For many, the reality of raising a family is an arduous journey – and often a silent one. In recent years, there has been remarkable progress in the field of reproductive technologies. These technologies include medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. In fact, the global assisted reproductive technology market size was valued at $28.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $42.5 billion by 2030, according to a research report published by Spherical Insights &amp; Consulting.



In the African context, research suggests that our constantly and rapidly changing lifestyle is fundamentally impacting fertility. Fertility has emerged as a medico- sociocultural problem. The continent also has a higher prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI), and postpartum and postabortion infections, which contribute to both male and female infertility.



In fact, a 2019 study conducted by Ombelet and Onofre found that infertility had a higher prevalence in low-resource countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. At the time, it was estimated that more than 180 million couples were impacted by infertility in the region. As the authors concluded: “The magnitude of childlessness in African countries has dimensions beyond its prevalence.” At its core, infertility is a human rights issue that demands attention.



In the 21st century, what are the ethical implications of reframing our creation of humans? As we venture into our own ‘brave new world’, we must do so with a framework in place. We find ourselves in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), defined by great disruption to technology, industries, and society, which calls for changes to policy and our approaches.



There are two broad factors to consider in this shift: how do we safeguard core legal values – such as equal treatment under the law, procedural fairness, and due process and adequate access to justice for all, for instance – and how do we adapt to these broad societal changes? There are also key concerns in our own context. Infertility in Africa is impacted by epidemiological barriers as there is a lack of data informing the burden of infertility, the need for reproductive technologies and even access. Moreover, inequalities are starkly presented in conversations around access both from a geographical standpoint and a financial perspective.



Ombelet and Onofre’s study found that “more than 98% of the continent cannot afford In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) because it is either too expensive or because of a lack of IVF centers”.



In 2018, Botha et al. found that ‘inaccess’ was driven by the confluence of widespread poverty, inadequate government or insurance support, insufficient resource allocation for capacity building, and the absence of facilities. There are also challenges in the cultural, religious, and societal perception of both infertility and its treatment, which are pervasive in many parts of Africa. In some cases, this is largely the impact of limited knowledge of the public, patients, and even healthcare providers. This is coupled with restrictive health policies, which have to be challenged.



What is required is a comprehensive and culturally sensitive approach that takes into account the socioeconomic context.



Some solutions include raising awareness and education about available treatments and the benefits and risks; addressing cultural and religious beliefs around the technology and encouraging open dialogue; making artificial reproductive technologies more affordable on the continent through reducing 



costs; comprehensive healthcare coverage and public-private partnerships; and increasing research capabilities and data collection in this field to allow for infrastructure development.



Additionally, as other technologies of the 4IR have demonstrated, we need sound ethical frameworks. This will be the basis for our approach to regulation. This will require the legal fraternity to keep up with developments in the space and respond accordingly. While there are broad ethical frameworks in place, it is imperative that we get more specific as these technologies shift from theory to practice. Researchers Pepper and Slabbert state: “Legislation in its broadest sense should be seen as a permanent work- in-progress requiring ongoing review.” 



This is how we continue to break barriers and explore the unknown ethically. Legislation is largely reactive. In the 4IR, however, there is an increasing argument for a proactive approach.



What is apparent is that as these technologies increasingly emerge, society needs to respond accordingly. If we have any hope of ensuring greater access and acceptance, then we must ensure that we are adapting to this shifting context. As the biologist and author of Daedalus, JBS Haldane, once poignantly wrote, “We can foretell little of the future save that the thing that has not been is the thing that shall be.”

doctor analysing cell samples in a clinical fertility laboratory

The Ethics And Legality Of Artificial Reproductive Technology In An African Context

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



Hours after Elon Musk told companies to &#8220;go f***&#8221; themselves for pulling their advertisements from X over concerns about antisemitism—and called out Disney CEO Bob Iger by name—a group of right-wing users on the social media platform have called for Disney+ subscribers to cancel their accounts.



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



<a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1730227884957040938" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/realmichaelseif/status/1730275154805068020" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">right-wing</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ChayaRaichik10/status/1730296643872792752" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accounts</a>&nbsp;on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, called on subscribers to Disney’s streaming service Disney+ to cancel their subscriptions, with the X account End Wokeness&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1730218208324395011" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posting</a>&nbsp;instructions for cancellation with the caption: “Stop giving money to people that hate you.”



Those calls follow Disney’s decision earlier this month to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/11/17/apple-and-disney-pull-x-ads-after-musks-promotion-of-antisemitic-post-joining-these-other-companies/?sh=3f0da76a34fb">suspend its advertising</a>&nbsp;on the social media platform, joining a growing list of companies including Apple, IBM, Lionsgate and Xfinity, following the release of a scathing report that found advertisements on X alongside pro-Nazi posts, and after Musk endorsed a post&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/11/16/elon-musk-condemned-after-calling-antisemitic-post-actual-truth/?sh=7e010cc14020">widely condemned</a>&nbsp;as antisemitic.



Disney’s decision to stop running ads on X could cost the social media platform millions of dollars, while X users’ calls for a boycott of Disney+ would have to reach many of its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonifitzgerald/2023/08/09/new-record-for-disney-sheds-117-million-subscribers-password-crackdown-coming/?sh=5fe4d2b51d7b">146 million</a>&nbsp;subscribers (as of August) to have an equivalent effect.



Speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/11/29/elon-musk-says-advertisers-that-have-left-x-shouldnt-come-back/?sh=1f7dc21b10c0">accused advertisers</a>&nbsp;that left the platform of “blackmailing” him with money and crudely told them to “go f**k themselves,” while addressing Iger in the crowd, saying, “hi Bob.”



Iger, also speaking at the summit,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pSxx1e5n34" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;he has “a lot of respect for Elon and what he’s accomplished,” but took exception with Musk’s endorsement of the post on X, saying: “By him taking the position that he took in quite a public manner, we just felt that the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



X could lose as much as $75 million in lost advertising revenue due to more than a dozen companies including Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Disney, IBM, Microsoft and Xfinity pulling out, the New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/business/x-elon-musk-advertisers.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



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



IBM became one of the first in a string of high-profile advertisers to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/11/16/ibm-suspends-advertising-on-x-after-ads-appear-near-pro-nazi-posts/?sh=17f133ce6a4d">suspend its ads</a>&nbsp;on the platform this month, after a report from left-wing watchdog Media Matters for America found advertisements for the company—as well as Apple, Oracle and Xfinity—appeared near neo-Nazi posts and posts praising Adolf Hitler. Musk suggested the watchdog went out of its way to achieve the result, claiming the finding represented a wildly different experience from that of a typical user. X Corp. later&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/11/18/elon-musk-threatens-thermonuclear-lawsuit-against-group-reporting-antisemitic-x-posts-appearing-near-ads/?sh=27c854462b13">filed a defamation lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against Media Matters. Musk also came under fire after he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/11/16/elon-musk-condemned-after-calling-antisemitic-post-actual-truth/?sh=648123644020">shared</a>&nbsp;a post on X in which a user claimed “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them,” an argument Musk called “the actual truth.” The White House also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/11/17/white-house-condemns-musk-over-abhorrent-promotion-of-antisemitic-and-racist-hate/?sh=4990834c1ea5">condemned</a>&nbsp;that post, issuing a statement calling the claim an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.” Musk on Wednesday apologized for the post and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/29/23981771/musk-says-the-antisemitic-post-was-a-mistake" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">admitted</a>&nbsp;it was “one of the most foolish, if not the most foolish, thing I’ve done” on the platform.



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



$7.2 billion. That’s how much Disney spent on advertisements in fiscal year 2022, surpassing its advertising budget in 2021 ($5.5 billion) and 2020 ($4.7 billion).



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



Disney became the latest in a wave of major companies to draw the ire of right-wing critics largely online. Earlier this year, Bud Light drew&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/05/20/far-right-pundits-are-slamming-companies-including-nike-adidas-and-ford-for-lgbtq-outreach-as-pride-month-nears/?sh=64d1685f76d0">massive pushback</a>&nbsp;among right-wingers, including pundits Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro, after the beer brand launched a partnership with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney. Fast food chain Chick-fil-A also came under fire after right-wing online circles expressed outrage over its hiring of a director of diversity, equity and inclusion in 2021, while Adidas faced right-wing pushback for a marketing campaign that included trans-inclusive swimwear. Target additionally faced right-wing blowback online for an LGBTQ Pride product line. In response to the criticism, Target&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/05/24/target-removes-pride-items-after-conservative-firestorm-sparking-criticism-from-lgbtq-groups/?sh=18e16e20e512">pulled</a>&nbsp;items from that line in late May, just a week before the start of Pride month, claiming in a statement that threats and criticism it received over the products were “impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being,” though the move also sparked pushback in LGBTQ circles over claims the company caved to right-wing blowback.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/11/29/elon-musk-says-advertisers-that-have-left-x-shouldnt-come-back/?sh=1f7dc21b10c0">Elon Musk Says Advertisers That Have Left X Shouldn’t Come Back</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/11/17/apple-and-disney-pull-x-ads-after-musks-promotion-of-antisemitic-post-joining-these-other-companies/?sh=3f0da76a34fb">Apple And Disney Pull X Ads After Musk’s Promotion Of Antisemitic Post—Joining These Other Companies</a> (Forbes)

Popular Streaming Services Photo Illustrations

Disney Vs. Musk: Right-Wing X Users Push For Disney+ Cancellations As Disney Pulls Ads

I attended the US-Africa Business Summit in July in Botswana, a country I have lived in in my youth, as a bachelor and then as a parent to boot.



