LeBron James’ move to the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency in July 2018 brought star power back to the NBA’s glamour franchise. AT&amp;T hopes James can bring that same star power, and his millions of fans, to its latest offering.



Today, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2019/05/15/worlds-largest-telecom-companies-2019/#2c8aba756d4e">world’s largest telecom company</a>&nbsp;fully launches its new streaming service, AT&amp;T TV (not to be confused with AT&amp;T TV Now), with a national campaign featuring James and others celebrities like Missy Elliott, Tracy Morgan and Cookie Monster in a series of ads based on “TV Famous Mouths.”



James has dominated the NBA action on the court this season. He leads the league in assists and has the Lakers five and a half games ahead of the rest of the Western Conference in his 17th year in the NBA. Yet King James might be enjoying an even better year off the court, with a handful of new lucrative endorsement partners and the continued growth of his I Promise community.



The four-time NBA MVP’s sponsorship prowess and commitment to Akron schoolchildren converge with the multiyear AT&amp;T agreement. As part of the partnership, AT&amp;T’s technology and other resources will be allocated to the I Promise Village, which serves as transitional housing for families with students at the nearby I Promise School opened by James, his namesake foundation and the Akron school district in 2018.



“To have one of the biggest communications companies in the world believe in my kids and the work we’re doing to uplift families is incredible,” James said in a release announcing the agreement.



James already has a deep relationship with AT&amp;T through the company’s Warner Bros. Entertainment and HBO divisions. His production company, SpringHill Entertainment, partnered with Warner Bros. to develop the&nbsp;Space Jam 2&nbsp;film, which stars James and is set for a 2021 summer release.&nbsp;The Shop&nbsp;and&nbsp;Student Athlete&nbsp;are both SpringHill shows that appear on HBO. And Warner Bros. and Turner Sports&nbsp;<a href="https://www.warnerbros.com/news/press-releases/uninterrupted-secures-158m-financing-led-warner-bros-entertainment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">invested $15.8 million</a>&nbsp;in late 2015 in Uninterrupted, the digital multimedia company founded by James and his business partner Maverick Carter.



AT&amp;T joins James’ burgeoning endorsement portfolio, which also added Rimowa luggage, Walmart and the mental fitness app Calm over the past year. General Motors revealed James as its new pitchman last month&nbsp;<a href="https://people.com/sports/super-bowl-2020-lebron-james-gmc-ad/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">during a Super Bowl ad</a>&nbsp;for the upcoming GMC Hummer EV. The above brands&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/10/23/the-nbas-highest-paid-players-2019-20-lebron-james-scores-record-92-million/#29cb1fe4dae6">join James’ longtime sponsors</a>&nbsp;Nike, Coca-Cola, Beats and Blaze Pizza.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates James will earn more than $60 million off the court this year, on top of his $37.4 million salary with the Lakers. Nike represents&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/08/28/the-nbas-richest-shoe-deals-lebron-kobe-and-durant-are-still-no-match-for-michael-jordan/#476c1dac3d02">more than half</a>&nbsp;of his endorsement earnings.



James has incorporated many of his recent sponsors into his I Promise initiative, including AT&amp;T. Walmart stocks the school’s pantry, which is accessible 24 hours a day for the school’s families, with fresh and frozen food, toiletries and other basic necessities. The content on the Calm app is available to all I Promise students and staff.



AT&amp;T TV has been available in 13 cities to this point. It&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/at-t-launches-new-online-tv-service-as-video-customers-fall-1282026" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enters a crowded streaming market</a>&nbsp;battling for cord-cutters, many of them subscribers of DirecTV, which AT&amp;T acquired in 2015 for $48.5 billion. AT&amp;T TV features an Android-based set-top box that acts like a Roku or Apple TV and offers live TV, DVR storage and on-demand titles that are also available on mobile devices.



AT&amp;T is banking on James to attract subscribers. His 150 million social media fans across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are by far the most of any American athlete. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/08/03/social-medias-most-valuable-athletes-ronaldo-mcgregor-and-lebron-score/">The only athletes with more fans</a> are global soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="AT&amp;T TV Multi-Screen | AT&amp;T" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IsJ0BPC3Ij8?start=1&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



&#8211; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/">Kurt Badenhausen</a>, Forbes Staff, Sports Business

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LeBron James Adds Multiyear AT&T Deal To His Endorsement Stable

CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Clare Akamanzi



Advertorial by Rwanda Development Board 



1. Looking at RDB’s ten-year journey, what did it take to get it here?



It took a bold vision by H.E. Pres Paul Kagame, and the
entire Government, to prioritize private sector development, as the driver of
Rwanda’s socio-economic transformation.&nbsp;
This formed the basis for the creation of the Rwanda Development Board,
as a one stop institution to provide key services, and expedite decisions
affecting investors as well as reforms for a very conducive business
environment. 



We wanted to bring all the agencies responsible for business
registration, investment/export promotion, privatization and specialist
agencies which support the priority sectors of ICT and tourism as well as SMEs
and human capacity development in the private sector all under one roof. This
meant less legwork for investors as they had one major institution to work
with, as well as time and financial savings for Government. 



This vision has paid off. Today, Rwanda, at 38th rank, is
the only Low-Income Country in the top 50 of the 2020 World Bank Ease of Doing
Business Report and is the 2nd easiest place to do business in Africa after
Mauritius. Consequently, Rwanda has been recognized as the top global reformer
by the World Bank with the highest number of implemented reforms over the last
ten years. 



Similarly, in terms of investments into Rwanda, last year we
surpassed the US$ 2 billion target for the first time in the country’s history,
with investments registered over US$ 2.006 billion in 2018 up from about US$
400 million registered in 2010. This is a sign of the continuous investor
confidence in Rwanda by both local and foreign investors. Tourism has also
doubled within the same period reaching over $400m today, while exports of our
key products in agriculture, minerals and manufactured products quadrupled over
the last decade.



As an institution, I am also proud to say that we are a
competitive employer, with many talented Rwandans are aspiring to join our
workforce, and be part of a unique opportunity to contribute to Rwanda’s
transformation. 



2. Rwanda’s seems to have claimed her place in the world, what did it take to achieve that?



Apart from the ambitious reforms that we have put in place
over the last decade, we have done our best to showcase Rwanda to the world as
the best place to invest and do business, the best place to set up a factory
and sell Made in Rwanda products as well as the best place to enjoy exciting
tourism offerings. 



Last year, we signed a strategic partnership with two major
global players, Arsenal Football Club in London and Alibaba from China. 



The deal with Arsenal aims to market the country under the
‘Visit Rwanda’ brand. Through the partnership, we have been able to increase
people’s knowledge and interest in Rwanda.



Let me illustrate. Since the announcement of the partnership
in May last year, we have seen a lot of interest especially through our online
presence:



• Within two weeks of the launch, 58 news stories reached a
global audience of 1.2 billion people;



• Google searches of Rwanda in the US increased by over
1000% for keywords like: ‘Visit Rwanda, Rwanda travel, Rwanda tourism, and
Kigali Rwanda hotels’.



• Visit Rwanda is now seen 35 million times each time
Arsenal plays.



• Visit Rwanda social media posts by Arsenal reach a direct
global audience of over 15 million people. 



In the same way, Rwanda partnered with Alibaba Group in October
2018 to bring Rwanda tourism packages closer to the Asian market through
Alibaba’s online travel platform, Fliggy, as well as Rwandan products through
Tmall. We are selling coffee and tourism on these platforms and will soon add
chillis.



We also participate in global platforms such as the World
Economic Forum, trade fairs, and investments forums to Showcase Rwanda to the
World. 



3. The country is still struggling to curb the balance of trade deficit, now what is being done deliberately to improve this position?



We are exploring different ways of solving the country’s
trade deficit by looking at ways to benefit from Rwanda’s strategic regional
positioning in order to increase exports as well as domestic manufacturing.



Rwanda has strategic access to four countries and a
catchment area of a consumer market of nearly 60 million people reachable by
road, barely four hours away from Kigali in all directions. This market has a
purchasing power of US$1-2 billion in basic fast-moving consumer goods and
another US$1.5 billion in consumer durables. To maximize the benefits from this
market, the Rwandan Government established Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to
enhance the country’s competitiveness as a commercial/logistics hub, taking
advantage of her natural strategic location through the promotion of export
oriented industrial activities as well as re-exports, manufacturing and
services.



Today, over 29 companies are already set up in the Kigali
SEZ and others have set up in the other SEZs located country-wide, manufacturing
made in Rwanda products using raw materials sourced from Rwanda, most of which
is exported after.



If you look at Rwanda’s 2018 exports, a big part of that
were processed products made by companies in the SEZs. For example, we have
Africa Improved Foods who make nutritious foods using soya, milk, maize among
other products. They buy from farmers, process then export it. Last year, they
exported goods worth almost US$ 30 million.



Soon we hope Rwandan companies will also start exporting
cars assembled by VW, phones made by Maraphones, pharmaceutical products made
by Cooperpharma.



Lastly, we are also growing exports in Services,
particularly tourism, innovation through our innovation ecosystem among others.




&nbsp;4.&nbsp; 70% of working population in agriculture with the coming of the fourth industrial revolution and a focus on manufacturing, is there a plan to reskill this population?



In terms of creating jobs, Rwanda has been creating new jobs
every year and targets to create over 1.5 million jobs over the next seven
years. To achieve this, industrialization is key to absorb our youth who can
move from agriculture to basic manufacturing. A very good example is in
garment-making. Pink Mango located in the Kigali SEZ will employ over 1,500
people. If we have 100 more businesses like Pink Mango in the SEZs, it would
have industrial parks as the primary source of jobs in Rwanda. We are also
preparing to move further in the industrial chain in order to take advantage of
the industrial revolution.&nbsp; This is
through investing in vocational training as well as world-class STEM education.
Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda, for example has produced over 100
graduates over the last 10 years. Others training in STEM are Africa Leadership
University, African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), as well as the
University of Global Health University, in public health. 



5. What are the aims/goals for the next 10 years?



RDB’s vision is to work with our partners to transform Rwanda into a dynamic global hub for business, investment, and innovation.&nbsp; The next 10 years will deepen this goal. We will continue to foster and fast track private sector led economic growth across all sectors, and make Rwanda every investor’s first choice. Our best years are yet to come.

