It was a bright, sunny day when a fleet of 36 yachts left the shores of Cape Town, South Africa, for Brazil in the 2014 Cape to Rio race. One of the yachts, Investec Ciao Bella, has the most unlikely crew; it’s manned by an entire family, the Robinsons. Unlike many professional competitors, their idea of a family holiday consists of a month ploughing through the cold ocean, ducking under flying fish, gawking at glowing dolphins and watching out for floating containers as deadly as icebergs.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-2586" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/P1100441-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
In January, the family left African shores sporting shirts, short-sleeved vests and plenty of sunscreen. Little did they know they would sail in 60 knots of wind and 8-meter swells; a storm no-one was expecting was on the horizon. It claimed one man’s life and crippled a third of the fleet.
“If you look at the weather imaging from that day all you will see is this giant eye of cloud. And we sailed straight into it,” says Mike Robinson.
In 2011, Mike and his wife Gill, sons Ricky (23), Brennan (22), and Ryan (14) with daughters Kathryn (25) and Michaela (10) and their nephew Bradley (19) came second in the race.
The storm hit a day into the race. The swells were massive, the wind strong enough to rip your sail. The Ciao Bella struggled in churning seas which changed direction. Brennan and Ricky, the most experienced yachtsmen held the helm for hours on end. The rest supported them, changing sails at a moment’s notice and sliding on deck in the sleeting rain.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-2583" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/P1210855-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
“It was a heavy night. It was the beginning of the race and some of us were predictably seasick. Everyone had a bit of a wobble except for my wife, Gill. When the weather got tough she was the only one standing and she took over the cabin. She made sure people got hot chocolate and that everyone’s harnesses and clothes were ready for the changes in shifts,” says Mike.
The Robinson’s sailed through the eye of the storm and launched out the other end with the wind at their backs, taking a commanding lead. They were exhausted and decided to take a 12-hour rest. The decision, says Mike, ultimately cost them the race.
“We were well out in the front, ahead of the other boats. If we had kept with it we would have had a strong wind all the way to Rio,” he says.
Other boats were not as lucky. The yacht Bille, registered from Angola, reported that their crew member, António João Bartolomeu, died and two other crew members were injured. Mike first heard of the news during a live radio interview.
“We were blissfully unaware of the drama. It was a rough ride but we managed it well. It was the Wednesday after the race began. I fumbled through the interview. It turned out it was a storm of massive proportions, the likes seen in the serious sea races, not the Cape to Rio,” he says.
South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institution (NSRI) reported eight-meter swells and 60-knot gale force winds. Three boats were towed back to Cape Town. The Black Cat reported being set adrift after losing its rudder; Isla took on water in the engine compartment and had an electrical fire; and on the AVA, two of their four crew members were injured and activated their emergency satellite beacon. According to Mike, a third of the fleet had been forced to retire.
“It was no longer a family get-together to sail. This was something unfathomable. Usually when you get to Rio there is incredible comradery. This time, there was the sense that there was one person who should have made it, but didn’t,” he says.
It took the Robinsons 21 days to travel 5,500 kilometers. It was almost twice the length of time the professional 10-man Maserati took to take the line honors, in 11 days. Still, Mike was happy to place fifth overall, the second South African boat to arrive in Rio.
“We were competing against boats that had more carbon than a coal mine,” says Mike, referring to the newer models made of carbon graphite which are lighter and faster than the Ciao Bella’s fiberglass hull.
“The first three boats were made of full-time racing outfits. We’ve got only one world champion racer and he’s 17 (Ryan). We traveled from Cape Town to the oil fields of Rio just on the power of the wind… We did all this with seven people on a 35-foot yacht, one of the smallest in the fleet. That’s amazing,” says son Ricky, now 26 years old.
Unlike their first adventure, the Robinsons were unusually disaster free, says Mike. In the 2011 Cape to Rio, their engine failed leaving them without fresh water. They also sailed the whole way with a cracked rudder.
The family’s life on board is littered with unusual moments. Flying fish smack people on deck and dolphins swim in their wake. Mike says there is nothing more majestic than an albatross in the trade winds. He also cannot forget the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean.
“There is not a color that can describe it. We think it’s a regal blue; as far as the eye can see and deep into the depths. It’s all encompassing. The wave movement becomes regular. Life becomes this rhythm. You cook to a rhythm, you sleep to it. When the sun sets the sea becomes velvet and the Milky Way goes from the left side of the horizon to the right. Behind you, the moon rises on a silver pathway,” he says.
It’s here, thousands of miles from land, where the race begins in earnest in the trade winds. At the helm Ricky, Brennan and Ryan compete to see who can go the fastest and the furthest in two-hour shifts. The smell of pancakes and bacon floats onto the deck. Katheryn and Michaela sing bad parodies and the brothers argue about philosophy during their 3AM shifts.
<div id="attachment_2584" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2584" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-2584" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/P1210879-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA</div>
“I spent an entire night with Ricky and I don’t think we said more than two words to each other. We just experienced the moment in each other’s company,” says Mike.
As the weather warms up closer to Rio, the Robinson’s rations thin. The first to go are zoo biscuits, valued higher than gold, until a bout of foul weather reveals a stash, hidden in the rain jackets.
“Brennan was the most likely candidate, it was his jacket. But Ryan had also been using it. Michaela is known for hoarding her sweets so it could have been her. We just didn’t know,” says Mike.
The debate raged into the night. Accusations flew across the rocking yacht. The family posted a blog asking for help to solve the crime. In response, the other yachts, instead of helping to solve the mystery, tried to barter for the treats.
“Zoo biscuits are a precious commodity on the ocean. Sure, Oreos and ginger snaps are fine. But Zoo biscuits are lapped up, especially on the Ciao Bella. We got offers of fish in exchange. But no fish is worth a Zoo biscuit, no matter how fresh,” says Mike.
The journey ends at Rio, surrounded by huge volcanic cliffs clustered with mansions. The statue, Christ the Redeemer, stands out on the horizon. It might not have been the first place prize for the Robinsons but their trip was a family vacation like no other.

Fish? Not Worth A Biscuit

The genius son of Mafalala has gone; the fast and deft feet that learned the game on the rugged streets of Maputo, in Mozambique, have been laid to rest. They called him the Black Panther and the Black Pearl; whatever they called him, he left defenders speechless in his wake.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2417" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSC00368-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
On the streets of Mafalala, as rough as a flying tackle, Eusébio learned the football that was to take him from poverty to stardom with a ball made out of newspaper wrapped with rags. Mafalala was a tough training ground of cuts, bruises, grit and stones; where, to this day, barefoot youngsters trap and pass. I have stood on that makeshift, sandy pitch in the twilight of another warm Maputo day, listening to the shouts of the young and hopeful. If you close your eyes, you can see the young Eusébio and Mario Coluna—two world class players who emerged from Mafalala—passing to each other and laughing their heads off. Maybe, I am merely a football romantic.
Eusébio’s mother’s house is a free kick’s distance away. The street that runs by it, is named after the man.
With his skill on the ball and explosive pace, Eusébio shone over football in his hometown like the sun. He signed for Sporting Clube de Lourenco Marques at 15 and soon caught the eye of scouts.
Legend has it that a chance encounter in a barber’s shop, in Lisbon, sealed Eusébio’s chance of a glittering career. In the barber’s chair was a scout, for Brazilian team Sao Paulo, who had just returned from Mozambique where he had been bowled over by the skilful young Eusébio. Listening to the scout’s story was legendary Benfica coach, Bela Guttman, who flew straight to Mozambique and persuaded the young man to sign for around $10,000. Eusébio’s mother put the money in the bank and said she wouldn’t touch it until her son had made it as a professional. Imagine that, in this age of avaricious football agents.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2416" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSC00357-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />
There was controversy in Portugal before Eusébio kicked a ball. Sporting Clube de Lourenco Marques was a feeder club to Sporting Lisbon, who didn’t take too kindly to rival Benfica snatching a young star from under their noses. Sporting appealed Eusébio’s registration in a wrangle that lasted five months. Eusébio was cloistered by Benfica in a fishing village in the Algarve until it was all over.
Eusébio scored a hat-trick on his debut for Benfica; two weeks later, he scored a hat-trick in a friendly against Santos, which had Pele in the side, in Paris. Few, including Pele, had seen anything like him. He was a new breed of striker: fast, robust, good in the air, a master at free kicks with a fearsome shot; a forerunner of the great nimble goal scorers of the modern era like Maradona and Lionel Messi.
In an illustrious career, that exceeded all expectations, Eusébio scored 473 goals in 440 games in 15 years at Benfica. For Portugal, he played 64 times, scoring 41 goals. His finest hour was during the World Cup in England in 1966 where Eusébio scored nine goals in six games, winning the golden boot, and could very easily have won the tournament for Portugal. The 1966 Portugal side was considered the greatest ever and was captained by Coluna, the other sensation from Maputo. The Portuguese journalists christened the midfield colossus Coluna the “Sacred Monster” because he was both terrifying and beautiful.
The night before the semi-final, in which Portugal was to play England at Goodison Park in Liverpool, the English Football Association switched the game to
Wembley, in London. It meant the Portuguese traveled down from Liverpool by train, overnight, arriving sleepless and in poor shape.
Even then, Portugal lost narrowly 2-1 with Eusébio scoring the goal. You could not imagine this kind of conniving
gamesmanship in the game of today. No surprise that, in Portugal, this semi-final is known as the ‘Jogo das lagrimas’—the game of tears.
Eusébio also stamped his name on the European Cup and scored twice in a 5-3 win over Real Madrid in the final in 1962. After the match, the 19-year-old swapped shirts with his boyhood hero Ferenc Puskás.
In that game, Eusébio displayed his trademark politeness. Benfica were awarded a penalty and captain Coluna prepared to take it.
“Senor Coluna, may I take the penalty?” Eusébio asked.
The one man from Mafalala passed the ball to the other; Eusébio scored and the cup was secured.
In 1968, Benfica lost 3-1 to Manchester United at Wembley. Many remember the game for a superb solo goal by George Best; many more will remember it for the moment Eusébio stood and applauded United goalkeeper, Alex Stepney, for
saving one of his bullet shots.
That was the gentleman and sportsman Eusébio was—a humane and gentle spirit who lit up the game and did Africa proud.
In Mozambique, Eusébio was revered during his many visits, but never tempted to return home. Among some in
Mozambique there is a tinge of regret that the great man never brought his energy and skill back to the land of his birth. Coluna did; when his playing days were over he came back to coach the unfashionable Text Chimoio to the national championship followed by many years of work in the
administration of the game in Mozambique. Coluna, who played nearly 700 times for Benfica and 57 times for Portugal, is retired in the quiet suburbs of Maputo, a long ball away from Mafalala where it all began.
Maybe, Eusébio gave his all to the game in the name of Africa and that was enough for one life.

