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Siddharth Chatterjee was recently appointed by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General&nbsp;António Guterres&nbsp;as the UN’s Resident Coordinator in China, a role he will take up in January. Most recently, he has served as the UN’s Resident Coordinator in Kenya. &nbsp;



Having held leadership positions in various parts of the world with the UN, he has more than 25 years of experience in international development and cooperation. &nbsp;



In this interview with FORBES AFRICA from Nairobi, Kenya, Chatterjee speaks about&nbsp;his new job in the world’s second largest economy, implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and&nbsp;placing human rights at the center of all Covid-19 recovery efforts. &nbsp;



We ask what the world needs at this crucial hour, and he speaks about “strengthening multilateralism as a clarion call”.&nbsp;



A decorated officer in the Indian army before joining the UN in 1997, he is also a proud feminist, having worked towards furthering gender equality in all the countries he has worked in, including some of the&nbsp;conflict-ridden regions of the world such as Somalia and South Sudan, also drawing interesting anecdotes from those experiences. In this interview, he also dwells on&nbsp;how the African continent can realize its full human potential.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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What Does The World Need At This Hour?

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HR-Picture-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49156" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HR-Picture-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HR-Picture-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HR-Picture-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HR-Picture-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HR-Picture.jpg 1211w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Let’s fight COVID-19 together: a mural painted by community artists, supported by the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, to deliver information and messages on COVID-19 through artistic illustrations along some of the busiest streets around Maringo and Kibera, two informal settlements in Nairobi. Photo credit: Defenders Coalition. </figcaption></figure>



On 10 December every year, we celebrate Human Rights Day, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.&nbsp; The Universal Declaration guarantees a spectrum of human rights that belong to each of us equally, and unite us as a global community and upholds our humanity.



This year, 2020, has been one of unprecedented challenges and has underscored the need for renewed action to promote and protect human rights.&nbsp; The COVID-19 pandemic has tested societies across the globe, and set back human rights gains and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.&nbsp;



In Kenya, the multi-faceted impacts of the pandemic – on gender equality, health, education, livelihoods, rule of law and the economy – have tested efforts by the Government, United Nations, development partners and civil society to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, Vision 2030 and the Big 4 development agenda, and challenged us to ensure that we leave no one behind.



The crisis has hit the poorest and most vulnerable communities the hardest, and entrenched existing inequalities, discrimination and human rights challenges.&nbsp; Gender-based violence has skyrocketed; loss of employment and livelihoods have put further strain on families; the right to education is at risk for many children, particularly girls; and inequalities in access to water, adequate housing and health services have heightened vulnerabilities.



In this context, the theme of Human Rights Day 2020 is “Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights”, highlighting the need to build back better from the COVID-19 crisis by putting human rights at the heart of recovery efforts. &nbsp;This is a call to action and for unity of purpose to tackle discrimination, address inequalities, encourage participation and solidarity, and promote sustainable development for the benefit of all.



As the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, once remarked, “the pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world”. The crisis has exposed and exacerbated deep inequalities, entrenched discrimination and gaps in human rights protection.&nbsp; Only measures to close these gaps and advance human rights can ensure we fully recover and build back a world that is more resilient, just and sustainable.&nbsp;



COVID-19 has created an opportunity to build back a more equal and sustainable world – based on a “new social contract” that respects the rights and freedoms of all, and addresses the inequalities exposed by the pandemic.&nbsp; This “new social contract” – uniting Governments, the people, civil society and private sector – is the only way that we will meet the Sustainable Development Goals.



In this Decade of Action to deliver upon the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is imperative to prioritise participation and inclusion, to ensure that we leave no one behind. &nbsp;Successful COVID-19 recovery efforts require the robust participation of civil society and inclusion of communities, to ensure the voices and priorities of the most affected, vulnerable and marginalised inform the recovery efforts.&nbsp; Public participation is a key tenet of the Constitution of Kenya, and has a key role to play in the COVID-19 recovery.



It is clear that this pandemic cannot be surmounted by a single actor.&nbsp; It is against this backdrop that the United Nations Country Team and the Government of Kenya, in line with the motto Umoja ni Nguvu (Unity is Strength), have identified strategic areas of cooperation and engagement under the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, as well as the Socio-Economic Response Plan, that target COVID-19 recovery needs and continue the trajectory towards the Sustainable Development Goals.&nbsp; This is underpinned by a human rights-based approach that prioritises equality and non-discrimination, participation and inclusion, and accountability.



The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that we are all in this together – and solidarity is the only way forward.&nbsp; Everyone has a role to play in building a better post-COVID world for present and future generations, and we must harness the active participation of communities, civil society, private sector, Government and the international community.&nbsp;



On this Human Rights Day, let us all commit to Stand Up for Human Rights to build back a more equal and sustainable society that advances the rights and freedoms of all.&nbsp; This unity of purpose will pave the way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and delivering Kenya’s Vision 2030.



Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya. He has served in various parts of the world with UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNOPS, UN Peacekeeping and the Red Cross Movement. He is an alumnus of Princeton University. Follow him on twitter-<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/sidchat1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">@sidchat1</a>

Human rights must be at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery

A new report released by Oxford Insights shows that even though there is a digital divide as well as data poverty in Africa, five countries on the continent are taking leaps into leveraging technologies to accelerate economic growth with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).&nbsp;



In the 2020 Government AI Readiness Index Mauritius took the 45th position globally out of 172 countries across the world, making it the highest-ranked African country on the index. According to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MEWNMV6MQI&amp;feature=youtu.be">Oxford Insights</a>, Mauritius has always been forward-looking in terms of AI as it is is the only country on the continent to have published an AI strategy.&nbsp;



“Mauritius approach to AI is fantastic… They have a clear strategy as to what they want to achieve. They are also bringing the private sector and academia with them. They have a council with all of these sectors on them. They are investing in the skills and they are thinking about how that can be transferred back into the industry. That’s amazing and that’s the perfect playbook,” Richard Stirling, Oxford Insights CEO says. &nbsp;



The methodology of this index looks at a countries’ government’s willingness to adopt AI and if the country has a good supply of AI expertise and tools from the technology sector. In addition to that part, these tools need to be built and trained on high-quality and representative data with the appropriate infrastructure to be delivered to and used by citizens. 



Mauritius is also ranked 13 out of 34 countries on this year’s Responsible Use Sub-Index. This index, also by Oxford Insights, tracks the ethical use of AI in countries across the globe. The debate around responsible AI was put into focus this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, issues around privacy as well as ongoing global inequality. The index was measured using inclusivity, accountability, transparency, and privacy as some of its main indicators.&nbsp;



“Just because you are good at building AI, it does not mean you are using it ethically and responsibly,” Stirling says.&nbsp;



Among Mauritius, South Africa was also placed 59th globally on Government AI Readiness Index, Seychelles 68th, Kenya 71st, and Rwanda taking the 87th position. And although these countries are lower, Stirling elaborates on how these countries have focused on skills development which will harness the potential for AI not only in public services but in other sectors. Nations from the US, the UK to Russia, China, and Israel hold the top positions on the index, however, there are no countries in Africa in the top 20.&nbsp;



“We are lagging in technological development so we are playing catch up most of the time and essentially we are in catch up mode,” Araba Sey, Sub-Saharan Africa AI expert, commented on the Oxford Insights website.&nbsp;



Jean Lebel, President, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), added in a statement that though Ai has the potential to transform governance and public services throughout the world, there is a danger that regions, like in Africa, will be left behind. Lebel further adds that the index should encourage new collaborations and investments that could potentially assist with the barriers to government&#8217;s AI readiness and responsibilities. 



“We believe that this, in part, will help those currently lagging behind in our index to improve their AI readiness so that existing economic and technology inequality doesn&#8217;t become further entrenched and leave billions of citizens with worse quality public services,” Lebel said.

Young femal e engineer concept. GUI (Graphical User Interface).

Mauritius, South Africa & Seychelles Are In The Driver’s Seat Of AI Readiness In Africa

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1280" height="1280" src="">



The United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Ms Amina Mohammed recently commended “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/dsg/statement/2020-09-25/deputy-secretary-generals-remarks-the-high-level-event-beyond-covid-19-public-private-partnerships-for-the-sdgs-model-for-building-back-better-prepared-for-delivery" target="_blank" data-id="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/dsg/statement/2020-09-25/deputy-secretary-generals-remarks-the-high-level-event-beyond-covid-19-public-private-partnerships-for-the-sdgs-model-for-building-back-better-prepared-for-delivery" data-type="URL">Kenya’s exemplary role in its response to COVID-19 and in advancing Agenda 2030</a>”. 



On Monday, 28 September 2020, the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta hosted a national conference on COVID 19. I was invited to speak about Kenya’s response, and without equivocation I restate what I said&#8211;Kenya deserves an A + rating. 



Here’s why!



When the COVID-19 pandemic struck Asia, Europe and the US, experts began to worry about what it would do to poor countries, with predictions of thousands of deaths, serious infections as well as the near-total collapse of already ailing health systems. 



How would Africa, characterised by crowded living conditions, widespread poverty and a lack of basic hygienic facilities deal with such a devastating and largely unknown pathogen? 



Months later, such horror scenarios have not materialised and the question has changed to why most of Africa is seeing comparably less devastation. As explained by President Uhuru Kenyatta during the National Covid-19 Conference, “the reason why we have managed to flatten the curve is because Kenyans have exercised an impressive civic responsibility and duty.” 



A reality that tends to be lost in all the discussions about this novel coronavirus in Kenya is just how much pummelling the country’s social and economic structures have received lately. 2020 was a particularly difficult year for Kenya. A triple crisis, coming on the heels of a protracted period of droughts, a cholera epidemic and not to underestimate the spectre of cross-border terror attacks, which dented one of Kenya’s biggest foreign exchange earners-tourism.



Consider this. In 2017, nearly half of the counties of Kenya w<a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20171023130503-xo7f4/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://news.trust.org/item/20171023130503-xo7f4/">as reeling from the effects of probably the worst drought in the last 20 years</a>. With nearly 3.4 million people food insecure, Kenya’s food security prognosis looked gloomy, with climate change and natural resource depletion set to pose even greater risks in the long term. 



