South African- born, billionaire technology and space entrepreneur, Elon Musk, made history at the start of 2021, overtaking Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the richest man on Earth. While his fortune was made on this planet, his dreams to venture to the final frontier remain. FORBES AFRICA takes a look at his journey to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated innovators and one of the wealthiest men alive.



THE MAN WHO FAMOUSLY SAID THAT HE WOULDN’T BE HAPPY UNTIL WE WERE ALL LIVING ON MARS, IS NOW ONE OF THE RICHEST MEN ON EARTH. WHILE ELON MUSK’S PLANS TO BE BURIED IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY REMAIN UNCHANGED, HE’S STILL GOT MUCH TO CELEBRATE IN THE HERE AND NOW.



On January 8 this year, at approximately 11.30AM on the American East Coast, Musk, known for founding some of the world’s most progressive tech companies, along with his unrelenting space-age ambitions, made yet another historical leap.



His net worth soared by $12.5 billion, to $189.7 billion, making him, for a time, the wealthiest person on the planet, according to Forbes, who broke the news. For the first time, Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, who had held the top spot for a record four years, came second with a cumulative net worth of $185 billion.



However, in a twist of fate, stock in his electric car company, Tesla, fell by 8%, denting his personal wealth by a hefty $14 billion, overnight. But like the man himself, Musk’s wealth wouldn’t be down for long.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-819x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49882" width="376" height="470" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-300x375.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-600x750.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1208933748-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px" /><figcaption>UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA &#8211; FEBRUARY 26: Model Maye Musk (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">Elon’s aim is to save the planet and he also loves the thought of going to Mars&#8230;. I get very excited every step of the way. We all do. Kimbal and Tosca [Elon’s siblings] and I go to the main [SpaceX] launches, we can’t go to all the launches, as he has launched, how many now&#8230; 50 rockets? I’m not sure. I lose track. But we go to the main ones, and we are anxious beforehand and excited afterward and we are very proud of him and support him with all this. He just feels that we should be inter-planetary, starting with Mars. Mars seems to be the most friendly [planet], and that is what he would like to explore. <cite>-Elon Musk’s mother Maye Musk, in an interview from Los Angeles with FORBES AFRICA last year about her memoir, A Woman Makes A Plan, released by Jonathan Ball Publishers</cite></blockquote>



Days later, with the swift rebound of Tesla shares by 4.7%, he wrestled the top spot from Bezos with an impressive recovery of $7.8 billion bringing his total net worth to $183.8 billion against the Amazon founder’s, marginal, but impressive, $182.4 billion.



At the time of going to press, the yo-yo action continued. Tesla’s stock volatility returned Bezos to the top spot, making him the world’s richest by just $200 million, with Musk making a close second. The game is set to continue for much of the year, but it won’t do much to change the fact that both billionaires are still over $30 billion richer than their nearest competitor; the third person on the list, French luxury tycoon, Bernard Arnault, according to Forbes estimates.



Musk’s dizzying ascent is quite an achievement given that, in 2014, he ranked 47th on the U.S. Rich List, compiled by Forbes, with his personal net worth hovering at the $9.4 billion mark, at contemporary rates.



Notwithstanding his meteoric rise, most studies of Musk begin at SpaceX, his landmark aerospace manufacturing outfit, launched in 2002 with plans to make space travel more affordable and meet its founder’s often parodied mandate to catalyze humanity’s colonization of Mars.



“I’d like to go to Mars. I suppose it depends on how old I am when I get there&#8230; But it’s not about me going to Mars. We’re developing new technologies to enable a large number of people to go to Mars and be able to develop a self-sustaining city on Mars,” he told Forbes in 2014.



Inter-planetary ambitions aside, Musk’s ideas often overshadow the story of his origins which are rooted in a very down-to-earth Pretoria suburb, a few miles north of Johannesburg, in South Africa. Born in 1971 to a Canadian mother and a South African father, it was clear that Musk was unique from the start.



“The kind of things he would come up with as a youngster was always surprising. When he was very small, he would ask me, ‘where is the whole world?’, when he was three or four. It was these sorts of questions that made me realize that he was a little different,” his father, Errol Musk, noted in a 2012 interview with FORBES AFRICA.



Eccentricities aside, the young Musk was equally academically gifted.



“We called Elon ‘The Encyclopedia’ because he had read the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Collier’s Encyclopedia, and remembered everything. That’s also why we called him ‘Genius Boy’. We could ask him anything. Remember, this was before the internet. I guess now we would call him ‘The Internet’,” his mother, Maye Musk, recalls in her 2019 autobiography, A Woman Makes a Plan.



Attending Pretoria Boys High School (PBHS), often considered one of the most prestigious schools in South Africa, a teenage Musk kept to himself but found plenty of company in computers. He taught himself how to program using an old manual and eventually sold a space-themed video game that he wrote called Blastar, to a computing magazine in 1984, reportedly for $500, arguably the earliest of his tech ventures.



