Landing in Kigali at night is like swooping down on a bed of stars. The land of a thousand hills twinkles with lights rivalling the skies above. On this particular night, the eve of the city’s first-ever World Economic Forum (WEF), immigration lines at the tiny but gleaming Kigali International Airport are long – mostly business travelers with thick passports and thick accents – but the wait, thankfully, isn’t. Staff quickly issue visas on arrival, Rwanda one of the few African countries to offer this ease of access.
The country has long been preparing for this day, and that first important step to flexing its economic muscle on a global stage. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu’s famous quote, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” would certainly apply here; WEF was Rwanda’s ticket to even greater global glory, beyond the 2Gs it had been known for thus far – the genocide and the gorillas.
The packed hotels and packed agendas over the next three days, May 11-13, justified its place on the WEF map. The delegates spoke, the presidents nodded, and there was affirmation everywhere, at forums, sessions, breakfasts and dinners: that Rwanda is “a beautiful country, so clean, so green, so safe”, but more importantly, a country that’s perhaps a model for the rest of Africa, and the world, for its progress over the last 22 years since the genocide against the Tutsi battered its being.
There was lavish praise also for President Paul Kagame for spearheading this growth. At the packed interactive session on African partnerships on day one moderated by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Kagame said: “Twenty two years ago, we had to involve everyone’s participation&#8230; we lost the past, but needed to regain the future.”
And Blair closed: “Twenty two years ago, if you said a couple of decades later, you would be hosting the World Economic Forum, people would have been surprised… it’s an amazing country that has seen extraordinary progress. You have done a great job.”
Toronto-based entrepreneur Sunir Chandaria said post-session: “They have moved mountains to make this happen… Rwanda has taken a leap with digitization amongst African countries.”
The Kigali edition was the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa, themed ‘Connecting Africa’s Resources Through Digital Transformation’. Some 1,200 delegates from 70 countries jetted into the small African city. In attendance were names like Tony Elumelu, Tonye Cole, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Howard Buffett, Pravin Gordhan and Cherie Blair. The venue at Camp Kigali, rechristened the Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village, had a tented concept to stir a sense of déjà vu of WEF’s annual Davos outing.
From the Alps of Switzerland to the hills of Rwanda, the forum did manage to generate its own share of excitement.
Against the backdrop of Kigali’s rolling hills – mostly red, not green, owing to the profusion of red-roofed homes on the slopes – the African plenary unfolded. Gun-toting men in military fatigues guarded the main venue and the five-star Serena Hotel, where most of the 10 visiting African heads of state were staying, and which was the venue for the stately events and dinners throughout WEF. One couldn’t get to the lobby without bag and body thoroughly searched.
Issues around women and youth featured prominently throughout the conference, not surprising, considering the host country boasts more women in parliament, in the ministries and the judiciary.
The first side event, held on the eve of WEF, was ‘Women Creating Wealth’, by the Graça Machel Trust, supported by the Rwanda chapter of New Faces, New Voices, a pan-African advocacy group expanding the role and influence of women in the financial sector. Machel, also a co-chair of WEF on Africa, said: “Women are power, women are energy, women are creativity&#8230;”
Arjuna Costa, Partner at Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm with a long history of investing in Africa, who was the only male member on the panel, spoke to FORBES AFRICA: “It’s an exciting time to be a young entrepreneur in Africa, especially with the world moving towards more and more mobile, Africa in many ways being the pioneer of things like mobile systems, and also creating rich ecosystems on which more innovation is coming… It’s exciting as it’s home-grown innovation tackling global challenges with local solutions but still leveraging the power of technology.”
On day one of WEF, the Youth Forum, a breakfast event hosted by Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame, saw a full auditorium at the Serena that was, for a change, an equal turnout of both male and female achievers.
In attendance throughout the conference were WEF’s Young Global Leaders (YGLs) and Global Shapers; there were so many, you could tell them from a distance.
One of them, Gerald Chirinda, a 20-something Harare-based entrepreneur standing in line for the security check at the Serena that night, for the social entrepreneurship dinner hosted by South Africa’s Motsepe Foundation, explained: “You see, we all look hungry&#8230; Hungry for power, and change&#8230; that’s why you recognize us.”
The one word used – and perhaps over-used – at the forum was ‘leapfrogging’. At one point during the interactive session on the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the venue’s Akagera hall, the forum’s co-chair, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), even said he didn’t believe in the word.
“Even a frog can’t leap that far,” he said to laughter.
“We cannot industrialize unless we solve access to electricity,” he said. One of the greatest priorities for the continent is electrification to enable digital technology – 500 million are without power.
“Africa is tired of being in the dark,” said Adesina. The AfDB is spending $12.5 billion in the next five years on its New Deal on Energy.
It’s crucial the Fourth Industrial Revolution “does not leave anyone behind”, said Machel, referring to Africa’s 52% female population.
At the same session, Kagame mentioned “people technology”. “Development is more than money or machines or tech. It’s about good people and the lives they lead every day,” he said.
Among the new initiatives unveiled, was the WEF-led Internet For All, a collection of best practices from around the world on how public-private collaboration has enabled internet access and adoption.
The forum’s Africa Skills Initiative brought organizations including MMI, GE, Google, Agility, the Rockefeller Foundation, Yellowwoods and the University of the Witwatersrand together to form a coalition committed to tackling Africa’s shortage of future-oriented STEM and ICT skills, while the Rockefeller Foundation announced a $1 million Cassava Innovation Challenge, aimed at finding ways to improve the shelf life of this staple crop.
Visitors to Rwanda’s first Marriott hotel that opened in time for WEF were awe-struck by its grandeur. Given the number of high-profile events the country has on the cards, hotels of this caliber are now necessary to meet the demands of discerning business travelers. The Radisson is set to open for the African Union summit here in July, right next to the Agaseki basket-inspired conference center, which was lit throughout the duration of WEF as a beacon of light and hope, hope for a tomorrow that has already come in Rwanda.

