One of Africa’s biggest artists walks into the room wearing a shiny black suit, white shirt, bright red socks and, of course, dark-shades. His entourage scurries around to make sure he is comfortable. He steps forward, extends his hand and uses the opening line to all his songs, “I am D’banj”.
It’s an introduction that makes women, from Nigeria to Britain, swoon. But life hasn’t always been easy for the 33-year-old musician. He has come a long way from his days in Zaria, in northern Nigeria, where he found his passion for music in unfortunate circumstances.
“When I was 13, my brother died in a plane crash. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what was happening. Before we left for school, I went into his room and found the harmonica among his belongings and took it with me.”
D’banj spent most of his time playing along to Bob Marley and Céline Dion. The harmonica kept the memory of his brother alive.
At university, he began writing his own songs and it wasn’t long before he produced his first hit single The Koko. The song, a collaboration with producer Don Jazzy, gave them both a taste of success.
“We were like Batman and Robin, it was a great synergy. He knew my style, he knew how powerful my voice was, he knew how much energy I had and how I liked to perform. He studied me well.”
The two have since produced many hits which won D’banj an array of awards including: Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2007, Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards in 2009 and Best International Act: Africa at the BET Awards in 2011.
The pair also created the record label, Mo’Hits Records, which launched the careers of Wande Coal, Dr SID, D’Prince and K-Switch. In 2012, Don Jazzy and D’banj split, sending shock waves through the music industry.
“We just grew apart. Change is the only constant thing and hopefully we changed for the better… Doing music with one producer for eight years, then coming out again, makes you feel brand new. You find skills you didn’t know you had and you find flaws about yourself that you thought you knew…”
It didn’t take long before D’banj moved onto a more lucrative deal under Kanye West’s record label, Good Music. Their partnership began as a case of mistaken identity.
“On my way out of Dubai I stopped at the first class lounge with my entourage. A few airhostesses ran up to me screaming ‘Mr Kanye West’. So I looked at myself, then I looked at them and said ‘I am D’banj. But if I look like Kanye West it means he must be around’”.
They tracked down the American star in the building. West liked D’banj’s fresh Afro-pop sound and they later met in Los Angeles, where D’banj was introduced to some of the industries big names such as Big Sean, Pusha T, Hit-Boy and LA Reid.
Contracts were signed, deals made and in the days that followed D’banj recorded Oliver Twist, the song brought him even greater international success.
“The fans overseas are different. They absorb the music differently and they really want to get to know you as a person, they want to know what you are about. Here, our people are more excited about the music.”
D’banj says getting to the top is the easy part; it’s staying there that’s difficult. Among his biggest competition is fellow Nigerian musicians P-Square.
“If we were in a dance battle they would beat me, I would have to get some help from Chris Brown. But I think overall you would definitely be entertained…”
The African hit maker looks forward to a successful year and the release of his documentary celebrating his 10 years in the music industry. D’banj seemed very confident that he would top the FORBES list of Africa’s 50 Richest, until he realized Aliko Dangote was number one.
“Dangote? Ahhh no, no, no that’s the father… this interview is over. She asks me if my turnover is higher than Dangote… very soon. Maybe in a couple of years,” he jokes while looking at his entourage seated at the back of the room.
I guess we’ll just wait and see.

I Am D’banj  And I Am Going To Be Rich

It is 8PM on a warm Friday night at Eko Hotel in Victoria Island in Nigeria and a $480,000, white Rolls-Royce screeches to a halt. A 2015 red Lamborghini Aventador, with a retail price of $548,800, follows it shortly, revving its engine before joining an array of black Mercedes G Classes, which elegantly litter the parking lot.
Victoria Island is the wealthiest district of Lagos and home to one of the biggest congregations of millionaires in the world. Theo Tiemessen, Manager at the plush Eko Signature hotel, says these millionaires are demanding customers.
“They have good taste and they are willing to pay for good meals and fresh products,” he says.
Around 80% of the guests at Eko Signature come from outside the hotel. The customers are predominantly top government and banking officials who use the hotel for their meetings. Specialist businesses have sprung up to cater for the particular needs of this affluent group.
“We had guests in the hotel once who asked for camel milk for their infant child, they would not take anything else,” says Tiemessen.
Ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) are classified by having liquid assets worth more than $5 million. The number of UHNWIs in Africa will increase by a staggering 59% over the next 10 years, according to the Wealth Report 2015 and Nigeria will have one of the highest growth rates in UHNWIs over the next decade.
Aderemi Ajidahun is the CEO of Hole19 Group, which specializes in providing luxury retail products to the rich. The group’s flagship brand is Zakaa, a retailer of luxury brands such as Brioni, Angelo Galasso and Maurice Lacroix.
“Our clients are mostly extravagant spenders with a unique taste. They only want the best and the most unique timepieces which cannot be found in any other shops,” says Ajidahun.
Last year, Ajidahun sold one of those timepieces for a staggering $250,000. His showroom in Maitama, an exclusive district in Abuja, caters to the wealthiest.
“Our female clients usually only want the pieces they have seen on the runway and it is our job to make sure that they have them,” says Ajidahun.
Kunle Bello runs Platinum Concierge, a company that provides specialty services for the affluent in Mayfair, one of London’s wealthiest areas. A lot of his clients are wealthy Nigerians.
“We provide services that cater to the needs of UHNWIs. Our services range from organizing exclusive parties, catering, booking holiday packages, property and whatever the client needs,” says Bello.
The number of Nigerians buying luxury properties in Britain has risen sharply since Bello started his business three years ago.
“Two months ago, I sold a property to an oil entrepreneur for just over $6 million,” he says.
The super-rich travel in style and have private jets waiting for them at airports. Nigeria is currently the largest market in Africa for Bombardier.
“Average flight time an hour costs about $8,000 for those who do not own their own jets but still want to travel in style,” says Bello.
Those who can afford their own planes will have to part with $25 million to $65 million for a new Gulfstream. Around 1,200 private jets land at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos every month.
“It costs upwards of $4 million a year to maintain a private jet with two fulltime captains and a flight attendant on standby, in addition to related airport handling services,” says Bello.
Despite tough economic times, it seems Nigeria’s rich are able to maintain their lavish lifestyles.