“My impression is that Elon kept to himself and was relatively quiet and reserved. I believe he was involved with the computer club at school, but otherwise was not really visible in mainstream activities,” Gavin Ehlers, head-boy at PBHS in 1988, the same year Musk graduated, told FORBES AFRICA in 2012.



Yet, despite his remarkable talent and comfortable upbringing, Musk’s childhood was blighted with peculiar challenges. As the shortest, smallest, and smartest kid in the class, he was an easy target for bullies, who tormented him until he was 15 years old.



“I was a late bloomer. So I was the youngest and the smallest kid in class for years and years&#8230; The gangs at school would hunt me down – literally hunt me down,” Musk told Rolling Stone magazine in 2017.



At home, things weren’t easier. His parents divorced in 1980.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">If somebody else is working 50 hours and you’re working a 100, you’ll get twice as much done in the course of the year as the other company.</blockquote>



The tumult of his early life did much to shape the man that Musk would later become. Even as a youngster, he held strong to his principles. At the time, in apartheid South Africa, mandatory two-year military service was in force for all white males who had completed their secondary school or tertiary- level education. In his objection, Musk said he didn’t prescribe to what the state was doing to its citizens.



“I don’t have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didn’t seem like a really good way to spend time,” he explained in the 2007 book, Rocketeers, by Michael Belfiore.



At 17, Musk relocated to Canada to attend university in 1989. After a number of transfers, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, part of the prominent Ivy League in the United States, with a dual degree in Economics and Physics, setting him firmly on the path of a tech entrepreneur. Like all the greats, he dropped out of his Ph.D. program at Stanford, instead of establishing his first startup, against the euphoria of the dot-com boom of the nineties. He founded the company, Zip2, with his younger brother, Kimbal – who has been a keen business partner to Musk throughout his entrepreneurial career – in 1995.



“When my brother and I were starting our first company, instead of getting an apartment we rented a small office and slept on the couch. We were so hard-up we had just one computer so the website was up during the day and I was coding at night. Seven days a week&#8230; all the time. I briefly had a girlfriend during that period and in order to be with me she had to sleep at the office,” he said with a smile, during a 2014 Commencement Speech at the University of Southern California (USC).



Hard work is a cornerstone of Musk’s entrepreneurial ethos. His constant refrain to anyone who inquires on his success is to outwork the competition, where possible, to get that all important edge.



“If somebody else is working 50 hours and you’re working a 100, you’ll get twice as much done in the course of the year as the other company,” he told the audience at USC.



Clearly, the hard work has paid off for Musk who joined the five-man centi-billionaires club; all with a net worth over $100 billion, in August 2020.



Members include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and veteran tech titan, Bill Gates.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">&#8220;Given that as a South African, he has managed to conquer the industry he’s in should be an inspiration to us and to Africa, in general. There are many sides to him&#8230; But let us draw inspiration from him because he is a product of the public school system in South Africa.&#8221; &#8211;Fred Khumalo, author and journalist, South Africa</blockquote>



However, it hasn’t been an easy ride to the top. In 2018, Tesla was in dire straits, the company was struggling to build a viable product and was hemorrhaging cash almost daily. Musk had already sunk a bulk of his early fortune in the business, some of which came from the $165 million sale of his stake in PayPal, the online payments pioneer, after his exit as CEO.



Leading the company during that time took a toll. In a very personal interview with The New York Times, Musk revealed that he was losing sleep and had spent most of his birthday working on the factory floor, where he was also spending most of his days and nights. The work had taken over to the point of almost missing Kimbal’s wedding, where he was the best man. A disheveled Musk admitted that while he regretted the havoc it wreaked on his life, he had no regrets about being so determined to pull Tesla from the brink of collapse.



“The worst is over from a Tesla operational standpoint. But from a personal pain standpoint&#8230; the worst is yet to come,” he told The New York Times.



Musk’s passion is evident in almost everything he has done, and in every business he has built. After leaving PayPal, and selling his stake in the company, he used a bulk of the $165 million fortune to found the companies that would make his name – SpaceX and Tesla. Any seasoned entrepreneur would have considered the move a risky one but Musk was quite adamant about his ambitions and making them a reality.



“I think there was like literally one week where I actually worked 120 hours and just didn’t leave the factory. I didn’t even go outside,” Musk told American television news magazine program, 60 Minutes, in 2018.



His intense work ethic has not only worked to transform Tesla but has inspired a number of other young entrepreneurs to build the electric car industry and get rich in the process.



