At the 2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards, held at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg on Friday, March 8, African stateswoman and South Africa’s former first lady Graça Machel took home the 2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Lifetime Achievement Award. Machel dedicated the award to women both past and present.



“It has been a long moment and a long journey. It has been nearly eight decades of my journey. And as I stand here, what comes across my mind literally is the hundreds and thousands across the continent, across the globe – many women, most of them who are not here but many millions that are represented here by you today,” the founder of The Graça Machel Trust told a packed ballroom, accepting her award.



“Imagine I am standing here with the likes of Ma’Sisulu… those who are in my generation… We had dreams together, we fought together. And there were times we didn’t believe it would happen not only to have countries be free but more importantly to have women, young women taking what I call center-stage.”



Machel’s dedication to service is rooted in Mozambique’s struggle for self-rule and international advocacy for women and children’s rights. She has also dedicated her life to building equitable rights for women and children.



Machel produced a ground-breaking United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund (Unicef) report, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, that changed the way the United Nations and member states respond in conflict zones. She has worked in advocating for global health, child welfare, and women’s rights and empowerment.



The Graça Machel Trust she founded in 2010 focuses on advocating for women’s economic and social empowerment, food security and nutrition, education for all, as well as good governance.



In her speech, Machel stated that she will be using this award to encourage young women to uplift the continent. “At the Graca Machel Trust, we say ‘the future is African and the future is female’; this is the expression of what we see here tonight.”



She added it is the first time she has received an award in the presence of her family.



The star-studded evening celebrated women excelling in different sectors and industries across the continent. Other winners included South African middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya (2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Champion of Change Award), Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis, South African actress Nomzamo Mbatha (2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Entertainer Award), South African actress Connie Ferguson (2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Media Icon Award), and CEO at EbonyLife Mo Abudu (2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Businesswoman Award).



The 2024 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards gala was held as part of the ninth annual FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 8.

‘The Future Is African… The Future Is Female’: Lifetime Achievement Award For Graça Machel At FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards Gala

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



Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk on Thursday teased a potential successor to its blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy, the latest in a line of next-generation obesity treatments in development as consumers flock to the powerful drugs and competitors including Eli Lilly, Pfizer and an array of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/02/28/viking-weight-loss-drug-targets-ozempic-and-mounjaro-makers-supremacy---what-to-know/?sh=15da62cf2e43">startups</a> close in to claim a share of the lucrative market.



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



At an investor event on Thursday, Novo Nordisk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/03/07/novo-nordisks-new-obesity-pill-beats-wegovy-in-early-trial/?sh=20baa926456e">shared</a>&nbsp;data from an early stage clinical trial of an experimental weight loss drug called amycretin, an oral treatment that trial results suggest could be more powerful than the company’s popular weight loss drug Wegovy.



The pill, taken once a day, helped patients in the trial drop 13% of their weight over 12 weeks, a more impressive&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2796491" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">rate</a>&nbsp;than Wegovy, where patients lost around 6% at 12 weeks.



Amycretin effectively combines the functionality of two different drugs into a single molecule that targets two hormones involved in regulating hunger and blood sugar levels: GLP-1 and amylin.



GLP-1 is the same hormone targeted by semaglutide and tirzepatide—generic names for Novo and Lilly’s diabetes and obesity blockbusters Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound—and companies including Novo and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/zealand-pharma-presents-data-for-amylin-analog-zp8396-at-obesityweek/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zealand Pharma</a>&nbsp;view amylin as a one potential target to build next generation of weight loss drugs around.



Novo is also testing a subcutaneous form of amycretin delivered through regular injections like Wegovy and Zepbound, though the early stage trial is ongoing and data is not expected to be released until around 2025.



Novo’s head of development Martin Lange Holst said the promising trial results justify further research into the pill and that a larger Phase 2 trial would begin in the second half of the year.



When will amycretin be available?



It will still be many years before Novo’s amycretin hits pharmacy shelves. Data from the mid-stage trial will not be available until around 2026, at the earliest, and regulators are likely to want an even more comprehensive trial to assess efficacy and safety to authorize it. It’s possible later trials won’t replicate the promising results from the early stage trial—the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2016.136" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">majority</a>&nbsp;of drugs fail during clinical testing—or Novo may choose to focus its attention elsewhere. Data from the injectable amycretin is likely to have an impact on Novo’s future development pathway for the drug. Side effects and safety will also need to be monitored in a larger cohort of people to see whether the drug makes a viable treatment. Novo said the safety and side effect profile is in line with its other GLP-1 drugs, which can include a variety of gastrointestinal issues like nausea, vomiting, constipation and diarrhea.



News Peg



Novo’s stock hit a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/03/07/novo-nordisks-new-obesity-pill-beats-wegovy-in-early-trial/?sh=20baa926456e">new high</a>&nbsp;after the company revealed some of its future plans on Thursday, gaining 9% and sending its market capitalization soaring to almost $610 billion. The company, which dethroned Bernard Arnault’s LVMH as Europe’s largest last year, is now more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/03/07/ozempic-maker-novo-nordisk-more-valuable-than-tesla/?sh=27a8c60133f9">valuable</a>&nbsp;than Elon Musk’s Tesla.



Big Number



$100 billion. That’s how much some analysts <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-17/lilly-lly-and-novo-novob-seen-dominating-100-billion-obesity-market-in-2030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">believe</a> the obesity drug market will be worth by the end of the decade. Some think the market is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/28/obesity-drugs-to-be-worth-200-billion-in-next-10-years-barclays-says.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potentially</a> worth much more. Novo, alongside Eli Lilly, dominate the market and are likely to continue doing so for some time.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/"></a>

Ozempic Manufacturer Sued Over Side Effects Of Medication Used For Weight Loss

Ozempic Maker’s New Weight Loss Pill Beats Wegovy In Early Trial — What To Know About Novo Nordisk’s Amycretin

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



X, formerly known as Twitter, experienced a 30% drop in usage from 2023 to 2024, according to a study from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edisonresearch.com/twitter-x-usage-sees-sharp-decline/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Edison</a>&nbsp;Research that clashes with&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2023/one-year-in" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">favorable</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/31/x-ceo-linda-yaccarino-claims-company-has-90m-u-s-users-less-than-1-are-teens/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">traffic</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/09/28/x-ceo-says-platform-will-be-profitable-by-early-2024-but-dodges-questions-about-musks-monthly-fee/?sh=17ed20671059">metrics</a>&nbsp;shared by the social media platform’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk, and CEO Linda Yaccarino.



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



The data, which is part of a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edisonresearch.com/twitter-x-usage-sees-sharp-decline/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">larger study</a>&nbsp;conducted by Edison, said 27% of the total population in the U.S. reported using X in 2022 and 2023, a figure that has decreased to 19% in 2024.



The data is a measure of people who said they were using the service, not a measure of premium X subscribers or accounts, Edison noted.



Edison said the social media platform also experienced declines in monthly and weekly usage, but didn’t provide details about such data.



