And that&#8217;s it. 



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2021/04/01/the-100th-issue-100-innovations-inventions-icons-from-africa/">For more on the 100 Innovations, Inventions &amp; Icons From Africa (Forbes Africa)</a>

The DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards 2020 in South Africa

THE 100th ISSUE:  A Conversation With the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka

With the social scene slowly crawling back to some semblance of normalcy, entrepreneur Bukky George-Taylor is cashing in with an app for customers keen on curated events and experiences in Nigeria.



If there is one person who knows what is hot and trendy in Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country, it is Bukky George-Taylor.



As the CEO and Founder of Robert Taylor Media Ltd., a boutique communications and events company based in Lagos, Nigeria, she is the force behind some of the biggest brand activations and campaigns in the country as well as providing representation for global brands looking to penetrate the African market. 



And her latest creation, a mobile app named CRAWL Africa, launched in Lagos in March, seems to address the need to adapt to a new social life in ‘a new normal’. She calls it Africa’s first social calendar app on a mission to revolutionize social experiences in Africa by presenting a collection of curated experiences for the discerning and upwardly-mobile African consumer.



“Finding information on where to go or contacting establishments in Nigeria and across Africa can be a chore. With no access to 411 or yellow pages in Africa, CRAWL provides you with all the accurate contact information to contact businesses and to tour your city,” says George-Taylor about the new app, which currently has over 100 businesses listed.



With a degree in African-American history from the University of Massachusetts in the United States, George-Taylor has built a firm that services the corporate, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion, beauty and health sectors. This has always ensured her access to the hottest events and happenings in Nigeria.



But why choose to launch an app when the retail and hospitality sector is still recovering from the effects of a raging pandemic?



“The app launched because our city [Lagos] started to open back up with restaurants and smaller events. One of the major reasons was because of travel restrictions; the app was birthed to promote tourism and encourage people to start exploring their own cities.



“The app also enables CRAWLers to save their favorite locations or experiences for future references with a single tap while making suggestions to users based on the preferences they select,&nbsp;such as budget, location, and more.”&nbsp;



As Nigeria’s social scene gradually reopens, the events listings will be reflected on the app. George-Taylor is now also looking at other cities in sub-Saharan Africa such as Accra, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg and Cape Town in which to launch CRAWL Africa.

5A6A8883 1 (1)

Want To Party In The New Normal? This Could Be How

Osayi Alile, the CEO of ACT Foundation, on the challenges of grant-making in Africa and the need to solve the continent’s problems, especially in a Covid environment.



The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered possibly one of the most catastrophic crisis across Africa in a decade. The unprecedented events of the marauding virus have led to a dramatic increase in inequalities for millions of Africans especially for those who have no access to healthcare or employment. Among those most impacted by this pandemic and its fallout are those in the informal sector, many of whom are women.



With the virus leading to increased vulnerabilities in several key sectors of economies, African governments have become inundated with many infrastructural challenges affecting their respective populations. In the wake of the widening gap, non-profit organizations are stepping in to ensure the most vulnerable in society do not get left behind, and they are doing this through grant-making.



This, however, presents several challenges. Even though the continent, with 54 countries, is blessed with natural resources and some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the continent still needs more resources from several sectors to address grave issues plaguing the economy.



Areas like healthcare, social inequality, unemployment and terrorism, have left a number of countries in dire straits, with their governments ill-equipped to provide much-needed resources to fix these issues. As a result, there has been a strong reliance on global grant-making organizations who have the mandate of ensuring positive change in Africa, to help provide the financial resources to solve some of the issues that affect more than a billion people on the continent, across areas like agriculture, education, healthcare and human rights.



The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation ranks as one of the largest contributors of grants in Africa. In 2016, the organization committed to invest $5 billion over five years in support of health and anti-poverty initiatives in Africa, according to Philanthropy News Digest. With the youngest population in the world, children and youth have become a key focus of grant-making organizations with the demographic receiving more than one in three grant dollars and one in four grants awarded by United States’ foundations for Africa, in 2012, according to a report by the Foundation Center.



Osayi Alile, the Chief Executive Officer of Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation, is on a mission to become the leading indigenous grant-making organization across Africa, also tackling these challenges. Starting out as a consultant for Access Bank Plc on its CSR projects as well as being the former executive director of FATE Foundation, a private sector-led not-for-profit organization in Nigeria, Alile is on a mission to empower African NGOs through grants to help solve the pressing needs in their communities.



