<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Top Line</h2>



With most businesses now moving into the hybrid mode of working, whether working from home or office, internet connectivity needs to be at its best. A recent study by Surfshark reveals that South Africa has the best internet in all of Africa, although globally, it only ranks 66.



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



The 2022 Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index, a study on the quality of digital wellbeing across 117 countries (92% of the global population), found that South Africa&#8217;s internet quality remains the best in Africa.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-following-suit-in-africa">Following suit in Africa:</h4>



-68 Globally| 2 in Africa&#8211; Mauritius



-71 Globally| 3 in Africa&#8211; Morocco



-77 Globally| 4 in Africa&#8211; Tunisia



-78 Globally| 5 in Africa&#8211; Kenya



-85 Globally| 6 in Africa- Egypt



-86 Globally| 7 in Africa&#8211; Nigeria



-88 Globally| 8 in Africa&#8211; Ghana



-92 Globally| 9 In Africa&#8211; Algeria



-95 Globally| 10 In Africa&#8211; Senegal



The study indexes each country according to five pillars that impact a population&#8217;s overall digital quality of life; internet affordability, internet quality, electronic infrastructure electronic security, and electronic government.



Globally, according to the index, comparing countries included in last year&#8217;s index, people have to work slightly more (six minutes) to afford fixed broadband internet in 2022. While mobile internet is more affordable this year, people have to work just under two minutes, less than they did in 2021. The same trend was observed last year.



The country with the best internet in the world is Israel, with these countries following suit in the top 10:



1. Israel



2. Denmark



3. Germany



4. France



5. Sweden



6. the Netherlands



7. Finland



8. Japan



9. Great Britain



10. Korea



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



It is interesting that despite South Africa’s constant issues with loadshedding, now currently on Stage 2, the country occupies the top spot in Africa. With intermittent power outages, connectivity takes time and internet speeds are low.



Furthermore, this index is telling as, according to Business Insider, internet access in South Africa is only slightly more affordable than in Kazakhstan, Russia and Finland but mobile internet access has become more affordable over the past year, and the cost of broadband internet has risen substantially by global standards.



“People who can&#8217;t access the internet are cut off from the digital opportunities that people from higher-income countries have. Without internet access, people can&#8217;t study or work online, and they can&#8217;t grow their economy with digital exports,” said Surfshark&#8217;s Lead Researcher Agneska Sablovskaja. “The internet is also very slow in many African countries. Even if people can afford the internet, they still face limitations in what they can do. For instance, low internet speeds often make it very difficult to make video calls.&#8221;

Connecting from the comfort of his home

Which African Countries Have The Best Internet

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



Crypto markets tumbled Thursday morning in anticipation of new federal <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/10/13/inflation-spiked-worse-than-expected-82-in-september/?sh=7e6bee7a2712">data</a>, which revealed consumer prices rose 8.2% over the past 12 months—continuing crypto’s fall as investors fear rising inflation and a new round of potential interest rate hikes could tip the economy into a recession and a dreaded “crypto winter.”



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/bitcoin-btc/?sh=74133434357f">Bitcoin</a>, considered the “<a href="https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Goldman%20Sachs%20Bitcoin%20digital%20gold&amp;addon=firefox&amp;addonversion=4.1.0&amp;method=topbar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gold standard</a>” in the crypto market, fell 3.91% on Thursday, to $18,404, continuing a steady decline from a peak of $63,599 last November, and reaching its lowest point since June.



The second-largest cryptocurrency, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/ethereum-eth/?sh=6480994316a8">Ethereum</a>, also dropped 6.53%, to $1,221.40 in the wake of the Labor Department data, which also showed overall prices rose 0.4% over the past month, over economists’ predictions of 0.3%.



Billionaire Elon Musk favorite&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/dogecoin-doge/?sh=48d216833ab3">Dogecoin</a>, meanwhile, fell 5.62%, to $.057.



The drop comes one month after bitcoin fell 9.35%, to $20,304—its largest drop since June—following the Labor Department’s August inflation report, which showed an 8.3% 12-month rise in consumer prices.



OANDA senior market analyst Craig Erlam said crypto’s decline is part of a recent slide, even as other “high-risk assets,” including tech stocks, are expected to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/10/05/stock-market-poised-for-bigger-losses-as-economy-enters-danger-zone-morgan-stanley-warns/?sh=2343532321b4">rally</a>—although Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson said those gains might not last long amid economic uncertainty from Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and economic volatility weakening the dollar.



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



Low interest rates and Covid-era stimulus checks helped fuel bitcoin’s rise in 2020 and 2021, to its peak last November. Recent inflation reports and three rounds of Federal Reserve interest rate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/09/21/fed-raises-rates-another-75-basis-points-pushing-borrowing-costs-to-highest-level-since-great-recession/?sh=48292968782a">hikes</a>&nbsp;this summer and fall, however, made investing riskier, accelerating crypto’s decline. In an interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/10/jpmorgan-jamie-dimon-warns-us-likely-to-tip-into-recession-soon.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNBC</a>&nbsp;on Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned rising interest rates compounded with short energy supplies from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are “very, very serious things” that are “likely to put the U.S. in some kind of recession” in the next six to nine months. Those have been bad signs for bitcoin, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/08/27/bitcoin-drops-below-20000-amid-recession-fears/?sh=2e84567d77f4">dropped</a>&nbsp;below $20,000 on August 27 following the Labor Department’s inflation data. At roughly $890 billion, the overall crypto market has wiped out virtually all its gains since January 2021, according to CoinMarketCap.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



How the Federal Reserve will continue to tackle inflation, and if it means a fourth interest rate hike. Its latest last month raised rates another .75 percentage points—an effort to cut inflation by making borrowing more expensive and tempering demand, although&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/09/21/fed-raises-rates-another-75-basis-points-pushing-borrowing-costs-to-highest-level-since-great-recession/?sh=48292968782a">economists</a>&nbsp;are torn on the effects another rate hike could have on the economy, with some worrying it could drive it into recession.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/10/13/inflation-spiked-worse-than-expected-82-in-september/?sh=7e6bee7a2712">Inflation Spiked Worse-Than-Expected 8.2% In September</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2022/10/12/very-very-serious-jpmorgan-ceo-issues-a-stark-panic-prediction-warning-that-could-hit-the-price-of-bitcoin-ethereum-and-crypto/?sh=73004bf65dfc">‘Very, Very Serious’—JPMorgan CEO Issues A Stark ‘Panic’ Warning That Could Hit The Price Of Bitcoin, Ethereum And Crypto</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-13/bitcoin-btc-becoming-less-volatile-than-stocks-raises-warning-flag" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitcoin Becoming Less Volatile Than Stocks Raises Warning Flag</a>(Bloomberg)



By Brian Bushard, Forbes Staff

File: Crypto Losses Near $700 Billion In Worst Week Since Bubble Burst

Crypto Markets Dip Toward Two-Year Low After Disappointing Inflation Report￼

Liked Black Panther? The Woman King, starring Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu, is a tough, rewarding epic on sisterhood and empowerment. Director Gina PrinceBythewood tells us more about the just-released historical film shot in South Africa.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">‘Telling the story of us!’&nbsp;</blockquote>



BASED ON A TRUE STORY, THE WOMAN KING (released in September) introduces Agojie, the all-female warrior regiment that protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with fighting skills and a fierceness that ‘the world has never seen’.


<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-636x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-56568" width="337" height="543" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-636x1024.jpg 636w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-186x300.jpg 186w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-768x1237.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-953x1536.jpg 953w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-1271x2048.jpg 1271w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic.jpg 1581w" sizes="(max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px" /><figcaption>Photo by Ilze Kitshoff</figcaption></figure></div>


Although based on past events, the themes explored in the movie look at issues like racism, gender-based violence and female oppression, to name a few, that still plague Africa today.



“There are some difficult things we deal with…[but we] wanted to be truthful [about] it,” the film’s director Gina Prince-Bythewood says in an exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA.



“But we also wanted to focus on the decision that was being made at that time, historically, and have the Agojie and Nanisca represent that huge faction of the kingdom, in real life, who wanted it abolished.



“So [it] was helpful to be able to put that into the world to connect from then to now in our mentality, as a whole, of not being our own oppressors. And just seeing the value, seeing our beauty, and living in that knowledge that we are warriors, [and] we can resist. So the toughest thing was also ultimately the most rewarding thing.”



Davis’ Nanisca has multiple moments in the film where she disarms other characters both with her words and her body blows to her enemies – mostly men.



For Davis, who was also a producer on the film, The Woman King was an important story because she saw herself in it.



“The fact that they were women is what disarmed their opponents…,” says Oscar-award-winning Davis in a press statement. “I saw my femininity in [the film]. I saw my blackness in it. I saw a really important part of history in it. I always say any part of history is important, even the small parts. And I think that it is a story that the world is hungry for.”



The power of representation has been at the forefront of storytelling in recent years, especially since the Black Lives Matter protests. There has been this call out, if not cry out, for television and film to look at how stories are not diverse or reflective enough for a lot of the audiences that consume media.



Prince-Bythewood says that she wanted to build an ensemble that represented the diversity of the diaspora.



“Film and TV are so powerful. I just know the way I grew up, and not being able to see myself reflected anywhere, I felt invisible. It is incredibly tough to grow up like that to never see yourself heroic, to never see yourself oftentimes even portrayed at all, to not see your humanity.


