The number of annual prostate cancer diagnoses is expected to roughly double by 2040, according to a study published Thursday in The Lancet medical journal, with the number of annual deaths attributable to the disease expected to rise by 85% in the same amount of time—an increase driven by lower-income countries.



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



Scientists at the London Institute of Cancer Research predict there will be 2.9 million annual cases of prostate cancer around the world by 2040, more than twice as many as the 1.4 million cases seen in 2020, with the increase expected to be most prominent among men in low- and middle-income countries.



Subsequently, researchers estimate deaths due to the disease will rise to almost 700,000 per year in 2040, up from the 375,000 in 2020.



While prostate cancer deaths have declined in most high-income countries over the last 30 years, mortality rates and the number of cases continue to rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those without access to early blood detection screening called PSA testing.



The study suggests that even in high-income countries, men at high risk—like those with family history, those of African descent and those with the BRACA2 gene mutation—be screened for the cancer early using PSA testing and MRI scans.



Researchers warn lifestyle changes and public health interventions will do little to stop the rise in cases as the main risk factors for the disease—being a man over 50 and having a family history of prostate cancer—are unavoidable.



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



“As more and more men around the world live to middle and old age, there will be an inevitable rise in the number of prostate cancer cases,&#8221; lead author Dr. Nick James said in a statement. &#8220;We know this surge in cases is coming, so we need to start planning and take action now.&#8221;



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



Prostate cancer is already responsible for 15% of all male cancers, and is the most common form of cancer in men in more than half of countries around the world, the Lancet study said. It is possible for women to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.baptisthealth.com/blog/womens-care/can-women-have-prostate-cancer#:~:text=Women%20can%20develop%20cancer%20in,0.003%25%20of%20all%20genital%20cancers." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">studies have suggested</a>&nbsp;as few as 0.003% of cases are found in women. There is no cure for metastatic prostate cancer, but many cases&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/prostate-cancer/types-treatment#:~:text=There%20is%20no%20cure%20for,that%20extend%20life%20even%20further." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">are treatable</a>&nbsp;and, if discovered early, it&#8217;s not uncommon for patients to outlive the disease. Those diagnosed within the first three stages are likely to be cancer-free after five years, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/prostate-cancer/prostate-cancer-prognosis#:~:text=High%20Cure%20Rates%20for%20Local,disease%2Dfree%20after%20five%20years." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">John Hopkins Medicine</a>, but there is little that can be medically done for the cancer in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stage-4-prostate-cancer/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20377972" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">late stage</a>. Johns Hopkins estimates 80 to 85% of all prostate cancers are found early, but cases found late have an average five-year survival rate of only 28%. Because of the importance of early detection, countries with less access to screenings have a higher rate of prostate cancer and deaths among residents. While prostate cancer rates are highest in countries including Ireland, Sweden and France, deaths rates from the disease are highest in the lower-income and predominantly Black nations of Zimbabwe, Barbados, Haiti and Zambia, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/prostate-cancer-statistics/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">World Cancer Research Fund</a>. Most prostate cancer research, however, is done on white men, the Lancet study reports, while also placing an emphasis on the need for more research involving patients of different ethnicities, especially those of West African descent.



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



A number of high-profile celebrities have publicly shared their journeys with prostate cancer. British actor&nbsp;<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/12/12/ian-mckellen-diagnosed-with-early-stage-prostate-cancer-years-ago#:~:text=Doctors%20diagnosed%20Sir%20Ian%20McKellen,%2C%22%20according%20to%20the%20site." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Sir Ian McKellen</a>, now 84, said he was given an early stage prostate cancer diagnosis in 2005 or 2006.&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=101017&amp;page=1" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Robert De Niro</a>, now 80, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 at age 60 and went on to make a full recovery. Other public figures who&#8217;ve shared their diagnosis include former Secretary of State&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/us/kerry-to-undergo-surgery-for-prostate-cancer-today.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">John Kerry,</a>&nbsp;former New York City Mayor&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/15/nyregion/giuliani-undergoes-implant-to-treat-his-prostate-cancer.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Rudy Giuliani</a>, actor&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/yourbestlife/cancer_and_you/comedian-and-actor-ben-stiller-brought-attention-to-early-screening-for-prostate-cancer/article_10b7ed1c-5fb1-11ee-b555-7fdb3fd50b39.html#:~:text=His%20doctor%20ordered%20a%20follow,to%20have%20this%20test%20done." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ben Stiller</a>&nbsp;and billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2012/09/14/warren-buffett-completes-prostate-cancer-treatments.html#:~:text=In%20April%2C%20he%20announced%20that,debilitating%20in%20any%20meaningful%20way.%22" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Warren Buffet</a>. Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles of England does not have prostate cancer, but has not shared what type of cancer he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/02/05/king-charles-diagnosed-with-cancer-after-hospital-stay/">was diagnosed with</a>&nbsp;earlier this year. The health discovery came after the monarch was treated for an enlarged prostate. His daughter-in-law and the future Queen,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/03/22/kate-middleton-cancer-diagnosis-prince-william-rose-hanbury-denies-rumors/">Kate Middleton</a>, also shared she has been diagnosed with cancer, but did not specify a type.

Radiologist consoling a senior patient at MRI scan.

Worldwide Prostate Cancer Cases Will Double By 2040, New Study Predicts—Here’s Why

Leading the way in youth empowerment and change is Zuriel Oduwole. She shares the story of her humble beginnings and the lessons since.