The kids were born in the country’s new and first private hospital, GPH, efficient and chic, way back in the 1990s.



The conference center is equally so today – sparkling, purpose-driven, punctuated by smart cops along the brand-new roads leading there. A hallmark of Botswana. No wastage. Elegantly done at just the right time.



I left Botswana 25 years ago and have traveled the globe a bit. A journey that made me understand geopolitics and see its hypocrisies. Yet, this Kalahari country of my youth quietly got so many things right: control over its primary resources, universal free health, education, buffering cattle farmers from market volatilities, infrastructure, institution building, respect for the law, clean elections, conservatism, and a policy-driven government staying true to its manifesto.



A case study on getting things done.



Yet, many of my old friends, prosperous and welcomed as they have been in their adopted country, remain critical.



I dare say I left them unmoved. Familiarity breeds contempt?



But if the country still had many flaws, diamonds too need imperfections to shine.



The weather that week was the quintessential Kalahari winter I had long forgotten. Cold and crisp in the shade and warm in the sun, dry in its core but embracing in its reach; epitomizing the Motswana spirit.



‘What you see is what you get.’ A GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) per capita of about $20,000, Africa’s best credit rating, and a literacy rate of about 90%. The country has shown what planning and execution can achieve in only five decades.



I have a special bond with it.



1966 is my birth year and the year of Botswana’s independence.



At that time, one of the poorest – with a GDP per capita of about $70 per year – landlocked and two-thirds desert, it has transformed itself from being hopeless to a developed country today.



The country’s tale of self-rule is intertwined with that of white supremacy to prevent a marriage between an African chieftain destined to be the first President and his white British fiancée. They overcame it against all odds while maintaining peace with an unapologetic British government and an apartheid neighbor, South Africa.



It is a story of love and self-belief.



And above all, supreme diplomacy from a rustic but wise nation to forge a modern nation. Indeed, a testament to the rural fabric of fortitude and patience.



If indeed a country’s future lies in its history, this country’s common sense is its foundation.



While there, my evenings were laced with nostalgic dinners. Soaked in old stories, revealed, regaled, and rekindled.



Touchingly, those lovely people of Gaborone, the country’s capital, served up my favorite cravings and my special indulgences. Bonded with love and tied with memories.



Humane but often elusive. Serene indeed to see people from yesteryears making time for you. The President is an imposing figure with conviction; he’s articulate and clearly visualizes a thriving, peaceful Botswana.



And indeed, he is so comfortable as an African thought leader.



I recalled the days of a ‘quiet’ Botswana.



Now, their charismatic leader espouses African collaboration, instilling hope, and embracing the wisdom that deliverance for Africa must come from ‘us, the people’.



He reiterates the enormous possibilities, the need to share knowledge within Africa and the necessity of collective bargaining.



The miracle that the continent survives despite the incessant barrage of exogenous influences should embolden us for greater things, not derail us.



I bow to Botswana, the cradle to my young impressionable days where the seeds of inspiration were sown in me.



I learned the joys of networking, collaborating, and understanding different cultures in this little unheralded town.



I learned humility was a tool, humanity a constant and hubris a disease. For prosperity, peace, and progress. In a continent of discontent, Botswana is that beacon of hope and tranquility. May it drive the destiny of Africa. A harbinger of greatness and a poster boy of solidity in the maligned and exploited continent of Africa. Thank you, Botswana, as you seek your rightful place among the great nations of this world.

Gaborone, South East, Botswana 27 April 2017 aerial panorama of  Main Mall

A Homecoming: To The Beacon Of Hope And Tranquility

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



Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed to extend an ongoing temporary ceasefire by an additional day, just minutes before it was set to expire, a move that will allow for continued negotiations on the release of more hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.



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



The extension was announced by the&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MofaQatar_EN/status/1730096017763107245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Qatari Foreign Ministry</a>—which is mediating discussions between the two sides—just minutes before the ceasefire agreement was set to expire at 7 a.m. local time.



The extended truce maintains the same conditions both sides had agreed to previously where Hamas will release at least 10 Israeli hostages every day in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.



Qatari officials said efforts for permanent ceasefire agreement are still ongoing.



The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said it has already informed the relatives of hostages who are expected to be released on Thursday, with&nbsp;Haaretz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-30/ty-article-live/12-israelis-four-thai-nationals-released-from-hamas-captivity-in-gaza/0000018c-1e28-db78-adcc-be7c50fb0007?liveBlogItemId=720471109&amp;htm_source=site&amp;htm_medium=button&amp;htm_campaign=live_blog_item#720471109" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reporting</a>&nbsp;that the list could include eight women and children.



This is a developing story.

Two-Day Truce Extension Promises Release Of More Israeli Hostages And Palestinian Prisoners

Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Extended By One More Day Minutes Before It Was Set To Expire

In South Africa, a revolutionary method for dark matter search that is setting a new trajectory for future explorations.



The quest to unravel the mysteries of dark matter has taken a significant turn with the latest research from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa. Spearheaded by Professor Deepak Kar and his former PhD student, now postdoctoral researcher Sukanya Sinha, this study is published in Physics Letters B and marks a pivotal shift from traditional approaches in dark matter exploration.



Dark matter, invisible yet comprising about a quarter of the universe&#8217;s mass, has long puzzled scientists. Traditional searches have focused on weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), but to date, these efforts have not yielded concrete evidence of its existence. The Wits team, working at the ATLAS experiment at CERN (a center for scientific research in Switzerland), ventured into uncharted territory by investigating semi-visible jets, a novel concept in Dark Matter searches.



Kan, in an interview with FORBES AFRICA, sheds light on the significance of this new approach: &#8220;We looked for a very specific signature of dark matter, which no one has ever looked at, and we didn&#8217;t find it. So what does it tell us? That the dark matter probably doesn&#8217;t exist in that form, or even if it does, the fraction is probably much, much smaller.&#8221; This discovery informs and directs future research, eliminating certain possibilities in the elusive search for dark matter.



Kan further elaborates on the practical implications of their findings: &#8220;Future research in the exploration of dark matter would be informed by this&#8230; Our study is the most prominent result because it&#8217;s an experimental research.&#8221; He also notes the broader impact of their work: &#8220;Our research informs new ways we can look for dark matter in, say, visible jets and beyond. It tells us what is not there, reducing the possibilities.&#8221;



Discussing the relevance of dark matter research to daily life, Kan states: &#8220;It&#8217;s not something which helps in everyday lives directly&#8230; but it might lead to the development of technologies and techniques which can be used in more practical research.&#8221;



He highlights the long-term potential of such fundamental research, drawing parallels with the development of the World Wide Web and advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, which originated from similar scientific endeavors.



This research by the Wits University team not only propels the scientific community closer to understanding one of the universe&#8217;s greatest mysteries but also exemplifies the profound impact of fundamental research on technological and practical advancements. As the quest for dark matter continues, this novel method introduced by the Wits team stands as a beacon of innovation in the expansive field of astrophysics.

Researchers Prof Deepak Kar and Sukanya Sinha; Image supplied1

Wits University’s New Direction In Understanding One Of The Universe’s Greatest Mysteries

Traveling for work these days is not as simple as booking a flight, packing a suitcase and heading for the nearest airport lounge.



With the price of airline tickets sky-rocketing and the cost of hotel rooms in the stratosphere, companies are encouraging employees to get better bang for their travel buck.



To cut costs, bosses suggest cramming more meetings into the time away, driving to destinations instead of flying and – yes, you guessed it – sharing a hotel room with a colleague.



Many bosses have tried to dress up shared accommodation arrangements by telling employees that cohabitating is the perfect opportunity to build camaraderie and team work.



Some have been more direct and told staff that room shares might prevent a reduction in head count if they are forced to tighten their belts down the line.



Others have told staff it is not unlawful to ask colleagues to share rooms and recommended that they go with the flow and “buddy up” to save their company dollars.



But just because employees can share a hotel room does not mean they should.



Sharing with a colleague can be bad under any circumstance let alone if you are feeling unwell, experiencing “gassy” conditions, are prone to allergies or experience congestion during the evening.



And it can be uncomfortable to share a room with an early riser when you are a night owl or when you are forced to endure your colleague’s snoring or realize your roommate is a sleep walker.



Besides, being forced to witness your colleague in a towel or their sleepwear, share their soap when you shower and navigate their toiletries in the bathroom all go way beyond the call of duty.



It is important in the modern workplace that we get to know our colleagues though we only want to learn about work- appropriate aspects, not their more intimate or private sides.



Sharing rooms erodes the professional boundaries that we spend considerable time establishing.



You will not view your colleague Anna the same way if you become aware that she downs three shots of vodka each evening to help her to sleep. You will probably have a different view of Alan if you have been forced to listen to his raunchy sleep talking. And you will most likely have an alternative view of Alice after witnessing her 10-step bedtime regime, which includes two hours of reading before retiring but leaving a light on throughout the night.



