Wind, solar and hydro energy have all been highlighted as sources of energy that help meet Africa’s growing power needs. Ghana’s Dela Wosornu is using garbage.
Decomposing organic material, known as biomass, releases gas that can be used to create energy in the form of biofuels. In Ghana, a country with a vast amount of degradable material, it is a viable option for alternative energy.
In Ghana, energy is costly and scarce; this hinders economic growth.
Biomass, such as wood and charcoal, is Ghana’s main energy source, supplying around 60% of the total energy used in the country. Biomass resources cover about 20.8 million hectares of land mass in Ghana. Most of this land is made up of crops and plants that can be converted into solid and liquid biofuels. Wosornu, a renewable energy entrepreneur, is taking advantage of this by transferring landfill gas to energy.
He is involved in the Oti Sanitary Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project, which eliminates the emission of harmful greenhouse gases as well as the spread of disease from the waste. The project reduces the reliance on producing power from fossil fuels by producing energy from the waste that would have otherwise been buried in the landfill.
The solution is quite innovative.
When organic material, such as food waste, is buried in the landfill, it is deprived of oxygen. In this condition, the organic material will decompose and turn into methane gas. The methane will slowly be released into the atmosphere, causing global warming. The project at the Oti landfill doesn’t let this happen. They cover the landfill with soil and drill holes into it. Pipes are then inserted and the gas is sucked out into a generator which makes heat and electricity.
“It’s really a matter of just bringing pipes to where the gas has collected and pumping it out through a vacuum process and then directing that gas to a generator,” says Wosornu.
According to Wosornu, the project is the first of its kind in Ghana. As cities grow and produce more waste, the environmental impact from open dumps becomes increasingly intolerable. The conversion of dumps to engineered landfills like the Oti project is essential.
“Our solution can be applied at any landfill that has received at least 400 tons a day of municipal solid waste and is in reasonably good shape. As there are many landfills in Africa and around the world that are not capturing gas, the future for landfill gas to energy projects is bright,” says Wosornu.
Landfill gas to energy projects have underperformed relative to projected gas and power output. Bearing this in mind, the projected output of the Oti project has been discounted by 70% so that its actual output will meet or exceed the projected output. The Renewable Energy Act in Ghana ensures that there are set prices for each class of renewable energy. It also offers an opportunity to redirect future investments into green energy.
The challenge for Wosornu, is finding reliable buyers for the project’s output. The high cost of doing business in Africa also makes the development costs of these projects higher than the rest of the world.
“There is no doubt that, if properly exploited, renewable energy resources in Africa can make a significant contribution to the continent’s energy supply. In particular, the potential of biofuels on the continent is huge. Within the context of the current financial crisis, stakeholders including policy makers, international partners and the UN should lead the debate on and collectively seek strategies for scaling up renewable energy use so as to increase access to energy and enhance energy security among the many potential benefits of these technologies,” says Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Wosornu is playing his part.

Full Steam Ahead

From Junk To Power

When Luke Callcott-Stevens, Gavin James and Doug Jenman first talked to FORBES AFRICA in 2012, they struggled to imagine what their $274-million 100MW wind farm in Dorper, South Africa, would look like. A big project with big risk.
“We built a wind farm, we installed it. All those are effectively at the cost of capital. Now it’s done… Every three days a wind turbine is being installed in South Africa,” says Jenman.
Forty wind turbines and two and a half years later, this trio from Rainmaker Energy can not only take pictures of Dorper, a tiny town in the Eastern Cape province, they are now imagining that they can cover the rooftops of London with solar panels.
“The cities of tomorrow will produce their own electricity. We won’t need power stations,” says James.
With this bold idea, the trio set up shop at 81 Rivington Street, an old electrical showroom, in London’s tech hub Shoreditch, and also, by coincidence, labeled with a fitting coat of arms “More Light More Power”.
“A lot of our growth is happening in the solar field, and it’s out of South Africa. We’ve set up a separate company in the UK, Solar Stone Energy; effectively we are trying to create a utility scale solar project on rooftops. So we are aggregating a bunch of rooftops to build a big solar power plant,” says Callcott-Stevens.
It gets even more pie in the sky – especially when we are talking about a city where the sun doesn’t shine often – the trio want to give solar panels for free.
“We cover the costs of the installation and on-going monitoring and maintenance. There is absolutely zero cost to you. You then get to enjoy the immediate benefit of reduced energy costs because the electricity, which is produced on your property’s roof is yours to use, for free. By generating electricity on your roof, we receive a Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) through a government-backed subsidy program. This is how we fund the solar installations and make a return on investment. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
They feel it could find favor with London’s 8.3 million people.
“If you look at what’s happening in the States and in Europe, in solar and wind energy, people are putting solar on their roofs and creating their own power. That is not a total solution, but it cuts back on the need to create new power plants, it changes the game. The utility business is now losing out on its most profitable market. That demand is now gone,” says Callcott-Stevens.
“Solar has gotten cheaper. Next storage is going to get cheaper. That’s not to say you won’t have coal or nuclear power stations. It just changes the game. It changes the dynamics,” says James.
Back home in sunny South Africa, where 39 renewable energy projects contribute 1,800MW to the grid, the trio’s 100MW wind farm in Dorper has been humming for more than a year. Although James says it will take another 16 years to see a profit, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Eskom, South Africa’s power supplier, regularly cuts the power – a legacy of under investment and delays in coal-fired power stations, such as Medupi and Kusile. The work of renewable energy dreamers has been a saving grace.
“Eskom’s troubles are our blessings in the whole [renewable] industry. It’s been good. The government has put its weight behind the program,” says James.
“They are seeing results and they are happy with it, so the whole fear that renewables is erratic and unreliable actually is false. Apparently the first projects have reduced power cuts by half. We would have double the power cuts if it wasn’t for the renewable projects,” says Jenman.
The competition for new projects is stiff. Last year, Eskom announced that 77 bids were received for Round 4 of the program, for a total of 5,804MW. Of these, 13 were accepted as preferred bidders, for a total of 1,121MW installed capacity at a cost of R23 billion ($1.8 billion).
“By the fourth round, the tariff prices have halved. The game’s changed. The perception of risk is gone. In Round 1 there was no market in South Africa; people were taking a lot of risk without knowing if there was going to be a market. They needed higher returns. Where we are now, the return expectation is lower, as it should be, as the market grows and matures,” says Callcott-Stevens.
“Without getting those high returns in the beginning we wouldn’t be in a place where we are established,” says Callcott-Stevens.
Hope of more business in Africa is in the wind. The trio has a further 330MW of wind and 290MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects under development in South Africa.
“Africa is the future – solar is all over. There is potential everywhere. Sub-Saharan Africa is obviously closer to home so it’s easier to look at. The [solar rooftop] model works really well in a deregulated market. In South Africa, we are still highly regulated,” says James.
“The rest of Africa is highly regulated. Either badly regulated, or highly regulated. We don’t want to just get on a plane and go find a site. We like to have an angle before we choose a market. There needs to be a reason before we can just go into that market. We can’t just go into a country and just say we are building a solar plant. We need to have relationships, we need to know people, we need to understand the market first,” says Callcott-Stevens.
From the dream of a small windy farm in the middle of nowhere, in Africa, to the reality of free solar panels on the rooftops of London where the sun hardly shines. What next?

