
<p><strong>Founder and creative director, Daniel Diyepriye has a goal in mind – to build a brand that will stand out amongst the rest. And while his start in the designer clothing business wasn’t conventional, he knows exactly where his journey is going to take him next.</strong></p>



<p>The African luxury fashion segment is expected to reach $1 billion in 2023, according to market research company Statista. Jeremy Nel, Managing Director of South African-based luxury marketing firm, Luxury Brands, reportedly estimates that there are over 160,000 millionaires in Africa with a combined spending power of about $700 billion. These millionaires want the very best and are willing to spend top dollar when it comes to fashion.</p>



<p>“Louis Vuitton just got a market cap of $500 billion and Shell’s market cap is nowhere near that. Imagine a world where African luxury becomes a lot more lucrative than oil? That would completely transform the African continent and that is why I want to be a big player in this space,” says Daniel Diyepriye, founder and creative director of what he hopes to be Africa’s first luxury fashion house, Daniel Diyepriye.</p>



<p>Diyepriye is not wrong. With the over-reliance on oil and gas by most African countries, especially Nigeria, its largest economy, he may actually be on to something.</p>



<p>The eponymous brand, which launched just before Covid-19 wreaked havoc all over the world, pays homage to the legacy of his late father who epitomized elegance and class. He passed away during the pandemic following complications from a stroke he suffered when Diyepriye was just 14 years old.</p>



<p>Back then, the dream was not fashion but simply, finding a way to support his mother, who was now the primary caretaker of her paralyzed husband and their three children.</p>



<p>“I dropped out of university in my first year. I had to make money for the family and I felt that I had to take the responsibility to provide. I thought it was going to be five or six years before I made money from what they were teaching me in university and I could not wait that long,” recalls Diyepriye.</p>



<p>That is when he became a serial entrepreneur. At first, he took over a modelling agency called Lethal Model Management when he was 21 years old. He then moved on to buying and selling sneakers before transitioning into a car rental business, which he still manages today. The business focuses on renting smart cars for under a pound an hour.</p>



<p>“The name of the company is called SmartMove Car [Hire]. We took some investment, and we run a membership model. Sainsbury’s backed us and allowed us to put our cars in their parking lots so customers can take the car from one Sainsbury’s [store] to the other. But I needed to make a business that could scale because the problem with car rental companies is that when all your cars are rented out, you stop making money,” says Diyepriye.</p>



<p>After the death of his father in 2019, Diyepriye and his brother – who, sadly, also passed away last year due to a heart condition – decided that a luxury fashion business would be the best way to honor him.</p>



<p>“I got my flair from my dad. He used to always wear nice suits. The heritage is to honor my father and it means everything we do has to honor who he was, from the quality of our products and everything we say as a brand,” says Diyepriye.</p>



<p>His eureka moment for his signature brand, coincidentally, also came from his father.</p>



<p>“Me and my dad used to play with jigsaw [puzzles] and he always used to tell me that the jigsaw relates to patience, attention to detail and trying to see the bigger picture. I had an epiphany one day that it would be really cool to put a jigsaw on a bag. And that is what has become our signature look.”</p>



<p>Diyepriye taught himself design and learned how to use all the software applications he needed to make his creations come to life, in order to bootstrap the company and grow it organically.</p>



<p>With the help of influencers to get the word out, the brand was launched with £10,000 ($12,000) he made from his car rental business. Soon after launching, Diyepriye made the decision to focus on the United States (US) market due to the volume of orders they received from there.</p>



<p>“Till date, we have done about $500,000 in revenue and a lot of that money has gone back into the brand. The first tackle for us was validating luxury to say that this bag is luxury regardless of who it is made by. We use materials that fast fashion brands won’t and can’t use,” he says.</p>



<p>As far as Diyepriye is concerned, most of the founders spearheading European luxury fashion houses are men but when it comes to Africa, there is no one male fashion mogul dominating the luxury fashion scene. His goal is to take advantage of this first-mover position and evolve his brand into the Daniel Diyepriye Group, where similar to the LVMH family, he will also be able to launch and acquire other ancillary brands to become a billion-dollar fashion house.</p>



<p>Like many sectors in Africa, technology is providing a platform for the luxury fashion industry to leapfrog archaic infrastructure and scale rapidly. As a result, online stores and social media have provided a platform for the Diyepriye brand to carve out its presence in the industry in the space of only three years. With that in mind, who knows what the future might hold?</p>


Daniel Diyepriye; image supplied

The Mission To Become Africa’s Luxury Fashion House


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>OpenAI—the company behind ChatGPT—is exploring ways for its popular generative artificial intelligence platform to be used in schools, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-explores-how-get-chatgpt-into-classrooms-2023-11-16/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>, marking a new undertaking for the company that’s been criticized by some educators for enabling cheating.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer for OpenAI, said at a San Francisco conference last week that the company will likely create a team next year that will solely look into ways artificial intelligence can be used in education, Reuters reported.</p>



<p>Lightcap said at the conference that “most teachers are trying to figure out ways to incorporate (ChatGPT)” into how they teach, and that OpenAI is “trying to help them think through the problem.”</p>



<p>Artificial intelligence—and ChatGPT, specifically—have been criticized in the past for making it easier for students to cheat, even being&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/01/18/chatgpt-in-schools-heres-where-its-banned-and-how-it-could-potentially-help-students/?sh=ffd34456e2c6">banned</a>&nbsp;by some schools and districts earlier this year.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>85%. That’s how many students—out of those who were able to compare human tutoring to using AI—said ChatGPT was more effective than working with a real person,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/is-chatgpt-better-than-a-human-tutor-survey-says-yes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to Government Technology.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>ChatGPT was released mid-school year last November, and districts nationwide almost immediately began banning the generative AI platform out of cheating concerns. Students are able to use generative AI platforms to write essays and complete homework, though it wasn’t hard to catch, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/30/technology/ai-chatbot-study-aid.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to the New York Times, because of AI being in early stages and still “hallucinating,” or making things up. On Dec. 12, 2022, the nation’s second-largest district, Los Angeles Unified School District, became one of the first to block the site to “protect academic honesty,” though at the start of a new school year it introduced its own education-specific AI bot called “Ed” in about 100 schools, Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/23/chatgpt-ai-chatbots-in-classrooms-00111662" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Other districts that banned it or limited access to the site <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/01/18/chatgpt-in-schools-heres-where-its-banned-and-how-it-could-potentially-help-students/?sh=ffd34456e2c6">included</a> New York City Public Schools and schools in Montgomery County, Alabama. Since the release of ChatGPT, though, OpenAI has worked to show its value in education. In the fall, OpenAI and nonprofit Khan Academy <a href="https://openai.com/customer-stories/khan-academy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> a partnership to create an “AI-powered assistant” available to Khan students that works as “both a virtual tutor for students and a classroom assistant for teachers.”</p>


In this photo illustration, the ChatGPT (OpenAI) logo is

OpenAI Exploring ChatGPT’s Potential In Classrooms—Despite Critics Saying AI Promotes Cheating, Report Says


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday <a href="https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">granted a license</a> to billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX for its highly anticipated second launch of its Starship rocket, clearing the way for a test flight as soon as this week, after more than six months being grounded since its previous launch ended in a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/04/20/spacex-starship-explodes-after-launch/?sh=670a7bb36645">fiery explosion</a>.\</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>SpaceX’s Starship, an ambitious program intended to eventually take passengers to the moon and Mars, has met “all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements,” the FAA determined.</p>