If that is not enough to seal the case against sharing a hotel room with a workmate, there is more to consider.



Some people have medical conditions they would prefer not to disclose or be forced to manage in front of colleagues.



And of course the risk of sexual harassment is very real when unwanted advances take place behind closed doors in a shared hotel room.



Some employees will get around the problem of shared hotel rooms by paying for their own single room. Yet paying out of their own pockets is neither a reasonable nor fair solution to this escalating dilemma.



What is needed is for more workers to push back and make the point work travel is draining and that it is important to be well-rested to be effective in their line of work.



The more workers oppose shared accommodation arrangements then the greater the chance that employers will listen.



There is also the prospects of employers reducing costs by using cheaper hotel chains, making greater use of day trips without overnight stays and organizing virtual meetings as an alternative to travel.



But if the boss does require room-sharing, secure your employer’s assurance they will cover the expense of booking a separate room if your roommate’s behavior affects your ability to get a good night’s sleep.



Employees who travel for business to benefit their employer should be treated with the respect and regard they deserve.



This includes privacy and safety, a place for downtime away from colleagues and the opportunity to relax without having to worry about the views, emotions, routines and rituals of their colleagues.



Forcing employees to get to know each other in such an intimate way is not appropriate and can end up diminishing or destroying otherwise good working relationships between individuals.



To put this matter to bed once and for all, companies must refrain from asking employees to share rooms when traveling for work.



The risks will always outweigh the savings.

Interior of hotel room with twin beds

Sharing Rooms On Work Travels: The Good, Bad And Ugly

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



Shein, a China-based company that dominates the fast-fashion industry, has confidentially filed to go public, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/fast-fashion-giant-shein-files-to-go-public-30a97410?mod=business_lead_story" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/27/shein-files-for-us-ipo-as-fast-fashion-giant-looks-to-expand-its-global-reach.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNBC</a> reported Monday.



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



Shein will be working with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley as underwriters on the offering, the Wall Street Journal reported.



The initial public offering could happen as soon as 2024, people with knowledge of the matter told CNBC and the Journal.



Last year Shein was valued at $100 billion—worth more than the combined value of two of its fast-fashion competitors, Zara and H&amp;M, according to previous Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/janeho/2022/11/09/founder-of-fast-fashion-phenomenon-shein-joins-ranks-of-chinas-richest-after-new-fundraising/?sh=10f1cb782bc7">reporting</a>—though Bloomberg reported the value <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-07/shein-targets-up-to-90-billion-valuation-in-us-ipo-sources-say?embedded-checkout=true#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dropped</a> to between $50 billion and $60 billion this year as higher interest rates and an uncertainty cloud the market.



Shein declined to comment to Forbes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Earlier this month, people familiar with Shein’s IPO intentions&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-07/shein-targets-up-to-90-billion-valuation-in-us-ipo-sources-say?embedded-checkout=true#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Bloomberg the company hopes to get a valuation of around $80 billion or $90 billion before going public, which would be one of the largest initial public offerings ever.



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



An IPO has long been rumored for Shein, which was founded in 2008 and quickly gained ground in the fast-fashion field. It’s known for selling trendy clothes that target Gen Z buyers with dirt cheap prices, regularly offering products for under $10. The company has faced its fair share of controversy and has regularly been criticized for relying on cotton produced with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. Earlier this year, 16 state attorneys general formally asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to not allow Shein to go public until it can prove the company doesn’t use forced labor, CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/shein-faces-scrutiny-over-forced-labor-before-ipo.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Shein is also under investigation by a House committee scrutinizing China, and a&nbsp;<a href="https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releases/select-committee-releases-interim-findings-shein-temu-forced-labor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>&nbsp;from June said Shein and Temu—another fast fashion company—“raise serious concerns about the continued presence of products made with forced labor contaminating American imports.” Shein has denied that it uses forced labor, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-24/us-lawmaker-seeks-investigation-that-could-bar-shein-apparel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



We estimate <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/chris-xu/?sh=237275327aa4">Sky Xu</a>, founder and CEO of Shein, to be worth $11.2 billion as of Monday evening, making him the 166th wealthiest person in the world. He was also listed at No. 19 on Forbes’ <a href="https://www.forbes.com/lists/china-billionaires/?sh=4cbb22262d43">China’s Richest list</a>, published earlier this month.



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



An IPO has long been rumored for Shein, which was founded in 2008 and quickly gained ground in the fast-fashion field. It’s known for selling trendy clothes that target Gen Z buyers with dirt cheap prices, regularly offering products for under $10. The company has faced its fair share of controversy and has regularly been criticized for relying on cotton produced with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, home to the Uyghur population. Earlier this year, 16 state attorneys general formally asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to not allow Shein to go public until it can prove the company doesn’t use forced labor, CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/shein-faces-scrutiny-over-forced-labor-before-ipo.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Shein is also under investigation by a House committee scrutinizing China, and a&nbsp;<a href="https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releases/select-committee-releases-interim-findings-shein-temu-forced-labor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>&nbsp;from June said Shein and Temu—another fast fashion company—“raise serious concerns about the continued presence of products made with forced labor contaminating American imports.” Shein has denied that it uses forced labor, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-24/us-lawmaker-seeks-investigation-that-could-bar-shein-apparel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.

Trending Apps Photo Illustrations

Shein Reportedly Files For IPO Amid Fast-Fashion Surge

The African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the continent’s most important international men’s association football competition, is less than two months away. FORBES AFRICA offers some insight into what one can expect in the build-up to this much-anticipated exhibition.



Few times, if ever, has the favorite going into an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament emerged after a month of intense action hoisting aloft the trophy.



But two years ago, at the last edition in Cameroon, Senegal were certainly a sentimental favorite because they had come so close on several previous occasions but never won, and so when they emerged as victors, it was to many neutrals’ delight.



As reigning African champions, that will make them among the fancied sides this time round, which if historic precedence is followed, will not be welcome.



No team since Egypt in 2008 has been able to hold on to the African crown and Ghana and Cameroon are the only other countries able to retain their title.



The 34th edition Cup of Nations will kick off on January 13 and is being hosted in the Côte d&#8217;Ivoire – a second time for the West African country after the 1984 finals.



Then it was an eight-team tournament, completed in the space of 14 days, but Africa’s continental championship is much evolved. This time round, the Ivorians host 24 teams at six different stadia, four of them newly built for the tournament, which will have a bevy of top stars on display, with the ever-increasing number of African players now featuring in the top leagues in Europe.



Their clubs are not happy they will be absent for up to a month but FIFA rules dictate national teams enjoy preference on the players’ service over clubs when a continental championship, like AFCON, is hosted. Ideally, the players should not have to suffer the tug of club versus country.



But this tournament was moved back six months because of concerns over the rainy season in the region and is now being hosted slap bang in the middle of the league season to the chagrin of the clubs who now lose the services of their best African players.



The concerns over the weather should have been raised when the Ivorians first bid to host the finals but are genuine and have already caused much consternation long before a ball has even been kicked.



The newly-built showpiece Stade Olympique d&#8217;Ebimpé in Abidjan, where the final is due to be played on February 11, turned into a paddling pool in September when the Ivory Coast played Mali in a friendly and the heavens opened. There was no proper drainage and eventually the game had to be called off to the embarrassment of the Ivorians.



There were pitch problem at the last Cup of Nations in Cameroon too, to the consternation of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and they can ill afford a repeat this time, seeking to assure that the playing surfaces are of a quality that ensures a good footballing spectacle. French experts have been called in to make sure all the pitches are ready for carpet football once the event gets underway.



If all conditions do turn out to be top class, it is tournament that has the potential to be a top quality event, given the strength and depth of the protagonists.



Of the 24 participating nations, half have won the tournament previously. This time there are no newcomers but some tricky minnows with a proven pedigree for creating carnage. Equatorial Guinea and the Gambia, for example, were giant killers at the last finals and return again with the ability to upset the established pecking order.



Hosts Côte d&#8217;Ivoire, who have won twice before in 1992 and 2015, have a talented squad but are a little short of tournament temperament. They will look to the former England international Wilfred Zaha to lead their hopes and he certainly has the x-factor to lead them to the winners’ podium.



Morocco, on the back of their heroic exploits at the 2022 World Cup, will be the most fancied side but teams from Arabic-speaking North Africa have a long history of struggling when AFCON is hosted south of the Sahara.



Egypt did win in Burkina Faso in 1998 and again in Ghana 10 years thereafter, but Morocco have pointedly failed time and again in the continental championship, particularly when they have been hailed as pre-competition favorites.



Perhaps this will be their time given the confidence they collected in Qatar, where the 2022 World Cup took place, when they became the first African, and Arab, nation to reach the semi-final.



Algeria will have a heavyweight selection of French-born players from the massive Diaspora that they have across the Mediterranean, while Egypt are ever dangerous, particularly if Mohamed Salah is on song. Egypt lost narrowly in the last Cup of Nations finals to Senegal on post-match penalties.



It has been a decade since Nigeria last won the competition but this could be their opportunity again with a squad brimful of attacking talent. It is led by the striker Victor Osimhen, who finished top scorer in Italy last season where he helped Napoli to win the league.



