Extreme weather events are on the rise due to climate change. Parts of southern Africa were recently ravaged by a tropical storm that tore through homes and lives and displaced thousands. Some accounts from those affected.



By Lillian Roberts 



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="topline">Topline</h1>



Tropical storm Ana hit Madagascar on January 22, proceeding to Mozambique by January 24, leaving a trail of destruction in Malawi and Uganda as well, with a rising death toll of 88 people, Reuters reports.



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="key-facts">Key Facts</h1>



Fifty-one people have died in Madagascar, after floods and landslides. In Malawi, the death toll has risen to 33 with 20 missing, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) says, with currently 1,277 injured. Eighteen people have been reported dead so far in Mozambique, while in Uganda, another nine people have been reported dead.



Heavy rainfalls are affecting Zambia and Zimbabwe as a result of the weakening tropical storm. Parts of Zambia and Zimbabwe are flooded.



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="background">Background</h1>



Mike Aldworth, Managing Director of FES, a company doing across-the-board mechanizing of agriculture, irrigation and construction in Malawi and Zambia, was on-site in Malawi after the floods.



FES also operates drones in Malawi, using the drones currently to assess the soil erosion and damage done by the flooding.



Aldworth says there were many factors leading to the flooding, though such natural events are not unusual because of the yearly belt of rain.



South west of Malawi’s city Blantyre, the Shire River enters its final phase before leaving Malawi, joining the great Zambezi in Mozambique. The river descends to the lower valley through rapids and waterfalls before broadening out along a wide floodplain, used by sugar plantations. These are Malawi’s lowest areas. Access to the Lower Shire valley is along the M1 south of Blantyre and down the steep Thyolo Escarpment.



Deforestation is an issue, as local subsistence farmers use every bit of land they can next to the river, leading to no vegetation to slow water, Aldworth reports. The dry season is roughly from mid-March to mid-October, and in summer’s rainy months, Aldworth says temperatures can reach the mid-40s (celsius) on the floodplain.



“It’s a hostile environment, with malaria in summer, and difficult living conditions. People take any opportunity to get better soil. If you interviewed anyone, they are likely to say it’s worth the risk,” Aldworth says.



The flooding recently broke through the Kapachira dam in Chikwawa district, breaking riverbanks and taking off parts of the road.



With the Kapichira Hydroelectric Power plant reportedly badly damaged by the floods, there are blackouts too in the country, affecting people and businesses indiscriminately.



“Around 350mm fell in one day, and all the water went down the escarpment into the valley. It was chaos,” Aldworth says.



Locals use home-made fired clay bricks to build houses – and Aldworth says houses have been washed away, not just in the valley – as a result of this.



“Down in the valley, it was bad. This is the third flood I’ve seen in the ten years I have lived in Malawi, but the most damage I have ever seen. The problem is it was a lot of water in a short space of time,” Aldworth says.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046914.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-54148" width="742" height="495" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046914.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046914-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046914-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px" /><figcaption>Residents stand in a flooded area. (Photo by RIJASOLO / AFP) (Photo by RIJASOLO/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



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



Sherifa Mia, a senior program manager of Gift of The Givers in Malawi, spoke to FORBES AFRICA after a disaster briefing with the Malawian government, the United Nations (UN) and various NGOs on February 1 in the aftermath of Ana.



The mood is optimistic as the ground is drying up, allowing aid operations to access previously inaccessible places, Mia says.



Lower Shire, the river valley in Chikwawa, Malawi, has been the worst affected, with 84,000 households impacted.



More than 20,000 families have been displaced and are now housed in camps, particularly in schools and churches. Mia says people are crammed in small spaces and schools can only host so many, as classes must continue.



Gift of The Givers was one of the first organizations on the ground, delivering food. “People hadn’t eaten for three days,” Mia says, adding that people have lost livestock, crops and their means of livelihood. The majority of Malawi depends on subsistence agriculture, she adds.



This week, the government, UN and NGOs such as Gift of The Givers are planning for the next three months to ensure citizens have food, homes and shelters.



They also focus on helping the traumatized. Mia says she encouraged staff to speak to people who are distressed to let them know they are not alone.



“Children are traumatized. One child said ‘now our school has turned into our home’,” Mia says.



Additionally, through a system called Village Civil Protection Committees, citizens are trained by the government to provide support in times of crisis.



Mia says there could be more people dead or missing in still inaccessible areas.



A truck got stuck in the mud, in Traditional Authority Nkanda, Mulanje district, while trying to deliver food to the 1,050 families living in camps, and was only removed at midnight.



“I called and gave them encouragement, as well as a day off to reboot and come back,” Mia says.



Overall, the plea is for food, and as much help as possible.



“A lady with six children who lost everything and had not eaten in days was relieved when we brought food. Her children were not going to school because they had not eaten, and now they can go to school.”



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h1>



Climate activist Edwin Namakanga in Kampala, Uganda, moved to the city with his family, due to land that was difficult to farm, and also the frequent floods and landslides in Eastern Uganda, in Bududa, his hometown.



Namakanga says people normally return after an extreme weather event, because of the legacy of land.



Flooding within the city is an issue, with uncovered drainage systems posing a risk for human lives. People in informal settlements raise their beds during heavy rains. After the rains subside, they use basins to remove the water.



In 2020, Namakanga saw boys playing soccer outside in the rain. One boy’s rubber sandal slipped off, falling into an open trench of water.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046527.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-54147" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046527.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046527-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GettyImages-1238046527-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Around 1,000 disaster victims are welcomed in the school (Photo by RIJASOLO/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



“The water looks calm, but it is dangerous,” Namakanga says.



The boy jumped in, and was swept away. The other children called the adults, but by the time they had followed his course and found him by the wire mesh that stops rubbish, he had drowned.



Namakanga is involved in climate change awareness and mitigation projects; the RISE movement, planting trees to help mitigate the impact of deforestation, and empowering young women with financial literacy, clothes and sowing skills. He recently met with Greta Thunberg and attended the last UN climate change conference.



“You’ll find it is women and girls who are the most vulnerable in the climate crisis. The little we can do, we try and reach out,” Namakanga says.



Community clean-ups, putting pressure on people in power, proper drainage systems and educating community leaders on the climate crisis are some of the suggestions Namakanga has for adapting to climate change.