Over a decade ago, at 10 years old, Zuriel Oduwole already proved to the world that age is just a number. That statement still rings true for the 21-year-old who calls herself a filmmaker, global education advocate, presidential advisor, and peace envoy.&nbsp;



“Actually, everything that I&#8217;ve done now, it started with filmmaking,” Oduwole says to FORBES AFRICA, after leaving the stage following her panel discussion at the 2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 8 in Johannesburg.&nbsp;&nbsp;



She reveals more about a competition she took part in when she was nine, to create a documentary focusing on the “revolutionaries in history”. While all her peers focused on the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and various European ones, Oduwole opted for something different.&nbsp;



“I&#8217;ve always wanted to be different; I don&#8217;t want to follow the mold,” she says.



Oduwole, born to parents who are from Nigeria and Mauritius, decided to focus on Ghana, which resulted in her flying to the West African country from her home in Los Angeles in the United States. While collecting all the necessary footage for her documentary, it bothered her that children, particularly girls, were out on the streets during school hours.



“I found out that it’s a big challenge – girls are out of school, not just in Ghana but across the African continent. That’s how my film started. But from that, after seeing what was happening on the ground, I went back home and thought about what I wanted to do; to try and do my small part; to try to make a difference.”&nbsp;



Since then, she has sat down with over 30 world leaders to address global social development and education challenges that children and teenagers face, from former Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to billionaire Aliko Dangote. Oduwole says she has also spoken to around 52,730 youth in over 21 countries.&nbsp;



“When I sit down with all these presidents and prime ministers, first of all, it’s such an honor,” says the 2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Young Achiever Awardee.



“But the biggest thing I try to do is to show myself as an example of what girls in their country can do. The biggest thing I try to talk about is education and how there are not enough girls in schools… I try to show myself as an example through excellence.”



According to a 2024 Statista report which explores the out-of-school population among primary school children, between 2000 and 2018, over the past two decades, there has been a decrease globally in the number of girls of primary school age who are out of school.



However, the progress in reducing the number of out-of-school children has generally “stagnated since 2007” and there is still a higher number of girls than boys who are not in primary school, worldwide, today.



Furthermore, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest out-of-school population in the world – 22% of girls and 17% of boys from this region are not in primary school.&nbsp;



“As of 2022, 22.3% of female and 25.9% of male South African learners aged seven to 18 stated that poor academic performance was the main reason for dropping out and not attending educational institutions. The rate of learners not attending educational institutions due to family commitments was significantly higher among females at 12.1% than among males at 0.2%,” the report read.&nbsp;



“Whenever I go and meet with these heads of state or am asked to speak at schools and speak on platforms, it’s not intimidation I feel, it&#8217;s a sense of responsibility,” Oduwole adds.



The change that she would like to see, is the way women are viewed. Oduwole would also like for young people to seize every opportunity and dare to dream.&nbsp;



“…If your dreams don&#8217;t scare you, then they&#8217;re not big enough. And so, as youth, we have the whole world at our fingertips. We need to dream big dreams,” Oduwole says.



“I have a different take about what we are about, as women. First of all, we have to decide if we are objects or subjects… I say that because I don’t think women came together and decided to dress in a certain way and show off half their bodies in front of the cameras, just so a group of four to five people could tell us who the most beautiful is. I think we need to decide that we are subjects of excellence as opposed to objects to be defined by others.”

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‘We Are Subjects Of Excellence’: 21-Year-Old Pan-African Activist Who Has Met With 30 World Leaders

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Global life expectancy rose by 6.2 years between 1990 and 2021, driven by reductions in deaths from diarrhea, lower respiratory infections, stroke and ischemic heart disease—but the world faced significant setbacks due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00367-2/fulltext" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">new study</a>&nbsp;by the Lancet.



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



The leading causes of death worldwide remained consistent from 1990 to 2019—with ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lower respiratory infections topping the list—with global life expectancy improving in that time period thanks in part to annual reductions in deaths from all causes ranging from .9% to 2.4%.



The Covid-19 pandemic hampered progress, with pandemic-related mortality causing a net reduction in life expectancy of 1.6 years between 2019 and 2021 and Covid-19 becoming the second-leading cause of death—the first major shakeup of the rankings in decades.



Changes in life expectancy varied significantly by region, the study found—the so-called super-region consisting of Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania saw the greatest net gain in life expectancy from 1990 and 2021, rising by 8.3 years due to big drops in mortality from chronic respiratory diseases, stroke, lower respiratory infections and cancer, with “strong management” of the pandemic curbing life expectancy losses due to Covid-19 to just .4 years between 2019 and 2021.



Reductions in deaths from enteric diseases—which include diarrhea and typhoid—significantly contributed to improvements in life expectancy, estimated to contribute an overall increase of 1.1 years globally.



Control of mortality due to diarrheal disease contributed to significant gains in life expectancy in the super region of South Asia, which had the second-highest increase among super regions in life expectancy with 7.8 years, and in Eastern sub-Saharan Africa, which had the highest increase in life expectancy of any local region with 10.7 years.