For example, William Li, who founded electric car maker, Nio, in 2014, was 12 times richer in 2020 thanks to his shares in the U.S.-listed carmaker. In fact, he’s now among the world’s 500 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Chinese entrepreneur, He Xiaopeng, chairman of XPeng Motors, has also seen his wealth jump more than 600%. Overall, fortunes of the handful of people tracked by the Bloomberg index in the electric vehicle industry have gone up by over $140 billion including Musk’s $111 billion surge.



However, far removed from his status on the global billionaire league tables, which have come to form the foundation of his popularity, Musk maintains his very own niche but loyal following, all devoted to his Twitter feed; his preferred mode of communication. Muskians, as they are known, see him as an eclectic superhero figure of the modern age where he is at once a conscientious technology entrepreneur and demi-god.



However, in 2020, following statements made on the impact the Trump administration’s Covid-19 policy responses had on his business, Musk received heavy back- lash from the mainstream and even managed to alienate some of his loyal fans. But all is forgotten now that the South African-born entrepreneur is among the world’s richest men.



While his wealth may be a relentless conversation starter, globally, it’s hard to ignore Musk’s legacy in the business arena. The journey from a quiet, intelligent and passionate young entrepreneur to an influential manufacturing magnate has been driven not just by a belief in hard work but by an ability to settle for dreams beyond the stars.



For generations to come, his place in time will always be confirmed by his commitment to not only conjure up ‘moonshot’ ideas but to actively pursue them; to Mars and back.



&#8211;BY MARIE SHABAYA



Get Your Copy Of FORBES AFRICA <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-the-billionaires-list-feb-march-2021/">here</a>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-793x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49836" width="285" height="367" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-793x1024.jpg 793w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-232x300.jpg 232w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-768x991.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-1190x1536.jpg 1190w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-1586x2048.jpg 1586w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-300x387.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-600x775.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FA-OFC-2021-Feb_March-scaled.jpg 1983w" sizes="(max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px" /></figure></div>

GettyImages-1229901921

Rockets To Riches: The Rise And Rise Of Elon Musk

TOPLINE Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ February&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;cover reveal has been overshadowed by reports that the magazine used a different image than the one that was agreed upon by its editorial staff and Harris’ team, along with social media criticism that the cover is unflattering and poorly done.



<h4 id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<ul><li>Vogue revealed two covers featuring the Vice President-elect Sunday, one described as the cover for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ3moA_A-fZ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">print issue</a>&nbsp;and another as a special&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ3mrTGAbDt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">digital cover</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li>However, journalists&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1348145020843347970?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yashar Ali</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;Politico’s&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ccadelago/status/1348292702232866816?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christopher Cadelago</a>&nbsp;reported the digital cover, featuring Harris in a powder blue suit, was mutually agreed upon to be the primary print cover but was later switched without the knowledge of Harris’ team, an unusual occurrence in the world of fashion magazines.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Instead,&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;went with a cover photograph showing Harris wearing the trademark&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/08/12/everything-you-didnt-know-about-kamala-harris/?sh=294d60fe7658">Converse Chuck Taylor</a>&nbsp;sneakers she donned on the campaign trail, standing in front of a pink and green fabric backdrop, likely a nod to the colors of her college sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Despite the personal touches, the print cover was met with harsh criticism from social media users, who said the image washed out Harris’ skin tone and looked cheap and unfitting for a future vice president, and they slammed the magazine for disrespecting Harris by reportedly not using the agreed-upon image for print.</li></ul>



<ul><li>It comes in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/15/anna-wintour-promoted-to-cond-nast-chief-content-officer-despite-diversity-criticism/?sh=7d2b558e7b41">backlash</a>&nbsp;against longtime&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;editor Anna Wintour for failing to feature Black creators and foster an inclusive environment.</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Vice President-elect <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KamalaHarris</a> is our February cover star! Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: <a href="https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU">https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU</a> <a href="https://t.co/OCFvVqTlOk">pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk</a>&mdash; Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) <a href="https://twitter.com/voguemagazine/status/1348284503081574403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h4>KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Wintour&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/15/anna-wintour-promoted-to-cond-nast-chief-content-officer-despite-diversity-criticism/?sh=7d2b558e7b41">apologized to&nbsp;Vogue&nbsp;employees</a>&nbsp;in a staff-wide email over the summer in the midst of anti-racism protests for not finding ways to “elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.” Shortly after,&nbsp;Vogue’s August 2020 cover was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/21330898/vogue-simone-biles-vanity-fair-viola-davis-cover" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slammed online</a>, with users saying the cover photo of champion gymnast Simone Biles, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, washed out Bile’s deep skin tone.



