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Agriculture - Business - Commentary Development - Education - Governance History - Investment - Lifestyle/Culture Technology/Science
Investment in Africa Growing
Awakening the African Giant Within March-April 2021
CONTENTS MARCH-APRIL 2021 Tanzania's New President 60
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Business 8
10 12 16 18 22 25 26 Historic Classic Couture 98
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First woman, first African: Nigeria's OkonjoIweala set to be named WTO boss This 3D Printing 'Factory' is Being Built into a Shipping Container for the US Department of Defense Africa: What is the best way to ensure the continent’s post-Covid recovery? Africa Seeks Young Talents to Transform PostCovid Hotel Industry Can "Made in Africa" Transform the Continent’s Leather Industry? Can Motorbike Taxis Fix Africa's E-Commerce Problem? The Anti-Bribery Crusader Lending a Guiding Hand to Immigrant Women Is the Gig Economy Improving the Lives of African Women? Business Travel Isn’t Dead, Says AmEx. But It’s Changing Forever
Development 34 36 38 44
Leather Industry 18
Publisher's Message
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The World’s First 3D Printed School will be Built in Madagascar The Future of Money is Digital, But is it Bitcoin? All Futurism is Afrofuturism Kenya to Continue Working with Huawei on 5G Roll-out, IT Minister Says Africa Indigenous Fruit Trees Offer Major Benefits. But They’re Being Ignored Total and Forêt Resources Management to Plant a 40,000-Hectare Forest in the Republic of the Congo
Development 50 51 54
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Guinea Declares New Ebola Outbreak Covid-19: Africa Vaccine Rollout off to a Slow Start What Can We Learn From Africa's Experience of Covid?
Governance DAWN
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Simone Biles' New Challenge 95
58 60 60 62 64
Plentywaka 76 Coffee Culture 68
Biden Reinstates Europe Travel Ban, Adds South Africa President John Magufuli of Tanzania has Died Tanzania Swears in Samia Suluhu Hassan as First Female President President Biden Invites 40 World Leaders to Leaders Summit on Climate Increasing Humanitarian Assistance to Africa
Investment 66 68
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African Stock Exchange/Bourse Saraye Coffee: The Black Woman-Owned Brand Giving Back to Africa UNEP Unveils Young Champions of the Earth Newest Initiatives of JPMorgan Chase's $30 Billion Commitment Emerge to Help Black Business in America and Globally First Black-Owned Mutual Fund Secures $200 Million to Launch ‘Project Black’ Nigeria’s Plentywaka gets Backing from Techstars, Plans Expansion to Canada Bezos Backs Start-Up in Maiden Africa Investment ZCCM-IH Shareholders Endorse 90% Acquisition in Zambia's Mopani
Technology/Science 81 82 84
Moroccan University Inaugurates Africa’s Most Powerful Supercomputer World Inequality Database The Big Future of Satellite Internet Just Took a Promising Step Forward
Lifestyle/Culture 86
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Africa's Hit Science Show for Kids is Coming to the U.S. via The Africa Channel
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Africa's Oscar-shortlisted Films Show an Industry Spreading Across Borders African Music Streamers to Soon Access Spotify as it Launches in 39 Nations NEW from Kenya: Palscity - Social & Business Networking Site - Connect, Share, Discover 15-Year-Old Faith Odunsi Wins Global Open Mathmatics Competition Simone Biles is Gearing up to Attempt a Vault so Dangerous that no Woman has ever tried it in Competition NBA's Basketball Africa League to Debut May 16 in Rwanda
History 98
John F Kennedy: When the US President met Africa's Independence Heroes
Resources 102
Events Around the African Continent and the World DAWN
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Publisher's Message
Ricky Muloweni
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12 NIV
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THE ONGOING PANDEMIC HAS continued to decapitate the small business community in Africa. Our culture and ability to adapt to this challenge should not be embraced but be taken as a call to action. The combination of the pandemic with the employment challenges already posed by Africa’s rapid demographic growth, and its lack of social safety nets, is a recipe for economic disaster in many parts of Africa especially the rural towns.
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African Village Market, United Republic of Tanzania Pinterest
It is much clearer now to say an economy capital to drive this generation of Africans for the top did not help the bottom to the economic transformation that is whatsoever. Going forward we will all needed. need to explore better avenues to build an Ricky Muloweni Publisher/President economy for small businesses; one that dawn@africabusinessassociation.org builds and will always sustain them in times aba@africabisinessassociation.org of pandemics. www.africabusinessassociation.org The African people are very talented and have the resource base to be anything they want to be. During this period, great minds have to come together to mobilize required
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About the
Africa Business Association The Africa Business Association is an independent international business development organization. We offer access to the latest resources, information, and best practices in advocacy and communications for the African Diaspora and the African entrepreneurs in Africa. We work to help you have access to news and events as starting points for constructive conversations and calls to action. We seek to cut through the froth of the political spin cycle to underlying truths and values. We want to be so focused on progress that together we can provide a credible and constructive generation of Africans that take seriously our previous generations and act upon all their wishes, our hopes and aspirations to make lasting change for all future generations. 6
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Africa Business Association
"DAWN"
PUBLISHER/PRESIDENT Ricky Muloweni
ADVISORY BOARD
Earl 'Skip' Cooper, II, CEO, Black Business Association H.E. Sheila Siwela, Ambassador H.E. Kone L. Tanou, Ambassador
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ricky Muloweni
LAYOUT/TYPESETTING Lion Communications
AFRICA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION NEWS 6564 LOISDALE COURT, SUITE 600 Springfield, VA 22150 USA 1-240-467-6811 aba@africabisinessassociation.org dawn@africabusinessassociation.org www.africabusinessassociation.org
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Business
First woman, first African: Nigeria's Okonjo-Iweala set to be named WTO boss
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala poses outside a Nigerian diplomatic residence in Chambesy, near Geneva, Switzerland, September 29, 2020. © ©REUTERS/Emma Farge/File Photo
THE WTO (WWW.WTO.ORG) HAS CALLED a special general council meeting at which the former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank veteran is expected to be formally selected as the global trade body's new director-general. US President Joe Biden strongly swung behind her candidacy shortly after the only other remaining contender, South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, pulled out. "I look forward to finalising the process," Okonjo-
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Iweala said on February 6 after securing the Biden administration's support. The organisation is also eager to conclude the drawn-out process, having been leaderless since Brazilian career diplomat Roberto Azevedo stepped down last August, a year ahead of schedule. The process of picking one of eight candidates to succeed him had been expected to wrap up by November, but the administration of former US
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president Donald Trump blocked the consensus to appoint Okonjo-Iweala. 'Reform candidate' The 66-year-old will not be at the WTO's Geneva headquarters for Monday's virtual session and it is not known when she would take up her duties. The 164-member organisation's special session gets under way at 1400 GMT and Okonjo-Iweala is scheduled to hold an online press conference two hours later. The WTO picks its leaders through consensusfinding, so even though she is the only candidate still in the race -- boasting US, EU and African backing -- there is always the chance of a spanner being thrown in the works. She will take over an organisation mired in multiple crises and struggling to help member states navigate the severe global economic slump triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Okonjo-Iweala argued during the race that she was best placed out of the eight candidates for the post to steer the WTO through the crises. "I am a reform candidate," she insisted. She has among other things warned that growing protectionism and nationalism have been spurred on by the pandemic and insists barriers need to be lowered to help the world recover. Even before Covid-19 battered the global economy, the WTO was weighed down by stalled trade talks and struggled to curb trade tensions between the United States and China. The WTO also faced relentless attacks from Washington under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump. Among other things, Trump brought the WTO's dispute settlement appeal system to a grinding halt in late 2019.
getting long-blocked trade talks on fishery subsidies across the finish line and breathing life back into WTO's Appellate Body. Twice Nigeria's finance minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and its first female foreign minister in a two-month stint in 2006, Okonjo-Iweala is seen as a trailblazer in her west African homeland. She has brushed off claims she lacks experience as a trade minister or negotiator, insisting that what is needed to lead the WTO is not technical skills but "boldness, courage". She has portrayed herself as a champion against Nigeria's rampant corruption -- saying her own mother was even kidnapped over her attempts to tackle the scourge. But her critics argue she should have done more to tackle it while in power. A development economist by training with degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Okonjo-Iweala has also had a 25-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, eventually becoming its number two. She is on the Twitter Board of Directors and chaired Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. www.france24.com/en/africa/20210215-first-womanfirst-african-nigeria-s-okonjo-iweala-set-to-be-namedwto-boss Image credit: DNA India
'Boldness, courage' Okonjo-Iweala has said her priorities include 9
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Business
This 3D Printing 'Factory' is Being Built into a Shipping Container for the US Department of Defense By Daphne Leprince-Ringuet Meeting the Spare Parts Challenge Make the Parts Yourself. THE PRODUCTS THAT COME out of 3D printers can already be found in vastly different settings, ranging from hospital rooms to buried one hundred meters under the ground, or inside the world's largest particle detector. The US Department of Defense (DoD), for its part, is interested in bringing the technology into yet another setting: the battlefield. Additive manufacturing company ExOne has been awarded a $1.6 million contract by the DoD to develop a fully operational, self-contained 3D printing "factory" that could be transported in a 12-meter-long shipping container. The technology could be easily deployed in the field via land, sea or air, to manufacture, at pace, the parts needed by military personnel carrying out an operation. Whether intervening in a conflict zone or carrying out disaster relief, soldiers would be able to use the mobile factory to print broken or damaged parts in less than 48 hours, where traditional manufacturing methods typically requires four to six weeks. No tools would be necessary to build the parts, apart from the digital file for the finished product, as well as the material needed to print. This means that, instead of keeping racks of spare parts in storage, troops would only need to save a digital library of parts for 3D printing; when faced with a previously unseen technical issue, they could design a new digital file and print it as needed. Aircraft ducting, replacement lens caps, advanced electronics or medical equipment: there are many examples of products that military
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personnel are likely to need urgently when in the field, and 3D printing those parts could significantly reduce downtime in a crisis. The technology could be easily deployed in the field via land, sea or air, to manufacture, at pace, the parts needed by military personnel carrying out an operation. ExOne, which spun out of MIT in the early 1990s, has an exclusive license to use a specific method for 3D printing called binder jetting. Instead of using a laser or nozzle to melt and weld material together, the company's printers inject a liquid binder on successive thin layers of powdered material to form the product. The concept is similar to traditional paper printing: the binder functions like the ink as it moves across the layers of powder, forming the final product. More than 20 materials, including metal and ceramic, are compatible with the company's method. "Binder jet 3D printing is a critical manufacturing technology for military use because of its speed, flexibility of materials, and ease of use," said John Hartner, ExOne's CEO. "We're excited to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Defense and other partners to make our 3D printers more rugged for the military (…). Most importantly, we know that years from now, our technology will play an important role in filling critical needs quickly." Although the technology is already tried and tested, more work needs to be done to fit ExOne's 3D printers into robust shipping containers that can be reliably flown, shipped, or driven around. The contract with the DoD will initially focus, therefore, on improving the ruggedness of the printers to make sure that they can withstand a wide range of operating conditions. DAWN
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The technology could be easily deployed in the field via land, sea or air, to manufacture, at pace, the parts needed by military personnel carrying out an operation. Image: ExOne
ExOne said that it is developing a special military edition of its 3D printers, with a new body style and features that will be up to military standards. The company is collaborating with materials engineering company Dynovas and engineering firm Applied Composites – San Diego, both of which have extended experience in developing defense systems. Another key part of the project, according to ExOne, will consist of simplifying the use of the technology in the field with software and training. The goal is to ensure that the 3D printing factory can be used with minimal technical knowledge. The DoD's interest in 3D printing is not new: efforts to use additive manufacturing can be traced back to 2012, when it emerged that the US military was developing backpack-sized 3D printers designed to print spare parts for soldiers in the battlefield. The same year, the DoD created 11
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a $30 million center dedicated to harnessing the potential of 3D printing for the military. Many initiatives have followed since, including the opening of a center for advanced manufacturing in collaboration with the Army Research Laboratory, as well as the launch of the AMNOW program, which seeks to assist the US army in the deployment of additive manufacturing technologies. Last month, a special office within the DoD that is dedicated to defense manufacturing technology released an additive manufacturing strategy, designed to establish a common vision for the use of 3D printing, which was described as a "gamechanging technology" with the potential to create new products on-demand, while bolstering the lifespan of legacy systems. www.zdnet.com/article/this-3d-printing-factory-isbeing-built-into-a-shipping-container-for-the-usdepartment-of-defense DAWN
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Business
Africa: What is the best way to ensure the continent’s post-Covid recovery? By Alain Faujas “WE MUST REDUCE OUR DEBT,” said Senegal’s President Macky Sall. “We must focus on internal mobilisation that will favour African companies,” replied Tidjane Thiam, an international financier. “We must mobilise domestic revenue,” said Abebe Aemro Selassie, Africa director of the IMF. These statements were heard at the 20th International Economic Forum on Africa (www. oecd.org/development/africa-forum) co-organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Centre, the African Union and Senegal on 22 February to find ways to invest “for a sustainable recovery in Africa”. These three men are trying to come up with solutions to find the money that is sorely needed to deal with both the health crisis and the major economic crisis that Covid-19 has caused on the African continent. Their three solutions – out of the 15 others proposed – were deemed the most likely to succeed by the 600-odd people in attendance.
2021? This only amounts to a few billion dollars. What about the creation of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)? That would give $18bn for subSaharan Africa – not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things. That leaves the $365bn in African debt. A colossal burden, but barely 2% of the world’s debt, according to the Senegalese President. “Our countries are calling for substantial debt relief,” he said.
A debt-payment moratorium and special drawing rights insufficient for Sall Sall brought out the big guns. Due to their efforts to fight the pandemic while protecting the living standards of their citizens, African governments no longer have the money to revive their countries’ economies by relying on digital tools, energy or tourism, he said. What about the G20 agreeing to suspend debt obligations until June 2021 or even until the end of
Tidjane Thiam supports “domestic champions” Unlike Sall, Thiam and Abebe do not believe that the billions needed depend solely on international goodwill. A former boss of Prudential and Credit Suisse and now the founder of an investment fund, Thiam insists on the need for African effort. Attracting foreign capital, without which Africa will remain on the sidelines of value-creation chains, requires that the continent supports its companies.
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Thiam
African business a Monetary F
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Sall
Selassie
and political leaders – from Senegal's Macky Sall and Franco-Ivorian financier Tidiane Thiam to the International Fund's (IMF) Abebe Selassie – do not agree on the continent's priorities for post-Covid economic growth.
“Before betting on a country, investors look at its growth but also at its business fabric,” he said. “If they don’t see dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), they don’t come. Like Beijing in the 1980s, our governments must support the birth of domestic champions that will give international investors confidence.” Don’t tell him that the informal sector hinders development. “When Bill Gates founded Microsoft in a garage, it was informal!” And don’t tell him that Africa needs more loans for SMEs. “It’s capital, not loans, that they need,” he added, before saying that he is optimistic because “a lot of money is circulating in the world.” It is possible to attract it with a “conducive” environment.
need to “mobilise much more national revenue than before the crisis.” In short, this means increasing tax levies fairly and also eliminating subsidies that are a burden on budgets and benefit the richest in particular. “Mobilisation” also implies developing the African middle classes and convincing them to invest in projects to complement public investment, which is being increasingly hindered by the lack of funds. However, consent to taxation as well as the mobilisation of national savings also presupposes virtues such as good governance and transparency. They are requirements for inspiring trust, without which the billions needed for development will be unavailable.
Abebe’s advice is to raise taxes and reduce subsidies Abebe expressed a similar view – help yourself and heaven will help you – when he insisted on the
www.theafricareport.com/68369/africa-what-is-the-bestway-to-ensure-the-continents-post-covid-recovery/
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Image credit: financialafrik.com
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Business
From Homeless in America to Owning One of Kenya's Largest Organic Farms By Parker Diakite
KUNGA KIHOHIA WENT TO one of the best schools in Florida, USA. He graduated, was making money, and then one day lost everything. He ended up homeless in Miami, sleeping in his car. Then a trip to Kenya would change his life. His parents are from Kenya, but he was born and raised and spent most of his life in Florida. He traveled to Kenya for the first time at the age of 10 and stayed there for about five years, where he learned his parents’ native tongue. He traveled back to the US for high school and college, where he graduated from Florida International University in Miami. Kihohia didn’t travel to Kenya for more than 15 years once he was back in the states. After spending some time working in corporate America, he told Travel Noire in an interview that he realized he was “psychologically unemployable.” “I was in the business-world chasing money, making a lot of money, but I was really unhappy because I had moved away from my purpose,” he said, adding that he found himself overweight and overall, unhappy. So, Kihohia went on a journey to Kenya to find himself and, ultimately, save his life. “I started this journey of coming back to nature and coming back to my own peace, which involved coming back to Africa. The lifestyle I had gotten involved with was putting me on a path of selfdestruction.” The trip was only supposed to last for three weeks. It took him some time to adjust, as it was his first time back to Kenya in more than a decade. As he began to settle, he realized that people in
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Kenya were far more content despite some challenges, than people in America.
Back To Nature Organic Farm Kihohia said he’s always been a serial entrepreneur, but Back To Nature Organic Farm grew out of his interests and passion. “The farm is only part of a larger vision, and a larger movement called the “Back to Nature Movement.” It’s part of our philosophy and ideology that states, “the closer we are to nature, the more whole, happy, at peace and at ease we are.” Through the organic farm and the movement, Kihohia said that his mission is to inspire, motivate and encourage Kenyans, East Africans, Africans, including those from the diaspora, to adopt a more natural holistic lifestyle approach towards maintaining or regaining health and wellness. With a few other like-minded individuals, Kihohia decided that they wanted to control the food system as they saw a rise in diseases in Kenya, such as cancer, hypertension, and more. “When there’s a will, there’s a way. We started learning all the components about the soil water systems, harvesting and post-harvest losses, markets, dealing with human resources, human capital […] there are so many components, but we belly-flopped into it.” 2021 will mark the fifth anniversary of his journey back home and back to nature. During this time, Kihohia went from obese, stressed, and homeless DAWN
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to the founder of one of the largest organic farms in Kenya, where he’s happy and living life with no regrets. “My advice to anyone looking to make a move abroad, especially to Africa, is to follow your heart. At the end of the day, this life is temporary. No one gets out alive. We all sign a contract unwittingly that no one leaves alive. It’s vital that while you have your time on this earth, to make it as significant as
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possible, give it meaning,” said Kihohia. To learn more about Back to Nature, visit the IG page: @backtonatureafrika and the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ BackToNatureAfrica. https://travelnoire.com/homeless-to-owning-oneof-kenyas-largest-organic-farms Image credit: Courtesy of Kunga Kihohia, Back To Nature Organic Farm DAWN
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Business
Africa Seeks Young Talents to Transform Post-Covid Hotel Industry From EHL https://info.ehl.edu/
Deserted airports, list of countries not to visit, historically low occupancy rates for hotels, unable to crawl back above the 10% mark. But the story does not end there... and Africa can be at the heart of the rebirth of an entire industry, if we give ourselves the means to do so. TODAY’S HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IS facing a complicated reality made up of layoffs, bankruptcies and uncertainty. In this most worrying context, it will be necessary to show solidarity and compassion towards the thousands of employees pushed into precarious situations. Simultaneously, it is time for an existential reflection in the tourism industry. What is it really all about? Where are we going? What role can Africa play? And for the youth, is it pure madness to embark today, when the hotel industry seems to be collapsing, on a hospitality management education? The real question is “was there a better time in the history of the tourism and hotel industry to start studying management? Because it’s a good bet that future graduates, who will be leaving school in 3-4 years, will be better equipped than their predecessors and that the field will be free to create, reinvent, discover and be the proud pioneers of a new hospitality industry, to which a far greater ecological awareness and an ability to adapt will have been instilled.
Africa – youth and resilience
a global reading, we can see that Africa holds a unique joker up its sleeve; that of a young population that has learned to innovate through pragmatism and ingenuity, rather than through torrents of investment. Furthermore, many African countries (especially sub-Saharan) boast outbreak management experience envied by the rest of the world. Indeed, for several reasons, including the youthfulness of the population and past experience in managing health crises, Africa is doing very well on the international scene and has created an exceptional opportunity to become a first-choice destination based on health and safety criteria. Arnaud Jonquet, Regional Recruitment Manager Africa at EHL, reminds us that “African demographic growth is one of the strongest in the world and with it comes a lot of opportunities. Despite a tumultuous period, tourism remains one of the driving forces of the economy in many countries and a priority for the development of states. The development of the presence of major hotel groups on the continent, such as IHG, Radisson and Accor, is accompanied by a need for qualified managers with a base of managerial skills”. The evolution of business models in a period of disruption, he says, is giving way to opportunities for profiles with a high capacity for adaptation in all areas of activity, a predisposition for resilience and expertise in the hospitality business. But is African tourism ready to take on this responsibility? Seizing this historic opportunity will require a generation of sophisticated leaders, educated in the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, events, leisure, etc.) who will be able to lead the continent’s tourism revolution. Africa is ready and waiting for its pioneers.
For many countries on the continent, tourism is one of the pillars of economic growth. Many hopes therefore rest on this sector, which is now being undermined by an unprecedented pandemic. Countries such as Kenya, Egypt or Morocco, whose GDP is so closely linked to the Is the hotel business dead? Questioned on this issue, the Franco-Tunisian health of tourism, would be right to be concerned about the situation, but with a little hindsight and Inès Blal, Executive Dean of the prestigious Ecole
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hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) gives an overview of the situation: “A difficult year for the “classic” hotel and restaurant business which requires a faceto-face interaction between the customer and the service provider. Differences in recovery are to be expected between regions and establishments. Some regions will restart earlier, such as Singapore, where our third campus is located. Differences in the speed of recovery between types of hotels (e.g. “Serviced apartments” or individual rentals, compared to offers where more customers are grouped together in the same location). Also, unfortunately, only those establishments with sufficient cash and capital, or low enough expenditures to get through the crisis will remain. We must therefore anticipate a change in the supply environment of the sector”.