The Cities Of  Tomorrow  Won’t Need Power Stations

She is the fresh face of renewable energy in Africa. By a twist of fate, this young lawyer, who grew up with her grandmother by candlelight, is now spearheading Africa’s dash for energy.  Sometimes it hurts.
“It feels like I haven’t slept for four years, I have been so busy working on deals. But it was the deal of a lifetime.”
So says Linda Olagunju on her deals to put two wind farms and two solar photovoltaic (PV) farms onto the barren landscape of De Aar in the Northern Cape. Two deals she patched together that will contribute 254MW to South Africa’s energy grid.
“The wind projects reached financial close and are currently under construction. It’s a partnership between China Longyuan, Mulilo and DLO Energy Resources in De Aar. It’s been almost one year of signing documents. The legal fees on these sorts of transactions can go up to R20 million ($1.57 million) if you are lucky.”
It’s the fruit of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement (REIPPP) program. In short, Eskom, the country’s power generator, attracted bids for private business to apply for tenders. Under it, investors generate electricity for sale at a tendered rate. This brings the total committed private sector investment in the REIPPP, since 2011, to $13.25 billion (R168 billion). It is fierce competition.
“There about 85 solid IPP [independent power producers] developers in South Africa. In Round One to Four, there was 5,200MW on offer, the next rounds are 6,300MW. It’s a bloodbath. You are competing with international companies that are coming in dirt cheap,” says Olagunju.
This may be a drop in the ocean but it’s a very important one. Renewables have been a saving grace. According to Olagunju, 39 of these projects are up and running, supplying 2,050MW to the grid.
“It’s the first successful program since democracy. It’s not that there haven’t been any independent power producer programs on the continent. It’s just that this one is the largest one of its scale and being backed by government.”
Olagunju’s childhood was far from electricity. She grew up in Matatiele, a village in the Eastern Cape 782 kilometers from the boardrooms of Sandown where she now works and lives with her Nigerian-born husband.
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“It was rural, like candle rural… [My grandmother’s village] only got electricity in 2005,” says Olagunju.
This was in time for the power cuts of 2008, when Eskom admitted that it had run out of capacity to supply electricity. At this time, Olagunju had left home to follow in the footsteps of her father and study law. At the University of Cape Town she studied laws governing fossil fuels rather than green energy.
“I’ve always known I was going to go into resources. I just didn’t know if it was going to be mining or oil and gas. The biggest thing for me is why Africa, which is so well endowed in resources, remains the poorest continent. I always hated injustice, growing up in apartheid South Africa,” she says.
Olagunju struggled to find her niche and ended up as a lawyer for Mulilo, a startup renewable energy company in 2008.
“Mulilo needed a lawyer, but couldn’t afford any. So I said I would do the services in return for shares. I still had to pay for them. At the time, the company [owed] R11 million ($870,000) and the company is now valued at R5 billion ($394 million)… in three years,” she says.
This sparked her idea of entrepreneurship.
“I always felt the way to change things is through entrepreneurship. Through law I had the opportunity to see how government makes these decisions on large scale projects… I said ‘hang on a minute, we have a lot of wind in South Africa and we have a lot sun in South Africa, so why haven’t we put renewables on our grid?’ I started doing research,” she says.
The business of renewables can take years to see a profit.
“There is a lot of risk, anything can go wrong. You are in a contract for 20 years, governments can change and I know there are laws to take care of that risk. The wind may not blow for as long as you thought it would. Your sun may not shine as brightly as you thought it would. They are long-term projects.”
“You identify the land. You go into lease agreements. Do an environment impact assessment (EIA) process that can take three years if you are lucky. You then bid your process with a construction period. If everything goes right, [a farm] will be up in 20 months.”
“Then you start seeing a trickle dividend. A trickle dividend at connection in the first seven years is very minimal. It’s nothing to write home about. It’s not even enough to pay your operational expenses.”
Then, there are the hiccups.
“We have existing infrastructure. And then we have the [REIPPP]. The grid infrastructure hasn’t been expanded to accommodate the increasing demand on that particular infrastructure. It’s not Eskom’s fault necessarily. It’s a matter of planning.”
“One of the points we raised before we began these projects is getting the grid contacted properly before you have a program. But it’s always difficult how you spend on infrastructure not knowing where those programs are going to be awarded.”
“Eskom said that they have developed a map where they now know where the hotspots are for energy projects and where now they are doing their best to upgrade in those regions in anticipation of the other [REIPPPs] being built.”
Olagunju believes gas, coal and nuclear could all go the same way.
“You can go and leverage an asset and try and participate. The key thing about these deals is to learn from them. Once you do one, you have built a portfolio. You can go and knock on a door in Nigeria, rather than say you have an idea,” she says.
If you are Olagunju, at the tender age of 31, you could also argue it’s good to have a foot in the door.