“Yes, a lot of help comes from abroad but we also need to solve our problems ourselves so that’s where ACT came into being. I came up with the structure and helped to put it in place then, moved on to working full time as CEO for the foundation. We knew there was a lack of funding needed to accomplish what a lot of NGOs wanted to do and we couldn’t wait for someone to solve these issues for us. We decided on the SDG goals like health, environment, leadership and enterprise,” says Alile.



Alile has over 20 years of non-profit experience in Africa and thus knows more than most about the challenges of grant-making in Africa.



“You get a lot of proposals and sometimes people are not as truthful as they should be. So, the challenge is going through proposals in our 30 states in Nigeria and making sure they are doing what they say they are doing. So, you have to make sure you are doing background checks and a lot of energy and a lot of time needs to be spent to make sure we are picking the right organization from the beginning to make the right impact.”



The organization is currently working with 70 organizations with the mission of adding 40 new organizations each year.



“70% of our funding goes to the ones that respond to our funding call each year. In the last four years, we have given over N1 billion ($2.6 million) to NGOs. Sometimes, they ask for N50 million ($131,500) and when I look at their proposal, you realize that’s not what they need. So, we work with them to streamline their organization so they are efficient.”



And in a Covid environment, the need for funding is now more pressing than ever.



“We did a lot last year because our problems were not going away with Covid. Domestic abuse does not change because of Covid. Cancer does not change because of Covid, maternal issues do not change. So, the local NGOs are the ones that had to stay back during Covid and work on a daily basis to solve these problems. With Covid, the number of cases like domestic violence went up by 46% and in some countries all the way to 100%,” says Alile.



As the organization turns five next year, Alile has shifted her focus to also recruit more philanthropists and entrepreneurs to join forces to solve Nigeria and Africa’s problems. They are currently working in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa with a goal to expand to even more countries on the continent.



“I knew we had a lot of NGOs and social enterprises that needed money but I didn’t know it was this much. When we did the first call we got so many people and it was very overwhelming. It is difficult because all the organizations are doing well and when you go to the field and you have to select which ones to give money to, you ask yourself who else is going to give money those who were not selected? So, you need to be able to put structures in place and make sure that every time you pick one organization over another, you are picking them for the right reasons,” says Alile.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="687" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-1024x687.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51032" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-1024x687.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-768x515.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009.jpg 1049w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



One of the lucky organizations that were picked by ACT Foundation is the Women At Risk International Foundation (WARIF), founded by Dr Kemi DaSilva-Ibru. They have been recipients of three grant cycles from ACT in their effort to fight gender-based violence in rural communities across Nigeria.



“The community-based initiative that the ACT Foundation supports is the Warif Gate Keepers project and it is essentially a community-based initiative where we go into rural communities and we encourage stakeholders in these communities to take ownership of gender-based violence, particularly rape and child sexual abuse. Based on our survey, 71% of women in these communities were aware of cases, however, none of them had ever been trained as first responders to cases of gender-based violence.”



ACT Foundations’ grant-enabled Warif to tackle the life-saving issues that comes with gender based violence and empower victims to speak up and seek justice.



“So, our project was to engage these traditional birth attendants who we refer to as gate-keepers where we train them as first responders of cases of gender-based violence and the impact was amazing. First, in terms of our outcomes. Now, we had an additional skill that they were able to offer and then they were also able to cascade the training in an apprenticeship like form. The second impact is as the result, we were able to not only improve on the knowledge but the behavioral change that comes with that knowledge and seek prosecution on behalf of victims,” says DaSilva-Ibru.



The impact her organization has made in the gender space would not have been without grant-making organizations like the ACT Foundation and their willingness to take on organizations with innovative ideas who are ready to implement them and help solve the many challenges facing the African continent.

2b4d78c3-0e83-4e78-8ab8-8822a1d2f4e1

On A Mission To Empower African NGOs

Ivorian entrepreneur Charlette N&#8217;Guessan is on a mission to solve a $400 million problem faced by Ghanaian financial institutions.



The BACE Group, co-founded by Charlette N’Guessan, is on a mission to solve a $400 million problem faced by Ghanaian financial institutions to identify customers. Their solution – the BACE API, a software that uses facial recognition to help banks streamline their Know Your Customer (KYC) process.



N’Guessan, who is also CEO of the Ghana-based software company, stumbled upon the idea when she relocated from her native Ivory Coast to Ghana to take part in the one-year MEST entrepreneur training program. MEST, which is an Africa-wide technology entrepreneur training program, was founded in Ghana in 2008 and provides funding as well as skills training to Africa’s brightest software developers.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We started talking to banks and fintech companies in Ghana and we noticed that they were spending a lot of money in terms of KYC and also things related to security.”</blockquote>



“When I first moved to Ghana, I could not speak English, so it was very difficult to communicate. But we had the ecosystem where we could learn English through MEST. That’s how I met my co-founder and we had a similar interest in terms of solving key challenges in Africa. We started to study the local market and what challenges they were facing and we started talking to banks and fintech companies in Ghana and we noticed that they were spending a lot of money in terms of KYC and also things related to security,” says N’Guessan.