A return in two stages The rebound of the sector will likely occur in two phases. Let’s remember the endless queues in front of McDonald’s worldwide that appeared the very instant major lockdown restrictions were lifted. The whole world is just waiting for one thing: to go back on vacation and live anew. In South Africa, as soon as authorities allowed intra-provincial movements, tourist destinations experienced a very strong influx of domestic customers, as President Zuma recently explained. Many already know their 17
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next destination and have dreamed of making it there on a daily basis. The first phase will, therefore, be a direct return of the pendulum, with an enormous demand that must be met as soon as the global health situation allows. Each country is certainly different and will experience this rebound at varying speeds, but many are already thinking about it, armed with past experiences of Ebola, for example, which allow them to apprehend the situation with confidence. However, the problem is likely to be reversed at that point, when the supply reduced by the contraction of the trade will not be able to meet the demand. What happens then? Let us apply Darwinian thinking to this question, which shows that the greatest evolutionary leaps take place when there is immense exogenous pressure. Cataclysms and mass extinctions have not sounded the death knell for life, but have left a vacuum that life hastened to fill until every niche is comfortably occupied by a new species. This acceleration of evolution, this race to adapt, we will see it in all the professions of the hospitality industry and it will offer unprecedented opportunities. It is difficult to know exactly what to expect. But one thing is certain: the adventure has only just begun, and the way is clear for the pioneers of tomorrow, who will be able to leave their mark on an entire generation with their passion, creativity and ethical and environmental values. www.theafricareport.com/a-message-from/africaseeks-young-talents-to-transform-post-covid-hotelindustry DAWN
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Business
Can "Made in Africa" Transform the Con By Adedoyin Adenji
Winston Leather, a Nigerian leather brand, celebrated the biggest sales in its 30 years in business last June. The boost was thanks to a tweet in March from fashion historian Shelby Christie highlighting how its tannery, based in Kano, Nigeria, supplies leather to luxury fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren. The tweet resurfaced in June and prompted a flood of orders as the fashion industry sought new sourcing opportunities that supported Black businesses. And the single tweet put right some misconceptions about the quality of African leather goods. “It was like a stamp of approval,” says Winston Udeagha of Winston Leather, which is a subsidiary of Udeagha’s wonderfully titled parent company, God’s Little Tannery. “What people don’t know is that much of the leather used around the world actually originates in Africa,” he notes. “For them, if luxury fashion houses were using our leather in their finished goods then they could buy purses and shoes from us and trust our quality.” Udeagha has been in the leather manufacturing business for decades, but his company only decided to produce its own brand leather accessories in 2018 when he realised the potential of a growing market of fashion consumers within and outside Africa who were keen to buy African. For a long time, African leather has remained unappreciated by the consumer despite a shift in consumer consciousness and pressure for greater transparency in every aspect of the fashion business. EU laws stipulate that the country of origin of finished goods is the country where the final production process occurs. This has enabled luxury fashion houses that source raw leather from Africa, and even begin the production process there, to tag their products as, for example, Made in Italy. This practice has helped European
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tinent’s Leather Industry?
© Iamisigo x Kkerelé
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manufacturers to avoid using a Made in Africa tag, a process that has kept Made in Africa leather goods under the radar and struggling to build an image for quality and excellence, in Africa itself as much as abroad. Underfunded but determined, African designers are leaning on Africa’s vast resources and capacity for sustainable fashion to change the perception of African leather and promote it to a broader market. While leather is losing ground with many sustainability-focused designers around the world, Africanbased production offers a more palatable solution. Problems like animal cruelty, wastewater and use of harsh chemicals in the tanning process are alleviated by underfarming, reduced consumption practices that encourage reuse, and fairer livestock farming with provision of meat as primary focus, and then by abbattoirs that help reduce shipping emissions. Initiatives like the Green Tanning Initiative and metal-free leather in Ethiopia and other East African countries are also working to educate tanners on less toxic methods of tanning and dyeing leather and push for more environmentally friendly policies in Africa’s leather production.
Sending African leather abroad The best quality African leather has tended to go to export markets. In response, some of the most interesting African leather goods companies have learned to adapt and use local material resources to the full. “We focused on what we could do better,” says Nardos Tamirat, co-founder of Ethiopiabased Tibeb Leather Works. “We knew we were in a different market and our value proposition was different. For us, that is our leather and traditional Ethiopian designs.” The company uses leather that would otherwise be discarded as flawed by many premium houses to create leather purses and other accessories. By keeping the leather as natural as possible with its flawed skin, Tamirat believes Tibeb stays true to its Ethiopian origins. Ethiopia-based Tibeb Leather Works uses lTamirat’s strategy is shared by Mark Stephenson, managing director of Sandstorm Kenya. “African leather designers and manufacturers don’t have the resources to efficiently mass produce like, say, China can. The technology isn’t there yet in Africa. And so for Sandstorm, the question is how can we use technology to create more jobs for artisans and tanners and optimise value within Africa using slow fashion,” he says. Basic infrastructure, such as the best machinery for drying, is lacking in parts of Africa. Much of the leather produced in Africa is exported out of the continent to be finished and then imported back as finished goods. The cumulative effect of this is to leave the industry in a state of underdevelopment. Frustrations abound. “When I started my business, I researched about African leather because I wanted my shoes to celebrate African artisanship as much as possible,” says Nigerian designer, Tina A, founder of Kkerelé. “I found see page 20
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Ethiopia-based Tibeb Leather Works uses leather that would otherwise be discarded. © Tibeb Leather Works
Made In Africa from page 19 that the leather sold in Mushin market, where most accessory designers in Lagos are based, is imported from Europe. This didn’t make sense to me considering the tanneries we have in Africa and our cattle farming.” A problem for African designers is that tanneries tailor their business policies to fit the demands of their largest buyers, which are often Western businesses. This leads to high minimum order quantities, shutting out African designers with their much smaller orders. Tamirat explains that in its first few years of business, Tibeb relied on scraps from the tanneries because the company couldn’t afford to buy in bulk in the way that Ethiopian tanners preferred.
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Promoting African Leather African designers have the potential to play a central role in developing a new image of quality for Made in Africa. Tibeb Leather Works is partnering with businesses in Ethiopia to create educational materials that help young designers understand Ethiopia’s design history and lean into designing using materials sourced in Africa and sourced sustainably. Designers like Nigeria’s Femi Olayebi of Femi Handbags are also creating initiatives, such as Lagos Leather Fair, to connect tanners to designers and buying groups where small designers can band together and buy in bulk from tanneries with high minimum order quantities. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Winston Leather has already responded to the needs of smaller designers by evolving a business model enabling
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Tibeb Leather Works co-founder Nardos Tamirat says keeping the skin as natural as possible reflects its Ethiopian origins. © Tibeb Leather Works
designers to buy as little as 10 square feet of leather hide rather than the minimum quantity of 20,000 square feet previously required. The potential is there, but plenty of work remains to be done. “To grow Africa’s leather industry, tanners and manufacturers cannot focus solely on getting Western designers and luxury houses to use their leather,” says Stephenson of Sandstorm Kenya, who has sat on Kenya’s Leather Development Council. “They must also make themselves accessible to African designers and brands who can tell and celebrate an authentic story of African artisanship from cattle, sheep and goat origins to the finished leather goods.” www.voguebusiness.com/fashion/can-made-inafrica-transform-the-continents-leather-industry Image credit: YouTube 21
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Business
Can Motorbike Taxis Fix Africa's E-Commerce Problem? By Anne Kidmose
Motorcycle taxi service providers are beginning to branch out from ferrying passengers to delivering products, tapping into A f r i c a ’ s emerging e-commerce m a r k e t . Inadequate infrastructure
An Ampersand motorcyclist picks up a customer.
RUNNING LATE FOR A job interview or about to miss a flight? In many African cities, the solution is right around the corner, where readily available motorcycle taxis will take you almost anywhere in a matter of minutes. Prized for their efficiency — and dreaded for their overconfident drivers — these taxis are an essential part of mobility on the continent. Tech entrepreneurs have been taking note of the efficiency and popularity of the two-wheelers. In the past five years, motorcycle-hailing apps have sprung up across Africa, competing to be the most popular “Uber for motorcycles.” In Uganda, SafeBoda has made a name for itself as a hassle-free alternative to the informal motorcycle taxis, while in West Africa, Max.ng, a Nigerian company, is about to scale up operations. And in Rwanda, Ampersand is introducing a fleet of electric motorcycle taxis. 22
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SafeBoda has made a alternative to DAWN
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— coupled with limited and expensive internet connectivity — has long hobbled Africa’s e-commerce ambitions, so much so that Amazon doesn’t offer e-commerce services on the continent, even though it has tech hubs there. The companies behind the motorcycle taxi apps believe they can overcome those limitations. And the pandemic has sped up this transition, according to industry analyst and former venture capitalist Osarumen Osamuyi. “COVID-19 was an accelerator for many of the existing trends in the industry,” says Osamuyi, who is based between Lagos and Nairobi. “Delivery became bigger as the pandemic forced people to have things delivered.” While transporting people remains the main source of business for a majority of the motorcycle taxi firms, deliveries of food and other online goods is “the goal for many of these companies,” Osamuyi says. SafeBoda launched its food delivery service, SafeBoda Food, in 2019, and in April 2020 it partnered with the U.N. Capital Development Fund to provide an e-commerce platform for fresh produce. Initially, the SafeBoda Shop app connected 800 market vendors in the capital Kampala to households; name for itself as a hassle-free it has since expanded to
delivering everything from cooking oil to sanitary napkins. The company provides market vendors with smartphones so that cashless payments can be made through its mobile wallet. Even though customers have slowly begun venturing outside their homes, deliveries are here to stay, says SafeBoda co-founder Ricky Rapa Thomson. When the pandemic first hit, the future of business was considerably less certain. “The pandemic presented us with a very difficult situation,” says Thomson. Transporting people became illegal due to social distancing requirements, so Thomson and his partners had to come up with a creative solution, and they had to do it fast. Putting drivers to work as deliverymen did the trick. “It has helped us through the pandemic and has grown to become one of our biggest services,” Thomson says. Commuters in Nigeria have also seen some of the country’s most popular motorcycle taxi apps pivot from passengers to deliveries. The trend has been influenced by the decision last year by authorities to ban motorcycle taxis, known as okadas, in Lagos. Major players on the motorcycle e-hailing scene, like Gokada, shifted their focus to deliveries. Today, Gokada claims to be the largest last-mile delivery service in Nigeria. According to Guy-Bertrand Njoya, chief financial officer at Max.ng — one of Gokada’s main competitors — deliveries and passenger transportation are two sides of the same coin. “We have an agnostic approach to delivery, be it people or goods,” he says. Max.ng started as a last-mile delivery service supporting large e-commerce players and later took on passenger transportation. Still, Njoya prefers to use the term see page 24
o the informal motorcycle taxis. 23
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In Rwanda, Ampersand is introducing a fleet of electric motorcycle taxis
Taxis
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“mobility company” to describe the business, as it underscores the company’s aim to solve infrastructure needs across the continent. Those gaps in infrastructure are at the heart of mobility challenges in Africa — for people and for goods. “Traffic jams make us popular,” says Zaharan Kweka, who earns a living as a motorcycle taxi driver in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city. The 25-year-old is one of millions of informally employed drivers in sub-Saharan Africa who make up the backbone of an industry that has an estimated worth of $80 billion. Kweka says that his motorcycle taxi can complete a journey from Dar es Salaam’s suburbs to its bustling center four times faster than a traditional taxi or bus. When it comes to e-commerce, Southeast Asia’s internet economy is the fastest-growing online market globally, with Africa trailing behind. Still, things on the continent are moving. According to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, 24
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the number of online shoppers in Africa has grown by 18% annually since 2014. Motorcycle e-hailing companies have the capacity to boost the African e-commerce industry, says Osamuyi, if they stick to deliveries and facilitate online shopping, much like Indonesian super app Gojek. The Jakarta-based company started out with 20 motorcycle taxis in 2009; today it’s an on-demand service for everything from car washing to manicures, connecting customers and merchants. “I think individual merchants will be successful in Africa, and the platforms that enable online shopping of their items will be successful,” says Osamuyi. SafeBoda’s Thomson already sounds victorious when he speaks of the future. “The market in Africa is huge … nothing can stop us,” he says with the confidence of a speedway driver about to step on the accelerator. www.ozy.com/around-the-world/can-motorbike-taxisfix-africas-e-commerce-problem/418981
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Business
The Anti-Bribery Crusader Lending a Guiding Hand to Immigrant Women By Eromo Egbejule
The murkiest of scams usually rely on those most regular of financial institutions: big banks*. Nigeria-born Esimai is at the forefront of the banking sector’s attempts to reform itself. The Harvard-trained lawyer is Citibank’s first chief anti-corruption and bribery officer, and among the most powerful women of color in the white- and male-dominated world of banking. CHINWE ESIMAI’S JOURNEY TO becoming one of the world’s most influential bankers began in 1995 when she arrived in America as a teenager with her parents and four siblings. “I remember feeling very optimistic and feeling a strong sense of my ability to do anything,” says Esimai, whose middle name Ijeoma means “beautiful journey” in her native Igbo language. A quarter of a century later, the 41-year old’s list of accomplishments reads like a novel. Nigerian Americans are one of the most successful ethnic groups in the U.S. More than 29% of them over the age of 25 hold a graduate degree, and Esimai’s parents fall into that category, so it was almost expected that their daughter would. She proved them right, sailing smoothly through prestigious institutions including Harvard and going on to become a law professor focusing on Africa’s emerging capital markets at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. 25
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All of that education has come in handy in forging a successful career that continues to defy expectations. She had two stints at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a vice-president and antibribery compliance officer. In 2016, after four years at Citigroup, she was named chief anti-bribery and corruption officer — the first person appointed to that role — and managing director, effectively placing her in the top 1% of the global workforce. At Citi, which has 200,000 employees and operations in more than 160 countries, she oversees how the banking conglomerate aligns with regulations across the globe. “The seeds of my passion for anti-bribery work were sown at an early age,” she told Medium last year. “Conversations about anti-bribery and corruption dominated conversations in politics and at the dinner table.” While in Minneapolis, she began having conversations of a different kind, guiding other immigrant women whom she calls American Dream Queens, in overcoming issues of systemic sexism and racism to shine as luxuriantly as possible. www.ozy.com/around-the-world/the-anti-briberycrusader-lending-a-guiding-hand-to-immigrantwomen/344884 *Big Banks: www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/ global-banks-defy-u-s-crackdowns-by-servingoligarchs-criminals-and-terrorists DAWN
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Business
Is the Gig Economy Improving the Lives of African Women? By Tolu Olasoji
THE GIG ECONOMY IN AFRICA has grown significantly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, serving as a stopgap for consumers when businesses shut down during lockdowns, and offering employment for those shut out from formal and even informal opportunities. But women are being prevented from taking full advantage of these opportunities, because of the ways in which long-standing gender disparities are manifesting themselves in digital platforms. A new project by Caribou Digital bears this out. Through interviews and participatory videos, the digital economy research and advisory firm collected the experiences of people who earn their living on digital platforms to understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has shaped their experience. The project forms part of their ongoing research, supported by the Mastercard Foundation, into “platform livelihood.”
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Women are benefitting from the gig economy’s low barrier of entry, and the flexibility and autonomy it offers, says Grace Natabaalo, a research lead at Caribou who spearheaded the project. But interviews revealed several barriers for women at an “individual, societal and institutional level,” Natabaalo told Quartz Africa, “including access to capital, access to ICT and skills, harmful societal norms, and knowledge of online opportunities” she said. The challenges facing women when they work for online platforms are complex, even as the platforms present themselves as a better, simpler alternative to traditional jobs. Seeking gig economy opportunities Dathive Mukeshimana, 31, joined ride-hailing and delivery company SafeBoda in Kampala two years ago in search of more stable income, and after exploring opportunities in both the formal and DAWN
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informal sectors. “I tried difficult jobs: mobile money, restaurant. I tried [a] salon, but [it] was not profitable,” Mukeshimana shared with Caribou. “So that is why I decided to join motorcycle riding because I can get more money to feed my family.” As in many countries, gender imbalance in employment is a significant issue for Uganda, a 2019 report by its Bureau of Statistics showed. While Uganda’s unemployment rate for men had declined in the years studied in the report (20162017), there was a 4.3% increase in joblessness for women. The report attributed the decline to the “skills gap, low education attainment, or limited opportunities in the job market for women for the kind of work they can do.” Around 85% of working women in Uganda work in the informal sector, which accounts for 75% of the country’s total employment. A 2011 report found the predominant forms of informal activities, such as carpentry and transportation services (mainly using motor cycles, otherwise known as boda boda) are considered unsuitable and too demanding for women. As a result they often have to settle for less physically demanding, relatively low-return jobs, such as food preparation or selling in markets. Gig economy work has become an increasingly popular and important alternative route into work for many Africans. And it has provided women with an opportunity to escape some restrictions, as Mukeshimana’s example shows. As one of only a few female riders for SafeBoda, she has done several media interviews in an effort to encourage more women to take advantage of opportunities offered by digital marketplaces. Barriers to equal access According to a recent International Labour Organisation report on the expanded role of digital labor during the pandemic, working for online platforms has become the primary source of income for almost half of workers in some developing countries and in some cases, more than half of women. The pandemic has only accelerated this shift, which the ILO reported having some positive effects. “The development of digital labour platforms has the potential to provide workers, including women, 27
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people with disabilities, young people and migrant workers, with income-generating opportunities,” the report states. “In developing countries, in particular, such platforms are regarded as a promising source of work opportunities, leading many governments to invest in digital infrastructure and skills. Businesses are also benefiting, as they can use these platforms to access a global and local workforce to improve efficiency and enhance productivity and enjoy wider market reach.” Yet despite the large numbers of women leaning into the gig economy in developing countries, only two out of ten workers on online, web-based platforms are women, according to the ILO’s report, and even fewer work for location-based apps like ride-hailing services. “These figures underline the fact that, in a similar way to the offline labour market, the online labour market poses challenges for women in accessing work.” Men have more opportunities to learn the kind of digital skills required by these jobs, and are also more likely to own the devices needed to participate in the gig economy. Once onboard, women are also prevented from exploiting the opportunities provided by gig work due to gendered and societal issues. For example, Mukeshimana, one of two female riders on SafeBoda app, can’t work as late as her male counterparts because of concerns for her safety. “Women’s safety is an issue in almost all platform work,” Natabaalo notes. And while the flexibility of online platforms has great appeal for women, they are still being held back by the fact that they are primarily responsible for childcare and housework—a situation that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Indeed, about 23% of women surveyed by ILO who perform online work said they have children under the age of six years. On microtask freelancing platforms, men are able to work an average of 8.4 hours, compared to 7.8 hours clocked by women. The gender disparities playing out on platforms have plagued economies for decades. Developing economies in particular miss out on significant economic gains when women don’t have secure incomes. A 2019 World Bank report said that including more women in the workplace and see page 28
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Business Gig Econ from page 27 investing in their productivity could increase the per capita GDP of Niger’s per capita GDP as much as 25%. McKinsey estimates that including more women in influential decision-making roles could grow Africa’s economy could add $316 billion, or 10% to Africa’s GDP by 2025. The gig economy has also not been a sufficient solution for the disproportionate way the pandemic has affected women, who continue to be the primary caregivers at home and in a professional capacity. Mukeshimana saw her wages drop and her household responsibilities increase after Uganda enforced a Covid lockdown last year, which included a curfew on motorcyclists. Gloria Kemigisha, who co-runs a fashion business online, and delivers her goods via SafeBoda, saw her business activities dwindle. “Running this business during the pandemic, it was very stressful,” Kemigisha told Caribou. “I didn’t have time for myself because I was homeschooling, then at the same time I’m running House of Penda and at the same time I’m making sure meals are prepared. So it’s been quite a year.” There were some benefits in the increased shift to online work. Anastestia Onyekaba, a self-taught frontend developer, saw a spike in requests for her work on freelancing platforms like Upwork. She also says the gig economy has allowed her to avoid some of the more systemic discrimination she experienced while applying for other jobs. “In some companies when you try to apply, and you tell them your skills, they actually doubt that you can do it and have you do a test,” the 24-year-old Nigerian told Quartz Africa. “I know this because one of the companies I applied to, my friend, a guy, applied too and he did not have to do any test.” This kind of experience contributes to the “misconception that the tech world is just for the guys,” Onyekaba says. “So most ladies are not even interested. They are much afraid to join, to start with.” Capacity building A recent report by the Overseas Development Institute, looking into women’s participation in the gig economy in Kenya and South Africa, argued
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that platform work cannot be divorced from the constraints that women face in society broadly. The report called for a “strong gender lens” in debates over the quality of this work, such as whether they truly offer more flexibility for women, and “for women’s economic empowerment to be at the forefront of efforts to ensure the gig economy evolves to the benefit of all.”
Natabaalo says that some apps are starting to recognize that women could use additional support, through training and more accommodating and inclusive policies. “Platforms like Uber, Lynk, and Jumia, for example, deliberately provide transferable skills like digital skills, financial literacy, stock management and soft skills,” Natabaalo noted. “There are also attempts to bring more women into ride-hailing through female-only platforms like An Nisa taxi app in Kenya (www.instagram.com/annisataxi) and Diva Taxi Uganda Driver app in Uganda (https://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.driverdivataxiug).” More representation at the board level would foster inclusivity and access. Investors are starting to see the potential in this idea, with backing for African female founders on the rise. “A more inclusive decision-making process at the platform design, business model, and strategy stage could help build better products and services and experiences for millions of women pursuing livelihoods via platforms,” Natabaalo said. https://qz.com/africa/1981280/is-the-gig-economyimproving-the-lives-of-african-women Image credit: annisataxi.com, techjaja.com
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Business
Business Travel Isn’t Dead, Says AmEx. But It’s Changing Forever By Nikki Ekstein
IT’S PRETTY TOUGH, ONE YEAR deep into the global pandemic, to put a sunny face on the future of business travel. But for the people at American Express, the future of corporate travel looks … sort of fun?
Restaurants and retail, which also suffered, are finding ways to keep doing business. Leisure travel, too, looks likely to benefit from pent-up demand and looser border restrictions. But now that workers around the globe have shown they
A near-empty airport, devoid of road warriors.Photographer: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images There’ll be fewer transatlantic slogs for routine meetings, but more teambuilding exercises in sunny climes. Plus, just maybe, there’ll be more company-sponsored stints of telecommuting from the beach. That’s the scenario presented by Evan Konwiser, the executive vice president of product and strategy for American Express Global Business Travel. Granted, he’s offering a measured upside case for one of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19 lockdowns. 29
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can conduct a year’s worth of business by video, the sleeper-class flight for a morning meeting in London just became a much harder sell. “It’s become very trendy to talk about business travel not needing to come back,” Konwiser says, via Zoom, from his office in lower Manhattan. “There’s some truth there that we should acknowledge and adapt to,” he continues, before adding: “But business travel exists for really important reasons—it helps businesses conduct see page 30
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Business AMEX
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business successfully.” What he predicts is a re-envisioning of business travel that prioritizes experiential meetings—inperson bonding opportunities for scattered remote workers and trips that feel more like work perks than obligations. And he says there’s precedent for a strong rebound. “After the global financial crisis in 2008, CEOs, CFOs, and procurement officers pulled out, but they all gradually came back as they realized that business travel was an investment in their employees, their culture, and their competitiveness,” says Konwiser. Granted, this time around the travel industry has a steeper climb, with executives routinely referring to Covid-19 as delivering a stronger punch than 2008 and 9/11 combined. Normally, Konwiser’s division—which manages travel for a bevy of major corporations around the world—helps businesses book 5 million hotel room nights annually. Many of those are reserved in conjunction with events and meetings, of which American Express typically organizes nearly 100,000 per year. In North America, business travel declined by 79% from April to December in 2020. A recent U.S. census survey found that only 26% of small businesses intend to pursue any type of travel in the forthcoming six months. And with such companies as Amazon saving $1 billion in travel expenses during the pandemic, it makes sense to continue pursuing global business over Zoom. Konwiser says he believes travel will become a key pillar of corporate culture. Companies may compete to attract top talent, who will want flexibility in choosing when to commute to an office or hit the road for business. “People will make decisions about where to work, based on how often you should go to the office and what they see as their freedom to move about,” he says. So although Konwiser is bullish on a resurgence of business travel, he says it will happen in ways that imply enormous, probaly irreversible changes for the industry.
