Coinbase, Binance and other exchanges hold at least $2.25 billion of shadow ether, as the latest lucrative innovation in digital assets ramps up.



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



Cryptocurrency exchange&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2023/03/01/coinbase-blockchain-plan-gets-warm-reception-success-hinges-on-converting-crypto-diehards/?sh=2113589f1fab">Coinbase</a>&nbsp;is sitting on a $1.5 billion pile of phantom cryptocurrency pegged to the price of ether. Binance has a similar $750 million stash. These tokens, created to be used in what are essentially lending programs, are just entries in the exchanges’ computers, but to outside observers they appear as assets sitting in their corporate crypto wallets.



Binance’s 400,000 tokens would suddenly come to life if investors decide to use the exchange as an intermediary in posting ether (ETH) collateral to the Ethereum blockchain through a process called liquid staking. But until they do, anybody seeking to determine the amount of Binance’s assets would have to subtract the value of the spectral crypto from the visible total, now $2.77 billion, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. Things might be clearer if Binance actually published its balance sheet, which would be expected to show a corresponding liability. However, despite 70 million customers worldwide, it doesn&#8217;t share financial details with the public.



“Those [tokens] not in circulation are held in a specific reserve account with strict controls and multi-party approval,” says a Binance spokesperson.



Coinbase–which declined to comment for this story and is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/03/22/coinbase-crypto-exchange-faces-possible-sec-charges-company-says/?sh=659b5b0912fc">facing a likely enforcement action</a>&nbsp;from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its staking offerings–does not count its unreleased assets on its balance sheet, but does disclose them in its SEC filings.



Welcome to the fast-growing world of liquid staking. Staking in crypto parlance involves posting a digital asset like ether to a blockchain as collateral in exchange for the right to process transactions and earn in-kind rewards like tokens. Staked tokens are normally locked up for a period of time so they can&#8217;t be immediately withdrawn and cause a run on the platform. Liquid staking, by contrast, allows holders of tokens like ether the opportunity to use a tracking token of sorts for trading while the underlying token is still sitting “staked” on the blockchain, continuing to earn yield. In some ways it allows crypto investors the chance to have their cake, or “stake,” and eat it too.



There is already more than $18 billion committed to platforms that offer the service, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://dune.com/hildobby/eth2-staking" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>&nbsp;from Dune. Investors can earn annual returns of 2% to 12% depending on the platform, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stakingrewards.com/staking/?page=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Staking Rewards</a>, and they keep control of their crypto. But they have to trust the integrity of the intermediaries and the security of the platforms to safeguard their assets.



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In December of 2020 Binance minted an astounding 100 million Binance ETH, known as “beths”, each representing one ether at a time when there were only 120 million ETH in existence. Until June 2022, if counted, that hoard would have added about $483 billion to Binance’s visible wallet assets, multiplying them fivefold. However last year it started destroying these phantom tokens and now only 1.5 million remain according to Binance’s own BNB Smart Contract (BSC) Chain&nbsp;<a href="https://bscscan.com/token/0x250632378e573c6be1ac2f97fcdf00515d0aa91b" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">explorer</a>.



It’s almost as if Charles Schwab manufactured a massive amount of an ETF like Invesco’s QQQ Trust and simply held the shares on its books without acquiring the corresponding stocks in the Nasdaq 100 index and putting them in a trust, the way ETF shares are normally created. And since there is no SEC or regulator involved, no one would care if those ETF shares fluctuated in value or amount or were simply discarded. This is effectively what Binance and Coinbase have been doing with the special staking ether they have created since 2020.



A Binance spokesman would not say exactly why so many tokens were minted in 2020, other than it was cheaper to manufacture them in bulk.



“There are no accounting standards that speak to any of this stuff specifically, and even the related standards are not specific,” says Francine McKenna an accounting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Staking can take many forms, she adds, and existing rules do not contemplate “all the details of all these different variations on all these products.”



Creating billions worth of staking tokens out of thin air and then destroying them, is just the latest example of a crypto company playing by its own rules. Disgraced former crypto exchange FTX, played fast and loose with disclosure rules, and more recently Binance has come under scrutiny. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67092867/1/commodity-futures-trading-commission-v-zhao/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">civil complaint</a>&nbsp;by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in March claimed that Binance consists of “an opaque web of corporate entities.” Last February, a&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierpaz/2023/02/27/binances-asset-shuffling-eerily-similar-to-maneuvers-by-ftx/?sh=7e80d91bccd4">investigation</a>&nbsp;showed that the exchange appropriated more than $1 billion of collateral meant to back stablecoins in August, shifting the assets to other uses without alerting the customers who were affected.



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Liquid staking joins&nbsp;a long list of dubious crypto industry innovations that have included initial coin offerings, algorithmic stablecoins and decentralized finance. Like its predecessors, liquid staking is a creative solution to a key pain point: the illiquidity that comes with staking ether.



Although digital assets–like traditional currencies–do not generate income by themselves, there are ways that investors can earn passive revenue from their holdings, similar to making a loan. Posting assets to blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, Algorand and Polkadot as collateral, give lenders (known as stakers) the right to earn fees by processing blockchain transactions. Ethereum for example, currently brings about 4.8% of annual return, and there is always the chance that a digital asset you have staked appreciates, magnifying your return. But this process has drawbacks.



Depending on the platform, it could take weeks to withdraw crypto once it has been staked. The situation has been even more extreme with Ethereum. Although staking was enabled for the blockchain in December 2020, withdrawals were not permitted until a major upgrade, known as the “Shapella update”, was completed on April 12, 2023.



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-binance-asset-balance-history">BINANCE-ASSET BALANCE HISTORY</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-in-billions-ethereum-and-bnb-chains">In $billions, Ethereum and BNB Chains</h4>



This chart erroneously shows the value of Binance&#8217;s digital assets, which were inflated by BETH tokens despite little actual ETH staking &#8211; only 2% of the value claimed.&nbsp;SOURCE: ARKHAM INTELLIGENCE



This illiquidity has been a major impediment for many would-be stakers and in response, a cottage industry of service providers, including Coinbase and Binance, have surfaced, willing to exchange an investor’s staked ether for a different tracking crypto token (such as beth). The ether is locked on the blockchain, while the new token is available for use in applications such as decentralized finance; it also can be sold. The blockchains available for liquid staking vary by geography and provider, with some like U.S. regulated Coinbase accepting Cardano, Cosmos, Ethereum, Solana and Tezos, while international investors using exchanges like OKX exchange and Huobi exchange can stake dozens of tokens.



Exchanges like Coinbase profit by taking a cut of the fees earned by staking customers. This has been a lucrative and growing business for Coinbase. In its quarterly filings, it includes staking fees within “blockchain rewards.” In 2022 these fees amounted to $275 million, or nearly 9% of revenue, up from $223 million or 3% of 2021’s top line.



While the idea seems simple, the reality is more complex, which can create risks for investors. For one, stakers have to trust centralized exchanges not to use these pools of new tokens themselves, effectively adding duplicative cryptocurrency to the market.



Then there is the issue of exchanges making up new rules as they go along. Until April 24, Binance limited the use of beths to deposits on its Binance Launchpool, essentially an initial public offering platform that allowed users to participate in unproven crypto-related projects that the global cryptocurrency exchange was endorsing. Now Binance offers a way for users to use beths for a wider variety of investments on the Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum, bringing the currency more in line with other liquid-staking tokens but in a unilateral action that can create additional security risks.



Coinbase has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/03/22/coinbase-crypto-exchange-faces-possible-sec-charges-company-says/?sh=15acd57712fc">told</a>&nbsp;it is likely to face enforcement action by the U.S. SEC that may involve its staking service. Like Binance, it minted a token for staking, this one called Coinbase wrapped staked ETH (CBETH). But in contrast to Binance, it began with a modest 500,000 units.



Some of the spare tokens minted are essential for an exchange’s liquidity. Exchanges need to keep a reserve available to satisfy regular daily staking volume. There are minor costs involved in minting tokens, and without a supply on hand it might not be possible to immediately provide liquidity to potential stakers. But having too many can create questions for customers and regulators.



How many is enough?



“If I’m an exchange with $1 billion in staked ether and I’m minting my internal tokens in $10,000 batches that&#8217;s not material,” says Paul Brody, principal and global blockchain leader at Ernst &amp; Young. “I would want to know, are they sitting on $1 billion in undistributed tokens or $10,000, $50,000?”



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An alternate approach&nbsp;to liquid staking does away with the temptation to misdirect spare tokens, but creates problems of its own. Smart contracts–agreements that are automatically executed under specified conditions–address the problem of too many tokens on hand. There are decentralized liquid-staking providers such as Liquid Collective, Lido, Stakewise and RocketPool that exist almost entirely as sets of smart contracts. Lido is the world’s largest liquid staker, with $11 billion in deposited assets.