With a strong background in electronic and computer science as well as software engineering, the 26-year-old set out to initially create an app before pivoting and launching an Application Program Interface (API) instead that could be integrated into any existing bank app or solution.



“Outside Africa a lot of people are trying to use facial recognition and there was some confusion about how it can work properly in Africa. But we are young and we want to do something challenging. We decided to use facial recognition instead of finger print because, for us, facial recognition was a lot simpler because it doesn’t require a lot of devices. If you go to your bank, you go to an agent and she will check your identity by looking at your face and your ID and know that it is you. She won’t check your fingerprints first. So, we wanted to bring this natural process into tech digitization and facial recognition was the technology that would be able to make this happen for us,” says N’Guessan.



The BACE API has been specifically developed for Africans by using nothing more than a device’s inbuilt camera and utilizes live images and short videos on those devices. The company has also teamed up with certified government-issued Identity documents that has granted the company access to Ghanaian passports to further expand its reach.



N’Guessan’s innovation is currently being utilized by two financial institutions in Ghana and has made her the first woman ever to win the Royal Academy of Engineering’s prestigious 2020 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.



“From 15 teams we were shortlisted to four teams who pitched to the jury and based on our track record, we won. We received £25,000 ($34,000) which we are investing into developing the product even further. It is good because the product is relevant for Covid-19 where a lot of people are no longer meeting physically.”



N’Guessan and the BACE Group are now targeting all African companies and different sectors where, she is hoping the technology will be used for remote onboarding of drivers in companies like UBER to telecom companies’ enrolment of simcards.

IMG_6923 (1)

The Techpreneur On The Money

An audit coordinator, Arora Akanksha is challenging the status quo, declaring herself as a candidate to be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.







Arora Akanksha speaks to us from New York in a bright African print dress, one of the nine colorful outfits in her wardrobe that she brought back from her trip to the African continent in 2016.



Every time she wears one of these dresses to work, walking down the streets of Manhattan, she receives compliments, she says, with people alluding to her as “an African princess”.



Looking up from those streets in Manhattan, at the towering, 154-meter glistening slab of steel that is the United Nations (UN) Secretariat, her hopes and ambitions run as high, as she boldly attempts to foray into a slew of unprecedented firsts.



The Indian-Canadian, who prefixes her name with her family name, joined the UN in 2016 and is the audit coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme. Today, she is known to her friends and supporters – and the global media she has recently approached in her personal campaign – as the 34-year-old bidding for the top job at the UN.



In February this year, Akanksha announced her candidacy, challenging incumbent UN Secretary-General António Guterres in the UN elections to be held later this year.



Hired to serve on the UN’s financial reforms, Akanksha says, prior to that, she was a manager at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Toronto, Canada. She was also the youngest audit professor at the University of Toronto, at the age of 28, teaching audit at the master’s level. She graduated from Canada’s York University with a Bachelor in Administrative Studies and has a Master in Public Administration from Columbia University in New York.



Aiming for more firsts, Akanksha, who spent her formative years in Saudi Arabia and India, says she is “the first woman and first millennial candidate for the position of the UN Secretary-General and the first known candidate to challenge an incumbent”. If she wins, she will be the youngest-ever and first female Secretary-General of the UN in its 75-year history.



In early January, Guterres, a long-serving international diplomat and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, presented himself as a candidate seeking a second five-year term. To succeed as Secretary-General, any candidate must finally win the approval of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France.



When contacted by FORBES AFRICA for a comment on Akanksha’s candidacy and details on all the candidates who have presented for the position of Secretary-General, Brenden Varma, Director of Communications and Spokesperson for the President, Office of the President of the General Assembly, says: “As of now, there is only one candidate whose name has been jointly circulated to Member States by the Presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council – and that is António Guterres of Portugal.”



The UN notes on its website regarding the selection and appointment process: “The position of Secretary-General is one of great importance that requires a person with the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”



Given that Akanksha has only been with the institution for four years – and that currently she is in discussion with member states to support her candidacy – what are her chances, I ask, and how is she responding to the naysayers?



She is not daunted.



“My decision to run for this position is not influenced by some long-held ambition. I believe in the UN and I know it is capable of doing great work,” she begins. “My candidacy is to restore the UN’s trust, credibility and respect in the world and to bring it back to serving people in humanitarian crises, in development needs and in climate action.