Travel as Reward
all but over. So are the days of commuting daily into a shared office space. For Konwiser, that’s not a bad thing. “People want a break from being home,” he says. “Getting to travel a week a month, that would rebalance everything enormously.” But one bigger trip a month, as opposed to several shorter ones, would be costly news for airlines and by extension, companies like AmEx GBT, which make their greatest commission shares from airline tickets. For corporate travel managers, however, it’s an invitation to simultaneously save money and have more fun. “If you’re giving up $1 million in corporate realestate costs each year [to allow employees to work from home], you should reinvest a high percentage of that—50% to 70%—in your employees through travel,” says Konwiser. That may be what you’d expect to hear from the corporate travel people, but the budget does appear to be there: A Deloitte survey taken in January found that 75% of polled Fortune 500 CEOs were considering downsizing their offices. Calling travel a reward in the current climate remains a tough sell. That may change if work from home persists but Covid does not. Corporate team-building trips—in which colleagues head somewhere fun to partake in scavenger hunts or cooking contests—could change the perception of business travel in a meaningful way. Konwiser calls this the “gather and scatter” effect. If corporate culture is one reason to reinvest in business travel, cultural exchange is another. For newfound digital nomads who have spent their last year Zooming from Mexico or Belize, a change of scenery has proved inspiring and freeing. “Right now, companies are allowing [work from anywhere] because there’s no point in not. But some companies may soon sponsor it as well,” Konwiser says. “It might create more enlightened, globally minded employees.” In practical terms, that may be as simple as writing policies that enable workers to chime in from any time zone; a more emphatic effort might include relocation benefits on an annual basis. “This is the replacement for having a cool office with lots of perks,” Konwiser adds.
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The Demise of the Passport The logistics of business travel are changing, too. In the near future, you may need a vaccine passport. But Konwiser says passports in general are on their way out. “We have to make it easier to enter and exit countries. It’s beneficial to global trade and societies,” Konwiser says. Digital visas and automated border patrol kiosks already exist. Add such up-andcoming technologies as biometric boarding, which verify your identity with the scan of an eyeball or fingerprint, and the stampedup booklets seem like artifacts of yesteryear. T h e trick, said Konwiser, will be protecting data privacy, which he thinks can be achieved via blockchain a n d distributive ledgers. If this happens, such things Are passports a thing of as your most yesteryear? Almost, says recent Covid Konwiser. Photographer: SOPA test results Images/LightRocketa could also be accessed in the same digitized and encrypted portal. “I don’t see this happening overnight, but depending on how long the Covid hangover lasts, it will be sped up a lot,” he says. “It may go from being a 10-year project to a five-year one. And of course, it will depend country by country.” Also, expect better travel apps, he says. Hotel apps already allow you to check in and use your phone as a room key; airline apps are facilitating rebooking and will let you know if you’re on an oversold flight. The next step, he says, is 31
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“ecosystem collaboration”: getting all those apps to talk to one another, eliminating the need to reenter information over and over again and streamlining complicated processes like applying for a visa. Imagine if the visa app, for instance, could connect to your airline and health apps to autofill passport, flight, and vaccination information. It could cut the paperwork from 30 minutes to 30 seconds, Konwiser says.
Amping Up Ease, Efficiency In general, Konwiser feels business travel needs to be made easier. “We have to remind ourselves that not everyone in the workforce has equal flexibility,” he says, pointing to parents whose child-care pressures intensify when one adult is on the road. “I don’t have a silver bullet here, but these are the dialogues we need to have as corporate communities and as a society.” One solution he poses is for companies to provide for additional child care in an employee’s travel budget. Then there’s the question of the environmental impacts associated with corporate travel. “As an industry, we have to push for greener hotels, hold the airlines to sustainable alternatives, and help them accelerate that,” says Konwiser. Indeed, the industry’s buying power—$1.4 trillion in a banner year, according to the Global Business Travel Association—can and should be used to harness good. With more companies pledging to shrink their carbon footprints, this isn’t just a moral imperative for the sector, it’s a matter of survival. “I’m not willing to concede that less travel is better, but we have to make travel more efficient, easier, and sustainable,” says Konwiser. He believes saving business travel is virtuous unto itself. “Business travel is a major contributor to building relationships across the globe. It’s one of the ways we’ll create a better future for ourselves.” www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-05/ business-travel-isn-t-dead-says-amex-but-it-schanging-forever Image credit: abundanthope.net
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Export-Imp of the Unite
sub-S
Ex-Im Bank Finances
Opportunity in sub-Sarahan Africa
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) provides U.S. exporters and their international buyers with the financing tools they need to successfully buy U.S. products and services. Ex-Im Bank support protects against foreign political and commercial risk, and gives U.S. exporters the ability to offer competitive financing to their buyers through export credit insurance and loan guarantees.
African Buyers: Buy More U.S. Goods and Services with Competitive Financing The Bank supports many industries for both private- and public-sectors. In particular, the agency provides loan guarantees to lenders that offer sub-Sarahan African buyers with competitive financing to purchase U.S. capital goods and services (such as trucks, construction equipment, laundry equipment, food processing machinery, kitchen equipment and engineering or legal fees). This access to capital typically includes longer repayment terms and lower costs of financing for the buyer. Long-term guarantees are available for major projects, large capital goods and/or project-
related services such as power generation facilities, or refinery projects. Ex-Im Bank also offers credit insurance to U.S. exporters and lenders against the political and commercial risks of a foreign buyer defaulting on payment. This policy thereby allows an U.S. exporter to extend credit terms to its buyer. The seller – a U.S. firm – needs to provide Ex-Im Bank with information on the creditworthiness of the buyer and the U.S. content of the product(s). As one can expect, the Bank’s credit standards depend on the amount being financed and the length of time involved.
Success Story
Ghana National Fire Service Ghana
In 2010, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) purchased 121 modern fire fighting vehicles and related equipment from Florida-based Project Development International (PDI). This transaction succeeded with the backing of an Ex-Im Bank $41 million loan guarantee with eight year repayment terms. The credit is secured by the full faith and credit of the Republic of Ghana through its Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. PDI was hired for their expertise in procurement and project management while Wisconsin’s Pierce Manufacturing Inc. was responsible for manufacturing the vehicles.
l Short-Term
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Export-Credit Insurance
Export-Credit Guarantees o Loans
Export credit insurance enables U.S. exporters to extend U.S. dollar credit directly to African buyers. The insurance supports the sale of U.S. goods and services, including raw materials, semimanufactured, and finished goods. Of note, the application must come from a U.S. exporter.
Benefits: Open account credit is an attractive substitute to letters of credit and bank financing Lower interest charges, as credit is often arranged directly through the U.S. exporter or a lender Available for purchases of bulk commodities, consumer goods, spare parts, etc.
Ex-Im Bank’s me and loan guarant purchase of U.S. by African buyers to make a down p percent. Ex-Im B insures 100 perc amount, coverin commercial or p
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Coscharis Motors Limite Nigeria
International Buyers of U.S. Goods and Services
Nigeria’s Coscharis Motors L business through an Ex-Im Inc., of South Bend, Ind., a industrial supply products. line to Coscharis Motors bac U.S. exporter to require cas 2002 and the credit line is n
port Bank ed States
Saharan AFRICA
Medical, Environmental and Transportation Security Initiatives Ex-Im Bank provides enhanced support for medical equipment exports, exports that benefit the environment and exports related to international transportation security. Benefits include extended repayment terms (up to 18 years for renewableenergy and water projects) and coverage of local costs for up to 30 percent of the U.S. contract value.
Backing for Rand and CFA Franc Denominated Loans
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With Ex-Im’s guarantee, African buyers of U.S. goods and services are able to obtain attractive financing terms. This is critical for U.S. companies to achieve export success in the African marketplace.
Benefits:
Success Story
These currencies have been added to the list of major pre-approved currencies for inclusion in Ex-Im Bank’s Foreign Currency Guarantee Program. African companies can now arrange denominated loans guaranteed by Ex-Im Bank, which means African buyers and U.S. exporters should find it easier to arrange transactions in Africa.
Extended repayment terms depend on the project but could be up to 12 years for conventional power and up to 18 years for renewableenergy power Available in U.S. dollar and some foreign currencies to include the South African Rand and CFA Franc Negotiable interest rates with fixed interest-rate options Tailored principal repayment profiles available
Used and Refurbished Equipment Guarantees
Structured and Project Finance
Ex-Im Bank will extend financing to support U.S. exports of equipment that has been previously owned or placed into service. Ex-Im Bank support for used equipment is subject to certain criteria that can be found on Ex-Im Bank’s Web site at http://www.exim.gov.
Ex-Im Bank offers a range of financing solutions for African customers. Project (limitedrecourse) and structured financing are two options that offer maximum flexibility for project sponsors in natural resource and infrastructure sectors. For major transactions with significant equity, project financing allows Ex-Im Bank to lend to newly created companies with the project’s future cash flows as our source of repayment. Through structured finance, Ex-Im Bank can consider existing African company borrowers based on their creditworthiness as reflected on their balance sheet and additional sources of collateral or security enhancements.
Aircraft Finance Ex-Im Bank supports African buyers of U.S. new and used commercial and general aviation aircraft through loan guarantees and insurance for both large and small commercial aircraft. Ex-Im Bank can also finance spare parts, ground equipment, training costs and transaction expenses.
South Africa’s Transnet, Limited South Africa
Ex-Im Bank approved a Rand demoninated loan guarantee in excess of $100 million as part of the sale of ten fully-assembled GE Model C30ACi locomotives and U.S.-manufactured components for high-value locomotive kits. These were shipped from GE’s Erie, Pa. manufacturing facility to TRE in South Africa. Ex-Im Bank developed a customized, tailor-made financing solution that was designed specifically to meet the financing needs of Transnet and provide financing for both the work performed by GE in the United States and for TRE in South Africa.
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
811 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20571
BRO-AFR-05 April 24, 2012
For more information, contact Benjamin S. Todd, Business Development Officer, at 202.565.3916 or ben.todd@exim.gov; or Rick Angiuoni, Business Development Officer, at 202.565.3903 or rick.angiuoni@exim.gov. Visit http://www.exim.gov, and follow us on http://www.twitter.com/eximbankus Africa E-mail: eximAfrica@exim.gov
ed
Success Story
Limited in Lagos has greatly expanded their Bank insurance policy offered by ABRO Industries, small business exporter of automotive and This policy allows the U.S. exporter to offer a credit cked by Ex-Im Bank, thus negating the need of the h in advance. This relationship started modestly in now in excess of $10 million.
International Buyers of U.S. Goods and Services
Development
The World’s First 3D Printed School will be Built in Madagascar By Vanessa Bates Ramirez
3D PRINTED HOUSES HAVE been popping up printing a school is likely substantially cheaper than all over the map. Some are hive-shaped (https:// building it through traditional construction methods. singularityhub.com/2021/02/03/this-hive-like-house-is-3dThe school’s modular design resembles a printed-carbon-neutral-and-made-of-clay), some can honeycomb, where as few or as many nodes float (https://singularityhub.com/2020/06/30/this-houseas needed can be linked together. Each node is-3d-printed-floats-and-will-last-over-100-years/), some are up for sale. Now this practical, cost-cutting consists of a room with two bathrooms, a closet, technology is being employed for another type of and a front and rear entrance. The Fianarantsoa school with just have one node to start with, but as building: a school. Located on the island of Madagascar, the local technologists will participate in the building project is a collaboration between San Francisco- process, they’ll learn the 3D printing ins and outs based architecture firm Studio Mortazavi (https:// and subsequently be able to add new nodes or build similar schools in other areas. studiomortazavi.com) and Thinking Huts (www. The printer for the project is coming from thinkinghuts.org), a nonprofit whose mission is to Hyperion Robotics (www.hyperionrobotics.com), a increase global access to education through 3D printing. The school will be built on the campus of Finnish company that specializes in 3D printing a university in Fianarantsoa, a city in the south solutions for reinforced concrete. The building’s walls will be made of layers of a special cement central area of the island nation. According to the World Economic Forum (www. mixture that Thinking Huts says emits less carbon weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/the-world-s-first-3d-printed- dioxide than traditional concrete. The roof, doors, school-is-taking-shape-in-madagascar), lack of physical and windows will be sourced locally, and the whole infrastructure is one of the biggest barriers to process can be completed in less than a week, education. Building schools requires not only another major advantage over traditional building funds, human capital, and building materials, but methods. “We can build these schools in less than a week, also community collaboration and ongoing upkeep and maintenance. For people to feel good about including the foundation and all the electrical and sending their kids to school each day, the buildings plumbing work that’s involved,” said Amir Mortazavi, should be conveniently located, appealing, lead architect on the project. “Something like this comfortable to spend several hours in, and of would typically take months, if not even longer.” The roof of the building will be equipped with course safe. All of this is harder to accomplish than solar panels to provide the school with power, you might think, especially in low-income areas. Because of its comparatively low cost and quick and in a true melding of modern technology and turnaround time, 3D printing has been lauded traditional design, the pattern of its walls is based as a possible solution to housing shortages and on Malagasy textiles. Thinking Huts considered seven different a tool to aid in disaster relief. Cost details of the Madagascar school haven’t been released, but if countries for its first school, and ended up choosing 3D printed houses can go up in a day for under Madagascar for the pilot based on its need for $10,000 or list at a much lower price than their education infrastructure, stable political outlook, non-3D-printed neighbors, it’s safe to say that 3D opportunity for growth, and renewable energy 34
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Artist rendering of the completed school. Image Credit: Studio Mortazavi/Thinking Huts
potential. However, the team is hoping the pilot will pandemic is no longer a major threat to the local be the first of many similar projects across multiple community’s health. countries. “We can use this as a case study,” https://singularityhub.com/wp-content/ Mortazavi said. “Then we can go to other countries uploads/2021/02/3d-printed-school.jpg around the world and train the local technologists Image credit: sea-machines.com to use the 3D printer and start a nonprofit there to be able to build schools.” Construction of the school will take place in the latter half of this year, with hopes of getting students into the classroom as soon as the 35
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Development - Opinion Bahamian Sand Dollar
The Future of Money is Digital, But is it Bitcoin? By Andy Mukherjee
THE IDEA THAT MUCH of today’s cash use will shift to digital tokens is neither faddish nor outlandish, as long as you don’t start equating the future of money with Bitcoin. Sure, governments will borrow some elements of the distributed ledger technology behind private cryptocurrencies, but they will very much want to retain control of what circulates as money in their economies. Some will succeed. Don’t be surprised if by the end of the current decade, the e-wallet on your smartphone resembles a multicurrency account. But instead of dealing with commercial banks, you may be a customer of central banks. Several of them, in fact. Sound far-fetched? Apart from the Bahamian Sand Dollar (www.sanddollar.bs/history), there’s no official online currency in mass circulation yet. Still, digital yuan pilots are gathering pace as Beijing aims for a possible rollout coinciding with the 2022 Winter Olympics. Sweden may be the next major nation to follow suit. The Bank of Japan has no immediate plans, but it acknowledges the possibility “of a surge in public demand” for official digital cash going forward. Even in the U.S., which is only toying with the concept, digital payment vehicles that don’t rely on traditional bank accounts can increase financial inclusion among cash users, according to a September 2020 paper by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic and others. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says a digital dollar is “absolutely worth looking at.” Once China and the U.S. are both in the fray, virtual money is bound to become a tool for wielding global influence by carving up the world into new currency blocs. That’s because any token will have dual uses outside the issuing nation’s borders. The dollar or yuan that pops up in a phone wallet in Indonesia or India — backed by a solemn promise
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of taxpayers in the U.S. or China — could be used for buying goods, services or assets internationally. Just as easily, this new money can end up replacing domestic currency in people’s daily lives. Although this is no different from traditional dollarization that occurs in countries plagued by inflation and exchange rate volatility, the convenience and accessibility of central bank-issued digital cash could enable “substitution at a faster pace and larger scale,” according to Tao Zhang, a deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund. To stay in control of monetary policy, authorities in smaller economies will need their tokens to be attractive in domestic situations. The goal for bigger nations may be different: China and the U.S. may want to offer add-ons that make the e-CNY or the FedCoin the preferred choice for foreigners in settling international claims. An efficient future will be one in which all central banks’ digital currencies are interoperable. In other words, they’ll interact with one another — and with private-sector alternatives including Bitcoin, says Sky Guo, the chief executive of Cypherium. The U.S. enterprise blockchain startup is a member of the Fed’s Faster Payments Council and of the digital monetary institute of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, or OMFIF, a central banking think tank. Guo is working on the challenges that will arise when sovereign money gets digitized: How to process high volumes of transactions quickly, cheaply, and with a strong consensus among registries updated automatically across a network? How to give people a sense of privacy in everyday payments, even after the anonymity of cash is lost? Central banks will have to make choices. Not all DAWN
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FedCoin
Diem
smartphones can run advanced virtual machines, effortlessly executing the software code for automated contracts. Choose the wrong technology, and the unbanked population might once again get excluded. Ditto for overseas remittances, a $124 trillion-a-year opportunity for tokens to replace an expensive network of correspondent banks moving money by exchanging SWIFT messages. But it won’t work for small transfers if the computing power to verify transactions in a decentralized network costs too much. The ideal technology doesn’t necessarily have to be a blockchain, but it should be something “lightweight, flexible and capable of working with legacy systems,” Guo says. Above all, the distributed ledger must be transparent. There will be other obstacles. “A driving force for lobbying against central bank digital currencies has been established among payment processing giants like PayPal, Venmo and Stripe,” Guo tells me. “FedCoin won’t need these intermediaries to send funds. As these companies fall victim to innovation, it’ll be interesting to see how they try to protect themselves from disruption.” PayPal Holdings Inc., which owns the person-toperson service Venmo, contests Guo's assertion as false. Supporting and distributing central bank digital currencies is part of PayPal's vision of an inclusive future, Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman told investors last month. Former Bank of England Governor Mike Carney, who has proposed an alternative to the dollar through a network of central bank digital currencies, recently joined the board of Stripe Inc. One way to resolve the tension may be to coopt the private sector. As IMF economists Tobias Adrian and Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli have argued, 37
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Bitcoin
an official virtual currency could be like Apple’s iOS operating system, with commercial banks and e-money providers running apps on top of it. The Apple Health app may be fine for a lay user; an athlete will want something more sophisticated. Money could go the same way. Countries will also have to cooperate with one another. Take m-CBDC Bridge (www.bot.or.th/ English/PressandSpeeches/Press/2021/Pages/n1164. aspx). The project for 24/7 cross-border remittances
using central bank digital currencies was begun by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand, but has now been joined by the central bank of the United Arab Emirates and the People’s Bank of China. Many emerging-market central banks might think that to retain control of their nations’ money, they must chain the population to using a single virtual token — the one they’ve issued. But that may simply encourage mass migration to private cryptocurrencies that are pegged to legal tender and, therefore, less volatile. Diem, as the formerly Facebook Inc.-backed Libra project is now known, could be one such stablecoin. Sovereign currency issuers will have to think of themselves less as lords and masters and more as service providers in a free market of digital cash. After all, they’ll be pushing their products into crowded wallets and hoping that we like them more than a rival offering from another central bank. Those that lose the plot might lose their citizens’ loyalty. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-03-04/bitcoins-future-may-be-dwarfed-by-interoperable-central-bankdigital-currencies Image credit: en.numista.com, steemit.com, Blade HQ, 99bitcoins.com
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Development - Opinion
All Futurism is Afrofuturism By Noah Smith
EVERY SO OFTEN I GET the urge to blog about something really important, so today I think I’ll write about Africa. Afrofuturism is a fun and interesting subgenre of science fiction and philosophy:, but I kind of chuckle every time I see the word, because all futurism is actually Afrofuturism. Africa is literally the future of the entire world. Here is one of the two or three most important charts you will ever see:
level, than any other region except India:
And here’s a picture of the seven most populous countries in Africa. You can already see the fertility transition happening, though Nigeria, DRC, and Tanzania are still in the early stages.