<p>The FAA’s approval gives SpaceX the go-ahead for a second launch at its Boca Chica launch site in Cameron County, Texas, south of Corpus Christi.</p>



<p>In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, SpaceX said it plans to conduct the launch between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time on Friday.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>In April, a SpaceX rocket that had been scheduled to travel 150 miles into Earth’s atmosphere suddenly exploded several minutes after take-off, which SpaceX called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.” SpaceX initially planned its next test launch “in a few months,” Musk—who also owns X and Tesla—said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1649050306943266819" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a>&nbsp;on his social media platform. SpaceX also&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649045802332073986" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;April’s test, despite its explosion, “will help us improve Starship’s reliability.” The FAA was later sued by a group of environmental and cultural heritage organizations, who alleged the agency erred in its approval of the test launch and that its approval violated federal environmental law.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/05/01/faa-sued-over-spacex-starship-explosion/?sh=39c6f88679de">Plaintiffs argued</a>&nbsp;the FAA failed to conduct a full environmental review and did not require SpaceX to mitigate potential environmental harm.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>NASA partnered with SpaceX in April 2021 to develop a landing system to take astronauts to the moon for the space agency’s Artemis III mission, another program aimed at bringing astronauts back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



<p>At 400 feet tall, the Starship rocket is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.space.com/elon-musk-shows-off-starship-sn20-super-heavy-stack-february-2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tallest and most powerful</a>&nbsp;rocket ever built.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/04/20/spacex-starship-explodes-after-launch/?sh=670a7bb36645">SpaceX Starship Explodes After Launch</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/04/08/elon-musks-spacex-is-about-to-launch-starship-into-orbit-around-earth/?sh=4dc7196b1ce1">Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is About To Launch ‘Starship’ Into Orbit Around Earth</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the third pair of O3b

SpaceX Cleared For Second Starship Test Flight—After First Exploded


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Israeli forces raided the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza—the enclave’s largest medical facility—early Wednesday, in what they described as a “precise and targeted operation” against Hamas, a day after UN officials raised alarm about the deteriorating conditions at the hospital.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>The Israeli Defense Forces&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1724579353193754958" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called</a>&nbsp;the raid an “operational necessity” and said it is taking place “in a specified area” of the hospital based on intelligence.</p>



<p>The IDF said its raiding forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers and wants to ensure that “no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields.”</p>



<p>The IDF also claims its raid on the hospital complex comes after a 12-hour warning to stop all military activities from the site was not heeded.</p>



<p>Thousands of civilians, patients, and doctors are believed to be sheltering at the hospital, which has been without power since the weekend, prompting a warning from the United Nations’ Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA) that several patients, including at least 36 babies, are facing a “heightened risk of death.”</p>



<p>The IDF said it has facilitated “wide-scale evacuations of the hospital,” however these claims have faced some&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-11-12-2023-20f5dcd135b7eb34238a7b25ce560d0c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pushback</a>&nbsp;from health officials and people trapped inside the hospital, with Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry accusing Israel of effectively blockading the complex.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">NEWS PEG</h2>



<p>Israel has accused Hamas of operating a command post inside tunnel complexes underneath Al-Shifa and said it was using the hospital’s patients and doctors as human shields. Both Hamas and hospital authorities have denied these allegations. On Tuesday, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/white-house-says-it-has-evidence-hamas-using-al-shifa-hospital-run-military-2023-11-14/#:~:text=%22We%20have%20information%20that%20confirms,reporters%20aboard%20Air%20Force%20One." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told reporters</a> that U.S. officials had intelligence that aligned with Israel’s claims about Hamas using the hospital. Following the Israeli raid, Hamas issued a statement saying it holds Israel and President Joe Biden “fully responsible” for the operation. Hamas added that it viewed Kirby’s statement as a “green light” for Israeli forces to “commit more massacres against civilians.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>While describing Hamas’ actions as a war crime, Kirby said: “To be clear, we do not support striking a hospital from the air. We do not want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care they deserve. We have been clear on multiple occasions &#8211; Hamas&#8217; actions do not lessen Israel&#8217;s responsibilities to protect civilians in Gaza.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>On Monday evening, a World Health Organization official&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67410093" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">described</a>&nbsp;Al-Shifa Hospital as “nearly a cemetery” on Monday and said dead bodies piling up inside the hospital. On Tuesday, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry&nbsp;<a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-39" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a>&nbsp;40 patients died inside Al-Shifa on Tuesday and the hospital’s staff were trying to bury nearly 180 bodies in a mass grave inside the hospital complex. Doctors at the hospital have&nbsp;<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/13/middleeast/gaza-babies-incubators-al-shifa-hospital-israel-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warned</a>&nbsp;that the lives of dozens of premature babies were at risk as they had to be moved out of their incubators after the hospital lost power. The IDF has&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1724315771340214353" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">offered</a>&nbsp;to send additional incubators to the hospital but it is unclear how they would be used without power.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/11/14/who-says-gazas-largest-hospital-is-nearly-a-cemetery-as-israel-offers-to-send-incubators/?sh=4140dc985337">WHO Says Gaza’s Largest Hospital Is ‘Nearly A Cemetery’ As Israel Offers To Send Incubators</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/11/13/world-cannot-stand-silent-who-says-gazas-largest-hospital-has-ceased-functioning/?sh=59de8f1324bb">‘World Cannot Stand Silent’—WHO Says Gaza’s Largest Hospital Has Ceased Functioning</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Palestinians taking shelter around Nasser Hospital live under difficult conditions in Gaza

Israeli Says Its Forces Have Entered Gaza’s Largest Hospital


<p><strong>Young African football stars are embracing the opportunity presented by Major League Soccer in North America as a stepping stone to the best clubs in Europe. FORBES AFRICA was in St Louis in Missouri in the United States for these exclusive interviews, and the numbers are big.</strong></p>



<p>The recent arrival of Lionel Messi has distorted the image somewhat but the reality of Major League Soccer (MLS) in North America is it’s a league of rapidly growing potential, with increasingly promising talent and a stepping stone to the top leagues of Europe.</p>



<p>Football is finding increasing traction in a market where it used to be considered a minor sport and the MLS is changing its image from a league that was seen as the parking lot for fading superstars coming to the end of their careers and looking for a final pay day, to one where the dreams of young players can be realized.</p>



<p>As a result, many young Africans are embracing the opportunity.</p>



<p>“To be honest, I had doubts in my mind because I thought the style of football was not anything like we do back home,” Njabulo Blom, the 23-year-old South African international midfielder who was sold by Kaizer Chiefs to St Louis City at the start of the season, tells FORBES AFRICA.</p>



<p>“I know that the MLS is not rated among the best leagues in the world but the standard of football is very good. It’s not what people think outside,” Blom adds from St Louis, the Midwestern city in the United States (US) where the local club have just joined the MLS and are making waves.</p>



<p>The numbers back him up. As per <em>Forbes</em>, the values of MLS franchises have jumped, since 2019, by 85% on average, with defending champions Los Angeles FC now valued at around $1 billion, breaking into the top 20 in the world. Another example is the value of Seattle Sounders has increased from $405 million to $850 million in just four years, with the team recently becoming the first American side to participate at the Club World Cup.</p>



<p>Revenues have reportedly grown continuously, by 16.6% on average per year between 2007 and 2018 but the spectacular progress is reflected in the price of what new franchises are paying to join the league.</p>