Often unnoticed is the insidious effect on the country&#8217;s economy, with experts estimating that there have been, &#8220;12 serious droughts since 1990&#8221;. The average annual costs of the damage caused estimated at around KHS 125 billion ($1.25 billion) &#8212; with each drought reducing the country&#8217;s <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/kenya/insuring-against-climate-risk-kenya" data-type="URL" data-id="https://reliefweb.int/report/kenya/insuring-against-climate-risk-kenya">Gross Domestic Product by an average of 3.3 percent</a>. 



The two consecutive national elections in 2017 also took a massive financial toll. 



Given the dire financial situation, it is quite remarkable, the resilience, tenacity and optimism, Kenya has displayed in the face of such adversity, and done so with their head held high, with stoicism and compassion in its fight against the triple threat. 



Since the beginning of the year, Kenya has gone through a series of unprecedented crises, where within six months it has experienced the worst desert locust invasion in 70 years, heavy unusual flooding that has left scores of people dead and thousands displaced, and the pandemic that is taking a toll on health services and the economy. 



Aware of the technological and financial handicaps facing the health sector, the government has responded commendably in leading the fight against COVID-19, from mandating physical distancing to wearing of masks, promoting hand and respiratory hygiene, promptly dealing with rumours, to specialised facilities in hospitals, to working with industry to deliver local equipment such as PPEs, to delivering economic relief to impacted families. And above all not allowing politics to hijack the wisdom of science.



In about six months after the first case was reported, Kenya increased the number of infectious diseases isolation beds from eight to just over 7,000 across the country, thus keeping the casualty rates low. This was a remarkable feat achieved through unity of purpose between the national and county governments. 



The government rolled out moderate stimulus packages to help families ride out the economic turbulence and cushion companies from financial shocks. The Treasury instituted tax relief for low-income earners and reduced VAT rates as well as corporate sales tax for businesses. In a country already facing slow GDP growth, these were commendable actions of national self-sacrifice and coming together in times of crises. 



When you look at some of the most developed countries in the world, buckling to the microscopic and highly virulent coronavirus and their national responses are properly examined, Kenya does score an ‘A+’ in how quickly and decisively the government acted in the COVID-19 crisis. Measures such as travel restrictions, curfews and school closures were implemented early in the country, before the number of infections rose. 



As testament to the spirit of coming together to confront a common adversary, there was broad support from the public for these measures. In social media and elsewhere, citizens were quick to express responsible outrage where they felt those responsible for the response at various levels were not keeping to the expected standards. 



This grit and determination to rise to the occasion even where resources are hard to come by was key in getting on board international donor agencies and private sector to mobilise funding to support the national response. The UN in Kenya repurposed $45 million from the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) towards the COVID response, and deployed over 150 staff and volunteers to the government response structures. 



In partnership with the Government of Kenya, the UN launched a Flash Appeal to mobilize $267.5 million to support more than 10 million vulnerable people affected by the pandemic, of which nearly US$ 60 million was raised. An additional US$ 10 million dollars was allocated by the UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, to construct a new specialized 100 bed COVID 19 hospital in Nairobi, which will remain as additional capacity even after the pandemic is over. 



The UN in Kenya has prepared a COVID-19 socioeconomic response and recovery plan to address the health care system, social protection, employment opportunities and social cohesion. The recovery plan will be implemented in the next two years and will cost $155 million to focus on recovering better from the pandemic for the Sustainable Development Goals.



The country is still in the maelstrom of the pandemic. The devastating consequences of the pandemic have not fully played out and important challenges remain, some wrought by the pandemic but many that continued long before, such as high health care costs for millions of Kenyans, gender inequalities, widespread poverty, youth unemployment, environmental degradation, corruption and terrorism. 



The country must converge at every level to address these threats today or suffer the consequences tomorrow. Recovery will be made much tougher by the economic toll of COVID-19 as well as an exhausted and depleted health system. 



Still, the pandemic has shown that Kenya can overcome partisanship, think anew and work on short and longer-term sustainable development priorities towards ‘building back better’, with more resilience to future shocks. 



As the<a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/dsg/statement/2020-09-25/deputy-secretary-generals-remarks-the-high-level-event-beyond-covid-19-public-private-partnerships-for-the-sdgs-model-for-building-back-better-prepared-for-delivery" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/dsg/statement/2020-09-25/deputy-secretary-generals-remarks-the-high-level-event-beyond-covid-19-public-private-partnerships-for-the-sdgs-model-for-building-back-better-prepared-for-delivery"> UN Deputy Secretary General, Ms Mohammed</a> said, “I am convinced that Kenya will continue demonstrating that results and transformation are possible and I call upon all of you to double your efforts to invest at scale in those critical interventions that will unlock benefits across all the goals, to make bold choices, to take decisive action and to leave no one behind in your pursuit of a better future&#8221;. 



Kenyans can be fully assured of the commitment of the United Nations to overcome every adversity, leapfrog socio-economic recovery and progress to realise Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.



Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya. He has served in various parts of the world with UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNOPS, UN Peacekeeping and the Red Cross Movement. A decorated Special Forces veteran, he is an alumnus of Princeton University. Follow him on twitter-<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/sidchat1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">@sidchat1</a>

Triple Threat

The Triple Humanitarian Crisis and Why Kenya Deserves An A + in its Response

He ran away from his circumstances in war-torn South Sudan. Today, this refugee athlete has crossed boundaries, broken barriers and has Olympic aspirations.



Seventy million. That’s the number of refugees forcibly displaced worldwide. The size of an entire nation. People without homes in a world that is now saying ‘stay home, stay safe’.



&nbsp;Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed is one of them, forced to leave his home at a young age. Still in his 20s, this South Sudan-born migrant refused to confine himself within boundaries. In fact, he crossed several of them, as a full-time ‘refugee athlete’, eventually making it to the finish line and winning gold at world sporting events.



When he was only eight years old, he had to endure the tragedy of losing his father – who was shot and killed by the militia in his home country. “When you grow up, you have your dad and you don’t need to worry about anything because someone cares about you, and [then] you lose him and life goes from good to terrible and that’s how I decided to do something for my siblings because I was now the head of the family,” recalls Mohammed.



In 2010, this led him to decide to leave his conflict-ridden country to seek greener pastures. However, he legally couldn’t because he was underaged, but arranged to pay to have his date of birth changed.



“I saved money and changed my birth year from 1996 to 1993. I then traveled to Egypt and then Israel and slept in the park until I met a kind Sudanese person who let me move into his house.”



Two years on, Mohammed had made friends in the foreign country and played football with them. One of them advised him to take to athletics because he could run behind a ball for hours.



In 2014, he joined a club, and won his very first competition.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;When you grow up, you have your dad and you don’t need to worry about anything because someone cares about you, and [then] you lose him and life goes from good to terrible and that’s how I decided to do something for my siblings because I was now the head of the family.”</blockquote>



Today, Mohammed is a part of the Athlete Refugee Team (A.R.T), formed in early 2017 by Kenyan long-distance runner, Tegla Loroupe, for refugee track athletes competing in global IAAF (World Athletics) events and the Olympics. A.R.T is funded by On Running, IAAF, the UNHCR and Pascal Gerdsmeier, a private investor based in Monaco. A.R.T, made up of refugees from the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Morocco, is hoping to take them to next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games as medal contenders.



A 90-minute documentary titled RUN, released on June 20 (World Refugee Day), depicts the story of A.R.T from inception to the current coronavirus crisis that has stalled the sporting world. The documentary, shot over three years and across three continents, follows the athletes’ “emotional journey to compete at the Olympics”, and covers their lives, from “living in war-torn tribal regions to competing on the world stage”. It’s the story of the human spirit and how sport can change lives.



Since 2017, Mohammed has traveled between Europe and Africa competing professionally. A top contender for the now-postponed Olympics, he continues training hard for the proposed event in 2021. He ran away from his destiny at a young age, and continues to change the course of his life.

Jamal Mohammed [2]

Success In The Long Run

In 1993, Dr James Mwangi walked away from a promising career at one of Kenya’s largest banks, to join the Equity Building Society. Three decades on, few could have predicted his entrepreneurial leadership would work to transform not just Equity but the financial services of the region. FORBES AFRICA meets the man behind East Africa’s billion-dollar banking empire.



Dr James Mwangi, Managing Director and CEO of Kenya’s Equity Group, is a captivating figure. His trademark smile and down-to-earth demeanour set him apart from the traditional banker. But Mwangi isn’t your run-of-the-mill chief executive. His journey to the C-suite has been fuelled by sheer resolve, belligerent bravado, and an uncanny concern for his customers.



It’s hard to believe that the force behind East Africa’s pioneering billion-dollar banking brand grew up in circumstances far removed in rural Nyagatugu, a tiny village flanking the Aberdare mountains in central Kenya.



“I am a product of my upbringing [and] it has [had] a significant influence on how I see things today&#8230; [but] my village of Nyagatugu was not enough to say that I conquered Africa,” declares Mwangi from his office at Equity’s corporate headquarters in Upperhill, Nairobi’s swanky business district, in an interview with FORBES AFRICA in July.



The banker describes his childhood as humble, dignified but fraught with difficulty. Born in 1962 to peasant farmers, Mwangi’s parents had no formal education and lived apart from what he calls the ‘monetary society’. As a boy, he had never met anyone who owned a bank account or even fathomed being served by any of the country’s banks which, at the time, only catered to a privileged few.



“It was a simple life. As boys, we grazed cows and goats&#8230; we hunted wild animals like rabbits. Growing up, we didn’t know [if] people were ‘well-off’ or [if] people were ‘poor’, we were all equals. [As a community], we built houses together, tilled the land together, and even socialized together at village dances,” he reminisces.



While it may seem contradictory, it was this deeply communal atmosphere that inspired the business that Mwangi built.



Founded in 1984, Equity did not start its commercial life as a bank but as a mutual society trading as the Equity Building Society (EBS). Back then, as Kenya was forging a new national identity, most banks were hesitant to provide its vast population with even the most basic financial services. As an answer, indigenous building societies took root. However, while buffeted by good intention, these fledgling financial institutions were poorly run, leading many to ruin.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;I realized that there is no wealth without work! Entrepreneurship means folding up your sleeves and working. Profit is the reward.&#8221;</blockquote>



In the 1970s, while these societies were emerging, life’s challenges had already begun to shape the young Mwangi. Shortly after his birth, his family had suffered a major tragedy with the untimely death of his father. His mother, Grace Wairimu, was not only widowed but was left with seven children to raise on a meager income.