Notice that this is the projection for total population. It has Africa just about equal to Asia by the end of the century, but if we were to look at only young population, Africa would have a clear majority here. “Wait,” you may be about to ask. “Are these 80-year-ahead projections really reliable? What if African fertility falls?” And the answer is: It’s going to fall! It’s already falling fast. As countries get richer their fertility rates drop; as Lyman Stone shows, Africa’s fertility rates are dropping faster, relative to their income 38
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A recent paper in The Lancet attempts to model how African population will change as women’s education and access to contraception (the two biggest things other than GDP that we know affect fertility) increase. They predict a population for Sub-Saharan Africa of about 3.4 billion by century’s DAWN
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end — only 0.8 billion lower than the UN median • child mortality projection. That’s still an absolutely enormous • human rights and democracy fraction of humanity, and an even larger chunk of • nutrition the young population. • literacy Thus, the future of Africa is the future of humanity, Much of this is due to two big factors: despite the fact that Africa will experience a normal 1. Peace and stability. Africa was left in a fertility transition and its population will eventually parlous state by colonization, with little stabilize rather than explode. I don’t think people industry, extractive institutions, and artificial in the U.S. (or, probably, other regions) have come borders that encouraged civil war and political to grips with the full import of this. disunity. A number of huge and bloody wars But what happens to Africa is even more raged across the continent up through the important, relative to the rest of the world, early 2000s. But although Africa still has its than these population numbers suggest! This share of conflicts — a civil war in Ethiopia, the is because Africa is still a mostly poor region. Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, and many Economics teaches us that marginal utility — i.e. others — overall the continent is considerably the amount life gets better when you get a little more peaceful than in the 20th century. richer — is much higher for poor people. And with Stability allows governments to provide more China and (to some degree) India industrializing public goods like education and health care, successfully and seeing population growth slow, and allows businesses to make investments soon most of the extremely poor people in the for the future. world will probably reside in Africa. 2. Economic growth has been reasonably robust across much of the region. That has enabled greater spending on education, health, and so on. A few countries like Nigeria and the DRC have stagnated alarmingly, but they are the exceptions. More GDP means more money to buy food and other necessities, build housing, provide medical care and schooling, and so on. But continued economic progress will almost certainly depend on industrialization — i.e., on African countries moving away from economies based on agriculture, mining, oil drilling, and other commodity-based activities. So African industrialization is one of the huge, central So the future welfare of humanity depends questions of the 21st century. I don’t want to say crucially on whether Africa can make big strides it’s the central question — climate change is up against poverty — in other words, whether African there too. But African industrialization gets far countries can achieve substantial economic less attention in the developed world than climate growth. change, or than most other issues. That needs to I’m very optimistic. Already since decolonization, change. we’ve seen most of Africa make great strides in Can Africa industrialize? (Probably, yes) the following areas: • years of schooling see page 40 39
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Development - Opinion Futurism from page 39 Unless you’re lucky enough to have a huge amount of natural resources relative to your population size (like Botswana or Kuwait or Norway), the only way for a country to get rich is to industrialize — to develop modern production processes that create lots of economic value. Traditionally, “industrialization” meant manufacturing; though India is now experimenting with a services-first model, every successful example of a country getting rich that we’ve ever seen in the past has started with lots and lots of manufacturing. China, Malaysia, Turkey, Thailand, Poland…manufacturing was key for each one. The traditional model is to shift workers off of farms and into cities, where they make labor-intensive goods for export. So can African countries repeat the trick that countries in Asia and Europe pulled off? Some, like Irene Yuan Sun, a consultant and author of “The Next Factory of the World: How Chinese Investment Is Reshaping Africa”, are very optimistic. Others, including some prominent economists, are more pessimistic. Joe Stiglitz has claimed that Africa won’t be able to follow a manufacturingcentric development model, and should try something else. Development economist Dani Rodrik, who is one of the most respected voices in the field of growth and industrial policy, is similarly skeptical. In a series of several papers, he has argued that Africa is going to have a hard time getting rich the way China and Vietnam did. In a 2015 paper entitled “Premature Deindustrialization”, Rodrik argues that countries are shifting away from manufacturing earlier and earlier and their development — except for Asian countries. He suggests that either new technology (automation) is making it hard for countries to engage in labor-intensive manufacturing, or Asian countries are outcompeting countries in Africa and Latin America for export markets, or both. But I’m pretty skeptical of the technology story. Since this paper looks at countries over a long period of time, much of the deindustrialization it documents happened before automation really
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became commonplace. It might be that machine tools put African manufacturers out of a job, but the successful manufacturing-based growth of the Asian countries — Bangladesh and Vietnam are following the model to this day! — suggests that humans could and can still complement machines when it comes to making clothes, assembling electronics, and so on. A more likely story is that countries like Nigeria deindustrialized in the 80s and 90s because they had previously been following an inefficient state-directed model of industrialization, and then gave it up. That still leaves room for the “Asian competition” story to be true, but it means that now that Chinese wages are getting too high for many lower-value manufacturing activities, African countries might have a chance to hop on the ladder. In a follow-up paper entitled “An African Growth Miracle?”, Rodrik documents that this isn’t happening yet. In many African countries, farmers have moved off the land and streamed into cities, and agricultural productivity has risen. But instead of going into manufacturing, many of these urban workers have gone into services. Services are much less exportable, and don’t generally exhibit the same productivity growth that manufacturing does, so this isn’t good news for African industrialization. Growth is happening from urbanization, but it’s not the kind of growth or the kind of urbanization that leads to long-term enrichment. But the tide may be turning. A new working paper by Hagen Kruse, Emmanuel Mensah, Kunal Sen, and Gaaitzen de Vries entitled “A manufacturing renaissance? Industrialization trends in the developing world” shows that in terms of employment, the deindustrialization documented by Rodrik actually reversed in many African countries after the year 2000. It’s not as dramatic an increase as in Asia, but more Africans are working in factories: DAWN
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So that’s good, because it looks like the traditional pattern. The problem is that a lot of the factories these workers are going into are unproductive, informal little off-thebooks sort of things. Kruse et al. note that even though African countries’ manufacturing employment has gone up as a share of GDP, actual value added has fallen, suggesting that manufacturing isn’t yet helping to boost Africa the way it did much of Asia. Another Rodrik paper written with (Xinshen Diao, Mia Ellis, and Margaret McMillan) finds the same thing. Looking at Tanzania and Ethiopia specifically, the authors find that the African manufacturing "A factory worker at Unilever's oral care plant in Ethiopia" by sector is divided between two kinds DFID - UK Department for International Development, CC BY 2.0 of companies — big productive ones that use a lot of machines but don’t hire a lot of escalator to prosperity, they might soon hit a people, and small unproductive ones that hire a lot ceiling. Just how to jump-start productivity growth in of people but don’t show productivity growth. This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen — the factories African manufacturing is a difficult question. that hire lots of people are also supposed to find Should countries make their exchange rates ways to become more productive, ultimately cheaper? Improve infrastructure? Spend more on moving their workers into higher-value activities education and health? Are free trade agreements important here? Do industrial policies and/or so the whole country gets richer. Now, it’s not that unusual for a country to have export promotion have any role to play? Or does some big capital-intensive companies and a the rise of automation simply mean that countries bunch of little labor-intensive companies; the can’t get rich with labor-intensive manufacturing U.S. has that too! anymore? I don’t know. But I’m still a lot more optimistic than The problem is that if African factories aren’t Rodrik. The fact that Africa has some productive finding ways to become manufacturers and the fact it has managed to more productive, shift more people into factory work are both good the virtuous cycle of signs. And though Asia’s growth boom is still going industrial development strong, it can’t last forever, and Africa’s day as the can’t be ignited. workshop of the world may come soon. But economists, leaders, policymakers, African countries can certainly grow — from businesspeople, and international organizations better agriculture, and need to be focusing on this challenge more than from moving people they are. The fate of humanity in the 21st century to cities — but unless and beyond hinges on whether African countries they’re able to hop can figure out the riddle of industrialization. on the traditional https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/all-futurism-ismanufacturing-based afrofuturism 41
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Development - Statistics
#The Africa We Are
I
n case you’re interested: The current
to 2019. This value can differ from the Yearly population of #Africa is 1,365,019,068. % Change shown in the historical table, which The Africa Population (Live) counter shows shows the last year equivalent percentage change assuming homogeneous change in the preceding a continuously updated estimate of the current #population of Africa delivered by Worldometer's five year period. RTS algorithm, which processes #data collected References: from the #UnitedNationsPopulationDivision. Africa Population (Live) - www.livepopulation. com/country/africa.html Fast Facts: Worldmeters - www.worldometers.info/world• The current population of Africa is population 1,365,019,068 as of Thursday, March 25, Yearly Population Growth Rate chart - https:// 2021, based on the latest #UnitedNations ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth estimates. #UnitedNationsPopulationDivision - https:// • Africa population is equivalent to 16.72% of population.un.org/wpp the total world population. #population - www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ population • Africa ranks number 2 among regions of the #KnowledgeSharing - www.instagram.com/ world (roughly equivalent to "continents"), explore/tags/knowledgesharing/ ordered by population. #TheAfricaWeWant - www.instagram.com/ • The population density in Africa is 45 per Km2 explore/tags/theafricawewant/ (117 people per mi2). #AfricaMeansBusiness - www.facebook.com/ • The total land area is 29,648,481 Km2 africanmeans/?__xts__[0... (11,447,338 sq. miles) #AfricanUnity - www.instagram.com/explore/ tags/africanunity • 43.8% of the population is #urban #AU - www.instagram.com/explore/tags/au (587,737,793 people in 2019) #UnitedNations - www.un.org/en • The median age in Africa is 19.7 years. #Africa - www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ The Yearly Population Growth Rate chart plots Africa the annual percentage changes in population registered on July 1 of each year, from 1951 Image credit: The Daily VOX
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Development - Statistics
#The Africa We Are
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A
MAPPING MOBILE MONEY IN AFRICA
frica is the global leader in mobile money providers, especially since the pandemic, which prompted people to turn to digital services over cash. In 2020, mobile transaction values around the world increased around 22%, with Africa accounting for 64.5% of the overall value. (The figures exclude services linked to formal bank accounts.) The global increase was in part a result of changes in consumer behavior, with more people open to digital transactions, but also more flexible processes by regulators. The fastest growth happened in countries where governments provided the most pandemic relief.
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Development
ICT Minister Joe Mucheru says the Kenyan government vetted the 5G networks built by Huawei and they ‘met set standards’. Photo: Handout
Kenya to Continue Working with Huawei on 5G Roll-out, IT Minister Says By Jevans Nyabiage KENYA WILL CONTINUE to work with Huawei Technologies Co. on 5G, the country’s IT minister said on Friday, despite a US-led campaign to shut the Chinese firm out of global networks. Speaking at the launch of Safaricom’s new superfast 5G service in Nairobi and towns across western Kenya, ICT Minister Joe Mucheru said the government had “vetted the networks built by companies such as Huawei and they met set standards”. Safaricom, which is Kenya’s largest telecoms 44
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company and part-owned by British firm Vodafone, said it planned to increase its 5G coverage to more than 150 locations in nine towns over the next 12 months. Many of its systems, as well as those of other network operators in Kenya, were built by Huawei. Elsewhere in the world, notably the US and Britain, the Chinese tech giant has faced accusations its networks could be used for spying and were therefore a threat to national security. DAWN
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Safari
“As a government we are aware of the questions about suppliers and technology, but some of them are more about politics than technology,” Mucheru said. “We have been working with these partners for a long time … and we cannot say we have had any challenges or questions about the security of the technology.” Safaricom said that as well as partnering with Huawei it would use equipment made by Finnish company Nokia Corporation for its 5G roll-out. While that could be seen as a way to limit the Chinese firm’s influence, Derrick Chikanga, an IT services analyst at consulting company Africa Analysis, said it was more to do with technology than politics. Safaricom simply wanted to “leverage the technological capabilities of both Huawei and Nokia”, he said. Now that Huawei had established a presence in Africa, it was likely to play “a key role in the development and deployment of 5G technology”
on the continent, he said. Kenya is the second sub-Saharan African country to roll out 5G. Last year, South Africa’s data-only mobile network, Rain, introduced its first commercial stand-alone network, developed in partnership with Huawei. The Chinese firm also worked with MTN Group on the launch of 5G networks in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth. But Huawei’s relationship with Africa is nothing new. Before becoming the focus of a geopolitical dispute, it had been operating there for more than 22 years, providing half the continent with 4G services and building a presence in 40 of its 54 countries. Roger Entner, lead analyst at US-based Recon Analytics, said that as the dominant player in Africa’s 4G mobile networks, Huawei was the obvious choice for nations looking to roll out 5G. “Incumbency is a very powerful position,” he said. “Huawei is likely to take the lion’s share of 5G contracts in Africa.” However, while the Chinese firm was dominant in Africa’s 4G networks – each of which is customised to a specific operator – introducing new 5G partners could weaken that position, Entner said. “By using other vendors, the mobile networks become more interoperable and that opens the door to eventually replace Huawei.”
com plans to increase its 5G coverage to more than 150 locations over the next year. Photo: Reuters 45
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Development - Agriculture
Africa Indigenous Fruit Trees Offer Major Benefits. But They’re Being Ignored By Abiodun Olusola Omotayo
Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu
INDIGENOUS FRUITS HAVE BEEN collected from the wild for centuries for human consumption and other purposes. Across the African continent, indigenous fruit trees are valuable assets for local communities. But the natural habitats of trees are being lost, mainly to widespread deforestation resulting from population growth. Industrial agriculture is also contributing to their loss. Indigenous fruit trees provide vital nutrients that may be scarce in other food sources. They are naturally adapted to local soils and climates, can enhance food and nutrition security and often adapt and survive environmental stresses better than exotic species. My colleague and I reviewed information on 10 fruit trees indigenous to Africa that are considered to be underused. We assessed their occurrence, distribution, nutritional components and medicinal potential. We also explored their challenges and prospects. Our research showed that indigenous fruit trees, which occur across different ecological zones in Africa, are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, protein and valuable phytochemicals. They also have recognised medicinal value and are used as therapeutic remedies by many people especially in rural areas with limited access to orthodox health care. Based on our findings we recommended that the value chain of underutilised fruit trees should be increased. This could contribute to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and other stakeholders. In addition a multidisciplinary approach is needed to provide incentives and encourage the domestication, commercialisation, and agro-processing of fruit trees.
indigenous fruit trees considered to be underutilised. We then selected 10 underutilised African fruits based on absence of existing studies and their potential. Our study explained the diverse distribution and duration of fruiting of the 10 selected fruit trees in different regions of Africa. Examples in southern African and other tropical African countries included: • African baobab (Adansonia digitata L), • Transvaal red milk wood (Mimusops zeyheri Sond.), • Wild loquat (Uapaca kirkiana Mull.Arg.), • Kei-apple (Dovyalis caffra (Hook.f. & Harv.) Sim), and • Mobola plum (Parinari curatellifolia Planch.ex Benth.).
In southern and west Africa we identified that monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa Lam.) In the south of the Sahel-Savannah region across Africa, especially in West African countries, we identified the balanite (Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile). The imbe (Garcinia livingstonei T. Anderson) is found in Uganda, the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland), South Africa, Somalia, Angola and Congo. We also identified the marula (Sclerocarya birrea (A.Rich.) Hochst. subsp. caffra (Sond.) Kokwaro). This is found in Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. Lastly, the wild medlar (Vangueria infausta Burch.) is found in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini and South Africa. The availability of fruits from these trees is guaranteed because of the different fruiting periods. This means they are able to meet the Our findings food and nutrition needs of the local communities. We conducted a literature search of African Our study also reported a rich phytochemical and 46
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nutritional content across the selected trees. These included fibre, minerals, carbohydrates, organic acids, fats, proteins, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc and vitamins. Many of the fruits contain well-known phytochemicals. These included s a p o n i n s , flavonoids, a l k a l o i d s , tannins, cardiac glycosides, t e r p e n e s , The doum palm is an indigenous tree in Kenya anthraquinones which produces edible fruit and phenolics. Examples of the biological activities demonstrated domestication of indigenous fruit trees in Africa. by fruit trees were anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and This would ensure a steady supply of fruit, nutrients and associated products. This, in turn, would have anti-inflammatory activities. Based on our findings, there is still a scarcity a positive impact on the economic and health of research investment and development for sectors in the region. The future of the 10 selected indigenous fruit the improvement of underutilised fruit trees trees is promising for Africa provided the coin Africa. Many still only grow in the wild. This limits their potential for higher yield and operation of different stakeholders is secured. growth. https://theconversation.com/africa-indigenousOther challenges identified were the inadequate fruit-trees-offer-major-benefits-but-theyre-beingignored-155312 baseline data on the nutritional properties, lowlevel acceptability and accessibility. Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu receives funding from the Indiscriminate and illegal use of the trees is also National Research Foundation, Pretoria, South Africa. He is a member of the South African Young Academy of Science a problem. What we recommend Africa’s key to future food-nutrition security may depend on the untapped potential of indigenous fruit trees. Particularly, the rich nutritional composition of indigenous fruits revealed a potential contribution to human diet. We argue that exploring the potential of these indigenous fruit trees in a holistic manner is a good starting point. This should include the 47
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(SAYAS) and Young Affiliate of the African Academy of Science (AAS).
Abiodun Olusola Omotayo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Image credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images
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Development - Agriculture
Total and Forêt Resources Management to Plant 40,000-Hectare Forest in the Republic of the Con TOTAL AND FORÊT RESSOURCES MANAGEMENT have signed a partnership agreement with the Republic of the Congo to plant a 40,000-hectare forest on the Batéké Plateaux. The new forest will create a carbon sink that will sequester more than 10 million tons of CO2 over 20 years, to be certified in accordance with the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) standards. The project, financed by Total, includes agroforestry practices developed with the local communities for agricultural production and sustainable wood energy. By 2040, responsible management through selective cutting (treatment of forests which aims to imitate nature by mixing together several species of different age) will promote the natural regeneration of local species and provide Brazzaville and Kinshasa with lumber and plywood. “With this project on the Batéké Plateaux, Total is committing to the development of natural carbon sinks in Africa. These activities build on the priority initiatives taken by the Group to avoid and reduce emissions, in line with its ambition to get to net zero by 2050. They will also help to showcase the Congo’s natural potential and to extend our long-term partnership with the country, where we have been present for fifty years, " said Nicolas Terraz, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration & Production at Total. “We want to develop these projects with recognized partners, such as FRM, who have a great deal to teach us, while concerting with relevant regions to anchor our commitment in the long term and contribute to local development,” added Adrien Henry, Vice President Nature Based Solutions at Total. The project is designed to produce multiple social, economic and environmental benefits.
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The planting of Acacia mangium and auriculiformis trees on sandy plateaux exposed to recurring bushfires will create a forest environment that will ultimately help broaden the ecosystems’ biodiversity. The project will create employment opportunities, with a positive impact on several thousand people. In addition, a local development fund will support health, nutritional and educational initiatives to benefit neighboring villages. “The more than 10 million hectares of land reserves on the Congo’s Batéké Plateaux offer a fantastic way to combat climate change at the global level and a unique opportunity for sustainable socio-economic development in isolated regions of the country,” noted Bernard Cassagne, Chairman and CEO of Forêt Ressources Management. “This ambitious and exemplary project is part of PRONAR, the national afforestation/reforestation program launched in 2011 to expand the country’s forest cover and increase carbon storage capacity, create new wood-based businesses to diversify the national economy, and foster the emergence of a green economy in the Republic of the Congo,” concluded Rosalie Matondo, Minister of the Forest Economy of the Republic of the Congo.
*** About Forêt Ressources Management The Forêt Ressources Management Group (FRM) is a major player in the wood, forestry and agroforestry plantation sector in Africa. FRM has more than 30 years of experience in forestry, tropical forests and consulting services for the wood industry. The CEO and his team of engineers have forged strong ties with forestry companies, the forest products and wood industries, local authorities, civil society DAWN
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a ngo and international lenders in numerous countries with major forestry challenges to manage existing resources or develop new resources through tree-planting programs. About Total Nature Based Solutions In line with its ambition to get to net zero emissions by 2050 and alongside its initiatives to avoid and reduce emissions, Total announced the creation of its new Nature Based Solutions (NBS) unit in June 2019 to develop natural carbon sinks to sequester the remaining tons of CO2 from its operations. Backed by an annual budget of $100 million, Total’s objective is to participate in the development of sustainable sequestration capacity of at least 5 million tons of CO2 per year from 2030, while contributing to the preservation of biodiversity, and the sustainable development of local communities. Cautionary Note This press release, from which no legal consequences may be drawn, is for information purposes only. The entities in which TOTAL SE directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. TOTAL SE has no liability for their acts or omissions. In this document, the terms “Total”, “Total Group” and Group are sometimes used for
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convenience. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. This document may contain forwardlooking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic, competitive and regulatory environment. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors. Neither TOTAL SE nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement, objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
www.total.com/media/news/press-releases/totaland-frm-to-plant-forest-in-congo Image credit: LinkedIn, lifepr.de DAWN
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Pandemic-Epidemic
Guinea Declares New Ebola Outbreak By Samb Saliou
GUINEA DECLARED A NEW EBOLA outbreak on Sunday, February 14th when tests came back positive for the virus after three people died and four fell ill in the southeast - the first resurgence of the disease there since the world’s worst outbreak in 2013-2016. The patients fell ill with diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a burial in Goueke subprefecture. Those still alive have been isolated in treatment centres, the health ministry said. “Faced with this situation and in accordance with international health regulations, the Guinean government declares an Ebola epidemic,” the ministry said in a statement. The person buried on Feb. 1 was a nurse at a local health centre and died after being transferred for treatment to Nzerekore, a city near the border 50
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with Liberia and Ivory Coast. The 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa started in Nzerekore, the proximity of which to busy borders hampered efforts to contain the virus. It went on to kill at least 11,300 people, with the vast majority of cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Fighting Ebola again will place additional strain on health services in Guinea as they also battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Guinea, a country of about 12 million people, has so far recorded 14,895 coronavirus infections and 84 deaths. The Ebola virus causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea and is spread through contact with body fluids. It has a much higher death rate than COVID-19, but unlike the coronavirus it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers. DAWN
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Pandemic-Health
Covid-19: Africa Vaccine Rollout off to a Slow Start By Peter Mwai
AFRICA HAS NOW RECORDED over 100,000 but many others will have to wait until later in the Covid-19 deaths and there is growing concern year for stocks to arrive. over delays in rolling out vaccination programmes. The first doses distributed under the Covax Some countries such as South Africa and see page 52 Zimbabwe have begun vaccination programmes,
The ministry said health workers are trying to trace and isolate the contacts of the Ebola cases and will open a treatment centre in Goueke, which is less than an hour’s drive from Nzerekore. The authorities have also asked the World Health Organization (WHO) for Ebola vaccines, it said. The new vaccines have greatly improved survival rates in recent years. “It’s a huge concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country that has already suffered so much from the disease,” the WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, was quoted as saying in a statement. Given how close the new outbreak is to the border, the WHO is working with health authorities
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in Liberia and Sierra Leone to beef up surveillance and testing capacities, the statement said. The vaccines and improved treatments helped efforts to end the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, which was declared over in Democratic Republic of Congo last June after nearly two years and more than 2,200 deaths. But on Sunday, DRC reported a fourth new case of Ebola in North Kivu province, where a resurgence of the virus was announced on Feb. 7th. www.reuters.com/article/us-health-ebola-guinea/ guinea-reports-first-ebola-cases-since-2016including-three-deaths-idUSKBN2AE08L Image credit: euractiv.com DAWN
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Pandemic-Health COVID-19
from page 51
international vaccine-sharing programme have now arrived in Ghana. How are African countries getting vaccines? There has been global competition to get hold of vaccines, and African countries have generally not been as successful as richer countries in securing supplies. "It is deeply unjust that the most vulnerable Africans are forced to wait for vaccines while lower-risk groups in rich countries are made safe," says Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. France President Emmanuel Macron has proposed that rich countries in Europe and the US share their vaccines with Africa. He says he wants some doses made available quickly for African countries. The ones which have so far got vaccines have largely done so through direct purchases from manufacturers, or as donations from countries such as China, Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). African countries have been hoping to get vaccines through international and regional schemes. The principal one is the global Covax initiative, in which countries pool their resources to support the development of effective vaccines with a view to ensuring that everyone gets a fair supply. How does the Covax scheme work? The WHO says it will initially deliver 90 million vaccine doses to African countries, enough to cover 3% of the continent's population. This will immunise those most in need of protection, including healthcare workers and other vulnerable groups. The final Covax target is to provide up to 600 million doses to Africa, enough to vaccinate at least 20% of the population by the end of 2021. How will vaccines be shared with poorer countries? But John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
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(CDC), says the vaccines provided "will not get the pandemic out" of the continent. He says African countries will eventually need to vaccinate at least 60% of their populations, with his target for this year being 35%. There's also an African Union plan to pool supply arrangements on behalf of all 55 countries in the continent. Africa's leading mobile network provider, MTN, has made a donation of $25m (£17.8m) to this plan to secure about seven million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for the continent's health workers. The CDC says an initial one million doses acquired through the MTN arrangement will be shipped to about 20 African countries by the end of February. It's not known yet which countries will receive these. Which African countries are already vaccinating? DAWN
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President Cyril Ramaphosa
Some countries started their programmes, but most have not. Currently, in North Africa, these are the countries vaccinating (and the vaccines being used): • Morocco (AstraZeneca and Sinopharm) • Algeria (Sputnik V) • Egypt (Sinopharm) • In sub-Saharan Africa, the countries vaccinating are: • South Africa (Johnson & Johnson) • Seychelles (Sinopharm and AstraZeneca) • Rwanda (reportedly using Pfizer and Moderna) • Mauritius (AstraZeneca) • Zimbabwe (Sinopharm) • Senegal (Sinopharm)
initiative, and expects to start administering them in March.
Ghana has received 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax
www.bbc.com/news/56100076
What's happened to vaccinations in South Africa? South Africa, the worst affected country on the continent, delayed an initial vaccination plan using the AstraZeneca vaccine due to concerns about its efficacy against a new variant of coronavirus. It started vaccinating on 17 February after receiving 80,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is administered as a single dose and has been shown to be effective against the variant. President Cyril Ramaphosa says the country has secured a total of nine million doses of this vaccine. Equatorial Guinea has received a batch of Pfizer has also committed to supply 20 million Sinopharm vaccine, but is yet to begin giving it to vaccine doses, with deliveries expected by the end the general public. of March. South Africa has offered the one million doses of Africa's long wait for Covid vaccines Guinea has administered only 60 doses of the the AstraZeneca vaccine it ordered from the Indian Russian Sputnik V vaccine - on an experimental supplier to the African Union, to distribute to other countries which might be interested in using it. basis.