The Rich Get All The Camel Milk And Jets They Need

There are 163,000 of them, and many of them have been in this magazine. They are prepared to pay $3.5 million for a place to sleep.
That’s the number of dollar millionaires in Africa, according to a report by New World Wealth; a Johannesburg research company.
According to the report, Johannesburg has 46,800 millionaires. About 600 of those have over $30 million. Egypt is next with 20,200 millionaires; Nigeria with 15,400 and Kenya 8,500.
African high net worth individual numbers have increased by 145% in the past 14 years compared to the worldwide growth rate of 73% over the same period. Angola is the top performing African country with growth of just over 480%, according to the study.
With rising numbers of millionaires in Africa, what do they do with their money?
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Property is popular.
While Johannesburg is home to most wealthy South Africans, Cape Town is not far behind. The most expensive spots for prime property in Africa are the V&amp;A Marina, Clifton and Bantry Bay in Cape Town.
According to the Western Cape Managing Director of Pam Golding Properties, Laurie Wener, South Africa’s wealthy buy Cape Town trophy properties on the famous Atlantic Seaboard or in Bishopscourt for no less than $1.4 million.
“The wealthy also invest in smaller apartments in different areas, sometimes off plan, for relatively good rental returns and medium to long-term capital growth. They buy properties off plan speculatively for short-term growth by the time they take transfer and commercial investors generally look for higher returns and often buy in partnerships or syndicates and to hold long term,” she says.
The ambitions of the rich also reach 143 meters above the Sandton skyline. Here in the clouds over the Michelangelo Towers, a penthouse is on sale for $3.5 million. That’s a record.
Rupert Finnemore of Pam Golding Properties, in Hyde Park, says that the previous highest price in Sandton City shopping centre is $3.1 million.
The striking Diamond Walk at Sandton City dazzles with a brilliant new clutch of the world’s most wanted brands such as Prada, Dolce &amp; Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Ermenegildo Zegna, Billionaire Italian Couture, Jimmy Choo, Tod’s and Arque Champagne Crescent.
“Sandton City’s new Diamond Walk adds yet another luxurious dimension to the ultimate shopping variety and experience on the continent,” says Alex Phakathi, Stanlib Fund Manager for the Liberty Property Portfolio.
The Diamond Walk was built on the high demand from the wealthy as the African luxury sector generated an estimated $8 billion in revenue in 2014; with $2.8 billion coming out of South Africa.
Collectables such as art, wine and classic automobiles are increasingly popular and accounted for $5.3 billion of the total assets of African high net worth individuals at the end of 2014, according to New World Wealth.
The company estimates $32 million was generated in South African sales of watches alone in 2014; up from $23 million in 2013.
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“A few years ago, wealthy South Africans had to order these watches through relevant retailers overseas or travel to places such as Bond Street in London to buy them. Now, most of these brands can be purchased over the counter from South African stores,” says wealth analyst Andrew Amoils of New World Wealth.
The rich also spend their time and money relaxing at sea. Amoils says the South African yacht industry generates about $150 million per year.
According to the study, Angola and South Africa are the top spots for yachting in sub-Saharan Africa. Morocco and Egypt are the top spots in North Africa. The yacht owners are mostly male, between the ages of 40 to 50, with average earnings of over $300,000 per year.
Mauritians are the wealthiest in Africa with $21,470 in wealth per person while people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are the poorest with $230 per person, according to Amoils.
“If you look at the asset allocation of the average South African millionaire, about 30% of their assets are in business interests, 25 % in equities, about 20% in property and then rest will be in cash, fixed income instruments, bonds and alternative investments like collectables like art,” says Amoils.
The ambitions of Africa’s elite are high.

The Rich At Play

I don’t think [Morgan] Tsvangirai is the number one enemy of the state, I think I am because I sing against the government,” says Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo, a rebel musician and African to the tip of his dreadlocks as we sit for a tête-à-tête in Newtown, Johannesburg, on one of his rare visits to the continent of his birth.
Famed author, musicologist and journalist, Banning Eyre, in his book Lion Songs, describes Mapfumo as the Lion of Zimbabwe who stands beside Fela Kuti, Youssou N’Dour and Franco as one of Africa’s greatest musicians.
“He is on par with some of the greatest musicians to come out Africa and what makes his music even more important is that it helped liberate Southern Rhodesia from [Ian] Smith’s racist rule. His music galvanized liberation forces. His interest has never been commercial but to raise consciousness, that is why he got into trouble when he sang Corruption, attacking Mugabe’s rule,” says African music expert, Richard Nwamba.
Mapfumo is as much a sharp social commentator as a musician. It is this dissent that forced one of Zimbabwe’s finest musicians to seek refuge in the United States (US) in 2005. He has even sung a song praising his hosts: We love America, everyone wants to be there. The feeling is mutual. In the US he received an honorary doctorate degree from Ohio University.
At the age of 70, Mapfumo looks frail but he hasn’t dropped the habits of his wild youth: smoking, cracking jokes and making condescending remarks about other musicians.
It’s been a full life for Mapfumo, who grew up with his grandparents in Marondera, Mashonaland East, about 72 kilometers east of Harare and a million miles from the rest of the world.
Mapfumo’s grandfather played the mbira, a metal keyed instrument, and hosho, a percussion instrument. The two instruments provide the beat to Mapfumo’s music.
“I was herding cattle at the age of seven while my parents stayed in the city. I joined them in the early sixties to attend school in Salisbury’s (now Harare) township of Mabvuku,” he recollects on a meandering walk through his music career.
“In the city I started listening to radio as we didn’t have that luxury in the countryside. I used to listen to Kwela Kwela, Jazz 9, Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, Franco, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra,” he says.
“I think I was born a musician, it was within me.”
At the age of 16, Mapfumo joined a band called Zutu Brothers, who wanted him to sing rock and roll, like Otis Redding and Elvis Presley.
“I was a very good rock and roller, I used to rock,” he chuckles.
This clashed with his parents’ beliefs.
“My parents were church people, my father was a choir leader and my mother played a leading role in the women’s league.”
There was no stopping Mapfumo.
“From Mabvuku we moved to Mbare where I joined a music group called Cosmic Four Dots and I was still singing rock and roll music. However our music genre was not consistent as we changed with the times, partly due to the influence of the Beatles and John Lennon.”
Mapfumo says it was during this time he sang his first song in his mother tongue, called Shungu Dzinondibaya (Passion Kills Me). It was recorded in a house in Mbare by a passing producer who worked for the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation.
“While visiting a grocery shop I heard the song being played on the radio. I never got a cent out of that song,” Mapfumo laughs.
“I then started asking myself questions… I realized that my identity was in singing the music of the people I grew up with. A lot of people thought I was losing my mind when I started mbira music with the band Acid.”
The band was named Acid because of its corrosive social commentary.
One of the songs was Pamuromo Chete (It’s Just Talk). Mapfumo says the song was an instant hit because its lyrics reflected dissent against Smith’s white minority rule in the then Rhodesia.
“We were responding to his utterances that Zimbabwe will never have a black government in his lifetime or in a thousand years.”
Mapfumo decided to form a group called Blackman Unlimited that transformed to the present day line-up called Blacks Unlimited. He started the group with his uncle and the musicians; Marshall Munhumumwe, Leonard Chiyangwa and Jonah Sithole.
By then, Mapfumo had moved from Salisbury to Mutare, then called Umtali, a small town of the eastern border with Mozambique. On Fridays, they would play at bus stops.
“We used to play music for people getting off the buses from the city. I was the highest paid person in the band earning eight pounds per week. In Mutare we worked for a businessman called Murapa but the group later disintegrated over payment issues,” he says.
The crunch came when Mapfumo asked Murapa for the band’s money.
“‘You haven’t yet played’, said Murapa when I asked for money after working for two weeks. The band members were disappointed and left for Harare.”
As his career progressed, Mapfumo realized he needed to sing in the language of his people.
In the 1970s, he met a musician who would become a big name in Africa. His name was Oliver Mtukudzi
“Oliver had his song called Red For Stop And Green For Go. I asked him, ‘why don’t you sing in Shona and do your lyrics in Shona?’” chuckles Mapfumo. Remember what we said about condescending?
As the liberation war came to a close, Smith accused Mapfumo of promoting insurgency with his music.
“In 1979, I was arrested by the Smith government and I was put into detention at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for three months. I was released on condition that I went to sing at Muzorewa’s rally, this was during the internal settlement,” says Mapfumo.
The internal settlement, an agreement to end the civil war, was signed on March 3, 1978 by Smith and moderate nationalist leaders Abel Muzorewa; Ndabaningi Sithole and Jeremiah Chirau.
Mapfumo was opposed to it but was forced to compromise. As a bargain for his release he had to sing at Muzorewa’s rally. Muzorewa, a Methodist priest, was seen as a sell-out by liberation forces.
“Our weapon is our music, let’s go and sing what we have been singing all along,” he told his band. It was not that simple.
Mapfumo says the state-owned Herald newspaper pictured him next to Muzorewa and soon liberation fighters saw him as a sell-out too. Despite this, Mapfumo was asked to play at the birth of Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980 on the same bill as Bob Marley.
“On celebration day we were treated like enemies, we were made to perform last when all the dignitaries had gone. We played for the real people who fought the war.”
Mapfumo thought things would change when Robert Mugabe took over. He was wrong.
He sang against Mugabe’s administration in the late 1980s as corruption took root. He also sang in praise of Mozambique’s president, Samora Machel, for fighting apartheid. He sang against the then president of South Africa, P.W. Botha, a classic called Tongosienda. The apartheid era leader would have needed an interpreter as Mapfumo sang in Shona. Mapfumo became a persona non grata in South Africa.
“Back home I started singing against corruption, economic malaise and people getting land without knowledge of farming,” he says.
He sang that land reform was a flop in a hit called Maiti Kurima Hakunetsi (you thought farming was easy).
Thirty five years on from the birth of Zimbabwe, Mapfumo is adamant, despite threats from the Mugabe administration, he is not going to stop singing about social issues.
His music is banned on state radio stations back home and promoters fight shy of bringing him to perform for his people. He now keeps up the spirits of his fellow countrymen who left Zimbabwe for the same reasons as him by performing shows around the world.
“We haven’t looked back, we have been with the people and we will always be with them.”
After our hour-long interview, with endless insistence by his manager Austin Sibanda that I should wrap up to allow the old man to take a smoke before he talks to his relatives who have traveled from Zimbabwe, I asked when he is going to perform back home.
“I am ready to perform in Zimbabwe but there are no promoters prepared to be associated with me, I also have to be careful with the situation.”
Mapfumo fears for his life. He says intelligence operatives who are fans of his music keep him informed.
While frozen out at home, Mapfumo is taking his music to Africa. In October, he performed at the Defense and Security Forces celebrations of Mozambique in Chimoio, Beira and Tete. Clearly, he hasn’t yet upset the government of Mozambique.
Those gigs followed the two he played in Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa, where it’s believed more than a million Zimbabweans live. The Johannesburg gig was packed with Zimbabweans, both black and white, shoulder to shoulder with a few South Africans.
Throughout the show, most sang along, chanting ‘Mukanya’, the totem of Mapfumo. There were many familiar faces in the crowd. Dewa Mavhinga, a human rights lawyer and activist, looked as happy as a lawyer can be.
“The old man is still good, hey,” says Mavhinga as Mapfumo sang his last song of the night.
It’s unlikely to be the last for the 70-year-old Mapfumo, who has straddled Africa and the vast gap between Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley. Clearly the rebel with a cause is just getting started.