“The naysayers will always be there, and for me, I love to engage with them where I am challenged that I don’t have the experience as the Secretary-Generals of the past. I always tell them I acknowledge that I don’t have the same profile as them, but I do bring a lot. I was an auditor for PwC. I have written guidelines for elections in Canada, and in seven years working in audit, I have excelled and proven myself to be a leader in Canada and internationally. What I bring is the perspective of taking a decision and implementing it. As millennials, we have moved mountains in every profession&#8230; And I bring the force of an entire generation. We are ready to take the baton and make the UN an organization that serves all of us.”



One of the critical issues Akanksha wants to bring to the fore is the refugee crisis, especially on the African continent that’s home to more than 33 million of the world’s displaced people. She says she has a personal affiliation for the cause, hailing from a family of refugees.



“All four of my grandparents moved from Pakistan to India after the partition [in 1947], so I know what it’s like to be in a position to have nothing and build life back for yourself.”



On Africa, she adds: “We need to depopulate the refugee camps through repatriation, local integration or resettlement… Local empowerment, government engagement and listening to the people directly are what is critical, so I am proposing a development approach that empowers people on the ground through universal education and internet access.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="555" height="829" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9387-1.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-50852" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9387-1.jpeg 555w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9387-1-201x300.jpeg 201w" sizes="(max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px" /></figure>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“As millennials, we have moved mountains in every profession&#8230; And I bring the force of an entire generation. We are ready to take the baton and make the UN an organization that serves all of us.”</blockquote>



Akanksha says her candidacy and her pressing call for a new UN has not been a surprise for her colleagues.



“My candidacy has been received well by the employees of the UN… Within the UN universe, people are expecting that we might be able to change things. Everyone is aware of the shortcomings but no one has dared to challenge the system and status quo. &nbsp;



“We need to shape the new world order, and we need a new UN, and specifically for Africa&#8230; Africans have always presented themselves with dignity no matter their hardships and been able to forgive and get to work collectively to move things forward… The UN has to give more to Africa, to give them adequate humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.”



Akanksha’s daring candidacy has also found her positive endorsement as “the voice of young people”.



“Arora’s candidacy is important,” says Simone Filippini, a senior Dutch diplomat and President of the Leadership4SDGs Foundation in the Netherlands, when contacted for a comment by FORBES AFRICA. “She is a talented, smart young woman of the world. She has a clear view of what needs to happen to make the UN a more effective and inclusive organization in her perspective… We need disruption and Arora is a disruptor; she is courageous to challenge power and deserves admiration and support… I hope that she will be able to get the support of many, especially of the younger generation.”



Agrees Agustin Matteri, Senior Portfolio Manager, Climate Change Unit – Latin America &amp; Caribbean, UN Environment, about the need to spread the voice: “Her chances are high, but only if we make common people aware of the importance of the UN in their daily lives.”



At the moment, Akanksha is preparing to submit her vision statement and is on leave from the UN without pay until the conclusion of the election, but does she have a plan B if she does not win?



“I am in this to win,” she affirms. “I am so optimistic in the member states to realize that the world after Covid cannot go back to the old ways of doing things… I have no plan B other than serving those not served by the system.”

1Arora Akanksha for a new UN_01_16x9

The 34-Year-Old Aiming To Run The United Nations

Nicola Kavhu is serving up a new menu of realities and possibilities in the 21st century African diet, promoting healthy eating while respecting and protecting the creatures that share our planet.



BY ALASTAIR HAGGER



AFRICANS LOVE THEIR MEAT. AT LEAST that’s the reductive, persistent narrative, even when the data tells a more complicated story: according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), average meat consumption in African countries per capita is around 20kg annually, compared to approximately 70kg in South America, Europe and the United States, and a staggering 100kg or more in Australia. On a planet where the mass of animals raised for slaughter outweighs wildlife by a factor of 15 to 1, associated FAO data also reminds us of the environmental impact of these industries and the related threat to the ecosystems of developing countries: meat and dairy production now accounts for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. One young African chef is serving up an appetizing alternative: a new menu of realities and possibilities in the 21st century African diet, a way of promoting healthy eating while respecting and protecting the creatures that share our world. Nicola Kavhu, aka Chef Cola, is the creator and owner of African Vegan on a Budget, a brand based in Zimbabwe and South Africa that “focuses on spreading the word on veganism through entrepreneurial projects, collaborations and content creation”.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50399" width="709" height="473" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Akashinga-rangers-with-Chef-Cola-photograph-by-Kim-Butts-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px" /></figure></div>



A Zimbabwean raised in the heart of New York – “my palate danced when I was growing up!” – Cola then trained at the renowned PLANT café in Cape Town, South Africa, where she rose to become head chef before striking out on her own to create African Vegan on a Budget in 2016.