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-liquid-staking-total-value-locked">LIQUID STAKING TOTAL VALUE LOCKED</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tvl-in-eth-staked-may-1-2023">TVL in ETH staked, May 1, 2023</h4>



Select firms providing staking services ranked by total value locked, measured in ETHs, May 1, 2023SOURCE: FORBES, DUNE



Smart contracts can automate the process, staking the original token on the appropriate blockchain, then minting the liquid version for the customer. “The transparency that is associated with more decentralized staking protocols is definitely a plus because users can verify for themselves that the protocol has a corresponding amount of ether for its liquid token supply,” says Christine Kim, vice president of research at Galaxy Digital, a New York-based investment management and technology firm. Among the drawbacks is that the immediate minting of staking tokens is that the process is more expensive than minting the tokens in advance the way “centralized” exchanges Binance and Coinbase have.



An even larger issue is that decentralized finance protocols are more susceptible to hacks. According to Chainalysis, DeFi hacks accounted for 82% of all stolen digital assets last year, totaling $3.1 billion. Of this sum, 64% was taken from software programs known as cross-chain bridges, which allow users to move assets between decentralized-finance&nbsp;protocols. They work by having owners lock up tokens in smart contracts in exchange for a new corresponding token replica. Although there are key differences between bridges and liquid-staking protocols–such as the locked up tokens sitting in a blockchain rather than crypto wallets–this type of arrangement can expose liquid staking holders to more risks. This is especially true when tokens are moved from Ethereum validators into other wallets for distribution.



With the Shapella update to Ethereum complete, the metaphorical stakes are going to rise. The ability to withdraw funds is bound to make the market more attractive to institutional investors. Nikos Panigirtzoglou, managing director for global market strategy at JPMorgan told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that “Over the medium to longer term we expect Ethereum staking to grow and converge with that of other blockchains.” Cardano, Solana, Algorand and Polkadot have 35-70% of their tokens staked. Ethereum is at 15%, so even just doubling this percentage would add $35 billion in staked tokens at current prices. A good portion of those funds would likely be liquid staking protocols because of the ability to put these tokens to other uses while the underlying asset is staked.



Buyer beware.



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierpaz/"></a>By Javier Paz, Forbes Staff

Cryptocurrency Mining In Africa As Poor Sheperdherder Proves A Point

Liquid Staking: Crypto’s New Phantom Money Machine

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



The Food and Drug Administration approved a first-of-its-kind RSV vaccine by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline for older adults on Wednesday, in time to help the U.S. combat RSV infections and deaths this year after a severe 2022 season.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



GlaxoSmithKline’s Arexvy is now approved for people ages 60 and older to prevent lower respiratory tract disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).



RSV is a common respiratory infection that typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but can lead to serious lung infections for those most <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=63e8e1185f81">vulnerable</a>, like children, older adults and those with underlying health conditions.



Each year in the U.S., RSV leads to between 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths among adults 65 and older, the FDA said in a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">release</a>.



The study that led to Arexvy’s approval found that the vaccine reduced the risk of developing RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease by 82.6% and reduced the risk of developing a severe RSV-associated respiratory disease by 94.1%.



The most common side effects among those in the trial were injection-site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and joint stiffness or pain, the FDA said.



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to provide specific recommendations for GlaxoSmithKline and its vaccine in June, according to an ABC <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/1st-rsv-vaccine-older-adults-us-cleared-fda/story?id=99049816" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>, but the company expects it will have enough vaccines to meet demand ahead of RSV season in the fall and winter.



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



Last year, the U.S. had an alarmingly bad RSV season, which some are attributing to lapsed Covid-19 pandemic health measures that had helped keep the public generally healthier and safe from RSV and the common cold. Between October and November in 2021, the CDC recorded 42,000 cases of RSV; in the same period in 2022, that number had swelled to 126,000, according to <a href="https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/view/rsv-surges-early-in-2022-but-appears-to-make-early-retreat" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Contemporary Pediatrics</a>.



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



The FDA is ahead of its time line, as it was expected to approve at least one RSV vaccine this year by the fall. The first attempt to create an RSV vaccine was in the 1960s, though it 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=63e8e1185f81">unsuccessful</a>&nbsp;and led to severe and lethal cases of lung inflammatory response in infants.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;previously reported 11 potential RSV vaccines were being studied in trials—4 for infants and 7 for adults. GSK, whose vaccine was approved, was racing drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna to get the first-approved RSV vaccine. CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/03/rsv-vaccine-fda-approves-gsk-shot-for-older-adults.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that Moderna is still planning to file an application for FDA approval in the first half of this year.



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



“Today marks a turning point in our effort to reduce the significant burden of RSV. . . . Our focus now is to ensure eligible older adults in the U.S. can access the vaccine as quickly as possible and to progress regulatory review in other countries,” said Tony Wood, chief scientific officer at GSK, in a press&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/us-fda-approves-gsk-s-arexvy-the-world-s-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine-for-older-adults/#:~:text=GSK%20plc%20(LSE%2FNYSE%3A,years%20of%20age%20and%20older." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">release</a>.



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



<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FDA Approves First Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine</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=63e8e1185f81">First FDA-Approved RSV Vaccines Expected Later This Year: The Top Vaccines And Their Effectiveness</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/03/rsv-vaccine-fda-approves-gsk-shot-for-older-adults.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FDA approves GSK&#8217;s RSV vaccine for older adults, world&#8217;s first shot against virus</a> (CNBC)



By Molly Bohannon, Forbes Staff

Vaccinations at Egoli Township as Omicron Cases Spread

FDA Approves First-Ever RSV Vaccine After Brutal 2022 Season

By Godfrey Mutizwa



The World Bank says the climate change fight demands a focus on long-neglected structural challenges that are worsening the impact of natural disasters in Africa and other developing countries.



“Some of those structural challenges span from years of environmental degradation,’’ Anna Bjerde, the bank’s Managing Director for Operations told CNBC Africa last week after seeing villages devastated by Cyclone Freddy in Malawi in February and March.



The World Meteorological Organization says the cyclone may have been the longest in history. Over five weeks, it destroyed roads and other vital infrastructure in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique. Officials estimate about two million people were displaced while more than a thousand died.



According to the United Nations, changing rainfall patterns and more extreme weather threaten Africans’ food, water and socio economic development and more needs to be done to help the continent cope better.



Bjerde, back in the region for the first time since taking up the operations role last month, says she was enthused by the energy of the Malawian people and the government’s response in helping rebuild communities.



“I saw an incredibly resilient population where a lot of people want to make a change, and a lot of innovation around sustainable solutions like renewable energy, like more climate-smart solutions in agriculture and solutions for the most vulnerable and poor to have access to clean water,” she said.



But countries like Malawi will need more help from the World Bank and other development institutions to help build climate resistant economies by improving their infrastructure, Bjerde said.



The bank has a twin approach to this, she said, outlining short-term measures such as providing extra resources to governments, and identifying long-term priority projects to build inclusive economies.



“The broader development community’s role is to continue to support with technical solutions, with financing, with building capacity and perhaps most importantly making sure that these solutions are really inclusive.’’



Developing countries also need to involve their private sectors, she said, addressing challenges such as access to markets and finance, providing basic infrastructure and rebuilding value chains as part of an overall effort to improve business environments, especially given rising public debt levels.



“I am very worried by the increased level of debt that we are seeing and actually… we are seeing right now that about of 60 percent of low income countries in the world either at risk of debt distress or already at debt distress levels,” she added.



The bank was playing its part in its new operating model which was discussed at this year’s Spring meetings in Washington DC. The model among other things seeks to boost the bank’s capital and address borderless global challenges at the country level.

Hurricane Along Coastline

Natural Disasters In Africa: World Bank Says Climate Change Fight Must Address Structural Deficits

Kazadi emigrated to South Africa as a child from DR Congo and built a digital marketing agency in his adopted country. In early May last year, the 29-year-old died under murky circumstances.



On April 28, 2022, Christian Kazadi was enjoying a sunrise safari in Botswana. Sporting a corduroy fleece jacket, shorts and white sneakers in an Instagram post from that day, Kazadi smiles as he leans back on a jeep, calling it a “bucket list experience.”



The 29-year-old founder of Johannesburg, South Africa-based digital marketing agency Click Media was in Botswana to attend the first ever&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;Under 30 Africa summit. It was a professional milestone for Kazadi, who had launched Click Media in 2016 with the last $30 in his bank account and bootstrapped it into a thriving business that ran social media campaigns for clients ranging from ESPN and Adidas to the National Basketball Association and KFC. Kazadi, who had yet to appear on&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;30 Under 30 list, was thrilled to have been awarded a spot at the conference.



But that Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc45W7Cq0CC/">post </a>was his last. Four days later, he was found dead in police custody 1,100 miles away in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.



A year later, Kazadi’s mysterious death remains unsolved. His family is still trying to piece together what happened to him between April 30—when he was set to return to South Africa—and May 2, when he died in Kinshasa. Investigations in South Africa and DR Congo are at a standstill, and no one—not the airport officials in South Africa that denied his entry nor the Congolese police that may have been involved in his death—has provided any answers.



“He never made it back home from the&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;event,” says Patrick Kazadi, Christian’s younger brother and cofounder and CEO of Click Media. “[We need] answers so the family can finally finish the grieving process and put the people who did this to justice.”



