African Leadership magazine by African Leadership Magazine

Afric n Leadership MAY - JUNE 2021

£5 $8 N3000 ZAR100

PRESIDENT OF MALAWI

DR. LAZARUS CHAKWERA

LEADING FROM THE FRONT IN WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION

Contents

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Dr. Lazarus Chakwera Leading From The Front In War Against Corruption

Liberia's Vice President Jewel Taylor Calls For An African Industrial Revolution

Dr. James Mwangi Ceo Equity Bank

From Food Basket To Barrel Bottom: Covid-19 Hits Nigeria's Agriculture Sector

A Kenyan Perspective Online Schooling During The Covid Pandemic

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Rwanda The Dubai of Africa Opens for Business

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...A Publication of African Leadership (UK) Limited

Ken Giami Founder & Executive Chairman

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FROM THE CHAIRMANʼS DESK

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Most of the world, and especially Africa is still reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people and businesses. Still, African entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations cannot afford to be on Pause. The challenges faced by companies at this time are no doubt, mindboggling. Yet, if there is one word that encapsulates the identity and the very essence of companies operating in the African business environment, that word would beʼ resilientʼ. Lockdowns and social distancing must not be taken as a basis for drawbacks for companies, entrepreneurs and organizations. Globally, forwardthinking organizations are adapting to the present-day challenge, but committedly working to continue to serve their clients and building back better, stronger and more sustainably. Hence, for businesses and entrepreneurs looking for an outlay of reasons why they should and must roll up their sleeves and do the required work necessary to not only thrive, and do it better, even more than ever; then find your answers below.

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1. Africaʼs continued survival and future depends to a great extent on the response of businesses to this challenge: – COVID-19 no doubt represents an unprecedented challenge, however, tested leaders have never shied away from problems, as it is the challenges that they address that ultimately provides the opportunities they ride onto for future successes and triumphs. Businesses in Africa have been at the forefront of innovating and implementing best practices in corporate governance and problemsolving on the continent, despite sometimes very challenging business climate. Companies on the continent are known for signposting effective organizational behaviour and management to the public sector, to the extent well managed public sector organizations are said to be run as private sector organizations. Companies and organizations on the

Reasons Why African Businesses Must Strive To Build Back Better

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FROM THE CHAIRMANʼS DESK

3. Progress in the eradication of extreme poverty on the continent must be sustained: – As of 2015, according to a report by the global think tank, Brookings Institute, most of the poorest people in the world lived in Africa, with 27 out of the 28 poorest nations in subSaharan Africa. This represented over 90% of the worldʼs poorest. However, due to a concerted effort of all stakeholders including international development partners, governments, and especially a robust African private sector aggressively creating jobs, the percentage of the worldʼs poorest in Africa reduced to about 70% in 2018, with one in three Africans living below the global poverty line. And from projections from the World Data Lab, as of March 2019, more Africans were escaping extreme poverty than the number of those born or falling below the poverty line. Also, projections by the International Futures (IFs) modelling platform at the University of Denver, projected that sub-Saharan Africa would account for roughly 60% of the worldʼs poorest people by 2020. While these numbers do not call for celebrations, as the continent is still disproportionately poor compared with the other continent, It does show that there has

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5. The world as we knew it might have changed forever: Remote work, remote learning, homeschooling, more online meetings and hangouts could very possibly become, if not already, the new normal. So clearly, African businesses should embrace the times and re-invent and re-imagine their business models, operations and processes in their business continuity plans, so as not to risk playing catch up and possible extinction, when things return to some normalcy. As we adjust to the unfolding new normal, African businesses, entrepreneurs and organizations cannot afford to put their corporate goals on Pause, but it is a time to focusing on navigating the times, and re-inventing the business. It is the time to stay top-ofmind and continually engage with your clients and stakeholders through strategic media campaigns, as well as actively participating in CSR efforts where possible. Businesses must build back stronger and better for the sake of the African people.

Ken Giami

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4. A shrinking of the Continentʼs GDP Growth: – According to a recent report by McKinsey, initial analysis of COVID-19ʼs economic impact finds that Africaʼs GDP growth in 2020 could be cut by three to eight percentage points, with African economies potentially facing losses between $90 billion and $200 billion in 2020 alone. Hence, the advent of the virus portends a worsening future not just for an already battered health system, but also an economic crisis of massive proportions, if all stakeholders do not adopt concerted and bold efforts – especially the African private sector. Also, the pandemic, coupled with natural disasters in some countries as well as the oil-price shock being currently faced by commodity-driven economies, could potentially tip African economies into a recession. African businesses and entrepreneurs must then do the hard but necessary work required not just to survive but be ready to take advantage of new opportunities when the lockdowns are over, and the virus is defeated, as it will be.

2. The continent is already behind the rest of the world in most development indicators: – Before the arrival of the virus, the continent already had its hands full of age-long challenges it had been grappling with, ranging from colossal youth unemployment, infrastructure deficits, significant gaps in our education structures, climate change and ecological issues to the now more glaring problems in our healthcare delivery systems – which we have always known, among others. It is also a known fact that with issues of corruption in governmental circles, and weak institutions in some African countries, the African private sector has shown that, comparatively, it is a significant driver of growth on the continent. Hence, now more than ever before, businesses must not give up now but continue to put in the innovative, bold and decisive actions that would help in addressing the myriads of issues that must be dealt with.

been a gradual but steady progress in lifting the African people out of extreme poverty. This progress must be sustained, and the private sector holds the key, working in concert and with help from governments, African development finance institutions, international development partners, and other strategic partners.

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continent must, therefore, rise to the challenge and innovate their way out of the present difficulties, not just the health challenge but for economic reasons too – as they have always done. Africaʼs continued survival and future would, in no small extent, depend on the response of companies to this present challenge.

WHAT NOTABLE LEADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT

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H. E. JOHN MAHAMA FMR. PRESIDENT OF GHANA

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WHAT NOTABLE LEADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT

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MRS. ELLEN JOHNSON - SIRLEAF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER & FMR. PRESIDENT, REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA

H.E JAKAYA KIKWETE FMR. PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA

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“African Leadership Magazine is doing a wonderful job of speaking for Africa and Africans. The magazine remain a good example of what young people in Africa can do in the world. Best wishes in keeping the African dream alive.”

H.E DAVID MABUZA DEPUTY PRESIDENT REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA “It is an honour to participate at this African Leadership Magazine's 2020 C e re m o n y, a n d I c o m m e n d t h e magazine's focus to reshape positively, the dominant narratives about the African continent, especially towards the pursuit of peace-building and democracy on the continent”.

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DR. LAZARUS

CHAKWERA LEADING FROM THE FRONT IN WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION

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“We all must wake up because this is a time to arise from slumber and make our dream come true” This strong call to action by the President of Malawi was not just talk. President Lazarus Chakwera has stealthily transformed the country with purposeful and a people driven kind of governance that has left the majority of Malawains concluding that the President is a God-Sent to save the people. In this article, we will consider some areas in which President Chakwera has shown purposeful leadership. Covid-19 Response In a bid to keep his people safe, President Chakwera has consistently warned Malawians against complacency, especially during festivities, amid falling COVID-19 test positivity rates.The president warned that planning festivities that breach COVID19 preventive guidelines would be a grave mistake. Of course, the president had shown a sterling example in this regard by favouring a very low key, scaled down inauguration ceremony as the president of Malawi.

“We all must wake up because this is a time to arise from slumber and make our dream come true”

Still in showing he will not tolerate any complacency in the fight against COVID-19 in the country, the president fired his labour minister for diverting $800 worth of COVID-19 funds to pay for a government trip, part of a wider embezzlement scandal. even though the minister has since returned the money, his usage of the funds means that the money was unavailable for its intended purpose when it was needed most,” Chakwera said. The president also ordered the arrest of scores of civil servants implicated in plundering $7.8 million of COVID-19 funds. Mining Sector M AY - J U N E 2 0 2 1

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COVER Though the mining sector represents a crucial key for unlocking Malawi's wider potential, it is one sector that has underperformed for many years. During a recent web conference by Invest Africa US, the President laid out his vision for the mining industry, noting his goal to raise the contribution of extractives from the current 1% of GDP to close to 30%. Backing the feasibility of this plan, a recent geological survey has revealed that this is possible – and Malawi is far richer in mineral resources than previously thought along with significant deposits of uranium, bauxite, iron ore, alluvial gold, coal, graphite, gemstones and rare earth metals.

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Chakwera's first step is professional and official licensing – combined with a crackdown on uncontrolled practices decades-long of turning the other way while foreign licence owners export minerals illegally under the guise of sending “samples”. He pointed to international reports that show how Malawi exports around $85m in gold to the Middle East every year – but no-one is able to say who is exporting the gold or where it is mined. In response to this ailing industry, the Chakwera administration has swiftly established a Ministry of Mines – a government body that did not previously exist in Malawi – as an important first step to boost investment and combat illegal mining. All current licences today are being reviewed

As far as I am concerned, anyone who steals or wastes public funds is a traitor to our country

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COVER and those that are inactive are being cancelled. Chakwera is slowly moving towards the government of Botswana's best practice model where a parastatal company works as an equal partner with recognised, international private sector mining businesses. Agriculture Malawi is one of the world's most least developed agricultural economies with over 80% of the rapidly growing population engaged in subsistence farming, and the president is moving rapidly to change that as he is promoting and encouraging agri-business development. 13

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Again, president Chakwera has strong grounds on which to encourage its growth, with the substantiated rule of law and judicial independence demonstrated during the election enabling him to reach out, realistically, to others with the funds and expertise to rapidly develop this sector. He has already begun to encourage South African farmers who are under pressure from rising incidents of farm invasions and rule of law in their own country, to look north and consider Malawi. Few can deny that Chakwera has made the most rapid and successful of starts. It's important now that investors and the international community back him up – and ensure that he has the resources to finish the job. We would be watching Malawi and Chakwera's progress.

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“CLEANING HOUSE FIRST: Good Governance as a Key to Unlocking Global Partnerships for Shared Prosperity”

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Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB); Dr. Ken Giami, Publisher of the African Leadership Magazine & Chairman ALG Strategy Group; Senator Manqoba B. Khumalo, Minister of Commerce, Industry & Trade in the Kingdom of Eswatini; Rep. Billy Mitchell (GA), President of National Black Caucus of State Legislators, USA;

My Fellow Speakers, All Dignitaries here today, Ladies and Gentlemen; as Malawiʼs President, I have been given the honour of presently chairing the Least Developed Countries Group (LDCs), holding Malawiʼs membership seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. As well as chairing the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in the new year. These are all roles on the global stage, and each of them is partnershipintensive, with serious implications on our prospects for economic recovery. For this reason, I am delighted to address you on the theme “Rethinking Global Partnerships and

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Africaʼs Economic Resurgence”, because the relevance of partnerships to our context is beyond dispute. There is a Kenyan proverb that says that “No good food can be chewed unless your teeth are working together”. The meaning of this is similar to the meaning of our own Malawian proverb which states that “One head cannot carry a whole roof”. Across our great continent, we have these idioms from our

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Malawi has shown the world, it is impossible to build a strong Governance framework if either the Civil Service and the Civil Society are stuck in a cycle of lethargy, greed, and partisanship

lockdown. It may seem strange that a people would refuse to comply with a lockdown meant to protect them from a deadly virus, but on close inspection, there is a simple explanation: When people do not trust their leaders to govern them, they also do not trust them to protect them. In this example and many others like it around the world, the COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us that poor governance damages public trust in government interventions. In turn, this loss of trust hinders public response to crises. For this reason, since taking my oath of office, it has been my singular mission to restore public and investor trust in our governance institutions by embarking on a statewide clean-up of the same. This is an exercise that is already bearing fruit in attracting strategic partnerships of goodwill from around the world, which proves that our strategy is credible. Even the metrics of international institutions attest to the impact of our efforts. For instance, Freedom House recently declared that its assessment of the state of Democracy in the Covid-19 era showed that Malawi is the only country in the world whose democracy has grown stronger during the pandemic. Specifically, our experience shows that key to our success in rebuilding our governance capabilities has been a few components that are worth highlighting. FIRST IS THE RULE OF LAW: This is a prime catalyst for development and national growth. From the period of May 2019 to May 2020, the Malawi Judiciary had the Herculean task of presiding over an Elections Case that would shape Malawiʼs governance for generations to come, and they did it under the most acrimonious of circumstances and against the toughest odds, including threats of violence and attempted bribes. Their integrity in refusing to be moved not only delivered justice for Malawians but also gained Malawi international acclaim through the winning of the prestigious Chatham House Prize awarded to the Five Judges of the Constitutional Court. I am sure that this did not go unnoticed, for it can be no accident that this was followed

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elders to remind us that there is very little good in this world that does not result from strategic partnerships. My own journey to the office I hold is a testament to the power of partnership. I was elected President on the ticket of a party that was leading a 9-party alliance called “Tonse”, a word from our vernacular that means “All of Us”. That word captures the multilayered partnerships that made our victory not just possible, but inevitable. Now that we are here, we owe it to posterity to leverage the partnerships we have and forge new ones to expedite the resurgence of our economy. I believe this to be true not just for Malawi, but also for Africa. If we are to achieve Economic Resurgence for Africa, we must strengthen our Global Partnerships. My central proposition in this respect is that African governments must be at their best in order to get the best partnerships on offer. This is why my chosen title today is: “CLEANING HOUSE FIRST: Good Governance as a Key to Unlocking Global Partnerships for Shared Prosperity” From the period of May 2019 to May 2020, the Malawian People valiantly defended their right to vote and were in a fierce battle for justice, out of which they emerged victoriously and ushered in a new government. However, it was also within this time that COVID-19 Pandemic reached its peak, killing millions of people around the world. Countries went into lockdown, but when the embattled government of Malawi tried to follow suit, the decision met heavy resistance from the people, resulting in the cancellation of the

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by Malawiʼs subsequent election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

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SECOND IS A RADICAL REFORM AGENDA: Currently, my Administration is pursuing Public Sector Reforms spearheaded by the presidency through the office of the VicePresident. We believe that the Public Sector must be in top shape to prepare for and 16 respond to crises and changes in global climates before they occur. Such preparedness will put our countries in a stronger position to contribute to Global response and Global strategy, especially in the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. As Malawi has shown the world, it is impossible to build a strong Governance framework if either the Civil Service and the Civil Society are stuck in a cycle of lethargy, greed, and partisanship. Our reforms agenda is designed to move us away from an activity-focused model of delivery to a results-focused model anchored by the best practices of innovation, efficiency, and patriotism. THIRD IS MULTILATERAL AFRICAN INTEGRATION: African Leaders must join forces in combatting corruption and protecting civil liberties in our countries. Our lawenforcement and military must be used for protecting citizens, not stifling them. As Malawi is anticipating to Chair SADC from 2021, I have already made visits to six countries in the region to strengthen ties in readiness for a renaissance in our nations. The Peace and Security of the Southern Africa region is a priority area worthy of the worldʼs attention, not only because of the political unrest that several countries in this region have faced over the past 5 years but also because of the unique economic opportunities it offers. But we cannot attract the world to our nations if our nations are in disarray. We must have order and we must have it collectively. We cannot have good governance in one part of Africa if it is routinely being undermined in another part. As such, those who are leading in the creation of good government have a duty to spread their methods across the region to strengthen our collective capacity to deliver world-class services. In this regard, Malawi is a great example of how a return to good governance positions a nation to have a

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Malawi has shown the world, it is impossible to build a strong Governance framework if either the Civil Service and the Civil Society are stuck in a cycle of lethargy, greed, and partisanship

credible voice on the world stage. For our part, we have already used our voice to lobby for better conditions for all African nations at various multilateral fora, including a call for permanent seats for African states on the United Nations Security Council, a call for the cancellation of sub-Saharan Africaʼs debt, and a call for equilibrium in the rules of engagement for global trade. No one in the world would listen to us or take us seriously if it became evident that none of our own people even trust us to govern them well. Malawi is finally open for global business and global partnerships because Malawi is finally closed to lawlessness and chaos.

