Namibia is now the most gender-equal country in Africa and sixth in the world, but there are mixed views on the reality in the southern African country.



PATIENCE MASUA, 22, RECENTLY MADE HISTORY in Namibia when she became the youngest member of parliament. If anything, it affirms Namibia’s newfound status as the sixth most gender-equal country in the world, a step ahead of even globally-renowned Rwanda, according to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2021 Global Gender Gap Report released in March. Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 12th time on the list. Namibia and Rwanda are the only two African countries in the top 10. 



Vesselina Stefanova Ratcheva, the report’s Insights Lead, tells FORBES AFRICA: “What we see in the data is that there is political empowerment; we’ve seen this closing of political gender gaps, which is one of the reasons why Namibia has done so well.” 



There are more reiterations of this. Gender Links (GL), a southern African women’s rights organization, says in a 2020 report that women constitute 46% of Namibia’s parliament, narrowly missing the 50% mark. GL further states that “Namibia and South Africa are now tied for the highest representation of women in parliament in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)”. 



But there are other voices that need to be heard too, on the gender-related issues in the country. “Namibia on the list is a huge contradiction,” says Namibia-based gender mainstreaming consultant, Penohole Brock. “It’s our gender awareness that is lacking overall. You have women in leadership positions that continue to uphold conservative views and patriarchy.” 



In October last year, a wave of protests against gender-based violence broke out in Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek. The #ShutItAllDownNambia protestors called for the government to do more to stop the spread of rape and the killing of women. On October 10, EWN reported that the protest was quickly dispersed by police and the Special Reserve Force using tear gas, rubber bullets and batons. 



Since then, was it possible more political attention was given to improve issues? “But it could be that politicians made a conscious choice to drive forward the number of women that are represented in government so that they can help solve these issues,” Ratcheva says. “But I wouldn’t say certainly that it is, without knowing.” 



Brock counters by saying that although Namibia ticks all the representation boxes, she questions what representation actually means, and how there are still gender issues in the country. 



“Political parties are placing women in parliament now, but when you talk to the women, they say that the men still dominate the space. From a quantitative gender audit, Namibia seems okay on paper, but a qualitative gender audit will show major red flags.” 



Since its conception in 2006, the Global Gender Gap Report has highlighted the evolution of gender-based gaps in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. 



The 2021 report shows how it will now take 135.6 years – up from 99.5 years – to close the global gender gap. The pandemic has pushed back gender parity by a generation. Sub-Saharan Africa has made slow progress, as this region will take 121.7 years to close the gender gap. 



More than half of the countries in the region (20 out of 34) made progress towards gender parity in the past year, though only Namibia and Rwanda have closed at least 80% of their gaps. Ratcheva’s first assessment of the report is that “this is a risky time for gender parity”. 



She further explains that the issues of gender equality and equity plus Covid-19 equal an incredible amount of backsliding. This could result in that 136year figure increasing in the years to come. 



“Covid-19 is posing challenges to all of us in very different ways. Unless there is a concerted effort to reinvest in gender parity and to put in place the foundations for gender-equal recovery, there could be a lot more of that backward progress,” she warns. 



Although politically, Namibia seems to be on the right track in achieving gender parity, Brock argues that from a local authority level, there is still much to be done. 



“Gender parity and our 50/50 representation policy should be seen as a first step and not the end goal to combating gender inequality. If gender awareness and gender sensitivity are not pursued at all levels and taken seriously, then ideals of patriarchy will be impossible to dismantle.”

NAMIBIA-CRIME-DEMONSTRATION

‘A Risky Time For Gender Parity’

The machines are coming for our jobs. This is a dystopian vision of the future of work popularized by the media and perpetuated in boardrooms across the globe.



South Africa is not immune from this misperception and here it has created a climate of fear and paralysis. &nbsp;Leaders, both civic and corporate, hesitate to encourage and incentivise the very digitalization needed to sustain and grow our economies out of a misguided fear of job losses and the ensuing civil backlash.



Ironically, the exact efforts to protect jobs from
technology may end up being the biggest cause of job losses in the future.
Because, without a shift to a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) mindset,
businesses will progressively become less competitive against their global
peers, eroding their economic relevance and the jobs they sustain. 



Decision makers, therefore, need the courage to embrace
the paradox that while jobs might be subsumed by technology, only technology
will be able to create new ones.



Yes, automation and cognitive technologies will
eliminate jobs; mostly in search of improved efficiencies and productivity, and
to some extent to reduce reliance on expensive, rare and specialised skills. It
is futile and economically reckless to think otherwise.



The good news is that these same technologies will create demand for new skills and new jobs. The World Economic Forum (WEF) conducted an extensive study, leveraging insights from business leaders cumulatively responsible for 15 million people across a variety of sectors, skills and seniority levels globally. The study concluded that for every job that is lost to 4IR popularized technologies, 1.7 jobs will be created.



The consequent economic knock-on effects of these new
jobs, although not quantified, would undoubtedly be significant and further
contribute to net employment.



Unfortunately, the net new jobs will mostly remain in
the domain of the educated and available to those with the means to access and
afford the cost of sourcing new 4IR-related skills.



Green shoots



There are, however, green shoots of positive developments,
led by a new breed of digitally literate entrepreneurs. They have not
“invented” the technology, but instead leverage technology platforms to create
self-employment and economic sustainability. These digitally literate
entrepreneurs, many of them running micro-businesses, are creating employment
and economic activity in lower income level segments in the following key
areas:



1. Distributed value chains



Distributed value chains involve a category of people
who are generally unemployed or under-employed and are able to fulfil a
last-mile service gap by trading in their skills or available time. These
platforms link people with capacity and/or skills constraints to people with
the time and skills needed. This is done in a way that is dignified, safe,
peer-reviewed for quality of service, and enables higher wages compared to
traditional constructs. These platforms have been effective at creating jobs in
developed, low-unemployment economies. Their contribution to employment is
proven, significant and immediately tangible.



2. Collaborative consumption



It is often impossible for small organisations or
individuals to justify the ownership of an asset because of affordability, or
the ability to use the full capacity of the asset. The converse applies in
which access to the asset through a sharing mechanism enables the same benefit
as asset ownership. For example, digital platforms, such as Nigerian start-up
Hello Tractor, that provide access to key equipment on a pay-per-use basis
allow companies and individuals to reap economic benefits from utilising
technology without the associated costs of owning the equipment.



This in turn enhances efficiencies and competitiveness
of small organizations and levels the playing field for them in relation to
large ones. Collaborative consumption has many forms and different levels of
sophistication. At the extremes of technology, companies like 3D Hubs enable
the collaborative consumption of 3D printers, allowing the 3D printer to become
a shareable asset within its community.



3. Digital economic catalysts



Digital platforms increase levels of transparency,
which combined with the network effect of connecting communities and
frictionless transaction flow, is reviving sectors that have lost their appeal
due to a lack of transparency, reduced levels of trust and relevance to
specific demographic groups, and tedious or complex manual processes. These
sectors are being revived by digital platforms that economically empower
micro-entrepreneurs – or allow them to further empower other
micro-entrepreneurs. StokFella and Livestock Invest are good examples of
platforms that have shaken up entrenched concepts.



Digital technologies present both risks and potential.
The way forward is not fixed nor will it be easy, but with the right leaders,
and a mindset of urgency, curiosity and a preparedness to challenge existing
paradigms, we have a good chance of achieving an abundant future.



We also need citizens and entrepreneurs that see opportunity in this new era open to doing things that have never been done before – in ways not previously considered, leveraging technology never before available.



&#8211; Valter Adão is the Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Deloitte Africa

Valter adao pic

Leaders Need To Embrace, Not Fear, The Digitalized Future Of Work

Snapshots of the outrage against foreign nationals and
protests against sexual offenders in South Africa in recent weeks, captured by
FORBES AFRICA photojournalist Motlabana Monnakgotla.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



As the continent’s second-biggest economy, South Africa
attracts migrants from the rest of Africa. But mired in its own problems of
unemployment and political instability, September saw a serious outbreak of
attacks by South Africans on foreign nationals and foreign-owned businesses.
And they have been ugly.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



The spark that fueled the raging fire was in Pretoria, the
country’s capital, when a taxi driver was shot dead by a foreign national who
was selling drugs to a youngster in the central business district (CBD).



