Finding your perfect match is never easy. But it’s been made easier now thanks to Chinedu Onyeaso and Emeka Akano. The two Nigerian entrepreneurs are pioneering the way co-founders in business find one another in Africa by bringing global Founder2be’s match-making service to the continent for the first time.
When you sign up on Founder2be’s website, you create a profile including the type of co-founder you’re looking for. In this way, someone interested in working with you will contact you via an anonymous, built-in messaging system that allows you to decide who you share your contact details with. If all goes well online, meeting in person would be the next natural step until the two founders decide whether to work together or not.
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Onyeaso and Akano took the idea further by organizing events. In the case of Nigeria, the online service and the Founder2be events go hand-in-hand, allowing for a lot more entrepreneurs to meet and connect.
“For the Lagos events, besides the networking, we bring in a few notable speakers to share some of their experiences and knowledge with the attendees. So the event also provides people with the opportunity to learn from experienced entrepreneurs and professionals so as to be better equipped to start and run their business,” says Akano.
In August, the first Founder2be Nigeria event was held on Victoria Island. Speakers included entrepreneurs to legal and information technology experts, who were all partial to business creation. Even Tomi Davies, the convener of Lagos Angel Network, an exclusive network for angel investors focused on supporting early stage start-ups in Lagos, was in attendance.
Founder2be provides an environment for people interested in business to learn, connect, share ideas and potentially find partners. These co-founders can come in the form of a business partner, mentor, adviser or investor for a business. It allows individuals with different skills sets to connect and work on ideas to launch start-ups. It’s reportedly the leading co-founder matching community in more than 100 countries.
Asked whether they have come across entrepreneurs who have become co-founders from the Nigerian network, Onyeaso says it’s still early days, but they’ve received positive feedback from some of attendees of the event.
“I met quite a few people I’d never encountered previously within my personal tech network, and I think with a few tweaks and consistency, the event and the community that hopefully emerges from broken ice could lead to many interesting transactions,” says Bankole Oluwafemi, founder of TechCabal, an online technology publication.
The duo became friends while they were university students in Ghana. They relocated to Britain after completing their undergraduate studies to obtain their Master’s in engineering at the University of Nottingham.
After graduating and working in Britain for a short while, they returned to Nigeria. They had been involved in the creation of affordable web design and corporate identity branding services to SMEs in Nigeria where the two identified a gap in the untapped market in the education sector.
Onyeaso and Akano then co-founded Entarado, a web development company empowering small businesses with web and mobile solutions. The business launched WebBlis to help other businesses gain an online presence and now they are working on EasySchool, a platform to help schools better manage their administrative functions, such as sending results to students.
From there, they became Nigerian ambassadors for the Finnish-created Founder2be forum. It is part of a global event which is held in major cities around the world.
Following two successful events last year, the two entrepreneurs hope to host at least one event every three months. The forum is growing so fast that interest has spread to other parts of Nigeria in Abuja and Port Harcourt.
“We understand that having the right founding team is an important step in the right direction for any start-up towards building a successful business. However, we also know that there are a number of things that are needed for someone to build a successful business. Things such as access to funds, mentors, work spaces and support,” says Akano.
Onyeaso adds Founder2be Nigeria is working on partnerships with investor networks, like Lagos Angel Network, accelerators and hubs to be able to help Nigerians get the support they need to start and grow their business once they find the perfect co-founder.
Through Entarado and Founder2be, the pair hopes to provide a platform to help foster entrepreneurship in their community. They believe that everyone knows something, but nobody knows everything and that by sharing ideas and meeting with people of similar interests, they will be able to find partners and get the help needed to start or grow their businesses.
Although they didn’t meet each other on the popular match-making site for co-founders, Onyeaso and Akano believe they have what it takes to spark a revolution in Nigeria’s budding start-up scene.

The Cupids Of Commerce

The business of motivational speaking in Africa is in boom. In the last two years the continent has seen an influx of top international speakers such as Richard Branson, Steadman Graham and John Demartini. But in this digital age, where almost everything is available online for free, it’s surprising that many are still willing to pay $1,000 to hear someone speak.
South African business coach, Vusi Thembekwayo, has been in the business for the last 10 years. He says the reason for the sudden interest in Africa is because the American industry is saturated, the European’s are sceptical but South Africa’s fast growing business sector has people wanting to hear from business gurus. Thembekwayo says although there are many professionally trained speakers, there are also people ready to make a quick buck.
“I think that there is a very large proportion of speakers out there who are [scammers]&#8230; There are the guys who go home and read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, and then the following morning rate themselves as speakers…”
The industry consists of a variety of businesspeople, sportsmen, psychologists and professionally trained speakers. Some speak loudly with rehearsed PowerPoint presentations while others can be soft-spoken. All speakers will attempt to encourage you and make you feel that you can achieve success and live your dreams. During presentations you can also expect a book promotion and a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“I see the Americans here doing their really big rah-rah conferences. [They’ll say] ‘If you come now we can sell you a package at R10,000 ($960) just run to the back… it’s only going at  [that price] today, if you buy tomorrow it will be R50,000 ($4,800). Buy my package today and I’m going to teach you how to make a million rand through sales,’” says Thembekwayo.
It seems one of the most uncomfortable topics for speakers is money. But, how much do they charge for their words?
Thembekwayo benchmarks himself against some of the industry’s best, such as Jim Collins, Malcolm Gladwell, Adrian Gore and Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita. He charges his clients R45,000 ($4,300) for a 45 to 60 minute session, the size of the crowd ranges from 15 to 3,000 people.
“I don’t allow my clients to say it’s too expensive because if you say it’s too expensive then you don’t want what it is that I’m offering you and I’m happy you go elsewhere.”
For sales trainer Barry Mitchell, finding his cost was a matter of trial and error by seeing what the client was willing to pay and how comfortable he felt charging them for his service. The founder of the Uncovering Your Greatness program, Mitchell offers one-day free seminars, private coaching, which costs between R15,000 ($1,400) and R20,000 ($1,900), and 5-day seminars which cost R40,000 ($3,800).
“The better you do, and the more value you add, the more your self-worth grows and the more you could charge. But, I’m very particular about the more I charge the more value I have to add.”
Mitchell says the reason people are willing to pay to hear someone speak has less to do with money and more to do with the value they hope it will add to their lives and businesses.
“[When] I got to chat with Robert Kiricsi it wasn’t anything he told me that made me think, wow that will change my life. It was the value of me just being able to sit and I thought  this guy just thinks a little differently to what I’m used to. If he thinks like that and he’s done so well, then how do I think?”
“Let’s face it, what we teach, is nothing new under the sun. I think, a lot of the time, it’s how we teach it and it’s the connection the speaker makes with other people,” says Mitchell.
At the end of the day, you can attend all the motivational talks in the world and read countless books on how other people became successful. But, ultimately you have to make the decision on whether to act now or spend your life waiting for the right time.

Money Talks In The Business of Motivational Speaking

A lot of women have come up – there are many more rising up to the challenge and a wind of change is definitely blowing. Yes, I am in a male-dominated industry and I’m not ready to back down.”
These are the gutsy words of Nigerian business mogul Ngozi Oyewole, CEO of Noxie Limited – a leading Nigerian diversified service provider.
From trucking and haulage, protective equipment for rigs, to interior decoration, furniture supplies for multinationals and promotional items, Oyewole is a busy woman with a roving eye for ideas, many of which she has brought to life.
There is an infectious exuberance and confidence about Oyewole, one that is just as visible as her business savvy nature and can-do attitude. The evidence speaks volumes in her work, a trait many might not have expected. An Ikwerre princess – born into a the royal home of HRM Eze Frank Eke in Rivers State, Nigeria, who was also once governor – Oyewole is privileged, but that has not made her complacent or idle.
“My father was governor, he is also a king and society expected us to be spoon-fed and lazy but that isn’t the case. I had a thinking head on my shoulders and I wasn’t going to be swayed away by societal expectations or norms,” says Oyewole.
Sitting pretty today, with a fast-growing and diversified business with strong expansionary visions, Oyewole attributes her relentless drive and business acumen to her mother’s strong influence.
“My mother [Evangelist Beatrice Eke] was a very strong woman. She owned various businesses from hotels to beauty salons and she was very entrepreneurial. After school, there were expectations on us to work in similar areas,” she says.
After an undergraduate qualification in business administration and a postgraduate in information technology in the United Kingdom, Oyewole did just the opposite – she plunged into the corporate world and worked with a few UK-based firms, before returning to Nigeria to undergo her National Youth Service (NYSC) Program. Thereafter, she settled into the Nigerian corporate landscape.
“When I got married and had the first of my three children, my husband and I made the decision that I take a break from my career and raise our kids to an appreciable age.
“I started trading in 1993, when my youngest child started nursery school, and I would go overseas to buy clothes, shoes and household items to sell locally. I chose ‘Noxie’ as my business name because it was a pet name my sister-in-law coined for me, when she had difficulty pronouncing my name. I started with a small shop in Ikoyi Hotel and have since grown and diversified into several business interests over the years. I incorporated Noxie Limited in 2001,” says Oyewole
This was the beginning of a journey that Oyewole has found fulfilling and challenging, and yet it highlights the business terrain for women on the continent to be steep and rocky. In the same breath, however, she believes that women can only go as far as they allow themselves. A strong will, self-motivation and competence should be a businesswoman’s creed.
“The challenges I have faced over time are the same most women experience in our type of environment. In a society predominantly dominated by men, most times people don’t take you seriously because of your gender, but once you demonstrate your competence, dedication and professionalism on every job you undertake, they eventually have no hang-ups with dealing with you,” she adds.
Women need a voice within various business sectors and yet the inability to get finance from banks remains a major deterrent. More women should challenge the status quo by proving that they are capable and dependent business leaders.
Oyewole’s passion for entrepreneurship is shaped by her formidable mother, supportive family and her faith in God. All have fueled a healthy restlessness that drives her from venture to venture. Each has comforted her when her professional limits were tested and have pushed her towards self-development.
“Most of the businesses I run, I got into accidentally, after which I developed myself in these areas until I mastered the different technicalities. I have always been restless and enterprising. I’m very comfortable with what I do and it doesn’t intimidate me in any way.”
Noxie Limited has a portfolio that includes: office furniture, interior decoration for office space and the home, personal protective equipment (PPE), uniforms and industrial apparel, promotional items, barge and tugboat leasing as well as trucking and haulage.
As CEO, Oyewole sets the company’s long-term strategy to negotiating major contracts and financing. Having learnt the ropes and earned her stripes, Oyewole’s advice for young upcoming women is: “Have a conviction. Know what you want. Yes, African women do need a voice but self-conviction also goes a long way. The African woman can only go so far if she doesn’t believe in herself first.”
I am keen to find out if and how education has influenced such lucid business gusto.
“You don’t need to be in the classroom or an academic to be educated. It doesn’t take a paper qualification to make a formidable woman. As a woman, look for your strength and what makes you tick. Find what you like to do and do it very well,” she answers.
Noxie, as she is fondly called, may have achieved some grand feats in business but always sets her eyes on bigger projects.
“A major client contacted us to cater to their personal protective equipment business because they were impressed with our performance and track record on previous orders. I was thrilled on hearing the news but my excitement was also short-lived as I began to make assessments of my available resources, both financial and personnel. Although, I knew I had challenges in both areas, within me I believed I could surmount anything that came my way. I quickly realized that I needed to move up to a higher plane in terms of corporate image and presentation. I summoned up courage, took on the challenge head-on and the rest is history!”
Just like any entrepreneur worth their salt, Oyewole has various short, medium and long-term goals in mind. In the near future, she plans to open a showroom for Noxie’s home and office furnishings, and protective gear. Her medium-term goals are to set up a local factory for the office furniture as well as a production line for corporate uniforms, apparel and flame-retardant overalls and personal protective wear made from 100% cotton. Country-wide and regional expansion is on the cards as part of her long-term ambitions.
It might appear a far cry from the cushy comforts of royalty but Oyewole is transcending the myth that women are to be seen and not heard and from all indications, doff your hats as the Queen of gear is here to stay.