Western Uganda and Lake Victoria were recently affected by tropical storm Ana, displacing people at the slopes of Mount Rwenzori, and the fisherman who live at the shores of Lake Victoria, says Namakanga.



“You can’t even see the beaches at Lake Victoria anymore,” he adds.

MADAGASCAR-WEATHER-FLOODS

‘The Most Damage I Have Ever Seen’: The Aftermath Of Tropical Storm Ana In Southern Africa

It’s a gloomy Monday afternoon in the leafy Johannesburg
suburb of Greenside, South Africa, but inside the photo studio where we are,
the mood is festive as Madagascar-born Ylias Akbaraly transforms himself from a
humble, down-to-earth entrepreneur in modest casual wear into a stately
capitalist wearing a nifty-grey Italian designer suit, dark tie and light-blue
shirt. 



Madagascar’s wealthy businessman, who estimates his worth at
just over a billion dollars, has come to share his story of how in under 30
years, he turned a small family business with a turnover of almost $34,000 and
employing 20 people, to an empire with revenue expected to exceed $265 million
in 2019 and employing 3,000 staff.



The multinational conglomerate that he created through
discipline, hard work and seizing opportunities, now has tentacles beyond his
island state extending to Mali, Ghana, Mauritius, France and soon the United
States (US) and Canada, to name a few.&nbsp; 



A phone-call to his parents was all it took for the silver
fox to embark on this transformative journey. 



The ebullient 59-year-old describes the moment: “It was a
very special situation. I was doing very well in the US, I was living in
California – can you imagine, beautiful state, beautiful weather, good friends.
I could work there. I had some opportunities to work at the Bank of America at
that time, so I called my parents and said I am going to stay in the US, it is
better.” 



His parents were saddened by his decision, they asked him to
return and join the business.



In 1992, he did.



“I decided to come back and be with the family and thank God
I decided to come back. I don’t regret it, I am very happy, and they were very
happy,” the man who calls himself a spiritual person tells FORBES AFRICA. 



On his return, Akbaraly worked for Sipromad, a small retail
business focused on detergents that his father, Sermamod, the son of Indian
immigrants, established in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, in 1972 after a
stint selling shoes, shirts and ties.



Warmly, Akbaraly says: “I came back, I saw a very small
business, but my parents were happy, they had a very peaceful life, and things
at home were very nice and joyful.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I worked with my father, I assisted him, I wanted to change things but I was facing a generational conflict in business. But my father is very intelligent so step-by-step he let me change things.” </blockquote>



Full of fresh ideas from his time spent working and studying
in both France and the US, Akbaraly began to give his personal touch to
Sipromad. He created a team, and hired new people and professionals. 



The company started doing a lot of research; it went to see
some local suppliers who asked Sipromad to change the packaging, pricing and
color of its products, which it did. It extended its product lines. 



For example, instead of offering its products in big boxes,
it offered them in medium and small, so that it could target different
consumers, says the man known as one of Madagascar’s wealthiest.&nbsp; 



“At the same time we had our ear to the ground, we went to
see retailers and our customers to find out what they wanted, as the buyer is
king,” Akbaraly adds. 



From this exercise an important lesson was learned. 



“You have to adapt your product to the market, this is the
base of an entrepreneur, to adapt his way of doing things.” 



Through these changes, the business started growing its
market share and diversifying. It now operates in several sectors including
broadcasting, agribusiness, real estate, technology, finance, renewable energy,
tourism, aviation and industry. 



Akbaraly, a staunch believer in ‘free leadership’, becomes
animated when he explains how Sipromad was able to see opportunities in these
sectors.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It is a question of opportunities, it is a question of courage, I believe a lot in teamwork because with my colleagues, we talk, we debate, we change, we decide together.” </blockquote>



“I believe that business is a creation,” he adds. To explain
his point, he draws an analogy to an artist with his palette, who mixes his paint
as he sees the potential beauty it can create. 



Like the artist who mixes his colors, business is a creation
of the opportunities you take, reckons Akbaraly. 



“This is why understanding the market, understanding what is going to happen in five years, is important so that you can take decisions when you have opportunities in front of you, we are very proactive, very fast in taking decisions and we are not scared, we are not afraid because we work very hard,” Akbaraly says. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The rationale for diversification&nbsp; </h4>



What is striking about the clusters Sipromad operates in is
that they are vastly different. 



Akbaraly claims the rationale for this is that it comes down
to the businessperson you are: “There are two types of businessmen. Some prefer
to stay in the same sector, to invest in the same sector and develop in the
same sector, to integrate. Our strategy was diversification. We thought about
it and the outcome of our discussions and debates was to diversify the business
as it protects you if you are facing problems in one sector.”



The architect of this multi-sector business also suggests
the market demanded it: “Today, when we see how we became big and how we became
so strong in business, it is because we diversified our business for different
markets. 



“Now things are changing because of this diversification, now we can synergize because sometimes our customers are interested in detergents, tobacco, soap, so we can synergize and propose many products to one customer because of our diversification. This is a big advantage because one customer is able to buy products from different sectors of our company.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Reinvesting profits</h4>



The growth was funded by reinvesting a 100% of the company’s
profits back into the family empire, explains the mogul with an international
outlook. 



“When you don’t distribute your profit it means your profit becomes a strength for your company… when you show the bankers that your money is reinvesting and you don’t distribute your dividends and you tell them, ‘ok we have this type of investment, we can bring 30%, we can raise 70% from you’, it gives our financial partners very big security and they follow us. this is how we raised money to reinvest, diversify and buy equipment, buy raw materials and increase our business.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">‘Reputation very important’</h4>



But it wasn’t just Sipromad’s shrewdness in capital raising
that allowed it to expand but its reputation.



Candidly, Akbaraly says: “We are very careful about our
management. Reputation is very important, because of our serious work, our engagement,
our products, our customers, our suppliers, we created a name and when you do
that, you create your brand, and because of that, when foreigners come to
invest in Madagascar, they come to Sipromad. 



Those that have partnered with the company include Orange
Money in mobile banking, Italy’s Tozzi Green in hydropower, Brink’s for the
transport of money, and Apple, to name a few.



