Over the past two decades, Michael Blackson has made a name for himself as one of the most prolific comedians in Hollywood. From starring alongside Hollywood big wigs like Hip Hop icon Ice Cube in Next Friday and showing off his roasting chops on Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘n Out on MTV, to sold out shows in comedy clubs all over the United States, he is now a household name in the country he was once considered an immigrant.   



If someone told Michael Blackson, Hollywood actor and comedian, that he would one day be sitting in his $4 million penthouse in the middle of Sunset Boulevard in California, with his own sitcom months from airing on BET+ and produced by none other than billionaire TV mogul, Tyler Perry, he would have answered with one word – impossible. And nobody would have blamed him.



After all, this is the stuff of miracles and dreams. But for Blackson, that is exactly what happened. Raised by a single mother and the fifth of eight children, Blackson spent his early years in Ghana moving from village to village on account of his mother’s calling as an evangelist. His early childhood was spent between Nigeria and Liberia, where his mother remarried.



“We traveled so much that I missed several grades and when I got to the US at 13, they put me in the eighth grade even though the last class I took in Liberia was the sixth grade,” says Blackson.



That is when everything changed for him.



“My mother called the US ‘the Promised Land’ but I hated it when I came to America. I was homesick and I missed my brothers and I was now in this cold place and kids were making fun of me. Back home, we didn’t see anything wrong with a lot of things because we are all the same people.



“They said I was blacker than them and we never saw complexion back home. I didn’t realize that there were lighter Africans or darker ones and the kids made me realize that we were all different. They said things like ‘you have a gap in your teeth, your hair texture is different’ and it made me insecure,” says Blackson.



Channeling that insecurity and a natural affinity for speaking in public, Blackson eventually fell in love with comedy and the rest, as they say, is history. During his meteoric rise to the top, which includes starring alongside Eddie Murphy in Coming 2 America and making between $40,000 and $100,000 a night at his sold-out shows, Blackson returned to Ghana to visit his brothers who he had not seen in over 15 years.



“In 2001, I went back to Ghana. Walking around the area I grew up, I said ‘why does this place look the same?’ It had been over 27 years and nothing had changed. The kids were not in school and I found out that their parents could not pay their tuition fees which was $80 for the year. I remember going down the road and I paid for about four kids to go to school for a year. I then went to the village and the same problem was there. I said I am going to do something about this,” recalls Blackson.



It took him until 2019 to save up the $500,000 needed to build the Michael Blackson Academy in the village he once called home. The Ghanaian government has made senior secondary education free but the problem for parents who are struggling is that they still need to educate their children from kindergarten to junior secondary school.



“As African kids, we treasure education and we love to learn but for some reason, not everyone can afford to go to school. Whether they can’t afford the tuition, or they can’t pay for their uniform, there is always some problem that prevents many kids from going to school. I knew that if I was given the opportunity as a kid, I would go to school and I felt like every African felt this way. That is the main reason I always wanted to do something in education – to give back,” says Blackson.



The Michael Blackson Academy has a vision of providing free education for impoverished children in Ghana. The school currently has a capacity of 200 students and the entire program from feeding, to school uniforms, teacher’s salaries and tuition fees is self-funded by Blackson.



“My goal is that the top four students get the opportunity to study abroad through a partnership with a private school in the US, go to high school in the US and get an opportunity. All they have to do in return is to promise to go back home eventually and contribute to Ghana,” says Blackson.



The school officially opened its doors in January 2021. Students are selected with the help of a consultancy which ensures that Blackson’s goal of helping the most impoverished and in need families is achieved. His next goal is to expand The Michael Blackson Academy to Liberia as well as set up a not-for-profit foundation that will give back resources to those in need.



“You owe it to others to be a blessing. But my goal is to make an impact and it gives me so much joy to see the lives we are changing. We are currently in the process of raising money for another academy in Liberia.&#8221;

3rd Annual Hollywood Unlocked Impact Awards

From Hollywood To Africa: The Comedian Creating Impact With Education

Unexpectedly holding rates at 8.25%, South Africa&#8217;s central bank surprises economists. Despite temporary relief for households and potential property market impact, SARB Governor Kganyago signals this is just a pause. Rate hikes hinge on economic data and inflation risks, painting a complex future for South Africa&#8217;s economy.



As the dust settles in the second half of 2023, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has decided to maintain interest rates at 8.25% in what was a closely-contested decision. This move puts a temporary hold on the hiking cycle that&#8217;s been in place since November 2021, granting a short breather in an otherwise upward economic climb.



“It was a close call,” says Dawie Roodt, Director and Chief Economist of financial services company Efficient Group to FORBES AFRICA. “Of the five members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), three voted to keep the rate the same and two voted for an increase. It was very touch and go.”



The pause in rate increments hinged on an array of factors, including the recent downward movement in inflation rates and an optimistic economic forecast. Nevertheless, SARB Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, has urged caution, highlighting this pause does not signal the end of the rate hiking cycle.



&#8220;The longer-term outlook mirrors the uncertainty of the global environment. Prices for commodity exports continue to weaken, energy supply remains unreliable, and stronger El Nino conditions threaten the agricultural outlook,&#8221; said Kganyago in a press statement, reflecting the complex economic terrain ahead.



The maintained rate has been greeted as a temporary reprieve by many South African households, unshackling them from the threat of heightened interest repayments on loans and mortgages. However, there is a flip side, with potential ripples in the property market as the unchanged rate could push up the cost of buying homes.



“Interest rate repayments remain the same,” adds Roodt. “What is important is the actual inflation rate declined before the announcement [by the SARB], and inflation expectations are slowly leveling off.”



The SARB&#8217;s decision factored in the recent dip in inflation, which stood at 5.4% in June, and an uplifted GDP growth projection of 0.4% for 2023, an increase from 0.3% last year, according to Statistics South Africa. Moreover, persistent challenges such as power cuts, logistical bottlenecks, and sustained food price pressures were considered, given their potential to exacerbate inflation and stunt economic growth.



Despite the pause, Kganyago did not rule out future rate hikes, emphasizing that forthcoming rate decisions would be data-dependent and attuned to inflation risks.



&#8220;Serious upside risks to the inflation outlook remain. In light of these risks, the Committee remains vigilant and decisions will continue to be data-dependent and sensitive to the balance of risks to the outlook,&#8221; said Kganyago.



As households enjoy the brief lull, the shadow of potential future rate hikes looms ominously. For now, South Africans can savor the hiatus from escalating borrowing costs. Yet, the knock-on effects of the decision could potentially cool the property market, as it could inflate the cost of home buying.



This rate decision paints a mixed picture – a sigh of relief for those in debt but potentially unwelcome news for prospective homeowners. With a split decision within the MPC and the high likelihood of a future rate hike, this respite for consumers could be fleeting.

South African Reserve Bank Rate Decision News Conference

South African Reserve Bank Holds Rates Amid Close Call: Temporary Sigh Of Relief For Those In Debt

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



Elon Musk’s fortune took a major hit Thursday after the share price of his electric vehicle titan Tesla suffered its biggest slide in three months, as the world’s richest person navigates yet another massive swing for Tesla.



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



Musk’s net worth slipped from $256.8 billion to $238.4 billion Thursday, according to&nbsp;Forbes’ calculations.



The staggering losses came after Tesla stock tanked nearly 10% as investors&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/07/20/tesla-stock-takes-6-post-earnings-dive-heres-why-some-say-its-860-billion-valuation-is-disconnected-from-reality/?sh=d44f9eec0770">reacted sourly</a>&nbsp;to the automaker’s second quarter earnings report released after market close Wednesday.



The Tesla CEO’s lead as the wealthiest man on the planet shrank from $23 billion to $3 billion, putting Musk in jeopardy of once again losing his crown to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, who was richer than Musk for a roughly six-month stretch from early December to last month.



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/article/elon-musk/?sh=1af47a0926af">About 60%</a>&nbsp;of Musk’s net worth comes from his roughly 13% in Tesla, a third from his stake in private aerospace and communications giant SpaceX and less than 10% from his ownership of Twitter.



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



During Wednesday’s&nbsp;<a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4618254-tesla-inc-tsla-q2-2023-earnings-call-transcript" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">conference call&nbsp;</a>with Tesla investors, Musk likened Tesla’s massive stock swings to a 2015&nbsp;<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tagged/health/exclusive-warren-buffett-says-mr-125010039.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analogy</a>&nbsp;from Warren Buffett in which the famed investor said owning shares in a public company can feel like there’s an imaginary “drunken psycho” dictating the value of said stake. “Imagine living in your house and some crazy manic-depressive guy comes and stands outside your house and yells property prices at you, and it’s a different price every day,” Musk said. “But the house is still the same house.”