So Sure Of Her Business, She Put Her Pet Name To It

Women perform 66% of the world’s work, yet they only earn 10% of income generated across the globe, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
Statistics like these serve as a stark reminder of how far women still need to go to become equal players in the business arena. And with seven of the fastest-growing economies based in Africa, it is critical that female entrepreneurs take advantage of the expansion.
WEConnect International, a corporate-led, non-profit that empowers female business owners to succeed in local and global markets, has come to Africa’s shores to help businesswomen make their mark.
“If you look at the power of the markets, there is huge growth potential for our corporate clients in Africa,” says Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO and co-founder of WEConnect.
The network, which is headquartered in the United States, held its first African launch in South Africa. Vazquez says Nigeria is next.
WEConnect certifies women’s business enterprises based outside the United States to make it easier for multinational corporations to source from them. It also connects its corporate members with businesses that have at least a 51% women ownership.
The corporations represent $700 billion in annual purchasing power. They include Coca-Cola, HP, Intel, Pfizer, Master Card, Boeing, Wal-Mart, IBM, and Procter and Gamble.
“We are looking for countries that want to grow businesses, grow wealth and create jobs. We want early investment… because we know if you spend on women, they tend to invest in families and communities,” says Vazquez.
Last year, WEConnect’s corporate members as well as the Vital Voices Global Partnership and the Clinton Global Initiative announced a commitment to source $1.5 billion globally from female-owned businesses by 2018.
The agreement focuses on training female entrepreneurs to be ready to supply goods. The partners committed themselves to mentoring and targeting at least 15,000 female-owned businesses globally in that same five-year period.
WEConnect, which has female business owners from 70 different countries worldwide, has launched in South Africa with the blessing of the Trade and Industry Department.
“Studies have proven women are very good at paying back bank loans… but banks still don’t trust them. But it is not only [banks], but it is even by us in government. We still have a long way to go to realize women can drive and sustain business.
“[But it has been shown] wherever there are very powerful organizations of women, there will be very strong, sustainable women entrepreneurs because women thrive on networking,” Nomvula Makgotlho, chief director of women empowerment at the department, told guests attending the South African launch.
She says structures are imperative in lobbying for female entrepreneurs in order to change perceptions about how women have graduated from the kitchen and classroom into business.
“Women lack access to markets, they lack access to procurement. The journey of empowering women is a very difficult one. You make enemies on the way,” says Makgothlo.
Kalvenie Raja, who heads up the women’s fund at South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation, agrees that it has not been an easy journey for women in South Africa.
“When we did BEE [black economic empowerment], women were somehow lost along the way. We need to see women coming into these markets,” she told the launch.
Accenture, a management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, is one of WEConnect’s corporate clients. Linda Basson, who heads up procurement for Accenture South Africa, says the value of the network cannot be underestimated.
“By widening the supply base, you increase competition and also get greater creativity and innovation.”
“Being socially responsible is quite fashionable. We can’t look to government for hand-outs anymore.”
WEConnect has appointed Nathalie Chinje to head up its South African program. Chinje is the founder and director of an entirely female-owned marketing company, Upbeat Marketing.
While bias against female-led businesses remains entrenched, WEConnect is helping the so-called green ceiling turn a new shade of gender equality.

Get Out Of The Kitchen

Giovanni Schiuma is relatively thin, with a sharp face framed by wavy hair that jiggles and jounces when he gesticulates. He speaks in a hoarse whisper, his Italian enunciation crisp. He is director of the Innovation Insights Hub at the University of the Arts in London, has penned close to 180 essays, articles and books, and is regarded by many to be the guru on art’s interesting relationship with business.
I first heard about Schiuma when scratching around for information on African innovation, coming across one of his 2011 blog posts, which referred to the arts-based renaissance of organizations: “As organizations are challenged to cope with complexity… their survival and prosperity will depend from the capacity of transforming themselves into… creative organizations, where the rational and engineering dimensions are merged with the emotive and artistic characteristics.” Some might read that and grin in wonder: how can anyone be this committed to a cause so intangible? Schumia is committed, for sure, but he is also an encyclopedia on the topic. His theories on art and its permanent place in the strategy and operations of any company can be gruelling to those uninterested in the idea, but he has a point. Thanks to the global economic meltdown companies need to shift their paradigm. Schumia believes that business needs to develop the capacity to be imaginative. Innovation is the key to survival. Courage, not caution, leads to creativity.
We sat down with him to get some quick pointers on why business needs art to survive the future.
&nbsp;
<ol>
<li>Let’s get right to it. Why does business need creativity to survive?</li>
</ol>
Business needs to absorb change better, to also generate change and keep that competitive edge. But to do that it needs to pay attention to a new dimension: emotion. It is now, more than ever, important that management engage with the emotions of employees, learn what will make them more passionate about what they do. Managing people’s emotions and passions correctly teaches org-
anizations to get creative, absorb stress better and cultivate resilience. To have people emotionally engaged in what they do will bring about excellence.
&nbsp;
<ol start="2">
<li>Creativity leads to innovation. But how do you go about instilling better creativity in linear-minded individuals?</li>
</ol>
Art is there to get people out of their comfort zone. In any organization people create comfort zones – use the same practices, processes and technologies. People don’t like change. But, art is a good way to experiment with change inside an organization, to provoke creativity and critical thinking, this helps individuals change their approach, their paradigm, in a way, and remove them from linear-thinking toward a lateral approach.
&nbsp;
<ol start="3">
<li>What about management?</li>
</ol>
Good point. Art in business also helps change management mindset. Executives are somehow stuck in the old, scientific approach to management. They believe that they can manage an organization like a machine, but an organization is a living system, and needs to be managed accordingly. Art introduces management innovation – more imagination and creativity generates new ideas and a whole new innovation process.
&nbsp;
<ol start="4">
<li>‘Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.’ What does that quote mean to you in relation to art driving business innovation?</li>
</ol>
Yes, for creativity to be an operating dimension, individuals need to be in touch with themselves, with their ‘inner creative’. When employees are not in touch with their emotions; distanced from their feelings, they don’t put the best of themselves into what they do. Individuals need support in giving their best, only then will they be able to reach into themselves and find the ideas. By letting them experiment, they’ll innovate.
<ol start="5">
<li>And does having varied artwork in business surroundings help keep the innovative juices flowing?</li>
</ol>
Yes, most certainly. Installing art, or hosting exhibitions on the premises, can work on the number of levels. Sometimes art can be seen as a metaphor or an analogy for stimulating lateral thinking concerning internal company situations, such as, change management. The other way is to use art to create experiences, to build a new atmosphere to release innovative behavior in employees. Companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft like to transform their organizations into art galleries, to create artistic experiences, bringing in artists – in the form of residents, whose work rotate through their offices a few times a year – or hiring artists as creative directors to lead ‘innovation teams’.
&nbsp;
<ol start="6">
<li>But not everyone is creative. How do you get minds to come around to the idea?</li>
</ol>
I believe that everyone is potentially creative. We become creative when we’re put into the right environment. In order to be creative we need to get involved. That is where art becomes the tool for organizations, because the traditional managerial models learned at business school don’t help executives create that creative atmosphere, art does.
Think about it, art can move business and its people to another level – by offering up new skill sets, opening minds to new avenues of business that companies may not have seen before. Art helps boost creative self-confidence.
&nbsp;
<ol start="7">
<li>What does that creative self-confidence lead to?</li>
</ol>
It leads to an open view. What I mean is, work pressure leads to employees and managers sticking to tunnel vision in time of crisis. Creativity teaches us to step back – look at the whole picture. That is the power of a stimulating environment, and artwork helps open these avenues of thought.