<h4>FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/kamala-harris-cover-february-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on the Road Ahead</a>&nbsp;(Vogue)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/12/15/anna-wintour-promoted-to-cond-nast-chief-content-officer-despite-diversity-criticism/?sh=7d2b558e7b41">Anna Wintour Promoted To Condé Nast Chief Content Officer Despite Diversity Criticism</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



-By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris Campaigns For GA Democratic Senate Candidates

Kamala Harris’ ‘Vogue’ Cover Spurs Outrage On Social Media

FRANCE-AFRICA-FORUM

African Of The Year: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Johnson &amp; Johnson has become the latest Covid-19 vaccine frontrunner to put its trials on hold due to safety concerns after a participant fell ill, the company <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.jnj.com/our-company/johnson-johnson-temporarily-pauses-all-dosing-in-our-janssen-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-clinical-trials" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement Monday, following a<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielcassady/2020/09/08/astrazeneca-puts-phase-3-vaccine-trial-on-hold-shares-drop-6/#1df5907743fd"> similar move</a> by AstraZeneca in September.



<h4>KEY FACTS</h4>



The U.S. company said it was not immediately clear what had caused the adverse reaction in the participant, whether it was linked to the vaccine or even if the participant had received the vaccine, as opposed to a placebo.



An independent data safety monitoring board, in addition to the company’s own physicians, is monitoring the participant’s illness, the company said, adding that it is important to “have all the facts” and respect the participant’s privacy before sharing further information.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Though serious adverse events are not uncommon in clinical trials, the pause to Johnson &amp; Johnson’s research might add to existing concerns over the safety of Covid-19 vaccines being at a much faster pace than is usual.



“Adverse events – illnesses, accidents, etc. &#8211; even those that are serious, are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies,” the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jnj.com/our-company/johnson-johnson-temporarily-pauses-all-dosing-in-our-janssen-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-clinical-trials" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in a statement.



<h4>KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Johnson &amp; Johnson is a frontrunner in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, launching a large, 60,000-person phase 3 trial for its single dose vaccine last month. Without further information from the company, it’s impossible to tell which study this participant might be linked to or whether they had even received the vaccine.Adverse events are not uncommon in clinical trials— another fairly advanced Covid-19 vaccine trial by AstraZeneca was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielcassady/2020/09/08/astrazeneca-puts-phase-3-vaccine-trial-on-hold-shares-drop-6/#4e3dfc443fd2">put on hold</a>&nbsp;in early September. But amid the rush to develop a vaccine, the World Health Organization has warned against countries taking a nationalistic approach, and instead is pushing for a “collective” effort. Meanwhile, as President Donald Trump pushes for a vaccine before the November 3 election,there is already evidence that his approach has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/10/12/only-50-of-americans-are-willing-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-poll-shows/#4176923f6409">eroded public trust&nbsp;</a>in its safety, even if FDA-approved.&nbsp;



<h4>CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



Hassan Vally, an associate professor in epidemiology at La Trobe University in Melbourne,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-13/j-j-confirms-covid-19-vaccine-trial-paused-on-safety-event" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Bloomberg&nbsp;that these kinds of pauses are going to be more commonplace as more are vaccinated. “We’re going to have to get used to hearing these sorts of reports of pauses,” he said. “As you vaccinate more people in these trials the chances are that there will be some illnesses in participants. The only difference here is that in the world that we live in right now, the progress of these trials are in the public eye, and so we are riding every bump.”



<h4>BIG NUMBER</h4>



$1 billion. That’s how much Johnson &amp; Johnson received from the federal government as a part of<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/09/30/operation-warp-speed-has-over-6-billion-in-secret-covid-19-vaccine-contracts-evading-scrutiny/#46cdd8373c22">&nbsp;Operation Warp Speed</a>.



<h5>WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h5>



Further updates from Johnson &amp; Johnson as they evaluate the trial and its participants to determine the cause of the adverse event.



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

A doctor’s hand with a syringe of covid-19 coronavirus vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson Halt All Covid-19 Vaccine Trials Over ‘Unexplained Illness’

Opening Day Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2017

A NEW CAPITALISM: Views From The Top

As Africa’s biggest economy marks its diamond jubilee, there are mixed views for its post-pandemic recovery forecast. But there is reason to be hopeful about the hyper-competitiveness and resilience of the country’s middle class and youth through the fog of uncertainty.



OCTOBER IS CELEBRATION SEASON IN NIGERIA. A historic excuse for some dining, sober reflection, and bouts of national moaning.  



As Africa’s largest economy by GDP marks her diamond jubilee independence anniversary on October 1, the theatrics of the political class, the floundering economy, and the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the polity occupy the mind of most Nigerians.



Every October, Nigerians unite to engage in the pyrrhic ritual of collective nostalgia and wishful thinking. They embed their hopes, patriotic aspirations, pains and perforated potential in long speeches. This October, they will also ponder the fate of their personal and collective economy in the emerging post Covid-19 world.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Some 42% of employed Nigerians surveyed had lost their jobs during the pandemic, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.&nbsp;



By July 2020, inflation had accelerated to 13%, the highest in 27 months. The pandemic showcased Nigeria’s (and also sub-Saharan Africa’s) underinvestment in her public infrastructure, housing, education and healthcare sectors.