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



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>.



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



Tesla stock’s two biggest daily losses over the last six months occurred in the first trading sessions following the release of Tesla’s sole 2023 earnings reports (Thursday and April 20).



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/07/20/tesla-stock-takes-6-post-earnings-dive-heres-why-some-say-its-860-billion-valuation-is-disconnected-from-reality/?sh=d44f9eec0770">Tesla Stock Takes 9% Post-Earnings Dive—Here’s Why Some Say Its $840 Billion Valuation Is ‘Disconnected From Reality’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/article/elon-musk/?sh=1af47a0926af">Behind The Billions: Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/04/19/heres-how-teslas-stock-performed-after-its-last-10-earnings-reports/?sh=52553ba51871">Here’s How Tesla’s Stock Performed After Its Last 10 Earnings Reports</a> (Forbes)

Tesla Officially Opens Gruenheide Gigafactory

Elon Musk Got $18 Billion Poorer Thursday As Tesla Stock Faltered

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



Streaming giant Netflix quietly eliminated its cheapest advertisement-free plan for new U.S. and U.K. customers this month, pushing new users toward either a more expensive monthly plan or a cheaper offer with ads, the latest streaming platform to adjust its pricing.



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



Netflix’s changes, which do not affect existing customers, leave new customers with the&nbsp;<a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">choice of</a>&nbsp;a $6.99 per month “Standard with Ads” plan—the cheapest Netflix offers—as well as a $15.49 “Standard” plan, which allows for two simultaneous streams and 1080p full HD video quality, or a $19.99 “Premium” plan, with up to four simultaneous streams and 4K Ultra HD video.



The company eliminated its $9.99-a-month “Basic” plan and now&nbsp;<a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926/gb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">states</a>&nbsp;on its support page it “is no longer available for new or rejoining members,” a change multiple news outlets spotted Wednesday—as of July 5, the streaming giant still listed the basic subscription tier on its U.S. support site, according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230705193321/https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">archived version</a>&nbsp;of the webpage.



Under Netflix’s “Standard” plan, customers can opt to pay up to $23.48 a month for an extra member, while Premium users can pay $27.98 per month for one extra member or $35.97 for two.



The platform’s decision to cut its “Basic” plan comes one month after it cut the same offering for customers in Canada, and in the same fashion allows existing customers to stay on the plan.



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



The change puts Netflix, a stalwart in the decade-long streaming wars, roughly on par with Disney-controlled rivals Hulu ($7.99 per month with ads, or $14.99 ad-free) and Disney+ ($7.99 with ads and $10.99 ad-free). Warner Bros. Discovery’s platform Max, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/04/12/new-max-streaming-service-combines-hbo-and-discovery-shows-heres-what-you-need-to-know/?sh=6a11dfa037c8">launched</a>&nbsp;this spring as a mega-service combining HBO Max and Discovery+, offers monthly subscriptions starting slightly higher, at $9.99 per month with ads and $15.99 without them, and $19.99 per month for “Ultimate Ad Free,” which allows for up to four simultaneous streams. Some legacy broadcasters have cheaper services: NBCUniversal’s Peacock and CBS owner Paramount Global’s Paramount+ both charge $5.99 per month with ads or $11.99 per month without (in Paramount’s case, the ad-free service includes SHOWTIME). And Amazon Prime Video costs $8.99 a month, but it’s included in a $14.99 Amazon Prime membership.



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



Netflix’s price change follows a series of price hikes by rival streaming services, including Peacock, which announced plans on Tuesday to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/07/18/peacock-raises-its-rates-heres-how-it-compares-to-rivals-netflix-paramount-and-more/?sh=26e692db19c5">raise rates</a>&nbsp;from $4.99 per month to $5.99. The price for ad-free “Premium” subscribers is set to increase next month from $9.99 per month to $11.99, while Peacock’s annual premium plan will jump $10 per year to $59.99. Peacock ended its free streaming tier earlier this year.



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



Netflix, as well as Max and Disney+, have raised rates in recent months and launched cheaper ad-based subscription options for customers, in a bid to boost revenue in a challenging era and remain competitive with more price-sensitive customers. Netflix’s rate of subscriber growth stalled in the first half of 2022 after two consecutive quarters of declining memberships, spooking investors, though the company ended the year with more subscribers. Meanwhile, rivals like Disney+ remain unprofitable. Despite previously swearing off ads on his streaming service, Netflix co-founder and former co-CEO Reed Hastings&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/19/23032869/netflix-ads-streaming-reed-hastings-lower-price" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in an earnings call last April he would be “quite open” to low-cost streaming tiers with ads. Last year, Netflix also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/08/12/heres-how-much-more-you-have-to-pay-for-streaming-services-compared-to-last-year/?sh=714d2a1f6dfe">raised prices</a>&nbsp;for its streaming tiers by between $1 and $2 per month, bringing the basic option to $9.99 from $8.99 and its premium option to $19.99 from $17.99. Netflix has also cracked down on password sharing, a well-known secret the platform had once promoted, imposing restrictions in Canada, New Zealand and Spain, and announcing plans in May to prohibit U.S. customers from sharing accounts with people they don’t live with. In October, Netflix boasted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/18/netflix-adds-24-million-subscribers-after-months-of-declines/?sh=5211728577be">2.4 million</a>&nbsp;new paid subscribers over the prior quarter, bringing its total subscribers to 230.75 million after months of decline, putting it above Disney+ (161.8 million), Paramount+ (56 million), Hulu (48 million) and Peacock (20 million).



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/07/18/peacock-raises-its-rates-heres-how-it-compares-to-rivals-netflix-paramount-and-more/?sh=26e692db19c5">Peacock Raises Its Rates: Here’s How It Compares To Rivals Netflix, Paramount+ And More</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/05/23/netflix-starts-long-awaited-password-sharing-crackdown-heres-how/?sh=79780274f884">Netflix Starts Long-Awaited Password-Sharing Crackdown—Here’s How</a> (Forbes)

Netflix

Netflix Scraps Cheapest Ad-Free Plan Amid Streaming Wars—Here’s How It Stacks Up With Hulu, Max, Disney+

During his campaign, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria emphasized his administration&#8217;s commitment to focusing on &#8220;modern economic drivers such as the digital economy, creative industries, sports, and entertainment sectors&#8221;.



The youth, who make up a significant portion of the population, have welcomed this vision.



Uriel Tomori, a tech and civil rights advocate, expects the new administration to create an enabling environment for the digital and creative industries to thrive. In recent years, the tech sector has faced challenges such as bank account freezes, internet shutdowns, tax disputes, and service bans. Tomori emphasizes the need for the government to &#8220;provide a better pathway for accessing local and global opportunities&#8221;.



Nigerian filmmaker, Joseph Omoniyi, expresses excitement about the new president’s vision for the creative industries. He highlights the potential economic growth and social development that can be achieved by harnessing Nigeria&#8217;s rich cultural heritage.



With the film industry already contributing over $600 million to the GDP annually, Omoniyi hopes that &#8220;the new administration will address challenges such as piracy, funding, distribution networks, infrastructure, and regulatory barriers to enable the production of quality content that can compete globally&#8221;.



Author and digital creator, Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu, urges the government to &#8220;inspire interest in scientific innovation alongside the focus on sports and entertainment&#8221;.



He says: &#8220;Young people have the potential to contribute to scientific advancements and solve their own problems if given the opportunity.&#8221; Ibe-Anyanwu calls for a &#8220;refocusing of young people&#8221; and highlights the need to &#8220;build infrastructure with indigenous talent.&#8221;



Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, CEO of Future Africa, who helped to develop and present Tinubu’s digital economy plan to Nigeria’s organized private sector, encouraged the tech ecosystem to rally around and set an agenda for the new government.



The tech sector in Nigeria has been one of the fastest-growing and most innovative sectors, attracting significant funding and contributing to the growth of African startups.

Nigeria’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu sworn in as new president

Nigerians Hopeful For President Tinubu’s Focus On Digital And Creative Economies

South Africa is confirmed as the host country for the 15th BRICS Summit in August, featuring Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, however, the event will not be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which alleviates the complex diplomatic challenge faced by South Africa in enforcing an arrest warrant against him.



South Africa&#8217;s readiness to welcome leaders from influential nations has been demonstrated through diligent preparations and consultations. The decision not to arrest President Putin, who faces an International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment for war crimes in Ukraine, has posed a conflict of interest for South Africa, being a member of the ICC. The country&#8217;s historical relationship with Russia, particularly its support for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) during apartheid, adds further complexity to the situation.



