As the fear of the new Omicron variant spreads along with the virus itself, many countries and businesses worldwide have implemented or begun to discuss implementing vaccine mandates, restricting access to services or work to only those who have received their jabs.  



Are you vaccinated against COVID-19? Depending on where you are in the world, you may not have access to certain government services&nbsp;or be able to continue employment&nbsp;without proof of vaccination as vaccine mandates are deliberated and&nbsp;potentially&nbsp;rolled out around the world.&nbsp;



As the Omicron variant sparks&nbsp;fears around the possibility of increased mortality and transmissibility, some nations&nbsp;and businesses&nbsp;have made&nbsp;COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory, with more nation states considering their implementation.&nbsp; &nbsp; “I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now…. how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European&nbsp;Union,” said&nbsp;Ursula von der Leyen,&nbsp;European Commission President,&nbsp;during a press conference yesterday.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Some European&nbsp;Union&nbsp;nations have already implemented&nbsp;their own form of&nbsp;mandates, with Italy and France requiring all healthcare workers to provide proof of vaccination, and many other countries implementing fines and restricting&nbsp;interprovincial and international&nbsp;movement for the unvaccinated.&nbsp;



Similar&nbsp;actions are underway on the African continent, with Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa considering&nbsp;or implementing&nbsp;mandates, with&nbsp;South African President Cyril Ramaphosa&nbsp;announcing deliberations during a national address on November&nbsp;28:&nbsp;&#8220;Government has set up a task team that will undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations.&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Despite&nbsp;having previously&nbsp;stated&nbsp;that&nbsp;“nobody will be forced to take this vaccine. Nobody will be forbidden from traveling, from enrolling at school, or from taking part in any public activity if they have not been vaccinated” in an earlier address, the President seems to have adjusted the&nbsp;government’s&nbsp;position due to economic pressure as a result of increased travel restrictions due to the Omicron variant, which has seen much of the world implement a travel&nbsp;ban on&nbsp;southern Africa in the run-up to the holiday period.&nbsp;The South African Rand dropped to&nbsp;its&nbsp;weakest level in over a year with the discovery of the&nbsp;new variant.&nbsp; &nbsp; Other countries on&nbsp;the continent have already made the move to implement.&nbsp;Kenya, which has seen over a quarter of a million cases of COVID-19, will require&nbsp;people to provide proof of vaccination to enter businesses, restaurants, schools and transport services as of 21 December 2021 – a move which has seen both praise and criticism, as business associations and civil society say that a nation with an 8.8% vaccination rate will not be able to meet sufficient targets&nbsp;and will cause further economic damage.&nbsp; &nbsp; Nigeria has recently extended the vaccination deadline for civil servants to&nbsp;31 December 2021, after which the unvaccinated will see themselves barred access from any public buildings or offices.&nbsp;



However, with only 1.7% of the country’s population vaccinated, it seems unlikely to reach the Federal Government’s earlier set goal of 50% of the population vaccinated by January 2022.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Some South African businesses have already begun implementing mandates of their own, with health and finance conglomerate Discovery&nbsp;making vaccination mandatory for staff&nbsp;by early 2022, the announcement of which caused a surge in uptake of the vaccines within the&nbsp;organization, rising from barely 20% to 94%.&nbsp; &nbsp; “Ultimately, as a science-led organization,&nbsp;we feel a strong moral imperative to do this, given the need to curb the loss of life and the indisputable proof that vaccines work in doing so,” said Discovery CEO Adrian Gore in an op-ed published in South Africa’s&nbsp;Business Day.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Universities and other large businesses in South Africa have followed suit.&nbsp;



Worldwide, the implementation&nbsp;or announcement of mandates&nbsp;have&nbsp;seen backlash and protests.&nbsp;The Biden administration in the United States has seen setbacks recently, with federal courts halting attempts to roll&nbsp;out vaccine mandates for healthcare workers and federal government contractors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In Australia, thousands in Melbourne protested outside Parliament House yesterday as a wide-reaching vaccine mandate was implemented, with many workers in public service leaving their uniforms on the steps of the House in protest against the mandate.    Similar protests have occurred throughout the globe, including South Africa, which has seen anti-vaccination protestors demonstrate outside healthcare and government facilities over the last year.    With COVID-19 cases growing globally and uncertainty around the impact of the Omicron variant, it remains to be seen whether vaccine mandates will be able to be successfully implemented, and if they will contribute successfully to the fight against the pandemic.

Vaccination centers in South Africa continue administering Covid-19 vaccines

Vaccine Mandates – ‘No Jab, No Work’ May Become Reality Amid Omicron Fears

Topline



South African president Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation this evening following the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic with the new variant, Omicron. In his address, Ramaphosa has called for countries who have imposed travel bans on southern Africa to immediately rethink their decision; the South African cabinet has moved to not place the country in a hard lockdown.



Key Facts



Ramaphosa called on countries that imposed travel restrictions on South Africa to lift the “unjustified, discriminatory” bans before further economic damage is caused.



“We are deeply disappointed by the decision of several countries to prohibit travel from a number of southern African countries following the identification of the Omicron variant. This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month,” he said, announcing that South Africa would stay on lockdown alert level 1.



The travel bans imposed by certain countries are in the wake of the B.1.1.529 variant, known as Omicron, first identified and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by South Africa on November 24. According to WHO, the epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of the Omicron variant. The first known confirmed Omicron infection was from a specimen collected on November 9.



Although the country has seen cases rise from 2% to 9 % in less than a week, Ramaphosa noted that the reason behind keeping South Africa at alert level one is the country does have “tools” to protect citizens from the variant. These tools include improving the vaccination process because “vaccines do work, vaccines are saving lives”.



“Vaccination is also vital to the return of our economy to full operation, to the resumption of travel and to the recovery of vulnerable sectors like tourism and hospitality,” Ramaphosa reiterated.



“In taking the decision not to impose further restrictions at this stage, we considered the fact that when we encountered previous waves of infection, vaccines were not widely available and far fewer people were vaccinated. That is no longer the case.”



This is why the president said he was dismayed by other countries across the globe taking the



“unjustified” choice to ban southern African countries from traveling here and vice versa.



“They pledged at that [G20] meeting to restart international travel in a safe and orderly manner, consistent with the work of relevant international organizations…” Ramaphosa said. “The G20 Rome Declaration noted the plight of the tourism sector in developing countries, and made a commitment to support a ‘rapid, resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery of the tourism sector’.”



Countries that have already banned travel from South Africa&nbsp;



Multiple countries across the globe have imposed a travel bans from most countries situated in southern Africa. The restrictions applies to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.&nbsp;



United Kingdom&nbsp;&nbsp;



The South Africa government stated in a press release on November 26 2021, that they noted the&nbsp;temporary&nbsp;ban&nbsp;on&nbsp;all flights from the Southern parts of Africa, including South Africa from entering the UK due to the new variant.&nbsp;&nbsp;



While they respected the decision, the Department of International Relations&nbsp;and Cooperation said they do feel the ban&nbsp;“seems&nbsp;to have been rushed as even the WHO&nbsp;is yet to advise on the next steps.”&nbsp;



Minister Naledi Pandor said &#8220;Our immediate concern is the damage that this decision will cause to both the tourism industries and businesses of both countries.&nbsp;



European Union&nbsp;



Also&nbsp;on Friday the European Union had reportedly also moved to&nbsp;ban flights from southern African countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;



According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-26/eu-proposes-to-halt-air-travel-from-southern-africa-over-variant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg,</a>&nbsp;The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control labeled the strain as a “variant of concern,” its most severe category.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Other countries that have reportedly imposed travel bans to countries in southern Africa:&nbsp;&nbsp;



<ul><li>USA&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Seychelles&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Japan&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>France&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Singapore&nbsp;</li><li>&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;</li><li>Germany&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Canada&nbsp;</li><li>Australia&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>&nbsp;Philippines&nbsp;</li><li>Turkey&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Sri Lanka&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>The&nbsp;United Arab Emirates&nbsp;</li><li>Thailand&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Brazil&nbsp;</li><li>Gautemala&nbsp;</li></ul>



Crucial Quote  



Ramaphosa has called upon countries imposing travel bans on the southern African region to urgently reverse the imposition before any further damage is done to the economy and to the livelihoods of people. 