Clare bio pic

Rwanda Aspires To Become A Business And Innovation Hub In The Next Decade

Stephan Eyeson started a basketball business at the age of 19. That venture failed, so he tried the data business instead. He is working and playing hard.



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First, the facts.



Africa has a data problem. For all the talk about data being
the new oil, the continent comprises about 12.5% of the world’s population but
only accounts for less than 1% of research output, according to global
information and analytics firm, Elsevier. 



And Survey 54, an AI mobile survey platform solving the problem of data collection on the continent, wants to offer a solution. Founded by Stephan Eyeson, Survey 54 focuses on providing good quality data essential for governments and private businesses to accurately plan, fund and evaluate their activities.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/10/02/owning-the-african-narrative/">Owning The African Narrative</a>



“Data in Africa is such a prevalent problem, in a sense of
when you are going to start up a business, it is hard for you to get consumer
data on say ‘how many people eat out in Lagos every day? what is the
transactional value? what are the types of things that people eat? what do they
want to eat etc?’ All these things are available in the West but for people who
want to move into Africa for business, how do they get their data to make their
decisions and how do we make it really easy for them and not just for a startup
but for even governments and larger businesses,” says Eyeson.



Fresh out of a master’s program in innovation and management from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom (UK), Eyeson joined Survey Monkey, an online survey development cloud-based software as a service company, as part of the team responsible for building their enterprise function in London as well as looking after customers in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). After learning the ropes, he decided to branch out to start his own company to offer a more robust and tailored solution for the African market.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> &#8220;For people who want to move into Africa for business, how do they get their data to make their decisions and how do we make it really easy for them?&#8221; </blockquote>



“The problem around data in Africa and emerging markets is a
massive one. So, for us, it’s about how do we become a data platform not just
for a company but for governments to help them understand their people easier.”



Data is the first step. Then you need intelligence around
that data to enable you to make objective analysis that will shape your
decision-making process, as well as provide the foundation for policy-making
and budgeting.



“Instead of hiring an agency to go to Ghana and do a face-to-face interview, for example, we look at how governments can get mobile data faster and then how they are able to manipulate that data to get the results they need,” says Eyeson.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/10/07/the-100-trillion-opportunity-the-race-to-provide-banking-to-the-worlds-poor/">The $100 Trillion Opportunity: The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor</a>



Due to the dearth of knowledge, Eyeson’s unique
understanding for the data space is relied on by many startups and larger
businesses who depend on his expertise to drive results in Africa. 



“Stephan has great expertise in strategy and high-level
corporate business development. Survey 54 has and will be instrumental for
companies to make decisions within Africa and emerging markets, making it
easier to use and understand consumer data. A platform like Survey 54 is
essential for companies operating on the continent,” says Nana Adomako, head of
UK &amp; Ghana growth at Taptap Send.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BYRIGBY-980-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41956" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BYRIGBY-980-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BYRIGBY-980-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BYRIGBY-980-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BYRIGBY-980-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BYRIGBY-980.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Born to Ghanaian parents in London, Eyeson’s first stint at entrepreneurship began in his early years at university, when his dream to become a professional basketball player was shattered.



“I had a scholarship into America for basketball and that
scholarship was taken away due to some technicality with my results so I
couldn’t go and so I started a basketball business instead when I was 19. It
helped Americans play in Europe and Europeans play in America. I made the
system easier. So, players paid a monthly fee to get seen and coaches paid to
get access to talent.” 



But unfortunately, the business failed to take off because the market was not big enough for Eyeson to remain profitable. 



The data business, on the other hand, is huge: worldwide
revenues for data and business analytics are forecast to reach $189 billion
this year and $274.3 billion by 2022, according to technology market research
firm IDC. Even though Survey 54 is in its first full year of business, the
company has already secured contracts with multinationals like Colgate, amongst
many others.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/04/30/a-germ-of-an-idea/">A Germ Of An Idea</a>



“I was one of Survey 54’s first clients and it has been a
pleasure watching Stephan grow the company into what it is today, working with
some of the world’s largest brands. 



“There is a significant lack of data in the region so the
need for a sophisticated data insight product is essential and I believe
Stephan’s mission-driven leadership style will enable the company to become one
of the largest software businesses driving investments to the content,” says
Yvonne Bajela, Principal and Founding Member at Impact X Capital.



The company has recently secured a spot on the coveted
Startupbootcamp platform in Cape Town. While Survey 54 is trying to secure a
first-mover lead in data on the continent, challenges remain. As the company
scales, they will need to overcome the language barrier across the African
continent and learn to interpret data by bringing the cultural context into the
surveys organizations are seeking.



Eyeson has his eyes set on moving into the US markets as a
long-term plan, but for now, the goal is transferring the abundant and
ubiquitous asset of data in Africa into millions for his startup.

BYRIGBY-990

Having A Ball With Data

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The $100 Trillion Opportunity: The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor

British prime minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote called by her own Conservative Party last week in the battle over Brexit. “We now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit to the British people and building a better future for this country,” May told reporters after the vote.



As terms of the country’s exit from the European Union are mapped out, Britain’s future is murky. Yet the foundation of its business climate remains attractive, leading the U.K. to the top spot in&nbsp;Forbes’ 13th&nbsp;annual look at the Best Countries for Business, which measures countries that are most hospitable to capital investment. It is the second straight year with the U.K. in the lead.



“The U.K. has a globalized economy that is more open than most across the world in terms of trade, investments, capital flows and, until recently, immigration,” says Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.



The U.K. is the only country to land among the top 30 (out of 161 countries ranked) on all 15 metrics&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;used to rate the countries. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5c12b6d54bbe6f0f2aa24c2a/2018-best-countries-for-b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Gallery: The Best Countries for Business 201910 imagesView gallery&nbsp;</a>



The Heritage Foundation touts the benefits of Brexit for the U.K. in its annual “<a href="https://www.heritage.org/index/country/unitedkingdom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Index of Economic Freedom</a>,” which is part of our scoring. “The process of exiting the European Union will afford the government opportunities to correct any remaining structural deficiencies that might be holding back an already high-performing economy,” per the report. “The U.K. has one of the world’s most efficient business and investment environments and will soon be open to expanded global trade relationships.”



Zandi is less optimistic. He thinks it could take multiple generations for the $2.6 billion economy to recover from Brexit. “Under the Theresa May proposal, which is most likely, the U.K.’s global orientation is diminished. It makes investment and trade more challenging,” says Zandi. “The British economic sun is definitely going to shine less bright.”



We gauged the Best Countries for&nbsp;Business&nbsp;by rating nations on 15 different factors, including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape and investor protection. Other metrics included were workforce, infrastructure, market size, quality of life and risk. Each category was equally weighted.



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/best-countries-for-business/list/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Click here for the full list of The Best Countries For Business.</a>



The data is based on published reports from Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, United Nations, Transparency International, World Bank Group, Marsh &amp; McLennan and World Economic Forum (click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/12/19/best-countries-for-business-2019-behind-the-numbers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">here</a>&nbsp;for more details on the methodology and the best and worst country on each metric).



Sweden moves up two places to finish second this year. The business climate of the export-oriented economy received high marks for innovation, property rights, risk and low corruption. Stockholm is one of Europe’s leading tech startup hubs. The ratio of national debt to GDP in the Scandinavian country has dropped from 80% in 1995 to 41% last year.



Rounding out the top five countries overall are Hong Kong, Netherlands and New Zealand.



The U.S. fell five spots this year to 17th, a tick ahead of Spain. The world’s biggest economy at $19.5 trillion lost ground on personal, trade and monetary freedoms.



“Instead of embracing the world, we are pushing it away, and that is bad for business,” says Zandi, who highlights the immigration policy as a major deterrent to the U.S. business climate. The problem of getting visas for highly skilled workers is forcing companies to move overseas. The best and brightest are often taking jobs outside the U.S. It is a double whammy if these people are starting new companies. “It puts a stake in the heart of what makes the American economy tick,” says Zandi.



Watchdog organization Freedom House annually rates countries on the “real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals.” Thirty-three countries get their highest rating. As of this year, the U.S. is not one of them. The U.S. political freedom score took a hit, with the&nbsp;<a href="https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_FITW_Report_2018_Final_SinglePage.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report citi</a>ng&nbsp;“Growing evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, violations of basic ethical standards by the new administration, and a reduction in government transparency.”



African nations populate the worst countries for business with seven of the bottom 10&nbsp;(Haiti is the weakest among non-African countries). These countries typically fare poorly on innovation, trade freedom and investor protection. The Central African Republic ranks last. The conflict-prone nation has a GDP per capita of only $400.

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The Best Countries For Business 2019: UK On Top, US Down

The glamorous world of private jets is no longer the domain of the super-rich. Private aviation is set to soar in Africa as business keeps checking in.