To navigate these challenges, President Cyril Ramaphosa has engaged in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlighting South Africa&#8217;s active diplomacy in addressing this delicate matter. The focus is on finding a balance between enforcing the arrest warrant and maintaining important diplomatic and trade relations with Russia and other non-aligned countries such as China.



In an announcement by South Africa&#8217;s Presidency Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, it was confirmed that Putin will not be attending the BRICS summit. Instead, Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This “mutual agreement” avoids the need to enforce the arrest warrant and eases the diplomatic quandary for South Africa.



“President Ramaphosa is confident that the Summit will be a success and calls on the nation to extend the necessary hospitality to the many delegates who will arrive from various parts of the continent and the globe” said Magwenya in a statement issued today.



The decision not to arrest Putin raises questions about South Africa&#8217;s non-aligned status in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. As a signatory to the ICC&#8217;s Rome Statute, South Africa is obligated to follow the court&#8217;s rulings, including arrest warrants. However, not arresting Putin could strain relations with the United States, adding to the already tenuous diplomatic landscape.



The South African government has taken diplomatic actions to navigate this complex situation. Previous discussions with China have been initiated to explore the possibility of a change in the summit&#8217;s venue. Ramaphosa&#8217;s talks with Jinping also focused on an African-led peace proposal for Russia and Ukraine, demonstrating South Africa&#8217;s commitment to finding peaceful resolutions.



The BRICS alliance holds significance for South Africa, fostering investment, economic cooperation, and financing through institutions like the New Development Bank. However, maintaining positive relations with the US is crucial, as South Africa benefits from tariff-free trade under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which generates substantial annual revenue.



Allegations of arms sales to Russia have strained the AGOA agreement and could have domestic implications. South Africa&#8217;s position is not entirely clear, and decisions made in the coming weeks will have far-reaching implications for the country&#8217;s global standing and economy. Balancing international justice, historical relationships, trade ties, and membership in BRICS is a delicate task that South Africa must navigate to maintain its diplomatic equilibrium.

President Putin Meets Attends Forum By Agency For Strategic Initiatives In Moscow

Putin will Not Attend BRICS Summit, Alleviating Complex Diplomatic Challenge For South Africa

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



Microsoft share price closed at a record $359.49 on Tuesday following the company’s reveal of Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI-powered version of the productivity platform—the latest tech company to enjoy an artificial intelligence-fueled boost.



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



Microsoft’s stock closed up nearly 4% Tuesday, reaching the highest value it has ever traded at and pushing the company’s market cap to $2.67 trillion.



The tech conglomerate’s positive stock performance was fueled by an announcement that the AI-powered Microsoft 365 Copilot would be offered for $30 a month for Microsoft 365 customers on different plans.



The Copilot subscription would be added on top of existing Microsoft 365 plans, which already range from $12.50 a month to $36 a month for each user.



The stock, which peaked at $366.30 Tuesday and hit an all-time high on June 15, has risen more than 6% in the last month.



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



Microsoft is one of several tech companies experiencing record-setting stock prices in the wake of AI developments and investments. Nvidia, which produces chips used to power AI systems, also reached an all-time high Tuesday—when it closed up more than 2% at&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NVDA?p=NVDA&amp;.tsrc=fin-srch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$474.94</a>. The record comes less than two months after the company surged past a $1 trillion market cap, driven partly by optimism that the company’s chips could help fuel AI systems. Last month, software company Oracle recorded an all-time high&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ORCL?p=ORCL&amp;.tsrc=fin-srch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stock price</a>&nbsp;of $126.55 before later dropping slightly, benefiting from developments in AI that have led the company to invest in Cohere—a generative AI startup valued at more than $2 billion.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Microsoft has not set a release date for the incoming AI software, which will enter a competitive market inhabited by the likes of&nbsp;<a href="https://workspace.google.com/blog/product-announcements/generative-ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=salesforce+ai+workspace&amp;oq=salesforce+ai+workspace&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDI4MjNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Salesforce</a>&nbsp;and other tech juggernauts.



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



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>.



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



Microsoft’s Copilot was&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/16/introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-your-copilot-for-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced in March</a>&nbsp;as a Microsoft 365 integration that would help users with productivity and skills on apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement that the AI addition would “fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth.” Since the start of the year, Microsoft’s stock has increased nearly $120 per share, recovering from plummeting prices for it and other major tech companies last year and reaching well past Microsoft’s best stock performances ever—which were recorded in late 2021.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethkindig/2023/06/15/microsoft-ai-will-help-drive-100-billion-in-revenue-by-2027/?sh=46a3f24c71c2">Microsoft –AI Will Help Drive $100 Billion In Revenue By 2027</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/05/30/nvidia-hits-1-trillion-market-value/?sh=533a87e3eab4">Nvidia Hits $1 Trillion Market Value</a> (Forbes)

Logo Photo Illustration

Microsoft Stock Closes At All-Time High After Revealing New AI-Powered Platform

Robots that harvest grapes, 3D-printed drones for crops and burgers grown from a single cell? Here’s how innovative new technology is making farming more efficient, sustainable and at the same time, revolutionizing agriculture across the continent.



In Africa, innovation in agritech is not only exciting, it’s essential. With a quarter of the economy of sub-Saharan Africa driven by agriculture – and more than 60% of the population made up of smallholder farms – technological innovation is the key to producing food that will not only meet the needs of a burgeoning population, but do it in a way that ensures the sustainability of the planet’s natural resources.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Cell-to-fork</h3>



In Cape Town, there’s a foodtech company looking at agritech and sustainability through a different lens – reverse engineering. While traditional agriculture involves growing grain that can be fed to livestock until it’s time for the slaughterhouse, Mzanzi Meat are changing an age-old process by identifying the best parts of livestock and using cellular agriculture grow meat in bioreactors. These large-scale brewing vats mean that a single cell, cultivated from a cow, sheep or pig, can produce meat en masse. According to research out of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, cells from a single cow can produce 175 million hamburgers.



When you compare this to the 440,000 cows traditional farming would require for the same output, what Mzansi Meat is doing suddenly makes a lot of sense. Not only does lab-grown meat mimic the exact texture of what can be found in the shops, it is ‘farmed’ without harmful antibiotics or growth hormones. Lab-grown meat could also be the solution to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, land use and other environmental concerns.



For Brett Thompson, the founder and CEO of Mzansi Meat, innovation will happen if more companies look into agritech from a biotech angle. “While more efficient irrigation systems and the use of drones have a role to play, it’s not enough,” he says.



In a landlocked country with few natural resources, farmers in Rwanda no longer need to choose between aquaculture or agriculture. NjordFrey Flagship Farm in Kayonza has created advanced, aquaponic equipment so that fish and vegetables can be farmed at the same time. The focus is hardware, but also sustainability, and the company’s starter kit includes excavating to accommodate rearing fish, establishing soil-less beds for agriculture, piping, plumbing, establishing pumps and filtration. This is all centered around increasing fish and crop production while using 95% less water.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-58869" width="543" height="407" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NIRS device</figcaption></figure></div>


In Ghana, Fredrick Kpamber and Kingsley Safo are the founders of an ‘eco-aquaponics’ enterprise called Big Green Agro. The off-grid farm is solar-powered and contains 194,500-liter pools, one 7,000-liter pool and four of 12,000 liters. Not only do they farm a high-quality local strain of tilapia, they cultivate nutrient-rich algae which is turned into a concentrate and used as a chemical-free fertilizer. One of the things that make Big Green Agro stand out is that the plants grown aquaponically are not for human consumption, but to feed the fish, and that makes the entire operation self-sustaining.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Soil science</h3>



According to the World Bank, Africa produces 30 million metric tons of fertilizer each year – twice as much as it consumes – yet 90% of fertilizer consumed in sub-Saharan Africa is imported from outside the continent. In order to make fertilizer more accessible and affordable, technology has a role to play. 



In West Africa, smallholder farmers have started to microdose fertilizer. Headquartered in India with regional hubs in Nairobi, Kenya and Mali, microdosing fertilizer is an innovation out of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).



It works by applying small doses of fertilizer (one-tenth of the amount of fertilizer typically used on wheat, and one-twentieth of that used on maize) in the right place and at the right time. The process – which can be done by hand, with a drip irrigation system or via GPS-guided machinery – can effectively double crop yields and the results in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Zimbabwe have garnered worldwide attention.&nbsp;



Understanding the micronutrients that make up soil – and by doing so, being able to create a better, biofertilizer – is an increasingly popular part of agritech research. Preferred by agronomists and soil scientists, biofertilizers (or bio-organic fertilizers) are cost-effective, eco-friendly and guarantee sustainable agricultural production. Unlike their chemical counterparts whose use can lead to adverse effects on the environment, biofertilizers contain living microorganisms that help soil, converting atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, for example.



