Tabitha Karanja is in a svelte black dress and seated in the boardroom of her well-appointed Nairobi office. She has a disarming smile and a gentleness that makes it hard to imagine that, in this very boardroom, this soft-spoken mother of four has struck many a business deal and battled feisty competitors. Those who work with her know that beneath the pleasant exterior is a hard-nosed businesswoman with a strong mind and a stronger resolve.
This is evident every morning she revs up her Range Rover to 120kph, driving an hour and 91 kilometers to her Naivasha brewery from her home in Nairobi. This is a woman with a drive few can match. She is the face of corporate Kenya.
Karanja is CEO of Keroche Breweries, Kenya’s second largest brewer (East African Breweries Limited is leader). In all of Africa, she is perhaps the only woman to have founded a beer company. It is an industry for the big boys, but an industry she says she has never felt out of place in. Her heart is in beer-making, and this is where she says she will continue to be, brewing up more action in the years to come.
In August, Karanja celebrated her 50th birthday in Nairobi with close friends and business associates. In many ways, it was a tribute to the milestones she reached in the industry.
“I don’t feel old,” says Karanja. Where most women would have contemplated slowing down after 50, Karanja does not see retirement anywhere on the radar. If anything, the game has only begun.
In January, her brewery in Naivasha will increase capacity by 10 times in a $100 million expansion plan. Where currently it manufactures 60,000 bottles a day, the upgraded facility will produce 600,000 bottles, as Karanja stridently looks to widen her reach in the rest of East Africa and increase her market share to 20%.
Her top-sellers are Summit Lager and Summit Malt, which started production in 2008 as “naturally-brewed, sugar-free, and hygienic alternatives” targeting consumers in the low-end alcohol market that could not afford elite brands or were more dependent on illicit brews.
Today, it is clear Kenya’s social climbers want more. Business is anything but flat.
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“We are launching another beer brand in the next six months. I want the Summit brand to be all over Africa. The brand should live beyond my time,” says Karanja.
Beer or paint?
Karanja’s story is one of resilience and determination. Her first job was with the Ministry of Tourism in Kenya. Thereafter, her maiden business venture, with husband Joseph Karanja, was a hardware store, which she ran for 10 years. She wanted to diversify, and began searching the market for ideas, which is when she saw a gap in the beer market. Her other option was to sell paint, but she thought: “How often will a man paint his house? I have to go in for fast-moving consumer goods.”
With a paltry KSh200,000 ($2,200) from her savings and the 30 acres of land in Naivasha that she owned, in 1998, she started manufacturing fortified wines from a one-room facility. After 10 years in the wine and spirit business, she entered the beer market with the Summit brand.
“People were left to drinking anything that was available in the villages. I came up with a product that was affordable, hygienic and met international standards,” says Karanja.
The challenges were many, as it took a whole year – and several desperate trips to the financing banks – before the brand finally gained traction.
“We didn’t have anyone’s support. People did not understand there could be another brewery in this country. We had to fight and break that monopoly by not giving up, and believing that if multinationals can do it, so can we, as it’s good for the country, and good for Africa, so we can create jobs. There was no looking back.”
Over the years, Karanja has taken on the might of the competitors and the many “smear campaigns” against her, but did she face any setbacks for being a woman?
“I guess I am one of the few lucky women in business. I have never had to face discrimination. People don’t see me as a woman, they see me as an entrepreneur. I believe in myself, and believe in whatever I am doing.”
This belief is an attribute she intends imparting to the next generation of Kenyan business leaders. In May this year, her company launched the Keroche Foundation to train and mentor upcoming entrepreneurs and small business owners. Her company employs over 300 people and gives back to the community through youth education.
The young ones in her own family are taking her cue. Karanja’s 26-year-old daughter Anerlisa Muigai is following in her mother’s footsteps. After a marketing degree in London, Muigai returned to Nairobi last year to launch Executive, a line of still bottled water for a niche market.
“I have always looked up to my mother. She has been my biggest inspiration, she gives me hope in so many ways,” says the young entrepreneur. “She is a successful businesswoman because she never gives up. She conquers every goal, is a go-getter and very smart. I like that she comes home and does not make the house an office.”
Karanja agrees that for a woman juggling work and family, there are immeasurable sacrifices to be made every day.
“Being at the top, you have to balance it all. When you sleep, you are so tired, because you have made sure everything has gone right, that you have fed your family, and you have given time for your business. It’s difficult as there are sacrifices you make, like giving up on your sleep. I sleep after midnight, and wake at six.
“Every day after work, I take a Summit Malt. It does not give you a hangover, it’s good for the body,” she says. Even at home, Karanja cannot stay without endorsing the brand she is so passionate about.

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The Iron Lady Of Beer

Classical music is not popular music, but when The Muses, the South African string quartet, step on stage with their two violins, viola and cello, the audience instantly gets on its feet, on the dance floor.
That is because this quartet has mastered the art of reworking popular hits into classical masterpieces.
The group was founded in 2011 by former member and the group’s current manager Olivia Kotze. Early on, she learned that their success relied on rearranging popular songs such as Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey, Titanium by David Guetta and Rolling in the Deep by Adele.
“People like to recognize what they hear and what I experienced when we did more original tracks we didn’t get radio play… So we take something that people recognize and give it a twist,” says Kotze.
The current members of the group &#8211; Mia Snyman (29), Ruby Ngoasheng (26), Laetitia van Wyk (22) and Ashley Bodill (23) – are like a close-knit family. And like all families, they each bring something different to the table.
Snyman keeps everyone in check, Ngoasheng is the easy-going happy child, van Wyk, the youngest, often forgets to apply lip-gloss and put on heels before they perform, and Bodill is famous for her onstage booty hop.
Performing the way they do requires great technical perfection, they say, one that is acquired through hours of practice, not to mention personal sacrifices.
“When people study engineering or medicine, they start when they are 18 or 19. We’ve started playing since the age of five and building our careers,” says Snyman.
Van Wyk, who is in her final year at university, has had people tell her she should pursue another career because there is no money
in music.
But she is determined to prove them wrong.
“I could’ve studied something else… I could make a living with something else but I would never be happy,” she says.
Although the girls teach music on the side for extra cash, none of them have had to struggle, live in their cars or starve in pursuit of their dream. For them, performing isn’t about the parties, the money or designer clothes. It’s about giving the audience a memorable show, even when in sheer physical agony. Bodill recalls one such experience.
“I was at the shops one time and a guy kicked my toe nail off. I was rushed to hospital, got an injection and stitches and then went straight to the venue [for a show],” she says.
A few moments before The Muses took to the stage, Bodill passed out. She then recovered, got up, had a soda and performed as if nothing had happened.
“Our industry has highs and it has lows and the lows can be very dark and very scary… if you set a goal for yourself and you’re in that low, just remember why you started,” says Ngoasheng.
They only know too well that the show must go on, no matter what.

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Celebrating The Muse

It’s a simple sculpture of a woman and a blue dress. Phila Ndwandwe was a general in Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) – South Africa’s African National Congress’ armed wing – who was held captive during the height of apartheid. She was tortured for ten days and left naked in her own blood. But one day, in captivity, she comes across a blue plastic packet. By the time her torturers returned, the general donned the packet as a pair of panties to reclaim her dignity. Ndwandwe’s body was found naked in a shallow grave, with the thin piece of plastic still covering her private parts.
The artwork by artist Judith Mason, hangs from the rafters of the Constitutional Court gallery.
“The powerful thing was that the men remembered it, among the many people they may have put to death on behalf of the apartheid government… I think many women can relate to Ndwandwe’s plight,” says Stacey Vorster, curator of South Africa’s Constitutional Court Art Collection.
Telling the stories behind art is all in a day’s work for Vorster. It’s not all glamor and gala events. In between working for the court, Vorster is also a full-time associate lecturer in history of art at the University of the Witwatersrand. On any day she can be giving tours to princes (Prince Edward visited last year), to climbing a ladder and patching walls. She keeps two pairs of shoes handy, one flat, the other heeled, for such emergencies. She also carries tissues.
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“As I was telling the [blue dress] story to some visiting judges from Germany, one man started crying, and I burst out crying in response. I am an emotional person, and I sometimes get tripped up by these moments. Most women don’t want to seem emotional, especially in the workplace. I often get overwhelmed by this collection, I can’t help but cry.”
It’s not easy to preserve and maintain the 404 pieces in the collection worth over R50 million (almost $5 million), but Vorster does what she can on a tight budget. One of her big headaches is money. She has to fundraise internationally, as no local donations can be accepted. The rule of the Constitutional Court is that South Africans can’t sponsor the art collection for fear that it will be seen as a potential conflict of interest. Apart from its first artwork which was bought for R10,000 ($1,000) by Justices Albie Sachs and Yvonne Mokgoro, every other artwork has been donated. Vorster hopes to preserve and let it interact more with the public, if new funders can be found.
It hasn’t stopped Vorster from trying to shake things up.
“I am the only curator on the project. Most collections this size, in terms of international standards, would have at least two full time people looking after them… One of my concerns about the collection is that we don’t have enough artworks made by women. We also don’t have enough artworks that speak of women’s issues. As a collection that speaks to the identity of a nation and its journey to a nascent democracy, it’s important to me that it is representative of a variety of views… Little did everyone know that I am here to cause trouble; a curator as a trouble-maker is an idea that interests me. It’s not a job of simply putting objects into a room. We are here to ask questions and stimulate dialogue. Art is a powerful tool for change,” she says.
By the time we leave the gallery, it’s dark outside. Vorster prepares to meet a group of American tourists, here to see the collection, after hours.
“I see the collection through other people’s eyes and I feed off of it.”

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The Curator Who Made Them Cry

Thanks to Gravity, Sandra Bullock earned more than any other actress this year. On paper, the movie Gravity seemed like a crazy risk. The effects-heavy movie cost upward of $100 million to produce and instead of comic book heroes duking it out, the film featured one woman floating in space for the entire 90-minute running time.
Despite the odds, Gravity turned out to be one of the highest-grossing movies of 2013 bringing in $716 million at the global box office. The film was the rare commercial and critical success. Gravity earned 10 Oscar nominations and won seven gold statues.
Bullock didn’t win for Best Actress this year (though she did in 2010 for The Blind Side) but she did walk away with a ton of money. Thanks mostly to Gravity, Bullock tops our 2014 list of the highest-earnings actress with an estimated $51 million between June 2013 and June 2014.
Despite Bullock’s impressive showing, women are still earning less than men in Hollywood. Our 10 top earning actors brought in a combined $419 million during our time frame while the top 10 actresses brought in just a little over half of that — $226 million.
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Hopefully the women on our list can start to change that as female-led blockbusters bring in just as much money as action films starring men.
The fact that The Hunger Games franchise stars a woman hasn’t stopped fans from spending millions of dollars on the movies. Star Jennifer Lawrence earned less than $1 million upfront for the first movie. Now she’s in a position to demand top dollar for future Hunger Games movies as well as a share of the backend.
We estimate Lawrence earned $34 million between June 2013 and June 2014 ranking her second on our earnings list. Lawrence ranked 12th overall on our Celebrity 100 list which measures a mix of earnings and fame.
To come up with our earnings estimates, we talked to agents, producers, lawyers and other in-the-know folks to figure out how much each celebrity earned from entertainment-related work during our 12-month time period. We didn’t deduct for taxes, agent fees or the other costs of being a celebrity.
Ranking third on our list is Jennifer Aniston with $31 million. Thanks to Friends and her endorsement work for products like Aveeno, Aniston can be choosy about her film projects. Lately she’s focused on smaller-budgeted comedies like We’re The Millers and Horrible Bosses. Aniston is usually willing to cut her upfront pay for these movies in return for a chunk of the profits. It’s a strategy that’s paying off. Aniston should continue her streak with Horrible Bosses 2, scheduled to hit theaters in November.
With an estimated $19 million in earnings, Gwyneth Paltrow ranks fourth on our earnings list. Though she doesn’t come close to earning Robert Downey Jr. money, the star’s work in Iron Man 3 helped land her high on our list. Paltrow also earns big endorsing Max Factor makeup and Hugo Boss.
Last year’s top earning actress, Angelina Jolie, ties for fifth place on our list with Cameron Diaz. Each actress earned an estimated $18 million last year. In 2013, Jolie earned an estimated $33 million. She earned less for our latest list because we had credited her with her large upfront payment for Maleficent last year. She’ll earn more next year thanks to her profit participation on the Disney film which has earned more than $700 million at the box office so far. She’s also well positioned for some kind of Oscar love. Unbroken, which Jolie directed, hits theaters this Christmas.

Sandra Bullock Tops Forbes’ List Of Highest Earning Actresses With $51 million

The state memorial service held in the driving rain for Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg drew the eyes of the world. There were thousands of South Africans and more than 91 heads of state. It also drew droves of journalists, with superzoom lenses, all vying for the picture of the day.
It was an odd image that attracted headlines; three world leaders messing around on a smartphone. I believe the saying, the camera never lies, is misconstrued and this image shows how pictures are all about perception.
The moment revolved around a selfie taken by United States president Barack Obama with Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and British prime minister David Cameron. On the social media side, people thought Michelle Obama, in the background, looked jealous of the Danish head of state; there was even talk of a split.
AFP’s Roberto Schmidt, the man who took the picture, has a different story to tell.
“I later read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved on seeing the Danish prime minister take the picture. But photos can lie. In reality, just a few seconds earlier the first lady was herself joking with those around her, Cameron and Schmidt included. Her stern look was captured by chance,” Schmidt writes on his blog.
My view is the context is just as important as the image. People at home read far too much into Michelle’s face. In the picture, she comes across as a distant wife, cold towards the fun. It is an easy assumption to make from the comfort of a couch.
Most of the time, wire photographers write generic captions and send through their photos in bulk to put on mass-media sites. Editors, hundreds of kilometers away, then choose a photo from the event. Sometimes, this leads to people losing the essence and taking the image on face value.
The caption for this image does not explain what Schmidt thinks Michelle is doing, leaving it for the reader to guess. This leaves the picture open to interpretation. For all the reader knows, Michelle could have merely been cold and wet in the rain.
The reality was, as the photographer bears, that Michelle was not distant at all; though the image alluded to this.
This is a classic case of how a photograph can mislead and also shows the importance to gathering the context of the image.   FL

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That Split Second Selfie

He’s the elder statesman of golf in South Africa who fought his way up from nothing. He has 165 worldwide tournament victories, including nine major championships. The man they call the Black Knight, who has gained so much from the game, now wants to give back.
At the Zimbali Country Club in KwaZulu Natal, where he was host to the Gary Player Invitational in November, 2012, Player, 78, talks about his round the previous day.
“Yesterday, I spent the day with this young boy with lupus and I changed his life, but he also changed my life. He was smiling throughout and I thought to myself, ‘Here’s a guy who could die any minute,’ yet he was smiling the whole way. The problems you think you have are not really that bad and that brings things into reality,” says the legendary golfer.
Player started out as a poor kid in Booysens, south of Johannesburg, who began playing golf at the nearby South Downs Country Club. Later, he began dating the daughter of the greenskeeper and today they have 21 grandchildren.
“Gratitude is the mother of all attributes. When I check out of a hotel these days, I say thank you for the bath, toilet and the bed because most people in the world don’t have those things. The sense of entitlement is something we have to be very careful of in the world we live in today. Nobody’s entitled to anything. You have to go and work for it and earn it.
“Thank goodness I was a very poor boy and… I really struggled. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. That’s the reason I became a world champion. So many people have so much ability and never become world champions because they’ve never had to really endure any real adversity,” he says.
When Player completed the grand slam, all four grand slam titles, by winning the US Open in 1965, he famously gave his winner’s cheque back to the organizers, saying it should go to cancer research and the development of junior golf programs by the United States Golf Association. As his regular playing career came to an end, he formed the Player Foundation, which has raised more than $50 million to help alleviate poverty globally.
“At my age, to get on a plane and fly to China, India, Dubai, America, Europe and then to South Africa is not easy. Every time I do that, I seem to get invigorated when I see what’s happening. I go to India and I do a golf clinic with 300 young Indians. You go to China and—with Coca-Cola being this phenomenal sponsor—you raise 20 million RMB ($3,2 million) for children with AIDS, and you see these kids with no mother and father; and they’re living with their grandfather. You see things that are so sad and you are able to help them in their lives. It’s very gratifying,” he says.
“That’s why golf and golfers are the greatest catalyst for raising money. The American PGA tour will have raised $2 billion by 2014—more than any other team sports put together. Most pro golfers have a charity and are giving back, and I think this is fantastic.”
While Player’s major wins account for a large portion of South Africa’s major tally, the Rainbow Nation has experienced a surge in victories post-1992. South African golfers have won nine majors since then, including a major in 2012, 2011 and 2010. Player puts this dominance on the world stage down to structures in South Africa.
“South Africa is remarkable for a small country. We’ve won more major championships than any country post-war; other than the United States. We have a lot of golf academies. I have the Gary Player Golf academy at the World of Golf in Johannesburg, we have Ernie Els’ academy and we have Louis Oosthuizen who has started one now. Sally Little is trying to get things going for the ladies,” he says.
“We have the right system here; we have the right climate and the right golf courses. Our guys have done so well and they’re great ambassadors for our country… Golf is played in almost every country I know; so the coverage we are getting is fantastic.”
As for the performances of South African golfers in 2012, Player said he was pleased in particular with Ernie Els’ win at the Open.
He noted in particular the way the golfer known as ‘The Big Easy’ played the 72nd hole, which he birdied to ultimately seal the win over Australian Adam Scott.
“Watching the British Open was interesting. He came to the last hole and his course management was brilliant. Ernie said to himself, ‘If I birdie this hole, I have an outside chance of winning.’ And that’s just what he did.”
Player has often been asked what his greatest achievement in the game is and he always gives the same answer.
“Winning the grand slam as a senior… There are five of us that won the grand slam on the regular tour, but I’m the only one that’s won the grand slam on the senior tour. No rugby player, no cricket player, no tennis player, no other sportsman is playing their sport at that age with any success. It is a bit easier to do that in golf than other sports, but to go there after 50 and win the senior grand slam; that is my great joy. I never take that for granted. It’s a gift from the man above.”
Player will be remembered for his majors; he may want to be remembered for his charity, but there is no doubt he will leave behind a legacy as a humble boy from Booysens who took on the world and won.   FL

2013 Gary Player Invitational: Pro-Am

The Poor Boy  Who Became  The Black Knight

Winnifred Selby was only 17 when she founded Afrocentric Bamboo Limited in Ghana, to make bikes out of bamboo. As its 19-year-old CEO, she now manufactures and sells her eco-friendly, socially-relevant products in the UK, US, the Netherlands and the rest of Africa.
We meet her in Johannesburg, where she is a finalist for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. For a person who completed high school only last year, her confidence is unbelievable. The numbers roll off her tongue.
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“I employ 42 girls, have sold 2,000 bikes and have impacted over 2,000 people. I am proud of what I have achieved.”
Wearing an African print dress and beaded jewelry, her body language – and corporate speak – could well be that of a businesswoman in her 30s. She says she has been an entrepreneur since the age of six.
“It’s in my DNA, being able to see a problem and find a solution for it. When I was young, we were very poor, and my mother had no food to give me or my four siblings. I had to devise ways to make money.”
Pain made her creative. “The kids in class would be eating and I would cry. When my friend’s mother gave me money to eat, I thought I should do something with it. I kept it safe in a small box, and kept adding to it, by selling toffees,” says Selby.  In 2005, she happened to hear about the designer Craig Calfee in the United States, who came up with the idea of using bamboo to make errand bikes. Bamboo is ubiquitous in Ghana, and Selby had her light bulb moment.
“I would see girls walking eight kilometers to school, and thought why not empower them? When I started making the bikes, people asked if I was in the right frame of mind.”
She embarked on the business with $5,000 from her savings. Today, she has her own bamboo plantation and sells 100 bikes a month. In the international market, they fetch her $350 apiece. While the frame is bamboo, she imports the metal spare parts for the bikes from China.
“I realize I am impacting my generation. We women can do more no matter what our age.” Right now, she has some turning 20 to do.
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Unable to focus your mind on the jobs at hand? Not able to fully savor the present? Fret not. The Mindful Revolution, which is becoming popular the world-over and is now gaining ground in South Africa, might be the answer.
“Stress causes an escalation of self-doubt, and many women then turn to maladaptive ways of coping. Our aim with introducing mindfulness includes exploring and demonstrating how to develop skilful acceptance of whatever is arising at the present moment; settling the habitually-distracted mind; and dispeling the myth that we always have to get it ‘right’ or ‘perfect’,” says Capetonian Zo Hoka Dashati, a practitioner who imparts mindfulness, particularly for women in the corporate sector.
The long-term goals of this practice include higher emotional intelligence, improved attention and focus with an attitude of acceptance and greater levels of compassion at work for self and others.
“Our approach is a radical departure – we are not striving, seeking goals or new preferred states. Instead, we are profoundly doing the opposite – we are allowing ourselves to be where we are – resilient and flexible, even when the present moment is uncomfortable,” says Dashati, whose own first experience of a stress-reduction program in the workplace came courtesy of weekly-seated massages at her office in London ten years ago.
“The clear benefits of these mini-treatments eventually inspired me to learn more about the body’s self-healing capabilities.” In the years since, learning and sharing mindful techniques have become Dashati’s quest.
“We are often like headless chickens, we are not connected to our bodies. Our breath allows us to connect with our bellies and bodies. Say yes to now!” she says.

The Eco-Princess

Tim McCollum and the rest of the staff at Madécasse have an unusual way of measuring the success of their company.
“People who work with us in Madagascar weigh more than when we first started. Every time we go back, we notice that they have put on weight.”
In Madagascar, where 90% of the population live on less than $2 a day, only those with a decent income are able to afford to eat properly. The roughly 100 farmers who supply Madécasse with cocoa beans all have a stable contract and the security of knowing what they will earn each month, and so can feed themselves fairly well.
Their raw product is used to make chocolate that Wine Spectator called very high quality, and left the New York Times awestruck. The bars are different to any others not just because of their flavor and quality but because Madécasse oversees the process from start to finish. They are one of the only companies in Africa—where 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from but only 1% of chocolate is made—to do that.
Africa is the place where resources are often obtained but the continent seldom benefits from the finished product. McCollum and Brent Beach wanted to change that because they genuinely cared about Madagascar, having spent 10 years there as Peace Corps volunteers. They also knew that they could create something that would become a market leader.
“It’s really hard not to make good chocolate when you have the best source. The source is the cocoa beans and 80% of the flavor of the chocolate is in the cocoa beans,” says McCollum.
Madagascan cocoa is widely accepted as being a class above the rest simply because of its genetic variety. That fact was the start, realizing Madagascar’s potential was the next step.
Few people really know about Madagascar and McCollum and Beach were no different. When they were assigned there in 1998, they only had an inkling about where it was.
“It was before the internet and when I was told that was where I was being posted I wondered if it was the big island off the coast of Africa but I wasn’t sure,” says McCollum.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31343 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/18-3farmers_gathering-300x201.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="201" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/18-3farmers_gathering-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/18-3farmers_gathering-600x403.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/18-3farmers_gathering-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/18-3farmers_gathering.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Minimal information meant that they went to Madagascar without expectation and so, allowed themselves to become absorbed in the experience.
“It was not like we were businessmen or diplomats; we were living in remote villages. People wondered, ‘Who is this white guy? Why doesn’t he wear sunglasses? Why is he buying tomatoes in the market?’ Slowly, we learned the local dialect and we gained acceptance and it was not long before they were calling us their children.”
It was there that the idea to start a complete chocolate making company was born, even though it seemed improbable.
“The beauty of innovation is that there is very fine line between what separates a good idea from an insane one. If we had looked at it on paper, we wouldn’t have done it. We knew it had never been done before and we knew it could be done,” says McCollum.
The actual chocolate making process was something they had to do a fair amount of Google searches on, but the mechanics of the job are not all that complicated. In fact, it is something a lot of us would like to do.
“It’s about developing a good palette. We had a lot of well-wishers and assistance, like the head of research and development of Mars. People who knew a lot more about chocolate than we did lined up behind us. They received our sample batches and gave us a lot of constructive feedback,” says Beach.
The team faced two major challenges in their endeavour, which sometimes continue to test them.
“Infrastructure is a major problem. The roads are bad and there is limited internet and phone access. And then there is a knowledge gap between what the American consumer wants and what the farmers produce. We are getting them to see the importance of consistency and protocol. The quality is there but it’s important to be consistent because that creates that nuanced flavor and that someone 8,000 miles away will pick up,” says Beach.
Education is an important part of the process. Each time McCollum and Beach go back to Madagascar they take an assortment of chocolate with them and have a tasting session with the chocolate makers on site.
“Everyone can taste the difference in our product,” says Beach.
To have such belief in the product signals a marked difference in attitude from when they first addressed a semi-circle of eight to 10 employees with their idea. They all took half a step backwards, presumably in disbelief at what they were being told.
Now, even things which were never done previously have been achieved with success. Making the actual chocolate and the packaging are two such activities.
“We taught villagers how to make chocolate. We also had to look at printing for the Western world because what the local printing press could do was of varying quality,” says McCollum.
Sometimes the uniformity dips but Madécasse has established itself as a company that can deliver an excellent product, all of the time. By doing that, they won over American consumers and credit them with driving their success. They also sell in over 2,000 stores across Europe and the United States and their chocolate is available throughout South Africa and Kenya.
While the product is spreading, the company does not have a big marketing budget and has no advertising at all. Instead, they rely on word of mouth, the quality of their product and the story behind it and through that they have become a known brand.
“People are interested in buying fairtrade products and ours is four times as good because the entire process happens in Madagascar,” McCollum says.
As a result Madécasse’s sales have doubled every year since they have started and the benefit is visible in the place they most wanted it to be.
“There is a noticeable change in the way the people we work with live. There are very few places for people to work in a formal sector in Madagascar and these people have that. They have security.”
They also have healthier bodies, ironically from being involved with chocolate.   FL

Sea-Salt-Nibs

The Sweet life On An African Island

David Gresham was the X-ray mechanic who interviewed John Lennon. He loved music and wrote songs but no one wanted to sing them.
One night, Gresham sat down in a tiny hall in Sandton, in Johannesburg, and found the solution to his problems singing Gaelic folk in front of 400 people. The singer was Sean Rennie, also a professional footballer and triple black belt karate fighter.
Months later, the struggling Gresham persuaded Rennie to record the song I’ll Walk With You. The song went on to reach the top 10 chart in South Africa. That success meant Gresham’s fledgling record company is still running 43 years later. In return, Rennie earned a little spot in South African history.
In September, Gresham honored the man who took a chance with his song.
“You know, that was the first time I was in a studio. I was so intimidated,” says Rennie.
“Really? But you recorded so well. I didn’t notice at all,” says Gresham.
According to Gresham, I’ll Walk With You was recorded in one of the cheapest and dingiest studios in Johannesburg. It cost the duo $1.50 per hour. In 1970, this money was half of Gresham’s monthly mortgage.
Gresham was a radio DJ and a composer. He desperately wanted to be an entrepreneur in music.
“I was always listening to music. When I was supposed to be learning how to fix medical machines, my desk was full of radios I had built instead. People kept shouting at me to turn it off. I couldn’t,” says Gresham.
Gresham got his foot in the door by landing a job as a sound editor. When he was 26, he chanced upon the editors of LM Radio, the famous pop station in Mozambique, at a jazz concert in Swaziland. In his young days he interviewed the likes of Ringo Starr, Tom Jones, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Kenny Rogers, Engelbert Humperdinck and The Bee Gees.
In 1969, Gresham went to London to hunt down John Lennon. Lennon had been banned from South African radio after he was quoted saying that ‘the Beatles were bigger than Jesus’. Gresham tracked Lennon down at Apple Studios in London.
“Let me tell all Springbok Radio listeners, I am a follower of Christ and that’s it. And I would like to apologize to anybody who was offended,” said Lennon.
Springbok Radio refused to play their songs.
In 1964, Rennie, who was born in Dublin, came to South Africa from Belfast’s Crusaders Football Club to play professional football for Johannesburg’s Southern Suburbs. At the dawn of television in South Africa, Rennie hosted a folk song show. The 72 year old cringes at the memory of being on TV.  While living in South Africa for over 30 years, Rennie sang part-time, became a general manager in the motor industry, and gave up football to compete in dojos.
“In the off-season I joined a karate dojo, and I’m now a level three black belt… I thought to myself ‘I would rather participate on a karate floor’. Been in three tournaments, been disqualified twice,” he says.
Rennie is unwilling to give the reason for being disqualified but he does admit to running on the wrong side of the law as a teenager in Ireland.
“Every now and again you had to run away from the cops with their dogs. I remember playing with a band, The Cyclones, in Belfast. The lead singer, Jim Armstrong, ended up being voted the best guitarist in the American West Coast. We were walking home and it started to snow. We were suddenly confronted with two policemen and their dogs. It was a stand-up [fight]. It wasn’t easy to live under those conditions. But it prepares you heavily,” says Rennie.
Unlike many musicians who get tired of singing their hits, Rennie and Gresham still relish the sounds of I’ll Walk With You.
Rennie quips that the last time he sang the song was two weeks ago while alone in his house, in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, followed by a few of his other hits. He’s not shy to belt out the vocals either; he says he has no problem pulling out his guitar to satisfy a spontaneous request, be it in a bar, the changeroom or a party.
As entrepreneurs who have been in the business for more than 45 years, it’s unusual for them to be so cheerful, especially after they took a chance in the often messy world of music. It’s even more unusual that they are still friends after all these years.   FL

IMG_3002

You Sing It, I’ll Sell It. we hope!

How did your journey into fashion begin?
I never was one of those kids who grew up dreaming of becoming a fashion designer. Those would be fancy dreams for a kid in Cameroon. However, I always had deep interests in fashion but it came to a point where I wanted to be more active in the fashion scene. When I moved to the United States and started struggling with identifying myself, my first refuge was to be able to do so through fashion.
In the summer of 2009, I traveled to Cameroon and came up with method of modernizing the traditional regalia of my home town. This led to me creating a little black dress with the toghu embroidery over it. The toghu is an intricate and colorful embroidery done on garments worn by the royalty and on special occasions by the Tikar and Bamileke people of the Northwest and Western regions of Cameroon. This dress became a hit when I wore it and several people asked me about it. They then asked me to make it for them. Before long, I had done a handful of pieces which I loved and eventually decided to transport my creativity into a more formal venture.
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What are some of your career highlights?
Being nominated under the category Emerging Designer of the Year 2013 by Africa Fashion International Awards was really an amazing moment for me. I felt like I am doing something right and it is being recognized. Also, I had Precious Moloi-Motsepe wear my dress in 2012 and she totally loved it.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31338" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5379_Kibonen-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5379_Kibonen-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5379_Kibonen-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5379_Kibonen-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5379_Kibonen-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5379_Kibonen.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31336" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5213_Kibonen-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5213_Kibonen-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5213_Kibonen-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5213_Kibonen-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5213_Kibonen-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5213_Kibonen.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
What’s the philosophy behind the
KibonenNY brand?
I am very passionate about soft transportation of culture as well as ethical fashion. To me, modernizing the traditional Cameroonian toghu in its finest form so that it appeals to a wide range of consumers is key. Staying true to my dream of creating jobs for the people in Cameroon is very important to me hence KibonenNY is an ethical fashion brand. Cameroon is a country with abundant talent, unbelievable design aesthetics, amazing and beautiful people, yet over 49% of the population live below the poverty line. This urged the formation of my brand, using the business of fashion to help create employment in Cameroon.
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Where do you draw inspiration for your collections?
Different events in life and natural happenings help me get inspiration as well as visiting different parts of the world. When I am in a new place, the first thing I start doing is thinking of what aspects of their culture I can get and add to my work.
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What can be done to improve the local fashion industry?
The fashion industry needs schools. Young people have to be trained in these fields. I should have studied fashion in college but we do not have those facilities in Cameroon. Today, after a few years in fashion, I decided to go back to the Art Institute of New York City to get a deeper knowledge of how the industry really works. You can start fashion as a hobby but when money has to be really made it has to be done right. Right now, my team and I started a non-profit Cameroon Fashion Association of America which is helping with a couple of projects to develop fashion in Cameroon.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31337" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5342_Kibonen-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5342_Kibonen-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5342_Kibonen-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5342_Kibonen-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5342_Kibonen-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_5342_Kibonen.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
Having lived in New York, how
different are the industries compared to your home country?
I do not think we have a fashion industry in Cameroon. It is still at its early growth stage. However, the industry in South Africa has really grown, the very high standards provide a conducive environment for the designers to grow. In New York, where I live, the competition is very intense. The gap between emerging designers and established designers is too great. However it forces you to raise your bar and work really hard, which I love.
&nbsp;
What can we expect from KibonenNY in the year ahead?
Loads of great things and I am excited. We are finalizing negotiations with some stores in South Africa who will be carrying our brand in 2014. Also we are looking at getting financing and more staff on board.

Kibonen

Culture, Ethics and a Needle

How did your journey into fashion begin?
Whilst working for Telkom I began designing and making dresses for myself and soon built a loyal client base. I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of my dressmaking, I then decided to study and in 1997 enrolled at Natal Technikon for fashion. In my first year at Natal Tech I won my first award, the Du Pont Lycra Award which included a trip to Paris. In my third year, I won the Rothman’s July Young Designer Award. After completing my third year, I entered the M-Net Anglo Gold Africa Designs competition. I was one of the winners and part of the prize was a trip to New York where I got to showcase my range at the New York Fashion Week in 2000. Having my range showcased at the New York Fashion Week opened the door for me to be able to enter and showcase my designs at the SA Fashion Week.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31331" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2385_BongiweWalaza.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31332" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2458_BongiweWalaza.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
&nbsp;
Where would you be if it wasn’t for fashion?
If it wasn’t for fashion, I think I would be a social worker or a church worker.
&nbsp;
Item of clothing every man/woman should splurge on?
An item of clothing I think every woman should splurge on is a 50’s flared, knee length summer dress, with a defined waist line. It’s an all-time classic. Much like the one attached.
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Your inspiration comes from?
I’m always inspired by the Sishweshwe prints I use and universal trends mixed with my perceptions of what’s around me and my original background.
&nbsp;
Your best and worst fashion buy?
Animale, an international clothing brand launched in the early 70s, is my personal style so all my purchases from them are best buys. Also a handmade shoe that I bought from San Marina in Sandton, I really love that shoe. I really can’t think of a worst buy right now because I’m generally so picky when buying things I rarely buy things I don’t like whole-heartedly.
&nbsp;
How would you describe your label?
I would describe it as individualistic, with an afro touch and global appeal. It embraces femininity and it’s for the non-conformist and unconventional woman who knows no boundaries when it comes to going places. It is characterized by significance, timelessness and elegance.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31328" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2657_BongiweWalaza.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31329" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_2718_BongiweWalaza_w386_h580.jpg 386w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
What would your ultimate
achievement be?
My ultimate achievement would be having my brand being sought after globally.
&nbsp;
Career highlight?
I get to travel the world.
&nbsp;
How long did your MBFWA collection take to put together?
It took me something like two months to put my collection together for the MBFWA.

Bongiwe Walaza

The Non-conformist Who Wanted To Work At A Church

<h4> How did your journey into fashion begin?</h4>
My career famously began in 2008 when I debuted my designs for both women and men under the brand name Sheria Na Mavazi in Mysore, India. In 2009, I launched my first professional collection under my own name Sheria Ngowi Designs. The collection was a dedication to my late father who was the driving force behind my love for fashion. I decided to focus on one gender at a time to ensure that I put my all into each of the collections and the women’s collection is on the way.
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<h4>Where would you be if it wasn’t for fashion?</h4>
Before I came back to the fashion business, I was studying law in India. But I never practised law. I have always loved being involved in the fashion industry but my dad wanted me to study law. You know there is this thing about most of our African parents. My dad wanted me to go into fashion, but after my law studies.
&nbsp;
<h4>Your inspiration comes from?</h4>
So many sources, but it primarily comes from my late father who was an incredibly stylish man. It often evolves out of seeing a single button, fabric or trimming which triggers an idea for a design. I never spend a lot of time stressing about what sort of theme one of my collections is going to have. The ideas are always there and ready to flow when I start sketching. My favorite and most inspirational period is the early twentieth century. It was such a pivotal time in all the arts from painting to architecture. Illustration, photography and film were all breaking new ground. It was a period when artists and designers were concerning themselves with and influencing all aspects of daily life, from interior decorating to fashion. I love that period.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31322" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1498_SheriaNgowi-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1498_SheriaNgowi-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1498_SheriaNgowi-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1498_SheriaNgowi-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1498_SheriaNgowi-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1498_SheriaNgowi.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31324" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1447_SheriaNgowi-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1447_SheriaNgowi-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1447_SheriaNgowi-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1447_SheriaNgowi-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1447_SheriaNgowi-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1447_SheriaNgowi.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31323" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1464_SheriaNgowi-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1464_SheriaNgowi-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1464_SheriaNgowi-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1464_SheriaNgowi-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1464_SheriaNgowi-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1310_MBFWA_SDR_1464_SheriaNgowi.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
<h4>Your best and worst fashion buy?</h4>
Worst fashion buy would probably be pocket squares with all-white instead of going with some color which is totally unacceptable. Because pocket squares direct everyone’s eyes to your chest, not your stomach. Pocket squares are meant to complement, not match. Best fashion buys would have to be: Saint Laurent straight-leg jeans, everyone knows that a good wardrobe is built on a solid foundation of staple pieces, and one of the most important of those sartorial essentials is denim; Thom Browne round-frame optical glasses; Alexander McQueen bi-color monk strap shoes; men’s fragrance, Tom Ford’s Oud Wood.
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<h4>What would your ultimate achievement be?</h4>
Opening a flagship store along Savile Row, right beside the most reputable tailors in the world.
&nbsp;
<h4>Career highlight?</h4>
As soon as I was officially announced as the official
designer for Tanzania’s men’s football team suits in 2013.
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<h4>How long did your 2013 Mercedes benz fashion week africa (MBWFA) collection take to put together?</h4>
It took three months to put together. The first time I saw everything put together I finally said, ‘Oh my God, it works!’ Because it has been a long process, when it is finished you think, ‘Finally, it is done!’

Sheria Ngowi

Ditching Law for Style

Paddling through sewage and fending off angry gun wielding fishermen is just another day for Nkosi Mzolo and the rest of the Soweto Canoe &amp; Recreation Club (SCARC). It is all part of a day’s training on the murky waters of the Power Park Dam in Soweto. It is the price they pay for the chance to win Africa’s most famous canoe race, the Dusi Canoe Marathon.
On any night, you will find these dreamers on the dam. Scholars, welders and clerks all paddle hard for the chance of a brighter future as a professional.
In February, 817 canoeists flocked to the Msunduzi River, which is nicknamed the Dusi, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is a 120-kilometer canoeist’s hell ride that sweeps paddlers from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on treacherous white water rapids. A race in freezing water and high temperatures, that forces you to run over jagged rocks while carrying a 20-kilogram canoe. Five hundred kilometers away, in the sludge, Soweto has its own challenges.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31317 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_8960.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“The conditions in Natal are a lot hotter. The river is very different from Johannesburg. You can go down the Jukskei but it’s totally different. The Dusi is rocky, but the Jukskei river is rockier. The [Dusi] rapids are bad, they have huge ones. We are willing to face stomach bugs to practice in Johannesburg’s river; the Dusi is cleaner,” says Mzolo.
Cholera, E. coli and bilharzia in the dirty dam are a mere occupational hazard for Mzolo. More worrying is the anger he faces from fishermen who cast their lines where Mzolo wants to launch his canoe.
“We had problems with some of them before. They come and drink and smoke drugs. Only recently have they started using it. The problem is their lines get in the way of the paddles. One guy got so angry he pulled a gun on one of our teenagers who had tangled his line by accident. We’ve been here for six years, can’t they respect our space?” says Mzolo.
The man, who spends every moment he can on the water, spends the rest of his time saving lives.  He has been a paramedic for five years, and is studying to be a doctor. The night before we spoke, he delivered a baby in Hillbrow, in the Johannesburg CBD.
In a previous Dusi race, Mzolo needed a medic of his own. A kilometer into the race, he hit the Ernie Pearce Weir, a three-meter watercourse that narrows. Usually people take it one-by-one, but those in the lead go down it like sardines, he says. This was where Mzolo ran into trouble. Crammed into the weir with six other canoes, Mzolo went under. Six more went over him. When he surfaced he knew two ribs were cracked. He forfeited the race while in hospital.
“I’ll never miss a Dusi, its fun but it’s really hard,” he says.
This time next year, many more hopefuls will be paddling through the sludge of Soweto for the slim hope for glory.

Dusi Marathon

Paddling Through  Sewage And facing Guns

<h3> The Famous Face</h3>
<h3>Zoleka Mandela</h3>
<h3>Age: 34</h3>
“The suspicion was there. It was nine months after I lost my son. It was on the 15th of March 2012,” says Zoleka Mandela as she tries on her dress for this photoshoot.
Despite her famous name, Mandela has been through a lot. Her diagnosis came after a string of personal tragedies including the death of her daughter during the 2010 World Cup followed by drug and alcohol addiction.
The day she got the news, she was surrounded by family. “My father’s older sister had died from breast cancer. So I thought I was going to die,” says Mandela. Recalling her aunt’s experience with the disease, she chose to remove her left breast. She has since gone through reconstructive surgery.
Mandela considers her scars ‘battle wounds’. She says: “I’m not too concerned about my scars. If anything, the breast cancer I felt would have robbed me of being a mother again.” Five months ago, she did become a mother – again. However, because of the surgery, she could no longer breast-feed. This, she says, is what pains her the most.
Mandela’s book When Hope Whispers chronicles her battle with breast cancer.
On these pages are clothes from David Tlale’s Pink Collection. “Purely a celebration of life, it was conceptualized when we [the brand] were celebrating our 10th anniversary. Our focus for the collection was celebrating femininity, the beauty of a woman across color and job description,” says Tlale’s manager Thapelo Ramalope, who put it together.
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<h3>The Mother</h3>
<h3>Hazel Pieterse</h3>
<h3>Age: 44</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29557 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-002-220x300.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-002-220x300.jpg 220w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-002-300x409.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-002-600x818.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-002-751x1024.jpg 751w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-002.jpg 750w" sizes="(max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" />
Hazel Pieterse lives in Klerksdorp, several hours’ drive from Johannesburg, and often leaves her home around 3AM to make her appointments at her clinic. She has recently undergone a full mastectomy. The mother of five says she’s fighting to stay alive for her children, especially her youngest who is just 10 years old.
Pieterse was diagnosed in November last year with an aggressive cancer in the breast and the lungs. “I am fine, I am strong,” she says. She credits her recovery to her family. A day after her breasts were removed, she became a grandmother for the first time.
Ever since she received the diagnosis, she’s been documenting her experiences in a journal which she carries with her everywhere.
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<h3></h3>
<h3>The migrant</h3>
<h3>Ida Ndlove</h3>
<h3>Age: 46</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29558 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-003-229x300.jpg" alt="" width="229" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-003-229x300.jpg 229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-003-300x393.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-003-600x786.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-003.jpg 620w" sizes="(max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px" />
Ida Ndlove is originally from Zimbabwe and was worried about her diagnosis because of this. She had no health insurance and her only option was public hospital. She eventually found her way to the Helen Joseph Breast Clinic in Johannesburg and her Zimbabwean identity did not hinder her treatment.
Ndlove, a domestic worker, initially found the commute from her home – quite a trek from the clinic – difficult especially on the days she had chemotherapy. However, her employer offered some relief by housing her and her husband for a month as she underwent treatment. “I started to feel better,” she recalls. The brief move also lifted her spirits, she says: “[The people where I stayed] were saying that you are going die.” She found a more positive environment there and around the women of the clinic.
Ndlove was diagnosed in December last year and has completed several cycles of chemotherapy as well as the removal of one of her breasts. She is currently undergoing radiation treatment.
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<h3>The Pillar</h3>
<h3>Elaine Harrington</h3>
<h3>Age: 58</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29559 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-004-229x300.jpg" alt="" width="229" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-004-229x300.jpg 229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-004-300x393.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-004-600x786.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-004.jpg 620w" sizes="(max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px" />
“It was only going to be the best,” says Elaine Harrington, all smiles after this photocall. The grandmother of ten was diagnosed two years ago, on the day of her wedding anniversary. And after receiving the grim news, she says she was at a loss.
“It only hit me when I walked out the door&#8230;[I thought] my family is not strong enough to handle this. I am the strong one in the family. Who am I going to tell?”
She had gone on holiday and returned to the difficult news. “My tumor went to 14cm, it was very long.” After sharing the news with her sister, Harrington made an important decision, “I decided that this is it and it was not going to get me down.” After rounds of grueling chemotherapy and an operation to remove one of her breasts, Harrington remains in remission.
She has remained very close to the Breast Clinic where she was diagnosed, sharing her strength and support with other women going through what she did. She is also contributing to the fight for a cure in other ways, making pink ribbons and trinkets to further the cause. Two of Harrington’s sisters have also been diagnosed with breast cancer and she thinks the most important part of recovery is having your family around you.
“It’s very important for your family to support you. Without that support, you can’t make it,” she says.
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<h3>The Young One</h3>
<h3>Motsedisi Mosia</h3>
<h3>Age: 24</h3>
Breast cancer is rare in women like Motsedisi Mosia. She is one of the younger breast cancer patients at the Helen Joseph Breast Clinic in Johannesburg.  When she received her diagnosis late last year, she was working as a waitress at a local restaurant. The news was unwelcome and unsettling.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29560 alignright" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-005-229x300.jpg" alt="" width="229" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-005-229x300.jpg 229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-005-300x393.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-005-600x786.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-005.jpg 620w" sizes="(max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px" />
She has since had both her breasts removed and has taken time off to recover. Her worries now turn to finding someone to settle down with. “I was worried that I am not going to date anyone anymore,” she says. Mosia’s breasts, to her, spelled out more than her femininity – they also pronounce her beauty. Now, post-op, she claims she really doesn’t feel beautiful any more.
However, she is being strong. Throughout the process, she has leaned on her sister, who she considers her best friend, for support. She hopes for more confidence and a return to the dating world after a breast reconstruction surgery.
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FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-018-022-Breast-cancer-001

TOGETHER WE OVERCOME

Joyce Banda is wearing a cheerful fuchsia-pink chitenge (African dress), but looks tired.
We meet her in a Johannesburg hotel, where she has been staying on the return leg of her six-week trip – the longest she has been away from Africa – to the United States (US).
“The last few weeks have been hectic,” says Banda, Malawi’s former president and Africa’s second female head of state.
In the US, she had been rubbing shoulders with Hillary Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, garnering support for the Joyce Banda Foundation, which she has been running on behalf of the women and children of Malawi for the last 16 years. In Johannesburg, she also met with Graça Machel, wife of the late Nelson Mandela, to discuss a maternal and child health program.
Back home, it was an equally hectic few months. In a year Malawi is celebrating 50 years of independence, the international press scrutinized it over a high-level graft scandal and chaotic elections.
Banda left Malawi a month after her country’s closely-contested – and controversial – May elections, which saw her and her People’s Party lose to Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Banda was president of the tiny aid-dependent southern African country – among the world’s poorest – for a brief two years, following the death in office of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika, the brother of the new president.
“I came into office at a very difficult time. The economy had almost collapsed, but in 24 months, I was able to turn [it] around,” says Banda.
Banda says Malawi’s economy grew from 1.8% in 2012 to 6.2% in 2014. She started well, winning accolades from the West for her economic reform plan and austerity measures, including the IMF-backed devaluation of the kwacha.
“What gives me pride is I left Malawi a better place than when I found it. When I came… we didn’t have fuel for a day, companies were scaling down… I had to work very quickly… By the time I was leaving statehouse, we had a harvest of 3.9 million metric tons. Companies were operating at 85%. We had a forex cover of three-and-a-half months [from a week]… We had fuel for 15 days at any given time… The one thing I wasn’t aware of when I came into office is there was so much corruption, and that corruption affects the gains you make.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29553 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-016-017-Joyce-Banda-001-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-016-017-Joyce-Banda-001-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-016-017-Joyce-Banda-001-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-016-017-Joyce-Banda-001-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-016-017-Joyce-Banda-001.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Banda claims she started the fight against corruption, revamping Malawi’s financial management system, which she says led to 68 arrests and 30 frozen accounts.
The corruption scandal, or Cashgate, saw senior government officials in Banda’s administration charged with misallocating funds. According to Baker Tilly, the British auditors hired by Banda with financial support from the British government, the state was defrauded of about $32 million, almost 1% of Malawi’s annual GDP, between April and September 2013.
But Banda says the financial system was abused by previous governments, dating back to 2001. She knew bringing it to light was not going to be easy.
“I was warned by colleagues across the continent it’s not easy to fight corruption… because you are fighting very powerful people who are benefitting from that kind of money, and if you are not careful, you will get smeared on, be fought through and through, dragged to the ground…,” says Banda.
“I decided to go back to 2010 and 2011, as I saw the benefit of us finding the truth, [as] that is the only way to move forward. The audit reports together with the K6 billion ($15 million) stolen while I was in office, and the K92 billion ($232 million) [from her predecessor’s time] are before parliament now. The good news is that the current president has also decided to go ahead with the fight against corruption,” says Banda. The May elections brought more grief.
In the aftermath of the polls, which she alleged were rigged, there was a point when she says she had to take responsibility, call for a recount, step aside from contesting, and concede defeat.
“People have asked me, why did you not contest, why did you concede, when the Electoral Commission had also announced there was rigging? I felt it was important for me to allow peace to prevail. I have always said Malawians come first, this was an opportunity for me to demonstrate that. Malawians must have a leader of their choice, but Malawians should also not shed blood. There is life after statehouse and so much more I can do. So I chose to concede, and have no regrets.”
The buzz in Malawi now is what’s next for Banda? Will she return to politics or philanthropy?
Banda says she will continue championing women’s rights not just in Malawi but across Africa, and since her arrival in Malawi, has been involved with projects through her foundation.
Questions abound about her political future.
“There is a sense of deja vu, with the forex situation worsening by the day, and the kwacha weakening against the dollar and other major trading currencies, many fear that a repeat of fuel shortages that characterized the DPP government may come again. That coupled with the failure to meet some campaign promises may push Joyce Banda’s popularity up,” says Mabvuto Banda, a Malawi-based journalist.
There has also been speculation she might be charged for Cashgate.
“Interestingly, the Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale [in August] lauded Joyce Banda for laying the foundation for the fight against Cashgate but he was quick to say more still needs to be done to effect more arrests. He also warned there will be no sacred cows, a statement that may have fueled speculation JB will not be left out,” says the reporter.
“Joyce Banda has a lot of powerful friends outside Malawi but it’s very difficult for me to see how she could be indicted when clearly many would interpret the indictment as trying to victimize her.”
“When you are innocent, when you are fighting for the people, prosecution does not matter,” Banda had said in Johannesburg, days before her return home.
“If I write a book about my life, it will be volumes and volumes. I want to write one book that [tells] any African woman reading it that [you] can be at the lowest in [your] life and bounce back. In my life, I have been down four times. Every woman who reads my book will know that when you fall, you get up, and run again.”

Tag: October 2014

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