Never having gone to school herself, Mwangi’s mother, who was an anchor throughout his life, was adamant that all her children, including her daughters, would study; a controversial decision at the time. And she was not prepared to compromise.



To achieve this dream, Wairimu imposed a strict code of discipline in her household whilst encouraging an entrepreneurial fervor in her children. The family sold milk, tea, charcoal, and fruits to stay afloat. It was an important training ground for the young Mwangi.



“We were vending to eke out a living, to pay school fees, and to feed the family. My instinct for commerce [came] from [there]&#8230; I realized that there is no wealth without work! Entrepreneurship means folding up your sleeves and working. Profit is the reward,” he explains.



Nyagatugu was where Mwangi really cut his teeth in business. Then, owing to his academic talent, he had the opportunity to study the theory that governed his early entrepreneurial experiences, on scholarship, at the University of Nairobi several years later.



“Taking milk to the village restaurant or selling fruits to the village middleman, who would take them to [the market] in Nairobi, introduced me to the concept of ‘supply chains’. I realized that I was the ‘primary producer’ with my mother, the ‘middleman’ dealt with logistics, and then an ‘aggregator’, who was our face in the marketplace, played on volume and made more money than everyone else. The owner of the shop received [goods] from the ‘aggregator’ and sold them to ‘consumers’, through the ‘brand’ of his shop. I [finally] understood how the value created [in the supply chain] was shared.”



After university, Mwangi began his career as an auditor with Ernst &amp; Young in Nairobi. Four years later, he moved to the now-defunct Trade Bank Group. Then an innovative financial services firm, founded in 1985, it quickly gained prominence as Kenya’s first attempt at mass-market banking.



Over a brief career at the bank, he climbed the ranks from teller to Group Financial Controller.



However, just as things were looking up, a familiar face came calling. In 1993, the EBS was in trouble, with debt on its books. Founder and Chairman, Dr Peter Munga, had known Mwangi as a boy and was convinced that the young banker was his only hope. By then, Equity had been declared insolvent and was facing dissolution.



“We came from the same village where I had developed the reputation of a ‘brilliant boy’. I was the first boy [from Nyagatugu] to get a university degree. I was also a youth leader in the church. In Nairobi, I had risen up to be a director at Trade Bank by the age of 28 [where] I had a reputation for being a sharp young man who was good at analytics and bold decision-making. All of that combined to package me, in the eyes of Dr Munga (and other EBS executives), as a credible, reliable person,” he says.



Munga’s confidence was not misplaced. Eager to oblige, 31-year-old Mwangi left his job at Trade Bank to take on a role as Director of Strategy at the stagnating society.



“I had gone with [EBS executives] to Central Bank because they had been condemned with closure. Suddenly, the Governor looks at me, as I try to plead their case for more time, and he says [to me], ‘if it was you who was talking of turnaround, then I would give you the opportunity’. I was between a rock and a hard place; if I hadn’t made the sacrifice to join them, then they would [have had] to close,” recalls Mwangi.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;I had a singular mind to build a bank for my mother who [I saw] bury savings under her mattress.&#8221;</blockquote>



So, in a seemingly fool-hardy move, the young banker agreed to take on mounting debt, unpaid salaries, dwindling membership, and declining morale at Equity. He even remortgaged his own house to inject some desperately needed cash into the business, inextricably linking his fate, and hard-won reputation, with that of the beleaguered building society.



&nbsp;Given a carte blanche to transform the business and with no option of turning back, Mwangi was determined to meet his mandate.



“I had made the decision from an emotional aspect [and] I didn’t want to fail them. But I hadn’t realized that Equity was in [such] a bad state. It had not done any [debt] reconciliation, it had not published accounts for three years, and it had not had a board meeting for [over] two years. With everything at stake, it was only my entrepreneurial skill that would [eventually] get us out of insolvency.”



Mwangi’s reforms were more an attempt at reinvention rather than resuscitation. He began by re-training the organization’s remaining staff in the ethos that would later come to define them – customer care.



“We didn’t have money&#8230; the currency that created Equity was a passion to please the customer. I had a very small staff, none of whom had gone beyond Form 4 [Grade 10]. They didn’t have the skills but they had enthusiasm. We didn’t [even] have a meaningful product so we had to give our clients an experience that they had never had anywhere else and that they were willing to pay for,” he continues.



According to a Lagos Business School case study, Mwangi ensured that, in this way, his 12,000 customers were accorded with the dignity they deserved, breathing new life into the institution. This had an impact on both sides of the counter. Customers felt valued and continued to patronize the building society. On their side, staff felt confident and empowered even whilst working long hours.



&nbsp;In 1997, things looked promising. Equity had cleared its debts, encouraging staff and customers to begin purchasing shares in the company. This time around, Mwangi made sure that records were meticulously kept.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We didn’t have money&#8230; the currency that created Equity was a passion to please the customer.&#8221;</blockquote>



According to its website, Equity’s client accounts had grown exponentially from 32,000, in 1997, to 482,000 by 2005. This exemplary track record allowed Mwangi to raise capital from the European Union (EU), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and other institutional lenders to introduce computing technology to the building society, paving way for his ambitious expansion plans.



“Transaction times dropped from 30 minutes to five, queues disappeared, the process, including signatures and so on, was automated. Equity was now on a rapid, but solid, growth path,” notes Mwangi in a 2012 interview to African Business.



Steady growth made the building society’s transition to Equity Bank, in August 2004, possible. Two years later, the bank listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Bolstered by further investment, Equity made its first foray into the region, listing on the Uganda Securities Exchange, as EBL in 2009.



Within five years, the bank was operating subsidiaries in Rwanda, Tanzania, and was among the first to open branches in South Sudan, Africa’s youngest country. By 2019, the bank had transformed, yet again, becoming Equity Group Holdings, with customers across East Africa.



In 2020, three decades after Mwangi made his debut, the Equity Group boasted a market capitalization of KES128.1 billion (approx. $1.3 billion) making it the largest banking outfit in East Africa, out-rivalling its closest competitors.



Equity’s tremendous transformation is due, in large part, to what is now known as ‘The Mwangi Model’. Thanks to this ground-breaking framework, Mwangi has been able to introduce a bulk of East Africa’s low-income population to the financial services sector. It is a model of inclusion that thrives on high volumes, low margins, and mass-market appeal.



“I realized [after leaving Trade Bank] that it was not the bank of the common man. My mother would have never been able to [open] an account there. Nobody in my village would have qualified for an account either. In fact, not even [EBS Founder] Dr Peter Munga would have qualified. I had a singular mind to build a bank for my mother who [I saw] bury savings under her mattress,” reveals Mwangi.



At the time, this drive to serve the so-called ‘unbankable’ population had only been attempted once before at the Grameen Bank founded in 1984 by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh. However, in Kenya, the model was risky, untested, and needed modifying.



“To be honest, [in 1993] I didn’t have a very good view of what Muhammad Yunus was doing. His [main product] was group lending, Equity started out with individual lending. I simply wanted to remove the barriers for people, like my mother, in opening bank accounts. We could do better than a mattress!”



This revolutionary perspective blew open the Kenyan banking sector. By eliminating monthly ledger fees, minimum balance requirements, and easing withdrawal limits, Equity ended up engineering a product that it could bank on.



By 2000, Mwangi says, Equity began signing on an average of 100 new clients per day. Going directly to its customers, initially, in weekly marketing campaigns in rural towns and villages, the bank eventually developed a network of third-party ‘banking agents’ to provide services across Kenya, even in the most far-flung corners.



Today, with mobile banking, Equity’s customers benefit from yet more convenience with access anywhere, any time, and at a minimal cost.



As a result, Mwangi’s entrepreneurial reward has extended far beyond profit. The ‘Mwangi Model’ has been recognized and analysed in case studies at some of the world’s most prestigious business schools including Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, and the Lagos Business School.



He is also the holder of numerous honorary degrees and the winner of countless awards for his commercial prowess. The first, and most memorable, he says, was the ‘Global Vision Award’, which Mwangi won alongside fellow micro-finance trailblazer, Muhammad Yunus, at the 2007 G8 Summit.



In 2012, after clinching the title of FORBES AFRICA ‘Person of the Year’, the Kenyan banker triumphed over 58 global business leaders to become the first African ever to be crowned Ernst &amp; Young’s ‘World Entrepreneur of the Year’ in Monaco.



Mwangi, as Founding Chairman of the Equity Group Foundation (EGF), is also a prolific philanthropist. In May this year, EGF, with the Mastercard Foundation, pledged KES1.1 billion ($10.3 million), to Kenya’s Covid-19 response and to provide personal protective equipment to frontline medical staff in public hospitals. A portion of the endowment, KES300 million ($2.8 million), was a personal donation from the Mwangi family. Since March, the banker has been a member of the Covid-19 Emergency Fund Committee, a 10-member board peopled by the country’s most accomplished private sector leaders, convened by President Uhuru Kenyatta.



A key feature of the ‘Mwangi Model’ is its resilience which the current pandemic is putting to the test. In June, Equity saw its acquisition plans, through the highly-anticipated Altas Mara deal, in Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia, halted. Instead, Mwangi announced that the Group was doubling down and would take a more conservative approach to see through the crisis. In an unprecedented move, shareholder dividend payments were also delayed to safeguard liquidity reserves.



“Covid-19 has been a turning point. We have analysed over 1,200 years of data, starting with the bubonic plague, to understand this [Covid-19] pandemic. The only way we can survive this is if [our] business is agile and resilient enough to navigate these times.”



While much is still uncertain, the pandemic has had some positives for Mwangi, a proud husband and family man.



“I am not a very outgoing character so ‘working from home’ has been very exciting for me. I’ve been able to spend more time with my family, which is important for me,” he says.



On another high note, Mwangi jests that Covid-19’s most visible impact has not been on his balance sheet but his waistline.



“I have been making the best of this crisis. Instead of 30 minutes, I am now able to put in at least two and a half hours at the gym. When I look at myself [in the mirror], my body is looking much better!”



Despite the present tumult, Mwangi insists that the fundamentals remain unchanged and only the things that matter get him up, at 3AM, to start his day.