While the biofertilizer industry is still largely underdeveloped in Africa, Zimbabwe now boasts one of the largest biofertilizer production facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists from the Research Council of Zimbabwe and the National Commission of Science and Technology in Malawi are working together, doing innovative research to identify indigenous microbial strains with a potential of enhancing soil fertility, reverse nutrient depletion human-induced stress to soil.



In Tanzania, an agritech company named Ng’wala Inventions has developed an automated, solar-powered bio-pesticide and biofertilizer delivery machines that give smallholder farmers access with a pay-as-you-farm system. To date, Ng’wala Inventions has delivered biofertilizer to thousands of rural farmers – 70% being women and youth.



Another country focussed on its soil quality is Ethiopia and the technology they’re turning to is near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, or NIRS. South Ethiopia, alongside its neighbors Kenya and Somalia, is experiencing the worst drought in decades and this is severely impacting soil health and as a result, the country’s agriculture sector. NIRS works by analysing the amount of light that a material absorbs, which indicates how much of a substance is within it. By using this method, soil can be judged based on the nutrients it contains without the use of environmentally harmful chemicals.



Using a NIRS device is a quick, inexpensive and (surprisingly) easy way to understand the makeup of soil and ultimately, grow better quality crops. Ethiopian lab scientists are also using NIRS to analyse fodder – both foraged and formulated – as a way to improve livestock nutrition and productivity.



Other breakthrough studies have shown that NIRS can successfully predict the oil and major fatty acid content of sesame seeds, an economically important crop in the country (next to coffee). Often referred to as Ethiopia’s white gold, sesame seeds are draught-tolerant so producing a better crop can lead to increased income and food security for smallholder farmers, improved export revenue and preservation of the country&#8217;s cultural and culinary heritage.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Rise of the machines</h3>



It&#8217;s reported that the global agricultural robots market will hit $17.8 billion by 2027. While the agricultural robot segment includes devices like drones, there are also robots that work in the fields. In South Africa’s Western Cape province, Stellenbosch is known for its rolling vineyards and wine farms and more recently, Robot X, a robot developed in South Africa by the Department of Viticulture and Oenology at Stellenbosch University and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Robot X, or Dassie, is a unique vineyard robot built with input from local farmers with the aim of making grape production easier thanks to more accurate, real-time data.



Farms are full of data. From weather information to field statistics, seed yield and more, as technology evolves, more data points come up and this only adds to the complexity of what it takes to manage a modern farm operation. This is where precision agriculture comes in – taking big (farm) data and analysing it to maximize output. One of the most accessible ways a farmer can gather large amounts of data today is by using a drone but these eye-in-the-sky tools come at a price.



In Blantyre, South Malawi, MicroMek is a startup that is building low-cost, fixed-wing autonomous drones from 3D-printed parts and recycled materials. The drones, which were originally designed to deliver medicine and medical test kits for diagnosis to remote areas of Malawi, are now also being used by local farmers to monitor land and plant health. In a country that has to deal with climate issues like cyclones and flooding, MicroMek’s innovative Ecosoar drones are built with the environment in mind, even going so far as setting flight records in the new drone corridor in Kisungu.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-farming-the-future">Farming the future </h3>



Home to 60% of the planet&#8217;s arable land, Africa holds immense potential to not only feed its own population but also the rest of the world. In order to optimize its ecosystem and mitigate a rapidly changing climate, new techniques and technologies must come into play because despite its challenges, agriculture remains an important sector that’s ripe for disruption and digital innovation is what will help deliver the future of farming.

Brett-Mzanzi

Ripe For Disruption: Africa’s Big Leap In Agritech

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



The Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-drug-prevent-rsv-babies-and-toddlers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">approved</a> the monoclonal antibody treatment Beyfortus to prevent respiratory syncytial virus—the leading cause of hospitalizations in U.S. infants less than a year old.



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



The drug—made by AstraZeneca—will be administered as a single injection to infants prior to RSV season in the latter months of the year.



Beyfortus is a monoclonal antibody, meaning it provides proteins that imitate the immune system’s function to combat viruses like RSV.



Around 2% of children less than a year old are hospitalized by RSV every year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.



The FDA listed rash and injection site reactions as possible side effects of Beyfortus.



The drug received a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/patients/fast-track-breakthrough-therapy-accelerated-approval-priority-review/fast-track" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fast track</a>&nbsp;designation—a process meant to accelerate the review process of drugs that “fill an unmet medical need,” according to the FDA.



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



<a href="https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/rsv/symptoms-diagnosis#:~:text=Initial%20signs%20of%20RSV%20are,own%20in%20a%20few%20days." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RSV symptoms</a>&nbsp;include fever, cough, wheezing and sore throat. Most infections go away on their own but infants are prone to becoming irritable or fatigued, or developing breathing difficulties. The 2022 to 2023 season was particularly challenging: Some 50.9 people were hospitalized per 100,000,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/research/rsv-net/dashboard.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to the CDC</a>—a number mostly composed of children four years old or younger. The season’s peak hospitalization rate was two to four times higher than the peaks of recent years. Beyfortus will be the second RSV-focused antibody meant to protect children, joining the company of Synagis—a treatment given to vulnerable infants born prematurely. However, Synagis, approved by the FDA in 1998, only lasts about a month compared to the approximately five months that Beyfortus lasts. French pharmaceutical company Sanofi will be in charge of marketing Beyfortus.



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



<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-drug-prevent-rsv-babies-and-toddlers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Around 2%</a>&nbsp;of children less than a year old are hospitalized by RSV every year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.



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



“Today’s approval marks an unprecedented moment for protecting infant health in the U.S., following an RSV season that took a record toll on infants, their families, and the U.S. healthcare system,” Thomas Triomph, Sanofi’s executive vice president of vaccines, said in a statement.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/04/06/first-fda-approved-rsv-vaccines-expected-later-this-year-the-top-vaccines-and-their-effectiveness/?sh=5db0e1f95f81">Several vaccines</a>&nbsp;for the treatment of RSV are in development, some of which focus on the elderly, another group of people at greater risk for complications. For example, Moderna is developing a vaccine for RSV that is similar to its messenger RNA Covid shot. In January, the biotech giant shared findings from a trial that revealed the vaccine was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/04/06/first-fda-approved-rsv-vaccines-expected-later-this-year-the-top-vaccines-and-their-effectiveness/?sh=5db0e1f95f81">83.7% effective</a>&nbsp;at protecting against RSV-related lower respiratory tract infection.



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



Regulatory applications for Beyfortus are currently under review in China, Japan and many other countries, according to Sanofi.



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



<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-drug-prevent-rsv-babies-and-toddlers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FDA Approves New Drug to Prevent RSV in Babies and Toddlers</a>&nbsp;(FDA)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/04/06/first-fda-approved-rsv-vaccines-expected-later-this-year-the-top-vaccines-and-their-effectiveness/?sh=5db0e1f95f81">First FDA-Approved RSV Vaccines Expected Later This Year: The Top Vaccines And Their Effectiveness</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/17/health/rsv-antibody-nirsevimab" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FDA approves antibody to protect infants from RSV</a>&nbsp;(CNN)

Intensive care unit of the pediatric clinic at St. Joseph Hospital

FDA Approves Antibody For RSV After Challenging 2022 Season

Early this year, there was talk about Hollywood A-lister Idris Elba looking to build a major movie studio in Tanzania. More homegrown filmmakers and professionals are also working to create new paradigm shifts and give the African film industry the boost and blockbuster attention it deserves.



The experience of every filmmaker in Africa is – creating stories from the ground up, immersing themselves in the communities they are in, telling stories and working laboriously with crew who only have the conviction of their art to keep going. Most times, you are on a tight budget and with limited infrasructure, but you make it work and try and get on to the festival circuit too. But grants are limited and so also distribution networks. Such is the story of the film industry in most parts of the continent, despite the zeal and enthusiasm from creatives on the continent, as well as their supporters abroad.



For renowned Tanzanian filmmaker, Amil Shivji, these issues hit close to home.



While he has been able to make significant progress on multiple big movies locally, he often had to outsource editing to a different country, for instance, or struggle with the infrastructure and crew available. And for the students he teaches at the University of Dar es Salaam, making a film of festival-caliber seems like a distant dream – at least for now.



“Our students don&#8217;t have access to equipment, they have to do a lot of theory and are unable to get production experience – the markets are the ones that dictate the kind of content that&#8217;s coming out,” he rues. “But the markets are dependent on the infrastructure as well… we are losing out on making original productions and telling our own stories.”



There is funding for filmmaking and infrastructure building coming in especially from the NGO sector, but they have agendas that do not always give filmmakers the flexibility to tell their own stories, he adds.