Often times, however, the players’ ambition is let down by the foibles of their administrators, whose incompetence might make things tough for Nigeria to realize its massive potential.



The tournament is being played in Abidjan (two stadiums), Bouake, Korhogo, San Pedro and Yamoussoukro with all but two of the venues built specifically for the tournament.

South Africa v Morocco – Africa Cup of Nations

The Pride Of African Football: A Look Ahead

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



Israel released 39 Palestinians it was holding in its Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank on Friday as part of a deal for the release of Israeli hostages Hamas took during its Oct. 7 attack—the Palestinians released were mostly teenage boys and women, a vast majority had not yet been convicted of a crime and many had been imprisoned for years.



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



Seventeen of the released Palestinian prisoners are minors and, of those 17, 15 are boys and two were girls, while the remaining 22 are adult women,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/24/who-were-the-palestinian-prisoners-israel-released-on-friday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Al Jazeera</a>&nbsp;reported.



Israel holds 2,200 Palestinians in detention under its controversial “administrative detention” policy that Israel says is a counter-terrorism measure it uses against people who plan to commit future offenses, according to the AP.



The released prisoners include Iyas Khatib, 17, the son of a U.N. aid worker who was put in “administrative detention” last year based on secret evidence without being publicly charged of a crime or put on trial, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-prisoner-exchange-hostage-92545883b1fef86fb9b34549b7deca58" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Associated Press</a>&nbsp;reported.



The prisoners also include Marah Bakeer, 24, who was a 16-year-old high school student in occupied East Jerusalem when Israeli forces shot at and arrested her for allegedly trying to stab an Israeli officer, an accusation Bakeer and her family deny,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/25/family-celebrates-return-of-free-palestinian-prisoner-marah-bakeer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Al Jazeera</a>&nbsp;reported.



The 39 are part of a list of 300 Palestinians Israel said it was considering releasing as part of its deal with Hamas—some on the list were held on minor charges like throwing stones (though some were held on charges as serious as attempted murder), less than a quarter of them were convicted of a crime and most were being held on remand while awaiting a trial, the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67522703" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BBC</a> reported.



Other common offenses the prisoners have been accused of include threatening security officers, entering Israel illegally without a permit, supporting terrorism and associating with hostile or unknown organizations,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/24/who-were-the-palestinian-prisoners-israel-released-on-friday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Al Jazeera</a>&nbsp;reported.



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



The released prisoners were being held in Israel’s Ofer prison, which is situated in the occupied West Bank near its western border north of Jerusalem. Israeli forces began using it in 2002 and it has since housed scores of Palestinian detainees, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.addameer.org/content/offer-prison" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Addameer</a>&nbsp;Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian non-governmental organization. The Israeli military court system is designed to prosecute Palestinians that violate its various military orders in occupied Palestinian territory, according to Addameer. Human rights groups allege that Israel’s military court system rules Palestinains guilty 99% of the time, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67528844" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BBC</a>. Addammer points to other perceived issues with the military court and Israeli prison systems, including that Israeli officers, despite being required to interrogate prisoners in their native language, allegedly often&nbsp;<a href="https://www.addameer.org/israeli_military_judicial_system/military_courts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">get them to sign</a>&nbsp;statements in Hebrew they don’t understand and that prison officials allegedly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.addameer.org/key_issues/medical_negligence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deliberately don’t provide</a>&nbsp;prisoners with necessary medical care.



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



750,000. That’s how many Palestinians have at one point been in an Israeli jail since 1967, according to estimates from human rights groups, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-prisoner-exchange-hostage-92545883b1fef86fb9b34549b7deca58" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AP</a>&nbsp;reported.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">NEWS PEG</h2>



The release of the Palestinian prisoners was part of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/11/22/what-to-know-about-the-israel-hamas-hostage-deal/?sh=64f13bfe5845">an agreement</a>&nbsp;between Israel and Hamas that ended weeks of ferocious fighting between the two. That fighting began Oct. 7 after Hamas crossed the border of northern Gaza into Israel, killing around 1,200 and taking 240 hostage in a bloody attack. Israel responded with frequent airstrikes and a ground military incursion into Gaza. More than 14,500 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel declared war, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. On Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/11/24/temporary-ceasefire-takes-effect-in-gaza/?sh=2c11d07321a5">fighting paused</a>&nbsp;as part of a temporary cease-fire. As part of the cease-fire deal, Hamas agreed to release some of the hostages it took on Oct. 7, and Israel agreed to free some of its Palestinian prisoners. Along with the 39 released Palestinians, 13 Israeli hostages were released Friday. The pause in fighting—which is set to last four days, but could be extended if both sides come to further agreement—allowed trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



More Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages to be released. Israel has promised to release 150 Palestinian prisoners and Hamas agreed to release 50 hostages. All of those are expected to be released by the end of the four-day cease-fire. However, even more could ultimately be released soon. As part of the deal, Israel agreed to continue the pause in fighting one more day for each additional 10 hostages released by Hamas.



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



The newly freed Palestinian minors’ names are Yousef Mohammad Mustafa Ata, Qusai Hani Ali Ahmad, Jibreel Ghassan Ismail Jibreel, Mohammad Ahmad Suleiman Abu Rajab, Ahmad Nu’man, Ahmad Abu Na’im, Baraa Bilal Mahmoud Rabee, Aban Iyad Mohammad Said Hammad, Moataz Hatem Moussa Abu Aram, Iyas Abdul Qader Mohammad Khatib, Hazma Laith Khalil Othman Othman, Mohammad Mahmoud Ayoub Dar Darwish, Jamal Khalil Jamal Barahmeh, Jamal Yousef Jamal Abu Hamdan, Mohammad Anis Saleem Tarabi, Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahman Suleiman Rizq, Zeina Raed Abdou and Noor Mohammad Hafez al-Tahir, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/24/who-were-the-palestinian-prisoners-israel-released-on-friday" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Al Jazeera</a>. The adults’ names are Rawan Nafez Mohammad Abu Matar, Marah Joudat Moussa Bakeer, Malak Mohammad Yousef Suleiman, Amani Khaled Nu’man Hasheem, Nihaya Khader Hussein Sawan, Fayrouz Fayez Mahmoud al-Baw, Tahreer Adnan Mohammad Abu Suriya, Falasteen Fareed Abdul Latif Najm, Walaa Khaled Fawzi Tanja, Maryam Khaled Abdul Majid Arafat, Asil Muneer Ibrahim al-Tayti, Azhar Thaer Bakr Assaf, Raghd Nashat Salah al-Fanni, Fatima Nu’man Ali Badr, Rawda Moussa Abdul Qader Abu Ujaima, Sara Ayman Abdul Aziz Abdullah al-Suweisa, Fatima Ismail Abdul Rahman Shahin, Samira Abdul Harbawi, Samah Bilal Abdul Rahman Souf, Fatima Bakr Moussa Abu Shalal, Hanan Saleh Abdullah al-Barghouthi and Fatima Nasr Mohammad Amarnah, according to Al Jazeera.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/11/24/heres-what-to-know-about-the-hostages-released-from-gaza/?sh=4800c2e1aff7">Here’s What To Know About The Hostages Released From Gaza</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/11/24/first-hostages-released-amid-temporary-israel-hamas-ceasefire/?sh=1c663278e9fe">First Hostages Released Amid Temporary Israel-Hamas Ceasefire</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/11/24/temporary-ceasefire-takes-effect-in-gaza/?sh=2c11d07321a5">Temporary Ceasefire Takes Effect In Gaza</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/11/22/what-to-know-about-the-israel-hamas-hostage-deal/?sh=64f13bfe5845">What To Know About The Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/11/23/israeli-forces-reportedly-arrest-director-of-gazas-largest-hospital/?sh=28e410055505">Israeli Forces Reportedly Arrest Director Of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Gilad Shalit Swap Deal

Israel Released 39 Palestinian Prisoners: Here’s What We Know About Them

A vision to enhance Nigeria&#8217;s power landscape and facilitate a transition to a more sustainable energy mix.



In a strategic move in Abuja, Nigeria&#8217;s federal capital territory (FCT), the minister of power, Bayo Adelabu, held a meeting with Sun Africa LLC, a US-based renewable energy solutions provider. &#8220;Together, we solidified a collaboration to enhance Nigeria&#8217;s power landscape,&#8221; he affirmed. The collaboration aims to deliver 961 megawatts peak (MWp) of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation infrastructure and 455 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery energy storage systems, amounting to a $2.2 billion investment.



Adelabu disclosed this while sharing the vision during his visit to Cotonou, Benin Republic. &#8220;I had the honor of representing Mr President [Bola Tinubu] at the commissioning of the West African Power Pool&#8217;s (WAPP) Communication and Coordination Center,&#8221; he posted via his X account on November 19.



This initiative by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) promises &#8220;seamless power transmission and market-driven energy trading across the West African sub-region.&#8221;



Excitement resonated in the minister&#8217;s words as he shared his anticipation of the positive impact of the solar PV generation infrastructure on Nigeria. &#8220;This collaboration is a crucial step in transitioning to a more sustainable power mix, vital for economic growth and environmental responsibility,&#8221; he emphasized. The commitment from Sun Africa aligns with his power sector transformation roadmap, focusing on distributed power leveraging renewable energy.