Last year, the global company did a joint venture with one of Morocco’s largest banks, Banque Centrale Populaire, to buy Mauritius-based Banque des Mascareignes and its subsidiary Banque des Mascareignes – Madagascar.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Analogue to digital</h4>



Akbaraly says the company’s reputation led to its
partnership with Rohde &amp; Schwarz based in Munich, Germany, and its purchase
of Thomson Broadcast. These deals catapulted it to another level.



Akbaraly, with fervor, explains further: “As we have a very
strong IT department, we set up Broadcasting Media Solutions (BMS), which
specializes in broadcast, because of our reputation, we were approached by
electronics group Rohde &amp; Schwarz.&nbsp; 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“They came to us and told us ‘we know you have a very serious business, you have a very good maintenance team, do you want to work with us in Madagascar to sell our products in broadcast and maintain them?’ Of course we did!”</blockquote>



From Madagascar, Sipromad partnered with Rohde &amp; Schwarz
in Mauritius and Morocco and subcontracted for the electronics group after it
won a tender in Zimbabwe and Ghana.



In the process, Sipromad became a player in the broadcasting
space. In 2018, BMS bid for a contract in Mali for the deployment of a
nationwide, end-to-end digital terrestrial television (DTT) turnkey roll out,
it lost to France’s Thomson Broadcast. Refusing to give up, Akbaraly discovered
Thomson had financial problems and decided to buy it.



Thomson not only allowed Sipromad to expand into Mali but
transformed it to a truly global business with operations in France, Israel,
Cape Verde, Bangladesh, India, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.



Akbaraly says it is looking to expand to Pennsylvania in the
US, to Canada, Angola, Sierra Leone and South Africa. In Africa, it plans to
migrate countries from analogue to digital broadcasting.



The visionary says Sipromad’s dream is for a pan-African
company to become a leader in broadcast.



But Madagascar will always remain his core. Full of love for his homeland, he speaks highly of it: “It is my center of energy, we call it plasma, I am here because of Madagascar, it was the source, the beginning, the start and my grandfather taught me, my mother’s father [who said] ‘don’t forget Madagascar because you have been protected by the flag of Madagascar, Madagascar was your protector, do the best, develop your business all around the world’, but the source, the energy, the key, the chi is Madagascar.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Balanced life</h4>



The father of four believes his success comes from living a
balanced life, surrounding himself with the right people, being spiritual and
positive. 



“If you want to be successful in life, you have to create
positive energy, how you create it is according to your behavior, according to
what you do, how you behave with others.” He reckons the energy was passed on
from his family through education, their good attitude and transparency.



The martial arts veteran follows a very strict routine. It’s
the reason he has been called the monk of business. 



“My life is very well-organized, because I wake up in the morning between 4AM and 4.30AM and pray; spirituality first, then meditation, yoga, and take some water, fruit and then I go for my sports, usually I start at 6 o’ clock, for a minimum of one hour a day and then I go to the office.



&nbsp;“When you’re at a certain level of business, you have to be very well-organized, you cannot afford to go outside in the night to clubs, to sleep late. This is not possible, otherwise in the morning, you cannot wake up early, your day starts badly… that is why one day, one of my very close uncles told me ‘your life is like a Buddhist life, it is like a monk’. I think at a certain level you need to have this type of life. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, and I don’t eat meat.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Philanthropy, education and inclusion</h4>



It is Akbaraly’s deep spirituality, love for his country and
sense of justice that led him to use his wealth for the greater good of
humanity. In 2008, he and his Italian wife, Cinzia, who shares and developed
his spirituality, founded the Akbaraly Foundation.



The idea was conceptualized while Cinzia was in hospital for
cancer. She wanted to do something for Madagascan women because they are the
foundation of life, the center of energy, the plasma of the world, says
Akbaraly. 



In Madagascar, they set up prevention centers to assist
women with breast and gynaecological cancer.



The country is among the poorest in the world, it saddens
the philanthropist when he reflects on it: 



“We are not happy because when you see people you know that
are not in a good situation, they don’t have shoes, they don’t have enough
food… you need justice, life needs to be fair. My dream, and I hope it will
materialize, is to fight against poverty, to give a better life to our
population so that they can go to school and have hospitals.” 



It is for this reason that the foundation’s aim is to fight
against extreme poverty. Its projects extend to health, education and
sustainable development.



“Right now, we are in discussions in the US with MIT
[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. We would like to sign an agreement
between MIT and Thomson, and one university of IT in Madagascar, to offer our
young generation of Madagascans IT and maybe send them abroad,” says Akbaraly,
who is a firm believer in the power of education.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



In countries where Sipromad operates, it prioritizes
corporate social investment. In Mali, for example, together with the
government, it is investing in radio to transfer education to parts of Mali,
Akbaraly says.



The foundation also makes contributions. In Rwanda, for
example, it is contributing $100,000 to the launch of new hospitals, says the
businessman. 



His sense of justice doesn’t just extend to the foundation’s
projects but also to his own organization. 



Women and men are paid equally for the same work. More and
more women are being placed in executive positions because they are very good,
Akbaraly says.



His fight against poverty lives out in the projects his
company chooses to focus on. 



“That is why we are investing a lot in the industry sector;
we just built the [Orange Telecommunication] Tower,” a 33-storey headquarter building,
the tallest in the world’s fourth largest island, and known as the “pride of
the nation”. 



“We are doing so many investments, we hire people, we give them jobs. We are, right now, in another project for real estate, what we can do is to invest, to hire people, to fight against unemployment, to give them a chance to buy things, to go to the restaurant, to have good food and at the same time with the profit to share in the project of CSI, this is the positive energy, this is the karma, this is important in life because in life you have to be fair, you cannot accept that some people are in this situation while others are in a better situation,” Akbaraly reflects. Throughout his career, he has received accolades. The one he is most proud of is the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman from India in 2009. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Succession planning </h4>



Akbaraly is under no illusion he will hold on to power forever. He is hard at work preparing the next generation to take over Sipromad, because in a few years’ time, he wants to do something else, he tells FORBES AFRICA. “I want to do more for others. Really to share with others,” the monk of business says with a smile.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Additional inputs:</h4>



Akbaraly and Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the United Nations, have forged a friendship over the years. “Ylias is a self-made millionaire who started from humble beginnings,” Douste-Blazy says. “We’ve had many interesting conversations about geopolitics and other trends around the world.”