During his brief time in Botswana, Kazadi’s energy and entrepreneurial spirit made him stand out among his peers. &#8220;Even those who met him over the few days of the summit will convey how deeply they were touched by him,&#8221; says Pholo Kimbuende, a senior management consultant at consulting firm Guidehouse, who met Kazadi at the&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;Under 30 event. &#8220;The future just looked so bright, and the circumstances around his death were just utterly devastating.&#8221;



The mystery began on April 30, when Kazadi’s flight from Botswana landed in Johannesburg at 10:45 am. He wasn’t allowed to enter South Africa, despite having lived in the country since 2001 and possessing a valid work visa that ran from 2020 to 2023.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;spoke to multiple friends and family members of Kazadi who confirmed he had previously traveled from South Africa to other African countries before and had never had any issues returning, although it is not entirely uncommon for immigrants to have difficulties at the South African border.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;also called and spoke to several officials at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, but they didn’t provide any information on Kazadi and instead referred questions to South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs. Home Affairs suggested that the family file a public records request, which they did but have yet to receive a response.



Kazadi was then made to book a flight to Kinshasa, DR Congo the following day. He arrived just past midnight on May 2. A Congolese citizen, Kazadi was born in the country but hadn’t been back since leaving with his family in 2001, when they emigrated to South Africa to seek asylum as refugees.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“There’s foul play at hand. He was in Congo for less than 24 hours and he was murdered.”
<cite>Patrick Kazadi</cite></blockquote>



Later that day, a bizarre video appeared online, showing Kazadi behaving erratically at a funeral in Kinshasa. The video appears to show Kazadi getting inside the casket with his headphones on and shouting “Guelor,” the name of the deceased person at the funeral—who Kazadi apparently did not know, although Guelor happens to be the name of one of Kazadi’s younger brothers. People then appeared to surround him and drag him away from the casket. Kazadi was arrested at the funeral and held in a detention center, where a family friend went to check up on him on the night of May 2.



The next morning, Kazadi was dead. “There’s foul play at hand,” says Patrick. “He was in Congo for less than 24 hours and he was murdered.”



Photos and videos provided by Kazadi’s family and seen by&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;show Kazadi lying on what appears to be a road, shirtless and with deep cuts and welts on his head, arms, chest and feet indicating that he may have been tortured. In one of the photos, a Congolese policeman or soldier is seen standing in the background.



A member of the family that was hosting the funeral, who had urged the police to arrest him at the time, was called into the police station about a week after his death and gave the police her phone number. When they tried to get in touch with her in the following days, the police told Kazadi’s family that the number was disconnected.



Kazadi’s family told Forbes that the police officers who arrested him were briefly detained in May last year as local authorities investigated what happened, but no charges have been filed. Unfortunately, death at the hands of the police isn’t uncommon in DR Congo. 133 people died in detention in the country in the first six months of 2022, according to the<a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/415610_CONGO-DEM-REP-2022-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> United Nations Joint Human Rights Office.</a>



A year after Kazadi’s death, the investigation has gone nowhere. Captain Parfait and Colonel Honoré of the Congolese National Police, the officers in charge of the investigation in the Matete district of Kinshasa, have told the Kazadi family’s lawyer that the case file for the investigation has gone missing. Neither responded to questions from&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;about the status of the investigation.



“If it was the police that murdered him, of course they would get rid of the docket,” says Patrick. “The court case hasn’t even started because they currently can’t locate the docket file.”



In South Africa, Kazadi’s mother submitted a public records request to the Department of Home Affairs last July for information on why he was denied entry into the country. Under South African law, government agencies must respond to requests within 30 days, with the option of a single extension of no more than 30 additional days. But 296 days after the family initially submitted its request—and despite being repeatedly contacted by both Forbes and Kazadi’s family over the course of several months—the ministry has yet to provide an update.



Still, asylum seekers and immigrants with visas often face harassment from South African authorities. In its<a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/415610_SOUTH-AFRICA-2022-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;2022 human rights report on South Africa</a>, the U.S. State Department wrote that “security forces arbitrarily arrested migrants and asylum seekers, including those with proper documentation, often because police were unfamiliar with migrant and asylum documentation.&#8221;



The lack of progress on the investigations has also resulted in plenty of conspiracy theories online, with YouTube videos viewed more than a million times speculating that Kazadi was drugged or part of a cult. “They have a lot of incorrect facts,” says Patrick. “A lot of people in Congo don’t know what is going on.”



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



Ever since he arrived in South Africa at age 9 in 2001, Christian Kazadi worked hard to improve his life. He emigrated to Johannesburg with his mother and younger brothers to join his father, Samuel, a pastor and IT teacher who had already been living there for two years. Tragedy struck in 2007 when Samuel died while on a business trip to DR Congo, leaving the family without a breadwinner. (The cause of death isn’t known.)



The local church raised money to pay for the family’s rent, and his mother started selling clothes and toys at a flea market. But his father’s death forced Christian—then just 15 years old—to help provide for his family. He sold snacks at school during the week and packed meat at a grocery store on the weekends with his younger brother Patrick. Eventually he convinced the store to hire his mother as a cleaner, so she could stay closer to home instead of traveling to sell goods at different markets.



“It was nothing like close to minimum wage, but it was constant,” says Patrick. “That’s what started Chris’ mentality for entrepreneurship and hustling.”



Those wages helped them move to a larger house in 2011, where the family of five shared one room and subleased the other three rooms to make extra money. Chris was also a strong athlete in high school, placing in national competitions for track and field and basketball.



“We would sit at home and cut boxes and stack them up and put them as soles in our shoes,” says Patrick. “He would walk five kilometers to the closest court and play ball.”



Kazadi’s dream was to play professionally in the NBA, and he wrote in his application for the&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;Under 30 event that he won a scholarship to play college basketball in New York after graduating from high school in 2012—but his family couldn’t afford to pay for his trip to the U.S.



There also wasn’t enough money for Chris to attend college at home, and they couldn’t apply for government scholarships that were reserved for South African citizens. Instead he kept working at butcheries, making about 300 rand—roughly $30 at the time—in tips on a good day and doing other odd jobs like frying meat. He also landed an unpaid internship managing social media for South African professional basketball player KP Ndlovu that year, running the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts for his company Loqdown Productions, which organizes basketball tournaments for young players in Johannesburg.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Chris was a warrior and a soldier. I’m so proud of what he did and the legacy and empire he built and left behind.”
<cite>Joe Arrangement</cite></blockquote>



Kazadi’s luck started to turn the following year, when South Africa launched the professional Basketball National League (BNL). His work for Ndlovu caught the attention of FX Productions, a small marketing agency that managed social media for the BNL. He got hired to create social media content for the league, earning enough money to support his family and allow his mother to quit her cleaning job.



By January 2016, Kazadi was ready to strike out on his own. Against his mother’s wishes, he quit his job to take advantage of his own connections with the league and its teams to launch his own marketing firm. As an asylum seeker at the time, he couldn’t register the company himself. So he relied on a South African friend and used his entire savings—$30 at the time—to register the new company, which he named Click Media Productions.



His first idea was to host basketball tournaments, using his connections at the BNL to convince brands to sponsor his events. But the costs of organizing them—paying for kits, referees and venues—added up, leaving Kazadi in debt. So he turned back to focusing on social media, eventually making enough money to pay back the debt.



By 2017, the firm had grown enough that it was hosting regular tournaments. The first big break came that year, when Click Media handled digital marketing for the NBA Africa Game, which brought NBA stars like Dirk Nowitzki and Luol Deng to play in Johannesburg.



That growth allowed him to make his first hires to manage the firm’s new clients, which began to sign long-term contracts with Click Media. “This was my first official job, and it&#8217;s all because of Chris,&#8221; says Kaymo Moeti, who worked as a social media manager at Click Media from 2017 to 2018 and now runs marketing for a hip hop festival. “Everything that I learned, I learned from him. He&#8217;s the one that really taught me what I knew to help me get those opportunities.&#8221;



Click Media worked on the next NBA Africa Game in 2018, and the exposure helped put the company on the map, leading to new social media campaigns for clients ranging from ride-hailing app Bolt to rapper Lil Yachty. That same year, he obtained a South African work visa through Click Media. In December 2021, the company was named the best digital marketing agency in Johannesburg at the MEA Business Awards, organized by MEA Markets, a business publication focused on the Middle East and Africa.



&#8220;Chris was a warrior and a soldier,&#8221; says Joe Arrangement, a musician and music promoter who worked with Kazadi and Click Media. &#8220;I&#8217;m so proud of what he did and the legacy and empire he built and left behind.&#8221;



In March 2022, Click Media ran a social media campaign for cognac brand Hennessy and the NBA at a basketball court in Zoo Lake, Johannesburg. In an Instagram post from the video shoot, Kazadi hyped it up for his followers: &#8220;We got something really exciting coming to Zoo Lake soon,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;With some of your favorite celebrities.&#8221;



Two months later, he was gone.



Click Media is now run by his brother Patrick, who wants to carry Christian’s legacy forward and keep growing the company until it achieves his vision of becoming the top digital marketing agency in Africa.



&#8220;As the CEO of Click Media, with the good God&#8217;s grace and blessing, I will complete that which we started,” Patrick said in an emotional tribute to his brother at his memorial service last June. “Kazadi lives.”



The Kazadi family has a<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-christian-kazadi" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> GoFundMe page</a> to raise funds to pay for legal fees for investigating Christian&#8217;s death and to provide financial support for the family.