&nbsp;Nigeria’s physician-to-patient ratio is four doctors per 10,000 patients, according to World Health Organization data. Statistically, a third of Nigerians born in 1960 may have already died.&nbsp;



The country has the world’s third-lowest life expectancy rate of 55 years, only better than Central African Republic (54) and Sierra Leone (53), according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). War-torn Afghanistan has 65 years, Somalia, 58 and Syria, 73.&nbsp;



As this edition of FORBES AFRICA goes to press, over 56,478 Nigerians have been infected with the coronavirus, with 1,008 deaths, according to the website of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).&nbsp;



The actual impact of the disease may be significantly more.



&nbsp;“This year is a lost year,” Ade Ayeyemi, a Nigerian and Group CEO of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, told me in July, from his Lome, Togo base.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">“From an economic and investment mobilization perspective, 2020 has been lost… we must now begin to focus on optimizing resources and taking advantage of the situation.” </blockquote>



Even before the lockdown, Nigerians were grappling with endemic unemployment and brain drain, the Boko Haram insurgency in the north of the country, disgust and semi-indifference to nepotism, religious intolerance, corruption, productivity hiccups and local and foreign currency constipation.&nbsp;



When Covid-19 arrived, the aviation, transport, retail, entertainment and hospitality services were hit. Income for artisans, street traders, event venues, cooks, cleaners, taxis, cab-hailing operators, beauty salons and barber shops dried up.&nbsp;



A sub-economy driven by Covid-19 relief initiatives emerged from the doldrums of the economy. The government set up a Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 to coordinate relief efforts nationwide. The International Monetary Fund approved a $3.4 billion Rapid Financing Instrument for Nigeria in April. Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja also received a $104 billion World Bank Covid-19 support facility. The African Development Bank, the African Export-Import Bank and a plethora of multilateral organizations, private and state-owned enterprises, high net worth individuals, local and international non-profits including the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation and Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation all contributed to federal and state Covid-19 relief funds.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In April, the private sector-led Coalition Against Covid-18 (CACOVID) announced it would help set up isolation centers in Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Borno and Enugu states and Abuja. It had also ordered for 250,000 supplies of test kits and 150,000 extraction kits to fast-track testing.&nbsp;



Sadly, the mega-donations and noble plans have had little impact on society.&nbsp;



“For a country of nearly 200 million, only around 350,000 persons have been tested,” admitted Dr Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the PTF. This is way below the 1% of the population test target set by the government. Aliyu spoke on the live Television Continental program Your View, broadcast on August 17.&nbsp;



Curbing communal infection remains a key priority. But enforcing compliance for face-covering, social distancing measures and city-wide lockdowns has been difficult in a country where livelihoods depend on daily incomes.&nbsp;



Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, an infectious disease epidemiologist and director general of the NCDC, says the pandemic is an excellent opportunity to upgrade health infrastructure nationwide and advocates “a bottom-up approach to fixing state healthcare with stakeholders from the public and private health industry”.



 Recalling the country’s proven record of eradicating polio and containing the spread of the Ebola viral disease in 2014, Ihekweazu told reporters during a PTF briefing in Abuja in August: “The NCDC is working hard to ensure Nigerians have access to the Covid-19 vaccine when available. We are working with the African Union through the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a vaccine strategy to ensure global vaccine access.”



Unlocking ‘the new normal’ 



Sixty years after its political independence from British colonial rule and barely 10 years to the 2030 checkpoint of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the ‘Nigerian project’ appears to be sprinting ahead on either of two lanes: depending on who is speaking, Nigerians are either experiencing a new nadir of hope or they are on the verge of activating and unleashing their locked-in potential.&nbsp;



“Nothing is normal anymore in this topsy-turvy economy,” Kayode Abayomi, a financial analyst and stockbroker-turned-agri-preneur told me in July, as government authorities began to ease the nationwide lockdown. “No doubt the coronavirus introduced a fresh set of problems but it has been six decades of struggling, stagnation and economic difficulties occasioned by systemic challenges of corruption and widening income disparity. This must be one of the toughest places for businesses to thrive.”



Despite a 4.6% per annum growth in the country’s urban population, upper middle-class earnings continue to fall in real terms. The national currency, the Naira, has depreciated and the value forecast for 2021 is not a happy story, as manufacturers struggle to satisfy local demand.



