
<p class="has-drop-cap"><strong>2020. Unexpected. Unprecedented. The year a virus tore through the core of our being and assailed our health systems and the wellbeing of our economies. Its effects ricocheted through every street, every alley of South Africa. FORBES AFRICA trained its lens on the new reality the year is leaving behind.</strong></p>



<p><em><strong>Photographs and Words by Motlabana Monnakgotla &amp; Chanel Retief </strong></em></p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-the-last-mile"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">The Last Mile</span></strong></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="591" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-1024x591.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49381" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-1024x591.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-300x173.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-768x443.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-1536x886.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-2048x1182.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Last-Mile-600x346.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>When Kagiso Ramphela (<em>above</em>) started Ramphela Funerals, a funeral parlor, just before Covid-19 struck South Africa, he never anticipated what was in store. Deemed essential services during the pandemic, his business, in a bizarre twist of fate, picked up.</p>



<p>“I don’t want to say business is booming, because it sounds like I am saying for business to boom, people must die. But what I will say is I think things have been fair to us,” Ramphela says, scratching his head, when we meet him at his office in Soweto, Johannesburg.</p>



<p>In this business, he always expects the unexpected, and this could mean calls in the middle of the night, from harried relatives requesting caskets for their loved ones. Ramphela needs to also ensure his staff is protected and safe from the virus at all times, whilst providing support to grieving families.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-coping-with-loss"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Coping With Loss</span></strong></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="732" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-1024x732.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49377" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-1024x732.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-300x215.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-1536x1099.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-2048x1465.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Coping-With-Loss-600x429.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>“There’s no closure,” says Charlie Mpogeng <em>(above) </em>standing by his brother&#8217;s grave at Westpark Cemetery in Emmarentia, west of Johannesburg. On the morning of July 17, he lost his 37-year-old brother, Herman Motlhabane, to Covid-19. “Everyone loved and respected him,” remembers Mpogeng.</p>



<p>“We were dressed in PPE gear to go see his body at the funeral home. We had to come out, take off the PPE, and get sanitized. And then immediately I had to get on to a call with the undertaker. There was no time to sit down and be like, ‘oh, snap I just lost my brother’.”</p>



<p>At the funeral, those in attendance had to observe social distancing and the ceremony only lasted a little over an hour. This is a familiar story for most who have lost a loved one to the pandemic this year. As of mid-November, South Africa recorded over 20,000 Covid- related deaths.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-a-brake-on-business"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">A Bra<strong>ke On Business</strong></span></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="649" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-1024x649.png" alt="" class="wp-image-49376" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-1024x649.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-300x190.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-768x487.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-1536x973.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-2048x1298.png 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/A-Brake-On-business-600x380.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>With most of the country reverting to a new Work-From- Home reality in the wake of Covid-19, South Africa’s taxi industry took a hard knock. In June, taxi associations across Johannesburg announced that they would be increasing their fares from a minimum of R11 to R30 ($1) a trip, also lamenting the lack of adequate government relief. </p>



<p>New regulations stipulate that public vehicles are only allowed to carry 70% of their maximum capacity and to mandatorily practice social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand sanitizing. </p>



<p>Public taxis are a popular mode of transport for daily wage earners and office commuters, especially in South Africa’s sprawling townships. Another business that braked to a screeching stop? The neighborhood car-wash facility.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-unemployment-woes"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Unemployment Woes</span></strong></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49382" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Unemployment-Woes-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>According to the <em>National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey</em>, approximately three million South Africans have lost their jobs due to covid-19. Disgruntled unions came together in a nationwide protest (as in this image taken in the central business district of Johannesburg) on October 7 against unemployment, wage disputes, and job losses. Some demands were related to Covid-19 corruption, the failing economy, and the fact that due to a setback in the government’s wage agreement, workers may not receive salary increases in the next financial year. </p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-off-track"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Off-Track</span></strong></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49378" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Off-Track-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>The pandemic also derailed the rail industry, with a reported surge in cable theft at railway stations. <em>Reuters </em>reported that during the lockdown – implemented in various stages in South Africa since march – organized, sometimes armed, criminal gangs stole valuable copper from the railway lines. As part of his economic recovery plan, President Cyril Ramaphosa has proposed the privatization of some of South Africa’s key train routes in a bid to improve transport access to millions of South Africans.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-butt-seriously"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Butt Seriously </span></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49374" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Butt-Seriously-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>One of the most controversial lockdown regulations in South Africa was the banning of the sale of cigarettes. This forced many to either resort to more expensive, often ‘illegal ways’ to source their smoking stock, or quit altogether.</p>



<p>The Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products, based at the University of Cape Town, and the South African Medical Research Council&#8217;s Dr Catherine Egbe, found that nearly a million people quit smoking during the lockdown.</p>



<p>On the other hand, British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) released a media statement in July saying that research shows 11 million smokers in South Africa are still able to purchase cigarettes from illicit suppliers. “These illicit suppliers are not suddenly going to become compliant and start obeying the law and paying taxes when the ban is eventually lifted. They evaded taxes before the lockdown, they’ve made billions tax-free during the ban and they will evade taxes after the ban,” said BATSA’s Head of External Affairs Johnny Moloto in July.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-something-to-wine-about"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Something to Wine About</span></strong></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-1024x683.png" alt="" class="wp-image-49380" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-1024x683.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-768x512.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-2048x1365.png 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Something-To-Wine-About-600x400.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>Another point of contention was the back and forth regarding the ban on alcohol during the lockdown. This impasse specifically had a negative impact on the country’s bars and restaurant businesses.</p>



<p>The Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA) CEO Wendy Alberts says the hard lockdown put a strain on several restaurants that have had to permanently close their doors.</p>



<p>RASA ran a survey in which 23,000 restaurants across South Africa participated (during alert level two of the lockdown). Of that, 30% stated they have shut down while 50% said they do not know if they will be able to reopen due to massive overheads and debt.</p>



<p>“I am very heartsore for those restaurants that have lost their businesses and staff that have lost their jobs. So although this appears to be a win, there is no win in this space because people have lost, and people have been hurt,” says Alberts.</p>



<p>With lockdown restrictions now eased, the restaurants and bars are slowly returning to life. In this image, taken at SOD in Soweto, the South African summer seems to have revived conviviality in outdoor spaces.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-art-of-the-matter"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color"><strong>Art Of The Matter</strong><br></span></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="618" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-1024x618.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49375" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-1024x618.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-300x181.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-768x463.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-1536x927.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-2048x1236.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-400x240.jpg 400w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Art-Of-The-Matter-600x362.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>A child rides past a mural painted in August by South African artist Graham Mckuur, known as ‘Dimms’, on Kremetart Street in Eldorado Park Ext 3. The work is in tribute to Nathaniel Julius, a 16-year- old allegedly shot and killed by police in Johannesburg&#8217;s Eldorado Park. </p>



<p>The teenager had Down Syndrome, which sent shockwaves on social media. According to <em>BBC Africa</em>, the family said Julius was shot for not answering police officers’ questions. News reports say that three officers have been arrested on charges of murder.</p>



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-room-for-change"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Room For Change</span></strong></h2>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49379" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/room-for-change-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



<p>2020 definitely changed the way we work. the hard lockdown in level one of the pandemic saw emptying office spaces, until around alert level three when most companies gradually had staff trickling in to work. But with Covid-19 still a sore reality, most office-goers have slipped into the work-from-home mode for longer, or indefinitely. </p>



<p>This has also amplified digitalization and the need for companies to quickly streamline technology to enable better workflow processes. The International Labour organization has also been reporting on the rise of the flexible workforce’. The final word on the future workplace is still being scripted.</p>


00 Opening

The Year That Changed Everything


<p><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">TOPLINE</span></strong> The Food and Drug Administration Thursday <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-drug-combination-treatment-covid-19" target="_blank">issued</a> an emergency use authorization for Eli Lilly’s rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib and remdesivir for coronavirus treatment, the first drug combination authorized by the FDA as a therapeutic for the virus. </p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">KEY FACTS</span></h4>



<p>Baricitinib is an existing FDA-approved drug for rheumatoid arthritis, but it has benefits for coronavirus patients used in combination with Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, which has already been given&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/10/22/fda-approves-remdesivir-for-covid-19-treatment/?sh=680206fe63c8">full FDA approval</a>.</p>



<p>The emergency authorization only applies to hospitalized patients in need of supplemental oxygen.</p>



<p>The drug combination was given emergency approval based on a randomized double-blind trial that found it reduced median recovery time by one day and increased the chances of survival by 35% compared to patients taking remdesivir alone.</p>



<p>Scientists are also interested in the combination of baricitinib and the steroid dexamethasone, the latter of which was taken by President Donald Trump when he was infected, as a potential coronavirus therapeutic.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">CRUCIAL QUOTE</span></h4>



<p>“The FDA’s emergency authorization of this combination therapy represents an incremental step forward in the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients, and FDA’s first authorization of a drug that acts on the inflammation pathway,” Patrizia Cavazzoni, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">KEY BACKGROUND</span></h4>



<p>&nbsp;Eli Lilly has also earned emergency approval for bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment for early cases of Covid-19. Other promising therapeutics, including Regeneron’s antibody cocktail and dexamethasone have yet to receive FDA approval. Hydroxychloroquine had its emergency authorization rescinded after data showed it had no benefit for Covid-19 patients.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</span></h4>



<p>Eli Lilly is conducting a clinical trial for baricitinib by itself, and the company may pursue an emergency use authorization for the drug depending on the results.</p>



<p><em>-By Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Pharmaceutical research into infectious disease and pandemics, scientist pipetting a sample of a new drug formula into a vial during a clinical trial with the infectious disease on the computer screen

FDA Gives Emergency Approval To Covid-19 Treatment That Combines Eli Lilly Arthritis Drug With Remdesivir


<p><strong>Stéphane Bancel says data showing 95% efficacy for his company’s vaccine means that it may be able to start distributing its vaccine in late December, pending a green light from the FDA.</strong></p>



<p class="has-drop-cap"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">M</span>oderna CEO Stéphane Bancel slept for 3 hours on Sunday night. At 4:00 am, he went for a run, and then a few hours later led an all-company meeting. The subject: preliminary data from Moderna’s phase 3 trial of a Covid-19 vaccine, which found that the vaccine was about 95% effective at preventing the illness. Bancel says that some people in America may start getting vaccinated as early as next month.  </p>



<p>“I couldn’t have expected better results,” Bancel says. To top it off, the data showed that 11 people in the placebo arm of the trial contracted severe Covid-19, but no one in the vaccinated group got a severe form of the disease. “It means that if you get the Moderna vaccine, you have a 95% chance of getting no disease, and if you do get it you will get a mild disease,” he says. “That’s fantastic.”</p>



<p>It’s also good news for Bancel personally, who owns roughly 9% of the company. As the stock rose 10% today, Bancel’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephane-bancel/?sh=5b3965e73742">net worth</a>&nbsp;increased to $3 billion. Others have profited as well. MIT scientist&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2020/11/12/mit-scientist-bob-langer-becomes-a-billionaire-thanks-to-moderna-stock-rally/?sh=4d1864563a90">Robert Langer</a>, who cofounded Moderna and has a 3% stake in the company, saw his net worth increase to about $1.2 billion. Harvard professor and 3.5% equity stake owner&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2020/05/16/exclusive-harvard-professor-who-became-a-billionaire-thanks-to-moderna-talks-about-his-investing/?sh=4b3044a36b8d">Timothy Springer</a>, an early investor in the company, is now worth $1.6 billion.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The key to success seems to be Moderna’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2020/05/08/fueled-by-500-million-in-federal-cash-moderna-races-to-make-1-billion-doses-of-an-unproven-cure/?sh=21eae65d79dc">mRNA technology</a>, which relies on messenger RNA to deliver instructions to the cells in your body. These cells then produce small parts of the Covid-19 virus that are just enough to trigger the immune system, producing antibodies and memory cells that will leap into action if you come in contact with the virus again. The study data seems to suggest this should help people across the board. The trial consisted of 30,000 people in total, with broad diversity in racial and ethnic makeup, as well as age (around 7,000 were over 65, the group most at risk for severe forms of the disease).</p>



<p>Moderna began work on its Covid-19 vaccine in January, and shipped its first batch to the National Institute of Health for a phase one study just 42 days later. That’s incredibly fast, considering that most vaccines take years to make. (For more detail, see our<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2020/05/08/fueled-by-500-million-in-federal-cash-moderna-races-to-make-1-billion-doses-of-an-unproven-cure/?sh=21eae65d79dc"> in-depth feature</a> from May.) And Moderna isn’t the only one making swift progress: Last week, Pfizer released results that found its mRNA vaccine, produced in partnership with German company BioNTech, was 90% effective at preventing Covid-19. The results validated a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2020/05/20/the-man-betting-1-billion-that-pfizer-can-deliver-a-vaccine-by-this-fall/?sh=602b2677382e">$1 billion bet</a> that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla made last spring on the project.</p>



<p>“[It’s a] pretty impressive outcome,” says Alan Carr, a biotech analyst at Needham, about Moderna’s data. “There seems to be a pattern with the two mRNA vaccines which suggests the technology is pretty helpful for infectious diseases.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>But Bancel doesn’t feel like he’s in competition with Pfizer — or any other vaccine company, for that matter. “As I’ve said all along since we started chasing this virus in January, no one company can supply the planet,” Bancel says. “We need three or four vaccines to make it to the finish line&#8230;the success of Pfizer is a great thing for the world and for the country.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Carr agrees: “For Covid-19, I think demand is going to outstrip supply,” he says. “Both of these vaccines will be sought after.”</p>



<p>Perhaps some of the lack of competitive feeling stems from Moderna’s global partnerships. The company has already entered agreements to supply several countries with Covid-19 vaccines, including the U.S., the E.U., Japan and Canada. While the deals with several of the countries remain a secret, the Trump administration announced in August that it reached a deal to buy 100 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine for about $1.5 billion.</p>



<p>Unlike Pfizer, which has done most of its research and clinical trials in-house, Moderna has partnered closely with the U.S. government since the early days of the pandemic. Bancel says that the company worked closely with Dr. Fauci’s team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to conduct its clinical trials. The federal government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), gave the company a little less than $1 billion to study the vaccine. All of this government money leads to a vaccine that costs the government about $25 per dose, and will likely be given for free to the public according to Bancel. He says that they have “millions of doses” that are ready to distribute. Pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS, plus McKesson Corporation, the largest distributor of the flu vaccine in the U.S, are already studying how to most efficiently distribute the vaccine.</p>



<p>Moderna still has a few hurdles to overcome before the vaccine will be available to the public. First, it needs to finish its phase three clinical trial, provide the data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and get emergency authorization to distribute the vaccine. Bancel estimates that the phase three trial will meet a key data target within the next two weeks, and plans to file with the FDA for an emergency use authorization in late November or early December (the trial itself will last another two years as participants’ health continues to be monitored). If that time frame holds, some people in the U.S. — likely healthcare workers at first — could start receiving the vaccine by the end of 2020.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Experts have also worried that Moderna’s vaccine will need to be refrigerated at low temperatures, around -4° Fahrenheit<strong>,&nbsp;</strong>which could cause issues with the supply chain. The company put at least some of those fears to rest this morning, when it announced new data that shows its vaccine can be kept in a standard refrigerator for up to 30 days. This could be an advantage over Pfizer, whose Covid-19 vaccine must be stored at -94° Fahrenheit.</p>



<p>Finally, there is also the risk that the Covid-19 virus could mutate, rendering the current vaccine ineffective. This doesn’t worry Bancel. “The adaptation to new strains is possible” he says, “but mRNA is fantastic because you can just swap a new strain and run with it.” He expects that if another version of Covid-19 began making the rounds, it would take Moderna even fewer than its current 42 days to create a vaccine.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Right now, however, all those worries are for the future. After a hectic day, Bancel is excited about the prospect of finally getting some rest this evening. “I’m looking forward to going home tonight and having a nice bottle of wine and going to bed early,” he says.</p>



<p><em>-By Leah Rosenbaum, Forbes Staff</em></p>


2019 Forbes Healthcare Summit

Moderna CEO: Covid-19 Vaccine’s ‘Fantastic’ Results Mean It Could Be Ready Next Month


<p><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color"><strong>TOPLINE</strong></span>: Some U.S. cities have now run out of space in their ICUs, with many more on the brink of being overwhelmed as Covid hospitalizations keep skyrocketing to new national records on a daily basis.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">KEY FACTS</span></h4>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/TCBPubHealth/status/1326888035129176064?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jackson, Mississippi</a>—the state’s capital—has “zero” ICU beds available, while the rest of the state has “very few,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/11/10/tulsa-has-run-out-of-icu-beds-and-el-paso-is-out-of-morgue-space-heres-the-latest-grim-toll-of-covid/?sh=78c74f022133">Tulsa</a>&nbsp;health officials announced Tuesday night that the city had run out of ICU beds.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/state-and-regional/running-out-of-room-st-louis-hospitals-forced-to-turn-away-patients-from-rural-areas/article_0e17fc93-3e67-5a49-9a33-0b346618b5c3.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. Louis</a>&nbsp;hospitals are so overwhelmed they’re reportedly having to turn away some patients.</p>



<p>In North Dakota, nurses are being allowed to continue working in certain cases even if they are<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/11/10/covid-positive-nurses-allowed-to-keep-working-in-north-dakota-amid-staffing-crisis/?sh=392003af60fd">&nbsp;Covid-positive</a>, as Gov. Doug Burgum (R) has warned that the state’s healthcare system could soon be pushed beyond its limits.</p>



<p>A field hospital has been set up for surge capacity in<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926809402/wisconsin-opens-a-field-hospital-at-state-fair-grounds-as-coronavirus-cases-spik" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Wisconsin</a>, with<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/13/metro/mass-reopen-field-hospital-dcu-center-worcester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Massachusetts</a>&nbsp;planning to reopen one in December, and $10 million going toward converting a parking garage in<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/525995-nevada-hospital-turns-parking-garage-into-covid-19-surge-unit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Reno, Nevada</a>, into a Covid unit.</p>



<p>Vineet Arora, a hospital expert at the University of Chicago, warns that Illinois is “dangerously close” to exceeding capacity, telling<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/12/934266517/illinois-health-care-workers-say-hospitals-will-run-out-of-icu-beds-by-thanksgiv" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;NPR</a>&nbsp;that ICUs will run out of space by Thanksgiving.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</span></h4>



<p>Several other places around the country—like Kansas City and<a href="https://www.rochesterfirst.com/coronavirus/strong-hospital-nearing-100-capacity-as-covid-19-cases-surge-in-monroe-county/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Rochester, New York</a>—are also pushing the limits of their health care capacity. In<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/14/934185297/covid-19-hospitalizations-surge-in-dakotas-its-like-we-opened-up-a-spigot" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;South Dakota</a>, a health official told NPR that it’s “a possibility” the state would follow North Dakota in taking the exceptional step of allowing nurses with Covid to work in Covid units at hospitals and nursing homes, provided they are asymptomatic. That’s a step Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, Associate Dean of Global Health at UC San Diego and author of “<a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pOQeCZ6ZQ7fAY0XwTysi5X?domain=theperfectpredator.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Perfect Predator</a>,” told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;earlier this week was “crazy” for North Dakota to take. Another looming problem could be a lack of nurses nationwide. During the spring surge, scores of health workers flocked to New York, which was the hardest-hit city in the country. But the crisis now is nationwide, meaning there could be competition for health workers in many places.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">KEY BACKGROUND</span></h4>



<p>The U.S. has set a new record for hospitalizations for four-straight days, according to data from<a href="https://covidtracking.com/data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;The COVID Tracking Project</a>, and the trend seems to only be accelerating. Significantly adding to the problem is that new cases are also not only increasing, but constantly increasing at a faster pace, as well. The U.S. added more than 180,000 new cases on Friday, again setting a new record, which keeps getting broken<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/11/14/another-grim-new-record-us-tops-180000-new-infections-friday-covid-cases-rising-in-all-50-states/?sh=6c8aa7821ea5">&nbsp;day after day</a>. Just 10 days earlier, the U.S. had never topped 94,000 cases in a single day. And before the fall surge, the daily case record stood at just over 75,000. Hospitalizations stood at 68,516 on Friday, according to The COVID Tracking Project.<a href="https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/us-daily-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Deaths</a>, which lag behind increases in cases and then hospitalizations, have been on a steady rise since mid-October. The U.S. is now averaging more than 1,000 Covid deaths a day.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">TANGENT</span></h4>



<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/us/el-paso-covid-mobile-morgues/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Paso, Texas</a>, is dealing with an even more grim problem than hospitals reaching capacity—the city has run out of morgue space.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">FURTHER READING</span></h4>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/11/10/tulsa-has-run-out-of-icu-beds-and-el-paso-is-out-of-morgue-space-heres-the-latest-grim-toll-of-covid/?sh=78c74f022133">Tulsa Has Run Out Of ICU Beds And El Paso Is Out Of Morgue Space—Here’s The Latest Grim Toll Of Covid</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/11/10/covid-positive-nurses-allowed-to-keep-working-in-north-dakota-amid-staffing-crisis/?sh=392003af60fd">Covid-Positive Nurses Allowed To Keep Working In North Dakota Amid Staffing Crisis</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/14/934185297/covid-19-hospitalizations-surge-in-dakotas-its-like-we-opened-up-a-spigot" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">COVID-19 Hospitalizations Surge In Dakotas: &#8216;It&#8217;s Like We Opened Up A Spigot&#8217;</a>&nbsp;(NPR)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/11/14/another-grim-new-record-us-tops-180000-new-infections-friday-covid-cases-rising-in-all-50-states/?sh=6c8aa7821ea5">Another Grim New Record: U.S. Tops 180,000 New Infections Friday, Covid Cases Rising In All 50 States</a> (Forbes)</p>



<p><em>-By Nicholas Reimann, Forbes Staff</em></p>


COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit Within A Houston Hospital Cares For Patients As Cases Continue To Rise

Here’s Where You Can No Longer Get An ICU Bed Because Of Covid


<p>After two weeks of massive demonstrations against police brutality brought Nigeria’s financial hub, Lagos, to a virtual standstill, government security forces using live ammunition opened fire Tuesday on hundreds of protestors rallying against a government-mandated 24-hour curfew.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>At least seven people were killed during the melee, according to a&nbsp;<em>Guardian</em>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/20/nigeria-protests-lead-to-24-hour-lagos-curfew" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>&nbsp;citing a popular African disc jockey, DJ Switch, who was live-streaming the demonstration on Instagram.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielcassady/2020/10/21/nigerian-security-forces-open-fire-on-protesters-in-lagos-24-hour-statewide-curfew-imposed/#25fb23a52360" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Also read: <strong>Nigerian Security Forces Open Fire On Protesters In Lagos, 24-Hour Statewide Curfew Imposed</strong></a></p>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48560" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /><figcaption>(Photo by BENSON IBEABUCHI/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The protests began on October 7 with calls to disband an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/20/end-sars-24-hour-curfew-imposed-in-lagos-as-protests-continue#:~:text=Nationwide%20protests%20have%20continued%20since,(SARS)%2C%20which%20has%20long" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">infamous police unit</a>&nbsp;that had long been accused of extortion, torture and extra-juditial killings, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).</p>



<p>SARS was dissolved on October 11, but quickly replaced by the Special Weapons and Tactics team, and demonstrations continued, only to be met with “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/nigeria-authorities-must-initiate-genuine-reform-of-the-police/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">excessive force</a>” by government security forces, according to Amnesty International, including the use of tear gas, water cannons and live ammunition against protesters.</p>



<p>Almost 2,000 prison inmates escaped after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-police-brutality-lagos-robbery-1dabdf270ca2f6937b0ddc49fa0ad84f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crowds</a>&nbsp;stormed two prisons Monday in Benin City in southern Nigeria, according the Associated Press.</p>



<p>On Tuesday, state officials&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lagos-imposes-indefinite-curfew-curb-nigeria-protests-police-deploy-anti-n1244030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deployed</a>&nbsp;anti-riot forces to protect police and correctional facilities which some demonstrators had begun targeting, and announced a nationwide 24-hour curfew in response to the unrest.</p>



<p>At least 15 people have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/nigeria-authorities-must-initiate-genuine-reform-of-the-police/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">died</a>&nbsp;during the demonstrations, according to Amnesty International.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>What began as mostly peaceful protests have turned increasingly violent in recent days. Groups of armed young men who are reportedly being paid to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/20/nigeria-protests-lead-to-24-hour-lagos-curfew" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">discredit</a>&nbsp;the anti-police movement by powerful interests in Nigeria have allegedly been attacking the demonstrators, fueling the unrest, and provoking the government&#8217;s response. Tens of thousands of people have joined in the demonstrations across the country, but as they grow more violent, government security forces have responded in kind. The Nigerian Army said it was standing by in case “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/15/army-standby-police-brutality-protests-nigeria" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subversive</a>&nbsp;elements and troublemakers” continue to cause problems for the police.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h4>



<p><strong>21 Million.</strong>&nbsp;That’s how many people&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/home-over-half-population-nigerias-cities-continue-boom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">live</a>&nbsp;in the state of Lagos, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, all of whom are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lagos-imposes-indefinite-curfew-curb-nigeria-protests-police-deploy-anti-n1244030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">supposed</a>&nbsp;to adhere to the curfew. That’s more people than live in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/NY" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



<p>I have watched with shock how what began as a peaceful #EndSARS protest has degenerated into a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/jidesanwoolu/status/1318504576937578497?s=20" target="_blank">monster</a> that is threatening the well-being of our society. Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state.” said Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48564" width="615" height="410" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px" /><figcaption> People protest against recent violence at demonstrations in Nigeria on October 21, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48562" width="628" height="418" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px" /><figcaption>Protestors attend a demonstration outside the Nigerian High Commission against police brutality in Lagos in London on October 21, 2020. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48563" width="646" height="430" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px" /><figcaption>Activists protesting police brutality by the Nigerian Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) march along Whitehall in London, England, on October 21, 2020. (Photo by David Cliff/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48561" width="637" height="424" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px" /><figcaption>Nigerians based in South Africa protest outside their embassy in Pretoria on October 21, 2020 in solidarity with Nigerian youth. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-police-brutality-lagos-robbery-1dabdf270ca2f6937b0ddc49fa0ad84f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nearly 2,000 inmates escape in attacks on Nigeria prisons</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/20/end-sars-24-hour-curfew-imposed-in-lagos-as-protests-continue#:~:text=Nationwide%20protests%20have%20continued%20since,(SARS)%2C%20which%20has%20long" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nigeria deploying anti-riot police as curfew imposed in Lagos</a>&nbsp;(Al Jazzera)</p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/17/nigerias-anti-police-brutality-protests-bring-lagos-to-standstill" target="_blank">Nigeria&#8217;s anti-police brutality protests bring Lagos to standstill</a>&nbsp;(The Guardian)</p>



<p>&#8211;<em>by Daniel Cassady, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Nigeria 1

Here’s Why Thousands Of Nigerians Are Protesting In Lagos


<p><strong>Most food and pharmaceuticals require numerous cold chain interventions before reaching consumers. Sub-Saharan Africa lacks<br>in this respect but there are some solutions.</strong></p>



<p>Cold chain solutions comprising both storage and logistics are an integral part of all developed economies and most people are not aware of how extensively they are utilized within businesses and products. A significant portion of all food and pharmaceuticals require numerous cold chain interventions before reaching consumers. These interventions occur in a variety of sectors, ranging from agriculture, dairy, meat and poultry, pharmaceuticals, food manufacturing, supermarkets and HORECA (hotels, restaurants and café services).</p>



<p>The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the role that cold chain solutions play in global food and pharmaceutical security. Sub-Saharan Africa is a case in point. There is a prevalent lack of cold chain solutions, exacerbating these two topics.</p>



<p>For a long time, food manufacturing and distribution lines in Europe and the United States have solved product seasonality problems through utilizing global supply lines and temperature-controlled storage to ensure year-round product availability. However, as a result of Covid-19, we see examples of food supply lines breaking down or cold storage facilities being overstretched. This has resulted in price inflation or some food items not being available. In some cases, these breakdowns have resulted in products being dumped or food producers temporarily ceasing operations.</p>



<p>In Africa, a significant portion of fresh produce reaches consumers via air freight, as many countries do not have third-party solutions for products to be chilled or frozen and transported by cheaper means via sea, road and rail. Additionally, lack of cold chain solutions has resulted in a significant portion of these countries having lower levels of food manufacturing and therefore, they export lower-value raw products and import higher-value finished goods.</p>



<p>ARCH has been researching the lack of investment into cold chain solutions in Africa for some time. This stems mostly from commercial operators continuing investments in their home markets or in markets perceived to be less risky, like Asia. We therefore developed a specialist fund with relevant experts that allows for patient and development-focused capital as a means to rapidly deploy investment to meet the immediate need in Africa. In November 2019, we launched the first fully-dedicated fund, the Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund, with an expectation to launch additional African regional funds shortly.</p>



<p>The first fund aims to create a third-party cold chain solution provider on a regional basis in East Africa, by building and operating eight to 10 cold storage facilities. The fund will develop businesses in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda with integrated end-to-end logistics.</p>



<p>The funds also aim to target development issues. Food security has been a critically-consistent issue in Africa for many decades. This issue has been further highlighted as a result of Covid-19 and other current regional concerns such as the potential locust plague in East Africa. However, it should be noted that many staple food crops like potato and other root vegetables can be stored in temperature-controlled environments for up to 12 months. Due to a lack of cold chain solutions in many of these regions of Africa, most crops are only seasonally available with price variations between peak harvest and low season reaching up to 500% under normal conditions.</p>



<p>Another highlighted issue as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has been in the area of pharmaceuticals and in particular, vaccines. There are several studies undertaken in Africa which suggest that a lack of or inappropriate use of cold chain solutions results in <a href="https://controlant.com/blog/2019/how-controlant-is-ensuring-safe-vaccine-delivery-through-africa-in-partnership-with-global-good/">vaccine waste that reaches up to 50%.</a> This is even more important in an era where everyone is watching daily news headlines for signs of a potential Covid-19 vaccine.</p>



<p>Unlike the developed world where temperature-controlled storage and logistics are generally operated separately, our offering in Africa will integrate storage and logistics solutions, ensuring customers have an end-to-end temperature-controlled environment for their products. In each country, we are undertaking operations with local partners who have extensive experience in logistics operations, ensuring we have relevant local knowledge and expertise.</p>



<p>Our first facility is to be based in Nairobi, where we are about to secure land at the industrial park, Tatu City. Concept designs are completed for a 12,000sqm facility that will commence operations in mid-2021 with the full roll-out of facilities in all countries envisaged within three to four years.</p>



<p><em>– By Jared Irving, Managing Director, Africa, for ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited, based in London.</em></p>


Post-Registration Trial of RDIF’s ‘Sputnik V’ COVID-19 Vaccine

The Cold Treatment For Vaccines


<p>Last year, PayPal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/paypal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PYPL</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/paypal">+0.6%</a>&nbsp;CEO Dan Schulman commissioned a study to understand how many of his employees were financially strapped. “I was almost positive the response would be, ‘No, we’re not, because you’re paying so well,’” Schulman said Wednesday at Forbes’ JUST 100 virtual summit. Internal research had shown that staff salaries were at or above market rates.</p>



<p>But the study’s results painted a different picture. “In all of our call centers and among our entry-level employees—more than 10,000 people inside of PayPal—two-thirds of that employee base struggled to make ends meet. That was such a huge wake-up call for me,” he said.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Hedge fund manager and philanthropist Paul Tudor Jones II spoke on the panel with Schulman and noted that, for every year he has done research for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/just-companies/#11977d772bf0">JUST 100 list</a>&nbsp;of the most responsible public companies, “The number-one element of what makes a just company is pay and living wage.” The research polls thousands of Americans to identify what factors they deem most important in defining fair corporate behavior.</p>



<p>In October 2019, Schulman responded to the troubling survey results by lowering the cost of healthcare for employees by 60%. He gave every worker equity in PayPal, raised salaries and rolled out a financial education program to encourage saving. The changes reportedly cost <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90490899/how-paypal-ceo-dan-schulman-is-leading-a-more-inclusive-way-forward" target="_blank">tens of millions</a> of dollars. </p>



<p>ee if the changes had an impact. “Employees were four times more engaged, and three times less likely to leave the company,” Schulman said.</p>



<p>Higher morale creates a workforce that serves customers better and leads to better shareholder returns, the CEO believes. His company’s stock has risen nearly 90% this year, reaching a market value of $235 billion. “This idea that making a profit and having a purpose as a company are at odds with each other is fundamentally wrong. I actually think if you don&#8217;t have a purpose as a company, you don’t see your workers as your most valuable asset and you minimize your profitability.”</p>



<p><em>-By Jeff Kauflin, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Fast Company Innovation Festival – Day 3

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman Explains His Strategy For Investing In Employees’ Financial Health


<p><strong>The unpalatable truth is an unfair distribution of profits in the global cocoa trade, of which West Africa has substantive market share. Thankfully, entrepreneurial disruptors and a new initiative in Ghana seek a sweeter ending for farmers.</strong></p>



<p class="has-drop-cap">BEFORE IT REACHED THE fashionable parlors of early modern Europe, where it was imbibed as an expensive accessory to gossip and gambling, chocolate had already enjoyed a long, intoxicating life. The aphrodisiac beverage cacahuatl, favored by ancient South American cultures such as the Mayans and the Aztecs, was brewed, with chillies, from the cacao bean, a local currency so valuable it quickly caught the avaricious attention of the Spanish Conquistadors. The rest is history – and a narrative tainted with the bitterness of greed and exploitation. But there are signs at last that this story may be headed to a sweeter ending.</p>



<p>The World Cocoa Foundation has calculated that 4.5 million tons of cocoa beans are now consumed annually: as cocoa butter, widely used in cosmetics as well as chocolate products; cocoa powder, a staple in chocolate flavorings; and cocoa liquor, a paste of cocoa butter and solids essential in the production of solid chocolate. The juice of the bean (sweatings) can also be found in soft drinks and alcoholic beverages such as brandy, with the bean husk burned into potash for soaps and fertilizers.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48195" width="444" height="295" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_06-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 444px) 100vw, 444px" /><figcaption><sub><em>Photo Supplied</em></sub></figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The humble cocoa bean is thus a versatile, repeatedly monetizable commodity: in a 2019 Allied Market Research report, the global cocoa products market was valued at $24.5 billion, and is expected to garner $30.2 billion by 2026. But like many of the planet’s most coveted exports, such as tea and iron ore, the crop’s rich dividends are often not trickling down to the mouths that need them most.</p>



<p>The International Cocoa Organization reports that 60% of the world’s cocoa is produced by 2.5 million farming families in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire (the populations of the two countries are 29 million and 25 million respectively). But according to the Walk Free Foundation’s 2018 Global Slavery Index, this figure includes an estimated 2.1 million children working under illegal conditions, and at least 30,000 people entrapped in modern slavery. The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child labor as “mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children, and [that which] interferes with their schooling”, and modern slavery as “exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power”. The unpalatable truth is that most of the chocolate that reaches our shelves handsomely rewards a giant multinational handful of liquid chocolate manufacturers and cocoa traders, but pays cocoa farmers in West Africa an average of less than $1 a day (Fairtrade Foundation report, 2019).</p>



<p>Professor Genevieve LeBaron, Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), and author of the Global Business of Forced Labour report of 2018, has identified “widespread labor exploitation” within the global cocoa supply chain. “This is rooted in the industry’s business model and supply chain dynamics, which concentrate profits and value at the top of the chain and involves incredibly thin margins and low income for actors at the bottom,” she says. “I also found that ethical certification schemes covering the cocoa industry are failing to create worksites that are free from exploitation.”</p>



<p>LeBaron warns that stickers and symbols on cocoa products glibly advertising guarantees of ‘fair’ conditions for their producers are not what they purport to be. “Consumers need to be sceptical of ‘ethical’ and ‘fair trade’ marketing,” she says. “Labor exploitation takes place even in ethically certified supply chains. There is a need for much stronger accountability over ethical and fair trade certification and auditing. A major overhaul of these programs is needed, especially in terms of how they create and distribute value and are ‘enforced’ – both of which are highly flawed and lacking.”</p>



<p>Until recently, the status quo in the market had remained undisrupted, favoring the industry superpowers who could source cheaply from multiple suppliers and buy in large amounts. “Cocoa is unique in that West Africa contributes such a substantive proportion of market share,” she says. “And the confectionary industry is heavily reliant on sourcing from the region to secure supply and maintain profits.”</p>



<p>New investment in the West African cocoa industry may go some way to improving conditions on the ground. In November 2019, Ghana’s cocoa regulator, COCOBOD, finalized a $600 million loan at the Africa Investment Forum “to finance new warehouses, rehabilitate plantations and support the processing sector”, including $250 million from development finance institutions led by the African Development Bank (AfDB). “Proceeds of the facility will be used to finance key components of COCOBOD’s productivity enhancement programs – a set of interventions aimed at improving Ghana’s cocoa productivity per hectare and increasing overall cocoa production levels,” says Dr Jennifer Blanke, the AfDB’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. “The financing of new warehouses will provide more opportunity to store beans longer and create buffer stocks. This will also allow COCOBOD to have more influence on the volume of beans on the market, as well as the associated price.” She maintains there is a framework already in place for safeguarding farmers against exploitation. “The bank applies integrated environmental and social safeguard systems into business practices with all clients with whom we work, including COCOBOD.” Blanke believes these investments in the cocoa production infrastructure will in turn have a positive effect on the lives of the industry’s vulnerable farming communities. “The idea is that the bank-funded productivity enhancement programs will increase farmer incomes, as well as modernize farming methods,” she says. “This combination should serve as a disincentive to participating in the cocoa trade under illegal or unethical conditions.”</p>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-1024x703.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48197" width="555" height="381" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-1024x703.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-768x527.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-1536x1054.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-2048x1406.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_03-copy-600x412.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px" /><figcaption><em><sub>Photo Supplied</sub></em></figcaption></figure></div>



<p>With a mission to make chocolate “100% slave free”, the entrepreneurial disruptor at the sharp end of the industry is Dutch chocolate company Tony’s Chocolonely. The brand was founded in 2005 by investigative journalist Teun (Tony) van de Keuken, who set out on a (lonely) quest to create a chocolate bar from cocoa beans produced in West Africa by fairly-compensated farmers instead of slave labor. Tony’s Chocolonely advocates five game-changing ‘sourcing principles’: traceable beans, a higher premium paid to farmers, investment in cooperatives and farmer training, a minimum five-year business relationship, and improved productivity (from 300kg to 800kg per hectare). Paul Schoenmakers, the company’s Head of Impact, says that efforts to completely eradicate slavery from its supply chain are vigilant and ongoing. “In the past year, 6,624 cocoa partners supplied to us,” he says. “We found 259 new cases of illegal child labor, which we are working to remediate. More than 25,000 people participated in our awareness-raising sessions. For the second year in a row, 100% of the 5,465 metric tons of cocoa beans Tony’s purchased through its partners were traceable. Seventy one percent of people who buy chocolate in the Netherlands (where the brand is the market leader) now know about the issues. That’s important for us, because our roadmap starts with trading awareness.” The company has pushed hard for two years for the Dutch parliament to enact legislation similar to the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act, and a bill has now passed which will require companies legally domiciled in the Netherlands to “conduct investigative research to determine whether child labor is occurring in their supply chains and establish a concrete course of action for rectifying it”.</p>



<p>Schoenmakers believes that any company, big or small, can and should apply the same due diligence. “The framework of our five sourcing principles fits very well to other commodity sectors too,” he says. “Especially coffee and tea, but also cotton. What we are currently working on is making the framework easier for other companies to implement, and we are actively helping them to use that model.”</p>



<p>He says the company’s aim is for all its suppliers to become independent – even from Tony’s. “We used to be the only buyer from a particular cooperative in Ghana. But two years ago, we helped them successfully represent themselves in the international market, and they got access to seven other premium customers. We’re a well-paying customer, so cooperatives like to work with us, but we want them to find other customers too. That also helps us grow.”</p>



<p>A fair premium for cocoa beans – last year, Tony’s paid a 20% premium on the farm gate price – can have a radical and long-lasting impact on the lives of local farmers. “One of the most positive concrete changes is simply paying more money to the farmer. Fighting poverty is a very complicated thing to do, but if you don’t pay more for cocoa, all the other efforts will fail.”</p>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48198" width="329" height="218" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Tonys_Chocolonely_Ghana_cocoa_drying_01-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px" /><figcaption><em><sub>Photo Supplied </sub></em></figcaption></figure></div>



<p>Within a complex chain from producer to consumer that reaches far across the globe from the bean’s origin, are there ever opportunities for the farmers to try the final product (a chunky chocolate bar quirkily divided into unequal pieces, a metaphor for the unfair distribution of profits in the cocoa trade)?</p>



<p>“We take two cases full of chocolate every time we go there,” Schoenmakers says. “It’s ridiculous so many cocoa farmers have never tasted chocolate in their lives. It’s a luxury they will normally never taste. More than four and a half billion dollars get sucked up by the big chocolate companies every year. Chocolate is a treat, a gift. It’s absolute madness that for a gift that no one really needs, so many people suffer.</p>



<p><em>-By Alastair Hagger </em></p>


Reis Ghana, van 23 tot 27 januari 2017

‘Cocoa Farmers Who Have Never Tasted Chocolate In Their Lives’


<p>The headwinds of Covid-19’s economic impact in the second quarter were strong enough to slow down even the ad-funded tech giants.</p>



<p>In its second-quarter results released on July 30, Facebook reported $18.7 billion in revenue, an increase of 11% despite the slowdown of advertising spend as marketers navigate the ongoing crisis. The results included $18.3 billion in ad revenue, a 10% year-over-year increase. Revenue from other operations totaled $366 million, up 40% from second-quarter 2019.</p>



<p>While Facebook maintained growth during the second quarter, its advertising rival Google did not. Around the same time that Facebook released its results, Google’s parent company Alphabet reported a rare decline in revenue, falling 2% year-over-year to $38.3 billion. Revenue from Google Search and other areas totaled $21.3 billion, down from $23.6 billion in second-quarter 2019. However, ad revenue on YouTube increased 6% to $3.8 billion, which the company said was driven by direct-response advertising.</p>



<p>In a statement, Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google, said revenues were “driven by gradual improvement in our ads business and strong growth in Google Cloud and Other Revenues.”</p>



<p>“We continue to navigate through a difficult global economic environment,” she said.</p>



<p>Both Facebook and Google have been known for their steady and massive quarterly growth despite concerns from advertisers, consumers and regulators around issues such as data privacy and content moderation. In 2019, Facebook reported revenue growth of 28% in the second quarter, 28% in the third quarter, and 25% in the fourth quarter. Revenue then grew just 17% in the first quarter of 2020 during the final three months before the pandemic prompted many advertisers to either pause or slow spending on various digital and traditional platforms.</p>



<p>Google’s growth story has been somewhat similar. Year-over-year revenue grew 17% in the first quarter of 2019, 19% in the second quarter, 20% in the third quarter, 17% in the fourth quarter before slowing to 13% in the first quarter of 2020.</p>



<p>On an earnings call today with analysts, Porat said advertising revenue “gradually improved” through the quarter with a “modest” improvement already in July.</p>



<p>“We do believe it’s premature to say we’re out of the woods, given the fragile nature of the economic environment,” she said.</p>



<p>The results come at a time of turmoil for the ad industry during the pandemic. In late June, marketing research firm eMarketer said it expected U.S. digital ad investment to increase just 1.7% this year—or $2.2 billion—compared to the previous growth estimate of 17%, or $22 billion. However, the slowed spending should be no surprise. In fact, during the early weeks of the crisis back in March, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/martyswant/2020/03/27/marketers-think-covid-19-will-be-worse-for-advertising-than-the-2008-financial-crisis/#5cb3315b537f">survey of 400 media buyers</a>&nbsp;found that 74% thought the pandemic would have a larger impact on ad spend than the 2008 financial crisis.</p>



<p>Facebook and Alphabet—along with other tech giants like Amazon and Apple—also have been under increased scrutiny by lawmakers. On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai along with the CEOs of Apple and Amazon spent the entire afternoon testifying to members of Congress. While the hearing was meant to focus on issues of antitrust, the four executives also touched on other issues ranging including data privacy, content moderation, and political influence.</p>



<p>While ad revenues were slower over the past three months, engagement was not. According to Facebook, engage on Facebook’s properties in terms of daily active users (DAUs) and monthly active users (MAUs) also increased in the second quarter, with DAUs increasing 12% year-over-year to 1.79 billion and MAUs increasing 12% to 2.7 billion. Across its “family” of apps—which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp—DAUs totaled an average of 2.47 billion for June 2020, an increase of 15% over the same period last year. The family monthly average was 3.14 billion in June—up 14% year-over-year.</p>



<p>According to a Facebook statement about its results, the growth in usage reflects “increased engagement as people around the world sheltered in place and used our products to connect with the people and organizations they care about.” However, the company said it’s recently seen “signs of normalization” as lockdown measures around the world have eased.&nbsp;Meanwhile, total ad impressions in the second quarter increased 40% although the average ad price decreased.</p>



<p>“Our business has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and, like all companies, we are facing a period of unprecedented uncertainty in our business outlook,” Facebook said in a statement about its quarterly results. “We expect our business performance will be impacted by issues beyond our control, including the duration and efficacy of shelter-in-place orders, the effectiveness of economic stimuli around the world, and the fluctuations of currencies relative to the U.S. dollar.”</p>



<p>In July, Facebook has also dealt with a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/martyswant/2020/06/19/as-civil-rights-groups-ask-marketers-to-boycott-facebook-outdoor-brands-pause-spending/#72bc990c6a39">boycott</a>&nbsp;over its practices and policies around moderating hate speech on the platform. The boycott—organized by civil rights groups including the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League—has been joined by hundreds of larger and smaller advertisers. Addressing the boycott on an earnings call with analysts, Zuckerberg said the company has agreed to an audit by the Media Ratings Council, and added that he’s “often troubled by the calls to go after internet advertising, especially during a time of such economic turmoil like we face today with Covid.”</p>



<p>“Some still seem to wrongly assume that our business is dependent on a few large advertisers, and while we value every single one of the businesses that use our platforms, the biggest part of our business is serving small businesses,” he said. “Our advertising is one of the most effective tools that businesses have to find customers to growth their businesses and create jobs.”</p>



<p>When an analyst on the call later asked how the boycott might be resolved, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company is still talking with civil rights groups and advertising trade organizations such as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. She added that Facebook is “going to keep working hard at this, not because of advertiser pressure but because it’s the right thing to do.”</p>



<p>“It’s an interesting situation we find ourselves in because I think often times when companies are boycotted, it’s because they don’t agree with what the boycotters want,” she said. “And that’s not true at all here. We completely agree that we don’t want hate on our platforms and we stand firmly against it. We don’t benefit from hate speech. We never have. Users don’t want to see it, advertisers don’t want to be associated with it.&#8221;</p>



<p><em>By Marty Swant, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Tag: new letter

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