All of this shouting for the removal of the statue and bones of Cecil John Rhodes – the arch African colonist from England who thought, seriously, that America was a colony that should be returned to the empire – has been done before.
More than 16 years ago, I stood spellbound at Malindidzimu, the windswept outcrop of rock a short drive from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe where chiefs of the Mandebele have been laid to rest for centuries. It was a tranquil place that Rhodes used to go to stand and stare at the breathtaking view of the sweeping land of hills and valleys that disappear over the horizon. Rhodes used to call it the world’s end and chose to be buried there.
I was there, as a television journalist, to get the other side of the story that had been raging among the young radicals in Harare for weeks. A bunch of young Turks wanted to exhume and expel the remains of Rhodes to wipe the stain of colonialism from Zimbabwe forever.
I had interviewed their leader, the late Warlord Chakaredza, a polite man in his mid-twenties, in Harare a few days before. He was quite clear the bones of Rhodes needed to be exhumed and thrown into the sea.
“Why the sea?” I asked incredulously.
Chakaredza looked at me as if I was mad.
“That is the way he came to Africa and that is the way he will float back to England where he came from,” he replied.
As crude as it sounds, maybe there was a brutal and sublime logic.
I countered to Chakaredza about the beliefs in Africa about the sanctity of graves and the dead. He didn’t want to hear it. The bones of Rhodes must go and they were prepared to use their bare hands to get him out, if need be.
A story to be taken seriously, I thought. Maybe it was a way of pushing forward the debate over colonialism? Maybe Poland wouldn’t have been too keen to look after any graves, or statues, of German generals in Warsaw after World War Two?
We spoke to a historian who told us that the Mandebele loved Rhodes and lined up to salute him at his funeral by shouting: “Bayete!” – the salute reserved for chiefs. What the historian didn’t tell me, that I read only later, was that the black mourners were kept far from the graveside in a segregated funeral.
I also noticed that the Zimbabwe government, which wasn’t exactly head-over-heels when it came to colonialism, didn’t give much of a damn. They saw it as part of Zimbabwe’s heritage and a tourist attraction that brought in money. We also found out, when the statues of the past were ripped down in Harare, after independence in 1980, they weren’t crushed into rubble, they were put into an odd looking group, behind a fence, at the back of the National Museum in Harare.
Another discovery on the rock outside Bulawayo was that Rhodes was buried about 40 feet down in a shaft carved out of sheer rock. Furthermore, the coffin was encased in lead; it would take dynamite, rather than bare hands, to get the remains of the old man out. Maybe he feared someone may try to exhume him.
Nothing happened. The story faded into the ether – Rhodes slept on. No one gained anything from the story, except the newspapers and TV bulletins who garnered a few catchy headlines. I wondered at the time what the point was.
So it was with a roll of the eyes that I heard that students wanted to remove the Rhodes statue in Cape Town. You can call it a metaphor in righting the wrongs of a colonial past; you can call it tantamount to removing a statue of a German general from Poland.
For the second time in 20 years I wonder whether Rhodes and his statues and bones are worth the time and effort.
If I thought for one minute removing the statue of Rhodes would provide books, bursaries and accommodation for young people who wanted to learn, I would take a sledgehammer and knock the statue down myself and then throw it into the sea.

#RhodesMustFloat

Hardship was clear before a shot was aimed at a basket at Wembley Arena in Johannesburg. This should have been a great day for basketball in Africa. The pride of four nations battling it out in bright-colored kit. As they trained, the South African players, who hoped the game would pay their way, were not happy. Aside from a lack of money, they were told to play at their own risk.
Contracts said players would be liable for their own medical expenses, or death, or loss of property. Each was to get a $336 package for the camp, an extra $168 if they reach the final and $168 for winning. The money was not in the contract and the players had to ask.
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But, after two days of negotiations, the management failed to broker an agreement. They sent aggrieved players home and scrambled for a second-string team.
Neo Mothiba, one of the senior players with more than 10 years in the national team, was among those sent home. Only three, out of 15, returned.
“We were emailed contracts on March 13 at around 4PM and we were to sign and hand them in upon our arrival on Saturday (March 14). I went through the contract and I was obviously not happy with the clause that says there was no medical insurance and there was no clarity how much we (were to) get paid,” says Mothiba.
He denies the players asked for more money.
Ali Mokoena, the Deputy President of Basketball South Africa (BSA), after long deliberations, agreed to modify the medical aid clause, scratching it out and writing ‘full paid’, in pen.
“But I wouldn’t sign a contract written by hand, I work with contracts all the time. And even worse, they wanted us to sign there and then,” says Mothiba.
Mothiba, whose mother is a lawyer, says his contractual battles with the organization dates back more than a decade. He says he’s fed up.
“Last year November, the team went to Bulawayo for All Africa Games qualifiers but unfortunately I was left out because I questioned the contract and how much I was going to get paid. I work and I have a business on the side, I can’t leave everything behind for something I don’t know. I need to be clear with what I commit myself to,” says Mothiba.
Mothiba says BSA merely tweeted that the players were suspended. He is concerned this dispute could hurt his day job playing for Tshwane Suns and his training of youth in Pretoria.
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Solomzi Ngonelo, a manager of the Duzi Royals club in South Africa’s Basketball National League (BNL) and who also runs an amateur team in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, was one of negotiators for the players. He corroborates Mothiba’s claims.
Ngonelo says in a separate meeting, on the second day of the camp, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula promised to get to the bottom of the problem and admitted the players were being treated unfairly. Despite this, Mokoena went ahead and called off the camp the next day.
“A player, Lucky Loate, was a victim when he was injured at the All Africa Games qualifiers in Madagascar in 2011. He needed an operation on his ankle but was given the run around by BSA until he gave in… basketball players need to stand together. This is bigger than basketball, it is a matter of principle,” says Ngonelo.
BSA does not offer long term contracts, players sign up per event. There has never been a fulltime coach. George Makena of Tshwane Suns was appointed coach for this tournament.
The furore ignited when players went to a national radio station to air their grievance.
Solly Malatsi, a member of parliament who is in the sports and recreation portfolio, listened and contacted the players. He wrote to his chairperson, Beauty Dlulane, and South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) executive officer, Tubby Reddy.
“Young professional athletes have been victimized and bullied for simply asking to be treated fairly… It is totally unacceptable the national team players are (treated) this way by their own federation. The risk of injury is a serious threat to the career of athletes. The federation should at all times cover this. It is common practice in other sport codes,” Malatsi wrote in the letter.
Reddy, in a reply, says Sascoc was investigating. BSA was restructuring, after Sascoc placed it under administration, because it was found to have financial mismanagement, he says.
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“It would appear that as a result of this, the current executive of BSA was not prepared to place the association at financial risk again, and thereafter withdrew the selection of the individual members concerned, and re-selected a further group of players to represent the association and the country in this tournament,” says Reddy.
This dispute is a small part of a bigger and more depressing picture for basketball in Africa’s second biggest economy.
Graeme Joffe, a senior commentator in South Africa and former CNN sports presenter, also weighed in.
“Surely, the players had every right to ask for those amendments. Why should any athlete have to pay out of their pocket if injured when representing the country? But the bully boys of South Africa basketball didn’t like to be challenged,” he says.
Sibongile Fondini, a BSA executive council member and provincial administrator in Port Elizabeth, a city in the east coast of South Africa, argues the sport in his province is still amateur and lacks sponsorship.
“The fact that we managed to host the event is a sign we are progressing but there are so many challenges in our way. A SuperSport program Siyadlala is piloting a basketball broadcasting program in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. I hope that reaches out to other provinces and the sport will surely grow as well,” says Fondini.
Joffe disagrees.
“Just drive through Port Elizabeth and see what most of the basketball courts are used for these days. Certainly not basketball. Sunsport (a basketball training program) reported, as of March 31, BSA had accumulated losses amounting to R5.7 million (around $482,000) and the association’s total liabilities exceeded to the tune of the same amount. Sascoc were left to probe the missing funds,” says Joffe.
A former BSA president and politician, Malesela Maleka, admitted in 2012 that the association was bankrupt but complained that the national lottery – which funds many South African sports – did not respond to a BSA application for money two years before.
In June 2013, before the sports and recreation portfolio committee in parliament, BSA said a lack of credibility, poor leadership, low morale among players and dysfunctional provinces were among their problems. It was then $500,000 in the red.
All four teams in Johannesburg admitted their fair share of financial problems. Nigeria’s coach, Sani Ahmed, and his captain, Olumide Oyedeji, lamented the lack of money but did not want to say more. At least the South African players are free to speak.
Nigeria, called D’Tigers, won the tournament, beating Mozambique 72-59 in the final. South Africa was third and Kenya last. If it was an administration tournament maybe South Africa would have come last.

