DAWN Sept-Oct

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Agriculture - Business - Commentary Development - Education - Governance History - Investment - Lifestyle/Culture Technology/Science gy

It's A New Day! Africa Continental Free Trade Area

AfCFTA

Holiday Economy page 19-25 SSpecial pecial Feature: Feature: Investment Profiles Republic of Senegal page 26 Awakening the African Giant Within Africa Business Association News

September-Otober 2020

Senegal National Profile 26

CONTENTS September-October 2020 4

Publisher's Message

Business 9 12 14 19 20 20 22 24 25 25

‘Africa is Open for Business, Based on a Single Rule-Book for Trade and Investment Digital Trade is the Next Big Thing in Africa 4 Expert Tips to Internationalize* Your New Business Market for the Holidays Boutique Owner sees Skyrocketing Sales for Michelle Obama's 'VOTE' Necklace Beyoncé's Black Parade Route Catalog Giving African-owned Businesses a Boost Style with a Purpose This App Allows Users to Search and Support Black-Owned Businesses Around the World Sell Black. Shop Black. Online Marketplace for Black-owned Enthusiasts.

National Profile 26 30 Africare Reboot 38

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Republic of Senegal Akon Just Unveiled his $6 Billion ‘Futuristic’ City in Senegal.

To Give African Food a Bigger Stage in New Orleans, a Chef Reaches Across Restaurant Scene Black Rock Senegal

Development 37 38

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New Report on Aging in Africa Africare Commemorates its 50th Anniversary with Planned Sunset of all U.S. Operations and Assisting in Standing Up a New "PanAfricare" on the Continent Africa's Great Green Wall Just 4% Complete Halfway Through Schedule

Pandemic-Health 46 47

Flying Doctors Raising $1 Billion to Meet Africa’s Rising Health Care Needs U.N. World Food Program Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Governance Vertical Indoor Farming 62 2

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The 75th UN General Assembly Newly Posted Ambassador to the USA

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Facial Recognition

Boseman Tribute 84

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AfCFTA

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50 52

53 55 56

Market for the Holidays 19

President Akufo-Addo of Ghana Emerges as New ECOWAS Chair Burundi Joins Congo Demanding Nearly $43 Billion in Reparations From Belgium For Its Colonial Past Zimbabwean Diplomat Appointed AU Ambassador to USA Queen Elizabeth Will No Longer Be Head of State in Barbados Next Year Black Church Leaders Demand Apology for Trump Campaign Ad

Village based minipower grid concepts 82

Investment 58 62 66 68 70

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African Stock Exchange/Bourse Automated Vertical Indoor Farming Set to Sprout 10 Funding Options for Women-Owned Businesses WPEC Titans Tank 2020 Top 5 Winners Disney Partners with Nollywood to Bring American Movies to English-Speaking West Africa Inside Safari Valley: The “African Disneyland” and Ghana’s Largest Resort

Technology/Science 73 74 76 78

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African Telecom Giant to Exit Iran Over 'Complexities' Physicists Build Circuit That Generates Clean, Limitless Power From Graphene How Bitcoin Met the Real World in Africa Lagos Supports 23 Innovators and Tech Startups

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with N100m Grant The Race to Build Facial Recognition Tech for Africa is being led by this Award-winning Engineer This Startup lets Villagers Create Mini Power Grids for their Neighbors

Lifestyle/Culture 83 84 86 88 90

Trevor Noah is on the Cover of the 'Wall Street Journal' September Issue Chadwick Boseman was the Definition of a Hero Alphonso Davies: Canada’s Humble, Joyful Soccer Phenom African Diaspora Themed Podcasts - A Directory Senegalese Cuisine

Columns 92 95

Events Around the African Continent and the World Resource Vault

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Publisher's Message

FINANCING AFRICA's SMEs

Ricky Muloweni Publisher's Message “Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation... The community of economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is the economy which holds together the people living in a territory. It is on this basis that the new Africans recognize themselves as potentially one nation, whose dominion is the entire African continent.” ― Kwame Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite

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IT IS GRATIFYING TO finally have the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) activated and ready to go.

Africa Business Association (ABA) is calling upon the African Union (AU) to put together an enterprise financing program working through the Regional Economic Communities and reaching down to the local entrepreneur in the village. The AU needs to deliberately address its people and emphasize that the time to get involved in building the continent is now.

All hands are needed on deck. The AU needs to take deliberate steps to set in motion Skills Development Programs for entrepreneurship and provide more access to credit, capital and mentoring.

We have gone through the process of understanding the main objectives of the AfCFTA; “to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment of the Customs Union”, okay, but what does this mean to the kiosk owner on the streets of Kigali or Lusaka?

Clearly if the kiosk owner is selling Jasmine rice from Vietnam or Hershey’s chocolates then their part of the negotiation in this Free Trade was conducted by the East or West, for them to have these DAWN

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products to sell in their stores. Clearly sales of these products will not provide much of a net gain on the economic front, rather a substantial net loss on many fronts for them, their communities and the country.

Let’s unpack this last statement: At this point in our lifetime we can accept some global brands in our society such as Hershey’s to be with us for the long haul. But to say that African local producers of cocoa cannot come up with competitive products in this sector is clearly surrendering too early. Africa being a major producer of COCOA, begs the question, why we want to front Hershey’s to negotiate this trade deal in the first place. That also brings us to the elephant in our room; most of these products that Africa seems to want to negotiate for, the raw materials originate in Africa.

Secondly, importation of goods affects the ability of the local economy to produce the same goods for the purpose of providing them to the local market. It thus also affects the ability of the local economy to produce the same goods for export. Accordingly, the import process must be conducted carefully so as not to be detrimental to the local economies. Clearly the best avenue is to encourage robust value addition on the continent followed by local partnerships with the Western producers. Again, skills training for the people… Yes, it has to be done and it must be done. If China 5

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made it mandatory that Caterpillar or IBM manufacture from within China, the African Union can surely do the same.

Intra-Africa trade will only happen if the entrepreneurs in Africa get to have the required financing and capital to conduct business. We all understand by now that most of Africa is a net importer of its goods and services from the East and the West.

Import reliant communities have overtime devolved into the current economic and unemployment bind that Africa is going through. Healing a culture of liking only imported products and shunning locally produced product is a must for all of Africa.

Corvid19 has worsened the economic structure of families and local communities in Africa. There is no way to predict what the outlook could be post Covid19, even though it must be known to all that the continent has sufficient local resources and markets to trade from within the regions.

The decline in the world's GDP will no doubt lead to a severe fall in the exports demand for African products. Given the specificities of African economies, the negative impact would be more than proportional. The AfCFTA will thus have the advantage of boosting intra-African trade, contributing to mitigating a rapid decline in African GDP. It is important to communicate to the African citizenry the fact that there could most likely be winners and losers. The see page 6

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Publisher's Message

Rice Farmer in Africa from page 5

question is how does the African Union get to notice that and who will pull the plug?

Who is in charge of ensuring success for all? We know that the Asian marketers have been bringing into Africa products ranging from rice to cocoa butter; how will that trade be aligned to ensure Africa's rice farmers have capacity to reach their customers, what mechanisms are being developed for the local African farmers to scale their capacity to grow more rice?

If we are to look at the past record as a measuring stick for progress, it is clearly going to be very wary for ordinary entrepreneurs to believe in this journey.

In all fairness they have the right to be skeptical, as well the AU should go beyond the envelope to ensure effective communication is done to assure buy-in of the majority. For the most part African entrepreneurs come to the table with zero financing - this must change. For the sake of encouraging a robust business environment in Africa perhaps the Africa Development Bank should rethink its approach to funding 6

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programs in Africa - what about directly engaging the small businesses with a goal to strengthen regional value chains. The AU has identified the challenges that could hinder actualization of value chains across the continent - countless customs stamps, customs signatures and certificates to simply move a container from one nation to another.

Now we need a program for capitalizing entrepreneurs across Africa to fully participate in this free trade opportunity.

Yes, standing together as one market to negotiate trade deals is one foot in the door but the other foot, the people of Africa being the traders, manufacturers and suppliers, is still weak and cannot drag through. ABA suggests a plan to bring capital directly to the people. We must seize this moment with the right measure and understanding full well knowing that out of all this the key client is the African citizen. As Kwame Nkrumah said, “Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation... The community of economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is the economy which holds together the people living in a territory.

It is on this basis that the new Africans recognize themselves as potentially one nation, whose dominion is the entire African continent.” Africa Business Association will play it’s role for this success to reach the household units of all Africans.

Ricky Muloweni Publisher/President dawn@africabusinessassociation.org aba@africabisinessassociation.org www.africabusinessassociation.org Image credits: Tumblr

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About the

Africa Business Association The Africa Business Association is an independent international business development organization. We oer 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.

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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 1-571-278-9441 aba@africabisinessassociation.org dawn@africabusinessassociation.org www.africabusinessassociation.org

Copyright Š 2020

by Africa Business Association News All Rights Reserved.

The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein.

Image credits: Cover-kindpng.com

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Business

IN JANUARY 2012 DURING the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Union agreed on a decision to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with seven acknowledged key fundamental action clusters namely: trade policy, trade facilitation, productive capacity, trade related infrastructure, trade finance, trade information, and factor market integration. After eight rounds of negotiations from 2015 lasting through to December 2017, an agreement was reached, and officially went into force on the 30th of May 2020. Today’s event, the official handover and commissioning of the AfCFTA Secretariat Building, is a culmination of all the great work and 8

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tying together of the vision of having a single great and prosperous Africa.

When the call for a suitable location was made, the African Union received several bids, out of which Ghana’s offer stood out, thereby leading us to this great event today to commission this Secretariat at the home of the great Kwame Nkrumah, one of the founding fathers of the Pan-African movement, making this day a rather poetic one, to which he will be glad as our ancestor. In the reassuring words of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, “I assured that Ghana, as caretaker of the Secretariat, would put all the requisite facilities at its disposal, so that it could run as a world-class organization.” We are therefore confident that we have taken a step in the right direction and as rightly DAWN

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‘Africa is Open for Business, Based on a Single Rule-Book for Trade and Investment Official Handing Over and Commissioning of the AfCFTA Secretariat Building 9th September, 2020 Ghana, Accra

put by the president of Ghana, “urge Member States to put in an extra effort to conclude all outstanding implementation issues, for their adoption by the AU Assembly in the next Extraordinary Summit scheduled for December 2020, to pave way for the smooth commencement of trading from 1st January, 2021.”

In his Statement, H.E. Moussa H.E. Moussa Faki Faki Mahamat, Mahamat, Chairperson, Chairperson of the African Union Commission AU Commission noted that this was ‘a historic milestone in the road to fullfil the vision of our Founding Fathers for Continental Integration, that dates back to the inaugural session of the OAU in 1963.’ He stressed that ‘while the operationalization of the Secretariat was postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the same pandemic has also magnified the urgent need for speed to accelerate economic integration on the Continent.’ H.E. Moussa Faki concluded with the words of Dr. Kwame Nkurumah calling for determination and courage to pursue the task ahead: “the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to fight, the courage to achieve.”

The AfCFTA seeks to provide a stable, predictable

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and improved environment for trade facilitation, which has the ability to put in place means to tackle a lot of non-tariff challenges frustrating intra-African trade. A lot of African Countries will still conduct their trading with other global trading partners, however while the AfCFTA does not necessarily guarantee trade, it however hugely makes the incentive to conduct trading with fellow partners to the agreement, more appealing and also accessible. In the exact words of Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, the Secretary-General of AfCFTA, “The AfCFTA is therefore a critical response to Africa’s developmental challenges. It has the potential to enable Africa to significantly boost intraAfrica trade and to improve economies of scale through an integrated market.” He went further to explain that “It also sends a strong signal to the international investor community that Africa is open for business, based on a single rule-book for trade and investment.”

This is indeed a change and growth Africa Hon. Wamkele deserve.

Keabetswe Mene All 55 member states Secretary-General, of the African Union will AfCFTA be brought together by AfCFTA which allows for market covering of see page 10

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from page 9

over 1.2 billion people not limiting the growing middle class, and a collective gross domestic product of over US$3.4 trillion. This also makes AfCFTA the world’s biggest free trade area after the establishment of World Trade organisation.

Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) also recommends that the AfCFTA has the ability

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to enhance intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by removing import duties, and also to double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced.

AfCFTA seeks to create and achieve unilateral continental market for goods and services, with free movement of investments and business personnel.

This will also enhance a healthy competition at the industry and enterprise level via utilisation of opportunities for scale production, better reallocation of resources and continental market access. It is also very beautiful to note that for a change, the empowerment of women, young Africans and also other deprived sectors of the community will be among the focus of AfCFTA as Wamkele Mene assured African’s in his press statement that; “I therefore intend to take concrete steps to ensure that women and young Africans are at the heart of implementation of the AfCFTA. The AfCFTA must create opportunities for women in trade; amongst others, by lowering the gender wage gap.

Young Africans are at the cutting edge of technological innovation for digital trade and e-commerce.”

In this uncertain time of the COVID-19, Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of AfCFTA has also explained how AfCFTA makes for a very powerful tool. According to him a short-term tool has been devised by the Heads of States to launch trade corridors to enable easy access and transit of what the African Union arm for Disease Control and DAWN

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being the AfCFTA, which will result in increased intra-African trade and drive economic growth in Member States, provides the best stimulus package and Marshall plan to accelerate economic recovery of African countries and build the resilience of African economies post-COVID-19.

Going forward, AU Member States are working with the AU Commission and other key strategic and technical partners to ensure that trade under the AfCFTA effectively begins on 1st January 2021 as decided by AU Heads of State and Government on 17 June 2020.

Prevention (Africa CDC) terms as essential goods or germ-killing products like soaps, disinfectants that help combat the pandemic. Also, in order for these essential goods to become affordable and available to people, the African ministers of trade are exploring the possibility of reducing duties. These are the temporary measures being put in place with the view of accelerating Africa’s industrial development being the long-term goal.

In these unprecedented times of the COVID-19

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For further information please contact: Esther Azaa Tankou, Head of Information Division, Tel: 0911361185; Email: yamboue@africaunion.org ; Directorate of Information and Communication; AU Commission Media Contact: Ms. Faith Adhiambo | Communications Officer-Agenda 2063 | African Union Commission | E-mail: OchiengJ@africa-union.org| Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africanunion.org I Website: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram Image credits: EWN Sport, thebftonline.com

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Business

Digital Trade is the Next Big Thing in Africa

By Kingsley Ighobor

MR. KINGSLEY IGHOBOR OF Africa Renewal (AR) interviewed Mr. Wamkele Mene, the recently appointed Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat (AfCFTA). Mr. Mene explains the way forward, how increased intra-African trade can boost economies post-COVID-19 and how digital trade will be next big thing on the continent.

AR: You have said that digital trade is the next big thing in Africa Mene: Digital trade is possible through mobile phones. We know, for example, from the experiences of various countries across the African continent, that you can access distant markets using your mobile phone. So, the digital platforms are

already there. We also know that Africa has one of the fastest-growing penetrations of mobile subscribers. It is a question of leveraging all those technological innovations and advantages into a common platform for free trade in Africa, under the AfCFTA agreement.

In nations where women are most active and

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contribute significantly to the economy there are examples of women who use digital solutions in informal trade. We seek to establish the requisite regulatory environment and architecture, through laws and digital platforms. The other area that is very important is customs authorities. We need to find a way to digitize our customs capabilities such that they are seamless across the continent.

It is going to take quite a lot of work, but I believe it’s possible. . AR: Do you have any plans to capture the imaginations of young people, to bring them on board?

Mene: We are going to create a platform to engage young Africans, women in trade and smalland medium-sized enterprises in a dialogue to put this vision into practice. We don’t have all the answers. We want to hear from young Africans.

We know that if you go to Kigali, you will find young African software engineers at the forefront of innovation. These are the people that we want to bring into the fold of the agreement. We can create the appropriate environment for young Africans to benefit. Our rule will be to establish the conducive environment for young Africans to leverage their ideas. This is especially important. We don’t have the answers to innovation, but we can create and establish regulatory frameworks within the context of the AfCFTA. AR: How do you encourage countries to raise awareness among young people?

Mene: It’s going to be a joint effort between the Secretariat and individual countries. We take advocacy and awareness-raising seriously. The basic iterate of the agreement is only one month old, but we are already recruiting the best and the brightest Africans to ensure that we reach our mandate. We are going to engage each of the five DAWN

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regions of Africa through regional outreach and advocacy programs. We will work with national governments. And we will complement the efforts of national governments to raise awareness about the benefits of the agreement, as well as the potential risks, and advise African populations—

young people, women in trade—on how to take advantage of this unprecedented agreement.

So, we are going to roll out a robust awarenessraising campaign in the five regions, in a way that complements the efforts of individual governments.

AR: What’s your idea of success in the short and long terms?

Mene: In the short term, success is having an institution that is established and functions smoothly. Establishing a dispute settlement mechanism is going to be a particular challenge, because it signals to African investors that they should have confidence in the market. If we can operationalize a credible mechanism, that will be a short-term success.

In the long term, we aim to reach our objectives and action plans in industrial development. We might have value chains in two or three priority sectors, especially in critical areas such as agroprocessing and automobiles. These are the areas that have a direct impact on job creation and economic growth in Africa. That, for me, would be a long-term success.

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AR: How would you describe the impact of COVID-19 on AfCFTA so far?

Mene: We know that over 53% of Africa’s exports go to countries particularly in Europe, but those consumers are now suffering from the pandemic.

That has had a subdued effect on our export markets. The services sector in Africa, especially travel and hospitality, is set to fall by between 20% and 30% this year. In general, the virus has had a devastating effect on Africa. We have to find ways to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. But, for now, the primary focus should be on saving people’s lives.

AR: In event that the pandemic is protracted, what will you be doing specifically?

Mene: I am sure that the Heads of State will consider the fact that we are in an unprecedented crisis. They may discuss a delay to free trade. But I stress that it is entirely up to them. We are determined to continue working as soon as the physical conditions allow, or when we find a virtual means of doing so.

We are exploring the possibility of negotiating using virtual means. I must stress that it’s an exploration at this point, because we are talking about very complicated negotiations with more than 300 people at a time. The technical feasibility question is what we are exploring right now. But, as I said, there are constraints for trade negotiations, even when you are in the same room: the four different languages of the African Union, the confidentiality of the process, the different time zones of the African continent.

AR: You mentioned that the pandemic has the potential to decimate economies. How do you think you can regain momentum?

Mene: There are short- and long-term tools at our disposal. The first short-term tool, from a trade policy standpoint, is that our heads of state agreed to establish trade corridors to enable the transit of what the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention refers to as “essential goods,” or products that are necessary to combat the see page 14

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Digital Trade from page 13 pandemic. These goods include soaps and other germ-killing products. The heads of state have agreed that these products must be given priority transit across borders, particularly in the case of landlocked countries. And second, the ministers of trade are exploring the possibility of reducing customs duties on these essential products so that they are more affordable to African populations across the continent. This would be a temporary measure to ensure that we have access to the tools we need to protect public health.

In terms of the long-term tools, it is our view that accelerating Africa’s industrial development objectives and Africa’s industrial development action plans is key to reconfiguring our supply chains, establishing regional value chains, and manufacturing the essential goods that we need now. This would also boost Africa to a higher value-added product and manufacturing capacity. The second point is a review of our intellectual property rights. We aim to assess whether our intellectual property regimes enable Africa to have a generic drug industry, which would ensure that we have access to affordable health care. This is also linked to whether a vaccine is found in the next 18 months or so. It goes through to the heart of questions around intellectual property rights. Finally, we are looking at the AfCFTA agreement itself (https://au.int/en/ cfta). As you know, many countries in Africa do not have the monetary policy space or the fiscal policy space to provide large bailouts that go in the trillions and trillions of dollars for economic recovery. Therefore, for Africa, the stimulus package is the AfCFTA, the implementation of this agreement. This is what will enable Africa to drive economic growth and economic development post COVID-19, by increasing intra-Africa trade. www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/july-2020/digitaltrade-next-big-thing-africa Image credits: mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl, World Economi Forum

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4 Expert Tips to Internationalize* Your New Business

By Bryan Janeczko INTERNATIONALIZATION IS AN AMBITIOUS but attainable step in any startup’s lifecycle. Once considered to be at the tail-end of a business journey, companies nowadays have the luxury of being able to internationalize relatively soon after they launch. The internet has been the biggest accelerator of startups establishing an overseas* presence faster, while the recent COVID-19 crisis has proven that there is even greater scope for small ventures to successfully branch into new markets.

According to a survey from Wells Fargo (www. wellsfargo.com), 87% of US companies are optimistic about expanding internationally for long-term growth. However, having the tools to expand, and knowing how to do it properly—without falling into legal trouble, failing to understand consumer culture or ignoring technological differences—are two separate things. If you rush into foreign waters unprepared and insensitively, you could jeopardize your existing success and reputation.

Here's how to internationalize your startup, with insights from founders who have done just that: 1. Size up your home market.

First things first: Assess when to enact your internationalization strategy.

Conventional wisdom says you need to dominate your home market before you consider establishing a presence elsewhere. Previously, most investors considering funding your international expansion would first ask you to prove that your company was successful in its current location. If you couldn't, you'd struggle to get the funds.

Nowadays, there is no longer a standard linear format to internationalizing. There are a number of startup hotspot countries and cities that make it easier to take a leap without necessarily dominating your domestic market beforehand.

Oswaldo Trava, Founder of InstaFit (https:// instafit.com), notes that a key step is to "identify the DAWN

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largest, ripest market." This especially rings true for founders from smaller local markets, like Israel or Sweden. Because the population size is relatively low and therefore limited, it can be worthwhile focusing on European or U.S. markets from the get-go. It essentially comes down to momentum— if you can get enough traction where you are now, focus on domestic growth. If where you're operating is too contained to make a big enough splash, consider going international from day one.

fee may dip into your startup's internationalization funds more than you'd like, but it's worthwhile to guarantee that you're growing a business on a secure foundation.

Gabe Zichermann, chief executive of Failosophy (https://failosophy.com), notes that almost every country has a foreign trade investment arm where foreigners can get extremely useful about internationalizing. These arms can be part of the consulate or a separate institute, and may have a number of locations. A quick search online should 2. Get your legal, language, and logistics in reveal the closest relevant arm to you*. order.

Another consideration is language. English is Some of the most common pitfalls when internationalizing are also some of the easiest to the dominant language when internationalizing, but of course, this can vary according to your avoid.

On a practical level, you have to have a sound majority audience. Whichever language you will legal framework set up. Compliance should be be working in, you have to be extra sensitive one of your top priorities: you need to know and about using native speakers to write your product adhere to the local tax, data handling, and labor or service description, UX, copy, onboarding, and laws to ensure you don't face heavy penalties general messaging. More than ever, users are further down the line. There are plenty of useful hyper-sensitive to grammatical errors and if you online resources like Remote (https://remote.com) merely copy and paste your content from Google that can help you prepare for the legal regulations translate (https://translate.google.com), you risk losing as you internationalize, however, speaking with customers who may think that your brand is a see page 16 a legal professional is most eective. The initial 15

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Business

4 Expert Tips

Building an internationally-renowned business starts at home. If you want to make a brilliant scam. In fact, poorly-written websites and emails impression as you grow, you need people on your team who are from a variety of backgrounds, with are known signs of cybersecurity threats.