“Seeing a smile in people’s lives still makes me happy. I’ve lived a full life and it’s humbling to know that the child my mother raised has not changed and [with the values she taught me] I’m able to share what I have with others. Thirty years later, it’s been a journey of changing one life at a time.”&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-46892" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-scaled-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-scaled-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/frbs01-07-2020-0073-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure>



James Mwangi’s 10 Tips For Entrepreneurs During Covid-19



1. Stick and focus on purpose, use essence to filter dos and don’ts.



2. Protect the public license. Society will never forget the side or position you took when you had the chance.



3. Support the supply and value chain and recover. Bend backwards to accommodate your business’ unusual circumstances.



4. Adopt a shared prosperity model using social and impact investing.



5. Adapt to ‘the new normal’. Be aware Covid-19 might have irreversibly changed your world in terms of resource reallocation, priorities, tastes and preferences.



6. Be part of the solution to our shared global challenges in humanity, health, and livelihoods. Don’t run away from the reality your customers are facing.



7. Focus on the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution like digitization, big data, technology and innovation.



8. Adopt an appropriate leadership style for these uncertain times. Provide visibility, hope and answers to concerns and when carrying your followers along with you.



9. Preserve cash, liquidity, and capital reserves for the long haul.



10. It is all about people: staff, customers, society and humanity.



– By Marie Shabaya

frbs01-07-2020-0038

The People’s Banker: ‘Entrepreneurship Means Folding Up Your Sleeves And Working’

Kenya is perhaps one of the quieter domains of the global Covid-19 pandemic. However, as its hold intensifies across the country, Kenyans, from all walks of life, have found themselves not only preparing for the worst but also taking stock of the impact it has already had on their lives. 



By his own admission, Musa Esevwe, a 49-year-old sculptor and entrepreneur, had never, in his life, experienced trouble with his sleep. That is until Covid-19 arrived in his hometown, Nairobi, in mid-March.



Within the space of a week, a national curfew was announced via Presidential address. Not long after, as confirmed cases jumped to 91, a partial lockdown was imposed around the Nairobi Metropolitan Area, restricting the movement of people in to, and out of, the city.



Travel was tightly regulated and international flights temporarily suspended. The few who do manage to make it to the country, by road or sea, must endure a mandatory two-week quarantine, at the border, before they can obtain official approval to proceed to their final destination.



Meanwhile, inside Kenya’s borders, lives changed overnight. Intensive lockdown measures severely hampered trading for both informal vendors and businesses, causing upheaval in some areas. In April, small business owners clashed with police over the forced closure of their establishments, in Nyeri, a busy provincial hub in Central Kenya.



Schools have been shut since March and, while official numbers are yet to be published, thousands have lost their jobs and livelihoods. Those, still fortunate to be in employment, have had to transform their homes into offices.



“It is like a very bad dream that we are living in now. The happiness and security we once had has gone&#8230; we are no longer dreaming, even for those who can still sleep,” says Esevwe whose own business, which was heavily dependent on the disposable income of the middle class and occasional tourists, has been destroyed by the pandemic.



Along with Esevwe, among the hardest hit are the nation’s families, who, for months now, have been confined to their houses.



The lockdown period has been particularly difficult for Kamweti wa Mutu, an international development professional and amateur nature photographer, living in Nairobi. Currently out of work, and with his wife, now the family’s sole breadwinner, stationed in Tanzania, he’s had to play multiple roles to keep his household afloat.



“The quarantine order [on March 13] was sudden, but commendably prompt, meaning it was a somewhat tough transition getting our two children; Charlie, 11, and Adia, 8, settled into home-schooling routines. After a week, we [had to] put our house-help on leave, with some pay, so as not to place [any] undue risk on either her or us,” he says.



Prior to the pandemic, Mutu was actively looking for work. However, the economic turmoil set off by the virus is now a cause for concern.



“I have struggled to find full-time employment for a while [now] but my family has been very supportive with understanding and prayers. The kids have a good grasp of this, in light of the pandemic, but it’s not [yet] getting them anxious. As a household currently on one income, this aspect is a grave one. Most worrisome is my wife losing her post [because of the pandemic], or worse, one of our family members falling ill,” he continues.



Perhaps the most traumatic impact of Covid-19 on the family is their separation. With travel into Kenya currently restricted, Mutu’s wife won’t be able to return until her consultancy with an environmental organization in Tanzania concludes.



When she does, it will probably have to be by road as international flights are suspended. After crossing the border, she’ll have to spend 14 days at a quarantine center, receiving a special permit to enter Nairobi only once she tests negative for the virus.



While this has added an extra layer of anxiety to their situation, the family is choosing to focus on the bigger picture, insists Mutu.



“We have talked a bit about this, and what it would mean for a normal life, even beyond the current situation. However, we have not delved deeply into worst-case scenarios other than how Covid-19 is devastating other families and societies. We have stocked up on enough essentials including non-perishable foodstuffs, water, face-masks, and power to last us a while.”



Elsewhere in the city, Sophie O, who asked that we change her name for this report, is also finding life under lockdown a challenge. The 30-year-old Marketing Manager works for a major multinational in Nairobi and is doing her best to adapt to the ‘new normal’ of being based from home.



“It&#8217;s been quite difficult especially because I have three children; a nine-month old, a two-year-old and a six-year-old. It’s been hard for the two-year-old to understand that I am ‘at work’, he keeps barging into [work] calls and expecting us to play. Now, I have to keep my camera off during conference calls although ideally, as a standard, it would have to be on,” she says.



With schools now closed, and most students across the country taking classes virtually, many parents, especially those with younger children, are burdened with the added responsibility of home-schooling. In this, Ms O admits that she is struggling.



“Personally, I’ve really done my best just keeping track with all the lessons they have to do. I think probably if I didn’t have to be ‘at work’, I could have done a better job in terms of being there for my daughter but it’s quite a challenge. You have to work because work pays the bills and work also pays the school fees,” she says.



Factors, firmly out of her control, are also impacting her productivity.



“The practicalities of working from home, like having a workstation, I have had to figure out. But with the internet&#8230; some days it’s good, some days it’s bad, and some days you have a blackout and there’s nothing you can do!” she laments.



The experience of both these families hints at the wider setbacks being faced by businesses and the Kenyan economy, as a whole. From Nairobi, Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner at multinational advisory firm, Dalberg Advisors, has been leading a fortnightly webinar series advising African leaders and policymakers on how best to respond to the ongoing crisis. He insists that they must appreciate the severity of the pandemic’s impact and act accordingly.



“Our job [on the webinar] is to make sure that [leaders] are sufficiently shaken and begin acting appropriately. China bought the world a couple of weeks to prepare and get ‘ahead of the curve’ in terms of intervention but, unfortunately, that jolt wasn’t hard enough in some places. This is very quickly moving from being a health concern to actually being an economic concern,” Macharia warned attendees in early April.



At the time, despite relatively low levels of confirmed cases, African economies were already feeling the pinch with stock markets plummeting and currencies devalued. A few weeks later, as the threat escalated, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) declared that a funding gap of $100 billion needed to be filled in order for governments to battle the pandemic, and its consequences, across the continent.



“The long-term economic effects will become more apparent in the coming months. Inputs not available locally will be inaccessible due to tighter border controls, while markets, for producers serving several industries, will be diminished, leaving many households without a sustainable income,” predicts Macharia.



If they are to have any hope of success, Macharia emphasizes that responses to Covid-19 in Africa will have to be a collaborative effort.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="890" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-1024x890.jpg" alt="" data-id="46114" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=46114" class="wp-image-46114" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-1024x890.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-scaled-300x261.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-scaled-600x522.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-768x668.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-1536x1335.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-2048x1781.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption">Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner at Dalberg Advisors</figcaption></figure></li></ul></figure>



“Flattening the curve demands that governments, institutions, and business leaders are intentional in how they implement their response strategies. Organizations will need to go beyond [their] usual business continuity planning while the public sector needs to re-model institutions in order to slow down the current trajectory of infections while ensuring long-term resilience.”



An example of these wider response strategies are already at work in a number of Kenyan hospitals. Dr Michael Mwachiro, Secretary-General at the Surgical Society of Kenya, is currently stationed at Tenwek Hospital, a faith-based teaching and referral hospital in Bomet County, 230 kilometers west of Nairobi. On May 13, the county recorded its first Covid-19 fatality, at Longisa Hospital, the only public referral hospital in the area.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="335" height="502" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13.jpg" alt="" data-id="46121" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2020/06/15/covid-19-in-kenya-we-are-no-longer-dreaming/attachment/thumbnail_photo-2020-06-16-13-12-13/" class="wp-image-46121" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13.jpg 335w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption">Dr Michael Mwachiro, Secretary-General at the Surgical Society of Kenya</figcaption></figure></li></ul></figure>



“We’re now seeing more community-transferred cases in Kenya. I think the advantage that we may have had [compared to] other parts of the world is that we were watching as things were unfolding and, because of that, we had a bit more time to prepare [as a country], and put some measures in place. But if you read the news, or listen to the radio, you’ll hear people complaining that we should have intervened earlier but that’s a difficult thing [to do] if you look at how many stakeholders are involved along with the nature of our economy and public health system,” he says.



Part of these preparations, Mwachiro says, included immediately training the country’s health workers on Covid-19 procedures along with introducing measures preventing the movement of people from hotspots in major cities into rural Kenya, where a bulk of the population lives.



“Nairobi and Mombasa already have containment measures in place. The bigger concern is that, if Covid-19 moves out of the cities to other parts of the country, the effects would be much scarier. These [rural] areas are where the older people are, who are much more vulnerable.”



In addition to the supplementary training for medical personnel, some elective procedures and non-essential surgeries have been put on hold so that all available resources can be committed to fighting the virus at hospitals. However, besides preparedness, maintaining the morale of doctors and nurses will continue to be an ongoing concern throughout the crisis.



“We’ll have to deal with the levels of anxiety and motivation experienced by healthcare workers and first responders taking care of these patients. Doctors and nurses are human, too, and they are experiencing the same emotions as everyone else. You can imagine that, in as much as [their] families are worried about them, they, too, are also worried about their families, and themselves, as well,” he says.