Well-heeled women glide in and out of an opulent mansion in a leafy suburb in Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile.
The champagne-colored granite of the stairway meets the elegant tips of their Manolo Blahnik stilettos.
This is a medical aesthetic and holistic wellness center called Anti-Aging Art in the posh suburb in Johannesburg.
It is a home-turned-medical center belonging to Reza Mia, a doctor and co-owner of the clinic patronized by the rich and famous. Mia also happens to design jets, as the founder and CEO of Pegasus Universal Aerospace, an aviation company based in South Africa with the sole purpose of creating innovative aviation solutions.
Between surgical facelifts and building sophisticated jets, Mia finally makes time for an interview at 5PM on a Friday afternoon.
Dressed in navy blue scrubs, he sits on a luxurious leather sofa as he tells FORBES AFRICA about his connection with aviation.
Mia is currently designing a vertical take-off jet that he says will add to the convenience of private travel.
The aesthetic surgeon has been developing the Pegasus One Vertical Business Jet (VBJ1) since 2012, which he says will be completed in three years.
It’s an attempt to revolutionize luxury air travel in South Africa.
“It can land and take off like a helicopter anywhere a helicopter could, in fact more places because it doesn’t have a spinning rotor blade and it is quieter especially for built-up areas and neighborhoods. It can accelerate and fly at the speed of a business jet which is almost 800km/h so that is about four times the speed of a helicopter,” he says.
Cool-air fan technology allows the jet to take off and land anywhere, he adds, which means it’s less hassle for customers.
<div id="attachment_37666" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37666" class="wp-image-37666 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Photo by Gypseenia Lion</div>
Privacy and convenience count as currency in this business.
Business aviation company, ExecuJet Aviation, currently operates and manages four bases for private jets in Africa.
The Johannesburg base is located at Lanseria International Airport, about an hour’s drive from the city.
The flashy cars in the parking lot speak about the kind of travelers taking off from here.
Staff meander in and out of the private terminal on this busy day, yet there is no millionaire in sight in an expensive Armani suit jetting off for his next business trip.
You never see them, they are that discreet about client privacy.
On a global scale, the company manages and operates about 260 aircraft and is also in Kenya and Nigeria, with the newest entrant in Seychelles.
With almost three decades in the aviation industry, the company has kept a close watch on the rising market of business aviation in Africa.
Stationed on the apron is a white Bombardier Challenger 300 worth about  $26 million.
The nine-seater aircraft boasts a bathroom and features glossy cherry-wood surfaces.
This gloss is all-pervasive and there is not a speck of dust in sight.
The soft, plush carpet is a shade lighter than the grey leather seating decked with comfy cushions that enhance the elegance.
ExecuJet’s Africa Vice President, Gavin Kiggen, says despite the demand and increase for private travel on the continent, perceptions of the industry can be misleading from both a business and client perspective.
“The margins are extremely low and the competition is very strong because you have new entrants who are trying to get market share.
<blockquote>“The perception is that it’s lucrative because of the kinds of tools and services we offer but it is a tough industry to be involved in,” he says.</blockquote>
As a developing region, Africa needs to prioritize infrastructure while attracting sales to uphold the competitive edge in the global business aviation market.
This can be achieved through innovative ideas. Promoting the economic benefits of the market will lure investors from all over the world.
Time waits for no man, and Africa’s elite, exclusive travelers know that only too well.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-37665 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-1024x668.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="483" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-1024x668.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-600x391.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-768x501.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied.jpg 1654w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />
According to a review by Mordor Intelligence, Global business jet market &#8211; growth, trends and forecast (2018 &#8211; 2023), the exclusivity of private jets has ceased to be the domain of the extremely wealthy.
This change is owing to time-share and fractional ownership of aircraft.
ExecuJet reports Africa has 481 registered private jets and the year-on-year growth for the business aviation industry in Africa is 44%.
Private aviation is still a growing market in Africa in comparison to the regions where it is fully developed.
Approximately three quarters of the sale of business jets is in the west, mainly in North America and Europe.
<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/10/02/moments-before-an-air-crash/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Moments Before An Air Crash</a>
Predictions are that India and China are well on their way to become market leaders by 2020.
With continued industrial growth in Africa, consequently, there has been a rise in business travel.
Despite the lag in competitiveness on a global scale, private aviation in South Africa, which is Africa’s second-largest economy, has the potential to take the continent to new heights as business keeps checking in.
Private jets are commonly used by high-net-worth individuals, business executives, sports teams and government officials.
Time efficiency is the core reason why these jetsetters prefer private aviation over commercial planes. Greater control over flight schedules and operation of the aircraft forms part of the package.
Add privacy and a dash of luxury and the high-flyer is ready for take-off.
The Jet Traveler Report 2018, the global perspective on who flies privately and how, by Wealth-X, categorizes high-fliers into three types to make a comparison based on their flight preferences. These include owners, members and the wider ultra-high-net-worth audience.
Unsurprisingly, 35% owners of private jets are worth more than $500 million as per The Jet Traveler Report. 
The majority are over 60 years old. ‘Members’ are frequent fliers on membership programs.
Private jets have now also become more accessible and appealing to the wider executive population.
The report states that on-demand private fliers are the youngest and least wealthy ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
In comparison to the wealth of members and owners, these jetsetters have average wealth of $67 million.
Editor and publisher of SA Flyer and FlightCom magazines, Guy Leitch, says although the South African market is showing signs of recovery, there are shortcomings.
<blockquote>“Poor on-the-ground infrastructure for aviation, poor access to aircraft finance and the lack of aircraft does not ensure adequate support for development,” he says.</blockquote>
The same can be argued for the rest of Africa.
According to the Mordor Intelligence review published in April, lack of infrastructure is one the biggest limitations that affect business jet sales in South America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.
The costs of building the much-needed infrastructure are so high operations may not be feasible.
Regions like Europe and North America with higher private aircraft demands have lower costs. Flying privately in the regions is charged on a one-way basis, therefore costs are reduced as opposed to Africa where charges are doubled.
“In those regions, there is always an aircraft available that’s going to your destination and you can pay a reduced rate because it is considered an empty leg. Our industry is unfortunately not that far ahead yet,” says Kiggen from ExecuJets.
Industry data by Global Jet Capital released in 2017 indicates that 2025 will witness more than 25% growth in the market.
<div id="attachment_37664" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37664" class="wp-image-37664 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Private Jet. Photo by Gypseenia Lion</div>
The influx of new aircraft on the continent is forecast to have a value of $3.9 billion, or just under $500 million per year.
The emergence of the “African affluent” demographic on the continent has become an important emerging segment for the private aviation sector.
These individuals are younger than their European counterparts and are on average 40 years old, according to a report by ExecuJet called The Evolution of Charter Into Africa 2018.  
Smartphones and technological mobility make it easier for young flyers on the go, and as a result, gives the market more visibility and mileage.
“Social media has also brought a phenomena called the influencer; these are rich kids or media personalities who document their travel through social media (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter),” says Kiggen.
These jetsetters snap the glitz and glamor of private flying and share it with other influencers. This also makes it easier for private charter companies in Africa to attract clients from different spheres of life, thus changing the perception that jets are only used by the ultra-rich and famous.
In addition, an increase in enquiries for hiring the jets, from even car manufacturers for their marketing events, shows the market is paving the way for more diversified business.
Jeremy Nel, the CEO of Luxury Brands, a South African luxury marketing group based in Cape Town, argues that although high-flyers use their mobile devices to source best rates and most direct routes, the reputation of the private charter as a brand is something potential clients continue to look out for.
“The branding of the aircraft is also aligned to be the best fit, most clients who outright purchase an aircraft will take the plethora of advice as to the most suitable model for their needs and then choose from the best breed of operators,” says Nel.
Inner-circle referrals and the relationship the client has with the company, in addition to the preference of a specific pilot, can further influence decision-making.
Back in the richest square mile of Africa, Sandton, in a modern office adorned with waterfalls and earthy décor, a tall man dressed in a blue shirt walks in.
When he is not flying over the shimmering turquoise waters of the Maldives, South African pilot Jack Coetzee is the Managing Director at Quintessential Aviation.
With over 1, 500 flying hours to his credit, Coetzee has seen private jet passengers with requirements ranging from Egyptian cotton linen to Kentucky Fried Chicken on the flight.
“It is aircraft-orientated; they like a specific type of aircraft.
“[The customer] knows how the seats work, he knows the pilots invariably that are flying the aircraft are competent,” he says.
As for aspiring owners, Leitch emphasizes they understand the importance of the technicalities of owning an aircraft, to avoid losing money.
The first step is to determine what it will be used for, and then take the size, range and price parameters into consideration.
“New or used [aircraft], it doesn’t matter. Make sure you can crew it, maintain it, afford it and then order it,” he says.
Much like commercial aviation, owners and private charter companies must comply with air laws and the strict regulations set by the civil aviation authorities.
Odette Basson, Charter Manager Africa, at ExecuJets, says some laws are airfield dependent.
This is based on where you are traveling in and out of, so compliance is critical.
“Yes, you can be an owner of a private aircraft but it doesn’t mean you can just do what you want. There are laws that govern the flying,” she says.
In addition to overseeing operations above the ground, regulators keep a close watch on the hours the crew fly, which aircraft they are flying and how frequently they go for training.
“Your crew must be trained specifically, the aircraft must be maintained specifically and according to the operator’s specifications. You must have a commercial license to operate and you must have an air service license. It is actually very well-regulated and governed to death,” says Kiggen.
And thus it is that millions of dollars fly over the richest and poorest cities of Africa.
The sky is a commodity. How much are you willing to splash out for a piece of it?

PrivateJets_GL

Champagne And Caviar In Private At 30,000FT

Durban’s farmers markets are a magnet for consumers and small businesses alike, boosting the informal economy in the sunny South African city.

