World-famous Forbes magazine woke up to its second century in an overcast New York after a night of whiskey, bagpipes, banter, billionaires and Stevie Wonder.
Forbes celebrated 100 years of publication with a huge party for the rich and famous on the swanky Chelsea Piers overlooking New York Harbour. It was a who&#8217;s who of business from South Africa&#8217;s mining magnate Patrice Motsepe to Warren Buffett and Sean &#8216;Diddy&#8217; Coombs.
The business magazine &#8211; celebrated in songs with a cover that is the envy of  billionaires &#8211; has survived two world wars, depressions, recessions and the decline in the print business. It began reporting in a business world where oil and steel were king; it completed its century when Artificial Intelligence and technology were making people rich.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/09/20/forbes-magazine-100-years-hits-flops/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forbes Magazine: 100 Years Of Hits And Flops</a>
The magazine was the brainchild of parsimonious Scotsman BC Forbes, a man who spent a few years working in South Africa, in the early 20th century; first, on the Natal Mercury, in Durban, then on the Rand Daily Mail, in Johannesburg.
Forbes sailed to New York in 1904, with $50 in his pocket, to make his fortune. He struggled to find a job and worked for free for a New York publication to prove his worth.
&#8220;For my grandfather this was a leap of faith. He didn&#8217;t know whether the owner was going to pay him or not. Money was very important to my grandfather. He used to say the best way to make copper wire was to get two Scotsmen to fight over a penny!&#8221; joked his grandson Steve Forbes, the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine who hasn&#8217;t missed a column for nearly half a century.
Forbes also recalled how his grandfather had booked into New York&#8217;s the Waldorf Astoria, one of the most luxurious and expensive hotels in the world. He had to scrimp and save, by walking to stories and saving his taxi money, to make the bill every month.
&#8220;A lot of his friends asked if he was mad. He couldn&#8217;t afford it, but every night he was in the bar mixing with the biggest and most powerful business names of the day,&#8221; he says.
Mixing with the right people, coupled with sharp and honest reporting, helped make Forbes magazine a success from its launch in 1917.
At the function was a sartorial reminder of BC Forbes. Grandson Kip Forbes wore his grandfather&#8217;s tailored tweed suit, that looked like it was made yesterday.
&#8220;I think it was made for in the him in the 1940s and it has survived the mothballs, so I thought it was right to wear it tonight in his honor,&#8221; he says.
Kip Forbes agreed that his grandfather was parsimonious as well as a shrewd business journalist.
&#8220;He used to say, I don&#8217;t give advice, I sell it,&#8221; he chuckled.
The event was supposed to see a jet plane, mounted on a boat, float up to the quayside at Chelsea Piers, but the rough weather on the night caused the Coastguard to put the block on this.
Instead the high-flyer of the night was Stevie Wonder who played a set opened by My Cherie Amour.
But the music closest to the Forbes family greeted guests. The skirl of the  bagpipes was in honor of the founder who had traveled a long journey from poverty in the village of New Deer, in Aberdeenshire, to creating the magazine of billionaires amid the riches of New York.
Steve Forbes toasted his late grandfather with a sip of 12-year-old Scotch given by one of the sponsors of the party. With the sip came the Forbes wry wit.
&#8220;My grandfather would have appreciated this&#8230; especially as it is free!&#8221; says his grandson to laughter from the large crowd.