Douste-Blazy talks about Akbaraly’s humility and how he lets
his work speak for itself. “He is very discreet. When you see him walk down the
street, he is not loud about his wealth. He walks freely without guards or
expensive cars.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="688" height="434" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39419" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe.png 688w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe-300x189.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phillipe-600x378.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px" /><figcaption> Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the United Nations. Picture:Supplied</figcaption></figure>



Douste-Blazy expends that Akbaraly’s business strategies
have captured the attention of many.&nbsp;
“Akbaraly is respected in France, his acquisition of Thomson [Broadcast]
was very important&#8230;.The assets that he has acquired show him to be a smart
businessman.”



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



 “I have much respect for my friend and peer Ylias Akbaraly. He is the textbook definition of a visionary entrepreneur. The transformation of his group of companies was single-handedly spearheaded by him. 



 “From their international expansion to endeavors in tourism, manufacturing, energy, real estate, they were all strategically invested by him. There’s much to take note of in this story. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="684" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-684x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-37430" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-684x1024.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-600x899.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use.jpg 1367w" sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" /><figcaption>Mohammed Dewji, CEO, MeTL and Africa&#8217;s youngest billionair as per FORBES.</figcaption></figure>



“What many may not know is in addition to his many accolades, I must say his piety seeps through all his endeavors, both professionally and personally. His strong faith has propelled him to be even more grounded and thus become the successful businessman he is today.” &#8211; Mohammed Dewji, CEO, MeTL Group, and Africa&#8217;s youngest billionaire



-With inputs from Unathi Shologu

ylias-2

The Monk Of Business: Ylias Akbaraly Talks About Secret To Success And Plans To Take Africa With Him

Madagascar is a priority country for conservation and preserving Earth’s biodiversity riches threatened by a rampant rate of habitat destruction. Ninety percent of the natural habitat of Madagascar has been destroyed and 91% of the lemur species are critically endangered, endangered or threatened. 



Since the political turmoil of 2009, coupled with security issues and illegal extraction activities, the conservation situation has worsened. The presidential election that took place in January offers hope that this new regime will make preservation of the unique wildlife of Madagascar a priority. 



President Andry Rajoelina ran on a platform of eliminating poverty for his people. 



Ecotourism is good for the economy, but there are doubts if it is enough. Our conservation teams in the Ranomafana region are hoping that we have a solution for improving local economies. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="426" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Hood-Wright-052411-0022-copy.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39427" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Hood-Wright-052411-0022-copy.jpg 640w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Hood-Wright-052411-0022-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Hood-Wright-052411-0022-copy-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /><figcaption> Patricia Wright is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Stony Brook University in the US and Founder of Centre ValBio Research Station, in Ranomafana, Madagascar.&nbsp;Picture:&nbsp;Supplied </figcaption></figure>



Centre ValBio (CVB), a 30-year-old research center, is nestled overlooking the Ranomafana National Park rainforest near Fianarantsoa, and is an eight-hour drive from the capital Antananarivo. 



CVB is a hub of modern science with laboratory equipment to study genetics, infectious diseases and mapping from satellites. 



Substantial efforts by scientists have led to an improved understanding about taxonomy, species distributions, the evolution, behavior and population size of the flora and fauna, and the impact of habitat loss on Madagascan biodiversity. 



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2018/12/20/putting-land-to-good-use-food-security-in-our-backyards/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Putting land To Good Use: Food Security In Our Backyards (opens in a new tab)">Putting land To Good Use: Food Security In Our Backyards</a>



This knowledge has been successfully used to guide conservation planning and action, as well as new discoveries in medical science. Scientists investigate the impact of anthropogenic influence, edge effects, climate change, and fragmentation on ecosystems and communities in these lush rainforests. 



The CVB campus has five buildings and a staff of 130 local scientists, technicians and administrators who work year-round on research, training and conservation. 



This station conducts studies of cyanide-eating lemurs, climate change, new leech species, lemurs that have genes that might be related to diabetes and Alzheimer’s, and genetics of an ecosystem. 



All around, the parks, forests and the rare species within them are still disappearing. Slash-and-burn agriculture is the main threat to rainforests in Madagascar. 



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/10/03/professor-saved-african-rainforest/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="The Professor Who Saved An African Rainforest (opens in a new tab)">The Professor Who Saved An African Rainforest</a>



Forests are sacrificed to plant rice, the staple food for humans. CVB has launched an alternative against this destruction of natural resources. First, the village elders are engaged to ensure a buy-in by the communities. 



If the villagers are enthusiastic, workshops and training begin in the fields. Next, using years of botanical knowledge, the reforestation team (technicians and scientists) helps villagers plant endemic saplings of tree species eaten by lemurs. We don’t plant a monoculture, but rather use natural dispersion as a guide. 



We know from our pilot experience that it takes about 15 years for the endemic trees to fruit and flower, and for birds, bats and lemurs to return to these ‘new forests’ where they could help ‘plant’ more forests by dispersing their seeds. 



We are hoping that this strategy will help to stabilize the soil, prevent erosion and river silting, and expand the habitats for wildlife. But what value do these trees have for the Malagasy farmer? 



Using these trees as structure vines of high value crops such as vanilla, wild pepper and cinnamon that need shade to grow well are transplanted onto these trees. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">With assistance in processing and marketing, the local farmers can harvest these high-value crops and earn great economic gain. </blockquote>



The prices of Malagasy spices are high in the world market and spice venders project that the high prices will continue into the future with new markets in China and India. 



There is hope that not only will this strategy increase biodiversity, but it will also bring affluence to the farmers and merchants of Madagascar. Rajoelina’s promise of prosperity is possible and the unforeseen benefits could be transformative. 