This is coming on the heels of the visit of the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, where he co-convened a private sector roundtable with discussions held on the crucial role electricity plays in the country&#8217;s economic development. The World Bank notes that 85 million Nigerians lack access to electricity, and if left unaddressed, this figure is expected to rise to 94 million by 2030.



The financial backing for this ambitious venture is equally robust. &#8220;Financing partners ING Bank and Citi, backed by the US Export-Import Bank (US-EXIM Bank), actively support this venture, committing up to $10 billion over the years,&#8221; revealed the minister.



This support, according to Adelabu, not only ensures the success of the initial phase but also lays the foundation for future developments. Collaborating with Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Limited as the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) partner further solidifies the project&#8217;s strategic execution.



He expressed gratitude to all stakeholders involved, recognizing this collaborative effort as a milestone in advancing sustainable and reliable energy solutions for Nigeria. &#8220;Together, we forge a path towards a brighter, greener, and more energy-efficient Nigeria,&#8221; he concluded.

Laptop, farm and engineer team together at night for renewable energy, power and wind turbine. Electrician or technician man and woman in nature for electricity, eco and green environment maintenance

Nigeria And Sun Africa Spearhead $2.2 Billion Renewable Energy Solution

Analysts express concerns over the second postponement of the Central Bank of Nigeria&#8217;s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, crucial for interest rates, leading to uncertainties in the market.



While investors began the week on a negative note, resulting in a 0.15% decrease in Nigeria&#8217;s equities market, it closed with a 0.07% gain on Thursday. This was propelled by bargain activities in small to mid-cap stocks.



On Monday, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, CWG, and Caverton Offshore Support Group witnessed profit-taking, leading to share price declines. Stanbic IBTC Holdings saw a 7.08% drop, CWG lost 3.14%, and Caverton was down by 2.78%. However, on Thursday, Beta Glass led market advancers, rising by 10%, while Multiverse, Mecure Industries, and Nigerian Enamelware also experienced significant gains.



At the close of Thursday&#8217;s session, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX)-All-Share Index (ASI) increased to 71,052.85 points from 71,008.7 recorded on Monday. Market capitalization reached ₦39.074 trillion ($40.85 billion), bringing the year’s return to 38.63% from 38.55%. In 6,579 deals, investors exchanged 563,707,721 shares worth ₦3.442 billion ($3.59 million).



“For this week, we expect a couple of factors to impact investors’ sentiment. Specifically, we anticipate a downturn in market momentum driven by concerns around the inconsistency of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), [as it further postponed its next meeting scheduled to hold during the week].



“Also, we foresee profit-taking activities across tickers that have realized significant gains. However, we do not rule out the possibility of bargain-hunting activities during the week as investors strategically take positions on stocks with attractive entry points.



“Overall, we expect the market to trade on a mixed note with a prevailing bearish sentiment. Thus, we expect the NGX-ASI to close in the red zone this week,” Meristem research analysts reportedly said in their stock recommendation for Monday.



The devaluation of the Naira in June has had a significant impact on Nigerian businesses, particularly foreign-owned subsidiaries trading on the Nigerian Exchange.



Companies with foreign parent groups, importing a substantial portion of their inventories, experienced unrealized FX losses due to the devaluation.



The MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has twice postponed its 293rd meeting, initially set for September 25 and 26, since the nomination of the new governor, Yemi Cardoso, in the same month.



The meeting, intended to address various issues, including the decision on interest rates, was rescheduled for the second time on Monday, shifting to an unspecified date. This meeting would have signified the inaugural rates meeting under Cardoso. While acting as CBN governor from June to September, Folashodun Shonubi oversaw two interest rate increases at the bank.



With the enactment of the new CBN Act (2007) by the National Assembly, the reconstituted MPC &#8220;meets bi-monthly, except in the event of an emergency&#8221;. The two-day meeting occurred in January, March, May, and July 24 and 25. According to the Act, the meeting was supposed to take place in September and November, raising concerns about efforts to stabilize the nation&#8217;s currency, which has plummeted about 42% this year, contributing to inflation which worsened in October.



Nigerian analyst Kolawole Oyebola weighs in on the situation, attributing the negative sentiment to global economic concerns and regional factors impacting investor confidence.



Oyebola notes that the early-week downturn was a reflection of the cautious approach adopted by investors amid geopolitical tensions and fluctuating commodity prices. &#8220;The market experienced a slight dip on Monday as investors reacted to external pressures, exhibiting a typical risk-averse behavior,&#8221; Oyebola tells FORBES AFRICA.



&#8220;The mid-week recovery suggests that investors reevaluated their positions, with a focus on the underlying strength of the Nigerian economy,&#8221; Oyebola explains. He highlights positive indicators, including increased trading volumes and strategic investments in key sectors.



While uncertainties persist, Oyebola expresses optimism about the market&#8217;s ability to navigate challenges. &#8220;Investors are becoming more discerning, and we&#8217;re witnessing a more mature approach to risk management,&#8221; he remarks.



The analyst urges stakeholders to closely monitor global economic developments, emphasizing the interconnected nature of financial markets. &#8220;I encourage investors to adopt a balanced and informed strategy to navigate the evolving landscape.&#8221;

Central Bank of Nigeria headquarters in Abuja.

Nigerian Equities Overcome Early Week Slump, Close With Gains On Thursday

The Nairobi-based co-founder of Craydel, an online career guidance platform, speaks to FORBES AFRICA about its ambitions to democratize higher education and scale across Africa. But first, more on what sparked his entrepreneurial journey.



Manish Sardana is in the midst of a busy day, opening yet another office, a bigger one, in Nairobi’s upscale Westlands area when we catch up for a conversation on Craydel, the edtech startup he successfully co-founded in Kenya in 2021, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.



“Right now, we have five offices – three in Nigeria and two in Kenya – and about 70-odd employees and we are growing rapidly,” the platform’s 43-year-old CEO says about the growth of what was once “just an idea in his head”.



At a time when most startups are battling to survive and retrenching staff, Craydel is hiring rapidly and on its way to profitability in 2024, he adds. On the cards: expansion to more markets such as Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. The investors are keen and Sardana is optimistic.



“When you are building something that has a real vision trying to solve a real problem, you get people gravitating towards you,” says Sardana of his platform that dispels misinformation and biases for students and guides decisions on college and course selection.&nbsp;Craydel is building the tech infrastructure to empower African learners to search, match and apply to their best-fit higher education institutions.



In 2021, Sardana, along with his co-founders <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-nguru-38677638/?originalSubdomain=ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Nguru</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayne-aman-premji/?originalSubdomain=ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shayne Aman Premji</a>, secured $1 million for Craydel in a pre-seed round led by Enza Capital, a private venture fund that invests in early-stage tech startups across Africa. Subsequently, they secured another $1.5 million to grow the platform.



Craydel – a play on the word ‘cradle’ – &nbsp;hand-holds students wanting to pursue higher education – from graduation to post-graduation to PhD – at any point in their student or professional career. In fact, 50% of their postgraduate enrolments are working professionals looking for a career change, says Sardana.



The tech startup has 380 direct partnerships with universities so far and seeks to democratize access to tertiary education, in turn, addressing the low gross enrolment rate, of about 9%, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This includes working professionals who have not been to college before, for want of access to capital and resources.



Two years in, Sardana says they have figured out the formula for success.



“We know that if you do X, Y and Z, you are going to be successful. That equation is very clear to us now.



We want to show that we can build a real unicorn out of Africa, creating real impact.”



But there’s a reason why Craydel may as well be on its way to savoring billion-dollar success in the future. Sardana has a track-record of building and scaling successful businesses from the ground-up.



His penchant for entrepreneurship had its humble beginnings in India, and followed him to Africa, a continent that he now calls home and one that has “given so much” to him.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I owe it to Africa,” he explains of his mission to expand opportunities in education.



“One of the things I realized early on in life is to observe things around me… What I love is looking at ecosystems and how things work, and understand how it is broken, and use technology to disrupt that ecosystem. There&#8217;s also a theory I use, which is called ‘perpetuators versus agitators’; wherein perpetuators perpetuate an ecosystem because it benefits them, while an agitator can really shake this up from the outside and create a better, more efficient ecosystem,” says Sardana.



‘Serial entrepreneur’



His first tryst with entrepreneurship was at the age of 10. From a middle class home in Delhi – with three rooms and 16 family members – Sardana was born to parents who worked in the government and instilled in him a love for reading.



He engaged this by creating “a sharing concept or library with a common pool of books and comics from everyone in one place”, renting books out to friends and relatives. The venture failed, but not without him realizing how much he enjoyed the process of creating it. All through school and college, he found enterprising ways to make pocket money, becoming “a serial entrepreneur more out of necessity than anything else”.



His parents allowed him these entrepreneurial bouts, so long as he was going to top his class, study economics and go on to become a civil services officer. Whilst studying for an economics degree in Delhi University’s Hansraj College, Sardana was also teaching students. But disillusionment set in.