By Giacomo Tognini, Forbes Staff

Chris Kazadi

The Mysterious, Unsolved Murder Of Under 30 African Social Media Entrepreneur Christian Kazadi

Where does the continent fit into the chatbot conversation, and why it needs its own startups that focus on AI.



By Tiana Cline



The ability to be able to have a conversation with someone else is a fundamental part of what it means to be a human being but today, it’s becoming more and more confusing to figure out whether you’re talking to a bot… or not.



Technology has advanced to the point where AI-powered conversational chatbots, like ChatGPT or Meta’s BlenderBot 3, are deceptively realistic. (More so when they go off the rails and say things like ‘I want to be alive’, which is exactly what Bing’s AI bot expressed earlier this year.) While chatbots like these are trained to avoid expressing personal or biased views, and are known to make factual mistakes and mix up information, they’re becoming smarter, more streamlined and sometimes, a little strange…



“Conversational AI is one of the first applications of NLP in artificial intelligence and this kind of technology has existed since Eliza in the sixties,” explains Professor Mpho Raborife, the deputy director at the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.



Natural Language Processing, or NLP, is a way for computers to understand human language. NLP uses AI tools like machine learning and neural networks to process and interpret large amounts of data.



“With the rise of big data, ChatGPT was inevitable. It’s trained on a very large dataset and the technologies behind it make it a lot more advanced than other conversational AI applications.”



One of the reasons for this, explains Raborife, is that ChatGPT uses reinforcement learning alongside sophisticated algorithms that manipulate its dataset. “It’s so sophisticated that people don’t realize that it really possesses no intelligence whatsoever,”



she adds, “it really doesn’t understand the meaning behind anything, it just know how the words are supposed to work but not what they mean.”



OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a research experiment gone wild that has shown the incredible potential of conversational AI yet Africa is still being left behind. Consider smartphone voice assistants like Siri or Alexa – both examples of conversational AI used regularly; they work with English but struggle to understand local accents. They don’t support African languages.



“We know that the Global North is not going to include our languages. Therefore, we need to find a way to make sure that we create an environment that the startups that come from Africa which do incorporate our languages have the same kind of impact,” Raborife adds. Duolingo, for example, is a popular language learning mobile app that uses an AI system called Birdbrain to personalize its content. Duolingo has 43 different languages (including made-up dialects such as Klingon, High Valyrian and Esperanto) but only isiZulu and Swahili are available when it comes to African language learning courses.



“When we talk about AI, our languages are not supported or even represented by these technologies,” says Raborife. “But conversational AI has the potential to bridge the language divide as it can be used in a variety of ways because it surpasses literacy levels. If people cannot read or write, they can use their voice to access services and this is something that is important to Africa.



This is why we need our own startups that focus on AI.”



Recently launched, Lelapa AI is an African AI research and product house looking to make a real difference within the continent with a special interest in agriculture, education, energy, healthcare, microfinance and language. 



“There are so many problems on the continent that AI-type technologies can help with so there’s a responsibility for us to use our skills to help create better lives for everyday Africans,” says Pelonomi Moiloa, Lelapa AI’s co-founder and CEO.



“What we intend to do is use technology in a very smart, resource-efficient way because there are challenges on the continent like rolling blackouts, water shortages and network issues…” Lelapa AI have already debuted an app called VulaVula which offers NLP-as-a-service for under-represented languages.



Moiloa describes VulaVula as an underlying technology that supports other technologies. A banking chatbot, for example, could use VulaVula’s AI language capabilities to help customers interact in their own languages.



“The idea is that if an organization has a place for us to plug our models into and we can collaborate agreements around how that work can be done, then – ideally – if we have the resources and capacity we will help businesses do what they need.”



For Moiloa, creating African data sets to work from may be challenging but it’s also something she sees as a competitive advantage for Lelapa AI. “We’re having to think around clever ways of dealing with Africa’s data scarcity problem. We have to create models that are able to cope with less amounts of data, but models that can get really good at curating and gathering data,” she says.



And the fact that ChatGPT doesn’t necessarily draw its information from African data sets (it was apparently trained using real human conversations) means startups like Lelapa AI have the opportunity to develop responsible methods of dealing with problems that are relevant to the continent.



“I don’t think we should be trying to develop our own ChatGPT but maybe we can develop other textual tools that can help solve the problems that ChatGPT is meant to – but at the moment, it seems to be creating more problems,” she ends.

Asian woman using smartphone surrounded by beams of light. Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence

Talking A-‘bot Africa: The Potential For Conversational AI

Remember the thousands of flight cancellations, endless lines and lost baggage nightmares from last year? Experts warn it could be even worse in 2023. Here’s how to book smarter and fly right in the midst of another Air-mageddon.



Pack your patience, travelers. Those hoping that last summer’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2022/07/19/why-delayed-flights-not-going-away-soon/?sh=207391ee5727">“airport chaos” headlines</a> were a distant memory are in for a nasty case of déjà vu.



The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects 2023 summer air travel volumes to surpass pre-pandemic levels, and industry experts are warning that many of the problems that led to last year’s meltdown have not been resolved.



“This summer’s travel demand will be as strong as we’ve seen since before the pandemic, and potentially the strongest ever,” says Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “That kind of demand in a system that is woefully underfunded and understaffed is likely to create substantial frustrations among travelers.”



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



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
The FAA asked airlines to pull back slots in New York and Washington, D.C. airports this summer, reducing the number of available flights.
</blockquote>



As the head of the non-profit trade organization representing the $1.2 trillion U.S. travel industry, Freeman worries that a repeat of last year’s air travel mayhem will hurt overall tourism spending. “More than half of Americans would travel more often, they say, for leisure in the next six months if the experience were not as much of a hassle as it is today,” Freeman says, adding that “it did not need to be this way.”



It’s virtually impossible to overstate the Air-mageddon of Summer 2022. After the aviation industry ground to a virtual halt during the pandemic, it could not ramp up fast enough to handle the massive post-pandemic crush of people finally traveling again. Tens of thousands of flights were delayed and cancelled, travelers were left stranded, countless pieces of baggage were lost, and an aging and outdated infrastructure creaked and strained under the stress of it all.



While many of those flight disruptions were blamed on airlines’ supply-chain issues and pilot shortages, the meltdown also exposed cracks in the country’s aviation infrastructure and staffing deficiencies. Flash forward one year and many of those same problems still exist.



First, the United States has been woefully slow to update its aging aviation infrastructure. The issue was fully exposed in January when an outage of one of the Federal Aviation Administration’s critical systems led to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2023/01/11/faa-us-flights-temporarily-grounded-due-to-systems-outage/?sh=7b9060662219">nationwide ground stop of all flights</a>&nbsp;for several hours.



Since then, the FAA has been ramping up its ambitious, multi-year, multi-billion-dollar effort, known as NextGen, to modernize the system. Of the agency’s 2023&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2022-03/FAA_Buget_Estimates_FY23.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">annual budget of $23.6 billion</a>, $1 billion is earmarked for NextGen.



“Aviation infrastructure and technology have been chronically underfunded for years,” says Freeman. “These problems have been driven by a slate of missed opportunities over the years from Congress and within the federal government.”



Another salient challenge is the ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers. Travel Cassandras were quick to recognize a bad omen when the FAA asked airlines to pull back slots in New York and Washington, D.C. airports this summer, reducing the number of available flights.



Delays in two major markets can easily create a ripple effect nationwide, but the issue is of particular concern to airlines like JetBlue with strongholds in the Northeast. The New York-based carrier posted a loss for the first quarter of the year and its $3.8 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-jetblue-s-proposed-acquisition-spirit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acquisition of Spirit Airlines is being challenged</a>&nbsp;by the Department of Justice. On JetBlue’s earnings call earlier this week, CEO Robin Hayes noted the “very challenging [air traffic control] backdrop” and said the FAA’s request for 10% voluntary reductions by carriers “creates a significant headwind for the American travelers flying this summer.”



Few people understand the challenges of air traffic control better than Paul Rinaldi, a former 16-year air traffic controller at Washington Dulles International Airport and 12-year president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).



He believes the U.S. should pull the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), the agency’s operational air navigation arm, out of the FAA, which is also responsible for regulatory oversight. This separation is already in place in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and most other countries, and it is the longstanding recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organization.



Next, says Rinaldi, the U.S. should fund the ATO through a tax-funded program we already have called the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faa.gov/about/budget/aatf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aviation Trust Fund</a>, which was established in 1970. When a passenger buys an airline ticket, the price includes aviation-related excise taxes that go into the trust fund, he explains, “which could fund the ATO to the point that the FAA wouldn’t have to interrupt modernization projects while hiring and it would have some financial stability.”



The current shortage of air traffic controllers is hardly new—it can be traced back to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saranyakapur/2013/02/13/the-budget-sequester-explained-and-what-it-means-for-you/?sh=3438d0bd2b20">2013 United States budget sequestration</a>, says Rinaldi. “They closed the air traffic control academy,” he explains “They looked at reducing hours and many air traffic facilities. They looked at closing and cutting more than 100 federal contract towers, and stopped most modernization projects.”



“And when you look at our short staffing now,” Rinaldi continues, “we have never made it back up since sequestration. And now here we are 10 years later, almost to the date and we’re looking at the same type of draconian cuts.”