Is this  Zimbabwe’s Public Enemy Number One?

He is two hours late for the interview. As we contemplate calling it quits, he speeds in with his Volkswagen Scirocco. Dressed in black pants and camouflage coat, he dashes into the changing room to prepare for the photoshoot. King. Genius. Irritating. Self-obsessed. Arrogant. Jerk. All words that have been used to describe the self-proclaimed South African “prince” of hip hop, Kiernan Jordan Forbes, alternatively known as AKA.
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“A publication wrote an article about me with a headline ‘SA’s crowned prince’ and I thought it has a nice ring to it. What I learned in this industry is that you are what you say you are. If you say something enough times, eventually people pick up on it. So I started calling myself the prince of hip hop and now a lot of people do too,” he says.
In July, he had just become a father; his eyes are slightly puffy from sleepless nights yet he shrugs it off for the shoot and interview. He doesn’t come across as the self-obsessed, arrogant jerk some fans make him out to be. Showing his humble side he adds that he doesn’t call himself the king of hip hop, out of respect for more experienced artists.
“Wait until I get another two albums and more wins under my belt, then I might start calling myself the King.”
“Competition dead and buried in the dust I’m like the legendary Brenda Fassie…” The lyrics to his hit All Eyes On Me is a salvo full of intent.
AKA has the confidence of a superstar and success to match. His personal life, just like every other celebrity, is daily bread for South African tabloid newspapers. The buzz is more than justified. He did not break the internet, but, five years into his career, he has awards from Channel O, Metro FM, MTV African Music Awards (MAMA) and South African Music Awards (SAMA); including a coveted Black Entertainment Television (BET) nomination for the Best International Act: Africa category, and many more.
“I don’t belong exclusively to South Africa anymore. I am making a transition to belonging to the continent. I was so excited about the BET nomination because we have been working hard. Yes, we have won the SAMAs, yes we have won Metro FM awards, yes, we have won the Channel O awards, but the one thing we hadn’t done was get a nomination for a BET. We have done a lot of good work on the continent and it was great to get recognition for it.”
The rapper has more than 777,000 followers on Twitter.
“We are excited about AKA’s growth prospects in Africa and beyond. His unique approach to producing hits sets him apart from the average rap artist; this is an artist with not only innovative creative sense but with the ambition for international stardom,” Zakes Bantwini, Executive Head of A&amp;R for Sound African recordings, reportedly said when AKA signed the deal with Sony.
Born in Cape Town, he moved to Johannesburg when he was six. As a child, he developed a love for music while listening to records with his father, whom he says gave him a broad appreciation.
He started out in a teenage hip hop crew called Entity in 2002 which was nominated in 2005 for Best African Hip Hop in the KORA Awards. As Entity disbanded in 2006; AKA went off to study sound engineering only to drop out so he could brand himself as a legend. He ventured into a solo career with early hits like Mistakes, In My Walk and Do It; the latter making it to number one on the South African 5FM Top 40.
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“I love AKA. He is the king of rap. His style is international, making it easy for him to collaborate with any international artist if he ever wishes to. His flaws are also massive but he has mega talent,” says South African fan, Mthokozisi Dumani.
Public relations company owner, Allegro Dinkwanyane, says, “AKA is a very talented artist that&#8217;s contributing to the growth of South African hip hop internationally. Personally, I think Kiernan is a much nicer person than AKA. I guess it&#8217;s a persona that works well for him as a rapper. Arrogance aside, I&#8217;d definitely rank him in my top three South African hip hop artists, but still an album or two away from being ‘the prince of South African hip hop’.”
“I like his music but I don’t understand the guy. His character is weird. Sometimes you would think he has some sort of disorder because he never lets things go. When something happens, he always wants to have a say. He needs to learn to be humble and let things go,” says Zimbabwean fan, Mercy Sibanda.
“I think AKA is the prince of African rap but his arrogance takes away from his talent. Yes, he’s good at what he does but he doesn’t need to constantly toot his own horn,” adds hip hop fan, Lebogang Mathebula.
Little has changed in his character. The 27-year-old says he has always been a show-off who speaks his mind. Fans scolded him for his Twitter rants and controversial views. At the coveted annual Durban July horse racing event, AKA kicked a fan off stage; on a separate occasion he said he will not take a photo with anyone who calls themselves a fan, yet don’t own his album; he does not open for international acts in South Africa and the list goes on.
“I don’t like it when people call it a rant. It’s not a rant, I am just expressing myself. If I wasn’t me and my personality wasn’t what it is, my music wouldn’t be what it is. You can’t separate my music from my personality. Without the personality my music wouldn’t exist,” he says.
He claims he has never tried to be controversial, as the truth is controversial enough.
“I have always been like this, before the fame and money; I have always been someone who speaks the truth. I told myself that when I make it, I will do things on my own terms. I try to be myself as much as possible. Most of the time it works for me and sometimes it doesn’t.”
“If you don’t own my album, how can you be a fan? You can afford a smartphone to take a photo with but you can’t afford R100 ($7.50) for my album? Real fans support the artists. If you come to me, you want a piece of me or my time, so why can’t you buy my album?” he says.
“The country has never seen anything like me; someone as expressive, as blunt, as honest and dedicated as I am. Everything with me is intense,” he says.
According to AKA, thinking success is easy can be dangerous.
“When you start out, you work hard and say you can’t wait for the day when you are successful. When you finally get there, you realize getting there is not hard, staying there is.”
African hip hop and Afrobeats are everywhere on the radio these days. Much of that is attributed to African artists touring the world and making their presence known. AKA has toured some parts of Europe and has worked with Nigerian stars Ice Prince and Burna Boy, from whom he has learned a thing or two.
“Nigerians work much harder than the average South African artist. They are much more unapologetic, that’s why sometimes I feel like I belong there. [In] Nigeria, artists are encouraged to be superstars, yet in South Africa being a superstar is frowned upon.”
“We love to be humble people, and there is nothing wrong with being humble. Humility is the greatest source of our strength, but also, the great source of our weakness. In Nigeria and the US they are told to be great and in South Africa we are told to be humble which makes us meek, subservient and easily taken advantage of,” he says.
Although he has opened for Kanye West, Snoop Lion, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar on tour, AKA swears he will never open for an international artist in South Africa.
“Promoters treat us differently from Kanye West and all these other artists. They get better sound, better money and better treatment, yet we would be performing in our own cities. Promoters say we should do it for exposure but exposure to whom? These are our people who know us, so why should we tolerate being ill-treated?”
According to AKA, South Africa needs to redress legacies of apartheid. He believes African artists should be respected like international artists.
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“We still have that mentality of saying ‘how can AKA and Drake be on the same stage?’ We need to address our own self-worth. Apartheid left in us the idea that we are not worth more and we need to change that,” he says.
AKA is not a hugely sentimental man, but a glimpse of his softer side shines on social media when he talks of his daughter Kairo.
“It took a while for me to figure out how to change a nappy as Kiernan insisted on doing it himself all the time. He would wake up at night during our stay at the hospital and get up to change the baby’s nappy. I remember thinking that I really needed to learn, but it felt good knowing that he was so hands on,” says Kairo’s mother, DJ Zinhle, on her blog.
When Zinhle had her baby shower she says AKA “popped in to say hi to the ladies, he walked in carrying the most adorable Melissa and Doug Giraffe, with a big pink satin bow tied around her neck”.
Since the baby, AKA says he only sleeps for three to four hours a day; instead of six.
“There is no balance in my life. I still need to find it. I am mentally tired, physically tired, I need a holiday, I need a break but there is just no time. My life is exploding, I am having a baby; I’m on tour and have interviews.”
Although reluctant to share his net worth, the 27-year-old divulges that he makes more than R100,000 ($7,500) from performing each month. He also has income from TV shows, and various business ventures. He designed a range of headphones, Bluetooth speakers and clothing items which are sold nationwide.
“I want to make sure my future is secure. By the time I hang the mic I should be able to provide a great life for my children and their children and children’s children.”
As the saying goes, “the man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones”. You could argue AKA is doing this. You can also argue he has had more than his fair share of stones thrown at him. No matter, AKA wants to be the king of African hip hop.