“These restrictions are unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country and our Southern African sister countries. The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant. The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic”&nbsp;

Federal Health Minister Spahn travels to South Africa

‘Prohibition Of Travel Not Informed By Science’, Says Ramaphosa Calling Out Countries Imposing Bans On Southern Africa

A new variant of Covid-19 has been detected in South Africa, with its degree of mutation causing waves of concern worldwide and triggering travel restrictions over fears that the variant may be more transmissible and deadly.  



A new variant of the Covid-19&nbsp;coronavirus&nbsp;has been detected in South Africa, and shows alarming degrees of mutation, causing a new series of travel bans that will impact the African continent as concern grows around the variant’s transmissibility and ability to resist vaccines.&nbsp; &nbsp; The new variant, currently termed B.1.1.529, has been identified in South Africa, Botswana and in Hong Kong. The variant is expected to receive an official designation from the World&nbsp;Health&nbsp;Organization&nbsp;in line with other variants during the course of&nbsp;today,&nbsp;November&nbsp;26.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &#8220;Initially it looked like some cluster outbreaks, but from yesterday, the indication came from our scientists from the Network of Genomic Surveillance that they were observing a new variant,&#8221; said South African minister of Health Joe&nbsp;Phaahla&nbsp;yesterday during a press conference discussing the variant.&nbsp;&nbsp;



&nbsp; During the briefing, genomic scientists highlighted that the variant has an unusually high number of mutations, with over 30 in the spike protein of the virus itself, which plays a determining factor in the virus’ ability to enter the body and a key target of vaccines themselves.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; “The variant has a very high number of mutations,” said Professor Tulio de Oliveira of the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, which first detected the variant. “We can see that the variant is potentially spreading very fast. We do expect to start seeing pressure in the healthcare system in the next few days and weeks,” he continued.&nbsp; &nbsp; The detection of the new variant has led to an increase in travel restrictions, with the United Kingdom announcing a temporary suspension of all flights from South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, eSwatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana from Friday&nbsp;amid concerns around the variant. Israel too has imposed similar restrictions, with the addition of Mozambique to its list of restricted countries.&nbsp;These bans are a hard hit for the South African tourism industry, which has&nbsp;already&nbsp;suffered greatly due to the pandemic.&nbsp;&nbsp;



With 77 confirmed cases of the new variant in&nbsp;the country’s&nbsp;Gauteng&nbsp;province,&nbsp;according to official National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) data, there are indications that most of the recent spike in cases are due to the new variant, but it’s still too early to say whether the variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant, or to what degree it is able to bypass immunization.&nbsp;&nbsp;



&nbsp; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with the National Command Council on Sunday to assess the implications of the variant.&nbsp;&nbsp;



&#8220;Alongside vaccination, the wearing of face masks, frequent washing or sanitation of hands, keeping a social distance and the avoidance of gatherings remain a proven, effective means of stopping or slowing the spread of coronavirus infection. The virus has not been eradicated and vaccination protects us from serious illness, hospitalization or death,&#8221; the office of the presidency said in a press release.&nbsp; &nbsp; However, with the holiday season fast approaching, it remains to be seen whether the South African tourism economy will recover from further travel restrictions, and whether increased lockdown measures will be imposed in South Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Biden Administration Reinstates COVID Travel Ban For Non-US Residents

New Covid-19 Variant Detected In South Africa Triggers Fresh Wave Of Travel Bans Ahead Of Holiday Season

A huge blast that seems to have been aimed at a United Nations convoy has left at least eight people dead and several wounded in the Somali capital, with armed group Al-Shabab claiming responsibility.  



A deadly&nbsp;explosion has torn through the capital city of Mogadishu, Somalia, leaving at least eight&nbsp;people dead and many wounded&nbsp;according to local officials and news reports.&nbsp; &nbsp; The bombing occurred outside a local&nbsp;school and comes at a time when&nbsp;the country is navigating election&nbsp;difficulties and suffering a massive drought.&nbsp;



The attack seems to have targeted&nbsp;a convoy&nbsp;that provides security for United Nations operations in the area.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The Al-Qaeda&nbsp;associated Islamist extremist group Al-Shabab&nbsp;has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, according&nbsp;to&nbsp;a news website associated with the group, with the objective being to target Western officials being escorted by convoy.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Police spokesperson&nbsp;Abdifatah&nbsp;Aden Hassan confirmed&nbsp;to local reporters that&nbsp;at least eight deaths and 17&nbsp;wounded in the blast.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Al-Shabab&nbsp;has increased the frequency of their attacks in Somalia in recent months, coming at a time when the African Union mandated peacekeeping force was supposed to withdraw from the country&nbsp;– however, this may be extended given the degree of instability and possibility of further challenges to the long-delayed presidential vote.&nbsp;

SOMALIA-HEALTH-VIRUS

Bombing Outside Mogadishu School Leaves 8 Dead

<p id="h-startups-are-supposed-to-specialize-but-opensea-s-founders-thrived-by-building-a-wide-open-market-for-creating-and-trading-all-manner-of-nfts-whether-art-music-or-gaming-now-that-they-re-centimillionaires-and-poised-to-become-billionaires-they-have-other-worries-competitors-fraudsters-and-the-next-crypto-crash">Startups are supposed to specialize, but OpenSea’s founders thrived by building a wide-open market for creating and trading all manner of NFTs, whether art, music or gaming. Now that they’re centimillionaires and poised to become billionaires, they have other worries: competitors, fraudsters and the next crypto crash.&nbsp;



In March 2020, as Covid-19 began to spread, OpenSea founders Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah held a gut-check phone call. Their five-person startup had built a platform on which users could create, buy and sell all sorts of nonfungible tokens (NFTs)—computer files used to track ownership of unique digital assets like art and music on a ledger known as a blockchain. Yet 26 months after going live, they had just 4,000 active users doing $1.1 million in transactions a month, which translated (given OpenSea’s 2.5% sales commission) to a paltry $28,000 in monthly revenue. The NFT market had a “dead feeling,” recalls CTO Atallah, who conducted his side of the call from the basement of his parents’ Colorado home, where he had gone to work as New York locked down. Ominously, Rare Bits, a direct and better-funded competitor, had just announced it was folding. The pair set a do-or-die goal of doubling business by the end of the year—and met it in September.&nbsp;



Finally, in February 2021, the NFT market roused from hibernation—and went crazy. In July, OpenSea processed $350 million in NFT trades. That same month, in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, it raised $100 million in venture capital at a $1.5 billion valuation. In August, as NFT hype (and FOMO) reached a fever pitch, volume spiked tenfold to&nbsp;<a href="https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$3.4 billion</a>—an $85 million commission windfall for OpenSea in a month when it likely burned less than $5 million on expenses. Although transactions have since retreated to around $2 billion a month, the platform now has 1.8 million active users and a dominant share of the market. It’s up to 70 employees and is scouting for dozens more, including much-needed customer service reps.&nbsp;



Recently, there’s been talk of another round of venture investment at a valuation that could reach $10 billion. With a 19% ownership stake each, CEO Finzer, 31, and Atallah, 29, are centimillionaires on the cusp of becoming crypto’s newest billionaires.&nbsp;



Yet Atallah was humble as he chatted in November at a restaurant in New York’s kitschy new Margaritaville Resort Times Square, sitting near its 32-foot Statue of Liberty replica, which hoists a cocktail instead of a torch. He was there for the third annual&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nft.nyc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFT.NYC</a>&nbsp;convention, which boas­ted 5,500 registrants with 3,000 on the waiting list. Young enthusiasts prowled the hotel wearing&nbsp;<a href="https://opensea.io/collection/boredapeyachtclub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a>&nbsp;sweatshirts—a tribute to a collection of 10,000 simian NFTs whose owners treat it as a social club as much as a collectible or investment.&nbsp;



You might say humility was at the heart of Finzer and Atallah’s successful strategy. Some advisors had urged them to specialize in an NFT niche—say, art, gaming or music. But they opted to build a category-agnostic platform because they didn’t think they were prescient enough to predict which NFT types would catch on.&nbsp;