Beyond legality and language, you also need to a variety of skills and local knowledge. These scope out the infrastructure of your new market. people don't have to be solely responsible for your Assess what internet penetration is like, the level internationalization strategy, but they can support of digital literacy, and have a firm grasp of online your cultural bridge into new markets.

Ideally, bring people on board who are culturally user behavior in the country. For example, if you try to launch a video conferencing startup, you competent in the places you're targeting need to be certain that as you internationalize, meaning, they speak the language, have worked your servers can support the surge of additional in the location, and know local practices inside and out. For customer service roles in particular, customers. these qualities will establish positive customer 3. Match your pricing and payment options to interactions and contribute to longer-term your markets. relationships because people feel that they are A big part of internationalizing is recognizing being understood. If you're a small venture with a patterns in markets and accommodating them. restricted budget, internationalize your team using Having a customer base and a valuable offering freelancers from LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) and can only be successful if you pave the way for Upwork (www.upwork.com). These platforms are people to seamlessly pay for your product. As actually great to pin down people in your preferred Zichermann, puts it, "people have different levels markets, and if they prove to be valuable, they can of ability and willingness to pay for things in become full-time employees at a later date. different countries."

Internationalizing your team should foster a more Your pricing strategy has to therefore account for diverse culture in your startup, and encourage two things - appropriate pricing and appropriate you to recognize different norms and national modes of payment. While some markets may think celebrations from around the world. This type of $10 per month for a service is reasonable, other openness not only increases your creative and markets will find it too expensive. Zichermann innovative potential, it also puts your company in recommends using the purchasing power parity a stronger position to attract diverse talent and (PPP) tool (https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasingbusiness partners, and continue growing across power-parities-ppp.htm) to judge how amounts the globe. translate in other countries and understand, for A huge part of internationalizing is earning the example, what a basket of goods costs in the trust of customers in new markets. Every location United States compared to Mexico. you enter should be treated as a separate and Likewise, modes of payment should be unique challenge, and you should be prepared to dependent on what your target market is already reset your business clock every time you branch familiar using. For instance, Latin America is into a different area. What went well in a previous predominantly cash-driven, China prefers Alipay market won't necessarily jibe for another, but and WeChat, the United States opts for credit researching and reacting to those variations will cards, and Europe is weighted towards debit and make you a multi-faceted, successful brand. credit cards. If you're serving small, niche groups, *African continental trade resource - African Continental it'll be easier to tailor payment solutions to them, Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) www.africancfta.org but if you're focusing on larger segments of the www.entrepreneur.com/article/356031 population, following local payment customs will Image credits: www.amazon.com/wall-decor remove possible friction at an especially crucial point in your user journey. from page 15

4. Internationalize your team.

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Business

World Trade Organization: How an African Head Could Make a Difference

THERE IS A GROWING feeling among African diplomats that someone from the continent should be at the helm of one of the world's top economic institutions.

Whereas an American has always led the World Bank and a European has always been at the head of the International Monetary Fund, an African has never taken an equivalent position.

But if one from Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Kenya's Amina Mohamed or Egypt's Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh emerges from the long selection process as the WTO's next director-general, the continent can feel that it is playing in the same league as the rest of the world.

The WTO sets the rules for global trade and adjudicates in trade disputes between nations. It is also, according to its website, supposed to "open trade for the benefit of all".

The Geneva-based organisation's ability to get global agreements of basic principles that every country signs up to has been hamstrung in recent years but the WTO leader has influence and a bully pulpit. The directorgeneral attends G7 and G20 meetings and can broker disputes between world leaders.

But is there more to be gained for the continent aside from the diplomatic profile?

'Trade not aid' Though the director-general's role is primarily one of an administrator, an African leader could help ensure that the interests of the continent are taken into account in WTO activities.

Trade talks may seem esoteric and take place behind closed doors, but their outcome can aect everyone's lives.

From the small trader who crosses a border several times a month, to the consumer buying an imported item in a market, to someone with a job in a manufacturing

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - Nigeria industry: they are all aected by the rules of trade.

In Africa, trade is viewed as a driver of growth, a way towards sustainable development and as a tool for poverty eradication.

"Foreign aid will not do it for Africa. Like everywhere else throughout history it is trade," says David Luke, head of the trade policy centre at the UN's Economic Commission for Africa.

"So ordinary Africans will understand that an African heading the WTO shows we are serious about trade."

Africa-wide free-trade area Ms Okonjo-Iweala, a former finance minister, told the BBC that it was the ordinary African that she was most concerned with.

She said that she wanted to "figure out how to get women and youth, who are behind these engines of growth in Africa, to benefit more from world trade".

She was also keen to make sure that the continent moves away from exporting raw materials and instead "adds value to the goods or products we produce for the global market.

"For instance, we import 94% of pharmaceuticals on the continent while we can produce these locally in Africa."

Ms Mohamed, who has served as both trade and foreign minister in Kenya, told the BBC that she can bring a "fresh perspective" that was "broad [and] inclusive" to the job.

But she did not want to be judged "just as an African leader or a woman leader, but as an experienced leader [and] a consensus builder". see page 18

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Amina Mohamed - Kenya

Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh - Egypt

WTO

other parts of the world appears to be on the rise.

from page 17

On his part Mr Mamdouh, who has been negotiating on behalf of Egypt at the WTO since 1985, said his vast experience at the trade body will enable him to see how it can help the continent further.

"My agenda for Africa would be to integrate Africans more into the trading system," he said.

"I will also call upon political leaders in African countries to pay particular attention to their trade policies."

But implicit in this answer is that though the WTO's director-general can lobby presidents, he or she cannot force them to act in a particular way.

Nevertheless, when it comes to helping realise Africa's big trade policy - the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) - the WTO head could play a role.

The agreement, the implementation of which has been postponed by coronavirus, hopes to establish the world's largest free-trade area.

"This will ensure more high quality products out of the continent, thereby, putting more money in people's pockets and helping to eradicate chronic poverty," trade expert Mr Luke said.

The rules and aims of the AfCTA are compatible with those of the WTO, and an African leader of the trade body could help steer it towards more support for the continent. That could be in offering technical help, trade analysis and policy expertise, turning the dream of free trade across Africa into reality.

But just as Africa is now moving towards a freer trading environment, the rhetoric of protectionism in 18

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Mediating US-China trade row The trade war between the US and China, and US President Donald Trump's America First policies seem to be turning the tide against the belief in free trade. Restrictions imposed because of coronavirus have also affected the free movement of goods.

Furthermore, the US' refusal to approve appointments or re-appointments to the WTO body that hears appeals against the organisation's decisions has thrown this key part of the trade body into crisis. It also threatens to undermine the WTO as a whole.

Its effectiveness in establishing new ground rules that all countries can agree on has also been challenged.

In 2001, the WTO launched the so-called Doha round of talks, which was supposed to draw up new arrangements to help developing nations.

But the negotiations failed and were essentially killed off more than a decade later.

This is the context in which the next leader of the organisation will take office in November.

Given that, the immediate task of the new directorgeneral will be to shore up the WTO and restore faith in the organisation.

It will need to be a determined figure regardless of where they are from. If one of the three Africans succeeds in the race to become WTO boss then efforts to help the continent may founder if he or she fails to strengthen the organisation. www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54058640 Image credit: Getty Images

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Business - Market for the Holidays

Market for the Holidays ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT and African Diaspora there is no one way to celebrate the special end-of-year days that represent our belief, heritage and honor systems but celebrate we do.

In addition to the usual sharing of joy this year we all recognize the challenge that nature has placed upon us all - the COVID-19 pandemic.

What ever our families do to celebrate this year consider starting with identifying those in our city, town or village that can supply what we need. The more we spend or exchange with each other, the stronger our local and regional economies will be as we go through this special challenge period.

Check labels and Brands to be sure that the items you purchase or trade for were made in your nation or a neighboring nation. Support the artists and creatives, the cooks and chefs, tailors and seamstresses, shoe makers, etal.

Look for the listings and catalogs like those shown on this page and search the Internet using your phone to find the gifts and foods that will be enjoyed during this season.

We all need to celebrate during this special season and special challenge. Take time to lift your spirits and share some joy with others.

The articles on the next few pages oer some ideas for sharing. Enjoy.

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2020

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Business - Market for the Holidays

Boutique Owner sees Skyrocketing Sales for Michelle Obama's 'VOTE' Necklace

By Kate Bennett, CNN

AS SOON AS THE texts started rolling in Monday evening, Chari Cuthbert knew she was on the cusp of the biggest moment of her career.

"I was at my office, and I just sat there as my phone was going crazy, and I started to cry," Cuthbert told CNN of the moment it sank in that Michelle Obama was wearing her design -- a gold necklace with the letters V-O-T-E -- while giving her Democratic National Convention speech.

The necklace is Cuthbert's creation, part of her small, boutique jewelry line, based in Los Angeles, called BYCHARI (https://bychari.com). Since 2012, she has designed and produced custom pieces, with website orders coming mostly via word of mouth, social media and a handful of A-list influencers who support her mission.

The business was already picking up steam and Cuthbert had increased her staff, from two to five and now eight. But a visual endorsement from a style icon like the former first lady has skyrocketed sales. Cuthbert said that about 12 hours after Obama's speech on Monday night, orders for the VOTE necklace, which retails for

Chari Cuthbert walikali.com

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Former Fist Lady Michelle Obam

approximately $300, were already hovering near 2,000.

She noted that each piece is custom-made, with production turnaround time typically about three to four weeks, but she made "frantic" calls late last night to some of her suppliers in anticipation of the rush of orders, and she's hoping she and her small team can start to turn necklaces as quickly as two weeks.

On Tuesday morning a dedicated page appeared on the BYCHARI website for ordering the VOTE necklace.

Meredith Koop, Obama's stylist for the last decade, told CNN the necklace wasn't just part of Obama's outfit -- it was the impetus for her entire look.

"I built all of the outfit options I offered to Obama around the necklace. When I commissioned it, I knew it had to be the centerpiece," Koop said. She admitted she was mildly worried Obama might find the necklace too obvious, but the former first lady liked the idea of the lettering. "When the speech started, you had to squint a little to read it. I love that. It pulled the viewer in."

Obama's necklace was crafted the day after Koop direct-messaged Cuthbert on Instagram, out of the blue, in late July. The two had never previously met, nor had they worked together, yet Koop had taken note of Cuthbert's designs on social media. Cuthbert had made a limited supply of VOTE necklaces for herself and friends in 2016, and in 2018 to raise awareness about the primaries, and she intended to do so again in anticipation of 2020's presidential election. The timing of Koop's request was fortuitous.

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ma

"I try to keep politics and business separate," Cuthbert saud, "but in these times, with what's happening in the world, I felt like I needed to use my platform. So when Meredith reached out we knew how important it was to do this, and do it now."

Cuthbert is in her mid30s, Black and one of millions of small business owners and entrepreneurs following their passions, and waiting for a big break, for which she is now ready.

"I reached out to friends in the jewelry industry last night and this morning and have just said, 'Um, I'm going to need some help,' in the best possible sense," says Cuthbert. "This is it. This is the dream come true."

Beyond the fashion Cuthbert had no idea if or when Obama would actually wear the piece, so seeing her VOTE message so clearly spelled out in front of millions of viewers Monday night came as a happy surprise. Cuthbert said she was pleasantly shocked to see Obama was also wearing a pair of BYCHARI thin, gold hoop earrings, which she says are also selling at a faster clip since Obama's appearance.

For Koop, who sources and helps select most of the outfits Obama wears for public events, picking BYCHARI was no accident. Koop has long been a champion of Obama's own, consistent fashion ethos: uplifting brands and designers whose products and stories go beyond merely a retail or sales objective.

"I vet all the designers that I work with to the best of my ability. It's important that the pieces on Michelle align with her message or, at the very least, don't distract from it," Koop tells CNN. For Obama, and, thus, Koop, there must be meaning behind the clothes and accessories -- an organic but very present melding of politics and culture. From her earliest days in the White House, Obama noted the importance of her global platform from not only a policy standpoint, but also a sartorial one. Observers were, by nature of the role, going to pay attention to what Obama wore, so the former first lady shifted to make decisions about her wardrobe that were influenced by a greater 21

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motivation than just what she liked.

Obama has continued to use her recognition and her style of politics in her post-White House years, perhaps with more fashion flair than when she was constrained by the bounds of being first lady. Koop, for Obama's "Becoming" book tour, dressed her in bold fabrics, slightly more revealing necklines and footwear with way more moxie (the thigh-high, shimmery gold Balenciaga boots for her New York City appearance, for example).

Cuthbert has felt the need to go beyond aesthetics for her business, too.

"Finding ways to give back has always been part of my brand identity," she told CNN. "Initially, I was personally just trying to do my part and spread the word, but more recently, when people started posting support for Black-owned businesses, it was all I could do to thank them and try to do what I can."

The BYCHARI website includes a category titled, "How You Can Help," and clicking it opens a page with links to support various social justice causes, either monetarily or via signing petitions. The company's stated philosophy atop the page aligns to a tee with the sentiments vocalized by Obama in recent months and in her DNC speech -- a call to act, to discuss, to listen and to vote. Cuthbert's business includes a link to register to vote on its site.

In the Netflix documentary of her memoir, "Becoming," Obama talks about "turning fashion into a tool," one that could promote a broad range of diverse, emerging and established designers, such as Tracy Reese, Naeem Khan, Jason Wu, Brandon Maxwell, Thom Browne, Rodarte, Cushnie et Ochs, Derek Lam and many others -- now including Cuthbert.

Koop noted that when a designer benefits from the exposure, it's a bonus.

"That's the beautiful thing about what I do," Koop said. "It doesn't happen every time, but when it does, I'm thrilled, especially with someone like Chari who has worked so hard and makes beautiful wearable pieces." www.cnn. com/2020/08/18/ politics/michelleobama-vote-necklacedesigner/index.html Image credit: www. walikali.com, Democratic National Convention

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Business - Market for the Holidays

Beyoncé's Black Parade Route Catalog Giving African-owned Businesses a Boost

By Aisha Salaudeen

ANYANGO MPINGA WOKE UP August 1 to multiple social media comments and messages informing her that her fashion brand was featured on the website of one of the most popular entertainers in the world -- Beyoncé.

"There was a comment from one of my followers on Instagram that said, "Oh, your work is featuring on Beyoncé."

"I was confused at first because as far as I knew, I hadn't sent Beyoncé anything," Mpinga said, laughing.

The fashion designer from Kenya would later find out that her business -- Anyango Mpinga -- had been listed as part of the "Black Parade Route," (www. beyonce.com/black-parade-route) a directory of Blackand African-owned small businesses curated by Beyoncé and Zerina Akers.

Akers is Beyoncé's stylist and the founder of Black Owned Everything (www.instagram.com/black.owned. everything), a compilation of businesses across various fields run by Black entrepreneurs.

Black Parade Route Black Parade Route highlights brands and businesses across different industries, including restaurants, beauty, arts, and design, as well as multiple fashion brands from different countries in Africa.

The directory was released alongside a song titled "Black Parade" on Juneteenth. The June 19 holiday celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It's the anniversary of the day in 1865 when news of their emancipation reached slaves in Galveston, Texas.

"Happy Juneteenth Weekend! I hope we continue to share joy and celebrate each other, even in the midst of struggle. Please continue to remember our beauty, strength, and power," the singer wrote on Instagram at the time. "'BLACK PARADE' celebrates you, your voice and your joy and will benefit Black-owned small businesses."

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Studio Imo brand. © Chidi Ashimole

Mpinga told CNN that she is a fan of Beyoncé and was excited to see that the award-winning musical artist had posted her brand on the website.

Through her brand, the 36-year-old designs and produces re-imagined white shirts, bold prints, jewelry, and leather bags.

"I was excited to see that my business is on Beyoncé's site. And I was also thrilled to see so many beautiful brands that she wore in her album on the

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Edwin Okolo's brand, Studio Imo, designs and produces handmade dresses and jumpsuits in Nigeria. © Debola Adebiyi

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website, and I loved them," she said.

More visibility

'There are many Black creatives' Mpinga said that the directory is proof that there are many Black and African creatives across different industries.

"The industry has been saying they don't know where to find Black designers or good creators, it has been an excuse for a long time with the big retailers," she said.

"What Beyoncé has done is show everyone where to find these creatives so that there are no more excuses," she added.

And while Okolo is excited that Beyoncé is featuring businesses on her website, he said he hopes the singer and her team will give an additional boost to brands by promoting them outside Black Parade Route.

"It is wonderful to see Africans get this kind of platform without doing anything extra but I am hoping more can be done in terms of PR. I don't know if that will happen in the near future."

B e i n g featured on Beyoncé's website is giving many African o w n e d businesses greater visibility and by extension m o r e Designs from the new Anyango Mpinga customers, collection are worn by 3D avatar according models. Kenya's Mpinga is behind www.msn.com/en-us/ to Edwin one of the businesses featured on lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/ Okolo.

Beyoncé's website. beyonc%C3%A9-s-blackL i k e © Anyango Mpinga parade-route-catalogMpinga, giving-african-ownedOkolo's fashion brand, Studio Imo, was spotlighted on businesses-a-boost/ Black Parade Route. ar-BB17SpLq?ocid=msedgntp "I was not expecting it at all because I am a small brand ... I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had been featured," he told CNN. The 33-year-old Nigerian has been running his business since 2013 and makes dresses and jumpsuits, knitting them by hand.

Since the feature, he has noticed a lot "Black Parade" beneϐits BeyGOOD's Black more activity on his business page with Business Impact Fund, administered by people preordering some of his designs, he the NAACP, to support Black-owned small said.

"A lot of people are showing interest. I businesses in need. have already gotten new commissions and more people have ordered from the online store. I don't know how that will play out in the long term but just being recognized has been very good for my brand," he added.

Mpinga said her brand has also attracted www.beyonce.com/black-parade-route more attention.

"It brought a wider audience to my Created and curated by @ZerinaAkers platform. What has happened is that I've with @black.owned.everything been getting a lot more requests from people asking how they can get the pieces from my collection, people wanting to make orders," Now featuring African-owned businesses. she explained.

THE BLACK PARADE ROUTE

DIRECTORY OF BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES

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Business - Market for the Holidays

Style with a Purpose

By Siobhan Reid, Travel+Leisure, October 2020

Diarra Bousso CNN

BORN TO A FAMILY of artisans in Dakar, Senegal, Diarra Bousso has always had a flair for fashion - "Where I'm from, the women are always impeccaly dressed, and it's the norm to get all of your outfits handmade by a tailor." But her passion for math runs just as deep. After moving to the United States, she earned undergraduate degree in the subject and worked as a trader on Wall Street before launching her online fashion company, Diarrablu (www.diarrablu.com), in 2015.

The resort-wear brand comprises breezy caftans, versitile jumpsuits, and billowy trousers the majority of which are artisan-made in Senegal and feature graphic paterns generated digitally via algorithms (or lines of code) written by Bousso herself. Despite spending most of her time as a designer, she wanted to give back, so after earning her master's degree in math education at Stanford University, she became a teacher at a public high school in Silicon Valley, California USA. "People are always shocked when I tell them that I am a full-time fashion CEO and a full-time math educator," she says. "But it's so empowering to make the subject fun, especially for young women.

And besides, math is just like designing, but with numbers." Her multi-job lifestyle is evidently paying o: last year, model Kendall Jenner was shot wearing a Diarrablu swimsuit for the pages of Vogue, and Bousso was invited to do an interactive brand "exhibition"-complete with select Diarrablu styles and a station where customers could use

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math to come up with their own prints- at Bloomingdale's in San Francisco.

Up next, the designer is working to expand on her recently released Sustainable Essentials collection ($15-$300), which includes garments crafted from eco-friendly fabrics

like organic Senegalese cotton and Lyocell. But math education remains her biggest commitment: "With teaching, you see instant results, whereas with fashion, you wait six months to get feedback from your customers. So it's extremely rewarding to witness that transformation in my students."

Image credits: fashionincubatorsa.org

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Business - Market for the Holidays

This App Allows Users to Search and Suppor¥ Black-Owned Businesses Around the World

HELLABLACK Sell Black. Shop Black. Online Marketplace for Black-owned Enthusiasts, Launching August 2020. www.hellablack.com

By Parker Diakite IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR a one-stop-shop to support Black-owned businesses, there’s an app on the market that allows you to search and support Black-owned businesses around the world.

Rameish Budhoo created Black Nation (https:// blacknation.app) in 2018 and fully launched it in January 2019. It’s a business directory and social app where users can search dozens of categories, including beauty, shopping, photography, restaurants, fitness, and more.

“People in and out of our community want to support black-owned brands, but have an extremely difficult time locating them,” Rameish told Black Business.

“Black Nation is a social business directory and social media platform. You can hang out, find businesses to support, but also have the chance to win gifts, share updates, stories, and much more.”

What makes the app unique is its social element that allows businesses to interact directly with their followers and customers. Businesses can create giveaways and interact with users directly on the app, according to Rameish.

“This App was built to empower, celebrate each other’s success, and to reinvest in ourselves and our community,” a statement reads. “It is time to reclaim our Black People Magic and build our community in the process. We are powerful, we are resilient, we are BLACK NATION.” Black Nation is a free app that is available only on the App Store for the iPhone and iPad (https:// apps.apple.com/us/app/black-nation/ id1440424412). https://travelnoire.com/app-searchsupport-black-owned-businesses

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Layla Nielsen Co-Founder

Love-Leigh Trimiew Co-Founder

Natalie Robinson Co-Founder

Social E-Commerce, Empowering Black-Owned Small Businesses and Culture-Conscious Consumers OUR MISSION IS SIMPLE: to create a one-stop destination to find quality Black-owned products with a focus on and appreciation for sought after brands and products from around Africa & the Black Diaspora.

When we support Black-owned businesses, we invest in our communities and strengthen our local economies. Shopping HellaBlack in turn supports families, employees and other business owners -- all things that build economic strength and celebrate the richness of Black culture.

HellaBlack is a community-curated marketplace, powered by a team of digital marketing, UX, supply chain & logistics, and customer service experts who are skilled in driving revenue across digital platforms. Find an array of Black-owned niche product lines to your classic staples, or become a seller and expose your brand visibility to thousands of consumers looking for Black-owned products. At HellaBlack, you will discover hair care essentials, one-of-a-kind jewelry and global garments, statement pieces for your home, or the next dope visual masterpiece. Stay on the lookout for special offerings with some of the best brands in the business.

#ShopHellaBlack Follow us @SHOPHELLABLACK

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Investment Profile - Senegal

Republic of Senegal

By Africa Business Association

Na onal Profile Official Name: Republic of Senegal Government Format: A unitary state: Presiden al Republic President: Head of Government Name President: Macky Sall

Region: WestAfrica Es mated GDP: US$24.13 billion (2019)

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Es mated Popula on: 17 million Overview: Senegal is among Africa’s most stable countries, with three major peaceful poli cal transi ons since independence in 1960. Senegal offers a stable poli cal environment, a favorable geographic posi on and strong ins tu ons with growing opportuni es for foreign investment. The Government of Senegal welcomes foreign investment and has priori zed efforts to improve the business climate in what is one of Africa’s fastest- growing economies.