“The idea was to actively promote the reality that people can thrive on a healthy plant-based diet on a budget,” she says. “To prove that a nutritious plant-based meal could feed an average family for less. Over three years, I repeatedly showcased this by hosting dinners in Harare and Cape Town for twenty to thirty people, with three courses and dessert, on a budget of between two and three hundred US dollars. This became my business model. It is about unlearning and re-educating people, especially about their myths and beliefs when it comes to veganism.”



The Instagram-nourished success of these suppers caught the attention of Damien Mander, founder of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), and its all-female vegan anti-poaching unit Akashinga (‘The Brave Ones’).



Cola and Mander subsequently established the Back to Black Roots Kitchen and Garden, which provides three vegan meals a day to over 170 rangers stationed in the IAPF camp in Nyamakati, Zimbabwe. 



“So first day, walking into the kitchen, change was not really wanted,” Cola says. “But I didn’t give up. It took me about a year and a half to balance the reason why I was there as a trained chef, and the reason why I was there for them. Our job is to fuel the rangers so that they are able to do their job effectively. They prefer eating indigenous ingredients, so I made an effort to find out what ingredients are available in their community at that particular season, and made sure we incorporate that into their diet.” This patience and co-operative vision is beginning to pay dividends, and developing into a rubric that similar organizations might be encouraged to emulate. 



“We have a lot of work to do yet, but we’re getting there,” she says. “I have a team of six chefs, all trained by African Vegan on a Budget on how to prepare plant-based nutritious meals. The project we are creating is a business model I feel you should follow if you are in the anti-poaching industry. It’s contradictory to go and protect animals in the bush the whole day and night and then come back to the camp and eat one.”



Like those of the bulk of the food service industry, her other ambitions have had to become adaptive and agile in this pandemic-ravaged economic climate.



“It’s changed my operations in ways I didn’t realize I would experience at this stage of my business,” she says.



Like those of the bulk of the food service industry, her other ambitions have had to become adaptive and agile in this pandemic-ravaged economic climate. “It’s changed my operations in ways I didn’t realize I would experience at this stage of my business,” she says.



This enforced reflection has also reinforced her determination to value and nurture the team that has joined her on this transformative journey. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50400" width="491" height="327" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chef-Cola-at-work-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px" /></figure></div>



“Operations and plans change every day. I’m literally on my toes, still trying to build a team, and take care of them,” she says. “So this pandemic has taught me to be selfless. In business! That’s so weird!”

Chef Cola photograph 2 by Sasha Musa

The Entrepreneur-Chef On A Mission To Protect The Planet

Strictly Come Dancing on the BBC is arguably one of the biggest shows in the United Kingdom. And 2020 saw, for the first time since the ballroom and Latin dancing show started in 2004, a back-to-back win for a South African professional dancer.



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Oti Mabuse Answers Seven Questions" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2s_V9e1cViw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Pretoria-born, Oti Mabuse, took home the Glitter Ball trophy for the second time in December 2020 making her the first professional on the show to win a back-to-back title. What made the win more significant was the dancer was paired with 56-year-old English comedian, actor, and musician, Bill Bailey. Bailey is the oldest-ever winner Strictly has seen in its 18 seasons.



A win that everyone said could not happen in week 1 of the competition.



“You don’t know this but in the UK they take a vote,” Mabuse laughs from her home in London in a recent interview with FORBES AFRICA. “And they will tell you who they think the first person to go out will be. And we were voted the first couple to go out… And that motivated me and I said fine I will show you all. We will show you all.”



And show she did, in the nine-week-competition. What further drove the 30-year-old ballroom and Latin dancer to want to win is the fact that she loves her job and that she is representing her country.



“It’s in my DNA. I always say it&#8217;s because of where I come from that I am the way I am. I look at how my mom literally raised us. From the Winnie Mandelas and the Sarafinas. Women in our country are just strong. We are fighters,” she explains. “I have never met a South African woman who is just like ‘meh’.”



Mabuse has been dancing on Strictly since 2015 and won for the first time in 2019 with English actor and racing driver, Kelvin Fletcher. The format of the show, unfortunately, had to change in 2020, from having to have a smaller crew, fewer couples, and no live audience. The win feels more special to Oti because it was during a time that has been very difficult, so having something positive happen does feel “amazing.”



“In the last couple of weeks, I think it&#8217;s soaked in slowly and but I think that’s only because we’re in lockdown. But you know, people at home don&#8217;t really get to see what it meant to people other than us. We did the show, and we were kind of isolated in our own small bubble. So you didn&#8217;t get to see other than the cast and crew and what their reaction was. It’s just been absolutely unbelievable,” Mabuse says. 