Some medical professionals responding to the crisis, in parts of the country, have had to make the difficult decision to live apart from their families as they work to contain the virus. But the taxing nature of their work, coupled with extended periods of isolation, means that counseling and support services will need to be made available to them as the cases continue to rise.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;We’ll have to deal with the levels of anxiety and motivation experienced by healthcare workers and first responders taking care of these patients. Doctors and nurses are human, too, and they are experiencing the same emotions as everyone else. You can imagine that, in as much as [their] families are worried about them, they, too, are also worried about their families, and themselves, as well.&#8221;</blockquote>



As it stands, Kenya, like most of the continent, has not been as badly hit when compared to epicenters in Europe or North America. However, this may be due to the fact that the worst is still on its way. In May, the World Health Organization estimated that up to 190,000 Africans may be killed by the pandemic, at its peak.



With Covid-19 due to exert immense pressure on our public health systems, it does offer some important lessons for the future, explains Mwachiro.



“What this outbreak has brought about, for us in Africa, is [the fact] that we need to invest more in our healthcare systems. This has been said so many times&#8230; there have even been a number of strikes [in Kenya] by various stakeholders, all of them trying to highlight these issues. This is a good wake up call. I honestly believe that, if we had spent more on health [before the crisis], it would have gone a long way in helping us to be better prepared. Hopefully, once this [pandemic] resolves, we can keep the momentum going and we can continue looking inwardly for solutions.”



Naturally, Covid-19, with its grim predictions and disruption of lives, has many Kenyans worried about the future. Nevertheless, the challenges of the moment are being met in stride. Families have quickly adjusted to new ways of living while their leaders seek sage advice on how best to address the crisis, and doctors continue to make sacrifices, day in and day out, as they brace for the worst.



Perhaps, most important of all is that, in the pandemic’s wake, hope has become an obstinate presence in all quarters of Kenyan society.



– Marie Shabaya

Kamweti wa Mutu with his two children; Charlie, 11, and Adia, 8, with their Golden Retriever, Nalia, pictured at their home in Nairobi

Covid-19 In Kenya: ‘We Are No Longer Dreaming’

<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UN-Avenue-1024x460.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-45196" width="902" height="404" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UN-Avenue-1024x460.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UN-Avenue-300x135.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UN-Avenue-600x270.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UN-Avenue-768x345.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UN-Avenue.jpg 1179w" sizes="(max-width: 902px) 100vw, 902px" /><figcaption>UN Kenya/Newton Kanhema The usually busy UN Avenue in Nairobi, Kenya where traffic is bumper to bumper on the best of days, is almost empty as people stay at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus. March 2020</figcaption></figure></div>



We live in a different world to the one we inhabited six short months ago.



With more than 4 million people infected and over 290,000 dead globally by mid May 2020, Covid-19 has ruthlessly exposed the vulnerability of a globalised world to pandemic disease. People are slowly coming to terms with the frightening and heartbreaking death toll, and we are still not out of danger.



The Greek philosopher Herophilus said, “When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless and intelligence cannot be applied.”&nbsp;



The bio-threat has already upended our notions of community interaction, with face masks, latex gloves and physical distancing becoming the new normal. Science has been challenged and experts in various fields struggle to understand the short and long-term consequences of the pandemic.



Lack of robust global public health systems has proven to be a chink in the world’s armour. It has also revealed a truth that we ignore at our peril: healthcare systems around the world have been sorely tested in managing this outbreak, and without substantial reprioritisation of investment in health and research globally, we will be no better equipped when the next pandemic strikes.



Describing&nbsp;<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1063022">COVID 19 as a threat multiplier</a>, the UN Deputy Secretary General, Ms Amina Mohammed said, “We have a health emergency, a humanitarian emergency and now a development emergency. These emergencies are compounding existing inequalities”.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AJM.Tedros-1024x461.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-45200" width="672" height="302" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AJM.Tedros-1024x461.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AJM.Tedros-300x135.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AJM.Tedros-600x270.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AJM.Tedros-768x346.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AJM.Tedros.jpg 1178w" sizes="(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px" /><figcaption>UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Leading UN reforms &amp; ensuring the UN is fit for purpose in the countries they serve, the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (centre), at the first-ever high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left), Director- General of World Health Organization (WHO) and María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés(right), President of the 73rd&nbsp;Session of the UN General Assembly. September 2018, New York, USA</figcaption></figure>



While no country has been spared, the impact upon families and individuals has varied around the world, exposing huge global and local inequalities.&nbsp;



The consequences of high uninsured rates and high out-of-pocket health costs are being revealed. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/health_financing/topics/financial-protection/key-policy-messages/en/">more than 100 million people per year risked being plunged into poverty by a ‘shock’</a>&nbsp;in terms of unanticipated expenditure on medical treatment.



World Food Programme analysis shows that, due to the Coronavirus, an additional 265 million people are marching towards the brink of starvation by the year end because of the virus’s effects on jobs and family finances.



The social and economic upheaval we face today has changed the world and will go on changing it for many years. Behind the headlines of an economic decline that might rival the&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2020/04/14/the-great-lockdown-worst-economic-downturn-since-the-great-depression/">Great Depression of the 1930s</a>&nbsp;are families separated by closed international borders, some mourning relatives they never managed to see and comfort and millions who no longer have jobs.



What must we do to prevent the next pandemic striking the world.



Like rain that exposes a leaking roof, the coronavirus crisis has revealed unanticipated problems inherent in our dependence on global supply chains and amplified longstanding structural deficiencies in health systems around the world. We can see now that under-investment in public health in one country is a threat to global health security everywhere. Responses to health emergencies cannot succeed if any part of the world is left behind.&nbsp;



The central importance of universal health coverage and&nbsp;ensuring healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages, as manifested in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/sdg/targets/en/">Sustainable Development Goal 3</a>,(SDG3) by 2030, is clear.



With Africa&#8217;s population expected to grow to 2.3 billion by 2050, for Africa to reap a <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20170810142204-j0nwd/">demographic dividend,</a> as well as prevent disease outbreaks, Governments should:



<ol type="1"><li>Reassess policy priorities and direct greater funding to health.</li><li>Invest more in disease prevention.</li><li>Improve working conditions for medical staff.</li><li>Offer fit-for-purpose health insurance to their people.</li><li>Harness big data, technology, and innovation to <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20180209112650-s1njv/">leapfrog universal health coverage.</a></li><li>Forge public private partnerships to <a href="http://daghammarskjold.se/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/UNDG-CountryStudy-Kenya.pdf">address the gaps to attain SDG 3.</a></li><li>Create an army of community health workers.&nbsp;</li></ol>



The WHO Chief, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a public health champion, who as Minster of Health in Ethiopia, a country once notorious for the highest maternal and child mortality in Africa, ensured the country achieved the health related&nbsp;<a href="https://www.afro.who.int/news/making-ethiopian-people-healthier-through-mdgs">Millennium Development Goals</a>,&nbsp;by unleashing the full potential of community health workers. He said that, “By fully harnessing the potential of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/hrh/community/guideline-health-support-optimize-hw-programmes/en/">community health workers</a>, including by dramatically improving their working and living conditions, we can make progress together towards universal health coverage and achieving the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.”



Doctors, nurses, carers and paramedics around the world are facing unprecedented workload in overstretched health facilities. The heroism, dedication and selflessness of medical staff allow the rest of us a degree of reassurance. In fact health workers are the frontline soldiers battling the pandemic.&nbsp;They deserve the same recognition and respect as women and men from the Armed Forces who are sent into battle in service of their country.



Additionally, the creation of robust health surveillance infrastructure in low-income countries will benefit the whole world in terms of early warning of disease outbreaks, and the ability to focus resources where and when they are needed.



To achieve this,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/coronavirus/2020/04/17/multilateralism-through-public-private-partnerships-are-key-to-flattening-the-covid-19-curve/">new models of multilateral and public private partnerships&nbsp;must develop</a>, as well reform, invest and give greater power to the&nbsp;World Health Organisation to protect the world from disease.



As citizens of the world we depend on one another. We are linked by trade and migration and the fact of our humanity as much as we are sometimes divided by politics and faith.



Consider this. Maria Branyas is a 113 year old <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/spains-oldest-woman-113-year-old-maria-branyas-beats-coronavirus-sbjtjc6z3">COVID 19 survivor from Spain.</a> It means she has lived through the flu pandemic of 1918-19, the two World Wars, the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and now the coronavirus. When asked what was the secret of her long life, she said, “good health”.



In a post-Covid-19 world, global health must be seen as a key component of national and global security as well as of the global economy.



SDG 3 must become pivotal in our post COVID 19 response or we may be sitting ducks,&nbsp;when another pandemic&nbsp;strikes, whose velocity and virulence could surpass what we are witnessing now.



Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations resident coordinator to Kenya. He has served in various parts of the world with UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNOPS, UN Peacekeeping and the Red Cross Movement. A decorated Special Forces veteran, he is an alumnus of Princeton University. Follow him on twitter-<a href="https://twitter.com/sidchat1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@sidchat1</a>



The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.​​​​​

WITHOUT UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE WE ARE SITTING DUCKS WHEN THE NEXT PANDEMIC STRIKES

Equity Group Foundation, with support from Equity Bank, Mastercard Foundation, and the family of Dr James Mwangi, commit Ksh1.1 billion to support Kenya’s immediate needs to protect frontline medical staff.



Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the coronavirus pandemic has been the concerted effort between corporates and individuals to forge partnerships and collaborations driven by a common purpose.&nbsp;



The Equity Group Foundation (EGF) and Mastercard Foundation are the latest in the line of big names pledging their robust support to help beat the pandemic in Africa.



They have just announced a commitment of Ksh1.1 billion to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline medical staff dealing with Covid-19 patients in public hospitals in Kenya.



Equity Bank (with Ksh300million), and the Mastercard Foundation (with Ksh500million), a long-time partner of EGF, are providing support as part of their Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Program.



The funding also includes a donation of Ksh300million from the family of Dr. James Mwangi, the Founding Chairman of EGF and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Holdings Plc. EGF will work in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund in this endeavor.



Mwangi, also FORBES AFRICA’s Person of the Year&nbsp;in 2012, says about the initiative: “It started when my attention was drawn to a group of students and doctors who were raising funds for PPEs for young post-graduate students, especially in Kenyatta National and Referral Hospital (KNH).”