Be it the cosy market at Umhlanga or the expansive variety market at Shongweni, the coastal city of Durban in South Africa seems to be the sunny hub for farmers markets and small business owners setting up impromptu trading venues.
Within minutes of arriving at the Umhlanga Farmers Market, it’s easy to see why it attracts a steady stream of shoppers, despite the cold, penetrating drizzle on a Durban morning. There’s a good selection of fresh produce and specialty foods, the vibe is lively and cheerful even sans music or entertainment, and traders offer friendly, personalized attention. It helps that the market is centrally located and in the open air, fringed on one side by coastal dune forest. A woman trading home-baked date muffins and peach tarts chats away as she holds down a tent flap until the wind fades long enough for her to tie it down, and her customers happily banter on until she’s able to serve them. Dogs drag their owners across the clearing to greet other dogs. And everything on display looks oven-fresh and appealing.
“There’s a great variety of food we wouldn’t normally get in supermarkets – like the special cheeses or the vegan cupcakes,” says the market’s owner Alexa McWilliams.
<blockquote>“These are traders who are working from home and have a talent.”</blockquote>
She took ownership of the market several years ago and maintains its “charismatic, informal feel” because she considers it an important platform for small businesses. She explains that the market is a success because of its regular traders. “We see some traders come and go because they expect to buy a Ferrari after one morning, but it’s the regular traders who have their regular customers. Consistency is the most important thing for a market”.
Kirsten Hughes, who trades fresh farm butter and specialty cheeses, relies almost entirely on markets for her income.
“Markets appeal to me because of the freedom – there’s a lot of work with sourcing the products but it’s not a nine-to-five job,” she says, while cutting a slab of a special artisanal wash-dried cheese. “I have regular customers, and they can’t get my products easily.” Her main trade is at Shongweni, with a significant proportion of it at Umhlanga.
The latter market’s newest trader, Houda Abiet, began to trade her homemade Mediterranean foods here only a few weeks back, as a marketing exercise. “It’s very interesting to see what people like and don’t like, and they’re inquisitive because they don’t know all my products. I always tell them – just taste, you don’t have to buy.”
McWilliams herself started her marinated olive business at this market. She says: “Markets worked better because it’s a niche product [I sell] – I make it by hand and I have a passion for it.” She grew her business over the years and now has a full-time shop, Olive-A-Twist in Ballito, but does not think she would have got to that level of sales if it were not for the markets.
“The markets will give beginners with a great idea a phenomenal platform,” she says.
“You get a diversity of people from all over, so it’s also a great testing ground. I would recommend it to anyone.”
Across the city, the Westville Farmers Market enjoys a steady flow of customers on Thursday mornings. Traders set up shop at the Jimmy Bellows Sports Field, alongside a protected riverine forest, with expansive trees shading their stalls. It’s a friendly space, and traders and shoppers are casually familiar with each other.
Here, there are only seven or eight stalls selling vegetables, eggs, home-baked cakes, honey and biltong. Clint Govender, owner of the market, trades organically-grown vegetables, eggs, and homemade biryani. It’s a family business, with his wife supplying the biryani, and the vegetables sourced from his uncle’s farm.
“Customers are looking here for the quality and the freshness, especially the eggs,” Govender says. “And we’re 40% cheaper than the shops.”
The market is about 20 years old, and several stallholders and shoppers refer to its “better days”, when there were many more traders and a wider variety of products.
Govender explains that over the years, many of the old stallholders passed away or relocated, and he hasn’t had success attracting new businesses.
“The traders don’t always understand that it takes time to build their clientele. Jaco, over there, has been here two years, but it took him maybe six months to build up his client base, and now it’s worth his while to come every week.”
Jaco Buyleveld sells plants and provides a blade-sharpening service. He keeps his business small by choice, operating only at the Westville and Umhlanga markets. Westville’s customers seem to be mainly pensioners dropping by in between their grandchildren’s school rounds, and Buyleveld speculates that this is because most of the younger residents are working outside of the area. He is not optimistic about the future of the market, saying, “Unless you get a younger customer base, the market is doomed.”
A few kilometers up the hill, also on Thursday mornings, the St. Agnes Fresh Produce Market is noticeably devoid of customers. It’s well-situated at a major intersection, with its stalls looking out onto the St. Agnes church’s gardens. There’s a better variety here than at Westville, but it feels like the traders are here for reasons other than hard cash.
Although he hasn’t made a sale yet today, John Phiri says that this market is worth his time for building a longer-term client base through orders. He trades leather products that he makes – caps, belts, wallets – here and at Umhlanga market as well as at Golden Hours, Bluff, and Durban’s craft/flea markets. Phiri’s income is mainly from these markets.
<div id="attachment_37654" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37654" class="wp-image-37654 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-1024x615.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="444" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-1024x615.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-300x180.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-600x360.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-768x461.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-1000x600.jpg 1000w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-590x354.jpg 590w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams-400x240.jpg 400w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Umhlanga-Farmers-Market-by-Alexa-McWilliams.jpg 1241w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Umhlanga Farmers Market. Photo by Alexa McWilliams</div>
He says: “Since I started my business, I’m enjoying the markets – I do enjoy talking to the customers. For sales, I prefer Bluff and Golden Hours. Flea markets are best because we expect thousands of people and we sell well.”
Sidney Oerter is the only trader who reports good sales here today. He trades specialty cheeses he sources from around South Africa, with the occasional import. He started his business a few months ago, and although he supplies a few restaurants, his main customer base is at the markets – Litchi Orchard, I Heart, and the brand-new Drummond Farmers Market. He explains: “Markets are an easy way to get into sales. We want to expand the business, maybe offer monthly hampers, but the markets are our entry point.”
Georgina Erasmus, who trades honey, eggs, organic coffee, and Madagascan bags, at a number of different markets, says that she will normally trial a new market for six to eight weeks before deciding whether to come back, although she’s been coming to St. Agnes since it started a year ago despite poor trade because, “it gets me out of the house and we love the church, and we also like some of the people who come here”. Her main trade is at Shongweni and she says confidently: “If you’re not selling at Shongweni, then there’s something wrong with your product.”
The line of traffic winding along the hills west of Durban every Saturday morning is testament to the popularity of Shongweni Farmers Market. Its customer base is around 4,500 on regular weeks, swelling considerably during the holidays.
Owner Christine Standeaven believes that it’s the variety on offer that makes it worthwhile for people across the age and income range to make the trek across the city. There’s also food, crafts, entertainment, as well as areas for relaxing.
“People come here to find items that are unique, and they love supporting people who are making a living for themselves,” says Standeaven. “They might get things cheaper in the stores, but they’ll rather come to a crafter and take the time to look for a special gift.”
She explains that the market started as a space where local farmers could sell directly to the public, with a bit of breakfast food, but she incorporated crafts and expanded the food section after five years when she found that they weren’t increasing their customer base. The intake doubled at that point. Just over two years ago, the market moved to its current location, with Standeaven building undercover stalls for every trader and concrete walkways to keep feet mud-free when it rained.
As she speaks, it becomes obvious that the market is successful because of her high sensitivity to the needs of both her traders and customers.
She says: “I can walk 15 to 16 kilometers on a Saturday morning. I greet every single stallholder, I look at what people are bringing in, and I check everything.” For example, Standeaven makes sure that catering equipment is clean on arrival, food vendors are constantly washing their hands, and there is cold storage for meat products. She has a team of cleaners speedily picking up litter and cleaning up after children and dog accidents.
And on the product side, she keeps an eye on trends and fashions, so that she can make sure that there are traders who can cater for the full variety of customers.
Standeaven says that about two thirds of Shongweni’s stallholders rely only on markets for their income. “I watch what people are bringing out of the market, and I like to see them carrying bags because I know the stallholders are happy. I need to create the best platform for my stallholders to want to stay in the market, so that I have an amazing outing for the people who are coming to buy at the market. And I want it like that every week.”
The I Heart Market in central Durban is also proving to be a strong platform for small businesses. It’s an arts and crafts market at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on the first Saturday of each month.
The market itself is a success story, having begun with 12 stalls outside the St Mary’s Church Hall in Windermere in 2008, and growing rapidly to 120 or so traders at its current location.
Says owner Anna Savage: “We knew a lot of creative people who were doing really interesting work – ceramicists, fashion designers, jewelry designers – but they didn’t have anywhere to sell. So the idea was to put together a market where for a small fee you could set up a mini shop, and start to build your customer base.”
<div id="attachment_37653" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37653" class="wp-image-37653 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IHeart-AnnaSavage-by-Erin-Wolfsohn.jpg 1365w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />I Heart&#8217;s Anna Savage</div>
Savage curates the market strictly: “It’s about maintaining a standard of quality of product, and also a particular type of aesthetic. We accept only locally-produced products, but we also wanted products that are exceptional – things that are dynamic and interesting, that are ahead of the trends, but also that are viable, with appeal for a larger public and in the right price range.”
The market’s customer base is about 4,500, and collective sales for all traders average R460,000 ($32,500) at each market.
For about a quarter of the traders, sales at I Heart account for over 60% of their monthly income.
Duduzile Ngubane, a resident trader, says that it was through I Heart and other markets that she was able to grow her fashion business, which started as a hobby. Although she has a full-time shop, markets still account for about 40% of her income. Her line of fashionwear, Du Confidence, is made for “women who are confident”, as she says proudly. The range is casual and formal plus-size modernwear.
She explains: “I am bold, bright, feminine, and I’m a warm woman, so the work I do is mostly in bright colors. It’s a confident woman who can wear bright colors.”
Just recently, demand has grown enough for her to be able to focus on her business full-time.
Says Savage: “I do really think that by providing this platform, the market inspired people who wanted to do something different from their day jobs. It’s providing a place for small businesses to launch, and it makes me really excited when I see people doing well.”
&#8211; Rehana Dada

I-heart-Fresh-Box-by-Erin-Wolfsohn

Crafts  And Camaraderie On The Coast

Nompumelelo (Mpoomy) Ledwaba is the darling of social media. In a mere 12 months, she has grown her Instagram following to close to 100,000.