Homage To The Black Panther  And Sacred Monster

Nobody knew how to say Zarah Razafimahatratra’s surname when she was crowned Africa’s junior tennis champion in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2010. All they did know was that the young girl from Madagascar, who was a little over 15 years old and brimming with confidence, could become a star.
She had a solid backhand and controlled the baseline with ease, skills she learnt in South Africa, where she was a student at a Pretoria academy backed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Razafimahatratra describes her journey to victory as a “great adventure”, but admits that the excitement quickly gave way to real concerns.
Razafimahatratra’s form was improving to the point where she wanted to start playing in the junior events at grand slams. “I should be playing the Australian Open but for financial reasons, I cannot,” she said at the time of her junior title win.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5960" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-078-079-SPORT-Tennis-003-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
“To progress, I have to spend a lot of money, and this is what I currently lack. I’ve already improved by playing regularly in Africa. I made an effort to be at the top of Africa and now that I have, I need to play a lot more tournaments.”
Without sponsorship, global travel was difficult and Razafimahatratra found, like many other players from Africa, that the year’s first major event could not feature on her calendar.
Later that year, Razafimahatratra secured a small amount of corporate backing when motor vehicle company Materauto Ford in Madagascar decided to back her. It was too late to head to Australia, but she used the money to concentrate on making a name for herself.
In 2012, Razafimahatratra played two Grade 1 tournaments in South America and a full season of junior clay court tennis in Europe. She found the competition much tougher, losing in the first round in both Costa Rica and in Venezuela, but managing to reach the quarterfinals on clay. That was when she decided to turn professional and start playing with the big girls on the ITF circuit.
Razafimahatratra’s first outing was back in Nigeria. If she won the tournament, she would take home $25,000 in prize money, with the knowledge that she would have to be the best player on the court in order to pay for her career. Razafimahatratra knew she had to up her game.
She struggled initially, losing in the early stages of competitions, but by the end of the year, the Malagasy player was crowned champion in both the singles and doubles events in Potchefstroom, South Africa. She started 2013 with two victories in doubles tournaments in Egypt.
At 19, Razafimahatratra is her country’s top tennis player. She has handed Madagascar its first Fed Cup – a team event that is the female version of the Davis Cup – victory in a decade. However, money is still the biggest obstacle to her continued success.
Razafimahatratra is not alone. Across the continent, tennis players rely on slim pickings, even though the ITF runs three centers of development. The academies, in Morocco, South Africa and the most recent addition in Burundi, create a home for the sport in the north, south and east of the continent.
West Africa used to have a base in Dakar, Senegal, but the facility has lost its ITF status. It continues to ope-rate as a national centre of development, and with similar operations in Mali and Togo, that part of the continent is not entirely out in the cold when it comes to tennis.
Talented African players are awarded scholarships from the ITF, which allow them to spend up to a month at any of these centers. If they are deemed superstars in the making, they may be invited to spend longer periods at the academies, honing their skills. But the ITF has repeatedly exp-lained that the financial assistance it provides is insufficient.
“We would love to see the governments being more committed to developing the game,” Frank Courard of the ITF’s development projects told CNN when Burundi’s facility was opened. “If you look at our budget of $4.3 million each year, it’s what FIFA gives to maybe one or two nations. There’s a huge discrepancy.”
Football and athletics remain the most popular sports in Africa and one of the reasons is because the continent consistently produces heroes in those sports. Tennis role models are few and far between. Courard says the last one was probably Yannick Noah, the Frenchman of Cameroonian descent who began playing tennis in Africa and won the French Open in 1983.
“When he won, in Cameroon, kids identified (with him) and wanted to play tennis because they saw Yannick winning,” Courard recalls.
Currently, Burundi’s Hassan Ndayishimiye leads the stakes in the men’s game. He became the first Burundian to play at Wimbledon. He was ranked 112th on the junior table when he was given a wild card entry to the qualifying draw. Not only did he make it into the main section of the tournament, but he went on to play in the second round, an achievement he described as one of the best moments in his life.
“It was amazing. It was when I realized that this kid from Burundi can change the tennis world, he can make it. He can go where no Burundian has ever been – and no one has even heard of Burundi,” he said at the time.
Similarly, very few in the tennis world associate Madagascar with the game, and even fewer have heard of Razafimahatratra. Malagasy authorities would do well to heed the young woman’s call for support. The last tennis player from Madagascar to progress internationally was Dally Randriantefy, who reached a career high of 44 on the Women’s Tennis Association rankings. She “fought alone without the help of the state and finally decided to stop” in 2006.
Razafimahatratra has no intention of quitting but her country has already come close to losing her.
“I was asked by Egyptian coaches and South Africans to change nationalities but I have said no. I am proud of my country. I’ve given a lot to Madagascar and I still hope for some recognition,” she explains.
She may get that recognition if she makes it to an event such as the Australian Open. She will not be the first Malagasy to play there; Randriantefy participated in the tournament and retired in 2006 after losing in the first round. But Razafimahatratra could become the first African woman in a long time to do something special in a grand slam.
South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers was the only representative from Africa at the 2011 Australian Open, and since then, Zimbabwe’s Cara Black has played in doubles events at the Rod Laver Arena. No other African woman has made it, but the next one could well be Razafimahatratra. The commentators had better start learning how to pronounce her name.