“I mean, take your pick, there is help needed across the board – financing, infrastructure, training, distribution. There&#8217;s a lot of work that needs to be done,” echoes Tambay Obenson, an African-American filmmaker, journalist and entrepreneur of Nigerian and Cameroonian descent, who started Akoroko, a subscription streaming service that offers a hand-picked and curated selection of arthouse, independent, and international films telling African stories, supported by contextual materials.



For Ethiopian-American filmmaker, Mehret Mandefro, despite her film, Difret (2014) being the first film to win the audience awards at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale Panorama, and be selected as Ethiopia’s submission to the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Annual Academy Awards, she struggled to find her audience and distribution in Africa, despite telling an important story of a young Ethiopian girl and a tenacious lawyer embroiled in a life-or-death clash&nbsp;between cultural traditions and their country’s advancement of equal rights.



Obenson emphasizes that the underappreciation of African cinema at home and abroad is the reason he started Akoroko.



“As an African, I almost also kind of felt like I was coming home, metaphorically, figuratively, to do this. I&#8217;ve been in the business for so long, and this is the first time that I decided to really focus on Africa. I decided to do it for those reasons. There&#8217;s a need and I&#8217;m passionate about the art form. And as an African, I think there&#8217;s a lot of work that could be done.”



Yet the industry varies so much across the continent, making the challenge of building a robust film industry and culture from the ground up even more difficult. “I wouldn’t even use the word industry, I&#8217;ll say African film industries, says Obenson. “Some countries are more developed and have more prominent industries than others.”



Nigeria, home to Nollywood, boasts the most-prominent and varied industry of its kind today.



&nbsp;Northern Africa with Arab cinema has also been active since the 1950s. And then, there is South Africa, featuring a strong service industry and large production and post-production operations.



Kenya is also an up-and-coming industry with a strong middle class and making waves in the film festival circuit.



It is no surprise that large streaming services like Netflix have made these regions their new hubs for investment and talent development, notes Shivji.



Netflix’s socio-economic impact report for Africa released in April highlights key productions and an investment of $175 million in content and the local creative ecosystems in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya combined.



But Netflix seems to be aiming for more.



“At Netflix, our work is not only about investing in local creative partners to produce exciting stories and bringing them to members around the world – it’s also investing in skills development and capacity, building opportunities that will ultimately contribute to the growth of Africa’s film and TV industries. This is a work in progress, and we’re excited to be a key part of this journey on the African continent,” says Ben Amadasun, Director of Content, Middle East and Africa at Netflix, to FORBES AFRICA.



While veterans like Mandefro have been trying to build out these ecosystems in a pan-African way with the co-founding of spaces like the Realness Institute, one of the continent’s best incubators for African filmmakers, she sees Netflix as a significant partner in creating opportunities for filmmakers on the ground.



“[Netflix] is thinking about upstream stuff, trying to incentivize and help out who goes into film in the first place. And then also really thinking about all those things that you need, like the story editors and development executives in order to build out a market,” emphasizes Mandefro. “So, I think that&#8217;s really commendable.”



But for filmmakers like Shivji, such reports and promises come with a grain of salt. For him, the growing middle class in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya already bolster Netflix’s subscriber base, leaving out many other countries.



“We are selling ourselves short to just have one country from each region. We should really get past the stage of just being happy with what we&#8217;re given and be able to argue for more, because this is a platform that prides itself on showing international films. So, we want to be able to show more films, and we want to sell our films to Netflix and be able to get a fair deal,” he says.



And if not a Western financing giant like Netflix, then who?



“It&#8217;s really coverage and access. African cinema has been grossly undervalued on the international stage and international film marketplace,” says Obenson. There is the need to tell African stories to the world, and despite the content overload for audiences, governments need to step up, he emphasizes. Not only are there few film journalists, but the consistency is also missing as also the incentives for filmmakers to excel.



Obenson believes self-funding and creating opportunities locally is the way forward, making it less easy for western institutions to dictate African storytelling. “As a whole, I think that the potential is just immense,” he adds. “And the rest of the world is increasingly interested in African stories.



“…just to allow African filmmakers to be able to tell African stories in Africa with African money without having to rely on others.”



There is more than one reason this matters. “We as Africans need to start to value filmmaking as a craft and as an art form and recognize the power of storytelling. We talk about soft power; the United States has been using this since the beginning of Hollywood,” he says.



“Hollywood films travel, they dominate theaters across the world. I don’t know if African films will ever get there, we will get there but just realizing that there is power in the fact that filmmakers can have an impact on how the rest of the world sees the continent.”



And while Mandefro recognizes more African countries setting up film commissions, there is a need to acknowledge the urgency western institutions are already seeing while rushing to the continent. Africa has a median age of 19 years and consumer spending is set to reach&nbsp;$2.5 trillion by 2030, and by 2050, a quarter of the world&#8217;s population will be in Africa.



“Every business, if you don&#8217;t have an Africa strategy, you&#8217;re gonna miss out on a lot of growth, or potential for growth.”



Yet, unemployment levels are high on the continent, up to 60% on average, according to the World Bank.



“Investing in stories means increasing exposure for all of the countries, it does more for tourism than anything else. And I often, when I find myself in policy circles, talk a lot about investing in storytellers, investing in films, TV and media. The media entrepreneurs are really the new infrastructure investment. This is where the jobs of the future are coming from, especially for young people,” says Mandefro.



“So, governments need to be really smart about incentivizing and setting some policies up that make it easier for these entrepreneurs to be successful, so it means not being so heavy-handed with regulations, for instance.”



Shivji also mentions the importance of building state-funded film festivals and institutionalizing them, especially as something filmmakers can always fall back on.



“This is where we&#8217;re able to educate new audiences, we&#8217;re able to travel with the films, we&#8217;re able to invite new filmmakers and new artists. And those collaborations are happening at festivals for filmmakers almost half of your life. It&#8217;s where you really build your career, you&#8217;re able to network and all the events around it are super important,” he opines.



But whether it is cinema under the stars in the middle of an open field, or a phone on a commute in the daily bustle of the city, or in the comfort of your home or at the theater, African cinema is finding its place, both on the festival circuit and in people’s hearts across the globe.



“This is the golden age of African cinema. Our continent has great talent and world-class creatives,” echoes Amadasun.



“Whether you liked or hated Black Panther, it certainly did something for the world. It&#8217;s like people discovered Africa all of a sudden. But that&#8217;s how it works when you&#8217;re not exposed. And so, I think it’s the appetite,” says Mandefro.



“And even the realization that storytelling has been so incredibly closed for so long, right? There were no real global stories in the sense of, like us being able to consume, so this is where obviously platforms like Netflix have also changed the game. So, a series like the Squid Games makes us realize there&#8217;s a whole world out there.”



Yet, for Shivji, the focus should remain on the development of authentic African cinema, which can be poetic, experimental, and give a platform to independent African stories.



“Film is supposed to be a mirror to our society and present our culture… African filmmakers need to always be at the decision-making table,” he adds.



Obenson hopes these new shifts in the industry work to inspire local favor towards financing films and film infrastructure, whether that is local companies, local production companies or just local financiers.



“Let&#8217;s put our heads together and try to create something that competes [abroad],” he says. “I&#8217;m hopeful as there is a paradigm shift. I think there&#8217;s no going back from here.”



The development of cinema continues to be challenging, but there is a bright light at the end of the cinematic tunnel.



“One of my pet peeves is, you know, development doesn&#8217;t happen in Africa,” says Mandefro. “In many ways, there&#8217;s never been a better time to be an African filmmaker.”

Young Black Man Operating Video Camera

The Big Ticket: New Paradigm Shifts In African Cinema

She’s here, she’s there, she’s every pinkin’-where. With Margot Robbie’s summer blockbuster arriving in theaters and ubiquitous merchandise collaborations, the world’s favorite doll is about to launch the Mattel cinematic universe.



Last June, photographs of beach blonde Margot Robbie and bleach blonde Ryan Gosling, stars of the upcoming&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie, went viral after they were spotted filming a scene dressed as the world’s favorite doll and her feckless boyfriend Ken, decked out in matching ‘90s neon workout gear and bright yellow roller skates.



A year later, with the arrival of the&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie on July 21, superfans can now buy the exact gear they’ve been obsessing over. The $190 Barbie x Impala Rollerskates, are among more than 100 collaborations and branded partnerships parent company Mattel has signed to capitalize on the excitement for the Greta Gerwig-directed film, one of the tentpole movies of the summer.



Barbie is at “the beginning of yet another chapter for the evolution of the brand, which is now recognized as an idea,” Mattel President and COO Richard Dickson tells&nbsp;Forbes,&nbsp;while wearing a Barbie t-shirt. “Barbie has transcended from a doll into a franchise. The ability for us to extend and market the brand is far bigger than any one product itself.”