The 24-year-old was first introduced to the media-crazy masses when she married South African Idols finalist and recording artist, Brenden Praise (Ledwaba). It intrigued thousands and generated quick clicks, likes and follows. She is today an influencer in her own right.
It is a warm Friday afternoon in Melville, a hip suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa, when we meet Mpoomy and Brenden at their nail and coffee bar located on the bustling 7th Street. The salon is packed with women getting their nails done for the weekend. The room is painted grey and decorated in white and spurts of pink and yellow.
Stars such as Mapaseka Koetle-Nyokong, Mmatema Moremi, Jessica Nkosi and Thickleeyonce come here for nail pampering.
This is a world away from where it all began in Middelburg, a farming and industrial town in eastern South Africa where Mpoomy was born. She moved to Johannesburg to study accounting at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). In her second year, she took on a job as a banker at Investec to pave the way for a career in corporate.
“It was a busy year. I worked from 4PM until midnight or from midnight till 8AM. In between, I had classes to attend. It was fun at first until I got bored and frustrated,” says Mpoomy.
It marked the beginning of a journey that broke and built her.
First, she quit her job.
“I didn’t diagnose it as depression but now because I understand what depression is, I know it could have been that,” she says.
Then, she did something no one thought she would.
It was in one of UJ’s exam halls where she was scheduled to take her finance exam. On this day, she says she was well-prepared. The examiner gave students 10 minutes reading time before the exam started. During this time, students plan their answers to the questions but Mpoomy says she was planning a business.
“When the examiner said ‘you may start’, I hadn’t read through the exam questions. I tried to page through it but I just couldn’t start. I stood up and I left the room and I never went back,” she says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2015/04/01/the-man-in-the-beauty-business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Man In The Beauty Business</a>
It was a brave move. She had no money, no experience and she knew her parents would not be impressed.
“I went home to my parents immediately. I think my mom knew this could happen. She wasn’t shocked but she was hurt… My dad was upset. I stayed home for a day and my mom told me to go back to Johannesburg to write my exam and I refused but still went back to Johannesburg.”
Her father cut her off financially. It was time for Mpoomy to fend for herself. The road to entrepreneurship was cold, lonely and frustrating.
“I didn’t even ask my dad why he wasn’t sending me money anymore. I knew I had lost the right to do so because I had decided to be an adult by making that decision. He didn’t owe me anything. I was hurt and upset but I’m grateful that happened because it gave me the push to hustle. I even tried to borrow R10,000 ($703) from my mother to do a nail course and she refused,” she says.
Although the plan was not clear and everyone around her said she was making a mistake, Mpoomy says she had faith her dream to open a nail business would one day come true.
<blockquote>“I spent my days crying and praying. It was a tough time. I knew I had made the right decision but everyone and everything around me tried to break me,” she says.</blockquote>
According to Mpoomy, Brenden, her then boyfriend and now husband, is the only one who shared the same faith.
“He was there with me all the way no matter what. He supported me and told me everything will be ok,” says the now-pregnant Mpoomy.
While trying to find her way, she joined a modeling agency. Her first job was a billboard and a TV advert that paid her R22,000 ($1,546). Following in her father’s footsteps, she invested it in a cleaning business.
“My dad’s business started as a cleaning company. He was a hustler trying to figure things out. Now, he manufactures various cleaning products and has a safety line…one day, when I was home, my mom was reading a magazine and came across an article that listed 10 businesses that require no startup capital and she showed it to me and I knew I had to start,” says Mpoomy.
She made a flier of her new-born cleaning business and posted it on WhatsApp groups. She found her first customers. She ran it for a year until she had to clean client homes herself.
“In December, all my helpers went home for the holidays and I had to clean for our clients. It was tough and I learned you can’t start a business in something you don’t know or you are not passionate about,” she says.
In January 2017, she got married and Brenden gave her R15,000 ($1,054) to go to nail school.
“He had just paid lobola and we had just gotten married which didn’t come cheap and now he had just invested in my education. Although my fees were paid, we didn’t have money for transport. At our wedding, someone gave us an envelope with R2,000 ($140) and that is what we used,” says Mpoomy, her eyes watering.
Life got tougher.
“We sacrificed everything we had to get started. We had financial problems at the time. It was the first year of our marriage and we had so many things to do. We just worried about getting through the day. I remember there was one time I didn’t know if we were going to have food for the rest of the month,” she says.
After three months, she was ready to get working experience but no one would hire her. She then mounted a poster on her car advertising her services and started a mobile nail salon.
“I did my nails every three days. We would go to a restaurant every week because they have a lunch special for R50 ($3) that comes with unlimited wifi. We would download videos so I learned how to be better.”
The mobile salon grew and she started making about R1,000 ($70) a day. She knew it was time to grow, open a shop and employ staff. With the help of a mentor, she opened Aneno Nail &amp; Coffee Bar.
<div id="attachment_37613" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37613" class="wp-image-37613 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mpumi-153-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mpumi-153-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mpumi-153-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mpumi-153-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mpumi-153-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mpumi-153.jpg 1654w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Mphoomy Ledwaba. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
“A week before our opening, I asked a family friend, who is a celebrity, to help me by coming to my nail bar and have her nails done for free and advertise on social media so I can get clients, but she undermined me. I could tell from the way she looked at me. She told me she works with big brands…I was hurt but I understood that you don’t need anyone to make something successful. God is the one who makes things happen.”
Today, she employs six people and plans to get into the hair industry, create a nail product line and then franchise the business. This is definitely not the last time you hear about this small-town girl with big dreams.

Mpumi-182

The University Drop Out Who Built A Beauty Business

Two taxi commuters who went on to become friends and tenacious business partners selling gourmet cuisine out of a food truck.

Look right, look left. You may well be sitting next to your future business partner.
That’s what happened to Hezron Louw, the Johannesburg-based co-founder of Sumting Fresh, on one of his taxi commutes years ago, and one that set him off on another journey altogether in a food truck.
“I met this guy in the taxi. And he was reading a magazine about cakes and we started talking about cakes. And every day for about two and half years, we would meet in the same taxi line and we would talk about food,” recounts Louw, when we meet him at Grant Avenue, a trendy street in the garden suburb of Norwood in Johannesburg.
This is where Sumting Fresh is rustling up and selling taste. The gourmet food company also sells out of a food truck at Johannesburg’s vibrant food markets.
The guy Louw met in the taxi, chef Andrew Leeuw, would go on to found Sumting Fresh with him in 2012. But before that, the friends-turned-business partners had hurdles and hiccups to overcome.
“We had 12 years apart in between before we saw each other again,” says Louw, the self-taught chef and media personality.
Louw and Leeuw grew up in the suburb of Ennerdale four blocks from each other but never met until the day destiny connected them at the taxi rank.
<div id="attachment_37499" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37499" class="wp-image-37499 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hezron-297.jpg 1366w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Hezron Louw; the background illustration has co-founder Andrew Leew on the right.</div>
They were students at the time – Louw was studying for a BCom in accounting while Leeuw was studying to become a chef.
Though Louw dropped out of his course to work in the banking sector, Leeuw completed his studies and worked at resorts.
The common ground in their friendship was their deep, abiding love for food.
“One day, I was driving down the road with my brother and I see Andrew. I shout ‘hey my guy’, he shouts ‘hey my guy’. We had forgotten each other’s names,” he says.
They went to have a beer and three months later, Sumting Fresh was born with merely no capital.
“We had a trailer and we would use my brother’s VW Golf to pull it… We were situated at Becker Street in Midrand for about two years,” says Louw.
Armed with no market research, the risk-takers parked their vehicle there in the hope of one day luring enough clients and becoming successful.
Besides their love for gastronomy, all they had between them was R20,000 ($1, 366) and some pots and pans they received from family.
Reality kicked in soon after.
“Yho! It was dismal,” exclaims Louw.
They were selling lunch to middle-income employees for R35 &#8211; R50 ($2 &#8211; $3) per meal at the time, and their cost price was also as much. They weren’t making any profit.
“Here we were out on the streets selling expensive food at low prices. Our business was a complete loss. Sometimes we would split R175 ($12),” says Louw, reminiscing the cash-strapped days.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/10/18/no-wasted-opportunities-for-swazi-entrepreneur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: No Wasted Opportunities For Swazi Entrepreneur</a>
Fortunately, they had a support system at home including family members and partners.
“I was literally a working poor person. I was extremely poor!” says Louw.
Things got worse. Both co-founders had children and families to look after.
“The business was on its knees, we couldn’t afford milk, nappies [for the children]; we just couldn’t afford anything.”
But the ambition to succeed was strong.
“What was very fortunate was Andrew and I are very optimistic people. We always knew we wanted Sumting Fresh to work. Even though the situation was depressing and hard, when he was down, I would pick him up, when I was down, he would pick me up,” says Louw.
As they leaned on each other, they learned determination.
<blockquote>“The main reason our business is still around is persistence. We would knock on doors and we would insist on getting customers.</blockquote>
“What a lot of entrepreneurs always miss out on is that they always paint the perfect picture [of their business]. They go out and tell how great things are and how great their businesses are. Then people [potential investors] think ‘why do you need my help’?” says Louw.
Their fortunes changed after an encounter with South African entrepreneur Miles Kubheka, the founder of Vuyo’s selling modern African cuisine.
“He used to have a restaurant in Braamfontein. He was driving past, and tasted our chicken wings,” says Louw.
Kubheka was impressed and approached them to work for him. They kept declining.
“We would say ‘no, we can’t’, we are living our dream. He came every day for three months and offered us a job and money so we would quit Sumting Fresh… But this one day, we were so broke we couldn’t anymore,” says Louw.
They shut the trailer and became employees.
“It was great, there was fire and they would tell us at 1 o’clock, it’s lunchtime.”
It took just three days for them to quit because the feeling of working for someone was “strange”.
This time, their return to business would change their financial fortunes.
“Now you are charged up and you see what is possible… [working for Vuyo’s] was a motivation to push us,” he says. The pair continued to work for Kubheka at Fourways Farmers Market on Sundays, until the idea came to also sell on their own at the food market.
It took three months until they received approval to sell their fried chicken strips with cheese. They were soon shoveling money with a bucket yet it had a hole in it.
They made money at the market and lost it all at Becker’s Street during the week, until they decided to close the store. But this was the beginning of new ideas and business opportunities. They expanded to the Neighbourgoods Market, where they met customers from all spheres of life.
“Where we are from, where we started and what we planned for our business is completely different. We thought we would be street food giants. It took us so long to open our eyes and see that,” says Louw.
They took on corporate clients and yet again made the mistake of expanding when not ready.
<blockquote>“Chasing the money can cost you money… that is one thing we need to learn as entrepreneurs. Not every customer is your customer,” he says.</blockquote>
Sumting Fresh finally found its niche.
It now turns over R6 million ($410,033) annually compared to the R600 ($41) monthly profit seven years ago.
They have parked their food trailers at festivals such as the Bushfire Festival in Swaziland, the OppiKoppi music festival in South Africa, and cater for private parties and corporate companies, in addition to running the restaurant in Johannesburg.
Louw is currently one of the judges for the Standard Bank campaign, My Fearless Next, encouraging budding entrepreneurs to turn their side hustles into their main businesses.
The founders of Sumting Fresh have shown how good company and good food can eventually spice up the bottom line.

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The Foodies With A Drive For Business

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Lights Camera Connie!

Paul Cook, co-Managing Director of Silvertree Internet Holdings, the investment growth partner behind some of South Africa’s internet brands, on what startup companies must do to survive.