The altercation caused a riot and the taxi industry brought
the CBD to a standstill, blocking intersections. It did not stop there; a week
later, about 60 kilometers from the capital in Malvern, a suburb east of the
Johannesburg CBD, a hijacked building caught fire, leaving three dead. As
emergency services were putting out the fire, the residents took advantage and
looted foreign-owned shops and burned car dealerships overnight on Jules
Street. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="924" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2.png" alt="" data-id="42001" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42001" class="wp-image-42001" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2.png 924w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2-768x513.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px" /><figcaption> A burned shop on Jules Street is one of the many shops that were looted. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="922" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1.png" alt="" data-id="42002" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42002" class="wp-image-42002" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1.png 922w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1-768x513.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" /><figcaption> A cashier’s window smashed during a looting spree in Katlehong. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



The lootings extended to the CBD and other parts of
Johannesburg.



To capture this embarrassing moment in South African
history, I visited Katlehong, a township 35 kilometers east of Johannesburg,
where the residents blocked roads leading to Sontonga Mall on a mission to loot
the mall and the foreign-owned shops therein overnight. 



Shop-owners and workers were shocked to wake up to no
business.



Mfundo Maljingolo, a worker at Fish And Chips, was among the
distressed.



“This thing started last night, people started looting and
broke into the mall and did what they wanted to do. I couldn’t go to work today
because there’s nothing to do; now, we are not going to get paid. The shop will
be losing close to R10,000 ($677) today. It’s messed up,” said Maljingolo.



But South African businesses were affected too.



Among the shops at the mall is Webbers, a clothing and
footwear store. Looters could not enter the shop and it was one of the few that
escaped the vandalism.



Dineo Nyembe, the store’s manager, said she was in disbelief
when she saw people could not enter the mall. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="926" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2.png" alt="" data-id="42004" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42004" class="wp-image-42004" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2-768x509.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> A worker cleans up after a liqour store was looted by Katlehong residents overnight. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="921" height="611" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6.png" alt="" data-id="42005" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42005" class="wp-image-42005" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6.png 921w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6-768x509.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 921px) 100vw, 921px" /><figcaption> Car dealerships were among the businesses set alight on Jules Street. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“We got here this morning and the ceiling was wrecked but
there was no sign that the shop was entered, everything was just as we left it.
Now, we are packing stock back to the warehouse, because we don’t know if they
are coming back tonight,” lamented Nyembe, unsure if they would make their
daily target or if they would be trading again.



 Across the now-wrecked mall are small businesses that were not as fortunate as Webbers, and it was not only the shop-owners that were affected.  



Emmanuel Nhlane’s home was robbed even as attackers were
looting the shop outside.



“They broke into my house, I was threatened with a petrol
bomb and I had to stand outside to give them a chance; they took my fridge,
bed, cash and my VHS,” said Nhlane.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="929" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1.png" alt="" data-id="42007" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42007" class="wp-image-42007" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1.png 929w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1-768x508.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px" /><figcaption> Rubble and dust on the streets of Katlehong after a night of looting at a local mall and its foreign-owned shops. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



Nhlane had rented out his yard to foreign nationals to
operate a shop. He does not comprehend why his belongings were taken because he
doesn’t own a shop. Now, it means that the unemployed Nhlane will not be
getting his monthly rental fee of R3,700 ($250).



Far away, the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province of South
Africa, was also affected as trucks burned and a driver was killed because of
his nationality. This was part of a logistics and transport industry national
strike.



Back in Johannesburg, I visited the car dealerships that were
a part of the burning spree on Jules Street. 



The streets were still ashy and the air still smoky, two
days after the unfortunate turn of events.



Muhamed Haffejee, one of the distraught businessmen there,
said: “Currently, we are still not trading.”&nbsp;




Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa,
which hosted the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa from September 4 to 6,
was also witness to protests by women and girls from all walks of life outside
the Cape Town International Convention Centre, demanding that the leadership
take action to end the spate of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country. 



There were protests also outside Parliament. What set off
the nationwide outcry was the shocking rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a
19-year-old film and media student at the University of Cape Town, inside a
post office by a 42-year-old employee at the post office. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="926" height="610" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4.png" alt="" data-id="42010" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42010" class="wp-image-42010" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4-600x395.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4-768x506.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> According to Stats SA, there has been a drastic increase of women-based violence in South Africa. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="929" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8.png" alt="" data-id="42011" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42011" class="wp-image-42011" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8.png 929w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8-768x508.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px" /><figcaption> Leader of the African National Congress Women’s League, Bathabile Dlamini, was also present outside the JSE. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



There was anger against the ghastly crimes and wave of GBV
in the country that continues unabated. According to Stats SA, there has been a
drastic increase of women-based violence in South Africa; sexual offences are
up by 4.6%, from 50,108 in 2018 to 52,420 in 2019. 



A week later, on a Friday, Sandton, Africa’s richest square
mile and one of the biggest economic hubs, was shut down by hundreds of angry
women and members of advocacy groups from across Johannesburg. They congregated
by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the cynosure of business, singing and
chanting, to demand “a 2% levy on profits of all listed entities to help fund
the fight against GBV and femicide”.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Among the protesters was Cebi Ngqinanbi, holding a placard
that read: “I’m not your punching bag.” 



“We came here to disrupt Sandton as the heart of
Johannesburg’s economic hub. We want to make everyone aware that women and
children are being killed every day in South Africa and they [Sandton] continue
with business as usual, sitting in their offices with air-conditioners and the
stock exchange whilst people on the ground making them rich are dying. That is
why we are here, to speak to those that have economic power,” said Ngqinanbi.



She added that if women can be given economic power, they
will be able to fend for themselves and won’t fall prey to abusive men, since
most women stay in abusive relationships because men are more financially
stable. 



Amid the chanting and singing of struggle songs, Nobuhle
Ajiti addressed the crowd and shared her own haunting experience as a migrant
in South Africa and survivor of GBV. She spoke in isiZulu, a South African
language.



“I survived a gang rape; I was thrown out of a moving car
and stabbed several times. I survived it, but am I going to survive xenophobia
that is looming around in South Africa? Will I able to share my xenophobia
story like I can share my GBV story?” questioned Ajiti.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-9 is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="928" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9.png" alt="" data-id="42013" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42013" class="wp-image-42013" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Addressing the resolute women outside was the JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King who received the memorandum demanding business take their plight seriously. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="922" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12.png" alt="" data-id="42014" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42014" class="wp-image-42014" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12.png 922w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12-600x400.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12-768x512.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" /><figcaption> Women hold up placards stating their grievences against GBV. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



She said as migrants, they did not wake up in the morning
and decide to come to South Africa, but because of the hardships faced in their
home countries, they were forced to come to what they perceived as the city of
opportunities. And as a foreign national, she had to deal with both xenophobia
and GBV. 



“We experience institutionalized xenophobia in hospitals; we
are forced to pay huge amounts for consultation. I am raped and I need medical
attention and I am told I need to pay R5,000 ($250). 



“As a mere migrant, where am I going to get R5,000? I get
abused at home and the police officer would ask me where I’m from because of my
accent, I sound Zimbabwean. What does my nationality have to do with my husband
beating me at home or with the man that just raped me?” she asked.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="922" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-42018" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1.png 922w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1-600x400.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1-768x512.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" /><figcaption> Women stop traffic while they hold up placards stating their grievences against GBV. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure>



Addressing the resolute women outside was the JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King who received the memorandum demanding business take their plight seriously, from a civil society group representing over 70 civil society organizations and individuals. 



The list of demands include that at all JSE-listed companies contribute to a fund to resource the National Strategy Plan on GBV and femicide, to be launched in November; transport for employees who work night shifts or work after hours; establish workplace mechanisms to provide support to GBV survivors as part of employee wellness, and prevention programs that help make workplaces safe spaces for all women. 



Newton-King assured the protestors she would address their demands in seven days. But a lot can happen in seven days. Will there be more crimes in the meantime? How many more will be raped and killed in South Africa by then?