Basketball Bully Boys

South African football legend Phil ‘Chippa’ Masinga will always be remembered for his spectacular goal against Congo that took the national team, Bafana Bafana, to their first FIFA World Cup.
Celebrations broke out around the country as fans prepared themselves for the 1998 World Cup in France.
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“That was a great goal. I remember before the Congo game that a lot was expected from us to win so that we can qualify for our first ever World Cup. I was motivated to do well in that particular game, playing in front of our supporters who wanted us to win. I was determined to make use of any scoring opportunity that I got, so when I got that chance I took a long range shot and it went in. I was so happy after scoring, you could see in my celebrations that the goal meant a lot to me and it was very important for us to win,” says Masinga.
“Qualifying for the World Cup for the first time was something special for us as a team. We prepared ourselves well for all the games that we played. What really inspired me was the good team spirit in the Bafana Bafana camp. We were always determined to help each other and make the nation proud,” he says.
Masinga became a superstar from humble beginnings. As a boy, he played football in the dusty streets of Stilfontein, a mining town in North West Province. His professional career started at Jomo Cosmos in 1987 before spending three successful years at Mamelodi Sundowns.
“We had some good players at Cosmos, the likes of Augustine Makalakalane, the late Thomas Madigage and Helman Mkhalele. At that time we were doing very well at Cosmos and we used to give some big teams a tough time whenever they played against us,” he says.
“My move to Sundowns was another step forward in my career and we won some important trophies. I played alongside many top strikers at Sundowns and we used to keep the defenders from the opposition busy. I remember when Daniel Mudau came to us; we used to play well together, scoring some important goals for the team.”
In 1994, his transfer to Leeds United in the English Premier League, along with Lucas Radebe, made headlines and the club’s fans called him Waltzing Masinga. His opportunities at a star-studded Leeds were limited and after two seasons, he moved to St Gallen in Switzerland where he stayed for seven months. He then went to Italy where he played for Salernitana and Bari.
“Coming from the South African league straight to Leeds United in England was a remarkable achievement for me. The standard of soccer at Leeds was very high. It was a different environment because of the weather but as a professional I managed to cope in those conditions. It was good for me that I was surrounded by quality players at Leeds. My fellow countryman Lucas Radebe and Anthony Yeboah from Ghana then came to join me at Leeds. It was good to have them around.”
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“When I went to Switzerland it was much easier for me to adapt and settle quickly because of the experience I had at Leeds. I did not stay long there however the short time that I spent there was fine for me. In Italy, I stayed for one season at Salernitania and I spent four years at Bari. It was a wonderful experience that I went through in Italy because the standard of soccer there is also very competitive and I managed to improve as a player,” he says.
Masinga made a huge impact in South African colors. He was part of the team that won the African Cup of Nations in 1996.
“Winning the African Cup of Nations in 1996 was a great honor for the team. It is the biggest competition in Africa so I was very excited. The team played very well during the games that we won. We had a strong technical team and the support we got at home was very important.”
He scored great goals for the national team and was comfortable partnering any striker that was picked alongside him.
“As a striker I enjoyed my role in the national team and I partnered upfront with the different strikers. Whether I combined with Mark Williams or Shaun Bartlett it was very important for me to deliver for the team,” says Masinga, who scored 18 goals in 58 matches for Bafana Bafana.
Life hasn’t been easy since his playing days. Masinga went from being a multi-millionaire to bankrupt. In recent years, South African newspapers have reported that he had to move back into his mother’s house and sell his football souvenirs.
Masinga is still very passionate about the game. He has the Safa Level One coaching qualification and is currently studying sports administration. He is involved with a development project that aims to produce the superstars of the future.
“Soccer has always been part of my life, that is why I am inspired to give back to the game. (Former captain of South Africa) Neil Tovey and I are busy scouting and recruiting the up and coming youngsters who are the future Bafana Bafana stars. I enjoy guiding the youngsters. I feel there is a lot of talent in South Africa and it is important to help the youngsters in a good organized structure like we are doing. These youngsters that we are coaching are showing great promise, they do well when we organize friendly games against other top PSL teams. They have a bright future.”
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“When the right time comes, I feel I can also contribute to the game as an administrator. Through my experience as a player and coach, I feel I have what it takes to add value as an administrator,” he says.
Masinga has achieved so much on the field and is now leading the way off it as well.