<p>The 10 original clubs invested $10 million each when the league kicked off in 1996 but Portland and Vancouver paid $35 million in 2011. For Charlotte FC, who arrived in 2022, the bill amounted to $325 million.</p>



<p>Average attendances are around 22,000 spectators, a figure similar to France. The record for a single game is the 82,110 that turned out in July at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to watch the Los Angeles derby, dubbed ‘El Trafico’.</p>



<p>This year’s expansion side St Louis City are setting new standards with their sell-out stadium, a brand-new venue and a state-of-the-art training facility next door.</p>



<p>They are coached by Johannesburg- born Bradley Carnell, who played for South Africa at the 2002 World Cup and had a successful career in the German Bundesliga after starting out as a 16-year- old professional at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.</p>



<p>He later earned his coaching stripes as an assistant at Free State Stars and Orlando Pirates.</p>



<p>“They said the expansion job is one of the most difficult in any American sport, so good luck. I was like, ‘Ok’,” Carnell says.</p>



<p>“Then I met the ownership group and spoke to them about vision, passion and what we stand for. There was just too many similarities and synergy there for I think either party. Looking in hindsight, everything just panned out,” he adds.</p>



<p>St Louis are the first new team in MLS history to win their opening five matches and are well-placed for the end of season playoffs.</p>



<p>But Carnell, in a long interview with FORBES AFRICA, insists on patience.</p>



<p>“Short-term, it’s about getting infrastructure, academy, style of play— check those boxes. Mid-term, be competitive — we’re checking that box as well. Now, long-term, can we be really successful? The goal is to be compared, one day, to those great teams in the league already.”</p>



<p>In his playing days, Carnell had a chance to move overseas after being spotted as a teenager when he was competing for South Africa at the under-20 level at a tournament in France.</p>



<p>He thinks MLS offers the same chance to African players, especially those in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League, which MLS clubs are now showing much more interest in. “We just have to lead by example,” he says of the growing South African numbers in the league.</p>



<p>“If we can now, you know, just be key ambassadors for our product back home, and to put other guys on the map because now there is slowly more chatter; there’s a couple of players that are on the radar.”</p>



<p>Last year Minnesota United bought Bongokuhle Hlongwane from Maritzburg United and in recent months the teenager Olwethu Makhanya has moved to Philadelphia Union, while the exciting Mamelodi Sundowns striker Cassius Mailula is now at Toronto FC. </p>



<p>The attraction of these players is their age. MLS rules allow clubs to take on more foreign players, as long as they are aged under-23, and it is here where Africans are in demand. Other top signings in recent months include Richard Odada (Kenya) and Prince Owusu, a German of</p>



<p>Ghanaian descent, and all can expect to be in contention to move onto a club in Europe in a few years, if they perform.</p>



<p>All can be assured they are on a stage that offers a chance to move on to bigger and better vistas in Europe.</p>



<p>According to the league, in 2022, MLS paid $175 million in transfer/acquisition fees, and for the fourth consecutive year it set a new high for fees paid, double the amount of five years ago. Revenue generated for outgoing players in 2022 was around $100 million. This does not include sell- on fees for the likes of Leeds United’s Brenden Aaronson or Crystal Palace’s Chris Richards.</p>



<p>The figures for 2023 will be higher, especially the sales of players to clubs in Europe.</p>



<p>Blom’s advice to compatriots offered the chance to play in the MLS is: “Come play, because it’s really a great stepping stone to grow. It’s like an introduction to a high level of football.”</p>



<p>Mailula, for one, heeded the advice even though he had become a regular with Mamelodi Sundowns and could have a comfortable time at home, where he had become an almost overnight star after just one season with the Pretoria club. “It was not an easy decision to take, but I feel like I need to get out of my comfort zone, to explore, to get closer to Europe,” he explains. “This is the right decision for my career, for my family also.”</p>



<p>With each excellent performance, of which there have been many this season, the South African players shine a further spotlight on the domestic league and will have more scouts looking at Africa as a fertile ground for young talent.</p>



<p>Hlongwane hit the headlines with his rush of goals in the Leagues Cup for Minnesota, appearing alongside Messi when they were joint top scorers in the competition.</p>



<p>How many South African players in the past have had such a platform? Very few, and certainly none in the last two decades.</p>



<p>The US has a reputation as a land of opportunity, with rags-to-riches tales possible. Football is the new platform for that and with the South African players earning upwards of R500,000 ($26,150) a month at their young age, they are living that dream.</p>


saas

‘Come Play’: Where African Stars Are In Demand


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Greenpeace is facing a major new legal threat in the form of a $2.1 million lawsuit from oil giant Shell,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/shell-sues-greenpeace-21-million-after-boarding-oil-vessel-2023-11-09/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple outlets</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/09/shell-sues-greenpeace-over-fossil-fuel-protest-in-north-sea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;Thursday, after the environmental advocacy group’s protestors occupied a floating oil platform in January in what one spokesperson called an “unlawful and extremely dangerous” stunt.</p>



<p>Greenpeace activist Yeb Saño holds aloft a flag on a rib after attempting to board a Shell oil&nbsp;&#8230; [+]<small>GETTY IMAGES</small></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>U.K.-based Shell filed a claim against Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International in London&#8217;s High Court alleging the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/greenpeace-protesters-board-shell-platform-bound-for-shetland" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">occupation</a>&nbsp;of a floating oil production vessel by protesters earlier this year cost the company money in shipping delays and forced it to hire extra security,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/shell-sues-greenpeace-21-million-after-boarding-oil-vessel-2023-11-09/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>&nbsp;reported.</p>



<p>Shell has asked the court to stop any future protests on the company’s infrastructure at sea or in port, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/09/shell-sues-greenpeace-over-fossil-fuel-protest-in-north-sea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Guardian</em></a>, and threatened to file further claims on behalf of contractors that could be worth as much as $8.6 million.</p>



<p>Greenpeace has accused Shell of trying to silence any legitimate protests of its fossil fuel operations, but Shell has said the lawsuit is focused only on protests at sea and is designed partly to protect the safety of protesters.</p>



<p>A spokesperson for Shell said in an email to&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;that the protest was &#8220;unlawful and extremely dangerous.&#8221;</p>



<p>In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/63522/shell-hits-greenpeace-with-intimidation-lawsuit-threatening-8-6m-damages-claim-and-protest-ban-to-silence-climate-demands/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;posted to its website Thursday, Greenpeace called the lawsuit an attempt “to silence growing dissent over moves by Shell’s chief executive” and said Shell has offered to settle for $1.4 million if Greenpeace vows to never again stage a protest “at its infrastructure” at sea or in port.</p>



<p>Greenpeace said it would only comply with the request if Shell &#8220;agreed to stop wrecking the climate&#8221; and comply with a Dutch court order to reduce its emissions by 45% by 2030.</p>



<p>Greenpeace activists hold a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters amid the companies&nbsp;&#8230; [+]<small>CHRIS J RATCLIFFE FOR GREENPEACE VIA GETTY IMAGES</small></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“The right to protest is fundamental and we respect it absolutely. But it must be done safely and lawfully,” Shell’s statement reads. “Shell and its contractors are entitled to recover the significant costs of responding to Greenpeace’s dangerous actions.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Climate activists used ropes to hoist themselves onto a floating production storage and offloading vessel from inflatable boats they used to chase the Shell ship. The protestors boarded the vessel just north of the Canary Islands and rode it for 13 days,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/63522/shell-hits-greenpeace-with-intimidation-lawsuit-threatening-8-6m-damages-claim-and-protest-ban-to-silence-climate-demands/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to Greenpeace</a>. No arrests were made. The vessel was bound for the not-yet-operational Penguins oil and gas field in the North Sea, and protestors were imploring the company to stop drilling for new oil and gas and &#8220;instead take responsibility for causing climate breakdown.” The Penguins platform is the first new northern North Sea project for Shell in 30 years and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shell.com/about-us/major-projects/penguins.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is expected</a>&nbsp;to yield 45,000 barrels of oil per day.</p>