It’s not clear that Congress has learned anything from past mistakes. The proposed budget by House Republicans would cut the FAA’s operations by $1.4 billion. One-time budget cuts would reduce staffing not just for the coming year, but for the next decade.



“Every time there’s a threat of a government shutdown, the agency spends weeks preparing for it. And then Congress, at the eleventh hour, kicks the can,” Rinaldi says. “We keep going through the same exercise, and nobody&#8217;s really working on modernizing the system or getting a system that works. We’re just waiting on Congress, to see if they’re going to fund the system.”



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



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
How to Protect Yourself from Flight Disruptions
</blockquote>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-in-a-summer-filled-with-massive-flight-disruptions-it-will-be-everyday-airline-passengers-who-bear-the-pain-here-are-some-steps-that-can-reduce-your-risk">In a summer filled with massive flight disruptions, it will be everyday airline passengers who bear the pain. Here are some steps that can reduce your risk:</h2>



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



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-choose-the-earliest-possible-flight-of-the-day">🛫&nbsp;Choose the earliest possible flight of the day.</h3>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-statistically-your-flight-is-less-likely-to-get-canceled-the-earlier-in-the-day-you-fly-kathleen-bangs-a-former-commercial-airline-pilot-and-current-spokesperson-for-flightaware-told-forbes-last-year-in-the-summer-stormy-weather-tends-to-be-more-problematic-in-afternoons-and-evenings-but-any-time-of-year-early-flights-have-the-least-cancellations">“Statistically your flight is less likely to get canceled the earlier in the day you fly,” Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot and current spokesperson for&nbsp;<a href="https://flightaware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FlightAware</a>, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;last year. “In the summer, stormy weather tends to be more problematic in afternoons and evenings. But any time of year, early flights have the least cancellations.”</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-more-there-is-often-a-domino-effect-where-one-canceled-flight-leads-to-a-second-and-then-a-third-late-day-flights-get-canceled-more-often-because-planes-never-make-it-to-their-departure-airport-one-of-bangs-favorite-flightaware-tools-can-give-travelers-an-early-heads-up-that-a-problem-may-be-brewing-enter-your-flight-information-and-then-click-the-where-is-my-plane-now-link-just-under-the-flight-number-you-ll-be-able-to-see-if-the-plane-is-ahead-of-schedule-on-time-or-behind-schedule-and-act-accordingly">What’s more, there is often a domino effect, where one canceled flight leads to a second and then a third. Late-day flights get canceled more often because planes never make it to their departure airport. One of Bangs’ favorite FlightAware tools can give travelers an early heads-up that a problem may be brewing.&nbsp;<a href="https://flightaware.com/live/findflight" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Enter your flight information</a>, and then click the “Where is my plane now?” link just under the flight number. You’ll be able to see if the plane is ahead of schedule, on time or behind schedule and act accordingly.</h4>



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



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-keep-an-eye-on-the-weather-forecast">⛅&nbsp;Keep an eye on the weather forecast.</h3>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-storms-and-other-weather-events-can-compound-the-country-s-already-fragile-air-travel-map-what-s-important-to-understand-especially-as-america-enters-hurricane-season-on-june-1-is-that-bad-weather-in-a-specific-region-can-quickly-turn-into-a-national-air-travel-problem-because-of-how-airlines-reuse-planes-and-crews-for-multiple-trips-during-the-day">Storms and other weather events can compound the country’s already fragile air travel map. What’s important to understand—especially as America enters hurricane season on June 1—is that bad weather in a specific region can quickly turn into a national air travel problem because of how airlines reuse planes and crews for multiple trips during the day.</h4>



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



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-be-flexible">😎&nbsp;Be flexible.</h3>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cancellations-on-friday-can-have-an-echo-effect-on-saturday-as-the-previous-day-s-passengers-scramble-to-be-re-accommodated-before-your-departure-day-think-ahead-to-what-you-would-do-if-your-flight-is-canceled-stay-flexible-with-your-dates-as-it-may-be-hard-to-catch-another-on-the-same-day-or-even-the-next">Cancellations on Friday can have an echo effect on Saturday, as the previous day’s passengers scramble to be re-accommodated. Before your departure day, think ahead to what you would do if your flight is canceled. Stay flexible with your dates, as it may be hard to catch another on the same day or even the next.</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-for-large-fixed-events-such-as-weddings-or-cruise-departures-it-can-be-wise-to-pad-a-getaway-with-an-extra-day-to-give-yourself-extra-wiggle-room">For large fixed events such as weddings or cruise departures, it can be wise to pad a getaway with an extra day to give yourself extra wiggle room.</h4>



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



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-use-your-phone">📱&nbsp;Use your phone.</h3>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-before-flying-download-the-airline-s-app-and-program-the-customer-service-number-into-your-contacts-the-moment-a-flight-is-canceled-there-will-be-a-stampede-to-the-service-counter-but-you-ll-likely-be-able-to-book-yourself-on-a-new-flight-much-faster-on-a-smartphone">Before flying, download the airline’s app and program the customer service number into your contacts. The moment a flight is canceled, there will be a stampede to the service counter. But you’ll likely be able to book yourself on a new flight much faster on a smartphone.</h4>



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



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-know-your-rights">📖&nbsp;Know your rights.</h3>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-your-flight-is-canceled-or-delayed-consult-the-department-of-transportation-s-aviation-consumer-protection-website-which-shows-side-by-side-comparisons-of-what-each-airline-offers-in-the-event-of-a-controllable-delay-or-cancellation-for-example-vouchers-are-provided-if-disruptions-are-caused-by-an-issue-such-as-understaffing-or-a-mechanical-glitch-but-not-if-flights-are-delayed-or-cancelled-for-reasons-outside-an-airline-s-control-such-as-weather">If your flight is canceled or delayed, consult the Department of Transportation’s <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aviation Consumer Protection website</a>, which shows side-by-side comparisons of what each airline offers in the event of a controllable delay or cancellation. For example, vouchers are provided if disruptions are caused by an issue such as understaffing or a mechanical glitch but not if flights are delayed or cancelled for reasons outside an airline’s control, such as weather.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/"></a></h4>



By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes Africa

US-AIRPLANE-TRAVEL-TRANSPORT

Get Ready For Another Hellish Summer Of Air Travel

Tanzania’s beer-guzzlers have a locally-brewed option as this entrepreneur attempts to change the country’s drinking culture with a social enterprise.



By Inaara Gangji



&#8220;Tanzania has a rich beer history. Each tribe has its own beer. They were producing beer [even] before the Germans,” Swiss native and Tanzania-resident Raphael Flury says, in an interview with FORBES AFRICA.



That was perhaps the impetus for running his own outfit – a first-of-its-kind craft brewery and brewpub located in Arusha, Tanzania 



When Flury acquired Twiga Brewery and its talented team in 2015, he wanted to offer more options to the Tanzanian market as an alternative to wine and mainstream beers. He got on board Tanzanian native Damian Mosoka as the head brewer, and more locals from the community to create locally-crafted beer.



“It was a desire for better beer but also to combine job creation and social impact. We did the research and thought this would be an interesting way to enter the beverage industry. We wanted to learn on the job about how this industry works,” says Flury.


<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/2023/05/tanzania-beer.png" alt="" class="wp-image-58088" width="407" height="309" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/tanzania-beer.png 407w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/tanzania-beer-300x228.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


The brewery is his second sustainable venture; the first being an organic food company. It was a natural instinct to work with local staff and build capacity before expanding.



In line with its mission, Twiga focuses on premium beers and offering customers an experience – 80% of his client-base is Tanzanian.



“We do small quantities, which is typical for a craft brewery. All our ingredients are of the highest quality, and we give it plenty of time to develop flavors. We aim to offer the customer a fresh tasting beer,” adds Saphira von Moos, Flury’s COO.



Served on draft and bottled, the beer aims to be all-natural, unlike industrial beer produced on a large scale.



“People deserve a premium product, brewed the German way. It is unfiltered with no additives,” echoes Mosoka. However, their challenge is to convince the beer-favoring Tanzanian consumer that locally brewed beer is good, especially since it’s not standard in the market.



“We have an innovative product and a lot of customer interaction as well. You can touch the brewery [the machines and processes] which is an innovative concept in Tanzania.



“Not a lot of people know what a brewery is… but we are constantly trying to change the beer culture, and that Tanzanian SMEs can make quality products just as [well] as international brands,” says Flury.



Another challenge is to convince customers that beers are best enjoyed cold, which is how it is served fresh from the draft. “It’s fun to do all this work and take the customer with you on this journey…” avers von Moos, who also has a mandate to encourage women to join in key production jobs at the brewery.



At the end of the day, Flury wants to be a role model and show other companies that it is possible to create and sustain equitable businesses in Tanzania. 



“As a social enterprise, we mirror our values in the company too. It’s a marathon, it’s not easy, but we want to be sustainable and a hub for young Tanzanian talent,” he says.

tanzania

Tapping Into The Market: What’s Brewing In Tanzania

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



Big-tech stocks rallied after earnings this week and drove big gains for major indexes, but the number of stocks actually outperforming the broader market has slipped to levels unseen in decades—and in some cases, ever—pushing some experts to warn the strength may be a telltale sign of economic weakness.