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Pandemic-Health
What Can We Learn From Africa's Experience of Covid? By Laura Spinney
The race against Covid: children run past a mural featuring the coronavirus in the Kibera settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. The country’s total death toll stands at just over 1,800. Photograph: Brian Inganga/AP
Though a hundred thousand people have died, initial predictions were far worse, giving rise to many theories on ‘the African paradox’
major contributing factor – may not entirely explain the discrepancy. So what is really going on in Africa, and what does that continent’s experience of Covid-19 teach us about the disease and ourselves? AS AFRICA EMERGES FROM its second wave “If anyone had told me one year ago that we of Covid-19, one thing is clear: having officially would have 100,000 deaths from a new infection clocked up more than 3.8m cases and more than by now, I would not have believed them,” says 100,000 deaths, it hasn’t been spared. But the John Nkengasong, the Cameroonian virologist who death toll is still lower than experts predicted when directs the Africa Centres for Disease Control the first cases were reported in Egypt just over a and Prevention (CDC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. year ago. The relative youth of African populations Incidentally, he deplores the shocking normalisation compared with those in the global north – while a of death that this pandemic has driven: “One hundred
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thousand deaths is a lot of deaths,” he says. It’s also an underestimate. Under-reporting is happening all over the world, but the fragility of many African health systems and relative inaccessibility of tests – of which more than 35m have been carried out since the pandemic began, in a population of 1.2 billion – are exacerbating the problem there. A study soon to be published in the British Medical Journal (www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.22.202 48327v1.full), which involved postmortem PCR testing of 364 bodies at a university hospital morgue in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, showed that one in five were infected with the virus. Most had died before reaching hospital, without being tested. Christine Jamet, the Geneva-based director of operations for the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), says that it will take time to establish the full impact of the African epidemics, but the idea that the continent has had a mild brush with Covid-19 is wrong. Many African countries put measures in place at the same time as Europe last spring, before they had reported any cases – and flattened the initial curve far more effectively as a result – but they have been hit hard by the second wave. In the current hotspots, which include Eswatini, Malawi and Mozambique, “the hospitals are overrun,” Jamet says. “We have put tents up beside them to care for patients who wouldn’t otherwise have beds.” The situation has been aggravated by a shortage of oxygen – one reason, Nkengasong says, why the average case fatality rate (CFR) across Africa has recently overtaken the global average of 2.2%. It now stands at 2.6%. The CFR is itself a blunt instrument, since a “case” is harder to define – and with regard to managing the pandemic, less informative – than an infection, whether that infection produces symptoms or not. But testing is not good enough across Africa for the more useful infection fatality rate to be calculated. And yet, even accounting for under-reporting, Nkengasong believes that death is visible enough in African communities that he can say with confidence that overall, the disease has been less lethal there than in other regions. Along with his scientific colleagues on the Africa Task Force for Novel Coronavirus (Afcor), he agrees that this paradox can be explained mainly by the youth of African populations – the median age is 18 55
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– and the relatively low prevalence of comorbidities including obesity and diabetes, especially among the poorest. It’s hard to discern cause and effect in messy epidemiological data, especially when such data is scarce, but there is now substantial evidence supporting the idea that the most powerful predictors of Covid-19 mortality are age and comorbidities – something African experts say their local experiences confirm. The immunologist Hechmi Louzir, who directs the Pasteur Institute in Tunis, says that Tunisia – which was widely praised for its handling of the first wave, but has been less successful second time around – accounts for less than 1% of Africa’s population, but 6% of its reported Covid-19 cases to date. With a median age of 33, Tunisia has one of the oldest populations in Africa. In South Africa, meanwhile, the government’s chief adviser on the pandemic, the epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim, points to surveys conducted
TA teacher reads temperatures at a school in Lusaka, Zambia. Research suggests the nation’s death toll may be under-reported tenfold. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases that indicate white people are dying at higher rates than black people – the opposite of the situation in the UK and US. South Africa’s white population is older than its black one, on average. But within a given age group, Karim says, black people are slightly more likely to die than white people – an effect that is probably due to black people coming see page 56
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Pandemic-Health COVID-19
from page 55
forward later for treatment. That in turn is probably related to access to healthcare, since white South Africans are more likely to pay for private care. Though the quality of care is roughly the same in the public and private systems, Karim says, it might be harder to get seen at a public clinic. The greater risk of overcrowding there might also act as a deterrent. (There may also be a tradeoff in operation, Jamet says, with richer, older white people offsetting their greater vulnerability to Covid-19, to some extent, by seeking treatment earlier.) Many other theories have been proposed for what researchers have called “the African paradox (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7506193). The most controversial is probably that poverty protects: the idea being that people living in crowded settings such as townships, where social distancing is harder to achieve, may have been more exposed to coronaviruses related to the one that causes Covid-19 – including four that cause the common cold – and acquired some immunity to Covid-19 as a result. There is some evidence for such crossprotection, but the theory hasn’t stood the test of time. “If it was that these four coronaviruses protected you, we would see it in the slums of Mumbai and the favelas of Brazil, but we don’t,” says Karim. Infection with original variants of the Covid-19 virus doesn’t even necessarily protect against the new variant first described in South Africa, he says. The Texas-based wound care nurse Linda Benskin has made the case that high levels of vitamin D – which is made mainly in the skin when it is exposed to UVB radiation in sunlight – is protecting Africans against Covid-19, and on those grounds more than 200 scientists and medics signed an open letter in December, urging governments to act to boost vitamin D levels in other populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) remains unconvinced, however, and has placed suggestions that vitamin D supplements effectively treat Covid-19 (it doesn’t mention prevention) on its “Mythbusters” page. There, the idea rubs shoulders with the theories that hot, humid climates and antimalarial drugs related to hydroxychloroquine are protective – both unsupported, according to the WHO. Then there is the category of theory for which 56
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the jury is still out – that Africans’ genetic background may be playing a role, for example by influencing the prevalence of the ACE-2 receptor that the virus uses to break into human cells, or that African immune systems have been primed to fend off the virus, either by other kinds of vaccines or by high levels of infection with parasitic worms. Though it’s once again hard to demonstrate, most experts do seem disposed to agree that experience with other serious infectious diseases including Ebola – of which there John Nkengasong, the director are active outbreaks is hoping 60% of Africans will in the Democratic Tew Republic of the Congo and Guinea – prepared African populations to deal with Covid-19. “The government succeeded in quickly creating consensus on measures that were, a priori, drastic and unpopular,” says Amadou Sall, who heads up the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, of that country’s swift response to the first wave. “Contact tracing in countries like [the UK] is a theory,” says Nkengasong. “In our countries it’s a reality.” Jamet highlights the flipside of that: MSF’s skills have been in demand across Europe, she says, where “expertise in epidemic management has been completely lost”. For now, then, the African paradox persists. “We don’t have an explanation for why the impact has been lower,” says Karim. “It remains for me an unanswered question.” Nkengasong says that answers may not be forthcoming for years, and until then most theories remain on the table. One early prediction has already been disproved, however: that many Africans whose immune systems were weakened by HIV/Aids infection would die of DAWN
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of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, be vacinated by the end of 2022. Photograph: Michael welde/AFP via Getty Images Covid-19. Thankfully it didn’t happen, says Karim, for a reason that, in hindsight, appears obvious. The two diseases don’t affect the same age groups, since HIV is mainly a disease of the young in Africa. There is, however, some evidence that when those infected with HIV do catch Covid-19, their Covid-19 can be more severe. Ghana received the first African shipment of Covid-19 vaccine from the Covax initiative this week – 600,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. Vaccine programmes are getting under way on the continent, amid confusion caused by a lack of data on the prevalence of new variants in many countries (from the data there is, it looks as if the variant first described in the UK is spreading in west Africa, while the one first described in South Africa is spreading northwards from there), and a lack of data on how the various vaccines perform against those variants. The Africa CDC is trying to address the first problem by boosting sequencing efforts – it aims to have sequenced 50,000 viral genomes 57
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by December, up from around 7,000 now – and the second by gathering data on hospitalisations and deaths as the distribution of vaccines proceeds. Nkengasong’s goal is that 35% of Africans, mainly city-dwellers, should be vaccinated by the end of this year, and 60% by the end of 2022. That way, he says, it should be possible to reduce the continental epidemic to localised outbreaks, which can then be stamped out by public health campaigns – with the ultimate aim of ridding Africa of Covid-19 within five years. When he first proposed the 60% goal, he says, he was told by some beyond Africa that 20% was more realistic – the proportion of every population that is considered vulnerable to Covid-19. “But if you just vaccinate 20%, you remain a continent of Covid for ever,” he says. That’s because in Africa the disease is spread by the young, who are not considered vulnerable and who tend to experience mild or no symptoms, but often live in multigenerational households. Paradox or not, Nkengasong says, Africa can’t afford Covid-19. And speed is of the essence, where vaccination is concerned, because if it doesn’t happen quickly then immune escape will render the vaccines increasingly ineffective and elimination will move beyond the continent’s grasp. That’s the main reason why he and his Afcor colleagues condemn vaccine nationalism – both inside and outside Africa. The other reason is that in this hyperconnected world, Africa-with-Covid is bad for everyone. As Karim likes to repeat, “No one is safe until everyone is safe.” www.herald.co.zw/africa-finds-its-voice-aspresident-signs-factbook Image credit: semonegna.com
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Governance
Biden Reinstates Europe Travel Ban, Adds South Af By Michelle Baran
A NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER issued by President Joe Biden on January 25 reinstated a ban on travel to the United States from Europe and Brazil, and it comes as little surprise. After former President Donald Trump lifted the Europe and Brazil travel bans on January 18—just two days before the end of his term—White House press secretary and Biden spokesperson Jen Psaki immediately responded that the incoming Biden administration would not carry out Trump’s directive. “On the advice of our medical team, the [Biden] administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26,” Psaki tweeted on January 18. True to the tweet, Biden has signed a new order that maintains that foreign nationals who have been in the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, or Brazil in the last 14 days are barred from entering the United States—upholding a ban on inbound travel from those destinations 58
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that has been in place since mid-March 2020. Biden’s January 25 Presidential Proclamation also adds South Africa to the list of countries from which foreign nationals are now barred from entering the United States, a list that includes China and Iran. The new order cites variants of COVID-19 that have emerged in the U.K., Brazil, and South Africa as among the reasons that the CDC has concluded that these ongoing travel restrictions are needed. Exceptions to the ban include U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as the spouses, parents, legal guardians, siblings, and children under the age of 21 of citizens and permanent residents. Also exempted are those traveling to assist the U.S. government in the containment of the pandemic, air and sea crew members, diplomats, foreign officials, some members of international organizations and NATO, and U.S. Armed Forces members (and their spouses and children). DAWN
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frica While the proclamation remains in effect for as long as President Biden deems necessary, it also requires that the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services make a monthly recommendation to the president regarding whether the administration should continue, modify, or terminate the order. The January 25 decision comes one day before a new Biden-backed CDC mandate goes into effect requiring all international passengers flying into the United States who are age two and older— including returning U.S. citizens—to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding. An executive order signed by President Joe Biden on January 21 made the negative COVID test from international arrivals obligatory. That order also stated that all travelers entering the U.S. from a foreign country will now be required to “comply with other applicable CDC guidelines concerning international travel, including recommended periods of self-quarantine or self-isolation after entry into the United States.” The CDC recommends that international travelers get tested again 3 to 5 days after arrival from abroad and stay home for 7 days after travel, pending a negative test result, or self-quarantine for 14 days with no postflight test. The CDC’s guidelines for international travel are as follows: • Get tested 1–3 days before your flight— make sure to have actual results (not pending results) prior to traveling • If you have a positive result, do not travel • Get tested 3–5 days after your flight • Stay home for 7 days after traveling, even if you test negative • If you test positive for COVID-19 after you travel, isolate yourself and follow public health recommendations. Do not travel until you are no longer considered a transmission risk—this includes your return trip home • If you don’t get tested, it’s safest to stay home for 14 days after travel • Avoid those who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 for 14 days, whether you get tested or not
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The executive order that converts these recommendations into requirements comes amid reports of new variants of coronavirus emerging in countries such as the United Kingdom and South Africa that have shown to have increased transmissibility. “While it is known and expected that viruses constantly change through mutation leading to the emergence of new variants, these new variants have emerged at a time when numbers of new cases in the United States have continued to increase at alarming rates. Additional new virus variants are also likely to emerge as the virus continues to evolve and mutate. Accordingly, further action is needed to help mitigate the spread of these and other new virus variants into the United States,” the CDC stated upon requiring the preflight COVID test for international arrivals. Effective January 26, those arriving stateside on any international flights will need to provide proof of a negative PCR or antigen test, the results of which must be from no more than 72 hours prior to departure, according to the CDC. For those with a connecting flight, the test must be procured no more than 72 hours before the initial leg of their journey (provided the layover is not more than 24 hours). Airlines will be required to confirm the negative test result for all passengers before they board and to deny boarding to those passengers who choose not to take a test. Passengers under the age of two are exempt, as are airline crew members, federal law enforcement personnel, and U.S. military while on duty. Those who can show proof of a positive test result combined with a healthcare professional declaring that they have recovered and are cleared for travel from within three months of departure are also exempt from the negative COVID test requirement. No details have been provided regarding how and whether the posttravel quarantine requirement will be enforced. www.afar.com/magazine/biden-reinstates-europetravel-ban-adds-south-africa Image credit: Shutterstock
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Governance
President John Magufuli of Tanzania has Died TANZANIAN PRESIDENT JOHN MAGUFULI has died, the country’s vice president announced, after weeks of uncertainty over his health and whereabouts. In a televised address to the nation, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said the 61-year-old president had died of a “heart condition”, which he had suffered for 10 years at a hospital in DarEs-Salaam. Magufuli was first elected in 2015 on promises to tackle corruption Magufuli had first been briefly admitted and boost infrastructure development [File: Sadi Said/Reuters] to the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute on March 6, but was subsequently discharged, His government passed a raft of laws to increase Hassan said on state television. But he was rushed Tanzania’s stake in its mineral resources and to hospital again on March 14 after feeling unwell. demanded millions in back taxes from foreign After the death was announced, opposition mining companies. leader Zitto Kabwe said he had spoken to Hassan Magufuli was born in Tanzania’s northwestern to offer condolences for Magufuli’s death. Chato district, on the shores of Lake Victoria, “The nation will remember him for his contribution where he grew up in a grass-thatched home, to the development of our country,” Kabwe said in herding cattle and selling milk and fish to support a statement published on Twitter. his family. According to Tanzania’s Constitution, Hassan, 61, “I know what it means to be poor,” he often said. should assume the presidency for the remainder He was awarded a doctorate in chemistry from the of the five-year term that Magufuli began serving University of Dar es Salaam and also spent some last year after winning a second term. She is set to time studying at Britain’s University of Salford. become the country’s first female leader. Magufuli was a member of the ruling Chama Cha The announcement of the president’s death came Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has been in power after government denials that the president was ill. since independence from Britain in the early 1960s. Pressure mounted to explain his almost three-week A member of parliament since 1995, he held absence from public view, which sparked panic various cabinet portfolios, including livestock, and rumours he was seeking treatment abroad for fisheries and public works, where he earned the COVID-19. “Bulldozer” moniker. Magufuli was married with five children. The ‘Bulldozer’ Nicknamed the “Bulldozer”, Magufuli was elected www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/17/tanzanianin 2015 on promises to tackle corruption and boost president-john-magufuli-is-dead-vp (Edited by infrastructure development. Dawn staff ) He won plaudits for expanding free education, rural electrification and investing in infrastructure DAWN TRIBUTE: President John Magufuli made projects such as railways, a hydropower dam set Tanzania a Middle Income country: to double electricity output and the revival of the • He rejected a $10 billion loan from China. national airline. • He didn't go on state trips outside Africa. 60
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Tanzania Swears in Samia Suluhu Hassan as First Female President By Ebby Shaban, Bethlehem Feleke and Reuters (edited by Dawn staff)
TANZANIAN VICE PRESIDENT SAMIA SULUHU HASSAN was sworn in on March 19th as the country's first female president, two days after the death of President John Magufuli was announced. Hassan took the oath at the statehouse in the city of Dar es Salaam in a televised ceremony on state TV. In an address shortly after she was sworn in, Hassan said Magufuli's body would be moved to several locations around the country over the next few days for private and public farewell events. He will then be laid to rest in his hometown, Chato, on March 25, she said. Hassan announced the death of Magufuli, age 61, in a televised address Wednesday in which she said he "died of a heart ailment that he has battled for over 10 years." Described as a soft-spoken consensus-builder, • He reduced the cabinet's size from 30 to 19. • He banned Government officials from foreign trips & abolished their tax exemptions. • He reduced the salaries of top Government officials. • He accused UK company, Acacia Mining of illegal mining and ordered them to pay $193 billion for undervaluing Tanzania's gold exports. Over 250 containers of theirs were seized at Dar es Salaam port. They paid $300 million and gave Tanzania 16% ownership in 3 of their mines in the country. • Magufuli introduced free education in government schools in 2016. He acquired 6 Air Tanzania planes, expanded Terminal III of Julius 61
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Hassan will also be the country's first president born in Zanzibar, the archipelago that forms part of the union of the Republic of Tanzania, Reuters reports. Her leadership style is seen as a potential contrast from Magufuli, a brash populist who earned the nickname "Bulldozer" for muscling through policies. She will be faced with the task of healing a country that was polarized during the Magufuli years, analysts told Reuters, and building her own political base to govern effectively. www.cnn.com/2021/03/19/africa/tanzania-samiasuluhu-hassan-president-intl/index.htm Nyerere International Airport. • He built Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway, Mfugale Flyover, Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station, Ubungo Interchange, Dr. Magufuli built Selander Bridge, Kigongo-Busisi Bridge, Huduma Bora Za afya, Vituo Bora Za Afya, expanded Port of Dar es Salaam, Dodoma Bus Terminal, an LNG plant, a water project, a wind farm project, Uhuru Hospital project, a gold refinery plant, and Magufuli Bus Terminal. • He excelled in infrastructure and financial affairs. He faced numerous accusations of human rights abuses and was accused of repressing the opposition. He also banned explicit images or videos online. DAWN
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Governance
President Biden Invites 40 World Leaders to Leaders Summit on Climate PRESIDENT BIDEN HAS INVITED 40 world leaders to the Leaders Summit on Climate he will host on April 22 and 23. The virtual Leaders Summit will be live streamed for public viewing. President Biden took action his first day in office to return the United States to the Paris Agreement. Days later, on January 27, he announced that he would soon convene a leaders summit to galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis. The Leaders Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action. It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow. In recent years, scientists have underscored the need to limit planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. A key goal of both the Leaders Summit and COP26 will be to catalyze efforts that keep that 1.5-degree goal within reach. The Summit will also highlight examples of how enhanced climate ambition will create good paying jobs, advance innovative technologies, and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts. By the time of the Summit, the United States will announce an ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. In his invitation, the President urged leaders to use the Summit as an opportunity to outline how their countries also will contribute to 62
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stronger climate ambition. The Summit will reconvene the U.S.-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which brings together 17 countries responsible for approximately 80% of global emissions and global GDP. The President also invited the heads of other countries that are demonstrating strong climate leadership, are especially vulnerable to climate impacts, or are charting innovative pathways to a net-zero economy. A small number of business and civil society leaders will also participate in the Summit. Key themes of the Summit will include: ► Galvanizing efforts by the world’s major economies to reduce emissions during this critical decade to keep a limit to warming of 1.5 degree Celsius within reach. ► Mobilizing public and private sector finance to drive the net-zero transition and to help vulnerable countries cope with climate impacts. ► The economic benefits of climate action, with a strong emphasis on job creation, and the importance of ensuring all communities and workers benefit from the transition to a new clean energy economy. ► Spurring transformational technologies that can help reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, while also creating enormous new economic opportunities and building the industries of the future.
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► Showcasing subnational and non-state actors that are committed to green recovery and an equitable vision for limiting warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, and are working closely with national governments to advance ambition and resilience.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
► Discussing opportunities to strengthen capacity to protect lives and livelihoods from the impacts of climate change, address the global security challenges posed by climate change and the impact on readiness, and address the role of nature-based solutions in achieving net zero by 2050 goals. Further details on the Summit agenda, additional participants, media access, and public viewing will • be provided in the coming weeks. • President Biden invited the following leaders to • participate in the Summit: • • Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and • Barbuda • • President Alberto Fernandez, Argentina • • Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia • Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh • • Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bhutan • President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil • • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada • • President Sebastián Piñera, Chile • President Xi Jinping, People’s Republic of China • • President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia • • President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic • Republic of the Congo • Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark • • President Ursula von der Leyen, European •
Commission President Charles Michel, European Council President Emmanuel Macron, France President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India President Joko Widodo, Indonesia Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya President David Kabua, Republic of the Marshall Islands President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway President Andrzej Duda, Poland President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea President Vladimir Putin, The Russian Federation King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam www.whitehouse. gov/briefing-room/ statementsreleases/2021/03/26/ president-biden-invites40-world-leaders-toleaders-summit-onclimate Image credit: Thirteen WNET New York, Pinterest, distantvisions.net
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Governance
Increasing Humanitarian Assistance to Africa By Eliza Browning
CONGRESSMAN GREGORY MEEKS, WHO became the chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee in December 2020, vowed to bolster the U.S. Foreign Service in sub-Saharan Africa. Meeks, the first Black lawmaker to fill the role, will be influential in shaping U.S. foreign policy. He is a strong supporter of increasing diplomatic, humanitarian and commercial activities in the region. Through increasing humanitarian assistance to Africa, Meeks hopes to put it on the “front burner” of foreign policy and to dispel tensions throughout the continent. “My goal is to reset the United States’ relationship with Africa by focusing on shared challenges, expanding peopleto-people relationships and exchanges, developing partnerships to increase youth participation in the digital workforce, and championing a more robust presence across the continent,” Meeks said about 64
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his vision for the U.S.-Africa relationship.
New Policies Federal engagement with Africa has stagnated. The assistant secretary of African affairs, the top ambassador post to the region, remained vacant for almost two years under the Trump Administration. Meeks hopes to change this oversight by redefining America’s foreign policy. His role on the committee will enable him to influence new legislation in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Additionally, he will oversee foreign policy programs on trade, treaties, military actions, humanitarian aid and arms control. Meeks hopes to work collaboratively to encourage the autonomy of the African economy and African trade and increase humanitarian assistance to Africa for those most in need.
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By focusing his first event on Africa, Meeks prioritized the message that the United States values its collaborative relationship. His new policies aim to address environmental challenges, develop urban areas, support the African Continental Free Trade Area, improve digital infrastructure, promote election credibility and prevent conflict with the Global Fragility Act. This strategy will strengthen U.S.-Africa economic ties and provide support for new development and humanitarian relief efforts.
citizens for an inclusive democracy and partner on good governance and accountability.”
Conflict in Ethiopia Another key point of Meeks’s foreign policy will be the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. A government crackdown on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has led to the displacement of 2 million civilians, hundreds of deaths and widespread claims of human rights abuses. Despite this pressing need, humanitarian aid remains stunted. Ethiopian journalists have called for Eritrean troops to leave Ethiopia and a United Nations investigation into human rights abuses. In response, Meeks promised to address the conflict and called for a ceasefire that would enable greater humanitarian assistance.
Future Policy
Lawmakers are hopeful that Meeks’s appointment will revive an era of U.S.-Africa engagement that Meeks addressed the issues that the recent began under former President Bill Clinton. While Ugandan presidential election posted, which saw humanitarian assistance to Africa remained stable the re-election of Yoweri Museveni for a sixth in recent years, trade dropped significantly. Meeks term amid widespread claims of voter fraud. hopes that the new administration’s engagement Museveni is a close military ally of the U.S. and with international organizations and the lifting of has received hundreds of millions of dollars a travel ban on seven Muslim majority countries every year in the fight against terrorism in Africa. will lead to further cooperation. Meeks called for However, Ugandans have urged the United States new consulates in Mombasa, Kenya, Cairo, to help assure a peaceful transfer of power. The Egypt and Goma and for U.S. Embassy teams U.S. State Department told the New York Times for regional economic communities, boosting that it is considering restrictions and other options Africa’s economic growth and providing against Museveni. However, Meeks appears to further humanitarian aid. support a stronger stance on election integrity. w w w. b o r g e n m a g a z i n e . c o m / i n c r e a s i n g He says that the United States is approaching “an inflection point at which we need to think critically humanitarian-assistance-to-africa/ about how we can support the will of the Ugandan
Ugandan Presidential Elections
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Investment
African Stock Exchange/Bourse • Algeria • Angola • Botswana • Cameroon • Cape Verde Islands • Cote de Ivoire • Egypt • Ethiopia • Ghana • Kenya • Libya • Malawi • Mauritius • Morocco • Mozambique • Namibia • Nigeria
Algiers Stock Market Angola Stock Exchange and Derivatives Botswana Stock Exchange Douala Stock Exchange Bolsa de Valores of Cape Verde Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres UEMOA (Abidjan) The Egyptian Exchange Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Ghana Stock Exchange Nairobi Stock Exchange Libyan Stock Market Malawi Stock Exchange Stock Exchange of Mauritius Casablanca Stock Exchange Bolsa Valores de Mocambique Namibian Stock Exchange Nigerian Stock Exchange
• Rwanda • Seychelles • Somalia • South Africa
Rwanda Stock Exchange Seychelles Securities Exchange Somali Stock Exchange Bond Exchange of South Africa Johannesburg Stock Exchange
• South Sudan • Swaziland • Tanzania • Tunisia • Uganda • Zambia • Zimbabwe • Zimbabwe
Khartoum Stock Exchange Swaziland Stock Exchange Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange Tunisia Stock Exchange Uganda Securities Exchange Lusaka Stock Exchange Victoria Falls Stock Exchange Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
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www.sgbv.dz www.bodiva.ao www.bse.co.bw www.douala-stock-exc www.bvc.cv (in Portug
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Stocks Mirror the Economy Africa has around 29 stock exchanges representing 38 countries including two regional exchanges. Africa has become the newest destination for emerging markets investors. From 2000, according to the World Economic Forum, "half of the world's fastest-growing economies have been in Africa." By 2030 one in five people will be African. Combine the continent’s soaring population with technology, economic growth, increasing demand from its growing middle class, improvements in infrastructure, political stability, health and education, and Africa could be the next century’s economic growth powerhouse. Nobody can predict the growth trajectory with accuracy, but Africa is poised for growth. Profile: The Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) is the regional stock exchange of the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The Exchange is located in Abidjan but maintains market offices in each of the affiliated countries. Being both an economic and political institution, the BRVM is governed by the provisions of the OHADA Uniform Act relating to Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups. The operations of the Exchange are entirely digital making it a technical success story on the continent. Dealing members therefore need not be present on the premises of the central office but can engage from their own offices which the bourse guarantees equal access regardless of the economic operator's location. https://afx.kwayisi.org/
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Investment
Saraye Coffee: The Black Woman-Owned Brand Giving By Ayah A.
SARA GEBREMEDHIN MEET SARA GEBREMEDHIN, OWNER and founder of Saraye Coffee. A first generation Ethiopian American raised in Seattle, Sara grew up in the Tigray community. From a young age, she has been educated on Ethiopian history and immersed in the culture. “My parents did a great job of teaching me about my roots and family history,” she told Travel Noire. “I have always felt like I belonged to something bigger than America, something unique and rare. Saraye Coffee embodies what I have been taught my whole life. It’s not of me or a copy, it’s in me.” Saraye Coffee officially launched in January, however, the idea and planning began in 2018. “My partner is an entrepreneur and at the time, was opening a restaurant in Uganda. I was in Los Angeles pursuing my passion of acting and modeling and I was tired of working jobs just to pass time and pay bills. I
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knew I had more to offer, so I challenged myself.” “I put all my ideas to the test, and coffee felt like home. It felt like my mother and my grandmother back in Seattle catching up and laughing over coffee. I am a coffee lover at heart and I was making trips to Starbucks at least two to three times a day.” “No shade to Starbucks, but I remember being there after I decided to start my own company, and as I was waiting in line I noticed they sell Ethiopian coffee and have plenty of wall art representing the farms and culture of Ethiopia.” “Before I used to think ‘wow, isn’t that cool, my people are getting the recognition they deserve. Then it switched to, I can represent my people and support my land from the heart. I can tell our story.'” Sara’s love of coffee developed at a young age. In Ethiopian culture, there are traditional coffee
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g Back to Africa
ceremonies where one person makes and serves the coffee for guests. According to Sara, it is a whole production and has many elements— the coffee table, the clay Jebena, the cup and plate sets. You even light incense and pop some popcorn. As a child, Sara helped her mother set up for the coffee ceremony and serve the coffee. She recalls watching her mother host the ceremony daily, for friends, for family, or even just for herself. “Watching her with her friends and my aunties are some of my favorite memories–their story sharing and laughter. I wanted those same experiences for myself when I got older.” Saraye Coffe is single origin 100% arabica coffee beans imported directly from Ethiopia. The brand currently offers three flavors: Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Limu.
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Saraye was founded on four principles: family (tradition/culture), communication (conversations), giving back, and coffee. The company takes its commitment to giving back and building community seriously. “Growing up in the Tigray community, we always came together to support each other in any way. Although Saraye Coffee just launched, we have already been able to have an impact. We have donated money to the Tigrayian refugees in Sudan, helping around 400 families.” “We have also partnered with Desalu Naturals (http://desalunaturals.com) and, so far this quarter, we have been able to provide reusable sanitary pads to young women and children in Uganda.” This year, Saraye aims to send all aid to Africa. Next year, the company plans to build partnerships within the U.S. to help children in the foster care system and underprivileged communities. Saraye is currently preparing for a virtual event with YelpLA where they will go over the Ethiopian coffee ceremony step by step. In the future, Sara plans on opening coffee shops and bistros that incorporate the principles of Saraye Coffee and provide a meeting place for customers. “We plan to expand our wholesale partnerships and enter department stores. We want to host annual cultural events and provide scholarships for the youth. We also plan to grow in Africa and continue to share the culture of our country with more flavors of coffee and tea.” “There is so much more in store for Saraye Coffee! It embodies my family and my culture, and did I mention the coffee is delicious?” For more information, visit https://sarayecoffee. com and follow @sarayecoffe. https://travelnoire.com/saraye-coffee-black-woman-ownedgiving-back-to-africa Image credit: Saraye Coffee.
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Investment
UNEP Unveils Young Ch AN ENGINEER WHO TURNS plastic rubbish into paving stones. An activist who is fighting to save endangered salmon. And an inventor who developed a machine capable of pulling water out of the air. These are just some of the winners of the 2020 Young Champions of the Earth prize, announced on 15 December by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Drawn from seven regions around the world, these under-30 activists were heralded for their commitment to tackling some of the world’s most pressing environmental problems. “Globally, young people are leading the way in calling for meaningful and immediate solutions to the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – we must listen,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. This year’s Young Champions are Nzambi Matee (Kenya), Xiaoyuan Ren (China), Vidyut Mohan (India), Lefteris Arapakis (Greece), Max Hidalgo Quinto (Peru), Niria Alicia Garcia (United States of America) and Fatemah Alzelzela (Kuwait). Each will receive US$10,000 in seed funding and tailored training to help scale up their ideas. Many of those are groundbreaking – and the result of years of personal sacrifice. Matee, a materials engineer, quit her job and spent her life savings developing a system to turn discarded plastic into inexpensive paving stones. Garcia has devoted years working to save the Chinook salmon, whose numbers have long been in retreat in the American West. And Hidalgo worked with indigenous villages across Peru to develop a wind turbine that can siphon water from the air, an invention heralded as a lifeline for drought-prone communities. “As we enter this decisive decade where we work to cut emissions and protect and restore ecosystems, UNEP Young Champions demonstrate that all of us can contribute,” said Andersen. “Every single act for nature counts, 70
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Nzambi Matee
and we need the entire spectrum of humanity to share this global responsibility and this profound opportunity.” The Young Champions of the Earth prize – part of UNEP’s #ForNature campaign – aims to inspire more young people to become stewards of the environment. With pollution, species loss and climate change all accelerating, that is considered crucial to the future of the planet. The seven prize winners were selected by a global jury of experts following a public nomination process. DAWN
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hampions of the Earth Nairobi Woman Brilliantly Recycles Plastic Waste into Paver Bricks that are Stronger than Concrete MATERIALS ENGINEER AND ENTREPRENEUR Nzambi Matee is the founder Gjenge Makers (https://gjenge.co.ke), an environmentally-conscious start-up company in Nairobi, Kenya that makes alternative building materials and products made from plastic waste. One such product is a supersturdy plastic paver brick that is stronger than concrete and comes in a range of colors for home construction projects. Matee told UNEP that there is a lot of potential in recycled plastic that is still yet unexplored. It is absurd that we still have this problem of providing decent shelter – a basic human need. …Plastic is a material that is misused and misunderstood. The potential is enormous, but it’s after life can be disastrous. Matee has also won prestigious recognition for her idea. For her work, Matee was recently named a Young Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award provides seed funding and mentorship to promising environmentalists as they tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. Their elevation follows the announcement earlier this week of the 2020 Champions of the Earth, the UN’s highest environmental honour, awarded to seasoned environmental leaders whose actions are having a transformative impact on the environment. 71
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www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/unep-unveilsyoung-champions-earth https://laughingsquid.com/woman-recycles-plasticwaste-into-strong-bricks/ www.unenvironment.org/championsofearth Image credits: Gjenge Makers DAWN
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Investment
Newest Initiatives of JPMorgan Chase's $30 Billion Commitment Emerge to Help Black Business in America and Globally By Jeffrey McKinney
COMPANIES ACROSS AMERICA HAVE committed tens of billions of dollars to racial equity. The promises by corporate giants last year were part of a big-picture move to fight concerns about systemic racism after the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests. By far, the biggest vow came from JPMorgan Chase last October after the nation’s largest bank pledged $30 billion over five years to help diminish the racial wealth and opportunity gap. The oath is huge, accounting for a hefty chunk of the combined commitments by U.S. companies overall. It marks the largest pledge by the New York-based bank ever to help Black American individuals and entrepreneurs achieve economic parity and racial equality. All in all, the pledge could boost Blacks’ ability to build new wealth, buy homes, start or expand businesses, and benefit from the philanthropic efforts. Simultaneously, the commitment is clearly needed. Numerous reports show wealth for Black American families remains much lower than for their White peers, a longtime trend. Black businesses have been hit harder by revenue loss and closures than other racial groups. That has been largely true recently amid COVID-19 as minority firms struggle to gain traditional bank financing and other types of capital. “Black, Latinx, and women entrepreneurs face historic challenges to accessing the capital and other resources needed to keep their doors open during the pandemic and ultimately have the opportunity to grow long-term,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co. “Now more than ever, business has a responsibility to help solve societal problems. We’re pulling 72
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together our business resourc es, philanthropy and policy expertise to address the Brian Lamb, Global Head of Diversity racial wealth & Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase gap, give underserved small businesses the support they need to grow, and build a more inclusive economy.” In its march to help, JPMorgan is making good on its Path Forward (www.jpmorganchase.com/ impact/path-forward) commitment by implementing some tangible actions to jumpstart the massive commitment. The latest is a $350 million, five-year global commitment to grow Black, Latinx, women-owned and other underserved small businesses, helping close the racial wealth divide and create a more inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 40% of the pledge will be low-cost loans and equity investments, removing a critical barrier for Black, Latinx, women and other underserved entrepreneurs. Further, the bank is introducing data-driven policy solutions to boost capital access for historically underserved entrepreneurs. In another undertaking, part of a collaboration with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and a network of Community Development Financial institutions (CDFIs), JPMorgan Chase is investing $42.5 million in low-cost loans and philanthropy to expand the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund. The fund now operates in five U.S. cities. The pledge will scale the fund to reach new U.S. cities in 2021. The action includes a goal to DAWN
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create a nationwide program providing low-cost loans and technical aid to minority-owned small businesses through CDFI partners over time. An additional move is pledging support to Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) and diverse-led CDFIs. Specifically, JPMorgan Chase is launching Empowering Change in partnership with the MDIs and CDFIs to provide economic opportunity to underserved communities. The program will introduce a new money market share class to be distributed solely by the Harbor Bank of Maryland, Liberty Bank and Trust, M&F Bank and Unity National Bank. Those firms are on the latest BE Banks list of the nation’s largest Blackowned banks. The ability to distribute J.P. Morgan’s money market funds could help the Black banks generate new sources of revenue from institutional clients. And tech giant Google is the anchor investor in the program, with a commitment to invest $500 million in the Empower share class. Plus JPMorgan Chase has committed to an annual donation of 12.5% of revenue gained from the management fees on Empower share class assets that will be used to support community development. Further, JPMorgan plans to invest $50 million in Black and Latinx-led MDIs and community development financial institutions. The bank just confirmed it has already invested $40 million in the parent companies of four Blackowned banks: Carver Federal Savings Bank in New York City and Broadway Federal Bank in Los Angeles, along with Liberty Bank and Trust and M&F Bank. Carver Federal and Broadway Federal also are on the BE Banks list. By mid year, JPMorgan Chase expects to boost its investments in MDIs to include Latinxled institutions. All told, the investments and commitments could bring access to as much as $500 million in community lending nationally. JPMorgan says the capital will help MDIs create wealth in communities and grow local businesses. Plus the funding could be used by Black banks for several other purposes, including to supply more loans to consumers and businesses, expand operations and open branches to serve more communities, and invest in new technology. The bank’s investment also comes when many 73
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minority businesses, including Black banks, are still reeling from the effects of the so-called pandemic economy and trying to conquer those challenges. “The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the racial inequalities in the U.S., which puts a strain on families’ economic mobility and impedes the continued growth of our economy,” said Brian Lamb, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase. “We know these crucial institutions create lasting change for Black and Latinx families and we hope our support will help uplift the people and businesses that are the backbone of our local economies.” In a game-changing move, JPMorgan Chase reports it is co-investing up to $200 million with Ariel Alternatives to form a new class of Black and Latinx entrepreneurs in the middle market space. It will occur through Ariel Alternatives’ Project Black initiative. Chicago-based Ariel Investments just launched Ariel Alternative as a private asset management firm. The fund seeks to invest and scale minority-owned businesses to close the racial wealth gap. It marks the first time in the first Black-owned mutual fund’s 38-year history that such an effort was started. Ariel Investments is No. 1 on the BE Asset Managers list. On the housing front, JPMorgan Chase just expanded its grant program to $5,000 to help more customers cover closing costs and down payments when buying a home in 6,700 minority U.S. neighborhoods. Eligible customers can get another $500 by completing a certified education course. Part of Path Forward, the drive includes helping an additional 40,000 Black or Latinx families buy a home over the next five years. The bank declares the grant is geared for the 6,700 communities identified by the U.S. Census as majority Black as that is where the lowest homeownership rates are. The Black homeownership rate in 2019 fell to 42.1%, the lowest among all minority groups. JPMorgan Chase contends it will continue to expand its programs to help increase homeownership nationally. www.blackenterprise.com/newest-initiatives-ofjpmorgan-chase-30-billion-commitment-emergeto-help-black-americans Image credit: JPMorgan Chase
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Investment
First Black-Owned Mutual Fund Secures $200 Million to Launch ‘Project Black’ By Charlene Rhinehart
ARIEL INVESTMENTS, THE FIRST black-owned mutual fund firm in the USA, announced the launch of Ariel Alternatives and the Project Black initiative. The firm is stepping into the private fund business with a $200 million commitment from JPMorgan Chase. Led by Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson and global investment manager Leslie A Brun, the fund seeks to invest and scale minorityowned businesses to close the racial wealth gap. “It is no secret that the racial wealth gap in America continues to widen, day by day, says Brun in a release. “While we have been encouraged and inspired by the supply chain diversity commitments recently made by large corporations, we believe that it is time to accelerate these promises with real, measurable steps. Our work will aim to bring operational excellence, financial resources, minority ownership, and leadership to these companies.”
(l-r) Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson and global investment manager Leslie A Brun
Introducing Ariel Alternatives ‘Project Black’ Initiative Founded in 1983 by John W. Rogers, Jr., Ariel Investments (www.arielinvestments.com) has grown to manage $15 billion in assets by leveraging a patient investment philosophy. Now, the company is embarking on a new journey through the establishment of its private asset management firm, Ariel Alternatives. The firms’ first mission: Project Black. The goal is to invest and scale minority-owned businesses that can become leading suppliers to Fortune 500 companies. The project will focus on suppliers to various industries, including transportation, technology manufacturing, and media and marketing, 74
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Project Black Vision According to a release, Project Black (www. arielinvestments.com/content/view/3991/1850/) will invest in middle-market companies that are not currently minorityowned. The entities will be transformed into certified minority business enterprises, as well as existing Black and Latinxowned businesses. The team hopes that Project Black will “forge a new class DAWN
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of Black and Latinx entrepreneurs” and support supply chain diversity goals. These goals will have a trickle-down effect, boosting economic activity, increasing jobs, and providing access to opportunities for underrepresented populations at all levels. Ultimately, the project will play an instrumental role in closing the racial wealth gap. “Through Project Black, we plan to ultimately disperse opportunity throughout underrepresented communities. We want to change the narrative and foster true action and demonstrable change,” says Ariel’s coCEO Mellody Hobson, in the release. JPMorgan Chase Provides Initial Funding According to the Chicago Tribune, Project Black was born from a conversation between JPMorgan CEO and Hobson. In 2018, JPMorgan Chase elected Hobson to Ariel Investments co-CEO John W. Rogers, Jr. its board of directors. Dimon and Hobson discussed ways to promote minority-owned businesses and the new fund was created. more and do better to break down systems that JPMorgan is supporting the efforts of Project have propagated racism and widespread economic Black by providing $200 million in initial funding. inequality, especially for Black and Latinx people. This investment is part of the firm’s goals to advance It’s long past time that society addresses racial racial equity. In October, the firm announced a inequities in a more tangible, meaningful way.” $30 billion commitment. Over the next five years, www.blackenterprise.com/first-black-ownedthis capital will provide economic opportunities to mutual-fund-secures-200-million-to-launchunderserved communities. (see pages 60-61) project-black “Systemic racism is a tragic part of America’s Image credit: Chicago Tribune, tmcnet.com history,” said Dimon in a statement. “We can do
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Investment
Nigeria’s Plentywaka gets Backing from Techstars, Plans Expansion to Canada By Tage Kene-Okafor PLENTYWAKA, A NIGERIAN BUS-BOOKING platform, announced that it has been accepted into the Techstars Toronto accelerator program. It will join nine other startups in the class of 2021 and secure funding from the accelerator as it sets its sights on global expansion. The Lagos-based company, founded by Onyeka Akumah, Johnny Ena, John Shaibu and Afolabi Oluseyi, operates an ‘Uber-for-buses’ model connecting commuters with buses via an app. Plentywaka launched in September 2019, and in the first two months, moved an average of six people daily, according to CEO Akumah. By its sixth month, this number increased to about 1,500 daily, and the company completed more than 100,000 rides within that timeframe. Then in March 2020, the pandemic-induced lockdown hit businesses across Lagos and other states within Nigeria. Due to the nature of its business, Plentywaka had to make a slight pivot and began transporting essential services across Lagos, especially food items. It also opened a logistics service. As the lockdown eased across the city and commuting resumed, the company moved 60% capacity while the operational cost remained the same. Although growth was steady and picking up, the company started seeking external investment. It received $300,000 pre-seed from its parent company, EMFATO and other early-stage investors like Microtraction and Niche Capital in August. Backed with the new funding, Plentywaka has since doubled down on its core offering — transporting people via buses. The logistics arm that it launched, as well as a car service, have since been shuttered. Akumah says the focus on a primary offering has paid a dividend. The company has expanded its
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intrastate services into two other cities in Nigeria including the country’s capital city, Abuja and has moved about 300,000 people. Following this announcement though, there are immediate plans to launch an interstate service across different cities in Nigeria. This service will see Plentywaka partner with some major bus travel companies, which collectively have more than 2,000 buses and ply over 100 routes in the country. Plentywaka acts as an aggregator, and commuters can see options of various transport companies, compare fares, and book on its platform. “Plentywaka is getting to a point where we’re now becoming more like an aggregator as we
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onboard transportation companies on our platform. Interstate travel in Nigeria is data insufficient, and we want to be the first company to solve this.” Ena, co-founder and president of Plentywaka, said to TechCrunch. In addition to this and the new capital from Techstars, Plentywaka is looking to scale its platform across Africa and North America. Akumah says this global expansion plan will start with a city in Canada, most likely Toronto, on or before Q4 2021. Sunil Sharma, the managing director of Techstars Toronto, confirmed this to TechCrunch. According to Sharma, Techstars is backing the Nigerian mobility startup because it’s solving a massive problem in Nigeria that can be likened to urban transportation challenges in other populated cities worldwide. “We know that Western cities have legacy transportation systems. However, there are many transportation challenges, even in a city like Toronto,” he said. “And we think that Plentywaka’s technology and approach in improving the lives of citizens and their daily commute needs can be