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



“On one hand, we see countries’ monumental achievements in preventing deaths from diarrhea and stroke,” said Dr. Liane Ong of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations, one of the authors of the study, in a statement. “At the same time, we see how much the Covid-19 pandemic has set us back.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



31.5%. That’s how much the age-standardized mortality rate for ischemic heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, dropped between 1990 and 2021. The rate in 2021 was 108.7, with Covid-19 the second-leading cause of death at 94.0.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



The largest decline in life expectancy due to Covid-19 was in Latin America and the Caribbean, where it caused a 3.6-year reduction.



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



The study is the first of its kind to compare deaths from Covid-19 to other leading causes of death, according to the authors. It notes Covid-19 may have had indirect effects on mortality rates as well, with physical distancing measures affecting mortality for other diseases, and deferred care-seeking leading to pandemic-related deaths not attributable directly to Covid-19. Another <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/03/12/covid-lowered-global-life-expectancy-more-than-previously-thought-new-study-suggests/?sh=17845fa6576b">study</a> published by the Lancet earlier this month previously found the global life expectancy dropped by 1.6 years due to the pandemic, with the United States seeing the highest excess mortality rate when compared to similar high-wealth nations.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesfarrell/"></a>

Researcher working in a biochemist laboratory

Global Life Expectancy Increased Between 1990 And 2021, But Pandemic Stalled Progress

A record year for ten-figure wealth has left the billionaire class bigger and richer than ever.



What a year it’s been for the planet’s billionaires, whose fortunes continue to swell as global stock markets shrug off war, political unrest and lingering inflation. There are now more billionaires than ever: 2,781 in all, 141 more than last year and 26 more than the record set in 2021. They’re richer than ever, worth $14.2 trillion in aggregate, up by $2 trillion from 2023 and $1.1 trillion above the previous record, also set in 2021. 



Two-thirds of the list’s members are worth more than a year ago; only one fourth are poorer. Much of the gains come from the top 20, who added a combined $700 billion in wealth since 2023, and from the U.S., which now boasts a record 813 billionaires worth a combined $5.7 trillion. China remains second, with 473 (including Hong Kong) worth $1.7 trillion, despite weak consumer spending and a real estate bust that helped wipe out some $300 billion in wealth. India, which has 200 billionaires (also a record), ranks third. 



To calculate net worths, we used stock prices and exchange rates from March 8, 2024. See below for the full list of the world’s billionaires and our methodology. For daily updated net worths of all 2,781 billionaires, check out our&nbsp;<a href="http://forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">real-time billionaires rankings</a>.

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FORBES WORLD’S BILLIONAIRES LIST: The Richest in 2024

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OVER 30 UNDER 50: Formidable And Forging Ahead

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Microsoft will split up its workplace messaging and video calls app Teams from its Office platform globally, the company told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-separate-teams-office-globally-amid-antitrust-scrutiny-2024-04-01/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Reuters</a>&nbsp;early on Monday, mirroring a move it undertook in the European Union last year as it attempts to avoid being penalized by the bloc’s antitrust regulators.



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



In August last year, Microsoft announced it would unbundle Teams from its Microsoft 365 subscription—which includes its Office suite of productivity software like Word, Excel and PowerPoint—in the EU and offer the messaging service as a standalone subscription.



The tech giant&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-separate-teams-office-globally-amid-antitrust-scrutiny-2024-04-01/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;Reuters Monday it will enact the change for all its customers worldwide “to ensure clarity,” and businesses can now choose slightly cheaper Microsoft 365 plans without Teams.



The company said its decision was based on feedback from the European Commission to help global companies “standardize their purchasing across geographies.”



Forbes has reached out to Microsoft for a comment.



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



The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm,&nbsp;<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_3991" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">opened</a>&nbsp;an antitrust investigation into Microsoft in July last year. The commission said the investigation intended to assess whether the company “breached EU competition rules by tying or bundling its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365.” The executive body expressed concerns about Microsoft “abusing” the market dominance of its Office productivity software to restrict competition for “communication and collaboration products.” The investigation followed a complaint filed against Microsoft and Teams by its rival messaging platform Slack. Microsoft&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/eupolicy/2023/08/31/european-competition-teams-office-microsoft-365/#:~:text=First%2C%20beginning%20October%201%2C%202023,or%20%E2%82%AC24%20per%20year)." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">responded</a>&nbsp;by unbundling Teams from its office productivity suite for EU customers in August. At the time, the company said it was taking “meaningful steps” to address the commission’s concerns and had gained clarity “from extensive and constructive discussions” with the executive body.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



It is unclear if Microsoft’s latest actions are enough to fend off an antitrust fine from the EU. The commission had particularly expressed concern that Microsoft was giving Teams a “distribution advantage” over rivals by “not giving customers the choice” on whether they want to include Teams in their Office subscription. The unbundling will likely assuage that issue, but the commission had also raised a red flag about Microsoft possibly limiting “interoperability between its productivity suites” and rival messaging apps. If the investigators are unsatisfied with the remedies and find Microsoft guilty of antitrust breaches, the company could face fines as high as 10% of its global annual turnover.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$2.37 billion (€2.2 billion). That is the quantum of antitrust fines Microsoft has faced in the European Union in the past decade, the Reuters report added.



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



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-separate-teams-office-globally-amid-antitrust-scrutiny-2024-04-01/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microsoft to separate Teams and Office globally amid antitrust scrutiny</a> (Reuters)

Microsoft Services Down For Tens Of Thousands Around World

Microsoft Unbundles Teams From Office Suite In A Bid To Address Antitrust Probe

Five years ago, I couldn’t imagine asking boards and business leaders whether robots would one day run their companies.