A Mad Decision Paying Off 100 Years Later

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FORBES AFRICA has told many spellbinding business stories in its five years. The story of its own difficult birth is one of the most riveting.
The idea of the pan-African business magazine was born in the heart of a financial crisis which wiped out many investors and left businesses lucky to survive. The media suffered the most.
In the depths of the downturn in 2007, soon after launching CNBC Africa, a business and finance TV channel, the two founders, Rakesh Wahi and Zafar Siddiqi, wanted a magazine. It was the worst time to launch.
“The whole publishing market was collapsing around us. To launch a new title at that time; people externally would have said you are foolish. Some of our other shareholders did not want to invest in the publishing business owing to the economic downturn,” says Wahi.
The pair refused to throw in the towel.
“I had a strong feeling this was going to work. When I told Zafar about it, he only asked if how I felt about it and I told him that the brand would be an instant success and after his thumbs up, we ran with it.”
Towards the end of 2009, a meeting in New York sparked the interest in joining the worldwide FORBES family. The magazine has a string of franchises around the world, from FORBES MEXICO to FORBES INDONESIA.
Wahi followed his gut, in the face of scepticism.
“Every time we spoke about FORBES, people’s eyes would light up,” he says.
It was the right time, he believed. The pair waited for the market to turn around slightly and made their move.
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“We didn’t like that very few African business leaders had made it into the international version of FORBES… people didn’t understand that there is so much entrepreneurship going on in the continent,” says Wahi.
It wasn’t easy. Building a pan-African magazine was expensive and complicated; but the gap in business and finance reporting in the continent was there to be filled.
It took about two years to complete the legal agreements of the franchise. The most difficult challenge was hiring the right people to steer the magazine to the top. Wahi’s 13 years in the Indian army, where he had become one of the youngest to receive the Vishisht Seva Medal (a military decoration in India) in 1986, helped.
“The army teaches you about looking after people. The core of it is that you have to do things together and you have to inspire people.”
He brought these principles with him to the world of entrepreneurship.
“When we were looking at finding an editor for the magazine, I searched around trying to see who would be the right fit… I was impressed by the experience people brought to the table but something was always missing… Chris Bishop’s name came up because he had done a great piece of work for me a couple of years before that, and impressed, so we took him on… He said he would even do this job for free,” recalls Wahi.
Magazines were in trouble everywhere. In the United States, according to MediaFinder, 152 closed in 2011 and 82 in 2012. In South Africa, Heat, Seventeen, FHM, Sports Illustrated and Shape are a few magazines that shut down because of declining advertising, circulation and competition from online.
Despite this, on September 28, 2011, on a night of glitz and glamour in Johannesburg, billionaire Patrice Motsepe unveiled the historic first cover of FORBES AFRICA.
It turned out that Wahi’s decision to hire Bishop was the right one. In just five years, the team has turned FORBES AFRICA into the leading business magazine in Africa against the odds.
The magazine came out ahead of its competitors in the IPSOS Affluent Survey Africa in 2014 and 2016. The independent research study, released on August 4, shows FORBES AFRICA reached 163,000, or 4.7%, of the 3.4 million qualifying adults, aged between 25 and 64, across seven markets.
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“What we have managed to achieve in just five short years is truly remarkable. Our success is attributed to the hard work and dedication of our teams from across the continent,” says Sid Wahi, Executive Director at ABN Publishing (FORBES AFRICA).
The IPSOS 2016 figures show a 7% increase from the 2014 survey.
“As the founding editor of this magazine it gives me immense pride to see our circulation figures increasing; all this at a time when magazine circulation around the world is falling. I think this is a tribute to the hard work and determination of our young band of highly talented journalists,” says Bishop.
FORBES AFRICA’s work has been recognized by various accolades awarded to the journalists and the editor. The hard work is also appreciated by readers. In Zimbabwe, entrepreneur, Blessed Mushamiri, says he drives around the city looking for a copy each month.
“Sometimes I have to drive to five different uptown shops to bump into one but I don’t stop looking. If I can’t find one, I ask people in South Africa to send me some copies. When I read FORBES AFRICA it engages me in an affair of pure pleasure, an exciting brush with business in Africa that shows me, as a young entrepreneur, that I can participate in something rare and thrilling. It is a must-read for every businessperson,” says Mushamiri.
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In West Africa, Emeka Akano, CEO and Co-Founder of Jara Mobile Ltd, says reading about entrepreneurs from different backgrounds who make it to the FORBES lists has inspired and motivated him.
“Features in the prestigious FORBES AFRICA magazine have gone a long way in giving me much more exposure to a credible audience, increased my personal profile beyond measure, opened doors for new business opportunities and business connections,” says Akano.
No matter the praises, Wahi says there is still more work to be done. He wants to grow the magazine to an even bigger success story, as with many of his other businesses.
Wahi is a smart entrepreneur and risk taker. An audacious one, five years ago, put this magazine in your hands.

Behold The Business Bible Of Africa

December is the month we celebrate, give gifts, and restore joy to the world regardless of religious beliefs. This year, for the first time, we will remind ourselves of Nelson Mandela, as the anniversary of his death is recalled.
He taught us much about reconciliation. But my memories of him are always infused with his laughter, his sense of fun, his delicious wit, his ability to make light of serious matters thereby bringing them into human perspective.
Most times it would start with a phone call.
“Hello Peter,” that familiar voice would boom, “how are you today?”
While always joyful to get the call, behind the happy emotion was one of trepidation: what does the old man want from me?
Bill Clinton once said – after Mandela had introduced him as one of the best politicians in the world from whom he could learn a lot of tricks – that South Africans didn’t know how lucky they were.
“Mr Mandela is a pretty good and tricky politician himself,” Clinton said with a chuckle.
“When he calls and says ‘Mr President’ I know there is a matter of State to discuss. But if he says ‘Hello Bill, how are you?’ I know this call is going to cost the United States a billion dollars.”
It sounds like bragging to say he called me often. But he did, because of my job as editor of The Star. His relationship with the media was excellent, friendly, courteous, never demanding, always suggesting.
And he did like to see his picture in the paper. At the end of one year, I presented him with a framed poster ‘page one’ made from all the times his photograph had been on the front page: 27 times in that year, making him our favorite pin-up.
Yet he still complained that we were not giving him and his political party, the ANC, the space they deserved.
“If I put a picture of you on every page, you would still want more. You politicians are all the same,” I grumbled.
“Not on the back page,” he said. “I don’t want to be with losing teams.”
He called to invite me to breakfast and I had my children with me so asked if they could come, naturally he agreed.
When he heard I had named my daughter after Helen Suzman, he told my Helen, then seven, that he hoped she would be a fighter like Suzman.
“I want to be a vet,” said my Helen matter-of-factly.
“Well, I have some cows in Qunu,” he said, “will you come look after them when I have retired to the hills?”
“I don’t think so,” said Helen, undiplomatically.
Once inside his Houghton home I told my two daughters to please play outside.
“Let them stay,” he said.
“No, they will break some Ming vase or other irreplaceable gift, they can play outside,” I said.
“I am the president, you can stay,” he told them.
“I’m your father, leave and play outside.”
“Tell your father I am also his President and am instructing him to let you stay…”
They stayed, and my youngest daughter, Julia, wandered about the sitting room touching everything as I kept a beady and rather anxious eye on her.
Halfway through our intense political discussion, she stood behind him, tugged his head backwards and kissed him on his forehead.
Astonished, he asked: “What was that for?”
She shrugged her six-year-old shoulders and said: “You looked sad and grumpy. I thought you needed a kiss.”
He loved Julia forever after. When he spotted me at functions he would call out “How’s Julia?” as his greeting.

Tag: Anniversary

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

A Mad Decision Paying Off 100 Years Later

Behold The Business Bible Of Africa

The Day A Sad And Grumpy Mandela Needed A Kiss