<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-1024x693.png" alt="" class="wp-image-56566" width="635" height="429" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-1024x693.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-300x203.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-768x520.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-1536x1040.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-2048x1386.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px" /><figcaption>Photo by Ilze Kitshoff</figcaption></figure></div>


“We have women from West Africa, and African-American women. That was all intentional, to bring us all together to tell the story of us. I love the energy that it brought to set.”



Prince-Bythewood says that in filming in Africa, what she loved most was the crew as it reflected the diverse society we live in today.



“It was the most diverse crew I’ve ever had in my career. I always want, but more so for this, the faces behind the camera to mirror the faces in front of the camera.”



“Shooting this film in South Africa was the joy of my life,” adds Davis. “I felt like I was home…I felt a part of the earth, the sky. I felt at home. And I don’t think that you can recreate it on a soundstage. I think that this story is very black and very African.”



“There are so many things I love but I think the line I quote the most is when Izogie (played by Lashana Lynch) tells Nawi (played by Thuso Mbedu) ‘you are more powerful than you even know’. I love that narrative. I love a black woman saying that to another black woman.



“I’d love the audience to see that and know and believe it. That is the message I want to impart to all of us.”

Screenshot 2022-10-12 at 15.26.49

EPIC ON EMPOWERMENT: Director Gina Prince-Bythewood on Hollywood’s The Woman King shot in South Africa 

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



Elon Musk, the world’s richest man,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1580056291082280960?s=20&amp;t=b8wI69PYfpgdfQu-WaNrng" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;a fresh foray into the perfume industry on Tuesday, hawking a “Burnt Hair” fragrance that he claimed sold 10,000 bottles within hours of launching, continuing the billionaire’s record of capitalizing on humor and his enthusiastic fan base to transform seemingly joke products into coveted merchandise.



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



Musk on Tuesday used social media to&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579971705447256064" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">promote</a>&nbsp;his new perfume, “Burnt Hair,” calling it the “finest fragrance on Earth” and changing his Twitter biography to “Perfume Salesman.”



The fragrance is on sale for $100 a bottle on The Boring Company’s website, Musk’s tunneling enterprise, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boringcompany.com/burnthair" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">described</a>&nbsp;the perfume as “the essence of repugnant desire.”



In addition to dollars, the Tesla chief&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579972303647301632?s=20&amp;t=b8wI69PYfpgdfQu-WaNrng" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the popular meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin could be used to purchase “Burnt Hair,” which he described as an “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579975550919413761?s=20&amp;t=b8wI69PYfpgdfQu-WaNrng" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">omnigender product</a>.”&nbsp;



Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579994860802932736?s=20&amp;t=RHsPDiZo1Zo-BFxbHNLiJQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;over 5,000 bottles of “Burnt Hair” had sold less than two hours after he posted the launch.



Perfume sales had already crossed the 10,000 bottle milestone early Wednesday morning, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1580056291082280960?s=20&amp;t=b8wI69PYfpgdfQu-WaNrng" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>, meaning he had racked up $1 million in sales within six hours of the product going live.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">The finest fragrance on Earth!<a href="https://t.co/ohjWxNX5ZC">https://t.co/ohjWxNX5ZC</a> <a href="https://t.co/0J1lmREOBS">pic.twitter.com/0J1lmREOBS</a>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579971705447256064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



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



“With a name like mine, getting into the fragrance business was inevitable – why did I even fight it for so long,” Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579974298156306432?s=20&amp;t=b8wI69PYfpgdfQu-WaNrng" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">joked</a>&nbsp;on Twitter, acknowledging the pun of his last name in the scent industry.&nbsp;



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



$215.4 billion. That’s Musk’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=161aa2f97999">estimated net worth</a>, according to&nbsp;Forbes’real-time tracker. The figure makes him the richest person on the planet, comfortably ahead of French fashion tycoon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=40133a4b66fa">Bernard Arnault&nbsp;</a>($146.3 billion) and Amazon founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=5e5342051b23">Jeff Bezos</a>&nbsp;($135.6 billion), who come in second and third, respectively.&nbsp;



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



Musk, who has a dedicated and enthusiastic following, has a track record of bringing ostensibly joke products to market to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/take-a-look-elon-musk-merchandise-tesla-hot-pants-flamethrower-2021-2?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">roaring success</a>. Most notably, this includes a limited edition line of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/1/16954950/elon-musk-flamethrowers-sold-out" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">flamethrowers</a>, also sold by The Boring Company, which rapidly sold out and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/10/17445838/boring-company-flamethrower-elon-musk-tweets-party" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sparked</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/19/elon-musk-said-it-was-not-a-flamethrower/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">concern</a>&nbsp;among lawmakers and police officials. Other merchandise Musk has launched—through his electric vehicle firm Tesla, aerospace firm SpaceX and The Boring Company—includes launched surfboards, tequila and red satin short shorts. Musk’s jokes and online influence have landed him in hot water in the past, however, and the way his tweets&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/05/07/elon-musk-warns-people-to-invest-with-caution-as-dogecoin-rallies-ahead-of-his-snl-appearance/?sh=700d00fc7634">move</a>&nbsp;markets have triggered scrutiny from lawmakers, as well as numerous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/11/16/jpmorgan-sues-tesla-for-162-million-in-warrant-dispute-tied-to-elon-musks-tweets/?sh=515b61ef69b4">lawsuits</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/24/elon-musk-brother-under-investigation-insider-trading" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">regulatory</a>&nbsp;investigations.



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/10/07/elon-musks-bizarre-week-twitter-deal-moves-ahead-tesla-stock-tanks-zooming-with-putin/?sh=4251f0b76dad">Elon Musk’s Bizarre Week: Twitter Deal Moves Ahead, Tesla Stock Tanks, Zooming’ With Putin</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

Tesla Officially Opens Gruenheide Gigafactory

Elon’s Musk: Tesla Billionaire Hawks ‘Burnt Hair’ Perfume For $100 A Bottle

An intrepid 22-year-old entrepreneur from Sierra Leone has founded an eco-friendly paper bag company – something he has kept at doggedly despite the challenges a developing economy can present.



TWO DIFFERENT SCENARIOS. ONE PRODUCT. Amadu Deen Bah was raised by a single mother in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He grew up helping her work as a small trader on weekends and holidays. At the age of 13, he sold bags by the side of the road.



Cut to now. He is the founder and CEO of Caballay Investment, an eco-friendly paper bag manufacturing company he set up in 2020 in the West African country, now trying to raise $75,000 to buy machines to automate the manufacturing process. His aim? To produce 1,000 bags a day and work towards ending the use of plastic bags.



Also an Anzisha Prize fellow in 2021, he has surely come a long way.



“Sometimes, your start is not that good – it’s difficult and hard. But the one thing I have learned on my journey is that it doesn’t matter if you start good or bad; just know that on the journey you will face difficulties. So, the time that you are facing difficulties is the time you need to show your character. You just need to be strong, to be focused, to keep going because the going will get you there. And don’t forget to read!” says Bah, summarizing his years as a novice starting up his entrepreneurial journey. He set out on this ride soon after high school, when he wanted to embark on a business instead of continuing with his education.



He met Jeremy Okoye, a businessman from Senegal, and decided to leave Sierra Leone, for the first time. While in Senegal, hungry and unable to speak either French or Wolof, he eventually found a temporary job in construction.



One day while wandering the streets, he saw a sign advertising English lessons – and thought that was something he could do. As luck would have it, his soon-to-be mentor Okoye was also there. He began working for him.



When he decided to leave Senegal, Okoye gave him a laptop and books to motivate him. Plus, he had $1,000 in savings.



Back again in Sierra Leone, he was involved in the community clean-up on the last Saturday of every month, where citizens are encouraged to venture out and collect garbage.



“There are no local people to collect trash in my community. You have to wait for the bigger companies to collect it. So I saw it as a business opportunity.”



He wanted to recycle, but the initiative didn’t work out. Then, an idea struck him: what about paper bags? In three weeks, during August 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bah learned to make paper bags and thereafter founded his company, Caballay Investments; the name Caballay the nickname his uncle gave his mom.



He found his first customer and second mentor in Sierra Leone, Rodney Hughes. The very first order was for 70 bags.



But Bah did not have the capital to get started on the order, so Hughes gave him some valuable business advice – “What you need to do first in business if you don’t have money to start is – always ask your customer to give you a deposit.”



Bah worked day and night to deliver and soon began acquiring more customers. In the meantime, the Anzisha Prize had always inspired him, so he applied, and at 21, he made the shortlist.



But then, there were setbacks in store. One morning, a heavy downpour caused flooding, and he lost all his wares.



He gave up for three months, taking on only bits of work.



But he read about a character who faced adversity, and sitting in the shade of a tree, the character said to himself “after all this long work, if I give up, what will it give me”.



And so Bah resolved to start in earnest again. He saved money, sold his bed, and even sold stickers. He was granted $1,000 through the Anzisha Prize Fellowship in 2021, and made $5,000 through the Tony Elumelu Foundation. He wanted to use the money to set up an office and expand, but there were still many curveballs to resolve– he bought the wrong materials to make paper bags, and during Covid-19, prices went up.



He used the power of networking, and found that hotels use paper bags the most, and so began marketing mainly in that direction, also supplying them handmade to supermarkets, fashion stores, stationery shops, printing presses and restaurants.