Mabuse also took part in the &#8216;IN THE SPOTLIGHT &#8216;segment at the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit.

Graham Norton Show – London

Frontrunner: South African Dancer Lights Up The Strictly Stage

Woman examining laboratory samples

Africa Reloaded: The Power Of The Collective In Science And Health

Topline The Super Bowl LV marked a historic moment for women in the National Football League when a record-breaking three women took to the field Sunday, the most women to ever be represented during a Super Bowl game.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<ul><li>Down judge Sarah Thomas is the first female referee to officiate a Super Bowl game.</li></ul>



<ul><li>It’s not Thomas’ first time breaking glass ceilings: she broke barriers officiating college football before becoming the NFL’s<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/sports/football/sarah-thomas-super-bowl-referee.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> first full-time female</a> referee in 2015, and was the first woman to officiate a playoff game four years later.</li></ul>



<ul><li>While last year’s Super Bowl saw the San Francisco 49ers’ assistant offensive coach <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/26/us/katie-sowers-super-bowl-spt-trnd/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Katie Sowers</a> become the first woman (and openly gay person) to coach a Super Bowl, this year marks another milestone: it’s the first Super Bowl that will feature two female coaches.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The Tampa Bay Buccaneers has two women on its coaching staff: <a href="https://www.buccaneers.com/team/coaches-roster/lori-locust" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lori Locust</a>, a defensive line assistant and assistant strength and conditioning coach <a href="https://www.buccaneers.com/team/coaches-roster/maral-javadifar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Maral Javadifar</a>, who have both been with the team for two seasons.</li></ul>



<ul><li>&#8220;M.J. (Maral Javadifar) and I are here to help Tampa Bay win,&#8221; Locust said during <a href="https://www.buccaneers.com/news/bucs-making-history-with-lori-locust-maral-javadifar-super-bowl-lv-media" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a press conference</a> last week. &#8220;We acknowledge the fact that there hasn&#8217;t been many before us, but it&#8217;s not anything that we keep in the forefront of what we do on a daily basis.&#8221;</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">History made ✔️ Sarah Thomas – the first woman to officiate in a Super Bowl. <a href="https://t.co/3PmND59iZ9">pic.twitter.com/3PmND59iZ9</a>&mdash; NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFLOfficiating/status/1358555172746756103?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



2020 was a big year for women in traditionally male-dominated sports leagues. In November, Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller became the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/11/28/vanderbilts-sarah-fuller-makes-history-as-first-woman-to-play-in-power-5-conference-football-game/?sh=2401f4175a7e">first woman</a>&nbsp;to play during a Power 5 Conference college football game. The same month, the Miami Marlins announced the franchise would hire Kim Ngr, making her the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/11/13/miami-marlins-hire-kim-ng-mlbs-first-woman-and-asian-american-general-manager/?sh=65e54c06afcf">first female general manager</a>&nbsp;in Major League Baseball history. San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon made history unexpectedly in December when she became&nbsp;<a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30634955/becky-hammon-earned-head-coaching-shot-gregg-popovich-says" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the first woman</a>&nbsp;to serve as head coach during a regular-season NBA game when coach Gregg Popovich was ejected.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/02/07/youth-poet-laureate-amanda-gorman-is-performing-at-the-super-bowl---heres-what-her-poem-will-be-about/?sh=29b7134d563f">Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman Is Performing At The Super Bowl — Here’s What Her Poem Will Be About</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/sports/football/sarah-thomas-super-bowl-referee.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Who is Sarah Thomas? The First Female Referee at the Super Bowl</a> (New York Times)



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Denver Broncos v Carolina Panthers

These Three Women Are Making Super Bowl History As The First Female Referee And Coaches

All Omphile Magasa knew was baking, so the 30-year-old took to it as a full-time entrepreneur, and is perhaps one of the few to have tasted success in 2020.  



After losing her salaried job in 2017, Omphile Magasa had no choice but to wipe her tears and turn on the oven to bake. After all, she had to raise her daughter and had debts to pay. 



Magasa, founder of Baked By Opy, was born and raised in Mabeskraal, a small village an hour’s drive away from Rustenburg in South Africa’s North West province.



At the age of seven, Magasa inherited her grandmother’s passion and skill for baking. Raised by her grandparents, the young baker remembers how she was always assigned tasks to help her ‘grandma’.



“It got to a point where I was always craving cakes; always buying pre-mix products and I remembered that I grew up in a family where we baked all the time; we know how to make cakes from scratch,” says Magasa.