Owning the backHAND

Technology has made everything we do each day easier. We can navigate our way to a meeting, host a video chat with a client in Dubai, and check work emails from the golf course.
But all of this instant access has a price. As workers struggle to adapt to a workplace teeming with smartphones and tablets, it’s easy to make mistakes that can not only annoy co-workers, but damage reputations and destroy careers. If you find you’re focusing on your devices more than the people around you, you may be breaking the rules of technology etiquette. Here are a few guidelines for using technology in the office.
&nbsp;
<ol>
<li>
<h5>Don’t check email mid-conversation</h5>
</li>
</ol>
Don’t allow your attention to drift to your computer screen or your smartphone while in a conversation with someone. When you ignore the colleague in front of you to check your buzzing cell, you’re actually sending the message that something else is more important than the conversation at hand. You’re also making it clear that you don’t value your co-worker’s time, which may soon result in that person seeking conversations with someone else.
&nbsp;
<ol start="2">
<li>
<h5>Don’t wear headphones in communal areas</h5>
</li>
</ol>
For some employees, headphones are a great way to tune out distractions to focus on the task at hand. But when you step away from your desk to use the restroom or drop off something in the mail room, leave the headphones at your desk. This is also true of Bluetooth headset. Nothing annoys co-workers more than trying to decipher whether you’re on a phone call or not every time they see you.
&nbsp;
<ol start="3">
<li>
<h5>Lose the speakerphone</h5>
</li>
</ol>
A Bluetooth headset is far more preferable to speakerphone. Speakerphones are for conference calls involving multiple people in a room with a closed door. Speakerphones are not for one-on-one calls held in a cubicle because you can’t be bothered to hold the handset to your ear. Believe it or not, other people in your office have work to do, as well. One other thing to keep in mind: your clients and vendors may not be so happy with being broadcast through your building.
&nbsp;
<ol start="4">
<li>
<h5>Pay attention during meetings</h5>
</li>
</ol>
Yes, your BlackBerry’s buzzing. Yes, it could be important. But if you think no one in the room is noticing you’re spending entire meetings on your phone, you’re wrong. If you must be reachable at all times, give your phone only cursory glances when you’re in a meeting, saving your responses until later. It’s important your co-workers feel you’re part of the team, which includes being an active participant in every meeting you attend.
&nbsp;
<ol start="5">
<li>
<h5>Silence your cell phone</h5>
</li>
</ol>
These days, movie theater audiences can’t get through the previews without at least one reminder to put all cell phones on silent. The same rule should apply to any business meeting. If your work-related cell phone must stay on vibrate, be sure it’s on the lowest setting and keep it holstered. Buzzing cell phones can be just as distracting as
ringers. In fact, as a courtesy to co-workers, you should leave your cell phone on silent at all times while you’re in an office setting. Nobody wants to hear your ringtone 700 times a day.
&nbsp;
<ol start="6">
<li>
<h5>Use your inside voice</h5>
</li>
</ol>
For some reason, people feel the need to speak more loudly when they’re conversing on a cell phone, especially if the connection isn’t as strong as it should be. The person at the other end of the line can hear you clearly if you speak in a normal tone of voice and those in the office around you will thank you for your courtesy.
&nbsp;
<ol start="7">
<li>
<h5>Be sparing with “Urgent” emails</h5>
</li>
</ol>
If you mark everything as “urgent,” eventually nobody will pay attention to anything you send. Before upping the importance of an email, ask yourself if the person at the other end will see the message as a high priority. Also, make sure each message’s subject line clearly states the purpose of the message inside to prevent messages being accidentally discarded as irrelevant.
&nbsp;
<ol start="8">
<li>
<h5>Be sparing with CCs</h5>
</li>
</ol>
Before copying everyone from the cleaning person to the CEO on an e-mail, consider whether the information is relevant. While there are some issues certain key parties need to know about, if you involve the higher-ups in everything, you may be perceived as someone who is unable to make decisions without assistance. Workers should also use caution when CC-ing co-workers’ supervisors on emails. When done a certain way, this can have a tattletale-like impact that rubs those co-workers the wrong way.
&nbsp;
<ol start="9">
<li>
<h5>Avoid text shorthand</h5>
</li>
</ol>
While it might be okay to send a message to a buddy or spouse with text shorthand, avoid such behavior at work. Even if you’re instant messaging or texting a business associate, use proper grammar and complete, well-punctuated sentences. “U busy” doesn’t look as professional as, “Are you busy?”
&nbsp;
<ol start="10">
<li>
<h5>Keep emails professional</h5>
</li>
</ol>
Email is not the place to share office gossip. As a general rule, never put anything in email you wouldn’t say to someone directly. In many cases, once someone hits “send” on an email, there’s no way to get that email back. An email can easily be forwarded or misdirected, inadvertently ending up in the inbox of the very person who is the topic of conversation. If that happens, be prepared for years of awkward staff meetings and company parties.
&nbsp;
<ol start="11">
<li>
<h5>Look up</h5>
</li>
</ol>
Sure, constantly staring at your phone can make you look like you’re a busy, important person, but if you’re staring down at the device in your hand while you’re navigating through the office, running headlong into something or someone is the least of your worries. Hallways and elevators provide the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with someone, possibly making a connection that can help your career.
&nbsp;
<ol start="12">
<li>
<h5>Stay away from co-workers on social media</h5>
</li>
</ol>
If at all possible, set your social media profiles to private and avoid befriending colleagues on your personal social networking sites. You may want to set up a professional site on Facebook and Twitter to accommodate your networking needs. If you must add co-workers, be sure to avoid posting anything you wouldn’t want your boss to know about. Even a private social media page won’t be private for long if co-workers decide to show your boss what they’ve found.
Technology has come a long way since the first books on etiquette were published. One thing hasn’t changed, though. Etiquette is simply being considerate of those around you and treating others the way you would want to be treated. By doing that, you can continue to move forward in your career while using the best tools available today.

Cubicle etiquette:  12 Ways Technology Can  Hurt Your Career

You are a hard-hitting businesswoman or high-ranking female executive who has managed to avoid falling victim to poverty, res-trictive cultural attitudes, unfriendly workplace policies and biased education steering that generally stop most women on the second or third rung of the proverbial ladder of success.
Give yourself a pat on the back. Have some cake – eat it too
You certainly deserve it. It is no small feat in a world where women still make up roughly two-thirds of the population living below the poverty line. A world where yawning gender employment and wage gaps continue to prevail and top leadership and management roles are still held by men, even in typically women-dominated fields.
But the fact of the matter is, no matter what kind of corner-office view you have earned, you are still marooned in the big, bad sea of male majority. And you are still battling gender-based double-blinds.
A 2012 study commissioned by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) polled 60 Fortune 500 companies and found that executive committees were made up of just 14% women. In its 2012 census, the Business Women’s Association of South Africa found that the number of women in the working world has increased, but the number of women in senior leadership positions has decreased.
At the end of 2012, there were a measly 12 women CEOs/managing directors and 18 women chairpersons in the South Africa. Furthermore, women comprised only 21.4% of executive managerial positions and 17.1% of director roles in the country, the continent’s supposed economic pioneer. Depressing, yes? Even more shocking is that the same WSJ report discovered that only 18% of the women surveyed harbor CEO aspirations. It found that women were happy to adopt support roles fairly early in their careers and often exited the employment superhighway to fulfill family obligations. Often this happened before they had reached a point at which they could on-ramp again with ease, thus door-stopping their job prospects once and for all. In short, women are dreaming small and aiming low.
It is tempting to leave the business of change to someone else, perhaps understaffed, underfunded agents of women’s economic empowerment. But the fact of the matter is that the responsibility of elevating women into senior positions also lies with those already in senior leadership positions.
There is no time to sit around, waiting to see if a mass overhaul in company philosophy or government policy could lead to more widespread gender diversity in top management roles. Rather, the women who have fought tooth and nail to rise up through the ranks need to help revolutionize individual mindsets.
And how? Through mentorship.
The practice of sharing wisdom and inviting entrants into the workplace into personal networks has been shown to be instrumental in women’s career advancement. Such behavior instills confidence in and offers guidance to the intelligent, credible and bright women further downstream. Dr. Anita Bosch, the leader of the Women in the Workplace research pod at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, explains: “Countless businesswomen battle with psychological hang-ups that can stymie their success. Mentorship helps budding professionals realize their value and chisel out their workplace identity, a point that’s especially important to females.”
Studies have also proven that mentorship allows the up-and-coming to make sense of business culture and set out a strategic career direction.
Take the case of Viola Manuel and her mentee, Simone Daniels. Manuel is the executive director of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, the former head of the Cape IT Initiative, an entrepreneur and founder of her own company, Afrivate. Like so many women before her, Manuel has had to claw her way up the ladder of success without a helping hand reaching down from a higher rung.
“When I was starting my career there were very few role models that were approachable and within reach, and I know that if I’d had someone to lean on I would have been even more successful, had an even more accelerated understating of my industry,” she explains.
It has prompted Manuel to partner with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation as a mentor and take on a mentee in her personal capacity.
Simone Daniels was a final-year chemical engineering student at the University of Cape Town when she met Manuel. At the time, she was prepared to flush four painstaking years of organic chemistry, calculus and general physics down the drain even before she had experienced her first day of work.
“I was done. Dead set on giving it up,” she says emphatically.
After only a few mentorship sessions with Manuel, however, Daniels was not only prepared to continue her coursework, but was motivated to envision herself in a leadership position further down the road.
“She helped me work through what I wanted to do. From talking to her and bouncing ideas off of her, I realized that if I abandoned the degree, I’d likely never be able to go back to engineering, which would be heartbreaking. Now I think my end goal would be to be less of a process engineer and more of a manager,” Daniels explains.
Confident, passionate and not the least bit fazed by the prospect of having to prove herself in a male-dominated industry, Daniels may yet be jaded by the working world, but she is also pointedly aware of a trajectory.
It is a refreshing example of foresight. Although mentorship is not a technical skill, it is a perfect demonstration of the how it facilitates prof-essional and personal development.
Similarly, a relationship between a woman mentor and her mentee can be especially useful for tackling the conversation around how women manage time.
“There are different expectations for women, especially if you want to have a family. Learning how to address that and helping prepare people around you for that is key,” says Manuel.
And she would know. Manuel had three miscarriages before realizing that she needed to quit her job if she wanted to keep her baby. It is an int-ensely personal experience and her willingness to share it with others in similar situations is what makes her such an excellent mentor.
“Mentorship is about forming a connection and building up a relationship of support and trust. It’s about making yourself approachable, so mentees aren’t scared to ask questions,” Manuel explains.
At the end of the day, though, mentorship is a two-way street. Rebecca Pillay, the mentor manager at the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, points out that mentors also benefit. “They get to leave a legacy behind, stay relevant and connected with a younger generation, and even easily expand their networks.”
Pillay also stresses that mentorship does not have to be viewed as an all-consuming task.
“There are no formal rules of engagement, but by setting out a contract during your first interaction, you can very clearly lay out the frequency of meetings, address the way you want to communicate with mentees and show commitment on the part of both parties,” she says.
This means that businesswomen who already feel like they have barely enough time to find two matching socks in the morning do not need to feel overburdened by the idea of mentorship.
Pillay recommends only eight- to 10-hour-long meetings throughout the year, which adds up to a single workday.
During that time, she explains, it is important to set out high-value goals, remain authentic by meeting the mentee on their level, and avoid imposing your own expectations on the person you are guiding.
The end goal is to help women in business remove obstacles, give them the confidence to break through glass ceilings and provide them with the courage to detach themselves from sticky floors.
And the greater benefit, aside from the personal gains for both mentor and mentee?
For starters, the World Economic Forum points out that higher levels of growth domestic product per capita when gender equality in the workplace is better realized. Secondly, as Manuel so aptly explains, women put their income back into the economy in a more valuable way than men. Women are more likely to save or, if they have children, invest in them. And a healthier economy often means healthier salaries.
Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has even concluded that by closing the employment gender gap in the Brics nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and next-11 countries (three of which are African), per capita incomes could be pushed 14% higher than current projections by 2020 and 20% higher by 2030.
Of course, it goes without saying that the idea of affecting such macro-level change with a grassroots mentorship movement is a lofty aspiration. But then again, that’s exactly what women need to be doing: dreaming bigger and aiming higher. And as Viola sums up, “Whether we acknowledge it or not, it’s within the grasp of every woman in business to do something to elevate other women. That’s got to be our thinking. We have to find a way to contribute.”
So, ask yourself, are you doing your bit?