So if it seems that the world is turning pink lately—very, very pink—that is by design. There is everything from Barbie-branded Crocs, to hot pink luggage from BEIS and Barbie x Moon electric toothbrushes. Fans can shower with Barbie x Truly soap sets put on Barbie x OPI nail polish, slip into on Barbie bras from MeUndies and get dressed in Barbie x Gap clothing. They can listen to the film’s original soundtrack, which features new hits from Dua Lipa and Nicki Minaj–whose fans have famously been dubbed “Barbz.” They can even spend the night at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonemelvin/2023/06/27/heres-everything-we-know-about-airbnbs-new-barbie-house-in-malibu/?sh=5ddba02c5475">Airbnb’s real-life Malibu DreamHouse</a>. (John Legend and Chrissy Teigen&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuK5qoKSQ6G/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">already took</a>&nbsp;their family.)



Oh, and there are frozen treats from—of course—Pinkberry



The movie, which also stars Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, and Hari Nef as Barbies, Simu Liu, John Cena, and Kingsley Ben-Adair as additional Kens, and Will Ferrell, as a meta Mattel CEO, is&nbsp;<a href="https://deadline.com/2023/06/barbie-oppenheimer-box-office-projection-1235427370/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expected to make</a>&nbsp;between $80 million and $100 million in its opening weekend. And AMC theaters announced that some 20,000 moviegoers have already purchased tickets for a cosmically curious opening day double feature of&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;and&nbsp;Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s drama about the invention of the atomic bomb.



For a doll approaching retirement age—Barbie will turn 65 next year—she’s showing no signs of slowing down, despite a lengthy career as a fashion model, nurse, ballerina, Army medic, astronaut, paleontologist, dentist, florist, yoga teacher and President of the United States The dynamic dilettante did $1.7 billion in annual sales in 2021, a record high. That same year, Barbie&nbsp;<a href="https://corporate.mattel.com/news/barbie-named-2021-top-global-toy-property-of-the-year-per-npd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was named</a>&nbsp;the No. 1 toy in the world.



And that was before this summer’s Barbiemania.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Family Affair: Ruth Handler named famous creations after her daughter, Barbara, and son, Kenneth.MATTEL, INC.



Mattel was started in 1945 by Ruth Handler, her husband, Elliot, and Matt Matson. (The brand’s moniker was a portmanteau of the men’s first names.) While Elliot handled the design, Ruth was all business. “She was the chutzpah, she was the driving force behind the company,” Tanya Lee Stone, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Good-Bad-Barbie-History-Impact/dp/0147516064" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie </a>tells Forbes. “She was the reason they went from working out of their garage to being able to rent space.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58845" width="770" height="511" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cast and filmmakers of Barbie Movie. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)</figcaption></figure></div>


As president of the company, Ruth was “the embodiment of her doll,” that “women can be anything,” adds Robin Gerber, author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Ruth-Worlds-Famous-Created/dp/0061341320/ref=asc_df_0061341320/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=343209923405&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=14326293869328454488&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=1018127&amp;hvtargid=pla-492352792520&amp;psc=1&amp;tag=&amp;ref=&amp;adgrpid=67797265663&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvadid=343209923405&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=14326293869328454488&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=1018127&amp;hvtargid=pla-492352792520" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World&#8217;s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her</a>.&nbsp;“This woman was an entrepreneur, corporate leader, in an industry where there were no women at that level, at a time when women weren’t supposed to do that.”



Handler got the idea for Barbie when watching her daughter, Barbara, and her friends play with paper dolls, whose outfits and tabs were constantly tearing. Of particular fascination for Handler was that the girls weren’t pretending to be children or mothers with their creations, rather they pretended to be librarians and teachers. “It hit her that little girls just wanted to be big girls,” Gerber says. But adult dolls made for children to play with didn’t exist.



The inspiration for Barbie’s design came to Handler on a family trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, when she and Barbara spotted a doll in a toy store. Her name was Bild Lilli, and she was modeled after a gold-digging cartoon character in a local newspaper. Handler purchased three and started designing a wardrobe for her own incarnation of the doll. “She immediately got it—that you make this doll, and then you can make separate clothes,” says Gerber.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/64b197a7077db792fb534a0b/2019-Barbie1959Doll--1--removebg-preview/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=96" alt="2019_Barbie1959Doll__1_-removebg-preview" width="-16" height="-25"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Serious Plastic: A mint condition Barbie from 1959 sells for more than $27,000.MATTEL, INC.</figcaption></figure></div>


“The goal for Ruth was to make a teeny-tiny mannequin and make it very easy for girls to be able to pop off the head and change the clothes without getting frustrated,” Stone adds. That way, “girls can just imagine being anything they want to be.”



Barbie debuted in 1959 at the American Toy Fair in New York City, but it wasn’t until children saw her first TV commercial later that year that the toy really took off. Some 300,000 dolls were sold in the first year, for $3 each (or about $31 in today’s dollars). Today, an original Barbie doll in mint condition sells for upwards of $27,000 and the range of contemporary Barbies spans from about $10.99 for Fashionista Barbie to a one-off doll created by Australian jewelry designer Stefano Canturi, which sold for $302,500 in 2012 (or about $400,000 now).


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/64b185562baa910e43de7b71/ken-doll-removebg-preview/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=96" alt="ken_doll-removebg-preview" width="367" height="574"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Himbo: Ken was introduced in 1961. The most valuable are Dress Box Ken, released between 1963 and 1965.MATTEL, INC.</figcaption></figure></div>


Soon after Barbie’s arrival, the company was inundated with letters asking if she could have a boyfriend. In 1961, Ken—named after the Handlers’ son, Kenneth—debuted. (Kenneth Handler died at age 50 in 1994. Barbara Handler is now 82.)



“If you owned Mattel stock in the Sixties, you were getting double-digit returns every year,” Gerber says. But the next decade brought trouble for the Handlers. Ruth, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, resigned in 1975—three years before she and several other former Mattel executives&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/17/archives/4-exofficers-of-mattel-among-5-indicted-on-conspiracy-charges.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission</a>&nbsp;for making false financial statements. She eventually pleaded no contest.



After some lean years in the 1980s—during which Barbie found work as an aerobics instructor, cashier, travel agent and a veterinarian—another renaissance occurred. “It took 28 years to get Barbie to $430 million in sales and just three years to get her to $700 million,” John Amerman, Mattel’s chairman, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in 1991. The brand represented half of Mattel’s sales at the time.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/"></a>



In the 2000s, Barbie entered the digital era. Dickson oversaw the creation of Barbie Entertainment. Barbie’s first film, the animated feature&nbsp;Barbie In The Nutcracker, was released in 2001. Barbie.com, her first website, was also launched.



Dickson left Mattel in 2010 and rejoined in 2014 when it was facing one of its worst periods yet. Barbie had reached its lowest volume of sales in 25 years, with only $900 million. “One of the most shocking headlines when I first came back was [on] CNN—literally the headline was&nbsp;<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2015/04/16/investing/mattel-barbie-earnings-versus-hasbro/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Is Barbie Dead?,’”</a>&nbsp;Dickson recalls. The beauty standard that Barbie represented for more than 50 years—thin, white, blonde—no longer resonated with consumers. “Her personification of perfection became out of date,” he says.



So Barbie needed a major image makeover. Mattel started with her skin tone and ethnicities. “The actual methodology behind doing it was not just introducing dolls with skin tones, but changing all the graphic identity of the brand,” says Dickson. Mattel’s packaging and commercial advertising was updated to reflect the new diverse range. And Barbie’s super unnatural body was reimagined for the 21st century—tall, petite and curvy versions of the doll were launched. But with Barbie being a different size, her clothes, her cars, her houses had to change too. “Everything had to be reshaped.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



The&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie reflects the complicated relationship the audience has had with Handler’s 11.5-inch icon over the decades. “Greta Gerwig is an advocate for telling strong, female-led stories where women are celebrated,” says Dickson. “The Barbie brand is no exception, and shows Barbie is a very strong female protagonist in control of her own story. That wouldn’t have been served up or possible if we hadn’t done the incredible work prior.”



Or, as one of the film’s trailers proudly touts: “If you love Barbie…if you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”



As Margot Robbie&nbsp;<a href="https://time.com/6289864/barbie-time-cover-story/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told CEO Ynon Kreiz during production</a>: “If we don’t acknowledge certain things—if we don’t say it, someone else is going to say it.” Adds Dickson: “We were ready to feel comfortably uncomfortable.”



