She ships out hundreds of jackets every year from Sweden to Japan. Yet, Taran Tarr, unbelievably,  has chosen to run an international cosplay clothing company from her home in a remote mining town 80 kilometers west of Johannesburg.
“I live in Carletonville in the middle of nowhere. When my friends come here they say they have gone into the twilight zone. The town looks like it is set 20 years into the past. I had to ask how I could promote my stuff.  I had to figure out how to promote myself without having to go to Johannesburg constantly,” says Tarr.
Number 5 Beryl Street is a small house. With a rusty gate and low concrete walls, this is the headquarters of BlakBunni cosplay. When Tarr opens the door you would be shocked. Her living room is more mountains of material and sewing machines than lounge and TV. Here, Tarr, along with three ladies including her mother, make character hoodies and cosplay outfits.
In this front-room factory, everywhere is a busy needle. Tarr’s most popular item is her Toothless hoodie, based on the Dragon from How To Train Your Dragon that sells for $150 on Etsy.com.
“It’s like my bread and butter; I make about five or six a month.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30678 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5673-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5673-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5673-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5673-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5673.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
After school, the 28-year-old Tarr chased a career many in a town of miners and engineers could never dream of – a fashion designer.
“I tried to get a job as a fashion designer, but apparently, I was not contemporary enough for the industry… It had to work. I had to make it work, because I couldn’t find a job anywhere else,” she says.
Tarr tried her hand at modeling before she moved back home to sew Matric dance dresses and the occasional cosplay outfit. She took a risk and asked her friends at a comic book store, based in Johannesburg, if they could put her hoodies on their shelves.
“That’s kind of where it started. It was just me sewing at the time and it was really tough to meet demand. Back then I could only do two hoodies a week.”
Getting the business off the ground in Carletonville took time, says Tarr. She went in with what she calls a bad business partner and struggled to make more than R1,000 ($80) a month. Social media changed everything.
“I struggled to find inspiration for two years, I didn’t want to do anything. So I got rid of the bad people around me and I started learning how to promote my stuff on social media. Things then exploded. I started getting tons of commissions, I started making more hoodies. I could employ the ladies. In two years, I have grown so much. I am now making R10,000 ($800) a month,” says Tarr.
Because 80% of the outfits Tarr makes sell overseas, sizes are a problem.
“It took a long time for me to learn to make things for people you never see. It’s pretty blind. So I usually ask for photos of the people in tight clothes and for the measurements online so that I have an idea of them. I build a 3D image of them in my mind.”
Orders on the BlakBunni book can be stranger than fiction. Tarr once had an order come in from New York for a full body leather suit for the opening of Persona 5.
“I usually don’t do body suits because they are so difficult. It wasn’t even a spandex one, it was leather. And I am never going to see this person.”
The cosplay business also has hard knocks.
“Last year I was in tears most days because the post office was on a solid six-month strike. The amount of people I had to refund because stuff got lost in the post was incredible. I am sure I lost R10,000 ($800) in refunds.”
Tarr has become more than the fashion designer she wanted to be. Her pieces might not be on the runways of Paris, but they will be carried on the backs of geeks from Japan to Mexico. It is stranger than fiction; you couldn’t have made it up.

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The Businesswoman  In The Twilight Zone

To think Leslie Rochat was once afraid of sharks. Very afraid.
But who wasn’t? The 1975 film Jaws got people wary of oceans, seas, puddles, buckets of water even.
“My nickname was ‘Shark Bait’ by my diving buddies because I was so scared,” says Rochat.
“How far would you go to conquer your fear? For me, this thing that I was very afraid of, sharks, went so much further than that. I loved the ocean but when I was six years old, I nearly drowned in the ocean and was saved by a lifeguard. I had a real fear of sharks but I believe the way of conquering fear, you have to face it, you have to understand it. In my case, it was exactly that, putting myself in those environments, and dump that name Shark Bait, which was pretty funny, but I was seriously petrified.”
The former TV presenter, model and financial advisor packed up her corporate job in 2003 to found AfriOceans Conservation Alliance, a non-profit organization in Cape Town, South Africa, to drive education, awareness and lobbying initiatives.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30680 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1Lesley-Rochat-for-Forbes_DSC8990-300x296.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="296" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1Lesley-Rochat-for-Forbes_DSC8990-300x296.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1Lesley-Rochat-for-Forbes_DSC8990-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1Lesley-Rochat-for-Forbes_DSC8990-600x592.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1Lesley-Rochat-for-Forbes_DSC8990-768x758.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1Lesley-Rochat-for-Forbes_DSC8990.jpg 778w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
She designed a unique shark conservation program that involved the satellite tagging and release of captive sharks.
Rochat dives with the sharks, spending enough time with them, analyzing them.
“The first couple of times you dive, you are nervous because you’re preconditioned to believe the misconception of sharks that is perpetuated is true.”
Rochat has now earned a new nickname – the Shark Warrior. Also an underwater photographer and environmental journalist, the desire to conquer her fears was stoked in 2001 by Maxine, a Ragged Tooth Shark in Cape Town.
“I was writing an article on the plight of sharks and I went to the Two Oceans Aquarium to dive into the tank and get photographs. And I noticed that there was a shark there, there were five, but the one had a scar around her whole neck, her gills.”
“I found out that Maxine had been caught six years prior in the shark nets in KwaZulu-Natal that capture over 600 of our sharks every year and many other marine animals, and most sharks die. Her species, the Ragged Tooth, is able to ventilate stationary; most sharks have to keep moving. She was able to survive,” she says.
On a cold winter morning in 2004, Rochat and a group of aquarists from the Two Oceans Aquarium slipped Maxine from her mobile tank onto an inflatable craft, and into the ocean. She then raised enough money to release the other four sharks.
“Now as a result of my work, I’m proud to say that the sharks never stay in the aquarium forever. Every four years they return that animal and catch another one and put them in for four years. So it continues to contribute to the science and also the animals don’t have to live in captivity their whole lives,” she says.
Rochat is conquering all her fears. She built her house in Franschoek, a small wine town in the Western Cape, herself. A steep stairway takes you to the wooden balcony enveloping the open plan lounge, kitchen and dining room. It’s breathtaking.
“Physically, on my hands and knees, I built this house. I was afraid because I’ve never built a house in my flipping life and it’s a daunting thing to do, you know? There’s nothing you can’t do if you really want to,” she says.
Facing her fears head on, she’s a warrior with bite and her conservation efforts just might save  a dwindling shark population.