<p>Greenpeace activists hang a banner on July 24, 2014 in front of a Shell gas station in Santiago,&nbsp;&#8230; [+]<small>AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES</small></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>$39.9 billion. That&#8217;s how much money&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/shell-earnings-oil-giant-reports-record-annual-profits.html#:~:text=Shell%20reported%20adjusted%20earnings%20of,2021%20profit%20of%20%2419.29%20billion." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shell reported in adjusted earnings&nbsp;</a>in 2022, more than double its 2021 profit of $19.29 billion.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>This isn’t the first time Shell and Greenpeace have butted heads. The two famously faced off back in 1995 when the oil company, known at the time as Royal Dutch Shell, proposed it would get rid of its decommissioned rig called the Brent Spar <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/47744/brent-spar-the-sea-is-not-a-dustbin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">by sinking it</a> in the North Atlantic Ocean. Greenpeace activists occupied the tanker for three weeks and organized a boycott of service stations worldwide while claiming the vessel Shell was trying to sink had 5,500 tons of oil on board. The estimate was vastly higher than what Shell claimed and what later proved to be true—Greenpeace ultimately issued an apology. Shell withdrew its plan to sink the Brent Spar. Greenpeace later successfully protested Shell&#8217;s <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/7022/you-did-it-shell-abandons-arctic-drilling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2006 plan</a> to drill for oil in the Arctic. Two years ago, Greenpeace was involved in a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-wins-court-case-start-seismic-surveys-offshore-south-africa-2021-12-03/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">failed attempt</a> to stop the company from looking for oil in humpback whale breeding grounds on South Africa&#8217;s coast.</p>


Shell Posts Quarterly Profits

Shell Sues Greenpeace For $2 Million After Protest On Moving Oil Platform — The Latest Clash Between The Two


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>The Food and Drug Administration gave&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/coronavirus-covid-19-cber-regulated-biologics/novavax-covid-19-vaccine-adjuvanted#:~:text=Novavax%20COVID-19%20Vaccine%2C%20Adjuvanted%20is%20available%20under%20emergency%20use,years%20of%20age%20and%20older" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">emergency use authorization</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday to Novavax’s new Covid vaccine designed to target the coronavirus’ dominant XBB sublineage, which is fueling a spike in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>At&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/updated-covid-vaccine-who-should-get-it-and-when-it-will-be-available" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$130</a>&nbsp;a dose, the vaccine was approved for those 12 years and older—for those already vaccinated with any vaccine, one dose can be given at least two months after a person’s last Covid shot, and two doses administered three months apart can be given to the unvaccinated.</p>



<p>Novavax’s approval follows the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/09/11/fda-approves-new-covid-vaccines-to-target-latest-strains/?sh=1be38e906e09">approval</a>&nbsp;of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s monovalent vaccines targeting new coronavirus variant, which were also given emergency use authorization last month by the FDA for those six months and older.</p>



<p>This comes after the agency&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/169591/download?attachment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">encouraged</a>&nbsp;Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax to create new monovalent vaccines that target the XBB lineage, which makes up the majority of the variants circulating in the U.S.</p>



<p>The Novavax vaccine&nbsp;<a href="https://ir.novavax.com/press-releases/US-CDC-and-Advisory-Committee-Recommend-Use-of-Authorized-and-Approved-2023-2024-Monovalent-XBB-COVID-19-Vaccines" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">received approval</a>&nbsp;from an advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month, though it still awaits approval from the agency’s director.</p>



<p>This is the first time since the shots were commercialized that they won’t be free, and both&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-business-covid-medicare-1a5d65356ebc7b5bc76524ae99deb55e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pfizer</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-expects-price-its-covid-vaccine-about-130-us-2023-03-20/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moderna</a>&nbsp;estimate their shots will cost between $110 and $130 a dose.</p>



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<p>Though most insurance companies are expected to cover the cost of Covid boosters, the CDC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/07/13/cdc-launch-bridge-access-program-fall-2023-provide-free-covid-19-vaccines-treatments-uninsured-underinsured-adults.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bridge Program</a>&nbsp;is set to launch this fall, providing Covid vaccine coverage to the uninsured.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Covid-related deaths and hospitalizations have increased since the start of the summer and are expected to keep rising as fall and winter kick into gear. Deaths increased by 8% between September 17 and September 23, and hospitalizations stood at 19,079 during this period, according to the CDC’s most recent data. EG.5, or the “Eris” variant—part of the XBB lineage—is the dominant strain in the U.S., making up 29.4% of all cases between September 17 and September 30. As of June, the XBB omicron subvariants made up 95% of all Covid cases in the U.S., according to an FDA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/169591/download?attachment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>. The existing bivalent boosters offer about 50% protection against XBB variants in most adults and about 33% protection in those 65 years and older, according to a January&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7205e1.htm?s_cid=mm7205e1_w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;conducted by the CDC. Moderna&nbsp;<a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2023/Moderna-Clinical-Trial-Data-Confirm-Its-Updated-COVID-19-Vaccine-Generates-Robust-Immune-Response-in-Humans-Against-Widely-Circulating-Variants/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;its new booster may be effective at protecting against the Eris variant, Novavax&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/22/covid-novavax-vaccine-eris-variant.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;its shot provided a broad immune response against Eris in small animals and Pfizer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizers-updated-covid-shot-effective-against-eris-variant-mice-study-2023-08-17/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;its new shot protected against the variant when tested on mice. Because the current bivalent boosters don’t specifically protect against XBB, some experts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/08/21/new-covid-boosters-expected-this-fall-why-some-doctors-suggest-holding-off-on-getting-your-next-booster-until-then/?sh=447d21af438b">recommend</a>&nbsp;waiting until the new monovalent boosters release before getting an updated shot.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



<p>An earlier round of updated Covid boosters provided additional protection against previous variants, but only&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-states-jurisdictions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">17%</a>&nbsp;of the U.S. has received at least one booster.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>A new Covid variant called BA.2.86, or “Pirola,” is a descendant of the BA sublineage and has begun circulating in the U.S. Although there aren’t enough cases for it to appear on the CDC’s variant tracker, the World Health Organization has&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1692255671687794902" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">labeled</a>&nbsp;it as a variant under monitoring. This is because Pirola has 36 more&nbsp;<a href="https://slides.com/jbloom/new_2nd_gen_ba2_variant?ftag=YHF4eb9d17#/3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mutation spikes</a>&nbsp;than XBB.1.5—the dominant strain in the U.S. earlier this year—and 34 additional mutations compared to BA.2. Pirola isn’t a descendant of the XBB sublineages, so there may be concern they won’t protect against Pirola. However, Moderna&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/09/06/modernas-updated-covid-vaccine-is-effective-against-pirola-variant-as-concern-over-new-strain-grows/?sh=3f334501a06c">said</a>&nbsp;Wednesday its new booster provided an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies against Pirola in its clinical trial.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-green-light-new-covid-boosters-early-friday-rcna103379" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FDA could green light new Covid boosters as early as Friday</a>&nbsp;(NBC)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/09/06/modernas-updated-covid-vaccine-is-effective-against-pirola-variant-as-concern-over-new-strain-grows/?sh=3f334501a06c">Moderna’s Updated Covid Vaccine Is Effective Against Pirola Variant—As Concern Over New Strain Grows</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/08/21/new-covid-boosters-expected-this-fall-why-some-doctors-suggest-holding-off-on-getting-your-next-booster-until-then/?sh=447d21af438b">New Covid Boosters Expected This Fall: Why Some Doctors Suggest Holding Off On Getting Your Next Booster Until Then</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/09/01/its-ok-to-get-your-covid-flu-and-rsv-shots-at-the-same-time-experts-say/?sh=486139df3099">It’s Okay To Get Your Covid, Flu And RSV Shots At The Same Time, Experts Say</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Vaccinations at Egoli Township as Omicron Cases Spread