– The writer is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Stony Brook University in the US and Founder of Centre ValBio Research Station, in Ranomafana, Madagascar

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A Solution To Improve Madagascar’s Local Economies

The incessant rain was becoming too much to bear especially given the steep and slippery terrain, so I asked my naturalist guide Theo to find a place where we could rest.
I was in a pristine rainforest known as Ranomafana in the central highlands of Madagascar on a three-week trip in April to observe and photograph the natural history and geology of south central Madagascar. We sat protected by rain, beneath the eaves of a primitive cabin once used by a scientist who the local villagers considered “the mother of Ranomafana”.
That lady was none other than Dr. Patricia Chapple Wright, the world’s leading lemur expert, who’d spent time in these cabins in the mid 1980s while searching for extinct lemurs and in the process discovered two new species.
I had no knowledge of Wright, or the amazing work she had done for the conservation of this 145 square mile rainforest, which along with a 500 square mile buffer zone is home to many endangered species. Those include several species of lemur that she almost certainly saved from extinction. As a result of Wright’s determined efforts, Ranomafana National Park was created by her in 1986 and became a World Heritage Site for its unique biodiversity in 1992.
Lemurs are our primate cousins that never evolved into Homo sapiens but possess 90% of our DNA. They had been the least studied primates, since they are only found in Madagascar where they evolved for over 80 million years in relative isolation.
While in Madagascar, I had made up my mind to reach out to Wright and thank her for her yeoman service to science and conservation.
Upon my return to New Jersey, I emailed her lab in Stony Brook University, New York, where she is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Primatology.
In my letter, I expressed my sincere intent to meet her and perhaps interview her for FORBES WOMAN AFRICA. My letter to her was more successful than her own early efforts to meet the chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall, when as a young scientist she had naively attempted to write to Goodall in Tanzania.
She had simply addressed her mail to “Jane Goodall, Gombe Stream, Tanzania” and perhaps that mail still sits in a dead letter office in Tanzania.
To discover the real Patricia Chapple Wright I read up on her in every media source available. I watched the movie Madagascar: Island Of Lemurs narrated by Morgan Freeman that featured her.
The BBC series on Madagascar which showed her work with lemurs was a great supplement to my knowledge of the flora and fauna there. Her first book High Moon Over The Amazon: My Quest To Understand The Monkeys Of The Night was an interesting read about her childhood, her “hippie” life in the 60s followed by a long stretch as primate scientist and raising a daughter as a single mother in the jungle.
This book revealed her warm persona, her motherly instincts, her love for nature and her sacrifices to achieve scientific credentials through hard field work in Manu National Park, Peru, in the 70s, a good two weeks journey from civilization.
Her second book, For The Love Of Lemurs: My Life In The Wilds Of Madagascar, gave me an idea of her amazing years observing, documenting and studying the behavior of lemurs, especially the golden bamboo lemur and the greater bamboo lemur both of whom she discovered in Ranomafana.
It was an amazing read covering the difficulties of a young woman scientist in the middle of a rainforest in a politically isolated land with multiple tribal customs and taboos.
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Her scientific journey began four decades ago in New York City when in 1968, as a young housewife on her way to a Jimi Hendrix concert with her husband, she got trapped in a Greenwich Village pet store, Fish &amp; Cheeps, during a rainstorm.
She eventually went home owning an owl monkey that she had fallen in love with at the store. It was the counter culture era in the United States with anti-war protests, hippie culture, women’s rights and African-American equality movements. Therefore raising a monkey, albeit an exotic one, was not considered unusual.
The young Wright was a social worker in New York despite having a biology degree from Hood College in Maryland. As Barbara J. King, nature commentator at NPR (National Public Radio) put it: “That connection with an owl monkey led to a radical life change. Eventually Wright headed to graduate school and then to Madagascar to do research. She has discovered new lemur species and helped create a national park — all while helping the local people along the way. Her efforts have blossomed into a worldwide movement to save the lemurs, considered to be among the most endangered vertebrates.”
After raising the owl monkey for a year she wanted to find a mate for it. Not finding much information on the subject in libraries, she reached out to the anthropology department in CUNY (City University of New York) and came to know that owl monkeys are natives of the Amazon and jungles of Central America. The young Wright decided to take her painter husband and new-born daughter, Amanda, to Brazil to find a mate for her owl monkey. The family eventually came home with a mate and soon the monkey pair had an offspring.
Wright’s observation that the male monkey took all offspring-raising responsibilities defied common perceptions among primatologists that only females nurtured offspring. Her curiosity of this behavior led her to travel to Costa Rica for several months, again with her young family, to study owl monkeys. She came back with sufficient information to publish a pioneering research paper. Her attempt to publish was spurned because she was not a bona fide scientist as she did not have an advanced degree. So she began her PhD studies at CUNY under the tutelage of Dr. Warren Kinzey, a well-regarded scientist.
Her field studies took her to Manu National Park in Peru, where she spent nearly two years studying the behavioral aspects of owl monkeys. Her book High Moon Over The Amazon details her experiences in Peruvian rainforests including stories of facing jaguars, vipers and army ants while raising a young daughter.
Later, working as a research associate for Duke University’s primatology lab, she was sent to the Philippines and Borneo to study the Tarsier monkeys of Southeast Asia. Upon her return, her professor assigned her to Madagascar to search for a new species of lemurs, and especially the greater bamboo lemur, considered extinct.
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This assignment began her three decades of field work in Madagascar which had been closed off to Westerners for more than a decade in the 70s. The economic infrastructure had fallen apart, there were no paved roads and people resorted to slash-and-burn subsistence farming, which meant slashing and burning the rainforest.
Wright was so frustrated with Madagascar and writes: “My journey was just one disappointment after another, until I came to <a href="http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/centre-valbio/about_us/ranomafana.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ranomafana</a> in the Southeast. I stopped in a village because it had hot mineral springs and I needed a bath. Later, the villagers guided me into this gorgeous forest, where I camped. In the forest, I spotted something that I thought was the animal I’d been searching for. It wasn’t. It was actually a species new to science, the golden bamboo lemur. Not long after that, I did see a greater bamboo lemur. It wasn’t extinct after all.”
In 1989, she became a MacArthur Foundation “genius” Fellow. In 1995, she was awarded the Chevalier d’ Ordre National (National Medal of Honor of Madagascar) and in 2004, the Officier d’ Ordre National from the President of Madagascar in recognition of her conservation work.
She is busy commuting between two continents; she is the founder of Center ValBio, a modern research campus in the rainforest of Madagascar. As professor of anthropology and standing member of National Geographic’s Committee on Science and Exploration, she is today considered the world’s top primatologist and lemur expert.
Conducting over 40 biological expeditions in Peru, Sarawak, Philippines, Paraguay and Madagascar over the past four decades, she is the author of several research papers focusing on behavior, predation, rainforest ecology, climate change and conservation studies especially of Malagasy lemurs.
In 2013, Wright was one of only 26 resident members to gain election to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States. In 2014, she won the Indianapolis Prize for Conservation, the most prestigious award for nature conservation. She has written many books including Madagascar: Forests of our Ancestors, Tarsiers: Past, Present and Future and Girl Power: Ladies Led in the Lemurs. &#8211; Written by Ramdas Iyer