Beyond casting a wide net, Finzer says, OpenSea has thrived simply by “being in the right place at the right time” and listening to users about what they want. The platform tracks NFTs on ethereum and other blockchains, and all purchases are made in crypto. Sellers can opt for a fixed-price or auction format. Artists can reserve a percentage of each resale price. Ultimately, Finzer sees the NFT ownership verification model working for anything from concert tickets to real estate—he’s just not sure what will succeed when. “I’ve always had a pretty gray view of the future,” he says.&nbsp;



Despite its sudden success, OpenSea faces big and varied risks—from fraud and another NFT market bust to new competition. In October, Coinbase, the nation’s largest crypto exchange and an original investor in OpenSea, announced it will launch its own NFT peer-to-peer marketplace. Within weeks, Coinbase had 2.5 million sign-ups for its waiting list, and CEO Brian Armstrong was predicting the new business “could be as big or bigger” than its core crypto trading business.&nbsp;



OpenSea’s open-market approach heightens the risk of counterfeits, scams and fraud—just ask Amazon or eBay. For example, a scammer can copy an image of someone else’s art and sell it as an NFT on OpenSea. Finzer says the site is working on an automated way to spot fakes and has moderators who investigate suspicious offerings. Still, people can present problems too. In September, Finzer&nbsp;<a href="https://opensea.io/blog/announcements/employee-information-use-at-opensea/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">requested the resignation</a>&nbsp;of OpenSea’s head of product after Twitter users&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/0xZuwu/status/1437921263394115584" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">discovered</a>&nbsp;a crypto wallet linked to that executive was buying NFTs shortly before they appeared on the price-moving OpenSea home­page—in other words, he was allegedly frontrunning his own employer’s decisions.&nbsp;



While they come across as humble, OpenSea’s founders are hardly low on ambition. Raised in the Bay Area by a physician mom and a software engineer dad, Finzer says he was “devastated” to be rejected by Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Yale. (He settled for Brown.) After a short stint as a Pinterest software engineer, he cofounded his first startup, Claimdog, in 2015 and sold it to Credit Karma a year later.&nbsp;



As a kid, Atallah, the Colorado-born son of Iranian immigrants, made spreadsheets to compare the attributes of everything from birds to brow­sers. After graduating from Stanford, he worked as a programmer before teaming up with Finzer. In January 2018 they entered the Y Combinator startup accelerator with an idea for paying users crypto to share their Wi-Fi hotspots. But at that point, CryptoKitties—the cartoonish virtual cats whose ownership records were digitally inscribed on the ethereum blockchain—had captured the public imagination. “It was the first time people who didn’t really care about crypto were suddenly getting interested in it for reasons other than flipping a coin. I thought that was really powerful,” Atallah says. They quickly pivoted to OpenSea and later moved their operation to New York City.&nbsp;



Much like Beanie Babies, their cloth-and-stuffing ancestors, CryptoKitties turned out to be duds as investment-grade collectibles—the supply was too great to make most of them worth much. After spiking in early 2018, interest in both crypto and NFTs went into hibernation.&nbsp;https://view.ceros.com/forbes/sidebar-2-3-1?heightOverride=741



What awakened the market in early 2021 wasn’t OpenSea’s doing. Instead, platforms like the billionaire Winklevoss twins’ Nifty Gateway&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2021/04/05/revenge-of-the-winklevii-facebook-winklevoss-bitcoin-nft-billionaire-revenge/?sh=4c2e24a01572">captured attention</a>&nbsp;with curated, high-quality art. Last March, Christie’s auctioned the NFT for digital artist Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days”&nbsp;for $69 million, the third-highest price ever paid for work by a living artist.&nbsp;



As NFTs fetched eye-popping prices, more and more ordinary folks decided they too wanted to become creators, collectors or speculators—and turned to OpenSea, with its anyone-can-be-an-artist ethos, built-in secondary market and handy features. For instance, the site has an advanced filtering system so users can find NFTs with the rarest—and theoretically most valuable—attributes. (Only 46 Bored Apes have solid-gold fur, and they command a hefty premium.) When a new NFT is created and recorded on ethereum, the site automatically spawns a webpage displaying it—a nice feature as NFTs became a status symbol, with people sharing their OpenSea pages and changing their Twitter profile pictures to an NFT they own. “It became this circular feedback loop, driven by envy and desire. And OpenSea really captured that market,” observes Richard Chen, a partner at VC firm 1Confirmation and an early OpenSea investor.&nbsp;



Dani, 27, a former fashion designer living in Georgia, has turned a $17,000 investment in NFTs like the World of Women into a portfolio worth $715,000. AJ, a 37-year-old former gaming company CEO from North Carolina, put less than $10,000 into NFTs and now values his digital assets at $1.3 million. He recently convinced his gastroenterologist brother to start buying NFTs. The brother, in turn, hooked his own buddies. “They’re pretty much doing colonoscopies and then checking their phones for new NFT drops,” AJ says.&nbsp;



Sounds like a bubble, all right, raising the question of how OpenSea will fare when it bursts. Responds Finzer: “We have a large amount of padding in case we need to weather a winter.” 



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/"></a>By Jeff Kauflin, Forbes Staff

Non-fungible token art.

What Every Crypto Buyer Should Know About OpenSea, The King Of The NFT Market

AS I WATCHED the militant group Taliban take control of Afghanistan, ousting the sitting president and his government, I started to reflect on leadership. Very swiftly, as America was finalizing its withdrawal of troops, insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities. It was a stark reminder of how precarious and delicate the concept of leadership is.



In 1994, Brooks Bash poignantly asked if leadership and parochialism or narrow-mindedness were an enduring reality. Yet, with the turn of the century, there was evidently no room for parochialism.



As globalism took hold, leadership stretched beyond the confines of walls and of borders. Strangely enough, when borders closed as nations locked down last year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were once again staring down the barrel of parochialism. How have we managed to fall so woefully behind? We are collectively navigating a particularly challenging period – one defined by the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise in populism and resultingly a rise in intolerance alongside technological shifts at an unprecedented rate.



Perhaps the most stark question we have been faced with against this backdrop is what should leadership look like? How we respond as leaders will be a greater definer of the times. Will parochialism once again define leadership? Historically, we have seen the impact of pandemics, of wars based on intolerance and of industrial revolutions. Though these events soon took their rightful place in the annals of history, the response of leaders has remained stark in our collective memory.



Parallel to the pandemic, we have entered the era of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). The 4IR is changing every facet of society from the way we interact, to how our industries operate to the way we consume. While we have long been on the cusp of the 4IR, it is safe to say our current circumstances have hastened this shift.



As we interrogate leadership against our current and rather grim context, it is apparent that it is not willingness but the arsenal of skills needed to confront a major anxiety that is the essence of leadership. Of course, with the rapid pace of change we now find ourselves faced with, we have to interrogate what these skills should look like.



As we battle the pandemic, I have spent much of my time trying to understand what leadership in the 21st century means. Faced with the seemingly impossible task of righting the ship against a turbulent and unpredictable backdrop, leaders have had to take extraordinary measures, create Marshall plans and deploy resources. As the pandemic rolled into its second year, it became increasingly apparent that leadership could not be discussed in the abstract, or in terms of theoretical frameworks.



Rather, leadership as a practice needs to be interrogated and the layers of complexity have to be unpacked. Though there are various levels of complexities, it is apparent that a leader needs 4IR thinking, which entails the following skills: complex problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgement and decision-making, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility. Importantly, we have to lead from a place of knowledge.



How do we begin to adapt to a changing world, and our changing circumstances, if those at the helm of our country are ill-equipped? For instance, as we modernize and reform our agricultural systems through land reform, we must have sufficient people who are knowledgeable in the political economy of farming to ensure continued food security and global competitiveness. As we tackle the problems of our shrinking industries, we need to understand issues of automation, technology and human capital to improve the quality of life of our people. This fundamentally calls for a reimagining of what it takes to be a leader. Are we ensuring that our engineers, our academics, our scientists and our philosophers are at the fore of leadership? This is crucial if we are to close the gaps that exist.