<h3>Resilience</h3>
There are many reasons why a business could fail within the first year. In some cases, the plan itself does not make sense and in some cases, it is the execution of it that fails. Whenever someone starts a business, they are often doing it out of a sense of personal passion or a sense of excitement and that can lead to overly optimistic projections, and we see this all the time.
There is always going to be a tough period during the first year or two when reality bites. It will happen in some way and it will happen in some form – there will be some piece of bad luck or a difficult time. It is at this time a real make-or-break situation happens.
If you have the right people around you, if you have the right personal resilience; that is what gets companies through.
If you don’t get past that point, the business fails. It is about resilience when you start a new company.
By definition, you don’t know what is going to happen…no matter how hard you plan for a new business, you will face unexpected events.
&nbsp;
<h3>Planning</h3>
Make sure that you are good for the good and bad times during your entrepreneurial journey.
Your family too should be ready for the good and bad times&#8230; Try and build the right partnerships earlier on. Make sure that your relationships with whoever might be funding you – if there is an external funder – is right.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-37233 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paul-Cook-553-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="493" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paul-Cook-553-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paul-Cook-553-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paul-Cook-553-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paul-Cook-553-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Paul-Cook-553.jpg 1241w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />
<blockquote>&#8220;No matter how hard you plan for a new business, you will face unexpected events.&#8221;</blockquote>
<h3>Finances</h3>
You should not be seeking funding for its own sake. It is very seductive to suddenly have a lot of money in the bank. You can also fail if you don’t have money, but if you have too much money, then you are tempted to focus on the wrong Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Your objective in a startup is not to raise money; it is not to build revenue for its own sake, it is to build a business.
A business requires cost-control and it requires good unit economics. The more money you have in the bank, the harder it is to focus on cost-control. What you will end up doing is build a business that keeps growing but could never make any money&#8230; Also, if you raise too much money as an entrepreneur, you will end up not taking as many good terms [in deals] as you can.
Have a clear mind about what you want to get out of an investment&#8230;If you have proven as much as you can with a certain amount of money, you will be able to invest in marketing, stocks etc., then that makes sense.
<h3>Communication</h3>
When you are at an early stage of your business and are less than 10 employees, typically, everybody is in, not because of the salary but because of their passion for the business. You need to be a team and everybody needs to be on the same page.The period when you grow, from 10 to 50 employees, then all of a sudden, that is no longer the case. That is an extremely dangerous time for many companies.
We have seen several companies not succeeding, and that is a very sad part of the journey. It is then that you need to think who your core management is, [and] who are staff who don’t necessarily need to know everything. But you can also go too far the other way. Everyone needs to know the broad outlines of your thinking; keep the message simple for your team.
<h3>Transparency</h3>
Be honest about where you need help and make sure your partners are able to help you on those topics. You should look at all the different [aspects] of your business.
<h3>Marketing and sales</h3>
Marketing and sales are absolutely vital, it is non-negotiable. But how you do it depends on your business. In some cases, it is going to be marketing and in some cases, it is going to be sales. So you need to work out the strategy and how it will be different as well.
<h3>Tips ForStartup Success</h3>
<ol>
<li>Build a business that can make money: We are very tempted to copy Silicon Valley’s approach where you come up with an idea and you work out how to make money at a later stage. That makes sense in Silicon Valley but it doesn’t make sense here [in Africa], because there isn’t that tonne of money that is going to postpone your day of reckoning…You need to have a revenue model and whatever you are selling needs to be a lot more than your cost price.</li>
<li>Find the right business partner: If you look for investment, make sure that you find the right partner whose incentives and offerings match your own, for now, and in the future.</li>
<li>Build resilience: Make sure you are ready for tough times because there will be tough times.</li>
</ol>