“I mean 90% of what I studied two years ago, I had no recollection of, and I could not see how that education was going to ever help me in life. And especially because I had kind of exposed myself to building businesses, I did not see any practical application of what I was studying.”



Along with a couple of friends, he soon set up his own publishing business – a college magazine in Delhi University that proved to be very popular on campus. He hustled, spending nights at the printing press and knocking on advertisers’ doors during the day, thumbing through the Yellow Pages directories and traveling across Delhi on his dad’s scooter. This was in the year 2000.



“My parents said I have got to stop this and do my master’s degree,” says Sardana. His mom filled out a form to the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. Some of India’s greatest economists such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have taught at the institution. &nbsp;



Sardana cleared the entrance exam, quite by default. “I really did not study for it. The only way I cleared the exam was because I was teaching my classmates and charging them money for it. So I would [conduct] private tuitions for my own classmates, and in the process of teaching them, I would kind of learn myself.”



Very soon, he realized it was all theoretical economics and he had no passion for it. It didn’t challenge him enough, so three months into the course, he quit.



After that, he tried to rekindle the magazine business but had to close it down. He also authored an economics textbook for class 12 students. A year on, he went on to do his MBA at the FORE School of Management and was subsequently hired by advertising agency FCB Ulka. Before long, he felt “jaded” in the industry doing marketing campaigns. But Sardana was also closely watching from the sidelines the big renaissance unraveling in India’s technology sector.



“That was in 2004-2005, the internet was coming up, Amazon was becoming a big thing and Google had come up. I saw the power of technology really changing and transforming ecosystems and got really excited about it,” he recalls.



After that, he worked four years in a successful edtech startup called Vriti, and the company managed to raise a total funding of $35 million.



“It was a lot of money at the time… Eventually, I sliced the part of the company I was running and set up as a separate company. I sold my company to a financial investor. So that was my first successful exit, which I was really happy about.



“And then, after seven years, I needed a break, I was very much done. Startups can also be an emotionally-draining experience, you know, especially when you are just married and have kids.”



A six-month break ensued, during which time he also helped his wife set up her bakery business, delivering her cakes door-to-door in their black Maruti Esteem car.



That was in 2014 when Sardana’s Africa rendezvous was just about to begin.



‘Owe it to Africa’



One of his former bosses who had been following his journey in the technology space told him about an opportunity in Africa with multinational communications company, WPP to focus on the digital marketing side of the business.



Within 10 days of receiving the offer, Sardana was on a plane to Kenya, his first trip outside of India. It took him three years to settle down, to understand the market and the consumers, and he was promoted to Managing Director for WPP-Scangroup in SSA.&nbsp; &nbsp;



He won a lot of business for the company but the entrepreneur in him was beginning to surface, again. He built a marketing automation platform called Optimus for the company, which is when he met and worked with his current co-founder and CTO, Nguru.



He presented the product to the board but it didn’t work. He presented it to one of their clients, Barclays in Kenya, and thereby to the bank’s leadership in South Africa, who were very impressed and gave him a chance to deploy it across their markets, which he calls his “first lucky break”.



“Once Barclays happened, you know, success creates more success. Suddenly, at WPP, the guys woke up!”



Sardana says Optimus was also deployed by leading African entities such as Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, the Old Mutual Group and Airtel.



The epiphany after that was inspired by his wife, whose bakery business was also doing well.



“She said to me ‘you know, you guys keep building all this sophisticated technology for large blue chip companies, but what about building something to help small businesses like us scale’?



“That was my first moment in Africa when I said, ‘okay, I&#8217;m making a lot of money for myself, am building a lot of wealth for my organization and for my clients, who are very rich people to start with, but we are really not doing anything of any significance, of impact, using our skill sets, and our insights for the large masses, the small business sector. If you understand Africa, it&#8217;s really run on the back of very micro SMEs.”



This led to the creation of Optimus Mini for small businesses. Eventually, that platform was called Goby – “the smallest fish in the world”. He explains the philosophy behind it.



“The big fish eat the small fish. So we wanted to empower the small fish to fight and compete with the big fish, by giving them access to all the technology and resources they needed. It was essentially e-commerce-as-a-service platform, allowing small entrepreneurs to upload their product pictures and prices, and it will set up an entire e-commerce shop for them online, integrated with payment gateways and logistics partners to deliver the products.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-682x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-60328" style="width:335px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-682x1024.jpeg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-768x1153.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-1023x1536.jpeg 1023w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-1364x2048.jpeg 1364w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-scaled.jpeg 1705w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Manish Sardana; image supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


It really was just Nguru and Sardana developing it at that point.



“John is an exceptional technology guy, he&#8217;s amazing. I would come up with a product design, the user experience, the strategy, the business side of things and he would build the technology. Technology was always my handicap – I always regret not learning to code. I have all the stuff in my head but can’t build. I tell John he completes my handicap,” says Sardana.



In three months, they had 3,000 merchants signing up, deeming the platform a success. This was while they were still with WPP-Scangroup, when they had the reach, the capital and client access afforded by the company.



When Covid-19 struck in 2020, e-commerce took off and so did Goby. Leading brewer AB InBev approached them to sign on for “a B2B version of the product” to take orders online and deliver alcohol. Diageo, too, came along.



But the time had come for Sardana to go on his own, even if it meant giving up a lucrative salary and the comfort of a full-time job at WPP.



“Working with Manish was always magical, a journey into the future,” remembers Serah Katusya of that time, when she was the Managing Director at Mediacom, a sister agency at WPP-Scangroup; she is now the CEO of Belva and founder of WildMango.&nbsp;“He challenged and inspired with the same energy. He paved the way for many of us into tech, into thinking and building business solutions.&nbsp;He was definitely an agency leader decades ahead of his time.”



By the time he left WPP, Sardana had enough confidence in his abilities to build and scale real businesses. He wanted to build something in a very different space, specifically, in education.



“I think that was a very big inflection point in my life… that I was wasting all my knowledge, talent and experience building things for big companies, and I wanted to solve real problems on the ground. So that kind of gave me an exceptional amount of clarity… seeing the lives of ordinary Kenyans, doing fascinating things with very little resources and transforming their lives became a real thing.”



‘A cradle for young students’



Sardana’s research showed that there were government subsidies and funding for primary education but there was not a lot of momentum in higher education.



“The higher education infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is extremely weak. The problem is that in most schools, the career counselor is essentially a teacher with the least amount of workload…. This entire industry is run by agents who don&#8217;t understand career counseling; they essentially push students to universities, and make money.”



According to Craydel, more than 16 million African students spend $30 billion on higher education each year.



As a continent with the youngest population in the world, Africa presents tremendous opportunities in this regard, and Sardana was quick.



“We wanted to build a cradle for young students in Africa, for them to get all the nourishment in terms of the right advice, the career counseling, the psychometric assessment, and the right technology to get them off on their own feet.”



Whilst they were setting up the company, and during the pandemic, Sardana met Premji, the third co-founder, who is now Craydel’s CFO.



“Shayne is Canadian, but like me, stayed in Africa for 10 years. We stayed on the same street in Kenya but never knew each other. During the pandemic, he was changing houses, and walked into our apartment building. That&#8217;s how we met. He had a lot of experience in investment banking, and was doing extremely well in his career…



He is also impact-driven, so said he wanted to quit his job and join us full-time… he was extremely instrumental in raising our first round of a million dollars,” says Sardana.



For now, the trio is looking forward to what lies ahead. Their “vision and impact story” is shaping up.



“We&#8217;re in a good space now, and really excited about building this journey,” concludes Sardana, as he sets off to launch the company’s brand-new office, surely, one of many more to come.

Craydel co-founders John Nguru, Manish Sardana and Shayne Aman Premji; image supplied

‘We Can Build A Real Unicorn Out Of Africa, Creating Impact’: Kenya Co-Founder On Building An Edtech Startup 

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



Two unnamed players from Netflix’s “Squid Game: The Challenge” are threatening to sue the streaming giant and the game show’s producers over claims they experienced hypothermia and nerve damage while shooting the show, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://deadline.com/2023/11/squid-game-the-challenge-contestants-threaten-injury-lawsuit-1235635675/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deadline</a>, which cited British personal injuries firm Express Solicitors.



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



Express Solicitors said in a statement the contestants are seeking compensation for the alleged injuries suffered while filming in the U.K. early this year.



The injuries were allegedly sustained while the contestants played the “Red Light, Green Light” game, which tasks players with crossing a field of play and having to suddenly stop their advances anytime an announcer says “red light.”



Express Solicitors told Deadline the contestants were left with injuries “after spending time being stuck in painful stress positions in cold temperatures.”



The lawsuit threat comes several months after Netflix acknowledged that three players required medical attention while filming at a former Royal Air Force base in Bedford.



A spokesperson for the show confirmed to Deadline that no lawsuit has been filed by any of the contestants.



Express Solicitors did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.



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



$4.56 million. That’s the cash prize for the show, which currently has five out of 10 episodes out on Netflix and will be won by one of its 456 contestants.



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



“We have sent letters of claim on behalf of contestants injured in this show,” Daniel Slade, chief executive officer at Express Solicitors, said in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.expresssolicitors.co.uk/blog/express-solicitors-in-the-news#news1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a statement</a>. “From what we’ve been told they pushed the boundaries of safety in the name of entertainment.”