The Professor Who Saved An African Rainforest

Flying over the 400-mile wide Mozambique Channel that separates Madagascar from the African continent, my heart raced at the prospect of visiting a remote island that separated from the African continent some 165 million years ago.
Imagine an island more than 1,000 miles long in a blue tropical ocean uninhabited for most of its history. Forests cover vast areas, interspersed with swamps where eight-meter-long crocodiles lie in wait to prey on pygmy hippopotamuses. In the rain forests and in dryer parts of the island live some of the strangest primates to have ever existed on earth. Some 110 species of these lemurs live throughout the island and range in size from the world&#8217;s smallest primate, weighing about one ounce, to a lemur the size of a gorilla (now extinct).
Peering out of my aircraft window, I watched the stratocumulus clouds tower over the many swollen rivers draining the rainwaters as we descended towards Antananarivo (Tana), the capital of Madagascar located in the cool central highlands. With golden paddy fields blanketed by green clusters of trees, I was descending into what appeared to be a paradise of forests, paddy fields and rolling hills.
At the arrivals area, I was surprised to be greeted by faces that displayed a unique blend of African and Indonesian bloodlines. First populated 1,600 years ago by ancient sailors from Borneo, in today’s Indonesia, its early history is being slowly peeled by anthropologists one excavation at a time.
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Nearly all the species here evolved in isolation since it broke off and drifted away from east Africa many million years ago. What I found here is a lost world of unique animals and plants, unseen by humans until their first arrival.
My planned take-away from this trip included photographing colorful chameleons, trekking the lush rainforests, navigating spiny thorn forests and climbing the spectacular rock formations. At the end of it all, what left me with a deeper sense of this country was its unique people following ancient customs, despite their wanton destruction of a paradise.
My guide in Antasibe, Maurice Ratsesakanana, was instrumental in me tracking down the apex lemur, indri. Its haunting calls are reminiscent of the songs of the humpback whales. Each morning in my bungalow, at the Hotel Fenny Ala at the edge of the rain forest, I woke up to its call. The indri is the largest lemur in existence today and tracking and photographing them in rain was a trophy to be had. Indris have never been successfully bred in captivity and this is the only place on earth that one can see these unusual primates.
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Maurice also exposed me to some of the 600 amphibians and reptiles that inhabit the forest, most of them endemic to Madagascar, meaning found nowhere else on earth. Frogs of every imaginable color and pattern leapt in this wet jungle. Chameleons, some brilliantly colored, and others shades of mottled brown, crept invisibly about. The largest can capture mice and birds, while the smallest, measuring only an inch, feeds on insects.
More than 80% of Madagascar’s 14,883 plant species are found nowhere else in the world. The rain forests had many orchids growing on tree barks and stems. Maurice indicated that three-fourths of Madagascar’s 860 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">orchid</a> species are endemic, as are six of the world’s eight <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">baobab</a> species. I found orchid nursery’s lining all along the Antasibe road, simply harvested from the rainforest each day.
At the World Heritage rain forest of Ranomafana, Theo Farafidison, my guide, educated me on so many aspects of the fauna there. Theo worked with filmmaker David Attenborough during the shooting of the BBC series there. Almost all the amphibians and reptiles in Madagascar, half the 300 birds and all its 110 species of lemurs are endemic. Theo and I spotted a Parson’s chameleon that was almost two feet long and capable of grabbing birds with its sticky tongue. I could not help but coax it to walk on my arms, a small violation of the park’s rules. The bamboo lemurs are a specialty here, along with seven other species.
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My personal highlight was that of grabbing a six-foot tree boa at night while we were looking for nocturnal lemurs and chameleons. He was quite docile and surprisingly comfortable in my hold. After studying him in my confines, I gently eased him on to a tree, not realizing that they hunt on the ground. After photographing many species of frogs, scores of geckos, including those that mimic leaves, several chameleon species, five snake species, including a very large Madagascar tree boa, I moved to the drier side of the highlands. The unique animals of this country, especially the tree boa constrictor, are a target for pet suppliers from all over the world.
Some of the amazing landscapes I found in the country’s national parks included spectacular rock massifs, canyons, aquatic environments, savannahs and dry lands. Isalo, Zombitse, Kirindy and Andatringa come to mind as places that cannot be missed. Waterfalls abound, cascading down tall cliffs into rivers and lakes, the central highlands are a mosaic of woodland and savannah, while the eastern regions are covered in dense, humid rainforest.
In my quest for soaking up this paradise I swam in cool pools inside canyons, trekked the Tsaranoro massif, a sheer rock 800 meters tall known for world-class rock climbing, went sapphire prospecting on river banks, walked in wet, dry, semi-humid and spiny forests enjoying everything from insects like the endemic kung fu cricket, which takes on a martial posture when approached by the diverse ethnic groups that populate this island.
One great adventure that will last in my memory was my attempt to reach the spectacular limestone karst formations of Tsingy de Bemahara in the rainy season. It is an impenetrable wilderness of limestone spikes and sharp rocks that dominates the North West. The Tsingy is an ancient 200-mile long coral reef lifted from the ocean and carved over the millennia by wind and water into dagger-edged pinnacles. Crossing rivers on barges and driving through the dirt roads that had become three-feet deep streams during the rainy season, I reached this remote area to be hailed as the first tourist to arrive there that season. A nine-mile trek and climb ensued my visit to this world heritage site from the top looking down since all road access was inundated.
Deforestation has been present on the island since its colonization by humans, approximately 2,000 years ago, with 90% of the original forests lost. With an unprecedented population growth, extreme poverty (one of the highest in the world), and a brewing political crisis, the nature of the island is helpless and besieged by multiple fronts including corruption at the highest level. There is a police stop almost every few miles; they find something wrong with every vehicle in order to squeeze a few arriaris out of innocents and crooks alike. Thankfully, they do not bother tourists. One interesting behavior that I wish to write about is that of the gendarmerie (national police) who offered a full ceremonial salute when all our papers were in order.
In addition to the traditional system of slash and burn deforestation, which allows local people to open forests to cultivate, international players in cahoots with local officials selectively log rosewood tree species and have become the main threat for the biodiversity of the island. Lorries of hardwood leaving forested areas forced me to enquire about its legitimacy to everyone I met. They all shrugged almost helplessly even though their future was being stripped one day at a time.
Other threats include killing lemurs for meat, poaching reptiles and amphibians for the pet trade (the ploughshare tortoise fetches $200,000), habitat alteration and the clearance of forests, primarily for firewood and charcoal production. En route to the rainforests of Antasibe, I could see virgin rainforests burning outside the limits of the park for agriculture and cattle grazing that brought tears to my eyes. At every turn during my trip, my driver Tony Rebetsitonta, reflected on the different forested areas that had disappeared in his 25 years of driving around the country. It is anticipated that all the island’s rainforests, excluding those in protected areas and the steepest eastern mountain slopes, will have been deforested by 2025. As a result, several charismatic species such as chameleons and lemurs that evolved for millions of years here may become extinct by the end of the century.
The urgency to conserve the habitat has long been noticed by western scientists and conservation funding for Madagascar is at its peak. From protecting flora, fauna, habitats and large swathes of remaining forest, organizations are finding new ways to compensate the locals, educate them on sustainable land use and above all deal with a complex system of taboos that hold back progress.
While at Ranofamana National Park, I came to realize that this large virgin rainforest was protected and later converted into a park by none other than Dr. Patricia Wright of Stony Brook University in 1980, while studying bamboo lemurs as a post doctoral research worker there. This is another example of a driven woman scientist challenging government officials, locals and vested interests to create a legacy for mankind.
By the 16th century, the central highlands where the bulk of Madagascar’s population resides had been largely cleared of their original forests. It was small wonder that I saw red top soil getting washed off into the rivers from the air with no roots to hold them down. More recent contributors to the loss of forest cover include the growth in cattle herd size since their introduction around 1,000 years ago.
I met a professor from the University of Pretoria who is studying land grabs and cattle rustling in Madagascar and did not want his name publicized. This is a country where people still keep their wealth in cattle and not cash. He told me that rustling cattle is big business and as a result big groups of heavily-armed men attack villages and run away with the several hundred heads of cattle. I am told that the Malagasy people register their Zebu cattle at birth with the authorities, and not their own children.
Today, there are around 18 different ethnic groups living on the island. These include the Asiatic Merina (who make up over a quarter of the population), the Betsimisaraka, Betsileo, Tsimihety, Antaimoro and the Bantu Sakalava. The Malagasy language is very similar to the Indonesian language Minaan; spoken only in Borneo, it has accepted some Bantu/Swahili words over time. Their customs especially of burials, land ownership, taboos and professions are very unique for the traveler to see and experience.
The Malagasy burial customs matches closely with cultures from Indonesia where I have traveled extensively to study them. This includes periodic exhumation of the bones and huge celebrations, keeping the corpse at home until it dries before burial or placing them inside rock cairns in hard to reach places, all of which bankrupt families in pursuit of satisfying their forefathers. Their philosophy, much like the ethnic Indonesians of Sulawesi and Borneo, is that life on earth is very ephemeral when compared to the soul’s journey through the universe.
This beautiful land and its people are in a ticking time bomb of land loss, top soil erosion and desertification in a few centuries. While western agencies are doing their best to stem the degradation, it is inevitable that it cannot be reversed. Added to this, poor education, absent healthcare and a corrupt government have kept the people very poor, just living under an annual $500 per capita.
It is a paradise in retreat and all our efforts to decelerate this decline is all I can hope for these wonderful people and its other living denizens. It is a travesty created by man in his effort to conquer nature. &#8211; Words and photos by Ramdas Iyer