Mentorship: The missing link

<h4>Ghana Must Go</h4>
<h4>by Taiye Selasi</h4>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5946" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ghana-must-go-195x300.jpg" alt="" width="195" height="300" />
Afropolitan Taiye Selasi has a way with words, not words themselves, but their emotional coloring when they are woven into syntax. Her vowels shape into afternoon orange, her consonants thread into hues of an exposed heart, wounded pale pink. Memory, with all its good and all its regret, is the main theme of Selasi’s delicately modulated book. Ghana Must Go is beautifully convincing in its flashbacks and forward-thinking dialogue – the romance and rot of the West combine when seen through the eyes of uprooted immigrants. America is noisy, angular and assuming. But gradually it is muted as Selasi’s characters come into the foreground. In essence, this is a consciousness novel, yet the shadow of immigrant insecurity hovers over it. When one of Selasi’s protagonists looks back at “a world that considered her irrelevant with a look that said she considered the world irrelevant, too”, we understand the baggage. It is a collective past; Selasi carries the history of Africa in her lyrical, yearning prose.
<h4>The Shining Girls</h4>
<h4>by Lauren Beukes</h4>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5949" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/The-shining-girls-196x300.jpg" alt="" width="196" height="300" />
Winner of science fiction’s prestigious Arthur C Clarke award, Lauren Beukes is probably one of the continent’s best genre writers. The Shining Girls, her third novel, is a thriller about a time-travelling serial killer. It transcends the simulated thriller style, however, because Beukes finds a way to express the realism underneath the murder and sci-fi. At its most basic level, the excitement of the story is in how creative Beukes’s writing can be. Her descriptions and rhythms, the expletives, the improvised twists and turns make The Shinning Girls an authentic global novel, in a way that allows us to realize just how much writing is an art.
<h4>Endings And Beginnings</h4>
<h4>by Redi Tlhabi</h4>
Redi Tlhabi has an extraordinary gift for jotting down personal truths that read like arias. In her quasi-autobiography, Endings and Beginnings, she relates scenes from her childhood that sing from the heart. Tlhabi’s story of her youth and befriending a local gangster, Mabegzo, a 20-something murderer and rapist, is miraculously unfussy. She tells it, not from an embarrassed corner, but out in the open, with none of the flourishes that tend to bog down South African writers of the new millennium. By purifying Mabegzo of stereotype, she brings his character a unification of soul. Their relationship feels so real in its brokenness, their characters so close, that we dare not take our eyes off the page.
<h4>We Need New Names</h4>
<h4>by NoViolet Bulawayo</h4>
NoViolet Bulawayo’s freshness, her sense of ideological ingenuity and her innate understanding of the corruption of Africa’s innocence, gives her debut novel a unique radiance. Her sentences are emotionally strenuous: “leaving their umbilical cords underneath the soil, leaving the bones of their ancestors in the earth, leaving everything that makes them who and what they are, leaving because it is no longer possible to stay”. And they place her firmly among irresistibly visceral writers such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Bulawayo’s thoughts are open to the reader, yet she seems unconcerned by our needs. Like a cat, she is working out her own catharsis. The immigration/refugee question pervades all African writers in one way or another, but the Zimbabwean writer re-conceives the issue by relating it from millennial eyes. One of her protagonists is pre-teen Chipo, raped and pregnant. She is no pan-Africanist lioness. She is innocent, yet subtly unprincipled, overtly conscientious and shallow, yet wise. Bulawayo’s narrative pits readers as naïve outsiders who are no match for the nightmares and hopes that encapsulate this continent. We Need New Names was shortlisted for the 2013 MAN Booker Award, one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5948" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Sister-sister-196x300.jpg" alt="" width="196" height="300" />
<h4>Sister-Sister</h4>
<h4>by Rachel Zadok</h4>
Sometimes writing needs come from a place of improvisation instead of consciousness. Rachel Zadok reads not like a writer, but like an instin-ctive storyteller. Her second novel, Sister-Sister, unfurls like an intriguing journey of self-discovery. It relates the story of twin sisters, Sindi and Thuli, who are forced to leave their village and return to their mother’s home, a place of hostility, fear and dark superstition. The narrative sounds simple, yet it is dreamlike and impromptu; it lets loose the subliminal. That is what makes Zadok’s book such a surreal series of surprises. Here is a writer who feels free enough to reach into herself, who listens to her inner voice and who understands the mystery of what it means to be characteristically South African.
<h4>Kabu Kabu</h4>
<h4>by Nnedi Okorafor</h4>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5947" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Kabu-Kabu-195x300.jpg" alt="" width="195" height="300" />
At first Kabu Kabu, which takes its title from the name given to Nigeria’s illegal taxis, plods along easily, but it quickly becomes about the fantastic and the mystical that sit snugly in the recesses of reality. Nnedi Okorafor is an acclaimed Nigerian fantasy and sci-fi author. This, her debut short story collection, is difficult to get out of your system. Be warned: her pseudo-folktales, which are simultaneously fantastical, sensual and emotionally violent, are likely to upset some readers.
&nbsp;