A member of Kenya’s Covid-19 Emergency Fund Board, he adds: “We invited the CEO of the Kenya Medical Association and a group of doctors from KNH and University of Nairobi where we established the need for PPEs for medical staff handling Covid-19 patients in the country. A team of seven was formed to help structure this initiative.”



This initiative will be to ensure availability of PPEs across the country as also scale up a mental wellness support system for medical staff.



Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation says: “Healthcare workers are at the frontlines of caring for all of us, safeguarding community health. We must keep them safe. We are grateful this partnership meets the immediate needs precipitated by Covid-19, which the Foundation is prioritizing through our Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Program.” “We will endeavor to continue with our engagement and mobilization of our partners to extend our partnership towards procurement of diagnostic kits. We believe there is a chance for every Kenyan to get the support they require to overcome the Covid-19 infection,” concludes Mwangi.

49651099816_09e7ec6872_o

Big Names Back Covid-19 Response In Kenya

The morning calm of Losirien valley was broken by a cow bell tinkling as Benjamin Kerei led his herd of about 50 animals down a parched trail alongside a dry riverbed in southwest Kenya.



On the 10-km (6-mile) journey to a nearby grazing ground, the 24-year-old was on the lookout for fresh wildlife tracks.



Like pastoralists all over the East African country, Kerei needs to keep his cattle away from wild animals to avoid exposing them to infectious diseases, some of which can be deadly to both livestock and humans.



With droughts and floods shrinking the amount of habitable land in Kenya, the search for enough food and water is driving people and wildlife deeper into each other’s territories.



As a result, cases of infectious diseases that are passed from animals to humans &#8211; called zoonotic diseases, or zoonoses – are on the rise, said Patrick Kimani, chief executive of the Kenya Livestock Producers Association.



In recent years, some herders have found a simple way of keeping their livestock and themselves healthy.



They search for grazing routes that are not used by wildlife, and mark them for others to follow.



In the southern part of Kenya’s Rift Valley, Kerei &#8211; who began using the method two years ago &#8211; said zoonotic diseases were very common but herders did not know how to treat them.



“This is why we choose to use safe grazing routes to reduce (the) chances of livestock coming into contact with sick wild animals,” he said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">WIDESPREAD CASES</h4>



In Kenya, there are at least 36 known zoonotic diseases, according to Samuel Kahariri, chairman of the Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA). The most serious include brucellosis, Rift Valley fever, rabies and anthrax.



Most of these diseases are widespread among pastoralist communities, Kahariri added.



Brucellosis, for example, is one of the most common zoonotic infections globally.



Mainly transmitted from cattle, sheep, goats, elk and deer, it can be passed to humans through the consumption of raw meat or unpasteurised milk, causing flu-like symptoms.



Sam Kariuki, director of the Centre for Microbiology Research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, estimated that around 750 Kenyans contract brucellosis every year.



But spotty record-keeping makes it impossible to get an accurate picture of how zoonotic diseases spread, he noted.



The data does show that the number of brucellosis cases has increased in the past few years, said James Akoko, a researcher studying the disease at Maseno University in Kisumu County.



Akoko said the negative effects of climate change combined with a growing population meant there was more contact between humans, wild animals and livestock than ever before.



“People are encroaching into areas that were meant for wild animals, and that kind of contact can create opportunity for the diseases to spread across different hosts,” he said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BRICK TOWERS</h4>



Pastoralists like Kerei are working hard to prevent that.



Once they identify routes that do not cross into wildlife territory, they mark them out with small brick towers.



Besides checking for tracks and faeces, they know the presence of big cats like lions and tick-eating birds indicate that grazing animals such as buffalo and deer have moved into an area, said Paul Gathitu, a Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman.



When that happens, the brick towers are dismantled, signaling to others that the route has become risky.



“It is a difficult task ensuring that our livestock do not share pasture or watering points with wildlife,” said Kerei. “But it is the only cheap and readily available measure we have.”



For now, the technique is used mainly by Maasai tribes in the Rift Valley and the Borana in northern&nbsp;Kenya, said Abdulaziz Jama of the Pastoralist Capacity Development Programme.



Anecdotal evidence from local elders confirms the technique works where there are no other options to fight diseases, he added.



“Use of safe grazing routes is one of the many (types of) indigenous knowledge that have been helping marginalized communities battle climate change and zoonotic diseases where the national government has failed,” he said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">REAL-TIME ALERTS?</h4>



The government is struggling to manage the spread of zoonotic diseases partly because of the difficulty it faces in tracking them as herders move from one location to another, said the KVA’s Kahariri.



The problem is exacerbated by poor road and communication networks in areas where pastoralists live, making it hard for them to share information with the government when a zoonotic disease appears, Kahariri added.



Ezekiel Kiamba, from Ildamat village in&nbsp;southeast Kenya, said officials should do more to support herders.



The 32-year-old farmer does not use safe grazing routes to protect his 80 cows. Instead, he hires a private vet to regularly check and vaccinate his herd, at $20 per dose.



He would like to see the government use modern technology to send real-time information about outbreaks to rural communities.



“Some of us pastoralists have smartphones which the government could use to work with us and help manage zoonotic diseases,” he said. “I am still waiting for this to happen.” -Reuters



-Kagondu Njagi

Photo taken on May 25, 2012 shows young

Watch Your Step: Kenyan Herders Mark Out Disease-Free Grazing Routes

On a quiet afternoon in the new year, gunshots and
explosions rocked a hotel in the heart of Nairobi. The terror was another
deafening blow to the city’s business community.



The gunshots and explosions rang out first. As scores of
people fled the 14 Riverside complex in panic, others remained trapped within
its office blocks and inner buildings. At the DusitD2 hotel parking lot in
Nairobi, Kenya, vehicles burned violently. In the foyer, guests lay wounded,
only just surviving the horror of a suicide bombing. Outside, more gunshots as
the chaos intensified.



“We are under attack!” an unidentified employee within the
hotel building told Reuters in the early moments.



“We are still in [the] bathroom [&#8230;] gunshots in building,
please pray for us,” Ronald Ng’eno, a terrified civilian, tweeted from his
hiding place shortly after telling his family goodbye.



As the siege ended the next morning, confirmed by
Presidential address, the city began to take stock. Phone calls were exchanged
between friends and family. Companies within the complex set up hotlines for
those searching for their loved ones. At the nearby Chiromo mortuary, a tracing
desk was kept busy for those who needed more concrete answers.



This was not the first attack of its kind in Nairobi. In
2013, terrorists opened fire on unassuming shoppers at the Westgate Mall
resulting in an 80-hour assault that claimed the lives of 67 people. Over a
decade earlier, the American embassy in the capital was bombed in an explosion
that killed 213 civilians and wounded at least 4,000 others.



The latest incident, however, was perhaps the most
terrifying coming after a period of relative calm in the country. The hotel, a
popular venue for business meetings, was situated in the heart of the Riverside
complex that also housed the regional headquarters of major local and
international firms. 



The devastation, much like those of Westgate, will be felt
not only in human cost but in the economic losses that the country will likely
face. This, experts say, may have been the intention of Al-Shabaab, the
Al-Qaeda-backed Somali terror group that took credit for the insurgency.



Among Al-Shabaab’s economic victims are the small business
owners of the complex who, among their neighbors, will feel the biting losses
the most. 



Sam Omindo, founder of Genteel, a men’s tailoring brand that
was due to launch at the complex late January, was worried about starting
again.



&nbsp;“My plans have to
change and the arrangements that went into preparing for the launch are
technically null and void,” he says.



Genteel was a tenant of Metta, an entrepreneur’s club
located in the Belgravia building only a few feet behind the hotel. Originally
from Hong Kong, Nairobi was the club’s second site and an epicenter for
creative businesses in the city. It was also where Omindo met clients and
partners on a regular basis.



“I’m not too sure if people would still be comfortable
coming there&#8230;[this] means I’d have to look for an alternative somewhere
else,” he ruminates.



Beyond this, the fashion entrepreneur also finds himself
counting the cost of the attack on his fledgling business.



&nbsp;He estimates that
regrouping his enterprise would set him back a few thousand dollars, money that
he hoped to launch his business with.



Businesses like Omindo’s will continue to suffer in the
insecurity that follows the January attacks. Past incidents of terrorism were
found to decrease the country’s foreign direct investment significantly. In
2013, after Westgate, this was a 14% decline and investor confidence plummeted
due to fears around the security situation worsening.



Notwithstanding, the cost of doing business in Nairobi will
also rise. Insurance premiums after the mall shootings went up by about 40%
which translated to about 3% of annual revenues. At the time of going to print,
estimates on the costs of terrorism and political violence cover for local
businesses were yet to be established but were expected to follow a similar
trend.



What is known, however, is that for the coming months,
businesses at 14 Riverside will be slow to recover. At the time of publishing,
all of the over 40 businesses had closed their doors indeterminately with their
offices cordoned off as investigations continued.

nairobi

The cost of terror for Nairobi

There has been&nbsp;a big push&nbsp;by countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade to improve early childhood education. This refers to pre-primary schools, which usually caters to children aged between 4 and 5.



Research&nbsp;has shown&nbsp;that participating in early childhood development and education programmes is associated with better adjustment to later schooling, as well as higher levels of academic achievement.



Kenya is among the best regional performers in terms of early childhood development enrolment, as shown in the chart below. But enrolment doesn’t necessarily equate with quality.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254705/original/file-20190121-100270-1hnkl2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""/><figcaption>UNESCO 2017</figcaption></figure>



So in 2014, the Kenyan government introduced an early childhood education programme called&nbsp;Tayari&nbsp;– a Kiswahili word that means “readiness”. It was piloted over four years in more than 1800 public and private early childhood development and education centres. Tayari reached slightly over 72 000 pre-primary school leaners.



Tayari’s aim was to develop a cost-effective, scalable model of early childhood development and education that would prepare children cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally for primary school. The model had three interrelated components. The first was teacher training and classroom support. The second involved providing teachers and learners with appropriate instructional materials like learners’ work books and teacher guides. The third centred on health and hygiene knowledge, making children aware of why hand washing and healthy foods are important.



Cost-effectiveness was determined by comparing net gain scores on learner assessment to incremental costs of implementing Tayari. This information is important to policy makers in making alternative investment decisions.