Today, he is set to build on his learnings and make a difference to the circular economy. His piece of advice? “You need to have passion for what you do, and a love for learning. After every failure, there is another opportunity.” And he isn’t shy of admitting his mistakes as a young businessman. He has relied on feedback from customers to scale up his business and bag every opportunity in his way.

Screenshot 2022-10-12 at 11.12.20

NOT CARRIED AWAY: From Plastic To Paper in Sierra Leone

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



Nissan has agreed to sell its Russian business unit to the state-owned automotive institute NAMI for a token sum of €1, the Japanese car maker&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/IR/TSE/2022/ASSETS/PDF/20221011_Russian_market_exit_e.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday, becoming the latest global automaker to exit Russia amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.



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



In a&nbsp;<a href="https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/221011-01-e#press-release" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>, the automaker said the sale includes the entirety of Nissan Manufacturing Russia—including its local manufacturing and R&amp;D facilities in Saint Petersburg and its Sales and Marketing unit in Moscow—which will now operate under a new name.



Nissan said it expects to register a one-time loss of 100 billion yen ($687 million) due to the exit.



The deal is expected to be completed over the next few weeks and includes a clause that would allow Nissan to buy back the Russian unit within the next six years.



Nissan had previously&nbsp;<a href="https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/release-4454c7eb99daae98b9a1ec98f118161d-220307-00-e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suspended</a>&nbsp;manufacturing and imports into Russia in March.



In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/IR/TSE/2022/ASSETS/PDF/20221011_Russian_market_exit_e.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">notice</a>&nbsp;sent out to shareholders, the carmaker said it had been “monitoring the situation closely” but saw no “visibility of external environment changing” in Russia, forcing it to announce its exit.



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



Nissan is the latest global automaker to exit the Russian market this year after the country was hit by a bevy of international sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. Renault—which is a cross-shareholder in Nissan—fully exited Russia back in May after selling its majority stake in Russian carmaker Avtovaz to NAMI. Last month, Toyota&nbsp;<a href="https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/38043074.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;it was ending all vehicle production at its plant in Saint Petersburg. Despite this, Toyota said it will continue to provide servicing and repairs for vehicles already sold to customers in Russia. In March, Volkswagen&nbsp;<a href="https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/2022/03/volkswagen-stops-production-of-vehicles-in-russia-and-suspends-e.html#:~:text=2022%2D03%2D03-,Volkswagen%20stops%20production%20of%20vehicles%20in%20Russia%20and%20suspends%20export,and%20a%20return%20to%20diplomacy." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;it was suspending operations at its two Russian factories and halting all imports into the country. A few months, later&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.ru/biznes/472811-volkswagen-group-nacala-gotovit-sa-k-prodaze-zavoda-v-kaluge" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that the German automaker may be planning to fully exit the country by selling its local manufacturing plants. Other major automakers like Mercedes-Benz and General Motors have also suspended imports and manufacturing in Russia.



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



Besides automakers many other large multinationals have either&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/03/16/verizon-pfizer-deutsche-bank-here-are-the-companies-cutting-ties-with-russia-over-ukraine-invasion/?sh=54c94cfe41af">halted their operations</a>&nbsp;or fully exited the Russian market. Last month, Pepsi&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/09/20/pepsi-reportedly-stops-manufacturing-sodas-in-russia-joining-global-food-giants-leaving-amid-ukraine-invasion/?sh=85d5d6c15a84">announced</a>&nbsp;it had stopped manufacturing several of its popular soda brands after its local bottlers exhausted their entire remaining supply of flavor concentrates. Pepsi’s chief rival Coca-Cola also stopped manufacturing its soda brands in Russia in August. Several other major food brands like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/05/23/starbucks-will-exit-russia-close-130-cafes/?sh=4291c797295b">Starbucks</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/05/16/mcdonalds-says-its-exiting-russia-after-more-than-30-years/?sh=71b1c0c232ad">McDonald’s</a>&nbsp;have also exited the country. Major apparel and fashion giants like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/06/23/nike-is-reportedly-the-latest-global-brand-to-exit-russia-completely/?sh=69e6f77e3ee0">Nike</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/07/18/hm-fully-exits-russia-as-it-joins-global-brands-like-nike-mcdonalds/?sh=58dde31759ef">H&amp;M</a>&nbsp;have also fully exited the country in recent months.



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



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/japanese-automaker-nissan-sells-off-russian-business-state-trade-ministry-says-2022-10-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nissan takes $687 mln loss as sells Russian business for 1 euro</a>&nbsp;(Reuters)



<a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Ukraine-war/Toyota-to-exit-Russia-terminating-auto-production-and-sales" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Toyota to exit Russia, terminating auto production and sales</a>&nbsp;(Nikkei Asia)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-JAPAN-NISSAN

Nissan Sells Its Russian Business For €1 As It Joins Other Multinational Giants Leaving Amid War

AFRICAN STARTUPS ARE RAISING UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNTS AT RECORD SPEED. FOR NOW, THE CONTINENT IS THE ONLY REGION IN THE WORLD SEEING A RISE IN VENTURE CAPITAL FLOWS. PERSPECTIVES FROM WEST AFRICA.



AS FUNDING FOR STARTUPS FALLS ACROSS the globe, Africa it seems is undergoing a renaissance in this regard.



“We are seeing a time where funding for African startups rose to a massive $3.14 billion in the first six months of this year alone,” says Eric Idiahi, Co-Founder and Partner at Verod Capital, a leading West African private equity investor. “That is unprecedented and it really shows the interest in the continent!”



African entrepreneurs are raising money to solve pertinent socio-economic problems on the continent ranging from financial inclusion, providing access to healthcare for the underserved and vulnerable, and bridging the education gap.


<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-11-at-08.57.35.png" alt="" class="wp-image-56553" width="474" height="320" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-11-at-08.57.35.png 838w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-11-at-08.57.35-300x203.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-11-at-08.57.35-768x519.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px" /></figure></div>


“Africa investment firms and angel networks have started putting money into African companies,” says Dr Akintoye Akindele, yet another West African entrepreneur, who is the Founder of investment vehicle Platform Capital in Nigeria.



“It took African entrepreneurs almost 10 months to raise $1 billion in 2019. It took the same group eight months to raise $1 billion in 2020. It took them four months to raise $1 billion in 2021 and it has taken them less than six weeks to raise $1 billion in 2022. That means capital is coming in faster into deals and last year for the first time in our history, African investors invested more than European investors. This is a major milestone.”



Akindele is himself focused on inviting investors “to see Africa the right way”.



“This is because we know the narrative that exists about Africa and the negative questions we get asked.”



The thesis of Platform Capital is that it deploys long-term capital to startups whose center of gravity is Africa.



“Africans need long-term, nurturing and patient capital. Four to five years is too short in Nigeria for a business to turn capital around and grow and deliver profit to capital providers. I believe from my experience that five to six years does not create enough alignment,” says Akindele.



Based on their extensive research and experience investing in over 100 portfolio companies with a valuation north of $1.5 billion, Platform Capital invests in businesses that will become top in their sectors in 15 years. Akindele also believes his investments should be sector-agnostic.



“I believe in Africa, we should not be choosing what we cannot invest in&#8230; whether it’s energy, telecom, agriculture, infrastructure or value-added services like gaming, I believe consumers need their basic needs met and then on the back of that we can evolve.”



Akindele’s primary focus is those sectors fundamental to the development of Africa.



“We invest in key areas that Africa needs to catch up on&#8230;so things like technology infrastructure, agriculture or food value chains. They form our anchor sectors and that represents about 60% of our portfolio. Then, when you have people who have electricity, food and water, they then go into the next sector like finance as well as education or healthcare&#8230;Then our final sector is robotics, artificial intelligence, such as one of our companies that do smell cyborgs,” says Akindele.



The company he is referring to is Koniku, a synthetic biotech company that creates ‘smell cyborgs’ that can detect a range of compounds in the air in real-time, and which recently partnered with Airbus to launch biotech solutions for aviation.



The company has so far reportedly raised $49.2 million in four rounds and is part of a long line of African startups bucking the trend of venture capital (VC) investment worldwide.



According to Yaa Agyare-Dwomoh, a consultant with growth strategy consulting and research firm Frost &amp; Sullivan, African VCs reached $1.8 billion, up 150% compared to $730 million in the same period in 2021 and was subsequently, also the only region in the world to record three-digit growth in the first quarter of 2022.



As the biggest catch-up market, Africa’s advantage lies in its need for innovative solutions to leapfrog years of underdevelopment. For some pioneers like Oshiorenoya Agabi, the Nigerian-born scientist based in Silicon Valley and Founder and CEO of Koniku, that need for innovation has brought the continent to the age of biotech solutions.



The company, which was founded in 2017, is using technology to combine traditional computer cells with living biological neurons.



“We are creating a device capable of thinking in the biological sense like a human by creating neurons that are sensitive to particles and are able detect smell. By this method, the solution can be used for particle detection for aviation, military or agricultural application,”says Agabi.



Apart from biotech, the figures show that it is fintech that attracted the largest funding by sector by far, mostly spurred by the need to extend banking and financial services to millions of unbanked and underbanked Africans across the continent. “Fintech is now the most popular sector for investments in Africa. In 2021, fintech funding broke the $1 billion funding barrier and continued to receive the largest amount of funding on the continent, representing 54% of all venture funding deals. In 2022, the fintech sector was responsible for the biggest deals securing two-thirds of the total funding for Africa’s technology firms,” says Dwomoh.