Does business need art? Yes (More Than You Realize)

A white marquee goes up in Chinatown behind police cordons. It is not mid-Autumn festival, it is not Chinese New Year, this is bigger: the South African president is coming to town.
Jacob Zuma’s visit to the Cyrildene Chinatown, in Johannesburg, in October was the type of theatre that only business and politics can deliver. This was a spectacle of influence and a performance full of the choreography of friendship and co-operation. It defines much of how Chinese business is done in South Africa. Anderson Lee is a businessman; head of the Chinese community policing forum (CPF) and the deputy editor of one of three Chinese-language newspapers in South Africa, the China News. Lee is also a coordinator for the Chinese chapter of the ruling political party’s Progressive Business Forum (PBF).
“We have been working on getting the president here for years,” says Lee, seated in the CPF’s offices along the main drag of Johannesburg’s second Chinatown that mushroomed in the late 1990s.
It mirrors the mass arrival of Chinese newcomers and ties in with the cementing of diplomatic ties between the People’s Republic of China and South Africa in 1998.
Political connections are a business lubricant and the reason the community’s business people can set a target to raise around $100,000 for the PBF each year. The walls of the CPF offices are lined with photographs of VIPs posing next to oversized cheques.
There is also a satellite police office here and the policemen are being taught to speak Chinese. Lee says it is not reverse assimilation.
“Some policemen who don’t know the community treat the Chinese badly. But if we can teach them about us, and our language then we start to change their minds.”
Zuma’s Chinatown appearance was a triumph for the Chinese business community. But there are many Chinese migrants who don’t benefit from political favors.
The Chinese Embassy in Pretoria dodges questions on the number of Chinese in South Africa; the amount of smaller businesses operating in South Africa; how many visas are granted and its assistance programs for Chinese business people. What is known is that bilateral trade remains healthy and last year totaled $60 billion.
Lee arrived in South Africa in 1999 as an employee of a state-owned agricultural supplies company but he knew nothing about the country.
“I once drove from Johannesburg to Durban to meet farmers even though I didn’t know how to drive, but I did it because it’s business,” says Lee of the risks he used to take.
In 2005, state funding for the company he worked for dried up. Lee was given the option to head back to China or to go it alone. He stayed and now exports South African goods, such as wine, macadamia nuts and avocado oil, back to China.
Lee sees the full range of Chinese life stories play out on South African soil. For every tale of success there are as many failures. There are hawkers surviving on slim profits and waitresses who work for a few years before returning to China. On the other hand, there are restaurant owners who start out in the familiarity of Chinatown then spread their wings to swankier suburbs.
The container revolution of the early 2000s helped make Johannesburg the largest dry port in Africa. Direct supply was key to transforming the fortunes of those who hawked on streets.
“Once people had direct supply from China, their businesses could grow. The Chinese make money because they work hard and they’re flexible, they will do with a little for a long time and they save their money,” Lee says.
Warehouse-style malls have now started to rise in response to crime and hostilities directed at Chinese hawkers. The man who opened Johannesburg’s first Chinese mall is Robin Xu. He arrived in South Africa in 1994 and within two months was held up by criminals. In the 20 years Xu has been in South Africa, he has been a victim of crime four times.
The Chinese are seen as soft targets because they deal in cash transactions. Xu saw the need for a more secure environment and so China Mall in Amalgam, west of the city, came into being. He owns three malls today, two in Johannesburg and one in Durban. Alongside his are a slew of others.
Xu though says the market for malls is reaching saturation point. His second Johannesburg mall, China Mall West, has dozens of empty shops. It is the whim of the markets and why Xu says it is a mistake to think every Chinese person has an easy ride to financial success. More than saturation points and downward trends, crime and corruption dents business confidence and scares off entrepreneurs most.
“Local customs officials go through the people coming off flights from China. They don’t confiscate things to destroy them, but take them for themselves. It makes business people think South Africa is a dirty country,” says Xu.
Though Xu is also part of the PBF and displays magazines of the ruling political party, the ANC, in his office, even political connections are not enough to calm his fears. He says people are looking north of the Limpopo for the next business destinations.
Back in Chinatown, metro police officers confiscate goods and take people’s money under the pretext of bylaw enforcement. The action is applied so sporadically it is a show of power rather than real policing.
Property agent Alice Hu moved into Cyrildene before the boom of Chinatown. She has seen the enlarging footprint of the Chinese in South Africa kick up all kinds of contradictions that have fomented into a toxic symbiosis of political and business back scratching.
Hu arrived from Taiwan in 1990. The Taiwanese wave of migration to South Africa gained ground in the 1970s and 1980s when the apartheid government courted trade with other nations on the global periphery.
She is quick to point out that she took a legal route to form a prominent property agency. Hu is tired of the stereotypes. She is also irked by the assumptions that she is willing to bribe her way up the economic food chain; to string sheets across her windows as curtains; or to illegally build onto to her home.
She calls herself mixed masala. South Africa has been her home for 24 years but she prefers to drink a rare variety of oolong tea, harvested in the mountains of the country where she was born.

Made In China, Sold In Africa

The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else.”
So writes one Nigeria’s most prolific sons, Chinua Achebe, in his somewhat defeatist essay, The Trouble with Nigeria. His sentiments are part of a chorus bemoaning the fact that for all of Nigeria’s wealth, be it in the form of highly educated professionals or resource endowment, there is not enough patriotism. We don’t have functioning roads but I have a jet. We don’t have national security but I can hire a private security outfit. And so the logic goes. It is this ‘every man for himself’ attitude that erodes nationhood. With a population of 175 million jostling for a toehold, it is not surprising that this notorious spirit beats strongly throughout Nigeria.
One young woman who embodies the contradictions of the green-and-white nation is 24-year-old Orode Ryan-Okpu. To some, her claim to fame is as the daughter of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the governor of the Delta State.
Ryan-Okpu’s new claim to fame, however, is explained by two business cards. She offers me two – a pink one first and then a purple one. The latter is for Raum Oil Services, where Ryan-Okpu is the managing director. Raum Oil Services is the only upstream oil business in Nigeria owned by a woman. So far it has collected an impressive list of clients, including Nigerian lender Zenith Bank, pan-African energy group Oando, and oil and gas company Conoil.
Ryan-Okpu will be the first to tell you that she was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth. She will also freely admit that she has used her networks to get to where she is today. But she is quick to point out that, “to whom much is given, much is expected”.
A young woman working in the male-dominated oil industry, Ryan-Okpu is regularly asked why she wastes her time on such a challenging venture when she could get more than enough money from her financially successful parents. Surely she should be able to live her life as a lady of leisure? Or, at worst, get a ‘nice’ job?
As she answers these questions, one word keeps making its way into the conversation – legacy. A popular preoccupation of many young people on the continent, it is perhaps best encapsulated by the phrase: “I’m on my hustle”. For Ryan-Okpu, however, it is not an obsession with hustlin’ to make money, but rather, hustlin’ to leave the world with something to remember her by.
The second business card is emblazoned with the words, ‘Pink Pearl Foundation’ (PPF). A pet cause for the Nigerian version of China’s famed silver-spooned princelings? If so, she certainly puts a lot of effort into it. Motivated by the loss of family members to cancer, as well as by her own brush with the illness, Ryan-Okpu founded PPF six years ago. A university student at the time, she decided something needed to be done to educate and empower Nigerian women in the fight against cancer.
The foundation carries out advocacy drives across Nigeria, increasing awareness about cancer symptoms and the importance of regular self-examination. PPF holds free breast and cervical cancer screenings at mobile clinics and has developed a series of educational talks aimed at women in rural areas.
In July, it opened the Rubies School of Women Empowerment, which offers cancer survivors short courses in business management, catering, tailoring and jewelry design. Ryan-Okpu has also just wrapped up a film called “Happy Funeral”, which raises awareness about cancer symptoms and the need for regular checkups.
PPF has reached out to nearly 4,000 women every year since 2007. The foundation believes that if you can save a woman, you can save a generation.
Inevitably, the question of why she chose not to follow in the footsteps of her political family crops up. When I probe her on her political ambitions Ryan-Okpu concedes that she is interested in pursuing the family tradition. Just give me time, she says, explaining that she wants to achieve much more before entering the political arena.
If Ryan-Okpu is an indication of the future of Achebe’s Nigeria, a new generation obsessed with what they leave behind, then the green-and-white nation may just be on the right track after all.