FDA Approves Novavax’s New Covid Vaccine Designed To Protect Against The Latest Strain


<p>&#8216;Sustained crisis’. I came across this terminology in a <em>Harvard Business Review </em>article recently, and it immediately struck a chord with my struggles running my company and also with what I see in the world around me.</p>



<p>The Covid-19 pandemic was a global crisis that came out of the blue, and we were all in it together. It did not matter which country we lived in or what our backgrounds were. It was a common fight.</p>



<p>But post-pandemic, we are dealing with a world that has become economically volatile for varying reasons, and it is becoming clearer that each country will first protect its own people and its own interests. Likewise, it has hit the interdependence of certain structures with a fragility like never before. And this has not abated since 2020.</p>



<p>For countries that are largely donor-dependent for their development needs and for humanitarian aid spending, vulnerabilities have increased. The aid narrative comes with its own politics and interests.</p>



<p>Several studies point to the fact that foreign aid is not as generous as it used to be.</p>



<p>In 2022, Ukraine accounted for a large chunk of foreign aid. And now many donor countries are facing pressures of their own from the post Covid-19 economic downturn to geopolitical vulnerabilities and political instabilities that have persisted over a long time.</p>



<p>Developing economies struggle with unsustainable debt burdens, rising food costs and liquidity crises. It is estimated by the World Bank that 7% of the world’s population will still be living in poverty by 2030.</p>



<p>For entrepreneurs in many countries, the ecosystem has changed significantly. Inflation persists and markets continue to shrink. Doing business has become costlier and more complex and negotiating the scale of challenges more difficult.</p>



<p>With increased advanced technological interface in business operations, the ecosystem demands a different resilience that government and business leaders must adopt and adapt to at a faster pace.</p>



<p>The common man is forced to navigate his needs confronted with higher prices, declining savings, more borrowing and employment loss. </p>



<p>In Nepal, where I am, the middle- and lower-income demographic is struggling with job cuts, unpaid salaries, cutdown on consumer expenditure and access to loans. There is a relentless outflow of Nepali youth entering the international labor market. The country’s central bank macroeconomic report shows that in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, the government has issued permits for over 660,000 Nepalis to work abroad. This number excludes Nepalis going to India for work and the migration of students. </p>



<p>When young people see no future to build their lives in their country, it hurts the productivity and pride of the nation; but there is nothing to hold them back.</p>



<p>A crisis response is effective within a contained timeframe but when there is a prolonged state of crisis, the response needs to be inspired by a wider and more inclusive approach.</p>



<p>I ask what then is the lifeblood that will enable countries to navigate what is now a sustained crisis? Can countries do it alone?</p>



<p>Does this mark the departure of multilateralism? Why are the terms ‘deglobalization’ and ‘dedollarization’ increasingly making the rounds of panel discussions and economic reports?</p>



<p>The lifeblood perhaps lies in our ability to pause, reflect and continue. I believe that sustained crisis can only be overcome by sustained action. However, action must come from deeper values of integrity, innovation and compassion in the unfolding world order. It requires leaders – government and business – to be focused, flexible and decisive. Economic growth and social progress must be given equal emphasis. It requires citizens across the world to be more aware about their choices and actions. This is, perhaps, each one’s obligation and opportunity to create a meaningful world.</p>



<p><em><strong>A writer-photographer from Nepal who keeps the values of freedom and compassion at the core of her work</strong></em></p>


Kathmandu, city view

‘Sustained Crisis Can Only Be Overcome By Sustained Action’


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Paxlovid—Pfizer’s antiviral Covid-19 treatment—is 37% effective at preventing hospitalization or death in high-risk patients compared with no treatment, according to <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2809779" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a study</a> published Thursday in the <em>JAMA Network Open</em>, well below the 88% effectiveness rate Pfizer and regulators <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-oral-antiviral-treatment-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> in clinical trials in 2021—though it remains very effective at staving off death.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>The study found that when excluding hospitalizations and looking at death alone, the drug is 84% effective.</p>



<p>The observational study analyzed electronic health records from thousands of patients at the Cleveland Clinic Health System in 2022 and early 2023 to determine Paxlovid’s effectiveness, using real-world data rather than the clinical trials that were used before.</p>



<p>The study also found another antiviral Covid-19 treatment, Merck’s Lagevrio, was 42% effective in preventing hospitalization or death and 77% effective against death alone.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



<p>Why the effectiveness has fallen. The study authors noted the clinical trials were conducted among unvaccinated patients who had limited natural immunity, whereas this study was conducted in a real-world population including vaccinated and previously infected patients who had some other defenses against the coronavirus. They also noted the original clinical studies were completed when the Delta variant was the most common strain of the virus while their study was conducted when the Omicron variant was, suggesting that the drug could work differently with different strains.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



<p>While they note the effectiveness has fallen, the study’s authors still say these drugs are useful tools in fighting Covid-19, arguing both drugs can be used in nonhospitalized Covid-19 patients to prevent the most severe outcomes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>Paxlovid is still “definitely recommended for high-risk patients,” said University of North Carolina professor Danyu Lin, one of the study’s authors, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-21/paxlovid-study-shows-effectiveness-against-covid-has-declined?srnd=premium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Paxlovid, a course of oral pills, first&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizers-paxlovidtm-receives-fda-approval-adult-patients#:~:text=PAXLOVID%20has%20been%20available%20in,remain%20consistent%20with%20the%20EUA." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">became available</a>&nbsp;in December 2021 and is to be taken early in a patient’s infection. They’re designed to prevent patients who already have Covid-19 from becoming hospitalized or dying, particularly patients who are at an elevated risk of severe Covid-19 due to age or medical conditions. New information on Paxlovid’s effectiveness comes amid fears of a new wave of Covid-19 this fall. In the week ending September 9, 20,538 people were hospitalized for Covid-19, a 7.7% increase over the week prior, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_percent-covid-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. Since the onset of the pandemic, 1.14 million people have died of the virus.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2809779" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nirmatrelvir or Molnupiravir Use and Severe Outcomes From Omicron Infections</a>&nbsp;(JAMA Network Open)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/05/25/pfizers-paxlovid-covid-pill-granted-full-fda-approval/?sh=385c6c1014ec">Pfizer’s Paxlovid Covid Pill Granted Full FDA Approval</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/04/21/who-endorses-pfizers-antiviral-pill-paxlovid-for-high-risk-covid-patients-but-says-benefits-trivial-for-low-risk-groups/?sh=14dd5ff3623b">WHO Endorses Pfizer’s Antiviral Pill Paxlovid For High-Risk Covid Patients But Says Benefits ‘Trivial’ For Low-Risk Groups</a> (Forbes)</p>