1Lesley-Rochat-©201340406-Mike-Ellis-Onaiaphoto.com_

How Far Would You Swim To Conquer Your Fear?

Our beauty editor was the only journalist from Africa to meet Sharon Stone in Berlin, Germany, where the 57-year-old actress was launching the Restylane Proof in Real Life campaign as its brand ambassador. We asked her what keeps her going:
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<h4>Do you fear ageing? How do you feel about ageing gracefully?</h4>
No, I would not fear ageing. I had a massive brain hemorrhage in 2001 and I nearly died. I have the experience of knowing what it is like to consider the possibility of not ageing.
In reality, it is a stupid concept to fear ageing. Ageing is a beautiful thing. Ageing is a gift, a gift that we need to embrace. We don’t have to embrace it by thinking it would just be great to shrivel up, and bend over and then fall down and die.
We can embrace ageing valiantly; we can embrace ageing gracefully. I love the saying ‘gracefully surrendering the things of youth’. I think that is a beautiful thing. Sometimes when we surrender the things of youth, we surrender them wistfully. We have moments of sadness, moments of little heartbreak for not having the things we had when we were younger. It is a fact. You see them go by, and there is a wistful sadness when they go, but you have to let them go. It is ridiculous to try and keep them. It’s beautiful then to look at who you are.
And if you have to lock yourself in the bathroom with a bottle of booze and stay in there until you get it, it is a good thing to do! Make friends with the one you are right now, and your former self. You have to do that, because that is the now that you are, and you want to stay in the now and move forward.
If you keep looking backwards, you are just going to fall down. All you have is the possibility of looking forward.
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<h4>What is the campaign about and why did you get involved?</h4>
Proof in Real Life is a project I am working on with the pharmaceutical company Galderma to challenge misconceptions that aesthetic treatments create extreme results.
Many people are interested in aesthetic treatments but some are put off because they only see one side of the story – the images in magazines of extreme looks and altered facial features.
People these days want more subtle enhancements so they look like a healthier version of themselves, just taking off a few years or refreshing their appearance.
I got involved because I was excited and interested by the idea of providing first-hand evidence that allows people to judge the results for themselves. I myself had fillers to rebuild my face after my stroke.
I really support the concept of encouraging greater openness and awareness of aesthetic treatments. Although it is becoming a much more accepted practice, people can find the choice daunting and are scared of making inappropriate decisions.
I hope that this project will improve awareness of aesthetic treatments and the results so that people are better able to make an informed decision.
[Ten sets of identical twins were used in the Proof in Real Life campaign. One twin of each set had treatments since February. They were introduced on stage by Sharon Stone to compare and prove how good and natural the results of aesthetic treatments in real life can be. Restylane fillers helps add volume and definition to the skin, whilst Restylane Skinboosters increase hydration.]
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<h4>What would you tell a younger woman about growing older?</h4>
‘Don’t try so hard.’ I think, when we’re young, we try way too hard. We don’t realize simply being young is enough. There’s nothing wrong with being young and not knowing &#8211; that is the beauty of being young.
Now that we are living so much longer, we over-think age, but we have to stop and reframe it. A lot of us, we buy into the concept ‘this age means that’. But we have to put a pin in that and step back and realize: a certain age just doesn’t mean what we were told it was going to mean.
You have to think: I really could live a whole lot longer than I depended on, my life could be a whole lot different. I’ve got a lot more life ahead of me than I thought I was going to! So if I want energy, and I want to have hope and dreams, I actually can. I have to reframe this now. In order to get my energy, how do I take care of my health and wellbeing, to get this all back together again for this piece of my life that I’m going to have.
Because this is the age where we didn’t think we were going to have another big chapter of our lives. And we have – we can have another career if we want. We have an opportunity to look at the world and shape the world.
When we were children, women weren’t out there fighting to see if we could shape the world. Women that were ahead of us were out there trying to fight so that we could break the glass ceiling with our heads, and our generation did break the ceiling with our heads. Guess what, we didn’t just get a broken head, we get to have another chapter.
This is what is very exciting for me: If we’re going to have another chapter, let’s look damn good while we have it. Let’s look great, let’s feel great and let’s go get it. And let’s not blow up the f*^$#g planet while we’re doing it. Let’s see how we have a peaceful future; let’s see how we have a feminine reality. How can we create a beautiful future, let’s see what we want to do with this next piece, because we have it, and I don’t think we knew we were going to.
We’re going to have to blast that engine again, and it is just such a great opportunity, because we’re up to that. It’s like they are calling our name. We’re the women who have experience, we’re the women who have the education and we are the women who have wisdom.
We all know, because we all were younger, that there is a power in looking good. It is not a secret, but it is a secret we never openly said: If you look good, you get your power. You get stuff done! However you do it, there is a power in looking good. We want to look good, because there is stuff we need to do and we need to get it done!
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What is your best treatment before a red carpet appearance?
Before a red carpet, I put my makeup on, and then I get into the bathtub. It makes my skin look radiant and my makeup look really good after it has been a bit steamed up.
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<h4>If you have fillers or an aesthetic procedure, what would you ask the doctor beforehand?</h4>
I would ask: How much downtime? Will it bruise? Will it hurt, because I am a real baby?
Aesthetic procedures have improved and evolved enormously over the years: For example, think back to our parents’ generation, when women got these horrible facelifts and they would look like they’ve been sucked through a wind tunnel and their hairline would recede – we can all see the evolution. We’ve been through the phase where everyone wanted gigantic lips, and now everyone wants gigantic butts, right? All these different phases…
The thing, for me, that you want to stay true to, which never goes out of style, is classic beauty. And that is a subtle thing. It’s staying true to your own self.
I tell my children (they are boys) that boys are like trees and girls are like flowers. You have to remember every flower is not a white rose. There are a thousand flowers in the garden and it is important to remember what flower you are, and try to turn yourself into a different flower.
We need to keep ourselves fresh and make ourselves into the best flower that we are. I think that is the key here with these aesthetic treatments. It allows us to stay fresh, but who we are. The best evolution of aesthetic treatments is that it allows us to not change ourselves into someone else. It allows us to stay who we are, and make a subtle change to feel fresh and happy. I noticed with the treated twins in the campaign that they just felt happy; they didn’t feel different. That is a good thing.
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<h4>Do you have a secret to beauty?</h4>
It’s a mystery to me. My parents were gorgeous, they were so good-looking, it was just crazy. For me to be good-looking was no mystery, my parents were just beautiful.
I think, as you get older, it’s not as much about the looks you were born with. It’s about the way that you live your life. If you are a mean person, you look like it when you get older. It is about having happy thoughts. You never look bad with lines around your eyes – I think everybody with lines around their eyes looks great because you know that person lived their life laughing and they had a happy life. But happiness is a discipline. Pleasure is a thing you have for a second and it goes away. Happiness is a choice that you make that sustains you. If you go two-three days and you’re unhappy, you have to stop and look at your life and think ‘what do I have in my life that is crushing me?’ And cut it loose. A person, situation, food, drink, whatever it is. You’ve got to stop it. You have to stay with the discipline of happiness, it is like burning at the gym, it’s a real thing.