African Renaissance: Women You Need To Read

Friday, September 27, is “probably only the third time” in its history that Charly’s Bakery in Cape Town, South Africa, had run out of cupcakes.
Owner Jacqueline Biess shows no sign of exasperation, however. The combination of good weather and school holidays meant more people than usual were looking for a sweet treat. And even though some leave empty-handed, Biess knows another 2,000 freshly made cupcakes will be ready to go the next day.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5942" src="/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-070-071-ENTR-Bakeries-008-300x266.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="266" />
Baking starts at 10pm every night; someone is on shift at Charly’s for 21 out of 24 hours every single day. And cupcakes are not the only delights that emerge from its warm depths. A selection of cakes and pies has earned the bakery a reputation as one of the premier patisseries in the country.
The family business, started by husband-and-wife team Charly and Jacqueline Biess, is now run by Jacqueline and her daughters, Alex and Dani. And it has received rave reviews from the who’s who of Sout
h Africa’s foodie scene. They even have their own cooking show, Charly’s Cake
Angels, which airs locally and in
Europe, and will soon be breaking into the South American market.
All of this without a single advertisement. The Biesses started out with Charly’s baking skills, gleaned from a German baker in Swakopmund, Namibia, and Jacqueline’s head for business. Add to that a $15,000 loan from her parents, a second-hand car and a vision: “I knew what I wanted to create and I loved good food. I also knew success would only come from hard work,” Biess says.
Charly’s Cake and Coffee was successful because Biess trusted her ins-tincts. The coffee shop quickly became a pop-culture phenomenon and moved to Cape Town’s bustling V&amp;A Waterfront. A much larger premises, with hundreds more customers, the venture boomed. But with young children, the business became overwhelming and Charly and Jacqueline decided to downscale.
It was a move that was almost as risky as the decision to open the bakery in the first place, because they were giving up the security that came with success. But in 2009, in a 110-year-old building in the Cape Town city bowl, Charly’s Bakery was born again.
Six months earlier, in another of South Africa’s coastal cities, entrepreneur David Tedder had taken over Bread Ahead, a much-loved bakery in Durban’s Cowey Road. Previously owned by Retsol, the company behind Juicy Lucy and Milky Lane, the ba-kery was an established name with a loyal customer base. Tedder took the next step and franchised it, opening several smaller offshoots in shopping malls across Durban.
In the interim, he met, fell in love with and married television reporter Vanessa Govender. She fell pregnant soon after and gave up her job as a journalist. “I never wanted to compromise my pregnancy or motherhood,” she explains.
But the new Mrs. Tedder did want a career. After her son was born, she took charge of Bread Ahead’s cake division. Tedder has three designers working with her and they are putting their “personal stamp on Durban’s business scene”.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5941" src="/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-070-071-ENTR-Bakeries-009-300x114.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="114" />
Bread Ahead is all about personalized service. “Gone are the days of placing an order for a stock standard cake over the telephone. These days we encourage clients to have face-to-face consultations, where ideas are brainstormed to create cakes that are a work of art,” Tedder explains proudly.
Building relationships with clients is one of their policies, but the Tedders realized it was also why their expansion plans were failing. “Customer service and product quality were being compromised,” Tedder says, which prompted their decision to concentrate solely on the Cowey Road store.
While the Tedders decided to downscale to keep their clients close, further north in Johannesburg, where the impersonal is often expected, Linda Lipschitz’s baking hobby was outgrowing her kitchen.
Intricate decoration and delicate flavors made her speciality cakes a must-have on the menus of Joburg’s yuppies. So after three-and-a-half years
of working from home, Lipschitz open-ed Belle’s Patisserie.
“That day was very hard for me. I finally realized that I have a real business,” she recalls.
However, it is not all about store windows piled high with candy-colored delights. Behind the gloss and glamour are long hours and back-breaking work. “It’s not romantic. You have salaries, rent, wastage and lots of other operating costs,” Lipschitz points out. What may seem like a frivolous pastime is actually the result of a well-thought-out, strategic, business model.
For Biess, technology is key to promoting Charly’s Bakery. The store has more than 51,000 Facebook likes and over 16,000 followers on Twitter. She receives hundreds of emails a day and replies to every single one. The website is her only marketing tool.
“If you’re not online, you’re not in business. I advise any parent who wants to see their child open a business to get a high-speed internet connection and let them learn from what is out there,” she says.
Tedder spends most of her time maintaining the contacts she learnt to foster as a journalist.
“High priority is touching base with clients who have taken cakes the day before to find out if their functions and day went well, and most importantly, if the cake went down a treat,” she explains.
“I love interacting with people and so I never hesitate to keep those channels of communication open with customers. Just a simple courtesy call is the difference between them coming back to us or not.”
Lipschitz tries to introduce a new treat every month.
“It takes about that long to do product development and we make a lot of mistakes. But we don’t copy recipes. My head chef is very talented and finds it easy to develop his pro-duct,” she says.
There is nothing stereotypically feminine about these business models, but the perception that baking is a woman’s job remains, partly because of the high numbers of women in the industry.
Biess’s company has grown from 12 to 40 staff members, 70% of whom are women. But she recalls how one of her daughters, who was studying a Master’s degree at the time, would chide her for spending her free time baking cakes.
In fact, the kitchen work is only a small part of managing a bakery. Alex and Dani Biess took on more of a managerial role when their father passed away earlier this year.
Jacqueline spent most of her time at Charly’s side during his last few months, leaving her daughters to run the bakery.
“It was really very difficult for me to come back and the way the girls stepped up was amazing to see,” she says.
Tedder also depends on her girlfriends. Her pregnancy was difficult and her master bakers, who have been with Bread Ahead “almost as long as
it has been in existence”, carried a large part of the load.
“I am an empowered and emancipated woman who chose to put my child and husband first and above all else. The business of cakes is tailor-made to suit where I am,” Tedder says confidently.
Lipschitz also enjoys the flexible hours, which allow her to fetch her children from school. Although it does mean her workday can start at 6am at end at 1.30am the next morning. “But I love being at my store. It’s my safe space,” she says.
All three women acknowledge that being an entrepreneur is demanding, but that it has allowed them the freedom to live their lives on their own terms.
“I swapped the corporate world for this type of work so I have a career while I am incorporating the traditional family values that I grew up with,” Tedder explains.
“Plus, let’s face it, being your own boss is pretty awesome. Being the cake boss is even more awesome.”

Little bakery empires SHAKE AND BAKE

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

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

&nbsp;
Empowering others as she grows is an integral part of how Brand South Africa chairperson Charlotte ‘Chichi’ Maponya does business. And her business is no small task. Maponya is charged with creating a positive and compelling brand image for South Africa, to attract tourism and investment in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
But Maponya does not seem intimidated by the responsibility of marketing the largest economy on the continent. She credits her parents for the person she is today. Her mother, Marina Maponya, is a cousin of former South African president, Nelson Mandela. Maponya recalls that she would often say: “pull as you rise”. And this idea to empower others has stuck with the entrepreneur throughout her life.
In addition to heading up the South African government’s public relations agency, Maponya is the managing dir-ector of the Maponya Group. She is articulate and poised, self-confident and tenacious – qualities that have served her well in her career so far.
<div id="attachment_5933" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5933" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-5933" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-064-065-PRF-Chichi-002-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" />World Ecnonmic Forum 2013</div>
They are also qualities that she undoubtedly gets from her father, Richard Maponya. The respected entrepreneur and property developer is widely recognized for building a business empire in spite of the restrictions imposed on black citizens by the Apartheid regime in South Africa. He is behind the first black-owned shopping center in Soweto, which also carries his name, Maponya Mall.
“My father is a man who doesn’t believe in the word no. Bring him the challenges and he will find the solutions, but never tell him that it can’t be done. When he has his mind set on achieving, he will. And this legacy lives on in us, his children.”
Maponya has definitely inherited her father’s self-confidence and his refusal to give up.
“From him I understand that I can use my self-power to break barriers and I believe in the ‘can-do’ spirit. I have grown up with this self-belief and the desire to always do my best,” she says proudly.
Maponya’s mother is also an inspir-ation to her. “My parents shared the same values of wanting to give back to the community,” she says.
Back when it was not common or even fashionable for a black woman to serve on the board of a company, Marina Maponya served on several boards. These include South Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC, as well as insurance giants WesBank and Southern Life (now part of the MMI Group). Black employees at these companies saw her mother as someone who represented their cause, Maponya explains. They were motivated to sign on for training programs and started being promoted. Although her mother has since passed away, Maponya says she had a  “big heart” and will always remember her mother’s belief that everyone had talent; it just needed to be identified and nurtured.
Identifying talent is a big part of Maponya’s role as Brand SA chairperson. She says that South Africa is a brand that represents promise and achievement.
“South Africa is a country that can deliver and doesn’t accept that we can’t just because we are young. We have evolved from a ‘Rainbow Nation’ to being ‘alive with possibilities’ and now we ‘inspire new ways’,” she says, referring to some of the taglines her company uses to promote the country.
South Africa is 19 years into democracy and Maponya is enthusiastic as she lists some of its recent achievements. They include hosting the FIFA World Cup and becoming a member of the Brics group of developing nations in 2010. South Africa joins Brazil,
Russia, India and China as one of the countries that is focusing on industrialization. Brics nations are distinguished by large, fast-growing economies that have significant influence on regional and global affairs. The Brand SA tagline, ‘Inspiring New Ways’ is articulated across various platforms. One of the campaign’s initiatives – ‘Play Your Part’ – highlights the diversity of the country, as communities are encouraged to share personal, inspirational stories, Maponya explains. She is adamant that all South Africans need to be celebrated, and believes that unearthing these stories will help to identify the communities that represent the building blocks of the country. This in turn, she says, leads to a spirit of greater unity and inclusiveness.
“This brings about social cohesion, breaking the barriers that divide us and using dialogue to solve our challenges,” she explains.
Brand SA supports the free-trade movement on the continent. Maponya says intra-African trade in particular is important.
“Africa needs to get a sense of self-reliance. Integration needs to happen across all spheres, cultural and economical. Africa has so many commonalities and so many strengths, with so much embedded in its people. We have a wealth of resources yet untapped,” she says passionately.
And she believes that women have an important role to play. Maponya herself has experience in the mining, communications and retail sectors. She urges women in business to get involved in the debate on how infrastructure development can help grow African economies.
“As a woman-owned business, equip yourself with the skills and knowledge required. You have to be ready to trade in excellence and not just rely on your gender.”
But that does not mean that women who sit around the boardroom table should ignore what she says is their “an innate quality”: nurturing.
“Women are more empathetic; business is not cut and dried. Women want to know what is behind certain actions, certain responses. Women have led families and held them together for years. Now that we are empowered, coupled with education, it just adds up,” Maponya says.
With her astute business sense, Maponya is also an advocate of education. She says it is fundamental for girls to get a decent schooling, as it opens up a world of opportunities.
“Africa and South Africa should strive for a certain level of literacy… Education gives us choice, and for dev-eloping an economy, this is critical.”
One area of business in which Maponya believes women can play an important role is mentoring. Referring to her mother, she emphasizes the importance of an inspirational mentor in the workplace. “We must understand the context as women in the workplace have to deliver in a patriarchal environment, with corporate South Africa not fully embraced in giving opportunities to women. The workplace has become a territorial space. Women have to find and fight their way into an environment already unaccepting, and have to prove their credibility, value and excellence. The more there is openness in the workplace, (the more) women will not see others as a threat,” she says.
“The next generation is lucky, however. They have… more women they can look up to. They must read, have conversations and ask questions.”
When asked how she balances her work and her private life, Maponya laughs: “If you have a formula, please give it to me!
“I think this is a work in progress from month to month. It is definitely an ongoing challenge… When I am not traveling, however, I become a homebody, spending my weekends with my children.” One of her daughters is already working with her at the
Maponya Group, so her parents’ legacy is certainly still alive.
When asked about her own legacy and what she would like to leave behind, Maponya says: “Growing up I used to be so scared of failing. Now I seem to be driven by wanting to make a difference, wanting to create an impact on someone else’s life. I am determined to give greater quality by impacting my community and everything I do. I pull as I rise.”