Hustlin’ for a Legacy

A recent study from the 50,000-member strong B2B Technology Marketing community on LinkedIn showed that 85% of B2B Marketers say LinkedIn is the most effective social network in delivering content. That study also showed that 71% of B2B Marketers say audience relevance is the most important element of content marketing and 88% of B2B Marketers cite case studies as the most effective form content marketing.
Yet, most business owners and most marketing, sales and business development professionals have a LinkedIn profile that reads like a resume. Their profiles do not show why a decision-maker or influencer should connect with them. Right there, they are not demonstrating their relevance. And, they’re not effectively showing their relevance in the content they are sharing.
Let me show you how four women are effectively using content and LinkedIn to generate more leads and profits.
<h4>How the founder of Wizard Media gained hundreds of leads and $60,000 by mixing content marketing with LinkedIn marketing</h4>
If you look at the profile of Jimena Cortes, you’ll notice we’ve included case studies. For example, you’ll find a case study on how Jimena built a Neiman Marcus jewelry designer’s Facebook community to 45,000 members in nine months (something retailers would find very interesting). Within that case study, Jimena shows why her strategies took the client from 600 fans to 45,000 fans, zero engagement to capturing 37% of her fans’ information and from zero sales to $12,000 in three days.
Because her profile has content that resonates with her targeted audiences – her targeted audiences are accepting her LinkedIn connection. They’re joining her LinkedIn groups where she offers more content. The profile attracted a prospect that was ready, willing and able to spend $36,000 per year on her services.
Plus, when Jimena completes an email lead generation campaign through LinkedIn (using LinkedIn groups) about an upcoming webinar, prospects are signing up because they see that she has value to offer just by looking at her profile. By mixing LinkedIn marketing with webinar marketing (a form of content marketing), Jimena gained an additional $60,000 for her business last year.
<h4>IT marketing firm gains four new clients fast by challenging the way software and technology companies market their solutions</h4>
Conversion Copywriting President Susan Tatum creates thought leadership content for her clients so they can attract more prospects. But she was creating the same old, boring topics on her own blog. She was writing about topics like “Wow to write an awesome white paper”, “Why tech marketers must have a blog” and “Five signs you’re talking to the wrong content writer.” She was writing for the search engines – but she wasn’t writing content that would position her as an influencer within the different social media circles she belonged to, including LinkedIn. LinkedIn members are savvy, educated professionals, who are constantly looking for new and original ideas and ways of conducting business. As there are thousands of LinkedIn groups with hundreds of discussions happening every single day, your content will get ignored if you are providing the same old, regurgitated content that’s already all over the web. By creating thought-provoking blog posts, special reports and discussions that literally open the eyes of technology marketers inside her own Linked-In group and inside the 50 targeted groups she belongs to, Susan increased her website traffic by 300%. She went from zero LinkedIn shares to 90+ LinkedIn shares. And, she was able to recently gain four new clients including a company that serves 86% of the Fortune 100.
<h4>International coaching firm attracts more women business owners by telling stories</h4>
While working with Zee Worstell, President of AccelerateHer, I discovered that she and her clients had amazing stories to tell. Zee’s expertise is in showing women business owners how to price themselves appropriately. She knows first-hand how hard this is because she came across this issue when she was growing her recruiting business. When she was starting out, she would lower her prices in order to secure a client and wound up earning less than she was worth. This backfired because prospects would doubt her work because she was priced significantly lower than her competition. She was turning off prospects just by lowering her fees – and the clients she did get failed to show her respect. So, we had Zee create blog posts that discussed the “good girl beliefs” that held her back as a woman business owner. She discussed her own confidence issues within the articles and the mistakes she made. She also writes articles where she discusses the challenges her clients faced – and she tells their complete story and how they’ve become successful. As on average, women business owners make 45% less than male business owners, her target audience resonated with the discussions that were being created based on the blog posts. In fact, when she spoke to many of her LinkedIn connections on the phone (as she took the LinkedIn conversation offline) they felt like she was writing and speaking directly to them. As a result they signed up for her coaching program.
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<h4>How the author of this article mixed LinkedIn marketing and content marketing to gain more PR, more exposure and more leads</h4>
You are reading this article right now because I invited the editor to connect and to join my Get Help with Linked Strategies LinkedIn group so she can see the value I have to offer her readers. After reviewing my LinkedIn discussions and blog posts, she asked me to write the article that you’re reading right now. How many leads do you think I’ll generate by being on one of the top business websites? Now, offer real value, challenge your prospects, start thought-provoking conversations, showcase your expertise by sharing case studies, demonstrate your relevance and connect with your audience with stories. And you will generate more leads with LinkedIn.
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LinkedIn with  content marketing

If I had a dollar for every time someone said they were moving overseas, I would be at the top of the FORBES list of 40 Richest Africans. If I had to give a dollar back for every time they returned, I probably wouldn’t lose much. This is a story of a girl, who after making her dreams come true in the United States (US), came back to Africa and brought her hair business with her.
Nyasha Zimucha walks into the room dressed in a blue dress, cream jacket and sky-high heels. Her accent could easily fool you into thinking that she is American, but as she talks of her Zimbabwean roots and South African upbringing it becomes clear that even accents can be deceiving.
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Zimucha was 13 when her family moved to Kansas, in the US. It was here where her interest in hair began. Every weekend, Zimucha and a friend would go to their local neighborhood to buy extensions and experiment with different styles. Later, it was her work that drew her closer.
“I started out in the entertainment industry as a dancer. I danced my whole life, from the time I was six until my twenties… I was an NFL cheerleader for the Patriots and so I had a lot of experience with wearing makeup and changing my hair for competitions and shows.”
After graduation, Zimucha moved to New York City with the Frank Sinatra song ringing in her ears. Referring to the Big Apple, Sinatra sings ‘If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere’.
“Fashion week was a turning point for me… I realized how hair influences fashion. Hair is the tiara of everyone’s fashion ensemble, whether you like it or not, your hair is your crown.”
With her laptop, the internet and only herself on the employee payroll, Zimucha started her business, Embrace Your Hair.
“The idea wasn’t about me wanting to get fake hair on women. It is a big misconception that hair is fake… the way I see it, hair is a fashion accessory,” she says.
She sourced the hair from a factory in India and started selling to a few people online. The business began to grow but she wanted more.
“I knocked on the door of every major fashion house in New York City and about 60% of them said ‘no’.”
Through a few connections, Zimucha got the opportunity to supply hair for celebrity designer, Zang Toi. The show was a success and suddenly Zimucha had celebrities such as rapper, Eve, calling for her hair.
“We went from having a small cubicle in Tribeca to a full size office on Seventh Avenue,” she says.
Business was booming and Zimucha was supplying hair to 30 stores across the US, but she wanted her business to make a difference in people’s lives. After both her aunt and friend’s mom beat breast cancer, she realized that hair was important. This was the inspiration for her charity, My Hair is Your Hair. A portion of the sales from Embrace Your Hair goes to My Hair is Your Hair, which donates wigs to those who have suffered from breast cancer.
“It wasn’t about making them cover their hair loss because they should be ashamed. It was about saying, ‘you’ve struggled enough, you’re going through the chemo, which can be physically painful on your body, and now I want to give you something to make you feel good about yourself. You don’t have to be ashamed; I want you to feel good.’”
Then came the move to South Africa.
“I wasn’t sure how strong the buying economy was and I wasn’t sure if hair was even big there… after doing a lot of research, I found there was definitely a market. I just needed to make sure that it would be financially lucrative and something that would make an impact nationally, instead of just launching a little store and hoping for the best.”
In 2012, Zimucha partnered with retailer, The Foschini Group, in an attempt to take advantage of their network across the continent.
“People still have misconceptions about hair and there is still a little bit of growing to do in terms of seeing that the black consumer and the white consumer can go to the same place and get the same thing.”
Besides the hair business, Zimucha has her hand in reality shows and music. So, how does the 27 year old manage to keep her head above water?
“Planning, preparation and performance are the three ‘P’s’ I live by. It is one thing to say something but to actually do it, implement it and go through with it is another thing.”
As for the notion of people leaving Africa for greener pastures overseas, Zimucha is proud to consider herself a global citizen.
“I believe that traveling is what makes you grow as an entrepreneur. If you think you are going to succeed without traveling, even within your community, you’re wrong. I think, as a world, part of the reason we are the way we are is because we all migrate all the time. If we didn’t, how would an American know what Chinese food was like?”
It could be the next trend: Africans leaving the so-called greener pastures to come back to the continent. If that is the case, a bet on them returning could put you on the top of FORBES’ rich list.