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Infinite-Dial-2022-Webinar-revised.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">2022</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The-Infinite-Dial-2023.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">2023</a>&nbsp;usage data was gathered through a national telephone survey of about 1,500 people aged 12 and older—further details and methodology for the 2024 usage data will be released on March 28, according to Edison.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



Yaccarino has painted a different picture of traffic on X. She said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January that X had&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/31/x-ceo-linda-yaccarino-claims-company-has-90m-u-s-users-less-than-1-are-teens/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">90 million U.S. users</a>, less than 1% of which she said were ages 13-17. Last year, the chief executive also said that X had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/09/28/x-ceo-says-platform-will-be-profitable-by-early-2024-but-dodges-questions-about-musks-monthly-fee/?sh=49f22c431059">540 million monthly active users</a>&nbsp;and 200 million to 250 million daily active users or “something like that.”



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



Like Yaccarino, Musk has also pushed&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1731546683584995685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1731546683584995685%7Ctwgr%5E1580ff21962ddc030a72afa2fbfbe06a871eb112%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesnownews.com%2Fworld%2Felon-musk-shares-progress-report-of-x-has-social-media-app-hit-all-time-high-traffic-under-tesla-ceo-article-106962193" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">favorable</a>&nbsp;X traffic data, though the sourcing on some of&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1723020532906435068" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">the</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1747800112300999125?s=20" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">data</a>&nbsp;he’s reposted is unclear. The platform has attempted to retain and attract users with new features including revenue share payouts for creators posting on X. Users have reported payouts worth hundreds of dollars, with viral content creators like Jimmy Donaldson, also known as Mr. Beast, reporting payouts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2024/01/22/mr-beast-receives-264000-payout-from-first-video-posted-to-x/?sh=51f3747491ce">as high as $264,000</a>. Yaccarino said in a blog post last October that X had paid out&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2023/one-year-in" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">more than $20 million</a>&nbsp;to its creators. Engagement for creators has become a large part of X’s strategy following its fallout with several big-name advertisers last year in which the likes Disney, Apple, Comcast and IBM fled the platform after Musk was embroiled in controversy following his agreement with an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/11/16/elon-musk-condemned-after-calling-antisemitic-post-actual-truth/?sh=587974a94020">antisemitic tweet.</a>



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



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/09/28/x-ceo-says-platform-will-be-profitable-by-early-2024-but-dodges-questions-about-musks-monthly-fee/?sh=17ed20671059">X CEO Says Platform Will Be Profitable By Early 2024—But Dodges Questions About Musk’s Monthly Fee&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/10/27/year-of-musk-x-faces-slashed-valuation-and-fewer-advertisers-one-year-after-twitter-takeover/?sh=200fcb695510">Year Of Musk: X Faces Slashed Valuation And Fewer Advertisers One Year After Twitter Takeover</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/08/15/x-apparently-slowed-access-to-sites-elon-musk-dislikes-then-abruptly-backtracked/?sh=93fcb2ee154b">X Apparently Slowed Access To Sites Elon Musk Dislikes—Then Abruptly Backtracked</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Elon Musk Makes Twitter Account Private

Usage Of Elon Musk’s X Dropped 30% In The Last Year, Study Suggests

Chess unveils a boundless realm of imagination and possibility — a canvas where each match paints a unique tale of conflict and conquest, where kingdoms clash in a dance of uncertainty until the final, decisive moment. FORBES AFRICA takes a look at an NGO championing the game on the continent.



In the heart of the continent beats a timeless rhythm, a symphony of intellect and strategy that has resonated throughout the ages. In one West African nation, chess, a masterpiece of human ingenuity, transcends mere gameplay to become a captivating dialogue between minds, where moves speak volumes and every piece carries the weight of strategy.



And this Nigerian group is keeping the game alive. Chess In Slums Africa, a non-profit organization based in Lagos, uses an impact model to empower their champions, through several programs.



Regarding STEM education, robotics and digital skills, Tunde Onakoya, founder of the chess group, says, “This program aims to provide children with an immersive, hands-on learning experience in slum communities. It focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education, particularly robotics, computer programming, coding, website design, graphic design, and animation.”



“Project C.A.S.T.L.E is a program that uses the game of chess to engage children from marginalized communities. It&#8217;s a game and a strategic tool that teaches critical thinking, patience, and problem-solving. The program is structured to take children from the basics to advanced levels, fostering intellectual growth and strategic planning,” Onakoya adds.



Beyond the confines of the chessboard, the initiative extends its reach to encompass the cultivation of essential life skills such as leadership, teamwork, and resilience. Its overarching objective is to establish an educational haven, using chess as a vehicle for personal growth and empowerment. Through Project C.A.S.T.L.E, the aspiration is clear: to revolutionize lives, one strategic move at a time.



“LIFELINE is a dedicated initiative to promote long term personal and professional growth for children from underprivileged backgrounds. The program offers comprehensive support by providing educational scholarships and practical vocational training,” says Onakoya.



“It helps bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world skills. By empowering participants with mentorship, civic education, and financial literacy training, LIFELINE ensures well-rounded development and enables them to pursue their aspirations confidently. The program aims to nurture future leaders and innovators who drive positive change in their communities.”



When it comes to the academic, educational, and critical thinking skills cultivated by Chess in Slums Africa, Onakoya underscores the tailored approach of their program to address the unique challenges faced by the children they serve.



“Our program aims to address challenges stemming from limited access to quality education and resources by focusing on skills that are academically enriching, practical, and relevant to their daily lives,” he says.



Additionally, Onakoya highlights the ‘mental maths’ component, which enhances arithmetic skills and fosters quick thinking and mental agility.



“Through mental maths, children can rapidly perform complex calculations, strengthening their mathematical proficiency, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking abilities.”



The incorporation of tech programs also introduce essential digital literacy skills such as computer proficiency and coding fundamentals. This, he states, prepares the children for success in an increasingly technology-driven world, opening doors to future educational and career opportunities in STEM fields.



The program equips children with academically beneficial, culturally relevant and empowering skills, enabling them to overcome obstacles, pursue aspirations, and succeed not only in chess but also in life&#8217;s challenges.



Central to Chess in Slums Africa’s methodology is community engagement, actively involving local stakeholders to ensure programs are contextually relevant and responsive. Moreover, the importance of innovation and creativity, advocating for approaches that transcend traditional classroom settings to foster independent thought.



Onakoya highlights sustainability, emphasizing the need to address both immediate needs and ensure long-term impact through sustainable partnerships and by empowering children as agents of change.



Emerging from an initial disinterest in the Chess in Slums Africa program in the Majidun community, Jamiu Ninalowo surpassed expectations, becoming a leading player who outperformed his earlier-starting peers. Under the nurturing umbrella of the Chess in Slums Africa Scholarship and child development unit, Ninalowo blossomed. Completing his secondary school education, he begins a new chapter at Nexford University as a freshman, pursuing a Business Administration degree, specializing in Product Management. He is simultaneously taking courses in cybersecurity, and his chess prowess is improving by the day.



Another player – Miriam Kayang, born in the local government area of Obanliku, is the eldest of six children and a local footballer in her community. Kayang was encountered during a project in the country’s Cross River State in November 2022, among over 50 girls to whom the game of chess was taught. She was placed under a scholarship program to complete her secondary school education in 2023, and is currently a linguistics (French) student at the University of Calabar.