A Bloodbath In The Wind

From the boardwalks of Cape Town to the streetlights of Kigali, billions are being made out of renewable energy. It brings business and government together; it could end the days of smoke-belching coal-fired plants. It could answer Africa’s most burning question – power.
In 2011, many experts scoffed at the thought of Africa running on towering wind turbines and miles of solar panels. It was too expensive; it was inefficient and couldn’t stay charged. But, armed with new technology, a pack of young entrepreneurs dug deep to harness the wind and the sun of Africa, to power future generations.
In this continent, South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Programme (REIPPP) has moved the fastest. In a few short years, South African entrepreneurs have invested $13.25 billion to sell electricity back to Eskom, the country’s hard pressed power generator.
It is fierce competition. According to South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, 1,800 megawatts (MW) are on the grid and in the next two and half years, 92 projects will generate up to 6,327MW. Further investment into hydro, gas and nuclear power are also on the cards, says Zuma.
The faces driving this investment are fresh. Thirty-one-year-old Linda Olagunju who grew up in an African village by candlelight is now calling the shots in boardrooms. Homegrown entrepreneurs Luke Callcott-Stevens, Gavin James and Doug Jenman threw in their safe jobs for the cutting edge of renewable energy generation. These are a few of the young and restless generation of investors who are taking risks to charge Africa.
It’s a story that breezes through the wind turbines in South Africa to the landfills in Ghana to the underground heat of Kenya.
Some old heads, like nuclear physicist Kelvin Kemm, say that nuclear may yet have a bigger say. He believes three quarters of African countries can become nuclear within the next six years.
It all adds up to an exhilarating story of youth, vision, risk and reward. This month, FORBES AFRICA dedicates our cover story to it.

Power For The People By The People

In a continent where music is the lifeblood of so many cultures, a generation of musicians and creatives from Lagos to Cape Town are at risk of falling by the wayside as more and more of them are robbed of their income by the greatest scourge to their industries – piracy.
According to a recent report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), legitimate content accounts for less than 10% of the music market in many African nations. Estimates put the proportion of Kenyan pirated music at 80% nationally. Growing up in Lagos, I have memories of sitting in traffic where CDs yet to hit the shops in Europe, let alone Nigeria, were offered through my car window.
Taking Lagos’ infamous Alaba Market as a microcosm of the broader situation, piracy dominates the distribution network, flooding the market with knock-off Nollywood films and bootlegged beats. For the original creators, while they may enjoy popularity, the financial rewards for their efforts range from minimal to non-existent.
This situation is replicated across the continent. In Malawi, artistes like Thocco Katimb end up distributing and selling their own music because intellectual property rights are not robust enough, and the middle men can’t be trusted to not leak CDs to be replicated. The situation in Malawi is complicated further by the government’s stance against musicians selling their music without the hologram copyright sticker as stipulated by the 1989 copyright act.
As a result, life for many creatives across Africa is unstable. Fellow musicians tend to work primarily for the love of their craft; the joy of their art is almost reward enough. But without suitable financial recompense, many talented Africans are being denied the chance to pursue their aspirations.
If the industry climate further dissuades young African talent from producing high-quality art, we as a continent risk losing an entire generation’s worth of cultural output. Who will be the next Fela Kuti? Where will the new 2face Idibia appear? How can Ghana see another Sarkodie, or Uganda another Chameleone, if the industry does not suitably reward those artistes whose music is in demand?
All is not lost, however, and there are areas that must be explored to combat content piracy.
Effective intellectual property protection is the most important step that national governments can take in countries like Nigeria, Malawi, and other flourishing cultural hotspots. In just the same way as encouraging business growth or attracting foreign investment, legal frameworks are central to ensuring that legitimate enterprise thrives.
A hologram on a CD is not enough; there must be suitable measures in place and the will to enforce them. Kenya destroyed over five million pirated items in 2013 and the Kenya Copyright Board has since begun actively monitoring illegal downloads. Other nations would do well to follow this example.
Beyond a crackdown, however, a progressive long-term solution may involve bringing content pirates into the legitimate system so as to better regulate their activity.
Returning to the example of Alaba Market, since 2008, the Nigerian government has been offering traders there the opportunity to sell pirated content legally in return for a registration fee. Legitimizing these circulation channels means artistes and record labels have begun signing distribution deals with established pirating outfits in an effort to recoup at least some earnings from their own intellectual property. While the legal environment catches up with reality, exploring ways to bring these traders into the fold may be a realistic way forward.
Technology also offers solutions, providing an alternate revenue stream for struggling artistes. Kenya’s Mdundo.com, a digital platform enabling music distribution without a recording label, has been touted as a potential saviour. For $1, customers can download five tracks via a code they receive on a scratch card.
Piracy in Africa is a significant threat not just to the creative industries but to society too, with much of the profit funding organized crime. From the greats of old like King Sunny Ade, Manu Dibango and Ali Farka Toure to the new kids on the block, African music has long had an important place on the global scene. The cold, rational argument for greater intellectual property protection is certainly needed, but a more emotional appeal to the will of all Africans to nurture and encourage our continent’s brightest talents is compelling. Both must be made with equal energy if we are to keep those lights burning.