A BRAND new entrepreneur Charlotte ‘Chichi’ Maponya

The exponential growth of Africa’s middle class has been heralded as a key driver of economic prosperity by many analysts. Their spending capacity and disposable funds are cause for optimism among investors keen to cash in on Africa’s economic momentum. But while the super-rich can splash out on palatial homes and properties, the underbelly of Africa’s middle class (many of them state employees such as teachers, police officers and health care workers), struggle to become homeowners. Their dilemma: they earn too little for banks to risk providing them with credit, but too much to qualify for state assistance.
This applies to countries such as South Africa, where the government provides assistance that enables people to enter the mortgage market. But one company, International Housing Solutions (IHS), has turned this cris-is into an investment opportunity. A member of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, IHS is the only private equity company that focuses on affordable housing in Africa. It partners with financial institutions, real estate developers and local government authorities to provide equity finance for housing projects.
“I have always believed that one can do good business while also doing good,” says IHS managing partner Soula Proxenos.
A self-styled ambassador for Africa, Proxenos has been in the affordable housing industry and development sector for 18 years. She believes that if you want the “big dollars” to roll in, you need to find a profitable business. Although she hails from South Africa, Proxenos is based in Washington DC, close to her investors.
As a woman in the mortgage and development sector, she is candid about prevailing attitudes towards her gender. She says the sector is “pretty male-dominated”.
“One is not invited into the room, while at the same time one is not exc-luded from the room,” she explains.
While many women are involved in the non-governmental sector in housing, Proxenos believes they are selling themselves short if they only work for non-profit institutions. “Women still say: ‘we didn’t do this for the money’.” They need to get over this, she urges, arguing that charity, while noble, is not always sustainable.
Her company is a pioneer in recognizing the potential of affordable housing (so-called gap housing) in developing markets. It has opened up a valuable new sector for investors. Simulta-neously, IHS helps thousands of families afford a home and start the journey to wealth creation through property ownership, the bedrock of sustainable middle classes the world over.
IHS’s first fund, the South African Workforce Housing Fund, has committed more than $230 million to providing affordable housing in emerging markets, while also generating superior risk-adjusted returns. Buoyed by the success of her South African venture, Proxenos is now venturing into the rest of Africa.
The International Finance Corp-oration (IFC) and South Africa’s National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) have also recently announced investments of more than $63 million in IHS’s second fund. IHS Fund II will support the development of affordable housing in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The financial commitments are timely, and come as IHS prepares to expand its footprint.
“With our second fund, our thesis remains the same&#8230; Because of urbanization and the growth of the middle class in Africa, the need for housing across the continent vastly outstrips supply, especially in the category of affordable housing.
“In countries with a functioning mortgage market, that need translates into market demand. This offers investors the opportunity to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns.”
She says the second fund will consist of two sleeves. One will invest in South Africa and the other will invest in Ghana while also targeting other sub-Saharan countries.
“Demand outstrips supply in many markets in Africa, and where the right conditions exist, the sub-Saharan sleeve of Fund II will invest in some of these markets. Our main focus will remain South Africa, but the sub-
Saharan sleeve will start to proactively source deals in Ghana, Botswana,  Namibia and Mauritius,” she says.
“There are many great opportunities for affordable housing investments across Africa, and we’re optimistic that Fund II will deliver excellent returns for investors, as our first fund is showing.”
However, operating in Africa is never hassle free. Nigeria, the second-largest economy on the continent, presents particular challenges for the mortgage market. These include sec-urity of tenure and ambiguity around title deeds, which makes investors risk-averse, Proxenos points out.
Prior to the removal of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, that country had to spend millions building out its systems, trying to rationalize land and property that had to be titled.
“In Egypt there is a 12 percent tax to have your property re-titled!” she exclaims. And in Nigeria, under former president Olusegun Obasanjo, some measures were introduced but they did not yield the required dividends, she says.
However, the opportunities in Ghana leave her optimistic. While much of the land is traditionally owned, it is also clearly titled. Ghana is stable and the rule of law is entrenched and respected, which makes it an ideal growth opportunity.
“We are excited about Ghana. In Ghana, 5.7 million rooms need to be added to existing homes. There is a robust mortgage market in many countries on the continent. Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius are all examples and Ghana is taking the same direction,” Proxenos says.
Quality housing is a key deliverable for many African governments, which are tying their infrastructure rollout programs to economic growth. But without private sector buy-in, governments cannot deliver on their promises.
Saleem Karimjee, the IFC’s senior manager for Southern Africa, says: “Providing affordable basic services, such as access to quality housing, is a priority for IFC in Africa. IHS Fund II offers an attractive opportunity for private investors to gain access to a fast-growing market with significant positive social impact. IFC’s commitment will stimulate investment growth and job creation in sub-
Saharan Africa, demonstrating that our support can help catalyze additional fundraising.”
So far IFC has committed $25 million to the fund.
On the South African front, where housing remains a challenge almost 20 years into democracy, the IHS Fund II could not have come at a more opportune time. The general elections are just around the corner and the country’s public and private sectors have come to the housing party, enabling thousands to share in the joys of homeownership.
Samson Moraba, who heads up the NHFC, says the corporation is committed to ensuring that all South African households within the affordable housing market have greater access to appropriate homes, in terms of both size and location.
“Our goal is to enhance the well-being and quality of life of the low- to middle-income households with the security of a home, as well as an opportunity to create wealth. We firmly believe that our deliberate strategic partnership with IHS will unlock the delivery of housing at scale, and ultimately lead to the creation of sustainable and attractive communities, where people can live, play and pray.
“We are delighted with this investment because not only will it accelerate delivery of housing, but it will also contribute toward foreign direct and private sector investment, as well as job creation,” he says.
Among global investors, the narrative about Africa’s middle class is one of optimism. Proxenos says there is a buzz about the continent in the world’s capitals, including London, where many investors are based. She is adamant that countries such as South Africa, where the market is “huge”, need to get the fundamentals right.
“Don’t score own goals! We need to put a united foot forward that includes the government and the priv-ate sector. The trust deficit needs to be overcome.”
Proxenos singles out South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, praising his efforts to get investors excited about Africa. Because, ultimately, she says, “you can’t close the deal without an investor”.

Filling the gap in the housing market

<h5>You has had a fantastic 2013, with a gorgeous campaign, an incredibly successful partnership with Mr Price and an emerging designer of the year award. What keeps you inspired in this cut-throat industry?</h5>
I try to keep myself focused as much as I can. I know I am living in a microwave world, successes come and go, and life is fast. So I don’t focus on my short-term goals but instead I focus on my future and how I want my life to be. I have certain rules of conduct from when I started in this career, and that is to involve myself in projects I can handle, to always carry through what I have promised a third party, and to be polite, listen, learn and be mentored by those who have done what I am doing. I have understood that I am not alone in my life and in a small way I am responsible to my community. Like the way I have been inspired, I will inspire. It is not an easy road, so I keep my family and close friends close by.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5926" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-055-057-FSH-004-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
<h5>What, in your mind, are the challenges facing designers in Africa? Following that, what are the opportunities that you can forecast for growth within the fashion industry on the continent?</h5>
The challenges facing designers in Africa are the same as the ones that the rest of the world faces, plus the fact that we are not as experienced as the rest of the world. So issues like cash flow, sufficient resources in all levels, and highly experienced workers is always a “juggler’s game”. But having said that, Africa is still in its experimental and growth phase in fashion, therefore, the potential for growth is there. And with the aid of First World technology, we are able to reach certain milestones of our own. First among them is that the fashion and textile industry is a credible industry that can add to the economy. Giant companies like Mr Price or Woolworths, who perform well, have associated themselves with designers by seeing their potential and investing in their brands. Magazines team up with designers to do pop-up stores, we start seeing more collaboration between ourselves too. So the need for progress is really present.
<h5>Are institutions such as AFI creating a large enough platform for all African designers as opposed to a select few, or should designers be doing more to promote themselves?</h5>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5921" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-055-057-FSH-005-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
I think what AFI is doing is fantastic and only the beginning. They provide the platform and we participate. At the same time your business is yours, so you do the best you can to promote it and make it successful. Relying on others is not really recommended and can be counterproductive. If these platforms were not there, we would still have to promote our garments, shops, business, etc.
<h5>Are fashion shows outdated? What other avenues would you suggest to designers who don’t have the means to showcase?</h5>
There is an excitement and intrigue in following or attending fashion shows. It’s part and parcel of being in the industry but that does not limit a designer to let their work be known in other ways. Many do private viewings and invite loyal clientele and their friends; there are various media outlets that can advertise your products like fashion spreads that always need new, interesting content; or dressing a well-known personality that fits the ethos of your brand.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5925" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-055-057-FSH-003-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
<h5>Following the Samsung show at AFI, where fashion and accessory designers from across the continent collaborated to create complementary ranges, will we be seeing more of this cross-continental collaboration from you going forward? And if you could collaborate with anyone from Africa, who would it be?</h5>
I would love to collaborate again, of course! I would like to work with a brand that is like-minded and stands for progress on this continent. I associate myself with NGOs like RedCap Foundation purely because they believe in investing time in our future leaders.
<h5>You are a great example of hard work and business savvy. What fundamental steps should designers be taking to create growth and ultimately make money from their craft?</h5>
Vision, persistence and support. Surrounding yourself with the right people is my biggest rule.
<h5>How important is keeping your product local, thereby keeping the work and money within the continent, and ultimately giving back to the economy and community?</h5>
It’s very important because everything is generation-based and you determine what people after you are going to stand for and believe in. So if being our own leader is important now, it will be important tomorrow.
<div id="attachment_5922" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5922" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-5922" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-055-057-FSH-010-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />Marianne Fassler</div>