‘Why Should We Tolerate Being Ill-Treated?’

Since its inception 22 years ago, Unique Maritime Group (UMG) has grown from a company with three employees to more than 500; a local business to an international operation with five divisions across seven global regions; and a foray for Himanshu (Harry) Gandhi into entrepreneurship within the oil and gas industry that was purely accidental.
“You’re not born a businessman, you just become one when you grab an opportunity,” he says.
It’s a blistering Middle Eastern morning en route to meet him in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where UMG’s headquarters are located in the Hamriyah Free Zone, an industrial area far from the glamour of Dubai, its emirate sibling.
The quintessential businessman, Gandhi has 25 years of industry-savvy and a knack for seizing opportunities to form partnerships and acquire companies to expand his empire. His initiation into entrepreneurship was by chance, but his success has been no accident.
The son of an electroplating engineer born into a middle-class family in Mumbai, Gandhi started out on a different path with a chemistry degree from Bombay University, later studying computer science in Singapore when his father was transferred there in 1981.
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A programmer with Associated Onshore Offshore Services (AOOS) in 1984, Gandhi quickly graduated to sales engineer, ultimately being given the opportunity to open a Middle East branch in Dubai as general manager. The future looked bright but Gandhi was about to meet his first challenge.
“In 1986, there was a big oil price drop and they decided to withdraw from this area,” he says. “I presented my then chairman with a plan and basically became owner with him of the company – so I got into business because my employment was shutting down.”
Restarting in 1993 as UMG, the company grew as a specialized equipment supplier providing offshore and onshore services including the sale, rental, manufacturing and servicing of equipment to the oil, gas and marine industries.
UMG evolved as oil and gas opportunities in the Middle East grew and Dubai became an international hub. Today, Gandhi has grown the business by looking beyond Middle Eastern shores. His investment in African companies has seen technology out of the continent excelling in one of the biggest oil and gas industries worldwide.
One such company in Cape Town, Unique Hydra, began as a small team of engineers. Approaching Gandhi with their diving engineering equipment, he recognized its quality and began selling it in the Middle East. Seeing the potential for growth with financial and commercial help, he provided infrastructure and resources, gave them challenging hi-tech jobs overseas and set up a huge factory.
“The amount of talent we have in South Africa is incredible,” says Gandhi.
As a result, Unique Hydra has grown from a small equipment manufacturing company to the leading diving equipment supplier to the world.
Much of UMG’s technology is developed on the Unique Hydra premises; Gandhi says his company has grown overseas due to their business in South Africa. UMG has spent the last three years investing in research and development there which has culminated in a new product: HYDRACraft. A marine vessel that is used to support diving operations.
“It’s more out of Africa and we globalize it,” says Gandhi.
Also operating in Nigeria as Unique Wellube, exporting their services to various industries, Gandhi says UMG wants to keep growing in Africa. Opportunities exist from Angola, Ghana and Gabon to Kenya and Tanzania.
“As a group, for us, 25% of the market comes from Africa, so we are going to regionally diversify there.”
Gandhi has witnessed a transformation in Africa’s workforce in the last decade.
“There is a lot of demand from the workforce to educate themselves further so that they can economically grow themselves and that is very amazing.”
Building a multinational operation hasn’t been easy.
“Today, I face the same challenge I had when I was a three-man company; finding the right people to do the right jobs and to be loyal.”
Dr. Saeed Alhassan, Director of the Gas Research Center and Assistant Professor at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, agrees.
“Sustainable development of the human capital is among the most challenging aspect of the oil and gas industry because training and retaining top notch talent requires a good deal of investment; aligning human development with business strategy has to be accounted for.”
Gandhi says oil and gas is a good industry because of its growth cycle.
“The demand for oil is continuing to grow; there is still not enough oil in the world to take care of the final demands of people.”
He says oil and gas is cyclical and in his 25 years in the industry he has witnessed three cycles.
“It’s the case of it consolidates, it grows, it consolidates, it settles down, then it will grow again.”
Tomorrow is always on Gandhi’s mind, but today he acknowledges he wouldn’t have amassed such success without his team. He says good camaraderie makes employees family and if they value company culture, the organization will always succeed.
Gandhi expects to reach seven divisions in three years by growing UMG’s business lines, appealing to the same customer with different technology.
“We innovate, we learn, we buy the technology or we acquire a company doing that and so we build or business.”
He enjoys giving back, from the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign (LaBL), a solar lighting initiative where he helped light up 23 villages across India, to partnering with the EKAL Vidyalaya Foundation in India to fund 50 schools for impoverished children.
For this CEO, success isn’t represented by his Lamborghini with its elite three-digit license plate or his villa in the posh Emirates Hills district in Dubai; hard work is paramount.
“I still work from nine to five every day!”