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



Buoyed by blockbuster&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/04/25/microsoft-earnings-stock-climbs-as-company-rides-ai-wave-to-profit-sales-beats/">earnings</a>&nbsp;releases from Microsoft, Meta and Google-parent Alphabet, the S&amp;P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq have jumped about 2% and 3% since Tuesday, respectively—tacking on to a rally that&#8217;s seen the Nasdaq surge 17% this year.



Despite the gains, however, JPMorgan analysts led by Dubravko Lakos-Bujas warned clients in a note that market breadth—as measured by the percentage of stocks in the S&amp;P that have outperformed the broader index—is the &#8220;weakest ever&#8221; by some measures.



For one, the market value of the S&amp;P&#8217;s two largest stocks, Apple and Microsoft, commands some 14% of the index&#8217;s value as a whole—the most ever in history; meanwhile, the 10 largest stocks are responsible for nearly 90% of the S&amp;P&#8217;s return this year—also the most ever.



Such &#8220;extreme concentration&#8221; in stocks supports a &#8220;bearish outcome for the market&#8221; because it has typically preceded economic slowdowns or recessions in the past, Dubravko Lakos-Bujas wrote, adding that the current rally, in particular, seems fueled by optimism that should soon fade about the end of the Federal Reserve&#8217;s interest rate hikes.



To make matters worse, JPMorgan notes the current degree of crowding implies &#8220;the risk of recession is far from priced in&#8221; even though fears have re-emerged following the collapse of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month.



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Morgan Stanley&#8217;s Michael Wilson is no more optimistic, saying on Tuesday he&#8217;s not convinced the bear market is over unless the performance of small-cap and regional bank stocks—both of which have underperformed while big tech rallies—improves.



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



&#8220;We are challenged to find a period in history during which these indices have underperformed to such a degree while a new bull market was beginning,&#8221; says Wilson.



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



After slipping into a bear market late last year, stocks have largely rallied over the past four months. Much of the bullishness has been fueled by hopes the Fed may soon cut interest rates (after more than a year of hiking them) to help ease uncertainty in the financial sector. &#8220;Big tech has been outperforming this year as Wall Street expects rate cuts to provide relief,&#8221; explains Oanda analyst Edward Moya—before expressing some doubts: &#8220;For the rally to continue we need to see a few hundred basis points in rate cuts, which is not necessarily going to happen if the Fed chooses inflation over financial stability over the next year.&#8221;



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



The Fed’s next policy meeting concludes next Wednesday. The futures market implies just a 14% chance the central bank will keep rates the same and an 86% chance it will again raise rates by 25 basis points, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Over the past few weeks, the odds have only grown in favor of another rate hike. Annual inflation fell for a ninth-straight month in March, but consumer prices still&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2023/04/12/prices-rose-another-5-in-march-lowest-inflation-reading-in-nearly-two-years/?sh=613fed083932">rose</a>&nbsp;by 5% on a yearly basis—well above the Fed&#8217;s 2% target.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/04/10/these-7-tech-stocks-command-almost-90-of-the-sp-500s-gains-signaling-market-rally-may-not-be-so-healthy/?sh=1b83adce65d5">These 7 Tech Stocks Command Almost 90% Of The S&amp;P 500’s Gains</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/04/27/dow-gains-500-points-thanks-to-big-techs-320-billion-rally/">Dow Gains 500 Points Thanks To Big Tech’s $320 Billion Rally</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/"></a>



By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

Illustrations of Cryptocurrency In Indonesia

This Stock Market Indicator Is The Weakest It’s Ever Been—And Other Warning Signs Are Flaring

With his recent album, Timeless, making waves, Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido’s much-anticipated performance at the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa in Botswana did not disappoint. The internationally-acclaimed singer, songwriter and producer also sat down with FORBES AFRICA to talk music and life.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“To see Africans relate with other business pioneers is just great. There has been a lot of recognition of Africans.”
</blockquote>



The last time he stepped on a stage in Botswana, his album A Good Time was at the top of the charts with over one billion streams across various digital platforms.



Returning to Gaborone in Botswana’s capital from April 23-26 with his first new album in over three years, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, walked off the stage, smiling gratefully as the crowd continued to sing the hit song Unavailable from his new album Timeless – which incidentally also features 2022 FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list-maker Musa Keys (Musa Makamu).



“I&#8217;m unavailable (unavailable). Dem no dem see me (dem no dey see)…” the attendees at the Forbes Under 30 Africa Summit continue to chorus long after the award-winning artist has made his way to his VIP tent around 11PM on a beautiful Botswana night.



The superstar Nigerian Afrobeats singer attended the four-day summit in Gaborone this week, participating in an on-stage interview on day two of the event and signing off the ‘Bushfire Party’ on the final day with an electrifying performance.



“This is one of my first performances of the year,” Davido says to FORBES AFRICA backstage after leaving his fans wanting more at the Waterstone Events and Conferencing venue in Gaborone.



“It was really about me getting back to doing my job. The thing I love most about being an artist is being on tour. I love it. So the fact that I could not perform, I felt very [cloistered].”



This is in reference to the fact that for six months, Davido halted his performances and public appearances after the tragic loss of his son last year.



“God put a full stop to everything I was doing,” he said during his on-stage interview at the summit.



“I never thought I would be able to perform or sit here again. I never thought I would be the same… I had a lot of time to reflect and make changes.”



So the 2023 Forbes summit has been special.



“I mean the fans will always scream,” Davido laughs.



“It was fun to be on stage but being able to sit and listen to people’s visions and their businesses has really been amazing. To see Africans relate with other business pioneers is just great. There has been a lot of recognition of Africans,” he says of the summit sessions that brought together young entrepreneurs.



Davido was a surprise adjudicator for the ‘Pitch Battle’ which had aspiring entrepreneurs selling their ideas to some of the continent’s top venture capitalists in a small group setting on the grass at the Waterstone venue.



“I am just happy that [Forbes] have been recognizing young Africans,” Davido tells FORBES AFRICA. “To put young Africans and creatives together has been amazing to see.”



Although Davido is primarily an Afrobeats artist, for his ‘Bush Party’ performance, the singer/songwriter showed “love” for Amapiano artists like Lethabo Sebetso, professionally known as Focalistic, who made the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list this year.



Who is his favorite Amapiano artist, we ask.



“Oh no, that is a hard one,” Davido says. “Amapiano has so many great artists but if I had to choose just one, right now it would need to be Musa Keys [Musa Makamu]. But can I just say I have always loved music from South Africa like Mafizola and Askido.”



Collaborating with more South African or southern African artists, he admits he will be “dropping an EP in September”.



His recent new album, Timeless, which he calls “his miracle album”, debuted with 3.61 million streams, more than the previous record on Spotify for first-day streams (4.91 million).



“I would be lying to you if I told you I knew the business-end of music early on in my career,” he laughs. “But it is something I had to learn over time. I don’t think it is something that you already know when you get into the industry but I think it is something you really do need to take seriously, that is very important,” says the star on his early days in Africa’s burgeoning music industry.

Ilan Godfrey for Forbes-3899 (1)

‘Getting Back To Doing My Job’: Nigerian Superstar Davido Opens Up

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



New Covid strain XBB.1.18, nicknamed arcturus, is quickly spreading across the U.S., but experts are warning that pink eye and high fever, two symptoms of the new variant, are particularly present among children.



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



Arcturus is a subvariant of the highly contagious omicron variant, which is the most prevalent variant in the U.S.,&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen an&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#traveler-genomic-surveillance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">uptick</a>&nbsp;in this variant among travelers—the week of March 6, it made up 1.1% of cases among travelers, and by the week of April 3, it made up 19.8%.



As of the week of April 22, the CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>&nbsp;arcturus makes up 9.6% of all U.S. cases, the second most prevalent subvariant behind XBB.1.5., which makes up 73.6% of cases.



The World Health Organization is tracking arcturus and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/21042023xbb.1.16ra-v2.pdf?sfvrsn=84577350_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">labeled</a>&nbsp;it a “variant of interest” alongside XBB.1.5. on April 17, a step below a variant of concern—WHO previously labeled it a “variant under monitoring” in January.



WHO also reports the subvariant has been detected in 33 countries, including the U.S., Australia, Singapore, Libya, Iran, Kuwait and Qatar, but it’s the most prevalent in India.



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



94,142. This is the weekly average of Covid cases in the U.S. as of April 19, the CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklycases_select_00" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>. However, this is a sharp decline from the weekly average of 296,279 this time last year, when BA.2, another omicron subvariant, was the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-sub-variant-ba2-makes-up-nearly-75-covid-variants-us-cdc-2022-04-19/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dominant strain</a>.