&nbsp;&nbsp;While Ecobank’s Ayeyemi believes the post-Covid-19 era offers Nigerian (and African) businesses and public institutions an excellent opportunity to create new business models and adopt new technologies, the sentiment on the streets of Abuja, Abakaliki, Dutse, Jos, Lagos and Port Harcourt is not so optimistic. Business folks and startups say commercial plans are constantly hobbled by regulatory and structural inefficiencies.&nbsp;



The July 2020 Business Expectations Survey of 1,050 businesses conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed widespread pessimism on the macro economy. Firms identified insufficient power supply, competition, unfavorable economic climate, financial problems, high interest rate, unclear economic laws, unfavorable political climate, insufficient demand, access to credit and lack of equipment as major factors constraining business activity.



&nbsp;Economists and business folks say transparent, business-friendly regulations and tax harmonization would help, for starters.&nbsp;



Thankfully, Ayeyemi’s confidence in the efficacy of technology is already being tested by proactive organizations and the justice delivery system nationwide, including the Lagos State judiciary which has begun the gradual migration to digital platforms.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



With over 60 million Nigerians working from home, helping to boost their fortunes, it’s about time big tech – Skype, Zoom, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, eBay, Alibaba et al –pays a lot more attention to the world’s largest concentration of black enterprise.&nbsp;



To put things in context. Africa experienced a 10% drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2019 to $45 billion, according to the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2020, which also forecast that FDI inflows to the continent will fall in 2020 by between 25% to 40% on account of Covid-19.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But dampened demand for Africa’s commodities, including Nigeria’s crude oil mainstay, meant investments flows to the region was already on the decline before the crisis.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Beyond the volatile oil and gas sector, I expect demand for global IT outsourcing to Nigeria to pick up next year. The key risks remain the government’s inability to curb insecurity and hyperinflation. This intensifies brain drain which is upsetting the local IT ecosystem,” Chidi Ifediora, the CEO of Infospeq Solutions, an IT solutions and services company, told me.&nbsp;



Ifediora points out that as virtual reality activities become mainstream, the aspirational character and resilience of the middle class and Nigerian youth will shine through the fog of uncertainty and may actually be gradually overriding the systemic issues associated with the harsh economic environment faster than it seems. “Suddenly, as you can see, the youth voice is growing and everyone is hanging out online – for webinars, online meetings, parties, weddings, even funerals.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Indeed, there is growing acceptance of pro-active gender politics and the role of the not-so-well-off youth in Nigerian society – with many youth becoming speakers and key opinion-formers online. This development has ushered in a new season of social media discourse in Nigeria.&nbsp;&nbsp;



For a class and status-conscious society like Nigeria, the pandemic has further democratized online and social media culture. The fact that the contagious virus has no regard for ethnicity or power was also a balm of sorts for many Nigerians. The business and military elite, members of the political establishment including the Presidency, the middle class and those at the ‘bottom of the social pyramid’ were not spared the wrath of the disease.



The rat race and a resilient economy 



How do you recover from a global pandemic in an already troubled domestic economy?&nbsp;



A win-win partnership between foreign capital and local knowledge and expertise is required in Nigeria’s post-Covid-19 economy, says Mike Ikpoki, CEO of Africa Context Advisory Partners, an Africa entry and growth advisory firm.&nbsp;



Ikpoki, who once managed the Ghana and Nigeria subsidiaries of MTN, a pan-African mobile telephone company, reckons that more home-grown businesses with deep local expertise and much more nuanced understanding of consumer needs will be much better-positioned to serve local markets. Besides, “the seeming lethargy of FDI into Africa at this time presents an auspicious opportunity for stimulating local domestic investments to grow local companies more adept to the economic realities of the time”.



He, however, warns that henceforth, the corporate and communal threshold for resilience and the proverbial rat race will take on a new meaning in Africa’s most populous nation.&nbsp;



“Nigeria’s population and massive youth market makes the country a very dynamic and hyper-competitive environment,” he says.&nbsp;



Weyinmi Egbe, a Nigerian IT expert and Oracle’s Alliance and Channel Leader for Africa, argues: “In order to compete effectively in the emerging global economy, Nigeria’s public sector institutions need to lead the drive for the adoption of cloud computing and data analytics technologies to drive up efficiencies and productivity, and enable e-government solutions. All of these will very much depend on political will and altruistic public sector reforms.”&nbsp;



“The pandemic has exposed the fragility of global value chains and shown both the positive and negative sides of globalization. Markets and nations are extremely interdependent on one another. The aftermath of the crisis offers Africa’s business and policy leaders an opportunity to come up with a renewed and more focused agenda for their strategic economic ties with themselves and the rest of the world,” opines Kenneth Amaeshi, a professor of Business and Sustainable Development at the University of Edinburgh Business School.&nbsp;



Like the rest of Africa, Nigeria’s dreams of regional economic connectivity, and continental prosperity may have been delayed by the virus outbreak.&nbsp;



Notwithstanding this delay, Angela Emuwa, Chairman of Punch newspapers, says:



 “Our 60th independence anniversary offers stakeholders and brand-owners a good opportunity to project their corporate responsibility and social values. We need to nurture ourselves into becoming an advanced, industrialized, inclusive, and humane society. It shouldn’t always be about promoting sales.”