From Dusty Streets  To European Dreams

Today’s anti-doping mantra is less about fighting the war on doping than it is about protecting those that matter in the world of sport from doping behavior: the clean athletes.
Eighteen months ago, the world’s anti-doping community met in Johannesburg to agree a new way forward for clean sport; an improved set of rules that would aid world sport in its bid to be clean. The rules, which came into effect at the start of this year, had the full backing of the people they are specifically designed to serve: the world’s athletes. After all, it is the clean athletes that are directly affected when another athlete chooses to dope; and, furthermore, it is the public who are robbed of true, fair sport when an athlete chooses to dope. Doping is not something any of us want to see.
Too often, when a doping scandal rears its head, people turn to sport for an immediate solution. Ever since we have had a collaborative global response to doping – through the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) – it has been the responsibility of both sport and governments to take action. As an athlete and someone that is widely involved in anti-doping through the Wada Athlete Committee, I can see only too clearly the areas where governments and sport should act.
Sport is a hugely lucrative business. The win-at-all-costs mentality that pervades all areas of society is particularly evident in sport, and it is through this prism that we often forget just how far some athletes will go to win. Often these athletes have huge influences around them; doctors, coaches or other members of their personal entourage influencing them in the wrong way. With sport as profitable as it is in this day in age, these entourage members have large financial incentives linked to an athlete’s success.
Wada, and the sporting and anti-doping organizations practicing its global anti-doping rules, can do a great deal to help maintain a level playing field. We run education and awareness programs; provide tools and courses on why doping is not the right course of action; and conduct innovative science and social science research that keep the clean sport movement one step ahead of the cheats. These are but a few ways that Wada and its signatories do their part, but they cannot do it all. It is the governments of the world – through the UNESCO international convention against doping of which they are parties – that have the power to touch areas that sport cannot reach. Sport needs the active participation of governments in order to push anti-doping higher up the agenda.
Doping and its impact on public health is one area of increasing concern. Drugs are being illegally produced, trafficked and distributed across the world and, ultimately, getting into the hands of athletes and members of the public, too. If governments could introduce laws and penalties to stop this, there would be less risk of these dangerous substances reaching those playing elite and, increasingly, non-elite level sport.
There is also the matter of dietary supplements. We are hearing more and more about youngsters, and those working out in gyms and practicing sport at an amateur level, using supplements. We are seeing this problem become more normal in society, which is a huge worry. The supplement industry is a global industry and not something that Wada, nor sport, can tackle alone. If governments took appropriate action to regulate the supplement industry, it would be a huge stride in the right direction.
Above all, what is needed is better education. The tools are there to help educate athletes – and aspiring athletes – about the dangers of doping. Education is an area that is well emphasized for sport and anti-doping organizations to practice in the revised World Anti-Doping Code. Education needs to cover all matters, from the dangers associated with doping, to athlete rights and responsibilities when it comes to anti-doping, and preventative educational measures that explain to future generations why doping is the wrong option.
In Africa, we know that there are big challenges and opportunities for governments to deal with – health systems, housing crisis, poverty, inequality, unemployment, education, (socio-political realities), war and famine – but we shouldn’t forget what a powerful magnet sport is for society. Sport, and its fair play values, binds us together like nothing else. It is only with the support of governments that we can maintain the sporting values we all hold so dear.

Don’t Be A Dope

Every day, African entrepreneurs are faced with the same problem. On the one side we have a financier looking for ventures to invest his money in; on the other we have a business owner unable to push their products at the pace they would like.
It is not that business owners don’t ask for financial assistance and it is not that funders don’t receive proposals; but a fundamental problem exists. You can have two companies that both sell the same electronic gadgets, but money flows to one business and not the other. Often, it come down to packaging.
Entrepreneurs haven’t come to terms with packaging their businesses for far too long. A bank’s main product is money, but why do we choose one over the other? Again, it is the packaging. Our choices are made around the value added services the banks have around their product, such as technological advancements or insurance services.
I have sat in many meetings and listened to investors saying, “we have money, but we just don’t come across the best investment opportunities”. At the same time, they acknowledge there are many entrepreneurs with brilliant products and services. These entrepreneurs have pitched their ideas, only to have them declined. It is likely that their proposal was not correctly packaged.
Legendary venture capitalist, Tom Perkins, knew about the two Steves (Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs) in the early 1980s, but did not invest in Apple. It was not that the concept lacked substance, it was how the idea was put across.
The South African government established the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) in 2012. It has a Youth Fund worth $145.71 million which was supposed to be spent within five years, but two years later, there is still $119.9 million in the fund’s coffers. Less than a quarter of the money, meant to kickstart small businesses, has been spent. Are they struggling to find bankable business cases because the new ventures are not packaged in a way that will attract investment? I suspect so.
This is a matter that needs urgent attention!
A product’s packaging needs style and a unique design. It needs to evoke emotion and needs to appeal to the relevant niche market.
Companies need to package an experience in their products and services. People are emotional beings driven by feelings; often our spending power is propelled by sentiments rather than reason.
In order to connect to a customer, you need to tap into their emotions by creating an experience through your product. At the end of the day, what matters is your unique selling point.
Functionality is a key factor beyond packaging a product. For example, the software inside a tablet matters more than the design. Reviews for this type of product will focus more on functionality than what it looks like.
Although I have emphasized how packaging your business’ products and services will determine the appeal they have on the market, the approach will vary for different companies. It is important to know what your market expects in the segment you operate in; however Henry Ford and Steve Jobs have a different view to this.
“Customers don’t know what they want until you show them,” said Jobs.
“If I asked the people what they want, they would have said a faster horse,” said Ford.
Great entrepreneurs dictate what the market wants and then improve their products as they receive feedback.

YOUR PACKAGE could be worth millions

Elections in Africa tend to be associated with security and political risks. This year has seen a number of important national elections in sub-Saharan Africa. As several African countries take turns to go to the polls, individuals and organizations cannot afford to ignore the investment risk that comes with it.
For investors, political risk can simply be defined as the risk of loss due to changes that occur in a country’s government or regulatory environment. This could arise from the expropriation of assets, a new president or prime minister, a change in the country’s ruling party, or change in existing legislation or introduction of new laws.
It is well known that political stability is a prerequisite for economic stability; without it, policy initiatives and structural reforms can stagnate, decision-making becomes sluggish at best, and investor confidence begins to ebb as investors naturally seek safe havens for their investments.
Where there are high levels of unemployment, currency devaluation, an air of insecurity and political uncertainty, it is easy to become discouraged and anxious. Even though some of these situations are uncontrollable, you can be proactive about taking charge of your financial life and putting measures in place to minimize your risk.
To navigate the uncertainty that political risk presents, especially when important elections are coming up, try to familiarize yourself with the candidates, their political parties and their economic policies and plans. These may have a direct impact on your personal finances.
During periods of uncertainty, the natural tendency is to sit on the sidelines and stay out of the markets. Yet, uncertain times and volatile markets usually present opportunities for those who are well positioned to take advantage of them. For example, asset values, including stock, and real estate may sell below their true value as a country experiences capital flight.
Diversification is a tried and tested method for mitigating the effect of political risk. As the old adage ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ reminds us, if you put all your money in one investment, your return will depend solely on the performance of that investment. Diversification spreads your risk across various asset classes, including cash, money market accounts, stocks and real estate as they tend to respond to market vagaries and financial conditions differently.
Beyond diversification across asset classes, consider diversifying assets across jurisdictions. Limit your exposure to single country risk by having a mix of domestic and international investments; that way even if the measures you have put in place to reduce your exposure to political risk prove to be inadequate, you have a better chance of limiting the damage to your portfolio.
It is not possible to avoid political risk altogether. Whether you manage your financial affairs by yourself or use the services of a professional, you are still susceptible to risk as all forms of investing come with a degree of uncertainty. You do need to familiarize yourself with the various risks associated with the markets in which you invest so that you can reduce your exposure by adjusting your investments as appropriate. Ultimately, you are responsible for your money.
For those that crave a level of certainty and predictability, the need for having a sound long term financial plan in place becomes more glaring than ever, and is key to financial security. If you stay focused on your goals, you are less likely to be swayed by market hype, volatility, inflation, devaluation, insecurity and political uncertainty and more likely to come out relatively unscathed when the climate begins to change.
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For more personal finance tips, follow Money Matters With Nimi on Twitter: @MMWITHNIMI and Facebook: MoneyMattersWithNimi