brought over to cities in the West just as they are in Africa.” Plentywaka plans to launch its intracity service first after engaging the country’s necessary stakeholders before introducing the intercity model. Sharma thinks that most cities in Canada aren’t well serviced by buses, leading to a broken intercity transit infrastructure. Plentywaka’s presence will bring the much-needed option the city deserves, he says. “Cities and towns here should have bus connectivity, but they quite simply don’t have it, and my view is that the arrival of Plentywaka will be an immediate option to the status quo. It will also resonate with people as a way to supplement existing transportation options,” he said. Techstars’ relationship with Akumah also proved crucial in Plentywaka’s acceptance into the accelerator. A second-time Techstars-backed founder, Akumah co-founded Farmcrowdy, a Nigerian digital agriculture platform in 2016. Having gone through the accelerator’s Atlanta program four years ago with the agritech startup, Akumah is doing the same with Plentywaka. He doubles as CEO at both companies. The serial founder said the relationship with Techstars is one reason the company is expanding to Canada instead of neighbouring African countries. “If the opportunity we have in Toronto right now to expand was similar to what we had in Ghana or South Africa, of course we’ll be having those conversations already. But when we have the support system from Techstars, Sunil, and regulators in Toronto without even putting feet on the ground, I mean that makes it exciting for us to expand to Canada,” the CEO remarked. Nigerian or African startups, in general, rarely make their way into Canada. Plentywaka is on the verge of doing so, and it will be looking to close a seed round from investors to carry out these expansion plans and further improve its technology. https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/17/nigeriasplentywaka-gets-backing-from-techstars-plansexpansion-to-canada Image credit: Plentywaka
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Investment
Bezos Backs Start-Up in Maiden Africa Investment By Bella Genga
JEFF BEZOS AGREED TO back Africa-focused financial technology company, Chipper Cash (https://chippercash.com), making it his first start-up investment on the continent. The world’s richest man’s personal venture capital fund, Bezos Expeditions, supported the Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital, which raised $30 million for the San Fransisco-based company. Bezos’s backing of Chipper Cash will “widen the company’s product suite through inclusion of more business payment solutions, crypto-currency trading options, and investment services,” the company said in an emailed statement. Chipper Cash enables instant cross-border mobile money transfers in Africa and abroad and will use the funds for expansion into countries it will announce in 2021. The company has 3 million users on its platform across Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa, and processes an average of 80,000 transactions daily, according to the statement. “We are responding to the demand from customers on our P2P platform who also have business enterprises,” Chipper Cash Chief Executive Officer Ham Serunjogi said in the statement. www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ billionaire-bezos-backs-start-up-in-maiden-africainvestment/ar-BB1bgJdt
Top: Jeff Bezos Middle: Chipper Cash Co-Founders Maijid Moujaled from Ghana and Ham Serunjogi from Uganda Bottom: Chipper Cash logo
Image credit: © Bloomberg, nairametrics.com, web.chippercash.com
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Investment
ZCCM-IH Shareholders Endorse 90% Acquisition in Zambia's Mopani By Reuters Staff
SHAREHOLDERS IN ZAMBIA’S ZCCMIH (Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines) have overwhelmingly supported its acquisition of a 90% stake in Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), the stateowned mining investment firm said on Wednesday. Glencore agreed the sale of its majority stake in Mopani to ZCCM-IH in a $1.5 billion deal, the miner and trader said in January. The extraordinary general meeting vote on the resolution was the last condition towards the completion of the transaction and ZCCM-IH now holds 100% ownership of Mopani, ZCCM-IH said in a statement. The deal is funded by borrowings from Carlisa Investments Corp - a British Virgin Islands-based company through which Glencore holds its stake and other members of the Glencore group. With increased ownership, ZCCM-IH would now be an active participant in the global industry as
copper becomes a critical metal, ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Mabvuto Chipata said. “Mopani will repay the remaining debt of $1.5 billion from its own cashflows and the repayment is expected to happen well within the remaining life of the mine,” Chipata said. Glencore said in a separate statement it would continue to retain offtake rights in respect of Mopani’s production. ZCCM-IH has said it expects to find a new investor for Mopani by the end of the year as it looks to boost copper output from a little more than 34,000 tonnes to 150,000 tonnes. www.reuters.com/ article/uk-mopanicopper-m-a-zccm-ih/ zccm-ih-shareholdersendorse-90-acquisitionin-zambias-mopaniidUSKBN2BN1UZ
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Investment
NigeriaMorocco Gas Pipeline to Materialize “as soon as possible” By ogrepublic
an agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari Corporation (NNPC) and Morocco’s National Board of THE HEADS OF STATE OF NIGERIA AND Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), and is MOROCCO have reaffirmed their commitment to expected to improve access to energy across the the construction of a joint gas pipeline – according West African region while facilitating gas exports to Europe. to a report from Morocco World News. NNPC and ONHYM presented the pipeline During a telephone conversation with King Mohammed VI recently, Nigerian President proposal at a special meeting of the Economic Muhammadu Buhari expressed his country’s Community of West African States in August determination to materialize, “as soon as possible,” 2019. The project of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline, the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project. The conversation between the two heads of meanwhile, has been progressing at a fast pace state was a solid indicator that Nigeria, which since it was proposed in December 2016. In less was considering two similar projects — one with than five years, the project has reached the second Morocco and another with Algeria — has made up phase of front-end engineering design. In 2019, after Morocco’s National Office for its mind about which project is best. The project of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) and the has been competing for a few years with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Nigeria-Algeria pipeline project, known as the ended their feasibility study, the Economic Trans-Saharan pipeline. From Morocco’s and Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Algeria’s perspectives, the contest was especially spoke positively of the project and expressed its fierce because it is highly unlikely for Nigeria to readiness to assist its implementation. For many observers, the Nigeria-Morocco materialize two projects with similar, even identical pipeline has garnered international support objectives. The pipeline – estimated to cost $25 billion – will because it would not only benefit the countries serve as an extension of the existing West African launching the project, but all the West African Gas Pipeline currently serving Benin, Togo and states located off the Atlantic coast. Ghana, as well as connect with Spain through https://oilandgasrepublic.com/nigeria-moroccoCádiz. gas-pipeline-to-materialize-as-soon-as-possibleThe 5,660-km pipeline is the brainchild of heads-of-state 80
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Technology/Science
Moroccan University Inaugurates Africa’s Most Powerful Supercomputer By Jasper Hamann
MOHAMMED VI POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY (UM6P) has officially launched its new datacenter that hosts Africa’s most powerful supercomputer. The new entity at UM6P will provide high performance computing (HPC) to boost research on the African continent. UM6P launched its new African Supercomputing Center (ASCC) in partnership with the University of Cambridge and technology firms Dell and Intel. The ASCC aims to provide resources for vital research in Africa in topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Genomics, Food Security, Agriculture and Mining. As Africa’s premier supercomputer, the ASCC has amazing capacities. The supercomputer contains over 69000 CPU cores, over 8000 terabytes of storage, and more than 1300 servers for its networking capabilities. It has “a clear and well-developed vision to create a world class Supercomputing Centre with the largest HPC system in Africa, acting as a technological beacon, demonstrating global research leadership,” UM6P announced in a press release. The new supercomputer hopes to “solve African research problems in both academia and industry and create the next generation of computational 81
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scientists and digital entrepreneurs.” Over the past decades high performance computing has become an essential tool for scientists. “Today, to out-compute is to outcompete,” explained the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing. The new datacenter at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is now set to accelerate research at the university and provide a new valuable research tool for scientists in Morocco and across Africa. According to UM6P, the new platform will start “building research momentum and inspiring a generation of African students with HPC technology leadership.” Besides its contribution to Africa, the supercomputer will also “help guarantee the digital sovereignty of the Kingdom and to develop new 100% Moroccan digital services,” noted UM6P. www.moroccoworldnews.com/2021/02/335518/ moroccan-university-inaugurates-africas-mostpowerful-supercomputer Image credit: datacenterdynamics.com, ResearchGate
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Technology/Science
World Inequality Database THE WORLD INEQUALITY DATABASE (WID. WORLD) aims to provide open and convenient access to the most extensive available database on the historical evolution of the world distribution of income and wealth, both within countries and between countries. it possible to compare over long periods of time and across countries the income shares captured HISTORY OF WID.world During the past fifteen years, the renewed by top income groups (e.g. the top 1%), they interest for the long-run evolution of income contributed to reveal new facts and refocus the and wealth inequality gave rise to a flourishing discussion on rising inequality. In principle, all the top income share series literature. These projects generated a large volume of data, intended as a research resource respond to the same general methods: following for further analysis, as well as a source to inform the pioneering work of S. Kuznets (1953), they use the public debate on income inequality. To a large income tax data, national accounts, and Pareto extent, this literature follows the pioneering work interpolation techniques to estimate the share of of Simon Kuznets 1953, and A. B. Atkinson and total income going to top income groups (typically Alan Harrison 1978, and extends it to many more the top decile and the top percentile). However, despite researchers’ best efforts, the units of countries and years. observation, the income concepts, and also THE WORLD TOP INCOMES DATABASE the Pareto interpolation techniques were never (2011) made fully homogeneous over time and across The World Inequality Database was initially countries. Moreover, for the most part attention created as the The World Top Incomes has been restricted to the top decile, rather than Database (WTID) in January 2011 with the aim the entire distribution of income and wealth. These of providing convenient and free access to all the elements pointed to the need for a methodological existing series. Thanks to the contribution of over re-examination and clarification. a hundred researchers, the WTID expanded to include series on income inequality for more than FROM INCOME INEQUALITY TO WEALTH thirty countries, spanning over most of the 20th INEQUALITY One reason is the growing recognition that, in and early 21st centuries, with over forty additional seeking explanations for rising income inequality, countries now under study. The key novelty has been to combine fiscal, we need to look not only at wages and earned survey and national accounts data in a systematic income but also at income from capital. Income manner. This allowed us to compute longer and from interest, from dividends, and from rents more reliable top income shares series than represents a minority of total personal income, but previous inequality databases (which generally it is nonetheless significant, especially at the top of rely on self-reported survey data, with large under- the distribution. In January 2017, with the objective of reaching reporting problems at the top, and limited time span). These series had a large impact on the yet a wider audience of researchers and general global inequality debate. In particular, by making public, we released the first version of the more user-friendly website, WID.world, hosting the 82
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World Inequality Database. These changes come along with a new ambition. Thanks to the continuous cooperation of the WID.world Fellows, we pursue our efforts to expand the database into three major directions. First, we keep expanding the time coverage and the geographical coverage of the database, in particular to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. We also keep updating the database with new observations, as official bodies release the necessary information each year. Additionally, we will progressively include inequality series at the sub-national level whenever possible (series of top income shares for each state in the United States are already available, as well as for urban and rural China). Next, we plan to provide more series on wealth-
income ratios and the distribution of wealth, and not only on income. Third, we aim to offer series on the entire distribution of income and wealth, from the bottom to the top, and not only for top shares. The overall long-run objective is to be able to produce Distributional National Accounts (DINA), that is, to provide annual estimates of the distribution of income and wealth using concepts of income and wealth that are consistent with the macroeconomic national accounts. This also includes the production of synthetic income and wealth micro-files, which will also be made available online. We also provide a new set of research tools for scholars, journalists, or any interested user in the production of their own inequality datasets. They can be run directly from our website with no prior technical knowledge. Users can also download and install our open-access R-language codes on their computers. https://wid.world
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Technology/Science
The Big Future of Satellite Internet Just Took a Promising Step Forward By David Gossman
SOME OF THE BIGGEST COMPANIES IN THE WORLD, like Amazon and SpaceX, are looking towards space for the future of the Internet. Satellite-based Internet is a nascent enterprise, but analysts believe that broadband Internet beamed to Earth from orbit could be a massive business in fewer than 20 years, earning hundreds of billions of dollars (www.morganstanley.com/ Themes/global-space-economy). Attention has focused on the “space” part of “space Internet,” with news stories focused on the rocket launches getting SpaceX's Starlink satellites (www.inverse. com/innovation/spacex-starlink-beta-test-how-tosign-up) into space, and how Amazon plans to catch up with satellites of its own (www. inverse.com/innovation/amazon-kuiper). But all of
these satellites will need transceivers on Earth to send and receive data. Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a new one that is made to work with the next generation of Internet satellites.
(www.titech.ac.jp/english/news/2020/047487.html) Socionext Inc. (socionext.com) have built
WHAT ARE TRANSCEIVERS? Unassuming pieces of tech, they are some of the least-flashy, but most important, components in history. A transceiver is a device that can both transmit and receive signals, hence the name. Combining a transmitter and a receiver into one device allows for greater flexibility and since their development in the 1920s, they’ve been used to reach remote locations. One the earliest transceivers, invented by the Australian John Traeger, was used to help doctors reach remote villages. THE NEW TRANSCEIVER The new transceiver, designed for space internet technology, was developed at Kenichi Okada's 84
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lab at Tokyo Tech and presented recently at the virtual IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (https://rfic-ieee.org/technical-program/ technical-sessions?type=Tu2B-4&date=2020-06-23) , the new device has a number of improvements on both the transmitting and receiving ends of the business. All of these developments are geared toward providing Internet access in rural and remote areas. At only 3 mm (0.118 inches) by 3 mm, the transceiver can communicate with satellites over 22,000 miles above the Earth’s atmosphere. "Satellite communication has become a key technology for providing interactive TV and broadband internet services in low-density rural areas. Implementing Ka-band communications using silicon — [complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor] technology in particular — is a promising solution owing to the potential for global DAWN www.africabusinessassociation.org
coverage at low cost and using the wide available bandwidth," Okada said in a statement released by Tokyo Tech. On the receiving end, the transceiver uses dualchannel architecture. That translates into two receiving channels being able to attain signals from two different satellites simultaneously. If there’s ever any interference, be it from a malicious actor, a satellite breaking down in space, or the odd solar flare, it can effortlessly pick up another signal. It can also handle one of the worst issues to plague any transceiver: adjacent channel interference or ACI (www.networkcomputing.com/wireless-infrastructure/ reducing-wifi-channel-interference). ACI occurs when a signal sent on one channel begins to overlap with another, adding noise and interference. The new transceiver’s dual-channel architecture can stop ACI at the source, any interference is eliminated by adjacent channels. ACI is the type of problem that can frequently occur in remote areas, and eliminating it allows the device to extend its range even further. On the transmitting side, Okada tells Inverse over email that the device’s “transmitting power was the biggest challenge” for the new transceiver. Not only does it have to work, but it has to be costeffective for companies like Amazon and SpaceX
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to show any consideration. Two RX channels support (a) dual polarization and (b) frequency multiplexing.Tokyo Institute of Technology and Socionext Inc. That meant using semiconductors known for the efficiency, as well as transistors made of the littleknown compound Gallium arsenide, which has the lovely acronym of GaAs. GaAs transistors are superior to their more common silicon in a number of ways, and Okada tells Inverse that getting the semiconductors and GaAs transistors to work together is “is the most important technology for the transceiver design.” WHO THIS HELPS — It’s not just space-based Internet that could benefit from the design that Okada and his team have developed. Okada tells Inverse that balloon-based Internet, the type currently being implemented by Alphabet’s Loon in Kenya, could also use this improved transceiver. In emergency situations with poor to non-existent Internet, the type that Loon, Starlink, and now Amazon’s Kuiper want to solve, every advantage can count. And now, one of the biggest advantages might come on the ground. www.inverse.com/innovation/satellite-internettransceiver
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Lifestyle/Culture
Africa's Hit Science Show for Kids is Coming to the U.S. via The Africa Channel By Amy Fallon
LORRAINE OLOLIA IS 10. She lives in Kampala, Uganda. And she recently came up with a new career goal. A TV show about science, produced by teachers from her junior high school, has inspired her. She's watched an episode on computer programming, another where two young explorers visit her country's Lake Victoria to talk about wetlands and learned how to make a model of a digestive tract at home using bowls, crackers, water, food coloring, bananas and oranges. She's even appeared on the show, making and launching a rocket with her friend Samantha. And now she wants to pursue a career in science. "It's boys who do all the fun stuff and sometimes a girl like me gets a little left out," she says. "But girls can be scientists and go to the moon." The show is called N*Gen (pronounced "engine), or Next Generation Television. N*Gen first aired on Ugandan TV in September — and since then, the show, which features a dozen 35-minute episodes, has been picked up by TV networks in more than half a dozen African
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countries. On Feb. 6, it will debut in North America and the Caribbean on The Africa Channel (https:// theafricachannel.com), airing every Saturday and Sunday at 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET. N*Gen is the brainchild of six teachers from Clarke Junior School in Kampala and East African nonprofit Peripheral Vision International (www. pvinternational.org), which funds and produces it. "Choosing a science focus for N*Gen is an absolute necessity because not only is it a neglected area, it is considered one of the hard subjects [for many students]," says Joy Kiano, a teacher who has a Ph.D. in both biochemistry and molecular biology and is a consultant with Peripheral Vision International. The show, targeting children ages 8 to 12, looks at science through an African lens. Weekly episodes are filmed in a studio in Kampala and sometimes on location (visiting a chocolate factory for an episode about food, for example). Kiano says it was important to feature African women in science. Some male teachers appear
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but guest scientists are mainly female. And the two main presenters, Irene Nyangoma Mugadu and Annah Komushana, are women as well: Ugandan teachers from Clarke Junior School in Kampala. "Society expects little from girls and women," says Mugadu. "Girls need to be empowered to reach their full potential academically and explore disciplines that are mainly pursued by boys." A team of teachers and producers in Uganda as well as Nigeria and Kenya – where some segments are also filmed – brainstorm ideas for episodes. For many of them, it was their first time working in TV. The goal is to "tackle topics which are all around us" but may be unfamiliar to the audience, says Komushana. "It has also given them a chance to explore and carry out different experiments." Episode subjects range from astrophysics to biology to the natural sciences. Presenters give short lessons on topics such as bees, robots, sounds, water and paleontology. They conduct science experiments – how to make a model of an X-ray of their hand using paper and flour, for example. The instructions: Sprinkle flour over the hand on a black piece of paper to create an outline, then place 27 sticks on the paper to represent the 27 bones in the hand. For a segment called "The Africa Teacher Challenge," teachers send in video clips of their science lessons. In one, a teacher from Tanzania gives a lesson on eating insects as a delicacy across Africa. "You may think it's strange to eat worms, but worms and insects in general are a staple for many people and they are very nutritious," says Seamê Rampling Ongala from Dar es Salaam. "They contain more protein than meat and a rich source of minerals such as iron and calcium." Educators have praised the show for prominently featuring women. Christine Kathurima, principal of Nova Pioneer Schools (www.novapioneer.com), an independent school network spanning preschool to secondary grades in Kenya and South Africa, describes N*Gen as "absolutely ground-breaking in the quality and the African female presenters." She is not affiliated with the show. "I absolutely love seeing women presenters," she adds. "When I watched the show I realized 87
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that many of the educational videos that we use do not intentionally seek female hosts. Kids' singing shows and storytelling shows have a good amount of representation across the board, however when it comes to science this is a first for me." The show's focus on African perspectives, locations and scientific discoveries has also impressed broadcasters, who say it's unlike any other science show that's appeared on African TV. "Most often we broadcast foreign content from Western countries. However, we hope more African productions will be made for African broadcasters," says Kalumbu Lumpa, a content acquisition manager from Zambian TV network ZNBC. Jeff Schon, CEO and co-founder of Akili Kids! (https://akilikids.co.ke), a children's learning channel based in Kenya, said the network had been screening programs such as U.S. program SciGirls, which showcases STEM-related content. "[It is] a lovely program, but it's certainly not shot here," he says. "It is in some cases dealing with subjects that are not going to resonate here." SciGirls, he says, had a segment on shoes designed for safely walking on Minnesota's icy winter streets, for example. N*Gen, on the other hand, puts the spotlight on Africa. "I enjoyed a recent episode we broadcast, titled 'Bones,' that had a segment on [the fossil] Turkana Boy whose bones are housed at the Kenya National Museum (https://www.museums.or.ke)," he says. "The segment featured a paleontologist from the museum and the program did a great job of presenting him as a role model and inspiration for future generations of scientists." Schon is proud to share that in Kenya, where it's been broadcast twice on weekends since Oct. 10, each episode is watched on average by 658,000 children under 14 and 642,000 adults. The cast and producers began scripting a second N*Gen series in January with a focus on climate change-related issues. And they plan to keep filming even if the pandemic keeps kids out of the classroom. www.npr.org/sections/ goatsandsoda/2021/02/05/947587199/africas-hitscience-show-for-kids-is-coming-to-the-u-s Image credit: pvinternational.org DAWN
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Lifestyle/Culture
Africa's Oscar-shortlisted Films Show an Industry Spreading Across Borders By Aisha Salaudeen, CNN
IT'S AN EXCITING TIME for filmmakers and movie fans around the world: Academy Awards season is here. And with several African films up for official nominations, people across the continent will be paying close attention when those nominations are announced on Monday, March 15th. "My Octopus Teacher," (https://edition.cnn.com/ travel/article/my-octopus-teacher-craig-foster/index.html)
a South African documentary about a man who formed an unlikely bond with an octopus, is on the shortlist for the Documentary Feature category, while "The Man Who Sold His Skin" -- a Tunisian film about a Syrian man whose body is used by an artist as a canvas -- is up for a nomination in the International Feature category (https:// Behind the Scenes at Netflix: Entertainment giant Netflix has variety.com/2021/film/reviews/the-man-who-sold-his-skinreview-1234904874).
As films from the continent continue to gain international recognition, Philippe Lacôte, Ivorian director of the 2020 film "Night of the Kings" (also on the shortlist for an International Feature Oscar nomination) says it is important for Africans to create movies that include their vision of the world (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeoFQZ6wB8c). His film explores themes across the physical world and the mythical one. Last year, he told CNN in an interview that it was key to show the world these themes because they are a part of Ivory Coast's culture. "Today, Ivory Coast is on the map of international cinema," he said. "It's important for me -- even if it's one film. We don't want to be outside this map." Meanwhile, Nigeria's film industry, Nollywood, will have to wait at least another year for its first chance at Oscar glory. The country, which has the largest film industry in Africa -- and the second largest in the world -- was disqualified in 2019 for 88
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Its "Made in Africa" collection features more than 100 titles fro Kenyan entertainment veteran and film producer Dorothy Ghe its head of African Original Programming. "We want our Africa she told CNN.
failing to meet language requirements. An Evolving Industry African films are gaining more international attention as technology continues to remove some traditional access barriers -- helping films flourish across borders and find new audiences. Video streaming sites like Disney+, iROKOtv (www.iroko.ai), Netflix, YouTube, and Showmax act as aggregators, helping Africans gather and share content online from across the continent and beyond. iROKOtv has hundreds of thousands of subscribers who can easily access Nigerian and Ghanaian movies from any part of the world. And Netflix, in partnership with multiple African filmmakers and production companies, is showcasing African movies that are accessible to people in over 190 countries. DAWN
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Jason Njoku, co-founder of iROKOtv, says streaming services like his remove obstacles for Africans that traditionally blocked access to films from other regions. "If you're interested in Nigerian movies, you literally just have to go online and within a minute, you can have a complete, unlimited library for you to watch," he says, for "anyone, anywhere in the world." "Streaming s turned its focus to the African continent. p latforms m African creatives. The company tapped democratized ettuba (third row, second from the left) as and n stories to be watched across the globe," content storytelling," says Moses Babatope, co-founder of entertainment company FilmOne. "What they have done is to break down any barriers like travel and immigration. They allow us to appreciate human stories across races and borders." Challenges and Opportunities Even with streaming, Babatope says that cinemas still play an important role in getting movies across borders. His company has helped view and distribute several Nigerian titles, including the 2017 Nigerian romantic comedy "The Wedding Party 2", which was viewed in cinemas across the continent. It has become one of the highestgrossing Nollywood films in the last decade. That outlet is important because while technology removes some barriers, it can add others; according to the World Bank, less than
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a third of Africa's total population has access to broadband. Meanwhile, only 272 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have mobile internet access -out of a population numbering more than 1 billion. This means a significant part of the population is cut off from reaching video streaming sites such as Netflix and iROKOtv. But Mary Njoku, iROKOtv co-founder and director of the Nigerian production house ROK Studios, says it won't always be this way. "Most people in the upper-middle class can afford to stream, but it won't be like that forever. Technological promise will catch up and then the market will explode," she says. "So, we creatives just need to keep on creating amazing, compelling content and just wait." The potential is massive, with the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa with mobile internet access projected to increase to 475 million by 2025 -- and as the industry continues to grow, international media conglomerates are looking to the continent for partnerships and original content. In 2017, pay TV company StarTimes announced the listing of Nollywood movies as part of its offering for the Chinese market, signaling interest in Nigeria's movie market. Meanwhile, Netflix has appointed award-winning Kenyan film producer Dorothy Ghettuba as its International Originals manager. The streaming giant has acquired several films and originals including "Lionheart" and "Blood and Water." And just last year, Disney announced a "first of its kind" collaboration with Kugali Media company. Mary Njoku -- whose production house was acquired by French media giant Canal+ in 2019 -says these partnerships with international studios will create room for bigger and more ambitious stories to be told about the continent (https://edition. cnn.com/2019/07/15/africa/rok-studio-acquisition-intl). "The African creative industry is young, dynamic, and ambitious. They have collectively created so much with so little," she says. "Imagine what the next decade looks like with major studio partnerships." www.cnn.com/2021/03/11/africa/oscars-africa-filmindustry-spc-intl/index.html DAWN
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Lifestyle/Culture
African Music Streamers to Soon Access Spotify as it Launches in 39 Nations By Rédaction Africanews
GLOBAL MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE SPOTIFY is making a giant leap into Africa, with a launch into 39 more African nations in a matter of days. Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Capo Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Estwani, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. The rest are Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Nigeria and Rwanda. Others include Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. For this expansion, the company announced that it will also introduce new features and upgrade its podcast catalogue to fit into new markets. Before this latest expansion, African users only got
access to the streaming service via VPN, except for users in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, where it launched in 2018. Spotify will also move into the Caribbean, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The streaming platform is arguably the largest music streaming platform in the world. In Africa today, the music streaming market has players like Audiomack, Youtube Music, Apple Music, Shazam, Deezer and local platforms such as MTN MusicTime and Boomplay. www.africanews.com/amp/2021/02/23/african-musicstreamers-to-soon-access-spotify-as-it-launches-in39-nations/#aoh=16141495231010&csi=0&referrer=ht tps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20 %251%24s Image credit: PC Magazine
NEW from Kenya: Palscity
- Social & Business Networking Site - Connect, Share, Discover
PALSCITY IS A SOCIAL MEDIA and business real-time. Apply moderation tools to filter content. networking site that connects families and friends, Empower yourself to control your social experience creates and connects people to opportunities and be a verified member of the community! nearby. We advocate for free speech, focuses on https://palscity.com/ protecting user’s rights, and connecting people in their own cities. Create your own city of friends, community, and enjoy content and news in 90
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Lifestyle/Culture
15-YearOld Faith Odunsi Wins Global Open Mathmatics Competition By Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton
A YOUNG NIGERIAN TEENAGER HAS recently beat out contestants from around the globe in a mathematics competition. According to AfroTech, Nigerian student, Faith Odunsi, 15, took part in the Global Open Mathematics competition and emerged victorious as she beat competitors from China, the UK, the US, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia in a global math competition. As the winner of this competition, Odunsi not only walked away with the title, but she has also secured the top prize of $1,000. The 15-year-old Odunsi is currently in her final year as a high school student as she is attending the Ambassadors School, Ota Ogun State. Her father is a doctor and her mother is a businesswoman and she attributes her math skills to her father, which she thanks him for. In an exclusive interview with Punch magazine, Odunsi mentions that she has taken part in numerous competitions that have, in part, prepared her for this latest one. She also spoke of the medals she has won in previous competitions. “Yes. I have been taking part in the national
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Olympiad since I was in JSS2. I have also taken part in Kangourou Sans Frontieres, South African mathematics Olympiad, American Mathematics Competition, and Pan-African mathematics Olympiad. For the national Olympiad, I was made the Queen of Mathematics from JSS3 to SS2. For the South African Mathematics Olympiad, I got medals. I got a silver medal in the Pan-African mathematics Olympiad in 2019. I was also made an ambassador of my school.” She also stated she wants to study abroad. “I would like to study outside Nigeria because the facilities are better abroad and the experience is better. I don’t think I will be limited in Nigeria; I just think the opportunities will be better abroad.” www.blackenterprise.com/15-year-old-nigeriangirl-wins-global-open-mathematics-competition Image credit: Instagram
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Lifestyle/Culture
Now Online: A Free Library Devoted to West Africa’s Food Heritage By Vonnie Williams
IN A YOUTUBE VIDEO, entitled "A Tale of Two Fritters" (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=uU12OsFQB1c&feature=emb_logo), Ozoz Sokoh is in her kitchen making both akara, a Nigerian bean fritter, and acarajé, the Brazilian equivalent. As she reviews the ingredients and aromatics—black-eyed peas, Thai and Scotch bonnet peppers for heat, tomatoes, ginger, and orange-red palm oil, it’s easy to see that the two dishes, though from different continents, are obviously related. Sokoh, a food historian born in Nigeria and currently living in Canada, is an expert at making connections between different food cultures. To share her research, she recently launched Feast Afrique (www.feastafrique.com), an online library of free digital books that explore the influence of West African foods on culinary cultures around the world. The texts she’s chosen, both cookbooks full of recipes or tomes that touch only briefly on food, speak to the enormous reach and richness of the region’s culinary traditions. Though Sokoh has had a long career as a food historian and a blogger at Kitchen Butterfly (www. kitchenbutterfly.com), her current love of food was hard-won. As a child growing up in Nigeria, she hated eating, and often had to be hospitalized due to malnutrition. Only a trip to Edinburgh with her family, when she was nine, changed that. “I guess it was a combination of exertion from the walking, and we were in this other place that opened me up to eating,” Sokoh says, remembering how she scarfed down food during that trip. This acquired love for food followed Sokoh throughout school and adulthood, all the way across the world, after she relocated to the Netherlands for her work. Homesick and in a new country, she felt isolated. “I was bordering on being depressed. I didn’t feel like I was succeeding in my career as a
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geologist,” Sokoh says. However, an unexpected connection with a Brazilian coworker found them bonding over on acarajé—and discovering how similar it was to akara. It was a foreshadowing of the connections she’d make between West African food and the African diaspora, a link created by the transatlantic slave trade. In 2009, Sokoh created her blog, Kitchen Butterfly, to document how Nigerian and West African dishes spread around the world. Many of the dishes she discovered, from countries like Brazil, Haiti, and Jamaica, were protected and preserved by enslaved cooks. “The goals for them and I were to feel the same: to find comfort, to pay homage, to document history,” says Sokoh. “As a Nigerian, it was shocking to discover that Nigerian cuisine—which I had always taken for granted— existed in this exalted, celebrated form abroad and had endured all sorts of tragedy and trauma, but still stood supreme.” While Kitchen Butterfly served as a place to post her thoughts, Sokoh wanted to create a more academically robust resource for her food findings, in order to “share them with a wider audience, with more of a rigorous, research-based eye,” Sokoh says. She decided to launch a print journal, Feast Afrique, which was due to debut in 2013. However, the death of the planned editor, a close friend of Sokoh’s, put the project on hold indefinitely. But last year, another friend gifted her Toni Tipton Martin’s groundbreaking works on AfricanAmerican cookbooks, Jubilee and The Jemima Code. Soon, Sokoh found herself looking online for the texts referenced in Martin’s work. “I found myself not going to sleep. By the end of the first week, I had about 40, 50 books,” Sokoh says. “I wasn’t only doing The Jemima Code. I was also looking at Nigerian books, other books I liked, and literature books that had food in cultural
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“My artistic practice has a lot to do with cooking, but also documenting. What you don’t know, you can’t reference and what you can’t reference, you can’t use to shape future plans,” Sokoh says. “It’s important to show people that we do have a food history that stretches back centuries, and documentation that stretches back as well.” Feast Afrique is an opportunity for Sokoh’s primary audience—Africans and Black diasporans—to know and own their rich culinary history, and give a voice to little-known narratives that are often erased and appropriated. “People don’t ascribe the same sophistication to French cuisine as West African cuisine, and foods of Black association tend to be ridiculed and kind of bucketed in this ethnic class,” Sokoh says. “I’m an eater first. And I’ve eaten food around the world and very little of it comes close to the amazingness of West African cuisine. I’m not going to sit around and let people continue to dumb us down, but we have to have that knowledge.” To Sokoh, food is far more than just fuel. “It’s a vehicle for exploring history—personal history, group history, and how memory can be resistance,” she says. “Everything that we see on the plate says something about history, culture, trade, lineage, strength, and survival. Food on a plate tells the story of life.”
contexts and symbols. By October, I had 190.” In early January, Sokoh finally launched Feast Afrique, but as an online archive instead of a print journal. The website contains almost 250 links to online books, covering West African, AfricanAmerican, and African diasporic culinary history. www.atlasobscura.com/articles/west-africanWith texts dating back to 1828, many of these books cookbooks contain some of the earliest documented histories of West African cooking. For example, Practical West African Cookery (https://archive.org/details/b28132762/ page/n7/mode/2up), published in 1910, has the first documented recipe for jollof rice (and is the first book in Feast Afrique’s monthly reading challenge). Other books, like Austin Clarke’s Pig Tails ‘n Breadfruit (https://archive.org/ details/pigtailsnbreadfr00aust), a culinary memoir of traditional Bajan foods from his childhood, provides readers with a culinary map of slavery’s effect on the foods of the Caribbean. However, the collection is ultimately a celebration of the influence and history Rufus Estes's 1911 cookbook is included in Sokoh's digital of West African cuisines on the world. library. PUBLIC DOMAIN 93
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Lifestyle/Culture
Sim Da Co By
Simone Biles was seen practicing a Yurchenko double pike — a vault never attempted in competition by a wo
SIMONE BILES ALREADY HAS many unprecedented feats under her belt, but her latest stunt may be the most ambitious and most impressive yet. The 23-year-old gymnastics superstar is set to try a skill so challenging and dangerous that no woman has ever even attempted to pull it off in competition before. Biles has her eyes set on a Yurchenko double pike (www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Yurchenko+doub le+pike&view=detail&mid=DEEFFF5C2E499C32517CDE EFFF5C2E499C32517C&FORM=VIRE). The complex
vault requires a gymnast to complete a roundoff back-handspring entry into the vaulting table, then execute two full backward rotations with legs extended before, ideally, sticking the landing. 94
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"It's very, very challenging," one of Biles' coaches, Laurent Landi, said during a recent segment on "60 Minutes." "And what's scary, it's that people can get hurt. You do a short landing, you can hurt your ankles ... it's a very dangerous vault." Biles certainly doesn't need to take the risk of this magnitude to find success at this point in her esteemed gymnastics career. With four Olympic gold medals and more World Championship victories than any other athlete in the history of the sport, Biles could easily lean on the skills she's employed in the past to cruise to victory. But instead, she's choosing to push herself heading into the Tokyo Olympics (www.olympic. org/tokyo-2020). Landis explained that, without that
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mone Biles is Gearing up to Attempt a Vault so angerous that no Woman has ever tried it in ompetition Meredith Cash
oman — during a recent "60 Minutes" segment. AP Photo/Matthias Schrader
motivation to reach new heights, Biles' final year as an elite-level gymnast would "become very, very boring for everybody." During Biles' feature on "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, the superstar is seen in the gym working on the Yurchenko double pike. In one clip, Biles pulls off the approach and in-air components cleanly but doesn't manage to set her feet on the dismount. Her feet hit the floor hard after the second flip, and she falls back onto the mat with her arms above her head and legs in the air. But in her second attempt shown on-screen, Biles completes the skill and lands on her feet. With padding beneath her, Biles needed just one step forward to maintain her balance and complete
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the trick without falling. "I think she's opened the eyes to everybody that this can be done," Biles' other coach, Cecile Landi, told "60 Minutes." "When I think a lot of people believed that a female could not do it." With five months remaining between the show's airing and the Tokyo Olympics, there's still plenty of time for Biles to fine-tune the rest. Check out her progress from the "60 Minutes" segment here: www.cbsnews.com/news/simone-bilestokyo-olympics-60-minutes-2021-02-14/?ftag=CNM-0010aab7d&linkId=111366382.
www.insider.com/video-simone-biles-yurchenkodouble-pike-vault-60-minutes-interview-2021-2 Image crredit: dramacollector.com, The Japan Times
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Lifestyle/Culture
NBA's Basketball Africa League to Debut May 16 in Rwanda By Marc J. Spears
medafricatimes.com
THE NBA'S NEW BASKETBALL AFRICA LEAGUE plans to make its long-awaited debut on May 16 in Kigali, Rwanda. The new league will include 12 teams from across Africa playing its inaugural season in 26 games at Kigali Arena in Rwanda rather than the initial plan of playing in different countries in Africa. The BAL was initially expected to debut on March 13, 2020, beginning in Dakar, Senegal, but it was postponed 10 days before that because of the coronavirus pandemic. The BAL, which is a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, includes club teams from Africa and is the NBA's first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America. "We are thrilled that the inaugural Basketball Africa League season will take place at the world96
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class Kigali Arena," said BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall. "Through the BAL, we will provide a platform for elite players from across the continent to showcase their talent and inspire fans of all ages, use basketball as an economic growth engine across Africa, and shine a light on Africa's vibrant sporting culture." The BAL says it has created "robust health and safety protocols" for the 12 teams and their personnel traveling to Rwanda due primarily to the COVID-19 virus. The BAL says its health and safety protocols are from the guidance of public health officials and medical experts from the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The BAL adds that the competition will tip off with an 18-game group phase with the 12 teams divided into three groups of four. During the group phase, each team will face the three other teams in its group once. The top eight teams from the group phase will qualify for the playoffs, which will be single elimination in all three rounds. The first BAL Finals will be held on May 30. DAWN
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The 12 teams include: • Algeria's GSP (Groupement Sportif des Pétroliers), • Angola's Petro de Luanda (Clube Atlético Petroleos de Luanda), • Cameroon's FAP (Forces Armées et Police Basketball), • Egypt's Zamalek, • Madagascar's GNBC (Gendarmerie Nationale Basketball Club), • Mali's AS Police (Association Sportive de la Police Nationale), • Morocco's AS Salé (Association Sportive de Salé), • Mozambique's Ferroviàrio de Maputo, • Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers BC, • Rwanda's Patriots BC, • Senegal's AS Douanes (Association Sportive des Douanes) and • Tunisia's US Monastir (Union Sportive Monastirienne). Champions from the national leagues in Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia 97
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earned their participation in the inaugural season. The remaining six teams, from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda, secured their participation through BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA's African regional office across the continent in late 2019. "We are extremely happy to finally launch the highly anticipated first season of the BAL," said FIBA Africa and BAL board president Anibal Manave. "FIBA and the NBA have been working closely together to develop protocols to address the health and safety of all players, coaches and officials. The experience of hosting the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers in Rwanda late last year will contribute to a safe and successful inaugural BAL season." www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31158325/nbabasketball-africa-league-do-debut-16-rwanda Image credit: medafricatimes.com, Engineering News-Record Video Interview: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ZCRjMT4ycuc DAWN
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History
John F Kennedy: When the US President met Africa's Independence Heroes By NII NTREH | Associate Editor
Anoth minis 1961 JFK PRESIDENTAL LIBRARY
President John F Kennedy met Ghana's first President and leading pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah at the White House in March 1961
In our series of letters from African journalists, Sierra Leonean-Gambian writer Ade Daramy mines an archive of photos featuring US President John F Kennedy, who set the template for US relations with Africa. BEFORE KENNEDY BECAME PRESIDENT in 1961, his country had made little attempt to understand the rapid changes that Africa was undergoing. By the time he was assassinated in 1963 the picture had radically changed. In his short time in office, Kennedy had received at the White House either the leader of every independent African state - numbering more than two dozen at the time - or its ambassador. A year before he became president, 17 African countries had gained independence from their colonial masters, and aware that the world was
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Senegal's President Léopold Sédar Senghor, a key figure in the anti-colonial movement in Francophone countries, flew into Washington in November 1961
changing, Kennedy knew that a new relationship needed to be forged. That relationship was based on supporting the new African nations. It was a foreign policy outlook that essentially survived, given the occasional tweak, until President Donald Trump's efforts to replace it with his more transactional approach. It was reported that Mr Trump infamously used derogatory language when talking about the continent, and Kennedy's predecessor, Dwight D Eisenhower, had his own negative views. He told Togo's President, Sylvanus Olympio, that the reason the US shared one ambassador between Togo and Cameroon was because he did not want his diplomats to "have to live in tents". During the 1960 election campaign, Kennedy repeatedly criticised Eisenhower's administration for neglecting the needs and aspirations of the DAWN
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JFK PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
Togo's President Sylvanus Olympio was greeted at the airport by Kennedy in March 1962
JFK PRESIDENTA
her leading pan-Africanist Julius Nyerere, who was prime ster of Tanganyika at the time, went to the White House in July , five months before independence from the UK
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, one of the founders of the Organisation of African Unity in May 1963, was welcomed to Washington by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the president in October of African people" and stressed that the US should that year
be on the side of anti-colonialism and selfdetermination, not on the side of the colonialists. Once in power, Kennedy invited African leaders for state visits and laid out the red carpet. Accompanied by First Lady Jackie Kennedy, he would greet each of them - including Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie and King Hassan IV of Morocco - when they arrived in the country. There were also guards of honour, lavish dinners and visits to the ballet, the theatre and places of historical interest. The visits were all highlighted in the media and the public was encouraged to come out and cheer. Kennedy and his guests would be driven through streets festooned with welcome banners and cheering crowds and, weather permitting, in an open- top car. Haile Selassie was driven through the streets of the see page 100
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US capital
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Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast's first President, and his wife, Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, were invited to a formal dinner during their visit in May 1962
Heroes
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Of course, there was an element of realpolitik in all this. The Soviet Union was making similar overtures to African states seeking to distance themselves from former colonial masters. On assuming office, Kennedy knew he had to act quickly to make friends with the emerging African nations. In the Oval Office, he told the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs: "I believe that... if we live up to the ideals of our own revolution, then the course of African revolution in the next decade will be towards democracy and freedom and not towards communism and what could be a far more serious kind of colonialism." A month after his inauguration, he asked VicePresident Lyndon B Johnson to go to Senegal to meet President Léopold Sédar Senghor, who he saw as a key ally in trying to get Francophone 100
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Guinea's President Ahmed Sékou Touré, who in 1 led the country to independence from France two years before most of its other African colonies, wa Washington in October 1962
countries on-side. Then another month later, Kennedy launched the Peace Corps - which sent young Americans across the globe - and in August 1961, invited to the White House the first set of volunteers getting ready to head to Ghana and Tanganyika. The assassination of Congolese independence hero, Patrice Lumumba, with suspected CIA involvement, three days before Kennedy took office is a reminder that Cold War battles with the Soviet Union were also being played out on the continent. But I would argue that Kennedy was genuinely interested in the development and advancement of the continent. African leaders who fought hard for independence were not naïve and took Kennedy at his word: that the relationship could be mutually beneficial. His untimely death was keenly felt in Africa especially as his successor, Johnson, did not DAWN
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William Tubman, the president of Liberia, whose capital is named after former US President James Monroe, sat down with Kennedy in October 1961
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Nigeria's first Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, held talks with Kennedy at the White House in July 1961
share his drive for cementing relations. Now, 60 years on, President Jo Biden is starting to shape his policy towards Africa. In a statement earlier this month, he said the US was ready to be Africa's "partner, in solidarity, support, and mutual respect". Biden's words echoed Kennedy's commitment now we are waiting to see if the actions match the rhetoric. www.bbc.com/news/worldafrica-56116383 Image credit: The JFK Presidential Library 101
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Congo-Brazzaville's first President Fulbert Youlou went to Washington in June 1961
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Trade Shows/Exhibitions/Conferences
Events Around the African Continent and the World 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference 1-12 November 2021 Glasgow, United Kingdom https://ukcop26.org
Africa Energy Indaba 2-3 March 2021 Cape Town International Convention Centre Cape Town, South Africa www.africaenergyindaba.com
16-20 November 2021 Kisumu, Kenya https://africitieskisumu.co.k
Essence Festival 2021 Summer 2021 Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana USA www.essencefestival2020.com
Africa MICE Summit 9-11 September 2021 – Virtual Event https:// africamicesummit. com
Africa's Big Seven 21-23 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.africabig7.com/africa-trade-week
Hotel & Hospitality Show 20-22 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.thehotelshowafrica.com
Africities Summit
IFAT Africa 13 - 15 July 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.ifat.de/en/trade-fair/ifat-impact/
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Infrastructure Africa " Igniting and Unlocking Africa’s Infrastructure Development Opportunities" 22 – 23 June 2021 – Virtual Event www.infrastructure-
Johannesburg, South Africa www.saitexafrica.com
africa.com
International Fair of Algiers 14 - 19 June 2021 Palais des Expositions des Pins Maritimes Algiers, Algeria http://safex.dz
South African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) 20-22 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre
Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 7 through June 11 2021 Virtual Event / https:// developer.apple.com Swift Student Challenge - https:// developer.apple.com/ wwdc21/swift-student-challenge
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Celebrations
African Diaspora Independence Days J R CAMEROON - J . 1, 1960 R HAITI - J . 1, 1804 D R SUDAN - J . 1, 1956 F G GRENADA - F 07, 1974 R T GAMBIA - F . 18, 1965 SAINT LUCIA - F 22, 1979 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - F . 27, 1844 A R EGYPT - F . 28, 1922 WESTERN SAHARA - F . 28, 1976 M K MOROCCO - M 2, 1956 R GHANA - M 6, 1957 S MAURITIUS - M 12, 1968 R TUNISIA - M 20, 1956 R NAMIBIA - M 21, 1990 A R SENEGAL - A 4, 1960 S N Z MOROCCO (M )-A 7, 1956 R ZIMBABWE - A 18, 1980 MOROCCO (S S Z , M )-A 27, 1958 R SIERRA LEONE - A . 27, 1961 R TOGO - A 27, 1960 M P ' D R ETHIOPIA M 5, 1941 R CUBA - M 20 ,1902 S ERITREA - M 24, 1993 C R GUYANA - M 26, 1966 R SOUTH AFRICA - M 31, 1910 J NIGERIA (B C N )-J 1, 1961 A A ' R V (J )-J 19, 1865 R MOZAMBIQUE - J 25. 1975 D R MADAGASCAR 104
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J 26, 1960 R DJIBOUTI - J 27, 1977 R SEYCHELLES - J 29, 1976 D R CONGO (KINSHASA) - J 30, 1960 MOROCCO (I ) - J 30, 1969 J R BURUNDI - J 1, 1962 R RWANDA - J 1, 1962 D R SOMALIA - J 1, 1960 D P R ALGERIA - J 3, 1962 R CAPE VERDE - J 5, 1975 F I R COMOROS -J 6, 1975 R MALAWI - J 6, 1964 C THE BAHAMAS - J 10, 1973 D R SÃO TOMÉ AND PRINCIPE - J 12, 1975 R LIBERIA - J 26, 1847 A R BENIN - A . 1, 1960 R NIGER - A . 3, 1960 P D R BURKINA FASO - A . 5, 1960 G JAMAICA - A 06, 1962 R CÔTE D'IVOIRE (I C )A . 7, 1960 R CHAD - A . 11, 1960 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - A . 13, 1960 R CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE) A . 15, 1960 R GABON - A . 16, 1960 R TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - A 31, 1962 S K SWAZILAND - S . 6, 1968 F S C ST. KITTS DAWN
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AND NEVIS - S 19 1983 G BELIZE - S 21, 1981 R MALI - S . 22, 1960 R GUINEA-BISSAU - S . 24, 1973 R BOTSWANA - S . 30, 1966 O C S )CAMEROON (B O . 1, 1961 F R NIGERIA - O . 1, 1960 R GUINEA - O . 2, 1958 K LESOTHO - O . 4, 1966 R UGANDA - O . 9, 1962 R EQUATORIAL GUINEA - O . 12, 1968 R ZAMBIA - O . 24, 1964 G ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES - O 27, 1979 MOROCCO (I Z ,T )O . 29, 1956
N G ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 01 N 01, 1981 C DOMINICA - N 03, 1978 P ' R ANGOLA - N . 11, 1975 R SURINAME - N 25, 1975 I R MAURITANIA - N . 28, 1960 BARBADOS - N 30, 1966 D TANZANIA - D . 9, 1961 U R R KENYA - D . 12, 1963 LIBYA (S P ' L A J ) - D . 24, 1951 www.thoughtco.com/chronological-list-of-africanindependence-4070467 www.caribbeanelections.com/education/ independence/default.asp
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