Diving Into  An Ocean Of Cash

It was tough on a lonely farm in the tiny town of Molteno in South Africa’s Eastern Cape in 1940. The world was at war and South Africa was staggering from the great depression.
On this windswept property, the farmer’s wife had an idea to make money for her family. Elizabeth Anne Greyvensteyn wanted to bake biscuits to sell to her friends at church and on neighboring farms. The only problem was she didn’t have any money to convert her barn into a bakery.
So the farmer’s wife sought a £1,500 loan from a new unknown government agency. Three quarters of a century later both lender and lendee are household names.
The loan to the farm near Molteno was the first issued by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) that celebrated 75 years of operation in October. From Greyvensteyn’s bakery emerged the huge brand name Ouma rusks. The company expanded down the years into a conglomerate and formed a partnership with Simba, a popular potato chips manufacturer.
For the IDC, this was the first of a multitude of loans that built scores of Johannesburg Stock Exchange companies and created hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“Sasol was established in 1950 with an initial capital investment by IDC of R10 million ($700,000) after many years of research on the viability of using South Africa’s abundant low-grade coal resources as sources of liquid fuels. The company produced its first synthetic fuels and chemicals at its plant in Sasolburg in 1955. The NATREF refinery, a joint venture with Total, started producing fuel in 1971 and Sasol II commenced operation in 1983. The company privatized and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1979,” says Mandla Mpangase, the IDC public relations manager.
Today, Sasol is an Africa-based company leading the technology innovations around the world. This sought after petrochemical giant is actively involved in gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology, using the natural gas to boost innovations and resourcefulness by creating liquid fluids such as diesel and kerosene.  On the FORBES Global 2000 list, ranking the world’s largest public companies, Sasol is ranked 366 and is valued at $21.9 billion.
Over the years, IDC expanded its mandate to lend support to companies beyond South African borders, starting with Mozal, Mozambique’s aluminium smelter, in 1998.
With the 2008/09 global financial crisis, again IDC was prompted to draw up schemes to finance and create jobs for companies in distress.
According to Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Qhena, the aim of the IDC interventions was only to ensure companies stayed afloat, but also that they grew.
A company born during the apartheid regime, IDC has transformed to serve all in business. Qhena highlighted this at the 20 years celebration of South African democracy in 2014.
“The corporation made sure that companies improved capacity levels and become competitive on the world market. We also focused on developing black industrials. So far, we have spent R4.8 billion ($338 million) to fund black businesses in the in the last 20 years… In the last three years, we have approved 22 projects with a commitment of R13 billion ($900 million),” he said.
So what started with a rusk biscuit on a dusty farm 75 years ago is just getting into its stride.

An Investment Story That Took The Biscuit

‘They Keep On Expecting To Get Things  For Free’’

For Herman Mashaba it was a long and tiring climb to the top. An apartheid police crackdown on student politics forced a young Mashaba out of the University of the North, in his second year. He was forced to work as a clerk.
“One day we were ordered by police to leave the university immediately. I never understood why they had to involve law enforcement in solving matters with the students. I simply packed my bags and went home,” recalls Mashaba.
In two years, he saved enough to buy a car. Mashaba had a short stint as sales representative for a hair products company – SuperKurl. It was here where he met a white Afrikaner business associate, Johan Kriel, who was also a pharmacist. The law didn’t allow the two to go into business together. But they found a way around this to start a company called Black Like Me.
In 1984, Mashaba quit the job, after two years, and started selling his own hair products from the boot of his car. From the seed capital of R30,000 (around $2,000) he borrowed from friends, Mashaba had built a R10-million ($725,000) factory in 1993, running in the heart of Mabopane township, north of Pretoria.
Apartheid laws prevented Mashaba from buying or renting land in an industrial area, so he was forced to build his own 6,000-square-meter factory.
Soon, Black Like Me products went all over Southern Africa but clearly somebody didn’t like it and threw a match.
“November 17, 1993, is a day I will never forget. It’s a day I have difficulty explaining but out of it came a lot of lessons. The incident itself was horrific; how I survived was a miracle. Only God knows,” says Mashaba.
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This was to become Mashaba’s worst day, the destruction of seven years of producing Black Like Me products from a dusty township factory.
“I stood there watching the fire department people fighting the fire in my factory. I immediately realized it was not an accidental fire, it was spread across the factory. When the fire department combed the place, this arsonist came through. Unfortunately, when the workers started to arrive for the six o’clock shift, the factory was gone to ashes. You can imagine over R10 million in 1993, it’s close to R100 million today. More than 150 people were crying for their jobs,” says Mashaba.
He says there was no time to cry. His suppliers’ trucks came to deliver stock to the burned down factory that he had to find an alternative storeroom for. By 9AM, he assembled his management team and discussed an alternative. In two weeks, Mashaba found a smaller place to work in in Midrand, north of Johannesburg. But it took two years to get back to full production.
“The lesson for me was that while I went through this people moved on, that’s where I lost market share. The products were not on shelves. The same day when the factory burned down, I had a call from our office in Johannesburg, to tell me about a delivery from Lesotho. The delivery turned out to be bags of marijuana. I asked them to get police involved. The tragedy of it is there was never an investigation,” says Mashaba.
Despite him asking people for information and offering a R50,000 ($3,600) reward, no one was prosecuted for burning down his factory.
Mashaba credits his culture of saving for getting him back on his feet. When the insurance was taking too long to refund, Mashaba used his savings to get the new factory in Midrand.
“I didn’t even get half of what I was insured for, and they took time to pay me. You can imagine the banks at the time, as blacks, they were not interested in us. The only relationship I had with banks was to deposit my money,” he says.
“Fortunately, I never allowed circumstances to determine my fate. I have always believed I was in control of my destiny. I don’t want politicians’, or anyone’s, favors.”
The fire is one of many stories in Mashaba’s first book: Black Like You. Mashaba’s second one, launched this year, is called Capitalist Crusader, a title borrowed from a headline for a FORBES AFRICA cover story on him. In the book, Mashaba speaks about issues that see him vilified by his people who accuse him of being an insensitive capitalist.
“I want to be known as a capitalist. I wrote the book openly, so that people know my agenda upfront. At the same time, I don’t want to be misrepresented. Unfortunately, collective thinking to a large extent misleads people. Most people’s agendas are not what they preach. Let’s judge each other on the basis of what we are doing not what we are preaching,” he says.
Mashaba says the government is to blame for high unemployment.
“This higher unemployment of South African people is a man-made phenomenon created by the government. It looks like it is in our government’s interest for people not to work, so that they depend on government grants. If they really wanted people to work, they would create an environment for entrepreneurs and capitalists to create work for people. We need a free market. They must ask their colleagues in China and Russia what communism did to people,” says Mashaba.
“To protect democracy you need active citizenship, you don’t need to be politicians. If South Africa wants to be a model and a prosperous nation, we need a free market system. You cannot prosper by the government being the driver of the economy. Just create the environment that will allow the 50-odd-million South Africans to be the players. And the sooner we abolish all race-based legislations, the better for the future of this country. It is very dangerous to run the country on the basis of race and tribalism.”
In early 2014, Mashaba stepped down as a chairman of the Free Market Foundation, a post he held for two years, to join main opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA). He was vilified by many in the black community and called a traitor for joining what they say is a party of white privilege. Mashaba maintains he has no political ambitions, despite being approached by many to throw his hat in the ring for the mayor of Johannesburg.
“There’s no way you are going to see me toy-toying. I never toy-toyed in my 56 years of living, so I don’t think I will start now. I think I will be a stupid politician. If there was no DA, there would be no one I would vote for. Yes, they are not perfect but they represent my value system,” says Mashaba.
Today, from his sunny office in Sandton, the richest square mile in Africa, Mashaba leads Lephatsi Investments, a company with interests in mining, construction and logistics.
He invests in young companies with ideas. After two decades, Mashaba hasn’t forgotten his worst day of fire, fury and despair – he lives to help young go-ahead companies survive theirs.

‘How I Survived Was A Miracle’

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s words cleanse the mind. They are profound, creative and thought provoking.
Adichie is the fifth of six children born to high achieving parents. Her mother, Grace Ifeoma, was the first female registrar at the University of Nigeria and her father, James Nwoye Adichie, was Nigeria’s first professor of statistics. He later became Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the same institution.
With a power couple for parents, Adichie acquired a reading habit by the age of four.
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After secondary school, Adichie studied medicine at the University of Nigeria, switched to pharmacy, and then gave it up to go to the United States (US), when she was 19, a year and a half into her studies. She obtained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Adichie graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2001. She later completed a master’s degree in creative writing at John Hopkins University. In 2005, she was a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University, and earned a master’s degree in African studies from Yale University in 2008.It was while there that she began writing Purple Hibiscus, published when she was 26. Her work has been translated into 30 languages.
Walk along Fife Street in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and you will see some of the country’s most expensive schools and scores of students sharing a laugh in the blistering sun. Look closely, and you will see many clutching Purple Hibiscus, a work studied in many high schools across Africa.
“Purple Hibiscus is one of the greatest books I have ever read. There is so much struggle and oppression in the book that I can relate to as an African. The ways she writes and describes things like heat in the book is intriguing and make it a good read. To see an African write like this is very inspiring because it shows that we can all tell our stories no matter where we come from. To think she was just 26 years old when she wrote it makes it even more intriguing,” says pupil, Charmaine Hlatshwayo, from Mzilikazi High School in Bulawayo.
Half of a Yellow Sun and the short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, were Adichie’s next great works.
She has won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Orange Prize, the New York Times Notable Book prize, a People and Black Issues Book Review Best Book of the Year prize and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist.
Adichie is often described as the successor of the late Chinua Achebe. It’s a fitting coincidence that she grew up in a house that once belonged to Achebe, Nigeria’s most celebrated writer.
“Because of writers like Chinua Achebe, I went through a mental shift in my perception of literature. I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature. I started to write about things I recognized,” said Adichie at her TEDx 2009 talk, The Danger Of A Single Story.
The talk has drawn almost two million views online.
Born in Nsukka, Nigeria, on September 15, 1977, Adichie encountered injustice as she grew up. As a result, for years, the Nigerian author has inspired many with her written work and become part of pop culture. Her speeches are as powerful as her fiction.
“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls ‘You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful otherwise you will threaten the men.’ Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage; I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important… But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same…”says Adichie at the TEDx Euston talk titled We Should All Be Feminists, in 2012.
This talk made Adichie Beyoncé’s favorite feminist. Beyoncé sampled parts of this speech on her track, Flawless in 2014. The song reportedly topped iTunes charts in 104 countries and sold nearly 850,000 copies in three days.
“I think Chimamanda is the fearless woman’s voice that has become the drumbeat of feminism. She is intelligent, articulate and knows how to use her voice to speak for women on the international stage,” says Zimbabwean author Raisedon Baya.
But that’s not all.
Adichie’s latest book, Americanah, a best-selling novel, is being turned into a movie, with award-winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o as lead. Brad Pitt is the producer, through his Plan B production banner along with Nyong’o and Andrea Calderwood.
The founder and treasurer of the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa (ANFASA), Monica Seeber, says “ANFASA is delighted that an author has been selected for the FORBES AFRICA [lifetime achievement award]. This is recognition that authors have the power to influence people, events and thinking far beyond their own personal spheres. The pen is mightier than the sword.”
Adichie is carrying a banner for every woman who has grown up in Africa. In a few years, she has placed African women’s literature on the world map which makes us wonder what she will achieve in the next 20 years.

Adichie Is Africa, Africa  Is Adichie

Arunma Oteh’s ascent from Nigeria’s ‘Iron Lady’ to Africa’s pride was not an easy one. Yet, Oteh, who joined the World Bank as its Vice President and Treasurer in September 2015, has proven that even if the proverbial glass ceiling exists for women, it can be broken – and how.
As Nigeria’s Director-General of the Securities &amp; Exchange Commission (SEC), Oteh, known for her competence and tough decision-making skills, had boldly driven the transformation of the country’s capital markets and helped grow investor appetite.
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At the World Bank, Oteh leads a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than $150 billion in assets. Her top priorities are to maintain the World Bank’s global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor and risk manager; manage an extensive client advisory, transaction and asset management business for the bank; engage, in her capacity as one of the World Bank’s key representatives, with outside stakeholders including global private sector financial institutions, the financial media and the sovereign debt and reserve managers in client countries, as well as ratings agencies; and collaborate extensively with the finance partners throughout the World Bank Group, expanding shared approaches, in particular around innovative financing for development and for key new projects.
In a statement, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, had said on her appointment: “Arunma has deep knowledge of capital markets and tremendous experience as the former Treasurer of one of our partner development banks, we are very fortunate to be able to recruit an individual of Arunma’s obvious caliber.”
Oteh is a phenomenal powerhouse but in person, is warm and unassuming. I met her on a balmy Friday evening in Johannesburg in mid-2015.
Her five-year term at the SEC had ended in January, the same month she turned 50.
“Fifty is the new 16,” she laughed.
“I couldn’t have imagined how enjoyable it will be. It’s like I am walking on air.”
Oteh said her singular objective would be to continue to serve her country, and Africa.
“I come from a family [where] my parents have spent their lives serving, so I am usually attracted to opportunities that help me serve,” she said.
Oteh speaks with passion about Africa, about security, capital markets, infrastructure, e-commerce and governance. She also speaks keenly about topics such as women’s empowerment and youth.
“I want young people to realize their potential. I want to see Nigeria become truly one of the most industrious countries in the world. I want to see Africa be the place where no one writes those articles about wars, disease and famine, and [where] people are writing about being inspired by all the entrepreneurial opportunities here.”
Her first experience of capital markets was sitting around the dinner table with her father, who would make her read annual reports to him.
“I hated it, but God was planting a seed in me for what I have done today.”
Clearly, her parents were her greatest influences.
“I believe early foundations are critical to who you become. I also want more parents to spend more time bringing up their children. My emphasis on character and standing alone came from my parents.”
Other influences have been Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, Madam Walker, Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé and Bono. For Africa’s women, she too is now up there on that list.

W0A3975

The Iron Lady  In Charge Of  $150 Billion

As chair of the African Union (AU) Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it would seem, far from the politics of her home country South Africa.
But it is now, in recent months, perhaps more than ever before, that her name is ricocheting in the corridors of power. Whilst political observers say she is coming to South Africa more often addressing high-profile meetings, the speculation is if she will be South Africa’s next president in 2017.
Will she be? If she does, it will make her South Africa’s first female president, which will be a political harbinger for the women’s movement.
We posed the question to the sexagenarian and anti-apartheid activist in June 2015 in Johannesburg, a day after the 25th Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government around the theme ‘Women’s empowerment and development towards Agenda 2063’.
“That is not dependent on me,” Dlamini-Zuma had replied with a gentle laugh.
“At the moment, I am working at the AU, and that’s where my efforts should be. Who becomes the president of South Africa is a decision of whichever party wins, it will be the decision of the ruling party. And I have to do my best where I am. If you work for it, maybe it will happen. It is the decision of South Africans, but not my decision.”
A medical doctor, Dlamini-Zuma had been minister of health during Nelson Mandela’s presidency, foreign minister in the Thabo Mbeki government, and home affairs minister in the Jacob Zuma government before becoming the first woman to take on the top job at the AU in 2012.
Dlamini-Zuma’s mandate for now is clear – a united and strong Africa.
The greater financial inclusion of women on the continent, especially in agribusiness, is a subject close to her heart.
“The women on this continent are very unique in many ways. They really are the drivers of communities, of families, they are the curators of our culture, they really are the backbone of our social security as they take care of the elderly and the sick. But they also just make sure the land is tilled, there is food on the table for the children. But we need to empower them to do a lot more.”
Binding a large, heterogeneous continent with similarities rather than differences is challenging, but Dlamini-Zuma stridently believes in the pan-African dream, and the power of the youth to shape Africa.
“What is common is that we are all driven by a pan-African approach, which looks at solidarity amongst Africans, unity amongst Africans, and so I try and use what is common, what can drive all of us to prosperity and peace. And also working around the issues of women, as they are common on the continent and across the globe, and working with youth, which is also a critical part of what we do.”
In September 2015, Dlamini-Zuma received the Gülen Peace Award from the Turquoise Harmony Institute. Previous winners include Graça Machel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
One of her achievements at the AU, she says, has been bringing together Agenda 2063, a development framework and vision for Africa.
“The second thing we have been able to achieve is to get the continent to realize it has to fund its own programs…We want to make sure we are at the forefront and the world should work with us, support us, invest in Africa, but we have to invest in Africa ourselves.”
The management of diversity on the continent is another key focus. And more women in politics, as positive role models, driving the agenda for change. Whether or not Dlamini-Zuma becomes South Africa’s next president, she is certainly only a step away from proving it is possible.

The Pan-African

For citizens of Africa’s largest economy, 2015 was defined by hope, politics and economic stagnation. They will remember the year for its toxic politics, power games, political propaganda, public discourse on socio-political reengineering and economic inertia.
Nigerians were effectively waiting for their new leader to flag off widespread reforms, which was a crucial step towards fixing their damaged economy. For people with the dubious distinction of being one of the most corrupt nations in the world, they also needed to restore national pride.
Luckily, Nigeria’s brand of politics produced a democratically elected president through predominantly peaceful polls in March.
Considered to be a gentleman and excellent soldier, Muhammadu Buhari once reigned over this complex and fast growing nation as supreme military leader between December 1983 and April 1985. Booted out of office by another soldier for being too autocratic – stern, frugal and draconian – Nigerians now wanted him back for those same reasons they welcomed his ejection 30 years ago, albeit with a democratic flavor. Historians will do well to credit him with this ironic twist of national déjà vu.
They will also record his evolution from perennial presidential candidate to President as unique. Like him or not, he has emerged as a national emblem of persistence. Prior to this year’s elections, Buhari had ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011, ending his quest on each occasion in protracted legal battles.
In a world where perceptions become instant reality, Nigeria’s political trajectory to 2015 restored hope in Africa’s political culture and set the tone for other elections across the continent. The emergence of a winner with seemingly squeaky clean credentials – in a nation where graft has become a culture – rekindled investor confidence in the Nigerian economy and once again placed Africa’s most populous nation on the radar of the global community – this time for a positive reason.
“Once uncertainty was removed over the fate of Nigeria, risk levels dropped and all previous analysis has to be recalibrated,” Olufemi Awoyemi, the CEO of Proshare, said days after the elections.
Buhari’s brief was obvious: fix the faltering economy, restore peace and security, and revamp the social and political ethos of the land. The man, however, doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. His unrushed style confounded, and still confuses, friends and critics alike, and has left many Nigerians wondering if perhaps the change they voted for was a mirage. His performance to date offers a mixed ray of hope.
Battling corruption was always going to be Buhari’s forte. He has overhauled the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and has been exhuming contractual anomalies and crude oil theft cases identified during the previous administration.
Pleading for patience, his search for incorruptible men and women to fill cabinet roles took almost five months.
He has secured the support of the United States and other G7 nations. This renewed interest in Nigeria will be useful when he goes after ill-gotten funds of indicted citizens and ex-government officials stashed away in foreign banks. The man himself has no foreign bank account.
The war against Boko Haram has also benefited from better regional cooperation. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger now have a multi-national task force fighting the insurgency.
The Buhari administration is however yet to rescue the Chibok girls, abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014. The world also continues to watch how he will fulfil another campaign promise to cut down the size of government.
The economy meanwhile seems to lack a definite course. Without ministers and without a clear modus operandi for implementing economic reforms, financial markets and investors continue to stall, waiting for direction on key policy issues such as trade and investment, currency and interest rate management.
The president’s 2016 fiscal plan might yet provide some clues to his chosen path in to the future.