Deciding to make a&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie wasn’t simply a brand extension, it’s a longterm business strategy that will be played out again and again with the rest of Mattel’s portfolio, which includes some 400 toy brands.



And it’s not an entirely original playbook. Hasbro released a G.I. Joe movie in 2009. The first film,&nbsp;G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra, starring Channing Tatum, grossed $300 million worldwide. The sequel, which added Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis to the cast, did even better with $375 million.



So if Mattel aims to create the next Marvel Cinematic Universe, Barbie is its Iron Man. “We’ve got over 13 film projects in development. We have over 30 television shows in production,” Dickson says. The slate includes a Daniel Kaluuya-produced film for adults about Barney the purple dinosaur, a Hot Wheels movie produced by J.J. Abrams, and a Vin Diesel-led live-action take on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58847" width="810" height="540" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Margot Robbie (R) and Ryan Gosling attend premiere of &#8216;Barbie&#8217; (Photo by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


The release of&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;also comes at a time when Mattel’s balance sheet could use a boost. The company ended Q1 in April with $814.6 million in net sales, down 22% year-over-year. Barbie did $177 million in gross sales worldwide, down 44% from a year ago, but representing nearly 58% of Mattel&#8217;s gross sales for dolls overall. “We couldn&#8217;t be more confident and excited about the brand&#8217;s future,” Dickson said on a recent earnings call.



His positivity about the brand remains rosier than Barbie’s beloved pink. “We’re working with the best of the best in console gaming, in mobile gaming, in a variety of other digital experiences that put Barbie on the forefront,” Dickson says. Barbie is now on the blockchain and was the first toy brand to become an NFT. “We’re accepting crypto currency,” Dickson says. “Barbie is a canvas for artists and influencers and collaborations.”



And as she approaches 65 next year, Barbara Millicent Roberts’ heart is kept beating by the same spirit Ruth Handler instilled in her six decades ago.



“Barbie’s not just a toy,” Dickson says. “She’s a source for inspiration.”

Untitled design (32)

Barbie, Inc: How A $3 Toy Inspired A Multi-Billion-Dollar Dream World

Recognizing the impact of rising food prices on the Nigerian population, the country’s President Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency on food security.



The government aims to address the issue of food and water availability and affordability, considering them essential aspects of livelihood.



During a media briefing, presidential spokesman Dele Alake noted key measures include releasing fertilizers and grains to farmers and households; promoting synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to support year-round farming; establishing a National Commodity Board to review and assess food prices; and engaging the security architecture to protect farmers and farmlands. The Central Bank will continue to play a crucial role in funding the agricultural value chain.



The administration recognizes that successful implementation of these interventions will have a significant impact on employment and job creation. Agriculture already accounts for 35.21% of employment in Nigeria, and the target is to double this percentage in the long-term. President Tinubu&#8217;s vision is to generate 5-10 million additional jobs within the agricultural value chain, utilizing the available arable land and developing more farmlands.



Arinola Okeowo, a farmer and agripreneur, acknowledges to FORBES AFRICA the urgency of addressing the escalating food crisis in Nigeria. She raises concerns about the implementation of the proposed measures. Okeowo emphasizes &#8220;the need for experienced individuals in the agricultural sector to oversee the initiatives and ensure that relief materials and support reach those in genuine need&#8221;.



She also stresses the importance of &#8220;addressing key issues such as access to land, water supply for irrigation, insecurity, and poor infrastructure, which hinder the agricultural sector&#8217;s growth and productivity.&#8221; Okeowo believes that &#8220;if executed effectively, the intervention plan can alleviate food scarcity and price hikes.&#8221;



Gideon John, a rice farmer, applauds the Federal Government&#8217;s declaration of a state of emergency on food security as &#8220;a bold and significant step&#8221;. He believes that &#8220;this action is crucial for achieving the nation&#8217;s goal of self-sufficiency in food production and creating employment opportunities&#8221;.



John expresses optimism to FORBES AFRICA: &#8220;The country will experience a remarkable transformation in the next four years if the plan is implemented effectively.&#8221;



His enthusiasm for the state of emergency stems from his personal experience. Last year, he encountered a devastating setback when his seven-hectare rice farm was completely inundated by floods. Despite investing significant resources and successfully cultivating rice on three hectares of land for two years after completing his National Youth Service Corps, he faced the loss of his expanded operation. In a heartfelt tweet accompanied by photos of his submerged rice farm, he shared his despair, acknowledging the situation was beyond his control.



John&#8217;s experience underscores the challenges faced by farmers in Nigeria including natural disasters such as floods that can disrupt their livelihoods and undermine food production efforts. The “state of emergency on food security” provides hope for individuals like John, who rely on agriculture as their source of income and contribution to national food security.

President Bola Tinubu, image from @officialABAT

Nigeria Declares State Of Emergency As Intervention Plan To Tackle Food Inflation and Boost Employment

If the thought of being told to fly something up the flagpole, put on a record to see who dances or stir-fry things in the ideas wok makes you want to lose your lunch, you are not alone.



Jargon monoxide – a dangerous concoction of distasteful, pungent and sometimes colorful language – is seeping into workplaces to create nauseating conditions for those forced to inhale the noxious fumes.



Every workplace has its fair share of jargon, buzzwords, bizspeak and abbreviations.



Sometimes the language serves a useful purpose like condensing a complicated process into a single word or phrase to save time.



But when it slips out of the boss’ mouth once too often it is usually for the wrong reasons, which is when jargon monoxide poisoning takes place.



More and more workers have been “circling back” only to discover their boss’ misused business babble has created unnecessary “pain points”.&nbsp;



This has arisen from those in charge either failing to “bring to the table” some “fully baked”, “out-of-the-box thinking”, “putting lipstick on a pig” to camouflage the truth or disguising the fact they are simply not capable of doing the “heavy lifting”. &nbsp;



In other words, workers are being contaminated by jargon-mongering bosses who seem intent on using the latest cringeworthy cliches to hide the truth, cover up stuff-ups or obscure the fact they lack what it takes to get the job done.



It is necessary to “drill down”, “unpack” or “open the kimono” to get a “high-altitude view” on how workers are exposed to jargon monoxide on a daily basis.



The truth is many bosses allow gobbledygook to seep from their mouths and into the workplace to conceal the fact they are not “best of breed”: in other words, to obscure their ineptness.



So when “parking a project” rolls of your boss’ tongue, it probably means an initiative was an unmitigated disaster under their direction.



If the same boss suggests there has been a “wrong-siding of the demographic”, it is safe to assume their poor public relations caused customers to become extremely disgruntled.



Other bosses restrict their polluting ways to using buzzwords to disguise negative messages and, in doing so, compromise transparency.



Some bosses substitute the term “redundancy” with the likes of “trimming the fat”, “cutting capacity”, “delayering”, “downsizing”, “right-sizing”, “right-shoring” and “moving to an outsourced model” – all jargon used to make sacking staff sound more palatable than it actually is.&nbsp;



And you might have noticed how many bosses resort to “going forward” (or its close relation “moving forward”) when they have no clue about what they ought to do in the aftermath of a challenging situation like a pandemic, public relations nightmare or financial crisis but still need to say something.



“Going forward” conveys that an embattled boss is leading their people on a purposeful path to a brighter future.&nbsp;



Yet the overused phrase is ambiguous in relation to specific actions, timelines and accountability and could easily be substituted with “I don’t have a clue what to do next”.



Perhaps of more concern is the fact that at the very time we are trying to reduce spiralling levels of antagonistic behavior, bullying and harassment in our workplaces, some bosses poison their workplaces with newfangled aggressive office speak just to appear as part of the “in-crowd”.



Common phrases of aggression including “you smashed it”, “you are killing it” and “you crushed it” – somewhat ironically – are all buzzwords used to denote progress rather than destruction.



Think, too, about the impact on others of hearing the boss say “there is only one throat to choke”, the team is a “dysfunctional circular firing squad” or that you are a “decision sniper”.



Climbing the corporate ladder is often synonymous with losing the ability to speak or write clearly. The higher the climb, the greater the use of overblown language.



It should not be that way.



It might be time for all good bosses to “give 110 per cent”, “lean in” and take a closer “look under the bonnet” to get better “optics” on the impact of their poisonous prattle on those around them.



“At the end of the day” it is perhaps best to keep in mind that jargon monoxide is a language which can pollute and poison an otherwise healthy workplace.



For those in charge, do not let it loose. And for those lower down the “food chain” and at high risk of contamination, avoid breathing it in.



The writer and professor is CEO with the Australian Institute of Management Western Australia and a workplace and social affairs expert.