With a GDP growth rate of 6.6% in 2016, Senegal is classified among the top three fastestgrowing economies in Africa, behind Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania. With a low infla on rate of only 1% in 2016, Senegal's monetary policy mirrors the objec ves of economic stability and growth. Since 2004, its regional currency, the CFA franc, has been stable at a peg of 655.96 CFA franc per euro. According to Interna onal Monetary Fund (IMF) es ma ons, a stronger and sustainable annual growth rate is an cipated up un l 2021, es mated to be 7-8%. This is underpinned by exports, as well as foreign and local investments.

Bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also shares borders with the Gambia and a mari me border with Cape Verde.

Value Proposi on Economic growth in Senegal has surged over 6% since 2015 – and the trend is expected to con nue in 2018 and beyond. Growth reached 6.2% in 2016 and 7.2% in 2017, led by the primary sector with around 13% of growth, boosted by fishing and agriculture. The secondary sector also grew rapidly at 4.5% supported by food; chemicals and extrac ves (phosphates and gold).

Services grew at 6.6% thanks to transport and financial and intermedia on services. Ongoing reforms, higher total investment, and adequate climate condi ons help explain Senegals performance.

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What does your na on offer that an investor’s value proposal on needs?

Senegal has a lot going for it: Its stable democracy, great irriga on poten al, religious tolerance, and proximity to markets in Europe and North America. Senegal has some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, and the industry already plays a central socioeconomic role there. Importantly, the sector not only generates a large number of jobs directly, but also creates opportuni es indirectly, through opportuni es in fish processing and distribu on, both of which primarily employ women.

Development in Senegal Senegal is today among the fastest-growing economies in Africa. In 2014, Senegal adopted a new development model to accelerate its progress towards becoming an emerging economy. The ESP 2014-18 was developed to adopt a model focusing on accelera ng the GDP growth rate and providing be er living condi ons for the popula on. It establishes the framework for the country’s economic and social policy over the medium and long term and calls for Senegal to be an emerging market by 2035, as well as a business hub for the region.

Doing Business In Senegal: Senegal offers a compe ve des na on for investments in Africa on account of its poli cal stability, strategic geographical posi on, access to subregional markets and improving infrastructure. Many interna onal organisa ons and businesses have made Dakar their base for opera ons across the West African region. Senegal has shown commitments towards improving its business environment. The country has adopted the Three-year Program of Business 27

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Environment and Competitiveness Reforms (2013-15 PREAC) updated to cover 2016-18. Recent measures include the reduc on of the property transfer tax to 5% from 10% in 2013. The minimum capital required to start a business was abolished in 2015 as well as stamp du es on business start-ups. According to the World Bank’s 2016 Doing Business report, the country is one of the world's top business reformers and among the top ten business environment improvers for two consecu ve years. Senegal ranked 147th out of 190 countries in 2017, a six-posi on improvement from its 2016 ranking.

What is your promise to investors?

Senegal is West Africa’s fourth largest economy – behind Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, all of which export commodi es such as oil, cocoa and coffee. In contrast, it was obvious from the start that Senegal would have to rely on knowledge and crea vity. Its influence in Africa is greater than its small popula on of not quite 17 million would suggest. Senegal does not have natural resources – though oil was recently found offshore. To date, however, the basis for Senegal’s development has been educa on. About 40 % of the na onal budget is spent on this sector.

What services do you provide for your investors?

With a healthy and compe ve economy, Senegal has a propor onally small market, but not only because of its bridge func on for the West African market, which is much more accessible compared to other African countries. In view of the poten al of the import-export market, many entrepreneurs are wondering how to import to Senegal. This is perfectly normal, since the country grants great freedom of establishment for investors in the tex le, fishing, agrifood, tourism, mining and new technologies sectors.

As a result, foreign companies and investors see page 28

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Investment Profile - Senegal

from page 27

have the same opportuni es in their ac vi es.

Foreigners can therefore benefit from 100% share in a company, provided that the required legal procedures are followed. The commercial culture and agricultural subsistence are not diversified enough, and this gives you the opportunity to invest in new products.

In addi on, this pla orm allows you to both adopt products already on the market for an affordable price, but also to introduce completely new ar cles that have already been successful for other African businesses.

The tax code reform, which entered into force in January 2013, reflects the government’s aspira on to use the tax system as an instrument to support economic growth. Declaring and paying taxes has become easier. Efforts to develop paperless opera ons are well underway and include: • the Generaliza on of e-VAT repor ng for SMEs • paying taxes online using an e-tax pla orm • fee exemp ons for online payments; • a 50% reduc on in the no fica on period (from 26 to 13 days) • guidance on repayment schedules for VAT. Six Sectors of Investment Opportuni es in Senegal The country's main growth drivers are private projects, but the capital of Dakar brings together a 28

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good number of consumer goods manufacturers who invest in the crea on or expansion of their produc on lines. There are a number of sectors in which foreign companies can be considered as suppliers. These are: Telecom and ICT With the evolu on of the telecommunica ons sector, Senegal has become one of the most important countries of South-North outsourcing. Currently, there are three mobile service providers and thanks to the Telecommunica ons and Postal Regulatory Agency, the country has had an independent supervisory authority for the sector since 2001. While the expansion of the fixed network is languishing, it is now also accessible in the most remote parts of the country by mobile phone, and Senegal has one of the highest mobile user densi es on the African con nent.

Oil & Gas (and Mining) Services Senegal’s ambi on to boost oil explora on and investment has drawn the a en on of foreign oil, gas and mining (OGM) companies. Planned explora on has focused on the produc ve Mauritania-SenegalGuinea Bissau Basin. The basin – as its name indicates – covers a few neighboring countries. OGM companies regard the basin as an entry point into West Africa and an opportunity to build a regional presence.

Heavy Industry & Construc on New construc on is evident across Senegal’s main ci es as authori es look to upgrade exis ng infrastructure, from ports to roads. This government mandate drives the demand for the heavy industry supplies, par cularly in the cement sector. A strong regional demand for construc on supplies adds another significant boost to the sector.

Banking and Finance Some investors believe that Senegal can posi on itself as a center for Islamic finance, as a country with an approximate 95% Muslim popula on. About 54% of West Africa’s popula on is Muslim. The eightcountry West African Economic and Monetary Union (established in 1994 promote economic integra on among countries that use the same CFA franc currency) is symbolically led by Senegal, a country that rises above the rest for its stability.

Tourism Tourism is the country's second source of currency.

Although it has encountered some difficul es before,

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African Renaissance Monument booking.com

it is moving in the right direc on. So if the situa on remains stable, the number of tourists should con nue to increase.

Natural resources: Fish, peanuts, phosphate, iron ore, gold, tanium.

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Industries: Agricultural and fish processing, phosphate mining, fer lizer produc on, petroleum refining, construc on materials.

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Investment Profile - Senegal

Akon Just Unveiled his $6 Billion ‘Futuristic’ City in Senegal.

By Danielle Paquette

A computer model of the $6-billion “futuristic” city Senegalese American singer Akon announced he plans to build on the coast of Senegal. (KE International)

THE TWISTING METALLIC SKYSCRAPERS planned for Akon City look like they could sprout on Mars in the distant future — blueprints that scream: Bring your hoverboard.

But Akon, the R&B singer who split his youth between this West African country and New Jersey, said his $6 billion eponymous development project will transform a Senegalese farming village by the decade’s end.

“I want the buildings to look like real African sculptures that they make in the villages,” Akon, 47, told a masked crowd Monday in the seaside capital, Dakar.

The Senegalese American artist, whose full name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, was in town to lay the first stone in a cornfield on 2,000 acres of coastal land given to him by the Senegalese government.

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Construction, he said, is set to begin early next year.

The high-profile visit capped months of increasingly lofty announcements: Akon City will run on cryptocurrency called Akoin, the performer said. It will be self-powered and environmentally friendly.

It will feature luxury condos, a beachfront resort, office parks, a university and a hospital — all of which, he told TMZ in August, “may be an hour flight, two-hour flight from anywhere in Africa.” (A typical flight from Nairobi to Dakar takes more than 10 hours.)

His website calls it “futuristic.”

Senegalese officials applauded Akon’s vision at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has throttled the nation’s economy, stalling investment and crushing jobs.

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Tourism was hit especially hard in the country of nearly 16 million, which strives to leverage its glittering Atlantic shorelines. A four-month airport closure — followed by border restrictions that now allow mostly citizens and residents to enter — has cast adrift many workers here, whose average wages are about $189 a month.

“We can show to the rest of the world that Senegal is a destination despite the impact of Covid-19,” Tourism Minister Alioune Sarr said Monday as he sat beside Akon. “That Africa is a land of opportunity.”

Akon cited the experiences of Black Americans as his inspiration. He wanted to create an upscale refuge for them, he said — a home that could help connect people with African ancestry to their roots.

Ghana harnessed a similar message after the killing of George Floyd in May roused protests worldwide.

“The system back home treats them unfairly in so many different ways that you can never imagine,” Akon said. “And they only go through it because they feel that there is no other way.”

His city planners aim to hire locally and source

materials from West Africa. The result will be “very, very African,” the singer said.

Yet some people took issue with the lack of Senegalese names attached to the project. The firm set to build Akon City is American. The architect who sketched the first renderings, Hussein Bakri, is based in Abu Dhabi.

“These shapes could be anywhere: Phoenix, Dubai,” said Senegalese architect Nzinga Mboup, who saw the blueprints online. “Why can’t we define our own modernity?”

Some described the tubular structures as phallic.

Social media erupted in snark.

“It’s pure marketing to attract sun, sea and sex enthusiasts,” said Abdou Khadre Sanoko, a sociologist in the city of Thies.

Others questioned how the buildings — to be constructed with concrete, glass, copper and steel — matched Senegal’s warm, dry climate. Huge windows tend to invite uncomfortable heat.

“People are going to have to have the air conditioning on all day long,” said Mamy Tall, another local architect who runs the Instagram page DakarLives, which has 297,000 followers.

“The images he is publishing — there is no consideration for anything related to Senegal, to our climate, to our materials, to our needs,” Tall said. “I really hope it’s a big joke.”

At first, Akon said, he wanted to hire an architect from the region.

“But honestly, I wanted to not overthink my project,” he told the packed conference room at one of Dakar’s glitziest hotels. “In my research, as far as what I needed in the time that I needed, I could not find one fast enough.”

He sought the guidance of Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, an architectural adviser to presidents here who designed the African Renaissance Monument — a copper statue of a man, woman and child that looms 160 feet over Dakar.

“This plan will now change because of his advice,” Akon said without elaborating.

The singer, who rose to hip-hop and R&B prominence with his 2004 album “Trouble,” has pivoted in recent years to philanthropy on the continent.

His solar energy company, Akon Lighting see page 32

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Investment Profile - Senegal from page 31

the rural future home of his city. Officials told local reporters that they welcomed the change.

Africa (www.facebook.com/AkonLightingAfrica), Farming land would be lost, but better jobs would provides electricity to rural villages in 14 countries. arrive, Akon told the crowd in Dakar. Workers Akon City is meant to create a lot of jobs — and would receive job training, he said, and he would make serious money, said Derek William, Director pay them “as much as I can.” of Engineering and Project Management at KE Serigne Mansour Madzoo Fall, a graffiti artist in International (https://ke-intl. the capital who goes by Mad Zoo (www.facebook. com), the American firm in com/MadzooTRK), liked the sound of that but had charge of construction. some doubts.

“It made a tremendous “Maybe this sends a message to young people amount of business sense,” — they could do it, too,” he said. “But when he said. “In general, when you go into less he is finished, who is going to profit from this? developed areas, a dollar goes so much further.”

Celebrities? Rich people?”

Funding came quickly. Akon City has raised $4 The renderings make Akon City look like a utopia billion of its $6 billion goal. (Akon said he could for the wealthy, he said. The illustrations online — not name other business partners, who signed as well as in a booklet handed out to reporters — nondisclosure agreements.) feature people who resemble European tourists.

The bigger challenge is winning the community’s “I want the Senegalese people to be prioritized,” support, said William, whose company last built a he said. mall and hospital in western Kenya as part of a $2 Borso Tall contributed to this report. billion development on 5,000 acres. www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/akon-just“A lot of these projects get mired in court cases unveiled-his-6-billion-futuristic-city-in-senegal-theand lawsuits, and they stall for decades,” he said. reviews-are-mixed/2020/09/01/56f3b7a4-ebc7-11ea“We really want to make sure that we have all the bd08-1b10132b458f_story.htm stakeholders buying in when we go in.”

Image credit: getaway.co.za Over the weekend, Akon stopped by Mbodienne,

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Investment Profile - Senegal

To Give African Food a Bigger Stage in New Orleans, a Chef Reaches Across Restaurant Scene

By Ian McNulty

Grill, the MidCity restaurant known for its own exploratory approach of different cooking cultures.

Kin, Willie Mae's Scotch House, MoPho, Bywater American Bistro, Turkey & the Wolf and Mosquito Supper Club are all on deck for the weeks ahead.

“African cuisine doesn’t get as much credit as it should, so how can I show people how it connects to other cuisines?” said Mbaye. “Making dishes with these Chef Serigne Mbaye prepares a dish at his pop-up Dakar NOLA inside the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, which showcases the flavors of Senegal photo Ian McNulty different chefs, I think it shows how Senegalese cuisine is part of so many cuisines and can be SERIGNE MBAYE SEES LINKS to the food of his ancestral home of Senegal all around his related to them.”

At 27, Mbaye had already racked up a remarkable adopted home of New Orleans, in the gumbo, résumé in the highest levels of American cuisine, the rice dishes, even the beignets.

The young chef wants to build new connections cooking at Commander’s Palace and the Michelinthrough modern New Orleans cooking, and one starred restaurants L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon avenue is a series of collaborations with local in New York and Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.

Today, he runs a recurring pop-up called Dakar restaurants.

That series begins on September 22nd in conjunction with chef Marcus Jacobs, of Marjie’s 33

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see page 34

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Investment Profile - Senegal

catch with aromatic caramelized onion and roasted sweet potato; fonio, an ancient millet grain of Africa, soft and earthy, became a salad with tomatoes and cucumber and lemon vinaigrette; akara, the blackeyed pea fritters, filled a sandwich heaped with more melting, caramelized onions on crusty ciabatta from Gracious Bakery.

By showcasing traditional food in new ways, Mbaye Chef Serigne Mbaye prepares a dish at his pop-up Dakar NOLA inside the Southern hopes he can keep Food & Beverage Museum, which showcases the flavors of Senegal file photo the story of its roots and global reach alive.

“If that doesn’t happen, I’m worried the culture from page 33 will die,” he said.

NOLA at the Southern Food & Beverage A journey, with familiar flavors Museum. Mbaye is working to eventually turn Collaborations such as the ones Mbaye is charting Dakar NOLA into a full-service New Orleans now have been cropping up in recent months. restaurant.

Addis NOLA, for instance, has been pairing with He's driven by a mission to see the flavors of other restaurants to bring its Ethiopian flavors to Senegal recognized and celebrated in the same more people. way as French or Italian cuisine, both through Jacobs, at Marjie’s Grill, said the idea resonated traditional preparations and the kind of creative with him as restaurant people seek ways to move energy chefs bring with their own interpretations. forward and build new bridges through a vexing “My idea is to bring classic and modern together point of history. in a way that makes sense for people of different “I think solidarity is always important, and right generations,” said Mbaye. “The dishes I cook are now, we really need each other, from a business traditional to Senegal but based on my technique standpoint and from a personal standpoint,” he and style and what I’ve learned.” said. “There’s COVID, there’s increased awareness His changing pop-up menus for Dakar NOLA of the Black Lives Matter movement, there’s the show the cornerstones of Senegalese cooking — politics right now. Restaurants and food are a way with its prevalent French, Portuguese and regional can we can come together.”

African elements — with nods to the local Creole At Marjie’s Grill, Jacobs combines elements style, itself a tapestry of influences. At a recent of the American South and southeast Asia, with pop-up, redfish yassa paired a deftly cooked local slow-cooked meats, chile-splashed seafood, lots 34

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Mbaye was born in New York and spent much of his youth in Senegal, where his parents were born and where he developed his love of cooking. Back in the United States, he graduated culinary school and embarked on a restaurant career.

That journey led him to New Orleans, where he found a culinary landscape with many touch points to the one he knew back home.

Yassa There’s pride in local ingredients, especially seafood, one-dish rice dishes for communal eating (like jollof, a dish akin to jambalaya), and the influences and even shared food language from a French colonial past.

For instance, the main difference between the beignets he tried at Cafe du Monde and the beignets he ate as street food snacks in Dakar is the pronunciation of the name (something like “bin-yet” for him, as opposed to the local “ben-yay”).

Akarra Sandwich “I couldn’t believe I was all the way here in New of herbs and abundant vegetables. To plan their Orleans, and I was eating beignets,” Mbaye said.

For more information, see www.dakarnola. collaboration, he and Mbaye started where their com, and look for updates on Mbaye’s Instagram styles intersect and built from there.

“We found a lot of common ground in our cooking page, @dakarnola. and our ideologies, and when we sat down to talk www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/article_ food, I was really blown away by the knowledge he ded42cb8-f454-11ea-859b-3fbbe4587863.html was laying down,” Jacobs said.

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Investment Profile - Senegal

Black Rock Senegal https://blackrocksenegal.org

Black Rock Senegal Compound

BLACK ROCK SENEGAL CAME out of a direct need to engage Africa in a much more personal way. I discovered Dakar on a layover in 1997, back when Air Afrique was the sole provider of flights from the west to Nigeria. It was my first visit to Africa and I was immediately enraptured

by Senegalese language, food, art, culture, and tradition.

After years of exploring the continent’s many cultures and countries I had a personal desire to create a workspace in West Africa. As an Artist who works in the west I desired a space of renewal to explore new ideas and to create work outside of a western context—to create work within the context of my own lineage. Black Rock stands as the direct answer to my desire to have an uncontested relationship with Africa, the filling in of a large void that I share with many African Americans. With this project I wanted to explore my own personal relationship with Africa while inviting artists to do the same and to galvanize the 36

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growing artistic and creative energies that exist in Africa in an increasing measure with the addition of diverse, international, creative possibility.

– Kehinde Wiley, 2019 Named for the volcanic rocks that blanket its shoreline, Black Rock is a multidisciplinary artistin-residence program founded by renowned artist Kehinde Wiley in 2019. The residency brings together international artists to live and work in Dakar, Senegal for 1-3 month stays. The Black Rock compound design was conceived by Senegalese architect Abib Djenne with interior collaboration between Wiley, Fatiya Djenne, and Aissa Dione. The complex includes a residence and studio space for Wiley along with three singleoccupancy residency apartments with adjacent studio spaces. Our mission is to support new artistic creation through collaborative exchange and to incite change in the global discourse about what Africa means today.

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Development

New Report on Aging in Africa United States Census Bureau A new report released on September 2, 2020 by the U.S. Census Bureau provides analysis of the demographic, economic, social and health characteristics of the older African population, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

The report, “Africa Aging: 2020,” (file:///C:/Users/ lionc/Downloads/p95_20-1%20(1).pdf) looks at the implications of population aging for Africa as a region, subregions and countries at present and in the future. It provides comprehensive and up-to-date statistics on current and projected future population aging trends and patterns in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Highlights include: • Between 2020 and 2050, the older African population is projected to triple from 74.4 million to 235.1 million. Its growth in the next three decades will outpace that of any other region of the world.

• A majority of African countries have less than 7% older population in 2020; by 2050 it is projected that just over one-fifth of countries in the region will still have the low proportion of older population.

• Nigeria has the 19th largest older population in the world in 2020, which is projected to rise to the eleventh largest in 2050.

• Africa has the highest total dependency ratio in the world, with children representing a much heavier societal support burden than older people.

• Whether in rural or urban areas, the large majority of older Africans have limited geographic mobility, having stayed in the same locality for 10 years or more.

• Seven in 10 adults ages 60 to 64 and almost half of those age 65 and older in sub-Saharan Africa remain in the labor force, a higher share than in all other world regions.

• Noncommunicable diseases dominate in older adults in Africa, as they do globally, but infectious diseases are still relevant as causes of mortality in this older population.

• Older African women have reported higher rates of disability or functional limitations compared to men.

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They are also more likely to report a greater severity of difficulties performing activities of daily living.

• Health systems for African older adults, rural residents in particular, suffer from understaffing of health workers, insufficient financial resources, inadequate legal health coverage, and high out-ofpocket payments.

This report follows the United Nations definitions of world regions and subregions. For more information go to Geographic Regions for Statistical Use. Demographic estimates and projections data come from the International Data Base, which is maintained and updated by the Census Bureau’s Population Division and current as of November 2019. All comparative statements in the text have undergone statistical testing, and comparisons are significant at the 90% confidence level, unless noted otherwise.

Research for, and production of, this report were supported by the Division of Behavioral and Social Research, National Institute on Aging.

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Development - History

Africare Commemorates its 50th Anniversary with Planned Sunset of all U.S. Operations and Assisting in Standing Up a New "PanAfricare" on the Continent

By PRESS RELEASE PR Newswire

Africarehouse Washington, DC CROWNING AN IMPRESSIVE FIFTY-YEAR legacy of high-impact programming within Africa, the Africare Board of Directors and President & CEO Robert L. Mallett announced both the planned cessation of Africare operations in the US and the endorsement of a newly created independent entity, "PanAfricare" based in Senegal, West Africa. The birth of PanAfricare will coincide with the planned sunset of Africare. The new PanAfricare has established its own board of directors and will operate autonomously from the existing organization. Africare will transition its entire portfolio of projects to PanAfricare. As the legacy Africare closes its operations, a new "Friends of PanAfricare" has also been established. Its sole, independent purpose will be to support the new PanAfricare and other organizations with similar 38

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missions in sub-Saharan Africa with fundraising from donors who support the mission of Africare.

Upon inception, PanAfricare can demonstrate extensive reach with a presence in each region of Sub-Saharan Africa -- Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and, of course, Senegal where the new PanAfricare headquarters will be based. Programs are within the core competencies of legacy Africare and the new PanAfricare, including: Agriculture, Nutrition, Health, Women's and Youth Empowerment.

"It has been my great honor to serve as a steward of Africare's enormous impact of transforming lives in Africa – from agricultural innovation, food security and nutrition to empowering women and youth. Now is simply the right time to pass this baton of stewardship DAWN

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◄ On Oct. 8, 1987, Africare’s headquarters ― Africare House ― was officially opened. Cutting the ribbon were (left to right), Africare President C. Payne Lucas, Africare Chairman Bishop John Walker and President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. (Photo: Lisa Berg)

not only to the capable Gorgui Diallo and the talented field staff – but to the entire continent of Africa via the new PanAfricare. I have great confidence that governments and donors committed to capacity building will take note and support this bold new venture," said President & CEO Robert Mallett.

"It was indeed the appropriate moment to dually celebrate Africare's wonderful legacy while also looking forward to ensure PanAfricare would be in a position to deliver services to the people of Africa," said Board Chair Stephen D. Cashin. "We are greatly appreciative of all the global 'Africare alumni' who have provided their energies and idea capital towards reaching this milestone."

"We are also grateful to our many government, international and corporate partners, foundations, sororities, churches and individual donors over this period who have underwritten the delivery of valuable services to the people of Africa. Africare has long enjoyed a widely diverse base of donor support," he added.

The new PanAfricare will be headed by the experienced and respected former Africare country director Gorgui Diallo and many talented countrybased project teams will join him in this new venture.