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-11 is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="928" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13.png" alt="" data-id="42016" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42016" class="wp-image-42016" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13-768x508.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Nationwide outcry was setoff by shocking rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="928" height="612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1.png" alt="" data-id="42017" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42017" class="wp-image-42017" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1-600x396.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1-768x506.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> What set off the nationwide outcry was the shocking rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a 19-year-old film and media student at the University of Cape Town Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>

Protest5

The Rage And Tears That Tore A Nation

The latest xenophobic attacks in South Africa have ignited the long-standing tensions between the country and Nigeria. These are captured in the retaliatory attacks on South African businesses in Nigeria and the diplomatic outrage by Nigerian authorities.



Nigeria also boycotted the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Cape Town. More critical was the temporary closure of South African missions in Abuja and Lagos and Nigeria’s decision to recall its ambassador.



But in the larger scheme of things, xenophobia is a distraction from the leadership role that Nigeria and South Africa should play on the continent on fundamental issues of immigration and economic integration.



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading">A constant irritant</h4>



Accurate figures are hard to get. But Statistics South Africa put the number of Nigerian migrants at about 30,000 in 2016, far below Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.



Xenophobia has remained a constant irritant in Nigeria-South Africa relations since the major attacks on African migrants in poor neighbourhoods in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in 2008 and 2015. 



But, contrary to popular perception, xenophobic attacks do not disproportionately target Nigerians. Nigerians often exaggerate the effect of violence on their citizens. That is probably because Nigeria has a better organised, savvy, and loud diaspora constituency in South Africa.



Unfortunately, the loudness of the Nigerian diaspora transforms victimhood into foreign policy, generating the reactions that have been witnessed recently. It also plays into the naïve narrative of the “liberation dividend”. This entails Nigerians seeking to be treated uniquely because of their contribution to the struggle for majority rule in South Africa. There were no such expectations from the other countries that supported South Africa’s liberation struggle.



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This narrative has taken on an equally economic tinge. South African companies are heavily invested in Nigeria. So, they often become targets of Nigerian ire in times of xenophobia.



The accurate picture is that xenophobia affects all African migrants. These are mostly migrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and, increasingly Ethiopians, Kenyans and Somalis. Nigerians are affected. But they’re not on top of the list.



The Nigerian responses are understandable in light of the frequency of these attacks. But, it is important to probe the drivers of xenophobia to understand it more deeply.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What drives xenophobia?</h4>



First, some studies reveal that the intrusion of foreign migrants into vulnerable communities beset by joblessness and despair inevitability produces a tinderbox that sparks violence .



Migrants are easy targets. That’s because they are seen as being better off by the locals. They therefore become targets of people who feel their circumstances have not been addressed by government. It is no surprise that xenophobic attacks have typically occurred in poor neighbourhoods that have been affected by service delivery protests since the mid-2000s.



Second, xenophobia thrives on ineffective policing in South Africa. Barely two days after the Johannesburg attacks started, the national police spokesman admitted that the police were running out of resources to manage the violence. This prompted the Premier of Gauteng, the country’s economic hub, to threaten to also deploy the army if the violence continued.



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Examples of the police’s inability to maintain order and respond to threats to property and livelihoods are legion. This, in part, forces people to take the law into their own hands.



But the police are sometimes complicit in stoking anti-foreign sentiments. The July 2019 raids on foreign-owned businesses in Johannesburg in apparent efforts to stamp out illicit goods added to the current climate of xenophobia. When some business owners retaliated against the police, some local leaders appropriated the language of “threats on South Africa’s sovereignty” to justify the police response.



Reforms are urgently needed to create a competent, less corrupt, better-resourced, and civic-minded police service.



Xenophobia is also an outcome of a rickety migration and border control regime. Efficient border controls are one of the hallmarks of sovereignty and the first line of defence against xenophobia. Broken borders breed criminality. These include human and drug trafficking. Human and drug trafficking feature prominently in the discourse on xenophobia in South Africa.



How, then, does xenophobia distract South Africa and Nigeria from what should be their leadership on core African issues?



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Overreaction</h4>



The weighty issues of creating a humane and just society for South Africans and migrants alike will ultimately be led by the South African government. Outsiders can make some diplomatic noises and occasionally boycott South Africa. But these actions are unlikely to drive vital change.



In fact, the overreactions by Nigeria and other African countries simply undercut the South African constituencies that have a crucial stake in wide-ranging reforms that address the multiplicity of problems around xenophobia.



In the previous instances of xenophobic violence, Nigeria urged the African Union (AU) to force South Africa to take action. But such unhelpful statements only inflame passions and prevent civil diplomatic discourse.



Instead, the best policy would be for Nigeria to engage South Africa through their existing binational commission. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to visit South Africa next month.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Taking the lead</h4>



Rather than the perennial relapse into shouting matches and hardening of rhetoric, it is essential for Pretoria and Abuja to take decisive leadership at the continental level. The two nations must articulate immigration policies.



The newly-inaugurated AU Free Movement of Persons Protocol will not be implemented if South Africa and Nigeria do not join hands to make it a reality. More ominously, migration to South Africa as the premier African economy will only get worse in the coming years. This, as Europe and the United States tighten their borders against African migrants.



Also, without the leadership of its two major economies, Africa is not going to make any traction on the new treaty establishing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Ironically, the WEF meeting in Cape Town addressed ways to boost intra-African trade. Nigeria should not have boycotted it because of xenophobia.



-Gilbert M. Khadiagala; Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations and Director of the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS), University of the Witwatersrand



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Xenophobia: Time For Cool Heads To Prevail In Nigeria And South Africa

Francois Bonnici, Head of the
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, explains how African impact
entrepreneurs will continue to rise.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Does impact investment favor expats over African entrepreneurs? If so, how can it be fixed?



There is a growing recognition all over the world that
investment is not a fully objective process, and is biased by the homogeneity
of investors, networks and distant locations.



A Village Capital Report cited that 90% of investment in digital financial services and financial inclusion in East Africa in 2015-2016 went to a small group of expatriate-founded businesses, with 80% of disclosed funds emanating from foreign investors. 



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In a similar trend recognized in the US over the last
decade, reports that only 3% of startup capital went to minority and women
entrepreneurs has triggered the rise of new funds focused on gender and
minority-lensed investing. 



There has been an explosion of African startups all over the
continent, and investors are missing out by looking for the same business
models that work in Silicon Valley being run by people who can speak and act
like them.



In South Africa, empowerment funds and alternative debt fund
structures are dedicated to investing in African businesses, but local capital
in other African countries may not also be labelled or considered impact
investing, but they do still invest in job creation and provision of vital
services. 



There is still, however, a several billion-dollar financing gap of risk capital in particular, which local capital needs to play a significant part in filling. And of course, African impact entrepreneurs will continue to rise and engage investors convincingly of the growing and unique opportunities on the continent.



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What are the most exciting areas for impact investing and social entrepreneurship today?



After several decades of emergence, the most exciting areas
are the explosion of new products, vehicles and structures along with the mainstreaming
of impact investment into traditional entities like banks, asset managers and
pension funds who are using the impact lens and, more importantly, starting to
measure the impact. 



At the same time, we’re seeing an emergence of partnership
models, policies and an ecosystem of support for the work of social
entrepreneurs, who’ve been operating with insufficient capital and blockages in
regulation for decades. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="684" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici-684x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41732" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici-684x1024.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici-600x899.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Francois-Bonnici.jpg 1367w" sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" /><figcaption> Francois Bonnici, Head of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure>



The 2019 OECD report on Social Impact Investment&nbsp; mapped the presence of 590 social impact investment policies in 45 countries over the last decade, but also raises the concern of the risk of ‘impact washing’ without clear definitions, data and impact measurement practices.&nbsp; 



In Africa, we are also seeing National Advisory Boards for
Impact Investing emerge in South Africa and social economy policies white
papers being developed; all good news for social entrepreneurs.



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What role does technology play in enabling impact investing and social entrepreneurship? 



The role of technologies from the mobile phone to cloud
services, blockchain, and artificial intelligence is vast in their application
to enhancing social impact, improving the efficiency, transparency and trust as
we leapfrog old infrastructures and create digital systems that people in underserved
communities can now access and control. 



From Sproxil (addressing pirated medicines and goods), to Zipline (drones delivering life-saving donor blood to remote areas of Rwanda) to Silulo Ulutho Technologies (digitally empowering women and youth), exciting new ways of addressing inclusion, education and health are possible, and applications are being used in many other areas such as land rights, financial literacy etc. 