So, did it succeed? My colleagues and I at the African Population and Health Research Centre conducted an&nbsp;independent external evaluation to find out. We wanted to assess the programme’s impact, and how cost effective it had been. Our findings were largely positive.



The learners who were exposed to Tayari were more ready to join primary grade 1 compared to those not involved in the programme. The Tayari model provides an opportunity to improve the quality of childhood learning in sub-Saharan Africa. It is flexible and can be tweaked to fit different contexts.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Measuring success</h4>



Our study involved a randomised control trial design. This means we created a natural experiment to compare scores of learners who were exposed to Tayari with those of similar learners not exposed. Using this approach, we sampled 600 pre-primary schools from the 1800 centres involved in the Tayari programme. Half of these were low-cost private early childhood development and education centres; the other half were public early childhood development and education centres.



We then compared learner assessment results from the centres that were exposed to learners of centres not exposed. We found that, on average, learners who’d been part of the Tayari programme were about three school months ahead of their peers who hadn’t taken part.



Crucially, we also found that the Tayari programme was cost-effective. By spending an extra US $14 per learner over a period of two years – that is, about US $7 a year – policymakers could enhance learners’ scores in early childhood development and education centres by an average of about 3 percentage points.



With a budget of US $7 million per year, the government can heavily subsidise the cost of 1 million learners in early childhood education in a way that will improve the quality and make the learners ready to join primary grade 1.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Future prospects</h4>



Our results suggest that the Tayari programme could provide a useful model for other countries in sub-Sahara Africa. The typical barriers addressed by Tayari includes inadequate provision of age-appropriate and context relevant quality teaching and learning materials; and, lack of capacity to offer classroom-based teacher coaching during instruction.



Policymakers have much to learn from the way the model was structured, and the way the overall package focused on instructional quality.



Of course, there are still gaps in our knowledge. We don’t know how long Tayari’s social and education benefits will persist; this will need to be the focus of future research. But, based on our study and its findings, we believe the Tayari model is suitable for scaling up by ministries of education and development partners. -The Conversation



&#8211;Moses Ngware: Senior Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center

gettyimages-492949868-594×594

Kenyan Approach Holds Promise for Boosting Early Childhood Education

It was a gamble that paid off, 8,500 kilometers away from their comfort zone.
Two 21-year-old fashion students, Inés Mille and Marc Collines, left the hallowed hallways of fashion in Barcelona and with just $9,000 in their pockets, traveled all the way to East Africa to set up shop in little-known Kigali in Rwanda, which at the time was building itself – a fully-fledged fashion industry was not yet on its radar.
&#8220;Rwanda. It’s where our heart is. It’s where the soul of this company is. It’s where we were born and where everything happened,&#8221; says Mille.
Eight years on, Mille Collines, the brand she built with Collines from Kigali, is a million-dollar fashion line that can spotted on the runways of Lagos and Cape Town. Now 32, Mille looks back at the memory with a smile.
&#8220;The obliviousness, the ignorance. We were mad and we were so young and we were so crazy. So we said we can do this.&#8221;
Mille sits in her home in Tamboerskloof, Cape Town, among inspiring pictures of fashion models on runways, African sculptures from her travels and intricate bookshelves. Naturally, it is the epitome of one conscious of subtle African style – much like her work.
Her story goes back to a time when she was young and fresh in fashion school in Barcelona. It was 2005 and Mille was traveling in Rwanda with her mother&#8217;s NGO looking for outreach programs to sponsor. Here, she met a seamstress named Antoinette, who trained women and kids to sew.
&#8220;She said ‘you are a fashion designer. You have no idea of the handcraft skills we have here, if only you can put your brain in design and their handcraft skills together, it would be incredible’,&#8221; says Mille.
The idea hit home. A year later, and in her final year of design, Mille thought it would make the perfect thesis. She decided to travel to Kigali and pursue Antoinette&#8217;s suggestion. Along with her came Collines, who at the time was at another school and also looking for a project.
&#8220;The funny story is when I went [to Kigali], there was huge resistance from my tutors and the board of teachers at my college. They said ‘there was absolutely no ways you are going to Africa to do a collection where there is no infrastructure. How are you going to make garments in Africa, they don&#8217;t even dress in clothes’&#8230; I was at a progressive design school in Barcelona. They were afraid that just because I went there and worked with poor people, I would come back with a sh***y collection. That was the spark,&#8221; says Mille.
A 50% mark prompted Mille to move to the heart of Africa. They took with them $9,000 in savings and set up shop in Kigali where they developed their first collection, in partnership with Antoinette. At the time, Mille recalls there was no infrastructure for fashion in Rwanda whatsoever. They had to start from the ground up looking for people to work with.
&#8220;Many people thought, &#8216;where are they going? Are they going to be able to do anything in Kigali? Is there even fashion there?'&#8221;
<div id="attachment_34613" style="width: 273px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34613" class="size-medium wp-image-34613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Mille-Collines_JC-5-263x300.jpg" alt="" width="263" height="300" />Mille&#8217;s first designer diary. (Photo by Jay Caboz)</div>
One of her prized possessions from this time lies on the stone table in front of her – their first designer diary. Kigali springs to life and Mille&#8217;s eyes light up as she fingers the pages recalling drawing African masks and collecting slivers of material from the markets.
&#8220;There were informal collectives of women around the country, which were amazing and very well organized, they&#8217;d been doing handcraftsmanship for a long time&#8230; Initially, we tried to think everything is going to be coming from Rwanda. If it was textiles, it was found in the markets with a few wholesalers here and there. Obviously, it was challenging.
&#8220;I remember some women were doing baskets and I said ‘do just flat disks’. They said what for? I said we&#8217;re going to do necklaces. They went crazy over the idea. They then started doing their own earrings and selling them in the market. They were everywhere from corporate to home. It was the thing to have in Rwanda,&#8221; says Mille.
Their ticket to success was blending the creativity, strength and culture of the African spirit with ever-evolving global trends.
&#8220;There was a lot of intrigue. Nobody was doing this in Rwanda. No other brand existed that had taken handcrafted skills, redone it and made a contemporary product. We were some of the first ones to do it. It sparked a number of other brands to follow,&#8221; says Mille.
The team moved in to Kenya, casting their net in Nairobi. The demand was high and four more stores followed. It wasn&#8217;t always easy – a store on the coast of Kenya and a store in South Africa failed because they didn&#8217;t catch the right market.
&#8220;We were opening the door to the African clothing market&#8230; We thought if we sell abroad with all our challenges we already have, in terms of logistics, in terms of quality, we needed to align our market. We are producing in Africa; it makes sense to sell in Africa and make this product African.&#8221;
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/10/06/fashion-operation-theater/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Fashion in The Operation Theater?</a>
Along with the birth of Mille Collines grew the fully-fledged fashion atelier, which is owned and operated by the Kigali team that helped build Mille Collines.
&#8220;It was the hardest moment in the company. We needed to hand over the workshop to the team in Rwanda. They were prepared. We needed to transfer it and move away from production and focus on distribution and design. Otherwise we couldn&#8217;t grow further. It took one-and-a-half years. We sold it to the Kigali team for $1. The employees all have a stake. Rwanda is not in our core business, it&#8217;s became an actual supplier.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_34612" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34612" class=" wp-image-34612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Mille-Collines_KatGrudko_Shot01-433-e1512375288376-300x200.jpg" alt="Mille Collines" width="500" height="333" />Mille Collines on the catwalk. (Photo by KatGrudko)</div>
Now their journey has taken them to Cape Town and the house we sit in. Their team is here to begin the next step of their journey.
Mille wants to see their clothes hang in major retail stores across the continent and hopefully take an even larger chunk of Africa’s dynamic fashion industry.
&#8220;I was the first one to land in Cape Town in 2015. We had to start from ground zero. We had participated in fashion weeks, so people kind of knew us. Our main market it still Kenya. But we&#8217;ve been building relationships with suppliers in Cape Town.&#8221;
As the company expands, Mille has shifted to purchasing textiles because it&#8217;s cheaper. They are also looking to the likes of Mauritius and Madagascar for textiles once their orders get larger.
&#8220;You need to find who is better for what. When we left Rwanda, that&#8217;s what happened, we became more pan-African. We only produce in Africa.&#8221;
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/09/14/from-pizzas-to-pizzaz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: From Pizzas To Pizzaz</a>
The company has even expanded in ways they didn&#8217;t expect. Without owning a store or being on the shelves of retail outlets, Mille says South Africa is their second largest customer. This is because of online sales and a strong presence on Instagram.
&#8220;Instagram is the strongest source for us. We make sales on it. I think it’s because it’s a visual platform. Instagram is my baby. It&#8217;s difficult to delegate. How can I explain to someone that an image is not Mille Collines? It&#8217;s very tangible, either you feel it or you don&#8217;t. We go a lot with how people react when we put images up.&#8221;
The brand’s attention to detail and passion for telling beautiful stories continues.
Mille&#8217;s clothes have been worn, she says, by the likes of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong&#8217;o and journalist Mélanie Gouby.
<div id="attachment_34614" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34614" class=" wp-image-34614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Mille-Collines_JC-3-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="450" />Inés Mille in her Mille Collines studio in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Jay Caboz)</div>
It&#8217;s a brand for the African woman.
&#8220;She is a mother, an entrepreneur, an individual. She is alive with bursts of color and print and grounded in muted tones of Africa&#8217;s landscape.
“In a world where differences are increasingly emphasized and where people are divided and separated, it seemed fitting to celebrate the rich beauty that comes from combining many different influences. We wanted to celebrate the fact that, despite parochial thinking in some quarters, the world is becoming more of a mélange every day,” says Mille.
&#8220;I never dreamed I&#8217;d open a business in Africa. Not a business in fashion, never. My father was a businessman and my mother was passionate about Africa. I said I was going to be a vet. I loved the fact that [fashion] is a business and art. It&#8217;s a space where it meets in the middle. It&#8217;s very commercial and it’s very challenging and very interesting.&#8221;
For Mille, Africa is the muse that keeps on giving.