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THE INVESTIGATIVE AUDIT REPORT ON THE USAGE AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF K6.2 BILLION COVID-19 DISBURSEMENT MTUNTHAMA STATE RESIDENCE SUNDAY, 18 APRIL 2021 Fellow Malawians, on 14 February this year, I interdicted dozens of controlling officers and district commissioners who were responsible for managing how 6.2 billion Kwacha was spent by their clusters in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. I did this to prevent them from obstructing an investigative audit that I ordered the following week to expose the individuals and entities who abused those funds. That audit report has now been completed and submitted to my office, and I stand before you to tell you what I am doing about what it reveals. Although some of you have already seen the report following my call for it to be released to the public, allow me to state the seven key findings of the report for the sake of those who have not yet read it: 1. K493 million worth of expenditure did not follow procurement procedures correctly 2. K80 million worth of expenditure on allowances were Irregular, including allowances of a Cabinet Minister 3. K83 million worth of cash was not properly accounted for, including K12 million that vanished without a trace 4. K39.7 million worth of fuel was not properly accounted for, including K7.6 million of fuel that went missing. 5. K23.6 million was spent wastefully without being budgeted for. 6. K1 billion that was allocated to some clusters to help in the fight against Covid-19 was left idle and unused. 7. Local Authorities were given funding without a basis or a budget. In view of these findings, I am sure you can now see why I was right to order this audit. If it were not for this audit, we would have all remained ignorant about how much of the K6.2

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billion was well spent, how much was unspent, how much was misspent, and how much was stolen. If it were not for this audit, we would all be left to believe the inaccurate reports submitted by those in the public service who have mastered the art of stealing public funds and covering their tracks. If it were not for this audit, we would all be left to believe the lies of those who wanted to discredit the audit before it came out and discredit those of us who have vowed to fight this cancer of corruption so that we do not pursue the culprits. If it were not for this audit, we would have no evidence of the crimes that have been committed or the identities of those who committed them, which has 18 the risk of punishing innocent civil servants together with the guilty ones. I must therefore thank so many of you who have been lending your voices to support my decision to see this audit report done and released. Without an active citizenry and a vigilant press calling for accountability, laws like the Access to Information Act that my Administration operationalized last year can still be rendered ineffective by corrupt government officials determined to hide their crimes. But I can assure all of you that there is no place on earth where these criminals will hide. The outrage and anguish you all feel from reading this audit report is not only righteous, but also one that I personally feel, so am counting on your continued vigilance as we continue to join hands in fighting against this criminal enterprise until it is defeated. For my part, as the person you have trusted to lead you into battle, I promise that this audit is only the beginning, for I have every intention of conducting similar audits into other funds spent on Covid since before I took office, as well as audits into other public funds spent by various institutions. As a case in point, the infrastructure projects that my Administration is constructing across the country, including 5 the roads and bridges in the north that the Vice-President has been tasked to inspect until I appoint a Minister of Public Works, will also be subject to audits to catch those who use such projects as a chance to steal. I have decided to use independent and investigative audits to ensure that our pursuit of thieves is backed by evidence that will stand up in court. And now that the evidence related to the K6.2 billion is before us, I am taking action. As I speak, over a dozen individuals suspected of committing the crimes exposed by this audit report have just been arrested by the Malawi Police Service. This includes an arrest at the Office of the President and Cabinet. There are no sacred cows. In fact, as other individuals that the evidence points to are identified and tracked down, there will be more arrests. So, I want all the thieves hiding in the civil service to mark my words: If the finger of evidence points to you as one of the thieves who stole Covid money for saving lives while hundreds of our people were dying of Covid, you

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are going to prison. On top of that, we will use the relevant laws to ensure that you pay back what you stole. Mubweza! Meanwhile, as those suspected of committing financial crimes are being arrested, I have also instituted a team comprising representatives from the Department of Human Resource Management and Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, and my office, and this team is already identifying public officers implicated by this audit report. I have directed the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Mr. Zangazanga Chikhosi, to interdict without pay those public officers on whose direct watch the financial mismanagement occurred. I have also directed him to ensure that those officers are referred to the relevant Service Commissions to either clear their names or be sanctioned and disciplined. Whether those public officers are senior or junior civil servants, I have directed him to see to it that disciplinary proceedings begin within 14 days. As for the Minister of Labour, who was named by the audit report as having spent Covid funds amounting to K613 thousand on his allowances for a foreign trip, I have dropped him from my Cabinet accordingly. Even though the Minister has since returned the money, his usage of the funds means that the money was unavailable for its intended purpose when it was needed most. And I cannot have in my Cabinet any individuals who either spend money budgeted for one

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COVER thing on something else or do not ask tough questions to ensure that the money they are spending on something was budgeted for that purpose. These actions notwithstanding, there are other actions that must be taken by other independent branches of Government and independent governance institutions, and I assure them of my Administration's full support to carry out their mandates. I want to mention a few of them and remind them of both the expectation that Malawians have of them and the duty that the Constitution places on them.

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1. The Constitution places the mandate of arresting suspected criminals on law-enforcement agencies like the Malawi Police Service, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and the Financial Intelligence Authority. For the first time in Malawi, these are working independently and are being funded adequately. As such, those of you running these institutions must stop letting the country down and do your jobs in bringing those implicated by this report to book, or else I will have you replaced. 2. The Constitution places the mandate of trying and sentencing criminals on the Judiciary, but I think I speak for all Malawians when I say that we do not want these 8 crimes to take years to adjudicate. I have therefore directed the Minister of Justice to engage the Chief Justice on the support the Judiciary needs to expedite the cases related to this K6.2 billion, as well as all open and past cases related to the theft of public resources. 3. The Law empowers the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) to enforce the government's compliance with procurement laws and procedures. I therefore call on this institution to do its job with a sense of urgency, including ensuring that all companies named in this audit report for defrauding Malawians, as well as the individuals who direct those companies, are debarred from supplying goods, works, and services to government forthwith. 4. Two months ago, I tasked the Vice President to form a Taskforce that will recommend radical changes to the structure of the entire civil service, as well as the entire system of allowances, employment contracts, and procurement in the public sector to root out corruption. Those recommendations are due for submission to my office in the next four weeks, after which we will take the next steps towards my goal of overhauling this broken and rotten system from top to bottom. In conclusion, let me say this to all of you. As far as I am concerned, anyone who steals or wastes public funds is a traitor to our country. The sad reality though is that there are so many public servants who are so eager to get rich that they are willing to defraud their own country. The other sad reality is that there are so many private citizens who are so eager to access public services and government contracts that they are willing to corrupt public servants to defraud their own country. If you are in that boat, then you can count me and my Administration among your enemies, because I will fight you until you are defeated, no matter how long it takes. Aside from that, I pray that God's curse will rest on anyone who steals even one kwacha of the public funds that God has entrusted us to use in serving Malawians. Thank you for your attention

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The sad reality though is that there are so many public servants who are so eager to get rich that they are willing to defraud their own country. The other sad reality is that there are so many private citizens who are so eager to access public services and government contracts that they are willing to corrupt public servants to defraud their own country. If you are in that boat, then you can count me and my Administration among your enemies, because I will fight you until you are defeated, no matter how long it takes.

AFRICANLEADERSHIP MAGA ZINE

SPECIAL REPORT

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A Wake-Up Call:

Why Nigeria Needed COVID19 Khadija Yusra Sanusi Undoubtedly, the world was unprepared for Coronavirus disease (COVID19). It's arguable that developing countries were even more so for reasons such as lack of infrastructure, weak healthcare systems, significant doctor-to-patient ratio and minimal to absence of governmental funding for healthcare. In addition, the COVID19 pandemic gave rise to a rape epidemic (with the lockdown used as a front for sexual violence at home), an increase in reported cases of domestic violence and a dire need for a strong mental health intervention especially in developing countries. The first case of COVID19 in Nigeria I heard was that of an Italian citizen who worked in Lagos. In February 2020, he returned from Milan and was soon after confirmed with the virus. Having one case of an airborne disease in a country that ranks among the top 10 most populated countries in the world was too many. For Nigeria especially – with its low coverage of health insurance, minimal access to essential medicines (36% reported accessibility in private facilities and 26% for public facilities), and inequitable spatial distribution of health services and facilities across the At our companies, country – it was a deathly epidemic.

our strategy is to recruit and train staff effectively, to subsequently advance their skills and strengthen their leadership capabilities.

In Nigeria, there is no dedicated healthcare industrialization and trade policy focused on the health sector due to inadequate storage conditions during shipping, in warehouses, hospitals, pharmacies and homes and a lack of supply chain infrastructure. In addition, there is limited technology for anticounterfeiting, inventory management, training apps used for Continuous Professional Development (CPD), as well as a lack of skilled technical personnel in drug development and manufacturing. Most employees in local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector are semiskilled workers who acquire their skills on the job. Above that, there is low healthcare funding by the federal government, because of which 71% of health expenditure is out of pocket. This is a staggering number for a country with 40% of its population living below the poverty line, which amounts to more that 82 million Nigerians living on less than $1 a day.

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SPECIAL REPORT The impact of COVID19, especially psychologically, could not have been predicted. “The “unknown” is usually a mental stressor as the mind is left to fill the gaps with the worst-case scenario more often than not,” Hauwa Ojeifo, a sexual violence and mental health activist and Executive Director of She Writes Woman, told African Leadership Magazine. She explained that the pandemic came as an existential shock partly because there was no end in sight. The uncertainty about the reopening of the economic and the return to everyday life led to business and economic pressure, grief and threat of life.

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In the height of it all, countries were reporting hundreds of cases and taking pre-emptive measures such as shutting down borders and putting their citizens on lockdown. The 22 isolation from society, coupled with hyper-information of increasing cases and death toll across the globe, had its own psychological impact. As Ojeifo explained, “in a situation where your movement is restricted, your trauma response outlets are also restricted. 'Fight or flight' will have to take place with little or no room for movement and expression, as was the case during lockdown.” This means a At our companies, our strategy is to restricted combination of uncertainties, grief, loss anxiety and recruit and train staff effectively, to depression that can't be properly navigated, leading to a hyper subsequently advance their skills and increase of cortisol (the stress hormone). “We aren't wired for strengthen their leadership capabilities. such a time,” Ojeifo adds. “We are hardwired for connection, community, and certainty.” There is a pressing need for stronger health systems in developing countries. Nigeria has been ranked among the worst healthcare network in the world, taking the 142nd position out of 195 countries ranked. Hannatu Ahmad Ibrahim, intern at National Hospital Abuja, told African Leadership Magazine that “the Nigerian healthcare system is poorly developed; there is lack of awareness, inadequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and not enough isolation centres. It has failed woefully in providing care to both care workers and patients. But all hope is not lost, we can do better.” She explained that the main factor that contributed to the spread of the virus was people not believing that it existed. To be fair, both governmental and private institutions tried to create awareness about COVID19, but people simply refused to believe it was real.

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SPECIAL REPORT

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In a conversation with The Voice in 2020, one of Nigeria's leading public health campaigners, Niniola Williams, explained that culture affects the way we see and interact with modern medicine. It is hard for Nigerians to trust doctors, she said, because when they go to their local healthcare facility, the doctor is often unavailable and there are no medical supplies; you would have to go and buy the PPEs such as gloves the doctors need to attend to you. Because of this, many people would opt not to go to hospitals when they are ill, which will play into the spread of the disease, making it more viral than contained. For this and several other reasons, countries were unprepared for COVID19. But these are factors that can be addressed and resolved in preparation for the next pandemic. According to Amanda McClelland, Senior Vice President of the prevent epidemics team at Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, there are several ways in which countries can prepare for the next pandemic. They must have an effective system to detect, rapidly investigate and verify new cases. They should also build essential capacities related to surveillance, laboratories, a trained workforce and emergency response by allocating financial and human response to ensure the containment of important cases and mitigate the social, economic and health impacts of all parts of the community. She also argues that countries must have adequate supply chains of essential medicines and infection prevention and control equipment; trained health workers who can respond safely and are able to isolate and care for the sick; and the ability to communicate about the disease and combat misinformation quickly among all parts of the community. Furthermore, she believes governments, civil societies and international partners should support investments to prepare counties for the management of outbreaks and protection of lives. Should countries have to close their borders or citizens have to go on lockdown, developing countries need a robust healthcare system to prevent, find and stop diseases. For stronger healthcare systems, Nigeria needs many reforms. It requires health insurance coverage; easier access to and stockpiling of medicine and antiviral drugs; better infrastructure and well-equipped health facilities; health-focused trade policy and industrialization; well-skilled technical personnel in drug development and manufacturing; active strategies

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and well-resourced healthcare organizations; huge investments in the NCDC; and technological advancements in the health sector. In many of its sectors, including health, Nigeria relies heavily on imports, especially from China. A good strategy could also be to restrict importations of medical supplies and for the government to fund organizations that seek to develop and manufacture good quality medical supplies. This can be done slowly – first with everyday PPEs, until Nigeria can manufacture more complex medical supplies such as vaccines. Poor healthcare has a huge impact on the economy. The Nigerian federal government provides loans for people through a parastatal called NIRSAL to fund local start-ups. However, for many people, insecurity has been a hindrance. Businesses can't thrive where there is inadequate healthcare and insecurity; the cost is simply too high. With insecurity, inadequate police and unreliable healthcare services and facilities, Nigerian businesses are not able to thrive, and people are not able to pay taxes, which the government can use to fund the revampment of the different sectors, especially health. They always say, “Health is Wealth”; it took a global pandemic to show us just how true that is.

AFRICANLEADERSHIP MAGA ZINE

PROFILE

Liberia's Pro-Poor Agenda – A Model For People-Centered Economic Programme In Africa By Alkali Amana

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In his 4th State of the Nation address in January 2021, President George Weah reiterated his commitment to addressing and lifting Liberia's economy by proposing several economic policies and legislative reforms. Undeniably, the focus and input towards revitalizing and sustaining a viable economy in Liberia in recent years have been at the centre of operations for a government that actively devises strategies to improve the economic situation in the country. When President Weah and his administration took over, they positioned their efforts. They channelled immense focus on changing the narrative in Liberia and promoting a pro-poor agenda. The Weah-led administration pursued this vision through the active and conscious implementation of strategies to provide economic recovery. As early as 2019, Liberia's Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel Tweah, explained the new process of a macroeconomic framework to solve the country's economic challenges. He maintained that it would be anchored on reducing the deficit and managing the country's wage bill.

At our companies, our strategy is to recruit and train staff effectively, to subsequently advance their skills and strengthen their leadership capabilities.

The wage bill at the time was disproportionately high in the West African region. Therefore, the strategy increased the effectiveness and efficiency of prioritizing the Pro-Poor development spending, ensuring transparency in fiscal data and strong governance and enhancing the fight against corruption: many years and counting, the Hon. Tweah has continued to support and implement the vision of the president. He has actively supported the administration of President Weah, playing a vital role in achieving the aim of economic

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PROFILE recovery and sustainability through a proactive means, hence his recognition as the Africa Minister of Finance for the year 2020 by African Leadership Magazine. The award is partly due to his unrelenting efforts at seeing a sustainable economy come true for Liberia. The first of President's Weah's conscious action at reviving the country's economy came with his order of a reduction in public officials' 24 salary, rationalization of public spending, and cuts to unnecessary public expenditures. The Minister noted that this single policy saved Liberia a revenue of US$8.7 million annually. With this in mind, the World Bank declared that the country's poverty reduction strategy is supported by rebuilding core functions and institutions, rehabilitating infrastructure, and facilitating growth. In evaluating Liberia's means of reform, an IMF news report in December 2020 noted that the country's reform efforts have begun to bear fruit. The report, while considering the Covid19 pandemic, explained that the government's decision to cut the bill in all three branches of government by 10 per cent in the 2019/2020 budget, while allowing the lowestpaid government employees receive the minimum wage, helped in eliminating the Central Bank financing of deficits. The policy, in effect, eased inflation and provided benefits to the poorest Liberians who mostly earn Liberian dollars in a dual currency economy. As noted by Minister Tweah, in appraising the efforts of President Weah with the current administration, the reform of the country's wage bill to reduce fiscal pressure, control cash management better, improve the fight against corruption and public governance has helped to culminate into a severe drop in the country's inflation rate from 30 per cent as high as more than a year ago to 14 to 12 per cent now. It shows that fiscal discipline has been introduced into the economy. With the advent of Covid19, a dire situation was envisaged for the country, but today, relevant statistics as evidence show otherwise. Liberia's domestic revenue from January to December 2020 proved to be 9 per cent higher than the domestic revenue generated between January to December 2019. As captured succinctly by the Minister, 'revenue in the Covid year was higher than in a nonCovid year'. This is a testament to the country's unique strategy aimed at providing sustainability. Also, lessons learned from the Ebola crisis enabled a prompt response from

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At our companies, our strategy is to recruit and train staff effectively, to subsequently advance their skills and strengthen their leadership capabilities.

the Liberian government to tackle and handle Covid19 with a vigilant approach that has helped streamline a wave of the disease within the country. This enabled the country to keep up with its economic reforms, pushing through amid the pandemic with relevant assistance from the IMF to the tune of US$ 48.86 million under a program launched at the end of last year. The welfare of Liberians through the revitalization of the country's economy is a top priority for President Weah, and all hands must be on deck to achieve the objective ahead. At a recent stop in Kokoya district in Bong County, President Weah took issue with concession companies operating in the country for their failure to prioritize citizen's interest. He threatened to replace any concession company that will not live up to its social responsibility to the people and the country. Such is the man's drive and commitment, leading his cabinet, in ensuring Liberia's growth and development beyond the present. Liberia is on a sure-footing towards retooling the economy to work for all, and the Ministry of Finance anchors this under the able leadership of Hon. Tweah. In this understanding, the resilience of the nation and the goodwill of its leadership through committed efforts are reflected in the recent award to Minister Tweah as Africa's 'Minister of the Year' 2020 by the African Leadership Magazine UK.

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INTERVIEW

Liberia's Vice President Jewel Taylor Calls For An African Industrial Revolution

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Jewel Cianeh Taylor is one of few women in top political leadership positions in Africa. In this interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor, she discusses Liberia’s COVID-19 response, post-pandemic priorities, women’s empowerment in Africa, youth unemployment and other issues. These are the excerpts: How is Liberia dealing with COVID -19? As you know, Liberia is a developing nation, and we have had our share of challenges, including a civil conflict, Ebola and now COVID-19. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the President [George Weah] established a rapid COVID-19 Response Unit chaired by the Ministry of Health and includes other relevant government agencies and international partners. This unit meets daily to assess the situation and to address challenges. Over a year ago, we instituted a national emergency, mandated testing and social distancing, and we continue to raise public awareness about the pandemic. We opened two new hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients. As a result of our robust response effort, we are seeing a reduction in COVID-positive numbers.

I hope my voice, and the voices of others who contracted COVID 19 will let people know that this pandemic is real. I am not sure of how or where I contracted this disease, but I did. I was severely ill and spent 35 days in the Intensive Care Unit and another 10 days just getting my breathing stabilized

How are you addressing the socio-economic impact? No doubt, economic activities have been severely affected. Schools were closed. There was an increase in sexual and gender-based violence across the country, as well as a drastic loss of income for women who are the primary providers and caregivers in our society. The National Legislature approved a national stimulus package, including food rations and money to severely affected homes, and suspended taxes to allow companies and

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COVID-19 is not a hoax or a conspiracy theory. If we follow the health protocols, especially wearing face masks, social distancing, and getting tested immediately when we fall ill, coupled with vaccination, I am hopeful we can defeat the disease. How is vaccination going in Liberia?

What are the top three achievements of your government so far? 27 The first is entrenching democracy. After taking the baton of power in 2018, our government has conducted many elections: several bi-elections and the 2020 senatorial elections. And the legal processes which attend contested elections have been successfully and peacefully followed up to the Supreme Court. The second is that we carried out a process of harmonization that allowed the government to

We received about 100,000 vaccines. The vaccination process is going well. People are being vaccinated. I have been vaccinated myself. How is Liberia preparing for a post-pandemic recovery? What are your top three priorities? We have more than three priorities. Let me emphasize that our national budget reflects our priorities—health, education, roads, jobs and the provision of basic social services to our people, including water and electricity. We are having meetings with our international partners and friends to establish a post-COVID-19 roadmap and stabilization funds.

Politics is tough terrain, but it takes a clear vision, proper planning and execution of plans, commitment, hard work and consistency to succeed. Despite the many challenges, women should not allow themselves to be left out of the process

We would like to re-energize agriculture and invest in

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I hope my voice, and the voices of others who contracted the disease will let people know that this pandemic is real. I am not sure of how or where I contracted this disease, but I did. I was severely ill and spent 35 days in the Intensive Care Unit and another 10 days just getting my breathing stabilized.

You contracted the COVID-19 virus. What was your experience and what message would you send to people who may still be skeptical about the disease?

infrastructure to jump-start economic activities. We hope to restore macroeconomic stability, encourage sustainable growth and private sectordriven development. Our focus is shifting to industrialization and the processing of our natural resources. We believe that the creation of a vibrant private sector is the best way forward.

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businesses to survive. We halted ongoing development projects and even redirected finances for such projects to the healthcare sector and to respond to the social and economic needs of our most vulnerable.

INTERVIEW significantly reduce the wage bill by eliminating ghost names. Implementing a biometric identification card for all government employees eliminated discrepancies. We have redirected excess finances to other critical areas.

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Third, our tuition-free policy for public universities and colleges announced by President Weah in 2019 and the payment by the government of all regional testing fees for WASSCE [West African Senior School Certificate Examination] have provided huge reliefs for parents. The scheme will increase school enrollments and literacy rates. I would like to mention infrastructural development. A former minister of works once said that, “The road to development begins with the development of the roads.” This is so true for us. The government is rehabilitating existing roads (feeder and main highways) and expanding the road network. We plan to ensure that all capital cities in Liberia are connected by paved roads, especially in the southeastern corridor. We are grateful to our international partners who are supporting us. You are one of few African women in top political leadership positions. Before you, there was Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who was Africaʼs first democratically-elected president. How do you assess the progress that Africa is making regarding womenʼs political empowerment? Since Beijing, Africa has made progress regarding womenʼs political and economic empowerment, but there are still many gaps. Currently, across the continent, there are only two female presidents and about four female vice presidents. The percentage of women in governance in African is still very small, though rising slowly: women ministers constitute 20.7 per cent and women in parliament is 23.7 per cent, according to IPU [InterParliamentary Union] statistics. So, there is still a long way to achieving gender equity. What are the main barriers to womenʼs political empowerment? The age-old barriers to womenʼs empowerment are structural, patriarchal, discriminatory laws and low capacities. We must eliminate all forms of violence against women and adopt parity laws. We must build and provide leadership training. We must encourage more Hefor-She [global solidarity for gender equality] champions, eliminate and punish all forms of electoral violence against women. How do you think African women can prepare to participate in politics, which is considered tough? The truth is that politics is tough terrain, but it takes a clear vision, proper planning and execution of plans, commitment, hard work and consistency to succeed. Despite the many challenges, women should not allow themselves to be left out of the process. And those who have broken the glass ceilings must be role models and must mentor others. Advocates of gender equality should continue to raise their voices. Young people account for 65 per cent of Liberiaʼs 4.1 million population, yet youth unemployment is about 85 per cent. What is your government doing about it? Youth unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing our government. Youth employment is a key component of our Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development. To address unemployment, we

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INTERVIEW need a strong private sector. At the moment we are creating the policy framework to attract the private sector.

This year (2021) marks the beginning of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Liberia has signed but has not ratified the agreement. What do you see as the benefits and challenges of free trade? The AfCFTA is a major boost for African economies. We expect a 52 per cent boost in intra-Africa trade by 2022. Our government is aware that of the 15 countries in West Africa, only two countries, Liberia and Benin, are yet to ratify the agreement. In our case, the agreement is before the National Legislature and we hope it will be ratified soon. Africa is the last frontier, with about 40 per cent of the worldʼs natural resources and the fastest-growing population globally. If Africa uses this leverage to implement an industrialized revolution, it can have sustained economic growth. We're at a point where we need mutually rewarding partnerships, not just grants. It's time for an African industrial revolution. Africaʼs resources have traditionally been taken out of our countries, processed abroad, and brought back. Now, African leaders are saying that we want investors to help build industries that process our natural resources locally. It is not just to take out raw materials. What message of hope do you have for Africans, particularly women, who see you as a role model? My message is simple: dream, prepare, build, remain committed, and donʼt forget to encourage and mentor others. This is the formula for success, whether you are a man or a woman. The world is for the strong, the bold, the creative and the committed. Keep in mind that everything is possible.

My message is simple: dream, prepare, build, remain committed, and do not forget to encourage and mentor others. This is the formula for success, whether you are a man or a woman. The world is for the strong, the bold, the creative and the committed

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In addition, the government has a Youth Opportunities Project, which provides training and funding for cooperatives and support to young people in agrobusinesses. There are also several programs to train young people in entrepreneurship.

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We are tackling challenges in the energy sector by enacting the Independent Power Production Law, which will open this sector to the private sector. The good news is that there are huge opportunities in agriculture and tourism. We have also approved funding for the development of small and medium enterprises.

TECHNOVATION

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Pandemic Sparks Africa's Digital Revolution By Peter Burdin

Could Africa emerge from the Pandemic as a key player in a new digital revolution? Recent moves from the big tech corporations like Twitter's decision to set up an African HQ in Ghana have created a new buzz around the continent's role in the global digital and media market. Africa already has a strong foundation of a rapidly growing young and digitally fluent population and the Covid 19 crisis has seen this potential and talent for innovative digital solutions come into its own. Entrepreneurial activity in Africa is already estimated at 13% higher than the global average, this will enable the continent to flourish amongst its global competitors. We've already seen increased rates of broadband connectivity and mobile data traffic in the pandemic, and that has brought with it increased media consumption. According to the International Telecommunications Union a 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration in Africa would generate an increase of 2.5% in GDP per capita. This accelerating digital ecosystem is therefore particularly crucial as a multiplier of Africa's post-Covid-19 recovery and future growth. However, in order for this growth opportunity to be sustainable Africa needs to look towards becoming more interconnected and capable of generating its own digital content rather than relying on importing content from the rest of the world. A recent survey suggested that some 85% of news stories about Africa

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were generated from outside the continent – that needs to change if Africa is going to benefit from this digital revolution. Just as Covid-19 has taught us that Africa can't rely on foreigner providers like China, Europe and America for its vaccines and PPE supplies to combat the crisis, it's also brought about the stark realisation that Africans can't rely on the outside world to tell its stories but it must generate it's own media content from within the continent. The newly launched MediaCity Mauritius project (MCM) is a prime example of a new initiative designed to address these needs. It is also a good example of digital acceleration in action. MCM will be a hub for the digital and creative industries. It's supported

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TECHNOVATION

addressing the divide exacerbated by the pandemic has also created a sense of urgency to bridge it through greater access to technology.

The pandemic has given us a harsh lesson that the world is interconnected and stands or falls together. It's important that we integrate Africa into this connected globalised digital and media landscape.

by the Mauritian government and the Mauritius Economic Development Board, and aims to bridge the digital skills, infrastructure and information gap for key industry players looking to establish a presence on, and invest in, the continent.

To do that we must develop new platforms and professional training schemes like Mediacity Mauritius to hasten this, to help create a prosperous digital future for Africa and to show the world what Africa has to offer.

From its Hub Newsrooms in Mauritius MCM will create a one-stopshop for Africa's creative industries which will support promising regional SME ventures to grow globally. New media providers will be able to write a new editorial narrative for Africa, bringing together established media outlets seeking a secure base to operate from with a university campus and school where young digital media students can learn the latest techniques of story-telling and pan-African newsgathering. The pandemic has already been a catalyst for the acceleration of digital transformation in the region. Now is the time to tap into that digital growth and disseminate the news of this new Africa which is emerging from the crisis. We all have stories to tell of how Covid-19 has brought Innovation across Africa, from the use of drones to deliver medicines to the use of AI robots to support African nurses on our hospitals. All too often these are stories of African successes and solutions that the world never gets to hear about. Now the stories of African enterprise can reach new audiences through the rise of digital communications.

Digital transformation sits at the heart of African Union's “build back better” recovery alongside projects for infrastructure development and industrialisation. By supporting the growing digital economy Africa will create opportunities for increased productivity, entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation

We've also seen how the use of online and mobile banking tools has risen by 30% these past 15 months, in tandem we're seeing a similar growth in digital media consumption. The so-called “digital divide” between rich and poor is still a reality but there's little doubt that

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The prize is enormous. Digital transformation sits at the heart of African Union's “build back better” recovery alongside projects for infrastructure development and industrialisation. By supporting the growing digital economy Africa will create opportunities for increased productivity, entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation, all of which will aid an inclusive, sustainable recovery.

INTERVIEW

Businesses that thrive are the ones that attempt to solve society's problems Dr. James Mwangi Ceo Equity Bank

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You hold 4 Nobel prizes. 2 in Economics and 2 in peace. What does winning these awards mean to you as an individual, a leader and a philanthropist? In this journey I have worn about 380 awards. In the banking industry we (Equity) win more than 30 awards every year. At the regional level we win 5 to 6 awards while at continental level I have never missed to win an award. This is very humbling but again it is a very powerful affirmation that keeps me even going. It is a huge boost to the morale of my colleagues because it has never been this exciting to equity bank. Every staff member now feel they are a Nobel prize laureate winner because all along I have won all the awards that could have been won. So, thirty years of sustained consistent pursuit is what has created us from number 66 out of 66 to number 1 bank in the region. Statistics show at least 90% of start-ups fail before the sixth month of their operations. What are some of the tips you would offer to such enterprises?

Businesses that thrive and grow to scale, are the ones that attempt to solve society's problems

The biggest challenge is people jumping into the bandwagon when they are starting businesses. They don't understand the market. They do it because someone has done it, so they keep on copying what others have done without research of the market to understand what the market needs. Businesses that thrive and grow to scale, are the ones that attempt to solve society's problems. If you look at Equity bank, it went out to solve the problem of exclusion e.g., the mama mboga's, the

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2. Capacity of entrepreneurs. We are migrating to a greater extent from the peasantry society where we grew food for the family and suddenly, we find ourselves in the financial and economic world where we do things for the market. But we haven't sat down and found out how things are done. We haven't invested. Yes we have education but remember we have a theoretical education framework. We forgot to invest in tertiary education that gives people the skills and know-how of how to do business and in the process most of our people don't have the requisite skills. So as soon as the business starts, they lack the capacity and competence to grow it, thereby resulting in the experience of (85%) of startups failing by the fifth year). What is your philosophy on Corporate Social Responsibility? 1) Advocating for a business model that integrates society in a shared prosperity and sustained environment through ethical practices. I believe it starts with ethical practices then it goes and develops into shared prosperities, so that you don't leave the society behind. 2)It is sustained by ensuring that environmental concerns are taken into account from the on-set when you are setting your business. No business should have a hand in destroying the environment by polluting or destroying the forest. Businesses should proactively be in the fore front of conserving the environment and keenly observe sustainable utilization of resources. 3.Sustainable Utilization of resources. Businesses should not be engaged in extraction where they are just picking the resources from environment without thinking about future generation. We must remember that the way we use resources today should be an endowment to society not to one generation.

Best Practices - You must have best practices in business and best practices starts with governance decision. You must have processes and procedures that help you manage risk. There are policies and procedures that keeps risks away, mitigate or manage risk. Governance structures that create an essence- First and foremost is the purpose for setting a business. If you look at equity, we have always pursued a very broad purpose of ensuring we change lives and livelihoods and that is why due to Covid, we went into giving businesses a break so that they could be able to mitigate the negative impact of freezing of economic opportunity and closure of businesses. So, for businesses that closed, we did not ask for repayment from them, instead we helped them to survive and recover. You can see that when you have a purpose you will point to the right direction. The fact that equity mobilized 1.1 billion and said this is to protect the society, Speaks powerfully about Purpose. Patience - because for me, I have been on this for the last 30 years. I joined banking in 1991. That's when I became finance and strategy director. But you can see 15 years ago I won the global vision award. Little did I know what that meant to be honest because it was too broad. But today when I reflect, I see what the professors who made the judgement saw in an inclusive model those years. Today I'm an advocate and global champion of inclusive businesses. So it has taken 15 years of acknowledging this is a good business model to celebrating the business model. In between 2012 and maybe to give me more hope maybe 8 years ago, we won the earnest and young world

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1. thing is having a programme. Most businesses are not started with an objective of solving the problem, they are driven by an objective of making money. You don't make money by starting a business, you make money by solving a problem. Profit is a reward for solving a problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity, the bigger the opportunity, the bigger the possible scale.

The biggest advice I would give is:

So, we removed the barriers that made people to be excluded and became a movement, and now we have 60% of all the bank accounts in the country with 14 million customers simply because we have solved the problem.

If you were to give advice to a small trader today, what would you tell him to do well in order to grow his business?

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kiosks, and farmers were excluded. 96% of the population had no bank accounts. Equity decided to solve this problem by an inclusive business model.

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entrepreneurs position, about the same time Forbes named me as the African person of the year. But you can see it took another 8 years for the model to win the Oslo Business Award which is this year's Nobel peace prize. Time is off essence, so is Consistency 34 and persistence. Delayed gratification- I would have been very excited in 2007 but the real prize was to come 15 years later. So, it is continuing almost to perfection. It is not always learning from the west, the west can also learn from Africa. Do you think Kenya has got what it takes to support budding entrepreneurs in terms of markets, capital and regulations etc.? Kenya for instance has a lot of challenges. That itself is a huge opportunity for Kenyans to innovatively create solutions for those challenges. Society is always willing to pay a prize for solutions to its problems. You enhance the quality of the people and standard of a society by solving its problems. So capital has never been a challenge because it's not Kenyan Capital, Its global capital. We are 50 M people in Kenya. You can imagine the size of that market. Our GDP per capital has grown significantly from 1000 dollars to about 2000 dollars. It is not just 50M but its 50M people whose purchasing power has doubled within the 7 years. If you look at Equity bank, we have a total capital base of 130 Billion.sh 70 billion is foreign. It is simply a great idea globally, so Profit is a reward for solving a global capital froze quickly to come to support a great idea problem. The bigger the problem, globally. the bigger the opportunity, the Young people are advised not to place focus on looking for white collar jobs and instead focus on entrepreneurship. Do you think this advice is feasible?

bigger the opportunity, the bigger the possible scale

Young people don't have to go through the legacy of the past. They can improve on technology and provide intellectual technology just by starting with Knowledge. It is no longer the old factors of labour and capital as the factors of production. We are now seeing intellect. The population is a much younger population with a very different taste. It means that the products of the past are not going to be sustained into the future. The young people can study the taste and preferences of young people and re-invent and disrupt the market all over again. No great idea has ever missed capital because capital is always looking for great ideas and great ideas in turn, promise great returns. Young people should not be discouraged by market, we are in a global market. If you look at Ali baba for instance, it is not just a Chinese platform. It is now a global platform. Amazon, Facebook, etc. So we should start seeing the market as the global market. We should start seeing the global capital backing our great ideas because capital is always looking for a great idea.

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INTERVIEW Let's talk about bank insurance and small-scale traders. We have seen traders suffer huge losses from fire and theft. Does equity have such an insurance plan that can help booster small scale traders? We are the biggest insurance intermediary in the country. It is called equity insurance agency and basically what we have done is credit life. We will not give you a loan without taking power over your life. If anything happens to you then the credit line plays the role. We don't come to families when they are mourning to ask for loan repayment, that is paid for. The second one is security, like traders in Gikomba we know the risk. So to protect them, we tell them to take fire insurance . We always say let's be prudent, lets collectively secure each other. It's very important that you secure achievements of people. The essence of insurance is to secure achievements otherwise events like fire take people back to poverty.

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What is the driving force behind your success journey? This is not a stereotype. The biggest driver is the fulfillment that these interventions enables giving. When I see those orphans become like any other children in the society, seeing those orphans in Harvard where my children never made it to, I realise that this is selflessness and the other driving force is inspiration. How do you spend your free time? Let me be honest, I sleep a lot, sometimes just reflecting. So at 8:30 I must go to bed. I sleep minimum of 8hrs every day. Your hobbies?

Young people don't have to go through the legacy of the past. They can improve on technology and provide intellectual technology just by starting with Knowledge

I enjoy looking at culture, I have become an ardent collector of artifacts. I enjoy fauna and flora, it would be challenging for me to escape going to a place like Mara for more than 6 months.I have been to Mara about 89 times. I learn a lot in nature. I love reading. Currently I'm reading the grand plan by Gen Humphrey Orogeny and Prof Wanjiru of Nairobi University. Meresia Aloo's article is published courtesy of the Standard Media Group".

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FEATURE

Lieutenant Matilda Mattu Moiwo: Sierra Leone's Amazon against COVID-19 By Walcott Aganu lives rather than take them. Called upon to lead at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 as the National Emergency Medical Services Referral Coordinator in the capital city of Freetown, Lt. Moiwo has to juggle national ambulance services, clinicians at hospitals, treatment centers, and isolation units, and psychosocial assistance for patients and their families.

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COVID-19 is a dynamic and fluid situation,” says Lieutenant Matilda Mattu Moiwo. “You can't predict everything that will occur in advance.” Her military training serves her well in the fight against COVID-19 as she can apply her commanding skills to lead her team. She also disseminates test results and updates a national database on COVID-19. Staying calm in the storm

Living in a world of challenges, inequality, and discrimination, women still rise to the occasion when called upon. According to a University of Dublin study, women-led countries have suffered six times fewer confirmed COVID-19 deaths than countries led by men. Women leaders have shown in this period that they are better placed to draw on informal networks to mobilize rapid responses and community support. They are skilled at finding alternative resources and building ingenious partnerships to solve problems. When COVID-19 struck, there was a need for rapid response and countries looked to pull in all available resources to tackle the dreaded pandemic. The world searched for heroes to lead through the storm; in Sierra Leone, the burden fell on Lieutenant Matilda Mattu Moiwo. Lt. Moiwo is a staff officer of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces. As a female army officer, she has been put at the forefront of coordinating the national effort to combat COVID-19 in the West African country's national COVID-19 Emergency Response Center. In the conventional sense, when we visualize the image of an army officer we see an image of a man with guns and grenades, hopping into armed trucks and vans. But in the case of Lt. Moiwo, it wasn't so. She hopped into emergency ambulance services to save

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Despite the ravaging impact and increasing numbers of Covid19 cases after the first case was detected in the West African country in March 2020; Lt. Moiwo remained calm and level-headed and steered her team to attend to the demands. Her steadfast nature was highlighted in one particular COVID-19 case, where a pregnant woman at full term needed a cesarean section. She explains: “For this woman, it was not just a matter of having a safe delivery. This was the very first delivery for a Coronavirus patient in Sierra Leone. Health care workers at the isolation unit were worried. So was the patient.” All though it took over an hour of relentless efforts of

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FEATURE managing the elements needed for safe delivery, in the end, the hard work paid off and the woman delivered a baby girl. An Incident of this nature requires creative thinking and unwavering minds. Lt. Moiwo points out “It is critical to get the right patients to the right places because we offer different treatment centers with different levels of care, depending on severity.” Dismantling discrimination against women Governments are making efforts to build women's leadership to promote gender equality in all areas of life; some of which include new laws on sexual offenses, the launch of one-stop centers on sexual and gender-based violence, and the government's 2019 declaration of rape and sexual violence as a national emergency.

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These efforts are backed by the UN Team in Sierra Leone; who also understood that supporting gender equality also means supporting the fight against COVID-19. As gender equality supports public health, public health can support gender equality—if proper attention is paid to it. Lt. Moiwo is helping sure that the two go hand in hand with Sierra Leone's COVID-19 response. COVID-19 presented us with an all-hands-on-deck situation where women were on the frontline. With the pandemic requiring total collaboration and pulling together of all resources; preventing women from taking leadership positions at this point would have resulted in a case of “fighting with one hand behind our back”. “If women are prevented from taking leadership positions, then we're fighting the pandemic with one hand tied behind our back....” says UN Resident Coordinator, Babatunde Ahonsi. “When we make progress in gender equality, we make progress in every area of human endeavor,” says the UN Resident Coordinator. Lt. Moiwo has put that notion into practice every day on the job. She believes that, by stepping up as a leader, she is helping dismantle discrimination against women.

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CULTURE & TOURISM

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Adamu Waziri

An African Disney IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE Adamu Waziri is a rising talent on the African cultural scene. He is the creator of the Bino and Fino cartoons which have been at the forefront of Nigeria's emerging animation industry, and a key part of his successful business in Abuja. His creations the brother and sister team of Bino and Fino are two young Nigerians who travel around the continent learning about African culture. The idea is to give African children their own role-models and heroes as opposed to relying on a glut of American imported cartoons. It's a new departure for animation on the continent, and it seems to be making an impact. African Leadership Magazine spoke to Adamu Waziri at his Abuja workshop:

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How did you become an animator? I entered the business by chance. I studied architecture at Bournemouth University in the UK, fully intending to become an architect. I did my Masters there. I also learnt some animation but it wasn't really a career path for me. I returned to Nigeria and started the cartoon business working for some clients in the UK. I started it really because there was no other work for me. I saw there was a gap in the market for cartoon characters that are African and looked like us. There are lots of Japanese and American cartoon characters but where were the African cartoons? That's how the brother and sister team of Bino and Fino were born. That was about twelve years ago and now we're busy building the brand and the merchandising that goes along with it. Why did you leave the UK and return to Nigeria? I went to the UK in the first place to get an education and returned for personal family reasons. Once I'd returned I had to make it work. We have a massive youth audience here and I realised that the time was right for the animation industry here to spread and grow. How did that youth audience impact on your business? There's a tremendous interest in animation in Nigeria and I have been able to engage some young animators and interns to work with me. We out source animation to other people we've trained and we've developed a

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CULTURE & TOURISM

Nollywood is a model that inspires me. It has created a brand that works across the continent and beyond. I want our animation industry to follow in the same direction. My market is also pan-African. That's why the cartoon characters Bino and Fino travel to Timbuktu to discover Africa's rich cultural heritage, and why they learn about African cuisine and Africa's flags and many languages. Nollywood built itself, now we too must chart our own course. We're happy work with Disney and Pixel but where is the African Disney? An African Disney? Is that realistic? There's no reason why not. Look at the music scene. We grew up listening to American hip-hop, and now American kids are listening to our music. Afro pop is heard all over the world. We still have some way to go in the cartoon industry though. For instance the British cartoon Peppa Pig has something like 150 animators working on it, while we only have the capacity to produce two Bino and Fino episodes a month. You've said that you want your cartoons to educate African children about their continent. Do you think they can also educate the world about Africa? Definitely. We need to show the world that Africa is alive and well and has so much to offer the world. I'd love my cartoons to expand into soft power to rebrand how people look at Africa. Look at Japan. I've never been there but thanks to Japanese manga and cartoons I love that country. I have such a positive image of Japan and the Japanese purely because of their cartoons. In the same way we can build positive views of Africa to counter all the negative stereotypes we've all grown up with. We need to give our children some good images of what Africa truly is. Let's show the world our reality so our kids can be proud to be Africans. That's what pushes me forward, especially now I've got kids of my own. I want them to grow up as confident Africans proud of their African heritage.

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The potential of Nigeria is amazing. From the young people fighting Boko Haram to the street traders earning 200 Naira a day but still optimistic about their future lives. We are a remarkable people. Look at our Tech Incubators and our booming Fin Tech industry – there's so much to be proud of here. And I'm equally proud of the young people who work f They are so talented and committed and they all see a bright future for the country and our animation industry. What are your “Top Tips” for young people seeking to follow in your entrepreneurial footsteps? Look ahead and definitely keep your end goal in sight. 1. Be Flexible – there may be other routes to achieve that goal. 2. Be Disciplined – Show up every day, work hard and never give up. 3. Be Connected - your Network is crucial – Get the right people around you and listen to them. 4. Be Honourable – keep your word and always be an honest dealer with your colleagues, your workers and your clients.

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We've seen how the Nigerian film industry – Nollywood- has grown and grown. Is that a model for you to emulate?

Look I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Nigeria as a complex mix and we have our challenges but at the same time its full of people with the same hopes and dreams as anywhere else. The reality of Nigeria is so different to the common perception.

I want us to help these young to create a really professional industry. I want them to think beyond animation. If they are going to survive and prosper they need to learn how to pitch their ideas successfully, and they need to think global and how they can sell African cartoons to an international audience.

So how can you do that? Can you re-brand Nigeria?

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talented team of writers, designers and artists who work for us.

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CORONET: The Journey To Building Africa's Blockchain Future By Alkali Amana

Coronet Blockchain is Africa's front tier tech space from South Africa as an innovation building a B2B2C Marketplace that provide blockchain vetted commodities such as human hair extensions, haircare products & salon equipment to African salons, distributors & retailers from ethical global manufacturers at lower sourcing costs. Leading the successful venture are Cofounders Shadrack and Pretty Kubyane, who have as a success story, the adventure of scaling a $500 business to a $2 million business in 36 months. Detailed here is African Leadership Magazine's exclusive interview with Mr. Shadrack Kubyane, who serves as the CEO of Coronet and also as Africa's foremost Blockchain evangelist:

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Hello, Mr. Kubyane. In a few words, kindly introduce yourself and give us some insight into your rich entrepreneurial background. My early lived business experiences started from within a family business. Across the window of 8 years of age till 13, my mom started multiple businesses and handed them over to me to manage. My last Corporate job was with Deloitte. Then I Co-Founded a management consulting firm with a specialty focus on market entry, growth and scaling businesses i.e., taking new products onto market and business expansions. One of those flagship projects breakthroughs led to the founding of Coronet Blockchain when we scaled an informal business from 500 USD to 2 million USD in 36 months leading to more brands requiring same success at scale.Hello, Mr. Kubyane. In a few words, kindly introduce yourself and give us some insight into your rich entrepreneurial background. You are very active in the blockchain industry as a leader and Cofounder of a visionary enterprise. What is the leadership structure of your enterprise like? Our Coronet leadership structure exists across 4 categories. Exco: this includes the co-Founders, Advisory board, based here in Sandton South Africa. Technical: we have a team of engineers, architects, design thinking

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INTERVIEW and user experience across 5 countries via our seed capital funder, across South Africa, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, US, Egypt and London. Research & Development: we work with 4 academic institutions across US and South Africa at Professorship level, students/interns, and a vast alumni network [in industry] for market validation and go to market strategies for map the trajectory of our solution across Africa & other markets. Administration: including customer service and onboarding team, within each country of delivery.

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42 What inspired the creation of Coronet Blockchain and what services do you offer that make your company stand out from other tech-based firms/companies within the African terrain? When we scaled a human hair extensions brand from 500 USD to 2 million USD within 36 months, which used to operate out of a chaotic taxi rank into a 4 bricks & mortar branches, from 2 employees to a team of 40. We set up 2 of those 4 branches inside 5-star hotels. That is when multiple brands across Africa approached us demanding the same success story. That is when we deemed it fit, after carrying out a continent-wide due diligence, to set out to create a category level solution to deliver transformation at scale. Our blockchain enabled marketplace solution focuses on product provenance, access to market through eCommerce and business sustainability by providing business systems such as client bookings, smart procurement, inventory management. Where on the continent do you carry out business operations, and what is your target for Africa with your business model and operations, considering the opportunities available and how well they can be utilized to help the continent achieve global status? Our priority focus from the word go: has been designing supply chain solutions for the Africa continent, however as of recent we have been approached by a number of regions that are outside Africa. With that being said even though we have a global strategy our solution infrastructure is being finalised, to pave way to set up in multiple countries, beyond South Africa. Particularly: South Africa as a base, then Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, and others.

Thirdly, our journey with AfCFTA ecosystems date back to 2017, where we have had a front row seat on the ratification of the agreement and naturally, we looked for ways to aid its implementation once our solution architect begun taking shape. On the safety element: Blockchains, at inception, rely heavily on cryptography to achieve their data security. Given that the hash of each block is generated based on both the data contained within that block and the hash of the previous block. These hash identifiers play a major role in ensuring blockchain security and immutability. Think of Blockchain as being more of a community than a technology: meaning the tech components simply enable or achieve the collective community goals, thus a higher accountability. As an enthusiast of the Free Trade Area and someone who is keen on the integration of blockchain to aid key sectors such as agriculture and production in Africa, how do you intend to blend and model your innovation with the AfCFTA to achieve

It is evident you have great plans for Coronet and your venture into Digital Blockchain infrastructure, what is the level of visibility you hope for your company to achieve in the coming years and what strategic measures are you putting in place to realize plan? There are developmental milestones that our venture through leveraging blockchain is aligned to enable or make attainable for the economies within which we operate. Attaching wheels to practically help operationalise The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), by reconfiguring supply chains, into see through transparent supply chains that are equitable and inclusive. Secondly: our model, apart from being profitable, also fulfils 9 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as we level the playfield for the small to medium size business, as they engage big businesses. What level of security does Digital Blockchain Infrastructure offer and how did you come to the realization that it is a viable means to be used in achieving continental growth for Africa? Both my co-founder [and wife] and I come from a village upbringing so from early on we have come to appreciate a deeper sense of community, it is in our DNA. Furthermore, I was born at the intersection of 3 regions, within South Africa (known as Provinces) from you can say I am a born diplomat. Secondly: our passion for Africa and strategy/growth muscle memory, has always enabled us to have capacity for scale and to cultivate a Pan Africa facing world view, with a commitment to improve lives, beyond profits, not as an after-thought but a tangible daily focus in all we do.

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To pandemic proof our African economies, leveraging blockchain is necessary. One scenario: our joint food import bill currently is seating at 35 billion USD, with 1 billion citizens, and yet: if technology, and priority investments in agricultural infrastructure are not made we will have that bill grow to 100 billion USD by 2025. That is too much reliance on foreign economies for our daily sustenance.

Blockchain is a collaborative technology, meaning as a Truth Machine and a Trust Machine: blockchain reveals your development matrix, and financial inclusion in real time, no need for surveys that take months, in seconds you will through the Blockchain grid, determine the who (involvement), the what (volumes and quality) and fairness (fair trade) and equitability across your entire value chains, macro and micro supply chains. To ensure that a united Africa is not a myth but a measurable reality, as we leap-frog, what legacy economies have in place, blockchain as an emerging tech is positioning Africa to not do things, the conventional way, by way of heavy investments in quality assurance, etc, but transcend those frameworks, at scale, one value chain at a time. Yes: blockchain across the globe, has for the last 10 years, since the early use case via Bitcoin, has been trapped in that crypto currency comfort position, into more use cases beyond crypto. We are seeing a scenario where more use cases are coming onto the grid. We are in talks with strategically placed Development Agencies to add agility to increasing continental level awareness and adoption. As an entrepreneur, what would you identify as Africa's biggest strength which can be leveraged on to compete on a global stage? One word: resilience. We are as tough as nails, as Africans. We must neve take that for granted. We have been through a lot in the last 400 years. Which built unparalleled resilience into us. As we reposition our economies, entities and communities to take centre stage onto the global economy nerve centre. To punch beyond our weight, we must turn our pain into power, whilst we venture beyond what is possible, to leverage tech and available methodologies that we once foreign to our known normal, we must unleash our innovative know-how and allow ourselves to see an Africa where multiple generations work comfortably together. As I mentioned in Ethiopia, we can no longer solution for the youth or for women in their absence, but we must insist on a co-creation reality where all groups within society are in the solution cockpit, collaborating to shape that Africa we want. We cannot have a scenario where the millennials are pitted against the boomers or older generation. No pointing fingers, no bias towards tech, or automation anxiety, we must lower the walls and see a culture emerge where the old and new converge. Technology shakes hands with known established traditions, and multiple genders are allowed at the table. To compete on the global stage: we will need all hands-on deck, and we will need to shed our outdated mindsets that helped to keep us poor as a continent and cultivate collaboration as a new culture.

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Through AfCFTA: as countries leap towards deepening involvement into value chains to shift towards being producer economies not consumer-based economies a critical need is needed to add credentials, believability and global grade supply chain efficiencies to these trade corridors, for resilience, inclusion and sustainability.

1. The awareness on blockchain on the African continent seems to need some valuable input to increase its reach, what relevant measures can be put in place to create a widespread knowledge of Blockchain and the opportunities it presents to Africa, especially towards the huge youthful population? The leveraging of Africa's youthful population is key if we are to respond to the job creation demands, not only today but down the line. In 718 Saturdays from today, Africa's population will double from the current 1 billion to 2 billion, by 1 Jan 2035. Would that be double the problems or double the opportunities? Our inclusiveness to have women and youth participate in our economies with all hands-on deck is critical.

We have a scenario here in Africa where for the past 400 years our continental supply chains and trade corridors have been overly reliant on raw materials supply type economic reliance, only to have those same raw materials come back to African countries as finished goods, costing a lot 32 more, crippling these economies.

Blockchain at scale as we deploy it, will demonstrate exactly where our corridors are fractured, gaps and inequalities, as well as enabling decision making towards restorative measures whilst ensuring that the 99% small to medium businesses get to tangibly benefit from AfCFTA agreement, well beyond the 1% big businesses. The three Ts of Blockchain: Truth, Transparency, Traceability are valuable to enabling overdue supply chain reforms at scale.

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maximum output for both your business and the continent?

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FROM FOOD BASKET TO BARREL BOTTOM:

Covid-19 Hits Nigeria's Agriculture Sector By Christy Cole It is a downward spiral towards food insecurity as Covid-19 hikes unemployment, inflation and hurts access to food within Africa's most populous nation. A local saying in Nigeria, 'No food for lazy man' ties agricultural productivity directly to the farmer's physical prowess. But with COVID-19 and the latest nationwide unrest, things are now out of farmers' hands. In fact, the coronavirus pandemic is snatching preferred natural food options out of the mouths of locals. "Everything's upside down. It's like they won't let us live ... they won't let us die.'' Tade Craig, 23, laments, referring to a myriad of governance problems and natural disasters which cut across Nigeria right from her Yaba locality to the national level. Nigeria was already struggling with the twin shocks of low oil prices and the pandemic which dragged its economy down by 6.10 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, effectively halting a celebrated three-year trend of low but positive real growth. Tade's number one problem is her inability to access affordable raw food items from her regular farm foods vendor on Herbert Macaulay Street. "She used to be here every Sunday for the past three years. That's changed since Covid started." Tade said. The World Food Programme says the Covid-19 pandemic could throw an estimated 265 million people into deadly hunger by the end of the year 2020. Currently, Nigeria sits on the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation's list of countries requiring external assistance for food. As Covid-19 realities question food security in Nigeria, farm produce vendors say projections of an impending food crisis are connected to an initial closure of Nigeria's interstate borders – a step taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus – as well as other agriculture sector-specific bottlenecks. "Moving produce across locations is a big problem. We used to pay about 400 thousand Naira to move from the East to the West. Now, we have to pay 780 thousand naira, and then bribe police officers on the way. It's like smuggling food across the country while knowing the food is not contraband." says Henry Esigbe a local farm produce vendor.

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Emmanuel Ijewere, a farmer who runs Best Food Farms, attempts a logical explanation for why micro farm produce retailers may not be able to cater to market needs in certain communities. "It's true that the lockdown and the government saying some markets should not open on a few days may add to the problem ... Covid-19 has exacerbated the situation in terms of prices of food added to the bad roads." Nigeria's Agricultural sector has for years also struggled with flooding, drought, insecurity occasioned by a long running farmer-herders' crises across the south and middle regions, and infrastructural challenges. In 2019 alone, Kebbi state rice farmers lost one billion Naira (£2m) to flooding according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

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AGRICULTURE

As part of efforts to mitigate the impact of these realities, Nigeria's Monetary Policy Committee cut interest rates and the government launched initiatives to support the agriculture sector as part of an economic diversification agenda under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP. The plan strives to move Nigeria away from its over-dependence on oil. While none of the interventions has elevated Nigeria to self-sufficiency in agricultural production, one of them, the Anchors Borrowers program – which gave loans to small-scale farmers – did score significant gains in the rice sub-sector. The Analysts Blue Vertex flagged up weak earnings from Nigeria's consumer foods and agro-allied companies. Notes by Chief Research Officer, Dare Fajimolu highlight demand and supply problems as well as investors' response to the sector as key factors which include inflation, higher value added tax, lower consumer buying power caused by jobs losses to the pandemic, and a worsening Fast Moving Consumer Goods sectoral index drop of about 20 per cent year to date.

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For economic analysts, there are no quick fixes to Nigeria's agriculture sector challenges. Sam Chidoka, CEO of Kairos Capital says: "In Nigeria between the farm gate and the market gate a lot of perishables are lost... the government has to pay a lot of attention to mechanisation, storage, input and output from the farms and provide access to funds."

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Last year when Covid was at its height PWC Nigeria projected scarce agricultural produce as from the third quarter of 2020 due to Covid-19 and a farming calendar disruption. It was therefore not surprising that Nigeria's agricultural sector declined in the second quarter, growing only 1.58 percent which is 0.21 per cent lesser than its growth in the previous year.

Unequivocally, rising food prices is accompanied by its siblings rising inflation and pressure on consumer wallet. In its 130th communiqué, Nigeria's Monetary Policy Committee pointed out that the pandemic-induced lockdown and the partial closure of the nation's land borders significantly impacted inflation and consumer sentiment. Upward inflationary trend reached a 28-month high of 13.22 per cent last year, with the food composite index hitting 16 per cent (source: national bureau of statistics).

Beyond food, Nigeria's statistics bureau says the agriculture sector is its highest employer of labour creating 36.4 per cent of the jobs within the economy. A decline in growth therefore severely impacts Nigeria's already appalling unemployment figures which showed that more than half of the country was either unemployed or underemployed. Loss of jobs also spins the vicious circle of low purchasing power and lack of access to food.

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That's just the impact of flooding on rice farm produce in one state.

FEATURE

How Do We Make Things Better For Ghanaians After The Pandemic?

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By Janet Abena

The novel coronavirus pandemic has dealt a massive blow to the otherwise steady progress made to the global economy, with so-called developed or developing economies feeling one effect or the other. Ghana as a country in sub-Saharan Africa hasn't been exempted either. In the short while, Ghana's economy has suffered from job losses, business slowdown, food insecurity and interrupted education cum health delivery amid other predictable long-term consequences. According to an expert finding, in the first two months after the virus was first diagnosed in the country, an estimated 42,000 Ghanaians lost their jobs. Evidence gleaned from the Ghana Living Standard Survey, round seven, which is a survey to measure primary household consumption, poverty and income levels; the country did witness a 5 per cent dip in household consumption due to economic challenges posed by the pandemic. The Ghanaian government deserves commendations for its proactive response at the outset of the pandemic, through the introduction of timely social alleviators by way of; free water, hot meals and free electricity supply.

At our companies, our strategy is to recruit and train staff effectively, to subsequently advance their skills and strengthen their leadership capabilities.

Notwithstanding the timely nature of these thoughtful government interventions, they are nothing but a spur in moment interventions –the long term, otherwise termed as the post-covid-19 economy is crucial. This is the ultimate test for leadership globally. No other leader could better appreciate this than our president, Nana Akufo-Addo. To him, rebooting the economy to serve the Ghanaian need, post-covid-19 is the key denominator for evaluating his political tenure. In fact, besides expressly showing faith in the measures to revive the ailing economy, the president amidst the covid-19 challenges had famously declared that - “We know how to bring the economy back to life. What we don't know is how M AY - J U N E 2 0 2 1

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FEATURE to bring people back to life. “What approach should the government adopt towards making things better for Ghanaians in the post-covid-19 economy? Experts' opinion on the matter increasingly is tilted towards a favourable fiscal policy grounded on sound optimization of the country's revenue mobilization efforts. This, as stressed, should lead the economy on a favourable footing towards recovery. It is advised that this effort should be laced with favourable monetary policies, alongside a deliberate investment in the country's mineral resources and agriculture sector. These suggestions come amidst concerns overgrowing budget deficits, ballooning external debt, and expansion of net domestic financing of 36 government fiscal sustainability. On fiscal policy leading the way, the suggestion has been made that Ghana's economy has a persistent challenge with revenue mobilisation, despite the country's competitive corporate tax high personal income rates. The records are that, against the estimated 25 % average for middle-income economies, the country only collects 12-13 % of its GDP in taxes. The problem which needs addressing is not the introduction of more tax regimes, as is the current government's approach. There's a need to find means to address what government fails to collect in terms of taxes. This requires that the loopholes, leading to the persistent tax losses are addressed head-on. Besides this expert position, the lesson (s) learnt of the COVID-19 pandemic points to the drive for self-sufficiency. There's, therefore, the need for a complete yet deliberate system overhaul. The Ghanaian government must prioritise investment in agriculture, manufacturing and the health sector. An investment in agriculture should target food security. This is in respect to findings by the World Food Program ( WFP), which have projected that in addition to 135 million families who starve globally, an additional 130 are likely to face starvation due to covid-19.Whereas the real impact of COVID-19 infections and deaths were minimal on the Africa continent, the continent including Ghana was hard hit due to disruptions in the global supply chains and shrinking demand in high-income countries with a consequent nose dive in commodity prices at the world market.

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In the middle to the long term, deliberate efforts need to be channelled into the production of goods and services with greater emphasis on producing for local consumption. The country's economy remains fragile as long as it continues to depend on external partners for everything. Going forward, we need to prepare for the next pandemic, whatever the form it will take. There's a critical need for investment into the health infrastructure needs of the country, especially, in the areas of critical health care and expertise. It is shameful that, whereas we graciously take solace in the fact that our country didn't suffer much as compared with other developed countries, our health infrastructure was stretched to its limit with minimal spikes in cases. To sum it all, as leadership juggle through plans to salvage the economic fortunes of Ghana, what could be more beneficial to all, especially, the average Ghanaian on the street is a deliberate investment into the health sector, agriculture and manufacturing with an emphasis on selfsufficiency while we consider the contributions we could make to the global economy. In any case, we couldn't make any meaningful contribution to the global economy while neglecting these basic indicators.

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Ghana Post-COVID19: What Should Change? By Janet Abena Quainoo

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By Inemesit Hanson

Ghana has not been the same after the first case of coronavirus was reported early 2020. Following the reports from both prints and digital media, the mortality rate has been reported to be on the low with the total cases standing at 91,928 with a recovered number of 89,729 and total deaths of 777 as at April 25, 2021. Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been systemic failure in taking decisions that would positively affect the lives of the Ghanaian citizens. Corruption, nepotism, and all forms of vices has been making headlines. The Future of Education -COVID-19 and its associated school closures present significant challenges for Ghana's education system. Ghanaian children were out of school from March 2020 until January 2021, losing out on the hours of learning that the structured school setting presents along with other benefits such as the school feeding program. Under the present conditions, research and data offer guidance to inform the reopening of schools. On March 11, 2021, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) hosted a webinar presenting emerging data on the effects of COVID-19 on education in Ghana. Students in some rural communities studying under trees without classrooms have been greatly affected without any support from the government to ensure they are

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not left behind on their right to education. Some non-profit organizations such as; Proswrites Foundation, Hacklab Foundation, Save a street child Foundation and many others took to mobilizing resources for intervention programs to benefit youths in developing skills in digital and soft skills through organizing virtual mentoring and other projects to enhance their development. While we may not be out of the woods yet with the pandemic, one thing remains true. A reset of our education system is necessary. Especially if we are committed to unlocking human capabilities and harnessing the demographic dividend of the continent.

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HealthCare -Healthcare is paramount in the development of the country. Most of the frontline workers had received PPEs in their fight against the spread of the coronavirus. Through the pandemic, our healthcare system has been exposed to its inability to meet the demand of reported coronavirus cases. Looking at the rate at which most of the situations have been handled for health workers, hopefully the government provides incentives to prick the interest of

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Reference notehttps://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/08/ here-are-3-ways-ghana-is-supporting-farmersto-prevent-a-covid-19-foodcrisis/https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/0 3/digital-inclusion-is-key-to-improvingeducation-in-africa/https://www.povertyaction.org/event/learning-time-pandemiceffects-covid-19-students%E2%80%99-learningand-wider-education-sector-ghana2

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Agriculture and Infrastructure Development-Agriculture sustains more than half of Ghana's labour force, mostly as smallholders who cultivate their own plots of land with their families. Agriculture makes up 54% of Ghana's GDP, and over 40% of export earnings. It also covers over 90% of Ghana's own food needs. COVID-19 severely endangers this vital sector, with potentially disastrous knock-on effects for both producers and consumers. But Ghana is also showing what governments can do to support their farmers, prevent a food crisis, and create a more inclusive and sustainable way forward. Many private sector firms have empowered farmers through the pandemic period. Various community educational campaigns inform farmers of the virus, its symptoms and how to protect themselves. These campaigns spread health information via radio broadcasts, vans with loud speakers, as well as text messages and mobile voice messages sent to farmers 'phones in local languages such as Twi for maximumreach.

Youth Employment & Business Support The global pandemic has affected businesses in the country with the majority of employees losing their daily means of income. The situation has been worse since there has been an emergency budget allocated for most employees in both public and private sector to benefit from the benevolence of the government apart from the stimulus package for businesses which was also not well disbursed for businesses that suffered most. Post covid19, there would be more calls to the government and private sector to diversify the employment opportunities with technology and digital skills transformation as the population of the youths in Ghana is on the rise.

By laying the groundwork for improved access to services and technologies, we will be bridging the gaps in learning and teaching which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

young people to pursue careers in healthcare and improvement on the facilities across the country.

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The socio-economic background of a family should not determine a child's ability to access quality education or become successful in life. African governments must boldly pursue a collaborative approach in transforming education and enforce digital inclusion by investing in both basic and digital infrastructure such as digital public service delivery, internet coverage, and data storage capacity among others.

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Nwabisa Mayema, a serial entrepreneur

The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship's Strategic Partnerships Director Nwabisa Mayema wants tocreate 10,000 business opportunities through African innovation and a new generation of entrepreneurs. Nwabisa Mayema is a dynamic serial entrepreneur with a big vision for developing business in Africa. Her own entrepreneurial journey dates back to 2006, now she's determined to share what she's learned on that journey with some of South Africa's most exciting young entrepreneurs. One key lesson, she says, is to be driven by having a purpose in business to make a positive change in society: "I look at business as a site for change-making, job creation and for building wealth and a legacy for our country. There's so much work to be done, it's a great opportunity to make a positive change in people's lives." Nwabisa brings a strong track record to her role as the Branson Centre's Strategic Partnerships Director. She's a graduate of the University of Cape Town and in 2005 was selected as one of the 100 Brightest Minds in outh Africa. In 2014 she finished in the top five in the Goldman Sachs-GIBS 10,000 Women programme and

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FASHION that led to being selected for the US State Department's Change Makers In Social Entrepreneurship programme.

The Centre's stated aim is to be "the heart of changing business for good in Southern Africa by representing Sir Richard's core values to support like-minded passionate entrepreneurs". Sir Richard is renowned all over the world for his direct approach to encourage boldness in his business style which he once famously summed up in one of his management success books as "Screw It- Let's Do It". Nwabisa tell Us About the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship South Africa. What does it do?

When it comes to the economic meltdown and its effect, somebody told me that there will always be a need for goods and services. There might be a drop in the rate of goods that come to our shore, as is the case during the Crisis.

The Branson Centre exists to change business for good. We're here to enable purpose-led entrepreneurs to scale their businesses in a way that not only creates economic opportunities for others but also in a way that is good for people, planet and profit. Our mandate is to create 10,000 economic opportunities in South Africa in 1,000 days through innovative entrepreneurs. What kind of innovative enterprises? We see opportunities for entrepreneurs in three thematic areas: 1) Zero Waste 2) Create Local and 3) Tech For Good, these are some of the growth sectors that excite us. For example we have a company called I Love Coffee which trains and empowers deaf people to find employment in the hospitality industry. The company envisages a world where the deaf community is fully integrated into society and the economy. It sets up coffee shops inside corporate buildings run by deaf baristas and chefs and has just won a deal to provide all the coffee outlets for Virgin Active gyms. I Love Coffee Group is seeking to become one of

Nwabisa Mayema making elaborating her position

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Along the way she's run her own businesses, lectured at business schools and been nominated as one of Fifty Inspiring South Africans, so her young start up entrepreneurs are in good hands and have a great opportunity to learn from one of the best. Like other South Africans she feels the need to continue the nation-building project that began in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became the country's first democratically- -elected President after three centuries of white rule. She describes herself as a connector and says her passion lies in connecting people to each other as well as connecting them with resources and opportunities. Her new role at the Branson Centre enables her to bring all these skills into play while engaging with the business philosophy of Sir Richard Branson one of the world's most famous entrepreneurs: "I'm proud and energised by being asked to be a custodian of this big, red, hot, ball of energy that is the Branson name", she says, "I can't wait to realise our vision of creating 10,000 jobs in 1,000 days and reaching our potential as the most connected and collaborative accelerator in South Africa.

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an entrepreneur is open to receiving feedback and is generous with providing feedback. I also think that having a sense of humour takes an entrepreneur very far because some of the things you experience can be painful but can be equally absurd so having the ability to laugh at yourself or at the situation is helpful. 52

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I'm not sure there is a foolproof secret to achieving entrepreneurial success. I think we can't discount the role of timing, being in the right room with the right people, and a little bit of luck. That being said, I do think that I'm a little bit "old fashioned" in that the secret to entrepreneurial success is patience, consistency and integrity. In other words, know that it'll take at least a thousand days before you really see the fruits of your labour. Just keep doing what you're doing and keep doing it well. You have your own successful track record as an entrepreneur - what are the highlights from that phase of your career?

South Africa's leading roasted coffee suppliers while being a force of positive change for the deaf. It's a perfect example of a business with purpose. What kind of support does the Branson Centre offer?

The whole journey was wild and as someone who is continually learning I try to avoid putting together an epitaph from that time. What I'm most proud of is the community of support I've gathered around me. There are friends, mentors, fellow entrepreneurs who cheer me on and challenge me every step of the way. I'm driven by connecting people to each other and to opportunities. This enables me to live my best life while changing business for good. Your network is your net worth.

How important is it for companies to be At the Branson Centre we roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. We work aligned to ESGs and the Sustainable very closely with the entrepreneurs we are enabling to scale their businesses. We Development goals and to face up to work across nine areas: impact, purpose, product, planning, processes, brand, people, Africa and the world's global challenges? partnerships and finance. We meet entrepreneurs where they are both literally and conceptually to create a bespoke intervention for every entrepreneur we work with. If you aren't part of our programme you can still go to www.bransoncentre.co.za and register with our online community to access inspiring content and become part of our network. We have a network of industry experts who are on hand to provide entrepreneurs with real life insights and guidance around market trends etc. What makes a successful entrepreneur? Have a purpose. It all starts with purpose! Once an entrepreneur is able to articulate this they can explore how to embed their purpose throughout their business, and we have the tools to help with this. Personally I think it is helpful when

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Once an entrepreneur is able to articulate this they can explore how to embed their purpose throughout their business, and we have the tools to help with this

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FASHION We are reaching an understanding that enterprise that is good for people and planet doesn't have to be an enterprise that forfeits profits. It is hoped that by 2030 we will have achieved the SDGs. This is urgent and requires as many of us as possible to play their part. It is imperative we face up to the world's global challenges around inclusive development, democratised access to resources and repairing our planet. We are in a moment in history where we see how not paying attention to these challenges exacerbates existing crises and will create new crises. How important is story-telling for entrepreneurial success?

You've worked in the US and Europe. Are leadership challenges universal or does Africa have unique challenges?

It's also frustrating how essential tools like data are so expensive. We have young entrepreneurs who can't connect to the world wide web because it is too expensive. In South Africa for example telecommunication is still prohibitively expensive.

There is the usual mantra about how in Africa we are resourceful as we make do with scarce resources. This is maddening because whilst it is true, it is not something to be celebrated. Entrepreneurs in Africa are brimming with incredible ideas and some astounding start ups have emerged. The challenge lies in scaling and many of these businesses remain survivalist entities living off grants while their counterparts in North America and Western Europe are given bigger and sustainable opportunities to scale their businesses.

I think leadership challenges are universal - they just tend to play themselves out in a much more dramatic fashion in Africa. I observe these challenges as having to do with inclusion. Who is making decisions for whom? In other words, we will struggle as long as those in leadership positions are neither young, nor female, nor representative of communities outside urban centres. Are you optimistic about Africa's rising generation of entrepreneurs? I'm optimistic about the rise of purpose-led entrepreneurs in Africa but also frustrated by how our emerging entrepreneurs are viewed as a risk by big business making opportunities for them to access markets limited. It's also frustrating how essential tools like data are so expensive. We have young entrepreneurs who can't connect to the world wide web because it is too expensive. In South Africa for example telecommunication is still prohibitively expensive. Covid-19 has made this a tough time for entrepreneurs. Many Start-Ups and SMEs have gone out of business. Can you provide some hope for a better future? The current uncertainty brings about a huge amount of anxiety but this uncertainty also brings about opportunities because "business as usual" doesn't always apply right now. As the founder of our Centre the Virgin Head Sir Richard Branson likes to say "Screw it let's do it, screw business as usual". I think our continent will prosper because the future is youth, the future is also female and above all the future is African.We have some serious goals and I'm going to have fun achieving them".

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Entrepreneurs find themselves in situations where they need to pitch for work, resources or help. Customers want to know that their money is going to "real people". We are living in a moment where it has never been easier to be seen through social media, yet it has never been more difficult to stand out. We are all compelled by stories so story-telling is a critical skill for an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs need champions and advocates for their business who will take their story and keep telling it. People who will create a community of support for you and your business.

SPECIAL REPORT

A Kenyan Perspective Online Schooling During The Covid Pandemic

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“Hello, this is Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, how can I help?” Parent replies, “I am a parent and I am confused about the new curriculum and the type of books I need to buy for my child” “We have the Orange Book, it has a list of all the approved books” The agent responds. “I don't know about the orange Book, I need text books for my child. The child keeps demanding these digital text books, where can I get them? ” The parent asks. “In that case, let me transfer your call to the bookshop where Judy will be able to help you” The agent then transfers the call to the bookshop and in a few seconds she is able to continue with her queries. “I want to buy books for my child in grade 4. I need to know which books to buy for the new curriculum but the child keeps demanding these digital or online books, I am not sure how to get them. Do you also sell such books? ” The parent inquires. The bookshop agent responds “For text books, just go to TextBook Centre and for the digital content, go to Kenya Education Cloud” To find out how easily accessible digital learning platforms are, I posed as a semi- literate parent seeking digital and online learning tools for my child. As the conversation goes, I was advised to search the website: Kenya Education Cloud https://kec.ac.ke/

an assumption that inability to access digital learning platforms will perpetuate inequality in education. A look at the Kenya Education Cloud website's performance on StatShow as of January 2021 indicates website, which is the source of government approved online learning content has had a -63% visits decline over the last 3 months. It reaches roughly 1,950 users and delivers about 4,350 pageviews each month. Its estimated monthly revenue is $12.60. Parental engagement in online learning curriculum Online learning has presented unprecedented levels of parental inclusion and engagement in education. In the case where a household has access to the internet and the necessary gadgets for online learning, it is necessary that parents' guide the children to ensure their safety online. When parents have digital literacy, it will be possible for their children to access quality and relevant educational content while the children are away from the care of teachers and the school system.

Adult digital literacy rates are not yet documented in Kenya. There is

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SPECIAL REPORT

Education Technology According to sources from the World Bank Education Technology program , COVID-19 has created the worst crisis to education and learning in a century. At the peak of school closures in April 2020, 94 percent of students– or 1.6 billion children – were out of school worldwide, and, still, around 700 million students today are studying from home, in a context of huge uncertainty and with families and schools having to navigate across options of hybrid and remote learning, or no schooling at all. In most countries, there is no end in sight to this uncertainty. Early evidence from several high-income countries has already revealed learning losses and increases in inequality. Education technology (EdTech) can be a powerful tool in supporting teachers, children, principals, and parents; expanding accessible digital learning platforms, including radio/TV/Online learning resources.

parents will take away from the efforts of the government and teachers while exposing the children to numerous dangers online such as cyber bullying and age inappropriate content among other distractions to ELearning Alex Twinomugisha, World Bank Senior Education Specialist says, “The pandemic has revealed the crucial role that parents and caregivers play in children's learning and the importance of the home learning environment in complementing learning at school. In addition, the home is the primary, and in most cases sole, learning space during the pandemic, parents and other caregivers have had to take on additional responsibility for children's learning. Many parents internalize that they have a critical role in the education process of their children, and they have the skills, including digital skills, to play that role. But, this is not true for all. While parents are not there to replace teachers, they do have an

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In the past the focus has been on building classrooms, buying books, expanding libraries and building more schools in general. Currently, local media reports say the ministry of education has spent about 2. 6 billion Kenya shillings on reopening schools. The budget has significant spending on repairing classrooms and buying news desks. Reports from across the country have witnessed schools unrest and high levels of student indiscipline. Could this point out to underlying issues that might have affected children during the 9 month school closures? Some children have shown behavior that points out to deep psychological and emotional issues. Could it be that the lockdown months have affected children in ways the school system as it used to be can no longer handle? Schools unrests have been witnessed even before the pandemic, but could this new wave inspire a rethink of teacher- student relations in schools? Even as schools have re- opened in Kenya, the pandemic has not fully subsided as other parts of the world are experiencing the spread of the new variant and stricter lockdowns. Education investors and thinking otherwise. Brick and mortar

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There seem to be no clear strategy for tagging along parents in digital literacy. Parents are a key partners since they are the ones who can monitor home schooling or distance learning through digital platforms. Digitally illiterate

If online learning during the pandemic is to work, then, parents need a clear understanding on how the internet works and how it can benefit or harm their children depending on how it is used.

Despite this claim, government approved digital learning content on the Kenya Education Cloud seem to have insignificant access to parents and learners per month during the COVID school closures.

essential role in creating a favorable space for children to learn.”

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Kenya's ministry of ICT has rolled out the DigiSchool platform that promotes digital learning for both children and teachers. ICT authority of Kenya claims 99. 5 percent successful installation of the Digital Literacy Program in all the 47 counties.

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classrooms seem to lose their former appeal as schooling adapts to the ongoing or subsiding pandemic. The new education technology prompted by the pandemic is presenting an opportunity to give more learners access to quality education at a possible lower cost. “The global pandemic has exposed the urgent need to build dynamic and resilient education systems that expand access to learning inside and out of the classroom. We believe that learning in the future will use technology to enable students to learn anywhere and anytime, to enable teachers to deliver individualized instruction, to assess children continuously, to deliver practical blended teachers' training at scale, and to improve management of the education system. Therefore, the use of e-learning and other Education Techology approaches will be an important part of the education system and is and will continue to be a part of the World Bank's support to countries.” World Bank Senior Education Specialist, Alex Twinomugisha explains.

ICT infrastructure was identified as a priority action area for creating sustainable development. In 2003, Kenya government prioritized efforts towards bridging of the digital divide between Africa and the developed world. One of the six high priority areas identified was the e-school initiative. Its main aim was to integrate ICT in the delivery of education curriculum at secondary and primary school levels.

The World Bank in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), are supporting the expansion of existing remote learning. Specifically, the operations support access and delivery of online content such as the Kenya Education.

Microsoft Founder Bill Gates has warned of a worse pandemic yet to hit. If his prediction is anything to go by, then how resilient is the education system that is currently being re-opened.

Digital divide could hamper online learning

The Future of Education

Effective digital learning can only be made possible with basic infrastructure such as electricity connection, stable internet, gadgets such as laptops/ desktops, smartphones or tablets available. This implies that rural and poor urban families with limited access to these infrastructure will be left behind in learning. 25 % of Kenyans still do not have access to electricity.

Governments and education investors therefore need to put into account how rural schools and those in less privileged urban areas could be incorporated in online learning.

Education technology could give cheaper, wider and easier access to schooling The Kenya Institute of Curriculum development currently run the Education Cloud service. This is a great step towards acquiring online learning tools. But the question of access remains a daunting responsibility.

Could the internet help decongest schools and make fewer teachers serve more learners?

There needs to be data on the number of teachers, parents and children with the gadgets and budget to access this content.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Pan -African Business Connections By Nwandi Lawson

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older women's hair. “What I didn't realize I was learning at the time, because I started at 10 and I was a full-fledged hair braider at 11-and-a-half, was the mentoring I was receiving just by listening, you know, to their stories, to 57 their life, to their journey, to their advice,” Kinchen recalls of her early clients. “Really, that was my first experience as an entrepreneur and after that, I knew I wanted to own my own business one day.”

Much of the discussion about Africa's relationship with international business partners focuses on European governments, companies and entrepreneurs. Yet there are other African international business relationships that may be overlooked because the scale of these transactions is smaller. African entrepreneurs and their African American counterparts have a history of doing business between the U.S. and Africa that is present in many sectors, including textile and design, technology, and food processing. The stories of three independent business owners help to bring this legacy into focus. *** Ayodele Kinchen says she began conceiving of herself as an African businesswoman when she started earning money to buy her own clothes by braiding

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As a young girl, she did not realize that she was sowing seeds for a brand that would become Oakland, California-based Duafe Designs. Little did she know that her family's commitment to honoring its African ancestry would enable her to bring together African American and Ghanaian artists and entrepreneurs who would maintain transatlantic ties through a global pandemic. It all started in a place that is known locally as Nairobi Village. Wedged between two more affluent areas south of San Francisco, the tiny hamlet of East Palo Alto (EPA), California has traditionally been home to Blacks who came from southern states at the end of World War II. These migrants were drawn by low housing costs and the absence of restrictive covenants, which prevented Blacks from residing in certain areas. Although EPA is over 15,000 kilometers from Kenya, residents made an unsuccessful effort in 1968 to incorporate and legally rename the town Nairobi. Nevertheless, when Ayodele was growing up in the 1980s, the older folks still called it Nairobi Village, and they remained focused on making sure that Black children were taught African American and African history along with dance, culture and languages like Swahili and Yoruba. After studying business at Howard University, Kinchen first worked for companies and non-profits before combining her entreprenrial spirit and her Afrocentric background in 2004 to start a business that produced handbags made from African fabrics and later found its niche producing a uniquely African women's adornment, waistbeads. For centuries, waistbeads have been worn throughout Africa to signify the transition to womanhood, fertility, and honor for mothers. When excavation for a construction project in Manhattan in 1991 unearthed the graves of African people buried there during American enslavement in the 17th and 18th centuries, anthropologists discovered that the people were often buried with tokens of their African heritage, including waistbeads. “A lot of beads would literally outlive the human. And so we find them as fossils and artifacts.” Kinchen adds. “The people are gone, but their beads still remain.”

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SPECIAL REPORT In The History of Black Business in America, historian Juliet E.K. Walker points out that certain historic prejudices have reduced opportunities for more prolific business relations between African nations and Black Americans. “In West Africa,” she notes, “some black American businesspeople often found that decolonized nations were more comfortable dealing with their former colonial masters in business than with Americans, white or black.”

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A 2019 family trip to Ghana turned into an 58 opportunity for Kinchen to link up with West African business partners. When she asked a businessman to introduce her to local women who make waistbeads, she also gained a broker partner who aids her to import beads, artwork, and fashion from Ghana. And when a global pandemic took hold in 2020, this source remained stable. “Although the borders were closed for a while, business had shut down, there was still the ability to send items via U.S. mail. So if you did not have a connection to export your stuff out of the country, you weren't getting much business because there was no tourism [in Ghana].” From her Northern California studio, Kinchen says the demand for waistbeads continues to far surpass what she and a team of artisans can produce, especially since many women request unique colors and patterns. At a time when the #metoo movement is drawing attention to the need to respect women's bodies, Kinchen says waistbeads can serve as a symbol of this honor. “I use those elements to educate women in this day and time, especially in this social arena where a woman's body is often times picked apart or on display or disrespected.” Two months before the pandemic closed area businesses, Kinchen opened a new showroom in downtown Oakland. She looks forward to hosting a grand opening this summer. *** Even during a global pandemic, Americans are receiving invitations to online conferences that promote opportunities to do business in Africa across the import-export, energy, agriculture or technology sectors. However, businesses on both sides of the Atlantic report that inconsistent policies have led to a decline in trade between the U.S. and Africa. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the volume of U.S. exports to Africa dropped from $38 billion in 2014 to $22 billion in 2020. The adoption in the U.S. of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2000 was hailed by its supporters as an opportunity to open more avenues for trade with sub-Saharan African nations, especially by permitting duty-free import of textiles and other designated goods. By 2007, the volume of U.S. imports from Africa had reached an historic high point valued at over $113 billion. In the years since, however, this trade value has declined to about $23 billion. One challenge for participating AGOA nations is that U.S. presidents have the discretion to determine each year which African countries may take part, and this can be subject to the political climate in the U.S. as well as perceptions about peace, corruption, and governance in Africa. There is no mechanism to allow an African nation to request that its status be reinstated. In recent years, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Cameroon, and Burundi have lost

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AGOA status, though eligibility has been restored in Guinea and Niger. Motivated in part by these conditions, Eric Kaigama is working to facilitate collaboration among tech professionals in the U.S., Suriname, Brazil, and the nations of Africa. “We are a pan-African organization,” Kaigama says of theAfrica Chamber of Digital Commerce(ACofDC) which he founded two years ago. “There are a lot of things that connect us. It's more than the DNA. Unfortunately, in most of the countries that Africans settled in, they were brought in forcefully. They do not participate in the local economy. So there's a financial exclusion and also the access to capital is not there.” The organization is currently working to address unemployment in its focus nations by establishing training programs for African and South American workers who can be employed remotely by companies in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Kaigama says in as little as three months a low-skill worker can qualify to provide remote, no code technology services to overseas companies. The organization also provides microventure No Strings Attached (NSA) financing for tech start ups in rural areas. In the days before a guilty verdict was brought against police officer Derick Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Kaigama was also reflecting on the path that led him from Nigeria to Minneapolis where he has launched several companies

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SPECIAL REPORT and the ACofDC. After participating in a basketball tournament in Spain, he earned an athletic scholarship to Bethany Lutheran College, as small school in Minnesota. The offers to larger schools, he says, went to bigger players. “If you're 6'10”, 6'11”, the coaches don't really care, they just want to polish the kid up and get him over there,” Kaigama says. “But if you're roughly 6-feet, like myself, you have to really prove yourself to get their attention.” About 40,000 African students are studying in the U.S. with the largest share coming from Nigeria. According to Lapido Lawani, “Pretty much in Nigeria, the expectation is that if you can afford it, you will typically try to go to school abroad. My mom had already wanted us, you know, to go abroad” When the founder and CEO of L & L Foods came to the U.S. at age 16 to study at Knox College in Tennessee, he brought with him dreams from his childhood in Nigeria. Lawani says he was a boy when he began considering how his homeland could improve with better infrastructure and access to technology. He read about American business magnates like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie and imagined that he could also become a large-scale industrialist.

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By his second year in college, Lawani had started a non-profit to mentor young entrepreneurs. He was able to coach 2,000 young people through the program, but he acknowledges that he still had a lot to learn. Between 2006 and 2015, he tried his hand at many businesses from selling antiques to importing jeans. Finally, he says, he had to think systematically about what he was doing wrong. “I had a light bulb moment,” he remembers. “The Nigerian market is fragmented. We produce cocoa, sell it overseas, and then buy back a chocolate bar.” While earning his MBA at Columbia University, Lawani realized that if he wanted to contribute to the future of Nigeria, he could not compete in some of the more mature sectors, like petroleum. He identified a challenge he wanted to tackle: How could Nigeria add value to raw materials instead of shipping them abroad for processing? He conducted a simple experiment in his mother's kitchen with roasting peanuts and adding a candy coating. Within hours, the first batches were sold out. He realized that his next challenge would be scale.

The Nigerian market is fragmented. We produce cocoa, sell it overseas, and then buy back a chocolate bar

“If I was in the U.S., I would probably not even do my own manufacturing,” he says. “I would have a contract manufacturer, but because there is no contract manufacturer, I then have to figure out how to build the capacity myself. However, when you say you want to raise a few million dollars to build infrastructure in Africa, it's a more complicated conversation.” Instead Lawani collected about $4,000 from friends and family to launch L & L Foods while he was still a graduate student. His startup took the top spot at the Columbia Business School Shark Tank competition in 2016, and the following year the company won the Nigerian Economic Summit startup competition, enabling him to raise an additional $60,000 in capital to open a factory in Lagos. Currently, the company is selling about 1.5 million packs of Mr. Ekpa brand flavored peanuts each month through a network of Nigerian distributors, and Lawani was among the 2018 Forbes Africa “30 under 30”. Still he acknowledges that the company has a lot of room to grow and he is counting on the critical thinking skills he strengthened while a student in the U.S. to help L & L Foods continue to expand.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurs - Born or Made?

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One of the most debated questions in the world of entrepreneurship is if entrepreneurs are born or made. Farai Munjoma, Founder and CEO of Shasha Network, a digital learning company providing young people access to academic and career education, believes that entrepreneurs are made. At the age of 12 years old, Farai's mother gave him the vexatious task of selling chickens at the local market. His father had lost his job in the wake of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and his mother had become the sole breadwinner for the extended family. Having told Farai that her civil servant salary wasn't enough to cover his school fees, she sent him on a mission to make up the shortfall. Zimbabwe was at the peak of hyperinflation and the economy was in turmoil, which resulted in the loss of livelihoods for many families. Although consumed with feelings of embarrassment, Farai's youthful charm saw him become a hit, with his chickens soon selling out before he could even reach the market on his bicycle. Through this experience, the seeds of entrepreneurship were planted. They were not to bloom, however, until Farai was confronted with stark inequalities in the educational landscape. “Many children dropped out of school at the time and we lost our best teachers to neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Botswana'' Farai recalls. Recognising that many of his peers lacked access to a good education, while he was afforded the opportunity to attend one of Zimbabwe's top high schools, Farai aimed to level the playing field by launching an e-learning social enterprise, Shasha Network, at the age of 18. Whilst completing his A-levels, Farai worked on digitising curriculum notes and sample exam papers for students to access for free. He realised early on that education was the key to breaking the poverty cycle for young Zimbabweans. Since launching in 2015, Shasha has reached thousands of students across the continent and has grown to become an award-winning online learning platform. Through Junior Achievement Africa's entrepreneurship program for high school students, Shasha Network was able to access mentors and support. This was only the beginning of Shasha's journey as Farai's experience later on in his pursuit for tertiary education would inspire a new approach to Shasha Network's work through their Bridge program. . Excerpts:

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP Pursuing an education without enough funds

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Having been selected to attend the African Leadership Academy's (ALA) catalyst term in South Africa, Farai became determined to study a Business Management degree at African Leadership University's (ALU) campus in Mauritius. He was inspired by the innovative thinking that characterises ALA and ALU's disruptive educational model. The only snag was that he couldn't afford the fees to attend the university of his dreams. Today, only 9% of youth in Africa are in tertiary institutions, and as the population increases, this will continue to put a strain on available institutions and lack of access to tertiary education will continue to plague the young people. Given this predicament, Farai Another significant achievement is our robust engagement courageously reached out to 50 people he had met with the APM terminal. Before we came, the terminal was a throughout high school and his time at ALA, in the hope no-go zone, you can't discuss or interact with them, but that someone would be able to provide financial today we are working with them. There is harmonious support. After receiving dozens of rejections over the coexistence between the NPA and the APM terminal. following months, he was about to give up when he saw an email in his inbox with the subject line, “Get Ready for College.” An American videographer who had visited his school in 2012, with whom Farai had formed a connection after the painful passing of his mother, convinced 15 of his friends to contribute towards Farai's tuition. Farai credits the success of his enterprise with the life-changing connections he's formed and the resources he's mobilised through the African Leadership Group. Soon after completing his degree, he started working directly with Fred Swaniker at the AL Group, a role he took on upon graduating from ALU last year. It is an opportunity he doesn't take lightly; he's grateful to have worked for a visionary such as Fred, who has become his greatest mentor and role-model.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP What is Your Vision for Shasha Network?

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To reach millions of high school students across the continent, breaking barriers through digital learning and providing access to our career development program, Shasha Bridge. Farai believes that what keeps many young people from accessing the right education opportunities is that they lack access to information and mentorship that can enable them to develop and aim for their highest career aspirations. This goes beyond academic coursework — it's 62 about exposing young people to crucial concepts such as mentorship, career research, personal branding, and selfleadership. These will prove effective as they venture out into the world in search of opportunities. Thanks to the learning experiences I was exposed to at ALU and the internships I was able to take part in, I've managed to raise funds from companies such as Facebook Africa and FedEx to support students. What is the Greatest lesson learned from the African Leadership Group? Fred Swaniker is by far the hardest working person I know. I thought I knew what working hard looked like before becoming Deputy Chief of Staff. I'm a testimony to the power of what Fred is building. I've seen how the African Leadershipeadership Group opens doors and unlocks incredible opportunities for thousands of young people. It's exciting to be part of setting up a foundation for millions to access this type of education. The institution's ability to chase moonshot missions such as creating 3 million leaders has also inspired the Shasha Network to be bold in its pursuits. What do you think it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

What's next for the Future? The future of Africa highly hinges on the ability of young people to be able to create value for their communities through innovative business solutions. Our continent is a rich ground for new entrepreneurial endeavours, the most resilient ventures in the coming years will be those which are well networked. Being part of a bigger ecosystem will guarantee continuous learning and resource exchange. My personal experience building Shasha Network and working with organisations such as the African Leadership Group is testament to the possibilities that exist when you bring likeminded people together. Farai is currently pursuing a Master's in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Edinburgh Business School, whilst remaining as the CEO of Shasha Network. He is one of 21 scholars from Africa, selected by the Mastercard Foundation to study on scholarship at the university. At the Business School, he is an Africa Lead Curator for the Entrepreneurship Society, where he is responsible for designing and curating seminars aimed at creating awareness about the African entrepreneurial ecosystem. “I took up this role as a way to connect my western colleagues to local African entrepreneurs and demystify the misconceptions about doing business on the continent.” Farai is determined to foster partnerships and collaborations that will see the next generation of leaders working together to achieve shared prosperity. His journey has been pivotal in exposing him to entrepreneurship, not only through observing other entrepreneurs but through doing. This is what makes him confident that more entrepreneurs can be created to solve the world's most pressing challenges, which is what his organisation Shasha Network is working towards.

Three things. Firstly, you need to find a problem that you're passionate about and it has to resonate on a deep level. If you're going to put in the long hours and put up with all the sacrifices you'll have to make, you need to believe in what you're doing. There's no justification for embarking on an enterprise if you can't envision yourself being committed to it for the next 5–10 years and beyond. Secondly, you need to build relationships if you want to succeed. I would be nowhere without the relationships I've formed. They've linked me to a wealth of resources and opportunities. More entrepreneurs must get immersed into a vibrant ecosystem that connects them with a community of mission-driven people. Access to these types of relationships is more valuable than anything. Young people exchange and cross must pollinate ideas across borders, as some of our most pressing challenges will not be solved in isolation.

The President has never downsized anyway in this Government; he encourages everybody to work. He tells me every day - we are all Liberians, and nobody has more claim to Liberia than any other person.

Thirdly, you need to have empathy for the people you're impacting. Every user of your product or service, every employee, and every client has to be made happy by what you're offering, so empathy is crucial. The challenge should be to put people at the center of whatever work you do.

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DEVELOPMENT

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Rwanda The Dubai of Africa Opens for Business By Peter Burdin A new pan-African financial Hub will open its doors in Rwanda next month. The Rwandan government hopes its Kigali International Financial Centre will become a major destination for investors seeking opportunities across Africa. According to the Rwandan Opposition MP Dr. Frank Habineza the new Hub has the potential to turn Rwanda into what he calls "the Dubai of Africa". The Centre will be launched in Kigali during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in June. It will bring together banks, lawyers, accountants and regulators to create a one-stop-shop for African and international investors. Dr. Habineza, who is the leader of the opposition Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, says the Centre is designed to build on his country's "ease of doing business" reputation: "We will be an international hub for investors just like Dubai. And the hub will provide lots of opportunities for them to take advantage of our special economic zones and tax incentives".

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DEVELOPMENT Already the UK's development finance institution the CDC Group has signed a partnership agreement to support the development and provide legal and regulatory expertise to ensure the Centre will be attractive to international players.

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Commenting on the deal CDC's Chief Executive Nick O'Donohoe said that Africa needs a "vibrant and stable financial services industry to 64 foster inward investment and nurture a professional and technical skills base to support wider economic development". Mr. O'Donohoe said he was confident that the Kigali Hub would deliver on its potential. The early indications are promising. Rwanda's trade with the rest of the continent has increased by almost 50% in the last five years and now it's seeking to position itself at the heart of the newly-formed African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). With its central geographical location in East Africa Rwanda is part of the East African Community Common Market, which has a potential market of more than 130 million people. An early adopter is likely to be Zimbabwe which has conducted a market research programme into goods and services that it can trade with Rwanda and east Africa. According to Zimbabwe's national trade development and promotional agency, ZimTrade, the survey will focus on processed foods, pharmaceuticals, clothing, construction, horticulture, leather products, agriculture and services, while other African countries and international investors are expected to follow suit once the Kigali International Finance Centre opens for business in June. It will also provide an opportunity to look at Africa's much needed infrastructure shortfalls, and healthcare and educational services as the continent emerges out of the Covid19 pandemic. That also means how Africa can embrace the green and blue economy and boost renewable clean energy projects. As a former Chair of Rwanda's Forum on Water, Sanitation and Environment Conservation opposition MP Dr. Habineza hopes that Rwanda will be cognizant of the importance of the green economy as it confronts the growing impact of climate change on the continent" "Already we've seen deforestation in some areas as our infrastructure has grown", he said, "Some people have been using our rivers as dumping sites and that has brought desertification and water pollution which poses

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DEVELOPMENT risks to public health".

As Rwanda prepares to open its new International Financial Centre all these factors will look large in the strategies of international and African investors.

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His solution is for Rwanda to embrace the challenges of climate change and become a leading African green economy, promoting economic growth while introducing measures to conserve the country's green spaces: "We need to think about tomorrow not just today. Quick fixes won't work. Rwandans have already shown the rest of Africa the importance of working together, we've united for peace. Now we're on our way to becoming a middleincome economy but we mustn't achieve that at the expense of our environment"

So you never forget your roots today No matter where you go, your heart will always be in Nigeria. With our Diaspora Banking oﬀer, you have access to all our services like you never left home. Enabling you bank in Nigeria from wherever you are.

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Top 100 most influential African American Leaders – 2020

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SPECIAL REPORT

ICONS President Barack Obama – First African American and 44thPresident of the United States

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Benjamin Carson - current U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, renowned neurosurgeon Secretary Condoleezza Rice - Former U.S. Secretary of State, United States National Security Advisor 2001-2005, political scientist, professor Bishop T.D. Jakes – Author, Filmmaker, Playwright, Entrepreneur. Bishop of The Potters House in Dallas, Texas.

SPORT / MEDIA / ENTERTAINMENT Oprah Winfrey – Founder/CEO OWN Network, Entrepreneur, Actress, Philanthropist Tyler Perry – Writer, Producer, Actor, Director, Playwright, Philanthropist Stephen Harvey – American comedian, businessman and entertainer. Serena Jameka Williams – American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's singles tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all-time behind Margaret Court

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SPECIAL REPORT POLITICS

POLITICS

Aaron T. Manaigo & David A. Morgan Co-Founders of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association- responsible for advocating on behalf of diversity in media U.S. Representative Karen Bass – Representing California 37th Congressional District since 2013 and 33rd District 20112013. Former Speaker of the Assembly for the State of California. Current Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus

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U.S. Senator Kamala Harris – Democratic candidate for vice president, U.S. Senator and Former Attorney General for the State of California Reverend Jesse L. Jackson – Civil Rights Activist, Politician, Presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988, Founder Rainbow/Push Coalition, Talk show host Reverend Al Sharpton – Civil Rights Activist, Politician, Talk show host, Founder of National Action Network Charles Steele - Businessman, politician, civil rights leader, Former Alabama State Senator, President/CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Joseph Henry Beasley – was the Southern Regional Director of the National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, founded by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. and President of African Ascension, an organization he formed to develop economic and political ties throughout Africa and the African Diaspora Cliff Albright – Co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund (and BVM Capacity Building Institute) which builds community and organizational capacity related to Black voting power and

BUSINESS / LAW & MILITARY

BUSINESS / LAW & MILITARY Elon Reeve Musk FRS – business magnate, industrial designer, engineer, and philanthropist. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.;

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SPECIAL REPORT

RISING STARS

founder of The Boring Company; cofounder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI Robert Smith – CEO of investment firm Vista Equity Partners, a billionaire who contributed over $34 million to pay off student loan debt for the entire Morehouse College class of 2019 and any student loan debt held by their parents

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Mae Carol Jemison – is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

RISING STARS

POST-HUMOUS – IN MEMORIAM

Honourable Dee Dawkins-Haigler – Former Georgia Legislator 2008-2017, Civil and Human Rights Leader, Founder Organization of World Leaders, INC (OWL) which does extensive work building bridges between Africa and the Diaspora, Political Commentator, Minister Rep Karen Camper – President National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women and Minority Leader Tennessee House of Representatives Representative Billy Mitchell – GA; National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) Judge Carlos Moore – Attorney, Politician, Judge. President-elect National Bar Association

Congressman John Lewis February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020 – American Statesman, Author, Civil Rights Leader Served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia 5th District 1987-2020. Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 19631966. Chadwick Boseman – Actor, star of “Black Panther”, “Marshall” & “42”, died in August 2020

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SPECIAL REPORT

3. Secretary Colin Powell – First African American United States Secretary of State, Retired General and the 12th Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 4. Benjamin Carson- current U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, renowned neurosurgeon 5. Secretary Condoleezza RiceFormer U.S. Secretary of State, United States National Security Advisor 20012005, political scientist, professor 6. Bishop T.D. Jakes – Author, Filmmaker, Playwright, Entrepreneur. Bishop of The Potters House in Dallas, Texas. 7. Oprah Winfrey – Founder/CEO OWN Network, Entrepreneur, Actress, Philanthropist SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT 8. Tyler Perry – Writer, Producer, Actor, Director, Playwright, Philanthropist 9. Beyonce Knowles-Carter – Singer, Record Producer, Dancer, Actress and Filmmaker 10. Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods, an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins and ranks second in men's major championships and also holds numerous golf records. Woods is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers, and one of the most famous athletes of all time. He will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2021. 11. Stephen Harvey – American comedian, businessman and entertainer. 12. Armstrong Williams, Founder, Howard Stirk Holdings, largest African American Media company in the United States

14. Shawn Corey Carter (Jay-Z) – Businessman, Record Producer, Songwriter, Rapper 15. Kayne West – Rapper, Producer, Fashion Designer, Presidential Candidate 16. Michael Bender (Killer Mike) – Rapper, Songwriter, Actor and Activist 17. Marc Morial – National President of the National Urban League, Mayor of New Orleans 1994-2002, Louisiana State Senator 1991-1994 18. LeBron James – Professional basketball player, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and one of several athletes who More than a Vote to keep polling stations open and to address the shortage of poll workers. 19. Serena Jameka Williams – American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's singles tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all-time behind Margaret Court 20. Michael Jordan – Former American basketball player, Businessman, Majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats 21. Christopher Paul Gardner – American businessman and motivational speaker. He is the author of critically acclaimed “Pursuit of Happyness” 22. Joy Reid – MSNBC Cable television host, Author, political commentator

25. Tyra Lynne Banks – also known as BanX, is an American television personality, model, producer, businesswoman, actress, singer and author. She was the first woman of African-American descent to be featured on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, on which she appeared thrice. 26. Symone D. Sanders, an American political strategist and commentator. She served as national press secretary for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders during the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. 27. Nicole Hannah-Jones – Journalist, creator of “The 1619 Project” for the New York Times, winner of 2020 Pulitzer Prize 28. Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. – American actor, director, and producer. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured “the concept of classic movie stardom 29. Colin Kaepernick – Activist & former NFL quarterback, sacrificed his athletic career to pave the way for the current trend of professional sports teams and players supporting social justice issues 30. Wesley Trent Snipes – American actor, director, film producer, martial artist and author 31. Renee Montgomery – WNBA player who is sitting out this season to work on social justice reform 32. Samuel Leroy Jackson – American actor and producer. 33. Aaron T. Manaigo & David A. Morgan- Co-Founders of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association- responsible for advocating on behalf of diversity in media

23. Maya Moore – WNBA player who took a year off to ensure that Jonathan Irons' wrongful conviction was overturned in July after he had spent 24 years in prison

34. U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)

24. Ava DuVernay – Filmmaker, director of “13th”, “Selma” and “A Wrinkle in Time”, as well as the Netflix series

36. Ambassador Susan Rice – Diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Nations 2009-2013, United States National Security Advisor 2013-

POLITICS

35. U.S. Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ)

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2. Michelle Obama – 44th First Lady of the United States, Attorney, Author, Founder of When we all vote

“When They See Us”

1. President Barack Obama –First African American and 44thPresident of the United States

13. Willard Carroll Smith Jr. an American actor, producer and rapper. In April 2007, Newsweek called him “the most powerful actor in Hollywood”. Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards and has won four Grammy Awards

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ICONS

SPECIAL REPORT 2017 37. JaRon K. Smith-White House Sr. Advisor, highest-ranking African American in the Trump Administration 38. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms – Politician, Lawyer and 60th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

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39. Mayor Muriel Bowser – Politician, 72 Mayor of Washington, DC, renamed a stretch of 16th Street in front of the White House to “Black Lives Matter Plaza” 40. Mayor London Breed – Politician, 45th Mayor of San Francisco (First African American Woman) 41. Mayor Lori Lightfoot – Attorney, politician and the 56th Mayor of Chicago (First African American Woman) 42. Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, First African American woman MayorPresident Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Former Louisiana State Senator 20052016 43. Donna Brazille – Political Strategist, Campaign manager, Author and political analyst who served twice as Acting Chair of the Democratic Party 44. U.S. Representative Val Demings, – U.S. Representative for Florida 10th Congressional District 2017 – Present, Former Chief of Police for Orlando Police Department 45. U.S. Representative Karen Bass – – Representing California 37th Congressional District since 2013 and 33rd District 2011-2013. Former Speaker of the Assembly for the State of California. Current Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus 46. U.S. Senator Kamala Harris – Democratic candidate for vice president, U.S. Senator and Former Attorney General for the State of California 47. Attorney Stacey Abrams – Voting rights advocate, former Georgia Legislator and gubernatorial candidate 48. Senator Roland Wallace Burris – American politician and attorney who is a former United States Senator from

the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party

justice solutions corporation Sustainable South Bronx

49. Congressman Gregory Meeks – United States Congress

60. Claudette Colvin – an American nurse and one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement. Colvin was arrested on March 2, 1955, at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded racially segregated bus.

50. Congressman Hank Johnson – United States Congress CIVIL RIGHTS 51. Reverend Jesse L. Jackson – Civil Rights Activist, Politician, Presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988, Founder Rainbow/Push Coalition, Talk show host 52. Reverend Al Sharpton – Civil Rights Activist, Politician, Talk show host, Founder of National Action Network 53. Charles Steele, Businessman, politician, civil rights leader, Former Alabama State Senator, President/CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 54. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi – Founders Black Lives Matter, a movement that has galvanized activists across the United States to protest against police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. 55. Martin Luther King III, American human rights advocate who served as 4th President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference – SCLC. 56. William “Smitty” Smith – Founder of the National Center for Race Amity and producer of the documentary film “The Other Tradition” 57. Joseph Henry Beasley – was the Southern Regional Director of the National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, founded by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. and President of African Ascension, an organization he formed to develop economic and political ties throughout Africa and the African Diaspora 58. Bernice King, Minister, the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Leader, CEO of the King Cente 59. Majora Carter – is an American urban revitalization strategist and public radio host from the South Bronx area of New York City. Carter founded and led the non-profit environmental

61. Cliff Albright – Co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund (and BVM Capacity Building Institute) which builds community and organizational capacity related to Black voting power and LaTosha Brown, Co-founder – Black Voters Matter Fund, and award-winning organizer, philanthropic consultant, political strategist and jazz singer BUSINESS, LAW& MILITARY 62. David L. Steward – Billionaire Businessman, Chairman and Founder World Wide Technology 63. Clarence Thomas, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is the second African American to serve on the Court. Thomas's service began October 23, 1991. Upon the retirement of Anthony Kennedy in 2018, Thomas became the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court, with a tenure of 28 years, 341 days as of September 28, 2020. 64. Robert Louis Johnson – an American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor. He is the co-founder of BET, Johnson's companies have counted among the most prominent AfricanAmerican businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. 65. Michael John, Chairman of Nevicott U.S/Ghana- international energy and mining, global business development company with $US 4.7 billion under management 66. Ursula M. Burns, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox 67. Kenneth C. Frazier is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Merck & Co., Inc., an American

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SPECIAL REPORT

70. Robert Reffkin is the Founder and CEO of Compass, an online real estate broker platform headquartered in New York. 71. Benjamin Crump – Civil Rights Attorney. Known for supporting high profile murders such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor 72. David Bing – an American retired Hall of Fame basketball player, former mayor of Detroit, Michigan, and businessman. Bing founded Bing Steel, which is one of the largest steel companies in Michigan. 73. Robert Smith – CEO of investment firm Vista Equity Partners, a billionaire who contributed over $34 million to pay off student loan debt for the entire Morehouse College class of 2019 and any student loan debt held by their parents 74. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw – is the cofounder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on scholarly research on race, gender inequality, and discrimination in public policy discourse in the media and government. She became worldfamous in 1989 for creating the concept of intersectionality in a paper for the University of Chicago Law Forum.

77. Claire Babineaux-Fontenot – Executive Vice President, Treasurer, WalMart Stores, Inc & CEO Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization 78. Soni Olufemi Olubunmi Oyekan – is a Nigerian-American chemical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, author, mentor and educator. He holds patents and has made other contributions in the areas of chemical engineering, oil refining, and catalytic systems 79. Charles Brown Jr., – first African American to serve as a United States military service chief since General Colin Powell left as chairman in 1993 80. Marvin Ellison, an American business executive who serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lowe's 81. Kerry S. Harris -American entrepreneur and inventor, involved with motorcycle helmets under the brand name Akuma Helmets utilizing his patented Integrated Power System. 82. Eric Holder, 82nd United States Attorney General – an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney General. ACADEMIA 83. Kay Coles James, President of the Heritage Foundation, largest Think Tank in the United States 84. Dr Johnnetta Cole, Anthropologist, Educator, Museum Director, Spelman College President 1987-1997, Bennett College President 2002-2007, National Chair of the National Council of Negro Women, 85. Dr Glenda Baskin Glover, International President of Alpha Kappa

86. Shirley Ann Jackson, FREng is an American physicist and the eighteenth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is the first AfricanAmerican woman to have earned a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 87. Ibram X. Kendi – Historian, director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University & author of “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” and “How to Be an Antiracist” 88. John Hamilton McWhorter V is an American academic and associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. SCIENCE 89. Kizzmekia Corbett – the immunologist, leading NIH coronavirus vaccine trials 90. Cannon, Thomas C – he led a group of engineers who developed the Tactical Optical Fiber Connector (TOFC), the first fibre optic connector deployed under battlefield conditions, and the ST Connector that helped make fibre optic communications affordable. 91. Wanda M. Austin – former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, a leading architect for the nation's national security space programs. She was both the first woman and the first African-American, to hold this position. 92. Patricia S. Cowings – aerospace psychophysiologist, first African American woman scientist to be trained as an astronaut by NASA 93. Mae Carol Jemison – is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

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69. Elon Reeve Musk FRS – business magnate, industrial designer, engineer, and philanthropist. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI

76. General William 'Kip' Ward – First Commander, US Africa Command

Alpha Sorority Incorporated. For the past 3 years the organization has raised over $1 million in a day for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, (HBCU), President of Tennessee State University.

68. Roland Wallace Burris, an American politician and attorney who is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party. In 1978, Burris was the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois, when he was elected Illinois Comptroller.

75. Morgan DeBaun – Founder of Blavity, one of the largest media startups and lifestyle brands for millennials

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multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in New Jersey.

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RISING STARS 94. Rep Karen Camper – President National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women and Minority Leader Tennessee House of Representatives 95. Representative Billy Mitchell – GA; National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL)

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96. Tamika Mallory – Co-Founder of Until Freedom, co-organizer 2017 Women's March 97. Honourable Dee Dawkins-Haigler – Former Georgia Legislator 2008-2017, Civil and Human Rights Leader, Founder Organization of World Leaders, INC (OWL) which does extensive work building bridges between Africa and the Diaspora, Political Commentator, Minister 98. Mayor Steve Benjamin – Mayor of Columbia, SC (First African American), Attorney, 76th President of U.S. Conference of Mayors

99. Carlos Moore – Attorney, Politician, Judge. President-elect National Bar Association 100. Tamara Burke – Founder of the Me Too Movement Post-Humous – In Memoriam · Congressman John Lewis February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020 – American Statesman, Author, Civil Rights Leader Served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia 5th District 1987-2020. Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963-1966. · Dr Joseph Echols Lowery October 6, 1921- March 27, 2020 – Minister, Civil Rights Leader, Co-Founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with Dr Martin Luther King Jr., President of SCLC from 1977-1997. Called the “Dean of the Civil Rights Movement” Presented Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 by President Barack Obama

· Dr Cordy Tindell (C.T.) Vivian July 30, 1924 – July 17, 2020 – Minister, Author, Civil Rights Leader, Freedom Rider, President SCLC 2012- Presented Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by President Barack Obama · Chadwick Boseman – Actor, star of “Black Panther”, “Marshall” & “42”, died in August 2020 · Patricia Bath (1942 – 2019)American ophthalmologist and laser scientist and the first female African American physician to receive a patent for a medical invention, in 1986 · Herman Cain (December 13, 1945 – July 30, 2020) was an American business executive, writer, and former U.S. Presidential candidate 2016. Born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Omaha Branch from 1989 to 1991.

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