DJ-Cuppi-etch

‘Who Will Be  The Next Fela Kuti?’

In a pink Adidas jacket with her blonde hair tied up neatly, Tracy-Lee Pepper is a rare sight in the heat of a township football battle. A crowd of 40 roar like 400. The small but bustling Balfour Park in Johannesburg, which looks like a school football field, is a pin in the world football tapestry. It’s a keen encounter between promotion hopefuls, Alexandra United FC and Munsieville Stars. Vuvuzelas wail, fans bang on the stands and dance for joy; one fan in his forties hurls himself into somersaults alongside the stands. It’s a tense game, Alex United are down 2-0 deep into the second half and running out of hope.
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Pepper has an unnerving calm as the match unfolds, barely flinching as the crowd grows anxious. In an attempt to turn the game around, Pepper brings on the imposing figures of Mfanafuthi Mboma, who seems a bit timid off the pitch but deadly on it, and the energetic Pedro Marques who masterfully weaves around his opponents. With 15 minutes left, Alex United stage a remarkable comeback. The small and stealthy Collins Zimba rattles one in from five yards. In a matter of minutes, Zimba scores again with the cavalier cheek of a back-heel. The crowd watches with bated breath. With two minutes left, Mboma has the final say as he smacks in the winner. The lethal combination of Zimba and Mboma secures Alex United’s win and as the whistle blows, the fans run in a celebration.
There are no agents, no merchandise or sky-rocketing salaries. Balfour Park is a world away from the likes of Wayne Rooney and Old Trafford. It’s also all in a day’s work for a white female coach of an all-male football team from a predominantly black township on the fringes of the South African national league.
Pepper began playing football with her brothers who played for Hellenic FC in Cape Town. Women’s football was rare in Cape Town so Pepper played provincially in Johannesburg. Twenty years later, she’s one of the best female coaches in the country who is trying to break stereotypes and lead Alex United to promotion. She made football her business when her 11-year-old daughter wanted to play. Pepper started a company called Girl Sport to coach youngsters and founded the first girls’ school league in Johannesburg.
Pepper approached Alex United to do match analysis. When the coach fell sick, she was asked to take over the team and then offered a one season contract. Owner of the team Nicholas Nicolaou says he took a risk employing a female coach but it appears to be paying off.
“I think what a woman brings to the team that a man doesn’t is that motherly instinct so you have the compassion combined with the harshness of the football industry which is cruel and beautiful all at the same time. They are like extended children of mine,” says Pepper.
Pepper has introduced a brand new team and spent her time getting to know the character of her players. “It’s a great feeling. It’s my first experience of being coached by a woman and it’s been an amazing experience. I for one treat her like my mother,” says Kgomotso Koena, the captain of the team who plays center back.
She is a tough mother. The players go through an arduous three hours of rigorous training each day. The team is comprised of professionals who exude a passion for the game. Pepper has their respect. “The main thing is getting results. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what race you are as long as you’re doing your job,” says Marques.
A township in the heart of Johannesburg, shadowing and contrasting the bustling wealthy suburb of Sandton, Alex is one of the poorest areas in Johannesburg amassed in compact shacks worn with the hardships of its residents. The Hope City Giants, as Alex United is known, carry just that. Alex United are part of the South African Football Association (SAFA) second division ABC Motsepe League. The teams hopes to win their league in May were dashed but the team is already geared for next year to enter the play-offs with the winners of each province.
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Pepper crosses her fingers as she explains that winning the play-offs would take her team to the National First Division (NFD) and then one more jump to the Premier Soccer League (PSL). “That’s what I love about my job. You really get to know your players well. You just become a family,” says Pepper. Maybe this family can help make her the first female coach in the top flight soccer league.