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



WHO’s Covid technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove,&nbsp;<a href="https://time.com/6268467/omicron-subvariant-xbb116-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;during a press conference in March arcturus replaced the other variants in circulation in India, so it’s “one to watch.” The University of Minnesota&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/who-elevates-xbb116-variant-interest-levels-rise-us-and-other-countries" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>&nbsp;the subvariant is fueling India’s biggest Covid surge in seven months. The Indian government&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mohfw.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>&nbsp;a total of 61,000 Covid cases as of Wednesday, a significant uptick compared to the 13,509 cases&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1912092" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;on March 30.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arcturus-origins">ARCTURUS ORIGINS</h2>



Arcturus is a descendant of the recombinant variant XBB, which stems from two separate BA.2 sublineages, according to WHO’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/21042023xbb.1.16ra-v2.pdf?sfvrsn=84577350_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">risk assessment</a>. It is one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/multi-media/details/who-press-conference-on-covid-19-and-other-global-health-issues-29-march-2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">600</a>&nbsp;omicron subvariants circulating the world. Though it has yet pinpointed its exact origins, WHO’s risk assessment reports the subvariant was first detected in January. Van Kerkhove also said in the press conference what sets this subvariant apart is a mutation in the spike protein, which “shows increased infectivity, as well as potential increased pathogenicity.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-symptoms">SYMPTOMS</h2>



<a href="https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/pink-eye-symptom-covid19-coronavirus-children" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">According</a>&nbsp;to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, pink eye (medically known as conjunctivitis) is suspected to be a symptom of the arcturus subvariant, particularly among children. If children have itchy, red eyes the AAO advises parents shouldn’t be alarmed, as it’s a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/red-pink-eye-goop-conjunctivitis-babies-infants" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">common</a>&nbsp;eye condition at any age and associated with allergy. However, Covid testing should be done to rule the virus out. Brad Hutton, a public health consultant at Hutton Health Consulting,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-to-know-about-the-new-covid-19-strain-known-as-arcturus#What-to-know-about-the-Arcturus-COVID-variant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Medical News Today&nbsp;arcturus seems to have “a competitive advantage to the current predominant variant in the globe, XBB.1.5.,” but it probably won’t be a “major cause for concern” since it doesn’t seem to cause more severe illness than XBB.1.5. Fevers have always been Covid symptom, but the fevers related to arcturus are higher-grade, Matthew Binnicker, the director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-arcturus-covid-variant-symptoms-doctors-are-seeing-the-most-right-now_uk_64410d19e4b039ec4e7cf84c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;the Huffington Post.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stamfordhealth.org/healthflash-blog/primary-care/fever-in-adults-when-to-worry/#:~:text=5.,103%20degrees%20F.%20or%20higher." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">According</a>&nbsp;to Stamford health, a high-grade fever in adults is 103 degrees fahrenheit or higher for infants up to three months, 100.4 degrees fahrenheit or higher is considered high-grade, in children three months to three years, 102 degrees fahrenheit is high-grade and 103 degrees fahrenheit in older kids. If a patient develops a fever alongside pink eye, it’s a way to differentiate the infection from allergies because “allergies aren’t associated typically with a fever,” Binnicker said.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/01/04/omicron-subvariant-xbb15-the-dominant-covid-strain-in-the-us-surges-in-major-metro-areas-with-slightly-different-symptoms/?sh=3a14fea0af2c">Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5: The Dominant Covid Strain In The U.S. Surges In Major Metro Areas With Slightly Weaker Symptoms</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/01/26/covid-vaccines-heres-evidence-they-work-despite-persistent-misinformation-along-with-side-effects-and-common-misconceptions/?sh=67c5ed4547c3">Covid Vaccines: Here’s Evidence They Work—Despite Persistent Misinformation—Along With Side Effects And Common Misconceptions</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-to-know-about-the-new-covid-19-strain-known-as-arcturus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New COVID-19 strain: What to know about &#8216;Arcturus&#8217;</a> (Medical News Today)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/"></a>By Arianna Johnson, Forbes Staff

A Covid-19 Vaccination Site As Children Under 5-Years Old Become Eligible For Shot

What To Know About ‘Arcturus’: New Covid Variant Causing Pink Eye

An armed conflict headed by the armed forces chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, began on April 15 in Sudan. The conflict rages on in the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region, where at least 460 people have been killed and 4,063 people have been injured, reports the country’s Health Ministry. Foreign states are fast evacuating their citizens from Sudan.



Noon Abdelbassit Ibhrahim, a 21-year-old medical student at Ibn Sina University in Khartoum, Sudan, was living in Burri before a missile struck outside her family home on day four of the conflict gripping Sudan.



“It hit right outside our door, all our glass windows and doors shattered, our house was basically destroyed and we left it in a state where it&#8217;s open and anyone can get inside. All our belongings, all our life is there. And we left everything behind to try and get to safety,” a distraught Abdelbassit Ibhrahim says to FORBES AFRICA on a WhatsApp call.



The family left the house in Burri on Friday, April 21, arriving in the Egyptian capital of Cairo two days later.



At first, they stayed with a relative in Soba, a suburb on the outskirts of Khartoum. The family organized a bus to take them to Cairo, traveling with Swedish, American and Irish friends. The whole bus trip cost a total of SDG2,000,000 ($3,322).



Halfway through the journey, at 8PM, they were stopped by officers and told it would be better to turn back and sleep at a nearby city, as there was the imminent threat of hijackers on their way. The group decided to continue and drive through the night.



When they arrived safely at the Egyptian border after many hours of travel, the women, children and elders were allowed in without a visa. The American, Swedish, and Irish citizens were issued a visa on arrival for $25, Abdelbassit Ibhrahim says.



Her brother, Mohamed Abdelbassit Ibrahim, 19, as well as her uncles, Moez Hassan Zain, 40, and Momein Hassan Zain, 34, were turned away at the border because they didn’t have the right paperwork, she says.



Abdelbassit Ibhrahim has not been in contact with her brother or uncles since Sunday and is worried about them.



Internet outages have been reported across the country.



“The situation in Sudan is escalating by the minute. It&#8217;s completely unsafe, and they still haven&#8217;t declared a state of emergency. People are running out of food, water. People can’t get to the hospital to get emergency services and those that can – all these hospitals are going out of service because they have no staff and no equipment. We&#8217;re very slowly losing contact with everyone.”



The death toll is believed to be higher because people are struggling to get healthcare, as most of the city&#8217;s hospitals have been forced to close. The World Health Organization (WHO) has so far recorded 11 attacks on health facilities in the country.



“Hundreds and apparently now thousands of people are stuck at the border and can&#8217;t cross over –people who don&#8217;t have passports, people whose passports have expired, men aged 16 to 49 who can’t get their visas issued. The situation is just very chaotic and not enough light is being shone onto this.



People still don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on. This is a point in time where we really do need food, water and medical supplies,” says Adbelbassit Ibhrahim to FORBES AFRICA.



The armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces seemingly agreed upon several ceasefires, the latest being a three-day break in fighting over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which started on Friday. The ceasefires have largely been ignored.



The UN reports that up to 20,000 people, predominantly women and children, have escaped from Sudan to Chad.



A total of 77 South African citizens were trapped in Sudan, according to South Africa’s Head of Public Diplomacy, Clayson Monyela.



“Our nationals and embassy staff are on their way out of Khartoum. I can&#8217;t disclose the security and logistics of the operation. But they are moving out. We are in constant contact with them,” says Monyela on Twitter, on April 24.



Forty one South Africans have been bussed out of Sudan through the Egypt border along with seven Angolans, as part of a multi-South African government department effort on Monday, reports The Gift of the Givers. The organization, along with the South African government, organized the evacuations, but cell phone networks are down and hindering efforts.



The remainder of the South Africans were evacuated on Tuesday, April 26, reports The Gift of The Givers.



An increasing number of countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan&#8217;s capital as the conflict continues. The United States, United Kingdom and Canada have flown diplomats out, reports the BBC. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and India have also been removing diplomats and other nationals.



Turkey began evacuation efforts by road on Sunday, with plans halted due to a nearby “explosion”. The citizens of Gulf countries, as well as of Egypt and Pakistan were evacuated, reports the BBC.



On Sunday, lines of UN vehicles were seen leaving Khartoum heading towards Port Sudan on the Red Sea, carrying &#8220;citizens from all over the world&#8221;, a Sierra Leonean refugee told AFP.



In recent months, Sudan had been attempting to transition towards democracy, after the 2019 coup of autocrat Omar al-Bashir. The Rapid Support Forces and the armed forces were both held responsible for the military coup.



If the conflict continues without aid or a ceasefire, it will have ramifications for the horn of Africa as the region enters yet another year of drought.

UK Government Continues Efforts To Evacuate British Nationals From Sudan

‘Left Everything Behind… Very Chaotic’: Account From Citizen Fleeing Sudan Conflict

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



The market value of LVMH, the company chaired by the world’s richest person Bernard Arnault, just surpassed that of Tesla, the firm led by the world’s second-richest person Elon Musk, for the first time in several months, as Arnault’s lead on Musk as the richest man extends to nearly $70 billion.



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



LVMH, the French luxury conglomerate behind brands such as Tiffany, Christian Dior and Moët Hennessy, had a market capitalization of $484 billion Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET.



That narrowly falls short of Tesla’s $510 billion market cap after shares of the American electric vehicle titan slipped, bringing its April&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/?sh=49a4ec1d76f9">stock slide</a>&nbsp;to 22% amid investor concerns about dwindling profit margins.