The Crown Princess Of African Hair

It took weeks of hard work to verify Rabiu as Africa’s newest billionaire. It took research and calculations by the wealth unit of FORBES, in the United States, and FORBES AFRICA journalists in London, Lagos and Johannesburg.
It is certain that Rabiu will move up the FORBES list of Africa’s richest, which will be expanded from 40 to 50 this year. He was ranked 21st last year. This year’s list will be published in the December-January issue of FORBES AFRICA.
According to Kerry Dolan, the senior editor at FORBES in charge of the wealth unit in San Francisco, the list only adds a few billionaires from Africa to the rankings each year.
“It is too early to say what we are finding. We know that Abdulsamad Rabiu will be on the list as a new billionaire from Nigeria, thanks to reporting by FORBES AFRICA,” says Dolan.
Rabiu, unlike many billionaires on the continent, opened up his books and bank accounts to prove his wealth. The 53-year-old heads the BUA Group, with headquarters on Victoria Island, Lagos. An investigation by FORBES AFRICA turned up a string of assets.
The BUA Group has interests in key sectors similar to those of countryman, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. They include cement, sugar and flour. Through the group’s subsidiaries it does business in real estate, steel, port concessions, manufacturing, oil, gas and shipping.
The group also owns the ship BUA Cement 1, a 200-meter long vessel designed for heavy loads. It is Nigeria’s first floating terminal.
In addition to his assets in the BUA Group, Rabiu owns property in Britain, worth $62 million, and in South Africa, worth $19 million. Among his properties is a house in Gloucester Square in London worth nearly $16 million and a penthouse at The One &amp; Only Hotel, in Cape Town, worth $12.6 million. Rabiu’s taste for good living is plain to see; he has bought homes from Eaton Square to Avenue Road, also known as Millionaires’ Row.
Rabiu jets around the world on an eight-seater Gulfstream G550 worth $44.9 million, powered by a Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan engine, as well as an $18-million Legacy 600 aircraft.
<h4>Meet Africa’s Newest Billionaire</h4>
On a chilly autumn night in London, a chauffeured Bentley glides into the courtyard of a quiet and affluent home. Seconds later, at the entrance of the grand two-storey house, the doors swing open and out walks one of Africa’s richest men in a T-shirt, jeans and black overcoat. Hardly how one imagines the publicity-shy chairman and CEO of BUA Group, a privately-owned conglomerate with annual revenues estimated at $2 billion.
The look may be modest; his ambitions are anything but, as revealed by his plans to invest more than $500 million in Nigeria’s economy over the next few years. This is Abdulsamad Rabiu, the unassuming Nigerian business tycoon, full of life, with a keen ear and a great business story.
Born in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano, Rabiu is the son of renowned businessman, Isyaku Rabiu, who made a fortune in trade and industry in the decades after Nigeria’s independence. By the 1970s, Isyaku’s wealth and influence had grown considerably. He emerged as a key sponsor of the National Party of Nigeria, which became the ruling political party after the country returned to civilian rule, following the elections of 1979. A military coup, in 1983, toppled the government and led to the arrest of the president Shehu Shagari and many of his close associates, including Isyaku.
Around this time, the younger Rabiu earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. He returned home to find his father’s business in a precarious state following the incarceration. Barely 24 years old, with little business experience, Rabiu had to lead his father’s business empire during dark days.
“It was very difficult. When we started, our dad was not there. There was this huge vacuum, because of his personality. He grew the business, he did everything, everybody reported to him, and then he wasn’t there anymore. So at a very tender age, I was saddled with so many things; I had to make a lot of important decisions, and don’t forget that this happened suddenly,” says Rabiu.
“At the time, there were three ships being discharged, rice and sugar ships. The government agencies tried to seize the goods; so we were discharging, they were taking, we were taking back. It was a big, big issue. Those kinds of things were really challenging.”
“The biggest challenge was that there were restrictions on confirming letters of credit because of the coup. Then there was the issue of the planes; there were two private jets and we didn’t know what to do with them. We couldn’t fly them. They actually grounded the jets. We were able to get the big one out and we decided we didn’t need it. I just got rid of it.”
“[My father] was in detention, so who was going to be flying a private jet at that time with the major-general Muhammadu Buhari around. They grounded the small plane for two years but it was released after [my father] was released from detention.”
In 1988, Rabiu set up his own business, BUA International, with the blessing of his father. He  imported rice, sugar and edible oils, as well as iron and steel rods. His big break came in 1990 when a friend informed him of an opportunity to do a deal with a government-owned steel company.
Production at the Delta Steel Company had been beggared by the Nigerian government’s decision to reduce grants. The company was considering approaching private business to finance the procurement of raw materials and Rabiu saw the opportunity. The deal needed approval from the government. After approaching the minister of steel, who hailed from Rabiu’s home state, he was asked to finance the project.
“They only wanted three serious companies to participate because they did not want to shut down Delta Steel. He went to the president and managed to get a special allocation to Delta Steel, but it wasn’t enough. So, he asked if we would be able to get counter funding, and I said ‘of course’. We approached First Bank and we showed them the proposal at the time and they said they would need us to put in our equity.”
“We were able to get the business which was worth almost $20 million at the time, but the idea was that we were importing their raw materials to the tune of 25,000 to 30,000 tons per month, and instead of them paying us back in cash, they gave us the processed products. We didn’t want to collect money because at the time you would sometimes never get it.”
The payment method was favorable for Rabiu and his company because the price of the products was government controlled.
“I think it was around $6.3 from the company, but around $90 in the open market. So it was quite a good opportunity for us and we made quite a bit of money.”
By 1992, a regime change came and the honeymoon was over. With the substantial profits he had made from the steel venture, Rabiu invested in Tropic Commercial Bank, which operated in Nigeria. He became the chairman of the bank after buying a majority shareholding.
In 1995, BUA acquired Nigeria Oil Mills, which was a peanut processing company in Kano, for more than $20 million. The previous owners had offered BUA the business based on their status as a player in the edible oils business. Two years later, BUA Flour Mills’ first factory was established in Lagos. The Kano flour factory was launched in 1998. Thereafter, BUA set up its sugar refinery in Lagos. The 2,000 metric ton (MT) per day capacity plant is the second largest refinery in West Africa, after the Dangote Sugar refinery, which produces an estimated 2,400MT per day.
It’s a hot morning in Port Harcourt, on the coast of Nigeria when FORBES AFRICA visits one of Rabiu’s biggest projects, the BUA Mixed Development, which includes: a sugar refinery with a production capacity of 2,000 tons per day and a 65,000MT storage; a flour mill; a pasta, semolina and rice mill. In the capital, Abuja, Rabiu’s BUA Group has a huge housing project of 200 homes to be completed by early next year.
“He is very analytical, balanced and always calm under stressful situations. In spite of being experienced, he is always willing to learn more,” says Engr Olumo, BUA Group’s project co-ordinator in the eastern region.
“It has been wonderful seeing the company grow and prosper. Mr Rabiu is very approachable and reasonable. We have a team of 14 people working in the London office and we all feel as if we are a family. We are treated with the utmost respect. All employees approach Mr Rabiu on a first name basis,” says Rajan Sharma, the trade finance manager at Rabiu’s equipment and material procurement company, NOM UK.
Rabiu has often been compared to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, due to the fact that most of their businesses operate in the same sectors. He dismisses talk of any competition between himself and Dangote, pointing out that their mutual interests in certain sectors derives from the inclinations of the patriarchs of their families.
“We are both from Kano and our parents were doing more or less the same kind of business, so we grew up in the trading environment. My dad had been doing rice, sugar and edible oil for a very long time. Aliko’s granduncle, Sanusi Dantata, at one time was the biggest trader in terms of imports in Kano State,” he says.
“We’ve known each other since childhood. Although people seem to think that we are doing the sort of business that Aliko is doing, I keep telling them that this is a business that my family has been involved in before Aliko even started.”
BUA’s sugar venture was a cash cow. The company was able to reap huge margins due to the difference in duties for imports of raw sugar, which was 5%, and that of finished, or white, sugar, which is 50%. With the money he made from this business, the amount of which he declines to reveal, Rabiu cast his eye further.
His research revealed that the cement business would offer good returns on investment. The first step was to secure a license to import cement. The market for cement in the country was characterized by high price through scarcity, which was due to the fact that few companies held licences to import. Conditions for obtaining the license included that the interested company must have a terminal where the raw cement would be processed and bagged, as well as have a plant in Nigeria where production is taking place, or be in the process of building one.
BUA set out to meet the requirements, starting with the acquisition of the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) for nearly $100 million from Scancem International in 2007. The next goal was to procure the terminal. Since it would have taken over a year to build one, Rabiu made the smart move to acquire a floating terminal. He approached the then president, Umaru Musa Yar’adua, to secure the approval. The terminal secured the import license.
Production on this platform was carried out until last year when the government restricted imports following the launch of Dangote’s $1 billion cement plant in Ibese, Nigeria. Although Rabiu disagrees with the government’s decision, he says he was prepared for it.
“When the Ibese plant was commissioned, the government decided that that there was enough production capacity in Nigeria and there will be no need for imports. I still do not agree with that.”
“We knew it was coming, so we decided to put up our own plant. Part of what we acquired from Scancem was a small grinding plant in Edo State, which is called Edo Cement, but then with a large limestone deposit. The plant is being built as we speak and will be delivered next year. It is a 3-million ton plant and costs a little over $500 million. At the same time, we are also looking at Ilaro, west Nigeria; in fact I am going to China next week for a meeting with CDMI, a Chinese cement plant manufacturer, to put up another plant in Ilaro. We want to capture part of the south western market, because that is the biggest market in Nigeria today.”
Rabiu believes that Nigerian demand is greater than estimated. He points out that when the additional supply is added and the price is adjusted further, latent demand will be unlocked.
“Nigeria has around 170 million people and the production capacity that the country has is about 20 million, maybe 22 million tons. So that gives us about 117 kilograms per head. Nigeria is so low in relation to other African countries, in terms of consumption per head. It has to go up and I am looking at a minimum of 250 kilograms per head in the next three to four years. I think it will happen and we are looking at least at a minimum of 35 to 40 million tons capacity,” he says.
“The price of cement in Nigeria is probably the highest anywhere in the world, apart from possibly Zambia, at $8.80 per bag, which is $173 per ton. It’s around $40 anywhere else in the world; why should it be $170? It doesn’t make sense at all.”
“Everybody says we have issues with infrastructure and power; it’s nonsense. Power is cheap in Nigeria. Gas is cheap. We had to put up a power plant at Edo Cement, which is about $60 to $70 million. Capital expenditure is there, and it’s quite a bit of money. But, it costs you no more than $20 million a year for gas and it is your biggest cost in a cement plant,” he says.
Rabiu wants to see the price of products decrease so that demand will increase.
“The moment we have a price that is more affordable, demand is going to shoot up. Today cement is around $8 per bag. If we are able to sell it at $6.20, you will see demand shooting up by at least 20% every year. In five years, production will more than double.”
While cement has been a key focus of the group’s activities in recent years, Rabiu also has his eyes on the steel industry.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is the largest importer of steel and steel products, especially pipes, flat sheets and reinforcements, yet we do not have an integrated steel plant in the country.”
Plans are also being made to invest more in expanding the sugar business to exploit opportunities that have been created by the federal government’s implementation of a national sugar master plan.
“We want to ensure that we have at least 30,000 hectares cultivated for sugar plantation in the next three years. We have the Lafiaji sugar plantation, which we bought from the government around four years ago, but it is only around 15,000 hectares, so we are trying to develop another 30,000 hectares.”
“We believe the demand for sugar will go up simply because of the price. Sugar is still around $400. The cost of production, if you have a plantation, is probably around $150 per ton to produce locally. Imagine the demand if that happens. We should be able to supply the entire region with sugar, we will look to take the West African market,” he says.
For a man who can easily afford the best in life—he has a Bentley and Aston Martin parked in his courtyard—Rabiu’s simplicity is remarkable. He speaks excitedly about going to see American jazz singer Stacey Kent play whenever she performs in London. The man is also a movie buff and is always on the lookout for blockbuster releases. With a whiff of triumph, he declares that he just saw the new biographical drama Diana, which captures the last two years of the life of the late Princess of Wales.
Rabiu exudes an aura of a fulfilment. He gives the impression of one who values his achievements and success, but does not wear it on his sleeve. From being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Rabiu—Africa’s newest billionaire—has carved out his own place in the continent’s business history.