Political Risk And Personal Reward

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When Atlas Development &amp; Support Services, an African-focused company involved in oil and gas exploration, listed its shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange late last year, it showed that recent discoveries in East Africa are creating a stir.
Since the discovery of significant quantities of oil in Uganda in 2006, more discoveries have followed in quick succession, especially in the past five years. In fact, more hydrocarbons have been discovered in the past three years than anywhere else. As a result, oil and gas has become one of the top sectors, rated by investment value, in the region.
Not so long ago, East Africa was considered a sleepy backwater for the upstream oil and gas industry. It has now become a main area of focus for exploration. Efforts by Tullow Oil, one of the exploration and production giants, have so far delivered around 1.7 billion gross barrels of oil in Uganda and over 600 million in Kenya. While onshore exploration has opened up oil plays in these countries, offshore exploration success in Tanzania has heralded a major new focus on the development of the region as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub. Significant gas finds in Mozambique are expected to make the country the second-largest exporter of LNG in Africa, after Nigeria, by 2025. In 2012, one third of all global oil and gas discovered was in Mozambique.
Some of the projects are going to have massive transformative impact on the region. Kenya, which launched the world’s largest single turbine geothermal power plant in 2014, is set to generate 30% of the country’s additional power over the next 20 years according to the United Nations Environment Programme. The renewable energy project will also potentially reduce the cost of energy across the country by as much as 50%. The country is considered to be one of the most promising geothermal prospects in the world. In an article by The Guardian, geothermal is described as “the darling of on-grid solutions” for the country and according to the Geothermal Energy Association, the country “will become the world leader if its planned projects are completed on time”.
Similarly, gas finds are expected to transform the economies of Tanzania and Mozambique. Access to the lucrative Asian LNG market has significant benefits for the two countries and could act as a catalyst for meaningful economic development. The windfalls are expected to be used to deliver substantial social, economic and infrastructural improvements. In addition, as Africa starts to focus more and more on securing adequate supplies of crude oil and liquid fuels to satisfy growing local demand, it will boost foreign exchange flows, distribution of wealth, infrastructure development, stability and security of supply.
As exploration gains momentum, the lack of proper developed infrastructure remains a challenge. It is estimated that between $60 billion to $70 billion needs to be invested to strengthen the sector. The future development of the industry is dependent on this. Fears around the shale oil revolution dampening demand for East Africa’s oil, as cited in the 2013 PwC report on shale oil, should ease up as considerable demand still remains from nations such as China and India. Other key challenges the industry is grappling with include a shortage of oil and gas workers, political interference, uncertainty and delays in passing laws.
There is potential for the energy sector to overcome these challenges. The pace of regulations is keeping in step so the region stays in touch with its competitors and investment remains attractive. Wider economic and political factors could also work in East Africa’s favor. If the region continues to build on the current momentum and creates investor friendly policies, there is no doubt that the sector is bound for greater heights.
As the last true oil and gas frontier, East Africa has already taken off. The journey for a brighter tomorrow has begun.

The Last Oil And  Gas Frontier Takes off

It’s a new season these days in Africa’s largest and most populous economy. A new broom has come to sweep away old problems.
Nigeria’s 2015 elections have come and gone. Hell, after all, did not break loose.
The elections were not without blemish though: while most international observer groups gave a clean bill to the nation for a mostly peaceful exercise, locals might have had a slightly different experience. There were pockets of electoral malpractice and a few politicians and professional miscreants created temporary panic, threatening to kill the peace. But by and large, the soul of the nation sailed peacefully through its most introspective moment in history.
Every migraine that Nigeria experiences is an African problem.
The elections were therefore a democratic tonic for Africa. It set a good precedent for scheduled elections across the continent this year: Ethiopians are expected to go to the polls in May; Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea and Somaliland (June); Togo (July); Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania (October). Voters will also elect new leaders in Ghana and Cape Verde in 2016.
The Nigerian economy is responsible for a quarter of the investment flux on the continent. Nigeria’s infrastructure ecosystem is 50 years behind schedule, but this has not stopped the world from doing business with Nigeria.
Hope has thus been revived. But so much needs to be done. The sheer size of the population showcases the depth of development work needed to turn this huge national engine around. Transforming Nigeria into a fast developing economy in the mold of Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil and Turkey will require consolidated efforts of national reconstruction by Nigerians and friends of Nigeria across the world.
Despite the inadequacies of their motherland, Nigerians are a vibrant, boisterous lot. This positive psychology will need to be funneled into rebuilding their nation. The decrepit healthcare, education, law and justice systems need urgent transfusion.
The arrival of the largest opposition party in Government House is providing Nigerians with an opportunity to recalibrate their expectations against the backdrop of perennial under-delivery by previous civilian administrations in power since 1999.
Prior to 1999, several military régimes governed the country for 16 years. So, if 16 years of military rule stunted growth and socio-economic development, one must then ask the question: how well has Nigeria fared after 16 years of democracy? The answer to this question is obvious. Nigeria has experienced some measure of economic growth mixed with little development and plenty of disappointment.
The verdict is simple: outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda was hobbled by graft and nepotism, and past leaders before him failed woefully to entrench pervasive prosperity, which is the point of economic development.
Appraising the Jonathan presidency, Patrick Utomi, professor of political economics at the Lagos Business School says: “One of the biggest mistakes this president has ever made is to suggest that the ownership of private jets is an indicator of Nigeria’s progress. It is a terrible thing. I was praying hard after he said it the first time that he should realize he made a mistake; but he repeated it several times during the World Economic Forum and I was so embarrassed. I said, ‘Oh my goodness, we need help.’ That has been their orientation, they have not noticed that the Nigerian people are actually (poor).”
Nigerians are indeed poor. Most do not feel an ounce of the wealth that surrounds them in the form of flashy cars; business, military and political elites attending bumper parties in exotic locations; the growing culture of wine and champagne consumption; overnight millionaires flaunting their ill-gotten loot, many with personal police escorts; and members of the middle class constantly travelling overseas for annual vacations.
“Nigerians remain hopeful that the incoming government will bring positive changes to their lives,” says Pretty Okafor, President of the Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN). “Nigerian music and movies is currently uniting Africa and unleashing creativity across the continent. Our politicians just have to build on what the Nigerian entertainment industry has been doing over the last 10 years – allow private enterprise to flourish and watch the market explode with positive results.”