From Mille To A Million

At a time when Kenya was focused on developing its infrastructure, Lillian Wambui Chege was more concerned about developing the youth.
“Working with our youth also teaches me the impossible does not exist. Every day, we see youth from difficult situations driving change in their own lives, transforming local economies and turning corporations into billion-rand businesses. I have seen young people go from having very little job prospects to climbing the corporate ladder becoming successful entrepreneurs,” she says.
Chege is the co-owner of CareerBox, a company that recruits, trains and places the youth in jobs; her solution to Africa’s problems.
“I’ve always been committed to contributing to Africa’s transformational agenda,” says Chege, who was raised in a small town west of Nairobi, Kijabe, and went to school at Rift Valley Academy (RVA), an American school.
“Although RVA was a boarding school, I was a day scholar and had the privilege of growing up with my sisters and parents. Since my mother is no longer with us, I take comfort in the fact I could see her every day during my formative years,” she says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/11/09/from-monrovia-to-the-movies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: From Monrovia To The Movies</a>
She completed school and RVA was her ticket to America, where she attended Calvin College, a liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she graduated in political science.
“After college, I moved to New York City and had a series of jobs from working in a law firm, woman’s reproductive health advocacy, accounting and ultimately ended up in philanthropy working for the Rockefeller Foundation,” she says.
It was at the Rockefeller Foundation her career developing the youth shaped.
“I co-designed an initiative called Digital Jobs Africa. This was an effort to leverage the proliferation of ICT infrastructure on the continent to connect young people to jobs.”
This was a tough time for her country of birth.
“At the time our African countries were – and continue to – investing billions in infrastructure development and the continent played host to the fastest-growing economies. Unfortunately, the youth unemployment was at crisis levels and was threatening the security of our countries,” she says.
“Kenya was experiencing post-election violence, events fuelled by high unemployment and disenfranchized youth who had the education, skills and will to work but no jobs,” says Chege.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/11/08/a-cultural-hybrid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: &#8216;A Cultural Hybrid</a><a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/11/08/a-cultural-hybrid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8216;</a>
The foundation’s offices were in the country and the events were poised to undo decades of investments and contributions into the country.
“We spent an incredible amount of time and money accessing was best to intervene. We conducted extensive landscape analysis to identify key sectors that had the ability to absorb large amounts of youth into the workforce with relatively short training. We landed on the business process outsourcing sectors and decided to intervene in six countries, including Kenya and South Africa,” she says.
The countries were selected based on the government’s commitment, private sector investment and willingness of the youth to work.
CareerBox takes on youth from disadvantaged communities.
“Our innovative model has been successful. The government recognized by the government as part of the National Development Plan (NDP). We are on target to reach our goal of impacting 100,000 by 2020,” she says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/11/06/highly-adaptable-totally-indestructible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Highly Adaptable And Totally Indestructible</a>
Chege’s role with CareerBox is to come up with expansion strategies and she sources capital for their headquarters in Durban, South Africa, and offices in Nairobi with 50 employees. Through support from international donors, they intend to relaunch in Soweto so they can transform the township and contribute to the government’s township revitalization process.
Chege travels to South Africa regularly because she believes more investments are coming to the country.
“Globalization and the growth of our economies have enabled many like me to be able to work across borders. It is also the diaspora that is also helping drive an incredible amount to business to the continent. I consider myself blessed to straddle multiple cultures, disciplines, and markets. This enables me to drive high-impact work that serves not only those with access but also more importantly, those who are marginalized,” she says.
Chege says the support of her team has enabled her to keep empowering the youth.
“As a result of this co-dependency, we communicate and meet frequently. They need my skills as much as I need theirs. This respectful way of working enables me to work and deliver on my responsibilities, most internationally-driven,” says Chege.

‘The Impossible Does Not Exist’

Monty Munford , CONTRIBUTOR
Africa is heating up and on fire.
That statement, for once, has nothing to do with climate change, but with investor interest and technology momentum.
This modern-day scramble for Africa also has nothing to do with the colonization of African territory by European powers between 1881 and 1914, but is rather about the hunt for the Next Big Thing.
No longer the Dark Continent, life expectancy in Africa has increased by an astonishing eight years over the past decade and this burst of life is being replicated in its tech ecosystems.
From Cairo to Kigali, Cape Town to Lagos, Nairobi to Accra and Kampala to Dakar, tech hubs are rising faster than the cities that contain them.
By way of example, earlier this week, African software company <a href="https://andela.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Andela</a> raised $40 million to connect Africa’s engineering talent into the global technology ecosystem.
<div id="inread"> This financial round marks one of the largest investments ever led by an African venture firm into an Africa-based company and brings Andela’s total venture funding to more than $80 million.</div>
Deals such as these are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and in the UK others are realizing the opportunity.
Early next month in Brussels and backed by the European Commision, London-based accelerator <a href="https://wayra.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Wayra UK</a> will launch a trade delegation that will visit South Africa and Cape Town as part of the <a href="http://www.startupeuropeafrica.eu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Startup Europe Comes to Africa</a> (SEC2A) Road Trip, a new initiative that seeks to bring the African and European tech ecosystems closer together.
So, the interest is there, what about the startups themselves. What will be the Next Big Thing from Africa?
Naturally, lists are always subjective and contentious; Africa is a huge continent, but the companies mentioned all represent the best of African talent and a future that will shine far from its continental borders.
<a href="http://www.vconnect.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">VConnect</a> (Nigeria)
Previously described by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2013/07/18/vconnect-com-is-one-of-africas-hottest-tech-startups/#3fc33e11450e" target="_self">Forbes</a> as one of African&#8217;s hottest tech startups, the Lagos-based company continues to transform the services industry in Nigeria. Its platform matches customer needs with available suppliers.
In a country with a large population, scattered markets and lack of basic infrastructure, even the relatively simple task (in the West)  of finding a plumber or somebody to fix a roof is a major problem.
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The company says 70% of the population take five days to find a service provider and still run the risk of bad quality of service or paying exorbitant prices. VConnect brings that time down from days to minutes and now logs more than one million businesses.
<div id="attachment_1200" class="wp-caption alignnone">
<div class="article-body-image"><img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1200" src="https://blogs-images.forbes.com/montymunford/files/2017/08/Deepankar-Rustagi-vconnect-gm.jpg?width=960" alt="" data-height="700" data-width="1050" />VConnect</div>
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Deepankar Rustagi is the CEO of VConnect.
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<a href="http://meqasa.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">MeQasa</a> (Ghana)
Featured previously in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2015/10/28/meqasa-com-of-ghana-raises-500000-investment/#7702ee786dc1" target="_self">Forbes</a> after raising $500,000 in 2015, MeQasa goes from strength to strength in Ghana&#8217;s real estate market.
Its platform provides a free service for landlords, brokers and real estate industry professionals by making the search experience for prospective tenants and buyers fast and easy through which was previously a difficult user journey.
MeQasa showcases thousands of property available for rent or purchase &#8211; both residential and commercial &#8211; from across Ghana. It matches trusted real estate agents with serious home seekers with details on current property listings. Currently based in Ghana, it aims to replicate this all over Africa and the world.
<a href="https://www.flutterwave.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Flutterwave</a> (Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria)
Flutterwave provides smart developer- and customer-friendly payments infrastructure. It provides a range of services that allow its global merchants, PSPs and financial institutions to accept various payment types including Mastercard, Visa, mobile money, bank accounts and more.
The company says this democratises the payments ecosystem by removing the barriers to receiving payments and bringing all payment types into one point. This ensures easy payments and collections for business across Africa regardless of location.
Since inception, Flutterwave has provided the infrastructure for companies across Africa to receive payments from multiple payment sources. An excess of $200 million of transactions across Africa have been facilitated by Flutterwave&#8217;s technology.
<a href="http://www.sliideairtime.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sliide Airtime</a>
Sliide Airtime is a mobile advertising startup that gives people free airtime in return for engaging with news and branded content delivered to the lock screen of their mobile devices.
Sliide Airtime uses 65% of its advertising revenues to buy mobile data for its users so they can spend more time online for free. It’s wildly popular in Nigeria and currently fundraising to expand into additional markets in Africa and Asia.
It was named Most Innovative App at the 2017 Mobile World Congress awards, Africa’s Best App at the 2016 Apps Africa awards and its CEO and co-founder Corbyn Munnik was named as one of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2016/06/06/africas-most-promising-entrepreneurs-forbes-africas-30-under-30-for-2016/#7863df211f43" target="_self">Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30</a>.
<div id="attachment_1287" class="wp-caption alignnone">
<div class="article-body-image"><img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-1287" src="https://blogs-images.forbes.com/montymunford/files/2017/10/forbes_sliide.jpg?width=960" alt="Sliide" data-height="960" data-width="960" /></div>
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Sliide is one of Africa&#8217;s most interesting young companies.
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<a href="https://printivo.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Printivo</a> (Nigeria)
Founded in 2014 by Ayodeji Adeogun, Oluyomi Ojo, Ibukun Oloyede, Printivo ships printed material express orders across Nigeria and helps Nigerian SMEs with print marketing.
It works with companies such as Samsung, Google and Uber and has been through two rounds of funding to date.
Last year, the company was voted &#8216;The Most Investable in Nigeria after beating 31 other Nigerian startups at the Nigerian Startup Matchup competition run by business platform Starta.
<a href="http://www.lifeq.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">LIfeQ</a> &#8211; South Africa
LIfeQ is on a mission to maximise people&#8217;s health. It brings together knowledge and understanding of human physiology and systems biology to extract and deliver person-specific digital biomarkers from multitudinous curated data channels.
Founded in Stellenbosch, the company launched in 2015 at the Las Vegas CES show. Its complex combination of sensors and bio-mathematical modeling help its customers better understand their body and fitness.
It plans to grab a significant share of the global £1 trillion healthcare market.
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Other notable African startups to watch out are the finalists in the <a href="https://www.appsafrica.com/finalists-announced-for-the-appsafrica-com-awards-2017/?utm_source=Appsafrica+Tech+In+Africa+Mailing+List&amp;utm_campaign=175aa97a3c-Awards+shortlist%2C+Africa+Tech+Summit+Kigali+Andela&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_20e785a327-175aa97a3c-254180921" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Appsafrica.com Awards 2017</a> that were recently announced in sectors such as m-commerce, apps, enterprise and &#8216;Changing Africa&#8217;.
Whether the companies posited in this article change Africa remain to be seen, but Africa is hot right now and if cautious investors decide to hold back, it may be them that will be feeling the heat as Africa surges.
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Tag: Kenya

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