From The Alps  To The Hills

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I recall from my first venture to the World Economic Forum in Davos, in 2014, the brightly colored scarves hanging from the necks of political leaders and captains of industry as they spoke on television. These scarves were in the colors of the national flags of two of Africa’s powerhouse economies – Nigeria and South Africa.
They performed two functions – much needed warmth and a sign that Africa was firmly on the international stage.  Africa was open for business; that was the message that rang clearly and loudly from the peaks of the snow-capped mountains.
Fast forward to January 2016; where the beautiful ski resort, nestled in the Alps, once more played host to more than 2,500 delegates from around the world as global markets saw a rickety start to the year.
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China was changing its growth model and posted a slowdown in GDP. The United States increased interest rates in December 2015, despite its marginal economic growth. Then there was the slump in commodity prices, with oil reaching 12 year lows. Gold, platinum, iron ore and copper were also weaker. Emerging and frontier markets bore the brunt with no end in sight.
How was Africa going to see increased investment in its economies when it was in the eye of a perfect storm? Well that’s where charity begins at home. This seen in the launch of a new deal on energy, focused on power, potential and partnership to secure universal access to electricity on the continent by 2025.
“More than a century after Edison invented the light bulb, half of Africa is still in the dark,” said Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and FORBES AFRICA Person of the Year in 2013.
This new move to power up the continent was in line with the theme for this year’s gathering &#8211; the fourth  industrial revolution, which focused on robotics, artificial intelligence and how electricity can grow economies.
“We talk about the fourth industrial revolution, but it all starts with the need for electricity, which is like blood in the system. If we don’t have it, we can’t live,” says Adesina.
To help keep Africa on the world economic map, strong delegations came from a number of states. Several African leaders were in Davos:  Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Nigeria’s  Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma &#8211; despite several questions about his low profile at the Forum.
Members of the private sector too were there to allay fears that Africa may no longer be rising.
Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, remains confident that Africa plays home to equity markets which continue to see interest from investors, regardless of the global market conditions.
“We just have to ride the cycles,” he says.
Feeling the same was Nicky Newton-King, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the largest bourse on the continent that has won awards for the way it runs.
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“We have got to understand that there is a new normal out there, low growth in an uncertain global world, good investment opportunities will come, but we still have a chance to compete with our global peers,” said Newton-King.
Fellow members of the private sector with a strong focus on the continent, add that they too are concerned, but not shaken, by the headlines.
“I think it depends really on your time profile for your investments, I think there’s a growing interest from people who have a five to ten year view of what they want to be investing in to actually go to Africa,” said Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Africa.
Ralph Mupita, CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets says: “We are long term investors, with our roots in Africa – South Africa to be exact. Despite the challenges at a macro level, we see the needs of the consumer and we are providing them with the service, we will roll out capital prudently.”
While the challenges are clear. Africa is still on the agenda for many &#8211; albeit with reservations. Power, partnerships, and certain regulatory frameworks are the sturdy lifeboats we need to ride out the economic storm.
And whilst many do agree that the short to medium term will be worrisome our future is not dim… perhaps we need to cast our eyes slightly further out on the horizon. After all Rome wasn’t built in day; neither will Africa be.

Brrr…its cold for African optimists in the Alps this year

Cold. Expensive. Concerning. These words have been the top three words I have used to describe our most recent visit to the 47th edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The beautiful snow laden ski-town, nestled in the Alps, played host to over 2,500 delegates from across the globe. Present were heads of state, political leaders, business executives, members of civil society and the like, who braved sub-zero temperatures to explore the theme for this year – the 4th Industrial Revolution and its impact on economies.
But this year, the conversation on robotics and artificial intelligence was over-shadowed by a myriad of concerns – the global market environment and its negative impact on the “Africa rising narrative” and of course the minimal attendance of women at the meeting.
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Where are the women?
Over the last few decades, the participation of women at the forum has improved, albeit at a slow pace. This year, only 18% of contributors were women, a slight improvement from the 17% attendees in 2015. But are our voices being heard? Yes. Several panel discussions and side events were held at the meeting to truly understand the economic impact of empowering the fairer sex.
Bea Perez, Global Chief Sustainability officer at Coca-Cola, reminded us why corporates like the soft drink manufacturer continue their focus and investment in women.
“We know women drive the economy. When they participate, they also give 96 cents of the dollar they earn back to strengthen their communities,” said Perez.
Also in attendance at the forum was a woman who holds the purse strings to Africa’s largest economy – Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Finance Minister. So too, was Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors.
They join Davos veterans Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, and Christine Lagarde, IMF head, among over 500 outstanding female leaders from every part of public life.
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Global market concerns
The global market environment got off to a rickety start in 2016. The world’s attention remains fixed on the change in growth models in China – away from infrastructure to a consumption-led economy, the United States, which has managed to show signs of marginal strength in its economy and begun to raise interest rates in December 2015, and the commodity price cycle. With the price of oil at 12-year lows and the prices of base metal commodities like gold, platinum, iron ore and copper significantly weaker, emerging markets are bearing the brunt of these pressures.
Such pressure was evidently felt in our exchange rate. With one Swiss Franc (CHF) at R16.74 at the time of our visit, a simple meal of a burger and coke set me back CHF21.50 or around R370 – enough money to provide a meal for a family of four back home.
Despite the market volatility, Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, remains confident that Africa plays home to equity markets which continue to see interest from investors, regardless of the global market conditions. “We just have to ride the cycles,” he said.
These sentiments were echoed by Nicky Newton-King, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
“We have got to understand that there is a new normal out there, low growth in an uncertain global world, good investment opportunities will come, but we still have a chance to compete with our global peers,” said Newton-King.
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Give us hope!
With all the negative sentiment, one would think this would deter investors. While the leaders of these global companies continue to monitor the headlines, they are concerned but not discouraged by the current economic cycle.
“I think it depends really on your time profile for your investments, I think there’s a growing interest from people who have a five to ten year view of what they want to be investing in to actually go to Africa,” said Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Africa.
“We are long-term investors, with our roots in Africa – South Africa to be exact. Despite the challenges at a macro level, we see the needs of the consumer and we are providing them with the service, we will roll out capital prudently,” added Ralph Mupita, CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets.
While the challenges are clear, Africa is still on the agenda.
And, perhaps, as the conversation continues to evolve and the participation of women increases, the message about our continent from Davos will be warm, inclusive and exciting.
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– The writer is a financial journalist and senior anchor with CNBC Africa.

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Is The Africa Rising Story In Jeopardy?