Covid Drug Paxlovid Now Less Effective Than In Early Trials—But It’s Still Great At Preventing Death


<p><strong>South Africa remains resolute in hosting the AGOA summit despite prior tensions with the US. The upcoming event, slated for November, signifies renewed commitment to strengthen trade ties. South Africa&#8217;s call for a decade-long AGOA extension underscores the pivotal role this partnership plays in fostering economic growth and cooperation.</strong></p>



<p>South Africa is set to host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Summit later this year, despite recent diplomatic tensions between the country and the United States (US). In June this year, US legislators called for the relocation of the summit due to controversy surrounding alleged arms shipments to Russia by South Africa. Cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal judicial panel, the US has reaffirmed its commitment to shared growth with South Africa.</p>



<p>“The AGOA Forum is an opportunity for the United States to build upon the success of the Africa Leaders’ Summit and further our economic partnership with AGOA countries,” stated US Ambassador Katherine Tai in a statement announcing this year&#8217;s summit from Washington.</p>



<p>South African President Cyril Ramaphosa not only celebrated the country&#8217;s hosting of the summit but also called for the renewal of the agreement for another decade. The current format of AGOA is set to expire in 2025. Emphasizing the importance of South Africa-US relations, Ramaphosa declared: &#8220;The US remains a very important economic partner in trade and investment, with great potential to further expand economic ties,&#8221; in a press release.</p>



<p>AGOA currently benefits eligible sub-Saharan countries by providing access to US markets for several thousand products, including duty-free access for some exports. South Africa continues to be the largest exporter in the agreement, generating approximately $2.7 billion in revenue for the country as of 2021, primarily from vehicles, jewelry, and metals.</p>



<p>The controversy surrounding the visit of a Russian ship, the Lady R, docking at a South African military base in December 2022, led to the politicization of the AGOA agreement by bipartisan representatives in the US. However, a subsequent South African investigation cleared the country of exporting arms to Russia as part of the incident, resulting in a restored commitment by representatives of both countries to mend strained relations.</p>



<p>The AGOA summit, scheduled for early November in South Africa, will bring together key delegations from all member countries, regional economic entities, as well as representatives from the private and public sectors. The goal is to strengthen trade and economic ties between the US and sub-Saharan Africa.</p>



<p>The summit will also feature a ‘Made in Africa’ exhibition, specifically focused on demonstrating regional value chains on the continent.</p>



<p>“AGOA has helped promote the export of African goods to the United States, and we believe there is scope to deepen its impact on African industrialization,&#8221; said South Africa&#8217;s Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, reaffirming Ramaphosa&#8217;s commitment to extending the deal. &#8220;Extending it beyond 2025 will promote inward investment in Africa and support our efforts to increase growth through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which will cover 54 countries and 1.4 billion people.”</p>


Untitled design (33)

Renewed Commitment: South Africa To Host AGOA Summit Amid Calls for Extension


<p><strong>The tech behemoth’s latest iPhone features a new USB-C charging port and titanium frame for its higher-end models.</strong></p>



<p>Apple has unveiled the iPhone 15, with the base models 15 and 15 Plus priced at $799 and $899 respectively, in its most anticipated product event of the year. The higher-end 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will be priced at $999 and $1,199 respectively.</p>



<p>As usual, the iPhone 15 will come equipped with a better camera and upgraded processing power, but it will also feature a significant change: a USB-C port for charging and data transfers. Apple was forced to do away with its Lightning port in iPhones after the European Union passed a law last year that requires all mobile devices to accommodate a common&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/10/26/weve-no-choice-apple-says-iphones-will-switch-over-to-usb-c-chargers-to-comply-with-new-eu-law/?sh=786790cabcde">USB-C&nbsp;</a>charger.</p>



<p>The consumer tech giant also announced two new makes of the Apple Watch: the Apple Watch Series 9, which it said was its first carbon neutral product ever, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Sustainability was one of the central themes of the event, where Apple detailed its increased use of recycled materials like cobalt in the battery and energy efficient manufacturing and transportation practices to produce the Apple Watch Series 9. This comes ahead of the company’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.</p>



<p>With inconspicuous changes in design and appearance, the screen sizes for the standard iPhone 15 models are the same as before (6.1 inch and 6.7 inch), but the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have a slightly larger display as their bezels are thinner than previous iPhones, the company announced. The Pro iPhones are built with Grade 5 titanium frames for the first time rather than stainless steel, making them the lightest Pro phones Apple has ever built.</p>



<p>Similar to its predecessor, iPhone 15 has a matte finish, but the edges of the phone are more rounded than before. The regular models are available in pink, yellow, green, blue and black while the Pro models come in black, blue and white titanium. All new phones have the “Dynamic Island,” an interface that was first added to iPhone 14 Pro that lets users see notifications in the black pill-shaped notch at the top of the display.</p>



<p>Apple touted the phone’s upgraded camera capabilities: a 48-megapixel camera sensor is replacing the 12-megapixel and lets users zoom into photos while capturing minute details and nuances. The new Pro phones come with a feature that uses machine learning to detect when a person is in the photo, enabling you to automatically switch to portrait mode even after a photo has been taken.</p>



<p>If you’re on a call using the iPhone 15 Pro, a machine learning-based feature called “voice isolation” prioritizes the speaker’s voice and drowns out background voice. The phones are also enabled with an emergency SOS service and roadside assistance while off the grid.</p>



<p>The pricier models come with a performance edge, thanks to a new A17 chip. All new iPhones are embedded with a new ultrawide-band semiconductor, a technology that uses radio waves to send and receive signals, to make location tracking on the Find My app more accurate.</p>



<p>The ring/mute slide switch, which has never changed since Apple launched the original iPhone in 2007, has been replaced in iPhone 15 Pro models with an “Action Button” that can be customized to set different functionalities like starting a voice recording, launching the camera or opening the flashlight.</p>



<p>For the Apple Watch Series 9 and a second generation of the Apple Watch Ultra , the look and design for the new watches has remained consistent, but their guts have gotten an upgrade, with 30% faster processing speed and brighter screens. The two new Apple Watches are equipped with a feature that lets users double tap their index finger and thumb to carry out actions like accepting or ending a call, and playing or pausing music with just one hand.</p>



<p>Apple’s latest product reveal comes at a crucial time for the company. Demand for smartphones is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-06/apple-iphone-15-comes-amid-us-sales-slowdown-tim-cook-q3-earnings-comments-lkzfs14u" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slowing</a>&nbsp;down across the industry, and Apple’s iPhone sales dropped about 2% year over year in the third quarter of 2023. Core to its business, iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods accounted for about 60% of Apple’s $394.3 billion annual revenue in 2022.</p>



<p>Although more mainstream, the new iPhone and Apple Watches aren’t the only products that Apple announced this year. In June, alongside new Macs, Apple introduced the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnpaczkowski/2023/06/07/this-is-what-its-like-to-use-apples-new-vision-pro-mixed-reality-headset/?sh=43c3323539e4">Apple Vision Pro</a> mixed-reality headset, its first major new product category since the Apple Watch made waves in 2015. The iPhone 15 lets users create photos and videos that are compatible with the Apple Vision Pro.</p>