And this trend looks set to continue.



“Despite the global trend of tech companies struggling to raise money, African VCs are still raising money at record speed,” adds Akindele.



An unexpected side effect of the coronavirus pandemic has been the need for inclusive development in areas that fundamentally impacts society. This new trend known as impact investment has also consequently been on the rise in the African VC space.



Impact investing is based on the notion that when money is managed effectively, it has the added benefit of positively impacting the lives of people as well as creating a return on investment.



Africa is home to the youngest population in the world, with a median age of less than 20 years, and 70% of the population under the age of 30. According to the Global Impact Investing Network 2020 survey, almost half of global impact investment capital goes to the African continent.



Raised to appreciate poverty and wealth at the same time, Akindele is also a firm advocate of his investments positively making an impact on his portfolio companies. Platform Capital writes cheques anywhere from $10,000 to $10 million with most of the companies in the portfolio growing by 500% in terms of money raised, according to Akindele. As an African advocate, each investment the firm makes has to have an impact that



is transformational to the continent and its people and most importantly, makes a profit.



The new influx of money into Africa is just an attestation of everything entrepreneurs like him have consistently been working towards.

Smiling colleagues in conference room at workplace

VENTURE CAPITAL IN WEST AFRICA: The Funding Surge

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



Women and people who needed to be hospitalized with Covid are much more likely to develop long Covid, according to a new peer-reviewed&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2022.18931?guestAccessKey=07377a3e-8fa8-4f8e-b336-381e6899b698&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=101022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;published in&nbsp;JAMA&nbsp;on Monday, offering new insight into the persistent and sometimes disabling condition as researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/09/08/billionaire-backed-group-steps-up-hunt-for-long-covid-treatment/?sh=3af1eb4931b2">push</a>&nbsp;to develop new treatments and cures.



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



An estimated 6% of people with symptomatic Covid infections develop persistent symptoms months after the initial infection, according to an analysis of published studies and medical records with data on 1.2 million Covid patients from 22 countries.



The researchers found that long Covid symptoms—which are grouped into three clusters of ongoing respiratory symptoms, persistent fatigue with bodily pain or mood swings and cognitive problems—were much more common among patients who needed to be hospitalized with Covid than those who did not, particularly among those who needed ICU care.



An estimated 43% of patients admitted to the ICU experienced at least one of the symptom clusters three months after infection, the study found, compared to 28% of those admitted to general hospital wards and just 6% for those who weren’t hospitalized.



The researchers also found significant differences in the risks of developing long Covid according to age and sex, with women and adults over the age of 20 at greater risk for the condition.&nbsp;



An estimated 63% of long Covid cases are in women worldwide, the researchers said, and nearly one in ten of women over the age of 20 who had symptomatic Covid but didn’t need hospitalization developed persistent symptoms, compared to just 5% of men.&nbsp;



People over the age of 20 are also at greater risk of developing long Covid than those younger, the researchers found, with an estimated 2% increase in risk among men over 20 and 7% among women.



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



Among the Covid survivors who developed persistent symptoms, the researchers estimate that 15% continued to have symptoms 12 months after infection. It is not known why or how some people experience symptoms for longer periods and others do not. The researchers said only time and further research will reveal how long symptoms persist in some people.&nbsp;



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



There have been more than 96.4 million Covid cases in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, according to CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>. More than a million people have died with Covid in this time and a good proportion of these cases are likely to be repeat infections. Though not all will have been symptomatic infections—which was the study’s focus—and many more cases have likely gone unreported, the study’s 6% prevalence means an estimated 5.8 million people experienced long Covid in the U.S. Around 870,000 would have had symptoms persisting for a year.



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



Despite appearing to be relatively common after infection, long Covid remains poorly understood several years into the coronavirus pandemic. Its underlying causes are not known—leading theories include issues with the immune system, the virus lingering in the body after initial infection and problems with blood clotting—there are no proven treatments and its precise prevalence is unclear. The condition appears to be similar to syndromes like chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/09/mecfs-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-doctors-long-covid/671518/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neglected</a>&nbsp;for years but are now receiving renewed attention owing to the similarities. Though it emerged as a clear problem fairly early on in the pandemic, as well as imposing a huge human and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/business/economy/labor-participation-covid.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">economic</a>&nbsp;burden, long Covid has received relatively little&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/05/18/getting-vaccinated-after-infection-could-slash-risk-of-long-covid-study-finds/?sh=5a31f17e395c">attention</a>&nbsp;compared to other aspects of the global outbreak and particularly when developing public health policy to contain the virus.&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/09/08/billionaire-backed-group-steps-up-hunt-for-long-covid-treatment/?sh=3af1eb4931b2">Billionaire-Backed Group Steps Up Hunt For Long Covid Treatment</a>(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/09/mecfs-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-doctors-long-covid/671518/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Long COVID Has Forced a Reckoning for One of Medicine’s Most Neglected Diseases</a>&nbsp;(The Atlantic)



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

Young woman wearing flu mask

Women And Hospitalized Patients More Prone To Long Covid, Study Finds

Despite the economic outlook in the region, the high-net-worth segment has been growing over the last decade, reaching a crescendo with the recent entrance of new foreign private banks and wealth management services into the regional market. FORBES AFRICA takes a look at these movements on how the wealthy and ultra-rich in East Africa are changing the way they manage their assets.&nbsp;



BY MARIE SHABAYA



OVER THE LAST decade, five East African nations have seen a net-positive growth in total wealth, according to figures from New World Wealth. Leading the pack are Rwanda (60%), Ethiopia (52%) and Uganda (50%). Delving deeper into this picture, Kenya, a growing economic hub for the region, has the highest per capita wealth in East Africa, and ranks eighth on the continent, at $1,700.



This makes a strong case for the new financial services now available to high-networth individuals (HNWIs) in the region. In fact, East Africa is now a growing market for wealth management services and experts. This is echoed by the changing trends in how this segment has been holding their wealth.



Traditionally, investment options for the wealthy and ultra-rich were concentrated predominantly in land, real estate (property and buildings) as well as cash. Over the last few years, there has been a marked shift with this capital being held in sovereign bonds or fixed income securities.



Why the shift? Charles Mwaniki, a business journalist who has been covering the regional financial markets for over a decade, notes that what we’re seeing now is the result of movements from the past decade, whose effects are now being compounded.



“The big shift I’ve seen is the move towards the professional management of wealth. 



Previously a lot of [wealthy] people were having to manage their own wealth in private family offices or as private individuals but over the last seven years, we were coming out of a period of plenty, between 2004 and 2015, when there was ample opportunity to make money,” he says.



The overall economic climate during this time was one of a financial boom, allowing for the expansion of the HNWI segment in the region 



“It was a two-fold thing. One, it introduced a lot of new money into the economy and a lot of people got wealthy or got money that was investible within that period. Secondly, the people who already had money were making it more easily. It was easy to multiply wealth. So, you didn’t need much help to make money; there were opportunities everywhere…in trade, in the stock market, in bonds. But, from around 2014-15, it suddenly became a lot more difficult to make money here.”



What followed was an extended period of decline in both the stock market and the banking sector. Beginning in 2016, banks restricted their lending to the private sector due to a legislative cap on commercial lending rates.



“Trade also became more difficult. People started realizing [that they] needed help to unlock opportunities, to see where the money is and that is where they increasingly turned to professionals, especially those who had made new money in the decade before. Suddenly, there were no opportunities in the stock market, they didn’t know how to invest offshore, they didn’t know how to play the property sector so they turned to professionals,” posits Mwaniki.



This has seen a rise in dedicated wealth management units in some of the more established banks and lenders in the region, with new entrants joining the market as recently as this year. Stanbic Bank Kenya, formerly known as CfC Stanbic, is one of the larger service providers in the region, providing a private bank offering to both individuals and corporate clients with at least $1 million in investible assets. New entrant, Old Mutual, from South Africa, opened its doors to highnet-worth clients with at least KES 10 million ($83,130) in investible assets in July this year while I&amp;M Capital, a fund manager, launched in mid-2021 and famously raised $5.8 million in its first six months, indicating the growing demand for such services in the region.



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“ PUTTING IT SIMPLY, MOVING CAPITAL OUTSIDE OF AFRICA CAN OFTEN MEAN DIRECT ACCESS TO CHEAPER DEBT FINANCING AND A GREATER ARRAY OF PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL SERVICES TO INVEST BACK INTO THE REGION OR CONTINENT. ” – JON DE JAGER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF C|T GROUP UK
</div></div>



A majority of wealth in the region is family-led and organized by kin either in business structures or by ownership. This allows for wealth management efforts to be compounded over the generations, a model which has worked well in other markets. Tsitsi Mutendi, who consults for private family offices in the region draws a line between the services offered by the new private banks and the niche services required for those over a certain wealth threshold. 