As we face an ever-changing context, leadership must speak to it. Will we continue to widen our disparities or will we find solutions to some of our most deep-seated inequities? Will we continue to let intolerance define our world order or in the disarray we find ourselves in, will we forge a sense of unity? There are leadership lessons to be learned from the successes and mistakes of the last year. If we are to use the pandemic as a yardstick for leadership strategies going forward, it must remain stark in our minds what accounted for the successes. If we are indeed to tap into the promise and override the peril, we must begin by approaching leadership differently and reimagine what it takes to be a leader in this new world.



By TSHILIDZI MARWALA The writer is the Vice- Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg, a member of the Namibia 4IR task force and author of the book ‘Leadership Lessons From The Books I Have Read’.

Smart city and global communication network ,Business  concept..

Reimagining Of The Leader In A New World

<a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>TOPLINE People who previously contracted Covid-19 have about the same level of protection against contracting the disease as those fully inoculated with two key vaccines, according to the findings of a study published Monday which adds to a growing and sometimes contradictory body of research on natural immunity.



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



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveytechnicalarticleimpactofvaccinationontestingpositiveintheuk/latest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;published by the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) looked at more than 8,000 positive coronavirus tests across Britain between May and August, when delta was the dominant variant.&nbsp;



During this time, people who had previously recovered from Covid-19 were about 71% less likely to contract it a second time, the analysis found.&nbsp;



This represents about the same level of protection the study found was offered by two doses of the vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which have been prominently used in Europe’s inoculation drive.&nbsp;



Two doses of the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of contracting Covid-19 by around 73% compared to 62% for AstraZeneca’s vaccine.&nbsp;



The overlap in confidence intervals meant there “was no evidence” that full vaccination was any more effective in preventing Covid-19 than previous natural infection, the researchers concluded.&nbsp;



The study, which has not been peer reviewed, found previous infection was similarly effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, but did not delve into the differences between natural infection and vaccines in preventing severe disease.



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



There have been dozens of studies conducted on natural immunity, with many coming up with different results. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;out of Israel last month indicated people with two vaccine shots actually had a six-fold higher chance of getting infected with the delta variant than those who had previously contracted Covid-19. In this study, vaccinated people also had a higher risk of symptomatic infection, and a 6.7-fold higher chance of being hospitalized. However, other studies have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/health/if-youve-had-covid-do-you-need-the-vaccine.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signaled</a>&nbsp;that mRNA vaccines produce more antibodies, more reliably than previous infection from Covid-19 does. Regardless, scientists are still strongly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/having-sars-cov-2-once-confers-much-greater-immunity-vaccine-vaccination-remains-vital" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recommending</a>&nbsp;the previously infected get vaccinated against Covid-19 because of the many remaining questions about natural immunity, its level of protection and how long it can last.&nbsp;



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



Studies have also consistently shown that vaccination on top of previous infection offers even higher levels of immunity. As&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2021/10/18/vaccine-effectiveness-against-covid-19-what-can-the-covid-19-infection-survey-tell-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">highlighted</a>&nbsp;by Sarah Croft, the head of analysis for the U.K. study, “the highest protection was found among those who had experienced a past infection followed by two vaccines.”&nbsp;



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



The study also found both vaccines were less effective at preventing Covid-19 during the delta wave than during the previous alpha wave of the virus. The efficacy of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine was 80% during the earlier period, compared to 76% for AstraZeneca’s vaccine. Croft said this trend may be further evidence of the waning immunity of vaccines as the data “includes results from participants who had experienced a longer average time period since their second Covid vaccination.”&nbsp;



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



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/health/if-youve-had-covid-do-you-need-the-vaccine.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“If You’ve Had Covid, Do You Need the Vaccine?”</a>&nbsp;(The New York Times)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/coronavirus/">Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus</a>

SAFRICA-HEALTH-VIRUS-VACCINE

Prior Covid Infection Is As Effective At Preventing The Virus As Vaccination, U.K. Study Suggests

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW: A Decade of Celebrating Africa’s Bright Young Minds

The scene is not picture-perfect yet, but ace photographers are slowly capturing the creative market in Ghana.



WHEN THE iconic Ghanaian photographer Emmanuel Bobbie, known widely by the moniker ‘Bob Pixel’, tragically passed away in February this year, the news sent shockwaves through the creative industry in Ghana. Bobbie had become a hero to a battery of young and upcoming Ghanaian photographers steadily following in his footsteps to build their own brands and enterprises, hoping to make it in the sector, a move exacerbated by the growing youth unemployment in the West African country. 



Bobbie was one of the pioneers and enablers of this transformation with his work celebrated both in Ghana and the world. His death reportedly attributed to Covid-19, turns the spotlight on the creative economy in Ghana. Whilst the pandemic has seen a renaissance of all things digital, it has also applied to the photography industry that now seems to be rapidly attracting a retinue of talented young men and women finding their feet in the once not-so-lucrative and unattractive sector. 



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:37% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51906 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">It becomes very difficult for a startup because unlike developed countries, where you get funding and co-funding, in Ghana, that did not exist and the systems are not right to enable you to set up. – Gilbert Asante</blockquote>
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One such beneficiary of this growth is Gilbert Asante, who has been making an impression on social media and the corporate world with his photography.



Spotting a gap in the market for quality images when he began his career many years ago as a web designer, many of Asante’s photos have gone viral and been trend-setting in Ghana. 



Some of the biggest celebrities and corporate brands have queued up to the doorsteps of Laceup Media, the bespoke production house offering services covering every sphere of advertising, from graphic design to billboards, videography and commercials. 



Asante moonlights as a creative director for the company as well as being his own photography brand. 



“When I started, photography wasn’t a big thing as it is now. So, I would design a website with my team for a restaurant and the images [will be] terrible so it [would end] up making the website [look] very tacky. So that is what pushed me to invest in a camera. I just needed some decent photos. 



“At that time, there were no top photographers. So, I said ‘why don’t I take a camera and take a picture and add this to the website’. So, after that, things became curious in terms of ‘how do I make these pictures look like what I see in international publications’,” says Asante. 



His inspiration to delve deeper into the world of conceptual photography came about after a brief visit to the art centres of Japan. When he returned to Ghana, Asante knew he had found his calling. A self-taught photographer, he is now a name in the industry for his glamorous fashion shoots and out-of-the-box creative direction. But his success has been no walk in the park.



“The biggest issue I have is not based on photography but based on setting up a business in Ghana generally and that really cuts across all the sectors. It becomes very difficult for a startup because unlike developed countries, where you get funding and co-funding, in Ghana, that did not exist and the systems are not right to enable you to set up,” says Asante. 



While he was busy contending with these institutional issues, Elorm Ayayee pursued a career as a multilingual translator elsewhere. Fluent in French and Spanish, today, the founder of Elorm Ayayee Portraiture, a legacy portrait photography business in Ghana, was desperately searching for a career where she could make the most impact in the lives of people. 



“I was at a point in my career that I wasn’t making a contribution and I had worked myself into a system and at the core, I was against that. I don’t like being in a box or a cog in the wheel,” recalls Ayayee. 



Being a creative at heart, Ayayee went into publishing and worked as a ghostwriter for clients amongst many other things. 



“Photography was never on the horizon and never something I had considered… I came back to Ghana and was working with a company that did medical and surgical systems and I got married and had kids and then I realized that I had to make the call and I couldn’t have it all. I had to decide between my career and who I wanted to be as a family woman.” 



She made the tough decision to quit her career. 



“At that point, I had not been idle or jobless for over 20 years. I was always on the go and handling multiple things. I suddenly found myself with nothing to do. So, I took a trip to see my mum. One day, she had a program she had to go to and needed a photo of herself. It was the weekend and no one could do it and so she gave me my dad’s camera and I took a photo of her and until today, she says it is one of the best photos of her life.”



And just like that, Ayayee got hooked on photography. The Elorm Ayayee brand has been able to emerge as one of the top photography outlets in Ghana. Her popularity grew with time due to her ability to take captivating images of women, especially older women. 



“I immediately hooked on to what I thought my personal contribution would be. And that was birthed [by] seeing how my mother’s photo of herself impacted her and the other people and I said ‘this is my motivating factor’; seeing the way a woman sees herself when she looks at a photograph was amazing.” 



Both Ayayee and Asante are living proof of how lucrative the photography industry can be. But there is still a long way to go for upcoming talent. 