The Economy Doesn’t Need Private Jets To Fly

Bread and butter. Horse and carriage. Aston Martin and Bond… James Bond.
Even though 007 started out in a Chevrolet Bel Air convertible in Dr No, and has been behind the wheel of a wild assortment of vehicles from a tuk-tuk taxi to a Ford Mustang, it is the British supercar that has an immediate association with the superspy.
And in particular the DB5 which is the iconic Bond-mobile, from Goldfinger to Skyfall nearly 50 years later!
While Aston Martin Lagonda Limited may have had a rather chequered financial history since the company was founded by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford in 1913, it is the Bond connotation that has helped to keep the brand high on the supercar desirability scale.
It is, however, an association that is steeped in irony. While the movies portrayed the Astons as the perfect vehicle for Q’s cutting edge gadgetry, in the high-tech real world of modern supercars they may have slipped a gear or two.
This is certainly not on your mind though as you paddle through the seven-speed automated manual transmission with the soft top down and the sport button activated to give you a boost in performance and a sample of auditory heaven. A good reason to leave the 1,000 watt Bang &amp; Olufsen stereo off the options list.
And it’s the fact that the gearbox is not as smooth as Banarasi silk that makes the V12 Vantage S Roadster fun – and challenging – to drive. You feel that you are part of the equation for every perfect gear change.
Is that an excuse and will Aston Martin continue to rely on class, image and a colorful history rather than leading the way in automotive engineering?
A clue is that they are spending millions of pounds on state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at their Gaydon, Warwickshire plant developing their next generation of sports cars.
As we weave through traffic on the highway, the general manager of Aston Martin in Sandton, Rens Rademeyer, assures me that the brand is not going the mass production route.
They make less than 5,000 finely crafted vehicles a year. And as you survey the instrument panel, getting to know the precisely positioned controls and admiring the craftsmanship of the interior styling, you get the overwhelming feeling that every Aston is tailor-made.
“It’s beyond bespoke,” he says. “We assimilate a client’s DNA into the final product.”
To get your creative juices flowing, or even racing, there is a delicately prepared ‘Q’ book to page through with the aim of ensuring that every stitch of leather, every color choice, reflects your personality. Which I could find rather daunting!
“When Egyptology was the big thing, a client wanted scarab beetle wings inlaid into our emblem. The Aston Martin wings have to stay within the spirit of the brand but our appointed jeweler in London was able to blend the two,” says Rademeyer.
“Another customer from China wanted a special piece from his Ming vase collection stitched into his seatbacks. We even had an order from America for all the interior finishes to reflect his superyacht!”
The personal details and options come at a price. While the basic Vantage Roadster will set you back a tad over $260,000, the extras on a well-specced vehicle can easily add $40,000 to the bill.
While the local distributors haven’t had a price increase in three years, it’s no secret that most supercars see a significant drop in value as they are driven off the showroom floor.
Rademeyer claims that there are some unique opportunities in the low production, high demand strategy and you can still make a profit with some intensive research – and ready cash – to get your hands on the exclusive models.
The race-inspired Vantage GT12 is an example. It is still in production but you could no doubt sell your place on the limited order list of 100 at a premium.
South Africans will get to see the sleeker, lighter, more powerful version of the Vantage S dodging potholes on their roads.
And now we await the DB10, one of the star turns in Spectre – the 24th James Bond film to be shot by Eon Productions.
But Daniel Craig will be one of the few people to get behind the wheel; Aston Martin is only making 10 of them.
So the well-heeled will have to wait for the DB11 which will certainly take a healthy slice of design influence from the Bond car.
Will the Best of British be sought after on the African continent?
Despite a lack of infrastructure and service agents to the north, Astons are sold from Angola to Nigeria and Ghana to Equatorial Guinea.
It seems that whoever we are and wherever we live, we can feel Bond on our shoulder as we climb into that beautifully appointed cabin and know that the iconic grille and badge are attracting some envious looks.
After all, you only live twice.

Astons Are Forever

The first thing you notice at Imgur’s new San Francisco office are the giraffes. They’re everywhere: inflatable giraffes, posters of kissing giraffes, a massive mural of a giraffe donning a monocle and top hat. “That’s our mascot, Imgurafe,” says 27-year-old founder and CEO Alan Schaaf. “It started as an April Fool’s joke when we added a giraffe theme to the site for a day and got e-mails for six months begging us to bring it back.”
For Imgur—the Web host of most of the Internet’s memes, GIFs, jokes and tropes—the giraffe is a perfect mascot: strange, awkward and huge. Each month Imgur (pronounced “imager”) attracts more than 150 million unique visitors, more than 5.5 billion page views and 45 million new images. Since 2009, when Schaaf built the site in his Ohio University dorm, Imgur has become the default launchpad where content is uploaded before blasting off across Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and the blogosphere.
But Imgur is increasingly shifting from being an image host to a prime destination of its own.
Roughly 30% of its audience (largely young and geeky) now views content directly on the Imgur home page and mobile app.
That trend helped Schaaf raise $40 million from the venture capitalists at Andreessen Horowitz in April 2014, after bootstrapping the site for its first five years. “It’s an incredible community,” says Andreessen partner Lars Dalgaard.
“Users are building meaningful relationships with people they might not ever see and are finding people that they have more in common with than anyone at work or school.”
Imgur now has to start making real money of all that traffic while dealing with a social network unlike Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Imgur’s content isn’t shaped by friends or follows. Everyone sees the same images on the home page, ranked by popular vote. Top posts can get thousands of comments and tens of thousands of votes. “Imgur is a shared experience,” says Schaaf. “I don’t see posts because I follow a certain person but because it was voted up through a democracy.”
Navigating the site feels like channel surfing on public access television: a GIF of a bear playing in hay; a tutorial on how to use a battery and gum wrapper to start a campfire; a visual story of how one Imgur user helped another Photoshop away surgical stitches in a photo of her grandfather. “It’s impossible to go on Imgur for less than five minutes,” says Schaaf. “It’s true discovery. You start without wanting to see something in particular but find stuff you like every single time.”
Schaaf knows what the Imgur horde loves because he is one of them. As a shy and introverted kid growing up outside of Tampa, Fla., he moved to Ohio at age 10 and found his community on Web forums for games such as World of Warcraft. In high school he helped run the student IT support team and the school’s website.
As a computer science major at Ohio University he got into college radio, hosting a tech talk show and spinning electronic music: “I like to sit in my room, and I communicate out.”
Around this time he got heavily involved in another platform—the massive Web bulletin board Reddit. He loved the site but hated the tedious process of uploading images.
“It wasn’t Reddit’s problem but the Internet’s problem,” says Schaaf. “I thought, ‘I can do better.’” Schaaf, at the time a college junior, built an upload tool in two months. It was simple and sparse and could turn pictures into Web links with the press of a button. He shared his project with Reddit. It took off – and crashed. He moved to a larger Web-hosting service – it crashed that, too. He burned through four server sites before eventually turning it over to Amazon Web Services. “I had no experience handling traffic, but I had to learn. If I didn’t fix it then, Imgur wouldn’t exist,” says Schaaf, who credits Imgur’s survival on the self-reliance he had learned from his mom, Jean Hoyt. “She built her own company [real estate appraisal], and when something breaks in the house, like, ‘We need a new toilet,’ she installs it.”
Small ads on Imgur covered server fees and the occasional pizza through graduation. Schaaf shrugged off job offers from Facebook and Google to move home and run Imgur out of his bedroom. By 2010 Schaaf was making enough to rent an apartment and hire Matt Strader (an M.B.A. student whom Schaaf met through an Ohio University investment fund) to focus on the business side. In 2011, with Imgur getting 30 million monthly uniques, Schaaf and Strader (now Imgur’s COO) moved to San Francisco and hired four employees.
That number has grown to 45 since the $40 million venture round last spring. Schaaf says he’ll hit 90 employees by the end of the year as Imgur attracts a more mainstream audience through its new iOS app, launched in March.
Plans are afoot to jump to Web-connected TVs.
Says Andreessen Horowitz’s Lars Dalgaard: “This is amazing content that is not being seen by even a percent of the people who’d be elated and ecstatic if they knew it existed.”
The bulk of Imgur’s revenue today comes from the single ad on each page. To fuel more growth, Imgur is building an in-house agency that will create and publish branded images, so-called native ads, designed for viral sharing. Schaaf says these ads will mesh with the style and tastes of the site. Test campaigns for films and games (Grand Theft Auto V) were a hit with users, with some ads getting liked and shared by an average of 4% of the audience. Imgur must tread lightly. Online clans, especially those emboldened by their anonymity, can protest viciously about commercials in their feeds. “The most valuable thing about Imgur is the community,” says Schaaf. “Only we can take the community away.”