Sharon-Stone-etch

‘There Is A Power In Looking Good’

The millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the early adaptors of technology and a demographic companies simply cannot afford to ignore. In Africa’s booming wedding industry, estimated to be worth $3.35 billion, millennial couples – understandably – comprise more than 83% of customers.
Which means that what worked for bridal marketing 10 years ago is no longer relevant, given that couples today have completely different – and often stratospheric – expectations. To differentiate requires finesse.
And that’s what Tamara Jonah-Goka, CEO of Lionheart Events, excels at.
At her office, tucked away in a cul-de-sac off the road leading to Accra’s biggest exhibition center, Jonah-Goka is hard at work planning yet another Gen Y wedding. Lionheart, set up six years ago, is Ghana’s leading event management company.
Born to successful entrepreneurial parents, Jonah-Goka has business acumen encrypted in her genes.
She is the daughter of Sam Jonah, former chief executive of Ashanti Goldfields in South Africa and one of Africa’s wealthiest men.
“I think because I have a successful dad, it drives me a lot more. It is more of a weight on your shoulders and I know I cannot fail,” she says.
Jonah-Goka grew up watching her mother organize social functions and events at home, which led to her own love for events planning. After high school, she studied sociology in Kingston University in the United Kingdom. She took a year off after graduation to figure things out.
She wanted to do something creative, but wasn’t sure what.
Her brother suggested she take an online psychometric test to see which career would be best suited for the creative person in her. Over two hours and a hundred questions later, Jonah-Goka had her moment of truth. It turned out she had a strong affinity for people and planning. Armed with this knowledge, she decided to invest in a Master’s program with special focus on hospitality, tourism and events. She soon relocated to South Africa to work for a start-up wedding planning company, where she worked on a number of high-profile weddings, most notably that of Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter.
“I knew South Africa was always going to be temporary, Ghana was always home and the plan was always to relocate,” says Jonah-Goka.
On her return to the thriving cosmopolitan city of Accra, she quickly got to work, attending events.
“One thing I noticed was everything seemed very generic and I felt like there wasn’t a lot of design to weddings in Ghana.”
She began by paying a company to carry out market research to identify competitors, trends and insights into the events industry in Ghana. This was the first step at differentiation.
“My vision was always to create events that spoke about the personality of who my clients were instead of me.”
Her customers had to be 100% satisfied. Today, the company has hosted over 300 major events including weddings, corporate events and private functions, providing turnkey solutions for any budget. Every Lionheart event also comes with its own signature.
“I remember we flew in an ice sculpture from South Africa at no extra cost to the client because he wanted something he had never seen before and I felt that would be a nice touch,” says Jonah-Goka.
Going above and beyond for her clients has earned her a reputation for delivering quality, which does not necessarily translate to expensive; she works to all budgets.
But Jonah-Goka’s journey has not been without challenges. Tragedy struck when her brother, who influenced and supported her career choice, passed away.
On the work front, she was faced with a paucity of skilled labor. It was tough looking for people who bought into her vision. Consequently, she was heavily dependent on vendors. Chairs, flowers, décor…everything had to be outsourced.
“I knew I had to control my entire production line in order to deliver the quality and standard I wanted to see.” Eighty per cent of Jonah-Goka’s customers are repeat customers.
“The challenge with repeat customers is they know the value you bring and there is always a new pressure to wow them again and deliver something better than what you did before.”
Her’s is not a normal nine to five job. Like her businessman father, Jonah-Goka is up at 5AM every day. With her work, she hopes to create a sustainable hospitality industry in Ghana focused on imparting training to people passionate about the events sector, thereby creating jobs. Jonah-Goka is leading the pack of young entrepreneurs in Ghana, growing rapidly, just like their country.

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The Online Test That Made A Party Queen

Stellenbosch, located in South Africa’s Western Cape province, is famous for its world-class wineries, and is also a university town, boasting one of South Africa’s leading public research institutions.
Stellenbosch University is also home to Innovus, an award-winning technology transfer company, where Anita Nel is the lady in charge as CEO. Nel used to be a high school teacher in this pretty wine town and was with a start-up company prior to this high-profile assignment.
Innovus facilitates entrepreneurial support and development and manages commercialization of the university’s innovation and intellectual property portfolio through patenting, licensing and formation of spin-out companies.
Being CEO may seem like a tough task for a teacher-turned-innovator, but Nel is best equipped to understand entrepreneurship and the challenges facing new companies. She has led both a start-up and a venture capital firm that invested in technology start-ups.
On Nel’s LinkedIn profile, Sol Bezuidenhout, who has worked with her, says about her: “Her consistency as an overachiever is astounding. Anita is a driven, passionate and smart individual with vast business experience. She has no qualms in tackling the almost impossible challenges, and I yet have to see her fail. Anita is a great listener and cares after and inspires the people who work for her.”
Nel says her secret to success is asking: “If I fail, what will happen, if I succeed, what will happen and what is the most likely outcome. Does the most likely outcome fit my larger aspirations and if so, are the pros of success larger than the cons of failure?”
“I’m never afraid to ask for help if I need it. There is no shame in asking for it. I take advantage of the network I am part of and also of social media to tell people about our projects,” adds Nel.
“We, as individuals, should also keep in mind that we are brands in our own right and we should market and manage our own personal brands.”
The best path to entrepreneurship, she says, is to solve a problem that people live with but are unhappy about.
A major problem however is that “the African business industry is dominated by men so much that sometimes people address men in meetings even though a woman is the boss”.
“When that happens, I still participate and raise my opinion and ignore the negativity. I stand up for myself in a calm and constructive manner and speak logically about the issue and realize it is not about power but a common vision for a successful outcome. It is always better to come up with solutions than constantly report problems and build on negativity.”
In addition, she is of the opinion that business is sometimes difficult for women on account of the “paternalistic culture” but anyone can be successful. Patience is a key element of success.
“People feel that without a company there is no credibility but that it is not the case. It is better to wait until you are ready.”
The biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is the inability to be flexible. Confidence in one’s products and solutions is key, but overconfidence is dangerous.
“My journey in business was better when I got a mentor. Having someone I trusted who could give me advice made life easier and made me a better boss. The more I listened to the advice, I noticed that not all criticism is negative,” she says.
Boss or businesswoman, Nel is clearly enjoying every moment of it.