The Jet Setter  Who Owns A $62 Million Slice Of Britain

When most of us think about rubbish, we imagine dirt and all kinds of nasty diseases. But for South African businesswoman Lilly-Girl
Dukada-Hentcho, waste is a treasure.
She has been in the waste management business in the country for nearly three years, and is now looking at expanding not only across South Africa, but also elsewhere on the continent.
“The environment is my passion and waste is gold. Success is not only about money; it’s also about changing the mindset of people about waste and recycling,” she explains.
Dukada-Hentcho is part of a group of women entrepreneurs who are stepping up to the plate in the waste management sector. It is an industry that is growing rapidly in South Africa and other parts of the world, as people become more enlightened about conserving the environment , and consumerism continues to spread.
“As we know, the whole world is encouraging Africa to take a big step in saving the environment. The old waste collection mandates have changed now from just collecting waste and dumping.”
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Dukada-Hentcho, along with her husband, Philippe, formed DNH Recycling and Waste Management Services in Midrand in Gauteng three years ago. The company focuses on separating waste at source.
Although she had had some experience in running a waste management company in the United Kingdom, when she started her venture  in South Africa, Dukada-Hentcho says the sector was virtually a no-woman’s land.
To add to her woes, recycling did not happen on a large scale in the country, with many considering it a trendy suburbia practice.
“It was like entering the lion’s den. We had to offer free pilot [projects] for them to see what they were buying,” she says.
But since then, the picture has changed. Dukada-Hentcho credits her strong belief system and willingness to take risks for the success of her company, which also does waste analysis for clients, including Famous Brands, at
38 sites.
In its first year, DNH brought in $100,000. The following year that had increased to more than $240,000. This year, she plans to double her revenue again. The company is looking at ventures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, and is also in meetings with the University of Johannesburg with a view to collaborating on a waste energy project.
Dukada-Hentcho is just one example of a number of South Africans cottoning on to the fact that waste has value.
In May, Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub, held its first waste management summit, and Mayor Parks Tau challenged delegates to view rubbish in a different light. On average, South Africans each produce about one kilogram of waste a day, and if Johannesburg does not start diverting waste on a much bigger scale, none of the current landfill space will be around in 10 years’ time.
According to a baseline study conducted by the government, the country generated 108 million tons of waste in 2011. Ninety-eight million was disposed of in landfills, and only 10% was recycled through various forms, such as separation at source, composting and buy-back centres.
The latest statistics, from 2009, estimate South Africa’s waste sector to be worth $1 billion. Government, which has earmarked the green economy – waste in particular – as a priority area to build the economy, believes the sector can grow from its current 0.56% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to 1-2% of GDP. In Europe, the eco-industry is showing growth rates of 7-8% per annum.
The concept of a green economy is emerging much faster in South Africa compared to the rest of the continent. In fact, it is one of the most important elements in the country’s new growth plan; the creation of a lower-carbon economy is being punted as a major source of jobs.
South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation, a development finance institution, has earmarked $2.5 billion over five years to 2015/16 for the development of green industries. In partnership with German development bank, KfW, the IDC has also allocated $50 million to a Green Energy Efficiency Fund. It is aimed at stimulating investments by local entrepreneurs. One of the projects already in progress generates biogas from abattoir waste. Funding options for waste management and recycling technologies are also being developed.
“Innovation is considered crucial in growing and sustaining the waste industry. We need new and better ways of doing things,” Henry Roman, from the national Science and Technology Department, told delegates at the waste summit.
Traditionally the sector, which the United Nations Environment Program values at $437 billion a year worldwide, has been epitomized by a large participation of women at the bottom end. There are about 15 million waste pickers in developing countries and they largely consist of women and children.
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However, in South Africa, the face of the sector is changing, and women are increasingly becoming key players. They include the president of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa, Suzan Oelofse; the CEO of PET Plastic Recycling Company (Petco), Cheri Scholtz; the operations director of the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa, Ursula Henneberry; and EnviroServ group property and marketing director Delia Lavarinhas.
Oelofse says researchers in the waste sector at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and at universities are mostly women.
“Women care more. We realize more what the impact is of bad management, and also we care more about the aesthetics of waste,” she explains.
At household level, Oelofse believes there will be an increased focus on recycling and waste separation across the country as South Africans become more aware about preserving the environment.  Also, she says there are a number of growth areas in the waste management sector that women can tap into.
These include extracting usable resour-ces from industrial waste, separating waste at source and waste-to-energy projects, such as developing landfill sites for the harvesting of methane gas as an alternative energy source.
There are also opportunities for women in the post-consumer recycling of water and soft drinks bottles that contain polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Under Scholtz’s stewardship, PET recycling has almost doubled in tonnage over four years. Close to $19.3 million was paid for sorted, baled bottles delivered to recyclers, and approximately $42 million was injected into the local economy through the sale of recycled PET for downstream products.
“There is still much work to do to capture the remaining percentage of bottles that were not collected, and with the post-consumer PET recycling targets set to rise to 58% in 2017, with a growing market size, increasing the volume of bottles collected for recycling is thought to be the best method of achieving this,” explains Scholtz.
“There is a need for more visible, accessible infrastructure in the form of drop-off facilities, buy-back centres and materials-recovery facilities. This is enabled by increased investment in the recycling sector, making it a bankable sector.”
Also, Scholtz says there is a need for constant innovation in the field of design, to ensure that the bottles produced are actually recyclable, and that labeling is improved so that consumers are encouraged to recycle them and they do not end up in landfills.
Another growing area of opportunity is South Africa’s development of a sustainable tires recycling industry. According to the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa, a waste management fee on new tires is expected to generate around $70 million per year. Eighty percent of it will be ploughed directly into developing the industry.
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While the outlook for the sector is bullish, women still face an uphill battle if they want to make their mark.
Aliena Ratenazi, an entrepreneur who has been researching the waste management industry for four years, and who is getting into the business herself, says that women are often the worker bees who compete at the lower-level structures.
“The barrier of entry in the waste sector comes with a heavy price tag for women… Today, a lot of women contribute to the household and need to make their businesses a success, which within this sector is not an easy task,” says Ratenazi.
“South Africa as a country is not giving the support in the field of educating, funding and training women to enter the waste sector, as we have no role models in this sector&#8230; [It] can be a huge green industry that can focus on major transformation with the optimization of women in waste, where the benefits are considerable and tangible. [This], in turn, would mean huge growth for South Africa, as there is an abundance of waste available in our landfills,” she says.
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As South Africa shifts focus to industrializing the country in a sustainable way, the managing of waste will become more of a priority. The time is ripe for women to investigate the different technologies out there, which will have a seismic impact on how the industry operates, and ultimately, how much money can be made