“A family office is particularly created for ultra high-net-worth individuals and families. It makes sense to open a single family office, dedicated to one family and the management of its wealth and investments. It’s usually families that are worth a $100 million or more that can afford a single family office. Where you start off with your ‘Mom &amp; Pops’ store growing to bigger business, you can still have an accountant managing finances or a private bank managing income. When it gets to $100 million and above, in terms of net worth, a dedicated office has a better overview of what the asset holding looks like, what the available wealth in terms of finances looks like and what investments are being made. Family offices tend to hire investment managers as investments at this level tend to be larger.&#8221;



According to this year’s Africa Wealth Report, Nairobi is one of Africa’s wealthiest cities, anchoring the region with $48 billion in total private wealth with an estimated 5,400 HNWIs. Those over the $100 million net worth bracket, however, only number 12 with a healthy crop of multi-millionaires (net worth of over $10 million) at 260 individuals. Mombasa, Kenya’s coastal second city, plays host to 800 HNWIs with a combined wealth of $7 billion. Dar-es-Salaam, the Tanzanian capital and home to Africa’s preeminent billionaire, Mo Dewji, has the region’s second-largest HNWI community with 1,300 individuals holding a total of $24 billion in private wealth. The Ugandan capital, Kampala, which has seen marked growth in total wealth over the last decade is home to 900 HNWIs worth a cumulative $16 billion.



Many of these developments are being led by family wealth either through burgeoning businesses or the expansion of pre-existing wealth. Mutendi contends that this may be due to new perspectives on wealth building.



“We have a melting pot of different family businesses and different drivers to wealth [that is] being built. The movement of the world as well as the different generations and how [they] perceive wealth, manage wealth and [their] history within the wealth pocket [is a contributor]. The nouveau riche is usually centered on one demographic but it is one that is coming into wealth after many years of being disadvantaged with financial status. With funds moving out of the continent, you have different push and pull factors.”



These factors are the back-end of much of the wealth growth that we’re observing in the region.



According to the 2022 Africa Wealth Report, investment migration is fast becoming a popular option for the continent’s affluent families. In fact, it’s a proven wealth management and legacy planning tool with 19 of the G20 countries already implementing policies that encourage inward investment in exchange for citizenship or residence rights. Henley &amp; Partners, a London-based investment migration consultancy who authored the report, noted that they saw an 18% rise in inquiries about these programs from African clients in 2021.



Jon de Jager, Managing Director of C|T Group UK, an advisory firm working with African HNWIs, explains that the movement of capital goes beyond wealth migration and has been a prominent trend.



“There has been a trend of East Africa capital being consolidated outside of the continent although, equally, there has been significantly more wealth generated within the region. Jurisdictions outside Africa have historically been a more attractive base from which 



HNWIs can invest internationally across developed economy capital markets. Putting it simply, moving capital outside of Africa can often mean direct access to cheaper debt financing and a greater array of personal and financial services to invest back into the region or continent,” he says.



However, access to these foreign financial markets isn’t always guaranteed for African investors. Enhanced due diligence checks, Know-Your-Customer (KYC) standards among other regulations often bar HNWIs from the continent from transitioning to some of these offshore locations. Whilst this has happened in the past, now it is more difficult to achieve due to regulatory requirements.



“There is often a fundamental lack of understanding of the East African region, and of Africa as a whole. HNWIs originating from the continent of Africa are often classified in the same bucket and lazy assumptions can be made as to their source of wealth or political connections, for example. We have worked very hard the last few years in establishing a credible and detailed fact pattern for individuals looking to move their capital into different markets. It is often assumed that documents are lacking for the region to meet enhanced KYC requirements, but that is not the case. What many African HNWIs need is an opportunity to explain, transparently, the facts behind their background and business history,” notes de Jager.



Scrutiny aside, HNWI capital from the region is still finding its way to more stable settings, offshore.



“Dubai in particular has recently become a popular destination on a global basis, not just from Africa. This has partly been for protection; while Kenya has no doubt become a major economic hub, and I believe will gain further momentum as such, there has been some political instability that can trigger capital flight.



Another market that we see movement to is Singapore. It is perceived by many as a stable and fast-growing economy in Asia and we are seeing this trend not just from businesses in East Africa. Singapore does offer tax advantages to offshore non-resident companies and as a result is becoming the gateway to Asia’s banking and investment markets,” notes de Jager.



However, capital flight is not the only trend we’re seeing within this segment. A movement towards reinvestment in the region, and continent, may be due to a rise in locally-based wealth management services and offerings. While growth of this market has been slow, it does signal hope for HWNIs looking to consolidate their wealth within African economies.



“There is still domination from foreign entities or agents and representatives of larger institutions that have come to the continent that are encouraging family businesses or offices to invest offshore. At the same time, our wealth advisory industry is growing at a snail’s pace. Our institutions are opening up more to setting up family office offerings and private wealth offerings over and above private banking.



It’s the right start, over the past five years there has been a move towards more customised offerings and collaborations with institutions that can offer their clientele prestige banking that goes over and above what is available on the continent,” explains Tsitsi Mutendi who has been working in various African wealth markets.



Jon de Jager, agrees, noting that while offshore markets offer a buffer from prevailing instabilities in African economies, HNWIs from the region are seeking to return their capital to their home jurisdictions as long as conditions permit.



“There is an appetite as well as a continual desire to reinvest in Kenya, East Africa and generally across the continent. Especially now, due to the global demand of natural resources, we have seen a significant drive to reinvest in Africa. At the same time, it is noteworthy that six African start-ups were listed among the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers of 2022. Just as we have seen with M-Pesa, these start-ups are solution-driven and are leading the way in solving issues such cyber security, climate change and food security. In this context, I am positive that this will attract investment in Africa.”



What is important for the region’s wealthy demographic is choice. Given the myriad push and pull factors at play on the continent from economic to political instability, HNWIs often seek options that safeguard their hardwon multigenerational wealth or new avenues that enable them to build newly acquired money.



This is true for all investors, African or otherwise, so flight to economic safe havens is a natural strategy for this segment.



“It is natural for a successful entrepreneur to expand their horizons on an international stage by adding other geographies to their investments, in or outside of Africa, just as it is for a HNWI from Europe, for example, to invest in Africa. Establishing a presence outside of the continent for this purpose is necessary and efficient. Restrictive policy interventions are unlikely to facilitate growth within the region while persistent allegations of corruption or kleptocratic behaviours will always put off investors. Social factors, like high rates of crime, also come into play; issues like this simply add to reasons to move elsewhere in search of returns. Innovation is certainly attractive in terms of investing in Africa, but these must be supported by good governance and strong rule of law in establishing a stable environment in which to operate,” insists de Jager.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-default" style="grid-template-columns:44% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="698" height="870" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-10-at-10.01.23.png" alt="" class="wp-image-56540 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-10-at-10.01.23.png 698w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-10-at-10.01.23-241x300.png 241w" sizes="(max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
“ THE NOUVEAU RICHE IS USUALLY CENTERED ON ONE DEMOGRAPHIC BUT IT IS ONE THAT IS COMING INTO WEALTH AFTER MANY YEARS OF BEING DISADVANTAGED WITH FINANCIAL STATUS. WITH FUNDS MOVING OUT OF THE CONTINENT, YOU HAVE DIFFERENT PUSH AND PULL FACTORS. ” &#8211; TSITSI MUTENDI
</div></div>



Already, estimates indicate that wealth on the African continent is set to increase by 38% in the coming decade and this may be due to factors already at work within the continent’s markets. A key point, to capture this growth for the long-term, is ensuring that younger generations are equipped to take over the management of wealth sooner rather than later. According to Mutendi, at the family office or business level, this means having strong family governance structures that are flexible enough to incorporate the incoming generation, and their ideas, as they build.



“Africa’s got so much potential, there is still a vast amount of wealth that is coming from the continent and is going outside of the continent. So, there is so much possibility for families building wealth. They just have to continue cultivating innovation, especially the next generation…they are the ones that will build on the wealth that is currently being created,” she says. This is particularly important for East African families, says Mwaniki who has picked up on new patterns through his observation of the regional financial markets, noting that the younger generations are the ones leading the charge in new investment trends. “These are fairly young, wealthy people. Some of [their wealth] has been here but has been held by their parents. Once they inherit land they dispose of it because they don’t see themselves managing a farm, for example. So they invest in NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), cryptocurrencies or bonds. They are looking for options that will generate regular and high returns. Land you can hold but if you don’t have another source of income, it’s an idle asset. They are turning more and more to incomebearing instruments,” he says. When all is said and done, wealth creation remains a positive development across the continent. Kenya, the regional leader in continental rankings, is one of the ‘Big 5’ markets that account for more than half of total wealth in Africa.



The steady growth of HNWIs here will undoubtedly signal expansion in neighboring jurisdictions, encouraging more robust regulations and stable economic environments for their capital; wealth migration, notwithstanding, remains a mitigating factor.

Counting the Somaliland shilling

What East Africa’s Tide Of WEALTH Looks Like

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



Billionaire musician Kanye West—in the midst of a troubled meltdown on social media after a controversial show during Paris fashion week—had his Instagram account restricted and posts deleted, parent company Meta confirmed to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;on Saturday, after a since-deleted, and apparently antisemitic post.



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



A spokesperson for Meta told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that West, who legally changed his name to Ye, violated the company’s rules and policies and that previous content from his account has been removed, although the spokesperson would not clarify which posts were in violation.



The announcement comes one day after West shared a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-719170" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">screenshot</a>&nbsp;of a text conversation with rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, appearing to accuse him of being controlled by Jewish people, saying he would use Combs as an “example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”



In an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kanye-west-says-upcoming-concert-was-canceled-blames-white-lives-matter-shirts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interview</a>&nbsp;with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson one night earlier, West claimed the 2020&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Abraham Acords</a>&nbsp;peace negotiations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were signed so that the family of Jared Kushner—who is Jewish—could “make money.”