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‘Don’t Be  Afraid To Ask’

The year was 1980, when Zimbabwe gained independence and thousands of educated black Zimbabweans found new opportunities in government and public institutions.
Around the time, Kubi Chaza, an international model, actress and nurse trained in the United Kingdom, had just returned home to Zimbabwe.
The opportunities in her country did not challenge Chaza (now Indi) enough, so she chose to defy the odds, deciding to plunge into the hitherto unknown cosmetic industry catering to black-skinned women.
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At the time, there were only beauty products for the white-skinned.
Before returning to Zimbabwe and becoming known in her country as a businesswoman, Chaza had trained as a nurse in Scotland, worked as a model in London and even appeared in a James Bond film.
“I was tall and decided to take up modeling at the London Academy,” she recalls. Soon after, she found herself traveling to Europe for assignments.
Her modeling work soon caught the attention of film producers and her career took a critical turn. She became an actress, working with Hollywood legend Roger Moore in the 1973 Bond film Live And Let Live (in which she plays a saleswoman).
Chaza later married John Indi, a film producer and actor, who has played a part in films Mandela (1987) and A Far Off Place (1993). In 1981, the couple decided to return to Zimbabwe.
It was not a bad decision as soon, Chaza established a hair salon at Machipisa, a teeming shopping center in the bustling suburb of Highfield in Harare.
“That is when I discovered there were no cosmetics that catered for black people, especially women. There was a huge demand for cosmetics for black women, [but] none were available,” says Chaza.
Noticing a gap in the market, she grabbed the opportunity and established an eponymous beauty business.
“At first it was not easy as some people felt that the name Kubi was not marketable for cosmetic products,” recalls Chaza.
Despite the discouraging remarks, she was determined and soon was able to build the House of Kubi into a renowned brand.
With a factory in the industrial area of Msasa, Harare, the House of Kubi produces popular products to redefine the beauty of the African woman.
However, like most companies in Zimbabwe, Kubi was not spared by the economic downturn. The operating environment for most companies has made profit margins smaller and recapitalization has become a major challenge.
The House of Kubi has been affected by the influx of cheaper products in the market. Most of these cosmetics are skin lighteners, harmful to the user and sold illegally on the black market.
To cushion her brand from this harsh environment, Chaza has now expanded her business to South Africa, where the cosmetics are manufactured and distributed.
Despite her busy schedule, she is also the patron of the Our Children Our Future Trust (OCOFT), an organization that assists children whose parents are serving time in prison. Through Chaza, OCOFT is planning to establish a center where these children are trained various life skills whilst their parents also benefit from the program once released from prison.
Chaza and her husband now spend most of their time traveling between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The enterprising businesswoman continues to have a lot of passion for the film industry; she is a member of the Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe.
It’s not time yet for Chaza to say
‘The End’.

Kubi-Edited-3

Beauty & the Bond

Mary Bomela appears in the corridor of her office in Johannesburg, stopping every second to greet and speak to staff. It’s easy to see why she draws people to her – she’s assertive, forthright and has a ready smile.
“Okay, that’s enough, get back to work now,” she then tells them, laughing.
Bomela is CEO of Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), a sustainable asset base for the benefit of mine, energy and construction workers and their dependants. She always knew she wouldn’t follow a traditional career path like her parents did. She knew a qualification in finance would enable her to work in any industry and break the glass ceiling. Thus she studied to become a chartered accountant and also acquired an MBA degree.
“In my previous life, I worked for the mines. Actually, it’s funny. The irony of it is that, as the Mineworkers Investment Company, we don’t invest in mines,” says Bomela.
A former Financial Manager at De Beers, Bomela worked both in mine operations and in the corporate office before discovering that her investment knowledge made her an asset to MIC. For Bomela, the male-dominated industry is easy game once you have the know-how.
“I don’t think it’s about being male or female. It is a bit daunting sometimes being a woman and there are only males but once you’re in your comfort zone, it’s just about being yourself especially if you know what you’re talking about. It’s preparation over everything. If you have your facts, it makes it so much easier, just stand your ground.
“Along my journey, I’ve always had mentors for different aspects of my life and stages of my life. I use men as mentors because they know how to manoeuvre this world – the political world, the inside stories that you sometimes don’t get,” says Bomela.
In spite of being able to hold her own alongside her male counterparts, Bomela admits that being a woman often poses other challenges.
“I’m a CEO, mother and wife, I just found that a lot of my counterparts have wives at home that they can lean on whereas as a mother if your child is sick, you have to make sure that you can take care of them or if there’s a dinner, you don’t want to drive alone. Sometimes our male counterparts don’t appreciate that challenge.”
Bomela juggles her many roles but is adamant that a balancing act is a myth. A strategist at heart, she broaches everything like an investment decision – options weighed and priorities set.
“Equal balance does not exist – where you want to be perfect at work and perfect at home. I just say as you go along your journey at different times in your life, your priorities change. There are times when other things have to suffer because you’re concentrating on another. But for me the important thing is never to compromise for too long. It’s a short-term sacrifice.
“Sometimes as women we have so many balls in the air that we think we can catch them all at the same time. If we do that, one is bound to fall at some stage. Juggle fewer balls and set your priorities, they will change as you move along – your commitments will change with your life,” she says.
Bomela is pioneering the work-life balance at MIC which focuses on prioritizing over balance. Research by Kenexa Research Institute in 2007 showed employees were more favorable towards an organization’s efforts to support work-life balance. For a woman, it’s a necessary model.
“Our office is about 70 percent women and it’s nice to have an environment where people can relate to each other and understand the problems and issues. There’s flexibility, you can work from home if you need to, you can rearrange meetings. There’s an understanding.”
For Bomela, her priorities are set, leading MIC and her family – all the other balls just fall in place.