Alex-united

The Queen Of A Cruel And Beautiful Game

Last year, cinema attendance reportedly dipped to 20-year lows in Western markets. Piracy and home-viewing are profoundly changing the way people consume visual media. But not so it seems in India, home to Bollywood, the world’s largest film industry by output, where the near-invincible sector is clocking in double the number of theatre-goers in North America.
Whether a function of India’s perennial love affair with the silver screen or a result of the ultra-modern digital multiplex theatres mushrooming in metros all over the country, Bollywood is thriving and is estimated to have been worth $2.28 billion last year.
For South Africa, this means more opportunities to service Indian film production houses increasingly searching for cost-effective locations offering all the comforts of home such as skilled support staff and quality equipment.
FORBES WOMAN AFRICA had the opportunity to meet up with the production crew of Ishq Forever, a Bollywood romantic comedy filmed in Cape Town in April-May this year.
Ishq Forever, or ‘love forever’ in English, stars Bollywood veteran Javed Jeffrey and Indian-Canadian actress Lisa Ray, as well as newcomers Krishna Chaturvedi and Ruhi Singh. The film is a production of Friday Cine Entertainment, a three-way partnership between Ajay Shah, Harry Gandhi and Shabbir Boxwala.
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It isn’t Boxwala’s first production in South Africa. In 2003, he co-produced the romantic drama Dil Ka Rishta, starring Bollywood royalty Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Cape Town. Like Boxwala, Shah has been producing Bollywood films for over 20 years. The final member of the trio, Gandhi – the CEO of Unique Maritime Group headquartered in the Middle East – is a film industry newcomer but has been a film enthusiast for a long time.
“I have seen first-hand how much the local industry has changed over the past 10 to 15 years,” says Boxwala.
What was once a small scale and inwardly-focused sector is now world-class and attracting sizeable foreign investment. The growth comes from two directions.
The first is locally-produced and directed films telling South African stories – during the five years leading up to 2003, local releases averaged just three a year; 10 years later, the number is closer to 15.
The second, and significantly more powerful growth lever, is the increase in international productions, such as Ishq Forever filming on location in South Africa.
As a whole, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) in South Africa estimates the industry contributes close to R3.5 billion ($282 million) to South African GDP each year and that number is growing at a rate of 14% per annum.
The location of choice is Cape Town and it’s safe to say that pretty much anyone who has visited South Africa’s Mother City can vouch for its natural charms.
Mountains, farms, beaches, oceans and semi-arid moonscapes are all within an hour’s drive from the city center, which comes with its own unique attractions in the form of the diverse architectural structures. During the summer months, Cape Town averages close to 15 hours of daylight and very limited rain – a further pull factor for overseas film productions.
Cape Town hasn’t ridden on its looks alone though. The Western Cape Provincial Government has invested close to R20 million ($1.6 million) into the sector and justifies the expenditure by means of a conservative projection of 30,000 skilled and unskilled jobs that have been created as a result of its efforts.
The majority of Bollywood films shot in South Africa use locations in Durban, the country’s third largest city, home to the largest concentration of people of Indian descent in the country and characterized by sub-tropical vegetation allowing for an easier set replication of Indian backdrops.
Ishq Forever is different – the film was shot in Cape Town and surrounding areas – such as sleepy coastal town Hermanus.
“Ishq Forever really celebrates South African culture. The action takes place in Cape Town where the young heroine (played by Singh), the daughter of the prime minister of India, is attending university. It’s a coming of age romantic comedy with lots of plot twists and chases,” informs Boxwala.
“We caused quite a lot of excitement when we filmed in Hermanus. I don’t think the locals had experienced a Bollywood film before. When we were leaving, the mayor thanked us and we have promised to come back and arrange a public screening of the film at an open air cinema.”
At present, the majority of the international films being filmed in Cape Town are American productions – most recently The Giver and TV series Homeland Season 2 – which benefit further from exchange rate gains as a result of the woeful decline in the value of the local currency against the US dollar.
The NFVF approximates that it is on average 40% cheaper to make a film in South Africa than in the United States or in Europe.
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Not Wooing Bollywood Enough
But where does that leave Bollywood? Not in an entirely favorable position, says Boxwala.
“As Bollywood film productions, we simply can’t afford to pay the rental fees which are charged to the big US productions. We just don’t work with those kind of budgets because our revenue streams are limited,” he says.
According to statistics portal Statista, Bollywood films grossed a modest $1.2 billion in 2012 against a $10.8 billion gross revenue from US productions. The numbers may not seem surprising at first glance – Hollywood is wholly more pervasive in the global popular culture – however, consider them against the fact that during that same year, Bollywood churned out a prolific 1,602 features versus Hollywood’s 476.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30746 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6136-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6136-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6136-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6136-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6136.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“A Bollywood production – even a mega blockbuster – will have significantly fewer distribution opportunities than its Hollywood equivalent, which rides on the virtue that Western productions are enjoyed by a wider audience,” says Gandhi. Ishq Forever, for example, was filmed on the relatively modest, all-inclusive budget of $2.5 million.
Gandhi says that the opportunity to attract more Bollywood productions to South Africa simply through widening the accessibility of local services is glaring. Boxwala recounts that the stock of basic equipment available for rent in South Africa during the filming of Ishq Forever was fairly limited and the resultant demand determined prices prohibitive to non-dollar earning filmmakers.
More than two thirds of Bollywood features are shot outside of India. The most popular locations are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Malaysia and Eastern Europe. South Africa could be losing out on Bollywood opportunities, say Boxwala and Gandhi, due to the high local prices, the red tape related to the obtaining Department of Trade and Industry rebates and the fact that there are no direct flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai – the heart and soul of Bollywood. Having no direct flights complicates the transportation of filming equipment, which forces crews like Boxwala’s to rent locally and brings the problem back to the high rental rates set for US customers.
“We want to work here though,” says Gandhi. “It took us 40 days to film Ishq Forever. During that time, we hired 20 local technicians and created close to 900 short-term, low skilled jobs. We invested roughly $1 million into the local economy over the production time.”
“The locations here are fantastic and the level of skill is world class. We believe that South Africa could become an even more popular film destination for Bollywood films if it works on the negatives and builds on the positives.”