West later posted an old&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1578620714000605184" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photo</a>&nbsp;on Twitter of him with Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with the caption, “how you gone kick me off Instagram.”



Musk, who is nearing a deal to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2022/09/12/twitter-shareholders-poised-to-approve-deal-with-elon-musk-even-as-he-keeps-trying-to-terminate-it/?sh=3fd589b46c04">purchase</a>&nbsp;Twitter after months of back-and-forth negotiations, replied to the&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1578769394536452097?s=20&amp;t=WEA0F_MAc2XxjfPXnZBdsw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a>, saying, “welcome back to Twitter, my friend!”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



The American Jewish Committee&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/ajc.global/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=20a70aa3-1c3e-4d64-b68b-1c85ccb00f79" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted</a>&nbsp;a video on Instagram on Friday, calling West’s remarks antisemitic, writing they use “tropes like greed and control,” and accusing the rapper of making “incoherent rants laden with racist and antisemitic undertones.” On Friday, StopAntisemitism.org executive director told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/kanye-west-comments-jews-horrifying-antisemitism-group-1750003" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Newsweek</a>&nbsp;West’s comments on Fox News were “horrifying” and exploit “century-old antisemitic myths” that Jewish people control the country and its money.



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



On Thursday, athletic clothing brand&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/10/06/adidas-reconsidering-kanye-wests-yeezy-line/?sh=4b16eaaa671c">Adidas</a>, which manages West’s Yeezy shoes and apparel, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;it put its partnership with West “under review,” after the rapper&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/03/kanye-west-wears-white-lives-matter-shirt-at-yeezy-fashion-show/?sh=5b2bd8e36c08">presented</a>&nbsp;“White Lives Matter” branded clothing at his fashion show, creating a storm of controversy, and pulling in various fashion figures—from model Gigi Hadid, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and LVMH billionaire owner Bernard Arnault—into the drama, even alleging Arnault “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/04/kanye-west-claims-lvmh-ceo-bernard-arnault-killed-his-best-friend/?sh=5f407d53293f">killed</a>” former Louis Vuitton designer Virgil Abloh, who died of cancer last year. West had previously said he plans to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/09/15/kanye-reportedly-tries-to-end-10-year-gap-deal/?sh=292dd718385a">end</a>&nbsp;his long-term partnerships with both Adidas and Gap, telling Adidas executives in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/CulturedUpdatez/status/1565068891512004618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1565068891512004618%7Ctwgr%5E3be1032d9d9e6611a472a981a8ba69a10b715298%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthesource.com%2F2022%2F09%2F01%2Fkanye-takes-aim-at-adidas-ceo-and-kid-cudi-in-new-ig-post%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video</a>posted in August to “let me do what I’m thinking, or I have to do the thinking somewhere else.”



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



West has openly acknowledged having bipolar disorder, and has publicly discussed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/12/kanye-west-and-dangers-quitting-psychiatric-medication/578647/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">staying off medication</a>&nbsp;for it because it harms him as an artist. In recent years, he’s had a history of bizarre, angry tirades. In 2018 he told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/entertainment/kanye-west-slavery-choice-trnd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TMZ</a>&nbsp;that slavery “sounds like a choice,” and 2020 made&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/20/kanye-harriet-tubman/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">comments</a>&nbsp;that Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves,” but that freed slaves went to “work for other white people.” In the past year, West has had a series of seemingly unhinged episodes on social media where he has targeted his estranged wife Kim Kardashian, and her then-boyfriend Pete Davidson, among others.&nbsp;



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



18 million. That’s how many&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/kanyewest/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">followers</a>&nbsp;West has on Instagram.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



West tweeted a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1578587981010505728" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">picture</a>&nbsp;of himself holding a black “2024” hat late Friday night—his first tweet in nearly two years. His last tweet was a silhouette of himself in front of an electoral map of the U.S. during the 2020 election, in which he ran for president, appearing on the ballot in 12 states, and boasted of&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1323727338387902465" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">voting for himself</a>.



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



<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/kanye-west-mark-zuckerberg-instagram-b2198498.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kanye West says Mark Zuckerberg kicked him off Instagram: ‘Look at this Mark’</a>&nbsp;(The Independent)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/03/kanye-west-wears-white-lives-matter-shirt-at-yeezy-fashion-show/?sh=39671fb66c08">Kanye West Wears ‘White Lives Matter’ Shirt At Yeezy Fashion Show</a>(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/10/06/adidas-reconsidering-kanye-wests-yeezy-line/?sh=4b16eaaa671c">Adidas Reconsidering Kanye West’s Yeezy Line</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Brian Bushard, Forbes Staff

Celebrity Sightings – Paris Fashion Week – Womenswear Spring/Summer 2023 – Day Seven

Musk Welcomes Kanye West Back To Twitter After He’s Blocked By Instagram Over Apparent Antisemitic Post

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“[Burj Zanzibar] will support the tourism sector as the Burj Zanzibar will be an architectural landmark attracting visitors and will complement [Zanzibar’s] Stone Town as a World Heritage Site.”</blockquote>



By Inaara Gangji



The Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar aims high with plans for a 28-story, 96-meter tall apartment tower named Burj Zanzibar, designed in hybrid timber technology that its developers say will make it the first timber structure of its kind in the world.



The project, expected to be completed at the end of 2026, is to be located in Fumba Town, an eco-town developed by German-led engineering firm CPS.



Why timber? It reduces the carbon footprint.



“Burj Zanzibar promotes the use of timber for construction and contributes to the development of the local value chain using widely available timber resources in Tanzania,” says the project’s Dutch-born architect, Leander Moons, to FORBES AFRICA.



When complete, it’s expected to overtake the 86.6-meter Ascent Tower in Milwaukee, US, recently certified as the world&#8217;s tallest timber hybrid building.



“The Burj will create awareness for this new technology and combat carbon emissions from the construction,” says Sebastian Dietzold, CEO of CPS, to FORBES AFRICA.



The project will be executed by specialists from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, South Africa, Tanzania and the US.



“Apart from the materiality, we also included multiple design elements to further address sustainability. This includes passive design, for example, [from the] permanent sun shading provided by the facade to limit heat-gain on the inside, to the integration of roof gardens and planters,” says Moons.



“[Burj Zanzibar] will support the tourism sector as Burj Zanzibar will be an architectural landmark attracting visitors and will complement [Zanzibar’s] Stone Town as a World Heritage Site,” adds Dietzold.



However, the new concept does come with its challenges, being the first of its kind on the continent.



Yet the popularity and fast growth of Fumba Town as an investment opportunity is a possible indication of the increasing demand for more sustainable solutions that also benefit local communities.



“In Africa, over the next 50 years, millions of new homes will need to be built, and it is crucial to reduce carbon emissions from construction,” says Dietzold.



Tanzania’s top skyscraper is the 157-meter Ports Authority building in Dar es Salaam.

Screenshot 2022-10-07 at 19.25.15

Not Just The Beaches, Zanzibar Aims For World Record With Timber Tower

FORBES Oct.Nov27125

MAKING CENTS OF INVESTMENT: The Professionals Behind Wealth Preservation In South Africa

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



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2022/han00477.asp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">asked</a> U.S. health care practitioners on Thursday to monitor for potential Ebola infections, as an outbreak of the disease in Uganda impacts dozens of people—though no U.S. cases have been confirmed, and infections in Uganda remain much lower than during the infamous 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa.



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



The CDC issued a health advisory Thursday to “remind clinicians about best practices” about Ebola, and said it was communicating with public health departments and healthcare workers to raise awareness about the outbreak in Uganda, which has killed 10 people since it began last month.&nbsp;



The U.S. Embassy in Uganda also <a href="https://ug.usembassy.gov/health-alert-enhanced-screening-at-designated-u-s-airports-u-s-embassy-kampala-uganda-october-6-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> Thursday that all passengers flying from Uganda to the U.S. who have been in the east African country 21 days before their arrival will be routed to five airports in the New York City area, Atlanta, Chicago or Washington for enhanced health screenings.