Forbes Daily: Get our best stories, exclusive reporting and essential analysis of the day’s news in your inbox every weekday.Sign Up



By signing up, you accept and agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;(including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and you acknowledge our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>.



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



The show’s contestants called out the show this year in an interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/netflix-squid-game-reality-show-frozen-inhumane-welfare-1235511809/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Variety</a>, saying the shooting conditions were “absolutely inhumane and had nothing to do with the game.” Contestants weren’t paid to participate in the show and were reportedly told the shoot would take about two hours to complete, though some players participated for nearly seven hours. The shoot also took place during a cold snap in the U.K., when temperatures dropped to 32 degrees fahrenheit and contestants collapsed, according to Variety, which reported cold and fatigue had hit players who dealt with eight hours of prep time before the game started. The game show is based on the South Korean dystopian drama, Squid Game, which raked in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/netflix-squid-game-is-even-bigger-than-you-thought-2-billion-hours-big/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">more than 1.5 billion&nbsp;</a>of streaming hours from users and became one of Netflix’s most popular shows of all time.



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



<a href="https://deadline.com/2023/11/squid-game-the-challenge-contestants-threaten-injury-lawsuit-1235635675/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Contestants Threaten Lawsuit After Claiming They Suffered Hypothermia &amp; Nerve Damage During Filming</a>&nbsp;(Deadline)



<a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/netflix-squid-game-reality-show-frozen-inhumane-welfare-1235511809/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Inside Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Reality Show Disaster: ‘The Conditions Were Absolutely Inhumane’</a> (Variety)

Opening Of Gamescom In Cologne

‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Players Threaten Netflix With Lawsuit Over Alleged Injuries

The strain is concerning for entrepreneurs who highlight the challenges posed by exchange rate volatility and call for sustainable solutions amid fluctuating policies and economic dynamics.



The Nigerian naira is facing continuous strain on the foreign exchange (FX) market, reaching ₦1,145 per dollar on the parallel market, a slight dip from ₦1,140 on Monday.



Two pivotal policies, implemented since President Bola Tinubu&#8217;s inauguration on May 29, have significantly influenced Nigeria&#8217;s economic landscape. The immediate cessation of the fuel subsidy on the inauguration day and the naira unification on June 14 marked a departure toward a free-floating system by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).



Under this system, deposit money banks (DMBs) and forex market dealers are allowed to engage in unrestricted buying and selling of currency at market-determined rates. This shift signifies a move away from the previous multiple forex regime to a more flexible approach.



The naira experienced a period of depreciation, plummeting to ₦1,310 in October on the parallel market. However, it briefly rebounded to ₦960 in early November. While the naira is demonstrating signs of appreciation at the investors and exporters (I&amp;E) window, the parallel market remains a preferred choice for urgent business transactions due to its ease of accessibility. This preference intensifies the pressure on the naira.



When requesting foreign currency in Nigerian banks, certain regulatory documents are necessary for Form A, including Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), Business Travel Allowance (BTA), school fees, and medical fees. Additionally, Form Q applications for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) may entail a rigorous and time-consuming process which takes days.



At the Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the naira was quoted at ₦830.97 on Tuesday, an appreciation from ₦847.55 quoted on Monday, as reported by data from the Financial Markets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ).



The official market witnessed a peak spot rate of ₦1,120 per dollar and a lower rate of ₦701 on Friday. The daily FX market turnover surged by 23.60 percent to $157.78 million on Friday from the $127.65 million recorded on Thursday, reflecting the dynamic nature of the foreign exchange landscape in Nigeria.



Exporters like Oluwaseun Obilana are expressing deep concern over the implications for their businesses.



Obilana, a player in Nigeria&#8217;s export industry, voices his apprehension about the continuous strain on the national currency as exporters rely on stable exchange rates for international trade.



Emphasizing the challenges this poses for exporters, Obilana states to FORBES AFRICA, &#8220;The volatility in the exchange rate is affecting our ability to plan and price our products competitively in the global market. It adds uncertainty to our operations and erodes the profitability of our businesses.&#8221;



He adds: &#8220;A weaker naira not only impacts pricing but also raises the cost of importing raw materials and machinery crucial for manufacturing and production. This, in turn, could have cascading effects on the overall economy.&#8221;



The CBN has been grappling with measures to stabilize the exchange rate, implementing various policies to address the challenges faced in the FX market. However, the recent fluctuations indicate the persistence of underlying issues that continue to pose a threat to the stability of the national currency.



Obilana calls for more sustainable solutions to ensure the stability of the naira.



Nigerian investor Moses Adeolubodun highlights the need for a comprehensive strategy to address the challenges facing the naira.



&#8220;The consistent depreciation of the naira is a cause for concern and demands urgent attention from relevant authorities. A resilient and stable currency is crucial for investor confidence and economic growth,&#8221; Adeolubodun tells FORBES AFRICA.



He also attributes the recent fluctuations to a variety of factors, including global economic uncertainties, fluctuating oil prices, and domestic challenges. Nigeria, being an oil-dependent economy, is particularly susceptible to the volatility of oil markets. &#8220;The recent trend has put additional pressure on policymakers to explore more effective solutions.&#8221;



Adeolubodun emphasizes the importance of collaborative efforts between the government and the private sector to devise sustainable strategies. &#8220;We need a holistic approach that addresses both short-term challenges and establishes a foundation for long-term stability,&#8221; he states.

Naira Value Plunges on Street Amid ‘Stampede’ for Dollars

FX Pressure Persists As Nigerian Naira Hits ₦1,145 Per Dollar On Parallel Market

The Himalayan Kingdom quietly spent millions building its own bitcoin mining operation. Now, using satellite imagery, Forbes has uncovered the secret locations of the world’s largest state-owned mines.



Dozens of shipping containers lie hidden behind a hillside south of Thimphu, the Himalayan capital of Bhutan, one of the world’s most isolated nations. Inside, millions of dollars of bitcoin mining machines work unceasingly to amass the valuable currency that now fascinates the country’s monarch — and his kingdom. Under the reign of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the “Dragon King,” Bhutan has been quietly transformed into a crypto Shangri-La with its government dedicating land, funding and energy to operations like these, which it hopes will avert a looming economic crisis.



But Bhutanese officials have never disclosed the location or scope of these facilities. And when it became the first country to have founded a sovereign bitcoin mine approximately four years ago, few outside of Bhutan knew. Its government only began commenting on its digital asset investments after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/iainmartin/2023/04/15/the-tiny-kingdom-of-bhutan-secretly-held-millions-of-dollars-in-cryptocurrency/">Forbes&nbsp;first reported details</a>&nbsp;of its multi-million-dollar portfolio earlier this year, which were exposed by the bankruptcies of fallen crypto lenders BlockFi and Celsius, with whom it had banked significant holdings.



Now, Forbes has identified the sites of what appear to be four mines run by the Thunder Dragon kingdom, based on sources with knowledge of Bhutan’s crypto investments and confirmed through satellite imagery from Planet Labs, Satellite Vu and Google Earth. They show long rectangular mining units, data center cooling systems and high capacity power lines and transformers that run from Bhutan’s hydroelectric plants to the sites. They have never been publicly disclosed.



One facility — the pilot location for Bhutan’s bitcoin mining efforts, a source said — was built near Dochula Pass, an area that holds cultural and political significance for its 108 memorial shrines dedicated to fallen Bhutanese soldiers. Planet Labs and Google Earth satellite imagery indicate that earthmoving began on the site in 2020 with construction appearing to have finished in late 2022. Aerial views show a cluster of green and white-roofed mining units enclosed by miles of forest. Though just steps from a busy highway, Google Street View suggests it is completely hidden from unknowing passersby. A second source told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that the ground has been leveled along this stretch of road to provide additional cover for the site.



A second mine is located near Trongsa, a town east of Thimphu and ancestral seat of the current Wangchuck dynasty. A third is situated in the heavily forested district of Dagana, near a middle school that caters to children in the rural community.



What appears to be the kingdom’s fourth and largest mine sits on the bones of a contentious — and failed — $1 billion government megaproject called “<a href="https://www.nationalcouncil.bt/assets/uploads/docs/acts/2014/Bhutan_Education_City_Act_2012_eng9th.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Education City</a>,” an effort to establish an international center “for education and knowledge” in Bhutan. The mine runs alongside the country’s first paved road, Phuentsholing-Thimphu national highway, but is concealed behind mountainous terrain. Only transformers and power lines betray the fact that a bitcoin mine now occupies the site. Historical satellite imagery shows that its construction began around December 2021, coinciding with the import of $193 million in “processing units,” according to customs data from the Ministry of Finance. The imports were appended with the same tariff code used by bitcoin mining hardware companies.



Bhutan had pitched the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalcouncil.bt/assets/uploads/docs/acts/2014/Bhutan_Education_City_Act_2012_eng9th.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Education City</a>&nbsp;project to its citizens as a means to secure their future amid rising youth unemployment,&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/migration-of-bhutanese/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surging emigration numbers</a>&nbsp;and brain drain. Roughly 1.5% of Bhutan’s population&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bhutans-jobs-woes-drive-an-exodus-australia-2023-07-28/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">emigrated last year</a>&nbsp;to Australia alone, many seeking job opportunities and better pay. In Bhutan, the minimum wage is set at just $45 per month and approximately 12% of its population lives below the poverty line, according to local newspaper&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/labour-ministry-reviewing-the-national-minimum-daily-wage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kuensel</a>.