A Paradise In Retreat

The dining room table is set, with three pieces of cutlery on each side of the dinner plates. The wine is flowing and hors d&#8217;oeuvres are being served. The CEO of Guanomad, Eric Rajaonary, sits at the head of the table with his CFO, Anja Randrianalison, to his left and his sales team to his right. Tonight, they are celebrating their nomination by the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship (AAE).
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Less than a month later, this growing company based in Antananarivo, Madagascar, beat 11 other companies from the rest of the continent to be named the most outstanding small and growing business for 2013 by the AAE. The product that earned them this accolade—bat droppings.
&#8220;It all began in 2005, where, after a few discussions about the possibility to find bat guano in Madagascar, and inspired by the Peruvian seabirds guano, I decided to make a 180-degree career change in setting up my own company,&#8221; says Rajaonary.
The former accountant saw potential in the fertilizer business and ventured into the southern caves of the island in the Indian Ocean to look for bat guano. In the first year of production, the company sold only 400 tons of compost. Today, the company produces 1,500 tons of guano a year with exports to Europe, Canada and the Caribbean. This year, the target is Africa.
Dinner is served, but before anyone can take a bite of their meal, Rajaonary makes a toast to his team and, of course, the bats of Madagascar. In a country known as one of the poorest in the world according to the World Bank, Guanomad is an example of how one simple idea can provide work for hundreds of people.
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Although Rajaonary was born in Madagascar, he spent a large part of his life in France as a student and then an accountant. In 1998, he left Europe and moved back to Madagascar looking for opportunities in the private sector.   Leaving Europe was a big risk, but one he urges other African entrepreneurs working abroad to take.
&#8220;Agriculture, new technology, health and education. Africa has the brainpower. The continent needs these people to come back. However, these people need better incentives,&#8221; he says.
What really makes the company stand out is Rajaonary&#8217;s dedication to helping his community and building a self-sustainable economy. Madagascar has one of the worst malnutrition rates in the world with nearly half of its population of 20 million not getting the required food to live healthy lives, according to the National Nutrition Office (ONN), a government body aimed at eradicating this problem.
Rajaonary believes that Guanomad is a solution because it helps grow crop throughout the country and if used correctly, could help feed millions. The company goes so far as to train local farmers on how to use the product and often gives tons of Guanomad away for new farmers to try.
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Unlike chemical fertilizers, Guanomad doesn&#8217;t damage the soil or contaminate any of the waterways through nitrification, says Mirana Rakotovelo, the director of marketing and communication. The product is 100% environmentally friendly and can even help repair damaged soil in some cases.
These values of giving back to the community are also felt in the Guanomad offices.
&#8220;We really feel at ease working in a friendly atmosphere,&#8221; says Guanomad employee, Christian Rahelison, who recently joined the team.
&#8220;Secondly, working in an environment like this affects us positively, not just as work but our quality of life as well. There is just less stress,&#8221; he adds.
As the celebrations for their nominations continue, Rajaonary turns to the DJ and instructs him play some Zamba tracks—an Argentinian style of music. The staff gathers on the dance floor and start dancing to the moves on the screen. Most of the female employees take the lead as the male employees shy away from moving their hips. Rajaonary, however, isn&#8217;t afraid and makes his way into the front of the row ready to jive with the best of them.
The entrepreneur says he doesn&#8217;t intentionally try to make the company feel like a family, but the relationship between the top management and all the employees is based on trust which makes everybody feel at ease.
He thinks the future is bright for Guanomad and attributes much of his success to innovation and good management. He also believes that being a socially responsible company, tends to work in his favor as it builds a relationship with the local farmers and people of the country.
As the night winds down, Rajaonary keeps dancing and spurs his staff to do the same. Most of the team moves outside for a break. Everyone is smiling and when the boss comes out to join them, the level of enthusiasm remains the same.
The team moves to the entrance of the house where five vehicles are waiting to take everyone home. It&#8217;s an all-round good feeling, except that work starts at 9AM the next day. The team dread the morning wake-up call, but they know Rajaonary will be the first at work and they don’t want to let their boss down.