Anisa Mpungwe from Loincloth and Ashes

Not surprised? Me neither; I’ve been thinking, talking and writing about this for years. But lately there seems to be something of a groundswell of recognition within organizations that good leaders are a critical component of success – and that we don’t have enough of them, especially when it comes to the leaders of the future.
A Right Management survey conducted in December of 2012 found that 32% of HR executives in the US, and 25% globally, put “lack of high-potential leaders in the organization” as their most pressing concern for 2013. Only 4% of US HR leaders said, “We have an ample leadership pipeline that will cover most of our needs.”
Why are employers feeling this need so strongly? I suspect it’s a function of the way business is changing. Even 20 or 30 years ago, if someone was a reasonably good manager of processes and relatively savvy politically, that person could go far in most organizations.
Now the leadership stakes are much higher. Everything runs flatter and faster: most organizations have fewer levels of management and fewer built-in hierarchical controls; there is much more information to make sense of on a daily basis; the rate of change in almost every industry has increased significantly (in some cases exponentially).
In addition, younger workers are less likely to stay in a company with bad leaders: they’re looking for (as Dan Pink points out in Drive) opportunities for mastery, autonomy and purpose in their work – and leaders who don’t even recognize those as legitimate needs, let alone work to fulfill them, are having a hard time attracting and keeping the best young talent.
In other words, if you can demonstrate to your organization that you have real leadership potential, there’s almost certainly a job with your name on it out there. Showing others that you’re a leader is very different, though, than simply saying, “I want to be a vice president.” (In fact, I’ve heard lots of senior people in organizations express frustration about junior folks who seem to expect to be promoted into executive positions within months of getting hired.)
So here are some things you can start doing right now to show the key people in your organization that you’re capable of leading:
&nbsp;
Build influence: Because most organizations are flatter and more matrixed than they used to be, leaders need to accomplish more through the power of persuasion than by relying solely on position power. For instance, if I work in marketing and I want to create a strong social media identity and community for one of our products, I may need to partner with someone in digital who doesn’t report to me to get that effort off the ground. In other words, I’ll need to influence him or her to support my goals. Being able to build that kind of influence, even in an entry-level job, is a great demonstration of your leadership potential.
A few years ago, I watched as the assistant of a client of ours influenced the staff at a resort where her boss was doing an off-site to solve a variety of logistical problems that arose – and that were the fault of the resort – all without alienating them or having the problems negatively impact the event.  She was recently promoted to coordinator, and I suspect there are more promotions in her future.
Think outside your own job: One of the frustrations I hear most often from senior people is that their employees focus too narrowly on their own needs and constraints. Junior employees will often complain about organizational decisions, for example, without understanding the enterprise-wide factors that may have led to those decisions. If you want to be seen as a leader, make it your business to understand the larger organization:
How does you business work? What are the factors, in your organization, that lead to growth, and what gets in the way? What other functions does your part of the business interact with most, and how do you support each other? Take a step back from your particular job and look at how everything fits together.
Then the conversations you have with your boss and other leaders are more likely to demonstrate your broader understanding of the business, and build their sense that you could succeed, and support the organization’s success, in a broader role.
&nbsp;
Learn from others. Great leaders don’t operate in a vacuum. If you come to work, do your job (even do it very well) and go home, having only minimal interactions with your colleagues, those in power are unlikely to see you as a potential leader. However, if you demonstrate interest in your colleagues’ opinions and ask them to tell you about things they’re interested in and know about, all kinds of good things will happen: 1) your colleagues will think you’re smart and interesting (it’s true – when others are interested in us, we tend to think better of them) and will be even more likely to share their wisdom and insight, 2) you’ll learn important and useful stuff that will help you grow as a professional, and 3) your boss and others will see you as hungry to learn and grow – vs. just hungry to get a promotion.
&nbsp;
Make things happen: During the recession, I watched as two middle managers in a client organization went down two very different paths.  One of them focused on how difficult things were, and used the tough economic times as a excuse for why he was unable to do many of the things his boss asked of him. “You don’t understand,” he’d say.  ”People are freaking out; it’s hard to get them motivated.” “We don’t have the resources; we can barely keep things going.” Etc. etc.
Meanwhile his colleague, a woman at the same level and with roughly the same budget and number of employees, pulled her group together and worked with them to figure out how to overcome the obstacles. She wasn’t able to do everything she was asked – I’m not sure anyone really knocked it out of the park in 2009 – but she was able to accomplish most of it with the support and creativity of her team. The next year she was promoted, and her I-can’t-do-it colleague was let go.
It was a pretty stark example: The ability to figure out how to work with others to get things done, especially when there are obstacles, is probably the key thing bosses and HR folks look for when deciding whether someone has greater leadership potential.
If you consistently show up in these ways, your boss and other decision-makers in your organization will take notice. And the next time you ask for a bigger job or a promotion, you’re much more likely to get the answer you want.

Want to lead?

As one of the millions of species that inhabit this earth we, as human beings, have a unique gift – the power to choose how we want to shape our way of being in the world. We may have been born with a certain disposition, but there is huge choice as to what we make of it.
As a leadership coach, I want each person I work with to be conscious of their personal leadership style, as it manifests in every avenue of their lives, both personal and professional. I get clients to pay attention to the language they choose and the impact of that choice both on themselves and those around them.
One company I have worked with has its weekly executive committee meetings in the ‘War Room’. The lang-uage of the War Room is military: Up to now, X has beaten us; next month we will destroy them. We must identify the weak spots. We must throttle them by the jugular.
However, the effectiveness of feminine energy is having an impact, slowly but surely. CEOs of some predominantly male boards are noticing that executive teams that include women are creatively different and solve problems more innovatively, less aggressively. Testosterone in the boardroom is not quite so predominant in these teams. A review of bottom-line performance of global companies suggests that diversity pays off.
Many women in leadership pos-itions have really struggled to get there. I coach women leaders who feel that they have had to work harder than the men around them to prove their worth. I have coached black women who feel burdened by affirmative action. They feel it is used to cast doubt on their ability, and that some people will say that race rather than excellence got them to the top.
However, there are women in leadership roles who have not only survived and won these battles, but have also adopted the aggressive ways that made their lives so tough.
I have worked with clients who experience certain women leaders as overly assertive. They even use the word ‘bully’ to describe the coercion used toward those who are weaker or who have less power.
How does bullying manifest in the world of business?
Unreasonable work requests made at any time of day. I am your boss. You will do this for me now, because I say so. I have the right to email you at 9pm and to expect you to respond.
Bullies translate the power of their status into the right to interrupt disrespectfully or even walk out of the room while you are still speaking.
The bully may also assume the right to criticize in a manner that is humiliating, sometimes in front of other colleagues.
Physically, bullies may ‘throw their weight around’ by using intimidating body language, volume and tone of voice.
But beware of the subtle bullies; those who exercise a more sophisticated, psychological bullying smile and who smile while they turn the screws.
How do women support each other when there is a female bully in our midst? I have noticed many women choosing silence. Either they are fearful of offering critical, supportive feedback (after all, the person is a bully and bullies often respond by lashing out), as they are worried that such a reaction will be career limiting. Or as a woman, they do not want to be seen as critical of another woman. Some simply resign and hope that the retention problem will be noticed.
However, I have also observed collusion and denial. The wish to have women represented at senior levels can translate into silence around inappropriate leadership behaviors.
It pains me to witness women leading badly. It does not have to be this way. We can choose another path. The available literature indicates the enhanced business results from leadership styles that encourage, motivate, build, validate, appreciate, respect boundaries, and pay attention to timeous constructive criticism.
The Tao Te Ching, a classic text by the ancient Chinese poet, Lao Tzu, is widely acknowledged in the world’s wisdom literature. The last stanza of his chapter 76 reads:
An army that cannot yield will be defeated A tree that cannot bend  will crack in the wind Thus by Nature’s own decree the hard and the strong are defeated while the soft and gentle are triumphant.
As women leaders we have power. Let us use it wisely. Let us play to the strengths of the feminine. Let us design the brand we aspire to build. Let us work out how best to support each other and hold one another accountable.