Work colleagues brainstorming in creative office

Why Most Startups Fail In The First Year

Aluko &amp; Oyebode, Nigeria’s formidable commercial law firm, at No.1 Murtala Mohammed Road in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, is unusually empty for a Saturday.
It gives one enough time to admire its plush interiors. Describing it would be taking a page out of a John Grisham novel.
The imposing building houses three floors of prime real estate in the heart of the city and on one of the most expensive strips in Lagos.
As you walk in, the blood-red walls are juxtaposed with grey metallic fixtures and fittings. The décor of the building is reminiscent of past cultures of various African countries.
Each floor is delightfully curated with Afro-centric artefacts and in the middle floor of the building is the firm’s seat of power, the office of its leader, Gbenga Oyebode.
For a sweltering Nigerian afternoon, Oyebode is dressed like no other in a 100-mile radius of the elite Victoria Island hub of Lagos: in a two-piece power suit, his signature outfit. Today, it is in black, accented by a deep blue tie.
Oyebode is cordial and pleasant with the team as he takes his position on the ground floor for the first set of pictures for the FORBES AFRICA cover.
He is the Chairman of Aluko &amp; Oyebode, one of the largest integrated law firms in Nigeria with over 70 lawyers and three offices in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. 
The firm provides a comprehensive range of specialist legal services to a highly diversified clientele including top-tier Nigerian, international and multinational clients. In his capacity as chairman, Oyebode coordinates the various practice areas of the firm.
Described as a consummate dealmaker who has received plaudits from clients and peers alike for his corporate acumen, Oyebode’s areas of expertise cover energy and natural resources, power projects, foreign investment and privatization, telecommunications and project finance. 
It is not just his formal dressing that is unusual.
Law firms in the country, family-owned by tradition, almost never run their firms like well-oiled machines providing solutions for several sectors at the same time. Oyebode was one of the pioneers of this concept. And it has not been an easy journey.
<blockquote>&#8220;It exposed me to these great minds I read about in the The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and I said very quickly to myself that I wanted to be like them,”</blockquote>
The 59-year-old spent the early years of his life musing over the promises of life in the civil service, a path taken by his father. It was a stable and comfortable job and one had guaranteed employment as well as a good salary. But he was compelled to ponder the possibilities of a riskier career.
“In those days, being a civil servant was the dream of every young person due to the stability of the job. However, as I started reading law, it became clear to me that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and for a lawyer that means opening a law firm,” says Oyebode as he takes a break from the photoshoot to begin our interview.
And that is exactly what he did. But not just any law firm, he wanted to leave behind a dynasty of great lawyers whose work would carry on long after he was gone.
If he had worked for any Nigerian law firm, his future would not have been guaranteed.
<div id="attachment_36614" style="width: 855px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36614" class="wp-image-36614 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348-845x1024.jpg" alt="" width="845" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348-845x1024.jpg 845w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348-300x364.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348-600x727.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348-247x300.jpg 247w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348-768x931.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8493-Edit-e1530521149348.jpg 1300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px" />Gbenga Oyebode is Nigeria&#8217;s formidable legal mastermind. Photos by Kelechi Amadi-Obi.</div>
“The history of Nigerian law firms in the early 80s and some of them today was that they were set up by great minds essentially to be kept in the family. Their children went to law school and even if you were a great lawyer who worked with them, they make it very clear that you shouldn’t be thinking about your future at the law firm, because they were going to hand over the business to their children. So I understood that it was not going to work for me,” says Oyebode.
At well over six feet, Oyebode has a towering presence in any room, yet his calm and cordial disposition immediately sets you at ease and makes you feel as though you are having a conversation with an old friend.
Sitting in the conference room of his eponymous firm, Oyebode recalls a series of events that shaped the course of his career.
Like the time he was going to university and struggled to get guidance from mentors who would have advised him on the best path to take to become a successful legal entrepreneur.
The prominent Nigerian lawyers at the time were not strictly lawyers who worked at the firm but were mostly also involved in other professions.
According to Oyebode, the earliest nationalists of Nigerian politics were all lawyers, who used the law that they had learned abroad to change the system in Nigeria to gain independence and push the envelope against colonialism.
That would later become the real motivation for Oyebode to become a lawyer. For him, the ability to use law to change the political system with democracy or creating value was a calling he wanted to be a part of.
After graduating from the University of Ife in 1979, he immediately went to the Nigerian Law School and thereafter, completed his postgraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) in the United States (US).
“What UPenn did for me was show me that there was a different way to do things and that the world was bigger than the opportunities I had in Nigeria. One of the most significant things about going to an Ivy League institution is how they draw from great minds around. So we went to conferences where great minds in the capital markets were and it was a game-changer. It exposed me to these great minds I read about in the The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and I said very quickly to myself that I wanted to be like them,” recalls Oyebode.
His journey is a textbook case study on how to systematically build a business step by step. He eschews convention. From the minute he finished primary school, his father signed up to a subscription of Reader’s Digest that was to become his monthly diet.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2017/08/02/success-bag-entrepreneur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Success Is In The Bag For This Entrepreneur</a>
“He thought that it was important for us to read. He said it was important for us to understand what happened around the world. So one of the things that I do continually even today is I read the Reader’s Digest every month. It shaped my view of the world and created for me a situation where I learned more about the things that were happening around me and I was not limited to Nigeria,” says Oyebode.
His tenure as an associate at White &amp; Case, one of the world’s leading law firms, helped him visualize the type of law firm he wanted to build of his own.
“American law firms were the type of law firms I thought we could replicate in Nigeria. Their vision for building big partnerships and for those partnerships to survive named partners was impressive. So it was very clear where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I worked with White &amp; Case for a year and I said to myself it was time to come back home,” says Oyebode.
Home had changed a whole lot while he was away. Nigeria had returned to democracy after years of military rule. The business environment was growing and there was a need for competent people to push the envelope and help with the development of law and business.
Furthermore, there were less than 10,000 lawyers admitted to practice law and Oyebode decided he would rather be one of 10,000 in Nigeria than one of a million in the US.
Soon after making that decision, disaster struck. No sooner had he returned to Nigeria did the crude oil market collapse and the Nigerian economy took a dip for the worse. The democratic government that had motivated Oyebode to come back was very quickly removed in a coup d&#8217;état in 1983.
“Before we knew it, the [Muhammadu] Buhari government was in power. To make matters worse, the naira had collapsed and the country was looking at a structural adjustment program with the World Bank. So contrary to my plans, things changed very quickly. I couldn’t go back to the US and I had to make do with things in Nigeria,” says Oyebode.
But where there are clouds, there is also a silver lining. Oyebode chose to keep faith and stick it out. He applied to work for the Gulf Oil Company, which later merged with Chevron, and spent two years learning about the oil and gas industry.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/12/01/bank-on-this-man/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bank On This Man</a>
“That was very instructive because it gave me an opportunity to work in an industry, which was Nigeria’s biggest foreign exchange earner. I essentially cut my teeth working in Nigeria’s oil industry. I saw through the merger of Gulf and Chevron and then decided it was time to go out and do my own thing.”
In 1985, Oyebode went into partnership with friends and started his first law firm 
Ajumogobia, Okeke, Oyebode &amp; Aluko. After eight years of success, the firm was dissolved due to internal challenges. The string of such incidents, be it the country’s economic downturn or disagreements with partners, have all contributed to the success story Oyebode is today.
“What is impressive about Oyebode is his calmness and composure in times of crisis. He has the ability to look beyond that problem and says ‘how do we move on from this and get to the solution’,” says Tunde Folawiyo, Managing Director of Yinka Folawiyo Group in Nigeria.
That steadfastness has been an invaluable trait for Oyebode over the years.
He went on to establish Aluko &amp; Oyebode with his other partner. Perpetual wins translated into mammoth personal gains for the legal mastermind.
Oyebode’s is also the story of a smart entrepreneur who, spurred by the increase in the proliferation of Western companies in Nigeria, spotted an opportunity in corporate law and has methodically worked to cash in on it.
He is currently advising on the Brass LNG Project, a joint venture between NNPC, TOTAL, Conoco Philips and Agip for the construction of a $3.5 billion Liquefied Natural Gas plant. He has also advised on key transactions like the $1.275 billion financing of the Exxon Mobil Natural Gas Liquid II Project, the $1.06 billion financing of trains four and five of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Plant Expansion Project and the $3.5 billion financing of the NNPC and Mobil Producing Unlimited Satellite Oil Field Project. He sits on the boards of MTN Nigeria, Nestle Nigeria and CFAO, among many others.
“Corporate law was something I was good at. It’s something that is dependent on your network and it is something that comes naturally to me. At White &amp; Case and at Gulf Oil, that was my forte. I had invested a significant amount of my time around that so I was able to very quickly develop as a good oil and gas lawyer,” says Oyebode.
His wife, Aisha, attests to this. “What I admire most about Gbenga is he is very kind and warm and he is a people’s person. I do not know anybody that doesn’t like Gbenga.”
It was what Oyebode did next that distinguished him from his peers.
“One of the people that I studied a lot was Chief Chris Ogunbanjo. He ran the biggest law firms in town and was a lawyer who represented all the multinationals and was a lawyer who got involved in the businesses he represented. So when I came back [to Nigeria], I saw his model as one that I could emulate. I saw that he was able to achieve his objective, which was essentially run a significant law firm and become the advisor of the biggest corporates in the market as well as the repository of knowledge of what it means to work in Nigeria,” says Oyebode.
And that was to become Oyebode’s operating style over the next two decades. His modus operandi was simple.
Find opportunities, which he could maximize, and provide professional services and legal advice to top-tier corporate clients and where there was an opportunity, take a chunk of the business.
“One of the things as an entrepreneur that you tend to look at is opportunities around you, so long as those opportunities don’t divert your from your chosen path. If you ask me what I want to be known as, I would say a lawyer first, then an investor,” he says.
Oyebode sits on boards of companies that he has invested in as well as boards that he has been invited to join due to his significant expertise in corporate Nigeria.
<div id="attachment_36622" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36622" class="wp-image-36622 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8532-Edit-1024x684.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="684" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8532-Edit-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8532-Edit-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8532-Edit-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8532-Edit-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSC8532-Edit.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Photo by Kelechi Amadi-Obi</div>
The last two decades have seen a veritable boom in the business. For Oyebode, the key is passion for what you do.
“I am driven to build a big firm. We have 85 associates in three offices. There are 16 partners in the firm across the different practice areas that you expect a full service law firm to have, from legislation to corporate law to intellectual property, to risk and governance. So these are all key sectors that are sectors for growth of the Nigerian economy. The rationale is building a legacy that is driven by return,” says Oyebode.
Ever the opportunist, Oyebode is also looking to capitalize on the growth in demand of global companies looking for local partners in the real estate sector. He has a two-hotel deal with the Fairmont Group to establish hotels in Lagos and Abuja. Given the size in the number of tourists and business people in the country, Oyebode believes there is tremendous growth opportunities in this sector.
“The view is that there is still a gap around the hospitality business in Lagos. I go to Accra and I see the Kempinski and Movenpick hotels and I know that if Accra can do it then Lagos certainly has significant scope to develop hotels. Abuja only has the Hilton.”
But it has not all been smooth sailing. No sooner had he started his second stint at a law firm that tragedy struck.
“Life is about tripping and falling and learning from mistakes, pulling your strengths and moving on. My partner, Bankole Aluko, had a mild illness and called in sick for a couple of days. I decided to pay him a visit after work and on my way there, I was told he had passed away suddenly. It was a big shock because we had built everything together and most of the lawyers that joined us did so because of our strength as a firm. I had the corporate law expertise and he was a litigation expert. I thought it was all over at the point,” says Oyebode.
It was dark times for Oyebode.
“In those days it was very difficult to get clients. They came to you because they knew you and your reputation so it was very personality-driven. Today, clients look at your brand and your track record. So losing Bankole both as a dear friend and a professional was devastating.”
He vowed to continue the legacy they had started together and leave his name on the business as a named partner, which still stands today. These days, Oyebode is more interested in giving back. He mentors the next generation and is finding ways to give back. He has also turned his attention from corporate boards to philanthropy boards and actively seeks out opportunities to contribute to the community.
On the issue of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) fight to retrieve Nigeria’s stolen loot, which is estimated to be billions of dollars from state coffers, Oyebode offers some practical advice.
“My concern about Nigeria is not the lack of law or policy but always about execution. I think we have a robust legal system, we have laws and policies in place and we have a strong civil service. Do people obey the law around the world? Yes, and that is because they are afraid of sanctions. So if you do not obey the law or sanctions, then you pay the price. So our problem is a lack of execution of good policy, inconsistent application of the laws and sometimes, we have allowed federal character and the process of rotating positions to trump skill and expertise so therefore mediocrity is able to rise to the very top.”
But that is an ongoing fight, which Oyebode believes will not be solved overnight. Presently, his focus is on leveraging his expertise as one of the most formidable and accomplished legal minds to add value and give back to Nigeria.
His legal firm is a victim of its own success. And this is a happy problem to have.
&nbsp;
Herbert Wigwe, the CEO Access Bank, one of Nigeria’s top banking institutions, calls Oyebode one of the strongest legal minds, not just in Nigeria but also across the world.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-36617 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Herbert_big-e1530520980422-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Herbert_big-e1530520980422-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Herbert_big-e1530520980422-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
“And I say this because I have a strong personal relationship with him, apart from the fact that in Nigeria, he runs the strongest corporate law office. The existence of what is a modern Access Bank would never have happened but for people like Gbenga&#8230;.All of these attributes have led him to sit on most of the large corporate boards in the country…Saying Gbenga is the new face of business in Africa is not something that is far-fetched; it is something that he has proven over and over again in his career.”

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The Tall Lawyer, Investor And Philanthropist In A Power Suit