Overcoming initial dismissal from the Chess in Slums Africa training sessions in 2019, Fethina Maumo, a child with cerebral palsy, was born into the bustling Makoko informal settlement. Unyielding, Maumo’s determination won him a place in the sessions. His first step in English was memorizing the chess pieces and his triumph as the junior category winner forever shifted his narrative. Now, under the full sponsorship of Chess in Slums Africa, he is enrolled in school, competes in tournaments, and has received widespread recognition.



Chess, in all honesty, is like any other game at first glance. However, the beauty of it is its ability to build a mental toughness in its players akin to no other, much like the game’s own stand against the test of time.

Close-up Businessman playing chess .

How This Board Game Is Making A Difference In Lagos

Afrobeats took center stage in 2023’s global music scene.



Major award ceremonies, including the MTV Video Music Awards, introduced new categories recognizing the success of Afrobeats artists, notably elevating Adedamola ‘Fireboy DML’ Adefolahan. His collaboration with Jon Batiste and Jon Bellion further propelled him to the forefront.



In a festive December surprise, the 27-year-old artist dropped two singles on the same day: Obaa Sima (meaning a perfect woman in Twi, a variety of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana) and Outside featuring Nigerian rapper Emeka ‘Blaqbonez’ Akumefule. Fireboy DML explains in an exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA that the move was inspired by “the spirit of the season”.



Honored for his chart-topping single Peru, achieving Platinum status in the US. and two times’ Platinum in the UK with over 500 million streams, Fireboy DML also received accolades at the 2023 BRIT Awards and the 2023 BMI London Awards.



From his 2019 debut album Laughter, Tears, and Goosebumps to the recent Playboy, the English graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Southwestern Nigeria highlights the evolution of his music, expressing that “each album represents different phases of my life and experiences”.



Collaborating with diverse artists, including Madonna, Fireboy DML emphasizes the universal nature of music. “Music is freedom — the creative process is the same, and talent is talent,” he opines.



Proud of the global recognition that Afrobeats is receiving, Fireboy DML declares, “This is our time.”



Beyond music, his social media presence with over 5 million Instagram followers, where he displays his style, is influenced by a belief that “an artist should always look the part”. He attended notable shows at New York Fashion Week and envisions a deeper involvement in 2024, emphasizing the synergy between music and fashion.



Recounting a significant moment, he shares performing alongside Ed Sheeran for 90,000 people at the Wembley Stadium in London.



For eager fans, Fireboy DML announces: “I will be releasing my fourth studio album.”

66th GRAMMY AWARDS  Red carpet arrivals

A Year In The Life Of Fireboy DML

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



Drinking more than 67 ounces of sugary or artificially sweetened beverages a week may increase the risk of developing atrial fibrillation—an irregular heartbeat—but organic fruit juices without added sugar may decrease this risk, according to a new study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



Participants who drank more than 67 ounces of artificially sweetened drinks a week—equivalent to about one 12-ounce diet soda a day—had an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation by about 20%, and those who drank the same amount of sugar-sweetened beverages had an increased risk of 10%, according to an American Heart Association&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCEP.123.012145" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;published Tuesday.



Atrial fibrillation (or AFib) is the most common form of an irregular heartbeat, which causes the lower and upper chambers of the heart to become unsynced and reduced blood flow,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/atrial_fibrillation.htm" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



The study researchers followed almost 202,000 participants—with an age range between 37 and 73 years old—over the course of around 10 years and did genetic blood tests, and they found atrial fibrillation risk was high in people who drank more than 67 ounces of sugar-sweetened drinks regardless of genetic susceptibility.



On the other hand, participants who drank about 34 ounces or less of pure fruit juice each week had an 8% lower risk of atrial fibrillation, the study also found.



Smoking may also increase atrial fibrillation risks, as those who drank more than 67 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages a week and smoked had a 31% higher risk of atrial fibrillation, compared to no significant increase in former smokers or participants who never smoked before.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“Our study&#8217;s findings cannot definitively conclude that one beverage poses more health risk than another due to the complexity of our diets and because some people may drink more than one type of beverage,” lead author and researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China Ningjian Wong said in a statement. “However, based on these findings, we recommend that people reduce or even avoid artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



3 to 6 million. That’s how many people have atrial fibrillation in the United States, according to a separate AHA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.120.316340" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>. That number is expected to rise to between 6 and 16 million people by 2050.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Though there isn’t much research into the link between sugary drinks and atrial fibrillation, around 16% of participants who consumed the artificial sweetener&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/07/14/what-to-know-about-aspartame-the-sugar-substitute-in-diet-coke-declared-as-a-possible-cancer-risk-by-who/?sh=6afbc7f47569">aspartame</a>—often sold under the brand name Equal—experience heartbeat changes, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internationaljournalofcardiology.com/article/S0167-5273(09)00082-5/abstract" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;published in the International Journal of Cardiology. There are several&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/atrial_fibrillation.htm" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">risk factors</a>&nbsp;for atrial fibrillation, including obesity, diabetes, heart failure, moderate to heavy alcoholism, hyperthyroidism, chronic kidney disease and ischemic heart disease. However, the biggest factors are high blood pressure—which makes up around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000659" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">one in five cases</a>—and advancing age. Although people of African descent are more susceptible to these risk factors, people of European background are more likely to have atrial fibrillation than any other group, though scientists aren’t sure why, according to a JAMA Network Open&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2529722" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/what-are-the-symptoms-of-atrial-fibrillation-afib-or-af" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Symptoms</a>&nbsp;of atrial fibrillation include fatigue, dizziness, confusion, a fluttering or thumping sensation in the chest, a fast or irregular heartbeat, weakness, anxiety, shortness of breath and fatigue during exercise. Chest pain or pressure are also symptoms, but considered a medical emergency, according to the AHA.



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



There have been conflicting studies conducted on the link between caffeine consumption and atrial fibrillation. The high amounts of caffeine in energy drinks, along with other ingredients like a type of amino acid called taurine that enhances caffeine&#8217;s effects, increase atrial fibrillation risk, according to an American Society of Addiction&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newswise.com/articles/cardiac-complications-from-energy-drinks-case-report-adds-new-evidence" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">case study</a>. However, a 2019 AHA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/JAHA.118.011346" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;found drinking between one and three cups of coffee a day had a slightly lower risk of developing atrial fibrillation compared to drinking four or more, or never drinking coffee. A separate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8290332/#:~:text=Findings,variants%20that%20affect%20caffeine%20metabolism." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;found that each cup of coffee drank a day reduced the risk of developing arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat) by 3%. The American College of Cardiology believes daily consumption of up to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.acc.org/Latest-in-Cardiology/Articles/2018/04/16/16/27/Is-Caffeine-Safe-Protective-For-Patients-With-AFib-Arrhythmias" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">300 milligrams</a>&nbsp;of caffeine should be safe for those with atrial fibrillation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/07/14/what-to-know-about-aspartame-the-sugar-substitute-in-diet-coke-declared-as-a-possible-cancer-risk-by-who/?sh=6afbc7f47569">What To Know About Aspartame: The Sugar Substitute In Diet Coke Declared As A Possible Cancer Risk By WHO</a> (Forbes)

Prebiotic sodas have special plant fibers that feed the trillio

Sweet Drinks May Increase Risk Of Irregular Heartbeat, Study Suggests—But Organic Juices Could Decrease It

Pangenome

TikTokers Are Stealing Doctors And Nurses’ Photos To Peddle Pills And Powders

With a growing youth population, the African continent could find itself on the path towards a bright future. However, this may only become a reality if the continent is able to provide widespread upskilling initiatives and tangible employment prospects.