While we have seen a great mobile penetration, much of
Africa still suffers from high data costs, and insufficient investment in
education and capacity to lead in areas of the fourth industrial revolution,
with the risk that these technologies could negatively impact communities and
further drive inequality.



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Roadmap For  African Startups

Africa has many reasons to be optimistic; this year has seen
a raft of new elections, economies are growing in amid an uncertain economic
climate and new measures such as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement
promise new solutions to the age-old problem of Africa’s economic integration. 



The recent decision of US investment bank Goldman Sachs to
apply for a South Africa banking licence, and the effects of US and Chinese
e-commerce giants to develop footholds in African markets, are just two
examples in 2019 of how attractive the region has become for those with skill,
knowledge and patience. 



Much is made of Africa’s population being the youngest in the world. Undoubtedly, this poses challenges, most specifically, in terms of finding gainful employment and decent livelihoods for a growing number of people. 



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During my time at the World Economic Forum, my impression of
the continent’s youth has been overwhelmingly positive, a mixture of awe at the
entrepreneurial spirit and inspiration at the determination felt by younger
generations to overcome long-standing barriers and collaborate across cities,
countries and ethnic lines to forge a better future.



Add the fourth industrial revolution into the mix and the
picture starts to look interesting. Success in this new age of economic
development is by no means assured: barriers to entry can be considerable and
investment in new technologies – not just development but equally importantly
implementation – inevitably brings failure as well as success.&nbsp; 



While none of these risks must be discounted, the next phase of humanity’s growth and development will be built on entrepreneurial talent and this Africa has in rich abundance.



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Since its launch in 2007, M-Pesa, the mobile payments system developed initially for the Kenyan and Ugandan telecommunications market, has served as a symbol for African innovation and ability to leapfrog generations of technology. 



Twelve years on, the system is providing benefits to investors and consumers across the emerging world but it is by no means alone. This year’s billion-dollar listing of home-grown e-commerce giant Jumia is only the latest success in Africa’s burgeoning technology landscape.



With this in mind, the question I find myself asking more
and more these days is not ‘how do we identify Africa’s next entrepreneurial
superstars’, but ‘how do we help Africa’s entrepreneurial superstars scale up
and fulfil their potential?’



While private investors, corporate intrapreneurs, foundations, development agencies and governments have all played an active role in helping get the region’s best and brightest entrepreneurial talents, the priority now is to help this new generation of wealth creators and employers reach a critical mass of scale so they can compete across borders and employ the kinds of numbers that will help provide livelihoods for a growing workforce.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">How do we do this? For one thing, it will require action on the part of government. There are a number of ways governments can improve the enabling environment just by drawing on existing best practices across the region. </blockquote>



Reforms such as cutting red tape and making it easier to start a business: too often, it takes weeks where it should be days or even hours. Other successful ‘quick win’ policy innovations include offering tax breaks and concessions on labor laws for businesses whose revenues or workforces are below a certain size. 



Shielding businesses from the harshest challenges of the open market during their formative years would be beneficial to governments in terms of value once they are able to stand on their own two feet.



Building a platform for Africa’s gazelles, high-growth
companies capable of sustaining high rates of year-on-year growth, will be a
key aim of the World Economic Forum on Africa 2019.



&nbsp;Africa’s future lies
in increased integration and interaction within its own borders as well as
overseas. 



Just as the gazelle is an iconic form on the African
landscape, Africa’s own tech gazelles need to define their own identity in the
fourth industrial revolution. 



– Elsie Kanza is Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum.

Elsie

It’s Time For Africa’s Gazelles To Shine

In recent years there has been significant improvements towards empowering women in Africa and the Middle East (AME). Despite these steps towards inclusion, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Gender Gap index , it will take more than 150 years to close the gender gap between men and women in Africa and the Middle East. 



The effect of gender divide means women often face barriers and end up in insecure, low-wage jobs, and constitute a small minority of those in senior positions.



The divide hasn’t gone unnoticed. Regional governments are increasingly moving ahead with progressive policies and legislation, whilst Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been instrumental in providing women with new skills and spurring attitudinal change. 



A solid foundation has been laid for women to maximise their potential, however government legislation and NGOs will not suffice if we are to truly level the playing field. For this to occur, the private sector must be engaged as a key partner to deliver on female equity. 



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To begin with the public sector, governments across the region have moved to increase female participation in the workplace in recent years. In the UAE, the government recently passed a resolution to increase women&#8217;s representation in the Federal National Council (FNC) to 50 percent , whilst South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa has just announced that government plans and budgets will have to include gender-specific delivery targets. 



Governments across the region have also been instrumental in introducing legislation to encourage women both in, and into, the workplace. For instance, Lebanon has increased paid maternity leave from 49 to 70 days. 



Progressive policies are not only helping women enter and stay in the workforce, but in the long-term will have a positive impact on the region’s GDP. In the GCC alone, some estimates tout a 50 percent boost to economic output if women participate in the workforce to the same extent as men. 



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International organisations have also contributed to significant advances in female economic empowerment across Africa and the Middle East, with a significant impact on attitudes towards equality. The United Nations (UN) has led this charge, with gender equality high up on its agenda as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 



In the Middle East, UN Women awarded 200 youth volunteers at HeForShe for reaching 20,000 commitments on women’s empowerment , and in Africa, the organisation aims to empower up to two million women through various initiatives aimed at increasing income, wealth and business leadership skills. 



Beyond the UN, a large number of international organisations have also been instrumental in empowering women across the AME region. Oxfam, for example, has launched a global campaign called Raising Her Voice (RHV) which aims to promote women’s rights. 



This included a budget in Pakistan of over US$500,000 between the years of 2008-2013 . In South Africa, the RHV campaign received roughly US$50,000 annually for training and workshops that involved feminism and advocacy skills .



Local NGO initiatives have also been key in the advancement of female inclusion throughout the AME region. As an example, five Lebanese NGOs and the Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB) teamed up in 2016 to form Girls Got IT, an NGO to provide female students with access to hands-on tech workshops, talks by industry leaders and tutorials on digital innovation. 



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To take but one of many examples from Africa, a Tanzanian NGO called ‘Village Enterprise’ works on ending extreme poverty by helping women in rural areas through entrepreneurship and innovation. The group has been working successfully and achieved a milestone of one million lives transformed in May 2019 . 



It’s clear that governments and civil society have done much to integrate women into AME economies, positively affecting millions of lives along the way. Nevertheless, much remains to be done. Female labour force participation rates vary widely among African states, with South Africa at 49 percent and Tanzania at 80 percent. 



On the other hand, in the GCC, women comprise just 19.2 percent of the workforce according to one study . In this context, the private sector, with all of its economic might, constitutes perhaps the most crucial element in addressing the balance. A recent study by Deloitte showed that Africa’s private sector represents 75 percent of generated wealth and 90 percent of all employment opportunities in the continent . 



Fortunately, there are encouraging signs that companies are stepping up across AME and pursuing a concerted effort to empower women with new skills and opportunities. Standard Chartered stands as a case in point. 



The Bank has committed to raise USD50 million, between 2019 and 2023 through fundraising and Bank-matching, to empower the next generation to learn, earn and grow via its Futuremakers programme. 



By no means is Standard Chartered satisfied to merely provide financial donations – it also actively implements women’s empowerment programmes such as Women in Tech, aimed at promoting the economic and social development of women entrepreneurs. 



To date, this programme operates in five countries with entrepreneurial female participants from Pakistan, Nigeria, the US, the UAE and my home country, Kenya. The Bank is also committed to creating a more inclusive environment to help working parents balance work and family responsibilities; its staff can enjoy the benefit of flexible working policy, a parental paid leave of up to 140 calendar days for the mother and two weeks for the spouse. 



Achieving gender equality is an important moral principle and acts as a catalyst to other development outcomes such as poverty reduction, well-being and health. Governments and NGO’s have been active in empowering women; however, change will take a collective partnership between government, NGO’s and private enterprise across the region to elevate women to an equal status. 



The outcome of maximising women’s potential and achieving gender equality will result in greater contributions being made and benefits to the entire region. 



-Olga Arara-Kimani, Regional Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand &amp; Marketing for Standard Chartered in Africa and the Middle East

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Challenging The Gender Divide

More entrepreneurs are committing to closing the skills gap
in Africa’s future job market.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



In 2015, an image of a young man, Tankiso Motaung, at a street corner in the middle of Sandton, Johannesburg, holding up a placard, went viral. On the sign were the words, “I have a BTech in electrical engineering. Please help. I need a job,” along with his contact number. 