Apple Holds Product Unveiling Event

Apple Kills Lightning In iPhone 15 And Announces Carbon Neutral Apple Watches


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Apple and Nvidia stocks tanked for the second consecutive trading session Thursday, a rare down stretch for the Silicon Valley titans this year fueled by concerns about each of their explosive sales.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Apple shares slipped 3.4% by 2:25 p.m. Eastern time after Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-07/china-plans-to-expand-iphone-ban-to-some-state-backed-firms-in-blow-to-apple?srnd=premium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;China is considering banning iPhone usage among some government workers and employees at state-owned corporations, casting doubt on Apple’s strength in the country which accounts for roughly a fifth of its sales.</p>



<p>The slide comes a day after Apple shed 3.6% – its 6.9% dip since Tuesday marks the steepest two-day loss for the world’s most valuable company since November.</p>



<p>Nvidia shares also dropped about 3% Thursday, bringing its two-day loss to 5.5% as the S&amp;P 500’s best-performer of 2023 suffered a rare tumble.</p>



<p>The artificial intelligence leader’s stock slump came as a dubious conspiracy theory&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JesseCohenInv/status/1699307464619876691" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">proliferated&nbsp;</a>on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, suggesting that Nvidia has artificially inflated revenue in its AI segment by lying about its sales to CoreWeave, a Nvidia-backed cloud computing startup&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-30/coreweave-said-to-seek-stake-sale-at-up-to-8-billion-valuation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;valued at about $8 billion.</p>



<p>That theory is “nonsense,” Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a Thursday note to clients he “very grudgingly” sent out, encouraging investors to not get “your investment thesis from Twitter randos.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>$250 billion. That’s how much market capitalization Apple and Nvidia shed over the last two days.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Apple and Nvidia are two of the seven tech stocks&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/04/10/these-7-tech-stocks-command-almost-90-of-the-sp-500s-gains-signaling-market-rally-may-not-be-so-healthy/?sh=65e0aafc65d5">accounting for</a>&nbsp;a large majority of major stock indexes’ gains this year, leading to lingering questions about the depth of the strong market (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla round out the super seven). Both Apple and Nvidia set all-time high share prices this year, but on far different trajectories. Apple rode a steady 42% gain this year, just ahead with the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 32% rise, thanks to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/05/04/apple-beats-quarterly-profit-sales-estimates-despite-interest-rate-headwinds/?sh=77f139f03637">solid</a>&nbsp;5% and 6% earnings beats during the first and second quarters, respectively, while Nvidia more than tripled in share price due to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/08/23/nvidia-earnings-stock-soars-as-ai-giant-again-smashes-quarterly-expectations/">exploding</a>&nbsp;expectations about its AI business, which grew by 141% just last quarter.</p>



<p>Forbes Daily: Get our best stories, exclusive reporting and essential analysis of the day’s news in your inbox every weekday.Sign Up</p>



<p>By signing up, you accept and agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;(including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“The Nasdaq is sinking as one bad Apple spoils a bunch of mega-cap tech stocks,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketpulse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oanda</a>&nbsp;analyst Edward Moya wrote Thursday. The index is down 2% over the last two days, steeper than the S&amp;P 500’s 1% loss.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/tosv2.html?vid=&amp;uuid=14d8c1fa-4dad-11ee-bf85-ff6800d7a7ae&amp;url=L25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZXMvMjAyMy0wOS0wNy9jaGluYS1wbGFucy10by1leHBhbmQtaXBob25lLWJhbi10by1zb21lLXN0YXRlLWJhY2tlZC1maXJtcy1pbi1ibG93LXRvLWFwcGxlP3NybmQ9cHJlbWl1bQ==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BLOOMBERG<strong>Bloomberg</strong></a></p>



<p><strong></strong><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/08/23/nvidia-earnings-stock-soars-as-ai-giant-again-smashes-quarterly-expectations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MORE FROM FORBES<strong>Nvidia Earnings: Stock Soars As AI Giant Again Smashes Quarterly Expectations</strong><small>By&nbsp;<strong>Derek Saul</strong></small></a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/8/23824661/coreweave-nvidia-debt-gpu-ai-chips-collateral" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">THE VERGE<strong>How to get your startup a loan with one easy computer part</strong></a></p>


Apple Ahead Of The IPhone 15 Launch

Apple And Nvidia’s Losses This Week Hit $250 Billion


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>The Food and Drug Administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-action-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently-circulating" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gave its approval</a>&nbsp;for emergency use Monday to new updated Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that are specially designed to protect against the latest dominant strain of the coronavirus, Omicron variant XBB.1.5—the latest effort of drugmakers, regulators and doctors to keep up with the virus’ ever evolving nature.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Anyone 5 or older is eligible to receive a single booster dose of the newly updated vaccines regardless of how many shots they’ve received before, as long as it’s at least 2 months since the last dose they received of any Covid-19 vaccine, the FDA announced.</p>



<p>Children between the ages of six months and four years are eligible to receive one or two doses of the new vaccines if they’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19 before, but if they’ve never received a vaccine, they’re eligible to receive three doses of the new Pfizer-BioNTech shot or two doses of Moderna, the FDA said.</p>



<p>This comes after the new XBB lineage of coronavirus, a group of new variants that emerged in late 2022, became the most common strain.</p>



<p>After the emergence of this new lineage, the FDA encouraged Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax to create new vaccines specialized to defend against it.</p>



<p>These will be the first Covid-19 vaccines that aren’t free and paid for by the U.S. government, with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-business-covid-medicare-1a5d65356ebc7b5bc76524ae99deb55e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pfizer</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-expects-price-its-covid-vaccine-about-130-us-2023-03-20/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moderna</a>&nbsp;both estimating their shots will cost between $110 and $130 per dose, though many health insurances plans will cover it and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDC’s Bridge Program</a>&nbsp;will pay for some uninsured Americans’ vaccines.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Drugmakers have released a number of new iterations after the first Covid-19 vaccines were administered in late 2020. In fall 2021, the first booster shots were authorized by the FDA and were meant to help replenish waning immunity to the virus months after people received their initial doses. Then, after a new variant of the virus called Omicron, which was more resistant to the original vaccines, sparked a vicious new wave of the pandemic, drugmakers released a modified “bivalent” booster shot in fall 2022. That vaccine was designed to protect against both the original virus as well as Omicron. This new booster will attempt to do what that bivalent booster did with Omicron, but with the new XBB strains.</p>



<p>Forbes Daily: Get our best stories, exclusive reporting and essential analysis of the day’s news in your inbox every weekday.Sign Up</p>



<p>By signing up, you accept and agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;(including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



<p>Now that the FDA has approved the drugs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/08/25/2023-18288/advisory-committee-on-immunization-practices" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scheduled to meet</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday to decide whether it will recommend people receive the new booster shots, an additional standard regulatory step that each of the previous iterations of the vaccines have had to complete. People won’t be able to receive the new vaccines until the CDC gives its signoff.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



<p>While Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s new vaccines were approved on Monday, the FDA still hasn’t approved Novavax’s. The company, which was a late entry into the Covid-19 vaccine market, had its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-comparison#:~:text=Status%3A%20The%20vaccine%20was%20authorized,it%3A%20People%2012%20and%20older." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first vaccines approved</a>&nbsp;in July 2022. Its vaccines, unlike Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s do not use mRNA technology, but rather are subunit vaccines that use a piece of the virus to invigorate a body’s immune response. The company said in an email Monday its vaccines have already arrived in the U.S. and, despite not being approved alongside Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s, are still awaiting FDA approval. The company reiterated that its vaccines will be widely available across the country, but “timing is ultimately at the discretion of the FDA.” By 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Novavax’s stock price had fallen 10% to around $8 a share. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna’s stock moved significantly. Both fell less than 1.5%.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