The Profits That Drop From The Bat

Firms like to talk about investing in Africa. But what they are really looking at is a jumble of 54 sovereign countries, with their own laws, regulations, cultures and languages. Only a few people are knowledgeable about all the countries. Among them is Riaan Manser.
Forty-year-old Manser grew up in Richard’s Bay, on South Africa’s east coast, where he spent most of his childhood roaming the outdoors. He studied human resources because he wanted to work with people. Manser took a job with private healthcare provider Prime Cure in Cape Town, selling insurance.
“One Sunday afternoon, I realized I wasn’t completely happy. I did my job just to make money. I decided my life was going to be much more than that. I made the decision to change my life,” he says.
A year later, in 2003, Manser mounted his bicycle and went on a 26-month ride across Africa, peddling 37,000 kilometers through 34 countries. He got to know Africa and its people slowly, learning important lessons in life.
“When I left South Africa, I wasn’t very organized. I had zero visas in my passport. I had to negotiate everywhere I went. I would have to remain calm and negotiate in extremely stressful situations, when I was freaking out inside,” he says.
With every country he explored, Manser came to understand different cultures and dynamics, over time he  developed exceptional people skills. He gained wisdom that can only come with experience and, as he firmly believes, trial and error.
“I want people to understand that success comes from failure. We like to learn from other people’s mistakes very much, but the problem is that you normally don’t learn as astutely as you would if you learnt on your own. You’re generally most successful if you are willing to take a calculated risk.”
His insights have attracted the attention of numerous major multi-nationals from the mining, retail and financial services sectors, which Manser—who meanwhile also paddled 5,000 kilometers around politically unstable Madagascar and circumnavigated Iceland—now consults on how to expand into remote parts of Africa. Among them are mining giant Anglo American Platinum, heavy machinery manufacturer Bell Equipment, South African supermarket chain Shoprite and Zurich Bank International.
“I speak to CEOs but also to staff, who will be deployed to African countries, telling them what they can expect on the ground—be it regarding infrastructure, cultural issues, bribing or how to make business decisions in a foreign cultural context,” he says.
Manser, who remarkably never paid a single bribe during his adventures, says integrity, morality and patience are the keys to unlocking Africa’s potential.
“You must make [it] clear upfront that there is no room for negotiation about bribes. The most important thing is not to seem desperate. Desperation can be smelled a mile away. Even when I was panicking inside, I didn’t show one ounce of desperation,” he says.
Instead of paying kickbacks to smooth the rocky road of expansion, companies, especially those exploring natural resources, should focus on building good relationships with both national governments and local communities, suggests Manser.
“It’s vital that companies stop regarding Africa as a place where you can just take out resources. There has to be some giving… a generator for a village, digging a well. Communities don’t want to hear promises of better infrastructure five years down the line. They want to see improvements to their lives right away,” he says.
Manser knows how customs officials must be approached in Ghana compared to Angola, how to deal with government departments in Nigeria and how to open negotiations in Mauritania. Although his advice often seems almost obvious, at least in hindsight, it’s based on insights that can only be gained from having been there and having done it.
Patience, however, is key to commercial success in almost all African countries, says Manser.
“Don’t rush people. Don’t try to bulldoze them. The humility that comes through patience will lead to trust and ultimately to respect for each other. It’s the basis for building good relationships,” he says.
But the decision to be patient can’t be made in a boardroom. It’s something managers have to learn in a foreign context, on a day-to-day basis, says Manser.
Another key requirement for successful expansion is selecting the right people to do the job, Manser believes. In the small island nation of Madagascar, that has been experiencing years of political turmoil after a coup d’état in 2009, consolidation is seen as much more important than expansion.
“People just want stability. They want short discussions with firm results. So whoever negotiates on behalf of your company needs to know that,” he says.
In the end, it all comes down to good leadership: a lesson—and probably the most difficult one—Manser learnt when his travel partner Dan Skinstad, who has mild cerebral palsy, fell out of the boat when they circumnavigated Iceland in a two-man kayak, and almost drowned in the icy waters.
“You need clarity of thought in difficult situations. If there is a crisis, you have to make a decision with clarity, not in a panic. You take stock of what you promised, of what you want to achieve and then implement what is necessary to get you there,” says Manser.
Good leaders acknowledge other leaders. When Manser returned from Africa, former president Nelson Mandela was so impressed with his feat, he requested a meeting with him, saying Manser was an inspiration to the continent. Manser has made that his goal.

Tag: Madagascar