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Work. Life. And The  Female Juggler

In 1998, Sex And The City, the American soapie on four women living and bonding in the heart of Manhattan, hit our TV screens and grabbed eyeballs across the world. It was critically acclaimed and focused on relationships, sex and femininity. One aspect endured through the series: their sartorial sense.
The women, in their mid-30s, showcased high fashion and set style trends during the show’s epic six-year run. While women across the world sat glued to their TV sets, a young girl in Accra, Ghana, too watched in awe, forming impressions that would one day help her script her own story.
That young girl, Aisha Obuobi, is today the founder and Creative Director of Christie Brown, a luxury fashion brand born of her love for juxtaposing African textiles and wax prints with high fashion.
Her audience – much like the TV soap she loved – is the young professional woman. The brand was named after her grandmother, who had been a seamstress all her life.
Growing up, Obuobi dreamt of becoming a lawyer. Her parents both had a background in journalism, so they raised Obuobi and her brother in a liberal environment where they were encouraged to be creative and pursue their passions.
It was the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria, however, that drove her to pursue a career in fashion.
“I realized there was a pulse in the city and everybody was wearing African prints. I asked myself ‘why do we not have this trend in Ghana’?” says Obuobi.
At the time, wax prints as a fashion statement was foreign to Ghana. Having grown up around it, Obuobi realized people were not wearing it in interesting enough ways.
Her eureka moment happened when watching her favorite show Sex In The City. She imagined the actresses sporting high fashion infused with the rich textural wax prints from Africa.
Since its inception, the brand has evolved to incorporate modern styles and trends yet maintaining the trademark African design. With no prior knowledge of sewing or dressmaking, Obuobi drew on the only skill she was half good at – sketching, and set out to launch her brand.
She initially went to local dressmakers with her sketches and commissioned them to bring her ideas to life. It was challenging as there was a shortage of skills and she struggled to get quality output. After using up all her savings ($1,500), a couple of trials and hundreds of man-hours sewing and editing, she was ready for the brand’s launch.
“When I started out, I didn’t even have a sewing machine and so I had to borrow a machine and sew in the dark sometimes with a torch due to lack of electricity at my grandmum’s house,” recalls Obuobi.
Christie Brown was going to be a high-end luxury brand targeting the young upwardly-mobile woman not younger than 25, who was very mature and confident and aspirational with a sense of elegance and class.
Based on this audience, she organized a fashion show and Christie Brown was born.
The brand was an immediate hit. For the first time in Ghana, a new brand emerged that combined modern fashion with traditional prints.
The next step was streamlining the manufacturing process. Obuobi decided to enrol in fashion school to study the anatomy of a garment. Her big break came while still in fashion school. She was selected to debut her brand at the first-ever Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in South Africa. It was her first showing on an international stage.
She was adjudged ‘emerging designer of the year’, and  has since showcased her brand on numerous platforms including the famous European fashion weeks. International stars like Alicia Keys have endorsed her brand. The brand was selected the official designer for singing sensation Beyoncé on her Mrs Carter tour in the United States and across the world.
Obuobi has been featured on CNN and BBC for her achievements in the fashion industry. With the level of success Christie Brown is already experiencing and her international acclaim, it would be easy to assume Christie Brown would relocate to international markets. However, Obuobi is in no hurry to move her brand abroad.
“I am so determined to build this brand for the continent, I want to be part of the brand that shapes the fashion scene on the continent,” she says emphatically.
The brand is now is now in its sixth year. Obuobi recently launched her ready-to-wear range in a new African-inspired store in the heart of Oxford Street, an exclusive shopping district in Accra. Christie Brown is now looking to expand its e-commerce offering. The online world awaits.

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Dressing The Likes Of Beyoncé

The Adams Pavilion, a dusty shopping center selling aromatic oils, kitschy cushions and costumes in the noisy Sar Bet area of Addis Ababa, is hardly the setting for a flagship shop selling high-value branded shoes to 16 stores around the world, from Singapore to Switzerland to Silicon Valley.
Yet, that is where it all started – from a single outlet in Ethiopia.
Above the din of traffic outside, the diminutive Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, in jeans, a white T-shirt and blue blazer, her hair coiffed into a careless bun, is retelling the genesis of her hugely successful business, soleRebels, 10 years ago.
To her customers across the world – ranging from techies in San Jose to gym nuts in Taiwan – she has broken every popular perception of Ethiopia. Instead of handouts going into the country, here was handcrafted footwear – with soles made of recycled tires – going out of it to stores across the globe.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30632 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XB4R0064-1.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
We are sipping espressos – from the local Starbucks-inspired café below her shop – and Alemu mentions that her humble middle class background taught her to be industrious. Her mother helped as a cook in the kitchen of a local hospital, while her father worked hard as an electrician in the same hospital to raise his daughter and two sons.
“Growing up, I saw people trying to make it every day at the hospital. Leprosy patients getting treatment would also work. What I learnt from them is their dedication, how they worked hard and loved life and their culture,” says Alemu.
At home, she had the same rights as her brothers; her parents saw her as no different.
“In college, I wanted to create something authentic at the same time global, supporting the local community. But 10 years ago in Addis Ababa, it was almost impossible to do something like that because of the infrastructure.”
Alemu got married, and at the age of 25, quit her “boring” accountant job in a private company wanting to turn entrepreneur. She had nothing going for her except hope. She wanted to create a brand out of Africa, tapping into the local culture and talent.
“I had to put together a plan and be really brave.” But why shoes?
“I was looking at what people did widely in Ethiopia, and that was scarves, dresses and robes. I wanted to be innovative, and start from scratch.”
Recycled tire didn’t cost anything, and it was not an alien concept. Ethiopia’s rebels had famously fought off the invading forces in ‘barabasso’ sandals made of old tires.
Alemu took this idea and self-financed ($5,000) her dream, starting with five workers in a workshop on her grandmother’s land in the village of Zenabwork.
It took her two years to get it right. Initially, the prototypes weighed six kilos a pair.
“The shoes were really heavy, as I didn’t know how to cut the tire. They looked really funny. I kept trying and trying to develop the perfect product.”
She knew she had to come up with an artisanal product using local fibers she could sell globally moving up the Africa value chain.
“In my factory, in Yeshideble, we don’t have any machinery. You will find a lot of people sewing. It’s like music. We have a unique way of working with communities, where we have a culture of spinning and making our own clothes at home. These women, when they are old, are not so productive, so we give them jobs. We have 120 women who spin for us, they don’t need to go out, we collect [the goods] from them every week…These are mothers, grandmothers…they have their coffee and spin for soleRebels.” They are also paid more than the industry standard.
She is now building a $20-million state-of-the-art factory, to be completed by the end of the year.
“We currently do 200 pairs of shoes a day, when the big factory opens, we will do 2,500 a day.”
Alemu has standalone stores in Barcelona, Vienna, Zurich, Athens, and is set to open her first shop in Canada. She has 12 stores across Taiwan. Her label is certified by the World Fair Trade Organization.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30631 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/MC_OPEN1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MC_OPEN1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MC_OPEN1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MC_OPEN1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MC_OPEN1.jpg 666w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
Her colorful shoes retail from $65 onwards. Earlier this year, Alemu diversified her business to include bespoke leather jackets (available online at about $60), dresses and bags.
Alemu is also launching in September a new coffee brand, Garden Of Coffee, “hand-roasted by traditional Ethiopian coffee artisans”.
Is the mother of three a billionaire yet? There is slight hesitation, and then a smile.
“Let’s see…The company’s growing but we are always looking at investing our monies somewhere.”
And then she says in one breathless sentence: “It doesn’t matter how much I have. What I want is to create a platform for everybody and they can come and work. And it’s something I love to do. I see it, I invented it, it grew up with me, it’s inside me, it’s my baby.”
Ten years ago, nobody talked about entrepreneurs, says Alemu.
“I was not looked at as an entrepreneur, only as a businesswoman.”
Times have changed. Alemu was recently awarded a PhD (Hons) in commerce from Ethiopia’s Jimma University.
“The government believes in entrepreneurs, and I am really happy we get noticed at the end of the day,” she says.
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Her guiding philosophy
“One of the things helping me is not to see myself as a woman. When I see myself as a woman, I always fail. We don’t have the confidence, we always say yes, we don’t say no – that’s going to take you down. Whenever I deal with people in offices, I am a business person. I have a goal and no one can stop me. All I think about is my business and my customers.”
If the last decade was this eventful, where does she see herself in the next 10 years?
“I will probably have 500 stores around the world,” says Alemu, ever the optimist set to ensure that with every step, her country moves forward too.