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When Bollywood Comes Calling

It’s difficult to pin down Bathini Kowane, an emerging South African designer who recently showed at the Soweto Fashion Week (SFW). We finally meet in her new office above popular night club Carfax in downtown Johannesburg.
Kowane, an honors graduate in African politics from Pretoria, woke up one morning and quit her nine-to-five job. Fascinated by print and fabric, the 31-year-old decided to pursue a career in fashion when her husband bought her a sewing machine for her birthday.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30741 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Bathini-042-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bathini-042-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bathini-042-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bathini-042-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bathini-042-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bathini-042.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“After three, four years in this particular bank that I used to work for, I left to do this, to do clothes. I planned it, waited for my bonus, and when I got it, I went and resigned the next day!” she laughs.
It’s only over a year since Kowane launched her eponymous brand, Bathini Designs. Her first showcase at an art and fashion exhibition at the State Theatre in Pretoria in September last year got some good reviews.
“People came up and said I want that dress, I was like ‘oh my gosh I have to multiply’, I have to make different sizes,” she says.
Kowane enjoyed sewing at a young age – she pursued it as a hobby, going on to undertake sewing, drafting and fabric-making lessons on weekends, and making pencil skirts for her work wardrobe.
In June, Kowane was at SFW, with close friend Lehlogonolo Sekhukhune who modeled for her on the ramp, and who incidentally, was recovering from an acid burn accident at work.
What is Kowane’s fashion forecast?
“Little kente prints, tones that are not widely found like brownish mustard, cuts that are mermaid style, slim dresses that accentuate hips, loose-fitting but sexy for evenings out or weddings, parties, festive functions.”
Kowane is now expanding her range to children’s clothing, a line for boys called Buggzy, inspired by her own son.
With her political science degree, it perhaps won’t be long before Kowane aspires to dress up a politician for parliament.

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The Soweto Soirée

Walk into Maureen Allem’s Skin, Body &amp; Health Renewal clinic in upmarket Illovo in Johannesburg, and it feels like setting foot in a furniture showroom catalogue. It’s all pretty pastels, crystal, chandeliers, silver cutlery and dreamy drapes.
Aesthetics – of body and décor – is a consistent theme here. For a customer walking in with hopes of body rejuvenation, the setting does half the job.
Allem materializes in a stunning turquoise kaftan. At age 56, she is perhaps the best advertisement of her booming practice. Her skin is tight, flawless and glowing.
Her non-surgical, integrative/anti-ageing and weight loss company is in its tenth year. Allem has focused on treating ageing with facial and body rejuvenation techniques.
But the outer appearance, she says, is only one side of the story. She recommends the holistic approach incorporating inner health as well.
“The whole new buzzword in medicine is ‘functional’ and personalizing your lifestyle,” she says.
It’s hard to keep up with Allem’s studied descriptions, in breathless sentences, of the underlying causes of most disease and ageing issues.
“Optimize your vitamin D…optimize your liver…70 percent of all disease starts in the gut…”
The South Africa-born Allem was a general practitioner in a provincial hospital for 10 years, followed by a career conducting lifestyle assessments for executives, before she started her own practice in 2000 in her Hyde Park home offering botox and filler treatments.
Her life – and success – didn’t have a linear narrative though. She was in her third year of medicine when she dropped out to get married, becoming “a farmer’s wife” in South Africa’s Free State province.
“I was sewing curtains and playing bridge [on the farm]. Things were not well in the marriage. I realized I made a big mistake and wanted to go back to medicine. I had a two-year-old and a five-month-old [children]. I went to speak to the dean [of my medical institution]. I was 24, and he said, ‘it will be impossible’. I had to find a house in Sandton and adjust to a new life.”
Allem completed her medicine and today, runs 17 renewal clinics across South Africa, including six in Cape Town. She owes it to her team of doctors.
“It’s important to surround yourself with intelligent people; people who are not intimidated by you. Get geniuses around you…and embrace what you love best,” she advises.
And to the women wanting to enhance their looks, she says: “Age is just a number. Fix yourself up.”
<h2>Crowning Glory</h2>
<h5>Steven Turpin, Creative Design Team Educator of Morroccanoil, was in South Africa recently to launch a new line. Here, he shares tips on hair care.</h5>
Moroccanoil specializes in oil-infused hair treatments and an extended line of luxury hair products.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30734 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Jaguar-PS-Shutterstock.com_-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Jaguar-PS-Shutterstock.com_-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Jaguar-PS-Shutterstock.com_-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Jaguar-PS-Shutterstock.com_-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Jaguar-PS-Shutterstock.com_-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Jaguar-PS-Shutterstock.com_.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
Give us some tips on how to have the best hair? 
Turpin: “Healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp. Many of us forget about treating and maintaining the scalp. Our balancing result-driven scalp treatments will balance sebum levels in dry and oily scalp, exfoliate and cleanse. Massaging the product once a week will increase blood flow, feed the hair follicle and lead to strong healthy hair growth. Using good quality shampoo and conditioner and considering a deep treatment a few times a month if needed will ensure gorgeous hair all year round.” 
– Jessica Ramoshaba

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‘Fix Yourself Up’