“A lot of people don’t see the business aspect of photography. There is so much big business from it and a lot of people don’t understand that and that is why they see photography as some job that is not going to give you so much security,” says Asante. 



For Ayayee, she knew the key to winning was to zone in on a specific demographic. 



“I was very clear about what I wanted to do. My niche was established when I started. I started out photographing women and I only took images of women above 50. And that kept me busy because I was offering a service that at the time didn’t really exist. I was very resolute about what type of images I wanted and my target audience,” says Ayayee. 



For Asante, on the other hand, the lack of any institutional investment meant he had to find other means to launch his business. 



“Laceup was started with about $4,000 which was money my partner and I put in at that time to purchase a few things. This was money I had saved from my previous work as a web designer. And my partner fielded the other half of it. It wasn’t that much in the beginning and we decided to build on that and make a lot of sacrifices in terms of the income coming in and how we could put it back in the business and make the company bigger. That is what helped us grow to the level we are now,” says Asante. 



Both Ayayee and Asante charge anywhere from $1,000 upwards depending on the packages they offer. 



“I didn’t start to be priced affordably because I was a mother of three and I had a limited amount of time. I felt like I had a very unparalleled skill-set which I translated into the cost I wished to receive for my work,” says Ayayee. 



The biggest hurdle in the photography business, according to Asante, is access to quality equipment. 



“All the equipment we use is imported. Every single one of them; even the backdrop paper we use for photography and that is difficult. We don’t even have servicing companies here so if cameras or equipment break down, you have to send it back to the UK and that was one of the biggest challenges we had in the beginning.” 



These are just some of the early-stage lessons they can impart to younger aspirants in the country. Zion Market Research estimated the global demand for digital photography at around $77.6 billion in 2015, projected to reach $110.8 billion by this year, and with so many young starry-eyed hopefuls still looking to make ends meet in Ghana, at least they have emerging role models who have looked through a more creative lens and proven that clicks can convert to cash.

Elom

Ghanaian Photographers On How Their Creative Businesses Click

After an injury stymied Brandon Fleming’s Liberty University basketball career, he dropped out to earn a living as an assembly line worker in Atlanta, Georgia. After attempting suicide, he was determined to turn his life around. 



He re-enrolled at Liberty University on a full-ride despite having a middle school-level reading comprehension. Fleming, however, only passed his courses only by cheating. His English professor caught Fleming cheating; rather than flunk him, she forced him to redo the assignment—by her side over the course of multiple months. In the process, she taught him to read and write, exposing him to Black authors like Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass. 



As a side hustle, he coached a debate team at an inner city Atlanta middle school. After the team became undefeated national champions, Harvard recruited him to coach their debate team. In turn, Fleming founded the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project, which recruits highly motivated Black youth from Atlanta and trains them through a year-long debate residency with Harvard that culminates in competition against top-ranked debaters from 25 countries. So far, the three cohorts Fleming has trained since the program’s 2017 inception have won the prestigious national Harvard Debate Tournament. This month, Hachette Books published&nbsp;Miseducated, Fleming’s memoir.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter 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">From drug dealer to Harvard educator, here&#39;s why Brandon Fleming believes heart-first teaching is key to racial equality: <a href="https://t.co/rjUzXo228v">https://t.co/rjUzXo228v</a> <a href="https://t.co/TfANQxjonk">pic.twitter.com/TfANQxjonk</a>&mdash; Forbes (@Forbes) <a href="https://twitter.com/Forbes/status/1408475118007902214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Forbes&nbsp;spoke with Fleming about his childhood, plans to open the first truly equitable boarding school and heart-first teaching.&nbsp;



Alexandra Sternlicht:&nbsp;Tell me about how you ended up in debate.&nbsp;



Brandon Fleming:&nbsp;I didn’t know that Black people were scholars. In the world that I existed in, there were nothing but Black gangsters and Black drug dealers and Black athletes. When my professor introduced me to Black writers, she opened up this world in which I never knew there was space for me. I just became hungry for more. I started watching movies and reading books about Black scholars. I was Googling movies similar to&nbsp;Malcolm X&nbsp;and found another movie starring Denzel Washington about a Black teacher. It’s called the&nbsp;Great Debaters, and it changed my life forever. I was like, “If only this was a real thing.”&nbsp;



I grew up an athlete, and I got hurt. I had nowhere to direct my competitive drive. So now I was like, ‘You can be competitive in smart stuff?’ So I came to find out it was a real thing, and that my college had a debate team—and then I tried out and made the team. I was so captivated by debate because it was not only helping me learn but discovering my voice and identity.&nbsp;



Sternlicht:&nbsp;You made the&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;30 Under 30 list as the founder of the Harvard Diversity Project. Are you still involved in that?



Fleming:&nbsp;Absolutely. I always wonder why I was the one who made it out of the ‘hood because there are so many people out there who never made it out. In fact, most of them never made it out. Some of them aren&#8217;t even alive anymore. When I made it from the hood to Harvard, I knew that my being there had to be far bigger than just me. I realized the reason I was there was to build a bridge—to create access for more people who look like me.



For three consecutive years, every group of students that I recruited and trained in Atlanta through the Harvard Diversity Project—every single one of them won the Harvard Debate Tournament. It shows the world that it’s bigger than debate. It shows the world that anything Black and Brown people have not achieved is not due to ability; it’s only due to access.&nbsp;



Sternlicht:&nbsp;From your own drive and from encountering some amazing mentors, you’ve had incredible success—all through education. Do you think that the education system is the main way to achieve racial equity?&nbsp;



Fleming:&nbsp;When we look at the plight of American education, it’s not a policy issue. It’s a heart issue. The reason is that we don’t understand that the way we create a more equitable world is through empathetic education. What does it look like? It looks exactly like what that professor did for me, which is meeting me where I was.&nbsp;



English did not change me. Academics did not change me. Love is what changed me. Empathy is what changed me.&nbsp;



The reason I wrote this book [Miseducated] is because we can’t reach people that we don’t understand. When we talk about reaching at-risk youth, that’s how we can reach them: love them first and teach them second. Once we learn how to do that, education will transform.&nbsp;



Sternlicht:&nbsp;How do you think educators and academic institutions can institute heart into their curriculum?&nbsp;



Fleming:&nbsp;We have to understand emotional learning. It goes beyond intellectual intelligence. You can’t be concerned with reaching the mind and not reaching the heart. We have to meet them where they are—that’s the definition of equity. It’s what that professor did for me: being willing to go the extra mile above the call of duty.&nbsp;



The other part of it is culturally relevant teaching. When my professor wanted to teach me to read and write, she didn’t go back to William Faulkner or F. Scott Fitzgerald. She understood the importance of culture and representation. That’s the definition of culturally relevant teaching: it’s marrying our agenda with their interests.&nbsp;



Young people are not disinterested. Young people are not disengaged. It’s easier for us to say they’re disinterested because that negates our responsibility.&nbsp;



English did not change me. Academics did not change me. Love is what changed me. Empathy is what changed me.&nbsp;Brandon Fleming



Sternlicht:&nbsp;What is the role of higher education in this system?



Fleming:&nbsp;One role higher education can play is creating equitable summer programming, which is what we’re doing at Harvard. We’re giving access to Black and Brown students because the other option is to leave these kids to fend for themselves.&nbsp;



Sternlicht:&nbsp;How do you think your impact will be most felt? Through your book? Through Harvard? Or other sorts of career things?&nbsp;



Fleming:&nbsp;I can let you in on something I haven’t shared with many others. If I have discovered the tool that levels the playing field for marginalized people, it means I have a responsibility to get that tool in the hands of as many people as possible, and I can’t do that at Harvard. Right now, I am in the process of building a school that is called the Veritas School of Social Sciences. It’s going to be the most equitable school in the world. It’s going to be a boarding school for people of color. It’s in Atlanta, Georgia and the development is already underway. We plan to open the school in either the fall of 2023 or 2024.&nbsp;



Sternlicht:&nbsp;You mentioned over email that your book is being optioned for a movie?&nbsp;



Fleming:&nbsp;Yes, it is! There’s not much I can share—only because now we’re negotiating with different production companies and studios to determine which contract we want to sign.&nbsp;



This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 



By Alexandra Sternlicht, Forbes Staff

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From Drug Dealer To Harvard Educator: Why Brandon Fleming Believes Heart-First Teaching Is Key To Racial Equality

So what would a historic pandemic year throw up? Ground-breaking entrepreneurs and thinkers. Our 2021 class of Under 30s are just that: influential creatives, imaginative business owners, innovative techies and gifted sports stars. Celebrating seven years of the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list, Renuka Methil, Managing Editor of FORBES AFRICA, speaks to the cover stars headlining the list and representing their cohorts from across the African continent. 