However, the massive increase in awareness of the potential of large language models is forcing executives to explore how to use robots and artificial intelligence in day-to-day decision-making.



In fact, the rise of executive robots has already started.



For example, in May 2023, Forbes reported that Dictador, a progressive premium brand rum distiller, had appointed an AI CEO called Mika.



It is gimmicky for sure, as humans are still very much controlling her AI strings, but as Mika reportedly said in an interview with Reuters, “My decision-making process relies on extensive data analysis and aligning with the company’s strategic objectives.” She went on to explain how she was devoid of personal bias, which helps ensure that strategic choices are prioritized in line with the organization’s best interests, not hers.



This sounds amazing. So, is Mika the forerunner of the mass adoption of AI for corporate governance and leadership roles?



For once, the likely answer is yes, absolutely.



For starters, the demand for a solution like this is apparent.



Humans regularly make bad decisions, and more often than not, this leads to someone losing a lot of money.



Why, for example, did OpenAI’s board sack Sam Altmann (before he returned as CEO in November last year)?



What led Elon Musk to rebrand Twitter to X?



And why didn’t Silicon Valley Bank diversify its risk away from startups?



Decisions like these wipe out trillions of dollars of value every single year. And these three examples are just the tip of the iceberg.



Further, those impacted aren’t just the super-wealthy. Often, it’s the poorest who see their life savings and pensions hit hardest.



All of which means there is a huge interest from everyone, from governments to investors, to find ways to improve decision- making and corporate governance.



We already spend billions of dollars for consultants and business schools to develop leaders and models to help companies maximize profits while minimizing risks.



But these billions will quickly switch to AI alternatives if there is even the smallest of probabilities that technology will help improve a stock’s potential returns.



So, the demand is there.



But how long will we have to wait for the likes of the already hugely-impressive ChatGPT to offer intelligence that can not only answer questions in narrow fields but actually analyze data from multiple sources, draw inferences, consider interdependencies, develop execution plans, draw up funding requirements, consider resource allocations, raise funding and build support along with all the other tasks and activities that are required in any modern-day business?



Mustafa Suleyman, founder of DeepMind and Inflection.AI, explores this question in his recent bestseller, The Coming Wave.



Specifically, he asks how long it will be before machines answer and act on prompts such as “Please design and execute a strategy that will allow me to make $1mill on Amazon in as few months as possible with just $100K of investment.”



His conclusion? “Aside from the legal requirements of registering as a business on the marketplace and getting a bank account, all of this seems to me eminently doable. I think it will be done within the next year and probably fully autonomously within three to five.”



When an industry insider as respected as Suleyman makes a comment like this, we should sit up and listen.



And it makes absolute sense when you consider that a potent combination of factors is driving development in AI. Breakthroughs in machine learning algorithms, dramatic increases in computing power, the abundance of extensive data sets, advancements in cloud computing, enhanced global connectivity, escalating demand across industries and the democratization of access through open-source initiatives are just some of the factors propelling it at exponential rates.



And, of course, the biggest factor of all is perhaps the simple fact that we are now using AI to build AI, as more and more code is being written by machines, not developers. So perhaps the real question isn’t whether or even when robots will run companies. Shareholders and boards might do better considering what types of leaders they need to employ to manage the transition from human to augmented to algorithmic leadership. This is not an easy question to answer. There is no template for designing leadership systems for robots. Perhaps ChatGPT has the answer?

Robot working at desk, 3D Rendering

Expert-Speak: Will Robots Run Companies?

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Collaborative Crescendo: Nigeria’s Musicians Riding The Digital Wave

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Altimmune’s experimental weight loss drug pemvidutide minimized the loss of muscle mass while losing weight, mimicking the effects of diet and exercise, according to the results of a small trial by the company, amid efforts by biotech firms to study how increasingly popular weight-loss drugs can maintain muscle mass.



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



In a mid-stage trial of pemvidutide, 74.5% of weight loss among 391 participants came from fat tissue while only 25.5% came from lean mass, results that are comparable to the effects “historically associated with diet and exercise,” Altimmune&nbsp;<a href="https://ir.altimmune.com/news-releases/news-release-details/altimmune-announces-positive-lean-mass-preservation-data" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;Wednesday.



The drug pemvidutide combines the GLP-1 hormone—a key ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy—with the hormone glucagon, a pairing the company is also testing to treat a common form of liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH.



Over 30% of participants using a 2.4-milligram dose of pemvidutide achieved a 20% weight loss through a 48-week trial of the drug, Altimmune&nbsp;<a href="https://ir.altimmune.com/news-releases/news-release-details/altimmune-announces-positive-topline-results-momentum-48-week" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;in November.



The Food and Drug Administration announced last year it would fast-track its evaluation of pemvidutide for treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, after more than half of the 190 participants in a&nbsp;<a href="https://altimmune.com/pemvidutide/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">trial</a>&nbsp;had their liver fat content reduced to a normal level after 12 weeks.



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



Other popular weight-loss drugs have been studied for their ability to maintain muscle mass while helping patients lose weight. During a 68-week&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183/suppl_file/nejmoa2032183_appendix.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">trial</a>&nbsp;of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, over 1,300 participants using the drug lost an average of nearly 15 pounds of lean muscle and 23 pounds of fat. BioAge Labs&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231026896677/en/BioAge-Labs-Announces-Plans-for-Phase-2-Trial-of-First-in-Class-Apelin-Receptor-Agonist-BGE-105Azelaprag-Co-Administered-With-Tirzepatide-for-Treatment-of-Obesity-in-Collaboration-With-Lilly%E2%80%99s-Chorus-Organization" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;last year it would be testing its muscle loss drug azelaprag with Mounjaro to treat obesity, after an early trial indicated azelaprag could help prevent muscle atrophy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Additional data from Altimmune’s mid-stage trial will be presented at an unspecified upcoming event, the company said. Results from a study involving pemvidutide’s treatment of MASH are expected in the first quarter of 2025.

Hand of an elderly woman pouring a small assortment of pills onto the palm of her hand

What To Know About Pemvidutide—Altimmune Says Weight Loss Drug Minimized Muscle Mass Loss In Trial

Story curated by Chanel Retief and Nicole Pillay Art Direction: Lucy Nkosi Photography: Katlego Mokubyane ; Assistant: Sbusiso Sigidi Styling: Deneal Van Wyk; Outfits supplied by Fashimo Styles Studio, Ukara, Suited For Her and Preview Accessories Hair &amp; Makeup:Vanessa Unamaca, MakoleMade Location: NewKatz.Studio, Johannesburg



If you ever find yourself with an internationally-acclaimed chef, just know that he or she will joke that they would like for you to first taste their food before adding salt. And then want you to know that this craft is an art and science come to life. 



As a food and nutrition scientist, chef Siba Mtongana is no different. She gained global recognition when her show Siba’s Table first aired on Food Network, capturing the essence of South African cuisine. Reportedly, more than 150 countries and 60 million homes in the US tune into Cooking Channel alone to watch her whip up her culinary specialties, proving how hungry the world is for African cuisine.



Q. How did your journey in the culinary world begin, and what inspired you?



A. My journey started when I was a very young girl in my mother&#8217;s kitchen, where I was so mesmerized by how my mother could turn simple ingredients into the most amazing dishes. She had a garden that my dad tended for her. My life was an interaction from the garden to the kitchen, which was really beautiful. I decided, against my parents’ wishes, to become a chef. At the time, there weren&#8217;t many people who were successful; I&#8217;m going to say specifically African black people who were successful in the food industry, especially as chefs. Therefore, my parents were very skeptical… but I do believe that I&#8217;ve created a template – because [of] my cooking show on Food Network, where I can say specifically to Africans, this is actually a career path you can take. I think my contribution to the food industry and culinary world was that I made it more relatable and easy for people to follow in my footsteps.



Q. Can you talk to us about a big career milestone?



A. I have been blessed with many career milestones but one comes to mind… I opened my first restaurant during Covid-19. SIBA–The Restaurant is a fine dining restaurant in Cape Town (at the Victoria &amp; Alfred Waterfront) and is doing incredibly well. Last year alone, we won about 10 awards, locally and internationally. I often think to myself, should I not have done it at that time, would I have had the trajectory that I am on now? Maybe not, because the story might not have been as strong but you really have to have that inner gut feel and follow it.

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Over 30 Under 50: ‘I’ve created a template for young people’/ Siba Mtongana

SA20 Commissioner and former South African cricketer Graeme Smith on the ambition to create the biggest league outside of India, and why putting on a show off the pitch is as important to attract a new audience.



South Africa has the potential to create the biggest Twenty20 domestic competition outside of the Indian Premier League (IPL), says a confident SA20 Commissioner Graeme Smith, who also has an eye on shaking up the local entertainment industry.



Former South Africa opening batter Smith, the most successful captain in Test history, is leading what he believes will be a cricket revolution in the country to attract a new generation of fans to the game.



He helped to launch the six-team SA20 (a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa) in 2023 having had only three months to pull together the competition, and while there were some grumbles around the scheduling, the cricket itself was top draw and spectators responded by packing out venues.



The six franchises share owners – and in some instances players – with the teams in the IPL, and this has opened up the massive, lucrative Indian market, which has a seemingly insatiable appetite for the game.



A 10-year deal with Indian broadcaster Viacom18 worth $10 million (R190 million) a season is in place, and including other sponsors, there is already $400 million (R7.5 billion) in committed income over the next decade. That is likely to grow substantially too.



“Closing our broadcasters was important. If we have ambitions to be the biggest league outside of India, to have the SA20 beamed into homes all around the world is crucial to that,” Smith tells FORBES AFRICA.



“Last year we built this product in three months, it was a mad rush. So since then, we have focussed on



where we can improve the fan experience and making sure we are consistent and delivering at the same level. “When I look at the teams, I think we have delivered across the board. They look stronger and the balance is better with incredible international talent and good rookie players. Making sure the cricket gets better and better will always be the core.”



The Mumbai Indians Cape Town, Durban Super Giants and Sunrisers Eastern Cape may seem like odd names to many for a South African domestic league, but Smith admits that tapping into the expertise of IPL franchises has been crucial to the fast development of SA20.



“It’s very difficult to compete with the IPL, I don’t think it’s even possible. But certainly, outside India, we have the opportunity to put this competition on the map with players and fans around the world in the months of January and February,” Smith says.



“Traveling overseas and talking to people, the two things that came out (from year one) were the quality of the cricket in SA20, but also the vibrancy of the people in the stadiums and how that looked on TV.”



Smith concedes that in this day and age, putting on a show off the pitch is as important as what fans see on it.



“Our other big ambition is to be the number one sports entertainment brand in South Africa. We invest heavily in music (at the venues), the look and feel of the stadiums, the activations at games and through the big screens.



“We want something for everyone and for people to come to the stadium for a number of reasons (not just the cricket).&#8221;



Figures supplied by SA20 suggest the inaugural year contributed R4.1 billion ($216.5 million) to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product and was played in front of 380,000 spectators, but the impact on the game of cricket in the country, which has perhaps stagnated in recent years, is potentially equally huge.



“We’ve been open about our ambition to revive the cricket fan in South Africa. It’s been a tough few years,” Smith says. “I think we managed to do that last year, but we also want to attract a new audience to the game and introduce cricket to them at a level where they can come and love the opportunity to be a part of something big.”



Smith says there is an aspirational element to the league. Getting youngsters to play the game is proving ever more challenging around the world and South Africa is no different. Leagues like the SA20 provide a lucrative career opportunity beyond the love of the game.



“It is important for youngsters to see that there is not only the dream of playing for the national team one day, but that there is a domestic competition of serious value, and a career can be built on it,” he says.



“There were a number of players that were picked up from season one (of SA20) and got IPL contracts as well. There is a proper career for youngsters coming through.”



More kids playing the game and a better standard of competition should also have a positive influence on the potential of the national team to compete in World Cups.



“We saw the IPL benefit Indian cricket hugely, the amount of talent they now have at their disposal is enormous,” Smith says.



“We want to be exposing South Africa’s top 70 or 75 players every season to the pressure of playing in front of huge crowds with an international broadcast, playing against the best players in the world and being exposed to some of the best coaches.”



The cricket world has changed dramatically since the introduction of T20 cricket in the early 2000s, the shorter, action-packed format more appealing for fans and broadcasters.



So where does that leave the purest form of the game, Test cricket, once very much the elite level for players, but now an after-thought for many fans?



“I still believe Test cricket has a place and will be strong,” Smith says. “It’s never going to be a 20-nation format, it’s going to be maybe your top six or seven nations in the world competing against each other.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="15" height="14" src="">“But T20 cricket offers so much growth from an entertainment perspective and to bring new audiences into the game. That is why it is so important

South Africa v Afghanistan – ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2020

South African Graeme Smith On Creating The Biggest T20 Domestic Competition Outside Of The IPL

Story curated by Chanel Retief and Nicole Pillay Art Direction: Lucy Nkosi Photography: Katlego Mokubyane ; Assistant: Sbusiso Sigidi Styling: Deneal Van Wyk; Outfits supplied by Fashimo Styles Studio, Ukara, Suited For Her and Preview Accessories Hair &amp; Makeup:Vanessa Unamaca, MakoleMade Location: NewKatz.Studio, Johannesburg



Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng’s story is not one that kickstarted with a university degree, or when she started advocating for the sexual and reproductive health and mental health rights of all. In fact, the story that shaped Mofokeng, known as Dr T, had its beginnings in her childhood in QwaQwa, in the Free State province of South Africa during apartheid. 



“[I] experienced some of the most exciting but also frustrating and scary times growing up [during] apartheid, but [as] an adult, [I also] experienced the wonder of a democratic South Africa. [I wanted to become a doctor] after witnessing adults and neighbors around me injured in the protests [that happened], and I was there and helpful. I think, as a child, [I was] also inquisitive about [these] protests; I&#8217;m grateful that they never chased me away but incorporated me in a way that I was safe [and] could still participate. 



At the photoshoot for this feature, Mofokeng is anxious to get to a table where she can open her laptop to finish up some work, as she wears many hats.



As a medical doctor, she specializes in advocating for women’s health with regards to their sexual health and relationship concerns. As the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, her work focuses on the rights of every individual to experience the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. in the US.



“Would you consider yourself a power woman, Dr T?” we ask.



“A power woman is bold. And she is fearless, in that she gets to determine life for herself, she moves at her pace, and is not shy to say ‘I&#8217;m exhausted, can someone else take over?’ I accept that for this moment that power is being projected on to me. But I like to project power more than take it as an identity or something that I have to live up to because I&#8217;m only human and some days, I&#8217;m really not feeling so powerful.”

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Over 30 Under 50: ‘A Power Woman Gets To Determine Life For Herself’/Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



A Binance executive detained in Nigeria last month escaped from custody over the weekend, as the West African country filed charges of tax evasion against the cryptocurrency exchange and some of its executives in the latest public scandal for the firm.



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



Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, British-Kenyan citizen, were both taken into custody in Nigeria in February but not charged with any crimes until Monday.



The executives and the crypto company were charged with alleged non-payment of value-added tax (VAT) and company income tax, failure to file tax returns, and complicity in assisting customers to evade taxes through its platform, Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service announced Monday, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-25/nigeria-announces-charges-against-binance-after-executive-flees" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/binance-executive-escapes-nigerian-custody-as-authorities-file-new-tax-charges.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">outlets</a>.



The charges come days after Anjarwalla reportedly escaped from where he was being detained after guards watching him took him to a nearby mosque for prayers, The Premium Times, a Nigerian news outlet,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/680617-nigerian-govt-confirms-escape-of-binance-executive-arrests-personnel-guarding-him.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>.



Nigeria is in talks with Interpol to get an international arrest warrant for Anjarwalla, Nigeria’s national security adviser&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/nigeria-files-tax-evasion-charges-against-binance-tax-agency-says-2024-03-25/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;Reuters.



Binance confirmed Anjarwalla was no longer in Nigerian custody.



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



“Our primary focus remains on the safety of our employees and we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to quickly resolve this issue,” Binance told Forbes in an email.



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



Gambaryan and Anjarwalla have been in Nigeria since Feb. 26 when they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/binance-executives-remain-detention-after-nigeria-court-appearance-families-say-2024-03-20/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;arrived to discuss the country’s decision to ban some cryptocurrency trading websites, including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken. The office of the National Security Adviser in Nigeria detained the pair and seized their passports,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1507509b-7bbc-48a1-9828-d777036fff2b" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;the Financial Times. Both of their families have since&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/binance-executives-remain-detention-after-nigeria-court-appearance-families-say-2024-03-20/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">pleaded</a>&nbsp;with authorities to release the executives. Ahead of their detention, Olayemi Cardoso, Nigeria’s central bank governor,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1507509b-7bbc-48a1-9828-d777036fff2b" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;reporters in February officials were concerned about “illicit flows” going through a number of crypto platforms, according to the Financial Times. He went on to say that in one year, $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria “from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify.” Days later, the Binance executives were detained. The concerns about crypto trading come as Nigeria struggled with currency devaluation. In the past year, the value of the Nigerian currency, the naira, has fallen 70%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/currency/ngnusd" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">against</a>&nbsp;the U.S. dollar.



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



The tax evasion charges and detentions follow high-profile problems Binance has faced in recent years. In November, Changpeng Zhao, the company’s founder, pleaded guilty to Justice Department charges of breaking anti-money laundering laws and violating sanctions and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/02/23/judge-approves-binances-43-billion-settlement-for-anti-money-laundering-sanctions-violations/?sh=9d34b8d44758">agreed</a> to pay more than $4.3 million in fines and restitutions for doing so. In June, the Securities and Exchange Commision <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/05/sec-sues-binance-for-multiple-us-rule-violations/?sh=74a7467d7fcb">sued</a> Binance for operating an illegal exchange in the U.S. Months before that, in March, regulators <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8680-23" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alleged</a> that Binance and Zhao evaded Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules. The crypto company <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-06/us-probes-binance-over-token-that-is-now-world-s-fifth-largest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a> remains under investigation from the SEC over whether the company illegally sold digital coins when it started out in 2017. Binance isn’t alone: other crypto firms, including Beaxy and Kraken, have also been hit with civil lawsuits recently as regulators crack down on the industry.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/"></a>

In this photo illustration, the Binance logo is displayed on

Binance Executive Flees Nigerian Prison Amid New Charges

Human digital twins are quickly moving beyond manufacturing and into the medical world – advancing cancer care, speeding up drug development, personalizing clinical trials, and much more.



&#8220;You have cancer!” is one of the most terrifying sentences a person will ever hear in his/her lifetime yet it’s something every family is likely to experience. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is now the leading cause of death globally and the number of new cases is expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades. When you take into account that there is already an oncology workforce crisis across the continent – South Africa, for example, faces a shortage of radiographers, aging equipment and a decrease in clinical oncologists – providing care to an increasing number of cancer patients is a challenge, more so when the disease is unpredictable and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Technological advancements, however, are starting to shift cancer’s unpredictable advantage by merging physical with digital. One way to do this is by creating a digital replica of a physical system or environment – or a digital twin.



Digital twins are already being used in many industries to simulate complex systems and now they’re being adopted in healthcare with management consulting company, Gartner predicting that by 2025, 25% of healthcare delivery organizations will include formalized digital twin initiatives within their digital transformation.



In healthcare, it comes down to the data. What was once trial- and-error is now about feeding millions of data points into complex algorithms for more precise outcomes. With a digital twin, you can simulate an outcome in the digital world before trying it out in the real world, adding in a number of different conditions to see what works best. Human digital twins also make sense because unlike the digital twins used in the automotive industry where each new car model is identical, people are not. And in cancer care, it’s not easy to predict how effective certain medications will be.



“Digital twins are not moving out of the industrial or robotics sector – they’re scaling from the industrial world into the real world,” explains Marc O’Regan, Dell Technologies’ Chief Technology Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa.



“It gives organizations the opportunity to rigorously test and fail purposely to see what the implications might be, retest again, look for avenues of success and then go back and say – we haven’t even gone into production but we know what the process is going to look like.” Dell has teamed up with the University of Limerick (UL) in Ireland to develop a digital twin for B-cell lymphoma, the sixth most common type of malignant neoplasia in sub-Saharan Africa.



“We’ve built a digital twin for a person with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. We have twinned this particular patient journey through the diagnosis of this cancer and by doing so, we’re able to enrich the data that’s being fed into the twin and for the patient in a positive and impactful way,” says O’Regan.



Dell created an artificial intelligence (AI) platform to produce cancer patient digital twins for better diagnostics. “We will be able to advance our knowledge of how cells go wrong during 



cancer development and find new ways to diagnose and treat cancer patients,” adds Professor Paul Murray, UL’s scientific director of the Digital Pathology Unit at the Digital Cancer Research Centre. “It’s not a simulation, it’s a digital twin event associated with all of the componentry on the server supporting that event,” says O’Regan.



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Marc-ORegan-image-supplied-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61506 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Marc-ORegan-image-supplied-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Marc-ORegan-image-supplied-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Marc-ORegan-image-supplied-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Marc-ORegan-image-supplied-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Marc-ORegan-image-supplied-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
“DIGITAL TWINS ARE NOT MOVING OUT OF THE INDUSTRIAL OR ROBOTICS SECTOR – THEY’RE SCALING FROM THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD INTO THE REAL WORLD.”



—Marc O’Regan
</div></div>



Chloé Audigier is a senior research scientist in the field of AI at Siemens Healthineers. She is currently working on a digital twin of the liver to help identify, simulate and test therapy options for liver cancer – something which could potentially be done before treating a patient. “We are building a general anatomical model that would represent the organ shape, volume and structure. To do that, we are using machine learning algorithms that are trained on the large number of images,” explains Audigier.



“When we have one specific patient, we personalize this model using the organ data of the patient. The model simulates patient-specific physiological function.” Once a digital twin of an organ is created, a virtual simulation of the needed treatment (or intervention) is performed. This gives doctors a clearer and more individualized path to patient care. “We are building computational models that are based on physical law and that we evaluate using outcome data,” adds Audigier.



Creating a treatment strategy for a cancer patient requires an accurate diagnosis. The level of data integration possible with digital twins enables doctors to explore more treatment options and increase precision. Cancer requires planning to optimize tumor control and reduce toxicity – it’s about delivering a high dose of radiation to the tumor while sparing the healthy tissue that surrounds it. “If the digital twin allows us to collect more data, it would be such a gain for radiotherapy,” says Dr Christian Weissenberger, one of Germany’s leading cancer experts. “We can collect the data, we can analyze the data, and we can answer these questions with more validity and more precisely.”



Tomáš Helikar, an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States, compares medical treatment today to ‘playing a game of whack-a-mole’. With his award-winning work to build a digital twin of the human immune system, Helikar’s goal is to be able to control the immune system in a safer and more predictable fashion.



Think of it like a human blueprint that’s always up-to- date and accessible – digital twins built on personalized information mean that doctors would no longer have to base therapeutic regimes on population data but rather adapt to an individual patent’s needs. More detailed knowledge of a patent’s clinical data and physiology can only help to refine decision making processes in the future, allowing specialists to select the best treatment – all it takes is a human, digital twin.

new normal Futuristic Technology in medical concept doctor describes patient by using artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twin, 5g, big data, iot, augmented mixed virtual rality, ar, vr

Expert Views: Could A Digital Twin Save Your Life?

Media Challenge Initiative, or MCI, lives on the 4th floor of a blocky, unassuming shopping center in Kabalagala, a busy Kampala district named after the toothsome cassava and banana pancakes sold by the city’s street vendors. Kabalagala is the kind of humble, honest treat – an African soul food – that makes one wonder, between sweet mouthfuls, why our planet is so complicated.



Truth ought to be simple; facts should be safe from pernicious subjectivity. But there are still compelling reasons to be hopeful about the safety of our media landscape: inspiring and proactive leaders working hard to manifest a positive future.



Abaas Mpindi is the co-founder and CEO of MCI. Since 2017, MCI has worked with 3,000 journalism students, and founded more than 10 youth media startups. A mobile newsroom delivers skills programs to 17 Ugandan universities; the Next Gen Journalist activity strand has trained more than 130 program fellows in solutions-based journalism for social change. The MCI Media Hub, based at the organization’s multi-functional Kabalagala headquarters, provides a space for innovators (such as the fact-checking Debunk Media Initiative) to disrupt the status quo.



“African journalists today face a generational opportunity and challenge,” says Mpindi. “They report not only on what is news today, but also document stories that challenge long-held narratives about Africa. We support the system by building a generation of journalists who are not only multi-skilled, but equipped with the leadership skills and social consciousness to change their communities.”



MCI’s activity is productive; learned skills are immediately put to use in the creation of compelling content. Solutions Now Africa, for example, MCI’s solutions journalism newsroom, produces stories which highlight local strategies that work, instead of the doom-laden media navel gazing which so often fixates on poverty porn and problem cul-de-sacs.



“Let’s put it this way,” Mpindi says. “People wake up looking for solutions. We need to document these challenges and provide people with existing responses. As a citizen of a continent whose progress has been restricted by stereotypes, I believe solutions journalism can cover Africa’s unreported contributions, innovations and urgency. In an era of clickbait and disinformation, controversy is attractive; it is important therefore to positively adopt the same emotional communication techniques that are used by purveyors of misinformation.”



MCI is a recent recipient of significant new funding from the Elevate Foundation, an NGO which rewards the work of changemakers worldwide. The prize will exponentially escalate MCI’s growth, and further evolve the organization. Mpindi is meditative about the depth of this responsibility.



“When I started this journey, I was excited about the idea of skilling young journalists and exposing them to internships and jobs,” he says. &nbsp;“I didn’t foresee it would catapult me into a leader now dealing with the current challenges of our industry. It is a lonely and reflective journey, but I have grown to understand and appreciate the systemic challenges that determine the kind of journalism we consume as a final product. We are not asking for one-sided positive stories. We are asking for the whole story: capturing the continent in its diversity. Our journalists are trained to appreciate they have the power to change history.”

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