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Heart And Sole

There are few fashion events in the world solely celebrating the rich tapestry of talent in Africa. The Africa Fashion Show Geneva (AFSG), an annual event held in the beautiful Swiss city, celebrates the continent’s history and diversity, in turn helping change the way the world perceives Africa.
This year, the show, in its third edition, held in June at the Mandarin Oriental, Geneva, was a feast for the senses.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30620" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Etita-La-Diva_Nigeria.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30619" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/by-Julius-Reuben_EXN1245-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/by-Julius-Reuben_EXN1245-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/by-Julius-Reuben_EXN1245-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/by-Julius-Reuben_EXN1245-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/by-Julius-Reuben_EXN1245-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/by-Julius-Reuben_EXN1245.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30618" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bodhisattva-south-africa.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
The models sashayed the ramp in vibrant colors to the beat of African drums receiving a rapturous applause.
The night was indeed a celebration of Africa, its fashion, people, culture and cuisine.
Tayo Ayinla Omotola, Nigerian and the founder of AFSG, who has lived and worked in Geneva for over eight years for the Africa Progress Panel chaired by Kofi Annan (former United Nations’ Secretary-General), is very clear the show is to promote cultural exchange across borders and encourage a positive narrative about the continent.
“I wanted to showcase positive African stories through fashion and in doing so highlight Africa’s creativity, which contributes to its economic development but with potential to do so even more,” says Omotola, who aims to eventually create a greater awareness of the untapped potential of the African fashion industry to spur socioeconomic development on the continent.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30617" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Afrokulcha-South-Africa.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30614" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana1.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30613" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pistis-Ghana.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
South African designer Nonkululeko Magi, the founder of Afrokulcha who started her fashion business two years ago, was at the event too, to gain exposure in an international market. She showcased Africa’s current threads and trends.
“It’s time to showcase African talent. The time is now. Africa is rising,” says Magi. Cape Town designer Yumnaa Firfirey of Bodhisattva, agrees: “Fashion does have the power to transform lives. We need to unleash that potential.”
Africa’s creative industry can’t agree more.

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An African Summer In The Alps

Do you thrive on the buzz at work, or do you grimace at the mere thought of phones ringing or colleagues shouting at each other across the office floor?
According to Cape Town-based Dr Annemarie Lombard, CEO of Sensory Intelligence Consulting, our sensory thresholds play a crucial role in our perception of the world.
Understanding whether you have a high or low threshold for different senses can have a considerable impact on both your personal and working life.
“Sensory intelligence has a major role to play because the world is so technology orientated, overloaded and disengaged,” she says.
Lombard explains the brain has three levels that work in conjunction with one another. The top level is the cortex of the brain and the IQ center, where thinking, learning and reasoning take place. The middle section is the stronghold of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). The lower brain level, often referred to as the primitive brain, is the sensory intelligence area of the brain and the gateway for all information. This information is filtered and creates triggers for the two top parts.
“Sensory intelligence is the understanding and insight on how your lower brain triggers actions and responses in order for people to make adaptations and better choices. If we can understand and control the brain at this level, we can use the senses to influence cortical thinking and working of the higher brain structures,” says Lombard.
With a PhD in Health Sciences and 24 years of national and international clinical experience as an occupational therapist, Lombard says sensory intelligence thresholds have a direct impact on our behaviors, habits, relationships and choices.
“A low threshold to a sense means the body recognizes it quickly, over-responds and tends to go into over stimulation, while a high threshold means the body takes longer to create the firing pattern, under-responds and is often under-stimulated,” she says.
While typically each individual will have a different threshold for each sense, Lombard says that more often groupings occur, with people often having low thresholds across various senses resulting in a generalized low threshold sensory profile and vice-versa.
“While we see fluctuations across various systems, low threshold people typically will be fussy eaters, dislike certain tastes and textures. They will go to the same restaurant and may have particular daily rituals. They can be change aversive, hate surprises and prefer to mingle in small groups. They can be seen as fussy and controlling, but are in fact continuously working hard to ‘protect’ themselves from over stimulation. They have a tendency to say no as they need to think and process more,” says Lombard.
On the flip side, high threshold people love going to a new restaurants, drive change and surprises. They are often sociable and enjoy being in a large group, are often daring and say yes very quickly.
Lombard says sensory thresholds drive the brain to naturally avoid what feels wrong and seeks out what feels right. She adds that companies taking sensory processing into consideration when planning an office environment can boost productivity and cohesion.
For example, a person with a low threshold for sound will do better in a quiet corner of the office, with the phone volume turned down, whereas a person with a high threshold for sound will do well in the busiest part of the office.
“Our sensory behaviors drive a huge amount of our working habits. It is critical to understand and manage engagement and collaboration in open plan office environments. People get irritable, distracted and fight because they don’t understand the underlying triggers, which 80 percent of the time have a sensory root,” says Lombard.
Understanding your thresholds also allows you to put strategies in place to reduce distractions in order to improve concentration and focus, and reduce stress.
“Know what to avoid, anticipate what you cannot change and plan accordingly. You can also self-regulate by using high threshold drivers which help to reduce sensory overload,” says Lombard, who has trademarked her company name.
Many occupational therapists work with sensory processing as a therapy, particularly with children. But Lombard says her focus has been to see how sensory intelligence can be of use to every person and to the business environment.
And according to Queen Ramotsehoa, Founder of the Tsheto Leadership and Coaching Academy in Johannesburg, understanding her sensory profile created a new path to self-awareness.
“I find the layers available for leaders in terms of knowing themselves and their team members go deeper than a lot of people recognize. One of the characteristics of both leaders and employees alike is the intake of stimuli through their senses. I know a lot of people battle in open plan offices, including the arrangement and even color of the furniture,” says Ramotsehoa.
Having had her profile done in 2012, she says: “I learned a cluttered and noisy environment makes me miserable. I realised self-awareness immediately empowered me to manage myself, especially when under pressure, firstly by understanding where the irritation comes from and what to do to ensure I don’t end up snapping and upsetting people around me. For maximum performance, leaders need to take sensory profiles into account when they create space for themselves and for others.”