From November 7-9, Africa Inc. will convene in South Africa’s Gauteng Province, the continent’s seventh largest economy, for the inaugural Africa Investment Forum (AIF).
An initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), it was announced in May in Johannesburg by AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina with Gauteng premier David Makhura.
“It will be the continent’s first-ever investment market place,” said Adesina, formerly Nigeria’s minister of agriculture.
“South Africa is open for business again, and as Gauteng, we are ready to host the forum on behalf of not only South Africa, but for Africa,” said Makhura, calling the forum “the Davos of Africa”.
A platform to close the investment gap, Adesina called it a game-changing initiative.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/investment-guide/2014/08/01/the-investment-hotspot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Investment Hotspot</a>
“It cannot be business as usual, it must be business unusual,” he said.
With Africa’s population set to be two billion by 2050, its development needs will require an estimated $600-$700 billion per annum. So accelerated development will be the forum’s focus.
“The forum will be 100% transactional. There will be no political speeches. The only thing allowed will be transactions, transactions and transactions,” said Adesina. In attendance in November will also be African heads of state who will be present as the CEOs of their countries.
In a sit-down interview with FORBES AFRICA, the AfDB president shared more about new investments, and the bread baskets and Silicon Valleys of Africa:
How will AIF take Afro-optimism and the African growth story further? 
African economies have been growing relatively well in a very difficult global environment. Despite the global economic downturn, in 2016, they grew at roughly 2.2%; in 2017, they grew at 3.6%. In 2018, they are projected to grow at 4.1%. And that’s still above the global average.
So Africa’s head is above the water. But it’s more than about keeping your head above the water that matters, it is about how fast you can swim. I think Africa needs to swim fast and needs a lot of oxygen to do that. And that means a lot of firepower in terms of capital to close the infrastructure gap. To be able to drive millions of people out of poverty, Africa should be growing at double digits.
To be able to do that we have to deal with the problem of lack of electricity, make sure there is a lot more investment to allow trade to happen. Africa could contribute a lot more be it is rail, ports, national highways or aviation. It has to change lives on the ground and quiet honestly when people ask if I am an Afro-optimist, I am a very proud African. Africa is a beautiful place and has tremendous potential so we shouldn’t always just talk about the potential because nobody eats potential. We have to unlock that potential. So that is what the Africa Investment Forum is all about. Be it oil, gas, minerals or agricultural commodities, Africa is awash with rich resources.
The question is how to turn them into real dividends with significant amounts of revenue that allows a better quality of life for the people. For that, you need to deal with the infrastructure deficit. We used to say it is about $15 billion. But that has changed. The AfDB recently released the African Economic Outlook report and the deficit is anywhere between $67 billion to $107 billion every year, so which means we must do a faster job pulling capital together because the rest of the world is not waiting.
How long will it take to close that gap? 
I think within the next decade. But it’s going to take a lot of work…
What about the youth dividend; what are the future industries? 
Africa is at the very top in fintech and mobile money… but as we look at new types of industries, we have to look at them in the context of the fourth industrial revolution… I get excited when I see the youth in Africa well-educated, they are all on social media, know how to use apps, which means they already have a leg up. So the key is how to re-tool them to operate in that kind of a new economy. The AfDB is doing that in three ways already. First is we signed up a joint program with Google and Microsoft to help develop young talented Africans in computer technology. We as a bank are already investing in technology parks in Cape Verde, Angola, Kenya, Senegal, Rwanda. These are technology parks where you can have the ICT industries emerge; almost like trying to create the Silicon Valleys of Africa.
When it comes to the new economy, you have to start early. We have a program trying to create 250 coding centers in Africa where you get people with computational knowledge to do coding services that can help in this new world we are moving towards. We are also investing in universities for science and technology across Africa to create this new scientific human capital…We need to give African youth the skills they need for the jobs of the future, not for the jobs of yesterday.
What then are the new wealth generators? 
If you look at where the money is going in Africa, it’s not actually going into oil, gas and natural resources. Most of the foreign direct investment (FDI) is going into the service industry, at least 64%, and also the financial services sector; maybe about 27% goes into the manufacturing sector. So these are the big sectors where you see a lot of FDI. But there are two sectors very important for me. 
One is ICT, because this is going to be the driver of the economy. It’s very important for countries to invest heavily in the ICT industry to give their countries the platforms they need in the knowledge economy.
The second is the food and agriculture industry. Africa has a lot of oil and gas, but nobody drinks oil, nobody smokes the gas. Food is the future. The size of the food and agriculture industry in Africa is going to be $1 trillion by 2030 in Africa. This is where the wealth is supposed to come from. Unfortunately, in Africa, we always walk past gold. Just imagine you are seeing gold, and you see it as dirt and don’t recognize it. That’s the power agriculture has… The food business is the biggest business. Agriculture is not a development sector, it’s not a social sector, it’s a wealth-creating sector. Agriculture is a business and Africa needs to fully unlock that potential. If you look at the amount of arable land left to feed nine billion people in the world by 2050, it is not in Europe, Latin America, Asia, or the US, it’s in Africa – 65% is right here. What Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food for the world.
How will Africa’s billionaires and capitalists help achieve these goals? 
If you look at the high-networth-individuals in Africa, the majority of them make their money on this continent, and that’s already a strong signal. Aliko Dangote makes his money in Africa. 
So we are going to get them involved on the Africa Investment Forum because it is trying to send a message to the world that we have African businesses that are viable businesses making money and doing well on the continent; so putting capital to help them expand can help them become global multi-national companies…
And investing in African entrepreneurs? 
The issue for entrepreneurs is finding them, nurturing them and then putting the financial backing behind them to thrive. Africa has a lot of young people. Every day, I wake up I read about a young person doing so well. So the best investment that Africa can make is to put its capital at risk on behalf of its young people. Because when you see a young person walk into a financial institution, all you see is risk, risk, risk. We have to change that and try and see creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. So that way we can put your money at risk to make them more creative, more innovative and unleash their entrepreneurship capacity. That is why at AfDB, we have a program helping to invest in the early-stage businesses of young people. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates didn’t just get there, somebody had to believe in them.
We have a program set up with the European Union called Boost Africa to invest in young people. The other thing we are doing is helping unleash entrepreneurship in the food and agriculture industry. The bank has a program targeted at getting young graduates, medical doctors, engineers… who are all going to agriculture as a business. Last year, AfDB invested over $860 million in that program for about eight countries. Going forward, we expect to invest $1.5 billion dollars every year in that program for the next 10 years. 
I really think unless we change the mindset, the labor composition of the agricultural sector and create a new dynamic group of entrepreneurs in the food industry, we only will have old people left. Every university in Africa has to make entrepreneurship compulsory.
&#8211; By Karen Mwendera and Methil Renuka

Adesina_KM

Investment Marketplace Coming To Africa

As a teenager it dawned on me that my undergraduate academic ambition was going to be threatened when my father lost his job. My dream to become a petroleum engineer was deflated in a matter of days. I was concerned about my future and afraid I would be tagged as a failure. During this unpleasant and frustrating experience, I questioned the rationale behind my dad’s choice of paid employment. If he had started a business, maybe things would have turned out differently. That was a tipping point for my search for success in life.
In 1999, I found a book that answered the question of how to be successful. The Success Journey, written by John C. Maxwell, sparked my hunger for knowledge, which led me to start visiting a public library built by the Catholic church in my town, in southwestern Nigeria. I made that decision because I had read in the book that knowledge is a prerequisite for success.
My need to be successful and influential was so strong that it birthed inspirational dissatisfaction in me. In the same manner, I have observed that many successful business owners often start with a burning desire and this desire takes up most of their time, most of their resources and almost all of their energy. I believe that is what counts for entrepreneurship.
On the other hand, I have also encountered many African start-up entrepreneurs who have ideas that lack that yearning. All they have is a wish that may or may not be achieved, and a template-guided business plan. Most of these plans remain on paper and are eventually buried. Some that succeed in starting their own business don’t get to live their dream beyond a few years.
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Other than the fact that many African countries have a poor rating on the ease of doing business index, a core factor that accounts for a business’s inability to survive is the lack of a burning desire. Success is for the hungry and desire is the emotion that will see it come to fruition.
It is important that a target is clearly defined before commencing with a business plan and allocating responsibilities. This helps everyone to effectively focus on crucial matters. In the present business space, time is more essential than money. The rate at which business disruption happens is so fast that many business leaders are constantly on their toes to just remain in the game. With this in mind, attention should only be given to what is important – the key drivers of the desired result.
Obviously, entrepreneurs in Africa are finding it easier now than a decade ago to hire tools, and raise capital to produce products. But, realizing the ability to rent time is highly unlikely in the near future. Time is inelastic. Therefore, we must focus on what really matters to get the desirable business result.
To better manage time, an entrepreneur should focus on what they have control over. When you focus on concerns that you can’t control, you may lose sight of things within your control. 
Also, ensure your beliefs and values align with the desired business result because these influence your time and attention.
Setting goals, and planning for them, are instrumental to time management. This will help guide decisions as well as allowing you to delegate where necessary. 
I have accepted the simple paradigm that nothing makes one entrepreneur more successful than the other in an industry as much as what each person does with time. Time creates everybody’s chance, but not everybody creates a chance with the time they have.
&#8211; Victor Mamora

Building their success one touch at a time

It’s About Time For Success For Entrepreneurs In Africa

By the time triplets Tola, Tayo and Tunde Alakija completed their degrees in occupational therapy, radio therapy, and childhood and adolescent studies respectively, they knew their destinies were not apart, but together.
They were three bodies with one mind. The result – a common passion for fashion, and a business named Talakija.
The trio had flirted with the idea of doing something in the clothing business when they were younger but as Tola puts it, “we knew we would never go into fashion as a profession, especially coming from an African background – that is something that just does not go down well.”
For their parents, as with most African parents, the only respectable career paths for their daughters were law, medicine or banking.
“Initially I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to study. Before I went to university, I knew I wanted to help people so I looked for different subjects and occupational therapy came up. After researching it, I immediately knew it was what I wanted to do and so I went to Coventry University [in the UK] to study it,” says Tola.
Always playing the role of designated baby-sitter for her nephews and nieces from a young age, Tunde opted for childhood and adolescent studies at Bedfordshire University while Tayo decided to help people cope with cancer through radio therapy at London South Bank University.
“I chose radio therapy because I enjoy the practicality of it and helping people to get better from cancer is very rewarding. There is also a lot of problem solving that takes place in the practice,” says Tayo.
Now at 24, the girls have decided to return to their first love, initially inspired by their older sisters.
“We all grew up in south London in a council flat with six siblings. Our love for fashion started from our big sisters. They used to be into fashion so we would borrow their clothes and we thought they looked so cool. Now we have taken over to show them the real meaning of fashion,” laughs Tunde.
The inspiration for this new focus however was no laughing matter. In 2016, just as the girls were finishing their university degrees, disaster struck.
“Our dad passed away suddenly in September 2016. It came as a shock. The same day he was supposed to come back to the UK to get treatment, he passed away in Nigeria. We all flew to Nigeria the following day. He had been unwell before but always recovered, so this one was a big shock. It brought the family closer and we decided to create this brand and build it stronger in memory of our dad. So we called the brand Talakija,” says Tayo.
Their unique sense of fashion was honed at London’s West End, home to the city’s many tourist attractions, trendy cafes, shops and theaters.
“I can literally go around West End with my eyes closed. We would walk for hours looking at all the different styles from the high street. We used to dress up to church and started being creative with it. Every week we would wear new outfits and people used to compliment us and would say ‘why don’t you guys start a blog’? So we started a little blog called 23 Fashion just for fun to see how it would go. The blog was about clothes we liked, where we bought them from and how to match them,” offers Tayo.
The demand for African-inspired clothing has created a huge market for some of the continent’s designers and brands. The patronage of African prints by international personalities like Michelle Obama, Thandie Newton and Beyoncé has led to an increase in its popularity with designers vying for a piece of the exploding market.
This has led to the proliferation of e-commerce fashion platforms that not only widens access to international markets for African designers but also caters to homegrown demand.
“Nigeria’s e-commerce market is currently worth $13 billion and it is expected to rise to about $50 billion in the next decade and with the increase in internet penetration and mobile technology, there are massive opportunities for fashion brands online,” says Dotun Bello, a financial analyst at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Talakija is looking to cash in on this trend. Launched in August 2017 as an online store, the triplets have managed to create a buzz, both in Nigeria and London, where their ready-to-wear blazers and suits intricately detailed with African print are selling at $95 to $120 a piece.
“We were invited to showcase our pieces at the one Africa fashion show which was a huge event and then following that we styled one of Nigeria’s biggest artists, Flavour N’abania, in two of our pieces for his music video and that is how all the attention started,” says Tayo.
The online shop also sells African-inspired bags, crop tops, waistcoats and trousers.
“I love the originality of the brand. Not a lot of people can make blazers with African print and make it look like a bespoke piece and that is the one thing that Talakija does really well,” says Bimbola Ahmed, a social media influencer.
Each of the three Talakija entrepreneurs plays a different role in the business.
Tayo is the creative one in the group, usually with the final say when it comes to sketching and the look of the pieces. Tola handles finance and Tunde manages PR and social media.
Building the brand has brought the girls closer and helped them cope with the difficult time in their personal lives.
Together, they have made it work.

Tag: Business

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