-By Muyiwa Moyela

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The New Tycoons Ready For The Next Normal

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Covid-19: Beyond The Lockdown: What Big Business Is Doing Now

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Covid-19: The Ultimate Disruptor

This is a first-of-its-kind Pan-African unranked compilation of the continent’s leading women, drawn from business, politics, media, science, sports and public life, who are challenging the status quo and creating a trail on terrain where there was none. They are reshaping history, closing inequalities and pioneering new avenues of wealth creation and in turn, lifting others with them. 



To read the full feature, <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/product/forbes-africa/">subscribe to Forbes Africa</a> or download the issue <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-forbes-africa-march-2020/">here.</a>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class=""><tbody><tr><td> NAME</td><td> COUNTRY</td><td>TITLE</td><td> SECTOR</td></tr><tr><td>GRACA MACHEL</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>FOUNDER, GRACA MACHEL TRUST</td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>CLARE AKAMANZI</td><td>RWANDA</td><td>CEO, RWANDA DEVELOPMENT BOARD</td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT/GOVERNANCE</td></tr><tr><td>FOLORUNSO ALAKIJA </td><td>NIGERIA </td><td>EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR, FAMFA OIL </td><td>OIL SECTOR</td></tr><tr><td>JENNIFER RIRIA</td><td>KENYA </td><td>GROUP CEO, ECHO NETWORK AFRICA (ENA); FOUNDING MEMBER, KENYA WOMEN FINANCE TRUST</td><td>FINANCE</td></tr><tr><td>LOUISE MUSHIKIWABO</td><td>RWANDA </td><td>SECRETARY GENERAL, ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DE LA FRANCOPHONIE (OIF) </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>AYA CHEBBI</td><td>TUNISIA</td><td>BLOGGER AND AFRICA UNION YOUTH ENVOY </td><td>MEDIA</td></tr><tr><td>ELSIE KANZA</td><td> TANZANIA </td><td>HEAD OF AFRICA AND MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM </td><td>FINANCE</td></tr><tr><td>IBUKUN AWOSIKA</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>FOUNDER AND CEO, THE CHAIR CENTRE GROUP </td><td>MANUFACTURING</td></tr><tr><td>DR JUDY DLAMINI</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>FOUNDER, MBEKANI GROUP</td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>CHARLIZE THERON</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>HOLLYWOOD ACTRESS</td><td>ENTERTAINMENT</td></tr><tr><td>CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>AUTHOR, PUBLIC SPEAKER </td><td>PUBLISHING</td></tr><tr><td>PHUTI MAHANYELE-DABENGWA</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>CEO, NASPERS SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>TECHNOLOGY</td></tr><tr><td>OBIAGELI ‘OBY’ EZEKWESILI</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISOR, AFRICA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY INITIATIVE (AEDPI) </td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>GLENDA GRAY</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>PRESIDENT AND CEO, SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (SAMRC) </td><td>HEALTHCARE</td></tr><tr><td>THULI MADONSELA</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>LAW TRUST CHAIR, SOCIAL JUSTICE RESEARCH AT STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY </td><td>LAW</td></tr><tr><td>WENDY LUHABE</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR &amp; CO-FOUNDER, WIPHOLD </td><td>FINANCE</td></tr><tr><td>ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO</td><td>BENIN </td><td>FOUR-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER </td><td>ENTERTAINMENT</td></tr><tr><td>MANAL ROSTOM</td><td>EGYPT</td><td>FOUNDER, SURVIVING HIJAB AND FACE OF NIKE PRO HIJAB </td><td>HEALTH AND FITNESS</td></tr><tr><td>LYDIA NSEKERA </td><td>BURUNDI</td><td>PRESIDENT, NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (NOC) OF BURUNDI AND MEMBER OF FIFA COUNCIL </td><td>SPORT/GOVERNANCE</td></tr><tr><td>WINNIE BYANYIMA</td><td>UGANDA</td><td>EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNAIDS </td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>CHAIR, BOARD OF THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR VACCINES AND IMMUNISATION (GAVI) </td><td>HEALTHCARE</td></tr><tr><td>PHUMZILE MLAMBO-NGCUKA</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNITED NATIONS (UN) WOMEN </td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>WARIS DIRIE </td><td>SOMALIA</td><td>PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, DESERT FLOWER FOUNDATION </td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF</td><td>LIBERIA </td><td>FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA, NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE </td><td>GOVERNANCE</td></tr><tr><td>YVONNE CHAKA CHAKA</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN </td><td>ENTERTAINMENT</td></tr><tr><td>SAHLE-WORK ZEWDE</td><td>ETHIOPIA</td><td>PRESIDENT OF ETHIOPIA</td><td>GOVERNANCE</td></tr><tr><td>MAMOKGETHI (KGETHI) PHAKENG</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>VICE-CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN (UCT) </td><td>EDUCATION</td></tr><tr><td>REBECCA ENONCHONG</td><td>CAMEROON</td><td>FOUNDER &amp; CEO, APPSTECH </td><td>TECHNOLOGY </td></tr><tr><td>BONANG MATHEBA </td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>MEDIA PERSONALITY, ENTREPRENEUR </td><td>ENTERTAINMENT</td></tr><tr><td>FATMA SAMOURA</td><td>SENEGAL</td><td>SECRETARY-GENERAL, FIFA</td><td>SPORT</td></tr><tr><td>IRENE CHARNLEY </td><td>SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>FOUNDER, SMILE COMMUNICATIONS </td><td>TECHNOLOGY</td></tr><tr><td>UCHENNA ‘UCHE’ PEDRO</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>FOUNDER AND CEO, BELLANAIJA </td><td>MEDIA</td></tr><tr><td>ILWAD ELMAN</td><td>SOMALIA</td><td>FOUNDER, ELMAN PEACE CENTRE </td><td>ACTIVISM</td></tr><tr><td>WENDY APPELBAUM </td><td>SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>FOUNDER AND CHAIRPERSON, DE MORGENZON WINE ESTATE </td><td>ENTREPRENEUR</td></tr><tr><td>OLAJUMOKE ADENOWO</td><td>NIGERIA </td><td>FOUNDER, AD CONSULTING </td><td>ADVERTISING</td></tr><tr><td>BETHLEHEM TILAHUN ALEMU</td><td>ETHIOPIA</td><td>FOUNDER AND CEO, SOLEREBELS FOOTWEAR, GARDEN OF COFFEE, TEFFTASTIC </td><td>ENTREPRENEUR</td></tr><tr><td>NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA </td><td>SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>MINISTER OF COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>GOVERNANCE</td></tr><tr><td>WENDY ACKERMAN</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PICK ‘N PAY </td><td>RETAIL</td></tr><tr><td>CASTER SEMENYA</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA </td><td>OLYMPIC CHAMPION </td><td>SPORT</td></tr><tr><td>RAWYA MANSOUR</td><td>EGYPT</td><td>FOUNDER AND CEO, RAMSCO</td><td>AGRICULTURE</td></tr><tr><td>ARUNMA OTEH</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>ACADEMIC SCHOLAR, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD FORMER TREASURER AND VICE PRESIDENT, WORLD BANK LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE AFRICA ADVISORY GROUP MEMBER </td><td>FINANCE</td></tr><tr><td>FATOU BENSOUDA</td><td>GAMBIA</td><td>PROSECUTOR, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)</td><td>LAW</td></tr><tr><td>HAJER SHARIEF</td><td>LIBYA</td><td>HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE </td><td>ACTIVISM</td></tr><tr><td>AMINA J. MOHAMMED</td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS </td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>PRECIOUS MOTSEPE </td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>FOUNDER, AFRICAN FASHION INTERNATIONAL </td><td>FASHION</td></tr><tr><td>LUPITA NYONG&#8217;O</td><td>KENYA</td><td>OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR</td><td>ENTERTAINMENT</td></tr><tr><td>VERA SONGWE </td><td>CAMEROON</td><td>EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA </td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr><tr><td>MAGDA WIERZYCKA</td><td>SOUTH AFRICA</td><td>FOUNDER, SYGNIA </td><td>FINANCE</td></tr><tr><td>TARA FELA-DUROTOYE </td><td>NIGERIA</td><td>FOUNDER, HOUSE OF TARA INTERNATIONAL </td><td>BEAUTY </td></tr><tr><td>THERESA KACHINDAMOTO</td><td>MALAWI</td><td>CHIEF OF DEDZA DISTRICT</td><td>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>











-Mashokane Mahlo

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Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women

Aliko Dangote

Africa’s Richest 2020: Steady State With Some Volatility On The Margins

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Africa’s Aficionados And Their Eclectic Collections

Key contributors to the growth of the Nigerian economy, they have redefined banking by leveraging technology and connecting people to market. From just £100 in his bank account, Pascal Dozie has built a business empire his son Uzoma is taking to the future.



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2018/11/26/the-money-men-of-nigerias-banking-industry/">READ: The Money Men Of Nigeria’s Banking Industry</a>

Photo by: Kelechi Amadi-Obi (www.kelechiamadiobi.com)

WATCH | Father-Son Duo Pascal & Uzoma Dozie on Cover of Forbes Africa November Issue

The Money Men Of Nigeria’s Banking Industry

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The Two Faces That Mean Business

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