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How To Manage Your Sensory Threshold

It’s always a humbling experience meeting artistes. Their discipline has come from years of slog, and they take their assiduous approach and loyalty to the craft to almost everything they do.
Loyalty is a key word.
Katinka Schumann is Divisional Executive: High Impact &amp; Regions at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in Johannesburg. And she has been with the organization 21 years, joining them the year South Africa became a democracy.
It’s the only career she says she has known.
Schumann could have also made a career in music – she spent years playing the viola, but says she was too ambitious, leaving it to her more gifted sisters, two of who are now well-known pianists in Austria and Cape Town.
Growing up in the beautiful winelands of Stellenbosch, in South Africa’s Western Cape, where “art, music, culture and intellectual conversations” were in abundance, hers was “a musical family”. All her four sisters too studied music, goaded on by a diligent mother, who set aside money just so her daughters could take music lessons.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30604 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0175-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0175-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0175-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0175-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0175-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0175.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“We all played, and would have family concerts [at home]. We played in orchestras from a young age. Somehow there was never a feeling I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do.”
Which is why, Schumann spent two years as an exchange student in Germany after her matric “to discover what she really wanted to do”. She worked odd jobs, and even studied German.
“There wasn’t a big cheque around me, I really had to look after myself. I had R1,000 in my pocket for the year, I found a job, I sold ice-cream, I sold strawberries, delivered newspapers on Sundays in the snow. But I got a lot of money I was grateful for. It was just one of those things. As children, we were told to take responsibility. Our parents said they were not going to spoil us with comforts.”
Schumann was still finishing her MBA when she received a call “out of the blue” from the IDC, asking if she would like to join.
“I hadn’t even heard of the IDC then. Within days, I convinced my husband about it… I remember I arrived at the IDC starry-eyed, knowing very little about business. But I learned so much. I would walk around with a little black book, and if somebody said ‘dividends’, I would write that down; if somebody said ‘financial structure’, I would say ‘how do you calculate it’. I loved the traveling, every second week, to a different place, looking at different industries, from mushrooms to wine to dirty foundries, and working with communities under a tree, trying to negotiate with a chief versus the CEO of a listed company. The IDC is still like that today – it’s a very broad spectrum you get exposed to at a young age,” she says.
When Schumann joined the IDC, she says it was “a white male-dominated environment with a few black people”.
She says that’s when she knew growing up with sisters and always being competitive was a good thing.
“I didn’t grow up in an environment where you had to fight with men, I just assumed it was like that. So maybe I was oblivious to it, maybe in a way it helped. I didn’t look for conflict. In hindsight, I think they were testing the waters with me. Today, more than half the staff at the IDC is women. They are in many senior positions.”
Busi Mabuza is the current chairperson of the IDC, which is celebrating its 75th year.
“Busi has this calm, mature nature, she’s gentle but also tough. She has a maturity, even-handedness; it’s a calm environment, she never allows it to get completely out of control. So I think as an organization, we have moved mountains, a lot faster than many of our peers or others in the financial services industry,” says Schumann, who has other role models too – in life and art.
Both her grandmothers, she says, were formidable women.
“My mother’s mother came from Holland in 1948, very poor, and through suffering raised her children. She was a tough woman and a go-getter. She was a world traveler on a shoe-string budget her whole life. My dad’s mother was an amazing woman too. Her husband was a lecturer, and started the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University. He was well-known, but she on the sidelines probably achieved more than he ever did. She spent a lot of time working on women’s issues. There probably wasn’t many women with formal university education then, which she had. She did a lot despite people possibly thinking she was a housewife. I think that’s how our parents’ generation worked it; they made the men look like they were heroes; on the sidelines, they actually achieved a lot on their own. For our generation, we shouldn’t complain. Life for women is a lot easier than it was then.”
In art, Schumann counts her namesake, South African filmmaker and actress Katinka Heyns, a role model.
“She’s probably the best South African filmmaker and producer we still have. She is an artist with words, and very special.”
Schumann had the opportunity to meet Heyns through the IDC recently and calls it one of her “awe moments”.
“I said to her I have always been asked when introduced to people, ‘are you Katinka Heyns’? All my life, I have lived in her shadow because of this name, as it’s not common. Now, when I phone her and say, ‘hi Katinka, this is Katinka’, she says ‘it’s like we are talking to a tunnel’.”
Part of what also makes Schumann’s job at the IDC interesting is the opportunity to assess how companies grow and constantly meet entrepreneurs.
“I have the greatest respect for entrepreneurs; they have so many challenges, and they focus on solutions and try and overcome them. Every now and then they stumble but they have that goal in mind that they have to make it. We see failures as well. You get entrepreneurs who disappoint you, so it is the full spectrum.”
Schumann never planned on staying at the IDC this long – there is still so much to do, she says.
“Our job is never done. Our economy is not growing fast enough, there is unemployment, so there is always scope to do more.”
Schumann also has enough opportunity to work with the younger generation.
“The young women are eager and anxious to move quicker. The one thing I am seeing a lot more is they are starting to use their relationships. Twenty years ago, we didn’t see the power of relationships, of networking.”
Would the 46-year-old mother of three ever turn entrepreneur herself some day?
“I have always had an entrepreneurial flair… I don’t know what I want to do but would like to try it.”
Whatever she does, Schumann will be sure to take her discipline and loyalty to another level.