In 2015, three years into her IT career, she started making biscuits and cakes to sell at work for R100 or R150 ($7 or $11) a bucket for extra cash.



Magasa was then motivated to explore her baking skills. With the help of online tutorials, she baked a cake for her daughter’s first birthday. Magasa then posted a photograph of it on her social media accounts. This caught the attention of an old school mate who wanted a customized cake too.



This was her first official client, which led to the birth of Baked By Opy.



Unfortunately, Magasa lost her full-time job at the time.



“When you get retrenched, it’s something you never really expect, you think about your debts, child support and I started looking for another job, but my partner reminded me that I’ve been baking and I was probably retrenched because I was too focused on my baking,” she laughs.



“I started baking more, I started posting more on social media because I had more time, I took on more orders and the business started growing and I turned over about R17,000 in 2016/17.”



In 2020, Magasa says she felt the pinch of the lockdown in South Africa only during alert level five. However, business picked up rapidly when she got back to baking action in May. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;Covid was a blessing in disguise&#8230;.&#8221;</blockquote>



“My business grew bigger during the lockdown. Covid was a blessing in disguise, everyone was home, including the kids, so parents would get customized cakes. Things just started going crazy, I even employed people. When businesses were retrenching, I was hiring and I still intend on hiring more people,” she says.



Magasa also employed an accountant to balance her books.



“My accountant was telling me that it’s important I register for VAT because the business is turning over a million now.”



With the festive season in South Africa, she is receiving multiple orders.



The customized delicacies range from R750 to R19,000 ($52 to $1,300).



From selling biscuits in a bucket, to packaging Christmas desserts for companies, her business has had a sweet ending this year.



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Omphile Magasa

From A Childhood Hobby To Making Dough And A Sweet Year Ending

Sexual offences and violence against women remain pervasive in the West African country, which in the past has had the distinction of being led by Africa’s first elected female head of state.



I have been working on women’s rights for at least seven years. It has never been easy, but at no time have we been busier than in 2020. We are fighting several other epidemics in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic: domestic violence, rape, and other sexual offenses and murders. We are confronting these while at the same time fighting to compel our government to act. 



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Abigail-Liberia-headshot1-768x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-49395" width="285" height="380" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Abigail-Liberia-headshot1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Abigail-Liberia-headshot1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Abigail-Liberia-headshot1-300x400.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Abigail-Liberia-headshot1-600x800.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Abigail-Liberia-headshot1.jpeg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px" /></figure></div>



My work has focused mostly in Ganta, a sprawling urban town in northern Liberia, where I grew up. Ganta has not totally left its rural trappings even though it is developing fast. Its population is a mixture of modernizers seeking to upend tradition, particularly practices that undermine human rights, and conservatives determined to preserve old traditions.&nbsp;



I represent the former, and as you might expect, I often come into conflict with the values of the ‘older generation’ who believe that as a young person, I should not speak against sexual and gender-based violence, female genital circumcision, child marriage and rape. I have never faced direct threats to my life for speaking against these practices, but I have been ‘warned’, shamed, harassed, and sometimes pressured into temporary silence.



Where I come from, it is almost a taboo for a girl or woman to report sexual abuse. Those who do so only seek justice, but in most cases end up as a double victim. In addition to the abuse, they are stigmatized and blamed. To avoid stigmatization, many victims live with their pain and grieve silently while their abuser lives freely and continues to abuse others.&nbsp;



My organization has been determined to bring abusers to justice and end stigmatization and victim-blaming. To break this culture of silence and give young victims a safe space to speak out, we established human rights clubs in schools and communities. The clubs create awareness about rape and violence against women, and encourage and support victims to seek justice. The results so far have been mixed.&nbsp;



Some victims do initially speak out, but a good number will prefer to resolve the issue in their community rather than going to court. Unfortunately, they are often blamed and shamed when the community gets involved. The prohibitive cost of seeking justice in Liberia discourages victims, and frustrates us all.&nbsp;&nbsp;



So we now focus more on awareness and advocacy, believing that knowledge of the rape law among community members might deter offenders. However,&nbsp;as Covid-19 spreads across&nbsp;Liberia, the government introduced a semi-lockdown and closed schools. While they focused on curtailing the virus, sexual offences surged. The Ministry of Gender reported in July that about 600 cases of rape and sexual offences were reported between January and June 2020 – unreported cases could be five times higher.



We reacted to this news by mobilizing&nbsp;women’s groups across the country and organizing demonstrations to call on the government to take immediate action. I led the campaign in Nimba County, northeastern Liberia. In August, we staged three days of nationwide protests at various government institutions and public places. Our colleagues in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, staged a protest outside the president’s office.