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Panel Conversation With The 2021 FORBES AFRICA Under 30 Cover Stars" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SOlvp8FTxNM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><figcaption>Video edited by Chanel Retief </figcaption></figure>



And they are Mihlali Ndamase, a creative and digital influencer from South Africa, Reinhard Mahalie, the founder of RM Fashion Styling in Namibia, Cleo Johnson, the founder of Nuecleo in South Africa, Shakemore Timburwa, the founder of Energy Plus in Zimbabwe, and Antonio Depina, the founder of Overseas Basketball Connection based in Cape Verde.



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2021/06/11/class-of-2021-change-makers-in-a-historic-year/">Read more about the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 Class of 2021 </a>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51313" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/IMG_5029-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /><figcaption>Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-look-out-for">What To Look Out For</h2>



Our FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 curators, Karen Mwendera, Chanel Retief and Simone Umraw will have be in conversation with some of the changemakers who made the Class of 2021 on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/forbesafrica/">Instagram</a>. Stay tuned for more!

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Panel: In Conversation With The 2021 FORBES AFRICA Under 30 Cover Stars

Members of this year’s list of under 30s have one thing in common: A NEW COVID-INDUCED AGENDA FOR SOCIAL CHANGE. So what would a historic pandemic year throw up? ground-breaking entrepreneurs and thinkers. Our 2021 class of under 30s are just that: INFLUENTIAL CREATIVES, IMAGINATIVE BUSINESS OWNERS, INNOVATIVE TECHIES, AND GIFTED SPORTS STARS. Celebrating seven years of the FORBES AFRICA 30 UNDER 30 LIST, these achievers prove that now more than ever,&nbsp; they are crucial to the AFRICAN GROWTH STORY.



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-the-under-30-team">THE UNDER 30 TEAM</h4>



Words: Karen Mwendera, Chanel Retief, Simone Umraw Art Director: Lucy Nkosi Photographer: Motlabana Monnakgotla Retouching: Newkatz Studio Styling: Keabetswe Mafora; Outfits supplied by: Spero Villioti, Viviers Studio, Sisi the Collection, GertJohan Coetzee, Port of LNG, Amen Concepts, Europa Art Studio: Light Station Studio, Johannesburg | Hair &amp; Makeup: SnehhOnline Beauty



FORBES AFRICA finds out how some of the members of the CLASS of 2021 reacted when they found out that they made the most coveted list in Africa!



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="&quot;How did you feel when you find out you made the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 Class of 2021&quot;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_ov0N5zlXU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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EXTERNAL JUDGES: THE CATEGORY EXPERTS WHOSE ROLE WAS TO SURVEY ALL THE FINALISTS OF THE 2021 30 UNDER 30 LIST, RANK THEM AND PROVIDE COMMENTARY ON EACH CANDIDATE.



BUSINESS: Nigerian businesswoman Uche Pedro, the founder, and CEO of BellaNaija, a media-tech brand known for its entertainment and lifestyle content. She has been in the business game for over 15 years, collecting numerous local and international accolades along the way including making the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA 50 Most Powerful Women list in 2020.



TECHNOLOGY: Olugbenga Agboola, the cofounder and CEO of Flutterwave, an African fintech firm building digital payments infrastructure. He has contributed to the development of fintech solutions at several tech companies and financial institutions such as PayPal, Standard Bank, among others. Flutterwave recently raised $170 million, giving it ‘unicorn’ status with a value of over $1 billion.



CREATIVES: Dr John Kani, a South African actor, author, director, and playwright known for his roles in Marvel movies Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther as well as The Lion King. In addition, Kani is also the Founder of the Market Theatre LaboratoryAcademy, chair of the Apartheid Museum South Africa, patron and Ambassador of the Market Theatre, and Trustee for the WWFNedbank Green Trust.



SPORTS: Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, a Zimbabwean-born professional rugby player who plays for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby and previously for the South African national team and the Sharks in Super Rugby. With 117 caps, he is the most capped prop in South African history and the third most-capped Springbok of all time. He is also a 2019 Rugby World Cup winner. He owns a security company in South Africa and The Beast Foundation.



AUDIT PARTNER: FORBES AFRICA partnered again with SNG Grant Thornton to vet the business and financial statements of the candidates. This involved understanding the landscape, the profitability, growth and most of all, the scalability of each business.



For the full list download the digital copy <a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-30-under-30-june-july-2021/">here</a>

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Forbes Africa #30Under30 List: CLASS OF 2021 Change-Makers In A Historic Year

From Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world, Africa is not only diverse in its people but also in its industries and creativity. For FORBES AFRICA hundredth issue (since the magazine’s inception in 2011), we decided to curate a list celebrating these very ideas, inventions, and influential role models that have spelt Africa’s growth over the last decade.



Singer, actor, philanthropist, activist, businesswoman, and humanitarian, are just some of the words associated with the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka. She talks to FORBES AFRICA:



Q: So, just tell me a bit about yourself, and what led you to be going on this incredible journey?



A: Well, you know, growing up in Soweto, during Apartheid, I mean, I was born in 1965 and so growing up and so were to watching all the atrocities that with knowing that you are just an entity in this country, never allowed to vote, you know. And when my father passed on the government, took the house from my mum, because she was a black single woman and unmarried because her husband had died. Seeing her fight and seeing what that did to my family inspired me greatly in terms of where I wanted to be in life and I wanted to make a difference.



Q: And then, what was it like, for you to reach the heights of your career that you have? I mean, especially given your years of activism during apartheid, and now becoming this kind of meteoric power within Africa?



A: Well, I think just growing in that environment, seeing inequality, and knowing that there&#8217;s very little that we can do, but maybe just to, to get an education and be empowered, because that was the only thing that could have taken us out of our situation, to just get education, even though the education that was given to black people was minimum, but I thought, I&#8217;ll grab what I have and make do with it. So I became very lucky because when I completed my matric, I started singing, initially my mother wanted me to go and study law, I wanted to study to be a chartered accountant and when that didn&#8217;t happen, and I started singing,



That, for me was just a great platform. Because I thought, whoo, this is a great platform to start telling the world about my country, about what inspires me what I&#8217;d like to see, you know, in others, and what I can learn from others, and how to make South Africa a better place. So I was quite lucky that my very first debut single, sold about 25,000 brands in a week.



That was amazing and made me extremely popular. I don&#8217;t know, how did my manager do it for me to be very popular even outside South Africa during those times, and that&#8217;s when the name the princes of Africa came up, so I started traveling to places like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and all those places. For me, it was Africa, lovely Africa accepted me, and Africa has laid out this red carpet for me. And I wanted to, to know, Africa better, I could have wanted to go to live in America, in Paris or anywhere else; but I was very happy to be to be known in Africa, because Africa opened its arms, you know, for me. And yeah, and I&#8217;m just so happy to be an African and a woman for that matter.



Q: So that brings me to my next question. What does being an African icon mean to you?



A: Woah… I don’t regard myself as an icon, I just regard myself as a servant because when people open their arms for you and when people give you a platform to be able to perform, what do you do in return? So for me these people allowed me into their homes without me even asking, that’s when I’m on television; when I perform at a stadium or any function, they leave what they’re doing and come to support me by watching my show.



So I just think sometimes we become taken away and think we are doing our fans a favor, when no they aren’t as it’s their love and support that makes us who we are. So I never take anything for granted. I appreciate every single moment that I’m granted by the people who have supported me through all these years because I would not be Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the princess of Africa without the support they have given me and my music.



So I don’t think I’m an icon, I just think I’m a servant and I’m asked by a higher authority to do this work and continue to serve my continent in the role that they have given me.