<p>This comes as Covid-19 hospitalizations begin to rise across the U.S. In the week ending August 27, the most recent data available, hospital admissions for Covid-19 were up 15.7%, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_new-admissions-rate-county" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the CDC</a>. That’s 17,418 hospital admissions during that week, and while that is still a far cry from the peak in January 2022, when there were around 150,000 hospitalizations a week, doctors believe it signals that a new wave could be coming in the fall.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>These new vaccines follow doctors’ long held predictions that Covid-19 vaccines will likely become similar to the influenza vaccine, where a new iteration is released annually to keep up with new strains of the virus. At a September 2022 White House briefing, Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the leader of the federal government’s response to the pandemic, said: “We likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual updated Covid-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/09/01/its-ok-to-get-your-covid-flu-and-rsv-shots-at-the-same-time-experts-say/?sh=7a857a4c3099">It’s Okay To Get Your Covid, Flu And RSV Shots At The Same Time, Experts Say</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/09/06/modernas-updated-covid-vaccine-is-effective-against-pirola-variant-as-concern-over-new-strain-grows/?sh=18b82c3a1a06">Moderna’s Updated Covid Vaccine Is Effective Against Pirola Variant—As Concern Over New Strain Grows</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/09/06/fda-may-approve-new-covid-boosters-by-friday-as-deaths-spike-report-says/?sh=5bc3a51b54f2">FDA May Approve New Covid Boosters By Friday As Deaths Spike, Report Says</a> (Forbes)<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/"></a></p>


Injection of the third dose of the covid 19 vaccine at a Covid-19 vaccination center in Dinan, Brittany

FDA Approves New Covid Vaccines To Target Latest Strains


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>The death toll from extreme flooding in Libya over the weekend is estimated to be at least 250 by the Red Crescent of Benghazi, though one of the country’s officials said thousands could be dead from the catastrophic storm,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/11/storm-and-floods-kill-at-least-150-people-in-libya-says-red-crescent.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-disaster-zone-libya-storm-daniel-floods-8fac4fe35b962242568ff219456c6870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;say</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>The Red Crescent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/powerful-storm-rolls-through-eastern-libya-killing-least-three-2023-09-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Reuters on Monday morning that the flooding caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel killed a confirmed 150 people in Derna, a coastal city in eastern Libya, over the weekend, but the organization expects the death toll to increase to 250.</p>



<p>Ossama Hamad, prime minister of the parliament-supported government in Libya, said in a phone interview with a local television station on Monday that he fears 2,000 are dead in Derna, the city hit the hardest by the floods, and thousands more are missing, the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-disaster-zone-libya-storm-daniel-floods-8fac4fe35b962242568ff219456c6870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.</p>



<p>Water levels in Derna, which was declared a disaster zone, reached as high as 10 feet over the weekend, and the storm also hit the Libyan cities of Benghazi, Susa, Bayda and al-Marj.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Last week, the storm hit parts of Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, killing at least 15—with two still missing—and causing the “most intense rain storm” in almost a century, Reuters&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/three-more-bodies-found-after-greece-storm-raising-toll-14-2023-09-10/#:~:text=ATHENS%2C%20Sept%2010%20(Reuters),since%20records%20began%20in%201930." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. More than 4,250 people were evacuated from Greece as of early Monday, authorities said, due to rivers overflowing and damaging villages beyond the aftermath of the storm. On Sunday, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-10/greek-premier-to-request-eu-support-for-country-s-flood-damage?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&amp;utm_content=business&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that Greece&#8217;s prime minister will meet with the head of the European Commission on Tuesday to ask for support from the EU.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-disaster-zone-libya-storm-daniel-floods-8fac4fe35b962242568ff219456c6870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AP NEWS<strong>Libyan prime minister says 2,000 people believed dead in flooding in eastern Libya following storm</strong></a><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/powerful-storm-rolls-through-eastern-libya-killing-least-three-2023-09-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">REUTERS<strong>Storm and floods kill at least 150 people in Libya-Red Crescent</strong></a></p>


Death toll in Derna city tops 2,000 after floods hit eastern Libya

Hundreds Dead In Libya After Devastating Floods, But Official Warns It Could Be Thousands


<p>In a significant development for Africa&#8217;s digital landscape, Lagos-based Itana, formerly known as Talent City, has announced that it secured $2 million in pre-seed funding.</p>



<p>The investment is led by backers, including LocalGlobe, Amplo, Pronomos Capital and Future Africa, marking a step toward realizing Africa&#8217;s inaugural Digital Free Zone.</p>



<p>Founded by Luqman Edu, Coco Liu, and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, this funding is pivotal in realizing their vision to enhance Nigeria&#8217;s ease-of-doing-business index, stimulate foreign direct investment, and catalyze employment opportunities within the nation.</p>



<p>As of early 2022, the self-described charter city, backed by Charter Cities Institute and Pronomos Capital, a Peter Thiel-backed venture fund, had secured over $10 million for the project situated within Alaro City, in the Lekki Free Zone, just outside of Nigeria&#8217;s largest city, Lagos.</p>



<p>&#8220;We are building an online jurisdiction that allows global companies to remotely incorporate and operate in a Nigerian Digital Free Zone in partnership with Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority to develop relevant policies for a groundbreaking &#8216;virtual city.&#8217; Itana Free Zone will be powered by a one-stop-shop platform for business and government services, including taxation, business visas, banking, capital repatriation, and supportive legislation for businesses. We will also be building a business marketplace, working with trusted service providers including legal, tax, banking, and more. We hope to help the businesses in our zone navigate the business landscape and operations with transparency and clarity to enable growth,&#8221; Itana tweeted on the announcement.</p>



<p>Aboyeji, one of the co-founders, emphasizes the importance of creating a conducive environment for Nigerian tech companies to thrive locally.</p>



<p>&#8220;In 2016 when I incorporated @theflutterwave, my first Delaware company, I never imagined incorporating a Delaware company would become the default for Nigerian companies looking to go global. For me, it was just a clever hack. But it became a movement.</p>



<p>&#8220;Post SVB crash crisis, incorporating a Delaware company and getting a bank account from Nigeria has quietly become a little more stressful. With the ascension of one of our own, @bosuntijani, as Minister, it has become imperative to bring our tech companies home. However, to do so, we need the right regulatory environment with the right benefits and opportunities that allow them to compete globally from right here in Nigeria,” tweeted Aboyeji. &#8220;This is why I’m so grateful for @ItanaAfrica and the incredible cast of mentors and investors who have come together to make this possible. If you are a Nigerian company and you want to come home, head on to itana.africa and incorporate your FZE today. Super excited to welcome you home.&#8221;</p>



<p>The announcement of Itana&#8217;s funding has garnered enthusiastic support from the tech community.</p>



<p>Pronomos Capital tweeted: &#8220;We&#8217;ve been working with the @ItanaAfrica team for 3 years now, and we love them, their concept, and its traction. Also big fans of @iaboyeji&#8217;s leadership, and since co-founders Luqman &amp; @cocobliu joined, it&#8217;s been build mode beast time!&#8221; Victor Ndukwe tweeted: &#8220;Super proud to be a part of the dream team. Building the gateway to the digital economy in Africa is audacious, and with the right kind of folks around, it becomes one of the most exciting journeys. Cheers to a prosperous Africa as we build to expand its trillion-dollar economy!&#8221;</p>


Tag: Coronavirus

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