The International Labour Organization reported in August that more than 72 million youth in Africa are not in education, employment or training, with the majority being young women. Furthermore, it was reported previously that by 2030, young Africans are expected to make up 42% of the world’s youth.



The goal to empower Africa’s young people has become a collective one. One organization working towards this is Prince’s Trust International (PTI). Founded by His Majesty, King Charles III (then Prince Charles), the Trust partners with local stakeholders to develop programs that equip young people with the skills and/or interventions needed to create a future for themselves.&nbsp;



“As a result of Prince&#8217;s Trust International’s human capital development focused&nbsp;programming, we have been able to reach over 15,000 young people since 2019 and provide them with the key skills and opportunities to secure livelihoods,” Shabir Randeree, Chairman of Prince’s Trust International, tells FORBES AFRICA.



“We have also been able to partner with a number of fantastic organizations, working together to help improve the way training facilitators and teachers engage with young people on the continent. This work has helped to deliver more impactful programming with greater rates of positive outcomes and created a ripple effect beyond the young people who directly benefit from our programs.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Arunma-Oteh-and-King-Charles-image-supplied.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61387" style="width:464px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Arunma-Oteh-and-King-Charles-image-supplied.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Arunma-Oteh-and-King-Charles-image-supplied-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Arunma-Oteh-and-King-Charles-image-supplied-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Arunma Oteh and King Charles; image supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


CEO, Will Straw says that what started out as an organization that provided grants for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, when the organization was established in the United Kingdom (UK) over 40 years ago, has grown and evolved.



“Over time, [it] expanded into programs with employers, helping young people into job vacancies, where perhaps the employers were struggling to find work-ready youth. Then, more recently, on education programs and personal development programs in schools and other educational settings, helping young people to gain some of the core skills that are so important in the world of work – things like self-confidence, communication, problem-solving, teamwork, resilience, managing feelings, setting and achieving goals,” Straw says.



“And so Britain&#8217;s Trust International, founded in 2015, has sought to take those programs and insights about the needs of young people&#8217;s skills, and helping people to find meaningful work or set up their own business, to countries around the world.”



Currently, on the African continent, the organization has programs in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.



In addition to this, African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina and Straw met in November to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and to explore strategic partnerships to scale up youth employment, human capital, and entrepreneurship opportunities.



The MoU indicated the commitment of both the AfDB and PTI to work together to identify and develop partnership opportunities, in countries of common interest, to mainstream employability skills for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) projects, funded by the Bank. PTI is also expected to participate in the preparation, design, implementation and monitoring of TVET and skills development projects.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Participants-on-the-Get-Into-Programme-Nigeria-2023-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61471" style="width:584px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Participants-on-the-Get-Into-Programme-Nigeria-2023-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Participants-on-the-Get-Into-Programme-Nigeria-2023-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Participants-on-the-Get-Into-Programme-Nigeria-2023-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Participants-on-the-Get-Into-Programme-Nigeria-2023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Participants-on-the-Get-Into-Programme-Nigeria-2023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Participants on the &#8216;Get Into&#8217; Programme in Nigeria 2023</figcaption></figure></div>


It was reported at the time of this meeting that the Trust would be committed to “co-hosting a youth-focused investment summit in 2024 in the UK, in conjunction with the African Development Bank.”



According to PTI, it’s the insights of the youth they work with and their local partners that inform the type of work that’s done. Straw echoes this, adding that the role of the Trust is simply to impart the knowledge gained over the past few decades.



“[It’s] a mixture of programs; it depends on what the specific needs are in any particular country, and which local partners we&#8217;ve identified already doing valuable, impactful work on the ground, supporting young people&#8217;s journey, in a sense, from education to employment,” he says.



“Then we&#8217;ll work with them either to introduce one of our own programs or potentially to adapt or add to a program they&#8217;ve already got in place with some of our content or methodologies, to make it even more impactful.”



PTI Trustee, Arunma Oteh, who was the Vice President and Treasurer at the World Bank from September 2015 to November 2018, shares her experience with the organization, saying, “I am honored to be a member of the Board of Prince’s Trust International. I believe that it has even greater potential to do more in Africa and particularly expand its activities in the six countries it already has a presence in, as well as establish its programs in several of the other African countries.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winners-Enterprise-Challenge-Kenya-2022-2-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61470" style="width:634px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winners-Enterprise-Challenge-Kenya-2022-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winners-Enterprise-Challenge-Kenya-2022-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winners-Enterprise-Challenge-Kenya-2022-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winners-Enterprise-Challenge-Kenya-2022-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winners-Enterprise-Challenge-Kenya-2022-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Winners Enterprise Challenge Kenya, 2022. </figcaption></figure></div>


“Its employability and entrepreneurship programs prepare young people for future success, teaching them valuable business and leadership skills, early in their lives. For example, a number of successful people of African origin, such as Idris Elba and Ozwald Boateng, got their break from Prince’s Trust.”



“I have a personal attachment to both Africa and Asia. I was born in South Africa of Asian origin when my family migrated from Northern India in the 1860s. The opportunity to internationally apply my experience, having also served on the board of The Prince’s Trust in the UK, was hugely appealing,” Randeree adds.



“Having had a career in business, it never ceases to amaze me what can be achieved by elevating educational aspirations of our youth. Last year, almost 30,000 young people were impacted positively by Prince’s Trust International in 18 countries. It was Nelson Mandela who said ‘education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world’.”

Kenya Royal Visit 2023 HMK with PTI participants

His Majesty’s Trust In Africa’s Youth:Helping Bridge The Education And Skills Gap

Change Starts Now (CSN), the political initiative led by former FirstRand Group chair Roger Jardine, has decided not to contest the 2024 national and provincial elections. This announcement came just days after the party unveiled an ambitious manifesto in Kliptown, Soweto, proposing sweeping reforms to uplift South African society.



In a significant move, the party has cited the primary reasons for its withdrawal. &#8220;The recent Constitutional Court ruling and the barriers it imposes on newly-established political parties means CSN, like several other parties, faces a prejudicial, logistical timetable to qualify for the ballot,&#8221;



Jardine stated.



The Constitutional Court decided last week not to hear a challenge to the Electoral Amendment Act’s requirement for the number of signatures new parties require for the elections, suggesting that CSN might not have met the minimum requirement.



Despite the withdrawal, Jardine has stated that CSN&#8217;s vision remains undeterred, emphasizing that the party will move forward in an attempt to influence the political climate by supporting other registered parties that reflect their own values, &#8220;in the interests of increasing the chances of political change&#8221;.



The withdrawal comes in the wake of the apex court&#8217;s refusal to expedite the review of signature requirements for political parties not represented in the legislature. The court&#8217;s decision not to lower the threshold for new parties, while independent candidates need only 1,000 signatures to register, has been met with criticism from various political entities. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has maintained its stance, urging parties to adhere to the nomination submission deadline of March 8.



Jardine, who launched CSN in December 2023 amid what was described as a national crisis, has reiterated the party&#8217;s commitment to continue advocating for the principles outlined in their Change Charter. &#8220;Our research tells us that only 41% of voters want to vote for the African National Congress (ANC),&#8221; Jardine said, signaling a potent demand for new political alternatives. Despite not participating in the upcoming elections, CSN plans to remain an active voice in shaping South Africa&#8217;s political discourse.



The party&#8217;s leadership, including prominent figures like Mark Heywood and Nicole Fritz, has indicated that CSN will persist in its efforts to unite South Africans behind a shared vision. &#8220;A lot of political work is needed to unite South Africans behind a shared vision for the future of our country,&#8221; Jardine stated, pointing out the necessity for cohesive action beyond electoral competition.



Change Starts Now&#8217;s exit from the election race is a poignant reminder of the dynamic and often arduous nature of South African politics for new entrants. Despite the rise of many new independent parties to challenge the dominance of larger participants such as the ANC, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and Democratic Alliance (DA), as the country approaches the most highly-contested election since 1994, the political landscape continues to evolve. The increasing influence of independent influence and coalitions presents a challenge to the traditional framework.



Ends

Change Starts Now Launches Election Manifesto At Walter Sisulu Square

Change Starts Later – New Party Withdraws From 2024 South African Elections

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



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“I wouldn’t say a ‘power woman’ is fearless because some way, somehow, I do get that fear. But I can say she is a strong woman even though problems approach. She will always be strong and stand up for herself; she has perseverance.”
</blockquote>



In 2023, Nomcebo Zikode was celebrated across Africa, but especially in her home country South Africa after she brought home her first Grammy award with two-time Grammy award-winning flautist, Wouter Kellerman and singer and producer, Zakes Bantwini for their song Bayethe. It was a win she did not think would happen. At the FORBES AFRICA power women photoshoot, Zikode walks in with a big smile, ready to reflect on the journey that led to that moment.



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Over 30 Under 50: &#039;You Never Know When Your Time Is Coming&#039;-Nomcebo Zikode" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wID9swsxEAk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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“I knew that I wanted to be on TV or I wanted to be a singer,” Zikode says. “Becoming an actress was the second thing but being a singer was the first thing, so I&#8217;m living my dream. I&#8217;m really so happy to be recognized, not only in South Africa but abroad, and seeing people loving your work as they do, even though there was a point where I was about to give up because I [was] looking at my age. I was over 30 and this music thing was not happening, so I am really grateful to God.”



Also successful as the founder of record label, Emazulwini Productions, Zikode wants to inspire the youth, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 



“Personally, it was never about changing my life,” Zikode explains. “It’s about showing another child who’s currently sitting at home, watching me win a Grammy so they can see that Nomcebo made it possible to achieve her goals, so that where they are sitting – whether they&#8217;re coming from a rural area or from a poor family – they know that it is possible for them!”



Zikode’s admission of wanting to give up – this was before her hit song Jerusalema topped charts across the globe – is not unique to her. To the women who feel that their careers have stunted, Zikode offers the best advice: “Just keep going and respect your craft. You never know when your time is coming.”

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Over 30 Under 50: ‘You Never Know When Your Time Is Coming’-Nomcebo Zikode

Elon Musk’s lack of transparency in updates about his brain implant company Neuralink flouts scientific and ethical norms, raises questions about patient safety and risks setting back the entire field of neurotechnology, experts told Forbes, after the billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/02/20/elon-musk-says-neuralinks-first-brain-chip-patient-can-control-computer-mouse-by-thought/?sh=e072a8d298e2">touted early success&nbsp;</a>in the company’s first human patient last week.



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



“What truly puzzles me about this is not the technology itself but the way of communicating scientific news,” said Marcello Ienca, a professor of ethics of AI and neuroscience at Technical University of Munich, who stressed information about Neuralink and its work is being disseminated “through casual social media updates” rather than traditional outlets for science like peer reviewed publications, public repositories or even simple pre-prints.



It “seems to sidestep the established protocols that underpin scientific integrity,” Ienca said, preventing experts from evaluating or understanding “the full scope and impact” of any claimed advances.



“A tweet is not exactly a peer-reviewed scientific report,” said L. Syd M Johnson, an ethicist at SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities, adding that Musk’s brief update gave few details on the patient’s recovery, what degree of control they have over the mouse or whether “mouse” actually meant the onscreen cursor.



Most clinical trials are also registered in the public database ClinicalTrials.gov for the sake of transparency, accountability and the benefit of science, said Laura Cabrera, a neuroethicist at Pennsylvania State University’s Rock Ethics Institute, who called for the creation of “more rigorous ways” to hold companies operating in the space accountable, transparent and to make them follow similar reporting standards to federally funded trials.



While it isn’t illegal for Neuralink to not have registered its clinical trial, Ienca said not doing so “violates fundamental ethical guidelines for biomedical research”—notably the Declaration of Helsinki, a cornerstone statement of ethical principles for medical research involving humans—adding that Neuralink hasn’t communicated setting up any internal ethics board or establishing its own code of ethics and has not engaged in any major activities from policy organizations working in the space like the OECD.



Neuralink did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment.



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



Ienca accused Neuralink of endangering the entire field of neurotechnology over its opacity and failure to outline its position on important ethical and social issues related to its work while charging ahead with human research. “If you decide to play with fire in a house, you increase the risk threshold not only of yourself but of the whole house,” he said. “My fear is that Neuralink&#8217;s disregard for the ethical aspects of their technology may cause a backfire effect for the entire neurotechnology community.” Ienca warned the potential backlash could slow down the development of a technological innovation that could help millions of people with neuropsychiatric disorders and mental illness, many of whom cannot be cured or even treated effectively with current technology. Given the stakes, “we cannot afford a “Cambridge Analytica” scandal involving the human brain,” Ienca said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



Neuralink secured&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/09/19/elon-musks-neuralink-wants-volunteers-for-first-human-trial-of-its-brain-implant-chip/">permission</a>&nbsp;in September to recruit patients to test its implantable brain device’s ability to help people with paralysis regain lost functions by controlling computers with their thoughts. Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/30/elon-musk-teases-first-neuralink-products-after-company-implants-first-brain-chip-in-human/?sh=f3489562ac39">announced</a>&nbsp;the first patient had received the implant in January and last week&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/02/20/elon-musk-says-neuralinks-first-brain-chip-patient-can-control-computer-mouse-by-thought/?sh=e072a8d298e2">said</a>&nbsp;they appeared to have made a full recovery and could move a mouse around a screen “just by thinking.” The Tesla billionaire delivered both updates through informal posts on X, the social media platform Musk controversially acquired as Twitter in 2022. Musk has teased that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/30/elon-musk-teases-first-neuralink-products-after-company-implants-first-brain-chip-in-human/">Neuralink’s first products</a>&nbsp;will include “Telepathy,” which would allow users to control a phone or computer “just by thinking,” as well as features that could restore sight to blind people. Musk has also been open on his long term aims for Neuralink and hopes the technology will be used more widely to enhance memory and elevate intelligence and ultimately acting as a foil to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/09/21/elon-musk-says-neuralink-could-slash-risk-from-ai-as-firm-prepares-for-first-human-trials/?sh=300741eb2956">risks of artificial intelligence</a>. The company has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-neuralink-faces-federal-probe-employee-backlash-over-animal-tests-2022-12-05/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">criticized</a>&nbsp;over its use of animals in experiments and questions have been raised over the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neuralink-elon-musk-animal-testing-conflict-of-interest-researcher-says-2023-5?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">independence</a>&nbsp;of a regulatory board governing its animal research. The company has denied any wrongdoing and&nbsp;<a href="https://neuralink.com/blog/neuralink-s-commitment-to-animal-welfare/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stressed</a>&nbsp;it is “committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



In line with other experts Forbes spoke to, Columbia&nbsp;<a href="https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/need-protect-data-our-brains" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neurobiologist</a>&nbsp;Rafael Yuste said the announcement of Neuralink’s progress is “not news.” It is only reported as such because “a company associated with Elon Musk” is doing it,” he said, pointing to decades of research and numerous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/06/05/elon-musks-neuralink-wants-to-put-chips-in-our-brains---how-it-works-and-who-else-is-doing-it/?sh=d573533babb9">other companies operating&nbsp;</a>in the neurotech field. Yuste said he had “zero concerns” over Neuralink’s latest experiment. It involves a medical device that “has to be approved by the FDA” and “the data collected are protected with HIPAA,” he explained, referring to the series of federal laws governing protected health information. “I welcome anyone who wants to develop medical devices to help patients,” he said. Cabrera expressed a similar sentiment and said it’s unlikely we will need new rights to govern the medical uses of neurotechnology as these should already be well covered by existing regulation.



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



While medical uses of neurotechnology may be well covered by existing regulation, Yuste warned “commercial neurotechnology is completely unregulated.” The growing sector—which includes non-implantable tech like external sensors—raises a host of social, legal and ethical&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24078512/brain-tech-privacy-rights-neurorights-colorado-yuste" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">questions</a>&nbsp;surrounding privacy, access and freedom of thought, demands a framework of rights to govern neurotechnology and protect human rights from potential abuse or misuse from it (Yuste and others call this framework “<a href="https://neurorightsfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neurorights</a>”). The use, and potential exploitation, of the vast amounts of brain data generated from implants and sensors is of particular concern, experts warned. Neuralink stands out as a neurotech company that such considerations could apply to, although this would still be a long way in the future. “Neuralink is the only neurotechnology company, to my knowledge, that has publicly confessed that their long-term goal is the development of implantable neurotechnology for human enhancement,” Ienca said. In principle, Ienca said there’s nothing wrong with enhancement—tools that augment or add brain functions like memory or vision for healthy individuals and go beyond natural capabilities—but warned there’s a real risk of creating a “stratified society divided not just by wealth or opportunity, but by cognitive and sensory capabilities.” Johnson, on the other hand, said enhancement “would not change anything.” The wealthy would “have the same advantages and power” as they do now.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



Experts told Forbes it is unclear what will happen to Neuralink’s human subjects once the clinical trial for the brain implant is over. “When the clinical trial is over, are they on their own?,” Johnson asked, pointing to the many risks involved with the kind of surgery to place an implant, the possibility the device or performance could degrade over time and the fact that some may simply lose access to their implant once the trial is over.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



“Musk’s talk about helping disabled people – giving full body functionality to tetraplegics – is disingenuous and harmful,” Johnson said, asking whether disabled people even want brain implants or to control smartphones with their thoughts. “It fundamentally says that disabled persons are broken and need to be fixed with invasive brain implants,” Johnson said, noting that there is “so much that societies could be doing right now, but are not doing, to improve mobility, and access to jobs and education and decent places to live for disabled persons.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



We <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=1f50a08f7999">estimate</a> Musk to be worth $207 billion. Musk’s fortune makes him the world’s second richest person, behind French luxury goods giant <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/?list=rtb/">Bernard Arnault</a> and ahead of Amazon founder <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=4587e17d1b23">Jeff Bezos</a>, worth $229.6 billion and $195.7 billion, respectively.

Tesla Officially Opens Gruenheide Gigafactory

Experts Criticize Elon Musk’s Neuralink Over Transparency After Billionaire Says First Brain Implant Works

Amid economic challenges, the country&#8217;s latest budget speech draws critical analysis from economist Dawie Roodt, shedding light on the fiscal strategies&#8217; impact on economic growth and the path ahead for the nation.



In an era marked by economic turbulence, South Africa&#8217;s fiscal policy comes under scrutiny following the recent budget speech, aimed at addressing the nation&#8217;s pressing economic challenges. The speech was presented by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last week. Dawie Roodt, a renowned economist and Director of the Efficient Group, offers a candid assessment of the outlined fiscal measures and their potential trajectory for South Africa&#8217;s economy.



According to Minister Godongwana, the 2024 budget implements strategic expenditure cuts, aimed at achieving fiscal stability and economic resilience. Specifically, it targets a reduction in non-interest expenditure by ZAR80.6 billion ($4.19 billion) over the medium term, as part of a comprehensive fiscal consolidation strategy.



This measure is complemented by revenue adjustments, which have been revised upwards by ZAR45.6 billion ($2.3 billion) over the same period, compared to the 2023 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement projections.



Additionally, the budget proposes a reform of the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account. These adjustments are integral to the government&#8217;s efforts to manage the budget deficit and national debt, reflecting a focused approach to fiscal management in response to current economic challenges.



Despite these state efforts to manage the deficit, Roodt critiques the sustainability of the fiscal account, warning of a looming financial crisis if the current borrowing trend continues in the face of a weak economy.



“The fiscal actions are part of the reason why the economy is not growing,” he says to FORBES AFRICA.



“The fiscal account has become unsustainable, and we are heading for a financial crisis,” Roodt adds, emphasizing the urgent need for a shift in fiscal strategy.



Highlighting state inefficiencies, Roodt points out that despite significant spending, outcomes, especially in education, are dismal.



“We spend a lot of money on education&#8230;but the outcome of education is horrible. The primary focus must be on the improvement of the efficiency of the state,” he says.



On healthcare, Roodt is skeptical about the implementation of significant spending towards health, including the National Health Insurance (NHI), citing financial constraints and efficiency issues.



“It&#8217;s simply going to cost too much money. We ran out of money already; and the government simply is not efficient enough to implement this.”



To combat the FATF greylisting, the government has allocated ZAR628 million ($32.7 million) towards implementing the FATF and State Capture Commission recommendations, totaling ZAR2.3 billion ($119 million) dedicated to these efforts. This budget allocation is part of a broader strategy to address the greylisting by enhancing legal and regulatory frameworks to meet international standards on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT).



Roodt, however, remains skeptical, describing the difficulties presented by the FATF greylisting, especially in the financial services industry, and the broader negative effects on South Africa&#8217;s international business relations.



Addressing social grants and public employment as mechanisms to mitigate poverty and unemployment, Roodt argues these measures are unsustainable without economic growth.



“This is totally unsustainable. You need economic growth. You&#8217;re not going to create jobs or mitigate poverty by spending more money on people,” he advises, calling for policies that truly stimulate economic growth.



The 2024 budget speech, amidst South Africa&#8217;s economic challenges, reflects a critical juncture in the country&#8217;s fiscal management. The government faces the dual task of stimulating economic growth while managing its debt and deficit.



Roodt&#8217;s analysis underscores the importance of efficiency and targeted spending, particularly in education and healthcare, to navigate the path toward sustainable development.



As South Africa addresses international concerns such as the FATF greylisting, the emphasis on reform and compliance highlights the broader effort to secure economic stability. The road ahead requires a balanced approach, integrating fiscal responsibility with strategic investments to foster a resilient and inclusive economy.

South African Minister Godongwana Delivers 2024 Budget Speech In Cape Town

South Africa’s Budget Speech: A Fiscal Reality Check

Internal privacy experts worried that not having a corporate records retention policy could violate U.S. and EU laws. Years later, the company still doesn’t have one.



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<abbr>T</abbr>ikTok’s parent company ByteDance&nbsp;may have broken laws in the U.S. and EU because it has no internal corporate records retention policy, according to seven current and former ByteDance employees and hundreds of internal documents and chat logs reviewed by&nbsp;Forbes.



The internal materials show TikTok’s legal and policy experts clearly warning senior leaders, including Global Chief Security Officer Kim Albarella, that ByteDance’s lack of a policy for managing internal records could threaten its ability to operate in the U.S. and EU. One, from spring 2023, shows an internal privacy policy expert expressing relief that regulators had not yet noticed that the company was out of compliance.



Employees expressed concerns that the company could be out of compliance with the United States FTC Act and Europe’s privacy regulation GDPR. Rules around corporate record retention and deletion, while seemingly mundane, are critical because they prevent companies from scrubbing their records of evidence of wrongdoing and protect the privacy of people whose information is stored in corporate records.



The seven sources told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that ByteDance lacked such a policy for years, an oversight with potentially dire consequences for a company already under investigation by the U.S. government and that has faced global scrutiny for its data privacy practices. Some worried it could also jeopardize the company’s fast-growing ecommerce business, centered on TikTok Shop, which launched in the U.S. last September and is targeting revenue of $17.5 billion this year.



In communications viewed by&nbsp;Forbes, employees explained that not having a records retention policy put the company out of compliance with the International Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, which — if discovered — could have halted its ability to process credit card transactions entirely. A document from late 2022 stated that TikTok Live had been “launched without consideration of PCI compliance.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
Preservation of corporate records —&nbsp;and the accessibility of those records by U.S. Government officials&nbsp;— has high stakes for TikTok.
</blockquote>



The internal materials reviewed by&nbsp;Forbes, many of which are attorney-client privileged, reveal a scramble to create and launch a stopgap policy for credit card-specific documents in early 2023 to ensure the company was compliant with the requirements. But in March 2023, Albarella told employees they were not going to fast-track a cardholder data-specific policy, and instead, would proceed with building and launching a comprehensive policy, the materials show. The problem: her staff said that process would take 1-2 years to operationalize, and in the meantime, the company was still not compliant, the materials show.



In response to a detailed list of questions about the internal materials, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek sent the following statement: &#8220;We believe these assertions are based on outdated documents, which were predominantly prepared by employees who are no longer with the company, who did not have visibility into all our work in this area, and who are now attempting to advance an agenda without regard for the facts.&#8221; Haurek said the 1-2 year timeline “was pulled from a document prepared by a single former employee and was not validated.”



Responding to the internal document about TikTok Live’s PCI compliance, Haurek wrote: &#8220;This unauthorized statement does not accurately reflect the PCI compliance status of these products. It was entered into the report &#8211; after final review &#8211; by an employee who has since left the company.” ByteDance spokesperson Mike Hughes added: &#8220;We follow industry standards on apps subject to PCI standards.&#8221; When asked directly whether ByteDance is in compliance with the FTC Act and GDPR today, Hughes wrote: “We continuously strive to meet our legal obligations related to data governance.”



Neither spokesperson responded to questions about which country or countries their corporate records were stored in.



Hillary Sale, a professor of leadership and corporate governance at Georgetown Law School, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that any company of TikTok’s size should have a retention policy, and that these are systems that every startup should implement as they grow. Companies should have “an understanding of how and when to retain documents, and ensur[e] that people across the company understand that importance,” she told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in an interview.



Preservation of corporate records — and the accessibility of those records by U.S. Government officials — has high stakes for TikTok, as it is in the midst of multi-year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/08/21/draft-tiktok-cfius-agreement/">negotiations</a>&nbsp;with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Biden Administration last year threatened that it would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban of the app in the U.S. (Disclosure: In a previous life, I held policy positions at Facebook and Spotify.)



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
It remains unclear whether even a TikTok-specific retention policy is now in place.
</blockquote>



TikTok is also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/03/16/fbi-doj-investigating-bytedance-tiktok-surveillance-journalists/?sh=ed4fd8a6fc2a">under criminal investigation</a>&nbsp;by the U.S. Department of Justice for surveilling journalists,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/22/tiktok-tracks-forbes-journalists-bytedance/?sh=c5f64247da57">including this reporter</a>, and was served a subpoena for documents related to that investigation late last year. Previously,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reported that ByteDance&#8217;s own anti-fraud experts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/11/28/tiktok-inaccurate-government-inquiries-internal-bytedance-risk-assessment/?sh=276e46223fed">warned</a>&nbsp;the company that it was incapable of ensuring that their responses to law enforcement requests, like subpoenas, were accurate, in part because of the company’s irregular data preservation practices. At the time, the company said: “This document was created within one department nearly two years ago, never presented internally beyond that, and is largely inaccurate, with outdated details which are made irrelevant by regular updates to our practices in the years since.”



In fall 2022, a lawyer for TikTok told colleagues that he was working with one product team on an electronic discovery feature that would enable the company to better respond to requests for company records, but warned colleagues that it would be a lengthy process, according to documents reviewed by&nbsp;Forbes. At the time, the task of developing a policy had been given to TikTok’s Data Defense and Access Assurance team, but that team deprioritized it in favor of more pressing work. The project was then given to data compliance experts within the company’s Global Security Organization (GSO).



Also in 2022, ByteDance hired Redgrave LLP, a firm specializing in corporate information governance, to help it create a document retention policy. One of the first questions the outside attorneys raised was whether the policy should be written to cover just TikTok, or all of ByteDance. In a conversation from mid-2022, TikTok’s former global lead for security compliance told Albarella, the company’s acting Chief Security Officer, that the policy would need to be ByteDance-wide, because “ByteDance’s internal system cannot be separated between products.”



Policy drafts from early 2023 authored by Redgrave counsel show that while the attorneys originally intended the draft policy to cover all internal ByteDance documents, they subsequently narrowed it to cover only documents owned by TikTok. (Redgrave did not respond to a comment request.)



Still, it remains unclear whether even a TikTok-specific retention policy is now in place.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;asked both TikTok and ByteDance whether they today have comprehensive, enforced data retention policies.



&#8220;Like any company, we retain records to meet legal obligations,” Hughes replied. Haurek added: “We have policies and procedures in place that govern the retention of TikTok user personal information.”



Neither answered a follow-up question asking to clarify whether TikTok and ByteDance have corporate records retention policies today.

In this photo illustration the TikTok logo seen displayed on

TikTok’s Lawyers Repeatedly Warned Executives It Could Be Breaking Data Laws

FORBES AFRICA had a unique opportunity to check this out and more at MWC Barcelona.



From robotic dogs to dancing humanoids and baristas on-demand, you didn’t know where to look at mobile technology trade show, Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, being held at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via in Spain, from February 26-29. And yet, one of the most futuristic experiences at the event had to be driving a car using one’s eyes – or rather, using Honor’s AI eye-tracking feature.



The Magic 6 Pro smartphone that supports this feature made its global debut in Barcelona but was introduced to the Chinese market in January. The AI eye-tracking feature works using the notifications screen, if you look at it long enough.



This writer tested it on an unmarked, wrapped vehicle parked at a warehouse in the Spanish city. The app used to control the car required a quick calibration before the car could be ‘driven’.



It supports four basic commands: engine start, engine stop, backward and forward.



The AI eye-tracking registers what you’re looking at for at least 1.8 seconds and, once the status bar fills up, it takes another 1.8 seconds to take effect. At times, one has to look at the button for longer than the 1.8 seconds but, for the most part, it worked.



Honor’s AI eye-tracking car feature was purely demonstrative, and is nowhere near going live; neither is Honor speaking to car manufacturers about it. But it does pose questions on both privacy, and accessibility for the hearing impaired.



Xiaomi shows off its electric car



The Xiaomi stand in Hall 3 at MWC drew some of the biggest crowds as its first electric car, the SU7, made its global debut outside of China.



A Porsche Taycan EV rival, the Xiaomi SU7 is part of the company’s ‘Human x Car x Home’ ecosystem that runs on its HyperOS platform.



The single-motor SU7 model is equipped with a 73.6kWh battery developed by Xiaomi and promises up to 668km of range, according to China’s Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC). It goes from 0-100km/h in 5.28 seconds, and has a top speed of 210km/h.



The dual-motor SU7 Max has a larger 101kWh battery with up to 800km of range (CLTC), with a top speed of a 265km/h. It goes from 0-100km/h in 2.78 seconds, beating out the Taycan Turbo S’ 2.8 second acceleration.



Pricing and international availability is to be confirmed.



Lenovo’s ‘world-first’ transparent laptop



Straight out of a science fiction movie at MWC was Lenovo’s futuristic transparent laptop.



The ThinkBook Transparent Concept features a 17.3-inch Micro-LED see-through display that is borderless with a transparent keyboard that appears to have a floating footpad design.



As you open applications and the screen fills up with images, the less transparent it becomes.



Lenovo explains that the laptop blends the virtual and real worlds using AI-generated content to unlock new ways to work. The keyboard also doubles up as a drawing board with a supported pen.



Motorola demos a rollable wrist phone



Motorola has shown off yet another rollable phone concept at MWC, but completely different to last year’s Rizr, which rolled open from a 5-inch to a 6.5-inch display.



This year’s Rollable Concept Phone can wrap around your wrist thanks to its flexible back fabric and magnetic design.



While no official specs have been shared, it can be rolled and propped upright or sit on a magnetic strap worn on the wrist, as demonstrated at their stand.&nbsp;



The display adjusts according to screen orientation, and the wallpaper can adjust to match your clothes once you snap a photo of them. It will offer an array of options that make it a matching wrist accessory.

IMG_1066

Driving A Car Using Your Eyes? A Good Look At The AI Eye-Tracking Feature At Global Mobile Tech Show

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



Mediators attempting to broker a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas to pause the fighting during Ramadan and release some of the hostages taken by Hamas have made progress on an agreement, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-25-2024-f3e4ea708548689cf8d9d404c3ee94ee" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-paris-israel-and-mediators-agree-on-outline-for-hostage-deal-pending-hamas-okay/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outlets</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-skirmish-throughout-gaza-talk-truce-resurfaces-2024-02-25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> Sunday.



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



The agreement would mean a pause in fighting for six weeks during the holy month Ramadan, which begins March 10, and would mean the exchange of about 40 of the 130 Israeli hostages held by Hamas, a senior Egyptian official&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-25-2024-f3e4ea708548689cf8d9d404c3ee94ee" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;the Associated Press, for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel.



It also would mean hundreds of trucks filled with aid could reach Gaza, the official&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-25-2024-f3e4ea708548689cf8d9d404c3ee94ee" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;The AP.



Intelligence chiefs briefed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet Saturday night after they returned from a meeting with U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Paris over the weekend.



During the meeting, the war cabinet voted to send a delegation to Qatar to continue discussing the potential agreement, the Times of Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-paris-israel-and-mediators-agree-on-outline-for-hostage-deal-pending-hamas-okay/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Hamas has yet to publicly comment on the reports of an updated agreement but senior Hamas leaders met with mediators in Egypt this week, NPR&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/23/1233356379/israel-hamas-gaza-ceasefire-negotiations-paris-netanyahu-day-after" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



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



At some point this week Qatar is expected to host continued discussions between Israel and Hamas in the hopes of finalizing a truce, Egyptian security sources&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-skirmish-throughout-gaza-talk-truce-resurfaces-2024-02-25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Reuters.



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



More than 29,000. That’s the death toll in Gaza since the fighting began more than five months ago,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-19-2024-81c2d362340b611a98e4b929b4b5d0a4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a>&nbsp;the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 1,200 people have died in Israel since the fighting, mostly from the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli officials say.



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



If the negotiators come to an agreement, this would be the second pause in fighting since the start of the war on Oct. 7. The last pause in fighting ended December 1 after Hamas and Israel agreed to a multi-day cease-fire in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages by Hamas. Since then, the fighting has continued, more people have died and the international calls for a cease-fire, both temporary and permanent, have grown. Recently, the Biden administration has publicly <a href="https://usun.usmission.gov/statement-by-ambassador-linda-thomas-greenfield-on-algerian-proposed-draft-resolution-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advocated</a> for a temporary cease-fire and the release of all hostages being held by Hamas. That came after the U.S. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2024/02/20/us-vetoes-un-resolution-calling-for-israel-hamas-cease-fire-and-offers-its-own-plan/?sh=58a029884b7f">vetoed</a> a United Nations resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel.

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