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Business Is Music  To Her Ears

When it attacks it is terrifying. It lowers its head and strikes powerful deadly blows with its horn. It is one of the most feared animals in the wild, yet it dies a sad death at the hands of poachers; mutilated or hacked. The horn, its pride and weapon, is used in traditional Chinese medicine and as a status symbol for the wealthy.
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At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia. Today, there are a mere 29,000 in the wild. In South Africa, poachers killed 1,215 rhinos in 2014 – one death every eight hours.
“If the killing continues at this rate, we could see rhino deaths overtaking births in 2016-2018,” says Cathy Dean, International Director at Save the Rhino.
The poachers seem to be winning the war. Against them stand Siphiwe Sithole and her sisters in arms. Every night they creep into the dark, hunting the hunters. They strike like the fast venomous snake they name themselves after– the black mamba.
“Sometimes, when we are sweeping the bush, we walk into animals. One day, we walked into two lions and they charged us. It was scary,” says Sithole.
The unit was born in 2013 with a team of six in the Olifants West region of Balule Nature Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa. A year later, the unit was slithering through the bush with ease, covering the entire reserve. Craig Spencer, Managing Director of Transfrontier Africa and Warden of Balule Nature Reserve, is the founder of the unit and who trains them.
Every day, they come across snares and poachers on the run.
“Each time, I see there is no report of a rhino being killed it makes me very happy and it makes me feel special. To see many months of no killing of our rhino makes me the happiest. It shows that we are doing our job well and the project is working,” says Sithole.
Two years later, the sisters with attitude are making their mark deep in the bush.
“Snaring within the Black Mambas’ area of operation has dropped by 76 percent since their deployment. Rhino poaching has dropped from 16 poaching incidents in the year prior to the deployment of the Black Mambas, to one poaching incident in 14 months,” says Amy Clark, Black Mamba Project Administrator.
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Penalties for rhino poaching are also becoming more severe. In 2014, 386 people were arrested for poaching rhinos, rising from 165 in 2010. In 2014, rhino poacher, Mandla Chauke, received one of the heaviest penalties: 77 years in prison.
Just across the border in Mozambique is a cautionary tale. Here all of the rhino have gone. In South Africa, units like the Black Mambas stand in the way of poachers who threaten to do the same damage. Like rhinos themselves, they lower their heads and strike. Hell hath no fury like a Black Mamba.

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Beware Black Mambas Are Coming To Get You

Sadly, after being declared Ebola-free on May 9, following days with no new infections, Liberia is again recording cases of Ebola, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“Though disappointing, the re-emergence of Ebola in Liberia is not altogether unexpected,” says Carissa Guild, medical manager of MSF programs in Liberia.
“The risk of new cases still exists as long as the virus is present in the region.”
The virus was detected in the swab of a deceased 17-year-old boy on the outskirts of the capital Monrovia.
For now, MSF is running a 69-bed paediatric hospital in Monrovia to help restore the secondary health system. In the grounds of the hospital, MSF also runs a clinic specifically for Ebola survivors who suffer from a number of health complications following their recovery.
“Going from hundreds of cases to 30 per week took considerable time and massive resources, yet getting from 30 to zero requires the most meticulous, difficult work of all,” says Dr Joanne Liu, International President of MSF.
“No one was prepared for the scale of this epidemic, the largest in human history, nor that it would last so long. But we cannot lose focus now and must push on until the entire region is declared Ebola free.”
Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf calls the role of communities in the fight against Ebola “a big lesson for all of us in leadership”.
“Our communities rose to the challenge. They took ownership. Together, with the right resources and the right education of how to handle the sick, and the deaths, we overcame. Our leadership, not only from you, from the church too, put together with our communities, made for a formidable force,” says Sirleaf.

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Ebola’s Comeback

We meet Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on the sidelines of the 25th African Union summit in June in Johannesburg, South Africa. With the theme this year focused on women’s empowerment and the role women can play in advancing Africa’s development, the summit was well-represented by African presidents including Johnson-Sirleaf, the continent’s first female president.
We meet the pint-sized powerhouse at the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce – where the Liberian delegation was wooing South African investors to Liberia – flanked by her leading men in investment promotion, the Minister of Finance and the Head of the National Investment Commission.
Despite a heavy diary weighed down by a slew of presidential engagements, Johnson-Sirleaf is keen to not let the opportunity to sell the Liberian investment case to potential investors slip by.
“We’re very well-endowed with natural resources. We have an abundance of iron ore, gold, forest resources that represent almost half of all the biodiversity in West Africa, an unbroken coastline that gives a marine economy, and of course agriculture…we are well on our way in rebuilding this economy,” says the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
It’s a hard sell. Liberia continues to feature amongst the world’s poorest countries. The civil war that engulfed the country for 14 years, following a coup d’ etat in 1980, not only claimed thousands of lives but also stole the country’s economic potential. Economic infrastructure was destroyed, foreign direct investment ground to a halt, capital made a beeline for other markets, and government coffers dried up. Liberia’s economy came to a standstill.
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But Johnson-Sirleaf is adamant this is not an economy to be overlooked.
“The Minister of Finance has been working with the World Bank and they tell me that we have moved from negative growth of 0.4% to 1.4%. I’ve told them quite clearly that I don’t agree with those projections. In the next two years we will be growing at least 6 to 7%. There is no reason why we can’t hit double digits in the next 10 years.”
Johnson-Sirleaf claimed the presidential seat in 2005 on a campaign card that promised to rebuild the war-torn country. She held onto her seat in 2011 following her re-election into her second and final term. But in the home run of her presidential race, the Ebola outbreak hit the country and her leadership was tested more than ever before.
“This was a strange disease. We ran away. Our people ran away. Nobody knew what it was. We were all frightened. So we must expect other people were frightened including those from the African Union. But as soon we, Liberians, took it upon ourselves to step up and fight this, others saw our courage and when they joined us, they joined us with force.”
Johnson-Sirleaf insists assistance of the African Union was key in helping Liberia wrestle Ebola to the ground. But Liberia does not enjoy the luxury of resting on its laurels, with news of fresh Ebola cases, and given that it shares borders with Guinea and Ivory Coast, where new infections are still being reported as recently as June.
Johnson-Sirleaf has held onto the Presidential seat for almost a decade. Her run comes to an end this year. Asked whether her political legacy has lived up to the title that always precedes her of being the first female president in Africa, she says: “Only history and you can judge me. I have done my best.”

Tag: August 2015

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The Businesswoman In The Twilight Zone