Q: And you also have the awards to show for it. Speaking of, what was it like for you getting the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum?



A: You know, 2012 was just a very amazing year for me. There was going to Davos for the first time, and I&#8217;ve been traveling all over, you know, and then I get invited to Davos for this honor.



So, I went to Davos, but already, oh, wow, I mean, icons and more. It was just something to be nominated, and, even if I didn&#8217;t win, the fact that I&#8217;m counted amongst these people, it matters to me.



And I was very, very chuffed, I must say, you know, because, you know, the World Economic Forum, it&#8217;s the, it&#8217;s the highest sector in business, you know, and it&#8217;s serious people who go there, then you have precedents from different countries, and there&#8217;s few activists that go there and, civil society, you know, but I was very, very chuffed and, and really honored to have been given this award by the World Economic Forum and one of my favorite people was sitting right at the front then and kept on cheering for me, it was the Archbishop Tutu, and it was just so amazing



And, yeah, it was it was just that crazy moment for me and I kept on pinching myself, but it was just, amazing.



Q: There are a lot of black female African singers in the continent currently, but there are very few who own their own music label and their own production company, tell me what that experience has been like for you and kind of being part of the marginalized population when it comes to doing something like that.



A: You know, I was quite lucky when I started singing and I was found, you know, I guess I was at at the right place at the right time and the very first music, which was extremely popular, was written for me. And when I thought, when I saw that there was longevity in the music industry, because I was getting famous, and I was making money at the time, then because I came from a very poor family, and I thought, I&#8217;m not going back to the life that I lived.



I started investing in different things, you know, because I bought, I don&#8217;t know if in 1980 or in 1990, Yvonne Chaka Chaka will be there, or things like that. So every royalty I earned was, invested in some way, either through short term investment, like five years, or things like that. And when I thought I saw that, the, this is the real career that I really want to get into.



I decided, I want to leave a Gallo at the time and in1993, I started my own label, Chaka Chaka music. So I started writing my own songs, and I thought, I want to own my catalogue, because



most of those, most of those old, very popular songs, I don&#8217;t own them. They were written for me, and they owned by Universal Records, or Gallo, depending on who was buying what record company at that time, or buying what catalogue.



So that had taught me a lot, you know, and I look back, and I learned from artists like Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and all the other big art. So for me, it was like I will pay for my own producers, I will pay my own studios and effects, I decided to build my own studio, you know, and I do everything in house.



Q: What has that experience been like for you?



A: It hasn&#8217;t been a very good experience, really, because, you know, I don&#8217;t have the manpower that the big record companies have. Sometimes people battle to get my music, I do have a license deal with Universal Records, because they have no recourse and they&#8217;re not going to benefit much. They don&#8217;t put the music in the shops.



You know, lo and behold, things have changed. You can put things now on mp3 people can download people don&#8217;t buy CDs anymore. So you can release a single and put your music, you know, on different platforms here and get that money. But even with that streaming that people rave about, there&#8217;s still no good policies, and what royalty should be paid and things like that. But I&#8217;m just happy that I can put my music in any platform, my own YouTube channel, and people can listen. And, I own it, the fact is that it&#8217;s mine and it&#8217;s my catalogue, and I own it. So there&#8217;s disadvantages and advantages, but you know, it is my IP I hold it, you know, and it&#8217;s mine, and if anybody wants to come and offer me, whatever, I would sell it at whatever price without any middleman.



Q: And I think your savviness as a businesswoman comes through there but not just there, I mean, you&#8217;re on the board of so many different companies, which sector has been interesting for you to be a part of and a bit of a learning experience?



A: Well, really, I love my humanitarian work. I really love it because, you know, working with, UNICEF, GAVI Global Fund, and all those NGOs, if I may call them all or centres, have opened my eyes, and broadened my horizon. You know, just going to different countries. I remember going to, I think it was Tanzania and somebody, you know, a woman had walked for like two hours as her child was sick and as she got to hospital the child was declared dead.



And I had a lump in throat. I thought, things that me and you take for granted could have saved this child. What really got to me most was, this woman did not want to leave the body behind. She said, I&#8217;m going to have to piggy back him dead as he is, and go back home, because what am I going to say to my husband.



That traumatized me so much, and so those are the things that I see happening around, and if I can do my little bit to help, I really try, I can&#8217;t be everything to everybody. So when I go, when I go and do all my humanitarian work, it&#8217;s good to be on the podium with the likes of the Bill Gates of the world and ministers or presidents but for me, it&#8217;s when I go to those people, you know who have absolutely nothing but make do with the little that they have.



So for me, there is proper empowerment, when you go to people, listen to them, not tell them what needs to be done, listen to them, because they know they have problems, all they want is a hand up, not a handout.



So when you empowered them it will level the playing field for people where the environment is conducive for them to function, they would do that. And when people are healthy, when they are educated, they know how to fend for themselves. So that sector really has really, really made me love that sector.



Q: Working in that sector has also led to collaborations with other people who have the same feeling as you I’m sure, who for you has been one of your favorite people to work with or collaborate with bat on stage or in studio?



A: I mean, I&#8217;ve performed with different people really, from Bono to Beyoncé. I think everybody are doing their bit. You know, I mean, there&#8217;s a lot of people out there, who, who would do a lot about education, you know, something about the health sector, excuse me, the health sector, others would want to see girls, you know, having sanitary pads. So all the people that have worked with, I must say, they&#8217;ve been amazing, because they do their little bit, wherever. And I think it&#8217;s important that we all do our little bit in our small corners.



I’ve also gotten to work with a lot of young people like Berita, and Lira and we’ve just rereleased Umqombothi with Amanda Black And it&#8217;s just been so amazing to work with young people just to hear from them, what inspires them? And how would they do things now, you know, because during our time, there was no social media, you know, you just had to sing, go to the go to the shows. And, and that was it, there was really nothing. It was just newspapers, magazines, and television. So now, our young people have got all these platforms, to expand their talent and showcase their talent. And they can be watched by people everywhere in the world, and it&#8217;s very, very good.



Q: You also have such an array of experiences to your name, most recently your Motherland tour documentary, what was that like?



A: Motherland tour for me, I was quite lucky.



Because I worked so well, with different organizations like a Global Fund, GAVI, malaria people, and it was easy for them to to fund the motherland tour because I did not want to be a Goodwill Ambassador that just goes there and give cheques and go.



I wanted to know, if they said, we&#8217;re supposed to go to Uganda, or Kenya or Malawi, I really wanted to know, what am I there for, what are the pre people&#8217;s problems? What are the challenges they go through? How do we help them to help themselves, so I really wanted to get engaged.



And I think they just liked that mind-set. I think at first they could not understand they could not believe, you know, they just thought that I would just come and look pretty to have makeup and tick a box off and be done, but I wanted to be there for the people for real.



You know, for me for the things that I&#8217;ve been asked to be a goodwill ambassador, I thought it&#8217;s a great platform to then do what is right. Go to those people don&#8217;t only go there when there&#8217;s cameras, but go there for real, ask questions, learn from them, help with their struggles and challenges, open doors for them, you know, if they can&#8217;t get to the Minister, or the First Lady, or the president? And I&#8217;m able to do that, why wouldn&#8217;t I do that? And in the past 15 years doing all of that, that&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;ve done. And that culminated to doing the motherland tour, you know, because it was the stories of these African women who are really trying to do good in their communities. So we documented that as I was traveling from Sierra Leone, Ghana, and all those other places.



Q: My last question, what is the mantra or motto that you live by?



You know, my mantra is that we&#8217;re born with nothing. And when we&#8217;re born, we&#8217;re here to demonstrate what we&#8217;ve been asked to come and do. So each and every one of us has some form of good. And when we die, we take absolutely nothing. So there&#8217;s no need to be selfish, greedy, or wanting to kill one another. Because you know what, we can&#8217;t take everything that we&#8217;re fighting for and what makes us greedy or selfish with us when we die. So we just die with absolutely nothing. So let&#8217;s just enjoy the life whatsoever in life. And that&#8217;s it. 