It’d the first time since mid-January that LVMH’s market cap topped Tesla’s, according to YCharts data, and the first time since June 2020, excluding the three-week blip for Tesla at the turn of 2023.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuations">FORBES VALUATIONS</h2>



Arnault is worth $240.4 billion, according to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#2426131b3d78">latest estimates</a>, $67.1 billion more than Musk’s $173.3 billion wealth pile. Roughly 97% of Arnault’s fortune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/article/behind-the-billions-bernard-arnault/?sh=3ca8b6e8316d">comes from</a>&nbsp;his 48% stake in LVMH, while Musk’s 23% stake in Tesla&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/article/elon-musk/?sh=b48f04026afa">accounts for</a>&nbsp;about 58% of his net worth.



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



LVMH hit another key milestone earlier this week,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-24/lvmh-s-market-value-surpasses-500-billion-a-first-in-europe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">becoming</a>&nbsp;the first European company to ever exceed a $500 billion valuation. Tesla and LVMH are the 10th and 11th most valuable companies in the world, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://companiesmarketcap.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Companies Market Cap</a>. Arnault&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2022/12/07/elon-musk-was-overtaken-as-richest-person-in-the-worldbriefly/?sh=4682c562778e">overtook</a>&nbsp;Musk as the richest person on earth in December. Musk’s net worth has cratered by 15% thus far in April.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2023/04/04/the-worlds-richest-person-2023/?sh=108c50344e49">The World’s Richest Person 2023</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/article/behind-the-billions-bernard-arnault/?sh=3ca8b6e8316d">Behind The Billions: Bernard Arnault</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/article/elon-musk/?sh=b48f04026afa">Behind The Billions: Elon Musk</a> (Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/"></a>By Derek Saul, Forbes Staff

Untitled design (8)

LVMH Is Almost More Valuable Than Tesla—As Wealth Gap Widens Between Arnault And Musk

With over 600 young brand ambassadors and/or business leaders expected to be part of the four-day event, the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa kicked off in Botswana’s economic and political capital, Gaborone, on April 23.



Thousands gathered in Botswana’s capital Gaborone yesterday, April 23, in the historic Main Mall and square, for the pan-African opening of the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa, held for a second year in the southern Africa city.



The four-day event kicked off with celebrations at the outdoor shopping and commercial hub as summit delegates and members of the public swayed to live on-stage music featuring energetic performances from some of Africa’s finest musical talent including Sauti Sol, Stabito, local Botswana artist Dato Seiko and one of the country’s rising stars, ATI.



South African Grammy award-winner Nomcebo Zikode also enthralled the audience with her foot-tapping music and viral smash single, Jerusalema.&nbsp;



The eager crowds gathered outside the Cresta President Hotel, known as a legacy hotel, overlooking the main stage.



“I am thrilled to be attending the 2023 summit,” said Muhle Ndwalane, the Managing Director of Asante Tech Solutions&nbsp;and FORBES AFRICA’s 2022 Under-30 lister. “This is one incredible platform that brings together some of the brightest minds and most innovative leaders from across the world.”



“With this being the first day of the summit, we have really been having fun,” said FORBES AFRICA’s 2021 Under-30 lister, filmmaker and creative director, Ifan Ifeanyi Michael, during the festivities.



“Apart from it being fun, it&#8217;s actually such a good networking experience for me. Meeting people from all parts of the continent, and all over the world; sharing business ideas, and also connecting with individuals who are also very optimistic about changing the narrative of Africa.”



Throughout the summit, attendees are looking forward to riveting conversations with change-makers from Africa and across the globe including the continent’s youngest billionaire Mohammed Dewji and Grammy award-winning artist Davido (who is also set to perform at the Bush Party), but part of the “fun” will be hearing from some of the past listers as well continuing the African growth story.



“This year I’m at the summit to speak on the topic of securing equitable funding, with fellow FORBES AFRICA listers Shaun Shoriwa and Charlot Magayi,” said Dr Brett Lyndall Singh, 2022 Under 30 list-maker, and founder and CEO of AOM GrouP.



“Last year, I came to the summit as an excited delegate, eager to learn from successful young entrepreneurs, and I ended up meeting a fellow lister, who became my co-founder! This year, I’m here to hear more! This summit is the most important event for any serious young entrepreneur, and I’m excited to share, learn and support this wonderful community.”



Held under the theme Entrepreneurial Africa—with Botswana at the Center, the summit will start day two with conversations and panel discussions with several African leaders and elite entrepreneurs, at the Botswana Innovation Hub.

Copy of Copy of Ilan Godfrey for Forbes_T1A5622

‘This Summit Is The Most Important Event For Any Serious Young Entrepreneur’: The Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa Opens In Gaborone 

Nomcebo Zikode, the multi platinum-selling South African singer-songwriter who won the Grammy in February for Global Music Performance with Wouter Kellerman and Zakes Bantwini, will be performing at the pan-African welcome celebration of the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa in Gaborone, Botswana, on April 23.



The artist, who is the founder of the Nomcebo Zikode Foundation, was also at the eighth annual FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 8 in Pretoria, South Africa, where she spoke on stage about her tough journey to becoming a successful singer.



She outlined her trials and triumphs before performing the foot-tapping hit song Jerusalema and evoking tumultuous applause and cheers from the audience at the SunBet Arena.



She also won the 2023 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Entertainer Award at a glittering ceremony in the evening on the same day.



Speaking to FORBES AFRICA after the win, she said: “You know, people have read everywhere about my struggles. But I did not focus on my struggles – I kept on pushing. That is why today, [I am] the woman who is a Grammy winner, because I didn’t give up. I kept on pushing. I am so happy as an African woman.”



From being a backing singer to an artist receiving recognition, Zikode is a part of South Africa’s burgeoning music landscape.



“There’s so much that is happening in this industry – when I say so much I mean going through so much. So, for me as a woman, to be recognized by FORBES AFRICA is great,” Zikode added in March.



Zikode worked with Master KG on the 2019 hit single Jerusalema and later remixed with Burna Boy, the song debuted at Number 1 on Billboard Music Charts. It became an anthem in South Africa and across the world as “a feel-good” song during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nomcebo Zikode, image supplied

‘I Didn’t Focus On My Struggles, I Didn’t Give Up’: South Africa’s Grammy Winner Nomcebo Zikode

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



The Gen Z generation is tracking ahead of Millennials and Gen X for homeownership, a new Redfin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redfin.com/news/gen-z-millennial-homeownership-rate-home-purchases/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;shows—but the housing market threatens to create inequality across generations as those who didn’t buy homes in the past three years now face elevated prices and mortgage rates.



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



Roughly 30% of 25-year-olds in 2022—the oldest of the Gen Z (born between 1997 to 2013)—owned their home in 2022, a slightly higher percentage than the 28% of Millennials (born between 1981 to 1996) who owned homes at that age and the 27% of Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1980)—but lower than the rate for Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), 32% of whom owned homes at age 25.



While Gen Z is ahead of their parents’ generation, Millennials are still tracking behind—62% of 40-year-old Millennials owned a home in 2022 compared with the 69% homeownership rate for Baby Boomers at that age.



The oldest of Gen Z were buying houses during the purchasing boom in 2020 and 2021, while the oldest Millennials reached age 25 right around the 2008 mortgage crisis.



Gen Z homebuyers have been flocking more toward affordable parts of the country, like Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Cincinnati, while Millennial buyers are more prevalent in job centers like Seattle and Philadelphia.



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



Many from Gen Z took advantage of the 3% mortgage rates in 2020 and 2021 to become homeowners, with the average mortgage rate for homebuyers under 25 in 2021 at 3.1%. A tight labor market during the pandemic also helped that generation build their incomes quickly, as wages rose 12% in 2022, double the increase for the overall population, according to a Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-13/gen-z-americans-keep-spending-in-face-of-high-inflation-consumer-prices?sref=fRZXrT1O#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>. Gen Z also focused its homebuying in smaller cities where housing was much less expensive, making it easier to afford a mortgage down payment. For example, Virginia Beach, which was the most popular location for Gen Z buyers in 2022, has a median home sale price of $225,000, while Seattle, the most popular among Millennials, averages $775,000 for a house. This is partly because people under 25 may be more flexible about their location as they enter the workforce in the era of remote and hybrid work, while older adults may be more tied to locations near existing careers, according to the study.



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



“Millennials have been financially unlucky. Their parents had a more straightforward financial journey,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “The oldest millennials entered the workforce during the 2001 recession. Then came the 2008 financial crisis, with many millennials in their first post-college job.”



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



Now that mortgage rates have risen sharply from their pandemic lows, there’s a likelihood those who do not own their homes may have a harder time finding an affordable mortgage, the study shows. The “mortgage Millennials” or Gen Z members who bought homes before prices shot up more than 30% during the pandemic, or when mortgage rates were around 3%, have the upper hand over those who did not buy during that time and now face record-high monthly mortgage payments and rising housing costs.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nigelwilson/2021/08/18/us-millennials-home-ownership-and-the-growing-chasm-between-aspiration-and-reality/?sh=6eee2e035498">U.S. Millennials: Home Ownership And The Growing Chasm Between Aspiration And Reality</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-millennials-real-estate-investing-mistakes-buying-homes-early-2023-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gen Z is coming for the housing market</a>&nbsp;(Insider)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/mortgage-rates/">Compare Current Mortgage Rates</a> (Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/"></a>By Katherine Hamilton, Forbes Staff

Tag: COVID-19

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA