“There is something called the Queensbury Rule. You do not continue to beat up somebody who is on their knees. You do not. It is the rule. Civilized people abide by that Rule in business, sports, and politics. Rating Agencies should treat us the same way. During a global crisis!”



This was the response on Twitter of South Africa’s Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni on Sunday, November 21, after three dominant international credit rating agencies announced that the “outlook is negative” for the country.



American credit agencies, Fitch Ratings, announced on November 20 that South Africa&#8217;s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) had downgraded to &#8216;BB-&#8216; from &#8216;BB&#8217;. Joining Fitch, Moody&#8217;s Investors Service (Moody’s) also announced on Friday that the country’s ratings had been downgraded from Ba1 to Ba2. This is in addition to S&amp;P Global Ratings status on the country in April 2020 when they downgraded the country’s credit ratings to BB- from BB.



What could this mean for South Africa in a year of the pandemic?



Professor Philippe Burger, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Poverty, Inequality, and Economic Development at the University of the Free State in South Africa, says that the downgrade means that medium- to long-run interests will now be higher as opposed to what it would have been in the absence of a downgrade.



“That will affect everyone who needs to borrow, be it households or the government. It also means that to attract foreign investment into the country, we will have to offer more attractive returns on investment,” Burger adds.



The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a specialized entity of the African Union (AU), noted that because this has happened twice now since the start of the pandemic, the “expectation that fiscal deficit will widen and government debt will rise.” Like many other countries, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on South Africa’s economy. However, Fitch said that investment spending had already weakened in recent years in the country, falling last year to the lowest level in real terms since 2012. This reflects on challenges to the business environment such as the poor reliability of power supply, labor market inflexibility, and subdued domestic demand prospects. Although Moody’s said that the country had maintained a negative outlook in place since the beginning of November 2019, the South African National Treasury stated the Covid-19 pandemic hit South Africa at a difficult time. “Recent downgrades saw South Africa reaching its lowest credit rating levels from the ‘big three’ rating agencies since 1994. Economic growth has continued to decline irrespective of the attempts to reduce structural constraints,” the statement read on Saturday. Fitch further said that though President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in October, which focuses on boosting infrastructure investment, increasing energy supply, job creation, and re-industrialization, the country’s “track record” leaves nothing to be desired. “The track record of implementation of earlier reform initiatives has been relatively weak and, even if implemented, the effect of the reforms would be limited and take time to accumulate,” Fitch’s statement read. Unemployment in South Africa continues to be one of the country’s biggest challenges as it sits at 30.8%, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).



“While South Africa is not alone in having been severely affected by the crisis, its capacity to mitigate the shock over the medium term is lower than that of many sovereigns given significant fiscal, economic and social constraints and rising borrowing costs,” Moody’s stated in their release. South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, stated that the downgrade “is a painful one” and the implications of this will now affect the country’s borrowing costs. The National Treasury added that as outlined by the president’s recovery plan, the government’s plan to prioritize economic recovery and fiscal consolidation remains the same. “The downgrade will not only have immediate implications for our borrowing costs, but it will also 6 constrain our fiscal framework,” Mboweni said in a statement. “There is, therefore, an urgent need for government and its social partners to work together to ensure that we keep the sanctity of the fiscal framework and implement much-needed structural economic reforms to avoid further harm to our sovereign rating.” Professor Burger believes that from an expert’s perspective, the government would need to take the following steps to alleviate the problem: “Re-establish fiscal sustainability and take steps to arrest the upward trend in the public debt-to-GDP ratio and ensure it does not breach 100%. This will require enforcing the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) plans on the salary freeze on civil service salaries for this year and the next three years; Take necessary steps such a reducing red tape and policy uncertainty; Take steps needed to release spectrum and restructure and liberalize the energy sector. The latter includes getting the green energy sectors going. Many of these plans are in the pipeline but need acceleration.”



Treasury stated however that the rating agencies have indicated that the country’s rating strengths include “a credible central bank, a flexible exchange rate, an actively traded currency, and deep capital markets, which should help counterbalance low economic growth and fiscal pressures.”

Economy Concept

What South Africa’s Recent Credit Rating Downgrade Actually Means

Sherika Wynter was on a roll.



Since releasing an insulated luxury tote bag for professionals in 2018, and subsequently selling out three times, her Maryland-based research and development company Thomas &amp; Wynter had been featured in&nbsp;British GQ&nbsp;and the&nbsp;International Business Times&nbsp;and on several local news segments.



She walked into February 2020 with more notches on her belt: a Google small-business award and a joint venture deal with a prominent Black law firm to create another product for professionals.



“We were growing exponentially,” says Wynter, a Black entrepreneur who, with cofounder Shallon Thomas, started the business in 2014.



As the coronavirus threat escalated in early March, their sales declined, nearly hitting zero by&nbsp; April. That same month, Wynter laid off almost every member of her five-person team, save for one contract worker.



“Right now, we’re treading water and have applied for ten different grants with no success. It’s a little daunting, but we’re trying to carry the company on our backs,” Wynter says.



It’s no exaggeration to say that the pandemic has decimated small businesses and early-stage ventures, especially those&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uschamber.com/report/special-report-women-owned-small-businesses-during-covid-19#:~:text=Poll%20Shows%20Coronavirus%20Pandemic%20Disproportionately,year%20ahead%2C%20new%20data%20show." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">owned by women</a>&nbsp;and people of color. Black women sit at this juncture, bearing a disproportionate share of the virus’ impact.



For years, Black women have created new businesses at a rapid clip,&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.kansascityfed.org/~/media/files/community/blackwomenbusinessesreport.pdf?la=en" target="_blank">far outpacing</a>&nbsp;other racial and ethnic groups. But strong financial headwinds from the pandemic and a lack of access to new funding sources threaten to wipe out decades of economic progress, leaving Black female business owners in a state of perpetual uncertainty, waiting for relief they fear will never come.



The face of female entrepreneurship overall is becoming a lot less white. Black women represent 42% of new women-owned businesses—three times their share of the female population—and&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://usafacts.org/articles/black-women-business-month/" target="_blank">36% of all Black-owned</a>&nbsp;employer businesses.



High levels of educational attainment, coupled with overcoming barriers to corporate advancement, have prompted Black women to pursue entrepreneurship, where they’ve become a potent economic force. Majority Black women-owned firms&nbsp;<a href="https://www.colorlines.com/articles/report-black-women-are-fastest-growing-group-female-entrepreneurs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">grew 67%</a>&nbsp;from 2007 to 2012, compared to 27% for all women, and 50% from 2014 to 2019, representing the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascityfed.org/~/media/files/community/blackwomenbusinessesreport.pdf?la=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">highest growth rate&nbsp;</a>of any female demographic during that time frame.



“There’s this assumption that entrepreneurship is a tech startup that’s venture-capital-funded because we see so much about Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. People discount informal entrepreneurship and part-time business creation, which creates a narrow view of entrepreneurship,” says Donna Kelley, who has led research on the rate of Black entrepreneurship and serves as a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College.



But the decade-long boom in Black business creation masks deep inequities in access to the financial resources needed to create businesses that reach maturation, which is widely recognized as past the five-year mark. There are fewer established Black female business owners relative to their high rate of entrepreneurship, Kelley says. “This is persistent over time, which tells us that fewer of them are sustaining their businesses into maturity.”&nbsp;



In America’s business ecosystem, it’s not uncommon for companies to operate in the red for years before becoming profitable. Their lasting power is often made possible because of outside investors or their ability to secure loans from commercial banking institutions or credit unions. But Black entrepreneurs have historically been locked out of these funding opportunities.&nbsp;



“A commonality for Black people, especially women, is that it takes longer to obtain capital, and so they have to put in a lot more sweat equity,” says Laquita Blockson, director of social innovation at Agnes Scott College and co-investigator on a study about the success of African American women-led entrepreneurial ventures.



The lack of access to capital also dictates, in part, to which industries Black women flock. “If you don’t have the personal resources to get your business up and running, you may pick businesses that are easy to get off the ground, but that are crowded with competition for similar products and services, and less opportunity for differentiation,” Kelley says.



Many of those businesses are in industries that have been severely affected by the pandemic, with about 40% of revenue generated by Black-owned businesses in the hardest-hit sectors, including leisure, hospitality, transportation and retail.&nbsp;



“Hair salons, catering, restaurants or anything related to events . . . all of that shut down, and so the success of business owners in those industries depends on how much they have in reserves or were able to get from the federal government—both of which pose challenges for Black entrepreneurs,” says Jeffrey Robinson, founding assistant director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers Business School.&nbsp;



When Sundrae Miller was forced to close the doors to her Adara Spa on March 26, she immediately sought out new funding sources. She received $2,300 under the Paycheck Protection Program, a $64,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan and deferred her spa’s mortgage payment for one month. The Small Business Administration covered the next six months.



“That was my saving grace. If I hadn’t received that mortgage break, I’m afraid I’d be out of business,” says the Raleigh, North Carolina, resident.



Adara Spa reopened to the public on May 22, but business remains slow, and she fears a second state-mandated closure as winter approaches. In November, she’ll have to restart her mortgage payments.



Hunting for business grants has become like a full-time job for Miller, who often finds herself searching and applying for sources of capital until 2 a.m. She has applied for 21 grants to date, securing $23,000 from five of them. While the additional funding may seem sizable, Miller says she lost $20,000 each month her spa was closed and is losing $10,000 monthly since reopening at half-capacity. “I have a few grant applications out right now and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Okay, Lord, please let something come through,’” she says.



Little of the $670 billion PPP funding reached&nbsp;<a href="https://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-publication/crl-cares-act2-smallbusiness-apr2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Black business owners</a>, largely due to built-in structural limitations, such as stipulations around minimum headcounts and revenue requirements. When Wynter received a $1,000 PPP loan for her research and development company, she laughed. “They said, ‘Here’s a 30-year loan for $1,000,’ and I said, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ It was a slap in the face.”



Others had some success. The majority Black-owned architecture and engineering firm Sabir,&nbsp;Richardson &amp; Weisberg (SRW) received a $150,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan and a $280,000 PPP loan less than one month after applying for each.



“We usually have far under three months of runway. Without the PPP loan, we would have had to lay people off and not take a salary,” says Yvette Richardson, one of the company’s four partners, three of whom are Black.&nbsp;



Access to capital is a major predictor of business success and Black entrepreneurs find it difficult to weather economic duress, reach scalability and pivot away from unsustainable business models without financial backing.



“A lot of Black businesses will not survive this pandemic without more help. That is the sobering truth,” says Asahi Pompey, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation.



Black business owners who apply for funding have a rejection rate three times higher than that of their white counterparts, according to a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses report that surveys participants in a program bearing the same name.



Some 43% of Black-owned businesses in Goldman Sachs’ entrepreneurial program say they are likely to lose their cash reserves by the end of 2020, versus 30% of the overall program’s population, and 31% say less than 25% of their pre-Covid revenue has returned, compared to 16% of the overall population. The report defines growth-oriented entrepreneurs as individuals with businesses that have revenues of around $150,000 and two to six employees.



“This data lays bare the structural inequities Black people face and that’s born out in their entrepreneurial endeavors,” Pompey says. Already, Covid-19 has shuttered 41% of Black-owned businesses, compared to just 17% of white-owned businesses.



Blockson warns that not only will Black female entrepreneurs find it difficult to survive this period of economic downturn, but also that those who temporarily close shop will find it far more challenging to reopen.&nbsp;



“It will be a huge shock in the economic system, and it is raising alarms,” she says. “But I am also very hopeful and optimistic that this could be a great opportunity for those who are positioned for it and able to make a shift.”



Some Black businesses are getting creative and diversifying their offerings to stay afloat. SRW, for example, has sought out more healthcare projects and is dabbling in HVAC technology, anticipating the services clients will need as the demand for indoor ventilation systems grows.&nbsp;



However, many small businesses aren’t easily adaptable without a massive infrastructure overhaul, which requires a significant financial investment. And most Black and women-led businesses only have a few weeks to a month of cash flow.&nbsp;



“This is a critical moment in time that is going to set us on a trajectory that could certainly be problematic in terms of the state of Black businesses for years to come,” says Goldman Sachs’ Pompey.



When small businesses flourish, so do their communities, and Black business owners often intentionally locate themselves in Black and Brown spaces, acting as economic spigots in these neighborhoods. Their erasure comes with far-reaching consequences, including the loss of jobs, community development and new economic opportunities for residents of underserved areas.



Nearly 75% of Black business owners in Goldman Sachs’ survey say they recently mentored others in their communities, compared to 50% of white business owners.



“It’s not just that it’s a single business that shuttered. It’s that it’s a pillar of the community and someone who’s a leader or a mentor. The blast radius impact of the pandemic on Black communities is something that can’t be overstated,” Pompey says.



The pandemic’s paradoxical silver lining is that it has brought increased attention to revitalizing small businesses, which provide almost&nbsp;<a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41523.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">half of all jobs</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. At the same time, a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has generated an influx of support for Black-owned businesses and corporate grants that cater to Black entrepreneurs.&nbsp;



Wynter is capitalizing on this surge in public interest and has seen a spike in online sales since the national reckoning on racial injustice began in June. Sales jumped from 7 orders in May to 87 in June, she says. “People have really been a free marketing mechanism for small businesses, which has been a blessing.”



Even still, she and her cofounder are wary about the longevity of their company. They tapped into their savings in September, putting a combined $8,000 into the business, and are raising new funds through a friends and family round.



“As a business owner, you plan and you try to bob and weave through things,” she says. “But there is no way to bob and weave this pandemic. You have to take its hits and hope that you don’t get knocked out.”



-By Ruth Umoh, Forbes Staff

Black woman typing on laptop keyboard while working in office

Black Women Were Among The Fastest-Growing Entrepreneurs—Then Covid Arrived

China’s GDP grew 4.9% in the third quarter compared to the same time last year, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202010/t20201019_1794616.html" target="_blank">said</a> Monday, as the economic superpower continues to rebound after the coronavirus pandemic. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



That growth was fueled by strong retail sales and industrial production, the government said.&nbsp;



China’s exports rose 9.9% last month while imports soared 13.2%—two more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-trade/chinas-imports-exports-surge-as-global-economy-reopens-idUSKBN26Y0BL" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">strong signs</a>&nbsp;of recovery.&nbsp;



China’s is the only major economy that is expected to grow in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund, which is forecasting&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/CHN" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1.9% growth</a>&nbsp;for the year.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE&nbsp;</h4>



Despite robust growth at home, the Chinese government also noted Monday that the global environment remains “complicated and severe” and that the country is under “great pressure” to prevent any further outbreaks of the virus.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



China’s economy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/04/17/coronavirus-drags-chinas-economy-into-first-slump-in-four-decades/#1aa08e324bcb">shrank 6.8%</a>&nbsp;in the first quarter—its worst contraction in 40 years—as the government shut down nearly all activity in parts of the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In the second quarter, growth bounced back to 3.2% after factories reopened and the government poured billions of dollars in stimulus measures back into the economy.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



Economists&nbsp;<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/economic-outlook-gdp-estimates-bank-america-stimulus-bill-recovery-quarter-2020-9-1029582684#" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expect</a>&nbsp;the United States to see growth in the third quarter, too, but that growth is likely to be limited in the fourth quarter if further stimulus measures from the federal government are delayed until 2021.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/07/30/economy-shrank-at-historic-33-annual-rate-in-second-quarter-but-thats-not-the-whole-story/">Economy Shrank At Historic 33% Annual Rate In Second Quarter—But That’s Not The Whole Story</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/09/07/chinas-exports-surged-95-in-august-despite-escalating-tensions-with-the-united-states/">China’s Exports Surged 9.5% In August Despite Escalating Tensions With The United States</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/10/15/europe-breaks-record-for-weekly-coronavirus-cases-as-countries-enforce-new-lockdowns/">Europe Breaks Record For Weekly Coronavirus Cases As Countries Enforce New Lockdowns</a> (Forbes)



-By Sarah Hansen, Forbes Staff

CHINA-ECONOMY-GLASS

China’s Economy Continues Rebound With 4.9% Growth In Third Quarter

After seven months of lockdown, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa tabled an “economic reconstruction and recovery plan” on Thursday in response to the staggering effects of Covid-19 on the country&#8217;s economy.



The president’s plans respond to the immediate economic impact of the pandemic by driving job creation and expanding support for vulnerable households.



“We aim to do this primarily through a major infrastructure program and a large-scale employment stimulus, coupled with an intensive localization drive and industrial expansion,” Ramaphosa said in his address.



Some of Ramaphosa’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan highlighted in Parliament:



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">1. “Create and support over 800,000 work opportunities in the immediate term to respond to job losses”</h4>



In his address to parliament, the president announced that the government has committed an R100 billion fund to create 800,000 public sector jobs in the next three years. This employment stimulus is focused on those interventions that can be rolled out most quickly and have the greatest impact on economic recovery.



“At the heart of the employment stimulus is a new, innovative approach to public employment which harnesses the energies and capabilities of the wider society,” Ramaphosa said.



Of the 800,000 job opportunities, 300,000 would go to unemployed grade 12 pupils to be hired as assistants to public school teachers. The aim is that these matriculants could help teachers with their added Covid-19 related responsibilities like such as ensuring classroom hygiene and daily health screening of pupils.



“We are going to create 300,000 opportunities for young people to be engaged as education and school assistants at schools throughout the country, to help teachers with basic and routine work so that more time is spent on teaching and enabling learners to catch up from time lost because of Covid,” said Ramaphosa.



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">2. “Unlock more than R1 trillion in infrastructure investment over the next four years”</h4>



In his recovery plan, Ramaphosa announced that there is a pipeline of projects in works that will completely transform the landscape of South Africa’s cities, towns, and rural areas.



The president stated that there are several projects that have been prioritized for “immediate implementation with all regulatory processes fast-tracked”. These projects include the 276 catalytic projects, which had an investment value of R2.3 trillion by the end of June 2020. Furthermore, the list of 50 strategic integrated projects and 12 special projects that were gazetted in July 2020.



“Our infrastructure build program will focus on social infrastructures such as schools, water, sanitation, and housing for the benefit of our people. We will focus on critical network infrastructures such as ports, roads, and rail that are key to our economy’s competitiveness,” Ramaphosa said.



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">3. “Achieve sufficient, secure, and reliable energy supply within two years”</h4>



The president said that the government would be accelerating the process of bringing additional energy generation on line. Part of this plan would be implementing the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to provide a substantial increase in the contribution of renewable energy sources, battery storage and gas technology.



“The work of restructuring Eskom into separate entities for generation, transmission, and distribution continues and will enhance competition and ensure the sustainability of independent power producers going forward,” Ramaphosa said.



“To achieve this, a long-term solution to Eskom’s debt burden will be finalized, building on the Social Compact on Energy Security recently agreed to by social partners.”

State Of The Nation 2020 in South Africa

Ramaphosa’s Rescue Plan For South Africa

Ruth Porat, the stalwart chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google, is no stranger to a crisis. She began her career at Morgan Stanley in 1987, a mere seven weeks before Black Monday—the largest single-day decline in trading history at the time. “At that moment, I was concerned that maybe my career was over before it even started,” she recalls.



Far from it. Porat is one of the rare corporate executives to have transcended the upper echelons of Wall Street to the highest ranks of Silicon Valley. While the scenery may be different, many of the challenges remain the same: navigating economic downturns, government investigations and regulatory hurdles. Of course, a global pandemic is a new obstacle. “This environment is more challenging than anything I&#8217;ve seen because you&#8217;re combining a health crisis with an economic crisis,” says Porat in her first-ever interview with&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;from her home in Palo Alto, California. “The path forward is less certain.”&nbsp;



But Porat has deftly charted a path through uncertain territory before. During her 28-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, she held roles such as vice chairman of investment banking and global head of financial institutions before ultimately rising to the rank of chief financial officer in January 2010. “I certainly started in banking when it was not easy to be a woman in banking,” she says. “I haven’t thought about those shoulder pads for a long time, the bow ties, the scarves, the scotch, the horrible efforts to fit in.” What kept her there, she says, was the opportunity to “keep learning and growing”—remarkably, in the face of great turmoil. Case in point: being called upon by the U.S. government to help with the bailouts of insurance giant AIG and mortgage-financing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the Great Recession. “Much like the current crisis environment, one of the highlights of my career was advising the U.S. Treasury Department during the 2008 financial crisis,” she says. “I was able to use the skills I developed over a [lifelong] career for something that was so important at that moment in time for the country.”&nbsp;



Over a decade later, Porat has the same steely resolve when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, which has already taken a tremendous toll on the U.S. economy. Over 100,000 businesses permanently shuttered as of April, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w26989.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. At the same time, 88% of small business owners say they’ve used all of their Paycheck Protection Program loan funding, according to a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/small-business-confidence-goldman-sachs-74ba6e69-ad0e-4cb5-bee3-d03445b2a30e.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survey</a>&nbsp;of over 1,500 businesses conducted by Goldman Sachs. And without additional government funds, 30% say they’ll exhaust their cash reserves by the end of the year. That’s why Porat is leading Google’s latest efforts to help get America’s ravaged small businesses and economy back on track. This while managing one of the world’s largest corporate balance sheets amid the looming threat of anti-trust lawsuits that may hold the fate of the entire tech industry in the balance. It may just prove to be her greatest challenge yet.



While Google is a corporate behemoth, its roots are in small business. “It’s so clear that small businesses are the lifeblood of the American economy,” says Porat, rattling off the stats: They provide about two thirds of net new jobs, and 67 cents of every dollar spent at a small business stays in the local economy.



At the start of the pandemic, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced an <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/commitment-support-small-businesses-and-crisis-response-covid-19/" target="_blank">$800 million commitment</a> to aid small businesses and provide overall crisis relief. Of that, a $200 million Grow with Google Small Business fund was launched in March in partnership with the Opportunity Finance Network—a national association of community development financial institutions—with a mission to serve small businesses underserved by mainstream finance and a proven model for moving capital into the hardest to serve communities. The main objective? Supporting the short-term recovery and long-term financing needs of small businesses hardest hit by Covid-19. To be clear, this is not a handout. The majority of funds are earmarked as up to 10-year term loans at no greater than 3% interest. Some $340 million in Google Ads credits were also made available to all small businesses with active accounts over the past year.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large">“Small businesses are part of our DNA as a company&#8230;Over 21 years ago, Google itself was a small business that started in a two-car garage and our first ads customer was a mail-order lobster business in Maine.” <cite>Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet &amp; Google</cite></blockquote>



“Small businesses are part of our DNA as a company,” says Porat, sharing the company’s approach to small business for the first time since the pandemic began. “We often talk internally about the fact that over 21 years ago, Google itself was a small business that started in a two-car garage and our first ads customer was a mail-order lobster business in Maine.”&nbsp;



In many ways, Porat sees her transition to Silicon Valley as getting back to her roots. She was raised in Palo Alto, California, where her father, a former research fellow at Harvard, moved the family to take&nbsp; a position at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. After earning her bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations at Stanford in 1979, she went on to get her master’s degree in industrial relations from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Wharton before joining Morgan Stanley. Porat was co-head of technology investment banking during the ‘90s tech boom, working alongside famed internet analyst Mary Meeker, who is godmother to her three children. “Tech was something I had done quite a bit, actually,” says Porat. That’s an understatement: She was the chief architect behind the debt financing that saved Amazon from near collapse during the dot-com crash in 2000 and then worked on Google’s IPO in 2004. “It was great to see the vision, the mission, the drive of Google at such an early stage,” she says. “Given I’ve known Google since inception, and how passionate I was about the company, when the opportunity presented itself, I said yes on the spot.”



While Porat has broken the glass ceiling time and again, Google has struggled with diversity within its own ranks. As racial tensions reached a boiling point this summer, Google <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://ofn.org/articles/ofn-announces-first-round-google-loans-and-googleorg-funded-grants" target="_blank">announced</a> in June an additional $45 million in loans and $5 million in Google.org grants to assist small businesses, with a focus on Black-owned businesses. The company committed to increase the diversity of its leadership 30% by 2025. “Hopefully this is the moment that changes race relations and really addresses racial inequality. There is no more time—and so we’re taking a hard look at ways we can help address systemic racism against the Black community with a real sense of urgency,” she says.



The company also announced the first round of the Grow with Google Small Business Fund. Five community development financial institutions (CDFIs)&nbsp; were awarded a total of $15.5 million in loans, and six received $750,000 in grants. Among those awarded were Grameen America, a non-profit founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunnus (and currently run by Andrea Jung, former chairman and CEO of Avon) that provides microloans, training and support to diverse low-income women entrepreneurs and Citizens Potawatomi Community Development Corporation, one of the largest Native-owned CDFIs in the nation. “Systemic inequities, like the racial wealth gap create significant disadvantages for minority communities, which is why we’re so focused on providing Black, Latinx and other underserved communities with more equitable access to capital through our partnership,” says Porat.&nbsp;



The partnership is also unique in structure compared to relief efforts of other tech firms like Facebook and Amazon. “What makes Google such a strategic first mover and different is their focus on recovery versus just short-term relief,” says Lisa Mensah, president and CEO of OFN. “It is extremely rare for a corporate Treasury to release $170 million and judge on their own that this is the kind of debt they will hold. They didn’t wait for a risk rating from S&amp;P or to have it all guaranteed by the government or another source—Google is a trailblazer.”



For Porat, it was a chance to help reposition businesses that were already at a significant disadvantage prior to the pandemic. “Most small businesses are started with personal assets and loans that are typically guaranteed with one’s network,” says Porat. “But if you start with the types of wealth disparities that we have in society where only 20% of small businesses are minority-owned and only 21% are women-owned, our current situation is an outgrowth of that initial disparity.”&nbsp;



The small business lending space is a massive market, one with around <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://qedinvestors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/The-Brave-100-The-Battle-for-Supremacy-in-Small-Business-Lending_vf.pdf" target="_blank">$800 billion in annual originations</a> and an antiquated process involving tedious paperwork, manual inputs and very little transparency—or software, for that matter. Will Google, a company whose founders famously spoke in 2014 of the need for “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.inc.com/laura-montini/larry-page-says-its-time-to-think-big.html" target="_blank">revolutionary change</a>,” set its sights on disrupting the small business lending space next? Porat quickly puts that idea to rest. “We’re not a financial institution and we don’t intend to become [one],” she asserts.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large">“The biggest compliment I can give someone is to say they are a real difference-maker—that’s Ruth.”<cite>Hank Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary &amp; former Goldman Sachs CEO</cite></blockquote>



Throughout her decades-long career, Porat has seen great success bridging divides to find solutions. “The biggest compliment I can give someone is to say they are a real difference maker—that’s Ruth,” says Hank Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary during the financial crisis and a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. In 2013, Porat landed on President Barack Obama’s shortlist for deputy treasury secretary until she withdrew her name,&nbsp;<a href="https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/ruth-porat-withdraws-name-from-deputy-treasury-race/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;over concerns of how bankers were being treated by politicians. “She&#8217;s a real U.S. patriot with a passion for public service.”&nbsp;



To be fair, Google’s efforts are not just altruism. They are growth engines for big business—and of course, some good publicity doesn’t hurt. The over 30 million small businesses across the U.S. drive nearly half of all of gross domestic product. Globally, small and medium-sized enterprises represent over 90% of the business population and 55% of gross domestic in developed economies, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ifac.org/knowledge-gateway/contributing-global-economy/discussion/foundation-economies-worldwide-small-business-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Trade Organization</a>. And like many of their industry peers like Facebook, Google relies on small businesses for a sizable portion of their business, although they, along with their competitors, do not disclose the actual amount.



“I look back on some of the toughest times in my career, and I know that I’ve learned from them,” says Porat, a two-time breast cancer survivor.  “That ghastly, terrifying experience was also a gift because that proverbial question became all too real: What happens if you are given no more than five years to live?” she shared in her <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGdugTS_RR8" target="_blank">2016 Wharton commencement speech</a>. “So I set about figuring it out: What did I want to do with what could be a limited amount of time? And I realized I simply had no regrets. I hadn’t punted on my life—I hadn’t put things on hold. My lesson from that awful experience was that if you want to do something, then do it . . . life doesn’t know it’s supposed to follow a schedule.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large">“In the midst of tremendous disruption and market turmoil, Ruth’s judgment and experience are invaluable.”<cite>Stephen Schwarzman, cofounder &amp; CEO of Blackstone</cite></blockquote>



That can-do anything attitude and fortitude may just be a key part of her recipe for not just surviving crises—but emerging stronger as a result of them. “In the midst of tremendous disruption and market turmoil, Ruth’s judgement and experience are invaluable,” says Stephen Schwarzman, cofounder and CEO of Blackstone. “It is rare to find people who have operated at the highest levels on Wall Street and Silicon Valley and that combination is exceptionally powerful.” In June, she joined the board of the $564 billion private-equity powerhouse, whose IPO she also worked on in 2007.



Porat is quick to acknowledge that the tough times she’s endured pale in comparison to much of the pain being felt in the world today. Yet, history has taught her to still believe in the promise of better days ahead.&nbsp;



 “For those who are looking at this moment and wondering the path forward, I would say that having lived through many turbulent times before, there are recoveries,” she says. “New opportunities arise out of crises.”



by Maneet Ahuja, Forbes Staff

Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 – Day 1

Exclusive: Ruth Porat On Leading Through Crisis And Google’s Latest Moonshot To Rebuild The U.S. Economy—One Small Business At A Time

American credit rating agency, Fitch, announced on September 24 that it has downgraded Zambia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from &#8216;CC&#8217; to ‘C’. The country’s senior unsecured foreign currency bonds were also downgraded this week.



This follows the Zambian government issuing a &#8220;consent solicitation&#8221; to holders of three global bonds (Eurobonds) on September 22, requesting a suspension of debt service payments for six months. This would effectively be covering the upcoming three coupon payments due on October 14, and January and March 2021.



Zambia’s Ministry of Finance stated that the country has been confronted with challenging macroeconomic and fiscal situations aggravated by the Covid-19 crisis. This has severely impacted the country’s public finances.



“A combination of declining revenues and increased unbudgeted costs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a material impact on the Government’s available resources to make timely payments on its indebtedness leading to increasing debt-servicing difficulties,” Fredson Yamba, Secretary to Treasury, said in a statement on Tuesday.



In its report, Fitch stated that should bondholders agree to the suspension in payment, this would constitute a distressed debt exchange (DDE).



“The authorities have indicated that they will continue to make debt service payments on outstanding Eurobonds if an agreement is not reached. However, Fitch judges that there is a high risk of a missed debt payment over the forecast horizon,” Fitch said in its press release.



The Zambian government further said in a statement that they are still engaging with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure financial assistance. The government hopes to create a program of reforms that would help in stabilizing the macroeconomic outlook of the country and restore its fiscal balance.



“In this context, the government is committed to finding a consensual and collaborative resolution to the debt sustainability issues it is currently facing,” Yamba said.



The ‘CC’ rating, which occurred on April 16, due to the sovereign’s constrained external liquidity exacerbated by the pandemic, meant that the country was left in a highly vulnerable position, financially. How will this newly downgraded rating bode for Zambia now?



“The downgrade of Zambia&#8217;s rating reflects Fitch&#8217;s view that a default event is imminent.”

Graph Falling Down in Front Of Zambia Flag. Crisis Concept

Zambia’s Credit Rating Downgraded to Near Junk Status

Amazon, bolstered by boosted sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, is hiring another 100,000 people in the U.S. and Canada to stay on top of demand, the e-commerce giant <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/operations/creating-more-job-opportunities-in-operations" target="_blank">announced</a> on Monday.



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



Full and part-time positions have opened up across 100 new operations sites opening this month, which include “fulfillment centers, delivery stations, sortation centers,” among other sites.



It comes as the company has already announced tens of thousands of jobs this year alone, with 100,000 in March and 75,000 in April, while earlier this month, Amazon opened up&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/job-creation-and-investment/amazon-announces-career-day-2020" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">33,000 jobs</a>&nbsp;in its corporate and tech divisions.



The company’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, Alicia Boler Davis, added in an interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-workers/amazon-to-hire-100000-more-workers-in-its-latest-job-spree-this-year-idUKKBN2650SR" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>&nbsp;that the company will introduce automation in its new buildings, although the technology is designed to work with employees.



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



As the coronavirus pandemic has seen everyday life ground to a standstill, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has prospered from serving homebound shoppers with the last few months marking the best in its 26-year history. In July, Amazon posted record second-quarter earnings of $5.2 billion, with sales up 40% over last year to nearly $90 billion, although it saw a 13% fall in revenue from its physical stores. The company’s hiring spree over the past year reflects its need to keep up with the surge in demand from homebound shoppers. But the company and CEO Jeff Bezos have come under fire from existing and former employees, who allege the company failed to adequately protect warehouse workers from the health and economic risks of Covid-19.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



560,000. That’s how many people Amazon employs worldwide, according to the company’s<a href="https://www.aboutamazon.co.uk/working-at-amazon/our-people" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;blog</a>.



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



Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos topped Forbes’ list of 400 richest Americans for the third year in a row, with a net worth of $183.8 billion as of Monday morning. Earlier this year, Bezos, who holds an 11.2% stake in Amazon, became the first person to surpass a net worth of more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/08/26/worlds-richest-billionaire-jeff-bezos-first-200-billion/?utm_source=TWITTER&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=3629826204&amp;utm_campaign=sprinklrForbesMainTwitter#13b38a024db7">$200 billion</a>&nbsp;late last month.



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



<a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/operations/creating-more-job-opportunities-in-operations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creating more job opportunities in operations</a>&nbsp;(Amazon)



-By Isabel Togoh, Forbes Staff

Amazon Unveils Its First Smartphone

Amazon Is Hiring A Further 100,000 People To Keep Up With Pandemic-Induced Demand

As the coronavirus crisis wears on, new research from the Pew Research Center shows that public perception of the economy has “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/03/views-of-the-economy-have-turned-sharply-negative-in-many-countries-amid-covid-19/" target="_blank">turned bleak</a>” in large parts of the world.



KEY FACTS



A median of 68% of people considered their country’s current economic situation to be bad, the researchers found, while 31% said conditions were good.&nbsp;



Italy had the largest portion of people who rated the economic situation negatively, with 90% describing the situation as “bad.”&nbsp;



In eight of the 14 countries surveyed, including the U.K., France, and South Korea, the majority of people expected their countries’ economies to get worse.



In the United States, Germany, and Canada, however, people were more likely to say that the economy would improve over the next year than to say it would get worse.&nbsp;



The researchers noted that in nearly every country they surveyed, the perception of how bad the economy is tied to how the country handled the coronavirus crisis: people who viewed their country’s response negatively were more likely to have a negative view of the economic situation.&nbsp;



CRUCIAL QUOTE



“In addition to the broadly negative assessments of current economic conditions, few in the countries surveyed are hopeful things will get better in the next year,” researchers Shannon Schumacher and Mara Mordecai wrote.&nbsp;



KEY BACKGROUND



Countries all around the world are now faced with the dire economic consequences of the pandemic. Australia has entered its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/business/australia-recession.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first recession</a>&nbsp;in almost 30 years. The United Kingdom has entered&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53748278" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its first recession</a>&nbsp;in more than a decade; CNN reports that the U.K.’s economy shrunk by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/economy/global-recession-g7-countries/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">more than 20%</a>&nbsp;between April and June. France just unveiled a<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-economy/france-unleashes-100-billion-euro-stimulus-to-revive-economy-idUSKBN25U0IA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;$118 billion stimulus&nbsp; plan</a>&nbsp;to combat its own economic woes. Japan’s economy saw its biggest downturn on record, the BBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53802967#:~:text=Coronavirus%3A%20Japan%20suffers%20its%20biggest%20economic%20slump%20on%20record,-17%20August%202020&amp;text=The%20Japanese%20economy%20has%20shrunk,27.8%25%20on%20an%20annualised%20basis." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>, after its GDP fell nearly 8% between April and June. In the United States, trillions in stimulus spending is on track to push debt to GDP levels above 100% next year.&nbsp;



FURTHER READING



<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/03/views-of-the-economy-have-turned-sharply-negative-in-many-countries-amid-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Views of the economy have turned sharply negative in many countries amid COVID-19</a>&nbsp;(Pew Research Center)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/09/02/thanks-to-stimulus-spending-us-debt-expected-to-exceed-the-size-of-the-entire-economy-next-year/#7ad2290d2384">Thanks To Stimulus Spending, U.S. Debt Expected To Exceed The Size Of The Entire Economy Next Year</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/07/30/economy-shrank-at-historic-33-annual-rate-in-second-quarter-but-thats-not-the-whole-story/">Economy Shrank At Historic 33% Annual Rate In Second Quarter—But That’s Not The Whole Story</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



-Sarah Hansen, Forbes Staff

Business office is closed, bankrupt business, global economic crisis impact by Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic concepts. Unidentified person wearing mask put closed sign on front door with 3d viruses recession graph

Coronavirus Crisis Has Led To ‘Bleak’ Perception Of The Economy, Study Says

Even the most unconventional businesses, such as a Cape Town candy shop, are selling masks to face off the economic crisis. 



In less than three weeks, ProudlySA’s newly-launched online portal for local manufacturers of masks hit 400 sellers. Collectively, these mask-makers have the capacity to produce around 14 million masks per week, says ProudlySA’s Deryn Graham, and those are only the manufacturers registered to the clothing sector’s National Bargaining Council.



Masks are a necessary accessory in the fight to prevent Covid-19 from spreading and companies around the world are shifting their core operations to crank out personal protection equipment (PPE).



Besides high-end designer brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel now making eye-catching masks, many African businesses are pivoting their core operations to keep their businesses afloat.



“I decided to make masks purely to access a new revenue stream. I had been able to sell my socks online during the first level of lockdown, but I wasn’t authorized to ship them as they weren’t classified ‘essential goods’,” explains Chelsey Wilson, FEAT. sock co.’s co-founder and designer from Cape Town. What was holding Wilson back, initially, was that she didn’t want to make masks using generic, store-bought fabric.



“I wanted to keep true to my brand, which is all about bold and unique prints… I had to use custom-printed fabric I already had that made around 100 masks which all sold out in the space of three hours,” says Wilson, adding that given the demand, she should be able to sell around 300 masks a week going forward.



Jinae Heyns is the co-owner of Matsidiso, an ethical footwear and accessories brand with flagship stores in Stellenbosch and De Waterkant in Cape Town. For her, making masks was not a choice, it was a matter of survival: “We didn’t want to just make masks, we wanted to ensure that we were able to feed our team and do our part to support those who cannot easily afford or access proper masks.”



Matsidiso currently sells around 8,000 masks a month. Elastic is in low supply countrywide and what is left is being reserved for the medical industry. Matsidiso, which operates out of a family-run dancewear factory, uses lycra for their mask ties: “I care deeply about sustainable practices, and with masks, it’s no different. We have the material in-house,” adds Heyns.



Wendren Setzer from The Wren Design, a Muizenberg-based South African company that hand-makes environmentally-friendly bags and accessories using recycled cement packaging paper, had a unique challenge. With the capacity to create 1,000 masks a week, Setzer’s first obstacle was developing a paper prototype.



“We wondered how we could make a face mask out of paper? Several prototypes later, we developed two unique mask patterns. We also researched coatings and found a way to coat the paper to offer more – the paper is coated with Si02 and a second layer of SiAg02 is applied making the surface anti-microbial,” explains Setzer.



Although Cheaky Co traditionally sells confectionery, Lucas R Adams, its founder and Sea Point-resident in Cape Town, decided to launch two different masks into his online store.



“We’ve been selling weekly quantities within the hundreds,” says Adams. “There’s obviously been a massive spike in the production and sale of fabric face masks by those within textiles, but it soon dawned on us we hadn’t yet seen anyone within the food category offering them, so we thought, ‘why not add a small range for our community’? In the end, we thought that offering the option to add a mask to one’s cart when shopping our plant-based treats was a no-brainer…”



For many small businesses, the decision to make masks is the only way to potentially weather the pandemic. It’s about turning non-essential production lines into essential manufacturing businesses.



According to a Stanford University study, masks are the first step in reopening the economy (and may help with transitioning into a post-Covid world).



“These business owners are not only fighting for themselves; they do what they do to a great extent to ensure the safety of their entire team and because they want to see South Africa thrive. At the end of the day, these aren’t just masks, but actual protective gear that could help save a life,” ends Heyns.



-Tiana Cline

Wren_classic_masks

Start Of The Mask Economy

Ghana and Nigeria brace for the economic nightmare ahead, even as the region’s billionaires, entrepreneurs and innovators chip in for the fight against Covid-19.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



The Labadi Beach Hotel, set amidst landscaped tropical gardens in the heart of Accra, is unusually quiet on the Tuesday morning FORBES AFRICA visits in mid-March. The usual bustle of the morning breakfast buffet frequented by the city’s elite has all but disappeared, and in its place, an air of uncertainty about the future of one of Accra’s longest-running hotels, at least in the interim.



You cannnot enter without going through the new mandatory protocols in place: hand-sanitizers, individual temperature screenings and metal detectors.



“Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting outside guests and the hotel will be closing until further notice,” says the bartender. The usually-packed lobby has only two in-house guests already scheduled to leave the hotel.



Ghana’s thriving hospitality industry was one of the first victims of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, once President Nana Akufo-Addo banned mass gatherings and ordered the closure of airports. Hotels in the Greater Accra region closed down, sending thousands of workers home, and leaving management to contend with the challenge of paying salaries and taxes sans customers.



It’s in stark contrast to 2019, when Ghana’s international PR campaign, The Year of Return 2019, brought in an additional 237,000 visitors representing an estimated $1.9 billion into the economy, according to Barbara Oteng Gyasi, Ghana’s Minister of Tourism. Most of the money was spent on the hospitality sector with the average spend per tourist estimated to be around $2,590.



And now, with the slow demise of the hospitality sector, a host of ancillary services are also feeling the pinch. Rashad McCrorey is the founder of Africa Cross Culture, a travel company that helps African-Americans reconnect to their roots by visiting countries on the African continent. He was one of those seduced by Ghana’s call to reconnect with the continent on the 400th anniversary of slaves landing in the United States, and so he arrived in Ghana with the goal of promoting his tourism business.



Ghana imposed a lockdown on movement in its two largest cities, Accra and Kumasi, from March 30, and effected a travel ban on people traveling from countries overseas with cases of Covid-19. In addition, the United States (US) State Department advised its citizens to return home immediately or face staying abroad for an indefinite period. “I was shocked. My initial thoughts were fear and panic. I was seeing all the development in the US, and New York has the highest amount of cases. The National Guard and US army had been deployed in the streets and my home was basically ground zero for the deadly virus,” says McCrorey.



After weighing his options, he made the decision to stay on in Ghana instead of returning home.



“At the time, ticket prices surged from $500 to about $6,000 and I was scared of exposing myself more to the virus. Also, going back meant that I risked spending the pre-paid money of my customers and that was also not ideal,” says McCrorey.



Gregory Lamptey, the founder of Black Cab, a logistics company providing transportation services to customers and businesses in Accra, is facing a similar conundrum. “Business has all but stopped since the lockdown in Ghana last week. I do not think we will be able to make it to the end of the year and I have had to start looking at other alternatives to make ends meet,” he rues.



In Ghana, there were 4,700 confirmed cases with 22 deaths as of May 12. Ghana has undertaken 160,501 tests since the outbreak as of this date, a figure the president lauded as the highest per million people than any other country in Africa.



But as elsewhere on the continent, it’s the workers in the informal sector that are most at risk.



“They face a very difficult choice: keep going to work and risk contracting or spreading the virus, or stay at home and risk their family starving,” observes Nana Kwame Bediako, the founder of Kwarleyz Group, an umbrella company which encompasses Wonda World Estates and Petronia City Development that has designed and developed over 500 residential and retail units in Ghana. The company is currently negotiating to pledge one of its premier properties, Number 1 Oxford Street, five-star luxury serviced apartments, as a quarantine location, isolation center, temporary hospital or safe place for nurses, doctors and other medical personnel should the need arise.



“This is the most challenging economic downturn globally,” says Franklin Cudjoe, President of Imani-Africa, a leading think-tank in Ghana. “This is going to affect businesses all over the world in a much more significant way than ever before.”



This was perhaps the rationale behind Ghana easing its lockdown restrictions in less than a month to allow people to return to work. There is, however, still a ban on public gatherings and a national requirement for face masks to be worn by everyone.



But Kwame Ofori, a financial analyst with the Ghana Stock Exchange, is currently on the fence on how the Ghanaian economy will recover.



“Everything depends on how long this period lasts, but if it goes on for a long time, it’s going to be a big financial and economic crisis for Ghana. Most businesses in Ghana cannot realistically afford a lockdown,” avers Ofori.



It is within this context that Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Minister of Finance, said in a Financial Times interview that Africa has reached a “break the glass moment”.



Through a partnership between the ministers of finance and economic planning on March 30, a series of strategies were outlined, which includes fiscal measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic including the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme. Consequently, the government estimates of the immediate impact of Covid-19 is a decline in GDP growth from a projected 6.8% to 2.6%.



Along the pristine coastline of the Labadi Beach, sits a five-storey apartment complex boasting beautiful ocean views, underground parking for tenants, a gymnasium, two restaurants and a supermarket. The developer, Kofi Appiah, is a British-Ghanaian architect who relocated to Ghana two years ago.



“I started building and selling a couple of years ago in Ghana and things were great. Right now, we cannot even get anyone to come and look at our developments. I have had to lay off the entire sales team and we are now depending on social media to attract buyers,” says Appiah.



“Buyers need to imagine themselves living in the apartments and this is very difficult to imagine with just videos and pictures on Instagram. I don’t imagine we are going to be selling any of these units at least for the next six months.”



About 40 minutes from Ghana, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is also battening down the hatches. With plunging oil prices caused by the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the novel coronavirus outbreak, Nigeria is in a much more precarious economic position.



Nigerian stocks have gone through weeks of losses with the fall in oil prices from $57 to $30 per barrel subsequently leading to an increase in external debt and a depreciating currency. This year, Nigeria’s budget stood at $37 billion based on oil prices staying at $57 per barrel. With the sharp decline in these prices, Nigeria cannot currently fund its budget.



“Nigeria might very well be in trouble here. Even though Parliament recently granted President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for $22.7 billion in foreign borrowing, the significant fall in global oil prices will erode any boost from this stimulus. Many analysts are of the opinion that the Nigerian naira has deteriorated markedly and remains set for a sharp fall this year if current conditions persist,” says Ofori.



One of the major side-effects of this in the country is a US dollar shortage that is creeping up with the informal dollar dealers on the black market. Nigeria’s official exchange rate which is fixed by the central bank, has stayed at around N360 to the dollar since the country emerged out of recession in 2017. Today, the rate is N445.



“Everyone is currently hunting for dollars and we don’t have any more. Even the agents we get them from are not releasing the dollars because they believe the rates will go even higher so this is becoming a big problem,” says Audu, a black-market agent.



The coronavirus is simply adding insult to injury for Nigeria’s economic woes. As of May 12, there are over 5,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Nigeria. The country issued a nationwide lockdown between March and April but similar to Ghana, has eased restrictions on movement to enable its 200 million population to return to work while practising social distancing.



Billionaire Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, announced a donation of essential medical supplies to help fight the pandemic. Along with making global headlines, his actions have also galvanized other private businesses and Nigeria’s most successful entrepreneurs to utilize their assets and funds for social good amid the devastating outbreak.



Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holding and United Bank for Africa (UBA), announced N5 billion ($12.8 million), through the UBA foundation, to kick-start a comprehensive pan-African response to the fight against the coronavirus. The donation is aimed at providing significant support to Nigeria and other African countries through the provision of critical care facilities and materials.



“I believe we all have a part to play in this global crisis and I hope that this is the time the private sector and government work together to help the most vulnerable people to battle the virus. We need to act fast and we commend the work the government is already doing to ensure we stem the spread of this global pandemic,” says Elumelu.



For African countries, this virus is expected to overwhelm an already insufficient healthcare system and reverse the economic growth that many countries have been experiencing in recent years. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has revised Africa’s growth, falling from 3.2% to 2%.



“We need to deal with the human crisis first before we can begin to address the economic impact of the virus on us. I am confident we will pull through this crisis just like we have in several other adverse situations that have come before,” says Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.



Nigeria’s richest woman, Folorunso Alakija, is also stepping in to help fight the pandemic. Through her Famfa Oil, one of the leading indigenous exploration and oil production companies in Nigeria, she has pledged N1 billion ($2.56 million) to support Nigeria’s fight against Covid-19.



“These are truly difficult times for us. As the world rallies to deal with the health security, economic and social implications of the coronavirus, it is clear we feel the effects more deeply than most of the developed world. Managing a crisis of this magnitude means that the strength of our response will determine our ability to weather the storm but I believe with God, nothing is impossible,” says Alakija.



“Millions of Nigerians are under 30 and live from hand-to-mouth and quite frankly, cannot afford a lockdown. They depend on going out each day to earn a living on the streets as well as buying food from crowded markets. If this lockdown continues, there could be a mass unrest which could further cripple Nigeria,” says Idrisu Bello, a Nigerian economist.



President Buhari in an address in March ordered financial intervention schemes to be rolled out for the most vulnerable.



“This represents about 10,695,360 individuals in 35 states across the country as the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians,” says Bello.



The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) has also pledged N200 million ($516,000) to support the current effort of the Nigerian government to fight the disease.



Zouera Youssoufou, Managing Director and CEO of ADF, says the donation is part of the foundation’s cardinal objective of partnering with governments to combat the disease.



“The Dangote Foundation has been at the forefront of helping Nigerians fight against diseases and providing economic development for Nigeria. At this very difficult time, we are committed to providing the much-needed support to help the government provide help to millions of vulnerable Nigerians,” says Youssoufou.



As corona cases continue to rise, Nigeria, along with other African countries, has also shut its airports and air travel.



The International Air Transport Association (IATA)&nbsp; estimates that around 330,000 jobs and $1.2 billion are at stake in Ethiopia’s economy, around 190,000 jobs and $3.8 billion in South Africa’s economy, around 138,000 jobs and $1.1 billion to Kenya’s economy and 91,000 jobs in Nigeria with $650 million lost.



Then there is the worrying problem of medical care.



Lagos-based air ambulance and offshore medical solutions contractor Flying Doctors Nigeria, founded and run by entrepreneur Ola Brown, is calling this a true pandemic.



“Africa has to be cautious because of the challenges we have in our healthcare. There are significant deficits and a huge lack of medical and financial resources which means we face an unprecedented time ahead,” says Brown.



However, in spite of the insurmountable challenges, a number of local entrepreneurs are providing innovative solutions to help the government in its fight against the disease.



Accra-based company DTRT Apparel is gearing up to manufacture a range of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to supply Africa and the rest of the world. DTRT supplies products to major US and EU-based brands via a global network spanning three continents. The company employs over 2,000 people in West Africa, procures textiles from Asia and exports primarily to the EU and US markets.



“Now is the time for companies all over Africa to work together for the greater good of the continent. We want to do our part to ensure we are contributing to the fight against this pandemic by providing resources to the healthcare system,” says Salma Salifu, Managing Director of DTRT.



In Nigeria, Bamigbose Adams, a furniture-maker, has begun turning old metal drums into custom hand-washing basins to be sold in Lagos.



Around 157 million Nigerians lack access to proper hand-washing facilities, according to a 2018 report by WaterAid Nigeria and Adams saw this as an opportunity to innovate to survive.



“Business has been slow for a while so I was looking at different ways of making money to feed my family. I got the idea to use the drum from my local area where some people use them to store water. I created the first drum and it worked and then the publicity began to create a demand,” says Adams.



His main clients are local businesses that want a temporary solution to help combat the spread of the virus.



As governments rally to find solutions to help their economies, it is very clear that the way we live and do business will not be the same. Ever again.

GHANA-HEALTH-VIRUS

Fast Virus. Slow Growth: Ghana And Nigeria Brace For The Economic Nightmare Ahead

Japan, a tea-drinking nation, is one of South Africa’s biggest importers of rooibos tea. In 2018, a record high of 2,000 tonnes of the homegrown blend was shipped off to the land of the rising sun.



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A tea room filled with reverence for the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. 



But first, the facts. To understand tea-drinking in Japan,
it is important to go through the following motions, starting with the communal
practice known as chadō (the way of tea) that is older than 800 years, in
which, in a hand-decorated cast iron bowl, green powder, known as matcha, is
whisked to make a dark green tea to be offered to guests. 



Tea was first brought to Japan from China in the seventh
century for medicinal purposes, and was regarded as a commodity that was
exclusively accessible to the noble and elite. 



According to Japanese historical beliefs, Myōan Eisai, a
Buddhist priest who introduced the school of Zen Buddhism to Japan, was one of
the first to inculcate the culture of tea in Japan. 



He wrote a book on the health benefits of drinking tea, as
well as the cultivation and preparation of green tea. 



By the thirteenth century, the tea drinking culture grew in
popularity among warriors and the elite, and by the sixteenth century, tea had
become a favorite for all social classes. 



Tea schools opened and the art of making tea gradually
evolved to more than just being a spiritual practice in Japan. 



It became one of respect with shared peace and friendship. 



The tea room is traditionally surrounded by a garden with a
tranquil atmosphere, emphasized by dull flowers without strong scents, to avoid
distraction.



A low entrance into the tea room suggests that guests are to
bow as a gesture of respect for the ceremony. 



Every movement, gesture and aesthetic, from the preparation
to the enjoyment of the tea, is designed to express friendship and
harmony.&nbsp; Guests watch on as the host
shares the moment and finally presents it to them, kneeling on cushions.



Once the bowl has circulated among the guests, it is handed
back to the host.The tools are cleaned and the ceremony is closed.



The Red Bush



Over 14,000kms away, across the Indian Ocean, a South
African enjoys a hot cup of ‘red tea.’



Its preparation may not be as dramatic as it is in Japan,
but it evokes the same sense of calm and serenity. It’s simply made by adding
tealeaves or a tea bag into a cup of boiling water, a few teaspoons of sugar
and having “a date with time”, as Swaady Martin, the founder of Yswara, an
African tea and teatime company, puts it. 



Martin, who has been in the tea industry for seven years,
with a focus on gourmet African teas, has tasted and sourced blends from
Malawi, Kenya and Rwanda but the South African rooibos is her favorite. 



“Rooibos is not a tea, it is a plant. I find it a miraculous
and wonderous plant. The fact that it only grows in one region of South Africa,
and that it has all these incredible properties, makes it a plant I love
dearly. I drink rooibos almost every day,” she says.&nbsp; 



Located in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business
district (CBD), Martin’s tea room, which is currently being refurbished,
embodies what she calls a meditative appeal that coincides with the tranquil
properties of tea. 



Tea lovers step into a room filled with silence and walls
done up in light pink hues representing a sunset in the desert.&nbsp; 



This is to encourage focus on the tea, as it represents the
removal of&nbsp; barriers between the
different social classes. 



“We have suffered in South Africa and also around the world,
with so much exclusion, the one thing that was important for Yswara was to give
inclusive luxury. For me, inclusiveness means being in a place where everyone
could have access.



“Being in town (CBD) was just that expression of being in
the midst of everything and everyone; and at the junction of what represents
the new South Africa,” Martin says. 



A South African Rooibos Council (SARC) industry fact sheet
published in 2018 states that the country’s geographical areas provide the perfect
environmental conditions for rooibos cultivation. 



The plant can be found in the Cederberg and Sandveld regions
of the Western Cape and the Bokkeveld area of the Northern Cape.



“The vital characteristics of this environment are the
Mediterranean climate with a winter rainfall between 200mm and 450mm per year;
deep, coarse and acidic sandy soils; and temperatures that can range from zero
degrees Celsius in winter months, to up to forty-five degrees Celsius in
summer,” the report says. 



Due to the indigenous properties of the Rooibos bush,
industry regulations stipulate that the term ‘rooibos’ be used responsibly. 



“The terms ‘Rooibos’, ‘red bush’, ‘Rooibostee’, ‘Rooibos
tea’, ‘rooitee’ and ‘Rooibosch’ may only be used when the dry product, infusion
or extract is 100% pure rooibos. Furthermore, the notice stipulates that the
above terms (referring to rooibos) can only be used when the product was grown
in the geographic area as described in the application, i.e., the winter
rainfall area of South Africa,” the SARC report states. 



This uniquely-grown product is becoming&nbsp; a big deal across the globe, and the
tea-drinking nation, Japan, has fallen in love with the health benefits that the
South African tea provides. 



In 2016, rooibos exports increased to over 30 countries
across the globe; with Germany, Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom and the
United States (US) being the biggest importers. 



In 2018, one of the largest tea-drinking nations recorded
over 2,000 tonnes that were shipped into the Japanese shores, making it the
largest export since rooibos was first introduced to the Japanese 39 years ago.




For Martin Bergh, the Managing Director of Rooibos Limited
and the Chairperson of the SARC, the tea has been up against competition in the
Japanese tea market, which has over 26 different types of teas to consume,
ranging from the traditional green tea varieties to Jasmine and Barley, or the
sacred Mugicha. 



“The general trend toward natural health and wellness
products continue to exert a growing influence on purchasing patterns in the
region and as more of Rooibos’ health benefits become known in the East, we
anticipate the demand for the product to grow,” says Bergh.



Bergh points out that the Japanese are purists and therefore
prefer to drink rooibos tea unflavored, without milk or sugar.



“In the past, rooibos was consumed more in summer for
hydration, but has now become an all-year-round tea product consumed by all age
groups. A market as big as Japan’s 126 million-strong tea-loving population, is
always eager to experiment with new products. 



“Local retailers like Peacock Coffee &amp; Tea Traders have
adapted to the experimental flavors to quench the insatiable thirst of the
local and international market.” 



Kelebogile Monyaysi, the manager at Peacock Coffee &amp; Tea
Traders in Rosebank, Johannesburg, attentively prepares a cup of tea when we
visit. 



The loose tea leaves are cautiously stirred in a tea pot and
served at a small coffee table. &nbsp;



One half of the store is dedicated to coffee and the other
for tea. 



The smell of freshly-brewed coffee overpowers the aromatic
smell of tea. 



Tea sets range from vintage English style ceramics to
Japanese cast iron teapots.



A selection of rooibos tea blends with various flavored
options, ranging from organic rooibos to creamy caramel, as well as herbal
blends. 



This includes a Nelson Mandela range. 



The caffeine-free tea, according to Monyaysi, is popular in
the Japanese markets because of its natural healing qualities. 



Despite coffee being a popular beverage for sit-in
customers, rooibos tea is the most sought after locally too. 



“It (rooibos) is the center of attraction. This is a word
that they (tourists) can grab and not forget, so when they walk in here, it is
all they ask for,” she says. 



It took some time for Monyaysi to be stirred by tea.&nbsp; 



“I was not much of a tea-drinker. I only started to enjoy
tea when I began working here. Now, the first thing in the morning, I have to
drink a cup of tea and in the evening, before I go to bed. It is a habit – if I
don’t drink tea, I get a headache,” Monyaysi says, preferring the original
rooibos blend. 



Jessica Bonin, the founder of Lady Bonin’s Tea, a Cape
Town-based company that sources, blends, packages and distributes full leaf
teas, either loose or in biodegradable tea bags, offers more on the world’s
fetish for rooibos.



Lady Bonins’ teas and herbals are sourced locally and
internationally from farms that are organic without adding additives or
products that harm the environment. 



The rooibos is sourced by using a method known as “wild
pickings” – the process of collecting the rooibos that grows naturally in the
mountains. Due to the increase in demand for rooibos and rooibos products
globally, commercial farmers have scaled production unsustainably, leaving
environmental and societal damage in their wake. 



Bonin says that in countries like Japan and Thailand, black
tea is preferred, and it is predominantly used for the health benefits – making
it a herbal infusion. 



“They are buying it solely on the principle that it is a
caffeine-free, non-tea beverage. People are buying it as an alternative and
they are transfixed by its health properties. 



“It is enabling people who naturally use plants as medicine
for many years. In any Western country, you will need to justify the health
benefits, but in the Asian countries, it is the medicine they are interested
in. People are very healthy in Japan,” she says.



&nbsp;Although Bonin is
facing difficulties&nbsp; entering the export
market in Japan due to the high number of monopolies and conglomerates in the
industry, small amounts of exports also go to Germany and the US. 



Rooibos is a unique product that has infused the signature
South African taste and its ambience with the rest of the world. 



The Japanese may have their unique tea-drinking ceremonies and traditions but in Germany and the other countries that import the plant in millions, rooibos offers a cupful of experience that is incomparable and uniquely South African.  



&#8211; Gypseenia Lion

Wild Rooibos

What’s Brewing In Tokyo?

<a href="https://www.sanlam.co.za/Pages/default.aspx">Sanlam</a> and the <a href="http://nasasa.co.za/site/">National Stokvel Association of South Africa</a> (NASASA) have launched NASASA Financial Services (Pty) Ltd; a brokerage catering to the financial services needs of the South African stokvel market. NASASA is a self-regulatory organisation with a database of 125 000 stokvel groups, reaching about 2.5 million individuals. The new entity will foster greater financial inclusion for all members.



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Jacqui Rickson, Chief Executive: Group Benefits at Sanlam Developing Markets Limited and Board member of NASASA Financial Services says, “For South African stokvels this is an opportunity to formalise their existence without having to forego their traditions. The peace-of-mind that each member of a stokvel will be protected in their time of need is invaluable.” “Stokvels are powerful financial services providers in their own right,” says NASASA Financial Services CEO, Mizi Mtshali “and have the potential to help grow South Africa’s economy once they enter the more formalised sector through appropriate product offerings”. Currently, there are over 800 000 stokvels in the country, aggregating an estimated R50-billion pa. They are, however, quite exposed, especially to liquidity issues that may render them unable to discharge benefits to their members, as well as scams that promise to resolve such issues. This results from a lack of accessible, relevant products that meet the needs of a more informal savings sector. 



As a result, some burial stokvels may not pay enough to cover funeral expenses in their entirety. By offering broad-based financial services to members, NASASA Financial Services will empower stokvels through greater socio-economic inclusion and security. Jacqui Rickson says, “This venture supports our client-centric focus by allowing financial inclusion to be extended to South Africans who are on the edge of the formalised insurance structures.  Through this, we can help families recover financially following difficult, unexpected events.” 



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NASASA Financial Services is currently
licensed as a Juristic Representative of Sanlam Developing Markets, with a
long-term plan to become a Financial Services
Provider (FSP).&nbsp; NASASA Financial
Services will distribute tailor-made products nationally via its
distribution force. Sanlam as underwriter, through NASASA Financial Services,
will initially offer group-based funeral benefits, tailored to each individual
type of stokvel. 
 
Products are competitively priced and start at R15 per
person. Once the stokvel has selected its option, the stokvel will pay
one premium for the whole group. For burial stokvels, Sanlam has designed a full product, covering up to nine family members and
all products have been created in partnership with NASASA. 



Currently, the product offering includes:



<ul><li>A Principal Member Only Funeral
Benefit</li><li>An Immediate Family Funeral Benefit</li><li>A Principal Member Plus Up To 9
Dependents Funeral Benefit</li><li>Grocery and Airtime Cash Benefits</li></ul>



NASASA is about educating their members
about wealth and more appropriately, financial health, which includes saving on
the expense of premiums through aggregation and paying group rates rather than
more expensive individualised rates. We’ve designed products as an extension of
this; as a tangible, affordable, non-intrusive offering that seamlessly blends
the required formal structures with community-based traditional structures. 
 
Mizi Mtshali, NASASA CEO, adds, “The research conducted during the build-up of our product launch saw the
solution being entirely built by participating stovels. As a result, we deliver
unmatched value by buiding a solution briefed in by our constituency.
Amongst the majority of South Africans, funeral
insurance fulfils an unmistakable need. While many are excluded from the formal
financial system, those who do interface with the sector largely feel
inadequately serviced. Burial Societies are formed as providers of such
services and have developed systems around the real needs of their members.
There are roughly 200&nbsp;000 active Burial Societies in South Africa, with
the majority being self-underwritten. 



Because such groups rely on their collective savings to
discharge their benefit to members, they often face liquidity problems that may
lead to their disbandment. This brings about the need for an underwriter who
will take on the risk on behalf of the group, as well as offer a set of
products and services built around the group’s needs. NASASA is tasked by its
members to solve this problem, and we have identified Sanlam as the most
suitable partner in this regard.” 



Mtshali says this venture will also facilitate job creation, which is key to socioeconomic inclusion, “For South Africans, this opportunity provides meaningful employment particularly in the township economy. Not only is this a step towards financial inclusion, but a giant leap towards societal transformation”



Down the line, NASASA Financial Services is aiming to extend its offering to include life cover as well as short-term products like household insurance and is investigating the potential of integrating other banking products. Content provided by Sanlam

sanlamImage 1

Sanlam & NASASA Launch NASASA Financial Services For Stokvels

The world economy is set to enjoy a very good year. In that, it will be much like 2018 and 2017 and most probably like 2020 and 2021. Economic growth will be fairly strong in most of the countries where such expansion does the most good. While rich countries worry about objectively tiny setbacks, poor people are overall gaining more of the dignity that comes with adequate material comfort. 



Consider extreme poverty. The World Bank draws the line between the wretched of the earth and everyone else at daily consumption of goods and services worth $1.90. The Our World in Data website at Oxford University estimates that 72 percent of the world’s population lived below that line in 1950. The World Bank’s preliminary estimate for 2018 is 8.6 percent, down from 10 percent in 2015.



Fewer very poor people means more are enjoying better lives. The proportion of the global population without access to electricity is declining by about 0.3 percentage points a year. The number of children not enrolled in school is shrinking by about 5 million annually. Almost every indicator of basic prosperity shows the same trend.



The good news is pretty much global. Even Africa, long the lagging continent, is starting to catch up. The proportion of African children that die before they turn five has declined from 21 percent in 1975 to 8 percent in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. Better health comes from &#8211; and with &#8211; greater wealth. Real per person income in sub-Saharan Africa has increased by 40 percent in the last decade.



Not all the news is good. Due to war and civil conflict, primarily in Africa, the proportion of the world’s population that is undernourished has risen by 0.2 percentage points in the last two years. Still, at 11.9 percent, it is 2.2 percentage points lower than a decade ago.



The prediction of more global gains in 2019 is pretty solid. There are also good reasons to believe that 2029 will be fine. Economic growth in very poor countries is becoming a virtuous circle. More education and better health creates better workers, who support stronger institutions, which make larger and more effective investments, which produce the money needed to pay for even better schooling and health.



That pattern has held in country after country for at least two decades. Bad governments do slow progress, but it takes war or total state failure, as in Venezuela, to reverse the progress.



The almost unstoppable global retreat of misery and ignorance is arguably the best news ever in economic history. For political history, however, the trends are far less clear. The old belief that greater wealth would naturally bring more open societies looks flawed. The populace of many countries, both richer and poorer, seem pretty happy with autocratic and extreme nationalist governments.



China is the prime example. The oppressive and fairly corrupt Communist Party has presided over rapid and widespread increases in prosperity. Its cross-border ambitions, both civil and military, have expanded as well.



That is worrying for many reasons. One of them is that war is probably the only force destructive enough to stop the upward march of global economic good news. The great question, for both 2019 and 2029, is whether progress will threaten prosperity by leading to the use of the world’s ever-larger supply of ever more deadly arms. -Reuters



-Edward Hadas

gettyimages-645015088-170667a

World Will Improve Where It Matters Most In 2019

The revival of Nigeria’s economy has gained momentum under the guidance of President Buhari’s ERGP programme; its ambitious targets yield results that seem to indicate that they will soon be superseded.
In spite of difficult times, Nigeria has been rated as the top 10 most improved economies in 2016/2017.
“Nigeria is a very resilient country in terms of economy,” states Mr. Venkatapathy Venkataraman Group MD at NIPCO.
<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PENRESA-FINAL.pdf">DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT HERE</a>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-35858" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MAKING-NIGERIA-224x300.jpg" alt="" width="224" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MAKING-NIGERIA-224x300.jpg 224w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MAKING-NIGERIA-300x402.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MAKING-NIGERIA.jpg 446w" sizes="(max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px" />
This has been a result of the ERPG programme and its emphasis on industrialisation and diversification policies which boost capital inflows and encourages ease of doing business.
In November 2017 Godwin Emefiele Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN’s presented Nigeria’s economic outlook for 2018, predicting that national forex reserves will hit US$ 40bn in 2018. In introducing I&amp;E forex the improvement in the ease of doing business is guaranteed.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) played an extensive role in ensuring relative price stability and in managing the dearth of foreign exchange,” declares Mr Obeahon Ohiwerei, Managing Director at Keystone Bank.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/01/19/nigeria-needs-new-national-carrier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">READ: Why Nigeria needs a new national carrier</a>
“If the tight monetary policy continues, and the Central Bank continues to manage the liquidity that makes FX, the economy may grow more than the 1.8% projected,” claims Mr Abubakar Jimoh, CEO at Coronation Merchant Bank.
Although energy sales in Nigeria account for up to 80 percent of all government revenue and more than 90 percent of the country’s exports, Agriculture and ICT sectors have flourished, providing steady growth, employment and investment opportunities.
The ERGP’s shift towards becoming import dependent has been particularly successful in Agriculture. Proforce MD, Mr Ade Ogundeyin declares, “the government is serious and committed about made-in-Nigeria goods. They are saying that if it can be produced in Nigeria you don&#8217;t import it.”
The government&#8217;s intention to use telecoms and ICT for economic development and financial inclusion is auspicious for the industry. Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr Umar Danbatta states that “telecoms contribution to GDP is now close to 10% and has been contributing 1.4 trillion naira to the economy.”
Minister of Power, Works and Housing Hon. Fashola confirms the commitment to IT, “We&#8217;re installing more broadband and connectivity across the country,” which in turn enhances a definite entrepreneurial spirit at play amongst the people.
The government has made it extremely clear that it will be pouring funding into infrastructure. Minister of Power, Works and Housing Hon. Fashola declares, “the investment in infrastructure is driving the value chain of the economic diversification.”
The government’s plans to modernise and restructure the country’s public transport system has proved a great opportunity for investors and the economy.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/investment-guide/2017/05/01/nigeria-needs-industrialization-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">READ: Nigeria Needs Industrialization now</a>
Nigeria remains a highly appealing destination for investors. Mr Tunde Fowler, Chairman at FIRS elaborates, “Nigeria is an investor’s heaven with so much potential; from industry to agriculture to telecommunications. There&#8217;s so much room for expansion and the ease of doing business ensures that anyone who has a business, or who intends to start a business, will not have to face any bureaucracy, roadblocks or hindrance.
Nigeria’s government is determined to provide profound and long-term change in economic prosperity and stability; there remains little doubt that it is Nigeria’s destiny to uphold the title of largest economy in Africa for a long time yet.

LAGOS-cv2

FOCUS ON NIGERIA: Making Nigeria

Africa’s most robust and developed economy is on the cusp of an economic revival after the long-awaited change of guard at the top.
South Africa’s economy has struggled against downgrades by the ratings agencies and a flight of foreign investors in several difficult years that have left the country with miniscule growth.
The big obstacle to change was President Jacob Zuma whose unpopularity and poor management of the economy, amid clouds of corruption allegations, threatened to bury the once all powerful African National Congress (ANC). In the good times, a decade ago, when the economy was growing at a healthy 5%, the leaders of the ANC boasted they would rule until Jesus came back. The penny slowly dropped for the party faithful that if economic times got steadily harder, feeding a rising opposition, the party may struggle to rule until the end of the next elections in 2019.
Pressure for change came from even the most die-hard ANC members for Zuma to resign. He refused; the party bigwigs gave him a deadline and at the eleventh hour, just before midnight on February 14, he did so live on TV. In many ways, he had little choice; his party comrades were plotting to throw him out through a humiliating vote of no confidence in Parliament, in Cape Town, also live on TV. He would also have lost his pension, security and benefits in the process.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/politics/2018/02/15/zumas-time-mean-south-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Zuma&#8217;s time is up &#8211; but does it mean for South Africa</a>
For a former head of intelligence, Zuma appeared strangely out of touch with what people were thinking.
“What have I done?” was his reaction to the decision by the ANC to recall him. A cursory flick through the business pages of the newspapers would have told him: Job losses and unemployment running at more than one in four; falling business confidence and tales of millions of taxpayers’ money slushing into private pockets rather than public projects.
Into the breach stepped Cyril Ramaphosa, the former deputy president who was sworn in as the country’s new leader, in Cape Town on February 15, with a promise to clean up and pep up the economy. He is seen as the business friendly president and a pragmatic negotiator with vast experience from the picket line to the boardroom.
“Issues to do with corruption, issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises and how we deal with ‘state capture’ are issues that are on our radar screen,” says Ramaphosa as he was elected as president, unopposed, in Parliament.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/politics/2017/08/16/lack-accountability-marikana-says-zumas-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: What the lack of accountability for Marikana says about Zuma&#8217;s government</a>
Many of the business leaders I have spoken to, from Davos to Johannesburg, agree that if Ramaphosa turns his words into action they will invest with confidence.
“You are going to see millions of dollars flooding into this country in the next six months,” says Gary Booysen of Rand Swiss in Johannesburg.
The markets appeared to agree and surged with the rand. The currency reached highs not seen since May 2015, the last halcyon days of the economy. Three days of madness, in December 2015, put paid to that when Zuma sacked respected finance minister, Nhanlha Nene, replaced him with rookie Des Van Rooyen the next day and him, under duress, with former finance minister Pravin Gordhan the day after. The president sacked Gordhan in March 2017 and replaced him with another rookie Malusi Gigaba – the rand and confidence plunged, as did the ratings.
Ramaphosa – a multi-millionaire who has made his money from black empowerment and shrewd business decisions – wants a legacy of being the man who helped his country out of the mire. He has deep roots in the liberation movement and anyone who knows him will tell you he would want to be remembered as the best leader of his country since Nelson Mandela.
Anyone who has their money and pension tied up in South Africa will hope that he does so.

Tag: Economy

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