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The DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards 2020 in South Africa

THE 100th ISSUE:  A Conversation With the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka

From Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world, Africa is not only diverse in its people but also in its industries and creativity. For FORBES AFRICA hundredth issue (since the magazine’s inception in 2011), we decided to curate a list celebrating these very ideas, inventions, and influential role models that have spelt Africa’s growth over the last decade.



As a former head of state and Nobel peace prize winner, Sirleaf has achieved more than most in her lifetime. She spoke to FORBES AFRICA on her experiences as president and what she thinks is needed to bridge the gender gap in Africa. In March, she also received the 2021 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Lifetime Achievement Award. 



F: What was your experience like in becoming the first female head of state in Africa?



My life was forever transformed when I was given the privilege to serve the people of Liberia. It was an honor to become Africa’s first democratically elected woman president. It was a tough position to hold &#8211; not just because my success or failure would impact the prospects of women coming up behind me, but because of the immense challenges my country faced as it emerged from civil war.



When I left my inauguration after taking the oath of office, I got out of the car and walked along the streets. The crowds followed, walking with me &#8211; it was such a special moment. I knew I had the Liberian people behind me, and that gave me the strength and courage to take our country forward.



Coming into a position surrounded by men was difficult, of course. There was, and still is, a suspicion that a woman isn’t up to the job, and men often doubt you. I had to overcome this by being steadfast and standing up for the things I believe in.



I had to believe in my own potential and do everything I could to better the lives of other women. I wish I could have appointed an all-women cabinet, but at the time it wasn’t possible. So instead, I identified areas that are normally male-dominated, such as the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Commerce, and broke taboos by putting women in places where they were not normally found. We got women into leadership positions at different levels, pointing the way towards equity.



F: What were some of the main challenges you faced during your terms as president?



When I took office, Liberia had just emerged from 14 years of civil war. My priority was to sustain peace and help the country rebuild. The reconciliation process involved building the foundations of our democracy and rebuilding the economy almost from scratch. It was very complex and extremely difficult, but I am proud of the work we did to get Liberia back on the path of development. I am also proud that we restored our country’s reputation and creditworthiness.



We invested heavily in Liberia’s youth &#8211; helping them get educated and develop skills to give them access to more opportunities. Helping them see that there was a bright future ahead of them, that they had a common future, also helped to bridge some of the divisions in our society, further sustaining the peace we had worked so hard to attain.



Then the Ebola outbreak engulfed Liberia and West Africa, threatening the economy and hard-earned progress we had made on reducing child and maternal mortality, for example. Just like with COVID-19, schools were shut down and too many lives were lost. Seeing how the Ebola crisis affected my country was devastating, and it really showed me the importance of access to primary health care and importance of community endeavour.



F: What was it like being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and then being announced as the winner?



It was an honor and a truly humbling experience to be nominated and win the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize along with fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. Winning the prize alongside these women showed the universality of our struggle, but the award really belongs to the people whose aspirations we had the privilege to represent, and whose rights we have the obligation to defend.



I would not have been in any position to receive that honor without the women of Liberia, Africa, and the world. I never forget that I owe my success to the women who, during the Liberian civil war, stood in the rain and fetched food for their children despite the bullets flying everywhere.



When I accepted the prize, I told the women of the world: “Find your voice! Raise our voices. Let yours be a voice for freedom!”



F: What has life been like since the end of your presidential term?



I had two grandmothers who were illiterate, who were marketeers and farmers. I saw them represented in too many of the women around me. That led to my own commitment: when I had the authority, I would do something to better the lives of other women that is why I focused on rural women and those in the informal sector.



But knew that my work would have to continue beyond the end of my presidency. I have always been committed to bettering the lives of other women, and that commitment did not end with my second presidential term. But I also knew that I must work for more women leaders who can protect and promote women.



I have thus continued to advocate for women’s political representation, education, and equitable access to healthcare. I am proud to be involved in many great organizations working towards these goals. Additionally, I have continued to work in conflict resolution and have contributed to pandemic response efforts around the world.



F: What does being an African icon mean to you?



I am humbled to be considered an African icon. I hope that it will inspire others to work towards causes they are passionate about. I hope that it will have a motivating effect for other women and young girls, encouraging their confidence to set goals and to stay on the path to achieve them.



F: Tell me about the EJS Center and some of the work it does?



The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development (EJS Center) was established to be a catalyst for change across Africa, by unleashing its most abundant untapped power — its women. Through our programming, advocacy, research, and exhibitions, the EJS Center works to advance women’s public leadership and development. Our goal is to shift the landscape for women, moving from a culture of tokenism to one that truly values women leaders.



The Amujae Initiative is the EJS Center’s flagship program. We launched it on International Women’s Day in March 2020. Derived from a phrase in Kru, a Liberian language, Amujae means ‘we are going up’. We help women who have already proven their dedication to their communities and to their fellow women, and who are aiming for the highest positions in public service. There are now two cohorts of Amujae Leaders with 30 in all, coming from 16 different countries across the continent. Among them are a county governor, current and former ministers, members of parliament, senior advisors, and activists. We are so proud of them all, of their impressive careers and their aspirations.



In addition to our work through the Amujae Initiative, we are also establishing a presidential library, which will house physical and virtual archives and serve as a convening space where African women leaders are able to strategize together and build strong networks of support.



F: Given the current gender disparities prevalent in African society, what do you think is needed for this gap to be closed and for women to be seen as equals to their male counterparts?



This is not just a problem in Africa &#8211; it is a global problem. There is a lot of work still to be done. We need more women to dare to contend for the highest positions of public leadership and to bring other women along with them. When I was President of Liberia, I made a point of putting women in positions of power so that young girls can see what is possible.



There is also much to be done in terms of ensuring girls’ access to education, ensuring that there is room for women in business and entrepreneurship, and improving healthcare access. Every step we take is a step towards progress, and I’m encouraged by the number of women stepping into leadership roles today.



F: What is a motto or mantra that you live by?



I always tell people &#8212; if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough. But you must also have the wherewithal to achieve them, and you must not be afraid to use your voice.



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Icons 19

THE 100th ISSUE: Q&A With Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

From Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world, Africa is not only diverse in its people but also in its industries and creativity. For FORBES AFRICA hundredth issue (since the magazine’s inception in 2011), we decided to curate a list celebrating these very ideas, inventions, and influential role models that have spelled Africa’s growth over the last decade.



Having been in the film industry for over 30 years, award-winning South African actor Connie Ferguson is on the list for her impact as an actor, producer, and filmmaker. In 2018, she also graced the cover of FORBES WOMAN AFRICA. She talks to FORBES AFRICA about being included on the icons list.



Correct us if we are wrong but you have had almost 30 years in the acting industry and you have been hugely successful-what/who do you owe your success to?&nbsp; I’ve been in the industry for 31 years now and literally grew up in it and with it! I owe my success to simple perseverance, hard work and never taking anything for granted! Faith and prayer have also been a big part of it! And the people who have believed in me and cheered me on along the way, especially my family, are the reason I never gave up even when times were hard.



 What have been some of your highlights as both an actress and businesswoman?&nbsp; My highlights as an actress are definitely my time at Generations, a show that allowed me the opportunity to build my personal brand, my role as Mavis in Rockville, our debut show as executive producers, and my current role of Harriet Khoza on The Queen. Although the different awards received over the years are humbling and appreciated, the loyal fans and viewers that diligently follow and appreciate my work, are who make it all worthwhile.&nbsp; As a business woman, being the first SA TV personality to launch a perfume in 2008, and a body care range Connie Body Lotion and Connie Men in 2015. Winning the Shoprite Supplier Of The Year Award in 2015 was the cherry on top.&nbsp; Ferguson Films, a production company I own and run with my husband Shona, is also not only a highlight but the biggest blessing! We are able to create work for a hundred plus in a very tough economic climate. All our shows have performed exceedingly well, and we are truly grateful to the people who follow and enjoy our work. They inspire us to keep the creative juices flowing.



 In your opinion what do you think makes an icon?&nbsp; Someone that is not only aspirational but inspirational, that is memorable and leaves a mark wherever they go. 



Can you comment on us at FORBES AFRICA considering you an icon.  I appreciate the honor. I didn’t set out to become an icon. I let my work speak for itself and endeavor to empower and touch as many lives as I can positively. The titles and accolades that come with that are a bonus!



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