The Anti-Social Network

Five minutes, we are told, is all we will get with Dr Deepak Chopra, and there is a gaggle of journalists waiting to meet him, one by one, at the Michelangelo in Sandton, Johannesburg. The ballroom where he is seated, on a lone high-backed, jacquard-print chair at the far end, is somehow, unwittingly, reminiscent of the private durbar of an Indian guru. But the Los Angeles-based Chopra says he is no Indian mystic – “I do not buy into labels”. He is unassuming in a black shirt, jeans and red trainers, and has a calm, gentle voice:
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<h4>The New York Times has called you ‘a controversial new age guru’. Why controversial?</h4>
I wouldn’t have a career without controversy. If nobody criticizes you, you go unnoticed. I owe my career to my critics, I think of them as my best friends.
<h4>People have accused you of selling false hopes and that your methods are unscientific. How do you react?</h4>
I used to react [at one time], but not anymore. Over the last 35 years, I have been in a way vindicated. There are newer sciences like neuroplasticity and epigenetics, and the mind-body connection is well-established. My courses are recognized by the American Medical Association. I have a faculty position at the Medical School in the University of California. I lecture once a year at Harvard, we have medical students coming for training, the Chopra Center University California is recognized…
You use quantum mechanics for healing. How has that been accepted?
It’s very controversial [and] very highly criticized, but I am rewriting and updating quantum healing now after 30 years because of the new science. Everything I said before is true but there is more science.
<h4>The brain seems to now be a focus in management discussions. Why?</h4>
Because of the findings that you can wire your brain for optimum wellbeing and leadership. You can learn through various techniques mindfulness, self-awareness, contemplation, meditation…you can rewire your brain in a way you feel more connected, but you can also harness intuition, insight, creativity, imagination and leadership skills.
<h4>What about prayer and spirituality in wellbeing?</h4>
When your mind is quiet, and with focused awareness, you can harness the power of intention. What people call prayer I would call focused awareness. There is a chapter in the Yoga Sutras (sacred Indian text) of Patanjali that deals with that. It’s called Dhyan, Dharna, Samadhi – dhyan is meditation, dharna is focused awareness and samadhi is transcendence.
When is emotional and financial wellbeing truly achieved?
Ten percent of your daily happiness experience comes from your bank account, 50% comes from your attitude to life and the remaining comes from the daily choices you make…People in Cuba are more happy than the people in the United States. Because when people focus on relationships, they are much happier.
<h4>Do you see more of that now?</h4>
No [shaking head]…less and less. On their dying day, they would say I wish I had worked one extra day and made more money.
<h4>What is your own net worth?</h4>
If you know your net worth, then you are not wealthy enough. Honestly, I don’t look at my bank statements, I have never seen one. My wife and accountant take care of everything, and they make sure all my taxes are paid. I only carry $300 in my pocket, one credit card and have $30,000 in my bank account. I don’t need more than that for my needs.
<h4>What do you have planned for the year ahead?</h4>
I have written 81 books, and the next is a book of fiction [released in March], called The 13th Disciple. I have done 12 fiction books, out of which four were New York Times bestsellers. I have a book [coming up] at the end of the year called Super Genes; it’s a book about how you activate your genes for optimum wellbeing.

5 Minutes With Deepak Chopra

In May and November, in the plush halls of the Wheatbaker Hotel in the serene and highbrow neighborhood of Ikoyi, Arthouse Contemporary, one of Nigeria’s premier art auction houses, holds its bi-annual auctions.
The event attracts collectors, enthusiasts, captains of industry, FORBES-listed billionaires and press. Gourmet hors d&#8217;oeuvres are served; champagne is held in ornately bejewelled hands; boardroom and country club gossip is swapped; and business cards are exchanged. The honey that brought the bees – the art – is sometimes just the backdrop for this rich assembly.
<div id="attachment_3639" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3639" class="size-medium wp-image-3639" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/image2-300x167.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="167" />Imags of artworks from the Terra Kulture archive collection</div>
Hours later, exquisite pieces by masters such as El Anatsui, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Kolade Oshinowo and Ben Enwonwu are on offer and hammer prices peak in the $75,000 to $100,000 region – bought by the bourgeoisie crowd.
Although grand, elite auctions like this are infrequent in Nigeria. The country has a sprawling art industry with thousands of artists crafting their creations. However, most do not have access to exclusive auctions and other platforms that will enable them to sell more of their work and at higher prices. Who are they creating for, who is buying and how much is being sold? These questions are suspended like hot air balloons over the art industry and their answers have metamorphosed over time.
Over a decade ago, artists, many regarded as masters today, could only sell their works by hawking them out of the trunks of their cars and the consumers were a small number of patrons and collectors.
“Artists didn’t have the necessary platforms to showcase their works and also art was seen as an exclusive commodity, it was elitist in approach,” says Bolanle Austen-Peters, Founder and CEO of Terra Kulture, a cultural center that houses a leading gallery
in Lagos.
The members-only mindset and lack of platforms limited access to artists’ work and the possibility of more artwork being sold. Ten years later, galleries, auction houses and art pop-up shops, such as Terra Kulture, Nike Art Gallery, Omenka Gallery, Art Twenty One, Rele, The Art Social, have sprung up to close the gap for artists and increase the trade in contemporary and modern art.
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“Artists are now more confident as they have these platforms. Also, these art spaces and galleries became rallying points, conduits for social exchange. It created a new wave of art collectors and enthusiasts; it became a social movement,” according to Austen-Peters.
Are these spaces enough though? Has it translated to more people buying art in Nigeria?
“Yes, but I think with any industry, there’s always room for growth,” says Adenrele Sonariwo, curator of a newly-minted gallery, Rele, that represents, brands and promotes artists, rather than merely staging exhibitions.
“There’s already a dedicated following among high-net-worth individuals. They regularly collect and commission works. Where work needs to be done is with the middle class. They need to be exposed to art and learn to appreciate it. They need to be educated more about its relevance and this knowledge can then be translated into sales.”
It seems then that the spectre of elitism still hangs over the art industry. The old challenge remains: spreading the word. There are plenty of fish but the net needs to be cast wider.
“In Nigeria now, there is a growing middle class with disposable income to buy and invest in art but they cannot invest in what they don’t know,” says Tayo Quaye, an internationally renowned printmaker and painter.
Auction houses need to build confidence in potential clients, to recognize the value of art and invest accordingly. This is a challenge being tackled by Kavita Chellaram, CEO of Arthouse Contemporary.
“The main obstacle we saw at the creation of Arthouse Contemporary was the absence of a secondary market for art acquisitions. While art collectors were already engaging artists to buy from the primary market, there was a question mark on the return of its value. Our auctions seek to fill this gap in making the art business justify itself in Nigeria,” says Chellaram.
Even if Nigeria’s middle class started to appreciate art, it remains to be seen whether they could be persuaded to buy it. If contemporary Nigerian art pricing trends are anything to go by, they may need to win the lottery. Auction houses are often the launchpad from which prices spring up; well-heeled Nigerians being more than willing participants in the hobby. We are a people that thrive on exhibitionism so when artwork is being vied for, it’s not always a measure of its worth but a result of financial muscle flexing. This is great for the artist but ultimately unsustainable.
Alternatively, galleries, such as Rele have fixed, inclusive prices starting at $225. There are not enough of these modestly priced artworks though. Despite this, more Nigerians are buying art, largely dictated by the depth of their pockets and their artistic leaning.
The Nigerian art industry remains an emerging market. Though the bulk of the business is done by oil magnates and well-travelled socialites in upmarket hotels and galleries, ordinary people off the street are becoming more active. Both classes of connoisseurs may yet share a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in spaces that cater for their contrasting taste and financial might – a picture-perfect frame of good business. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3642" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/image1-300x196.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="196" />

Art Needs To Play To The Gallery

Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine, is the unlikely location where Oke Okaro was baptised in the world of business during the Soviet era. In 1990, Okaro left Nigeria, as a teenager, on a scholarship to study electrical engineering at the University of Kharkov. Since then, he has had a rollercoaster career that has seen him grow from a trader in consumer products, such as Sony’s Walkman and Nike high-top sneakers, to the C-Suite of global finance and media technology corporations.
Along the way, he branched out as an angel investor and technology entrepreneur. Today, Okaro is a hands-on investor in several fast growing start-ups in Nigeria, including Gloo.ng, an online retailer of household goods, and ACE (Africa Courier Express), a technology-enabled logistics company.
Okaro’s journey began when he decided to abandon his academic scholarship to study computer science in Britain.
“When I left Kharkov, I was 16 and only had $200 in my pocket. I moved to London with the understanding that I had taken the decision on my own account and as a result, I was fully responsible for personally supporting every aspect of my life; I had to make it work on my own and failure was not an option. I didn’t have anyone in London and upon arriving roughed it out day to day, figuring out where I’d sleep and find the next meal,” he says.
“I did pretty much every odd job you can think of. I worked as a bricklayer, cleaner, security guard, bouncer, nurses’ assistant, fast food and electronics sales person; pretty much everything. However, I never for one second lost focus of the prize which was to get my degree in computer science.”
After graduating in 1996 and working in Britain for a year, as a software engineer, Okaro, ignoring advice from friends, quit his job and moved to New York in pursuit of the American dream.
Once again, he didn’t know anyone in the city and camped out in the student hostel at Columbia University. Within a few weeks, he landed a job at a major financial securities firm, Greenwich Capital Markets, where he worked as a software engineer designing and building fixed income derivative trading systems. After three successful years, Okaro once again decided it was time for a new challenge and set his sights on an MBA. He applied and was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
In the summer of 2001, while on the program, Okaro took up an internship with Qualcomm and landed in the mobile sector just as the telcos in the United States (US) were starting to invest in their data networks.
“At Qualcomm I got the privilege of working on one of the first mobile apps in the US, and also the rollout of the first mobile application development and distribution platform, BREW, (Binary Runtime for Wireless). This was 2001, six years before the iPhone and seven years before the App Store. Back then, Japan was the market leader and the US market was in its infancy. People in the US hadn’t even got into texting much. Despite this, from seeing what was starting to happen in Japan and from my experience working hand in hand with the leading US telcos at the time, Verizon and Sprint, I knew mobile was going to be huge in the US and much bigger than in Japan. This was when I knew I was going to be the mobile guy.”
MBA degree in hand, Okaro went on to explore turnaround venture opportunities. However, this proved unsuccessful and he counted his losses and moved on. He then joined a global sport media company, where he started its mobile business and led the design, product and engineering teams. Okaro created a portfolio of pioneering and award-winning products that set the standard in the mobile content industry.
Within a few years, his products had gained a massive global audience and were generating annual revenues in excess of $75 million. Recognizing his trailblazing achievements, Apple’s executive leadership invited Okaro to join them onstage during the iOS 3.0 launch event at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters in 2009. After six years, Okaro moved to another global media company in 2010, this time a finance organization, where he started their consumer mobile and connected devices business and again produced outstanding results. In a short time, his creations amassed a monthly audience of 17 million unique users, generating multi-million-dollar revenues and winning a host of industry awards, including app of the year from Apple.
Though successful, Okaro had always wanted to be involved in Africa’s technology revolution. To test the waters, he developed the first football mobile application in 2007, and targeted it at Africa. Observing the encouraging uptake, Okaro sensed the opportunity and decided to get involved.
“The [football] app made it pretty clear to me, as far back as 2007, that people in several African countries valued quality content and a great experience. Having seen this at the start of the mobile content revolution in the US, I wanted to get more involved as an entrepreneur but couldn’t because I was employed full time. I struggled with this for a really long time then it finally occurred to me that the most effective way to play in the market was as an investor in talented entrepreneurs with exciting digital ideas,” he says.
Leveraging his network of contacts, Okaro sought and cultivated relationships with entrepreneurs on the continent which led him to make first-round investments in a number of startups.
From his vantage point, Okaro sees abundant opportunities for innovation in Africa, especially around mobile technology.
“Observing from the sidelines, the telco’s are well positioned to be at the forefront of the technological revolution on the continent, but it appears they don’t have the vision or talent in place to think through and execute in a way that has never been done. No market, except Japan when it started, has similar characteristics with African countries. Just like it was in Japan, the majority of people who come online in Africa, will come online on a mobile device and for many, their entire digital existence will be on a mobile device.”
“This presents an incredible opportunity. They need to understand that if they want to maintain their leadership position in the market and play a pivotal role as a broader participant in the economy, it is imperative that they create a frictionless enabling environment for entrepreneurs and new businesses.”
Declining to elaborate on his next challenge, Okaro offers a confident smile,  leaving no doubt  about its success.

‘Failure Was Not  An Option’

If you are a foodie and live in South Africa, you know the name Tashas. Regardless of which Tashas you visit it’s always busy and people don’t  mind waiting, I certainly don’t  as long as there’s a glass of Turkish Delight or Goats do Roam Red to keep me company.
After years of surprise birthday parties, dates, family get-togethers and business meetings at Tashas, an interview with the woman that started it all was long overdue.
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Natasha Sideris is one busy woman and passionate about what she has built. Dedicated to maintaining standards, the interview was peppered with Sideris getting up to seat customers, hand them menus and tell the odd waiter to tuck in their shirt.
Given her jovial mood it was hard to believe it when Sideris described the day before as one of the worst she’s ever had. Her advice is to wake up the next day and get back to work.
Sideris’ journey into the food business began more than two decades ago. She worked part-time at her dad’s Fishmonger restaurant, while studying psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. You could say this is where it all began.
Sideris spent years working in the fast food industry, but it wasn’t for her. She worked at Nino’s, an Italian-style restaurant franchise, helping the company open 12 new restaurants.  In 2001, the 24-year-old bought her own branch with help from the bank and her family.
In 2005, Sideris realized that all the market had to offer were themed restaurants and big chains; this is where she saw the gap.
“It was because of my experience at Nino’s that I realized there was such a gap in the South African market for this style of restaurant.”
There was a place for something niche and Sideris planned on being the first one to fill it.
The vision was clear, “authentic, old school, with good fresh food”. Sideris just needed the money to kick it off. Financing the first Tashas in Sandton in 2005 wasn’t easy. She found herself in front of a loan shark, leaving with less than she needed but more in debt than she was ready for. One can only guess what would have happened had the eatery not been a hit. Sideris didn’t draw a salary for almost two-and-a-half years.
Drawing on the success of the business, Sideris turned the Nino’s in Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg, into another Tashas. This meant another trip to a loan shark. Banks weren’t paying her much attention since all she had was an asset in debt.
“It was long, hard work but I knew I was onto something good and I persevered,” she says.
When Sideris went into business with Famous Brands, a food services company that stables some of South Africa’s best known fast food franchises, it seemed an unlikely relationship, but not to her.
“I was very, very cautious in the beginning when I did the deal with them [Famous Brands].”
What would happen to the niche, unique café style restaurants she had created if she got into bed with a mass producer, the fast food business she ran from? Looking at how it has all turned out, both parties have come out ahead.
Famous Brands may own 51% of the business but Sideris still maintains creative control. She gained valuable skills and Famous Brands in return has a unique product for its stable.
Famous Brands, as of its last annual report, has 2,378 franchised restaurants. The report also states that the group’s ‘premium offering’, Tashas, delivered 20% like-on-like growth for the period.
The franchise fee for Tashas is broken up into three segments: an initial $18,600 (R223,000) payment, 6% of the monthly turnover and an advertising fee of 2%. The company puts set-up costs at around $500,000 (R6 million), with $12,500 (R150,000)–$16,700 (R200,000) working capital required.
The trick is to have owner-operated franchises. Each possible franchisee needs to have a minimum amount of experience in the restaurant business, go through pre-screening, interviews and three months of training.
The variants in deco and menu choices give each branch a sense of individuality, allowing the customers to have a different experience in each store. The distinct décor and signature menus are determined by the area and customer base, from the Dutch look and feel in Pretoria to the Parisian-style Le Parc in Hyde Park.
The plan is to have no more than 15 stores in South Africa – there are currently 12 – in order to maintain control and not saturate the market. Sideris is looking for slow and steady growth.
“Everyone [the team] wants to do better, everyone thinks it can be better and everyone pushes.”
Right now the plans include a line of cookbooks, an online retail store with Tashas products and international expansion. Released in November, the first cookbook has made it to the top ten list at Exclusive Books. The secret is out, but Sideris says it’s not about holding onto the recipes because Tashas is more than just the food.
Sideris had some help in the form of her brother Savva. Sideris calls him her rock, a doer and true restaurateur, a dying breed in South Africa according her.
“We are not chefs, we are restaurateurs.”
Savva has been there since 2007 and set up the new operation in Dubai.
It is the success of the Tashas brand that led to Dubai. It was an intense three-year process that led to the opening of the maiden international restaurant in Jumeirah’s The Galleria Mall. The franchise was drawn to the country by its similarity to the South African landscape back in 2005 – Sideris wanted to take advantage of another gap further from home. The best South African staff
Keeping with the strategy of slow and steady growth, Saderis wants to open three or four restaurants in Dubai and explore places like Doha, Kuwait and Oman.
“We’re not going anywhere until we’ve got it absolutely right in South Africa and Dubai.”
Sideris was surprised by how well things took off in Dubai, admitting that although she was nervous she had no expectations.
Jeremy Sampson, the founder of brand consultancy firm Interbrand Sampson de Villiers, calls Tashas a fantastic success story. He says people tend to forget that a brand is about experience and that the challenge lies with making sure all the touch points are aligned.
How well will Tashas do beyond South Africa’s shores? Sampson says one of its strengths is its ability to tweak its offering and cater to the local culture; this he adds is not unlike the strategy global fast food giant McDonalds uses.
According to Sideris, “Hard work equals good luck”. You can argue she’s got plenty of both.

A Recipe For  Success

It stands like a giant anthill in the city. In its shadow thousands of commuters swarm around street vendors under yellow and blue canvas to the hoots of hundreds of taxis that crawl through the streets like beetles. On level 50, you can see for miles on a crisp day, so long as the smog isn’t too thick.
The 223-meter-tall Carlton Centre, in the heart of Johannesburg, has stood for 42 years.
An army of construction workers built it and for years it was the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. One of them was Englishman Eddy Warehan, a contracted steel fixer for Roberts Contraction (now Murray &amp; Roberts) from Southampton, who arrived with tools in hand in 1967. This year, he made his first trip back to South Africa in 47 years.
“Health and safety was quite different then. It was interesting. If you got caught without a hardhat on, you were in trouble. You couldn’t tread on a nail without a hardhat on… There were a few accidents but you don’t take any notice of it. We were more interested in getting the job done,” he says.
Danger lurked around every corner.
“The first work we did on the site was a spiral staircase. It went four or five floors underground in darkness. You had towers and a lift shaft going up, but they were open. If they put a gate over the entrance somebody would move it and take the scaffolding away for somewhere else. An African gentleman one day wanted to go to the toilet, stepped into this dark corner and went down 10 floors.”
Another time, a crane was the killer.
“A crane was lifting a corner strong back shutter. They were swinging it around and there were two African gentlemen on the next corner and they got swept off. They got caught in the safety net but they didn’t survive.”
With the bad memories came good. Warehan recalls climbing to the 30th floor to see Pretoria 67 kilometers away.  Unafraid, he would pause for photos hanging over the steel bars at a giddy height.
Warehan, a former Royal Marine, came to Africa on the cruise ship the S.A. Vaal, sailing from Southampton to Durban, as a utility steward. Like many Europeans, he came to Africa by chance.
“If someone falls sick you do [their job]. You can do anything. I was a jack of all trades and a master of none. After the fifth trip we were going back [to England] and there were three gentlemen who had been working in Johannesburg and were passengers. We met in the bar, having a talk and they asked what I did before. I was a Royal Marine and before that I was a steel fixer. They said they were looking for steel fixers at the Carlton Centre, and I said where the hell is that? He said in Johannesburg. He told me what the wages were and I said that sounds crazy,” says Warehan.
Working in Johannesburg was a far cry from working in England.
“It was like adding a nought onto your money. I was earning £25 a week now it was £250. I gave it a try. The first week’s money I sent home was £300. My wife said you can’t get £300 from £250. I said they made a mistake it was actually £350.”
It took seven years to build the Carlton Centre. In 1973, it became the $7.92-million mecca for African socialites. Down the years, the Carlton Hotel opened its doors to the likes of Henry Kissinger, Francois Mitterrand, Hillary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Whitney Houston and Mick Jagger.
“It was quite a city. I was impressed. We stayed in Harley Street. Just out of Hillbrow; near the freeway and a park. My first accommodation was in a digs, under the careful watch of an Afrikaans woman named Marsh. We were mostly construction workers from the Carlton.”
“We would go to a bar across the road at the end of the day, the Casa Mia. It was on the way back to the digs. That way you could get halfway back from where you wanted to spend the night before you have too many to get lost. Most of us drank Lion Lager.”
“My wife couldn’t believe it when she came over to Johannesburg. The prices were half the cost you would pay in the UK and you were doubling your money. The cost of living in Africa was cheap.”
“A gold Omega watch I bought in Johannesburg cost £250 at that time. Six years ago, I sent it back to get it serviced; its current value was £7,000.”
These days, the aging skyscraper is more a museum than a mecca. Where thousands of shoppers once walked are the shells of dusty stores, epitomized by the Sky Rink, the building’s abandoned ice rink. The 50th floor of the Carlton Centre, called the Top of Africa, still offers a panorama of the city and beyond, provided the windows are clean and you can find the lift in the basement.
The building is showing signs of coming back to life, claims the City of Johannesburg. The basement shopping center has come back from being almost empty to 93% capacity. They say that the Carlton Centre is again a bustling shopping precinct with shops like Soviet, Aca Joe, Totalsports, Levison and Pick n Pay.
Maybe, like Warehan’s gold Omega, it will appreciate in value.

Tag: May 2015

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