It’s the 90th annual Comrades Marathon; it is a cold dawn. Legs limber up; stretches are done. Eyes betray the fear – people have died in this race. Before them is a 90-kilometer run stretching between the South African cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu-Natal. Standing shivering beside some 13,000 runners, in the dawn over Durban, is Themba Baloyi, a Johannesburg entrepreneur and runner. He has a green number on his chest – a badge of honor for runners with more than 10 Comrades Marathon finishes.
Away from the marathon it has been a busy year for Baloyi, the founder and executive director of Discovery Insure, a position he has held since he was 25. This year, he was appointed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF), a recognition given to distinguished leaders under the age of 40. He will hold the post for five years, influencing youth around the world.
Despite his 18 years of road running, and 14 Comrades Marathons with 11 finishes, Baloyi was anxious on this May morning. As Chariots of Fire played before the starter pistol, Baloyi was overwhelmed by emotion. Tears ran down his face. This was because he remembered after every race it was a ritual to telephone his mother and tell her about it. But she died in December 2013.
“With all the good things I am doing, I know my mother would have been proud. She would have celebrated my WEF appointment. These are some of the things that ran through my mind as I anticipated the start,” says Baloyi.
For 18 years, Baloyi has taken this risk on the road. This is because in every race he is taking his life in his hands – many doctors would tell him not to – he has type one diabetes, a chronic condition he has lived with for 11 years.
“One of the key reasons and driving forces for me is to demonstrate that when you have a chronic condition, it doesn’t mean you cannot do challenging things. I still have a wish of doing Mount Everest one day but my wife wants me to wait for our kids to grow up… A lot of people still think about limitations relating to whatever [health] conditions you are dealing with. I see possibilities,” says Baloyi.
In the marathon, Baloyi took caution.
“I have seen runners lying on the side of the road. Six years ago, as I was going for the finish line, running a 21-kilometer race in (Irene) Centurion, I passed a guy on the side of the road. I later learned he eventually died. That left a huge impression in my mind until today. Now, when I see a runner struggling on the side of the road, I become cautious and intervene,” he says.
Baloyi says, since that day, he always helps in incidents in a race because it could be him one day.
“If we all pass, like other runners do, no one might notice that I am in desperate need for help. So, I always ensure I am not one of the statistics. That is one of the key things in my mind when running. As much as I don’t want to traumatize other runners, I also don’t want to traumatize their families. You don’t want to create an impression that running is a bad thing, that people die,” says Baloyi.
Death at the side of the road haunts him. He says you should always listen to your body. That’s the oldest rule in the book. But there’s that element of heroism that kicks in time and again. That’s not right, it’s foolish, he says.
“I have run with people with heart disease. In one of my races, there’s this guy who ran with his daughter. I admired his courage and the care he took ensuring that he was not a statistic. He was going for his 16th Comrades’ medal – a guy with heart disease. My sense is that people always create barriers and limitations for whatever condition or scenario they are dealing with. But, with due care and consideration, you should be able to complete a race successfully without killing yourself or putting other people at risk,” says Baloyi.
For Baloyi, who runs to keep fit and for enjoyment, each race comes with a checklist: cellphone for emergency calls; glucometer, to check his blood sugar levels; protein supply and a lot of liquids. He does his own check-ups on the road.
“That’s why in some of the races, like the one last year, as much as I was still on track and running on time, I pulled out because my sugar [levels were] sitting at three. I didn’t know what the distance is between three and a coma – hypoglycaemia,” he says.
This year’s Comrades was no different. Baloyi stopped a few times to monitor his blood sugar level and to eat food.
“I continued to the halfway mark, looking good and feeling strong, but I had lost a lot time because I stopped in Hillcrest and the Valley of a Thousand Hills,” says Baloyi.
Towards the second-last cut-off, Baloyi and other runners were 10 minutes behind the time when they met a stranger who told them they won’t make it.
“This guy said ‘whoever gets through this cut-off will be the guy with a big heart’, I looked at this guy and I said trust me I am the guy with the big heart. I then blasted off and beat the cut-off [time],” says Baloyi.
At the last cut-off – at the top of Polly Shortts, 82 kilometers into the race – Baloyi was faced with the impossible; he had to run a kilometer in two minutes.
“I was playing it out in my mind that I was not going to make it. But I am going to negotiate with the race referee, I am going to finish the race,” says Baloyi.
Alas, his negotiation skills didn’t work with the race referee this time. Baloyi was told his race was over. He was ordered to wait for a rescue bus beside the road.
“There comes this lady, Denise Johansson. She was upset. She was chasing her 15th medal. Whatever happened to her along the race, it happens to all of us with all the experience we have in the world. She said, ‘I am going to the finish’. I saw Marthinus doing the same thing. I said ‘okay, everybody is going. Bye-bye referee,’” he says.
From there, Baloyi sprinted past the referee and made a commitment to finish the race with Johannsson and Marthinus.
“As much as I was late, I think I could have still finished in 12:10 but I crossed the line in 12:37. I had made a commitment that I was not going to leave Denise behind. Although I was feeling strong in the last three kilometers, I had to keep the commitment. We were the last two runners to the finish. Unfortunately, Marthinus fell off the wagon,” says Baloyi.
Baloyi and Johansson didn’t know each before the race but were bound by the running and the will to finish.
“Denise made a commitment and she remained true to it. I honored her for that because, as a runners’ code, if you agree on something, you do it,” he says.
Baloyi says long distance running like the Comrades Marathon is an equalizer.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are an elite professional athlete, a CEO, somebody sweeping the street or a miner. We are all equal in the race,” he says.
Baloyi says people should understand your bad day in the office because everyone goes through it. He witnessed the top seeded runners walking in the race and some couldn’t even finish.
“Any runner who’s never had a bad day in the office, his level of maturity has not yet manifested. The level of maturity manifests the moment when things don’t go according to the plan,” he says.
On that day, drenched in sweat just outside Pietermaritzburg, the plan was in pieces, but the will to go on rescued one of the many worst days for those who suffer to run.

Courage Comrade

Apaltry rate of investment in infrastructure has dimmed the otherwise bright future for our continent.
Decades of self-serving economic policies, political agendas and some may say cynical or ‘feel good’ aid flows to Africa clearly have not delivered much. Yet, there is a new sense of enthusiasm and positive energy from Africa. The new generation of Africans is seizing the future.
The people are moving and the opportunities are endless for Africans. Entrepreneurs from around the world are engaged, but the picture has flaws; the story is oversimplified. The basic needs are still missing. Where are the ports and harbours, railways, roads, power plants and electrical and water distribution to support growth?
It is Africa’s diversity that makes it so rich, but it is also this diversity that remains the biggest hurdle to the growth that is eagerly expected.
Africa comprises 53 diverse countries – historically impacted by colonial era and cold war foreign ideologies; diverse languages, inefficient bureaucracy, nationalist inward-looking focus and economic protectionism. The continent often lacks experience when it comes to major infrastructure delivery and attracting private sector or foreign development investment.
Enter the World Economic Forum (WEF) and many other NGOs and Develop Finance Institutions (DFIs) who seek to usher in a better world.
WEF is a private institution respected as an influencer and incubator in helping the world understand the future.
The focus on Africa, in the last decade, has done good and raised the economic profile of the continent around the world.
WEF has no implementation resources or infrastructure delivery capacity but are good at investigation, evaluation and think-tanking. Ideas may abound but when does planning turn into delivery? Many highly qualified professionals with great ideas meet annually with apparently limited visible progress when it comes to the hardware on the ground.
In 2013, WEF stated that “with an expected annual growth of 5 percent in 2012-2013, sub-Saharan Africa continues its transformative journey from a developing continent to a hub of global growth. According to the World Bank, almost half of Africa’s countries have attained middle-income status. At the same time, the continent’s positive outlook is threatened by fluctuating commodity prices, rising inequality and youth unemployment.”
At that session, much time was spent on the identification of target and priority infrastructure projects and 51 were shortlisted. The work done on the projects list was commendable, but there were crucial missing factors preventing the realization of the funding and construction of these projects.
The ability to attract large scale DFI funding to the extent required, which is put at $75 billion by 2040, is still elusive due to three factors: the absence of upfront ‘at risk’ funding of early project feasibility studies that can attract full project funding from private, public and DFI sources; a lack of political will and technical knowhow.
At this year’s forum, it’s encouraging to see all three of these key factors firmly on the agenda. There is a realization of the need to have a regional integrated view and that non-returnable funds are made available, to enable project preparation to be effective which will lead to funding and implementation.
My birthplace in Zimbabwe and my own personal African infrastructure adventure, over the last 30 something years, has given me valuable first-hand experience of the immensely difficult task of getting major projects through to implementation, both from a private and public sector perspective.
My personal experience with WEF goes back to the event in Cape Town in 2010. I attended with a special interest in the economic growth drivers and capacity building within Africa’s infrastructure.
In a number of DFI forums, my colleagues and I stressed that while projects may be much needed, project financing funds will not flow unless there were crucial additional funds made available that paid for the early detailed feasibility studies, including the designs and accurate technical scoping, budgeting and funding mechanisms and ultimately project management.
At last, we may be seeing the DFIs and the many agencies seeking infrastructure solutions for Africa coming together to get the African vision moving.
WEF would have thus played a strategic role in unlocking the potential. Africa is waiting.

Africa Is Building At Last

It was the dual meaning of a few words that tripped off the tongue of the Somaliland foreign minister as he talked about the economic future of Africa that turned my blood cold.
“Africa shouldn’t miss the boat,” says Mohamed B Yonis.
The stark image that stabbed into my mind was that of Africans risking their lives on leaky boats crossing the Mediterranean in the desperate hope of a new life in Europe – a journey that has taken 2,000 lives this year. A new life? The odds are against it; even the survivors are likely to end up as sweated labour at best; trafficked labor at worst.
I was even more upset to see a magazine at the conference with a survey suggesting a large number of Africans say they would risk the tricky crossing of the Mediterranean even if it cost them their lives; a sad statistic close to the weeping heart of Africa.
A sobering thought amid the gathering of the rich and powerful in Cape Town where there were many signs of light and growth in Africa. Among the 1,200 delegates were investment fund managers from across the world.
“We like what we see and are here to invest,” says one partner of a $68-billion New York investment fund.
Infrastructure is likely to be the big business of the future; in the past, the World Bank estimated Africa needs at least $93 billion a year spent in infrastructure. Those in the know in Cape Town say this is barely enough to touch the sides of the infrastructure gap.
Former head of South African intelligence, Moe Shaik, has been doing his bit with the pan-African investment operation he is running for the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Shaik says he gathered $404 million (R5 billion) in investments into everything from roads to oil and gas pipelines in the last year. Shaik also says the DBSA contributed $150 million in raising $750 million for a sovereign wealth fund in Angola that will be used to build roads and infrastructure as well as making plans for a new coal fired power station at Mamba, near the Zambezi River, in southern Zambia. He believes state coffers can no longer afford infrastructure.
“Government needs to create an environment where capital can come in and build. But African governments also need to set up mechanisms where they can supervise infrastructure projects in their country so they can be done properly,” he says.
Patrice Motsepe, Africa’s 14th richest man, worth an estimated $2.3 billion according to FORBES, agrees.
“I have always emphasized that we need to bring the private sector in and that the partnership be a partnership between the government, the investment communities, both local and international, and that always gives me comfort that these projects make sense, that they are sustainable,” he says. “The environment has been put in place and we are making progress in Africa in comparison with various other investment countries.”
The head of state in the host country, South Africa, believes the continent is well on the way.
“There is the issue of infrastructure, all types of infrastructure that is actually changing the face and the landscape of the continent. This is what we are attracting. Those huge sums of money; we were therefore discussing the financing of these projects, how ready the projects are; some of the projects have been presented and are now ready to be financed and there is an interest of all financing institutions both locally and internationally,” says President Jacob Zuma.
With the optimism in Cape Town came caution. There are still doubts about political stability and corruption. Now, I have heard corruption compared to many things down the years, but never to crocodiles in the Kenyan bush.
“You know, when wildebeest migrate north to greener pastures in the Masai Mara game reserve, the crocodiles lie in wait for them in the rivers. So the wildebeest have to know where to cross otherwise they are going to lose a leg. The crocodiles are corruption,” says Bharat Thakrar, the head of East African advertising giant, Scangroup.
“It used to be limited to the police and small government offices, but now corruption is creeping into private business in Africa.”
Blair Glencorse, is fighting corruption with his NGO Accountability Lab in Liberia and was at WEF Africa.
“Where there needs to be enforcement, the key issue is to make sure it is part of a larger strategy to build transparency, open up information and build channels of exchange between citizens and governments – so it is not politicized. There are countries of Africa which are making some progress along these lines like Botswana and Ghana,” he says.
Hope and crocodiles collide; Africa has its work cut out before WEF Africa in Rwanda next year.
<h4>The Fresh Face of $2 Billion</h4>
Africa is changing fast and has a fresh face. Ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable; 20 years ago, unimaginable in an often patriarchal Africa. One of the freshest, not to mention powerful, faces at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town runs $2 billion in investment at the age of 38.
Ngugi Kiuna grew up in Nakuru in western Kenya, the son of a managing director of a company selling tractors and a mother who sold animal feed. He went to boarding school in England and studied chemical engineering at Imperial College, London, before earning a PhD in composite structures of aerospace applications.
In August 2013, Kiuna became the head of investment banking for Africa at Rand Merchant Bank. He runs $2 billion in assets in Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia, Ghana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia Angola and Botswana.
“Most of the countries we deal with are single B rated by the risk people. We also do a lot of work with private entities. The sovereign element is there and if you have it there is less of a risk. The sweet spot for us is three- to five-year investments. Off our own balance sheet, we can do longer, with the support of development finance, up to 10 years,” he says.
It means Kiuna oversees the financing of aircraft for Air Namibia, the building of roads in Angola and investment in locomotives in Mozambique. It is investing in Cenpower – a new 300MW gas power plant – in Ghana. In Kenya, it has helped tie up a deal, this year, to plough $350 million into a new 450-kilometer oil pipeline between Mombasa and Nairobi. It will take over from the old pipeline that’s been pumping oil since the 1960s.
Most of the people Kiuna meets, in his extensive travels across the continent, are old enough to be his father.
“I was with the minister of finance in Gabon, we were talking about the government infrastructure plan and strategy about borrowing, you could see all along there was something in his mind he wasn’t comfortable with. I said ‘minister, I know I look too young…’ He burst out laughing. I said I am not as young as I look, it broke the ice. After that, the nature of the conversation changed,” he says.
“I think people are generally embracing but obviously some are surprised by how young I am, but people are much more open minded to the younger generation. I think it is also a function of the technology age, you have younger people becoming billionaires these days.”
At WEF in Cape Town, Kiuna rubbed shoulders with many others with billions to invest.
“We saw there is continued buzz and interest in Africa; a lot of new people, new faces and new companies ready to invest. There is also a lot more intra-Africa dialogue; people talking about projects, people collaborating on projects. The amount of trade in Africa is nowhere near what it should be. Thirdly, power in Africa, we need to get that right and let’s hope we can. There have been power projects too big and too complicated to execute. So, we need to scale down projects to a size where it’s easier to be financed and done.”
His greatest fear for Africa?
“Political stability and transparency; these are all matters we have to get right… The biggest fear is around transparency around elections cycles in Africa. The recent elections in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Namibia show we are getting there.”
“Wherever I travel on the continent, I am always inspired by the number of people who have started their own business. I dedicate what I do to them.”
Words wise beyond their years.
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Crocodiles,  Money And Hope

Globally, there is a growing awareness that gender equality at the top level of business translates into better business. Several high-profile research reports, including those from McKinsey &amp; Co, Catalyst and the World Economic Forum, highlight that organizations with the highest percentage of women on boards outperform others in terms of returns on equity, sales and invested capital.
As a result of this awareness, specific initiatives are being launched to attract and retain top women in the business world. One such initiative is the 30% Club. It was launched in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2010, and its goal is to drive the increase of women on FTSE-100 boards to 30% by the end of 2015. The 30% Club is a group of business leaders committed to achieving better gender balance at all levels of organizations.
The 30% Club asserts that diverse boards make businesses more efficient, effective and ultimately more profitable. So far, progress has been made: it has achieved a steady increase from 12.6% in 2010 to 22.2% currently. In South Africa, however, such progress is lacking.
Sadly, there is still a dearth of women in senior management and board positions. It is not necessarily that the leadership opportunities do not exist, but rather that women are opting for alternative career models outside of the corporate world in search of career progression.
This does not bode well for corporate South Africa. Clearly, organizations are not thinking strategically around how to attract, develop and retain talented female professionals.
Without doubt, a new approach is required. Talent management solutions, for example, should be gender-neutral. Smart organizations understand the benefits of gender equality in the boardroom, but they fail to ‘walk the talk’.
Instead of uttering the right statements in the press, businesses need to develop solutions that offer women (and men) more incentives to remain in the corporate world. While women are no more difficult to employ than men, creativity and innovation needs to be applied to attract and keep the best employees. Following the lead of organizations such as Google Inc., organizations should be creating cultures and career models that attract women and cater to their different workplace needs and requirements.
Deloitte LLP provides an interesting case study – the company has become a leader in workplace innovation with its innovative agile working program. The company allows all employees to request a formal flexible working arrangement and enjoy a block of four weeks of unpaid leave each year.
In the UK, the 30% Club is achieving its aims without mandatory quotas, in line with the belief that voluntary business-led action is the way to achieve meaningful change. In SA, our complex history of mandatory reforms poses critical questions around mandated gender equality.
While the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE) draft Bill – which is calling for 50% female representation across all senior and top management positions – is undoubtedly powerful, we believe that if corporates are not voluntarily putting strategies in place to continually attract and retain women, sustainable and meaningful change is unlikely.
Ultimately, the ideal solution requires a cooperative approach between government and business to establish a framework that makes commercial sense. If we look to countries such as Iceland and the Nordic states, where gender equality has been achieved, this type of partnership and framework exists. According to the WEF Gender Gap Report of 2013, the Nordic countries are considered leaders in gender equality. Their labor participation rates for women are amongst the highest in the world and salary gaps between men and women (although still present) are amongst the smallest in the world.
In SA, both government and business simply cannot afford to sit back on this issue and ‘see what happens’. A more proactive and coordinated approach is urgently required. While we wait for the WEGE bill to be enacted into law, and for initiatives like the 30% Club to gain traction, women continue to exit formal employment.
Unsurprisingly, they are turning to more flexible options, like starting their own businesses or managing smaller businesses. Talented female professionals are leaving the corporate world to find and create new business models that suit their goals, preferences and desires. For corporate South Africa, the most worrying part of this equation is that these women are taking their valuable institutional knowledge and much needed skills and experience with them.
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The writer is director of Tuesday Consulting, an executive search firm in Johannesburg.

wendy

Why Corporate SA Needs To Take Action Now

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is the gold standard for every financial journalist. A long-haul flight from Johannesburg to Zurich and a short trainride later, we arrived in Davos, Switzerland, to the world’s biggest summit, ready to wire the views of influential business leaders to the world.
The big players of the global economy – from the deal-makers to the political powerhouses and movers and shakers – arrived in their smart suits to the summit’s alpine reaches, to discuss this year’s theme, A New Global Context. Here are some of the key takeaways from the Davos debates:
The European Central Bank’s bold announcement to pump in €60 billion in bonds every month to reignite growth took center stage. The world was officially in a new phase of global monetary policy divergence. The withdrawal of stimulus in the United States as the economy staggered back to its feet and this new development in Europe created interesting times for emerging markets.
In all our conversations with African leaders, what emerged was that despite the Ebola outbreak and terror attacks in some parts of the continent, Africa should still be every investor’s high-growth high-return destination. In fact, with the exception of the President of Guinea, African leaders dismissed both crises as inconsequential to Africa’s growth narrative. Displaying genius, the President of Guinea used his interview to bring the world in on the request he had made to Christine Lagarde, President of the International Monetary Fund: “Clear our debt so that we may have a fighting chance against Ebola.”
The small delegation from Nigeria, the continent’s biggest economy, did not go unnoticed. With an upcoming presidential election (mid-February), and in the midst of a tense domestic environment, this was somewhat understandable. What the forum lacked in Nigeria’s presence, South Africa more than made up for with a seven-member strong ministerial delegation. They were easily spotted in their long black coats and colorful flag-scarves. From the Finance Minister to the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the delegation put on a brave front tackling the energy crisis and lackluster take-off of the National Development Plan. The country’s public relations machine was spot on and it was evident members had clearly been put through their paces.
I couldn’t help but acknowledge that some of the delegates in attendance at Davos challenged my conventional definition of ‘world leaders’.
Also present were titans from the music world – from the legendary Andrea Bocelli to African songstress Angelique Kidjo and world-renowned hip hop producer Pharrel Williams. It was clear they were being recognized for their pulling power at such a forum.
Kidjo is credited with putting the African country of Benin on the map.
“If we want Africa to be top of mind for the world leaders here, Africans need to make Africa their priority,” she told me. Her passion for Africa’s development agenda pushed me to stretch my own perception of what leadership really is.
The small representation of women was difficult to ignore. One of this year’s co-chairs was Winfred Binyama, Executive Director, Oxfam. In an unapologetic, straight-talking style, she spoke about the world’s continued exclusion of women in positions of influence and power.
Binyama shared some of the highlights of Oxfam’s latest report saying it would take 80 years for women to balance the scales professionally with their male counterparts without the intervention of platforms like WEF.
I hope to return to Davos many more times. One can surely track at least this one indicator over a few years, but I certainly hope it’s not 80 years before we see that happening.

EBOLA. TERRORISM. SO WHAT? COME TO AFRICA

Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
<div id="attachment_3292" style="width: 209px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3292" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3292" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/000_Par3359784-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" />Princess Mathilde (L) and Crownprince Philippe of Belgium (R) attend the military parade in Brussels on July 21, 2010, as part of the Belgian National Day. AFP PHOTO / BELGA PHOTO / ERIC LALMAND &#8211; BELGIUM OUT</div>
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”
Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”
Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”
Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”

‘So, What Does A King Actually Do?’

The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions takes place on an annual basis in China, alternating between the cities of Dalian and Tianjin. The forum is affectionately known as the Summer Davos and is quickly building in stature attracting business, government, academic and civil society voices from across the globe. The event focuses on technology and innovation. CNBC Africa first attended the Summer Davos in 2013 with just a handful of African delegates. This year, however, saw a much bigger African contingent with representatives from Rwanda, Mali and South Africa out in full force. This despite the Ebola epidemic which caused many delays in the granting of Chinese visas and resulted in a number of cancellations, most noticeably from the usually sizeable Nigerian delegation.
The gathering involved three days of intense debate over the latest and greatest technological solutions aimed at creating a better world for all. Many of the innovations are specifically focused on solving some of the developing world’s most pressing problems such as health, education, energy and infrastructure deficits. With many of the globe’s brightest young minds wrapped up in intense conversation, the event itself is nothing short of an innovation frontier.
With hundreds of technological innovations on display it’s easy to reach the conclusion that developing economies have the opportunity to leapfrog the developed world by deploying new state of the art technology solutions rather than upgrading old, existing infrastructure. This is particularly true when it comes to solving the energy deficits in emerging markets. Global energy infrastructure is dated in many developed markets, having been rolled out as far back as the 1960s and 1970s. When it comes to deploying new, efficient and cost effective solutions, emerging markets can deploy best-of-breed solutions from the outset. Smart grids, nano batteries and off the grid renewable energy solutions are trail blazing when it comes to electricity provision.
The digital world we now live in is fast paced and ruthless. You simply can’t ignore the tsunami of technological innovations facing both individuals and businesses on a daily basis. Adapt or die was the phrase often repeated at the Meijiang Convention Center where the conference was hosted. New businesses have appeared out of nowhere, think Alibaba, Amazon and Uber, all of which challenge traditional models and use digital savvy to come out on top. Traditional business models, now more than ever, face extinction. Businesses are scraping at the coalface, trying to stay close to their customers where innovation is forcing a consumer revolution. Customers have the upper hand in a world where information is ubiquitous and fast eliminating competitive advantage.
One of the key discussion points in Tianjin focused on the skills needed to survive in this ever changing world, where robotics are becoming the norm and automation a necessity. Science, technology, engineering and maths skills (STEM skills) are a must for children growing up in this digital jungle. It’s all about blended learning of practical applications for the real world and less about reciting facts day in and day out as many traditional education systems are premised on and that have very little to do with equipping an individual for this dynamic work environment. Don’t forget this is a world where a couple of kids in a garage piece together a new app that, overnight, launches them into the billionaire stratosphere.
Everywhere automation is impacting traditional jobs, but just as those jobs are being lost they are being supplemented by job creation in the digital and technological space. The revolution in the retail market has been created by online shopping. McKinsey recently released a report indicating that 80% of all purchases are now researched online before they are bought. Widespread comparisons are quickly being made and prices are being forced down – the customer, now more than ever, is king.
Innovation is also forcing companies to look at how they are internally wired. Digital supply chains are improving internal efficiencies and fast eliminating hybrid supply chains, consisting of part paper and part digital elements. Information is ubiquitous and in some instances carries very little value because it is so widely disseminated.
For me, perhaps most striking is the reality of 3D printing. Imagine being able to print a bicycle and cycle off into the mountains. Brace yourself, this is our new reality.

Brace Yourself For A New Reality

A year on, our very first cover girl, businesswoman Precious Moloi-Motsepe, continues to inspire. We caught up with her on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) studio debate at CNBC Africa in Johannesburg, where she talked about WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report, and the importance of more female participation in the economy.
Moloi-Motsepe has spent most of last year traveling the world as a member of The Giving Pledge campaign. At the same time, she has focused her energies towards expanding African Fashion International (AFI), which organizes fashion weeks across Africa and supports designers. She believes Africa’s fashion industry can take the world by storm. However, there is plenty of room for improvement.
“Where I feel we’re lacking is taking our creative skills and turning them into commercial products to make it available globally.” And on female empowerment: “I know there are challenges but [women] cannot sit back, we have to come to the table and continuously engage to make our voices heard.”
Moloi-Motsepe is a mother to three boys. She says aside from her many projects, she has spent a lot of the past year just being a mom. The work with the Motsepe Foundation she has set up with her mining magnate husband Patrice Motsepe has also seen her travel across South Africa over the last year.

FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-059-Precious-001

Former Cover Girl

The big news after the World Economic Forum in Abuja is the assumption of office by Nigeria’s new Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, after a tumultuous spell that followed the controversial suspension of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, with less than four months until the end of his tenure.
Before his appointment, Emefiele was CEO of Nigeria’s Zenith Bank. Widely described by local media as conservative, Emefiele is expected to depart from Sanusi’s outspoken and hyper-visible stance. While Sanusi never shied away from making his views known on everything from government spending to relations with China, Emefiele is likely to maintain a penchant for anonymity.
He has already announced some policy changes, while also expressing a commitment towards Sanusi’s trademark stance on exchange rate stability. Charges on cash deposits in banks, instituted by Sanusi as part of an aggressive cashless banking policy, have been removed. Emefiele also plans to bring down interest rates, even though it is not yet clear how he plans to do this. An air of uncertainty will continue to dominate as the new Governor gets settled and concrete signs of the direction of his tenure start to emerge.
One of the biggest challenges facing the managers of Nigeria’s economy will be controlling the impact of election campaign expenditure. Election cycles in Nigeria witness a surge in spending on advertising. The country’s fuel subsidy budget notoriously ballooned four-fold in the lead-up to the 2011 general elections. Inflation, brought down to a single-digit figure under Sanusi’s watch last year, will experience significant upward pressure.
The effects of the rebasing of Nigeria’s economy in April have started to manifest. Nigeria’s weighting on the 23-member MSCI Emerging Markets Index recently rose from 12% to 19%. Analysts have suggested that the rebasing will heighten interest in Nigeria’s bond markets. A bigger economy also means that Nigeria’s appetite for debt has increased. Debt-to-GDP ratio has dropped to 12%, from 20% pre-rebasing.
The Petroleum Industry Bill remains unpassed and chances of it getting the green light dim as the elections approach and campaigning overwhelms the legislators. The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, is involved in a last-ditch bid to convince Parliament to pass the bill, which will significantly alter the face the of oil industry.
Nigeria’s mounting security challenges are a major cause of concern, but the country’s immense opportunities – Africa’s largest population, a growing middle-class and growing consumer spending – mean that it cannot be ignored by any serious investor.
This much was clear from the enthusiasm on display at the World Economic Forum in Abuja in May. It was Nigeria’s first hosting opportunity in the forum’s 24-year history and was adjudged an overwhelming success – according to the organizers, attendance was at record-high levels – in spite of being overshadowed by security concerns and by the global outrage triggered by the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian girls from a boarding school in the country’s insurgency-hit northeast.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who attended the forum, met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and signed a series of investment agreements in telecommunications, energy, agriculture and transportation.
Nigeria is currently China’s third largest trading partner in Africa; in 2013 trade between the two countries was in excess of $13 billion, up six-fold from a decade earlier. On the eve of the Abuja meeting, Chinese state media reported the signing of a $12.5-billion contract between China Railway Construction Corporation (CCRC) and the Nigerian Ministry of Transportation for the construction of a high-speed 1,385 kilometer railway line in Nigeria. It is not the first multi-billion dollar railway deal between Nigeria and China. Chinese companies are involved in the rehabilitation of the century-old line linking Lagos and the northern city of Kano, and a new light rail system in Abuja.
Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina has said he’s expecting as much as $4 billion in private investments in the sector on the back of the most important meeting in African business. The World Economic Forum announced that the gathering resulted in $68 billion-worth of commitments to investments in Africa.
Against a backdrop of the forum’s themes of jobs and inclusive growth, there will be many be watching to see how the commitments translate into action. Only this will result in concrete benefits for Nigeria’s 170 million people.

the New Man  OF Many Promises

Roberta Naicker is watching CNBC Africa in her sunny corner office in Johannesburg’s upscale Sandton suburb, and she is not looking happy. A series of bomb blasts have ripped Abuja, Nigeria, only days before the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa summit, and she has a team of cameramen, TV journalists and managers leaving to cover the continent’s most important business meet.
As Managing Director of the ABN Group in South Africa that operates CNBC Africa, she has the onerous task of deciding the course of action: news first, or people first?
The coffee on her table is cold. Her fingers are perhaps clammy, as she clasps them, pursing her lips, making her decision. Her people come first.
For the group’s 40-year-old managing director, family has always been a pertinent part of her life, and this, her 300-employee company, is family too.
Hailing from Durban, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province where the weather is warm and the Indian population numerous, Naicker spent most of her girlhood aspiring to become a chartered accountant. Where others dreamt of Barbie dolls, she dreamt of a college education.
Money was always in short supply, but her parents encouraged her to study. It was 1991, three years before a free South Africa, when Naicker completed her matriculation. She recalls boycotting classes and participating in the ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ campaign in school. Somewhere in the mind of the young girl, the stirrings of change. Would she have known that 17 years on, she would be at the forefront of a large media organization covering the country Mandela envisaged?
After school in 1992, Naicker enrolled for a BCom degree at the University of Durban Westville (now UKZN).
“My parents said, ‘you worry about getting into university, we will worry about paying for it’,” says Naicker. But that was not to be. Naicker discontinued college, opting to pursue her second year BCom part-time through the University of South Africa (UNISA). In 1993, she signed up for a full-time job in her hometown at the age of 19.
“I always had a passion for numbers and my first job was as a junior accountant in a small manufacturing firm. I knew that if I am not going to get somewhere through a formal education, I am going to have to do it through hard work. Those were the goals I set for myself and that is the way I have lived my life the past 20 years,” says Naicker.
Marriage in 1998 saw her relocate to Johannesburg with her husband; this is where her career blossomed, starting in the commercial property management industry. Next up was an assignment as the finance manager of a large organization for six years until 2006.
This was before joining the ABN Group in March 2008. The group had just launched CNBC Africa, and she was hired as Head of Finance. Naicker admits it was an industry she had little knowledge of at the time.
“I was comfortable from the finance perspective, but I didn’t understand media at all. It was completely nerve-racking walking in here and thinking, ‘what am I honestly going to do’? But I saw it as a challenge.”
Naicker calls it the start of an association with an organization that believed in her, and placed all faith in her to do the job, and do it well. For this, Naicker gives all the credit to ABN Group’s Co-founder and Vice Chairman Rakesh Wahi.
As Managing Director, Roberta Naicker is responsible for the overall operations of the ABN Group, which includes CNBC Africa and FORBES AFRICA. She plays an instrumental role in the strategic planning, financing and implementation of FORBES AFRICA, ABN Productions and ABN Training Institute. She currently also serves as a board member; Chair and Managing Director of ABN Productions, ABN Pictures and the ABN Training Institute, Chair of the ABN Education Trust, and Chair of ABN Nigeria and Kenya.
A firm believer in the empowerment of women, here, Naicker speaks about how she made every opportunity – and adversity – a part of her learning curve.

Nothing But Belief

Every few minutes, they touched down at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. The roads buzzed and hotel lobbies filled as the world arrived for the most important meeting in African business.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, hosted in Abuja, was one of the largest in many years. The biggest names in world business, among 1,000 leaders, were there. They included Aliko Dangote, Pravin Gordhan, Paul Kagame, Uhuru Kenyatta, Li Keqiang and Bineta Diop.
This was a meet to check progress from the last meeting in Cape Town and work out what needs to be done ahead of the next.
Nigeria hosting the gathering reflected its success and trials. In one way it was a celebration after the country was elevated to Africa’s largest economy after the rebasing of its GDP. On Nigeria’s rebased GDP, a wide cross section of investors and prospective entrants confirm that investing in Nigeria has become a priority.
“There is undoubtedly huge potential in this country and the rest of Africa respectively. The real power will, however, only materialize when we get plans into motion and make things work,” says Julian Roberts, the Group Chief Executive of Old Mutual.
On the other side of the coin, the country is still plagued by poor infrastructure and unrest. In Abuja there have been deadly bomb attacks and further north, the Islamist militant group Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls.
It meant public offices and schools closed from May 7 to May 9. Security was beefed up as police squads threw up checkpoints. But, the world made its way to Abuja to tap into Nigeria’s burgeoning market. Investors contributed $21.3 billion in foreign direct investment last year and $2.5 billion in January and February this year alone.
Expectations were high in spite of the difficulties. The forum was set to discuss innovative structural reforms and sustainable investments for creating jobs and prosperity.
“The need to create jobs is a global problem. All countries around the world are concerned about job creation. In Africa, the unemployment problem is compounded by the youthful population and pending demographic transition. Africa’s population is very young…  making African leaders face special challenges,” says Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan.
So, what has changed since the previous forum in Cape Town?
In spite of impressive growth, many African economies have yet to see broad-based prosperity. There are also issues of security, infrastructure, skills, education and health.
Africa’s alarming youth unemployment story is often told in parallel with growth. The youth account for 60% of all of Africa’s unemployed, according to the World Bank. Sub-Saharan Africa’s unemployment rate is at 6% in comparison with the world average of 5%, according to the African Development Bank. The problem is that youth unemployment in most African countries occurs at more than twice the adult rate.
A defective educational system, lack of vocational guidance and training could be to blame.
Nigeria, West Africa’s leading economy is even plagued by intermittent strikes in the classroom.
So, what will WEF achieve?
“It is not just about growth, it’s about the right kind of growth and participants’ focus will not be limited to growing Africa’s economy, but will also highlight means of doing so in an inclusive manner,” says WEF’s head of Africa, Elsie Kanza.
“This meeting is creating tremendous opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa and the continent at large. These opportunities will help to break down barriers and open up new frontiers for business. The theme of this year’s forum is very apt as this is what we are working tirelessly on presently. The power of these forums should not be underestimated,” says Jim Ovia, the $900-million banking veteran and FORBES AFRICA cover in June last year.
Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to remain the world’s second fastest growing region &#8211; a result of more efficiency in resource utilization, better governance and rising domestic demand. Challenges and opportunities shaping Africa’s growth outlook are often under-estimated. These issues went under the microscope at the forum.
Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says infrastructural and logistical challenges will continue to hamper the growth of the continent. West African leaders drew up plans to build highways to boost intra-Africa trade, as has been seen in East Africa.
Kenya has signed a $3.6 billion Mombasa-Nairobi railway deal with China. The railway will connect Kenya with the rest of the region and open up trade within East Africa.
Security in Nigeria was also on the agenda with the schoolgirl abduction in the headlines. Jonathan thanked the international community for their support on the issue but questions still hang over what the government will do.
It was announced by Okonjo-Iweala that a sum of $10 million has been approved by the state for a safe school project. A further $10 million will be provided by Nigerian business. This is seen as a move to improve security in Nigerian schools.
Lack of power in Africa poses a major threat to economic growth. Nigeria’s parlous power sector and power privatization process, the biggest on the continent yet, has spurred global interest.
“We are getting somewhere and it will not be an overnight transformation. We are excited about the transformation this sector will experience and urge Nigerians to have some belief and patience in the process,” says Okonjo-Iweala.
Trade between Africa and China is also expected to continue to grow.
“This is definitely the world’s largest inclusive growth. Africa needs to develop its infrastructure and industries while China boasts a stronger and spare capability of investment and construction in this area. Thus, the economies of China and Africa are highly complementary and both sides’ development is each other’s opportunity. China and Africa shall complement each other in mutually beneficial co-operation to give a stronger impetus to each other’s development,” says Li Keqiang, the premier of China.
Technology can also drive the continent’s economy.
“A vast number of people have been digitally empowered and are more open to economic participation. Getting this critical mass to act accordingly should be a stronger focus. Therein lies an opportunity,” says Hendrik du Toit, the CEO of Investec Asset Management.
WEF also announced so-called Global Growth Companies (GGCs) in Africa. These are 16 high growth companies on the continent with innovative revenue growth and sound corporate governance. The selected companies are: Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Nigeria), Computer Warehouse Group (Nigeria), Interswitch Limited (Nigeria), Nagode Group (Nigeria), UAC of Nigeria (Nigeria), Notore Chemical Industries (Nigeria), Nation Media Group (Kenya), Bidco Oil Refineries (Kenya), GML (Mauritius), Growthpoint Properties (South Africa), KZN Oils (South Africa), Net1 UEPS Technologies (South Africa), Tekkie Town (South Africa), Capitec Bank (South Africa) Webber Wentzel (South Africa) and Simba Group (Uganda).
WEF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development set a joint task force to redesign financing for Africa and developing economies. According to Development Initiatives, an independent organization working on poverty alleviation, approximately $1.7 trillion flows from the developed to the developing world. The task force will redeploy the finance to key sectors of the economies that will benefit the most.
For now, Africa waits in anticipation to see whether the proof is in the pudding.

Time For Action

Just how well Africa is rejuvenating its geopolitical space, including its trade and scientific ties with its sovereign states and the rest of the world, will be the crux of discussions at this year’s meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, in Abuja, Nigeria’s administrative and diplomatic capital, in May.
For Africa’s most populous nation, the benefits of hosting the prestigious event will go beyond the superficial. For starters, Nigeria is a land of speeches, conferences and seminars. If grandiose eloquence from politicians, community, business and religious leaders was all it took to transform a nation, then the country would be the most developed nation south of the Sahara. The presence of the world’s most influential people in Abuja will be an unprecedented opportunity for Nigeria to showcase its vast economic opportunities and deepen the dialogue on economic reform between the international and Nigerian private sectors.
Nigeria’s reputation is constantly in flux. Its quest for global leadership and respect is reflected in its diplomatic forays around the world, its contributions to global culture and the arts, its youthful and entrepreneurial populace, its consumer base and its emerging status as a leading South-South economy. Its recently concluded the sale of several state-owned assets in its power sector, and government should earn well over $10 billion when this phase of its privatization program ends in 2016.
In November, Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan appointed his top economic adviser, Nwanze Okidegbe and finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as co-chairs of the 2014 WEF in Africa steering committee to prepare the country for the meeting of heads of government and chief executive officers of global firms.
The steering committee is supported by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and led by Frank Nweke, a former minister of information. The group also includes Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and president of Dangote Industries; Tony Elumelu, the chairman of Heirs Holdings; Bisi Onasanya, the group managing director of First Bank of Nigeria, the country’s oldest and largest bank by assets; Nduka Obaigbena, the publisher of ThisDay newspaper and Wale Tinubu, the group managing director of Oando, Nigeria’s leading home-grown energy company.
Nigeria is arguably one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent, posting an average 7% GDP growth each year for the past decade, and poised to achieve increased revenues from the non-oil sectors in 2014, according to the IMF. West Africa’s leading economy is also plagued by industrial spats and strikes in its hospitals and schools, widespread graft and internal terrorism, mostly from the militant Boko Haram group.
The Nigerian government grabbed the opportunity to host the 2014 edition of the WEF on Africa summit with relish, eager to showcase its hospitality and status as a developing nation, while further cementing Abuja’s reputation as West Africa’s conference capital.
More than 800 delegates from around 70 countries are expected to review the progress the continent has made since the previous meetings and to do justice to the theme for this year’s event: ‘Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating Jobs’.
The WEF Africa team in Geneva are clearly seeking to advance the debates and consensus for action reached during previous meetings which focused on the need for sustained economic growth, improvements in governance, improving agricultural output, accelerating investments, competitiveness and collaboration with other reemerging economies, and scaling innovation.
“The theme aligns perfectly with the medium- and long-term aspirations and commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” says Okonjo-Iweala.
“With the whole economic and political world focused on Nigeria during the meeting, it places enormous responsibilities on the country.”
Focusing on issues particular to the region—whether in the Middle East, Africa, East Asia, or Latin America—the regional WEFs are different from the annual retreat in Davos, Switzerland which has a much wider scope of examining global political, economic and social issues.
“Africa’s remarkable growth trajectory is projected to remain above 5 percent in 2014 with West Africa the fastest growing sub-region, representing the continent’s largest business opportunity. Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy and most populous nation—with over 160 million inhabitants—already plays a crucial role in advancing the continent’s growth; yet it is also emblematic of the challenges of converting natural wealth into solutions that address persistent social challenges, says the WEF.
“Nigeria currently receives a very significant share of Africa’s foreign direct investments (FDI), and I reckon that discussions at the 2014 WEF on Africa summit would reveal the need for even more FDI for important economies like Nigeria, and attract broad-based investments that will lead to the creation of millions of new jobs,” Ogho Okiti, the special adviser to President Jonathan’s chief economic adviser, tells FORBES AFRICA.
Unlike debates and resolutions at the United Nations (UN) which are usually confrontational and perceived as quixotic by critics of the global body, the WEF has maintained a collegial culture over the decades. Three days of thematic talk comprising of workshops, interactive sessions, working breakfasts and lunches, and cultural events in Abuja are expected to facilitate pragmatic responses to insightful queries such as why nations continue to experience jobless growth and, in Africa’s case, growth bereft of sustainable development; why African nations trade more with the rest of the world than they do with themselves; and which regional blocs score top marks for infrastructure improvements, economic integration and HIV/AIDS reduction in its communities.
The WEF’s rich database and extensive use of research methodologies helps it produce reports such as the ‘Global Risks Report’, the ‘Global Gender Gap Report’ and the ‘Global Competitiveness Report’—there is also an ‘African Competitiveness Report’.
Dangote has described the WEF’s non reflection of Nigeria’s involvement and impact in Africa’s development over the years as unfortunate. On a broader scope, Africa’s numerous challenges, such as poor governance; diseases; widespread access to affordable shelter, education and clean water; poverty and poor electricity supply have been at the core of many of the forum’s initiatives. WEF gatherings encourage partnerships and the commitment of its corporate members towards solving some of these problems. Perhaps this event in Abuja might offer a solution to the Boko Haram scourge.
One candid moment that has etched the WEF permanently in the annals of Africa’s global experience was the 1992 Davos meeting where former South African president FW de Klerk shared a podium with the late Nelson Mandela. This was where Mandela reportedly made his very first speech on South Africa’s economic future under the ANC government. That speech laid the foundation for social harmony and global support for South Africa.
Founded by a University of Geneva professor of business policy, Klaus Schwab in 1971, the WEF is positive evidence that discerning conversation will never go out of fashion.
Two remarks made during the 2013 WEF in Davos illustrate why the meetings will continue to inspire the world’s business and political elite to create positive change. The first is an excerpt from United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s speech.
“As a boy, I studied in the dirt. There was no classroom. Education made me what I am; it made my dream come true… I shared my message with refugee children: Don’t lose hope, study hard. I did it, you can do it too,” he says.
The second is an observation by Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame.
“Africa’s story has been written by others; we need to own our problems and solutions and write our story.”

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