Education City was supposed to change that. In 2009, Bhutan’s government paid consulting firm McKinsey &amp; Co. some $9 million to help design a $1 billion &#8220;world-class regional hub for health, education, finance, ICT services.&#8221; Nestled between the confluence of two rivers, the 1,000-acre campus would be a beacon of the country’s experimental Gross National Happiness economic model, and a higher ed hub for Asia. It was to host satellites of some of the most prestigious universities in the world, as well as R&amp;D facilities, laboratories, hotels and event centers. And according to the Bhutanese government, it would promote &#8220;Brand Bhutan,&#8221; creating a &#8220;green and sustainable economy,&#8221; &#8220;culturally and spiritually sensitive industries&#8221; and a &#8220;knowledgeable society.&#8221;



It did none of those things. Plagued by political scandals, mismanagement and innumerable delays, Education City was scrapped in 2014. But left behind were roads, bridges, a water supply and, crucially, power lines — building blocks for a bitcoin mine.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/655cdfb1f26e45135e0fe07a/Infrastructure-consistent-with-that-of-a-bitcoin-mine-in-the-rural-region-of-Dagana-/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=1440" alt="Infrastructure consistent with that of a bitcoin mine in the rural region of Dagana. " style="width:750px;height:auto"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Infrastructure consistent with that of a bitcoin mine in the rural region of Dagana.&nbsp;IMAGE © PLANET LABS PBC</figcaption></figure></div>


The kingdom’s sovereign investing arm, Druk Holdings &amp; Investment (DHI), confirmed the mines’ existence. “Sites for bitcoin-mining related facilities in Bhutan have been selected based on the logistical needs of the operations such as power supply and a variety of other factors,” it told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;through an outside communications firm. It declined to comment on their locations, however, stating that “DHI does not disclose commercially sensitive details of its operations.”



Bitcoin was a Hail Mary addition to Bhutan’s economic masterplan. The kingdom’s finances have long been underpinned by tourism revenues and the export of a massive surplus of hydropower to its neighbor India. But the Covid pandemic tanked the&nbsp;<a href="https://jp.reuters.com/article/bhutan-tourism-environment-climate-idAFL8N3A93GD#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20before%20the%20pandemic,earn%20the%20country%20foreign%20exchange." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$88.6 million</a>&nbsp;annual revenue the country collected from $65-a day visa fees, requiring an urgent course correction. According to multiple sources, Bhutanese government officials began holding talks with bitcoin miners and suppliers sometime in 2020.



DHI, which oversees Bhutan’s bitcoin operations, told local newspaper&nbsp;<a href="https://thebhutanese.bt/dhi-confirms-that-it-is-mining-digital-assets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Bhutanese</a>&nbsp;that it “entered the mining space” when the cryptocurrency’s price was $5,000 (it was last valued at this level in April 2019 but is now worth $36,000). Bhutan’s own import data and satellite imagery suggest that its operations truly ramped up in 2020. In May, when&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;asked DHI to confirm that timing, a spokesperson for the fund would say only that a series of bitcoin investments were made “in a period in 2019.” They added that DHI was “currently net positive in our digital asset position.”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/23/bitcoin-price-calls-in-2022-how-the-market-got-it-wrong.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitcoin’s price collapsed</a>&nbsp;from $69,000 in November 2021 to under $17,000 last December.



<a href="https://thebhutanese.bt/bitcoin-powers-a-50-hike-for-public-servants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Bhutanese</a>&nbsp;reported in June that DHI was planning to sell down its bitcoin stockpile to fund a 50% salary hike for government officials worth $72 million, as Bhutan faces an economic and political crisis with a trade deficit running down its&nbsp;<a href="https://thebhutanese.bt/bitcoin-powers-a-50-hike-for-public-servants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hard currency reserve</a>&nbsp;to just $689 million. (This will cover just 14 months of imports while the country’s constitution requires 12 months of reserves.)



Several sources inside Bhutan told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that the mines are now an open secret, though neither the Bhutanese government nor DHI have formally disclosed their existence. In emails to&nbsp;Forbes, DHI has consistently declined to comment on the scope or financing of its cryptocurrency regime.



DHI, which also operates the nation’s flagship airline, hydroelectric power plants and a cheese factory, does not provide any breakdown of revenues or investment in bitcoin mining in its annual accounts beyond noting it had raised foreign currency bonds to fund the project. Bhutan’s Ministry of Finance has been equally quiet. Outside academics and insiders who specialize in monitoring global bitcoin activity told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that the country’s mining activities remain a conundrum. DHI claimed that it was “not involved in decisions as to the use of funds that DHI pays out to the Government.”



But the kingdom left a breadcrumb trail. Trade data accessed through the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an open source platform that visualizes global trade patterns, indicates that more than $220 million in chips used for bitcoin mining were shipped from China to Bhutan between 2021 and 2022. DHI declined to answer questions about them, citing “NDAs with contractual parties.” And Bhutan’s Ministry of Energy data reveals a massive 63% spike in power usage by industry in 2022.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/655cdf7af7758dcd00342f24/Green-roofed-units-in-Trongsa--the-ancestral-seat-of-the-Wangchuck-dynasty-/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=1440" alt="Green-roofed units in Trongsa, the ancestral seat of the Wangchuck dynasty." style="width:728px;height:auto"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Green-roofed units in Trongsa, the ancestral seat of the Wangchuck dynasty.IMAGE © PLANET LABS PBC</figcaption></figure></div>


Meanwhile, Bhutan, which has for years sold off surplus energy to India, has massively ramped up imports, purchasing $20.7 million worth of electricity in 2023, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/growing-domestic-demand-cuts-electricity-export-revenue-by-27-percent/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kuensel</a>. Government officials&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/growing-domestic-demand-cuts-electricity-export-revenue-by-27-percent/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recently</a>&nbsp;warned that this bill would balloon to $72 million over the coming winter with imports needed for five months to cover demand.



The Asian monsoon season means that Bhutan has always experienced droughts when its hydropower plants stand largely idle for three months, requiring it to import electricity from India’s largely coal-powered grid. Bhutan’s investment in bitcoin mining has, however, hinged on reliable access to cheap and clean energy.



“Bhutan prioritises power supply for domestic consumption. Industry and business — including projects related to bitcoin mining — are accorded lower priority,” DHI’s spokesperson said. In the winter months when hydropower generation typically decreases, “mining activity may be shut down subject to electricity availability.”



However, the four state-owned mines&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;believes it has identified might not even be Bhutan’s largest. In 2022, the country entered a partnership with Singaporean bitcoin mining giant, Bitdeer, which made Bhutan the seat of its Asian expansion. In March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.planet.com/stories/gedu-XyMPiYu4g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitdeer broke ground</a>&nbsp;on a mine in the southern town of Gedu, according to satellite imagery from Planet Labs, bringing 100 megawatts (MW) online in August, the company said. DHI, which owns Bhutan’s national power company, will be supplying electricity to the site. Bitdeer disclosed in a July update that it was already running 11,000 miners and had ordered an additional 15,000 machines. When completed, the 600 MW facility will consume more energy than the rest of the nation,&nbsp;<a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Bhutan-puts-Bitcoin-mining-plan-in-motion-to-power-up-economy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nikkei</a>&nbsp;reported.



Recently, Bitdeer staff have been approaching investors at industry conferences such as Mining Disrupt for a $500 million “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-03/bhutan-plans-500-million-fund-for-bitcoin-btc-and-crypto-mining-in-himalayas" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">green crypto mining</a>” fund. DHI&nbsp;<a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Bhutan-puts-Bitcoin-mining-plan-in-motion-to-power-up-economy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimates</a>&nbsp;it will support 300 to 400 jobs and a new computing sector in Bhutan — echoing the country’s moonshot pitch for the defunct Education City. Bitdeer CEO Matt Linghui Kong told Forbes in a statement that the company is “getting a lot of interest” in the fund and is currently in negotiations with multiple investors who it declined to name.



The new fund and jobs could be desperately needed, with the Asian Development Bank forecasting that Bhutan’s economy would slow to 4.6% this&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/bhutans-economy-to-slow-down-to-4-6-percent-this-year-adb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">year</a>. The government’s own economists called for economic reforms and budget cuts to stave off a&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/bhutans-economy-to-slow-down-to-4-6-percent-this-year-adb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">financial crisis</a>.



For now, Bhutan’s appetite for blockchain-based solutions seems undimmed by these challenges. Earlier this month, on the king and queen’s 12th wedding anniversary, it unveiled an experimental&nbsp;<a href="https://kuenselonline.com/bhutan-national-digital-identity-application-launched-in-thimphu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decentralized digital identity app</a>. Its first test subject and digital citizen? The crown prince.



With additional reporting and satellite imagery analysis by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stimson.org/ppl/eyler/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Eyler</a>, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and director of its Southeast Asia Program and its Energy, Water, and Sustainability Program.

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