TURNING RUBBISH INTO GOLD

I go into everything with a huge ego,” DailyWorth founder Amanda Steinberg told more than 100 entrepreneurs this July. What she conceded could be seen as a huge personal defect in the social world turned out to be her biggest strength in raising well over $4 million for her powerhouse personal finance site that’s among the best of the web for women.
<div id="attachment_5676" style="width: 239px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5676" class="size-medium wp-image-5676" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/iStock_000003551208Large-229x300.jpg" alt="" width="229" height="300" />Plant vigorously sprouting from a pile of golden coins &#8211; concept for good investments</div>
Steinberg picked up the mic last month to talk to female entrepreneurs – in the room, on a conference call and streamed through Google GOOG +0.02% hangout (watch the whole thing, it’s totally worth it) – about the complex process of raising capital for young companies. “I’m going to keep it real,” she said as she regaled the audience with tales from the nine months it took her to raise the first $850,000 for DailyWorth in 2011. She was running on fumes, parenting two small children solo and going through a divorce. Real talk: it got ugly.
But Steinberg’s been-there-done-that advice was frank and refreshing and inspired me to tap other female founders in my network – from YC-alums fresh out of seed rounds to trailblazers with millions in the bank – to find more no BS counsel for entrepreneurs looking to impress investors and fill their own startup coffers.
Steinberg breaks down her top-level fundraising advice into four must-have items, and because her insight is on display on YouTube, we’ll keep it basic (but oh-so-helpful) in this space.
No. 1, a mentor (“Everybody and every website says you need one, but it’s true. You really do. There’s just so much you don’t know”), No. 2, the obvious: your deck (slides on core value proposition, the size of your market, who the customer is, competition, exit strategy, etc.). No. 3, your financial model (map out revenue and expenses with growth rate: “It really shows why you need capital – it’s the justification of what that cash is going to do). No. 4, an executive summary (think the most kick-ass cover letter ever, as in “Here’s why I’m awesome, here’s why it’s going to succeed, here’s why you should talk to me).
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<h4>Katia Beauchamp, cofounder and co-CEO, Birchbox</h4>
Beauchamp and cofounder/co-CEO Hayley Barna have raised more than $11 million for Birchbox, the company that set the subscription commerce trend in motion and has seen continued success since its 2010 launch. What they’ve learned from the process of fundraising while simultaneously scaling a business is the importance of time management – or more specifically learning what’s just a waste of time.
Their advice? Finding investors whose area of interest – or market of choice – is the most aligned with your business. You’re e-commerce and they invest in health tech? You might want to skip it – no matter how many mutual acquaintances you have. “Taking the time to find the right investors is a huge, huge part of the way to spend your time fundraising the most wisely,” Beauchamp told me in early August. “When you talk to VCs they should be someone in your wheelhouse – or for us someone who at least likes the idea of e-commerce.”
This helped in two ways. One, the Birchbox founders didn’t waste their breath on uninterested parties, but more importantly they didn’t spend hours explaining a female-focused business model to male investors who couldn’t – or wouldn’t – understand the consumer. “Pitching is a complex process,” she says, “But pitching to someone whose interests are so far from yours that you have to reeducate them adds a whole new layer.” Lesson learned: choose wisely.
<h4>Michelle Crosby,</h4>
<h4>founder and CEO, Wevorce</h4>
As far as Crosby is concerned, the key to raising capital – whether via angels or venture capitalists – is as much managing your own expectations as it is wowing investors with a flashy business plan. The former attorney applied her disciplined approach in the courtroom to build a structure that she used in every investor meeting. “It’s helped me to manage my own mindset,” she says. “And keep worry – and overwhelming eagerness – at bay as much as possible.” She laughs. “Well those things come anyway, but creating structure helps.”
So what is it? It starts, like any first date, with a bit of flattery. “I call it the bromance section of the meeting and it always comes first,” Crosby says. “I like to lead with a question—usually something I’ve researched before-hand, some nugget of uniqueness about this person –because neuroscience tells us that when someone feels listened to the same part of their brain lights up as when they feel loved.”
Once the meeting is formally underway and decks are on display, Crosby, whose business focuses on divorcing families, turns to cross-checking intention. “I’m focused on recognizing whether their intentions as an investor align with my intentions for the business. We intend to do well by doing good. So I’m looking for people who know that and believe in it from the moment we meet. And I do that by asking what they like the most about the company. If it’s ‘I want a healthy return,’ then cool – but they’re maybe not for us.”
The third prong is (by my own estimation) one of the savviest pieces of advice I’ve heard on the process. Ask this question: How do you see yourself being involved with the company? If the response is a blank stare, it’s a strong sign they’re not interested and, as Crosby puts it, you might as well know that right away. But the ones with clear ideas will stand out – and give you the opening for a strong close on your own terms.
“I always end by asking them about next steps,” she says. “Can I put you down for the round and for how much? If you’re going to think about it, I’ll say I’m holding your spot for X number of days and then release it.” That way you’re killing two birds: one, you’re giving investors and easy out with no hard feelings and two, managing those pesky expectations again. Waiting by the phone is the worst way to spend your time.
Crosby’s fellow YC-alum Deyle, whose Lollipuff auctions second-hand designer goods with the promise of authenticity, actually stopped fundraising mid-process earlier this year. “We received commitments from angels and also a few VCs,” she explains, “But ultimately felt that after putting so much effort into fundraising it was better as an already profitable company to keep our focus on the product.” She may have been right: after doubling users since June, Deyle says investors are starting to pursue them.
Despite that, Deyle and her two cofounders put a method in place that’s a useful piece of advice for all founding teams – provided they’ve got the manpower. “We decided up-front that it was important for one of us to stay back and focus solely on product,” she says. “Not just to keep the lights on, but to keep a real distance from the fundraising process.”
“It’s an emotionally exhausting time,” she says. “Because every time you receive a no – or even a maybe which is really a no – it’s almost as if someone’s telling you your baby is ugly. So ugly they don’t even want to look at it!” Having a cofounder who’s not poisoned by “nos” Deyle says, helped the team as a whole to stay grounded, and to appreciate what they’d built. In other words, to remind them that their baby wasn’t ugly – no matter what they’d heard in a bad meeting.

Female founders speak up:

Widely regarded as one of the best business leaders to have emerged from Africa over the past 20 years, there is not the slightest embarrassment on the face of this self-taught entrepreneur as he admits to having no investments—none whatsoever—other than the shares he has in Discovery Holdings, the company he formed over 21 years ago and built into a global diversified financial services group with an annual income of more than $4 billion (R40 billion).
With glee, he says he doesn’t subscribe to the conventional investment caveat of not putting your eggs in one basket. So, he is invested to the hilt in Discovery, now the largest health insurer in South Africa, of which he owns about 9%, part of a personal fortune of close to $300 million (R3 billion).
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Welcome to the world of, the sometimes maverick, Adrian Gore.
It is a day after Gore released more than respectable annual results for the year that ended on June 30. The results showed that the group had achieved a 20% increase in normalized headline earnings, to almost $281 million (R2,8 billion), while cash generated from operations was up by 45% to over $201 million (R2 billion). All this with a 15% rise in new business to $1 billion (R10 billion), mainly in Britain, China and the United States.
An ebullient Gore intimates that taking on the rest of the African continent could be in the offing in another three to five years.
“You don’t have to be first. I see a massive opportunity. Health insurance requires private health systems not yet present in Africa.”
Not that he hadn’t tried before; the company had to reassess its strategy following a couple of dud acquisitions.
“Ours is about building a product—not buy a business and bring costs down to make a profit. We create value for customers,” he says.
Gore’s contemporary, Barry Swartzberg, with whom he left Liberty to start Discovery and remains an executive director, was asked recently how the two complemented one another.
“He’s more thoughtful, works on aspects, takes a long time to mull over ideas.”
An actuary by training, Gore has spent the past 21 years changing the world of medical insurance in South Africa. Today, the company is a fully-fledged financial services entity after adding insurance and life asset management to its portfolio.
Gore now wants to change the world, and looks like he’s very much on the way—one country at a time.
In China, Discovery has a 25% stake in Ping An Health Insurance, the country’s largest private health insurer. It does business with companies like Volvo, Unilever and Goldman Sachs. In Britain, the company has created the fourth largest insurer in an alliance with old stager Prudential. It also has ties to Humana Inc in the United States, and the AIA Group in Singapore.
“China remains a huge growth market, with the estimated total healthcare spend expected to rise by over 90% by 2020. Private healthcare spend is expected to grow even stronger over this period. Ping An has established itself as the leader in Critical Illness Insurance and related spend, a strong position to be in given that approximately 65% of deaths are classified as non-communicable diseases. By increasing their stake, Discovery has identified this opportunity,” says Nick Crail, a portfolio manager at RMB Private Bank.
“Getting into these markets is brutal,” Gore says.
“There’s no easy way or short cut. Each market takes time.”
The market appears to approve of the AIA deal in Singapore. On the day it was signed, Discovery shares shot up 6.6%.
“The AIA deal entrenches Discovery’s footprint across the growth markets of Asia, excluding Japan, giving them access to 17 markets in the region with total assets of approximately $147 billion. Discovery has entered this market through their offering in Vitality. This will therefore be a cost exercise for them for the first few years, but should realise profits into the future,” says Crail.
“I think, judging by the rally in the share price, that the market has already priced in much of these ‘blue-sky’ ventures. Their recent trading update unsettled markets somewhat and we would expect investors to be more cautious in driving up the share price too strongly. Therefore we wouldn’t expect much more in the share price to year-end. Having said that, we like Discovery and believe in their long-term outlook.”
In Britain and the United States, Discovery entered markets that were already established, with a great deal of certainty, facing a myriad of competitors and very tight regulations. It made it difficult for Discovery to innovate as much, or as well, as it would have wanted. A developing market like China, on the other hand, while posing lots of possibilities, is a frontier that still calls for a fair amount of learning and cautious optimism.
Tenacity from the pioneering years of their South African operations has made Discovery able to withstand pressure and adapt.
“South Africa is a small but more sophisticated market than we are getting credit for,” says Gore.
Paul Theron, CEO of asset managers Vestact, says Gore’s character has been one of the key factors behind Discovery’s success.
“His growth has been amazing. It wasn’t a completely unique product that he was selling, coming out of Investec to start Discovery. But to go from that tiny firm to span into a global expansion has been brilliant.”
“They had some problems in the US. But in the UK they have been able to offer a good product around Vitality. The intellectual property is certainly something that will do well there. Incentivizing people with a healthy lifestyle will certainly take off. Along with the operational expertize having been around for a good number of years. Many people can come up with a good idea, but to actually make it work and have it run successfully over a number of years is an entirely different matter,” he says.
Discovery’s latest foray is into Singapore. It was announced in July, but Gore has little to say months later.
“We haven’t divulged the details of the transaction,” he says.
It is a trait of Gore that he has little to say about his missions until they are accomplished. This has been since the day he left Liberty Life, after developing the itch to start a small medical insurance unit within financial services group FirstRand, through the listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to unbundling from the parent company. It led to Discovery claiming more than half of the South African health insurance market. A story of more bite, less bark from the man who keeps to himself.
Laurie Dippenaar, who is 23rd on the FORBES list of the 40 Richest Africans and the father of FirstRand, was the man who gave Gore his shot. He has a clear memory of their first meeting.
“You could immediately see this guy was different. He was not the typical chartered accountant nerdy smart. You could see he had intelligence but he also had business sense, all the qualities that make you a success. I think he is actually one of the smartest business people I have ever met.”
According to Dippenaar, Gore’s first pitch didn’t go as well as he planned. The life insurance scheme was too much like others.
“To this day he says I got it wrong. A year later he comes up and says he’s got something completely different. From life insurance he had gone to a health insurance. He started to describe what he had in mind and I could immediately see he was onto something.”
This something was Discovery.
“When he described that medical savings account, it was a pioneer move in South Africa. I remembered when I was a bachelor and paying all these premiums for health insurance. You are young and healthy you don’t need to claim. All you do is pay premiums. Here was a product where you could carry forward some of the premiums if you were not claiming. In theory you could get into a situation where you didn’t have any premiums to pay,” says Dippenaar.
Gore left his job and Dippenaar gave him three months to draw up a business plan, in Dippenaar’s own offices.
“He never had any hesitation. He came up with the numbers. We liked it. So we backed him,” he says.
Gore is undoubtedly a darling of his shareholders, as well as share speculators, but that’s not to say he is liked by all. He has made enemies and detractors. He stands accused, for example, of squeezing competitors out at every opportunity, a charge Gore denies vehemently.
“I don’t think that is fair. We are strong competitors and more competition is good for society. We do nothing unfairly.”
It’s not only competitors who are unhappy. Doctors have taken issue with Discovery’s payment rates, where practitioners are forced to cap their rates and accept smaller fees. Gore’s defence? Nothing wrong with the practice.
“After all, we are the paymaster.”
What about the hundreds of thousands of people covered by Discovery Health? Some of them think Discovery is making huge profits on the back of above-inflation medical rate increases, while bombarding them with peripheral benefits like gym contracts.
Furious customers, writing on a business news website on the day of Gore’s announcement of financial results, complained bitterly about forever shrinking benefits, while others used words like “robbery”, “rip off” and “gimmicks” to describe Vitality, Discovery’s rewards-for-healthy-living scheme.
“These are natural issues,” Gore says, “they see the money we make.”
It doesn’t bother him much, though, as experience shows that customers stick with Discovery.
“The customer satisfaction rate is very high,” he says proudly.
Honesty and optimism have been driving forces at Discovery from the day it was established, says the man who prides himself for being, in his own words: innovative and prudent.
“Building insurance around making people healthy may be quite soppy”, he says, but it has been the key to success in international markets.
“We know where to be bold, and when to be reticent. We are pushing hard on the ground, taking no prisoners. We are ruthless.”
Gore’s steely, and ruthless, determination is often likened to that of Steve Jobs, the late genius who founded Apple and who was liked and hated in equal measure; depending, of course, who was telling the story.
There are two framed pictures of Steve Jobs in Gore’s office. One is from a business leadership article and the other is from a cover of the Economist magazine.
Gore is at pains to explain that Jobs graced the cover in the same edition that carried a story about Discovery. In the piece, the Economist hails the innovation of Discovery’s Vitality program as an example of how quickly new ideas are starting to flow out of emerging markets to challenge the world.
As for Jobs, Gore finds him very inspiring—especially for his obsession with one product.
“The obsession with a solution for society,” says Gore, who says he uses this belief at Discovery.
“Every organization must be started by someone,” Gore says, “owner-manager culture has a certain drive to it, a certain authenticity.”
Discovery’s success owes much to its founding team, most of whom are still with the company.
“But what’s most exciting about Discovery is that the future is ahead of us,” Gore says.
That future, though, may be under threat. At least, according to analysts.
The private health care industry is nervous about the announcement by the South African government—the continent’s biggest economy and a huge contributor to Discovery’s profits—that it is planning to introduce National Health Insurance (NHI). It will be funded through taxes and administered by the state; the NHI will strive to give health care to all.
Some analysts believe it will make a huge dent in medical insurance industry profits, big enough to send a few of them under. They single out Discovery as one company on the risk list because of high administration and managed care charges.
“We will have to adapt in some way, but I don’t think it’s threatening at all,” says Gore.
Gore says while NHI was excellent and rational and could strengthen the public system dramatically, it won’t supplant the country’s private health system and will take much longer to introduce than the 12-13 years the government has given itself.
If history is anything to go by, there can be no doubt Gore and his team—called the best brains in the industry—are busy preparing, which probably explains Discovery’s involvement in at least one NHI pilot project.
“Status quo is undesirable. You can’t have huge portions of the population with no access to proper health care. It’s not good for the country. I don’t think a great business exists on the back of dysfunctionality. You can’t exist at the expense of society. You’ve got to be part of society,” says Gore.
But what is he doing for that society? That is, when not ensuring that everyone is covered, or spending time with his wife, his two university student daughters, and the son he takes to school every day.
Driven by a philosophy that only entrepreneurs create jobs, Gore chairs Endeavor South Africa, the local chapter of a global non-profit organization that seeks to identify and nurture young entrepreneurial talent. It’s where he hopes to find, mentor and offer a break to future Gores – perhaps in pretty much the same way Dippenaar did for him 21 years ago. First lesson, don’t take prisoners.