The following year, an image circulated on social media of Anthea Malwandle, a young chemical engineering graduate, standing by the traffic lights, similarly, begging for a job. 



What is the future of work in a digitally-led world? Is it
this dismal?



The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2018 Future Of Jobs Report, reveals nearly 50% of companies expect digitization will lead to a reduction in their full-time workforce. It further estimates that by 2022, 75 million jobs globally would taper off as a consequence of digital business transformation.  



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South Africa’s unemployment rate is already high. Motaung
and Malwandle represent more than 50% of our youth that are unemployed. And
according to Statistics South Africa, one out of three graduates will,
likewise, enter the job market without any economic prospects.



But Nedbank economist, Isaac Matshego, is full of optimism.
He is of the opinion that the initial job losses will be temporary. 



“As humans get better acquainted and familiar with the new
way of doing things and incorporating the new economic methods of production,
we often see a net benefit to humanity overall,” he says.



More so, Matshego advocates that at the beginning,
digitization actually requires human skills and so does the maintenance of the
technology. 



“That means we have to train our information technology staff,” he elaborates. 



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The good news is that digital and other tech innovations will directly and indirectly produce new sources of work. The WEF report further suggests that 133 million new jobs may be created by 2022, thanks to industry 4.0. 



But, for these opportunities to scale to the extent needed to address South Africa’s current employment crisis, there needs to be a strong supply of quality skills – spanning foundational skills like basic numeracy and literacy, through to advanced tech skills, according to Mark Schoeman, a manager of youth and technology at economic consulting firm Genesis Analytics.



“The first hurdle South Africa has to overcome is closing the skills gap in the short-term. There are an insufficient number of graduates with key skills in STEM being produced by educational pathways, and a qualification-job mismatch which sees graduates taking up work that does not reflect their qualification,” he says. Schoeman asserts this gap is an impediment to the country’s ability to realize new economic opportunities brought forth by technology. 



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Government and private interventions have been made to
ensure young people are training and learning critical skills to thrive in the
changing world of work.



Heeding this call is WeThinkCode, one of the organizations
fixated on future-proofing the youth. A non-profit, new-age technology school,
WeThinkCode, led by Managing Director, Nyaradzai Samushanga, seeks to eradicate
unemployment in the ‘tech’ economy by providing youth with skills sought after
in the new world of work. 



Headquartered in Johannesburg, the tuition-free school was
founded in 2016 by three South Africans: Arlene Mulder, Yossi Hasson, Justinus
Adriaanse and French citizen, Camille Agon. The institution enrols 430 students
aged 17 – 35 years who are taught technical skills in software development
including programming, graphics and algorithms. 



“We do not measure success when students graduate. We
measure success as placement at employment,” says Samushanga. 



“All our graduates have been placed into permanent employment with a minimum entry-level salary of R20,000 ($1,408) per month… It is taking someone who could’ve fallen in between the cracks, and now they are a highly-skilled worker,” says Samushanga. 



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More entrepreneurs are committing to the cause of closing the skills gap in Africa’s job market. Audrey Patricia Cheng, 25, the co-founder and CEO of Moringa School in Nairobi, Kenya, says: “We realized there was a massive gap in terms of access and also quality education. And we are seeing a massive rise in the number of jobs around technical skills because many companies are moving to the digital space.” 



Since its inception in 2015, Moringa School has since trained close to 2,000 students with the necessary digital skills. Cheng is confident the continent is moving to a future where Africans would be creators of technology rather than just consumers.

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Creators Rather Than Consumers

The multimillion-dollar circus called Davos rolled into the Swiss ski-resort yet again, in January, in all its big deal bombast and bean counting glory. This year, African debate was scant: the man who broke the Bank of England foretold of a broken world laden with fear and doom; there was scary talk of cyber terrorism; just another day, another Davos, for the World Economic Forum.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



If you want an example of how the dash of Davos can descend into self-parody, you should have taken a look at the huge banner draped across the posh Belvedere Hotel throughout the World Economic Forum in the mountain ski-resort. 



It was on the main street through Davos where thousands of delegates slip and slide to scores of functions – with at least one or two slipping over every day – along a line of shops taken over by big money corporate sponsors. 



Much more money is being made elsewhere in this ski-resort: the people who live here go away for the week and let out their homes for a king’s ransom; $30,000 for the week is nothing unusual.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



READ MORE |<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2018/12/31/world-will-improve-where-it-matters-most-in-2019/">World Will Improve Where It Matters Most In 2019</a>



Most people saw an irony in the banner, yet clearly the
people who spent a fortune on putting it up there couldn’t have. 



“Free trade is great,” says the banner on behalf of
Brexit-bound Great Britain. 



“Didn’t someone tell them they were about to leave one of
the greatest free trade zones in the world?” says one passer-by with a cynical
chuckle.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



The crack summed up some of the irony that swirls around when cohorts of bean counters, highly-paid administrators and bosses gather in an Alpine icebox to solve the problems of the world.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">The bigwigs weren’t there and this year, there was less buzz and fewer queues outside the briefing rooms. </blockquote>



Donald Trump, who made a big splash at Davos last year,
stayed at home trying to figure out his government shutdown. The four ‘Ms’ –
May, Modi, Macron and Mnangagwa weren’t there either; at least two of them tied
up with fighting fires, from Brexit to economic meltdown, in their own
backyards.



&nbsp;Empty hot seats, at
Davos, at a time when the world is crying out for the wisdom of sage leaders. 



Instead, it was left to business leaders, like the
Australian-born CEO of billion-dollar turnover infrastructure giant Arup, Greg
Hodkinson, to cut to the chase.



“We need clear political leadership in this fractured world… otherwise we are going to get easy political leadership preying on people’s fears,” says Hodkinson at one of the first panels of WEF 2019, on infrastructure.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/03/01/richest-powerful-go-davos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Why The Richest And Most Powerful Go To Davos (opens in a new tab)">Why The Richest And Most Powerful Go To Davos</a>



Hodkinson, who has worked in infrastructure for 40 years,
also said investment in infrastructure could no longer ignore the future, or
the deteriorating environment.



&nbsp;“Carbon should be
priced into infrastructure projects and that will act as an economic trigger
for private money to come in because not only will it mean more revenue, it
will help us put more money into saving the environment,” says Hodkinson.



According to the WEF Global Risks Report for 2018, some of
the top risks by impact are posed by the elements: floods and storms; water
crisis, plus earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos and electric storms. 



“By 2040, the investment gap in global infrastructure is
forecast to reach $18 trillion against a projected requirement of $97 trillion.
Against this backdrop, we strongly recommend that businesses develop a climate
resilience adaptation strategy and act on it now,” warns Alison Martin, Group
Chief Risk Officer, Zurich Insurance Group, in the report.



The money is there, according to Hodkinson, but needs to be
channeled with foresight.



“Even if someone is building a car parking garage, I ask
what else can they do with it because they won’t need it one day,” says
Hodkinson.



“The money is there. Investors sank six trillion dollars
into United States junk bonds last year; if investors are prepared to roll the
dice on junk bonds, what about infrastructure investment?”



Investors, on this day at Davos, heard that 65% of world infrastructure projects are unbankable without government guarantees. Private money is needed to fill the gaping infrastructure gap, yet negotiations between investor and government officials can prove difficult.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2019/01/09/world-bank-sees-global-growth-slowing-in-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="World Bank Sees Global Growth Slowing In 2019 (opens in a new tab)">World Bank Sees Global Growth Slowing In 2019</a>



Just ask Heng Swee Keat, the Cambridge-educated finance
minister of Singapore, the former Parliamentary Private Secretary to the father
of infrastructure on the industrious little island who harnessed private money
for public good – the legendary late premier Lee Kuan Yew. 



The finance minister warned relationships between public and
private sectors could be “lumpy”. 



“I remember a man coming to me and saying he was never going
to invest in infrastructure in your country again, I asked him ‘why’ and he
said, because the last time we invested and made money the government came back
to us and asked ‘why are you making so much money’,’’ chuckled Swee Keat.







Another major issue in Davos was Artificial Intelligence.
This promises not only the development of new technology to take the backbreak
and tedium out of life, but also to replace workers with robots. Exciting times
for many, yet maybe worrying times for us all if one of the many briefings was
anything to go by – one man’s bank account can be another radical’s cash cow.
Experts painted a bleak picture of threats and radicalism lurking on the dark
web.



&nbsp;“I wouldn’t put my credit card into a machine today. This is happening right now,” exclaimed retired US Marine Corps’ four-star general, John Allen, a former commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. I had asked him about how far away we were from cyber-terrorism cleaning out bank accounts.



“A cyber terrorist can open a bank account on a Monday,
start cleaning people’s accounts out on a Tuesday and start supplying money to
their cause on a Wednesday. I saw a case of a bank in Bangladesh that was
cleaned out of $80 million in one day. We have to develop strong systems to
defend our financial systems.”



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/09/27/big-four-accounting-firm-deloitte-confirms-cyber-attack/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Big Four Accounting Firm Deloitte Confirms Cyber Attack (opens in a new tab)">Big Four Accounting Firm Deloitte Confirms Cyber Attack</a>



Cyber- terrorists are becoming ever more clever and
ubiquitous, warns Karin von Hippel, a former senior advisor to the US
Department of State, who worked on security for the United Nations and European
Union in Somalia and Kosovo. The Islamic Isis movement, in Syria, attracted
40,000 volunteers from 120 countries and many used internet to further their
cause, she says.



“They are all out there in the cloud and the dark web doing
their work. They move so fast that it is very hard to keep up with,” says Von
Hippel.



“If we spent half as much money on easing the causes of this
terrorism, as we do fighting it, we would not drive so many youths into the
arms of the radicals,” says Allen.



Don’t panic, too much, cautions Von Hippel.



“Despite all of this, you’ve still got a bigger chance of
dying in the bathtub than you do in a terrorist attack,” she quips to ease the
tension at the end of a worrying, yet eye-opening, session.



If you listened to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
at Davos, on a cold Wednesday night, you would have bathed with abandon and
slept soundly in the snow afterwards. 



“We are casting our nets here and finding big fish,” says Ramaphosa,
the master of the metaphor, at the press briefing earlier in the day.



In Davos, Ramaphosa would have faced awkward questions from
investors over why his government is propping up loss-making state enterprises,
taking time to cut back government expenditure and the civil service, plus the
thorny issue of expropriation of land without compensation.



That night, at the customary presidential dinner, in Davos,
Ramaphosa, with microphone in hand, was as optimistic as a leader should be in
an election year.



“When we see people here, they ask us how we manage to get business, government and unions working together for the economy of our country,” says Ramaphosa.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“They say tell us what magic you have. What I tell them is that there is a renewal and determination to make South Africa work. ” </blockquote>



The most chilling view of the future was yet to come. It
came from the lips of grey-haired global investor George Soros, the man who
broke the Bank of England, who invited us to the plush Seehof Hotel, one icy
Thursday night, for an icier speech. 



The 88-year-old hedge fund tycoon, worth $8.3 billion
according to FORBES, reportedly made $1 billion in one day, in Britain’s
sterling crisis of 1992, by shorting the British pound.



&nbsp; “I want to use my
time tonight to warn the world about an unprecedented danger that’s threatening
the very survival of open societies,” were the dramatic opening words. 



Soros delivered a potted history of his early life in the shadow of oppression. When he was 13, in 1944, the Nazis invaded Hungary and deported Jews to concentration camps. His father, a lawyer, understood the system and arranged false papers and hiding places for the family. 



When the Soviets moved into post-war Bucharest, Soros took refuge in England where he put himself through the London School of Economics by working as a waiter and railway porter. He became a leading hedge fund manager by analysing the weaknesses of prevailing theories guiding investors.



&nbsp;“Running a hedge fund
was very stressful. When I had made more money than I needed for myself or my
family, I underwent a kind of midlife crisis. Why should I kill myself to make
more money?” he says.



Then, Soros began his philanthropic work, in 1979, by
supporting scholarships for black students at Cape Town University. To this day,
his Open Society Foundations aims to protect the human rights and freedom he
fears are under attack.



“An alliance is emerging between authoritarian states and
the large data-rich IT monopolies that bring together nascent systems of
corporate surveillance with an already developing system of state-sponsored
surveillance. This may well result in a web of totalitarian control the likes
of which not even George Orwell could have imagined. Tonight, I want to call
attention to the mortal danger facing open societies from the instruments of
control that machine-learning and artificial intelligence can put in the hands
of repressive regimes,” says Soros.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="700" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-1024x700.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39625" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-1024x700.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-300x205.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-600x410.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-768x525.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, speaks at an event on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 22 &#8211; 25. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



“China isn’t the only authoritarian regime in the world, but
it’s undoubtedly the wealthiest, strongest and most developed in machine
learning and Artificial Intelligence. This makes Xi Jinping the most dangerous
opponent of those who believe in the concept of open society. But Xi isn’t
alone. Authoritarian regimes are proliferating all over the world and if they
succeed, they will become totalitarian.”



Soros also criticized US foreign policy on China. “My present view is that instead of waging a trade war with practically the whole world, the US should focus on China. Instead of letting ZTE and Huawei off lightly, it needs to crack down on them. 



If these companies came to dominate the 5G market, they would present an unacceptable security risk for the rest of the world. Regrettably, President Trump seems to be following a different course: make concessions to China and declare victory while renewing his attacks on US allies. This is liable to undermine the US policy objective of curbing China’s abuses and excesses.”



The final chilling words for anyone who loves freedom: “My
key point is that the combination of repressive regimes with IT monopolies
endows those regimes with a built-in advantage over open societies. The
instruments of control are useful tools in the hands of authoritarian regimes,
but they pose a mortal threat to open societies.”



Journalists at least closed a heavy night with a lighter
moment. They asked Soros whose side Facebook and Google were on.



“I think Facebook and the others are on the side of their
own profits,” says Soros to a gale of laughter.



All the time we were listening to these predictions of AI surveillance doom at Davos, in a warm lounge at the Seehof Hotel, we were surrounded by armed police, airport security, surveillance cameras and cell phones that tell the world where you are, who you are and what you are doing, or saying, maybe doomsday is already here.

Day Three Of World Economic Forum 2019

Chilling Words From The Man Who Broke The Bank Of England

Fancy a cup of coffee? How about a chocolate? Or a fresh
cream waffle with syrup?



These were some of the treats offered to delegates on the
Davos promenade, enroute the congress center of the World Economic Forum’s
(WEF) 31st annual meeting in January.



With temperatures plunging below -17° in Switzerland, it was
hard for many to say no to the delights. 



The promenade is a stretch of road where residents of the
town located in the Swiss Alps, go about their everyday activities of shopping,
banking and socializing. 



This would be the case any other time but not in the month
of January, when the high street is overhauled into one of the most important
and richest in the world.



Book stores and coffee shops are shut and hired out to
corporates with deep pockets. 



Multinational heavyweights like Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon
and Tata are intent on showcasing their products to the thousands of delegates
that attend the forum. 



WEF is regarded the most prestigious gathering of global
leaders in business, government and society, who meet each year to discuss the
world’s biggest threats and ways to neutralize them. 



This year’s theme was Globalisation 4.0: Shaping a New
Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.



What better way to tackle such a daunting task than with
some steaming hot chocolate to invigorate the mind?



Back to the promenade.



The long stretch is carpeted by ice that mirrors the thick
blanket of snow enveloping rooftops and walls.



Among the heavyweights battling it out to attract potential
new clients, I see an African company. 



It’s South Africa’s Absa bank; the only African company on
the high street.



Ironically, like the promenade, which has been overhauled
into a corporate marketing hunting ground, the African bank has completed its
own makeover.



It was formerly known as Barclays Africa, a subsidiary of
the London-based Barclays PLC.



“This year is the first time Absa comes to the World
Economic Forum as a standalone entity,” the bank’s outgoing CEO Maria Ramos
said. 



“We’ve had a lot of our own meetings here. We’ve been able,
I believe, to demonstrate that as a bank we are able to be at the cutting edge
of what global financial markets are about.



“We have also demonstrated that as an African continent, not
only do we have phenomenal sunshine, which we have been able to bring to Davos
with technology into this fantastic space, but we’ve also got great financial
institutions.”



It seemed Africa’s warmth followed relentlessly even in
sub-zero climes. 



Other action that took place on the sidelines of WEF
included bilateral engagements between business and government.



Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo told me of his private meeting
with Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube.



Ncube had to lead the Zimbabwe delegation after President
Emmerson Mnangagwa ditched plans to attend WEF at the eleventh hour to deal
with the latest crisis in Zimbabwe.



Videos of deadly protests in Zimbabwe over the doubling of
fuel prices overnight had gone viral.



“I was pleading with the Minister of Finance for him to take
us into his confidence so we can actually work together with them and see how
we deploy the capital that we have for the benefit of our customers and we
protect value for shareholders,” Moyo said. 



Old Mutual is the largest listed company on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange.



For MTN CEO Rob Shuter, the sideline meetings at WEF
provided a platform to deal with a crisis in Uganda with speed.



News broke that three MTN Uganda managers had been deported
for allegedly compromising national security. 



Shuter told me he met with Ugandan President, Yoweri
Museveni, to address the matter. 



“We had a cordial meeting. We assured [President Museveni]
of MTN’s commitment to Uganda. We have been 20 years in the country and we are
in the process of renewing the license,” he said.



Shuter also met with Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange. 



I asked if this was to discuss the much-anticipated listing
of MTN on Nigeria’s stock exchange but he declined to comment.



It was time for another cup of steaming hot coffee. 



– The writer is a presenter-producer on CNBC Africa.

Preparations Ahead Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018

Africa In  The Alps

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged on Wednesday that his government would not interfere with the independence of the Reserve Bank, despite a proposal by the ruling party to broaden its focus to boost employment and economic growth.



“We do not seek to interfere with its independence,” Ramaphosa told a news conference at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.



The central bank’s mandate now focuses on price stability, but the African National Congress said in its 2019 election manifesto that monetary policy should also “take into account other objectives, such as employment creation and economic growth”.

South Africa’s President Ramaphosa Assures Central Bank Independence

As political and business leaders gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, a roster of the most sustainable companies is also enjoying a moment in the spotlight.



The list, the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2019-global-100/2019-global-100-results-15481152/" target="_blank">Global 100</a>, ranks large corporations across the globe on their performance reducing carbon and waste, their gender diversity among leadership, revenues derived from clean products, and overall sustainability.



 In its 15th year, the ranking is compiled by a Canada-based sustainability-focused financial information company and magazine,&nbsp;Corporate Knights,&nbsp;beginning with a list of about 7,500 companies, all of which generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue.



Ranking number one this year on the Global 100 is Chr. Hansen Holding, a Danish bioscience firm that derives over 80% of its revenue developing natural solutions for preserving foods like yogurt and milk, protecting crops using natural bacteria instead of pesticides, and alternatives to antibiotics for animals.



Corporate Knights&nbsp;cofounder and president Toby Heaps told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that Chr. Hansen’s first-place standing was a bit of a surprise and that the company, founded in 1874, is a relative unknown to many. “It’s not a consumer-facing company,” he says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">But it probably impacts a lot of the calories of hundreds of millions of people every day and makes the food that they’re consuming safer.</blockquote>



Nearly 30% of the Danish billion-dollar-business’ board is made up of women, according to the&nbsp;Corporate Knights study, and its CEO salaries are about 24 times those of an average worker with the firm—a relatively low ratio for the ranking.



In second place on the roster is Kering SA, a French firm better known for the consumer-facing brands it owns: fashion houses Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, among others. 



The brand has shown it takes sustainability seriously by sourcing more than 40% of its products from certified sustainable sources, says Heaps, and is always scanning for ways to improve that percentage.



<figure><iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="400" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRoV95MCM_NFEDWsG2V-Ep8nclsVQ-q7FTO19t24gYH8PlKE2kJ2JIVnKgMURIu_jgjV6vGiq6XCeDh/pubhtml?gid=0&amp;single=true&amp;widget=true&amp;headers=false"></iframe></figure>

gettyimages-119545242-170667a

The Most Sustainable Companies In 2019

A drastic 150 percent overnight rise in Zimbabwe’s fuel prices failed on Sunday to ease a nationwide petrol and diesel shortage caused by a lack of hard currency. 



Most service stations still had no fuel to sell to motorists who have been sleeping in their vehicles to queue. Some said they were awaiting an official notice from the regulatory authority (ZERA).



Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi tweeted that commodity price volatility “will be temporary before goods prices normalize”.



The acute shortage of U.S. dollars has made it hard for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to import not only fuel but also drugs and other goods.



Mnangagwa himself was on Sunday setting off on a five-nation tour that starts in Russia and ends at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.



Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009 after it was wrecked by hyperinflation, and adopted the greenback and other hard currencies such as sterling and the South African rand.



But now there is not enough hard currency to back up more than $10 billion in electronic funds trapped in local bank accounts, prompting demands from businesses and civil servants for cash that can be deposited and used to make payments.



Mnangagwa has said his government will not let businesses raise prices but they have been doing so anyway, arguing that they have no choice but to buy dollars at a premium on the black market.



Inflation is already at a 10-year high of 31 percent and, in the past two weeks, public transport firms have tripled fares citing a shortage of fuel, which some have been buying on the black market.



An assistant at a service station owned by Zuva Petroleum said: “We have not received any supplies since Thursday evening but we are hoping we will get a delivery before end of the day.”



A ZERA spokesman said all fuel companies had been notified of the new prices.



The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said it planned a national strike from Monday in protest at the “insensitive and provocative” fuel price increase, although such calls have in the past not been widely followed.



Teachers, who are not represented by ZCTU, are planning a nationwide strike from Jan. 22, and civil servants have threatened to join them. -Reuters



<ul><li>MacDonald Dzirutwe</li></ul>

gettyimages-1080823688-594×594

150 percent price rise fails to fill Zimbabwe’s fuel pumps

At’s a regular weekday in Kigali’s lively central business district where single-storied shop tenements, with tables heaving with African artefacts, jostle with gleaming commercial towers. On the arterial street by the high-rise Bank of Kigali, vendors hawk cheap clothing, and shops smelling of dust and sweat sell colorful jewelry and bric-a-brac. Most have a cash-only policy, a far cry from the bank next door, which, in its sprawling air-conditioned halls, doles out digital payment solutions for Rwanda’s consumers.
<div id="attachment_28650" style="width: 616px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28650" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-28650 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa.jpg" alt="" width="606" height="902" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa.jpg 606w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa-300x447.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa-600x893.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa-202x300.jpg 202w" sizes="(max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px" />Daniel Monehin Division President MasterCard Sub-Saharan Africa</div>
But the services-savvy Rwanda is proving it’s ahead of most African countries on innovations, not just in the financial space, but in general. As laid out in its Vision 2020 strategy, it aims to include 90% of its citizens in the financial mainstream. ‘Cashless Rwanda’ are the new buzzwords in the corridors of power.
At the World Economic Forum held here in May, Rwanda’s government signed a deal with Mastercard, the technology company in the global payments industry, to promote the move to a cashless economy. High on Rwanda’s agenda is digitization of school fees and national healthcare claim payments.
At the announcement, Francis Gatare, CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), had said: “We are confident Rwanda’s partnership with Mastercard will be beneficial to the country and its citizens as we are implementing our vision of becoming a knowledge-based service-oriented economy. I believe this can only be achieved as we embrace the fourth industrial revolution.”
The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth has committed up to $1 million over the next three years to advance economic growth and financial inclusion in the land of a thousand hills.
The country, which famously triumphed over tragedy since the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, is now up for the challenge of embracing technology to overcome concerns like financial literacy and inclusion of the rural poor, who are mostly still reliant on cash.
How big is the cash economy in Africa?
“According to a recent McKinsey report, two billion people remain outside of the formal economy. Various studies confirm over 90% of retail transactions in sub-Saharan Africa are in cash,” says Daniel Monehin, who leads Mastercard’s business across sub-Saharan Africa as Division President.
“In Rwanda, only 42% of adults own a financial account, whether formal or informal… We know that government cannot achieve financial inclusion alone, and neither can the private sector – we need to work together.”
In September, Bank of Kigali, RwandaOnline and Mastercard launched Irembo – an online payment solution to make online payments safer, simpler and smarter.
RwandaOnline developed Irembo, including six government engines, allowing Rwandans to make online payments to any of these government entities through the use of debit, credit or prepaid payment cards. Residents can pay for driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and identity cards. The portal also allows travelers to Rwanda to apply and pay for travel visas.
<div id="attachment_28649" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28649" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-28649 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM.jpg 750w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />Raghu Malhotra</div>
“At Mastercard, we don’t limit our thinking to ‘traditional’ versus  ‘new’ – we explore what is going to meet the needs of a market and its citizens as there is not one solution that can meet all needs. Rather our focus is on creating a ‘world beyond cash’, developed through partnerships and driven by advances in technology,” says Monehin.
Indeed, Rwanda’s aim for a cashless culture is good news for the city’s new innovators and entrepreneurs.
Afshon Wallace, the 26-year-old founder of 250 Taxi, a web-based transport solutions provider connecting riders and taxi drivers using a mobile app and website, launched earlier this year, says it’s encouraging. Wallace says he caters mostly to expatriates and is witnessing growth of up to 100%.
“The cashless payments ecosystem in Rwanda is still in its infancy. The government’s push for paperless payments through the smart Rwanda master plan has been a great boost and great sensitization programs are being carried out by many players,” says Wallace.
But there are myriad challenges.
“The population lacks the adequate financial awareness on cashless payments. We have had less than three percent of our users asking whether they can use cards.”
Wallace says compared to the M-Pesa service in neighboring Kenya that has seen great success, locally, mobile money is still to catch up.
Yet, products such as Tap&amp;Go (smart cards enabling cashless payments) on Kigali’s public buses are becoming popular.
“We have huge government support when it comes to e-payments,” says Patrick Buchana, the 26-year-old CEO of AC Group, who started Tap&amp;Go in 2015.
David Karuletwa, the Rwandan-Canadian COO of RSwitch, a financial interoperable solutions company, whose passion is financial inclusion using fintech, says Rwanda is primed to be a hub for financial services.
In 2010, RSwitch launched Rwanda’s first debit card issued by banks in Rwanda and later rebranded it to SmartCash card.
“Rwanda and the entire pan-African market are paving the way for financial inclusion using mobile banking and payment solutions,” says Karuletwa.
From paper to e-payments, cash to cashless, Rwanda’s bank notes are moving out of the wallet into the world of www.

From Wallet To www

We are at Camp Kigali, the venue of the 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Rwanda in May, and Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has just walked past the media center in a suit sporting a bright bowtie – he probably has the nattiest collection of bowties on the continent.
There are other men around him and in the background, wearing grey suits, coffee stains and lazy expressions. And Matthew Rugamba swaggers in, in a peacock blue suit and vest, making a sartorial statement louder than all their spiffy PowerPoint presentations.
The 26-year-old founder and creative director of House of Tayo is not at WEF to peddle his latest collection of Afrochic bowties and accessories that are currently wowing Rwanda. He’s here as part of a high-caliber panel, including former AfDB chief Donald Kaberuka, speaking about youth entrepreneurship and Africa Rising.
“Throughout the panel discussion, I had to keep pinching myself,” says Rugamba.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5146" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0189_tayo-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
“There was a time when people would laugh at me for saying I wanted to make bowties in Rwanda, and here I was on stage with some incredible people.”
Born in England to Rwandan and Ugandan parents, Rugamba lived and studied in Kenya, Swaziland and the United States (US), where he acquired a degree in international relations. In his final year, he walked up to his mentor and advisor and announced he wanted to pursue a career in fashion design.
“It’s funny how much my international relations background has impacted what I am doing now. My advisor said ‘do what you want to do’, and told me that through fashion and design, I would probably have a greater impact in the field of international relations than some of my peers who were going to grad school or doing a PhD,” says Rugamba.
Part of the reason for his fortitude was he wanted to be his own boss. After high school, when he was 17, his parents persuaded him to take up a summer job in the United Kingdom (UK). That’s when he sold toys and painting sets to kids at Hamleys and Harrods in London.
“I earned only commissions. I told myself I would never do a job like that in my life. It almost controlled you. Sometimes, going to work was more expensive than staying at home,” says Rugamba, also a diehard Manchester United fan, who confesses to taking time off work even now to watch a good match.
When the war was raging in Uganda, there were no opportunities for young people so Rugamba’s father had moved to the UK, juggling three jobs at the age of 23. His mother, Rosette Chantal-Rugamba, herself a trailblazer credited with changing the tourism landscape in a post-genocide Rwanda in the 2000s, is an entrepreneur in the conference tourism industry; she runs Songa Africa. She too had started her career at Harrods in the UK, when she first joined her husband in the eighties.
After college, Rugamba applied for a summer job in his mother’s company and worked on one of her tourism projects, using the $300 he earned to launch his bowtie brand.
“My parents said I had to prove myself. So I sold some sample bowties and scarves to two of my aunts and they loved it; they said whatever support I needed, they would help.”
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Thereafter, Rugamba returned to the US to complete his degree. That’s where he delved into the mind of the customer.
“In Washington DC, when you step into the metro, everyone is wearing standard red and blue ties. And here I was, wearing these loud bowties… When I said I was from Rwanda, there would always be immediate pity or if it wasn’t pity, it was condescending praise, such as ‘oh my God, your English is so good’. I hated the pity and thought ‘what can I do to change perceptions’, and saw power in bowties…  All the soft power I learned in class was now coming to the fore.”
Rugamba retuned to Rwanda in 2013 and now crafts his products in bold African colors and vibrant patterns at a workshop in Kigali, working with women’s cooperatives to make men’s accessories.
“The women are so dedicated and accommodating. I bought them an industrial sewing machine to show them that I wasn’t there to just make money, but also wanted a long-term working relationship with them,” says Rugamba.
His design aesthetic is local, but he is aiming for an international reach. There are many things he would like to first change in the local industry though.
“I have started to push for changes in the fashion industry as a whole. There is a huge gap for skills, raw materials and for my business to thrive, I need the industry to grow as a whole. I am also keen on 3D printing. This is also why I am here at WEF, to network,” says Rugamba, gesturing to the sprawling venue.
When you are successful, you attract others like you. And in Rwanda’s close-knit business circles, you make more friends than foes.
Ephraim Rwamwenge, the 23-year-old CEO of Rwa Business Group, also a WEF delegate, joins Rugamba with a hug and handshake for an impromptu photoshoot. The two had met professionally and then became mates. This is another entrepreneur worth his salt – or sugar. Also a regular emcee at high-profile corporate events and dinners, Rwamwenge had emceed the youth event at this edition of WEF, hosted by Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame on day one of the business meet.
“I keep telling Matthew he should give me suits so when I go up and emcee, I can say I am wearing House of Tayo. Matthew is famous, his brand is so visual, unlike the rest of us, who sell sugar,” laughs Rwamwenge.
Born and raised in Botswana and of Ugandan-Rwandan parentage, Rwamwenge started his business at the age of 19. He is also a WEF Global Shaper.
He had returned to Rwanda in June 2012 with $1,000 borrowed from a family friend and business mentor.
“I had to pitch to him for support to raise capital. My parents were both teachers, and we were middle class. Then my dad became a full-time pastor and did missionary work. We had a decent childhood but not one of privilege. I had to work hard for everything I wanted,” says Rwamwenge.
In high school, if he wanted to buy PlayStations, he would make money selling lyrics.
“Back then, the girls and boys in school would listen to songs and write the lyrics. One of my uncles had an internet café, so I would google the songs, print the lyrics and sell them. A page would sell at 50 cents. Most songs would be two pages, and I would make sure the font was big, so I would make more money.”
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As an entrepreneur, Rwamwenge now packages, distributes and sells sugar from Kigali to Rwanda’s rural areas. Success has been sweet.
“People talk of low margins in commodities but there is a serious return on capital invested, especially if you can work on a good turnover. So we started the export of coffee. So to the people who were supplying us with sugar, we said you give us sugar, we will give you coffee, and offset the balances.”
Rwamwenge’s company turnover last year was about $1.3 million, and with his investors and partners, he is hoping to multiply and expand his businesses. Up next is a range of premium coffee.
Later that night – the last day of WEF – we meet Rugamba and Rwamwenge again, at Innovation Village, the hip art café and culture hub on the top floor of Kigali’s public library. Everything their generation loves is here: art, coffee, business – and bowties.

Tag: World Economic Forum

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