Patient And Purposeful

Two sharp jabs of failure – one on a golf course and another during a telephone call in New York – helped make Mohammed Dewji the rampant African entrepreneur that he is.
The first came on a golf course in the United States (US) when he realized he was not going to be the next Tiger Woods. Dewji had a handicap of three when he was still at school; his father spotted this and enrolled him in the prestigious Arnold Palmer Golf Academy in Orlando, Florida.
“I won the regional competitions, but when we got to the national competitions I saw younger players hitting the ball further and straighter than me and I decided I wasn’t going to make it,” says Dewji.
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Instead he went to study theology in Georgetown University – an alma mater of former US president Bill Clinton.
“While other students tried to stay awake through discussions of exchange rates, Dewji would stay after class to talk about how the readings might pertain to the Tanzanian shilling, and how Tanzania could address its economic challenges. Even at the age of 20 or so, he was thinking about how to improve life in his country,” recalls Pietra Rivoli, Deputy Dean of the university’s school of business, who taught Dewji international finance.
The second stab of failure, that proved a prod towards the road home to Africa, came during a telephone call from New York to his father back in Dar es Salaam. By this time, Dewji had a job on Wall Street.
“I asked my father for money to buy a suit. He said if I couldn’t afford a suit it was time for me to come home and work for him!” chuckles Dewji.
The return came in 1999 to the family trading house that his grandmother founded, in the mud and sand family home, in the poor town of Singida, in central Tanzania. This is the humble home where Dewji was born and was very lucky to survive the delivery.
“My mother and I almost died because I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck,” Dewji told FORBES AFRICA in a cover story in 2013.
Dewji’s father, Gulam Dewji, had built the family business into a prosperous import and export operation called MeTL. Fresh from the US, Dewji learned the ropes studiously and his father handed him the reins and a $1-million loan, with a promotion to CEO, at the age of 29. He set to work transforming MeTL into a pan-African conglomerate with operations in Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique that clocked up $1.4 billion in revenue. He bought up loss-making government textile and edible oil plants, leftovers from the country’s great socialist industrial plans, and turned them around. He now owns the biggest edible oil refinery in Africa and runs a diversified group that distributes and manufactures everything from soap to fruit juice.
A snapshot of the shrewd deals of Dewji is the purchase of his sisal processing plant. At the time, it was running at break even with prices of around $300 a ton for sisal that is used to make everything from ropes to coffee bags. Dewji reckoned his production costs were going to go up from $300 to around $700, but also had an idea that prices too were also going to rise. So they did, to $2,100, so now MeTL is exporting 8,000 ton a year at a handsome profit.
It is this kind of instinct that has led MeTL into the competitive fuel market in Tanzania. In a mere three and a half years of operation, the company has become one of the country’s top three suppliers.
It is all part of the Dewji plan to set up in Kenya, Rwanda, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Burundi, Ghana and Nigeria by 2022. A move that he believes will increase his workforce from 24,000 – about 5% of Tanzania’s formal employment – to 100,000. This will translate into revenue of $5 billion for a group that Dewji owns 75% of. It could propel him towards his goal of becoming Africa’s richest man.
With such a sharp, shrewd eye for business, many could ask why Dewji is willing to risk a spectacular defeat by going toe-to-toe with one of the world’s best known names – Coca Cola. Taking on the giant of the fizzy drink business has proved the graveyard of many a hard-nosed billionaire entrepreneur: including British tycoon Richard Branson whose Virgin Cola was counted out in the first round.
Dewji has been in the soft drink and juice business for a while and has the machinery for mass production.
When, a couple of years ago, he launched his cheekily named Mo Cola in Tanzania – his friends call him Mo –  Coca Cola pricked up its ears in a market where it holds 96%. Dewji claims Coca Cola offered to buy him out and he refused.
“My dream is to have a drink brand that is bought across the whole of Africa,” says Dewji.
The fizzy drink war in Tanzania is slow going. Dewji turns out 12 million bottles a month at his three bottling lines in Dar es Salaam and yet has managed to capture a mere 3.5% of the market. Not that it worries this all-or-nothing entrepreneur.
“Once I can get to 15%, I will start making money,” he says.
Away from business, Dewji gives $500,000 every year to help the poor in his hometown of Singida.
“He’s very popular and a huge inspiration to many young people,” says Salim Kikeke, the BBC correspondent in Dar es Salaam.
In the future, he hopes to channel $100 million of his fortune to help others.
“Life is very short. I don’t want to die with all this money,” he says.
When FORBES AFRICA put Tanzania’s richest man on our cover in July 2013, many people asked who he was. In the next decade, fewer and fewer people are likely to ask the same question about the humble entrepreneur who could very well become Africa’s richest man.

The All-Or-Nothing  World Of Mo

It was a rainy summer day in Kyalami, Johannesburg. As we drove, the whiff of the horse dung was unmistakable. A pungent reminder nature plays a big role in this animal loving neighborhood; more so in Carmen Nottingham’s backyard.
Nottingham has her own Garden of Eden – it is also big business.
Climate change is a threat to the business of food. Agricultural entrepreneurs need to innovate and feed 8.5 billion mouths by 2030, according to the United Nations.
“Climate change is a big problem today. We need to look for new ways to counter it and feed ourselves and permaculture is a very reasonable solution,” says Nottingham.
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Permaculture advocates for care of the earth in search of greater yields. Nottingham has been doing it for 23 years.
“It is about using our resources, harnessing all the rainwater that we can from everywhere like the roof and the road. I don’t allow any water to go out of my property. I use all my grey water from the sinks and the bathrooms on my crops too. We don’t farm crops but the soil. We need to make sure it is always healthy,” she says.
Nottingham has turned her rubbish dump to a backyard dam for irrigation.
“We don’t want water run offs, you should harvest it from the roads and build counters to make sure the water stays in the property. This means no water is wasted and most importantly the birds come and drink from it and also dispose on my yard. A healthy soil also provides an environment for microorganisms to thrive, which in turn will help your plants to flourish.”
“In a continent like ours, water is scarce and we have evaporation rates. We need deeper and narrower water sources and as many trees around them as possible,” she says
Nottingham diverts bathroom and kitchen pipes to a mini-wetland, and makes smelly kitchen and toilet water clean enough for her vegetable garden, using the waste to fertilize the soil.
“Nothing is waste. We can use all these natural things back on the soil.”
Nurturing earthworms is her greatest hobby and earner.
“They produce microorganisms that are the life of the soil. They eat any dead or decaying matter and regenerate that into life.”
She says permaculture increases her yields by 40%, especially when combined with bee pollination.
Permaculture is all about the design and using the earth’s resources to our advantage, says agriculture entrepreneur and permaculture expert Edward Gaybba.
“Everything that has once lived can live again in permaculture if you allow it to. The problem with modern day farming is we stop that from happening. We kill everything that we can with chemicals. We try to keep away what we consider pests but in the process we kill the important things as well,” he says.
Gaybba says the goal is to use ethics and principles to transform from a dependent consumer to a responsible producer.
“Our forefathers couldn’t read or write but they were smart. We need to go back to the roots and follows some of the tricks they used in agriculture. We should use such techniques like growing potatoes in tyres to maximize space,” he says.
Permaculture supporters say it is not against technology, but rather it favors the appropriate use of technology.
“Modern agriculture requires costly input resources so as to maximize yield, permaculture centers around using the natural resources at your disposal. Although your yield will not be as high, your ROI will be significantly greater as your input costs are much lower. Using what resources you have available around you is infinitely cheaper than importing resources at great cost. Nature wastes nothing. Why should we?” says Gaybba.
AgriSA agricultural economist, Wandile Sihlobo, says new farming methods and technologies are needed and welcome.
“We have a lot of problems in the sector, so the more food that is available the better. We should also note that things like permaculture and other forms of farming may pose challenges when we try to apply them in a large scale. For grains, for example, in South Africa it would be 2.6 million hectares of land which may be a challenge. Things like crop rotation work well on a large scale,” he says.
Undeterred permaculture fanatics have found a way of making money and they’re not going to stop.

Tag: December 2015

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