Our nationwide campaign was successful. The government immediately organized a multi-stakeholder conference on sexual offences, the president declared rape a national emergency and funding was increased to fight violence against women.



But that has not been the end. We still have more to do. Sexual offences and violence against women remain pervasive as many communities do not view these as crimes.&nbsp;Our job is to make them see these as punishable offences under the law. The government, too, needs to be reminded to deliver on its promises.&nbsp;



Our struggle will continue.



– By Abigail Freeman, founder of the Alliance for Gender Justice and Human Rights, an organization that champions women’s rights, promotes gender equality and elevates the voices of women and youth in rural Liberia.&nbsp;

Abigail Liberia protest1

Breaking The Culture Of Silence In Liberia

To improve Africa’s chances and ensure the safe storage of Covid-19 vaccines, Zeynep Harezi, and Karpowership based in Istanbul are working on innovative power generation solutions.



There is still a strong debate about Africa’s chances of receiving the Covid-19 vaccines when they become available in 2021: how will the continent store it?



Although organizations like GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, are closely working with global pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and AstraZeneca to ensure that Africa does not get left behind, there are other important considerations the continent needs to consider when it comes to receiving inoculation.



One such factor is the availability of consistent power to keep the vaccines refrigerated in order to remain potent and safe. According to a Reuters report, most vaccines require cooling of between two and eight degrees Celsius with the Phase 1 trials of the Covid-19 vaccine requiring storage in an environment as low as -80 degrees Celsius.



According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 50% of all vaccines are destroyed due to issues like temperature control. To improve Africa’s chances and ensure the safe storage and implementation of the vaccines, Zeynep Harezi and her Karpowership organization is hoping to introduce innovative power generation solutions that will enable Africa to succeed in not only the fight against Covid-19 but also power infrastructure development.



The 32-year-old Turkish-born managing director of Karpowership has a background in philosophy and economics, having graduated with a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. Harezi once dreamed of becoming the president of Turkey when she was a child, a choice that was greatly influenced by the country’s first female prime minister at the time. But it was her uncle who would set her sights on helping Africa improve its power infrastructure.



“When I was six years old, my uncle would tell me that he was going to build power plants inside ships and send them to countries all over the world. But he would also tell me about the mermaids in Atlantis so I was never sure where the line of reality was and where it was just story-telling,” recalls Harezi.



But her uncle’s stories were not tall tales after all. In 1996, the family-owned business entered the energy sector in Turkey when there was privatization of it. At the time, Karpowership was the first company to have an export licence and began exporting electricity from Turkey to Iraq.



“Then, many mining companies in Africa approached us and said ‘can we please build land-based power plants for them’ because they could not get reliable electricity and we told them instead of building land-based power plants in remote locations, we could build them inside ships or on barges much faster and with a better design to have increased efficiency and we can deliver them much faster than land-based power plants,” avers Harezi.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:36% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49312" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The long-term vision is to eradicate non-access to electricity. Everyone in the world should have access to electricity; it is a basic human right and we have the technology to deliver it.”</blockquote>
</div></div>



So, the organization began building floating power plants for mining projects in Africa. But before they could sell them to the continent, the Iraqi minister of energy requested an energy power plant for their southern city that had access to the sea. Harezi had just the right floating power ship to send. The next two power ships were subsequently supplied to Lebanon before finally their first supply was delivered to Ghana in 2014.



“The long-term vision is to eradicate non-access to electricity. Everyone in the world should have access to electricity; it is a basic human right and we have the technology to deliver it. As Karpowership, we can deliver baseload utility scale floating power plants to the remotest countries in the world with the highest risk of execution and construction, and we can deliver in less than 30 days. So, there is no excuse for anyone in the world to have no access to electricity and we can do it at a very low cost,” says Harezi.



Africa’s population growth is higher than other regions, hence the demand for electricity surpasses the planned increase of power supply. This means there is always a gap between supply and demand. This is a natural fit for Karpowership. Harezi says it can deliver between 25% to 80% of a country’s total electricity on one ship in less than 30 days. And there are “other advantages too” of this model.



“The regular infrastructure-related challenges of Africa are usually to do with project finance, construction risks, execution risks and the timeline. So, a project is usually promised to be operational in three years where as the project finance only lasts for two years and the actual construction takes another three to five years. So, the project that was promised for three years ends up not being finished for another eight years,” says Harezi.



Such solutions could give Africa a fighting chance in the Covid-19 vaccine race. With the company currently providing most of the national electricity in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Senegal, it seems poised to disrupt the African energy sector in a pandemic era.

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