In Nigeria, citizens, businesses and investors are struggling to come to terms with the absence of a cabinet to run Africa’s largest economy. When President Muhammadu Buhari took office, from Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, few would have imagined that there wouldn’t be a cabinet in place, or awaiting parliamentary approval, by the end of June.
Buhari himself hasn’t said much, leaving the explaining to his aides. At the beginning of July, Spokesman Femi Adesina said that “at the fullness of time, the ministers will be appointed.”
There has been speculation that there won’t be a cabinet in place until September. If that is true, it will mean that the new ministers will spend the last quarter of the year coming up to speed with their new assignments, and real work will not start until 2016.
The only presidential staff appointments made by the second week of July were three spokespersons (two for the president; one for the vice president), a State Chief of Protocol, and his principal security aides – one of which was replaced weeks later, for undisclosed reasons.
On July 13, six weeks after the inauguration, the President replaced all the military chiefs and the National Security Adviser (NSA). The key positions of presidential Chief of Staff and a Secretary to the Federal Government, who serves as Secretary to the Cabinet, as well as a liaison between the presidency and the sprawling government bureaucracy, however, remain unfilled.
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<h3>Team Austerity</h3>
Amid the uncertainty about the president’s team, there are, however, things one can bet on. One is that it will be a smaller cabinet than his predecessor’s, which had 42 ministers. But, the degree to which it will be smaller is constrained by a constitutional provision that says there must be at least one minister from each of Nigeria’s 36 states.
The Transition Committee that Buhari set up in May, to liaise with the outgoing government and prepare a smooth handover for the new government, recommended a reduction in the number of ministries from 28 to 19. Going by that proposal, only nine of the existing ministries will not be merged or scrapped: Defence, Federal Capital Territory, Education, Trade and Investment, Finance, National Planning, Labour, Justice, and Foreign Affairs.
Ambitious as the plan might seem, it’s not unfamiliar territory for Buhari. As Head of State 30 years ago, he presided over a wide-ranging regime of cuts: laying off thousands of civil servants and freezing wages, abolishing hundreds of local government areas, and rolling out an austerity budget that slashed government spending by 15%.
Considering that the economy he is inheriting is in straits just as dire as then, chances of another austerity-inflected outing are high. Indeed there’s a cost-saving element to a delay in the appointment of a cabinet and advisers, who will have to be paid generously in housing and travel allowances, and armored convoys.
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<h3>Speculation, Inc.</h3>
In the weeks following Buhari’s unprecedented electoral victory, the rumour mills were agog with news of expected appointments. Documents regularly circulated on social media, purporting to list the persons who had been nominated for appointments. All of them turned out to be false. Early into the new administration, it was reported that Chief Ogbonnaya Onu had been named Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Nigeria’s designation for Cabinet Secretary. Weeks later, the speculations shifted to the still-vacant position of Chief of Staff. News filtered out that retired Colonel Hammed Ali, Buhari’s long-time personal Chief of Staff, had been appointed. Again, it turned out to be false.
The two men have been close to the president since he joined partisan politics in the early 2000s and are still very likely to bag important roles in his government. Other long-time associates tipped for important positions include Tam David-West, who served under Buhari as the petroleum minister when he was military head of state in 1984-85, and Abdulrahman Dambazau, a former army chief and head of security for the presidential campaign. Dambazau, widely expected to be named National Security Adviser, may now be in the running for Defence Minister.
Former state governors, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) are also expected to be named to cabinet or presidential staff positions. The trio played prominent roles in the Buhari presidential campaign – Amaechi as campaign director-general, Fayemi policy director, while Fashola oversaw fundraising.
Party leaders, like former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, are also expected to nominate candidates for presidential consideration, but there is no doubt where the final decisions lie.
<h3>Policy Direction</h3>
Apart from the 800-page report of the Transition Committee, the new government can also count on another 73-page one; the outcome of a two-day summit that the ruling party’s policy directorate, under Fayemi, convened in May; bringing together technocrats, politicians and public officials.
With the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and management consulting firm, Bain &amp; Company Nigeria, the summit produced detailed recommendations on several sectors of the government: oil and gas, education, healthcare, security, agriculture and foreign affairs, among others. The reports outlined specific plans for the incoming ministers to implement in the short term, medium term  and long term. As things stand, it’ll be more than 100 days from May 29 before a cabinet is in place, and the incoming ministers will have some recalibrating to do.
For business executives and investors, the reassessing will be an unending obligation. As soon as the cabinet is named, the next round of tea-leaf reading – this time for policy direction – begins.

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2016? NO!

Kitted out in worker boots, hard hats and blue overalls, Iman Mkwanzi and Nene Mboweni are demolishing stereotypes. The owners of Mkweni Groundworks – a construction company specializing in general building, road signage, landscape and horticulture – are glass ceiling-crashers.
Mkwanzi and Mboweni began looking at different avenues for a new business, and discovered a trend – women were thriving in construction.
Inspired by them  making their mark in a male-dominated sector, they decided to get their hands dirty.
“We actually wanted to be in worker boots. We weren’t really fazed by project management, we felt like we needed to change the dynamic a bit and get in there…From the beginning, we’ve had funny reactions,” says Mboweni.
“You’ve got to be street smart – working from the ground upwards. If you know what the dynamic is at the bottom, understanding the dynamic at the top is easier. We’re trying to bring a fresh new mentality into it because there’s huge problems in this industry and enterprises have dominated and monopolized a space. The bigger enterprises grow, you lose contact with the ground but we’re in touch with it,” says Mkwanzi.
Mboweni studies medicine and runs a baking business, Nnüa; Mkwanzi works as a model and has just completed her degree in medical microbiology. For the duo, every day is labor intensive. Their new venture often involves breaking down glass walls and stereotypes.
“It’s male-dominated but if you’re assertive as a woman, you’re just as powerful,” says Mboweni.
“I’ve had stereotypes thrown at me my entire life. I’ve never cared and I’m not going to start caring about other people’s negative opinions – that just brings you down. We’re going to focus on the positive,” says Mkwanzi.
Constructing buildings and building careers – Mboweni and Mkwanzi are on their way up.