Co-workers having meeting with laptop in conference room

Time To Move The Needle On ‘Jargon Monoxide’ In Our Workplaces

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



Johnson &amp; Johnson is allowing Stop TB Partnership, a Switzerland-based nonprofit, to distribute a generic version of its tuberculosis drug SIRTURO, or bedaquiline, in low- and middle-income countries, a move that averts fears the drug will stay out of reach financially for many communities around the world.



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



Under an agreement announced Thursday, the nonprofit Global Drug Facility, an arm of Stop TB Partnership, will be able to tender, procure and supply generic versions of bedaquiline for most low- and middle-income countries, including countries where Johnson &amp; Johnson’s patents remain in effect.



This will allow the drug to be offered at much lower prices, expanding the amount of people who can afford it.



Brenda Waning, chief of Global Drug Facility, said in an interview with&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;this gives them the ability to sell generic versions of the drug in 44 countries—-including Mozambique, the Philippines and Zambia—-where, because of the patent, they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.



That’s in addition to 52 countries where they can already sell as Johnson &amp; Johnson’s patents expired there.



Waning said her and her colleagues have already coordinated with two Indian manufacturers, Lupin and Macleods, to produce the drug, and the organization will soon be accepting bids and selecting a primary and secondary manufacturer, adding that “everything is already in place.”



However, Johnson &amp; Johnson previously established&nbsp;<a href="https://pharmstd.com/archivedetails_64_2747.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an exclusive agreement</a>&nbsp;with Russian pharmaceutical company Pharmstandard in many countries, particularly in eastern Europe and Asia, meaning Stop TB Partnership won’t be able to offer the generic in those countries, but Waning said the company gave them access to “every low- and middle-income country they could.”



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



“In my knowledge, I can’t recall a similar deal to this,” Waning said, adding she hopes the deal will “set a model” for future arrangements.



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



Tuberculosis kills 1.5 million people every year, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/tuberculosis#tab=tab_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the World Health Organization</a>. That makes it the world’s deadliest infectious disease and the 13th-leading cause of death globally. This is despite the fact that the disease is curable. Bedaquiline, which was first produced by Johnson &amp; Johnson with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500616/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">help of hundreds of millions of dollars</a>&nbsp;from the U.S. government, was approved by the Food and Drug administration in 2012, and soon was distributed globally. As of 2023, Johnson &amp; Johnson still holds a patent on bedaquiline in many countries, preventing cheaper generic versions of the drug that many might be able to afford from entering the market (Johnson &amp; Johnson charges $272 for the total six-month course needed to treat tuberculosis, but&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jac/article/72/4/1243/2884272" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one study</a>&nbsp;published in 2017 estimated that if generics entered the market, the price would fall to somewhere between $48-$102). Johnson &amp; Johnson’s patent was set to expire July 18, but due to some legal maneuvering known as “evergreening,” where the company filed for a secondary patent, the company will maintain its exclusive right to sell the drug in many countries. This created fears, including from organizations like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.msfaccess.org/msf-demands-jj-give-its-patent-monopoly-tb-drug-put-lives-over-profits" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Doctors Without Borders</a>, that Johnson &amp; Johnson would keep the price of the drug too high for many low- and middle-income countries to afford, leading to unnecessary deaths from the disease. This deal averts some of those fears.



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



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>.



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



The deal comes amid a pressure campaign from novelist and social media figure John Green, who had been publicly calling on Johnson &amp; Johnson to make the drug available as a generic prior to this deal’s announcement. In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMhgw5SW0h4&amp;t=4s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a scathing YouTube video</a>&nbsp;entitled “Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson &amp; Johnson” that received nearly 1 million views, Green called Johnson &amp; Johnson’s decision to extend its patent through evergreening “reprehensible and completely out of line with their credo” and encouraged his viewers to contact the company with their concerns. His followers also got #PatientsNotPatents briefly trending on Twitter. However, Green’s anger turned to elation when the deal was announced, telling&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in a statement: &#8220;I am grateful to the Stop TB Partnership, TB activists everywhere, and to Johnson &amp; Johnson for living up to their corporate credo. They really are putting patients first with this decision, and should be commended for it.&#8221;



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/03/06/breakthrough-for-tuberculosis-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-killers-as-new-vaccine-shows-promise-in-early-trials/?sh=90943f293f38">Breakthrough For Tuberculosis—One Of The World’s Biggest Killers—As New Vaccine Shows Promise In Early Trials</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/10/14/tuberculosis-deaths-are-rising-again-as-covid-pandemic-unravels-years-of-progress/?sh=3ca1d32f1ed3">Tuberculosis Deaths Are Rising Again As Covid Pandemic Unravels Years Of Progress</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2023/06/15/gates-foundation-to-donate-50-million-partner-with-beijing-and-tsinghua-to-fight-infectious-disease/?sh=54e336f54465">Gates Foundation To Donate $50 Million, Partner With Beijing And Tsinghua To Fight Infectious Disease</a> (Forbes)

In this photo illustration a close up of a hand holding a

Johnson & Johnson Letting Nonprofit Distribute Life-Saving Generic Tuberculosis Drug—Greatly Expanding Access In Poorer Countries

Former The Apprentice star Samuel Brooksworth is capitalizing on the remote working revolution by getting young skilled people to work from Africa for organizations around the world.



The market for remote workplace services is set to grow from $20.1 billion in 2022 to $58.5 billion by 2027, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets, a sector research and growth advisory firm in the United States (US), and Samuel Brooksworth, the CEO and founder of Remoteli is here to seize it.



The savvy London-born Ghanaian businessman is also famous for being on The Apprentice reality TV series on BBC One in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2016.



He got to sell his ideas and display his sales skills, which he has been honing from a young age, on the show. He started young.



At university, with his twin brother Andrew, he revitalized the African &amp; Caribbean Society, growing it from just 15 members to over 600 people. They then went on to launch a t-shirt business, JC Range, featuring Christian-themed messages and sold at youth events and major gatherings across the UK.



Their t-shirts did well and they quickly realized they had a knack for sales. After graduation, Brooksworth joined Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, a UK car rental service where once again his skills were put to test.



“At Enterprise, there was a culture called Elite Club where the top sellers in the organization are [rewarded] for their hard work. In my first eight months at the organization, I made [it to the] top five consistently out of about 500 people in the region. To put this in context, most people only make the Elite Club once or twice every one or two years and some sales people have never made it to the club. So when I [accomplished] that, it put my name at the top of the organization and I got the attention of area managers and different regional individuals,” recalls Brooksworth.



It was not long after that his wife, an avid fan of The Apprentice, insisted he too apply for the show. He did, and a week later, he received the call. For Brooksworth, getting on the show was not to win. It was to leverage the platform to gain visibility for his latest business idea.



“I felt I got the exposure and after the show I was able to connect with people I didn’t have access to beforehand. When I went on the show, the business idea [I presented] was similar to what I am doing now. On the show, they rejected the business idea but years later it has actually become one of the most successful businesses of any candidate. It’s a beautiful moment that what they didn’t see has grown to be as big as it is now,” says Brooksworth.



It came with a lot of hard work.



In a 2019 article in The Guardian, he writes: “I was taught by my parents that I needed to work 10 times harder than my white friends in order to be seen as equal. As a child, this made no sense. I thought education was very black and white. If my answers were right, they were right; if they were wrong, they were wrong. Why then would I need to work harder just to receive the same grades?”



&nbsp;His big business opportunity came during the Covid-19 pandemic.



“I was speaking to various senior executives, business leaders and C-Suite individuals [about] the challenges during the pandemic and a lot of them were struggling. They were paying huge bills [for] offices that were empty,” says Brooksworth.



However, it was a trip to Ghana with his wife that solidified the idea for his business, Remoteli.



“There were so many young people who were unemployed but were sharp and on the ball. But when I spoke to the adults, they would say the young people are lazy and don’t want to learn. I thought that was not true, rather there were not enough opportunities and if you give them the skills, I believed that they would thrive.”



Brooksworth decided to get these skilled young people to work remotely in Ghana for organizations around the world.



His company, Remoteli, is a tech-led on-demand staffing organization providing remote workers for companies and individuals worldwide offering a range of services – from virtual assistants to web developers and social media managers. The company has not raised any money yet and has grown rapidly by bootstrapping and word-of-mouth referrals.



“We are helping combat the rising graduate unemployment rates in Africa by providing opportunities for unemployed youth,” says Brooksworth.



The organization has grown rapidly from two employees to over 100 staff and they are currently in the business hubs of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.



The pandemic has changed the way organizations work forever and for Brooksworth, the time to capitalize on this is now and in doing so, he is making a tidy profit and helping fellow Ghanaians get high-paying jobs with global companies whilst working from the comfort of their homes in Africa.

Tag: Coronavirus

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA