John Rabie is the entrepreneur who transformed the way South Africans build houses. With humble beginnings, he is now known as the man who took 1.25 million square meters of marshy wasteland on the outskirts of Cape Town and turned it into the $1.95-billion Century City.
It’s hard to believe that this co-founder of the Rabie Property Group is the same humble man who was painting buildings in Sea Point 40 years ago, along with his longtime business partner, Leon Cohen.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2016/02/01/inside-house-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Inside The House Of The Future</a>
&#8220;I started as painter with Leon. We formed a painting business. We said to ourselves, ‘hang on a second, let&#8217;s start building’. In those days, there was plenty of land in the southern suburbs in Constantia,” says Rabie.
From his office in Cape Town’s foreshore, filled with memorabilia of his property developments and school photographs, you can see why Rabie has stood at the test of time.
“It took me 40 years. There is no instant gratification to wealth. Property development is not a one-day game, it’s a five-day game,” says Rabie, using cricket analogy. “It’s taking a view for the future. Because we build buildings not for five years but because we want to live in them for 10 or 20 years.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2014/05/01/selling-beer-rubbing-shoulders-richard-branson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: From Selling Beer To Rubbing Shoulders With Richard Branson</a>
Along with Century City, Rabie has been involved in other developments around Cape Town, including Marconi Beam, Westlake Estate, Royal Ascot and Big Bay.
Rabie is also responsible for cluster house developments. This started when Rabie didn&#8217;t have the capital to build the houses from scratch. Instead he came up with the idea of plot and plan, which allowed house hunters to pay a deposit on a plot of land for cheap and wait for Rabie to build it.
&#8220;In those days people bought their own little plots and then they built their houses. So we said ‘ok, we can build these houses on your plot for cheaper’. Then we said ‘hang on a minute, let’s take it to the next level’. We acquired five plots on Constantia, I think we paid R10,000 ($850) for a stand at the time – can you believe that, in Constantia of all places? We said ‘let&#8217;s build a house, finish it and furnish it and landscape it’.&#8221;
The idea took off in the 1980s and Rabie&#8217;s team was building five houses a month.  Soon it was building villages, over vast areas of Cape Town&#8217;s southern suburbs. It then moved on to show houses, giving buyers an idea of what the house would look like, right down to the kitchen sink.
&#8220;You know, what people struggle with is the design. How the house is going to look when the building is done, the vision. We had a beautiful brochure with eight or 10 designs, because the individual owned the plot we could sign a building contract and build that house that they chose.&#8221;
Back in his office, Rabie admits to being a hoarder. He has dozens of books with newspaper clippings and advertisements. It is a personal archive of 40 years of developing property. His proudest moment came in 2004, when he bought into a project that wanted to turn a marshy wasteland of 1.25 million square meters into a mini city.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2013/12/01/property-industry-shows-green-shoots/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Property industry shows some green shoots</a>
&#8220;The biggest boom to hit this country was in 2001 to 2007 – the world exploded. That was the biggest property boom we&#8217;d ever seen,&#8221; he says.
&#8220;It changed Rabie Property Group, because we now had a city.&#8221;
Fourteen years and an investment of more than $1.95 billion later, Century City has taken shape. These days it is a city-within-a-city; a place where one can work, live, shop and relax. The precinct hosts more than 500 businesses, 4,000 residential homes and is known for its clean and safe environment.
<div id="attachment_35845" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35845" class="wp-image-35845 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Century-City-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Century-City-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Century-City-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Century-City-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Century-City-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Century-City.jpg 1154w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The Apex forms the focal point of the new Century City Square in Cape Town. Photo supplied</div>
&#8220;The great thing about Century City is it&#8217;s like a jigsaw puzzle, as the markets change you can change it to have a bit more commercial, a bit more residential areas. When I go inside the conference center or along the canals, I have to pinch myself,&#8221; says Rabie.
One of the latest developments in Century City has been the introduction of a Marriott hotel, the signature brand of the world’s largest hotel group, Marriott International. This brand was ushered in through the recent conversion of the African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel to the Cape Town Marriott Hotel Crystal Towers.
“It’s extremely positive for Century City to showcase a global giant like Marriott. The credibility of the brand internationally adds gravitas to our tenant directory, and we will no doubt see many more visitors from around the world coming to Century City because of the presence of a hotel under this brand,” says Cohen.
By 2010, Rabie had thought he had done all he could do in property. He was traveling abroad when he noticed a trend of inner-city revival. He saw major cities, like Sydney, were rejuvenating derelict buildings in city centers and repurposing them for residential living.
He immediately thought Cape Town could do the same. So, he embarked on co-founding Signatura, the private label property company, to do just that.
&#8220;No one was thinking of inner-city revival at that time. It was going to be very important for Cape Town to have hospitality linked to residential – in other words, intertwined. Our first project was the Radisson. We converted the office into the hotel and put 175 apartments on top, but the apartments have the use of the hotel facilities, the gym etc. That was hugely successful,&#8221; says Rabie.
<div id="attachment_35846" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35846" class="size-medium wp-image-35846" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Radisson-Final-300x212.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="212" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Radisson-Final-300x212.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Radisson-Final-600x424.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Radisson-Final-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Radisson-Final-1024x724.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Radisson-Final.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Rabies ambitious Radisson development in Cape Town. Photo supplied.</div>
Signatura recently completed the upscaling of central city landmark, the Safmarine building. It was transformed into an ambitious $100-million residential and hotel development known as The Radisson Blu Hotel and Residence.
It caters to South Africa&#8217;s growing upper middle class who are eager for luxury living close to the city and the ocean. What stands out for Rabie is the way in which social media has changed the way people buy property.
&#8220;We used to have to put flags up on Sunday at 10 o&#8217;clock. We&#8217;d get dressed up in our work clothes. That’s how we did it. If you didn’t get people into show houses on a Sunday, you didn’t sell. With social media, it changed dramatically. You hardly see us advertising in the press anymore because social media is so incredibly strong. We get 10 to 15 leads every day from people on the internet wanting to know about our developments.&#8221;
In five years, Signatura has rejuvenated more than 20 buildings in and around Cape Town – achieving over $500 million in sales.
It seems Rabie made the right decision to give up painting houses to build them instead.

John-Rabie-online

From Painting Houses To Building A $1.95-Billion Development

Lot 234, the Preller, Space Angel, signed and dated ’71, oil and gesso on canvas.
“I have three million one hundred thousand. Three two, thank you. Three four, three five, six, seven, eight, nine, four million. Four million two hundred thousand with you, four million four, four six, yes, I saw that nod, go ahead, five. Now five two, five four, five six, I’m at the back of the room now, she’s got it at five eight, it is with you madam, at five million eight hundred thousand rand, at five eight, all done? This is fair warning, I’m going to sell it …”
Bang, goes his gavel on the desk. “Your number please?” asks auctioneer Dendy Easton in his plummy British accent. We are at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg on November 7, 2016.
It has taken one minute, 40 seconds for somebody to spend R5.8 million ($440,000) for Alexis Preller’s painting. There is scattered applause.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4643" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/original-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
“Lot 235, the Edoardo Villa …”
Bidding continues for nearly 300 lots until the final one, Lot 293, a Keith Alexander painting, goes for R360,000 ($27,000).
There is a lot of money in art, and a lot of it in this particular room. Here in Johannesburg, among these bidders, the South African economy looks pretty robust. Apartheid  marginalized South African artists, which means that collectors from China to New Zealand, America to Britain, South America to Europe, are now greedy for South African art. Greediest of all, it seems, are South Africans themselves. While the country’s economy may be stressed, the wealthy have cash for pretty things to hang on their walls. A lot of it.
Of course there are good artists in Africa. Some of the best from the continent are South African.
“The fact that there is so much money for art now is to some extent because we were marginalized. And our artists are good. Very good,” says Emma Bedford, Senior Art Specialist and a Director of Aspire Art Auctions.
“We have a history of good art schools in this country. The rest of Africa doesn’t,” interrupts Ruarc Peffers, the tall, suave and experienced auctioneer of Aspire, a brand new South African auction house that on Halloween night in Johannesburg sold over $2.2-million’s worth of South African art, at an auction a week before the big Strauss one. Discovery boss Adrian Gore is a major Aspire investor, as is Brian Joffe of Bidvest.
It’s a funny business, art collection and auctions.
Frank Kilbourn, Executive Chairman of the biggest and oldest South African auction house, Strauss &amp; Co, which sold the Preller mentioned above, tells me he is reluctant to tell people art is an investment. “But it is,” he adds. “If you bought South African art a decade or two or three ago, you have made a lot of money, or could make if you sell now.”
“The whole world is waking up to our art. It is reaching record prices. If you did invest, you made money. But that’s not what art is all about.”
It is about appreciation, culture, civilization, aesthetics, collecting, pride, knowledge, historicity, philosophy.
To show just how the market is booming, Kilbourn, who has separate degrees in law, commerce and philosophy, explains that three huge new galleries are being built in South Africa.
In Cape Town there is Zeitz MOCAA (Museum for Contemporary Art in Africa) at the Waterfront – old grain silos with a five-star hotel on top of an eight-story gallery; Javett is being built in Pretoria, in collaboration with the University of Pretoria, and the third is a private one being built at Steenberg in the Cape.
“This is a wonderful thing for the country, and for art,” Kilbourn, a collector himself, says with a happy smile. His team tell me I mustn’t fail to mention that their auction in Cape Town earlier this year realized $4.2 million, the second highest ever for an art auction. “And that’s in Cape Town!”
At the Strauss auction in Johannesburg exactly a week after Aspire’s auction, Kilbourn buys two paintings himself. One is an Erik Laubscher Still Life with Pumpkin Slice which was expected to reach R300,000 ($22,000) to R400,000 ($30,000).
At R400,000 the auctioneer pauses, Kilburn just nods, “420?” Easton looks around the room … “430!” he says triumphantly. There is another bidder, bidding against Kilburn. Now it is rapid fire from the auctioneer, finger pointing left then right, like watching tennis at Wimbledon: “440, 480; 500, 520; 550, 580; 600, 620; 650, 680; 700, 720; 750, 780; 800… 820. Fair warning… R820,000, I’m going to sell it, here in the second row.”
Bang goes Easton’s gavel. In half a minute, the price doubled.
While interviewing Kilbourn after the auction he greets somebody mischievously, giving him a big smile, asking “Were you the bastard pushing me up on the Laubscher? I thought you were my friend?”
Small auction rival Aspire has been in business since July this year. They are a chip off the older Strauss house, for which most of them worked. The four Aspire art specialists have qualifications in fine art, art history, art theory, criticism and curating.
Aspire Auctioneer Ruarc Peffers, a graduate of the famous Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town, tells me he has done “Oh, over 100 auctions” in his career, but the Johannesburg one was his first for Aspire. He describes how it is “left foot, right foot” stuff: the auctioneer must ensure he has the momentum on his side, as he goes up in about ten percent increases.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4642" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/22978_1-300x247.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="247" />
In South African law the auction house is allowed to bid, so one of the auctioneer’s tasks is to get the bid to a real bidder, not the house. There are a bunch of bidders on phones from New York, Australia, even New Zealand – and they are not ex-South Africans, he says. Plus there are internet bids being controlled by Aspire staff member Rafael Powell. Hunched over his computer, every now and then he lifts his bidding number to bid for somebody on the net, who is bidding from somewhere on the planet to get South African art.
If the reserve price is in the millions, the auctioneer goes up in hundreds of thousands.
Estimates in the catalogue usually have the reserve price as the bottom estimate. If that’s not reached, the item is not sold. Although the auctioneer ‘closes’ at say R450,000, if the ‘estimate’ was R500,000 to R1 million, the item is probably going to remain with its owner.
After the auction a lot of buying and selling activity takes place, people making offers, bringing down reserve prices, offering to buy an already bought item. Frenetic stuff for staff for the 24 hours after the final hammer falls.
I went to both auctions, a week apart, one by Strauss and one by Aspire.
Emma Bedford says: “Modernist artists on our sale who performed best included JH Pierneef, Hugo Naudé, Alexis Preller, Edoardo Villa, Erik Laubscher and Douglas Portway. But what really excited us was how well the contemporary artists did, many breaking records. Like photographers David Goldblatt and Pieter Hugo, as well as artists Peter Schütz, William Kentridge, Diane Victor and Athi-Patra Ruga.”
The top Preller on Aspire’s sale Profiled figures (Mirrored Images) reached $468,000 on the auction.
I ask the Aspire auctioneer: “Why don’t you say something about the painting during the auction? You only say ‘Lot 14, the Irma Stern. I have a bid of 500 (thousand)’ but nothing about the work?”
He says: “Bidders know the works, there were three days of viewing, they have the catalogue. And you only have about three minutes for each lot, otherwise ‘bidders’ fatigue’ sets in, and you don’t want that. We did 121 lots in two hours.”
At the Strauss auction, I realize how right he is. I find myself nodding off when we get to lots 260, 270, 280.
Lot 249, a Preller Woman with Red Hair goes for R2 million ($150,000) although it was expected to only reach R200,000 ($15000), and Lot 248, another Preller, Revelation which was expected to get R400,000 ($30,000) goes for R2.4 million ($180,000) to a telephone bidder. A tiny Preller painting, Ritual Bull, only 7.5cmx9cm, goes for R550,000 ($41,000).
Strangely enough, the real star of the Strauss auction, the so-called lost Preller Adam – a heavy piece of art the size of a big coffin, absolutely exquisite in my untutored opinion, goes for a bid of only R6 million ($450,000), a huge bargain. (Commission of about  $59,000 will be added to the price the bidder will actually pay.)
“This was the wrong audience for that work. It is a museum piece, not really for a public auction,” Kilburn shrugs and says. It was expected to reach $490,000 to $680,000.
This is a world of wealthy people, who acquire art to enjoy it on their walls, invest in it, and show it off. Their disposable income is serious money. Strange then, after watching these folk jump up bidding in hundreds of thousands of rands without blinking an eye, to hear them in the Wanderers’ parking lot debating whether to give the car guard a R5 coin or a R10 note.

Art For Art’s Sake – but give us your Cash

Next year marks the fifth anniversary of Ronald Harrison’s death. He was 71 when he succumbed to a heart attack, alone in the house of his niece, Desiree Phillips, in Mitchells Plain. His quiet death was a far cry from the noise his controversial painting caused almost 50 years before.
“We came home that evening and we found him lying on his bed,” says Phillips, who remembers June 28, 2011 like it was yesterday. “I thought he was sleeping, but when I went into the room, I realized that he had passed on. It was a great shock. We knew he was not always well. He had become weaker. The year before, my uncle had undergone cancer treatment, of which he recovered.”
While Harrison’s death left her family bereft, Phillips says that she is, to some extent, happy that her uncle died the way he did.
“He was not the type of person who wanted much attention, or to put anyone of us through any stress – for instance by running around and taking him to hospital,” she says. “I am sure that he died the way he wanted.”
When looking back, Harrison’s death seems to have gone largely unnoticed. Apart from various media outlets carrying the story and some civil society organizations expressing their sadness, there was not much commotion. Phillips is not bothered by this.
“My uncle was a proud man but very humble. He didn’t have the urge to be recognized or rewarded for what he did,” she says, referring to The Black Christ.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4510" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2000_323-the-black-christ-187x300.jpg" alt="" width="187" height="300" />
The oil painting, which has been described as one of the most profound and controversial paintings in South African history, depicts apartheid struggle hero, Albert Luthuli, as Jesus Christ and apartheid architect, Hendrik Verwoerd, and former justice minister, John Vorster, as Roman centurions.
“Ronnie was a great admirer of Chief Luthuli, who was banned after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960,” says the artist’s brother Desmond. “In his eyes, Verwoerd and Vorster had crucified Luthuli for his beliefs. That is where the idea for this piece came from.”
Desmond adds that while the family knew the artist was painting something interesting, they didn’t know what.
“In the beginning we didn’t know what Ronnie was up to. We were astounded when we saw the end result. My mother told him that he was going to be in a lot of trouble.”
A lot of trouble, indeed. Shortly after Harrison finished his painting, it was displayed at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Salt River, Cape Town. It didn’t take long before the security police got wind of it. The painting was then smuggled out of South Africa by anti-apartheid activists, after which it toured Europe for a while. In the process it raised significant sums of money for the International Defence and Aid Fund. Established in 1956 by John Collins, a priest from London, the fund covered the legal expenses of those accused of treason by the apartheid regime.
When the authorities realized the painting had left the country, they arrested the then 22-year-old Harrison. Days of interrogation and torture followed.
“I suffered the most severe humiliation and interrogation over a period of seven days,” Harrison told the BBC in 2004. “Everything that they say about those horrendous Nazi-style tactics is true. It’s just too humiliating to talk about.”
“My brother went through hell. He suffered a lot. Ronnie was mentally very strong, but never really recovered. Physically, he was never the same person again,” says Desmond.
Desmond believes his brother knew exactly what he was getting himself into when he started painting The Black Christ.
“It was his way of expressing his support for the oppressed, and raising his voice against the government at the time. Ronnie was a very peaceful person, and not up for violence. This was his way to contribute to the struggle.”
In his book, which carries the same name as his famous painting, Harrison explained that it was his fascination for Luthuli that drove him into the arms of the fight for freedom.
“I became obsessed with the idea of taking some constructive action in the liberation movement through the medium of my artistic talent. How could a government that professes to be Christian perpetrate such immoral deeds and inflict so much pain and suffering on its own countrymen simply because its supporters were of another race, another color, and another creed?”
As the painting toured Europe, Harrison and his family lost track of it.
“In Cape Town, we had no idea where the painting was and where it is was traveling. They didn’t want the security police to get hold of it,” says Desmond.
In the seventies, The Black Christ ended up in a basement in London.
“It survived a great deal, including flooding, which flooded many basements but not the one where the painting was kept. Eventually, Ronnie and The Black Christ were reunited in 1997. He managed to track it down via The Observer and then took it home with him,” says Desmond.
It was displayed at St Luke’s for a while, after which it was moved to the South African National Gallery in Cape Town.
While Harrison will always be remembered for The Black Christ, his name adorns many more paintings. Most of his pieces he painted as a teenager and adult were influenced by politics.
“He was inspired by icons who left their mark, like Mother Teresa, Thabo Mbeki’s mom, MaMbeki, Hector Pieterson, who was shot during the Soweto Uprising, and Nkosi [Johnson], the little boy who died of Aids,” says Phillips, adding that she doesn’t remember much of the The Black Christ controversy. “I was one year old at the time when he painted it, but I do remember how passionate he was about his art.”
“He started painting from a very young age. He must have been eight or nine years old, I think,” says Desmond. “He used to get my mom and dad to pose for him as his models. He really had a natural talent.”
Harrison fed his passion for the arts until the day he died.
“Before he passed on, he was busy with a series of six paintings. He finished the fifth one two days before he died. The sixth one, he never touched. We still have those pieces,” says Phillips.
Harrison’s family remember him for the role he played at home.
“He lived with us since my mom and dad got married, him and his mom,” she says. “He was a real father figure. I remember him as a very caring person, someone who always put other people’s needs ahead of his own. He never married, and looked after his mother until she died at the age of 90. That was the type of person he truly was,” says Phillips.
Harrison rests in peace at St Luke’s in Salt River, the same place the The Black Christ caused so much turmoil.

Pain And Torture  The Price Of  The Black Christ

Humans have been communicating with each other since time immemorial. Some of the earliest forms of exchanging information are cave paintings, oral storytelling, smoke signals and even the beating of drums.
The way we communicate has developed in leaps and bounds since those prehistoric days. Today, if you have something to say, the chances of a broken telephone scenario should be less likely.
As tools to communicate have modernized, so people have been able to connect more easily over longer distances. One of greatest instruments is social media, which has refashioned the way women connect and network with each other.
“I think the world of social media has been the greatest revolution, there’s no censorship, there’s no gatekeepers you join an online community and the networking occurs in that community. It’s one of the best things that has ever happened,” says Judi Nwokedi, who is member of the South African chapter of the International Women’s Forum (IWFSA), a network which connects preeminent women around the world.
“These days you don’t have to be in a physical space to be inspired.”
The value of networking in all its forms cannot be underestimated. It has become essential to business success. As a result, there has been a proliferation of national, regional and international networks targeting women.
Although businesswomen and -men often network for the same reasons, including extending their client base and contacts, just like communicating, we go about it in very different ways.
Eva Muraya, of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization that trains and empowers emerging women leaders and entrepreneurs across the world, says this is proof of the increasing potential of networks to be used as vehicles to enhance knowledge sharing and professional and business growth.
“Additionally online resources such as www.wisdomexchangetv.com have revolutionized information sharing and peer learning by creating a platform through which women trailblazers from Africa can motivate and inspire other women through sharing their stories which are captured on video,” says Muraya, who is also the CEO of Kenya’s Brand Strategy and Design (EA) Ltd.
The traditional old boys’ club of clinching business deals over cognac and cigars is a seldom seen feature in women’s networks – and it is not often that you come across women in these circles.
“There are the structured opportunities. If you, for example, look at the WEF (World Economic Forum)… none of the organizers would be naïve or stupid enough to exclude women. But often it is at the CEO level, the chair level, at the president level, so automatically your numbers are reduced,” says Nwokedi, who is a leader in nuclear energy and infrastructure on the continent.
Nwokedi says the boys’ club is about wealth creation, and women have a lot of catching up to do.
“In order to make a gain you first have to be organized, and that is why we form these women’s organizations, because the first thing they are going to say is, ‘make the business case’. We have to disaggregate the data to see how many engineers there are; how many female engineers there are; how many black female engineers there are; how many young black females there are. You have to drill down. In order for us to say, ‘things have got to change’ we have got to prove why and then we have to develop a program that gets that dividend. It’s a lot of work and men don’t have to do that.”
Networks are especially important for women, who more often than not face inequality in the workplace and at home.
“[Networking] was initially conceptualized according to the American idea, by women who are CEOs; women who are presidents; women who are chairs. Because once you are at the top… it’s extremely lonely. You couldn’t afford to let your guard down in the boardroom or even in your corporation, because that is perceived as weakness when it comes to women. So women then get together to support each other when they are the top of their craft,” says Nwokedi.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2010 Women’s Report , women need to do improve the way they network.
The report finds women entrepreneurs and business owners are inclined to have smaller and less diverse networks than their male counterparts. They are also more likely to seek guidance from family members.
“Men’s networks tended to be as large or larger than those of women… to encompass more people in one’s work: entrepreneurial, professional, and market environment… Academic research suggests that entrepreneurs having broad and diverse networks are more likely to have better access to the information and knowledge that is associated with high growth potential and venture performance.”
Although there is recognition that women need to catch up in fully utilising networks, they do use a variety of forums on the continent to connect. These include roundtables, think tanks, seminars, workshops, conferences, LinkedIn, and cocktail events. And of course political parties will always remain an excellent way of establishing contacts.
In South Africa, the IWFSA recognizes the need for mentorship and nurturing. It has a strategic leadership program with the Gordon Institute of Business Science. The year-long course prepares senior women with leadership potential for top posts in their organizations.
The next big network to keep your eye on is the Brics Women’s Initiative. It is being steered by a group of key women, including Nwokedi. It aims to increase women’s participation in Africa as well as in the member countries of Brics – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Although the group recognized at its last summit there was a need for women-owned ventures, the recently formed Brics Business Council tells a very different story. It comprises 25 people, and only two of them are women.
“Because the criteria (is not) a 50/50 representation, there are fewer women…
“It’s not even institutionally that women are excluded; it’s organically that they are excluded. You need to re-engineer the institutional arrangements to make sure women are included,” says Nwokedi. i

Tag: Paintings

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

From Painting Houses To Building A $1.95-Billion Development

Art For Art’s Sake – but give us your Cash

Pain And Torture The Price Of The Black Christ

Subverting the old boys club: New ways of networking