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Wearing Multiple Hats

It’s the last place you would expect to find a woman making a career: lying in the dirt on the edge of a cliff. Hunkered under the rock five meters from me is Justine Wintjes, archaeologist and Fine Art lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Under her keen eye is a rare rock art panel of stooped over black figures frozen for hundreds of years on the stone. Every now and again, her short cropped hair, black with a stripe of dyed pink fluorescent, bobs up and down as she sketches in the damp.
“In Africa, you can’t walk two meters without finding an artefact,” says Wintjes.
Below is a sheer drop to the village of Quthing, 183 kilometers South of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The squawks of chickens and barks of dogs drift up as people go about their daily lives. In many ways it was a mundane day in a strange place to be on the verge of an ancient art discovery.
“I just always loved old things. I was fascinated by ruins and abandoned buildings and old stuff. At some point I realized that through rock art I could combine my background in fine arts and archaeology.”
Wintjes and her team may have a host of digital gadgets to help guide them, but they still had to do good old-fashioned leg work in Quthing. They needed the help of the people to find the locations.
“Nowadays, because of online digital data, you can do a lot of preparatory fieldwork. Fieldwork on the internet, looking through books, through archival material you have collected digitally. You get a really good sense of where things are. But you are never entirely certain. You get errors in the archival system, or things that are slightly misleading. For example the two sites that we visited on this trip had the same name in the catalogue, but were in two very different sites. They were not even particularly close. Those are the sorts of things you can only find in the field,” says Wintjes.
“It’s a very exciting field particularly in Africa, given the antiquity we have on the continent. But there aren’t enough archaeologists, or art historians. There aren’t enough people interested in these fields. They really are important.”
So ends the discovery between a rock and a hard place to find.
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The Goat Path To Glory

It’s only been a month since Liberia declared itself Ebola-free. Just when you think there is rest and respite, a woman walks into the small transit unit set up in the country’s capital Monrovia. She’s weak and is soon diagnosed positive with Ebola. She breaks down with the volunteer doctors from Medecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. The disease has squirmed its way back – again.
It’s heart-wrenching, but for fieldworker Claire Waterhouse, every day is filled with disease and death, and the sorrow of families torn apart.
“It was so hard not to be able to go in there and comfort her or hug or do something to help. She died a few days later and I will never forget her face,” says Waterhouse.
Working in the Central African Republic (CAR), Waterhouse was called to action when Ebola hit Liberia. After working there for a couple of months, she moved to Guinea.
“Both countries were hard hit by poverty even before Ebola and had just been starting to progress, so to see the disappointment and heartbreak of normal citizens about yet another big setback in their development is really sad. It’s clearly a very personal struggle for people and of course a very scary time for them,” she says.
It’s harrowing. New cases feel like a personal failure; survivors struggle with post-traumatic stress, medical symptoms and have difficulties reintegrating; and doctors are unable to comfort patients without protective gear.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30671 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Claire-5.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“After having Ebola, you become immune, so we often employed survivors to help comfort new patients and look after children who were sick. They were some of the bravest people I’ve ever met. They faced their worst nightmares by returning to the place where they had been so sick and seen so much death but they still came and helped us every day.
“One of the favorite parts of my job is I get to interact with lots of staff – ambulance drivers who tell you how terrified they are transporting sick people but who do it anyway because they want to help their country, nurses who tell you about their brothers and sisters who died from the disease but who kept working through their grief to try to save others,” she says.
The epidemic has taken a toll as the virus continues to spread.
“I see the full picture and get really worried if we’ll ever manage to beat Ebola. But I believe from the bottom of my heart that in the end, we will get there&#8230; we have to.”

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Fighting  Fear, 24/7

By day, Nandipha Sekeleni, 26, is a medical intern at Edenvale General Hospital in Johannesburg, negotiating the hospital’s grim corridors in her jaded scrubs.
By evening, she slips out of her bloody hospital clothes to don a new role – that of her more famous alter ego.
Sekelani has 26,ooo followers on Instagram, not for her medical accolades – not yet – but for her fashion blog.
She started by posting pictures of herself in her self-styled outfits, expressing her moods through fashion. This won her followers, who were interested in her dual life.
Style however is not just about fashion and what one does, but about how one approaches life. Sekeleni is a true reflection of this mantra; she describes herself as nothing more than a woman who cared enough to try.
She is also a wife and mother, takes emergency calls 24/7, and works alternate weekends, which probably explains why she dedicates her Instagram page to young women who want to do it all.
Pictures of her chic outfits online are accompanied by messages of hope and inspiring texts on women’s empowerment.
“A woman can take on any job as long as it’s done well. As long as I do my best, I know I can compete with anyone in my industry. Any woman has the power to be whatever they want to be,” she says.
Sekeleni is lucky she has a support system at home, which she is grateful for.
Her inspirations? Victoria Beckham and Noni Gasa. Her advice to women wanting to unlock their true style potential? Shop, shop, shop until you have variety in your closet – and in life.
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Tag: August 2015

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