"I am humbled, honored and energized to become the inaugural CEO of the new PanAfricare. We appreciate the confidence of existing donors such as Bayer, Exxon Mobil and others who have reauthorized former Africare grants to PanAfricare. The new PanAfricare is

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excited about many projects such as nurturing a highly innovative initiative converting mining waste to fertilizer in Chad."

Africare is inviting existing staff, dedicated Africare Alumni, donors and all our loyal supporters to adopt the hashtags "#AfricareGoldenYear2020" and "#MyAfricareMemory" on social media and share their sentiments, participation and even photos in support of the collective work in Africa. During the 1970-2020 period, Africare invested approximately $2 billion across 38 African countries. "#AfricareGoldenYear2020 is dually a recognition of our great fifty-year legacy in Africa while highlighting the promising planned programming on the continent," said President & CEO Robert Mallett. "As we are on the ground every day, we increasingly see effective solutions towards uplifting people's lives developed locally throughout our operating countries vs. imported from the US. A new autonomous PanAfricare is dedicated to delivering programming which directly benefits people," Mallett added.

Additional details regarding Africare, Africare House, PanAfricare and past influential leaders such as C. Payne Lucas can be found on Africare's website at www.africare.org. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/africarecommemorates-its-50th-anniversary-with-planned-sunset-of-all-us-operations-and-assisting-in-standing-up-a-new-panafricare-onthe-continent-1029460794# Image Source: clear-res.com, Africare

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Development

Cartier Award Opens Doors for Nigerian Recycling Maven Bilikiss Interview conducted in Lagos, Nigeria

BILIKISS ADEBIYI-ABIOLA RECEIVED more than just money when the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards (www.cartierwomensinitiative. com) selected her as a laureate in 2013. The name recognition she garnered from the Awards opened doors in the hyper-competitive startup environment of her home country Nigeria for Bilikiss and her recycling startup, Wecyclers (www.wecyclers. com). In the last three years, Bilikiss has been able to double her company’s staff, partner with major multinational companies like Unilever, Uber and DHL and plan an expansion from Nigeria into Madagascar.

“People really respect you if you have some kind of certificate, some kind of award,” Bilikiss said.

“So being able to say I am the Cartier Women Initiative Awards’ laureate, that has set me apart from a lot of people,” Bilikiss said of being named a laureate, which included a cash prize of $20,000.

While some startups in Nigeria offer products

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or services to the country’s rising middle class or globetrotting elite, Bilikiss staked her future on trash. Wecyclers collects recyclable waste from neighborhoods in Lagos and rewards the households they collect from with points that can be exchanged for everything from housewares to generators.

The company’s bicycle -and tricycle- riding employees collect about 50 tons of recyclables per-month in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos. That’s a small dent in the 10,000 tons of trash the city produces daily, but it’s already something. When she won the award, Bilikiss says the company only collected about 10 tons of trash each month.

“We’ve been able to outgrow the startup phase.

We’re becoming more of a small to medium-sized enterprise.”

Bilikiss started the company in 2012 with one employee. She now has 103, up from fewer than 50 when she won the award. She was recently

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able to hire a Chief Operating Officer and other staff to take some of the management burden off her shoulders and guide Wecycler’s growth. In March, the Lagos governor named her to a board mandated to reduce youth unemployment and promote entrepreneurship in her state. Meanwhile, Bilikiss is working with DHL to expand Wecyclers to Madagascar, perhaps by the end of the year.

Bilikiss hasn’t kept the benefits of the Cartier award to herself. After receiving the honor, she started mentoring other startups in Nigeria.

Her mentees include two subsequent Cartier award winners, Achenyo Idachaba and Chinwe

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Ohajuruka. “I see women who are doing their own entrepreneurial thing,” she said. “I want to help.”

Despite having accomplished so much, Bilikiss says her entrepreneurial journey is just beginning.

“My goal for Wecyclers is to be… a huge waste management company in Sub-Saharan Africa, where we are empowering people with waste,” she said. “I definitely know I’m not that person yet but I hope to be so in the future.” www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/story/bilikissadebiyi-abiola Image credits: blogspot.com, olatorera.com, impactspace.com, Naija Gist - Latest

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Development

Kenyan Video Game to Fight Climate Change

By AGENCY

KENYAN TECH START-UP, USIKU Games (https://usiku.games) has developed the Seedballs Game (https://play.usiku.games/ seedballs) to help aid reforestation of Kenya's lost forest cover. Kenya targets to increase its forest cover to 10% from the current 7% by 2022.

A Seedball is a coated tree (or grass) seed inside of a ball of recycled charcoal dust mixed with some nutritious binders. The biochar coating of the ball helps protect the seed within from predators such as birds, rodents, and insects and extremes of temperature until the rains arrive. Once soaked, the seedball will help retain and prolong a moist environment around the seed to encourage germination.

Seedballs Kenya (www.seedballskenya.com) is a collaboration between Chardust Ltd (chardust.com) and Cookswell Jikos Ltd (https://cookswell.co.ke).

Together they have researched and developed biochar Seedballs for Kenya. Chardust handles the manufacturing and Cookswell Jikos is involved with sales, marketing, and distribution.

According to Teddy Kinyanjui, Co-Founder Seedballs Kenya, the initiative targets areas that have been severely affected by deforestation because of charcoal burning activities. Seedballs Kenya has distributed over 10 million seedballs since its inception in 2016.

"We are very glad to partner with Usiku Games to drive more awareness on the need to conserve our forests and to regrow the millions of trees we have cut down as a Country over the years.

We believe that gamifying environmentalism will help make youths excited about tree growing and therefore more likely to take part in this great initiative of planting trees to recover our lost forest."

Seedball Kenya uses certified tree seeds from the Kenya Forestry Seed Center (https://kefri. org/wp-content/uploads/PDF/REVISED%20SEED%20 CATALOGUE-1-1.pdf) who has a stock of seed of about

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localities around Kenya. "We use this provenance data to guide us in our seed distribution efforts," says Kinyanjui.

In the game, the player flies a small plane and try to plant trees by dropping Seedballs. At the end of the game, the players are congratulated for planting (e.g.) 379 virtual trees. The player is then encouraged to turn them into 379 real trees by donating Sh1 per tree.

"This is the first time that games are being used to address deforestation issues in Africa. The current climate change issues of drastic weather patterns, extinctions and drying water bodies' maybe a thing of the past if more people embrace this game especially the youth," says Jay Shapiro.

Mr. Shapiro adds that the effects of climate change are eating into socio-economic development and depleting the critical resources that the local communities need to survive.

"Sustainable forest management is at the very core of Kenya's social and economic wellbeing as many of the country's economic sectors rely on environment based resources for their sustenance."

According to the Taskforce Report on Forest Resources Management and Logging Activities in Kenya 2018, the forest sector is estimated to contribute about Sh7 billion to the economy and employ over 50,000 people directly and another 300,000 indirectly with the potential for millions more.

The report indicates that Kenya's forest cover is estimated to be about 7.4% of the total land area, which is very different from the recommended DAWN

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For every tree planted...

You create a unique connection with the continent

•

You create a job or educate a child in Africa

•

You join the climate action movement

•

You enter your name in the BOOK OF ROOTS; the world root registry that records forever all people who have planted tree(s) on earth.

MIPAD Foundation Unveils My Roots In Africa Project.

We are happy to have you join millions of other people who want to plant a tree to replenish the earth and make the earth a greener planet.

AFRICA IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT, PLANT YOUR ROOTS!

Kindly DONATE (https://dashboard.flutterwave.com/ donate/gps35edj7aqs) to support upcoming tree planting

Enter your name or the name of your honoree in the

BOOK OF ROOTS. In the future, people will not ask, "where are you from?" People will ask, "where do you have roots?"

YOU Win! Africa Wins!

Diaspora Wins! Earth Wins!

My Roots In Africa enables the global African diaspora to plant tree(s) in Africa, remotely or inperson, have it geo-tagged and named as a priceless gift in honor of themselves or a loved one, to reconnect with their roots while simultaneously helping to reverse the effects of climate change.

global minimum of 10%. On the other hand, Kenya's closed canopy forest cover currently stands at about 2% of the total land area, compared to the African average of 9.3% and a world average of 21.4%. Most of the closed-canopy forests in Kenya are montane forests that serve as the nation's water towers.

In recent years, Kenya's forests have been depleted at an alarming rate of approximately 5,000 43

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projects, Watch videos of others who have "planted their roots" in Africa: www.youtube.com/channel/UCQzIV4NzjvRQeDLM-sQstg.

• World Tree Day – 21st March • World Earth Day – 22nd April • World Greenery Day – 4th May • World Environment Day – 5th June • World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought – 17th June • World Rainforest Day – 22nd June • World Nature Conservation Day 28th June • International Day of Climate Action – 24th October • World Soil Day – 5th December

To learn more about the project visit our featured stories on CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/24/ africa/mipad-africa-tree-naming-intl/index.html) and BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08001mm).

hectares per annum. This is estimated to lead to an annual reduction in freshwater availability of approximately 62 million cubic meters, translating to an economic loss to the economy of over USD 19 million, notes the task force report. www.cnn.com/2019/12/24/africa/mipad-africa-treenaming-intl/index.html Image credit: Capital FM

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Development

Africa's Great Green Wall Just 4% Complete Halfway Through Schedule

By Jonathan Watts Global environment editor

The world’s most ambitious reforestation project, the Great Green Wall of Africa, has covered only 4% of its target area but is more than halfway towards its 2030 completion date, according to a status report.

More funds, greater technical support and tighter oversight will be needed if the plan to plant 100m hectares of trees and other vegetation is to be realised, say the authors of the study, which was unveiled recently at a meeting of regional ministers.

The Great Green Wall was conceived in 2007 by the African Union as a 7,000km (4,350-mile) cross-continental barrier stretching from Senegal to Djibouti that would hold back the deserts of the Sahara and Sahel. Its supporters said it would improve livelihoods in one of the world’s poorest regions, capture carbon dioxide and reduce conflict, terrorism and migration.

At the launch of the report, ministers and United Nations officials highlighted the achievements so far: more than 350,000 new jobs, $90m (£70m) in revenues and 18m hectares of land restoration in participating countries.

“The Great Green Wall is a new world wonder in the making,” said the UN deputy secretary general, Amina Mohammed. “It shows that if we work with nature, rather than against it, we can build a more sustainable and equitable future.”

In terms of the target area, however, progress was far less impressive. After an investment of more than $200m, only 4m hectares have been planted in the past decade. To achieve the 2030 target, more than twice that area will need to be restored every year at an annual cost of $4.3bn.

“The time for business as usual is over,” said the African Union’s commissioner for rural economy and agriculture, Josefa Sacko, in a call for more sustainable agriculture, clean energy and water 44

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management to deal with the drylands of Africa.

The results varied enormously from country to country. Ethiopia, which started reforesting earlier than other nations in the region, is a frontrunner, having reportedly planted 5.5bn seedlings on 151,000 hectares of new forest and 792,000 of new terraces.

Other countries have lagged due to different geographies, levels of governance and economic development. Burkina Faso planted 16.6m plants and seedlings and Chad 1.1m, though both nations received more financial support for the project.

A major problem is monitoring. Individual nations provide their own estimates, but there are doubts as to how many of the 12m trees planted in Senegal, for example, have survived.

“One of the main problems we had was to try to track the project because there is not a good monitoring and evaluation system in place,” said Salwa Bahbah, a research analyst with Climatekos, the firm hired to draw up the report.

“We don’t know where the money goes exactly and how it is used.”

Some scientists have expressed scepticism about creating walls of trees when grasslands can be more effective in certain regions. Shifting climate patterns have also slowed or reversed the expansion of some deserts. There is also greater political support for investing in soil restoration and water management of productive areas rather than planting trees in remote, sparsely inhabited areas. This has affected the objectives, if not the enthusiasm and effectiveness, of the project.

Chris Reij of the World Resources Institute said the modest results until now showed the need for more focus on what has and has not worked.

“I’m a fan of the GGW. It’s a very useful initiative, which shows the political will of governments to DAWN

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Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, plants a tree earlier this year. His country is a frontrunner in the project, having reportedly planted 5.5bn seedlings.

Photograph: Michael Tewelde/AFP/Getty

fight land degradation,” he said. “At the same time I’m quite critical. The original idea of planting a green wall in areas of less than 400mm [of rainfall] to stop the advance of the Sahara has largely been abandoned, although not in the rhetoric.

“It is now much more about creating great green and productive landscapes, even though they don’t express it in these terms. There is a ton of good experience across the Sahel upon which it is possible to build. There are many more smaller and bigger successes than often assumed, which can be scaled.”

THE GREAT GREEN WALL

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/07/ africa-great-green-wall-just-4-complete-overhalfway-through-schedule Companion story: page 43 and Dawn June 2020 publication at: https://africabusinessassociation. org/dawn

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Pandemic-Health

Flying Doctors Raising $1 Billion to Meet Africa’s Rising Health Care Needs

By Tope Alake FLYING DOCTORS HEALTHCARE INVESTMENT Company (http:// fdinvestmentcompany.com/) plans to set up a $1 billion fund to invest in health care and wellness across Africa.

“We are raising in three tranches within four years,” Ola Brown, the company’s managing partner and co-founder, said in an interview. “The first $200 million by the end of first quarter next year, and then $300 million and $500 million.”

Based in Nigeria, Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company already has a number of health care technology companies in its portfolio that are worth an estimated $200 million. The companies include MDaas Global, LifeStore Pharmacy and Helium Health and operate in diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and telemedicine.

Brown, 34, founded the air ambulance service Flying Doctors 10 years ago and later set up the investment company to fund health care firms.

Flying Doctors was in the thick of the battle against the spread of coronavirus, quickly setting up mobile testing centers with capacity to conduct 100 tests a day in eight of the country’s 36 states in response to both government and private requests.

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“We have been investing in Nigeria, we wanted to start investing across Africa and that’s the purpose of opening up to external investors and to now invest in more companies,” she said.

Brown is still on the board of Flying Doctors, which offers ambulance services to clients in government, oil and gas, mining and construction.

To cut the costs of its air ambulance services, the company formed a partnership with Nigerian airline, Arik Air, to build health care compartments in their planes to help cut evacuation costs, Brown said. The arrangement has reduced patient transfers within the country from about $20,000 to less that $2,000. Flying Doctors currently moves about 20 patients every month, she said.

Only 30% of the company’s ambulance services are done within Nigeria, with a majority coming from other countries in the region such as Gabon, Central Africa Republic, Congo and Burkina Faso, Brown said. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-01/ nigeria-doctor-eyes-1-billion-health-fund-aftertackling-virus Image credit: bizwatchnigeria.ng, autojosh.com

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Pandemic-Health

U.N. World Food Program Wins Nobel Peace Prize

By Audrey McNamara THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD Food Program is the winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for combating world hunger and its efforts "to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict." Last year, the program provided assistance to close to 100 million people across 88 countries.

David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. agency and former governor of South Carolina, told CBSN that the recognition is an "honor and a blessing," especially "in a time like this." According to Beasley, the number of people on the brink of starvation — not people going to bed hungry — jumped from 135 million people to 270 million people during the coronavirus pandemic.

"With all the wealth we have in the world today, we have a cure for starvation, we have a cure for famine, we have a cure and it's called food. But we need the money," Beasley said. "Our people are dedicated to doing this job and getting it out there and saving lives."

The Nobel Peace Prize comes with a cash award of $1 million, but Beasley said the World Food Program needs about $5 billion to feed the world's hungry and starving people. He called on billionaires making record-breaking profits during the pandemic to think of the greater good.

"This is a call to action to the world to step up — especially the billionaires who are making billions of dollars in COVID," he said. "They need to step up. We need five billion dollars right now to actually — above and beyond what we normally get — to help keep millions of people from starving to death. That's not too much to ask from those who are making billions right now."

During the first three months of the pandemic, the net worth of the more than 600 billionaires in the U.S. grew by about 20%. Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, saw his net worth increase by $43.8 billion in the first months of the pandemic.

"We're feeding about 100 million people right now.

Because of COVID, economic deterioration, war and conflict, we need to step that up," Beasley said.

"Otherwise, millions upon millions of people are going to die over the next few months because of all these complexities."

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B e a s l e y, w h o recuperated from a case of COVID-19 himself, said the program's network of food supply chains have been disrupted during the pandemic, making what was already a treacherous task — moving tons food through war zones and natural disasters — that much more difficult.

In April, Beasley told CBS News' Pamela Falk that the worst was yet to come from the pandemic due to the destabilization of donor nations' economies. In July, he said that more than 11 million people in Latin America are "marching towards the brink of starvation" due to economic conditions exacerbated by the pandemic.

"When countries shut down their borders, or ports, or supply-chain distribution points, sometimes that's the only port of opportunity for bringing in food for a country," he said. In addition to the closure of physical points of entry, Beasley also noted that the pandemic has devastated international rates of remittance, money sent home by citizens living abroad, leaving whole economies devastated. He said that two billion people have been impacted in terms of remittances, adding, "that's already hit over $100 billion worth of less revenues for families in very poor countries."

In awarding the Nobel prize to the World Food Program, the committee noted that, despite the obstacles brought by the coronavirus pandemic, the program has continued to provide its invaluable assistance. As the world waits for a COVID-19 vaccine, it said, the best vaccine for chaos is food.

"COVID has had a dynamic negative impact," Beasley said. "We have to work these two pandemics together, otherwise you'll have more people dying from hunger than from the actual COVID itself."

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-01/ nigeria-doctor-eyes-1-billion-health-fund-aftertackling-virus Image credit:paginas.fe.up.pt DAWN

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Governance

The 75th UN General Assembly OPENING REMARKS BY ANTÓNIO Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations on the High-level meeting to commemorate the seventyfifth anniversary of the United Nations - General Assembly, 3rd plenary meeting, 75th session.

"The ideals of the United Nations – peace, justice, equality and dignity — are beacons to a better world.

But the Organization we celebrate today emerged only after immense suffering.

It took two world wars, millions of deaths and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law.

That commitment produced results.

A Third World War – which so many had feared — has been avoided.

Never in modern history have we gone so many years without a military confrontation between the major powers.

This is a great achievement of which Member States can be proud – and which we must all strive to preserve.

Down the decades, there have been other historic accomplishments, including: • Peace treaties and peacekeeping • Decolonization

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• Human rights standards – and mechanisms to uphold them • The triumph over apartheid • Life-saving humanitarian aid for millions of victims of conflict and disaster • The eradication of diseases • The steady reduction of hunger • The progressive development of international law • Landmark pacts to protect the environment and our planet Most recently, unanimous support for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change provided an inspiring vision for the 21st century.

Yet there is still so much to be done.

Of the 850 delegates to the San Francisco Conference, just 8 were women.

• Twenty-five years since the Beijing Platform for Action, gender inequality remains the greatest single challenge to human rights around the world.

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Governance

Newly Posted Ambassador to the USA

A M B A S S A D O R NURELDIN SATTI, PRESENTED his credentials to President Donald Trump recently, and thus officially became the Ambassador of the Republic of the Sudan to the United States.

Relations between the U.S. and Sudan have been severely strained for over two decades due to charges that Sudan aided and abetted terrorism, including 911! The Islamic government that had been in place during this

• • • • • • •

Climate calamity looms.

Biodiversity is collapsing.

Poverty is again rising.

Hatred is spreading.

Geopolitical tensions are escalating.

Nuclear weapons remain on hair-trigger alert.

Transformative technologies have opened up new opportunities but also exposed new threats.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the world’s fragilities.

We can only address them together.

Today we have a surplus of multilateral challenges and a deficit of multilateral solutions.

I welcome the General Assembly’s 75th anniversary declaration and commitment to reinvigorate multilateralism.

You have invited me to assess how to advance our common agenda, and I will report back with analysis and recommendations.

This will be an important and inclusive process of profound reflection.

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period, has now been deposed and a civilianled democratic government is now in Khartoum.

Ambassador Satti is the first Sudan Ambassador appointed to Washington in 23 years!

Already we know that we need more — and more effective — multilateralism, with vision, ambition and impact.

National sovereignty —a pillar of the United Nations — goes hand-in-hand with enhanced international cooperation based on common values and shared responsibilities in pursuit of progress for all.

No one wants a world government – but we must work together to improve world governance.

In an interconnected world, we need a networked multilateralism, in which the United Nations family, international financial institutions, regional organizations, trading blocs and others work together more closely and more effectively.

We also need as the President said, an inclusive multilateralism, drawing on civil society, cities, businesses, local authorities and more and more on young people (...)". http://webtv.un.org/news-features/watch/the-75th-ungeneral-assembly/6189683960001/?term= Image credits: Trover DAWN

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Governance

President Akufo-Addo of Ghana Emerges as New ECOWAS Chair

By DAVID IORJA and JACOB KUBEKA

Ghanaian President and new ECOWAS Chair, Nana Akufo-Addo GHANAIAN PRESIDENT, NANA AKUFOADDO, in Niamey, Niger Republic emerged as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS).

His appointment took place at the 57th summit hosted by the outgoing ECOWAS Chairman, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre.

The summit was attended by leaders within and outside the region with matters on the 44th Ordinary Session of the Mediation and Security Council and the 84th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers top on the agenda.

Akufo-Addo’s appointment was swiftly announced

by Ghana’s Information Ministry with a tweet on its Twitter handle, “President @NAkufoAddo has just

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been elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the ongoing 57th ECOWAS Summit, which is being held in Niamey, capital of Niger.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, at the Niamey summit, appealed to his fellow ECOWAS leaders not to elongate their tenure in office beyond constitutional limits.

President Buhari, who made the call while presenting Nigeria’s General Statement at the 57th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, urged his colleagues to respect constitutional provisions and ensure free and fair elections.

Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu, quoted the Nigerian President as saying “it is important that as leaders of our individual Member-States of ECOWAS, we

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Gavel is passed. need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region.”

According to Buhari, “as it is, the challenges facing the sub-region are enormous; from socioeconomic matters to security issues, the ECOWAS sub-region cannot therefore afford another political crisis, in the guise of tenure elongation. I urge us all to resist the temptation of seeking to perpetuate ourselves in power beyond the constitutional provisions.”

He commended those ECOWAS leaders that had resisted such temptations, pointing out that such leaders would be deemed “exceptional role models in their respective countries and the subregion as a whole.”

“Related to this call for restraint is the need to

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guarantee free, fair and credible elections. This must be the bedrock for democracy to be sustained in our sub-region, just as the need for adherence to the rule of law,” he added. https://nationalaccordnewspaper.com/president-akufoaddo-of-ghana-emerges-new-ecowas-chair/ Image credit: https://africatimes.com/2020/09/08/ ghanas-akufo-addo-elected-as-new-ecowas-chair/

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Governance

Burundi Joins Congo Demanding Nearly $43 Billion in Reparations From Belgium For Its Colonial Past

By Dana Givens THE RECENT BLACK LIVES Matter protests have sparked conversations around Black people not only in America but other countries that also have yet to reckon with their issues with colonialism from countries like Great Britain, France, and Spain. Recently, Burundi, a country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge, has spoken up against past crimes committed by Belgium and Germany.

The country joined forces with the Democratic Republic of Congo to demand $42.6 billion in U.S dollars in reparations from the long-term effects of the colonization of their respective countries.

Earlier this year, the Congolese minister, Andre Lite of Human, went public about a call to provide compensation for the crimes committed against the Congolese people under Europe’s reign. The announcement came after Belgian King Philippe offered his regret over the nation’s history in a speech in June during the height of the protests sparked over the death of George Floyd.

“The regrets of certain Belgian officials will never be enough in the face of their obligation to grant reparations to the victims of colonization and their

relatives,” the minister told Anadolu Agency. “It is contradictory or illogical to claim to be part of the respectful state and pretend not to know anything about serious crimes that have been committed in the past.”

“Although the horizon seems to be getting darker, after so many years of both denial of truth and the reparations to which our country is entitled from Belgium, our determination to achieve it remains intact,” According to Bloomberg News, the East African nation recently stepped forward in support of the Congo demanding Germany and Belgium provide compensation for their colonial history. The country is also requesting the European nations to give back archival material and objects expropriated between 1899 and 1962. Germany colonized Burundi in 1890 and then takeover by Belgium after their defeat in World War II until its independence in 1962. www.blackenterprise.com/burundi-joins-congodemanding-nearly-43-billion-in-reparations-frombelgium-for-its-colonial-past/ Image credit: shoebat.com

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Governance

Zimbabwean Diplomat Appointed AU Ambassador to USA

By Moses Matenga

Honorable Hilda Suka-Mafudze

ZIMBABWE’S AMBASSADOR TO MALAWI, Hilda Suka-Mafudze, has been appointed the African Union (AU) envoy to Washington, replacing Arikana Chihombori-Quao who was fired last November over alleged abuse of funds.

Suka-Mafudze, who was appointed Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Malawi last year by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is expected to fly to Washington next week and is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the AU headquarters.

“I am humbled and appreciative to be able to represent my continent in the US,” said Suka-Mafudze, who served as an MDC legislator for Mhondoro constituency from 2000 to 2005.

“I am certainly going to use this as an African to contribute better to the Africa we want.

“I am a true pan-Africanist and I know what we really need as Africa and where we want to be as Africans, all this is in my heart and on my fingertips.”

She added: “What we want as Africa is to be on the global stage as an equal with others. We have what 53

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it takes and no one must, therefore, look down upon us. As Africa, we are at a stage where we know what we want and we obviously cannot, for example, continue to let our resources be taken as raw materials by people who by so doing are taking employment away from us.

“There are challenges on the continent, but we have to look at how to deal with those challenges and this opportunity is one way of finding solutions and I am humbled to be part of that.”

Asked on her vision for the continent, the country’s former envoy to Sudan said: “I will contribute towards the AU vision on the intra-Africa trade and I will be alert to the need to entrench relations with the US. Let us not overlook the need for relations if we are to be competitive on the global space but that does not mean our inability to effectively manage what we have.”

She said as she represents the chairman of the African Union in Washington, Africa must speak with one voice going forward in defining her destiny and harnessing opportunities through relations with the world, the US included.

“I represent the African Union, my chairman (Moussa Faki Mahamat) but I must also say I am humbled by the support I got from my country, Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his entire team,” SukaMafudze said.

“I am representing the whole continent and we want to engage the US and agree on issues where we can co-operate. As Africa, we need investment in infrastructure to have investors coming in and when they do come in, it should be on win-win basis.”

She said she would also push for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 that “represents a critical step in the journey of Africa”.  www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/zimbabweandiplomat-appointed-au-ambassador-to-us

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Governance

Queen Eliza Longer Be He Barbados

By Phi

Prime Minister of Barbados H.E Mia Ammor Mottley. TONY KARUMBA/GETTY

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales me Trust International reception at The 2019 in Bridgetown, Barbados. CH

BARBADOS ANNOUNCED THEY WILL remove Queen Elizabeth as their head of state.

"The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind," Sandra Mason, the governor-general of the Caribbean island, said at the opening of the nation's parliament on Wednesday.

"Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State.

This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving," Mason added in the speech, which was written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley. "Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a Republic by the time we celebrate our 55th Anniversary of Independence."

If the process of removing the Queen continues to fruition, Barbados will become a full-fledged republic in November 2021, ending a direct link with the U.K. dating back to 1625. Barbados remains a member of the Commonwealth, a union of 54 countries that were mostly former British territories.

Despite this, Buckingham Palace told People that the decision was a matter for the government and 54

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people of Barbados and would not comment further.

The announcement is no shock — several countries dropped the Queen as head of state in the years after they gained independence, with Mauritius the last to do so in 1992.

A Barbados government review recommended the country become a republic as far back as 1998. The country is also following in the Caribbean footsteps of Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Dominica, who all removed the Queen as head of state in the 1970s.

In 2016, the Jamaican parliament also debated removing the Queen as the nation's monarch, suggesting that it too may follow suit one day.

The sun-drenched Caribbean island has long been a favorite for royal tours, with the Queen — who will remain head of state in 15 other countries, including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — visiting the island multiple times since she first set foot on its soil in 1966, just as it was securing independence from the U.K. "The people of Barbados have held a special place in her heart ever since," Prince Harry said in DAWN

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abeth Will No ead of State in Next Year

il Bouher

Rihanna and Prince Harry attend the 'Man Aware' event held by the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission in 2016. CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY

eets singer Lionel Ritchie at a Prince's e Coral Reef Club Hotel on March 19,

RIS JACKSON/GETTY

reference to this tour during his own December 2016 visit to the island, which coincided with celebrations for the 50th anniversary of its independence and saw him take an HIV finger prick test with Barbados native Rihanna.

The Duke of Sussex also visited the country in February 2001 to play a benefit polo game for his Sentebale charity, which helps underprivileged youngsters in Lesotho, Africa.

"Your independence was a declaration of confidence in the future,” Harry added in his 2016 speech. “And 50 years on Barbados is a country rightfully proud of its vibrant culture, its sporting prowess and its natural beauty.”

More recently, Prince Charles visited the island in March 2019, where he officially named singer Lionel Richie as an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust International.

"It must have been you I was looking for," Charles reportedly told the singer, in reference to Richie’s 1983 hit "Hello." "Oh, did you just say that?” Richie replied, pretending to be shocked. "He did say that."

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"Barbados has developed governance structures and institutions that mark us as what has been described as 'the best governed Black society in the world.'" governor-general Mason added in Wednesday's speech. "Since Independence, we Barbadians have sought constantly to improve our systems of law and governance so as to ensure they best reflect our characteristics and values as a nation."

She continued, "Barbados’ first prime minister, the Rt. Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, cautioned against loitering on colonial premises. That warning is as relevant today as it was in 1966. Having attained Independence over half a century ago, our country can be in no doubt about its capacity for selfgovernance." www.travelandleisure.com/syndication/queenelizabeth-removed-barbados-head-of-state Image credit: newsamericasnow.com, Parade, smoothradio.com

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Governance

Black Church Leaders Demand Apology for Trump Campaign Ad

By John Bowden

Mother Bethel AME Church, Philadelphia visit philadelphia

A GROUP OF BLACK church leaders is preparing to release a statement condemning an ad from the Trump campaign as complicit in inciting "white terrorism" in the U.S. because it links Black churches to violent protesters.

Religion News Service (RNS) (https://religionnews. com/2020/09/13/ame-church-leaders-demand-apology-fortrump-ad) reported that a draft statement set to be issued

Monday by the pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) in Wilmington, Del., and leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church says a new ad from the Trump campaign titled "Meet Joe Biden's Supporters" depicts Black churchgoers as "thuggish rule breakers."

"The ad is overtly racist and offensive on numerous levels," the Rev. Silvester Beaman of Bethel AME told RNS. "It is a racist attack on the African American church, and because it was an attack on the Christian church, it should be offensive to every Christian and person of faith."

"This ad subtly incites white terrorism against people of color and attacks the Black Church and Black people for refusing to bow down to the idol called white 56

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supremacy," the statement drafted by Beaman and other church leaders reportedly reads.

The ad includes clips of violence and looting that have occurred alongside protests, but Beaman in particular pointed to the frame at the end of the video that features Beaman and Black churchgoers behind Biden, who is kneeling, followed by a slide bearing the words "Stop Joe Biden and his rioters." His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is Black, can be heard laughing with her voice ominously distorted over the ad's final warning.

When reached for comment by The Hill, a Trump campaign spokesperson pointed to a statement obtained by RNS that was made last week by a deputy press secretary for the campaign, who called criticism of the ad offensive.

"That's absurd and it's shameful to even make the allegation," said Samantha Zager of accusations that the ad was racist. ď ƒ www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/black-churchleaders-demand-apology-for-trump-campaign-ad/arBB18ZK9Y?ocid=msnews

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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

Khartoum Stock Exchange Swaziland Stock Exchange Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange Tunisia Stock Exchange Uganda Securities Exchange Lusaka 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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www.africabusinessassociation.org

change.com guese)

Resource: Daily News Egypt

fmauritius.com se.com o.mz

es/default.aspx

ange.so o.za aspx

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

Black-Owned Venture Capital Fund Impact X Capital wants to Invest £100 Million in Underrepresented Entrepreneurs

By Tommy Williams

OVER THE LAST FEW months in light of the Black Lives Matter movement we have seen many venture capital firms commit to funding underrepresented entrepreneurs realizing there are systemic issues that exist in the industry which means only 1% of venture capital funding goes to Black entrepreneurs. One venture capital firm that has been quietly working to address this issue long before the Black Lives Matter movement is Impact X Capital (www.impactxcapital. com), a double bottom line, venture capital firm seeking to invest £100 million in underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe.

Building Impact X Capital The idea for Impact X Capital was conceived by Eric Collins. Collins is originally from Alabama, son of a Swiss chemical company executive (Ciba Geigy became Novartis) and guidance counselor who later went to Princeton University and then Harvard Law School before starting his career as a strategy consultant. After managing his own consultancy firm he entered the tech industry in 2002 and in the years that followed held senior roles at several well-known tech companies, most notably SwiftKey (acquired by Microsoft MSFT +2.2% for $250 million) where he was Chief Revenue and Distribution Officer, a role which brought him to London and then he remained in the U.K. to be Chief Operating Officer of Touch Surgery (acquired by Medtronic MDT +1.5% in 2020).

Through his work in venture-backed companies, he quickly realized “only 1% of venture funding goes to Black entrepreneurs and only 4% goes to female entrepreneurs” something which intuitively did not make sense to him as “this market inefficiency means there is an opportunity to invest and make a significant financial return,” he says. Fixing this issue was the incentive to start Impact X Capital Partners. “I’ve long held an interest in double bottom line return, financial

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return but also the ability to deliver some sort of positive measurable social impact” he says.

Collins's thesis that “investing in underrepresented entrepreneurs in Europe at the seed or series A stage, across digital technology, health, education, lifestyle, media, and entertainment” would lead to Impact X Capital Partners backing some of the most profitable and fast-growing companies was met with agreement from many. However, Collins was very intentional about the type of people he brought around the table in the early stages of forming the fund. “We wanted to go to an army of the willing and able because convincing institutional investors to understand a problem they can’t see would be too time-consuming” he says. The people who sat around the table included the following: Ric Lewis: Founder, Chairman of Tristan Capital Partners a London based real estate investment firm with approximately £11 billion under management, making it the largest private Black-owned business in the U.K. Ursula Burns: Previously CEO of Xerox XRX -0.6%, the first Black woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. She is currently the executive chair of VEON, a listed Europe-based integrated telco operating throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa and her board service includes Uber UBER +3.6%, American Express AXP -0.7%, ExxonMobi XOM -2.1%l, Ford Foundation, and Nestle.

Sir Lenny Henry: Acclaimed English creative who co-founded the charity Comic Relief which since its inception has raised over £1.6 billion. Lenny is known for his acting on stage, in film, and especially for his comedy and television work.

Joy Voyticky: CEO of Max International, leading the expansion of the health and lifestyle network marketing business to Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Paul Cleal: Seasoned executive with a wealth of experience in leadership and strategy gained from DAWN

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From Left: Ezechi Britton, Yvonne Bajela, Eric Collins, Erica Motley, Paula Groves COURTESY OF IMPACT X CAPITAL

30 years working in both private and public sectors.

Currently acts as an adviser, board member, or mentor to organizations and individuals who want to make positive change happen.

Valerie Mosley: Founder of Worth Wealth Investor, a partner at Valmo Ventures and Portfolio Manager and Strategist at Wellington Management Company

Impact X Capital In Action With this team in place and the thesis intact Collins has since recruited a diverse set of limited partners who have invested in the fund and put together an impressive executive team that has successfully managed more than £12 billion, built large-scale companies that have had meaningful exits and generated solid returns for investors.

Since late 2018 the team has looked at over 700 companies making 21 commitments and closing on 17 investments. This is contradictory to the narrative you often hear that there is not enough deal flow from companies run by underrepresented entrepreneurs.

The actual problem is a cycle where you have limited partners with similar backgrounds investing in venture capitalists with similar backgrounds who then fund companies founded by people who look like them. This closed community is also perpetuated by the “warm introduction” culture in venture capital where you need 61

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to be a friend of a friend to get a meeting.

Collins has a pragmatic view that the outsized returns they expect the fund to generate will be what lures in other investors. This is why the team set a very high bar for the companies they invest in. Specifically, they look for the very best entrepreneurs who are building scalable companies with products that are already proven and need capital to get exponential growth.

However, the team is cognizant of the fact that many entrepreneurs are either not ready for venture capital funding or their business model suits another form of financing such as revenue financing or debt. To avoid these companies falling to the wayside given they’re already at a disadvantage the team at Impact X Capital are honest upfront and work with these companies to prepare them for venture financing where appropriate, refer them to partners who offer alternative financing and offer general business advice through their “Founders Series,” a webinar series which features prominent entrepreneurs and investors. www.forbes.com/sites/tommywilliams1/2020/07/29/ black-owned-venture-capital-fund-impact-x-capitalwant-to-invest-100-million-in-underrepresentedentrepreneurs/#77a725cf76f2 Image credits: altfi.com

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Investment

Automated Vertical Indoo

By Greg Nichol

A FINISH STARTUP HAS been climbing the walls during the pandemic. At least the crops it helps grow in vertical gardens have been, including greens, berries, and vegetables in areas like the Middle East.

Vertical farming, which utilizes vertically-stacked layers of crops grown in climate-controlled facilities, utilizes significantly less water and soil than traditional agriculture. Increasingly we're seeing examples of the concept scaling to industriallevels, which is good news with populations booming, arable land in ever-shorter supply, and waning interest in agriculture among city-bound youth. iFarm (https://ifarm.fi/about) has figured out a smart value proposition in the still-nascent market as a developer of vertical farm management technology, essentially an operating system that utilizes tremendous volumes of sensor data to fine tune automated crop growing. The company believes it's entering a market primed for steep growth.

"Investors can participate in the worldwide network of vertical farms and receive a rate of return well above bank deposit rates.", says Alex Lyskovsky, co-founder and President of iFarm. "We already have a group of financial partners involved in the development of our farms, and now there is a direct opportunity for this type of investment in Finland, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Russia and UAE." One of the interesting advantages of vertical farming, particularly in a pandemic when so many professional spaces stand empty, is that it's possible to utilize the urban environment to facilitate crop growing. By growing crops closer to city dwellers, the company can offer logistics efficiencies and unparalleled freshness.

This at a time when traditional farming is less and less viable. Global agricultural productivity 62

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is suddenly slowing for the first time in decades.

No one is quite sure why, but it's likely a systemic problem related to the rise of monocultures and the overuse of fertilizers, which add harmful salts to soils. Farmers are also aging globally as younger generations migrate to cities. That's largely because a productivity boom over the last century has kept food prices low, which makes farming unattractive economically. It's a double whammy now that that productivity can no longer be taken for granted without major rethinks to the food supply chain.

Vertical farming and other smart agriculture innovations may offer realistic alternatives, and they've captured imaginations due to novel use of space and cutting edge technologies. iFarm's Growtune tech platform (https://ifarm.fi/ technologies#software) allows growers to leverage technologies like computer vision, machine learning, and huge volumes of data data. The system can enable farming operations to spread vertical farms across distributed networks while still maintaining centralized control. And if there's any doubt that farming has changed, the level of control is staggering. The Growtune platform can determine the plant's weight, as well as growth deviations or pathologies, and build a system that improves crop quality and characteristics on its own. According to iFarm, the optimization will reduce labor costs for crops like strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, radish, and others.

"The 2020 pandemic exposed the problems of the global food system – food supplies, sowing and harvesting were disrupted across the globe", says Mikhail Taver, Managing Partner at Gagarin Capital. "iFarm is taking a novel approach to agriculture, offering an automated solution to grow crops close to the consumer and ensure food security. We believe that the future of the DAWN

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or Farming Set to Sprout

ls for Robotics

food market lies in modern technologies and are excited to support the project on its way." www.zdnet.com/article/automated-vertical-indoor-

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farming-starts-to-sprout/?ftag=TRE6a12a91&bhid =22879832233920783794305160720838&mid=1 2998334&cid=716490739

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Investment

Wealthy Nigerians are Buying up Passports for Cash from Caribbean Nations to Beat Visa Rules

By Yomi Kazeem A YEAR AGO, THE office of Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) in the small Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia had received no applications from any Africans in its nearly five years of operations.

But in the past few months, it has issued up to 60 passports to Nigerians and is reporting steady increases in applications from the country—still its sole African market.

That sharp rise reflects spiking demand among Nigeria’s wealthy private citizens who are increasingly tapping into “investment migration” programs offered by foreign countries. The programs allow foreign nationals to obtain fasttracked citizenship and passports or permanent residency permits in exchange for specified amounts of cash investments. The payment for the passports can come in form of direct “contributions” to the development funds set up by the national governments or through investment in real estate projects which offer the promise of not just passports but also possible profits.

With around 40,000 passports believed to have been issued through investment migration programs globally, citizenship by investment is now estimated to be a $3 billion industry. It is often favored by high-net worth individuals from countries with “weak” passports often from countries in sub-Saharan Africa and some Middle Eastern countries.

“What you have is a community of wealthy individuals who cannot travel without visas.”

Henley & Partners (www.henleyglobal.com), the world’s largest investment migration consultancy, has also set up shop in Africa’s largest economy after seeing a sharp rise in demand from the country over the past three years. The office in Lagos is 64

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only Henley & Partners’ third in Africa, in addition to offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg opened six years ago.

“The reason we opened in Nigeria is because we saw significant potential in the market with growth in private wealth without global mobility for high net worth individuals,” says Paddy Blewer, public relations director at Henley & Partners. “What you have is a community of wealthy individuals who cannot travel without visas.”

That reality is best captured by the weakness of Nigeria’s international passport. In fact, Nigerian passport holders can visit two fewer countries now than they could in 2010 without first obtaining a visa. The country also suffered the worst decline in passport power over the past decade, according to rankings on the annual Henley Passport Index.

But even paperwork-intensive visa application processes have also gotten more complicated for Nigerians. Under the Trump administration, for example, US visa application fees for Nigerian applicants have been increased, an interview waiver process for visa renewals for frequent travelers has been indefinitely suspended while a ban has also been placed on issuing immigrant visas to Nigerians.

The net effect of these restrictions resulted in Nigeria recording the largest global drop-off in visitors to the US last year.

In search of improved international mobility, investment migration programs by Caribbean nations offer wealthy Nigerians and other citizens a legal and established workaround that ticks two crucial boxes: price point and access.

For instance, St. Lucia’s lowest-priced program, a “contribution to the national economic fund,” costs $100,000 for individuals and $140,000 for a family of four, as well as $15,000 for each additional family DAWN

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member. “That pricing model has really resonated well with the Nigerian community,” says Nestor Alfred, chief executive of St. Lucia’s CIP office. “A lot of our Nigerian applications consist of families.”

Other Caribbean islands including Dominica as well as St. Kitts and Nevis also offer investment migration programs with minimum costs of $100,000 and $150,000 respectively, a lot less than similar European programs typically cost. The US program issues permanent residence permits in exchange for investment ranging from $500,000 to $1 million.

But in addition to relative affordability, passports of Caribbean island nations also rank much higher than Nigeria’s on a global scale. For instance, St. Lucia passport holders have visa-free and visa-onarrival access to 145 countries—more than triple Nigeria’s figure. And for extra context, St. Lucia passport holders’ visa free access allows them into the entire European 26-country “Schengen” area, the UK, and Switzerland.

“What we’re dealing with people whose businesses and largely their wealth is derived from Nigerian investment—they’re not going to leave permanently,” says Blewer. “This is about being able to go where they want at the drop of a hat. It’s not about leaving Lagos.”

Double-checking For tourism-based economies in the Caribbeans, investment migration programs offer a significant alternative to receiving foreign direct investment.

And as recent history shows, with the Covid-19 pandemic paralyzing global travel and tourism, the revenue diversification opportunities these programs offer can prove vital. Indeed, after Hurricane Maria devastated Dominica in 2017, the government sought to shore up tourism deficits by reducing some of its processing fees to make its investment migration programs more attractive and in turn, provide much-needed funds to rebuild and boost the local economy.

Taking it up But Dominica has also been caught in the With Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy battered crosshairs of a corruption scandal involving its by the pandemic and set for its worst recession in passports program. Last year, an Al Jazeera three decades, there are few indications interest in investigation (www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Yba1-ijh4) showed high-powered officials involved in brokering investment migration from Nigeria will slow down.

Nigeria and South Africa dominate demand from transactions to sell diplomatic passports to foreign Africa and currently account for 85% of Henley & business people suspected of corrupt dealings.

The scrutiny from such scandals amplify why Partners’ business on the continent, with Nigeria growing rapidly with an interest in Caribbean-based investment migration programs claim to place a premium on due diligence. Even though it’s not citizenship programs.

That momentum will likely remain fueled by legally required to, Henley & Partners says it carries Nigeria’s super-wealthy with the country’s population out client verification processes, covering sources of people with a net worth of more than $30 million— of wealth, and criminal history.

“We’re not interested in persons involved in currently at 724 people—forecast to grow by 13% in military, government officials, or politically exposed the next five years.

But as it turns out, interest in emigration is not persons. Our interest is more in executives and restricted to Nigeria’s super-wealthy alone. Over young professionals,” Alfred tells Quartz Africa. As the past three years, middle-class Nigerians have such, the increased applications from Nigeria being also increasingly emigrated through skill-based primarily from private business executives across programs offering legal pathways to residency sectors, including banking, is ideal for St. Lucia and citizenship in Canada and Australia. In because “it’s easier for us to determine the source the last five years alone, the number of Nigerian of funds,” Alfred says. immigrants issued permanent resident permits in https://qz.com/africa/1895878/nigerias-wealthyCanada has tripled. use-henley-in-caribbean-passports-for-cashOne distinction however is that high net-worth plan/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=dailyindividuals who have earned most of their wealth brief&utm_content=9601072 locally are typically simply looking to boost their mobility options rather than permanently relocate. Image credit: caribbean-citenzenship.info/Passport 65

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Investment Cartier Women’s Initiative

10 Funding Options for Women-Owned Businesses

By Sean Ludwig, Contributor

WITH MORE THAN 12 million American companies owned or co-owned by women, the impact of womenowned businesses is crucial to economies all over the country. However, women-owned businesses have historically lacked access to funding. Research shows that less than 5% of venture capital funding went to startups solely owned by women as recently as 2018.

Additionally, just 11% of partners at U.S.-based venture capital firms are women, showing the barriers female founders have when pitching unique ideas and securing capital.

Here are 10 organizations, government agencies and resources that can help women-owned businesses obtain funding.

37 Angels The investment firm 37 Angels (www.37angels.com) was founded on the belief that the gender gap in startup investing needs to be closed. The organization invests in early-stage startups from both women and men but has a transparent and open process that makes it easy to entrepreneurs from any background to apply for funding. Startups who make it into the pitching process receive a decision on investment four weeks after the pitch.

Amber Grant Foundation The Amber Grant Foundation (https:// ambergrantsforwomen.com/get-an-amber-grant) was founded by WomensNet in 1998 in honor of Amber Wigdahl, a woman entrepreneur who died at 19 years old. The Amber Grant Foundation carries on the youthful spirit of Wigdahl by offering women entrepreneurs grants to help their businesses take off. Each month, the Foundation gives away $4,000 in grant funds and it also gives away one year-end grant of $25,000.

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The

Cartier

Women's

Initiative (www. is an international entrepreneurship program that provides multiple awards each year to “women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.” Grant awards range from $30,000 to $100,000.

The organization also recently launched a “Science & Technology Pioneer Award,” which hopes to help women entrepreneurs working on innovative scientific and technological projects.

cartierwomensinitiative.com)

Female Founders Fund If the name wasn’t clear enough, the VC firm Female Founders Fund (https://femalefoundersfund.com) aims to invest in up-and-coming women-owned and women-run startups. Since 2014, Female Founders Fund has put money toward “category-defining female leaders with a strong community to fuel their success,” with investments in B2B, consumer, healthcare, fintech and social companies.

Grants.gov The website Grants.gov (www.grants.gov) offers the most comprehensive look at federal grant options for businesses. Not all grants specifically target women-owned businesses; but given the thousands of grants to apply to, there are many opportunities here for companies from all backgrounds. Grants. gov lists federal grants from agencies including the Department of the Interior, Health and Human Services, National Science Foundation and more.

GrantsForWomen.org The

website

GrantsForWomen.org

(www.

grantsfor women. org) is a simple but

incredibly useful website for women business owners who are looking for grants. What makes the site more useful than many is that it lists grant opportunities at the local and national level, making it easier to find lesser-known organizations that are offering funding. The site also does a good job of outlining recent and timely opportunities, so it’s worth checking frequently.

Kapor Capital Oakland-based venture capital firm Kapor Capital (www.kaporcapital.com) has a mission to empower founders who come from all backgrounds, including DAWN

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many women entrepreneurs. The firm says 38% of its “first-time investments have a founder who identifies as a woman” and works to fund startups working to solve big problems in education, finance, health, work and justice.

SoGal Ventures Women-led venture capital firm SoGal Ventures invests in “early-stage diverse founding teams” in the U.S., Asia, Africa and Europe, including many women-owned startups. To date, the firm has invested in more than 70 companies.

SoGal Ventures works side by side with the organization SoGal (www.iamsogal.com), which provides “advisory, coaching, mentorship services, startup resources, and events” to diverse startups who are looking for help and networking. (www.sogalventures.com)

Small Business Administration (SBA) For years, the Small Business Administration (SBA www.sba.gov) has been one of the best places for women-owned businesses to look to for assistance with funding. On top of providing general resources and guidance through its Women’s Business Centers, the SBA can connect womenowned businesses with financing opportunities through

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its Lender Match Tool (www.sba.gov/funding-programs/ loans/lender-match). The SBA also can help with obtaining federal contracting opportunities for womenowned businesses through the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting program (www.sba. gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/ women- owned-small- business-federal- contracting program (www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contractingassistance-programs/women-owned-small-businessfederal-contracting-program).

Tory Burch Foundation The

Tory

Burch Foundation (www. toryburchfoundation.org), which was founded in 2009 in support of empowering women entrepreneurs, provides funding through its fellows program targeted at women-owned businesses. Fellows receive a fiveday workshop series at the Tory Burch offices, a $5,000 grant for business education and more. Additionally, some fellows are invited to pitch at a Pitch Day event. www.uschamber.com/co/run/business-financing/ funding-options-for-women-owned-businesses Image credit: PR Newswire, University of Cambridge, www.ey.com/Access Network/Apply Today, discount99.us/African Market, U.S. Department of State

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Investment

WPEC Titans Tank 2020 Top 5 Winners The Women's Program Engagement Council (WPEC www.facebook.com/TWPEC) is a global initiative to build a database/network of Black women entrepreneurs/business owners, worldwide, based around the need to facilitate opportunities and deal making, co-investments and strategic partnerships to encourage inclusion and increased investment in women-led businesses to help create equitable access to investments for projects/platforms led by African American and African women.

We are proud of all the Sisters who applied, because the beauty about "Titans Tank" is no one loses – it’s a “Win Win” for all! Our "Titans Tank" goal is to allow Black women entrepreneurs/ business owners the opportunity to gain access to global networks and critical funding for their start-up/existing businesses, however, we are not guaranteeing financial assistance to any of the Titans Tank Contestants (although we are seeking financial support/investors to be successful and share the proceeds), but we are committed to supporting, mentoring, and showing love to our Sisters, while giving them exposure through our network of global women and hopefully access to potential investors. That’s why WPEC is creating an infrastructure and putting processes in place to give our “Sisters a Hand-up, not a Hand-out!”

1. GRACE THOVHAKALE (TIGER BUILD) (SOUTH AFRICA) On graduating with a Diploma in Education from the University of Venda, she was employed as a teacher at Soutpanberg Primary School. She taught children for 5 years until she struck it out on her own and ventured into the cement business in 2009. Between 2009 and 2012 Grace managed to make significant inroads into the male-dominated industry and her name became synonymous with cement in Limpopo.

Grace is a natural entrepreneur and leader and it comes as no surprise that her work experience

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is characterized by directorships in at several companies between 2012 and 2017. Grace has been executive director and manager in various industries including farming, logistics, tourism, and commodities. In 2018 Grace decided to once again venture into the cement business with the better understanding of this industry and its supporting value chain (e.g. logistics, mining, wholesale, and retail businesses). As a pioneer, she established her own cement brand (Tiger Build Cement) and registered the Tiger Build Group (Pty) Ltd. Grace is now the only female cement company owner in South Africa and is well-known in the industry for her tenacity, enterprise and resilience.

Her brand, Tiger Build Cement, is sought-after throughout South Africa and in neighboring African countries.

2. JEANNE SHEILA (UWIBONA) (RWANDA) As a technical community base conflict expert, UWIBONA is specialized in promoting gender equity, addressing sexual and gender-based violence, through community-based conflict management techniques.

UWIBONA is a devoted feminist who offers to vulnerable women, abused young girls and young mothers in her community, various skills development training such as becoming selfsufficient by making handcrafts, sowing, and farming their own kitchen garden. She helps women regain self-confidence for their own wellbeing and bright future purpose. Hence, UWIBONA is a bee farmer which is a small business that, she set up in May 2017, to help her assist the most vulnerable women living with HIV/AIDS and those with disability.

UWIBONA99@GMAIL.COM

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Criminal Justice, Business Management & Human Services as an undergrad and later earned a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership with LOGISTICS) (GAMBIA) N a v i s t e r a minor in Psychology. Lakeshia worked for Kent T r a n s p o r t a t i o n County 17th Circuit Court –Family Division for over and Logistics a decade as a Youth Specialist and a Surveillance -(THE GAMBIA) Officer dealing with At-risk youth and their families. our 3rd place Before shifting gears in her career to work Titans Tank 2020 with survivors of abuse as a Crisis Intervention Winner!

Navistar Advocate.

Lakeshia is a wife, mother, grandmother, mentor Transportation and Logistics services and advocate who‘s well known for her compassion is a standard to help others. Lakeshia was born and raised in transportation and logistics Company that involve Grand Rapids, MI where she finds joy in giving in, taxis, mini buses, buses, Lorries, Trucks and back to her community using her unique gift as a later a shipping company which commerce on 1st natural born nurturer to promote change amongst June 2019 but was incorporated on 6 th January our future through the love of Christ. Lakeshia lives 2020. The services is concerned with providing the by the words “you only get out what you put in” and general public with quality services in any aspect of is a firm believer that “when we no better we can transportation that they cannot get anywhere else in choose to do better”.

ADMIN@HOAPINC.COM The Gambia. Navister Transportation and Logistics Company want to make sure building a reputable and profitable business that fully serve the general 5. KHANYISILE KHANYI (ZULU DRONES) public with professional and quality service. The (SOUTH AFRICA) We are a 100% black business will use connected devices and online female owned company, software to eradicate business inefficiencies, the purpose of the company loss, theft, and delays and tracking our vehicles. is skills and development.

Empowering its customers by delivering cost We want to educate and containing services moving towards new ways to impart knowledge for RPAS transform and reach new heights of success (Remote Pilote Aircraft ajatta288@gmail.com Systems)/Drones, primarily in rural communities, to offer 4. LAKESHIA S. GILBERT (HOAP)(US) skills to low-medium income Lakeshia S. Gilbert is households.

Our vision is to see a lot of youth in the Founder & CEO of HOAP, Inc. (Helping Our Aviation industry, making positive changes in their Adolescents Prosper), lives and the economy.

Company Inception: a grass root non-profit 501c3 organization • The company is pivoted around offering South African Civil Aviation (SACAA) standards of a located in Grand Rapids, Aircraft Training Organization (ATO) & Remote MI, that was birthed out Operating Certificate ROC) of the overwhelming • The company was registered in 2019. need to provide a safe, creative and supportive environment for young • ZULU DRONES wishes to branch out internationally and ensure that more South males and females and their personal development Africans have access to a gracious exposure of to overcome life’s negative challenges. opportunities.

Lakeshia has a well-rounded educational KVKHANYI@GMAIL.COM background where she has studied in the areas of

3. AISHA KOMBEH JATTA (NAVISTER TRANSPORTATION AND

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Investment

Disney Partners with Nollywood to Bring American Movies to EnglishSpeaking West Africa

By Aisha Salaudeen

DISNEY, IS JOINING FORCES with a Nigerian production and distribution company to market some of the American entertainment conglomerate's new releases such as "Mulan" in English-speaking West Africa.

The deal makes FilmOne Entertainment (https://web.facebook.com/filmoneng www.instagram.com/ filmoneng) the sole distributors of Disney-owned

films in Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia.

"It is a major career highlight, that we're able to get the world's biggest movie studio as a partner," Moses Babatope, a director at FilmOne, told CNN. FilmOne Entertainment has been at the forefront of growing Nigeria's cinema culture and has built cinemas across the country, including IMAX screens.

The firm has also distributed and produced Nigerian box oďŹƒce hits such as "The Wedding P a r t y, " and "New Money.'"

"What the deal means is that we are exclusive marketers a n d distributors of Disney titles in the Englishspeaking W e s t African countries that have 70

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studio licensed cinemas. We will distribute the films to all those cinemas in the territory," he explained.

The agreement, which commenced this September, covers titles from all Disney studio divisions including Pixar, Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, and Blue Sky pictures.

"With their in-depth knowledge of the region and expertise in bringing theatrical releases to fans, we are thrilled to welcome FilmOne as our distribution partner for this territory," Disney Africa's country manager, Christine Service said in a statement.

Bigger opportunities Film analysts in the country say this deal may convince investors and film producers to look further into the African movie industry.

"This deal is huge because it means that Disney is paying attention. Their presence can open doors for movie collaborations," said Shola Thompson, a Nigeria-based film consultant.

Thompson added that distributing Disney movies is a pathway to getting the best content to cinemas,

which can improve the cinema-going culture in the region as well as increase their potential earnings.

As a result of restrictions following the Covid-19 pandemic, many cinemas in West Africa are not operating at full capacity. But FilmOne Entertainment says it is working on improving the cinema experience as a way of encouraging people to show up when all restrictions have been lifted.

"We will let people know that they enjoy films better when they watch with other people. To say 71

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that the experience out of home is very dierent," Babatope said.

"We will communicate that cinemas are safe in our communications to audiences. We will document what the cinemas are doing regarding incorporating safety procedures," he added.

Disney's deal is not the first time a multinational entertainment company is partnering with film companies in West Africa.

In 2019, FilmOne Entertainment signed a deal with Chinese media giant Huahua to co-produce the first major China-Nigeria film.

In the same year, French Media giant, Canal+ acquired leading Nollywood film studio, ROK film studios to create more hours of Nigerian content for its French-speaking audience.

Independence key to collaboration Thompson who is also a film analyst says the growing influence of entertainment companies like Disney on the continent may create room for greater Hollywood influence in Africa, without a corresponding influence of African film content in Hollywood.

"We need to be a bit careful to make sure we don't lose creative control of our stories. With more multinationals looking into Africa for partnerships, we don't want to find ourselves stuck with them dictating what we start to produce," he said.

"At the same time, we can still be glad that they are paying attention as that means growth for our film industry," he added.

As FilmOne Entertainment prepares to start distributing Disney content, Babatope says the partnership is an opportunity that can lead to future collaborations involving largely African content.

"It's true that a lot of the content we will be distributing are from other parts of the world but if we are able to demonstrate that we are accountable and transparent, then there will be room to attract future investments involving content from this region." www.cnn.com/2020/09/18/africa/disney-partnerswith-nollywood/index.htm Image credit: Cinandol, lifestyle.thecable.ng, www.hulu.com, walmart.com

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Investment

Inside Safari Valley: The “African Disneyland” and Ghana’s Largest Resort

By Parker Diakite THE AQUA SAFARI GROUP of Ghana has been very active with its investment in the tourism sector of Ghana.

After introducing the Aqua Safari Resort in Ada (www.facebook.com/ aquasafariresort), which is now one of the best beach resorts in the county, the group is set to open a new resort known as the Safari Valley Resort Aburi (https://safarivalleyresort.com)..

“A friend of mine invited me to visit his farm and encouraged me to get into the same enterprise,” group CEO, Samuel Afari Dartey, said. We have quite a few acres and started to visit a few plantations. But every time I visited it, I thought the place was unique and I knew I had to come up with some idea for this beautiful natural resource” Safari Valley Eco Resort will be located a few minutes from the Aburi botanical gardens.

Once it opens, it will focus more on the forest and wildlife resources, with an emphasis on art and culture.

Because it’s an eco-lodge, the planning and development team will not destroy the environment.

“Where a tree has been taken out, we make sure that four trees replace it,” said Dartey.

The slogan “bringing you close to nature” will allow visitors to interact with animals in their natural habitat. Impalas, giraffes, and zebras.

There will a safari drive for a chance to get up close with hyaenas, lions, giraffes, and zebra.

In addition to wildlife, there will be a sports arena that features a golf course, soccer fields, tennis, basketball courts, and a place to learn to horseback ride.

More than 90% of the food on the resort will come from the farm where guests will have the chance to pick

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their own food, including their own fish from the lake.

Once construction is complete, the resort will have 102 resort-style and vacation rooms to rent out.

According to Dartey, this will be the biggest resort in West Africa. He’s termed it the ‘African Disneyland.’

Take a look at the video for an update on the project - https://youtu.be/Q3l-MCcxh_c: https://travelnoire.com/safari-valley-ghana-largest-resor Image credit: kayak.comt

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Technology/Science

African Telecom Giant to Exit Iran Over 'Complexities'

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

DRAGGING FEET FOR A long time, South African telecom giant, the MTN Group, has announced its planned exit from the sanctions-hit Iranian market in the next three to five years.

The group has 49% shares in the country’s second largest mobile operator, MTN Irancell, which boosts of 50 million active users and has been a pioneer in 4G mobile services in Iran since 2016.

It also has investments in popular Iranian digital businesses like ride-hailing app Snapp, and e-commerce marketplace start-up Bamilo.

Shifting its focus from Central Asia and the Middle East to Africa, the group has announced plans to leave the region “in an orderly manner,” starting with Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and then Iran.

While it had been able to maintain good business in the Iranian market, the Africa’s largest mobile carrier has struggled to take money out of Iran due to complexities created by US sanctions.

Senior officials at MTN Irancell told Anadolu Agency that service revenues and data sales had seen a marked growth in last one year, unlike many other loss-making companies. However, economic sanctions and resulting complexities have prompted the business to call it quits.

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have about 3 billion Rand in loans and profits trapped in Iran, according to group’s chief financial officer Ralph Mupita.

The group had managed to take out $1 billion before the US government reinstated economic sanctions on Iran in May 2018, following its unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.

CEO Rob Shuter told reporters this week that the company was realigning its focus towards African continent, and winding up operations from the Middle East where the environment is becoming “increasingly complex."

The group also owns a 43% share in Snapp, which clocks over two million rides a day beside courier and food deliveries.

Meanwhile, MTN Irancell has already started looking for potential investors from the Iranian diaspora. Chief executive officer Bijan Abbasi Arand told state TV in April that the company was looking at opportunities to rope in potential investors to keep the business moving.

The US sanctions have forced many international businesses to scale back their operations in Iran, fearing huge losses. www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/african-telecom-giant-toexit-iran-over-complexities/1938560 Image credit: Ventures Africa DAWN

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Physicists Build Circuit That Generates Clean, Limitless Power From Graphene

By Paul Thibado, professor, physics

A TEAM OF UNIVERSITY of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene's thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

“An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors,” said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery.

The findings, titled "Fluctuation-induced current from freestanding graphene," (https://journals.aps. org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.102.042101) and published in the journal Physical Review E, are proof of a theory the physicists developed at the U of A three years ago that freestanding graphene — a single layer of carbon atoms — ripples and buckles in a way that holds promise for energy harvesting.

The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman’s well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado’s team found that at room temperature the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.

In the 1950s, physicist Léon Brillouin published a landmark paper refuting the idea that adding a single diode, a one-way electrical gate, to a circuit is the solution to harvesting energy from Brownian motion. Knowing this, Thibado’s group built their circuit with two diodes for converting AC into a direct current (DC). With the diodes in opposition allowing the current to flow both ways, they provide separate paths through the circuit, producing a pulsing DC current that performs work on a load resistor.

Additionally, they discovered that their design increased the amount of power delivered. “We

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also found that the on-off, switch-like behavior of the diodes actually amplifies the power delivered, rather than reducing it, as previously thought,” said Thibado. “The rate of change in resistance provided by the diodes adds an extra factor to the power.”

The team used a relatively new field of physics to prove the diodes increased the circuit’s power. “In proving this power enhancement, we drew from the emergent field of stochastic thermodynamics and extended the nearly century-old, celebrated theory of Nyquist,” said coauthor Pradeep Kumar, associate professor of physics and coauthor.

According to Kumar, the graphene and circuit share a symbiotic relationship. Though the thermal environment is performing work on the load resistor, the graphene and circuit are at the same temperature and heat does not flow between the two.

That’s an important distinction, said Thibado, because a temperature difference between the graphene and circuit, in a circuit producing power, would contradict the second law of thermodynamics. “This means that the second law of thermodynamics is not violated, nor is there any need to argue that ‘Maxwell’s Demon’ is separating hot and cold electrons,” Thibado said.

The team also discovered that the relatively slow motion of graphene induces current in the circuit at low frequencies, which is important from a technological perspective because electronics function more efficiently at lower frequencies.

“People may think that current flowing in a resistor causes it to heat up, but the Brownian current does not. In fact, if no current was flowing, the resistor would cool down,” Thibado explained.

“What we did was reroute the current in the circuit and transform it into something useful.”

The team’s next objective is to determine if the DC current can be stored in a capacitor for later

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Graphene Chip use, a goal that requires miniaturizing the circuit and patterning it on a silicon wafer, or chip. If millions of these tiny circuits could be built on a 1-millimeter by 1-millimeter chip, they could serve as a low-power battery replacement.

The University of Arkansas holds several patents pending in the U.S. and international markets on the technology and has licensed it for commercial applications through the university’s Technology Ventures division. Researchers Surendra Singh, University Professor of physics; Hugh Churchill, associate professor of physics; and Jeff Dix, assistant professor of engineering, contributed to the work, which was funded by the Chancellor’s Commercialization Fund supported by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among fewer than 3 percent of colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity.

U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring. ď ƒ

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and

https://news.uark.edu/articles/54830/physicists-buildcircuit-that-generates-clean-limitless-power-fromgraphene

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Technology/Science

How Bitcoin Met the Real World in Africa

By Alexis Akwagyiram, Tom Wilson

FOUR MONTHS AGO, ABOLAJI Odunjo made a fundamental change to his business selling mobile phones in a bustling street market in Lagos: He started paying his suppliers in bitcoin.

Odunjo sources handsets and accessories from China and the United Arab Emirates. His Chinese suppliers asked to be paid in the cryptocurrency, he said, for speed and convenience.

The shift has boosted his profits, as he no longer has to buy dollars using the Nigerian naira or shell out fees to money-transfer firms. It is also one example of how, in Africa, bitcoin - the original and biggest cryptocurrency - is finding the practical use that it has largely failed to elsewhere.

“Bitcoin helped to protect my business against the currency devaluation, and enabled me to grow at the same time,” Odunjo told Reuters from his two-byeight metre shop.

“You don’t have to pay charges, you don’t have to buy dollars,” the 30-year-old said, raising his voice above the sound of loud haggling and the honking horns of scooters.

Odunjo is one of many people at the heart of a quiet bitcoin boom in Africa, driven by payments from small businesses as well as remittances sent home from migrant workers, according to data shared exclusively with Reuters and interviews with around 20 bitcoin users and five cryptocurrency exchanges.

Monthly cryptocurrency transfers to and from Africa of under $10,000 - typically made by individuals and small businesses - jumped more than 55% in a year to reach $316 million in June, the data from U.S. blockchain research firm Chainalysis shows.

The number of monthly transfers also rose by almost half, surpassing 600,700, according to Chainalysis, which says the research is the most comprehensive effort yet to map out global crypto use. Much of the activity took place in Nigeria, the continent’s biggest economy, along with South Africa and Kenya.

This represents a reversal for bitcoin which, despite its birth as a payments tool over a decade ago, has mainly been used for speculation by financial traders

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rather than for commerce.

Why a boom in Africa? Young, tech-savvy populations that have adapted quickly to bitcoin; weaker local currencies that make it harder to get dollars, the de facto currency of global trade; and complex bureaucracy that complicates money transfers.

The bitcoin users interviewed by Reuters, based in five countries from Nigeria to Botswana, said the cryptocurrency was helping people make their businesses nimbler and more profitable, and helping those working in places like Europe and North America hang on to more of the earnings they send home.

Yet risks abound.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are unregulated in many countries and their legal status is unclear, meaning there is no safety net and little recourse if you lose funds.

For many, converting local currencies to and from bitcoin relies on informal brokers. Prices are volatile, and buying and selling is a complex process that demands technical knowledge.

In 2018, the Nigerian central bank warned cryptocurrencies were not legal tender, and investors were unprotected.

TO SHANGHAI WITH CRYPTO A steady stream of customers comes and goes from Odunjo’s shop, one of a dozen units along a dark corridor in an indoor section of the market known as Computer Village.

Odunjo makes two or three transfers a month of around 0.5-0.7 bitcoin ($5,900-$8,300) each, to suppliers in Shanghai and Zhangzhou. East Asia, Chainalysis found, is one of the top partners for bitcoin trading with Africa.

Odunjo’s trades offer a microcosm of the wider trends at play in both Nigeria and across the continent.

In Nigeria, small cryptocurrency transfers totalled nearly $56 million in June, nearly 50% more than a year before. The number of transactions jumped

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over three-fold to $21 million in June after the naira was devalued in March.

Exchanges across Africa spoke of a similar boom.

Yellow Card, which operates in five countries, said its monthly crypto volumes had jumped five-fold in 2020 to $25 million in August. A big driver was workers using bitcoin for remittances, it added.

Luno said the combined monthly bitcoin trading volumes of all market participants in South Africa and Nigeria had jumped by half this year to more than $536 million in August.

over 55% to 120,000.

Gauging how cryptocurrencies are used in particular locations is tough, though. Digital coins offer a high degree of anonymity, and though the value of transactions can be tracked on the blockchain, the identity or whereabouts of a user cannot.

Chainalysis, which tracks crypto flows for financial firms and U.S. law enforcement, gathered the data by analysing web traffic and trading patterns, though locations can be obscured by virtual private networks.

It separated transfers of under $10,000 from larger sums common among professional traders.

NAIRA’S LOSS, BITCOIN’S GAIN With Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy rocked by low crude prices and COVID-19, the central bank has twice devalued the naira this year. As a result, Odunjo and other importers must pay more to buy increasingly scarce dollars.

The naira’s fall has pushed many Nigerians towards bitcoin, the interviews showed, as they seek methods of purchasing goods from overseas without having to buy dollars.

Sylvester Kalu, who runs a clothing starch maker in Uyo, eastern Nigeria, uses bitcoin to buy supplies from Istanbul and Shenzhen.

“Everything is oil. When the price of oil dropped, forex became scare,” he said. “That became a very big problem.”

The 30-year-old said his transactions totalled around 2 bitcoin ($20,000) a time, adding: “I don’t need anyone in the banks, I don’t need a person to use the back door to get dollars.”

Timi Ajiboye, who runs Lagos exchange BuyCoins, said its monthly cryptocurrency volumes jumped

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IT’S A RISKY BUSINESS For some people working abroad, in other continents or other African countries, sending money home via bitcoin can be quicker and cheaper.

A Nigerian worker in London sending 100 pounds ($132) in cash to Lagos via a big traditional moneytransfer firm, for example, would pay fees of around 5%. Costs are lower when sending larger amounts or using a debit card, but the exchange rates on offer are typically several percentage points less favourable than the market rate.

Bitcoin fees vary depending on the exchange or broker, but would typically total about 2%-2.5% for sending 100 pounds.

However both exchanges and over-the-counter (OTC) brokers carry risks, from hacks to scams.

And bitcoin, while handy for transfers, isn’t much use on the ground - shops and landlords rarely accept it, for instance. This means friends or family sent funds by workers must convert it back to traditional currency, often via a broker at their end, introducing additional risk.

Yet the bitcoin users interviewed said many OTC brokers, who rely on word-of-mouth reviews, functioned reliably in an increasingly competitive market and were loath to imperil the reputations they needed to stay in business.

And for a growing number of people, the potential rewards outweigh the pitfalls.

“People are very adoptive of any technology that will make their life easier,” said Frankline Kihiu, a crypto broker in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

“In most African countries, there are lots of government restrictions that bitcoin takes away.” ($1 = 0.7585 pounds) (1 bitcoin = $10,065). www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-africainsight-idUSKBN25Z0Q8 Image credit: finance.yahoo.com

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Technology/Science

Lagos Supports 23 Innovators and Tech Startups with N100m Grant

By Oluwasegun

THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT has awarded a total grant of N100 million to twentythree young innovators and tech firms to pursue various technology-driven innovations across the six pillars of the development agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration.

The recipients are the first set of beneficiaries to be picked to benefit from the N250 million seed capital earmarked, last year, as Research and Innovation Fund by the State Government.

The awardees were selected through highly competitive process overseen by the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC) established in 2019 by Governor Sanwo-Olu, with the mandate to facilitate and encourage the development of innovative solutions to solve local problems, using cuttingedge technology.

The Governor congratulated the successful awardees of the research funds, urging them to apply the grant judiciously and use it to transform their ideas into reality.

Sanwo-Olu said his administration was born with the sole aim to solve contemporary challenges facing the State, stressing that the innovation 78

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grant was initiated with the objective to empower local innovators and thinkers with knowledge of context and peculiarities to create specific solutions for local challenges.

He said: “Last December, we inaugurated the Research and Innovation Council with a seed fund of N250 million in demonstration of our commitment to transform Lagos into a 21st-century digital economy and Smart City.

“The body has a mandate to facilitate investment in science research, innovation, and STEM education throughout the State, and to encourage the development of innovative solutions to problems, using cutting-edge technology.

“We are here today to match our words with action, by handing out grants from the LASRIC’s Research and Innovation Fund to successful applicants. I congratulate all awardees and beneficiaries of our very first set. As a Government, we believe in each and every applicant’s capacity to create and scale up ideas that can proffer solutions to our current challenges.

“We embarked on this unique project with the belief that local challenges are best solved by thinking that understands and appreciates local contexts and peculiarities.

“We believe in Lagos-supported solutions for Lagos-specific challenges. With the presentation of the grants, the responsibility now firmly rests on the recipients’ shoulders to justify the opportunity.”

Sanwo-Olu noted that science and technology remained key enablers to transform the socioeconomic destinies of cities, observing that any serious Government must give total commitment to application of technology and innovation to drive improve service delivery in transport management, healthcare, education, waste management, DAWN

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security and governance.

He said Lagos was on a journey to properly identify, enable, and build great human potential through flagship technology-driven projects, such as Metrofibre programme and Smart City initiative.

Lagos He said: “We are also working to transforming our civil service by encouraging innovative thinking and deploying technology tools and processes.

Flagship projects such as the Metrofibre project and the Smart City initiative are key enablers for achieving this.”

The Governor urged unsuccessful applicants not to lose hope, charging them to re-apply for the grant in the next round of selection. He said the State Government would be increasing the grant to accommodate more innovators in the subsequent application.

The Governor’s Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology, Hon. Olatunbosun Alake, described the ceremony as “tangible development” in the history of governance in the State.

He said the awardees would be initiating innovation in key areas of manufacturing, food security and health management.

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“The grant recipients represent key research initiatives and innovative start-ups ready and qualified to be resourced for the development of Lagos, and indeed the world. Today’s event is the first in many of this administration’s support and development of the science and technology ecosystem,” Alake said.

LASRIC chairman Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said the event was a testimony of Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to the development of innovative solutions to challenges facing the State.

He said the Council would continue to assist the State Government to harness human and material resources of Lagos for problem-solving, wealth creation, and transformation of the State’s economy.

A beneficiary and founder of Price Pally, Luther Lawoyin, who received N5 million grant, praised the Governor for creating opportunities for tech startups to push forward their ideas. He said his business depended on data management, promising to invest the grant in improving food security.  https://www.techawkng.com/2020/08/20/lagos-supports-23entrepreneurs-and-tech-startups-with-n100m-grant/

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Technology/Science

The Race to Build Facial Recognition Tech for Africa is being led by this Award-winning Engineer

By Audrey Donkor F A C I A L RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY IS not widely employed in Africa, partly because the technology available up till now has not been adept at identifying and differentiating the faces of Black people.

US government tests of the best Westerndeveloped facial recognition systems have shown them to misidentify Black people at rates up to five to 10 times higher than they do white people.

The racial disparity in the performance of the biometric artificial intelligence technology which forms the backbone of these systems stemmed from an obvious problem: they are trained by using datasets mostly made up of white faces.

In 2018, four software engineers set up a company in Ghana to address this limitation of commonly available facial recognition software. They were spurred by their own research which revealed Ghanaian banks are beset by widespread identity fraud and cybercrime and spend nearly $400 million a year to identify their customers.

Led by Charlette N’Guessan, an engineer originally from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire, the group developed its own facial recognition software, BACE API (www.bacegroup.com), using artificial intelligence.

In contrast to Western developers, they trained BACE API using a more diverse dataset with a sizable representation of Black African faces to suit the local market.

One key strength of BACE API is that it’s able to verify a user’s identity remotely which is particularly 80

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useful for financial institutions and other customerfacing industries whose operations require identity verification at scale. It can be integrated onto existing apps and systems and does not require special hardware. Another distinguishing feature of BACE API is its use of live images or short videos to determine if images are of real people rather than pre-existing photographs.

The group’s software beat out other competitors for the 2020 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, which is awarded annually by the UK’ s Royal Academy of Engineering. N’Guessan, 26, emerged as the first female winner of the esteemed prize and was awarded £25,000 ($32,000) in prize money.

“I think Africa needs more local AI solutions because that’s where the challenge is now,” says N’Guessan. “Most of the solutions are coming from outside. We need to develop these skills early by generating interest in AI among young people.”

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in just 20 countries around the world, none of those countries were in Africa. Among emerging markets, from 2008 to 2017, India topped the list of countries whose AI startups had received the most funding at $50 billion. In the same period AI startups in subSaharan Africa received just $1.3 billion.

But a few key centers of excellence for AI have been popping up across Africa over the last couple of years. In Ethiopia, where Sophia (the robot that was granted Saudi citizenship in 2017) was partly developed, futurists and enthusiasts are betting on AI’s massive potential to drive development in place of the government’s own bet on manufacturing.

In Ghana, Google opened its first Africa AI research center (https://qz.com/africa/1305211/googleis-making-a-big-bet-on-artificial-intelligence-in-africa-with-itsfirst-research-center) in 2018 and the African Institute

to allow Chinese firm CloudWalk Technology access to a database of millions of Zimbabwean faces (https://qz.com/africa/1287675/china-is-exportingfacial-recognition-to-africa-ensuring-ai-dominance-throughdiversity) as part of an agreement with the firm to

develop facial recognition software primarily for mass surveillance. Similarly, there are questions about the accuracy of facial recognition software deployed across closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) in countries including Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa, as part of Chinese firm Huawei’s Safe City program.

Africa is still far behind in the race to build homegrown AI startups and technology. As of 2018, up to 95% of all AI startups around the world were

for Mathematical Sciences in Kigali, Rwanda launched the continent’s first dedicated master’s degree program for machine learning and artificial intelligence with backing from Facebook and Google.

“Although there is now more awareness and application of AI solutions in local businesses and industries, local businesses do not “trust” local innovations much,” N’Guessan says. “I think that this can change with time, as we continue to build products and they realize that they work well. Since winning this prize, a lot of companies across Africa have expressed interest in BACE API.” https://vh2.tv/the-race-to-build-facial-recognitiontech-for-africa-is-being-led-by-this-award-winningenginee Image credit: continuitysa.com

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Technology/Science

This Startup lets Villagers Create Mini Power Grids for their Neighbors

By Adele Peters IN A REMOTE VILLAGE Bangladeshi village called Shikarpur, until recently, few people had electricity. But a new system is beginning to connect the village’s handful of solar-powered homes with neighbors who can’t afford to own panels themselves.

In the peer-to-peer system, neighbors can sell extra electricity to each other.

“The aim is to create efficient and dynamic local energy markets that empower households and encourage solar entrepreneurism,” says Sebastian Groh, managing director of Solshare (https://mesolshare.com), the startup making the technology now in use in Bangladesh.

The startup launched when the founders realized that Bangladesh had a growing number of home solar panels–a government program in 2014 aimed to double the number of home systems–and those solar panels were generating more power in the middle of the day than residents could use and store in small batteries. Around 30% of the energy 82

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may be wasted. At the same time, when someone living off the grid in Bangladesh wants to charge a mobile phone, they can pay as much as 100 times more for the electricity than someone living on the grid in a city. Neighbors were already beginning to informally rent out power by running cables to their neighbors houses, watching how long someone used a light bulb at night, and asking for payment the next morning.

The new technology installs power meters and solar charge controllers in the homes of people who want to sell or buy power, along with cabling to connect them, and uses software to create a bottomup version of a smart grid. When extra electricity is available, the software redirects it where it’s needed, and tracks usage so that neighbors can pay each other through a commonly-used mobile payment app on their phones.

“The villagers see the results of their trading almost in realtime in the mobile money wallets and can buy their groceries with the money just earned through their solar systems,” says Groh.

When families buy the hardware, they can make micropayments at a rate similar to what they would have spent in the past to buy kerosene for lighting.

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Lifestyle/Culture

Trevor Noah is on the Cover of the 'Wall Street Journal' September Issue

By Entertainment Reporter

SOUTH AFRICA’S VERY own comedian Trevor Noah, has graced the cover of yet another international magazine.

The “Wall Street Journal” interviewed Noah and made him their cover star of their September issue in celebration of his fifth anniversary as host of “The Daily Show”.

Noah took to his Instagram account to post a picture of the cover, with the caption: “Thank you for the great write-up @WSJmag @bystodghill @gioncarlovalentine,” he wrote. www.iol.co.za/entertainment/celebrity-news/local/ look-trevor-noah-is-on-the-cover-of-the-wallstreet-journal-september-issue-bc452b66-de824062-ad5e-f20c77b9f629 Image credit: thefashionisto.com

installed 5 million small home solar systems in Bangladeshi villages. In one project, with the local social enterprise Grameen Shakti, the company plans to create 100 tiny grids over the next 18 months. The “nanogrids” could eventually connect with the national grid and continue to provide power when the national grid goes down.

Groh, who calls the system the Airbnb of the energy world, says that the same technology could be used elsewhere as power becomes increasingly decentralized. Competitors have already tested small peer-to-peer trading systems for solar power in New York City and cities in Australia. But while those working in bigger cities are working at small scales, Solshare may be able to grow much more quickly as it works with thousands of homes in less-regulated rural Bangladesh, and 83

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soon also in India. As that technology helps rural areas leapfrog traditional power grids, it can also be tested and brought back to the developed world.

“The algorithms used to exchange electricity in villages of Bangladesh will be the same algorithms, with machine learning empowered, in Bangkok, Singapore, Frankfurt, or New York,” Groh told judges at an MIT IDE Inclusive Innovation Challenge event. The company is now a finalist for the challenge’s $1 million prize. Solshare also announced an investment round of $1.66 million on September 28, led by Silicon Valley-based Innogy New Ventures LLC. www.fastcompany.com/90241777/this-startup-letsvillagers-create-mini-power-grids-for-their-neighbors Image credit: antinuclear.net

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Lifestyle/Culture

Chadwick Boseman was the Definition of a Hero

By David Sims

ALMOST A S SHOCKING AS the news that Chadwick Boseman died on August 23rd at the age of 43 was the revelation that the actor had spent the last four years battling colon cancer.

This timeline means he was diagnosed in 2016—the year that he debuted as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. And it means that after his diagnosis, Boseman filmed and appeared in Marshall, Black Panther, two more Avengers movies, 21 Bridges, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, and an upcoming adaptation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. This output is immense coming from an actor who had only been making major Hollywood films for two years before his big Marvel break—a superstar run that seems all the more miraculous in light of the knowledge that Boseman pulled it off while quietly undergoing many surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy.

Given his stature today, it may be surprising to recall that Boseman didn’t land a significant movie role until he was in his mid-30s. A graduate of Howard University and the British American Drama Academy, he mostly appeared in one-off parts on television until he was cast as baseball legend Jackie Robinson in the 2013 biopic 42. The only other person who had played Robinson in a movie before was Robinson himself, and yet here was a virtual unknown taking on the part with confidence and grace. So much of the film, directed

by Brian Helgeland, deals with Robinson’s struggle to control his anger as he’s subject to racist abuse by fans and players, and Boseman’s performance simmers with heroic restraint.

From there, he was cast in two more biopics, playing

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two other Black Americans of colossal historical importance— James Brown in Get On Up (2014) and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017). The actor’s work as Brown is particularly astonishing; Boseman captures all of the singer’s live-wire onstage energy, doing all of his own dancing and some of his singing. Perhaps the biggest achievement is how the performance felt a million miles away from his work as Robinson.

Boseman played one of the 20th century’s most famous athletes and one of its greatest singers within a single year, and had given two performances that could not have been more different.

This versatility and talent made an entire industry take notice. When Boseman was promoting Get On Up, he got a call from Marvel Studios—they were preparing to introduce the character of Black Panther into

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four Marvel movies vaulted the character to total global celebrity.

Black Panther was a staggering cultural phenomenon when it arrived in 2018, the fourth-highest grossing movie in domestic boxoffice history. And though Ryan Coogler’s film is filled with visual invention, dense world-building, and memorable supporting turns, it’s rooted in Boseman’s gravitas, in his ability to project authority and power. T’Challa is a purposefully idealized figure, ▲ Chadwick Boseman as King T'Challa, the Black Panther a sensitive and just warrior who ◄ Chadwick Boseman with Senator Kamala Harris, with Chris Evans, struggles courageously with the with Lupita Nyong'o burden of leading an entire nation. ▼ Chadwick Boseman with President Barack Obama, with Da 5 Bloods The movie wouldn’t work without crew the innate humanity he gives T’Challa, even as he bounds into battle in a high-tech battle suit.

Boseman’s history of playing beloved, revolutionary figures shaped the way audiences and other directors saw him. When Spike Lee was making his latest film, Da 5 Bloods, he centered the plot on a Black soldier who had died in the Vietnam War—Stormin’ Norman, a wise squad leader whose compatriots try to recover his body many years later. Lee was adapting an original script that depicted Norman as still being alive, carrying out raids deep in the jungles, but he decided the character made more sense as a deceased, romanticized figure—a tragic loss from a bleak era in American history. “Here’s the thing for me. This character is heroic; the’s a superhero. Who do we cast? We cast Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall, and we cast T’Challa!” Lee told me in an interview earlier this year. “Chad is a superhero!

That character is Christlike ... there’s light from heaven coming down from above on him.”

Da 5 Bloods is just one of the many movies Boseman filmed while suffering from colon cancer, and it must have been an unimaginable effort for him like the rest.

The actor’s screen presence is as transfixing as Lee intended, and it’s helped by the fact that in flashbacks, Boseman’s character is the only one depicted as a young man, while his squad members are played by older actors who recall him as he once was. It’s crushing to consider, but Boseman’s legacy will be the their byzantine cinematic universe, and there incredible body of work he created in just seven years: was only one person they wanted. “You hear a catalog of heroic figures similarly frozen in time, to be people say this all the time … but he was the remembered forever.  only choice,” Marvel producer Kevin Feige later www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/chadwick-bosemansaid in an interview. Black Panther, the king was-the-definition-of-a-hero/ar-BB18usqi of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, Image credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage, Twitter, © Marvel was the first African superhero in American / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Everett Collection, comics, a milestone figure created in CNN, checkersaga.com the 1960s. But Boseman’s performance in

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Lifestyle/Culture

Alphonso Davies: Canada’s Humble, Joyful Soccer Phenom

By Sara Miller Llana

Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies, shown here after scoring the team's fourth goal during a match against Eintracht Frankfurt on May 23, 2020, enjoyed a stellar season in the German Bundesliga, earning Rookie of the Y ear honors in 2020-21.

AFTER CANADIAN SOCCER STAR Alphonso Davies and his team, Bayern Munich, clinched the Champions League in Europe this past weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his congratulations to the 19-year-old left back.

Mr. Davies replied: “Thank you Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau! Can I please come home for a week?”

With that single tweet, the newest Canadian sports star revealed glimpses of how he has captivated his nation. It’s for more than the poise he possesses on the field despite his age, and it extends beyond the irresistible success story of a boy who came to Canada as a refugee and became one of the most important prospects in the game.

His request to the prime minister was a reference to restrictions on travel because of the pandemic that has kept him apart from family in Alberta, 86

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while he basks in victory in one of soccer’s most important competitions. But with the question – which included a grimacing emoji and pleading hands along with three Canadian flags – he showed traces of the humility, groundedness, and charisma that his former coaches and sports observers say make him such a good role model and, to some, one of Canada’s most significant athletes.

His story is impossible to put down, one that earned plaudits from the UN Refugee Agency and Canadian politicians across the spectrum.

Perhaps most significantly to Mr. Davies, it earned him a follow on Instagram from rap icon (and Toronto native) Drake – a social media honor that had him shouting with delight.

From refugee to the world’s best He was born in Ghana’s Buduburam refugee camp, which was created for Liberians fleeing DAWN

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civil war like his parents. His family was eventually able to resettle in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, when he was 5. Early mentors talk often about the long hours his parents worked, and the responsibilities Mr. Davies had at home, at just 10 years old, like changing his younger siblings’ diapers.

It was on the soccer field that he found an outlet and sense of belonging. Tim Adams founded Free Footie in Edmonton, a league for elementary schoolers whose families can’t afford recreational sport. One of his teachers connected him to the program. It was only a brief season, but Mr. Adams says that is all it took. “There are some kids where even if they touch the ball one time you know that they are special,” he says. “He was moving through a crowd of a thousand, and you could tell there was something different.”

He played soccer at St. Nicholas Soccer Academy and for the Edmonton Strikers youth club before enrolling in the residency program of the Vancouver Whitecaps, one of Canada’s topflight teams, at 14. He had to convince his parents, who were worried about his studies and bad influences, to let him leave. His father, Debeah Davies, hammered into him: “Be a good guy. Be a good kid. Be a good boy,” he said in a Whitecaps video.

Mr. Davies made his Major League Soccer debut for the Whitecaps at 15, and in 2017, after he became a Canadian citizen, he became the youngest player to appear for the Canadian men’s team. At 17, he signed with one of the world’s best teams, Bayern Munich, which paid the Whitecaps at least $13.5 million in transfer fees, a recordsetting deal for an MLS player at the time.

This time he had to convince himself. When Bayern reached out to meet him, he recalled recently in The Guardian, “I was like, ‘oh my god, really?’ It was both exciting and scary. I just had to prove to myself that I could compete at this level.”

of most experienced and sophisticated squads in the world at such a young age.”

What stands out most for her is how he combines technical skill, boldness, and speed with “that spirited joy you don’t often see,” she says. “He adds this life, this happiness.”

Joy is something he has carried throughout his life, he told Bayern’s club magazine. “Life is too short to be angry or sad for long. I think it runs in my family. We went through tough times when I was very young and I’m so infinitely grateful to my parents,” he said. “Their journey began during the civil war in Liberia and we came to Canada via Ghana. I’m in the happy situation where I can say I can enjoy every single day of my life.”

Globe and Mail sports columnist Cathal Kelly, who called Canada “just about the most marginal soccer country on Earth” in a recent column, says his appeal here is two-fold.

“He fulfills our most cherished national narrative – newcomer fleeing peril arrives in this country and makes good,” Mr. Kelly says in an email. And for a country with a history of being discarded by top athletes as soon as they are good enough, Mr. Davies committed himself as an international player here. “Davies is on the leading edge of a new generation of (non-hockey-playing) Canadian pros who want to wear the Maple Leaf. People respond to that.”

Perhaps more important, Mr. Davies has become an inspiration for any kid who might struggle, like those in Free Footie who are predominantly refugees, newcomers, and Indigenous youth – and stands as a reminder to society of the nurturing role it can play to help any child transcend. “His story and what he embodies is so perfect,” says Mr. Adams. “It just really shows that when you grind and you have characteristics that everybody can see, you’re going to be supported to get to some pretty amazing places.”

Mr. Davies addressed precisely those kids after his victory. “This one for everyone who is chasing ‘That spirited joy you don’t often see’ Throughout it all, Mr. Davies has been invigorating a dream right now,” he tweeted. “Take it from me. sports observers like Shireen Ahmed, co-host of Don’t give up. It may seem impossible now. But Burn It all Down, a feminist sports podcast. “I don’t keep working on your craft. www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2020/0826/ know if I’m more impressed with his Champions Alphonso-Davies-Canada-s-humble-joyful-soccerLeague win or with the maturity he shows on the phenom field, the way he has literally blended in with one 87

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Lifestyle/Culture

African Diaspora Themed Podcasts - A Directory WHEN THE DAWN TEAM became aware of the podcast "AU on the Go" as a service of the African Union's African Diaspora Division (https://au.int/en/diaspora-division), we set out to find out how to access it and then to share the information with our community.

We found the listing on the PlayerFM site which is why that service is featured in this article.

However, as we restate later in the article, this is not a commercial for PlayerFM. We encourage you to explore your podcast sources and curate your own directory of African Diaspora Themed Podcasts. We also added the link to AU on the Go in our Resource Vault (page xx).

Podcasting A podcast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast) is an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient, integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices.

A podcast series usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event. Discussion and content within a podcast can range from carefully scripted to totally improvised. Podcasts combine elaborate and artistic sound production with thematic concerns ranging from scientific research to sliceof-life journalism. Many podcast series provide an associated website with links and show notes, guest biographies, transcripts, additional resources, commentary, and even a community forum dedicated to discussing the show's content.

The cost to the consumer is low. While many podcasts are free to download, others are underwritten by corporations or sponsored, with the inclusion of commercial advertisements. In other cases, a podcast could also be a business venture supported by some combination of a paid subscription model, advertising or product

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delivered after sale.

People are motivated to create a podcast for a number of reasons. The podcast producer, who is often the podcast host as well, may wish to express a personal passion, increase professional visibility, enter into a social network of influencers or influential ideas, cultivate a community of like-minded viewership, or put forward pedagogical or ideological ideas (possibly under philanthropic support).

Because podcast content is often free or, at the very least, aordable for the average podcast consumer, podcasting is often classified as a disruptive medium, which is adverse to the maintenance of traditional revenue models. Long-running podcasts with a substantial back catalogue are amenable to binge consumption.

PlayerFM services are shown below, however, please curate the African Diaspora themed podcasts available via whichever systems you use.

Best African Diaspora podcasts we could find (updated August 2020) https://player.fm/podcasts/ African-Diaspora Play epic talk shows anywhere, anytime.

Player FM is the multi-platform podcast app that helps you find shows on the topics you care about and play them at your convenience, even when you're oine.

One account, many interfaces Manage and play your podcasts on web and phone. Fling to your TV with Chromecast, launch shows from your wrist with Android Wear, and DAWN

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Promoting Africa-focused Tourism Since 2011

Black Business News

Travel Africa

enjoy your car ride with Android Auto.

Fresh recommendations Player FM has built a curated catalogue with over 500 niche topics to make sure you always have something to play. Follow Downton Abbey, Learning Chinese, or Pop Culture and receive fresh recommendations every day.

Free forever The app costs nothing to install and uses minimal permissions. Use it as long as you want and you can upgrade to our premium plans for extra goodies including sync of all your play positions across device, theming, ads-free experience, and more.

www.Issuu.com/blackbusinessnews

https://player.fm/ Image credit: coolsmartphone.com, studentnews.africa 89

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Lifestyle/Culture

Senegalese Cuisine: Thieboudienne THIEBOUDIENNE CAN BE MADE with an assortment of different vegetables so you can easily use what you like or have on hand. It calls for a few unique ingredients. Smoked fish is one which adds great flavor. Another is a spice called netetou which is a fermented bean that is ground up (http:// www.sene-store.com/home/79-netetou-powder.html). This spice has a strong unpleasant scent but completely changes into an umami flavoring when cooked.

You can use any type of white firm fish you like but grouper or snapper are most authentic. Additionally you can use the whole fish or just fillets. If using the whole fish you stuff the puree into slits or if using fillets you can marinade them in the puree, just plan some extra time for that. It should refrigerate for a couple of hours to absorb the delicious flavor.

Ingredients • 1 1/2 cups rice broken rice • 4 Large pieces white fish snapper or grouper • 3 tomatoes mashed • 3 Ttablespoons tomato paste • 1 bunch parsley crushed • 1 large Carrot peeled and cut into medium pieces • 1 sweet potato peeled & chopped into large chunks • 1 large onion chopped • 4 cloves garlic finely chopped (divided) • 1 small eggplant sliced • 1 small cabbage cut into 4 pieces • 1/2 cup peanut oil • 2 Maggi cubes • 4 bay leaves • 1 Tablespoon nététou • 2 Tablespoons smoked fish shredded or ground • 2 habanero peppers de-seeded and diced • 1 Tablespoon black pepper 90

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• salt to taste • 4 okra • 6 cups hot water

Preparation Prepare the stuffing or puree/marinade for fish: 1. In a food processor or mortar and pestle blend or crush the parsley, half the garlic, 1 Maggi cube, plus a little salt and pepper to taste and a spoon of oil.

2. Cut slits if in the flesh of the fish and stuff the puree inside or slather the fillets with the puree and refrigerate for a couple of hours. (Reserve leftover puree) Make the tomato sauce.

3. Heat the oil to medium high and add the onions, tomatoes, tomato paste, the black pepper and remaining garlic. Then fry for 15 minutes.

4. Add the stuffed or marinated fish into the tomato sauce.

5. Add the Maggi cube, bay leaves, nététou, smoked fish, habaneros and 1 cup of water.

6. Simmer until the fish pieces are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Remove the fish and add vegetables 7. Remove the fish pieces and add all the vegetables except okra with 1 cup of water and cook the vegetables until they are cooked approximately 25-30 minutes.

8. You must ensure that the vegetables are tender before removing them, but take care to not overcook them.

9. Then add the okra with water. Cook for 5 minutes more then remove the okra.

Cooking the Rice 10. Cook the rice over low heat, stir often and cook until tender.

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11. When the rice is cooked well its ready for serving. Place the rice on a nice dish and arrange the vegetables and fish on top. www.internationalcuisine.com/thieboudienne/

Milk Rice (Gossi)

Mamadou's Banana Glacé This double-strength banana dessert beats a banana split Ingredients • 12 bananas • 1 pint heavy cream • 1/2 cup Sugar • 1/2 tsp.-CHOPPED candied fruits as angelica or red cherries • 1 tsp. BLACK Raisins • 1 Tbs. CHOPPED peanuts • 1 Tbs. slivered almonds.

Preparation • In an electric blender (or by hand): Beat 4 bananas to a pulp.

• Add: 1 pint heavy cream and 1/2 cup Sugar.

• Beat until frothy.

• Pour into freezer trays and freeze for 1 to 2 hours until partially firm.

• Cut 8 bananas in half lengthwise and then in half across.

Simple rice pudding that you can add ingre• Place 1 banana (4 pieces in a row side by side) dients to if you like on a dessert plate.

Ingredients • Spread the frozen bananas uniformly over the fresh bananas when ready to serve.

• 2 cups short-grain rice (like Arborio) • Sprinkle each serving with: 1/2 tsp.-CHOPPED • 6 cups water candied fruits as angelica or red cherries • 4 1/4 cups milk • 1 tsp. BLACK Raisins 1 Tbs. CHOPPED • 2 pinch salt peanuts 1 Tbs. slivered almonds.

• 1/2 vanilla bean • 6 tablespoons Sugar (or to taste) https://recipes.fandom.com/wiki/Senegalese_ Preparation • Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Wash the rice and drain it. Add the rice to the boiling water, and cook for 5 minutes.

• In a separate saucepan, bring the milk to a boil over medium heat.

• Remove the cooked rice and drain it. Slowly drop the rice into the boiling milk. Lower the heat and add salt, vanilla bean, and Sugar.

Cover and simmer 15 – 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the milk is absorbed. Add more milk, if necessary for a tender rice.

• Serve warm, cold or room temperature - your preference.

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Trade Shows/Exhibitions/Conferences

Events Around the African Continent and the World

5 November 2020 SEnegal - Virtual www.virtualconferenceafrica.com

20-22 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa www.thehotelshowafrica.com

Africa Downunder

IFAT Africa

8th Angel Fair Africa

4-6 November 2020 Perth, Western Australia www.africadownunderconference.com

Africa's Big Seven 21-23 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.africabig7.com/africa-trade-week

Africa Energy Indaba 2-3 March 2021 Capetown International Convention Centre Cape Town, South Africa www.africaenergyindaba.com

AkĂŠ Arts and Book Festival 22-25 October 2020 Alliance Francaise/ Mike Adenuga Centre Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria www.akefestival.org

Essence Festival 2020 Summer 2021 Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana USA www.essencefestival2020.com

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13 - 15 July 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa www.ifat.de/en/trade-fair/ifat-impact/

International Fair of Algiers 14 - 19 June 2021 Palais des Expositions des Pins Maritimes Algiers, Algeria http://safex.dz

Lagos International Trade Fair 6-15 November 2020 Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos, Nigeria https://lagosinternationaltradefair.com

Mombasa International Show September 2020 ASK Jomo Kenyatta Showground Mombasa, Kenya www.eventseye.com/fairs/f-mombasainternational-show-(mis)-18868-1.html

South African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) 20-22 June 2021 Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa www.saitexafrica.com DAWN

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d

#ATLF2020

•

"Shaping a better future for intra-Africa travel together through a shared vision"

T

he Government of Rwanda, Rwanda Convention Bureau, Africa Tourism Partners and BDO Advisory Services confirm that the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum & Awards (ATLF), 2020, Rwanda is still taking place from 19 to 21 October 2020 as planned. This has been necessitated by the fact that most countries have relaxed the travel restrictions.

Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF) is a Pan-African dialogue platform. It brings together key stakeholders of Africa’s travel, tourism, hospitality and aviation sectors to network, share insights, and devise strategies for intraAfrica travel and tourism growth across the continent, whilst enhancing the brand equity of “Destination Africa’’.

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE You are invited to register for stakeholders virtual exhibition and business-to-business sessions on Monday, 19 October, 2020 between 09H00 to 16h00 (Rwanda Time – GMT+2).

Participation details are follows: 93

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• • •

Invitees - All African and non-African Tours Operators, Travel Agents, PCOs and Incentive buyers interested in promoting Rwanda and the rest of Africa are requested to pre-book. In order to participate in the virtual exhibition and business-to-business session. Please note that space is limited.

Participation fees for buyers – Complimentary (On first-come, first-serve basis) Virtual Exhibitors - Fees will be provided on request (Only 20 exhibitor spaces left) Registration - To register as a virtual buyer kindly contact: Ms. Nshuti Bunyenyezi, Events Manager, Ikaze PCO at nshuti@ikazepco.com T:+250 788 770 820, M: +250 788 254 476 W: +254725 777 751 or Ms. Brenda Nyakira, brenda@ikazepco.com W: + 44 77 604 766.

We wish to further advise that due to COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 ATFL & Awards will take place in a hybrid format under strict adherence to COVID 19 Protocols. Therefore, the Forum will host 150 physical delegates and over 250 virtual participants from Africa and the rest of the world.

Please: visit:www.tourismleadershipforum. africa to register for the forum.

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Resource Vault

"Lucy", Our First Family

LUCY IS THE NAME of the nearly complete skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis. She was the first nearly complete skeleton recovered for the species, found in 1974 at the Afar Locality (AL) 228, a site in the Hadar archaeological region on the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia. Lucy is about 3.18 million years old and is called Denkenesh in Amharic, the language of the local people.

When pieced together, the small bits of brown bone painted a stunning picture of what Lucy would have looked like. She was surprisingly small—slightly less than 4 feet tall—and would have tipped the scales at roughly 60 pounds. Her larger pelvic opening suggested she was female. She would have appeared more apelike than human, with long arms and a protruding belly. However, the structure of her bones showed that she walked upright on two legs.

Equally remarkable was how old she was. While the scientists couldn’t date the fossils directly, the age of the geological strata in the Hadar Basin indicated the Lucy skeleton was likely more than three million years old—far more ancient than other hominids.

Starting in 1976, anthropologists studied Lucy’s skeleton even further in an effort to place her in humankind’s family tree. They compared Lucy to a so-called “First Family” of some 13 other skeletal remains found at Hadar as well as to a collection of hominid footprints excavated by famed anthropologist Mary Leakey in Laetoli, Tanzania. Finally, in 1978, they released a groundbreaking paper classifying Lucy, the other Hadar fossils and the Laetoli footprints as all belonging to a brand new species of early hominid human ancestors. They called them “Australopithecus afarensis,” after the Afar Triangle in which Lucy was found.

In the years since Lucy was lifted from her 3.2-million-year-old grave, anthropologists have gone on to find older and even more complete fossil remains of early human ancestors. In 2000, scientists in Ethiopia unearthed the remains of a 3.3 million year old Australopithecus afarensis baby dubbed “Selam.” Perhaps even more spectacular was “Ardi,” a 4.4 million year old Ardipithecus ramidus that displaced Lucy as the earliest known skeleton of a human ancestor.

News of “Ardi” first came to light in 1994, but since then, scientists have found evidence of even older hominids dating back as far as 7 million years ago.

The National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa houses the nation’s artistic treasures as well as precious archaeological finds such as the fossilized remains of early hominids, the most famous of which is “Lucy,”. Recently added is a display on Selam, estimated to be 3.3 million years old, considered to be the earliest child. www.history.com/news/famed-lucy-fossils-discovered-in-ethiopia-40-years-ago www.thoughtco.com/lucy-australopithecus-afarensis-skeleton-171558 https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/africa-museums/ethiopia-museums/addis-ababa-museums/national-museumethiopia/

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Resource Vault Organizations 25 Black Women in Beauty -- www.25bwb.org Africa Business Association -www.africabusinessassociation Africa's Brain Bank -www.facebook.com/AFRICASBRAINBANK African Continental Free Trade Area -https://au.int/en/cfta African Diaspora Development Institute -www.ouraddi.org African Diaspora Network -www.africandiasporanetwork.org African Diaspora Political Action Committee -www.adpac.net African Leadership Forum -http://afrialeadership.org African Union -- www.au.int/en Africans in Boston (AiB) -- //africansinboston.org Black Business Association -- www.bbala.org Black Emergency Managers Association International -www. blackemergmanagersassociation.org CauseCast -- www.causecast.com www.causecastfornonprofits.com Color of Change -- www.colorofchange.org Colorintech -- www.colorintech.org Community Healing Network -www.communityhealingnet.org Love Our Girls -- http://logpledge.org/ National Black Marathoners Association -http://blackmarathoners.org Sable Assent -- www.sableassent.com State of the African Diaspora -www.stateofafricandiaspora.com StayWoke -- www.staywoke.org TimesUp -- www.timesupnow.com United African Organization -http://uniteafricans.org

Regional Economic Communities (REC) African Union Development Agency - New Partnership for Africa's Development (AUDA-NEPAD) -- www.nepad.org Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) -https://maghrebarabe.org/?q=en Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) -- www.comesa.int Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN–SAD) -- www.uneca.org/oria/pages/cen-sad-com-

munity-sahel-saharan-states East African Community (EAC) -- www.eac.int Economic Community of West African States 95

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(ECOWAS) -- www.ecowas.int Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) -- www.ceeac-eccas.org Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) -- https://igad.int Southern African Development Community (SADC) -- www.sadc.int

Information Africa is a Country -- www.africasacountry.com\ Africa World Press Books -www.africaworldpressbooks.com Because Of Them We Can -www.becauseofthemwecan.com Black Children's Books and Authors -http://blackchildrensbooksandauthors.tumblr. com BlackPast.org -- www.blackpost.org Black Then -- https://blackthen.com Digital Assets Repository -http://dar.bibalex.org/webpages/dar.jsf Elders (The) -- https://theelders.org GhanaWeb -- www.ghanaweb.com iAfrica -- www.iafrica.com Most Influential People of African Descent -http://mipad.org Opportunities For Africans -www.opportunitiesforafricans.com World Library -- www.worldlibrary.org

Media APO (Africa Wire®/MENA Wire®) -www.apo-opa.com Africa Business Communities -https://africabusinesscommunities.com Africa Interactive Multimedia Press/Content \ Agency in Africa -www.africa-interactive.com Africa News & Stories -- http://africatodaytv.com Africa Newsroom -- www.africa-newsroom.com Africa World Now Project -www.africaworldnowproject.org Africanews. -- www.africanews.com The Africapitalist -www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/africapitalisminstitute/africapitalist-magazine AfricaFocus -- www.africafocus.org The African World -- www.theafricanworld.tv African American Reports -www.africanamericanreports.com Afrikdiasponews -- www.afridiasponews.com www.facebook.com/Afrik-DiaspoNews-690569017737725 Afritorial -- www.afritorial.com www.facebook.com/Afritorial

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Resource Vault AllAfrica (news) -- http://allafrica.com Bibi-Writes -- https://bibiwrites.com Black Business Directory & Blog -www.blackbusiness.org BlackNews.com -- www.blacknews.com Black Press USA -- www.blackpressusa.com Blavity Inc. -- www.blavity.com The Chocolate Voice -www.thechocolatevoice.com Crisis Magazine (NAACP) -www.thecrisismagazine.com Cybrary -- www.cybrary.it Dogon Village -- www.dogonvillage.com Expat Divas -- www.expatdivas.com Face2Face Africa -- https://face2faceafrica.com The Immigrant Magazine -www.immigrantmagazine.com Informaza - www.infomaza.com Macauhub -- www.facebook.com/Macauhub N'Digo -- https://ndigo.com National Newspaper Publishers Association -https://nnpa.org ReachTV -- www.reachtv.com Red Media Africa -www.facebook.com/RedMedi aAfrica Rock Me Africa -- //rockmeafrica.com Roland Martin Unfiltered -#RolandMartinUnfiltered Savoy -- www.savoynetwork.com Second Opinion Publications Ltd (The) -www.facebook.com/thesecondopinion TONL -- https://tonl.co/ United Nations -- http://webtv.un.org

Media-Podcasts, Streams 2 Dope Queens -- www.wnycstudios.org/shows/ dopequeens African Literary Podcast -- www.jamesmurua.com/ category/african-literary-podcast Africast TV -- www.africast.tv AU on the Go -https://soundcloud.com/user-834843101 Cape Up with Jonathan Capehart -- https://itunes. apple.com/us/podcast/cape-up-with-jonathancapehart/id1143265842?mt=2 Demand Africa -- www.demandafrica.com DiasporaVoice -www.blogtalkradio.com/diasporavoice Focus On Africa -- https://theafricachannel.com/ shows/bbc-focus-on-africa Into America -- www.radio.com/media/podcast/ america James Murua's Literary Blog -www.jamesmurua.com KweliTV -- www.facebook.com/kwelitv Levar Burton Reads -- www.levarburtonpodcast. com 96

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Paychecks and Balances -- https://paychecksand balances.com Point Noir -- www.instagram.com/pointnoirshow Popcorn Finance Podcast -https://popcornfinance.com/podcast The Stoop -- www.thestoop.org Talking Africa -- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/pod cast/talking-africa/id1232541405?mt=2 UN Video -- https://videos.un.org/en YouTube Educational Channels -- http://teacherswithapps.com/197-educational-youtube-channels-know

Media/Publications African Trade Magazine -www.africantrademagazine.com African Vibes Magazine -- www.africanvibes.com Black Business News Group -www.issuu.com/blackbusinessnews Black Wall Street Times -- http://bwstimes.com BridesNoir -- www.bridesnoir.com CuisineNoir -- www.cuisinenoirmag.com Kolumn Magazine www.kolumnmagazine.com MahoganyBooks -http://blog.mahoganybooks.com/ New Black Magazine (The) -www.thenewblackmagazine.com Publish Africa -- http://wow.gm/publishafrica Travel Africa -- www.issuu.com/blackbusinessnews

Technology Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) -www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee WikiHow -- www.wikihow.com

Culture/Arts Asako Afrikan Combat Capoeira -www.abibifahodie.com Africa Center (The) -- www.theafricacenter.org African Networks -http://afn.bibalex.org/MainPart/About_.aspx African Origins -- www.african-origins.org Almasi Arts -- www.almasiarts.org Because of Them We Can -www.becauseofthemwecan.com Black Cultural Events -www.blackculturalevents.com Cultural Events/Content -- www.okayafrica.com Fashion For All -- www.fashionforallnyc.org Freedom Park -- www.freedompark.co.za Hungry Black Man -https://thehungryblackman.com see page 97

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African Export-Import Bank -//afreximbank.com/afrexim/en AfrigadgetTV -- www.afrigadget.com Ariel Investments -- www.arielinvestments.com Black Financial Channel -- www.youtube.com/ channel/UCHzCimqhvPhCH75h80pXM1Q BlackWallet -- www.blackwallet.org Breaux Capital -- www.breauxcapital.com Disrupt Africa -- http://disrupt-africa.com Exchange Magazine (The) -- www.nse.co.ke Harlem Capital -- http://harlem.capital Serena Ventures -- www.serenaventures.com Silicon Harlem -- http://event.siliconharlem.net Ventures -- www.ventures-africa.com

Infocus247 -- https://infocus247.com Information for Africa -http://bibalex.org/baifa/en/home/index Library of Alexandria -www.bibalex.org/en/default NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art -- www.nkajournal.org NMAAHC Digital Resources Guide -- https:// nmaahc.si.edu/explore/nmaahc-digitalresources-guide Pan African Film Festival -- www.pa.org Paradigm Grey -- www.paradigmgrey.com Shadow & Act -- //shadowandact.com/about-us Travel Noire -- https://travelnoire.com W.E.B. DuBois in Accra -https://webduboiscentreaccra.ghana-net.com

General

Commerce/Entrepreneurship

Explore ideas -- https://ideas.ted.com The Undefeated -- https://theundefeated.com

50 Million African Women Speak -www.womenconnect.org #IAMWANDA -www.facebook.com/IamWANDAorg African Success Stories -- www.risingafrica.org African Technology Foundation -www.thea25n.com Afrochampions Initiative -http://afrochampions.com BBurb -- https://bburb.com Black Business School -- https:// theblackbusinessschool.com Black CEO Tribe -- www.blackceotribe.com Black Female Founders -www.blackfemalefounders.org Black Girl Ventures -- www.blackgirlventures.org Black People Eats -- www.blackpeopleeats.com Black Wall Street -- www.blackwallstreet.org Black Wealth 2020 -- www.blackwealth2020.com ClickUrban -- www.theclickurban.com How We Made It In Africa -www.howwemadeitinafrica.com iBuyBlack.org -- www.ibuyblack.org Jumia -- https://group.jumia.com www.jumia.com.ng Nigeria (Africa) Financial News -//nairametrics.com She Leads Africa -- http://sheleadsafrica.org Shoppe Black -- https://shoppeblack.us Zambia Trade Portal -- https://zambiatradeportal.gov. zm/index.php

Zambia-USA Chamber of Commerce -www.zambiausachamber.org

Investment/Development Africa Reports -- www.africareports.com African Development Bank -- www.afdb.org

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U.S. Government Commerce Department -- www.doc.gov International Trade Administration -- http://trade. gov Power Africa -- www.usaid.gov/powerafrica Prosper Africa -- www.trade.gov/prosperafrica Trade Africa -- www.usaid.gov/tradeafrica

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