The embassy added that the “risk of Ebola domestically is currently low,” while the CDC noted the Ebola outbreak is limited to five districts in central Uganda.&nbsp;



To date, 44 cases have been confirmed in Uganda, with 10 confirmed deaths and 20 probable deaths from the disease within the past month, according to the CDC, marking the largest Ebola outbreak in the country in the past two decades.&nbsp;



Health care providers should ask patients whom they suspect could have Ebola for a detailed travel history to prevent the spread of infection, the CDC said Thursday.&nbsp;<img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/1.png" alt="">Forbes Business<img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/e8869d3f-0f3e-474a-a43d-be85f87597b4/dd3a6300-5d28-4042-b647-115d3e7be7b0.jpg?crop=601:338,smart&amp;width=601&amp;height=338&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop" alt="Japan’s ‘Walking Dead’ Problem Lives On"><img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/e8869d3f-0f3e-474a-a43d-be85f87597b4/53eb42d9-4a8c-4be3-89b2-b9dc4b16c4f1.jpg?crop=601:338,smart&amp;width=601&amp;height=338&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop" alt="Shake Up Happy Hour With A Copycat Sour Cherry Gin Cocktail"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethkarmel/2022/10/06/shake-up-happy-hour-with-a-copycat-sour-cherry-gin-cocktail/?traffic_source=Connatix">READ MORE</a><img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/e8869d3f-0f3e-474a-a43d-be85f87597b4/c1729382-3e02-4755-b1c1-d1e5e02856fc.jpg?crop=601:338,smart&amp;width=601&amp;height=338&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop" alt="Biden's Iran Policy &quot;Defies Belief&quot; — And It Actually Emboldens Putin"><img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/e8869d3f-0f3e-474a-a43d-be85f87597b4/b2476522-4756-4d80-9978-82bda4146d49.jpg?crop=601:338,smart&amp;width=601&amp;height=338&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop" alt="At Least 34 Dead In Mass Shooting At Daycare Center In Thailand"><img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/e8869d3f-0f3e-474a-a43d-be85f87597b4/1b0da279-ec69-4f02-afc8-33380aa0cead.jpg?crop=601:338,smart&amp;width=601&amp;height=338&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop" alt="Musk And Twitter Reportedly Postpone His Deposition—But Sticking Points Remain In $44 Billion Deal"><img decoding="async" src="https://img.connatix.com/pid-546f0bce-b219-41ac-b691-07d0ec3e3fe1/e8869d3f-0f3e-474a-a43d-be85f87597b4/0d14cdb9-b27c-44c0-ac35-e3dfe801c037.jpg?crop=601:338,smart&amp;width=601&amp;height=338&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop" alt="Spain-Portugal World Cup 2030 Bid Adds Ukraine As Running Mate In Search For Winning Ticket"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethkarmel/2022/10/06/shake-up-happy-hour-with-a-copycat-sour-cherry-gin-cocktail/?traffic_source=Connatix">Shake Up Happy Hour With A Copycat SourCherry Gin Cocktail</a>



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



The Ugandan Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease on September 20, after the Sudan species of the virus began to spread in the central Mubende District of Uganda. The first confirmed case was a 25-year-old man who lived in the district and died the same day he tested positive, with an investigation revealing several other unexplained deaths in the community the month prior. There have been five outbreaks of Ebola caused by the Sudan virus in Uganda since 2000, though the most recent, which took place in 2012, was effectively contained, according to the CDC. The disease—which is spread through contact with infected blood or bodily fluids—was first discovered in 1976 in a village near the Ebola River in Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Several outbreaks of Ebola virus have occurred over the past several decades across several regions in Africa.&nbsp;



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



28,610. That’s how many people were infected with Ebola during the world’s largest outbreak of the virus in West Africa—including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone—from 2014 to 2016, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/chronology.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to the CDC. Some 11,308 people died from the outbreak, or about 39% of those infected, while four cases were confirmed in the U.S. in 2014 as well.



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



In 2014, the World Health Organization detected cases of the Zaire Ebola virus in Guinea, which marked the beginning of the West African Ebola epidemic. Infections spread to several countries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal, as well as countries outside of Africa, including the U.S, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. The health crisis marked the first time Ebola spread from more rural, isolated areas into densely packed populations in urban areas, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDC</a>. The disease spread rapidly in part due to weak surveillance systems and poor public health infrastructure.&nbsp;



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



A clinical trial of two experimental vaccines to guard against the Sudan Ebola virus could soon be underway, the WHO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2022/09/29/ebola-experimental-vaccine-trial-may-begin-soon-in-uganda/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;last week. Two vaccines protect against the Zaire species of Ebola, but they don’t provide protection against the Sudan species, which is quite different.&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/health/ebola-cdc-uganda.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Health Officials Urge Vigilance as Ebola Spreads in Uganda</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)



<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2022/09/29/ebola-experimental-vaccine-trial-may-begin-soon-in-uganda/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ebola experimental vaccine trial may begin soon in Uganda</a> (STAT News)



By Madeline Halpert, Forbes Staff

KENYA-HEALTH-MALARIA

CDC Asks U.S. Physicians To Monitor For Ebola As Uganda Outbreak Grows

Some of the ads include descriptions of sexual violence, paired with images of battered women and photos of male fitness influencers, which were used without permission.



Apps backed by ByteDance and Tencent have been running hundreds of ads on Facebook and Instagram containing sexually explicit content, descriptions of graphic violence and content promoting acts of self harm.



The ads, which violate Meta’s policies, contain excerpts from&nbsp;<a href="https://restofworld.org/2022/china-romance-novels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">erotic web novels</a>&nbsp;featuring young adult fantasy themes like werewolves and vampires, often paired with short videos and images that appear to be taken from influencers, movies and TV shows. With descriptions of sexual assault and images of distressed women and girls next to muscular men, these ads push users to download apps where they can pay to read stories by the chapter.



One ad, teasing a story about a “night of terror” where a teen girl will be “mated” to a “creature,” featured a shirtless photo of Brazilian football star Neymar mashed up with a stock image of a beaten woman. A representative for Neymar told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;the image was used without permission.&nbsp;



The ad was for iReader, an app into which TikTok parent company ByteDance invested $170 million in 2020. As of Saturday morning, 83 other live ads for iReader featured a story chapter titled “His Personal Cum Bucket” and a graphic description of sexual violence. Multiple requests for comment sent to numerous iReader representatives went unanswered.&nbsp;



Ads for the Mytopia app, which is owned by ByteDance, contained similarly troubling content. Three ads for the app included a text description of a teen girl being molested by her step-brother, and three other ads contained a romanticized account of a teen girl cutting herself. After being contacted by&nbsp;Forbes, ByteDance paused Mytopia’s ad campaign, and ByteDance spokesperson Billy Kenny said that the ads “do not match our values.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Ads paired excerpts of violent erotica with images of distressed women and girls and muscular men, which were sometimes used without permission. Note: some images may be disturbing.</blockquote>



On Wednesday, an app called Webnovel, which is owned by Tencent subsidiary China Literature, began running ads featuring sexually explicit comics that implied incest between a mother and her son. China Literature stopped the ad campaign when contacted for comment by&nbsp;Forbes. In a statement, spokesperson Maggie Zhou said: “We can confirm these ads were posted by third-party agencies without informing China Literature and in violation of our content policies.”



ByteDance (which owns TikTok) and Tencent (which owns WeChat and some of the most popular videogames in the world) have long struggled to show that their products do not expose people to content&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-algorithm-sex-drugs-minors-11631052944?mod=business_lead_pos5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">promoting sex</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-china-8da6d2d346475bfb8e0942fe9c650cc2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">abuse</a>, or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2093538/groups-linked-suicide-game-found-chinese-messaging-site" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">self harm</a>. But while the Chinese tech giants have invested heavily in removing this kind of content from TikTok and WeChat, they have at the same time paid for erotic web novel businesses to create it and promote it to Meta users through ads.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Ads for Webnovel, which is owned by Tencent subsidiary China Literature, featured sexually explicit comics that implied incest between a mother and her son. They have now been taken down.</blockquote>



Meta, for its part, has appeared largely incapable of halting this flood of violent fantasy erotica ads that violate its rules. The company’s Ad Library reveals that while Meta has detected and removed dozens of these ads, advertisers have just put more up. Moreover, Meta’s detection appears weak and haphazard, with weeks-old ads still live featuring text that obviously violates its rules. Before&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;contacted Meta about the ads, searches of the Ad Library for phrases like “his cock” and “rape me” returned hundreds of results, nearly all of them ads for web novel apps.&nbsp;(Disclosure: in a past life, I held policy positions at Facebook and Spotify.)&nbsp;



Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company had removed dozens of ads from web novel companies before it was approached by&nbsp;Forbes, and that it has removed nearly 200 ads and pages since being presented with our findings. Still, five new renditions of the “cum bucket” ad began running last night from a page that&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;had flagged to Meta, and a quick search of the Ad Library returns hundreds of similar results.&nbsp;



Apps like Webnovel, Mytopia and iReader have boomed during the pandemic. The apps first became popular in China, where ByteDance’s Tomato Novel app has been downloaded more than 60 million times. But they have recently become popular in the U.S., too. iReader was downloaded 1.5 million times in 2021, and Webnovel was downloaded more than 2 million times in 2022, according to Sensor Tower. Although Chinese apps dominate the sector, domestic apps offer similar wares: Amazon’s Kindle Vella features identical themes and even some of the same stories featured on other apps. It does not appear to advertise on Facebook or Instagram.&nbsp;



Earlier this year,&nbsp;<a href="https://restofworld.org/2022/china-romance-novels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rest of World reported</a>&nbsp;that the profit margin for China-based web novels is often very high, with companies making as much as 10 times as much as they pay authors for each story. But that profit margin may depend in significant part on ads: In 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.protocol.com/china/chinese-web-novels-china" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Protocol reported</a>&nbsp;that 42.7% of China-based web novels were introduced to overseas readers through advertising.



This market also extends beyond just apps backed by Tencent and ByteDance. Last week,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;identified more than 1,000 ads running from more than 100 Facebook pages representing China-based web novel apps. Some of the ads stayed within bounds, offering largely standard romance novel fare, but others violated Meta’s policies barring explicit sexual content.&nbsp;



One ad running on Thursday morning promoted an app called MoboReader, and described a scene in which a woman’s husband tries to kill her by hitting her with a car, and then another man subsequently rapes her. Moboreader did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;



A text excerpt used in at least 32 other ads on Thursday included a graphic, romanticized description of a teen girl engaging in self-mutilation after being abused. The ads were for Supernovel, an app whose Terms of Service claim it is owned by Cloudary Holdings, a subsidiary of Tencent. When asked about the app, Tencent and Cloudary denied any relationship to it.



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In 2019, the China-based blog TechNode&nbsp;<a href="https://technode.com/2019/08/30/bytedance-promotes-new-online-reading-app-as-regulators-clamp-down/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that a ByteDance web novel app popular with domestic Chinese audiences was shut down for three months by the Chinese government for distributing “lowbrow and sexually suggestive content.” But as the web novel industry has grown, ByteDance and Tencent have deepened their investments in it.&nbsp;



In December 2019, ByteDance&nbsp;<a href="https://en.pingwest.com/w/7080" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acquired a majority stake</a>&nbsp;in MyMind Culture, the parent company behind several Chinese-language novel apps. In July 2020, it&nbsp;<a href="https://en.pingwest.com/w/7080" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bought a 10% stake</a>&nbsp;in Beijing Dingtian Culture Entertainment, which runs similar apps, including SweetRead and DmRead. Later that year, ByteDance&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/04/bytedance-to-pump-170-million-into-e-book-reader-zhangyue/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paid $170 million</a>&nbsp;for 11% of the China-based e-book company Zhangyue, which makes the iReader app, as well as ForNovel, Novelink, Favoread and Noveltells. In 2021, it&nbsp;<a href="https://pandaily.com/bytedance-bets-on-web-novel-business-launching-mytopia-application-overseas/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched Mytopia</a>, which, like iReader, is targeted to foreign audiences.&nbsp;



Billy Kenny, the ByteDance spokesperson, said that ByteDance (which invested in Zhangyue through its acquisition arm, Quantum Jump) “doesn’t have any involvement in the product and business strategy of Zhangyue’s global businesses.” Zhangyue, however, told shareholders in April: &#8220;Mr. Zhang Chao, head of ByteDance&#8217;s novel business department, is a director of the company. The company and Byte have cooperated in various aspects such as content copyright and advertising cooperation.&#8221; Kenny did not answer follow-up questions about the nature of this cooperation.



Tencent owns the conglomerate China Literature, which controls the flagship English-language Webnovel app through a company called Cloudary Holdings. Terms of service for a cluster of other apps running ads on Facebook, including iNovel, eReader, SuperNovel, PopNovel, Mobooks and MyNovel, list Cloudary Holdings as their operator; however, Maggie Zhou, a spokesperson for China Literature, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that the entities are not owned or operated by China Literature or Cloudary.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ads-for-various-apps-also-used-clips-from-major-movies-including-star-wars-marvel-comics-and-dc-comics">Ads for various apps also used clips from major movies, including Star Wars, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics.</h3>



Many of these ads also appear to rip content from influencers, television shows and movies. In addition to its Neymar ad, Zhangyue has also featured images of other celebrities, including Kylie Jenner and fitness influencer Chadoy Leon. Leon, whose image was stitched together with photos of frightened women, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;he had never heard of iReader. “Whoever is using my pictures are using them without my permission,” he said. Jenner’s rep declined to comment on the record.&nbsp;



Ads for Zhangyue apps, as well as iNovel, Supernovel and others, also used content from major movies, including those from the&nbsp;Twilight&nbsp;movies, Star Wars, DC Comics and Marvel Studios. A representative from Warner Brothers (which owns DC Comics) said its content had been used without permission; Disney (which owns Marvel and Star Wars) and Summit Entertainment (which owns&nbsp;Twilight) did not respond to a request for comment.



Many of the Facebook pages running these ads also bore signs of ban evasion, suggesting the companies are intentionally avoiding takedowns by Meta. Some apps used intentional misspellings for words that might lead to flags. One ad for iReader described a character by the “visible V running down to his gen.ita1s.” Other iReader-owned pages, including those promoting Noveltells and Novelink, added a letter to profane terms, including bitcch and whoree.&nbsp;



Novel apps have also spread their ads out across numerous pages — a tactic often used by networks trying to ensure that one or two takedowns will not cripple an entire campaign. Ads promoting an app called Noveland have been placed from pages labeled Noveland1 through Noveland8, as well as pages with title variations like Noveland App and Noveland Romance Story. Pages called Noveland11, Noveland12, and Noveland13 were created earlier this month, but are not running ads at this time. Requests for comment sent to Noveland were not answered.



Other ads have come from pages with more colorful names: Some ads promoting iReader were placed from werewolf-themed pages with names like Alpha King, Gamma Fire and Ugly Mate, as well as pages with nonsense names like Genius Babies and Llj-Hhh. A Philippines-based app called Pinky Novel has been running ads from a page called Kz Car Tint &amp; Accesories [sic], and an app called AhaNovel, has been running ads from a page titled “Raped by Mr. CEO.” (Pinky Novel and Aha Novel did not respond to requests for comment.)&nbsp;



Despite&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reporting the page to Meta on Wednesday morning, at time of this writing, “Raped by Mr. CEO” is still live on the platform today.&nbsp;



No longer live, though, is a page Facebook published in 2021, highlighting Webnovel as “success story” in advertiser partnerships. Stone did not respond to a question about whether Meta still considers Webnovel a model for other advertisers today.



By Emily Baker-White, Forbes Staff

Smartphone apps from Facebook

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Most job postings tell you the title of the position, the experience employers require and the responsibilities for the role, but leave out the most essential information: The salary.



But that’s about to change, according to a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wtwco.com/en-US/News/2022/09/more-north-american-organizations-plan-to-disclose-pay-information-survey-finds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survey</a>&nbsp;that finds a flood of new employers plan to publicly post pay ranges in upcoming job ads, following a series of state and local laws that now mandate the disclosures. A survey of nearly 400 employers by the advisory firm WTW, formerly known as Willis Towers Watson, found that while only 17% say they currently post salary ranges in locations where there is not a legal requirement to do so, an additional 62% say they are either planning to or considering adding pay ranges to job postings even in places where it’s not required by law.&nbsp;



“By the first of next year, job seekers are likely to see a brand new world in terms of job postings—one where they can see what the job pays before they even have to go through an application or interview,” says Christine Hendrickson, vice president of strategic initiatives at Syndio, which conducts pay equity analyses for corporations.&nbsp;



She points to a “trifecta” of populous states and major localities that have bills expected to become law or laws that will go into effect in the coming months. Late last month, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/2022/05/24/california-employers-could-soon-have-to-include-salary-ranges-in-job-ads-a-game-changer-for-pay-transparency/?sh=1751bf0c2463">California legislature</a>&nbsp;approved&nbsp;<a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1162" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a bill</a>&nbsp;that Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto. It will require employers with 15 or more workers to include a job’s pay scale in job postings, as well as provide similar information to employees and, for companies with more than 100 employees, submit a pay report to the state that includes median and mean pay rates by race, gender and ethnicity.&nbsp;



Starting Nov. 1, employers hiring job candidates in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/2022/03/15/how-nycs-pay-transparency-law-could-have-a-national-impact-on-the-pay-gap-and-your-job-search/?sh=3ba178767706">New York City</a>&nbsp;will have to include job postings in ads, and at the start of next year, the state of Washington will have a similar requirement. (Colorado was the first state to pass such a law in 2019; it went into effect in early 2021. Local governments in Ithaca, N.Y., Westchester County, N.Y. and Jersey City, N.J. have passed similar measures.)



Washington’s new law was the likely catalyst for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/2022/06/09/microsoft-announces-it-will-include-pay-ranges-in-all-us-job-postings-experts-predict-it-will-be-the-first-of-many/?sh=4824b6835c72">Microsoft’s announcement</a>&nbsp;in June that it would disclose salary ranges in all internal and external U.S. job postings no later than January 2023, no matter where the job is located. After the company said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2022/06/08/microsoft-announces-four-new-employee-workforce-initiatives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>&nbsp;that it would add the “best practice” of committing to publicly disclose salary ranges by January, many predicted other companies would follow the tech bellwether’s move.&nbsp;



For national or multi-state employers, having a patchwork of policies between different locations can make things too complex, say human resources experts, setting up different rules for different states and unequal access to information for employees who live in locations that don’t have laws in place.



Mariann Madden, who co-leads WTW’s fair pay practice for North America, compares the growing interest in adopting a national policy to how employers responded after a number of states passed bans against asking job candidates about their salary history. “Companies just decided I’m going to take a national approach,” she says.



The new law in California is expected to have a particularly big impact. “It’s the fifth largest economy in the world,” says Hendrickson. New York State also has legislation in the works, and both Hendrickson and Madden expect more local jurisdictions to work on similar legislation.



Of course, some employers aren’t ready to reveal those numbers to the world, whether due to worries they aren’t paying at the level of competitors, a lack of internal clarity about how jobs are paid or, more likely, concerns about pay equity discrepancies and how they would be received by workers if shared publicly. Nearly half of organizations cited the reactions of employees as a reason they were holding back on communicating about pay, and a quarter pointed to a lack of clear job titles and pay bands as reasons for not saying more.



But human resources experts predict they won’t be able to hold back for too long, thanks to shifting employee norms and expectations about pay transparency. “Employers need to own that narrative because it causes chaos if you have incorrect information swirling around,” says Hendrickson. “Employers are realizing half truths and partial information doesn’t serve them well, and creates much more complication than it solves.”&nbsp;



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<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/"></a>By Jena McGregor, Forbes Staff

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