A Maverick  In Rude Health

The diamond, beautiful and rare, must first endure searing temperatures, immense pressure and the cut before it is polished to shine. For Jenna Clifford this sounds like her life.
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<h4>The Diamond Is Pressurized</h4>
Clifford was born in a time when patriarchy was first and women second. She was an only child who endured great pressure from her father, who often told her that if she wasn’t number one she was a failure.
“My father was really the guy that might have broken me as a child but it stood me in very good stead for the pain that business can bring.”
Her father was inspired by South African golfing champion Gary Player who borrowed the saying: “The harder I work, the luckier I get,” from American producer Samuel Goldwyn.
Her father pushed her into the deep end and hoped it would teach her discipline.
“For anyone, getting to the top of any field or any faculty, sport [allows one] to get their head and physicality into dedication, drive and sticking at it even when you cry… Business is the sport of the mind. Sport is the business of the body.”
&nbsp;
<h4>The Diamond Is Chiseled</h4>
Despite this, at 19, a naive Clifford fell prey to the so called ‘Cinderella Complex’—all she wanted was to find a prince charming, who would love and look after her. After two failed marriages, she found that a fairy tale can often be grim.
“In my lifetime, I’ve had three unions. The first one I was just under 20 and then again I got married in 1987, then again in 1993, which has been about a 23-year relationship.”
Clifford’s struggles with men were not limited to her personal life.
“When you rise as a female, you will be challenged by your male counterparts. They can’t challenge your acumen and your efficiency in what you do, but they can challenge your being, as a woman, and hit your emotional bodies to get control or compliance, which is a very subtle way of getting compliance. Other women get violent compliance… it doesn’t just happen to women who are necessarily rural and un-educated, it happens in the highest order of society.”
Along the way, Clifford has learnt from the enemy.
“I just find that I fit in better with the male counterpart from a head space point of view. I love the way men focus. They don’t pick 16 things to do, they pick one and the number two will normally be their lifestyle sport or car racing or rugby…”
Another major problem is that women tend to find it harder to support each other.
“When you keep women weak, meaning break them one by one, they can’t stand as a collective. It’s as simple as that. Women are scared to stand as a collective… and it usually takes someone like me, that’s had men shape their life destructively and possibly turned it into a positive thing.”
One of Clifford’s inspirations is Nelson Mandela, who left a lasting impression on her.
“The humility, the kindness… Color is nothing that he sees, he sees the individual… He stuck to a dream irrespective to the punishment. It’s the same principal of greatness; he just had to go through 29 years of hell to get there.”
&nbsp;
<h4>The Diamond Is Polished</h4>
Clifford has made peace with her past, and acknowledges its role in shaping her life. With a successful jewelry company that has international clients—including Celine Dion and Debra Messing—three loving daughters and a husband, life could not be better. As for getting on with her father’s generation?
“With strong patriarchs, my age group to my father’s age group, I get along with them exceptionally well now, because they don’t treat me like a woman. They think of me as a different being. So, I’m now okay for them because, in their minds, I’ve achieved success.”
Dedicated to the empowerment of women, Clifford will be collaborating with Doctor Dorianne Cara Weil, Professor Shirley Zinn, Dion Chang and Doctor Marko Saravanja, in a new venture called Inner Genius. The project will allow women to interact with these mentors, who will advise them on how to succeed in their personal and professional lives.
Surely, it is worth listening to Clifford, a cut in polished
diamond.

A Glint Of Feminist Fire

While a sunny Friday beckons at your office window, you feel cooped up inside with a pile of work. If only you could be on the golf course: feeling the breeze; practising your swing and enjoying a cold one at the 19th hole. But the guilt you’d feel about leaving your in-tray until Monday, far outweighs the benefits of a little exercise. It’s time to start thinking differently about golf. If you change your perspective and play the game with the right mindset, it can be a powerful business tool that can bring you much further than your nagging in-tray.
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<h4>The Game Of Fortune</h4>
In his book Deals on the Green: Lessons on Business and Golf from America’s Top Executives, David Rynecki explains the secret that many a successful executive has learned: golf can be one of the most powerful tools in your business briefcase.
“No matter how sophisticated the tools become—the email and teleconferencing, the BlackBerrys and Powerpoint presentations—golf remains the true communication hub of business.”
In fact, 90% of Fortune 500-listed CEOs play golf, according to the Chicago Tribune. However, whether this is because the game teaches certain skills that are valuable in business, or because it has simply become a fraternity for like-minded businesspeople over the years, is unclear.
Whatever the reason, the results are the same: golf improves your business game. In a study by Pompeu Fabra University, in Spain, researchers found that CEOs who are not regular golfers are paid 17% less than those who are, and for every stroke a CEO’s handicap increases, he receives 6% less in salary plus bonuses.
&nbsp;
<h4>Pressure Test</h4>
If money isn’t what drives you, here’s more motivation to pick up that driver and get swinging: golf is also a useful personality test.
“Golf teaches you about a person’s reactions in adversity, how they deal competitively with situations, because with golf there is such an easy mechanism to take advantage of the rules,” writes Rynecki.
“I’m not worried about their skills as a player, but rather how they conduct themselves, as golf, like business and life, will test you in a multitude of ways,” he says.
Golf’s challenge is to stay calm under pressure, think strategically and act gentlemanly even when you’d much rather repeatedly bash your club against the nearest tree, when your game goes south. It calls for competitiveness, focus and discipline; qualities that get you ahead in the boardroom too.
&nbsp;
<h4>The Great Equaliser</h4>
Golf affords you the chance to conduct business without the pressures of the office environment. One of the virtues of the game is that people of any age can play. You wouldn’t want your 65-year-old client to have a heart attack while running after your squash serve, but golf allows him to do things at his own pace, and have enough breath to talk while he does so.
It’s the great equaliser: “[Golf gives you] the opportunity to spend quality time with like-minded people from all walks of life. No matter who you are or what you do professionally, golf is a real leveller,” says Ebrahim Matthews, MD of Diners Club, South Africa.
Even if you’re not Tiger Woods, ditch that in-tray and get onto the course for some practice. In golf, losing doesn’t mean losing out!

Tag: Business

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