WOMEN POWER: THE ABILITY TO CHOOSE WISELY

When Arianna Huffington was 20, living in London, and constantly being rejected by publishers, she never knew that one day she would appear on FORBES’ list of the World’s Most
Powerful Women, alongside Michelle Obama, Angela Merkel, Oprah Winfrey and Queen Elizabeth II.
Huffington’s success with, online publication, the Huffington Post has made her one of the most sought-after speakers in the world.
In October 2013, Huffington, dressed in a power grey-suit and yellow blouse, addressed a crowd of young leaders at the One Young World Summit in
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5912" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-048-049-CA-Media-001-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
Johannesburg, South Africa. The 1,200 delegates from around the world sat on the edge of their seats, wide-eyed, waiting for Huffington to reveal the  ultimate secret to success.
“I want to recommend to everyone here that they sleep their way to the top,” she pronounced.
Huffington’s ironic humor had the crowd in stitches. How were they, the generation of tweeting, blogging, mixing, hashtags and serious FOMO (fear of missing out), meant to find time to sleep?
She went on to tell the story of when this revelation hit her, literally.
“In 2007, in the middle of building the Huffington Post, I fainted from exhaustion. I hit my head on my desk; I broke my cheekbone and got four stitches on my right eye. That was the beginning of my journey. But you don’t have to wait until you have a rude awakening like I had.”
This was the inspiration for Huffington’s concept, the ‘Third Metric’. It calls for the traditional definition of success to be changed beyond money and power. Instead of climbing the corporate ladder, Huffington argues, success should be determined by personal happiness and health.
Since the Huffington Post’s launch in 2005, it has become one of the most successful online publishing platforms in the world. The content is a combination of news stories by journalists and personal opinion blogs by politicians, celebrities and academics.
The Huffington Post is quickly making its way around the world, with a strong presence in nine countries so far. Although Huffington has taken great interest in Africa, she has no plans to bring the publication to the continent just yet.
Here in Africa, there are many women who are not afraid to take on media corporations. And contrary to the belief that it’s a man’s world, they did it in heels.
In 1960, a bright-eyed Jane Raphaely moved to South Africa. A few years later, at the age of 30, she was appointed the founding editor of Fairlady magazine.
She used the platform to discuss controversial topics such as sex and politics. She was also a key player in the movement to revive the Domestic Workers’ Union.
“At that stage white women in South Africa did not have careers. Some of them had jobs but their careers, as they saw them, was finding the right man and bringing up a family… Black women worked because they had to. So the huge division was between women who didn’t have to work and women who did have to work. And they were very often in the same house because that one woman was working for the other woman,” says Raphaely in an interview with  2 Oceans Vibe.
The issue of gender inequality was one that Raphaely consistently fought. In her book, Jane Raphaely Unedited: True Tales of a Fun Fearless Female, Raphaely says it was better for households if women stayed out of the workforce.
“…At the time a married woman’s salary was added to her husband’s income, putting him in a higher tax bracket without taking account or any extra costs incurred by having her work outside the home.”
In 1982, the Raphaely family launched Associated Media Publishing (AMP), which would later become one of the most successful publishing houses in South Africa. AMP also manages the South African wing of international magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire.
Raphaely has been the company’s managing editor since AMP was born, and she continues to be one of the biggest influences on South African media.
Further north in Nigeria, one of Africa’s favorite television personalities is also making history.
Mo Abudu, the woman behind one of the continent’s most successful TV shows, Moments with Mo, has been dubbed ‘Africa’s Oprah’. Following in the footsteps of the Queen of Talk, Abudu has gone from talk show host to network owner. In July, Abudu launched Africa’s first global black multi-broadcast entertainment network, EbonyLife TV.
Recalling how it all began, Abudu says that after seven years of interviewing celebrities and presidents on Moments with Mo, it was time for her next adventure. The idea came in 2008, while she was in London.
“I asked people: ‘When you hear the name Africa, what is the first thing that comes to mind?’ I heard: ‘Famine, poverty, HIV, safari, giraffes’”.
The images of war and famine in Africa shown across the world never give a true reflection of the continent, Abudu says emphatically.
“I don’t think Africans celebrate themselves enough and I think that has a ripple effect of the fact that the world doesn’t really have an understanding of who we are as Africans,” she explains.
Abudu hopes EbonyLife TV will change that. It is due to be broadcast across the continent and Abudu has set her sights on appealing to a global black audience.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5911" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-048-049-CA-Media-003-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
She readily admits that there are many challenges in maintaining a 24-hour television channel in Nigeria, including power, infrastructure, bandwidth and financing. She also points out that not many people understand the business of media, but that does not deter her.
“I see those challenges as opportunities because that means although we don’t have certain resources it gives some people an opportunity to provide that service,” Abudu says.
Here in Africa we may have a long way to go, but the potential is rife as this is the land of opportunity.
Historically, a women’s place in mass media was in front of the camera and on the covers of magazines. They were objectified as eye candy, and their sole purpose was to entertain.
Now, more and more women are trying their hand at the business behind the cameras and glossy publications. Huffington, Raphaely and Abudu are proving that the glass box in which women in the media industry are often placed is no longer adequate. Women are now in the real pound seats as media moguls and network owners.

Sleep your way to the top

Social entrepreneurship is becoming de rigueur as an alternative to the corporate career ladder for young people looking for work that is both intellectually stimulating and meaningful.
Three young women I know play in this space. Phillipa Wheaton (30), an Australian, is the CEO of enke: Make Your Mark. Based in South Africa, the organization supports teenagers who are proactive about addressing social problems.
Karissa Samuels (29) is the South African founder and CEO of the Ntshulisa Foundation, which aims to empower the nation, starting with children, by promoting civic participation and community involvement.
UK-raised Ruth Orbach (24) works for non-governmental organization (NGO) the African Leadership Academy as a monitoring, evaluation and learning manager – a space that is becoming increasingly important.
While all three are tired of the NGO label, preferring instead social enterprise, they are equally wary of self-titled ‘social entrepreneurs’. Samuels, who has been in the field for the past 10 years, explains: “Many people who began in the space with me have left because… of them not having a real interest in having a real social impact, but rather (using the sector) as a vehicle for their personal advancement.”
There may be goodwill, but “there simply isn’t enough interrogation of the needs”, says Orbach, who helps develop tracking systems to monitor the long-term impact of an investment on an organization.
Traditionally, the link between the success of a social enterprise and its impact on a community was presumed to be strong, but increasingly there is a need to re-examine this view. “People need to move beyond ‘something is better than nothing’,” urges Wheaton.
This desire to do more and to do better has seen many non-profits applying commercial strategies to maximize social benefits. And in fact there is significant potential for crossover of best practices in the profit and non-profit sectors.
All three young women agree we need to move away from the binary logic of the capitalist firm versus the NGO with a begging bowl. Instead, they see NGOs, social enterprises and for-profit companies as increasing points along a continuum.
Ideally, it is about businesses taking on a social element and non-profits incorporating business principles into their work. While in the long run, social enterprises could conceivably take over a large proportion of NGOs’ functions, there are limits. It becomes tricky for organizations such as orphanages, for which there is no market, in the traditional sense.
Judging from the conversation between the three, it is clear this sector is going through a number of exciting changes.
A TED Talk by activist Dan Pallotta called The way we think about charity is dead wrong has been shaking up the dominant narrative of the non-profit sector. Pallotta’s core argument is that we should not judge the effectiveness of NGOs based on overheads (salaries, rent or marketing). He claims that the non-profit sector is starved of the capital needed to adequately fuel growth and innovation, in order to fully address social problems.
Sustainability is another term that keeps cropping up in the NGO field, particularly the incidence of sustainability. The distinction between a purely capitalist business and a social enterprise is that one aims to sustain its operations indefinitely, while the other looks to sustain the impact of its operations indefinitely.
Wheaton, Samuels and Orbach agree that if they are to achieve the kind of impact they aspire to, they would ultimately put themselves out of work.
At the same time, the mantra, ‘Africa for Africa, by Africa’, is gaining momentum, resulting in Westerners and foreign do-gooders being met with skepticism.
It reminds me of when Nigerian author Teju Cole ruffled feathers with his controversial reaction to Kony 2012, the viral video calling for the arrest of war criminal Joseph Kony. Using the hashtag, ‘The White-Savior Industrial Complex’, Cole tweeted: “If we are going to interfere in the lives of others, a little due diligence is a minimum requirement.” He went on: “The White Savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.”
However, it is important that we Africanists are careful not to alienate those with experience and expertise. At this stage of the game, our collective intelligence and financial muscle may not be enough to eliminate the social problems that lie ahead.
We will need all the help we can get from those willing to roll up their sleeves and work themselves out of the system.

Tag: December 2013

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA