DAWN

January-February 2022

CONTENTS - January-February 2022 4

Publisher's Message

Business 7 8

11 12 14 16 18 Chef Pierre 20 20 22 24 26

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Business Commentary: Welcome to 2022!

Navalayo Osembo's Enda Secures $1.1M Investment to Produce Africa's First Running Shoe Brand GarifunaRobics is Bridging the Gap Between Culture and Fitness 4 Ways Work Will Look Different in 2022 Ease Your Business into Crypto Architect Tosin Oshinowo is Considered Nigeria's 'Beach House Queen,' Here's Why Amazon Prime Video Turns to Nollywood to Woo African Subscribers Alkebulan: The World's First African Food Hall in Dubai, with More Locations Coming 2022 Digital Marketing Trends The 3-Step Cycle That's Enabling me to Redefine an Entire African Industry Meet Mawa McQueen, the Ivory Coast Native Behind Aspen's Only Black-Owned Restaurants Digital Marketing Trends for 2022

Development 30 33

New Railway Line 42

34 36 37 38 40 42 43 44

Why China is Becoming a Top Choice for Ghanaian Ph.D. Students MCC and Africa50 Sign MOU to Advance a New Global Infrastructure Platform Nigerians Try to Solve Housing and Trash Issues with an Innovative Method Tackle Extreme Poverty: Replace Dirt Floors US Biotech Tycoon Opens Africa's First Endto-End Covid-19 Jab Plant Why Global Companies Should Enter the African Market How RwandAir Found a Niche Despite a Turbulent 2021 Tanzania, Burundi Sign Accord to Build $900 mln Railway Line New Rwanda Conservation Conference Plans Unveiled for African Maglev Network

Agriculture 45 46

56 President Kwame Nkrumah with Dr. King 2

January-February 2022 2021

Lusaka Entrepreneur Wins K1 Million in Zanaco Kweza Challenge African Food Brand Yolélé Receives $1.98M in Funding to Help Smallholder Farmers in Mali

Pandemic-Health DAWN

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94 48 50 54

Africa’s New Generation of Health Innovators The Scientist in Botswana who Identified Omicron Merck’s Covid-19 Pill to be Made by 11 Countries for Developing Nations in UN Deal

Commentary 55

Build Unshakable Self Confidence

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82 84 86

adds Dikembe Mutombo as Senior Advisor Why is the World’s Largest Crypto Exchange Sponsoring the Africa Cup of Nations?

Kelauni Jasmyn’s BTN.vc Raises $25M to Invest in Black-Led Tech Startups Rapper Nas Joins Andreessen Horowitz in Africa Gaming Investment Helping Black Families Build Dream Homes & Secure Land in Ghana

Governance

87

56

Technology/Science

59 60 62 64 66 67 68 69

How Africans and African-Americans can Honor Martin Luther King Official Launch of the African Union Centre for Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development President Akufo-Addo wins Forbes African of the Year 2021 Hopes for a West African Single Currency Fade The US has Removed Three African Countries from a Tariff-free Trade Program Climate Change ‘Overtakes Pandemics as Biggest Global Concern’ Biden Hailed for Appointing 1st SomaliAmerican Senior Adviser to State Department FYI: The Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) Development Innovation Ventures

88 89 92

Lifestyle/Culture 94 98 100 105

Investment

106

70 72

109

74 77 78 79 80

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African Stock Exchange/Bourse Bad News, London and New York: Finance Hubs Are Becoming Obsolete Investing in the BAL’s Success: Room for Private Investment in African Sports Acclaimed Actor Forest Whitaker Becomes Investor in NBA Africa Streaming Platform Adventr Raises $5M Seed Round, Investors Include John Legend & More Self-Driving Vehicle Startup Will Make Healthcare Services More Accessible 4DX Ventures Closes Second Fund with $60M,

January-February 2022 2021

Data & Trust Alliance Group Fighting Artificial Intelligence Bias in the Work Force FBI Warning: Crooks are Using Fake QR Codes to Steal Your Passwords and Money FYI: A Twitter Feature that Banishes Spoilers and Trolls from your Feed

110 111 112 115

Forbes 50 Over 50: EMEA 2022 In pictures: The Life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu - Obituary Congolese Chef Dieuveil Malonga Wants to Have the First Michelin Star Restaurant in Africa As Africa’s Artifacts Start to be Returned, What About its Films?

Meet the First 10 Winners of Chanel’s ‘Next Prize’ for International Artists The BAL Wins International Sports Awared!

Kenya’s Tennis Star Angella Okutoyi Celebrity Chef Kwame Onwuachi Releasing Cookbook Featuring Dishes from the Diaspora Five Great Books from Africa to Read This Year

History 116

Wreckage of Last Known Slave Ship in U.S. Largely Intact, Could Contain Human DNA

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Publisher's Message

Ricky Katsuya Publisher's Message

COMMEMORATION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH should not just be a North American only event. All of Africa should participate and revisit the struggles of a people that were moved without their consent to a new land hundreds of miles away from Africa hundreds of years ago.

A people that evolved through many challenges over that time, maintained their identity, sang their own songs, and cook their African heritage recipes up to this day. ABA believes a call to African descendants to celebrate a heritage that has faced unrelenting attacks and challenges as a people is one that should be embraced not for generations living now but by many in the ages to come. Our shared commemoration of our similar historic struggles against oppression will bring us closer together and lead to mutual respect of the accomplishments of all the African/African Diaspora family.

We thank the families of all the revolutionaries that have led the struggles over this 400+ years.

Progress has never come easy or without

cost, but we are all better today because these revolutionaries’ made choices that have resulted in the life that we all have today.

To the young people of today, it is important to learn and understand your history – whether on the African Continent, the Caribbean, or the Americas.

Learn about the struggles of the past so that you do not repeat them in the future. Be the change that you believe in, as President Barrack Obama would say.

The struggle continues, victory is certain – A luta continua, vitória é certa.

Ricky Katsuya Publisher/President dawn@africabusinessassociation.org aba@africabisinessassociation.org www.africabusinessassociation.org

Awakening the African Giant Within 4

January-February 2022

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Agriculture - Business - Commentary - Development - Education - Governance History - Investment - Lifestyle/Culture - Technology/Science 5

January-February 2022

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About the

Africa Business Association The Africa Business Association is an independent international business development organization. We offer access to the latest resources, information, and best practices in advocacy and communications for the African Diaspora and the African entrepreneurs in Africa.

Africa Business Association

"DAWN"

PUBLISHER/PRESIDENT Ricky Katsuya

ADVISORY BOARD

Earl 'Skip' Cooper, II, CEO, Black Business Association H.E. Sheila Siwela, Ambassador H.E. Kone L. Tanou, Ambassador

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ricky Katsuya

LAYOUT/TYPESETTING

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 NEWS 6564 LOISDALE COURT, SUITE 600 Springfield, VA 22150 USA 1-240-467-6811 aba@africabisinessassociation.org dawn@africabusinessassociation.org www.africabusinessassociation.org

Copyright © 2022

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-pinterest, USC-News; Publisher's Message-Essence

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Business

Business Commentary: Welcome to 2022!

By Monica Melton, Managing Editor, The Plug

WELCOME TO 2022! With the current surge in a new variant of Covid-19, a post-pandemic world • seems to be one in which the virus, and all its upheaval, will be with us for the foreseeable future.

Communities have now lived through the calamitous effects of the virus for more than two years but we’re only just beginning to scratch the surface of the wider-ranging future implications of zoonotic viruses on our health, way of life and how we conduct business.

Applying ‘the Covid factor’, The Plug has identified four key areas of growth and challenge that will matter most to the Black innovation economy.

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•

•

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Codifying policy to support communities of color most impacted by Covid-19: The virus has taken a steep death toll in Black and Latinx communities. As a result, more federal funding and policy may come about to usurp the effects of the ongoing pandemic.

A testing ground for NFTs, crypto investments, DAOs and a nascent Web3: While the uniqueness of NFTs has come into question investors in this commodity saw gains through 2021. The financial underpinnings of cryptocurrency and mainstream appeal may also provide a crash course into this space for novice investors, but the masses will increasingly want evidence that these tech-enabled solutions are a better alternative to existing systems. The decentralized nature of these technologies has been often associated with advancing marginalized communities.

Breaking up with traditional venture capital: The numbers have hardly budged over the years for Black founders seeking venture investments. Increasingly traditional firms, DAOs and new, alternative investment vehicles will emerge, led by Black founders.

January-February 2022

Even in majority Black emerging markets (think sub-Saharan Africa) the pattern of more male founders accessing funding than women is being replicated, which begs the question, can VC be saved from its propensity toward inequity? The excluded may not wait around for an answer, but build something better instead.

Even more robust digital collaboration tools: As Zoom-fatigue set in and we took to the metaverse to do the same things we did in existing digital spaces, tech that brings us together but integrates more IRL charm will become all the rage. Whether it’s real-time synchronization, which audio-only platforms capitalized on this time last year or more shared digital experiences, business, socializing and life will continue to be lived online in a major way. Rising technologies will need to factor in privacy, protecting against hate speech, and monetization for online community leaders and trendsetters. There’s also room for the next Calendly to emerge and dominate how the enterprise schedules and conducts itself online.

It’s easy to take a pessimistic view, but with challenge comes opportunity and the Black innovation economy won’t wait for opportunity, so much as create it. www.tpinsights.com Image credit: The Plug

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Business

Navalayo Osembo's Enda Secures $1.1M Investment to Produce Africa's First Running Shoe Brand

By Ngozi Nwanji

BEING THE FIRST to create a new company with no prior experience under your belt can be an intimidating venture. Nonetheless, the long-lasting impact behind the purpose for Navalayo Osembo’s revolutionary idea overshadowed any deterrent the challenge could throw her way.

The Kenyan native is the co-founder and CEO of Enda, Africa’s first running shoe company. Kenya is widely known for producing the world’s Navalayo Osembo greatest runners and now, the shoe brand is putting on for its record-breaking Series A funding round for Enda, according to a talent. The pioneering company is helping to put press release. The funding is set to further take the country further on the map and its success is a the brand’s slogan, “Run Kenyan,” worldwide. testament to what African talent can achieve.

Osembo spoke with us about the journey to “I think the biggest thing has been changing creating Enda’s first running shoes, the brand’s what people believe is possible. I talk to other impact in Kenya, and inspiring the dreams for entrepreneurs all the time who are following the more global brands in Africa. path that we’ve created in dreaming that global Editorial note: Portions of this interview have brands can be born in Africa,” Osembo told been edited and condensed for clarity.

AfroTech.

AfroTech: When did the idea to start Enda first While Enda is putting a spotlight on Kenyan come about? culture’s influence, it is also aiding in the economic Navalayo Osembo: I was at a startup pitch development of local communities through event in Nairobi talking about a sports startup idea creating jobs and reducing environmental impact. I’d been working on. My co-founder, Weldon, was The brand’s mission for giving back caught the in the audience and approached me afterward attention of Talanton, a private U.S.-based impact since he agreed that Kenya should benefit more investment fund. The company led a $1.1 million from its reputation of athletic excellence. We hit it 8

January-February 2022

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off and met up for lunch a few days later.

Since running shoes are the most important gear, both financially and culturally — for running — that quickly became our focus. By the end of that conversation, we were sure that making Kenyan running shoes was something we had to do.

AT: On the brand’s website it mentions “Making great running shoes in a whole new way is hard.”

What did the timeline look like of

building out the vision for Enda?

Osembo: It took a while. In deciding to make running shoes, we both acknowledged we had no experience on how to do that. So, we started looking for people who did. We spent months networking and found product designers and production partners who, at least on paper, could make it happen.

It took us about a year to make our first shoe sample. And using those samples as a proof of concept, we ran a Kickstarter campaign to be able to bring them to production. It then took us another year to make those first shoes. So, it was about two years from an idea to the product reaching the market.

AT: What are a few standout observations that you’ve seen through the impact your brand is 9

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making in local communities?

Osembo: This is a good question! I think the biggest thing has been changing what people believe is possible. I talk to other entrepreneurs all the time who are following the path that we’ve created in dreaming that global brands can be born in Africa.

Certainly, we are still a small company. We have made a significant difference in the lives of a few people in our value chain. However, it seems clear to me that changing the way people see Kenya and Africa, including the way some of us see our own potential, will be one of the biggest changes we make in the long run.

AT: The brand represents Kenya to the fullest, from being made in the country to the flag colors in the Lapatet Collection. What does the team hope to instill within the Kenyan community through the brand?

Osembo: We hope to live true to the Kenyan values that made it possible for us to exist. The most important is harambee, which is why we print it on every shoe. This is the national motto of Kenya, and it means “we all pull together.” It is a rallying cry for unity to achieve things that no one person can accomplish on their own. see page 10

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Business "Run Kenyan"

from page 9

We think it is important to remember that none of us is an island. We are at our best and make the most progress when we come together to help each other.

AT: What is one thing that the team hopes that consumers from all backgrounds take away from the story and mission behind Enda?

Osembo: First, we want everyone to know that Kenya is a country full of immense talent, creativity and the ambition needed to make world class products and brands. I want people to see that the success of Kenyan athletes isn’t some accident of geography or genetics, but a culture of dreaming 10

January-February 2022

big, supporting each other, and working hard to make the impossible happen.

If I’m allowed a second thing, it would be for everyone to think about the humans involved in the products we use. So many brands talk about “sustainability” of their products, but don’t say a single word about the lives and livelihoods of the people making the products. Sustainability can’t just be the materials that go into a shoe, or a recycling program. It has to also mean that people who make the product live in a sustainable way.

That they can support their families. I hope more consumers ask this of companies.

AT: Any additional information you would like to share about the brand, founders or customers?

Osembo: Every year, we survey our community to ask them what we’re doing well, what we should do better, and how we can best meet their needs. One challenge in all of this is we don’t hear from people who aren’t already in our community.

So, one thing I want to share is an invitation: Please get in touch with us. If you’re buying a pair of shoes, let us know why and then let us know what you think of them and how we can make them better for you.

If you aren’t buying a pair of our shoes but are intrigued enough by the brand to send us a message, please let us know about your shoe needs and how we can help in the future. Thank you in advance to everyone who shares some insight with us! www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/navalayoosembo-s-enda-secures-1-1m-investment-toproduce-africa-s-first-running-shoe-brand/arAAS44aY?ocid=msedgntp Source: https://afrotech.com/enda-kenya-runningshoe Image credit: Courtesy of Enda © Provided by Afrotech

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GarifunaRobics is Bridging the Gap Between Culture and Fitness

By Julaiza Alvarez FOUNDED BY A 27-YEAR-OLD, Bronx, New York, native, and Garifuna American dance instructor and influencer Arnol Guity Martinez, GarifunaRobics is becoming a cultural stamp for his community.

“The Garifuna people are a mixed African and indigenous people who originally lived on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creole,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

After discovering his admiration for dance at the age of 12, Guity Martinez began his journey as a dancer at the Wabafu Garifuna Dance Theater located in the Bronx. Later he would join the Chief Joseph Chatoyer Dance company, where he has been dancing for over the last 10 years.

“I felt like I was holding in so much talent, and it needed to be shared with the world. I felt like I had a calling, and I needed to respond,” Guity Martinez told BLACK ENTERPRISE. Unknowingly, his passion for dance coupled with his desire to make a difference in his community would be enough to inspire him to create what is now, GarifunaRobics.

“When I started GarifunaRobics, I did not have a complete, clear vision of what GarifunaRobics was going to be about. I just knew that I needed to do something. I did not have a blueprint. However, I was very adamant to name it GarifunaRobics. I wanted to make sure Garifuna was in there [in the name] so when you hear about the Garifuna, and you don’t know what it is, you can hear it in the name,” Guity Martinez stated.

Created in 2018, this new approach to fitness is infused with different genres of Garifuna music incorporated with a variety of traditionally influenced dance styles—ultimately creating the concept of 11

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Garifuna-style workout.

G u i t y Martinez saw an opportunity to remove the stigma associated with mental and physical wellness within the community and join the effort to preserve the 400 -year- old traditions like the trailblazers before him by educating the youth about the importance of self-identity.

“I definitely feel like we are in a culture crisis right now, and it makes me very nervous because when it comes down to our spirituality and our customs, I don’t see who is going to be able to do a dugu [an ancestral ceremony] to full capacity. As a Garifuna, you should know where you come from, and you should know your culture because once you have that identity, no one can take that from you. Identity is important for self-esteem and for one’s self,” Guity Martinez said.

Now, he intends to continue telling the story about the resilience and strength of the Garifuna people through GarifunaRobics, serving as a medium where culture and health can eloquently coincide together. Participate in-person or online. www.blackenterprise.com/garifunarobics-isbridging-the-gap-between-culture-and-fitness/ Image credit: GarifunaRobics DAWN

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Business

4 Ways Work Will Look Different in 2022

By Scott Dust

Organizations that want to be successful will need to strategically adapt to ensure they’re able to retain employees THE WAY WE WORK has changed drastically over the past year. The integration into our lives and our reliance on technology has also increased.

We’ve reached the era of “tele-everything,” and virtual or hybrid work is now the new normal. As we settle into new routines before the new year, it’s important to take stock of where we’re headed in 2022.

Along those lines, below, I offer five predictions as a professor in business management and Fast Company contributor, for the upcoming year of work. To make the most of these predictions, organizations can adapt each to their own companies’ needs.

flexibility will have a much easier time attracting and retaining talent. Some organizations are balking at the idea of such extreme flexibility. That is their strategic choice. It could be because their product or service requires a face-to-face workplace. It might also be because it produces a specific culture or interaction pattern for employees. It’s important to note, however, that purposefully ignoring flexibility will shrink the size of the talent pool.

THE CUSTOMIZATION OF HYBRIDWORK OPTIONS During the pandemic, organizations were forced to send employees home so that they could work remotely. Employees, for the most part, enjoyed this virtual option. Well-being, work-life balance, and productivity all appeared to improve.

Organizations were leery because they worried that employees would miss the interaction and collaboration that takes place when face-to-face.

THE DEFINITION OF FLEXIBILITY IS EVOLVING Employees want all sorts of things from their work. They want fair pay, opportunities to grow and develop, a positive organizational culture, and more. Over the last year, however, there has been a major shift in what employees want the most.

While equitable compensation is consistently at the top, the newest employee priority is actually flexibility.

We used to think of flexibility as flexible work schedules; the ability to have half-day Fridays or rearrange hours across the workweek. This is outdated. Today, when employees say they want flexibility, what they really mean is that they want to be able to get their work done anytime and anywhere. It’s no longer about rearranging hours, but about throwing out the idea of hours altogether. Employees are essentially saying, tell me the deliverable and the due date, and I’ll get it done.

My prediction is that organizations that focus on 12

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In turn, a compromise ensued: the hybrid work arrangement.

Hybrid is the new normal. However, there are as many variations of hybrid work as there are organizations. On one end of the spectrum, organizations can let employees work from home or the office whenever they see fit. On the other end of the spectrum, organizations require specific days for employees to be present, sometimes as many as four days a week.

Many organizations have started in the middle.

The vast majority tend to ask specific teams, units,

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or departments to come into the office two or three days per week. The challenge here is that this team-based approach is oversimplified, and in some ways, counterproductive. For example, recent research suggests that virtual work leads to more, not less, within-team collaboration. The real challenge is that we miss out on cross-team collaboration, which leads to knowledge transfer and organizational innovation.

Each employee has a specific work-home situation and job function. Given these individuallevel variables, team managers are already beginning to make custom arrangements for these employees. Although organizations have set the mandate across the organization—an equitybased approach—managers aren’t willing to lose key employees, and in turn, are willing to make idiosyncratic deals.

My hunch is that organization-level mandates will eventually turn into cultural suggestions, but the manager will ultimately have the final say. The manager, not the CEO, knows their team’s needs.

Managers have a much clearer estimation of whether work location mandates will work or not.

Let managers make the call.

FACE-TO-FACE SUBSTITUTIONS Virtual communication will never replace faceto-face communication. In organizational behavior research, it outlines how the richness of communication differs by the medium.

Asynchronous virtual communication works great for sharing information. Synchronous virtual communication works better for dissecting and clarifying information. However, face-to-face communication is ideal when the situation is complex. Interactions aren’t constrained by a 30-minute calendar invite, and participants can pick up on subtle, emotion-laden cues or body language. Additionally, face-to-face communication is better for building trust, a key component of any work setting.

Given these differences, my prediction is that organizations will start investing heavily in two things. The first is HR-tech. Many organizations are already using some form of surveying to uncover engagement and job satisfaction. Now, more than ever, organizations are also starting to invest in technology that allows virtual or hybrid employees 13

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to get to know each other better.

Without random run-ins and impromptu conversations, it’s hard for employees to get to know each other personally and get an update on what they do and what they are working on. For example, companies like BeRemote are infusing their technology into existing systems like Microsoft teams to ensure employees can get to know each other better. Similarly, companies like Cloverleaf offer daily coaching insights on team members to help ensure they work better together.

The second is high-quality off-sites. There is an art to formulating the perfect off-site, and organizations, especially virtual organizations and hybrid organizations, will need to figure this out. The off-site should include opportunities for leaders to engage in strategy or establishing a unifying vision, for teams to grapple with their toughest questions, as well as a hefty amount of team-building and rapport.

BEHAVIORAL TELEMEDICINE IS HERE TO STAY Perhaps one of the few positive aspects of the pandemic was the increase in transparent and nonjudgmental conversations surrounding mental health. As the world experienced change

and challenge, it caused many to experience worse mental health-related symptoms. Because medical facilities were closed, providers started investing heavily in telemedicine. Organizations realized that the only way to ensure that their employees had access to their providers was to start offering telemedicine options, which in many see page 14

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Business

3 Simple Ways to Ease Your Business into Crypto

By Tor Constantino, Cryptocurrency Contributor

You don't have to go 'all-in' on crypto.

Easing into it is a great, low-risk entry strategy to learn about the space.

Facing your fears is part of being a business owner. Over the years, one of the best ways I've found to overcome a fear is to learn all I can about it. Then I break it down into less intimidating parts that are easier to understand, address, and overcome.

That approach also applies to any owner who's curious about blockchain and cryptocurrency, because it seems a lack of understanding is the main barrier keeping founders from dabbling in digital assets.

According to research published last month, 62%

Work

from page 13

cases, includes behavioral telemedicine.

Pre-pandemic, employees would have to spend outlandish amounts of time and resources finding mental health providers that accepted insurance within driving distance. Now, instead, employees can receive behavioral telemedicine support within minutes. Investments in technology allowed employees to have conversations with trained professionals—immediately and at a fair price.

This was a timely change. Moreover, one that I predict will stick for the long haul.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION WILL GET HARDER Within hybrid-work arrangements, preliminary evidence suggests that females are more likely than males to opt for days at home. Unfortunately, within heterosexual dual-income couples, females still tend to engage in more domestic

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of participants are uncomfortable investing money in crypto assets because they didn't know enough about digital currencies.

Conversely, only 33% blamed being short on funds for not buying into crypto.

It's understandable that a lack of understanding is a major barrier to entry when it comes to e-money.

But here are three easy ways that you can ease your business into the crypto sphere. responsibilities than males. Thus, females might be opting for virtual work over in-office work so that they can more easily manage non-work responsibilities from home.

This is problematic. Hybrid organizations need to be aware of what’s called the “in-office advantage.” Employees that are physically present are more likely to build rapport with other colleagues. They are also more likely to be viewed as more productive because they are physically present. Such physical presence, in turn, can give these employees an advantage with respect to social capital and leadership opportunities.

Along those lines, my prediction is that diversity and inclusion personnel have another variable to evaluate, which will be work location. www.fastcompany.com/90707392/4-predictionsfor-2022-after-a-complete-shift-in-the-world-ofwork Image credit: Make Use Of, iStock

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Provide a cryptocurrency ATM to customers.

There are more than 9,000 cryptocurrency Automated Teller Machines (ATM) currently in the U.S., and the majority of those crypto ATMs are placed within small-to-medium size businesses for their patrons' use. Here are examples of the main types of merchants that offer crypto ATM access to their customers.

• Casual dining restaurants • Accommodations, such as Airbnb locations • Convenience stores and independent bodegas • Gas stations • Pizzerias • Grocery stores and supermarkets • Tobacco shops • Laundromats • Bars, pubs, and nightclubs • Professional services offices such as accountants, lawyers, etc.

• Wine, beer, and liquor stores • Fitness centers and workout facilities Providing a cryptocurrency ATM at your point of sale is an easy way to set your business apart from competitors and provide a unique service to your client base. You can even conduct your own market research to see if other nearby businesses or competitors offer e-money ATMs.

Use your PayPal account.

More than 30 million merchants have a small-tomedium business account with PayPal. Merchants use their respective accounts to accept customer payments online, in person, or on-the-go. PayPal also enables owners to take out loans, automate bookkeeping, and generate invoices.

It also allows you to easily accept cryptocurrency 15

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payments from clients, or you can buy select cryptocurrencies for yourself. PayPal currently supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash and you can start with as little as $1.

Get a merchant account with a cryptocredit card.

There are several business credit cards to choose from, but one in particular stands out from the rest to me because it provides a wide range of merchant services. It also enables founders to earn a percentage of the total amount spent using the card as a cryptocurrency reward.

I think the best payment card for business owners is the merchant version of the Crypto.com credit card. The Crypto.com dashboard allows you to easily manage vendor payments and send invoices with a few clicks. With your account, you pay zero fees for all settlements using cryptocurrencies and 80% discounted fees when using fiat. That's a tangible benefit compared to the merchant fees ranging between 1.5% and 3.5% per transaction for most credit cards.

Using Crypto.com also allows your customers to pay with more than 30 different types of cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Crypto.com Coin (CRO). Lastly, when you pay vendors using your card you can earn up to 10% back in the CRO token just for paying your bills.

However, several reviews of the Crypto.com mobile app said customer support was lacking, the app was slow, and there's a minimum withdrawal amount of $100 for any e-currencies on deposit.

So a couple of solid crypto-credit card alternatives to consider include the Coinbase card or Gemini card.

We're still in the early days of adoption for programmable money, with only 13% of Americans investing in it over the past 12 months. Your customers are just beginning to get there. Getting you and your business ready for them is easier than you think. www.inc.com/tor-constantino/3-simple-ways-toease-your-business-into-crypto.html Image credit: mbbaglobal.com, ledgerinsights. com, Dreamstime

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Business

Architect Tosin Oshinowo is Considered Nigeria's 'Beach House Queen,' Here's Why

By DeAnna Taylor

TOSIN OSHINOWO IS ONE of thirteen African architects, product designers, and interior designers featured on Netflix’s Made By Design.

The show, which released at the end of 2021, aims to highlight the extraordinary talent coming from the continent— while also making an impact mark globally.

Oshinowo is featured on Episode 2 in which she talks about her journey to becoming Nigeria’s ‘beach house queen,’ a nickname given to her for her work in designing some of the country’s most luxurious beach houses to-date.

Of note, is Acquabella, a home she finished in 2017. Her client asked for a bungalow-style home with major emphasis on the pool, and Tosin did not disappoint.

The home features an outdoor barbecue area for cooking with friends, a stunning pool that extends the length of the home, 3-bedrooms overlooking the pool with the master suite looking at the ocean, and a private outdoor seating area with a unique sky view.

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Tosin Oshinowo “Being a great designer or and architect is thinking about the experience. It’s not just about creating buildings or rooms. What aura do you create?

Do they remember that when they leave? What senses are invoked in them,” Tosin Ochinowo said during her Netflix episode.

Tosin currently runs Lagos-based CM Design Atelier as well her own custom furniture brand that translate to House of Lions in Yoruba. She went to secondary school in Nigeria before going to the UK for her university and post-graduate studies. After working in London and Rotterdam, she moved back to Nigeria before opening her own office in 2012.

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Her style, she says, is afro-minimalism. It’s a way for her to marry her love for clean lines and spaces with traditional Yoruba styles.

“I believe in strong use of color. It can be a powerful thing. I embody my architecture in my real life. It’s a holistic approach.”

Tosin Oshinowo recalls her first Nigerian project in Dream Plaza in Victoria Island— it was the Café Neo coffee shop, which she ended up designing several of the locations.

“It was an interesting project because we literally only started with a logo. The owners knew they wanted it to be young, hip, and for a young Nigerian who had a bit of understanding about coffee. We were able to create something very unique, authentic, and very African. Nobody had done anything like that.”

To see more of Tosin’s work, visit her website: cmdesign-atelier.com.

travel africa

Netflix - Made by Design 2020 | TV-G | 1 Season | Lifestyle Thirteen African architects, interior designers and other creatives share their process and offer insight into the paths they took to achieve career success. www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/architect-tosinoshinowo-is-considered-nigeria-s-beach-housequeen-here-s-why/ar-AASmKtk?ocid=msedgntp www.netflix.com/title/81504530

Promoting Africa-focused Tourism Since 2011

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Business - Success Plan

Amazon Prime Video Turns to Nollywood to Wo

By Carlos Mureithi

Inkblot Studios co-founders (from left) Zulumoke Oyibo, Damola Ademola, and Chinaza-Onuzo. INKBLOT PRODUCTIONS

WITH THE AMERICAN MARKET becoming saturated, streaming firms are looking across the globe to gain more subscribers and increase their offerings, typically by investing in partnerships with local studios and developing local content for overseas viewers. Africa, with its population of more than 1 billion people and increasing internet connectivity, presents significant potential.

From next year, Amazon Prime Video will bring its viewers new releases from one of Africa’s top movie studios, thanks to a deal signed earlier this month with Nigerian production company Inkblot. Amazon is joining a small number of video streamers in Africa, notably US streaming giant Netflix and South Africa’s Showmax, in the fight for eyeballs in the continent.

Appie Matere, a Kenyan TV producer with a 18

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series on Showmax, says the competition in the African streaming market presents a chance for African content creators to tell African stories to the world from a local perspective. “Amazon, Disney—everybody is talking about [how] all these big players are coming to Africa. We’re hoping we’ll be able also to actually put our footprints on most of these platforms,” she says.

More streaming services will compete in Africa in 2022 While Netflix is set to remain the leader in streaming for the African market, according to a projection through 2026 from London-based business intelligence firm Digital TV Research, there’s going to be fierce competition for the No. 2 spot between local offerings and other US

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oo African Subscribers

Disney+ is expected to officially launch in the continent next year.

Inkblot produces Nigeria’s highgrossing films The Inkblot deal is a great get for Amazon.

Nigeria has a thriving film industry known as players.

Nollywood and Inkblot Studios, which was W h i l e founded in 2010 by Naz Onuzo, Zulumoke Showmax Oyibo, Damola Ademola, and Omotayo Adeola, has focused has produced two of the highest-grossing films on local in the country: The Wedding Party and The content from Wedding Party 2. the onset, As part of the deal with Inkblot Studios, Netflix, on the Amazon Prime Video will get exclusive, other hand, is worldwide rights to show the studio’s c ustomizing productions after their theatrical runs from content for the next year. Upcoming Inkblot Studios’ films that continent by fall under the deal include The Set Up 2, Moms producing African originals. In August, Netflix at War 2, and New Money 3, Charge and Bail, premiered Nigeria’s King of Boys: The Return of Superstar, and The Blood Covenant. the King, increasing its lineup of African originals https://qz.com/africa/2107658/amazon-primefollowing the earlier releases of Queen Sono and video-ties-up-with-nollywood-to-woo-subscribers Blood and Water, both from South Africa. Netflix’s 2.6 million African subscribers presently make up Image credit: bellanaija.com, namibiansun.com, 1% of its overall subscribers. nollywoodreinvented.com

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Business - Franchise Opportunity

Alkebulan: The World's First African Food Hall in Dubai, with More Locations Coming

By Amara Amaryah

Chef Alexander Smalls

ALKEBULAN IS THE FIRST African dining hall in the world, and its grand opening in Dubai has already expanded the narrative and landscape for African food.

The fine-dining African food hall is the first of its kind to celebrate and platform the boundless variety of African cuisine. Alkebulan invites visitors to discover the beauty of African food while offering opportunities to engage with live music, art and various events.

It features no less than 11 African restaurant sections, each carefully hand-picked by acclaimed Chef Alexander Smalls.

Alexander Smalls, an Award-winning and hugely iconic chef in the global culinary scene, opened the food hall in Dubai last fall after the Expo Dubai 2020 was delayed due to COVID-19. It is said that in early 2020, Smalls sought out a location in Harlem to open what he intended to call the Harlem Food Hall.

Following a series of COVID-19 related delays, this visions was put on hold. In its place, a world-

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first food hall concept was born, championing African dishes in the Middle East.

Alkebulan (pronounced al-kee-boulan) is named after the oldest name for Africa and translates to ‘Mother of Mankind’ or ‘Garden of Eden’, a fitting reference to the abundance and richness that the food hall provides. Inside the highly anticipated dining hall, you’ll find 11 African restaurant concepts including choices between South African barbecue, East African seafood, Senegalese baked goods and Kenyan goat dishes.

“I also incorporated African street foods and, under that umbrella, you have South African bunny chow, West African bread cakes, and all kinds of wonderful things from Nigeria and Morocco,” added Smalls in an interview while elaborating on the impressive depth that Alkebulan plentifully offers.

The food hall, a welcomed addition to Dubai’s already flourishing luxury reputation, sets out to be a well curated example of the culinary variety that the continent has to offer. As a vision that Smalls

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Chef Pierre

Chef Glory Chef Coco Chef Mame

Chef Moos

Chef Kiran

While the world is already deeply impressed with the history-making opening of Alkebulan, had been developing for well over a decade, Smalls shares that he has plans to deepen his Alkebulan is a perfect addition to the successful contribution in the African culinary scene. Smalls, chef’s wider goals. While in conversation with full of justified optimism for the future of African Food & Wine, Smalls shares that “I’ve had five food and his ability to showcase it, reveals that restaurants, starting with The Cecil in Harlem, all “[T]his is only the beginning. As a disciple of the of which have been about the food of the African beauty and brilliance of African food, I’m taking it diaspora. About six or seven years ago, I set out all over the world.” to create a destination that would tell the story The exciting project is just getting started and will of African food on five continents [and tell] how result in versions of Alkebulan food hall openings through slavery, Africans changed the global in Harlem, London and in at least eight other cities. culinary conversation.”

Make your franchise inquiry here.

This commitment to storytelling through food is https://travelnoire.com/alkebulan-worlds-firstwhat reserves the award-winning cookbook author african-food-hall-dubai as a key voice in the global conversation about the African-diaspora and its culinary contributions.

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Business

2022 Digital Marketing Trends That Should be on Your Radar

By Alaina Brandenburger you through their virtual assistant. On the internet, a user might type “Italian restaurants in Chicago” while on voice search they might say “What’s a good Italian restaurant in Chicago?”

TECHNOLOGY MOVES FORWARD FAST. Every year, there are new, hot social media apps, better smartphones, and other tech advances that promise to revolutionize your digital marketing.

Here is a list of which digital marketing trends should be on your radar in the next year.

The top 10 digital marketing trends of 2022 Here are some up-and-coming 2022 digital marketing trends that can help you better engage with your customers in the new year: 1. Privacy and cookies To improve internet privacy, Google is on a mission to remove third-party cookies from its websites, and Firefox and Safari no longer support them. This change will likely impact how your onsite ads and banner ads are displayed. Websites won’t be able to use tracking cookies to populate ads.

Thankfully, Google and other platforms are working on replacement algorithms to place onsite ads while improving privacy. And cookies won’t officially be gone until 2023. You can adapt your digital ads by using keywords and advertising on sites that provide a logical context for your ads.

3. In-feed shopping If you run an ecommerce business, you may be familiar with shoppable posts on social media.

You can now link your Facebook and Instagram accounts to your digital catalog and let people click right on posts within their feeds to buy merchandise.

Google Ads offers another in-feed shopping tool with shopping campaigns. These ads are linked to your product catalog and display as shoppable photos. Create your ad and specify the search phrases people can use to find it. Then set your parameters, including your geographical area and an inventory number. Google can pull the ad once you’ve sold out of the product.

4. Push notifications Use this tool to remind customers of upcoming appointments, instantly send digital receipts, and promote upcoming sales.

An estimated 7.1 billion people used mobile devices in 2021. So it’s a good bet that most of your customers are walking around with a smartphone.

And push notifications let you reach your customers through their phones.

With push notifications, you can create personalized messages that pop up on their mobile device, either as a message bubble on their home screen or as an SMS message in their text feed.

2. Voice SEO Learn how to do push notifications to engage Digital assistants are still trending, and many of your customers are using them to make their with your clients and drive them to your site. lives easier. Features like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s 5. SMS marketing Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google’s Digital marketing trends also include directly digital assistant let people search the internet connecting with your clients through texts. Along without even picking up their phones. In 2021, 20% with push notifications and email marketing, use of internet searches were voice-based.

SMS messages to engage with your customers.

In 2022, think about tailoring your search engine This tool involves sending text messages directly optimization (SEO) for voice search. Think about to your clients — once they opt in. conversational phrases people would use to find Common uses of SMS marketing include 22

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promotions, coupons, and personalized messages. improve customer service, generate leads, and Keep these messages short and make sure your answer questions. customers can opt out.

With conversational marketing, your customers talk to a bot through text messages 6. Video marketing The average person watches online videos for or a chat platform, letting them solve their issues about 100 minutes a day. Watching videos is one quickly and effectively. You can use this tool to be of the most popular activities on Facebook. You available 24/7 without having to answer calls and can tap into this market by creating video ads. emails yourself. If your clients do need a person, There are a few ways to go about this. You can chats can be escalated to a call center or you. create a YouTube or Vimeo channel and use video to educate and engage with your audience.

You can also connect with your audience by creating TikTok business videos and other social media content. Share your videos with common hashtags to help users find them. If you’re not interested in producing your video content regularly, you can use over-the-top (OTT) advertising.

Create ads that are 10 to 15 seconds long that you can run over the top of other videos.

OTT ads appear at the front of other streaming videos. Use them to connect with viewers.

7. Email marketing/segmentation Privacy is top of mind for internet providers and users alike. Show the same consideration to your email list. When you’re email marketing, segment your list and send personalized emails to different segments.

By doing so, you can add value to each member of your email list. Be thoughtful with your email marketing, and make sure it’s easy for members of your list to opt out.

10. Influencer marketing Partnering with an influencer in your industry can open you up to a wide range of potential customers. The industry has generated over $13 billion in 2021.

This marketing strategy involves giving free products to a social media personality or paying them to promote your product. In exchange, they create a post telling their followers about your brand.

You can partner with popular personalities on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram, for example. Instead of spending a lot of money to get a major influencer with millions of followers, consider partnering with a micro-influencer, which is someone who has 1,000 to 10,000 followers.

According to Forbes, “A micro-influencer serves more niche audiences and can be beneficial to a brand because they provide access to a small subset of a targeted demographic interested in your business.” They’re often considered more reliable by their followers as well.

8. Interactive content People like interacting with brands through social media and other platforms. And interactive content lets you talk to your followers in real time.

Features like Instagram Live and Facebook Live let people talk to you while you’re recording your video. Use this tool and engage with your customers. You can host an “ask me anything” live event or a product Q&A. Promote this event for a few weeks for more participation. Pay attention to your streaming setup for a quality event.

Where to focus your digital marketing efforts Don’t worry, you don’t have to dive into all of these 10 digital marketing trends. Start by doing some deeper research on each and deciding which ones are best for your business — if you pick the tools that best fit your customers, it will be easier to incorporate them into your digital marketing strategy. Then, pick one to start with.

Once you’re comfortable with one of the new trends in digital marketing, start experimenting with others and have fun growing your business!

9. Conversational marketing Another digital trend gaining steam is conversational marketing. This refers to chatbots, AI assistants, and other tools through which customers can contact you. You can use it to

https://blogs.constantcontact.com/digitalmarketing-trends

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Source: Hays Digital Group, Constant Contact Image credit: news.africa-business.com

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Business

The 3-Step Cycle That's Enabling me to Redefine an Entire African Industry

BY Helen Chukwu - Monday

THE WORLD OF FASHION has been my playground for as long as I can remember. When I moved to Nigeria from London six years ago, I saw that there was no stability in production in the fashion industry in Africa. The facilities were not up to the mark, the quality of garments was nowhere close to the best, and the workforce had neither enough education nor the necessary skill sets. Fast-forward six years ahead to the present — and the scenario looks largely the same. There are people on the streets looking for jobs, selftaught in the basics of tailoring and machinery, trying to make a living by offering to adjust people’s garments.

I knew six years ago that I was going to change this space. As the founder of Helen Couture, I believe I’m well on my way. I had my first big breakthrough recently via a Forbes feature; as an entrepreneur perhaps you can relate — it feels wonderful to finally be heard and to hit the first milestone of your vision of working with and being one of the game-changers in your industry.

If like me, you’re on a journey to build a brand that will make a real impact, improve the lives of future generations and redefine how an industry works, then there are three pieces of advice I have for you. From my experience, these three ‘steps’ tie into each other and form a self-reinforcing loop of sorts. Following this process passionately, deliberately and long-term will help you make waves as an entrepreneur.

There is something which you can do better than another." It was not until the COVID pandemic that I fully grasped the importance of this message. I’m sure you’ll agree, the pandemic underscored just how important it is for us to look inwards, and to uncover and use our own strengths. Times of great uncertainty forced us to turn to our own people – to our own communities and countrymen - and to find ways to be self-reliant. All of a sudden, we could neither export anything for a living nor import what we had become used to getting from abroad. We couldn’t rely on China. Or on India. Or on Indonesia. Or any other country. We had to rely on ourselves, and where we found ourselves lacking, we had to make ourselves better. And the people who could not learn how to do this came to rely on people like us – the ones who did figure it out.

If you’re an entrepreneur based in another part of Africa (or any other emerging part of the world), I’m certain you noticed this in your line of work and in your community as well. Therefore, my first piece of advice to you on your journey in building a resilient enterprise is simple - accept complete responsibility.

Take ownership. Get comfortable in your own skin. Learn how you can produce the best quality work – work that you can be proud of, with the resources available to you now, in your own country. Be brave enough to start where you are.

1. Build self-reliance Amongst the many quotes I have bookmarked, perhaps my favorite was always one by Ralph Waldo Emerson that said: "Be yourself - no base imitator of another, but your best self.

2. Empower, educate, empathize, repeat Despite macro-economic and political concerns, Nigeria has seen a lot of truly inspiring progress. We’ve skilled up in the

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agriculture sector. We’ve built a thriving oil and gas industry.

Why can’t we do the same for fashion? Improvements in the fashion industry in the city considered the giant of Africa can create employment, empowerment and inclusivity for generations to come. How do we begin? With education.

I’ve always believed (at least in the context of Africa) that if you empower one woman, you empower an entire household. And to me, the best path to empowerment has always been education.

I know what your first thought might be — it’s easy for big multinational corporations such as IBM or Target to set aside a portion of their CSR budgets towards education, but it’s hard to invest in it as an entrepreneur. I’m here to tell you it isn’t - not if you think of it as an integral part of your operations. For instance, at Helen Couture, while we certainly have a thriving production space that makes beautiful clothes, we also focus on educating the women under our wings in conjunction with their work. Furthermore, we know education isn’t enough — empathy matters. Different organizations demonstrate empathy differently. Microsoft has a lab program called Microsoft Garage to support employees’ side gigs. Audi goes out of its way to hire and train veterans. Apple builds wellness centers. In our case, because the biggest cause of attrition in young female talent in Africa is the demand of motherhood, we plan to provide a safe hub for our colleagues to bring in their children.

To me, education, empowerment and empathy are essentials in building a venture that is 25

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trusted and loved. You can find a myriad of creative ways of integrating them into your culture — and I encourage you to do so. Start small, but start.

Adhering to these principles will set you apart as a leader.

3. Obsess over quality to compete with the best in the world Once you’ve decided to be self-reliant and are committed to empowering your workforce, it’s time to strengthen your value proposition for your customers. To me, the biggest differentiator is quality. You should be obsessed with refining what you produce until it’s at par with, or better than, the best of the best globally. For us, our mission is to build a fashion house that blazes a trail for the quality of what’s created from Nigeria for the world.

We’re certainly scaling up production and will be able to manufacture 10,000 garments per day in the next few years. But we won’t take our eyes off quality.

If you’re planning to (or already are) vying for highly discerning customers from the U.S., UK, the Middle East or Asia, especially through a creative or luxury venture, quality is your golden ticket.

You might find it hard to compete with Chinese companies in a mass-market venture if you’re competing on the basis of price. But if you commit to superior design, innovation and quality — you will be noticed.

The better your creations, the more you grow, and the more confidence you develop to be selfreliant. You go back to step #1 and take things up a notch. It’s a fantastic loop.

I believe that all entrepreneurial ventures committed to empowerment and impact will have beautiful journeys - ones that will touch and advance thousands of lives. My last piece of advice to you, no matter where you find yourself in this journey today, is to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Keep laying one brick after another.

Have a vision with a long-term perspective. You’ll get there. I know we all will.” www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/the-3step-cycle-that-s-enabling-me-to-redefine-an-entireafrican-industry/ar-AASD3Au https://hautefashionafrica.com/emerging-designvoices-interview-with-helen-coutures-helen-chukwu/

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Business

Meet Mawa McQueen, the Ivory Coast Native Behind Aspen's Only Black-Owned Restaurants

By Atiya Jordan Black Enterprise; Ruksana Hussain Cuisine Noire Articles combined by Dawn Editors WHEN CHEF MAWA MCQUEEN, founder of Mawa’s Kitchen in Aspen and The Crepe Shack in Snowmass Village, both in Colorado, had to restrict business operations as the pandemic intensified last year, little did she know she’d be launching a new organic snack brand: Mawa’s GrainFreeNola (MGFN).

Unlike most granolas made with oats, grains and sugar, MGFN is organic, paleo, vegan and glutenfree. McQueen first began making the snack for personal consumption, prepping small batches at home, and only selling the excess at her restaurant.

What she hadn’t been paying attention to would be the popularity MGFN had gained in that time – it ended up being her sustenance during the shutdowns in more ways than one.

Global Flavors “Each continent, culture and tribe across the world tells a story and provides unique nutrients to energize and heal,” says McQueen, who was born in Ivory Coast and raised in Paris, where she went to culinary school. The business owner also lived in England, Spain, and a few other places, before calling Colorado home. “Our granola brings together these ingredients. Every batch is sourced with intention and made with love.”

She attributes MGFN’s success to the synergy found in food that’s made by hand rather than that made commercially by machine. “I mix everything by hand, chop everything. It’s like therapy for me,” she shares.

There are five flavors to choose from at the moment —Berry Me, Green Machine, Health Nut, Out of Africa, and Tropical Paradise—and some of the organic ingredients include hibiscus flower, Turkish figs, cocoa nib and tamarind.

McQueen has plans for other future variations, including a nut-free option and one made with 26

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fonio, a West African heritage grain. Products are sold online on her website, where all ingredients are clearly stated, and McQueen hopes to have all of them more widely available by the summer (2021).

“People assume because I look a certain way, I should cook a certain way. Most times they go to my husband or sous chef to talk to them [about the food], but I ignore it,” says McQueen, talking about the common perception that given she is Black, it is expected that she makes soul food.

“But I wasn’t raised on that.

The Journey Mawa McQueen’s journey extends far beyond her migration to the United States. Aspen, CO, was where she would settle and establish her Ivory Coast and French roots as a creator in the kitchen.

McQueen opened Mawa’s Kitchen nearly 12 years ago, having expanded from a traditional breakfast and lunch spot to a full-fledged restaurant. Culturally-inspired dishes range from a Thai noodle salad to handmade Middle Eastern dips for reasonable prices.

At Mawa’s Kitchen, the winter dinner menu includes currently includes ricotta and zaalouk (eggplant and tomatoes) and Lyonnaise potatoes, while The Crepe Shack fulfills any longing for sweet or savory crepes.

Born in the Ivory Coast, the restauranteur resided in France for many years. She recalled her ambitions of moving to the United States in an interview with Travel Noire.

“I saw a romantic scene on the soap opera The Young and The Restless that was in Aspen, and it made me want to move there one day,” McQueen said. “That was where Aspen started for me.”

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Mawa's GrainFreeNola brand flavors | Photo credit Mawa McQueen Mawa's Kitchen The Aspen Times

at a château in Maine. She told Travel Noire that her boss offered her the opportunity to relocate anywhere the chain had an establishment, thanks to a successful winter season. Lo and behold, Aspen!

Nearly 10 years after working at her job’s sister property in Aspen, she met a woman who would ignite her confidence to open a restaurant. After their initial introduction, McQueen was invited to help the woman during a holiday dinner, but ultimately stepped in to prepare everything.

“I actually made more money serving than I would in the kitchen. But I was very impressed with this particular woman. She was the first woman to manage Morgan and Stanley, so I valued her opinion.”

This experience motivated McQueen to offer private chef services, having impressed that woman so much. She even started cooking meals for the woman’s private jet.

Moving to the U.S., though she has experienced some racism, McQueen chooses to not focus on that. “I refuse to acknowledge it. I’m not denying it, but it’s not going to take my power away. Like Oprah Winfrey said, ‘Just keep going, work harder.’

I choose to work harder.”

And with that same dedication, there is a bucket list item McQueen isn’t giving up on any time soon – meeting her inspiration and true role model, The Rest is History.

McQueen has her sights set firmly on the future. Oprah Winfrey.

When you are in Colorado, visit Mawa’s Kitchen “My plan with the granola is to scale it and make sure everybody gets it in all major stores. I want at 305 Aspen Airport Business Center F and to change the way snacks are made in general. I The Crepe Shack at 61 Wood Road, Snowmass also want to expand my crepe shop into a different Village. Visit www.grainfreenola.com online to state, and then I want to create something in purchase Mawa’s GrainFreeNola and follow along Ivory Coast. I have been blessed to be able to on Instagram. dream and achieve. I want to make sure I provide www.cuisinenoirmag.com/mawa-mcqueen-mawaservice to my country.” s-grain-free-nola Realizing Dreams www.blackenterprise.com/meet-mawa-mcqueenThough McQueen spent most of her youth in ivory-coast-native-behind-aspen-colorados-onlyParis, she never could relate. Racism reared its black-owned-restaurant ugly head everywhere.

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Business Apart from helping existing customers, chatbots are also an effective lead generation tool. Brands need to add this automation to their marketing toolkit in 2022, as chatbots are no longer just a 'nice-to-have' feature.

Live chats allow customers to interact with brands

By Yuvika Iyer for Wrike at their own convenience and on the platform of their choice, such as WhatsApp for Business or EVERY MARKETER LOVES to discover online Facebook Messenger. marketing trends they can adapt to ahead of their Omnichannel Experience competitors. However, the truth is that the majority 25% of consumers say that convenience drives of business growth will come from the core digital their decision-making when they scout for ideas, marketing areas that include search engine products, or experiences. They expect to engage optimization, content marketing, email marketing, with a brand on the device and at the time of their and social media marketing. preference.

Optimize your digital marketing by adopting a Take this for example: When a customer curated mix of new trends while strengthening contemplates buying headphones, they may start the core. Here are the top trends that we expect to their product research on their smartphone, then flourish next year: visit an electronics store to check out options, and Social Media Stories finally complete their purchase on a laptop.

Everyone loves a good story. Many brands use Did you know that brands with an omnichannel storytelling to attract customers, solve their pain presence are able to retain 56% more customers points, and engage with them over the long term. than brands without one?

With 500 million people using Instagram Video Marketing Stories every single day, crafting compelling 85% of people want to see videos from brands. content here can be a great way to attract, engage, They consume video with an astonishing capacity and retain customers. Take a look at the ABCD across platforms from TikTok to YouTube. framework for creating content on social media: Consumers prefer watching a brief video to • Attention: Attract and engage customers with learn something over reading a longer article. an interesting story Data-driven marketers already have video in their • Branding: Highlight the brand consistently marketing mix — 93% say that video is a significant • Connection: Build connections with part of their marketing efforts, and they plan to consumers using emotions — make them think spend more on video marketing in the future. and feel Podcasts • Direction: Subtly nudge customers towards 105 million US adults are regular podcast listeners. taking a desired action That's about one in every three Americans, and Research by Google confirms that content the number is growing every single month. driven by the ABCD framework gives a 30% With podcasts exploding in popularity, brands boost to short-term sales. Combine social media cannot afford to miss this crucial digital marketing storytelling with the rest of these online marketing trend. Even Google is displaying individual podcast trends to advance your business projects and episodes in its SERPs. Squarespace is a great delight customers. example of a company that has been an early Conversational Marketing adopter of podcast advertising.

Organizations have engaged with their customers Consider adding podcast sponsorship to your through live chat for many years. In fact, 46% of marketing mix in 2022. Here are some tips to customers prefer live chat to email or social choose a podcast for sponsorship: media.

• Identify a podcast whose listener demographics

Digital Marketing Trends for 2022

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closely resembles your target audience (for example, to reach out to a vegan audience, pick plant-based podcasts while staying away from one that talks about barbequing) • Evaluate the number of podcast listeners and downloads over a period of time (for example, monitor listeners over a quarter or six months to gauge consistency in numbers) • Add a custom tracking URL or offer unique codes to track listener conversions Social Media Listening Three out of every four businesses fail. A primary reason is that businesses cannot understand what their audience wants. Since they are unable to serve their target customers, 75% of businesses shutter within the first 15 years of existence.

If your marketing strategy is not working, adjust your toolkit. Social listening is one of the latest digital marketing trends that your business can consider.

So, what is social listening? Social listening is the process of listening to customers, understanding their conversations, and gleaning insights to power up your business.

Listen to customer discussions on social media platforms not just about your brand, but what they think about the industry as a whole. Use that to make better marketing strategies.

More than 50% of marketers have added social listening to their toolkit. Embrace this new concept to find out what your customers want. Then, go a step further by analyzing their feelings and the ‘why’ behind their decisions. Discovering what makes them tick will quickly tell you if your business is moving in the right direction.

Live Streaming Live streaming is the new kid on the block and fast becoming every marketer's preferred marketing channel. Take Instagram’s newly launched 'Live Rooms' feature as an example.

80% of consumers prefer watching a brand’s live stream to reading their blog. 74% of millennials prefer videos when they do comparison shopping.

With the live streaming industry touching $70 billion in 2021, this digital marketing channel is rapidly gaining pace.

Home Depot partnered with Martha Stewart for a

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live stream on how to make Christmas ornaments.

It was highly popular, garnering 600K views and bringing a stream of traffic to Home Depot.

Speed past your competitors and personalize your marketing by sharing unique, authentic content using live streaming for business.

Inclusive Marketing 1 in 3 Americans identify as Hispanic, Asian, or African American and say they don't see themselves in marketing. Non-inclusive marketing kills brands.

Businesses need to represent their diverse customer base in their marketing campaigns.

Here are a few tips to market inclusively: • Review the tone and expression of your marketing campaigns and advertising content to ensure it's inclusive • Describe people, their issues, and the possible solutions your brand offers by using holistic and diverse language while avoiding any alienating symbols, phrases, or words • Make a sincere attempt to highlight diverse voices across advertising campaigns and marketing content Appreciate User Privacy Disrespecting consumer privacy can bleed a company's bottom line — just ask Amazon, Google, or British Airways, who each shelled out million-dollar fines in 2021.

The EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are global data protection laws. They outline how companies worldwide can collect and use consumer data in a way that is mindful of consumers.

With the era of third-party cookies ending, marketers need to be more careful with consumer data. Here are some tips for compliance: • Ask users for consent before accessing their data • Use a highly visible data consent form on your website, app, and other user touchpoints • Outline how user data will be collected and used for marketing purposes with 100% transparency. www.wrike.com/blog/6-digital-marketing-trends-towatch

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Development

Why China is Becoming a Top Choice for Ghanaian Ph.D. Students

By Natasha Robinson & David Mills

“CHINA WASN’T MY FIRST OPTION for a PhD. Honestly, in Ghana the perception about China or the Chinese system, Chinese products, Chinese whatever, it is not very positive.”

Dr. Courage Simon Kofi Dogbe is one of the thousands of Ghanaians who recently got their PhDs from universities in China. In 2018 alone 800 Ghanaians were studying for PhDs in China – up from 200 in 2017. This is compared to 2,200 Ghanaians registered for a PhD in Ghana in that year.

The wide availability of Chinese government scholarships has fueled this trend, as has the relatively straightforward university application process. This is especially when contrasted to the high costs of applying to universities in the US and Europe, frequent rejections, and less generous offers, for those who want to study abroad.

As the largest single provider of university scholarships to students from sub-Saharan Africa, China accounts for 40% of all scholarships that are given to students from the region. Beyond the sheer numbers, the experiences of African researchers who get their PhDs in China may herald a profound culture change for universities on the continent.

China is influencing academia in Africa through those who return China is shaping Ghana’s higher education sector in an interesting way. Steeped in academic tradition, the oldest Ghanaian universities have a reputation for bureaucratic examination procedures and minimal supervisory support. PhD candidates have to juggle their teaching and research, at times taking the best part of a decade to complete their PhDs. There is also a constant concern about Ghanaian academics publishing in hard-to-find and uncited academic journals. This impacts Ghana’s global 30

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university rankings, and also prevents Ghanaian academics from contributing to a global science system through knowledge production, knowledge dissemination, and collegial collaborations.

In contrast, China has turbocharged its research output, overtaking the US in 2018 to become the world’s largest producer of scientific research articles. Recent African PhD graduates from China describe being trained in demanding but dynamic research environments, with a razor sharp focus on publishing in ‘top’ international journals.

The experiences of these students—many of whom are on research leave from their posts in Ghanaian universities—bring their experiences back. In doing so, they are changing the face of Ghanaian universities and how research is conducted, as they implement what they learned from their PhD training in China.

Not the first choice, but in retrospect, was the best Dr. Dogbe’s experience is not a unique one.

This is a common response in interviews with Chinese-educated African academics. For many, the decision to study in China is part serendipity and part last resort. In Dr. Dogbe’s case it was only after several failed applications to UK and other European universities, and a chance encounter with a friend who shared scholarship opportunities, that he even considered China.

“Basically, the motivation for going to China was the scholarship package.”

His colleague, Dr Claudia Nyarko Mensah, shares an almost similar story. “Initially I really did not want to go far from home. I wanted to do my PhD in South Africa but looking at the tuition fees, they were quite high.”

She had been lecturing in a Ghanaian private university, where salaries often went unpaid, and needed a way out. A family friend preparing his DAWN

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Chinese university application mentioned the possibility of a PhD in China and when Claudia’s own offer letter came through, it was a full scholarship, including fees and accommodation.

In contrast, those wishing to apply to UK universities have to pay more than $250 just to sit an English language entrance exam.

“That is how I landed in Jiangsu University, and I credit it for my academic success,” she says.

Dr. Dogbe and Dr. Mensah represent a growing generation of young academics who graduated from Chinese universities and who have returned

Development (AAMUSTED), a new public university in Kumasi with another campus at Maampong-Ashanti. Within their first year, they were both appointed to the department’s research committee, and in October they submitted a 5-year strategic research plan for the department.

to academic positions in Ghana’s expanding university sector.

Shortly after graduating last year, both Dr. Dogbe and Dr. Mensah returned to Ghana and were hired as lecturers in the Department of Management Studies Education at Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial

high expectations. Research supervisors set articles which students were expected to read and summarize. PhD students would meet weekly to present and comment on each other’s work.

Jiangsu professors would organize workshops on new approaches to data modeling, how to

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How completing their PhDs in China differed from the experience in Ghana The academic training that Dr. Dogbe and Dr. Mensah received at Jiangsu University, for example, consisted of direct supervision and

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write literature reviews, or on selecting the right journal. They expected full commitment and active participation.

“Supervisors would be asking questions and giving you assignments…Their high academic expectation was kind of crazy to us. This doesn’t happen in Ghana,” says Dr. Mensah.

The expectations around publishing were strikingly different between the two university systems. In Ghana a publication that has been accepted by a peer-reviewed academic journal is not a requirement for graduation.

“The only thing that is required is a paper submission receipt…and you and I know that they generate that email automatically, so whether or not the person submits rubbish, that person will still get that email acknowledgement and graduate,” says Dr. Dogbe.

In contrast, their Jiangsu professors expected their students to publish three articles in ‘highimpact’ journals before they graduated.

“They made it clear to us during the orientation, that one of the reasons why they gave us scholarships is to help them publish. They depend on us to publish so the university can have a better ranking,” says Dr. Dogbe.

He notes that he has friends who did PhDs in Europe, conducted research but were not under the same pressure to publish as they were in China.

Being pushed has its benefits in a competitive academic job market where publications and citations are an all-important currency. Dr. Mensah estimates that she has published around 17-20 articles to date and had already published four in top-notch journals before graduation.

“I compare my research impact to some professors, and I rate higher.”

These publications also feed into Jiangsu University’s own ranking credentials.

What do the PhD holders bring back to Ghana?

Dr. Dogbe says that his approach to publishing has also changed as a result of his training in China.

Although he had published journal articles during his master’s degree in Ghana, he had never been

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taught that journals were ranked according to how often their articles were cited by other scholars.

“All those things, we were not really interested in them here. Some lecturers would publish in predatory journals and it was accepted.”

From their experience in Ghana, they feel that people do not even have enough information on what high quality publications are and why they are worth the wait. This is something that they are both eager to change. Dr. Dogbe hopes that he can support his own students in the same way that he was supported by his supervisor in China— working together with them to co-publish papers and providing guidance without jeopardizing his own publication record or university promotion chances.

This focus on internationally highly cited journals may prove transformative for Ghana’s research sector that is on the periphery of the global science system, publishing less than 2% of Africa’s research.

In the research plan that both Dr. Dogbe and Dr. Mensah are proposing, they are implementing a lot of what was the norm for them in China.

They say, “We are proposing weekly seminars, research cliques, and we are encouraging collaboration – both internal and external.

Publication should also be a requirement and then you – the lecturer should work with them and push them to do it…It’s the same people who travel outside to China and other places and they are doing it, so why can’t it be done in my school in Ghana?

Whether their vision for research will be shared by their peers in a young university like AAMUSTED, is yet to be seen. So far, the signs are promising. In 2018, China pledged 50,000 university scholarships to Africa from 2019-2022 which already represents an increase of 20,000 on the number of scholarships awarded in the previous three years. The influence of academics trained in China will be even more pronounced in African universities in the years to come. https://qz.com/africa/2102664/why-china-isbecoming-a-top-choice-for-ghanaian-phdstudents Image credit: Global Times

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Development

MCC and Africa50 Sign MOU to Advance a New Global Infrastructure Platform THE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION (MCC) and Africa50 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to initiate a new phase in the launch of the Millennium Impact for Infrastructure Accelerator (MIIA) Africa.

The new MIIA-Africa platform is designed to spur and attract investments in Africa for bankable infrastructure deals with measurable social and economic impacts. To do so, MIIA-Africa will support project preparation, tackling a major constraint to unlocking the available pools of capital for the benefit of infrastructure development in Africa.

Investments through MIIA-Africa will cover projects across sectors such as water and sanitation, agriculture, health, education, transportation, power, and telecommunications.

Design work for MIIA-Africa has now been completed and MCC and Africa50 are actively soliciting infrastructure projects that have the potential to become part of the project pipeline.

The MIIA team will deepen its engagement with the private sector by issuing requests for information on potential MIIA projects.

“MCC is pleased to advance the MIIA-Africa collaboration, leveraging the agency’s track record in financing and delivering impactful infrastructure projects in Africa, all well-aligned with the goals of the Build Back Better World initiative” said MCC Acting CEO Mahmoud Bah. “Africa50’s reach and impact on the continent ensures this collaborative effort has the potential to identify projects with substantial economic opportunities on the continent.”

Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobissé added “Africa50 is very pleased to reinforce its existing partnership with MCC. This important new milestone in the MIIAAfrica programme will help increase the pipeline of bankable projects and attract further capital 33

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MCC Acting CEO Mahmoud Bah (left) with Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobissé after signing the MoU to Advance a New Global Infrastructure Platform

into African infrastructure. Africa50 will contribute its strong expertise in project development and finance to accelerate the delivery of such projects and support the continent’s sustainable economic growth.”

MIIA-Africa is one of MCC’s innovative finance tools to mobilize private capital to maximize the impact of highly developmental projects that spur sustainable and inclusive economic growth and reduce poverty. As an independent U.S. government agency, MCC works around the world with the best-governed developing countries, providing grant funding to unlock economic potential. About two-thirds of the agency’s portfolio is in Africa.

Africa50 is an infrastructure investment platform that contributes to Africa’s growth by developing and investing in bankable infrastructure projects, catalyzing public sector capital, and mobilizing private sector funding, with differentiated financial returns and impact. Africa50 currently has 31 shareholders, comprised of 28 African countries, the African Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and Bank AlMaghrib.

Learn more about MCC at www.mcc.gov.

Learn more about Africa50 at www.africa50. com. www.africa50.com/news-insights/news/mcc-andafrica50-sign-mou-to-advance-a-new-globalinfrastructure-platform-458/ Image credit: Africa50

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Development

Nigerians Try to Solve Housing and Trash Issues with an Innovative Method

By RIIVER NIHIL

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER of all inventions.

In Nigeria, they’ve become incredibly creative in their endeavors to provide more affordable homes in the highly populated country.

As one of the most populated African countries, Nigerians average monthly income is approximately $825 per month (339,000 NGN).

Home prices are usually in the $45,000 range and are costly to build.

Not only is housing costly for most, but Nigeria also faces a trash and recycling issue, producing 32 million tons per year, 2.5 million tons of which consists of plastic. Trash litters the streets in some areas.

With the population estimated to double by 2050 — currently around 201 million people — a new trash solution is imperative as the country grows.

Citizens of the country have gotten amazingly resourceful when it comes to cleaning up their environment and keeping more money in their pockets.

According to Environmental engineer Maryann Atseyinku, the founder of Community Waste and Recycling, “Almost any country in the world has problems with waste management, so Nigeria is not a particularly peculiar case. The thing is the fundamental problem we have is because of the logistics that’s in the same. Waste management is pretty expensive.”

Rural Nigerians have come up with a way to not only reduce their cost of building homes by nearly 70%, but they’ve also figured out how to clean up more than enough plastic bottles to begin a new type of housing construction. their environment of trash, too.

In a more traditional way of building with mud, They’ve discovered that by collecting trash from the streets and rubbish dumps, they gathered plastic bottles are filled and packed with sand, 34

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laid on top of each other other, and bound together with mud. Called “Bottle Brick Technology,” the project employs out-of-school or jobless youth, having them fill bottles with sand. String is latticed on the outside before more mud is packed in, just like an adobe house created by natives in New Mexico.

The houses are 18 times more durable, Superman-like in their ability to withstand weather, earthquakes, and even a speeding bullet.

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Costing about a third of traditional housing, the bottlebrick houses provide more than adequate shelter while also providing a long-term solution to the devastating trash situation as around 14,000 bottles go into the making of one home.

Project heads are appealing to the Nigerian government in hopes of gaining financial backing to expand their enterprise. https://tatumreport.com/nigerians-try-solve-housingtrash-issues-innovative-method/ Source: https://knovhov.com/nigerian-houses-arebeing-bottled-up/ Video link: https://youtu.be/hQp7Kp477Wg Image credit: © Orji Sunday / TRTWorld, © Africanclimatereporter, knovhov.com DAWN

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Development

One Way to Tackle Extreme Poverty: Replace Dirt Floors

By Tony Frangie Mawad A Rwandan child standing on his family’s new flaxseed oil floor.

Photo courtesy of EarthEnable

WHEN GAYATRI DATAR and some of her classmates from Stanford University traveled to Rwanda for a course on entrepreneurial design for extreme affordability, they encountered a country where around 75% of the population lived on dirt floors. Coughing was common from dust clouds formed during sweeping. Rain filled houses with mud and insects. And fecal matter, from humans and animals, was often on the ground.

“It was not only a challenge for health, but also for comfort and dignity,” said Datar, who used that 2013 class as a springboard to start a business that builds floors for rural Rwandans and Ugandans.

The organization, EarthEnable, added almost 3,600 new floors in the 12 months through July 2021, bringing its total number of floors built to just shy of 11,000. It plans to expand the number of districts where it operates in the two countries in 2022, as well as add to the 181 people it employs in its hybrid structure of being nonprofit in the U.S. and running the local businesses with a for-profit model.

For Datar and other activists focused on extreme poverty, floor replacement is a fast and costeffective way of improving living conditions and public health, especially for children.

Nevertheless, there are still only a handful of these efforts throughout the globe. That’s despite there being more than a billion people living in “informal 36

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settlements” with dirt floors, according to a 2015 analysis from Oxford University’s Poverty & Human Development Initiative.

While earlier public health programs focused on replacing dirt floors with concrete, EarthEnable sought out an alternative that wouldn’t create as many greenhouse gas emissions as producing concrete. Datar teamed up with her former classmate, Rick Zuzow, who studied biochemistry and was her co-founder in starting the organization.

Zuzow created a flaxseed oil that, when poured over an earthen floor, dries to form a plasticlike, waterproof and sustainable resin that glues the surface together. The flaxseed is currently imported from India, but EarthEnable is planning to harvest it in Kenya to keep the entire project more local.

The goal was also to cut costs. The flaxseed oil sealant ranges from $2- to $5- per square meter or about $50 per house, which is paid by the households — all at once or in installments spread over six months. That’s cheaper than the $162 price tag for the concrete floors used in one of the earliest floor-replacement programs: Piso Firme in Mexico. www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-23/ one-way-to-tackle-extreme-poverty-flaxseed-oilfloors

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Development

US Biotech Tycoon Opens Africa's First End-to-End Covid-19 Jab Plant Source: AFP

US BIOTECH BILLIONAIRE Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday, 19th January, opened a plant in Cape Town that will be the first in Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccines from start to finish.

The factory should churn out its first vials of second-generation coronavirus vaccine "within the year" and produce a billion doses annually by 2025, said SoonShiong.

The plant will be South Africa's third Covid vaccine manufacturing facility but the first in the continent to make the formula across every stage, rather than producing it Scissor ceremony: President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, joins biotech from semi-finished batches. tycoon Patrick Soon-Shiong in launching the vaccine hub Africa currently manufactures © GIANLUIGI GUERCIA less than one percent of all vaccines administered on the continent, according to the World Health Organization "one of the momentous moments of my life -- this (WHO). is a homecoming."

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, He made a fortune by inventing a cancer drug speaking at the inaugural event, hailed the plant as and then founded NantWorks, a Californiaa sign of African self-reliance. based startup in healthcare, biotech and artificial "Africa should no longer be the last in line to intelligence, in 2007. access vaccines against pandemics, African Production at the state-of-the-art vaccine should no longer go cap in hand to the Western manufacturing campus will be a collaborative world begging and begging for vaccines," said effort between NantWorks, South African Ramaphosa. research institutions and four local universities.

"We will stand on our own," he vowed.

"We have now developed this SN (spike nucleic) He thanked Soon-Shiong, a South African- T-cell vaccine, a second-generation vaccine, and born and now United States-based doctor- we want to manufacture this in Africa, for Africa, turned-entrepreneur -- for returning "home" to and export it to the world," said Soon-Shiong. invest in vaccine production. www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/us-biotechBorn in South Africa to Chinese parents and now tycoon-opens-africa-s-first-end-to-end-covid-19a US citizen, the billionaire said the launch was jab-plant/ar-AASVWwQ 37

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Development

T This is Why Global Companies Should Enter the African Marke S

By Dasha Kroshkina B

Africa Rising IN THE EARLY 2010S, China’s tremendous market size and the world’s largest number of mobileinternet users led many U.S. tech companies to enter the country and offer their services to the Chinese consumers. As technological advancements are introduced nearly every day, more nations embark on a steep modernization course. Rapid growth is creating expanding gaps for brands to fill with their products and services and near-limitless opportunities to achieve success. While there may be several niches and places you can tap into, it is important to select the right market for your business and enter at the right time. When it comes to the education space, Africa holds considerable potential thanks to its growing young demographic and wages, technological advancements and an increasing demand in quality education.

Africa’s GDP has been on the rise and is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2022, with Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa among other countries leading the way. This overall positive economic signal has been having an impact on education. In the recent year, we’ve seen an uptick in African students opting in to pursue study abroad programs in construction, engineering and STEM. In general, it’s not surprising that there’s been a growing demand for higher education from African countries. The continent has the youngest population in the world, with 70% of the SubSaharan population under the age of 30. This 38

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demographic dynamic combined with growing salaries presents opportunities to market to this progressive generation, who are willing to spend on quality education and improve their quality of life.

Despite the continuous economic growth and opportunities, there’s still a lack of competition from global companies on the African market. Developing infrastructure, expensive and unreliable internet and lack of payment methods were named among the barriers to entry. However, fintech companies and the world’s biggest digital players, such as Google, are betting on Africa with investments in the continent’s digital transformation.

While many companies may still hesitate to tap into this market, it’s important to start establishing your presence in Africa now. From a cultural perspective, it takes time to understand the country and create a community that plays a significant role in the lives of the local population. From a business standpoint, it’s beneficial to establish your presence in a low-competition market and then scale fast once the business landscape becomes more advanced. While it requires considerable time, money and energy to be among the pioneers in introducing your business to a new continent, it’s essential to have a growth mindset and view it as an investment into future opportunities.

Growing demographic and wages Africa's population as a whole is young and growing. The median age for the continent is 18, which is 14 years younger than any other, and the continent's population is set to double to two billion by 2050. The youthful demographic is considered a major advantage for the continent, with prospects of generating significant GDP growth. Today, more global investors come to Africa for the promise of its people than for its physical properties.

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factor. While the situation is different in each subSaharan African countrу, when measuring wages in nominal terms, the research found that wages are increasing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world. Countries like Ghana are among the strongest economies in terms of pay increase.

At nominal wage growth of 14%, Ghana comes second after Turkey, which is at 20%. South Africa, for example, also introduced a national minimum wage in 2018 as well as more recent initiatives in efforts to extend protection to vulnerable workers.

Spearheading the technological domain Africa is a hotbed of innovation, especially in the digital and payment spheres. Having for most part skipped the desktop revolution and jumped straight to the mobile, the rising smartphone ownership and a drop in internet are attractive factors for investors.

Countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have been cultivating robust start-up scenes. In South Africa alone, 90% of the population have a smartphone and 21% of them use mobile-banking services. Mobile broadband coverage is still facing major limits, however, with only 26% of SubSaharan Africa’s population connected to mobile internet.

Mobile money deployments have been growing 39% annually over the past decade in Sub-Saharan Africa. With nearly 66% of adults having no access to traditional bank accounts, mobile cash has provided people an opportunity to transfer, save or borrow money without bank accounts. As of this year, African fintech investment reached $1.35 billion, spearheading the fintech sector on the continent.

Rising demand in quality education presents opportunities for edtech companies Quality education is progressively rising in value among African students, creating a widening demand-supply gap. While a number of grants and scholarships designated specifically for the continent’s population, especially for females, has been increasing every year, it still lags behind the rising demand of the growing young population seeking to pursue higher education. With 720 million people under the age 25 in Africa, there are only 740 universities spread across 10 most populous countries on the continent. Educating

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Africa’s youth is a major priority for every country and remains a key challenge for many governments.

After decades-long “brain drain” in parts of Africa, fueled by unstable political situations and superior working conditions in the West, recent studies have shown a new trend among African students: They return home after studying abroad. This has also been the case with the Chinese students, where nearly 80% of students return home after graduating, according to the Ministry of Education.

The growing economy and technology industries, increasing prestige of local companies and cultural mentality all tempt students to return. Furthermore, there is a strong and prevalent sense of giving back to the community. This trajectory, in turn, influences the choice of majors among African students, most of whom pick universal and applied degrees such as engineering and IT that will hold value in their localities. Interestingly, fashion and art were also the top picks among African students according to Studyfree findings.

Of course, as with any emerging market, starting a business on the African continent today holds certain risks and challenges even for business veterans with accumulated professional experience.

Unstable and, at times, hostile political situations and corruption pose serious business risks for entrepreneurs seeking to open their ventures.

While the majority of the population speaks English or French, total lack of local language and ties can create administrative and legal hurdles.

Furthermore, levels of trust and loyalty in business in African countries are low. They can, however, be gained with time and the right strategy, and now is the perfect time to set on the course. It is essential to understand local mentality, exercise transparency and gain brand loyalty in order to achieve stable growth. If investors understand, anticipate and work alongside the growing African context and market, they can find themselves with long-term prospects far more promising and accessible than in more developed countries. www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/this-is-whyglobal-companies-should-enter-the-africanmarket/ar-AASKByz Source: Entrepreneur Image credit: vlab.org DAWN

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Development

How RwandAir Found a Niche Despite a Turbulent 20

By Edwin Ashimwe

2020 WAS A disastrous year for airlines, and RwandAir, the national carrier was no exception.

Towards the end of the year, the International Travellers board a RwandAir plane at Kigali International Airport in 2020. Photo: F Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results restrictions are imposed in the face of new variant for 2020 showing that demand (revenue passenger Omicron. kilometres) fell by 65.9% compared to the previous Optimism lies in vaccination uptake year.

According to experts, governments are urged Also contracted by 35.7% was the capacity while to work with industry to develop the standards for load factor dropped 17 percentage points to 66.6%. vaccination, testing, and validation which would The global outlook is by far the sharpest traffic lead to a prompt and orderly restoration in global decline in aviation history. Furthermore, domestic air travel. demand in 2020 was down 48.8%compared to The IATA Travel Pass will help this process, 2019. by providing passengers with an App to easily Much as Rwanda doesn’t have a large domestic and securely manage their travel in line with any market, the national carrier entered the cargo space government requirements for Covid-19 testing or to help compensate for the losses in passenger vaccine information. revenue.

In February 2021 RwandAir partnered with IATA Similarly, operating flights from Asia to the Middle for the trial of the pass.

East, then onwards to Europe during the pandemic, The travel pass, at the time was described as it was able to prove that it was up to the role most a digital platform that will help passengers easily often identified with large international premium and securely verify that they comply with Covid-19 carriers. test or vaccine travel requirements, in turn giving Like last year, however, the airline is experiencing governments the confidence to reopen borders. a dramatic start of 2022 as more severe travel 40

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File

Yvonne Manzi Makolo, the airline’s Chief Executive, welcomed the development citing that it will make easy for the carriers customers to resume flying but also for other airlines to accept them.

Growing network of routes 2021 was a year filled with a pool of achievements on the network’s front with the latest being Doha, Qatar early last month.

The carrier will operate the route three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with flight code WB300 bringing to an end Qatar Airways’ Kigali-Doha route that had been operational for over nine years.

Through the route, Rwandans will be able to take advantage of our RwandAir’s seamless connections from Doha to over 40 destinations across the Qatar Airways network.

This follows a codeshare agreement between the two airlines.

Doha becomes the fourth destination RwandAir added to its map in the last year. Others include Bangui in Central African Republic (CAR), Goma and Lumbashi both in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

In particular, the DR Congo route was massively welcomed looking at the business prospects between the two countries especially in the mining sector.

DR Congo remains the main destination for Rwanda’s informal exports, according to available data. It accounts for 86.9% of Rwanda’s informal cross border exports.

Financial stimulus boost It hasn’t been a completely smooth ride, however, with the airline suffering like many others due to the global crisis, government offered the carrier a stimulus boost of Rwf145.1 billion and another subsidy of Rwf81.3 billion.

The financial muscle, according to the airline management supports it to keep staff employed and allow for it to keep its ambitious network 41

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expansion goals.

RwandAir is one of the fastest growing airlines and operates one of the youngest fleet on the African continent.

The fleet includes one Airbus A330-200 and a single A330-300, two Boeing 737-700s and four 737-800s.

Also part of the fleet are two CRJ900ERs and two of the very popular Dash 8 Q400 turboprops.

Qatar-RwandAir deal offers a prospective outlook It is still early days, but the national carrier has seen some solid expansion.

But with investment from Middle Eastern Giant Qatar Airways, the airline projects huge performance over the coming years.

“Africa is the most unserved continent, and the airlines that are serving them are taking the passengers to the cleaners. My job is to provide them a world-class airport and partner with RwandAir to give them the kind of service we provide in Qatar Airways,” said airline’s Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, in a previous interview.

Hope for a better 2022 Given the steadily increasing vaccination rates and some loosening of travel restrictions, the pandemic is far from finished and will continue to burden the global aviation industry into 2022.

This is mainly attributed to the rise of new, more contagious variants; whereas 2021 endured the Delta surge, 2022 is being welcomed by Omicron.

With Rwanda being among the few African countries with the most percentage of vaccinated population, officials are convinced that it is highly unlikely that the country will once again experience the global halt and reductions witnessed in 2020, when air travel rate was 70% lower than prepandemic levels. www.newtimes.co.rw/news/how-rwandair-foundniche-despite-turbulent-2021

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Development

Tanzania, Burundi Sign Accord to Build $900 mln Railway Line, Seek Finance

By Reuters | @SABCNews

Nchemba, Tanzania’s finance minister said in the statement.

The financial details of the project would be released soon but the cost would not exceed $900 million, Nchemba said.

Tanzania will construct a 156 km section from the small town of Malagarasi to Uvinza, while Burundi will construct 126 km TANZANIA AND BURUNDI have signed an stretch to Gitega, the statement said. agreement to construct a $900 million railway Tanzania is aiming to build a 2,561 km standard line linking the two countries and are looking gauge line linking its main Indian Ocean port of for financial backers for the project, Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam to eastern and southern Africa’s finance ministry said in a statement issued late on hinterland.

In addition to links to Burundi, the rail would Sunday.

The 282 kilometre line, which will connect also connect the port with eastern Democratic the western Tanzanian town of Uvinza with the Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Rwanda, and Burundian political capital of Gitega, is the latest Uganda. step towards Tanzania’s goal of building a 2,561 Construction of the first 1,219 km phase, kilometre railway network to boost regional trade. connecting Dar es Salaam to the city of Mwanza More than a million tonnes of cargo will be in northwestern Tanzania on the shores of Lake ferried on the track between the two East African Victoria, is under way. countries, and it will transport more than 3 million Recently, Tanzania signed a contract with Turkish tonnes of minerals from Burundi to Tanzania each firm Yapi Merkezi to build the latest section in year, the statement said. that line, a 368 km stretch connecting the central It said the two countries are looking for finance town of Makutopora to the northwestern region of for the project, designed to reduce transportation Tabora. costs, fast-track industrialisation and improve the www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/tanzania-burundioverall regional economy. sign-accord-to-build-900-mln-railway-line-seek“The minister of finance in Burundi and I are finance starting to look for areas where we can raise Image credit: Reuters money to implement this project” Mwigulu 42

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Development

New Rwanda Conservation Conference

By Apolinari Tairo

THE RWANDA GOVERNMENT has picked three former African heads of state to lead the inaugural upcoming international conservation conference to be held in Kigali early in March this year.

Reports from the Ministry of Environment of Rwanda indicate that the government of Rwanda has picked then requested three African Heads of State to lead the inaugural session of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) conference slated to take place in Kigali from March 7 to 12 this year.

Selected former African leaders are the former Prime Minister for Ethiopia Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn, the former President Niger Mr. Issoufou Mahamadou, and former President of Botswana Mr. Festus Mogae.

Taking place in Africa for the first time, the summit will be convened by the IUCN, the Government of Rwanda, and the Africa Wildlife Foundation AWF). The summit will be held at a critical time when Africa needs more than US $700 billion for the conservation and protection of its biodiversity.

The conference (summit) is expected to enhance the status of conservation in Africa by engaging governments, the private sector, civil society, indigenous peoples, and local communities then the academia to shape Africa’s agenda for protected and conserved areas, Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment said in a statement.

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to discuss a path that balances economic growth with the conservation of Africa’s natural capital.

“This will need to be done through strategic choices and investments driven by the best available knowledge and long-term thinking,” Desalegn said.

Rwanda’s Minister of Environment, Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya said that this has come at the right 43

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time though there is still a way to go.

“The APAC comes at a time when there is growing global attention on our strained relationship with nature but we are not investing enough in the natural systems we depend on,” she said.

She said in her statement that Africa spends less than 10% of what is needed to protect and restore nature.

“Protected areas must have access to the financing required for effective management and thus fulfill their role in providing essential biodiversity protection and ecosystem services for people and development,” she noted.

Mahamadou, one of the conference leaders, said that the ability of leadership should shape decisions that will affect Africa’s future.

“APAC seeks to deliberately foster dialogues that build and empower the current and the next generation of leaders to realize an African future where biodiversity is valued as an asset that contributes to development,” he said.

He added that the inaugural congress is intended to change the face of conservation and spearhead climate change mitigation efforts on a large scale.

Mogae, the congress leader, reaffirmed that APAC must be a turning point for the relationship between the global community and African institutions.

“As Africans, we recognize the pivotal role the global community and international organizations have played over the last 60 years. It is necessary for African communities and institutions to be actively involved in the conservation agenda for ownership and integration within the aspirations and vision for the Africa we want,” he said. https://eturbonews.com/3015959/three-formerafrican-heads-of-state-lead-new-rwandaconservation-conference/ Image credit: globalecotourismnetwork.org

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Development

Plans Unveiled for African Maglev Network

AFRAILWAYS IS developing Afrail Express as a high-speed passenger rail system to connect the entire African continent, from South Africa to Morocco, and Nigeria to Egypt. Afrail Express is seeking to appoint a main contractor for the construction of the infrastructure.

The first phase for the Afrail Express high-speed passenger rail, powered by Maglev (Magnetic Levitation), is to connect Johannesburg to Lagos, Lagos to Cairo, and Cairo to Johannesburg.

Eventually, routes would pass through countries including Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, DRC and Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho.

Afrail Express is a development project between Switzerland-based Afrailways and Namibiabased Groot Suisse Industries.

The team behind the project said that Afrail Express has the potential to transport more than 600 million paying passengers and more than 500 million packages through its express courier 44

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service every week when fully commissioned.

“With African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) set up to accelerate intra-African trade and boosting Africa's trading position, Afrail Express seeks to help Africa meets the Agenda 2063," said Rachel Long of Afrailways.

Afrailways said that the construction and operations of Afrail Express has potential to create more than 50 million direct and indirect job opportunities throughout Africa, with the possibility to contribute over US$5 trillion to the African GDP. www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/ plans-unveiled-for-african-maglev-network Image credit: theconstructionindex.co.uk

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Agriculture

26-year-old Lusaka Entrepreneur Wins K1 Million in Zanaco Kweza Challenge

By Bwalya Chanda

MWALA MOOTO, IS the 26-year-old entrepreneur who won the K1 million first prize of the Zanaco Kweza challenge.

The Kweza Challenge ran for over 2 months with 50 entrepreneurs pitching various aspects of their businesses. Congratulations to our top winners, letf to right: 1. Barry Ilunga Kyembe - WOTA Soap Industries Ltd. - K100,000 2. Muzalema Mwanza - Seafood Fisheries Ltd - K500,000 3. Rodgers Siwila - Rodevesi Industrial Flooring Ltd - K700,000 4. Rhoda Phiri - Koyebless Farms - K200,000 5. Mwala Mooto - Maima General Dealers K1,000,000 Mooto, through his Maima General Dealers, pitched a business model of building a stable value chain in the agricultural sector that incorporates smallholder farmers.

“We have opted to be part of the solution by setting up a 20 million kwacha financial instrument that will be used to build a stable value chain in the small livestock sector.

In a country where more than 60% of the population are small holder farmers, there is a

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great need for us to build a stable value chain that incorporates smallholder farmers and provide them with a stable market access, capital and capacity building.

A total of 3,750 smallholder farmers clustered in 75 cooperative societies consisting of 50 each from Western, Central and Northern provinces are ear marked to benefit from the instrument through capacity building, value addition, market access, input supply, working capital and business development support.

The instrument has so far attracted a total investment of 5 million which includes the 1 million prize from ZANACO, 2 Million from the African Development Bank and 2 Million from Mooto Holdings Ltd our private equity investment firm.

We are actively engaging more financiers to raise the 15 Million kwacha balance and we are at an advanced stage,” he wrote after his win. https://zambianews365.com/26-year-old-lusakaentrepreneur-wins-k1-million-in-zanaco-kweza-challenge/ Image credit: zambianews365.com, www.facebook.com/ ZanacoKweza

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Agriculture

African Food Brand Yolélé Receives $1.98M in Funding to Help Smallholder Farmers in Mali

By Shanique Yates

ACCORDING TO A PRESS RELEASE, African food brand Yolélé is on a mission to help improve smallholder value chains within the food industry.

And the “revolutionary African food brand” has just secured $1.98 million in funding to help it do so.

The move is a part of West African Ancient Grains (WAAG), a new venture located in Mali, and it plans to turn the ancient fonio grain into a cash crop and provide a source of income for farmers in one of the world’s most underserved and vulnerable areas, the Sahel region.

Based in the United States, Yolélé — launched

by Chef Pierre Thiam — will partner with Mali’s leading shea butter manufacturer, Mali Shi SA, to carry out their goal of equipping West African smallholder farmers with the resources that they need to not only thrive but survive.

What is fonio?

As a drought-tolerant gluten-free nutritional powerhouse, Fonio can be used just like any other grain. Thanks to Yolélé, the United States has access to the ancient West African grain and will continue to expand internationally.

“Efficient processing has always been the missing link preventing farmers from earning livelihoods from fonio,” said Thiam in an official press release.

“Fonio is easy for smallholders to grow, but turning it into food is hard! There is no fonio processing 46

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facility in the world that can meet the volume and quality requirements of large global food companies looking for feasible ways to meet their UN SDG’s.

We devoted a lot of resources to find a technical solution to industrial-scale processing and a strong local partner at the source. West African Ancient Grains can deliver GFSI-compliant fonio, millet, and sorghum flour for flexible applications to major food manufacturers. That changes the landscape in terms of farm income and traceable impact at scale.”

Since 2017, Yolélé has done significant work to increase visibility for the crop through its use in products that have gained wide distribution throughout the nation thanks to partnering with

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ingredient importer and distributor Woodland Foods.

Supporting Farmers A co-investment grant in the amount of $1.98 million has been funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) in partnership with Prosper Africa.

The funds will allow WAAG to build a supply chain connecting smallholder farmers who are currently living in extreme poverty, with local and global markets created for “biodiverse, climate47

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resilient crops.”

“Providing multiple sources of income for the farmers in our growing network has a huge impact on family life and rural landscape,” said Simballa Sylla, the CEO of Mali Shi. “It makes financial sense for farmers to engage in sustainable, biodiverse, multi-crop rotations only if they have customers for their harvests. West African Ancient Grains is that customer, an element that has been missing for smallholders in the Sahel.“ This co-investment partnership is the first in Mali for the Trade Hub. www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/african-foodbrand-yol%C3%A9l%C3%A9-receives-1-98min-funding-to-help-smallholder-farmers-in-mali/ ar-AASKlLo Source: AfroTech Image credit: Forbes, Trend Hunter, ebay.com, The Financial Times

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Health

Meet Africa’s New Generation of Health Innovators

By IFPMA

THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) and Speak Up Africa, have announced Conrad Tankou, CEO, GIC Space (Cameroon); John Mwangi, CEO, Daktari Media (Kenya) and Imodoye Abioro, CEO, Healthbotics (Nigeria) as the winners of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award.

The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award is IFPMA and Speak Up Africa’s flagship programme to provide young entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector an opportunity to develop their business ideas and advance promising solutions to support, equip, protect, and train healthcare workers. Applicants must be 18 to 35 years and be a national or resident of an African country.

The Award winners took home a total of $75,000 in financial support and benefited from a business mentorship programme, media training and technical support with intellectual property protection, plus exposure to a renowned network of global health leaders.

First prize winner, Conrad Tankou, CEO of GIC Space developed five proprietary medical technologies, under the GICMED platform, to remotely screen and diagnose women for breast and cervical cancers. The second prize winner, John Mwangi, CEO, Daktari Media invented Daktari Online, an online medical learning platform that offers continuing medical education to healthcare professionals.

The third prize winner, Imodoye Abioro, CEO, 48

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Healthbotics created an AI-powered Electronic Medical Records system, Mediverse, which is built on the blockchain and allows health workers to input and retrieve patient records with their voice, working with or without Internet access.

First prize winner, Conrad Tankou said “It is an honour to receive the firstever Africa Young Innovators for Health Award. This is a true endorsement of our accomplishments and testament to our goal – improving access to screening and diagnosis of breast and cervical cancers for women, even in the most remote areas. With the Award’s financial and business mentorship support, we can upgrade our technologies and start scaling our solution much quicker by investing in manufacturing capabilities and building more local partnerships.”

Speak Up Africa’s, Founder and Executive Director, Yacine Djibo said “I continue to be impressed by the dedication, vision and creativity of young people in the healthcare sector. The Award programme is a testament to the potential DAWN

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but also the concrete solutions that already exist to some of the most challenging health issues not only in Africa but around the world.”

Recognising that only one fifth of applications came from women, IFPMA and Speak Up Africa also launched the Women Innovators Incubator, an initiative aimed at addressing the gaps in female-led innovation and tackling the additional hurdles women have to face to help take their business ideas from concept to implementation.

Female applicants of the Award were eligible for the programme. Participants received financial support, a business mentorship programme, media training and access to an expert network of supporters and partners working across, digital, healthcare and media.

Winners include: Kaaro Health, Uganda; MobiCare, Uganda; and Umubyeyi Elevate.

Kaaro Health - Kaaro Health supports healthcare entrepreneurs with remote medical staffing, asset finance, tailored engineering, and management support to enable them to provide advanced care to patients in peri-urban and rural communities in Uganda. Kaaro provides tailored medical equipment finance, custom renewable power solutions, as well as management expertise to healthcare SMEs to empower them to serve rural communities better.

MobiCare - MobiCare is a mobile based application that allows patients/caretakers to directly get in touch with the health worker of their choice and request for a convenient appointment.

The MobiCare application fetches and syncs contact information of the registered health workers from a web server for patients to access. When users have MobiCare installed on their phones, they can check for the doctor’s schedule and directly ask for an appointment through the MobiCare call or video call, chats or have it requested 49

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from the Doctors schedule.

Umubyeyi Elevate, a start-up social enterprise dedicated to help young mothers, pregnant women, and prospective parents to improve their wellbeing by providing essential health information from a verified and trusted source. We offer vital support and accessible health services at the right time. UMUBYEYI is a Kinyarwanda word meaning ‘mother’ .

Thomas Cueni, Director-General at IFPMA explained that “Our three award winners have had an amazing journey and are working on some really important innovations; and the Africa Young Innovators Award will continue in following years to find more new innovation talent. But in future years, we would like to see more young women come forwards. There are significant imbalances between men and women in access to funding, training and skills development, professional networks, and overall participation in competitive environments.

The incubator is our response to tackling these inequalities and improving access to opportunities for women in the health innovation landscape. If we miss the potential of young women innovators, we are losing 50% of Africa’s power to innovate.”

The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award is supported by AMREF Health Africa, BroadReach, Ecobank Academy, Forum Galien Africa, IntraHealth International, Microsoft4Afrika, the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, and Social Change Factory, alongside our media partners: Africa.com, Télésud, and SciDev.Net. www.ifpma.org/resource-centre/meet-africasnew-generation-of-health-innovators/ Image credit: http://gictelemed.org/?page_ id=22, businesslist.co.ke, https://www.f6s.com/ healthboticsllc, mesamalaria.org

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Pandemic

The Scientist in Botswana who Identified Omicron was Saddened by the World's Reaction

By Melody Schieber

Sikhulile Moyo, the laboratory director at the BotswanaHarvard AIDS Institute Partnership and a research associate with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, headed the team that identified the Omicron variant.

Leabaneng Natasha Moyo Dr. Leslie Ray Matthews

WHEN THE BOTSWANAN SCIENTISTS saw the sequences, they were stunned.

Four international travelers had tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 11, four days after entering the country. But when the cases were genetically sequenced, where the genetic code of the virus is analyzed to look for worrying changes, the scientists discovered a variant they had never encountered before.

And soon, they alerted the world to what would become known as the omicron variant.

The team in Botswana was headed by Sikhulile Moyo, the laboratory director at the BotswanaHarvard AIDS Institute Partnership and a research associate with the Harvard T.H. Chan

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School of Public Health. Moyo is quick to give credit to his entire team and to scientists working simultaneously on similarly alarming sequences in South Africa, for the discovery of omicron.

He spoke with NPR about the identification of the new variant, travel bans, what southern Africa needs from the rest of the world and what may come next. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

When did you first suspect you might be dealing with a new variant? How long did it take for you to get concerned?

When we looked at it, we compared it with other

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sequences circulating in Botswana, and we realized this is an unusual pattern of mutations. The number of mutations that it had was just unbelievable.

We immediately alerted the Minister of Health on Monday, [Nov.] 22. We searched the databases as well, and we realized it was not [previously] seen in Africa. The closest that could be seen as a lineage was called B.1.1.207, which was a lineage common in United Arab Emirates. We got concerned because when we inquired to the Department of Health, we got notice that these individuals were traveling together.

Other groups [in South Africa] were also sequencing [samples] at the same time. On Tuesday, they saw that we had deposited some sequences [in a regional database] that looked similar to them. So, on the 23rd, we loaded our sequences to the public database.

On the 24th, South Africa went ahead and reported to the WHO, and on the 26th, the WHO convened a meeting and it was called a variant of concern.

the way. Quite a trail of destruction.

So it was a roller coaster for us. On the one extreme, we felt [we were] contributing to the world in a small way. And on the other end, we felt, is that how you reward scientists or scientific progression?

Botswana and South Africa alerted the world to this variant, but it was found among travelers who reportedly flew in from Europe.

And it was subsequently found that the variant was reported in the Netherlands a week before the announcement from Africa. How do you feel about the world reacting by banning travelers from southern Africa?

We were saddened. For me, personally, I felt that after two years into the epidemic, clearly as the global health community, we could be responding better and coordinating better.

What does Botswana want and need from the rest of the world? Is it vaccines? Is it better sequencing support? All of the above and more?

Other countries are going into boosters, and we are still struggling to reach all our population.

We still have to vaccinate a large segment of our population. The government of Botswana has been very proactive in reaching out to other countries for procuring [vaccines]. But sometimes the delays are beyond whether you have the money to buy or not.

The health care system [in Botswana during the pandemic] has been battered, and strengthening the health-care system, making sure that we have adequate resources in case we enter into a serious time [will be important]. Right now, the infections have jumped. Every day, we have about two to three times more infections than we've seen the previous day. [Note: The average daily count is 298 new cases.]

But most important, we need to make sure that we more than multiply our sequencing capacity by 10 times.

What's the reaction been within Botswana?

A number of people are saying, "You scientists, you bigmouths, look what you've done. You've locked out Christmas."

Was the African ban outright racism?

I would call it an unfair treatment of African countries.

The alpha variant was raging in the U.K. [months ago], and none of the countries put the U.K. on the red list. Because we understand that it's a global village. Of course, we enhanced border screening, enhanced requirements for entering into the country, including maybe a quarantine and testing. But it was never shutting our door, because we understand that these viruses don't respect our natural borders.

How do you reward the countries that alert you of a potential dangerous pathogen with travel bans?

My country was put on a red list, and I didn't feel good about that.

We know the repercussions. Flights were canceled, goods were not coming into the country, a lot of businesses lost millions. And our vaccine How much sequencing are you able to do supply was being threatened because of delays on see page 52 51

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Pandemic World's Reaction

from page 51

now?

The kind of resources we have are just a tiny drop in the ocean as compared to other countries in terms of sequencing capacity and sequencing strength. The U.K. generally can sequence more than 500 times the sequences we can generate in Botswana in a day.

As African scientists, we've come together and formed the Pathogen Genomics Initiative and the Africa CDC. We are using our little resources to make sure that countries are trained. The investment in HIV really helped us to be where we are. Because it was easy to come from HIV to do COVID sequencing.

We came up with a genomic surveillance plan which was very intentional. This is the reason why we were able to catch [the variant]. It's not luck.

It's because we were able to implement some level of surveillance — very small surveillance, very few samples — but randomly selected and very representative of the entire country.

There are theories the omicron variant could have developed in an immune-suppressed patient over several months. Do you agree?

And if there is any possibility that it could be true, what does that tell us about failure to diagnose and treat people with illnesses like HIV? It's just a hypothesis. One study in South Africa recognized that an individual with uncontrolled HIV infection developed quite a number of [COVID] mutations. And that's what is supporting the hypothesis around immune-compromised [individuals].

One of the successes of Botswana is that they've been able to take care of the population in terms of HIV. You are trying to reach the last mile, maybe less than 5% of the people who are living with HIV but do not know their status.

If we prioritize in those areas, we vaccinate as many people as possible [against COVID], then we are making them less likely to die from either of the diseases.

What's your reaction to the unequal distribution of vaccines?

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Just look at the statistics, you will be shocked.

Look at Guinea, Guinea has 6.2%. Libya, 11%.

Ghana, 2.7%. Kenya, less than 10%. You're talking about so many people not vaccinated.

How do we explain in a global village that it matters for an ordinary U.S. citizen that someone in Ethiopia or someone in Guinea is vaccinated?

Why does it matter? The story of variants and the movement of variants is one story that tells us that it matters because we are a connected world.

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So what's the story to tell?

We have a significant part of the world that is less than 20% vaccinated. If we increase vaccination in those countries, we are going to reduce the chances of this virus — giving it room to circulate in other parts of the world and generate more mutants.

I have one last question for you: Where do you think we will be one year from now?

If we really do our best and cover the world, I think 53

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we can win it together. But if we try and do our own corners and not take care of what's happening in other countries, I think we'll still have another two, three years of this pandemic. www.npr.org/sections/ goatsandsoda/2021/12/16/1064856213/thescientist-in-botswana-who-identified-omicronwas-saddened-by-the-worlds-reac Image credit: africacdc.org, life4me.plus

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Pandemic

Merck’s Covid-19 Pill to be Made by 11 Countries for Developing Nations in UN Deal

By Associated Press

A UNITED NATIONS-BACKED organisation announced Thursday January 20th that it has signed agreements with more than two dozen generic drug makers to produce versions of Merck’s Covid-19 pill to supply 105 developing countries.

The Medicines Patent Pool said the deals would allow drug companies to make both the raw ingredients for molnupiravir and the finished product itself. Molnupiravir, developed by Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics, has been reported to cut the hospitalisation rate in half among patients with early signs of Covid-19. Britain, the European Union and the US authorised its use in recent months.

This is a critical step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed Covid-19 treatment.

The group said 27 generic drug manufacturers in 11 countries, including Bangladesh, China, Egypt,

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Vietnam, Kenya and South Africa, would soon start producing Merck’s pill.

An antiviral pill that people could take at home to reduce their symptoms and speed recovery could prove groundbreaking, easing the crushing caseload on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in poorer countries with weak health care systems.

It would also bolster a two-pronged approach to the pandemic: treatment by way of medication and prevention, primarily through vaccinations.

Merck announced in October that it would allow other pharmaceuticals to make molnupiravir.

Neither Merck, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics nor Emory University, which invented the drug, will receive royalties while Covid-19 remains a global health emergency from sales of molnupiravir made by the generic companies. www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3164148/ mercks-covid-19-pill-be-made-11-countries-developingnations-un DAWN

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First Person - Commentary

A 2-Step Process for Building Unshakable Self Confidence

BY Carmine Gallo

YOUR PERSONAL SUCCESS GOAL: achieving what West Point psychology professor, Dr. Nate Zinsser, calls "First Victory."

I talked to Dr. Zinsser about his new book, The Confident Mind. He told me that First Victory was coined by military strategist Sun Tzu. It means that you have unshakable confidence, a sense of certainty that you're prepared to meet the challenge ahead.

First Victory requires confidence and competence.

It's when preparation meets the moment.

Bottom line: You can practice all you want, but if you don't believe you can do it, you'll still fail to perform your best when the pressure is on-victory starts in your head.

"Your performance when it matters will always depend on whether you feel totally certain in whatever level of competence you have achieved," Zinsser says.

Achieving First Victory requires that you dedicate yourself to working on your mindset. Zinsser recommends a two-step process for building unshakable self-confidence.

1. Retain and benefit from your successful experiences.

Champion athletes practice under stressful conditions. For example, football teams will often pipe high-decibel stadium-like noise through the loud speakers while an NFL kicker is practicing his field goals. After the kicker has successfully completed dozens, if not hundreds, of field goals in practice, he can retain that experience for the big game.

The same technique applies to public speaking.

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I encourage speakers to practice their presentations from start to finish, even if they make a mistake.

Keep going. And if they can practice in front of a few people, that's even better.

It adds just a little stress to the rehearsal and gives them a little boost of confidence every time they complete a practice round.

2. Release or restructure your less successful experiences.

We all make mistakes or fail to match our expectations from time to time. The secret to peak performance is to 'release' those feelings (forgive and forget) or reframe the 'failure' into a constructive thought.

For example, Melanie Perkins, the co-founder of Canva, once told me that her first pitch deck for investors did not have the intended result to win funding. Far from considering it a failure, Perkins made note of what investors liked about her idea, which built her confidence, and used their feedback to refine her pitch. It eventually worked, and today Canva is worth $40 billion.

Don't believe that unshakable belief is reserved for a lucky few who are just wired that way.

According to Zinsser, confidence is a quality that you can develop just like any other skill--through practice. www.inc.com/carmine-gallo/a-2-step-process-forbuilding-unshakable-self-confidence.html Carmine Gallo, Keynote Speaker and Author, 'Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get From Good To Great' @CARMINEGALLO Image credit: pinterest.com, lolaakinmade.com DAWN

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Governance - Black History Month Commentary

How Africans and African-Americans can Honor Martin Luther King

By Julius A. Amin, University of Dayton

Far Left: WEB President The D Kwame Nkrumah with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pinterest

Left: President Kennedy at arrival Ceremonies for President of Cameroon, Ahmadou Seko Ahidjo www. Presi

jfklibrary.org

DURING AN OFFICIAL VISIT to Washington, DC in 1962, Cameroon’s founding President Ahmadou Ahidjo informed President John F. Kennedy of his displeasure over anti-black racism in the US. Ahidjo met and praised the leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest African American civil rights organization, for its willingness to unite with Africa “in a worldwide movement to fight against the evils of racial discrimination, injustice, racial prejudices, and hatred.”

He later wrote that: Each time a black man [and woman] is humiliated anywhere in the world, all Negroes the world over are hurt.

President Ahidjo called for a united front between Africans and African-Americans to confront antiblack racism.

He was not the first postcolonial African leader to make such a request. Ghana’s founding President Kwame Nkrumah’s Pan-Africanism was a message about black upliftment and unity,

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and his close ally, Sekou Touré of Guinea, advocated similar objectives.

Those calls for a crusade against anti-black racism were deeply rooted in the best of African nationalism.

On the other side of the Atlantic, calls for collaboration to end racism were also taking place. A leading proponent of that message was Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He and many in his generation rejected the negative proscriptions of Africa, and called for Africans and African Americans to join forces in the anti-racism crusade.

They spoke fondly of their roots in Africa: we are descendants of the Africans…our heritage is Africa. We should never seek to break the ties, nor should the Africans.

Africans and African-Americans must rekindle the spirit of collaboration and cooperation which existed among Black nationalists over half a century ago to counter the rising tide of anti-black racism in the US. It was a relationship which came with mutual political, economic, and cultural

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struggle in the US. In his sermon, “The Birth of a new nation,” he stated that the Ghana example reinforced his belief that an oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed.

He added that nonviolence was an effective tactic against oppression.

European colonialism of Africa and segregation in America were both “systems of evil,” he wrote, and summoned all to work to defeat them.

B DuBois

Daily Beast

benefits.

I am a scholar of modern African history with particular emphasis on AfricaUS relations and have published extensively in the field.

My latest publication, on Cameroon-US u Touré, Guinea with relations, among dent Kennedy blogspot.com other things, addresses the importance of the collaboration between Africans and African Americans to uplift Black people.

King’s eye opening visit to Ghana

African nationalism meets US civil rights movement While racial segregation remained entrenched in America, the tide of independence was changing quickly in Africa. In 1960, 17 African nations gained independence. They took their anti-racism message to the United Nations, where they chastised the US for its failure to stop anti-black racism.

African representatives in the US were often victims of American racism. Given the Cold War, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk stated that one of America’s major Cold War problems was the continuous anti-black racism in the country.

After Nigeria, King increasingly spoke of a sense of urgency. In his article, “The Time for Freedom has Come,” he praised the independence movement in Africa while blasting the slow pace of change in the US. He referred to the independence movement in Africa as the greatest single international influence on American Negro students.

African nationalists such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tom Mboya, Hastings Banda were “popular heroes on most Negro college campuses”, King stated. He urged African governments to do more to support the civil rights struggle of “their brothers [and sisters] in the US”.

In addition, newspapers in several African nations used the treatment of African Americans to question the role of America as the leader of the “free world.”

King’s knowledge of Africa evolved slowly, and was initially peppered with the usual beliefs of African backwardness. But a trip to Ghana was transformative. In 1957, President Kwame Nkrumah invited him to his country’s independence ceremony.

King honored the invitation. During the ceremony King “started weeping… crying for joy” when the British flag was replaced with the Ghanaian flag. He spoke endlessly about the endurance, determination, and courage of the African people.

The anti-colonial struggle in Ghana mirrored what was taking place all over Africa.

Later, King noted that Ghana’s independence will have worldwide implication and repercussions — not only for Asia and Africa, but also for America. Ebb and flow of the relationship This gave African Americans new insights about between Africans and Africanthe anti-colonial struggle.

Americans Increasingly, King saw parallels between the anti-colonial movement in Africa and the civil rights 57

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Governance - Black History Month Commentary Black History

from page 57

King and his contemporaries took seriously the partnership with Africa. African American leaders, activists, and scholars alike turned to Africa for inspiration. For example, WEB Du Bois, whose credentials included being co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Pan-African movement, relocated to Ghana. Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), who introduced the Black Power concept in the civil rights movement settled in Guinea. Many others immigrated to Africa.

Poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou was transformed by the African experience. She wrote: For it is Africa that struts around in our rounded calves, wiggles around in our protruding butts, and crackles in our wide and frank laugh.

The 1960s and 1970s were decades of remarkable collaboration and cooperation between Africans and African-Americans.

American political leaders took note of the collaboration between Africans and AfricanAmericans. President John F. Kennedy, the first American president to treat Africa with respect, created a more informed US foreign policy towards African—in part to woo the support of AfricanAmericans in elections.

Kennedy’s policy was later abandoned by his successors – some of whom reverted to referring to Africans as “cannibals” and “genetically inferior.”

Those new policies coincided with a deep level of ignorance about Africans by African-Americans and vice-versa. And little effort was made by each side to bridge the gap. African Americans increasingly saw Africans through a stereotypical lens invented by the western society to justify colonialism and slavery.

In turn, Africans accepted uncritically America’s mainstream society’s labels of African Americans. The type of relations and advocacy forged by King’s generation had evaporated.

Looking ahead But the tide may be changing. There was renewed interest following the release of the movie Black Panther which showed Blacks as capable, determined, and possessing 58

January-February 2022

Wakanda civilization. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the African Union publicly condemned America for its continuous racism against blacks.

The AU spokesperson Ebba Kalondo issued a strong condemnation of the continuing discriminatory practices against Black citizens of the United States of America.

Kalondo demanded a full investigation of the killing.

This new position may rekindle the spirit of cooperation and collaboration which characterized the King era. A major part of ending anti-black racism in the US is to learn about the role Africa played in shaping the idea of the west and Africa’s contributions to global civilizations.

That knowledge will implode centuries-old myths of Africa’s backwardness and incapability. It is up to African Americans to champion that conversation in university classrooms and many other public spaces.

Finally, what King said about Africa as full of “rich opportunities”, inviting African Americans to “lend their technical assistance” to a rising continent remains as true today as it was when he said it nearly 60 years ago.

The failure to do so has increasingly ceded the ground to other actors who continue to exploit the continent. https://tribunecontentagency.com/article/howafricans-and-african-americans-can-honormartin-luther-king/ Source: https://qz.com/africa/2113148/martinluther-kings-dream-for-unity-among-all-blackpeople Image credit: newsbytesapp.com

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Governance - African Union

Official Launch of the African Union Centre for Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development THE AFRICAN UNION CENTRE for Postconflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) was officially launched on Tuesday 21 December 2021 in Cairo, Egypt. The launch was officiated by H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security and H.E Ambassador Soha Gendi, Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt for African Organizations and Communities. The launch was witnessed by the African Diplomatic Corps based in Cairo and relevant line Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Egyptian Government.

It is recalled that the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, through its Decision AU/ Dec.351 (XVI) of 31 January 2011, had welcomed the proposal by the Government of Egypt to establish the Centre as a means to building sustainable resilience, to enhance structural transformation and thereby prevent relapse into conflicts. The launch of the Centre constitutes an important step in Africa’s efforts to operationalize the PCRD Policy Framework, adopted at the Banjul Summit in 2006.

The mandate of the Centre focuses on providing technical support towards the implementation of the AU PCRD Policy Framework. The Centre will serve as the African Union’s specialized technical agency for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of PCRD programmes and projects in countries emerging from conflicts. It will work closely with the AU Commission and other stakeholders to mobilize resources and follow up the implementation of the six pillars included in the PCRD Policy Framework.

Ambassador Adeoye held talks with the Secretary General of the Arab League H.E Ahmed Aboul Gheit and the Assistant Secretary General H.E Ambassador Hossam Zaki. They agreed on working together to strengthen the cooperation between the African Union and the League of Arab States to face emerging challenges to peace and 59

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security in the two regions.

At the Cairo International Centre for C o n f l i c t Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding in Africa (CCCPA) and the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Commissioner Bankole Adeoye highlighted the role of the inaugurated AU Centre in contributing to the peace and stability in the Continent.

About the PCRD: Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) is a comprehensive set of measures that seek to: address the needs of countries emerging from conflict, including the needs of affected populations; prevent escalation of disputes; avoid relapse into violence; address the root causes of conflict; and consolidate sustainable peace. PCRD is conceived within the African vision of renewal and sustainable development and while its activities are integrated, and many must be pursued simultaneously, they are envisaged in the emergency (short-term), transition (medium-term) and development (long-term) phases. The scope of these activities encompasses six indicative elements, namely: security; humanitarian/ emergency assistance; political governance and transition; socio-economic reconstruction and development; human rights, justice and reconciliation; and women and gender.

Read more @ https://au.int/en/ d o c u m e n t s / 2 02 0 0 9 01/a f r i c a n - u n i o n policy- post- conflict- reconstruction-anddevelopment. https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20211229/launchau-centre-post-conflict-reconstruction-anddevelopment Image credit: eagle.co.ug DAWN

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Governance

President Akufo-Addo wins Forbes African of the Year 2021

By Jürgen Zimmerer

PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO has been adjudged African of the Year, 2021 by Forbes Africa magazine for its latest issue that was unveiled on Friday 3 December 2021.

The award which is in its fourth year, recognises Africans that have made an impact on the continent and the world stage.

The latest issue of the magazine said President Akufo-Addo has “repositioned the country in the global marketplace as one reliant on its own resources and strengths.”

In an interview with CNBC Africa, President Akufo-Addo said he was overwhelmed by the recognition given him by Forbes Africa magazine.

He said. “Thanks very much for recognizing the work that we are doing here in Ghana. For the African version of the magazine to pick me, I’m very grateful for me.”

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Akufo-Addo said, the award “is an honour and it means the world is looking at the work we are doing here in Ghana. So it’s an inspiration for us and an encouragement for us to continue the path that we have set ourselves.”

Previous winners have been Rwandan President Paul Kagame (2018), African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina (2019) and Ngozi Okonj director-generalor general of the World Trade Organization (2020). https://dailyguidenetwork.com/akufo-addo-named2021-forbes-african-of-the-year/ Image credit: downmagaz.com, shop.forbesafrica. com, Magzter DAWN

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Governance

President Macky Sall of Senegal, Takes Over as the New Chairperson of the African Union (AU) for 2022

THE HEADS OF STATE and Government of the African Union (AU) have elected H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal, as the new Chairperson of the African Union for the year 2022. The event took place, Saturday 5 February 2022 during the ongoing Thirty-Fifth (35th) Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union, held physically at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

President Macky Sall of Senegal is taking over the baton of command from H.E. Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The composition of the new bureau of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union for 2022 as presented by the Dean of the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) is as follows: • Chairperson of the African Union (AU) – Republic of Senegal, (West African region) • First Vice Chair of the Union – Consultations are still ongoing; • Rapporteur – Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – (Central African region); • Second Vice Chair of the Union – Libya, (Northern Region); and • Third Vice Chair of the Union – Angola, (Southern Region); In his handing over speech, President FelixAntoine Tshisekedi wished the new AU Chairperson, a successful Chairmanship and thanked the Heads of States of AU Member States as well as the AU outgoing bureau, for their support during the tenure of his mandate.

In his acceptance speech, President Macky Sall

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said he appreciates the honor coupled with the responsibility and the trust invested in his person, and the members of the new Bureau, to lead the destiny of the Organization for the next one year. “I thank you and assure you of our commitment to work together with all member countries in the exercise of our mandate” indicated the incoming Chair of the Union. “I pay tribute to the founding fathers of the Organization. Six decades later, their luminous vision continues to inspire our living together and to illuminate our united march towards the ideal of African integration” He added.

President Sall further noted that, it is precisely in this pan-African spirit that President Léopold Sédar Senghor had proposed, at the OAU summit of July 1964, to establish "a permanent political and moral authority of the Conference of Heads of State and Government" to give high-level impetus to the management of the affairs of the continent.

Commending the work done by his predecessor the outgoing chair of the Union, the newly elected Chair of the Union expressed appreciation to the considerable efforts devoted to the service of the African continent by the outgoing Chair. He further noted that, “as our Union celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, we can be proud of the progress made under major initiatives such as NEPAD, PIDA, APRM, Vision 2063, institutional reform, the Great Green Wall, the AfCFTA and more recently our coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, our challenges remain numerous and pressing; notably in the areas of peace and security, the fight against terrorism, environmental protection, health and economic and social development…” “I do not forget the resurgence of the phenomenon of coups d’état which constitutes a major attack on democracy and institutional stability on the continent”. Concluded the new AU Chair. https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20220205/president-mackysall-senegal-takes-over-new-chairperson-african-unionau-2022 Image Credit: Daily Pakistan

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Governance

Hopes for a West African Single Currency Fade as Ghana and Nigeria Launch Digital Money By kingsley kobo

DIGITAL CURRENCIES in Ghana and Nigeria are threatening two decades of work towards a common legal tender in West Africa.

The adoption of the eco (pdf), a new currency for the entire region, would help remove trade and monetary barriers, boost economic activity, and improve living standards in the community of 385 million people, according to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Seven currencies are currently in use in West Africa’s 15 countries, with eight mostly Frenchspeaking nations using CFA francs. The remaining countries have their own currencies, none of which is freely convertible. After multiple postponements (in 2005, 2010, and 2014) following its conception in 2003, a workable deadline for the launch of the eco was set for January 2020 but, as feared, it never happened.

Some experts fear the single-currency dream project could be further stunted by the emergence of central-bank digital currencies (CBDC) in West Africa’s economic powerhouses.

Central-bank digital currencies are emerging in Ghana and Nigeria.

A central-bank digital currency is the virtual or digital form of a country’s fiat currency. It is regulated by the nation’s central bank. Nigeria and Ghana are the first two countries to roll out such projects in Africa, although Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya have also been conducting research.

Nigeria partnered with Bitt, a global financial technology company, to launch its CBDC in October 2021, while Ghana hired German firm Giesecke+Devrient for its e-cedi pilot a month earlier.

Although officials from both countries claim that their respective digital currencies are meant

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to promote financial inclusion by bringing the unbanked into the financial system, the timing of those initiatives oddly coincides with the stumbling effort to get eco off the ground, according to one finance professional.

“At this stage, we are supposed to be talking about e-eco or eco itself, and not the electronic versions of other currencies in the sub-region,” says Ahmed Kone, researcher at Bamako University of Social

Sciences and Management in Mali. “If Nigeria and Ghana are testing central-bank digital currencies, it indicates that they are losing faith in the common currency project.”

More stumbling blocks to a common currency.

While the idea of having a common currency excites many in West Africa, the project seems a long way from fruition. Four primary convergence criteria must be met by each member country before the eco could be implemented.

• A single-digit inflation rate at the end of each

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year.

• A fiscal deficit of no more than 4% of GDP. • Central-bank deficit-financing of no more than 10% of the previous year’s tax revenues.

• Gross external reserves that can give import cover for a minimum of three months.

based finance journalist.“But we are not seeing that because perhaps they feel they have nothing to lose or gain from a common currency.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria is the only country in West Africa with a banknote printer and mint. The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Most of the 15 countries may likely not be able Limited prints the naira, and may likely be selected to achieve all of the above criteria for years. Only to mint the future co if member states do manage Cape Verde, Liberia, Ghana, and Togo have met to figure out the regional solution. some of them, but not consistently.

Is the eco even necessary?

The stringent standards constitute a major Economists are divided over the need for a single stumbling block for the eco project, and that could currency in the region. While some believe it will be the reason why some nations in the space are promote integration, others question the purported thinking otherwise, says Muhammad Umar, senior economic benefits for businesses considering the fellow at the Nigerian branch of the Centre for slim volume of trade among the bloc’s members.

Democracy and Development (CDD).

Intra-ECOWAS trade accounts for just 11% of “When I read that Nigeria and Ghana are testing members’ total trade, which is a somber reflection CBDCs it immediately confirmed the fears I was of a broader situation of the continent where commercial exchange between African countries represents only 15% of broader trade, the lowest globally.

A common currency has proved to be an insufficient panacea for stimulating intra-African trade if we take heed of the experiences from the two monetary zones that share the CFA franc. In the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (Cemac), intra-regional trade lags around 5%, despite more than 70 years of using a single currency.

In the West African Monetary and Economic Union (Uemoa), trade flows a bit more freely, at 16%, but it’s not encouraging, considering that their version of the CFA has been in use since 1945.

However, some advocates of the eco do not want monetary policy and trade to stand as the only motivating factors of the project. A country or having for the eco,” he says. “Would it happen in region having and controlling its own currency is 2027 like some are speculating? Would it happen evidence of independence and sovereignty, says in 2030? Nobody is sure because the criteria are Clement Gbegnon, a former risk manager at the too strict and they don’t reflect the realities of our West African Development Bank (BOAD), based economies.” in Togo.

“There is currently a strong desire in FrenchThe Nigeria factor The launch of the e-naira in Nigeria does not speaking West Africa to do away with CFA francs, which are considered as a colonial relic,’ Gbegnon come as a surprise to some observers.

“Nigeria ought to play a catalyst role in this says. “A currency is an identity. It is like the color of project owing to its weight and influence in the a country’s flag, an emblem, or a national anthem. region,” says Lawani Babatunde, a Cote D’Ivoire-

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Governance

The US has Removed Three African Countries from a Ta

By Carlos Mureithi

THE US HAS barred Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali from accessing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a two-decade old agreement which provides African countries with duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 products.

The move comes two months after president Joe Biden told Congress that he plans to cut off the three countries from the program over coups and alleged human rights violations, which put them in violation

of the program’s eligibility requirements.

In 2019, African countries exported goods worth $8.4 billion (pdf) to the US under AGOA. The agreement, which was enacted in 2000, has helped participating countries develop products for US consumers, grow industries, and create jobs. As an example, the agreement has helped to create a huge textile industry in Ethiopia that exported garments worth $722 million (pdf) to the US duty-free from 2000 to 2020, including to major

Digital Money

situation in Ghana.

It appears that both projects—Nigeria’s e-naira and Ghana’s e-cedi—are here to stay, as the authorities are unlikely to roll them back considering the significant investments involved until now, and their willingness to embrace digital transformation.

The eventual success of CBDCs in both countries could inspire similar projects in other territories of the sub-region, thus placing the eco further behind the curve.

“CBDCs are looming in the region not only because the eco is not ready, but because it’s not even foreseeable,” says Jonas Soares, associate professor at University of Amilcar Cabral in Guinea Bissau, the only Portuguese-speaking country in West Africa. “If stakeholders cease dawdling over decision-making, take a strong stance, and work diligently towards achieving the common currency all the countries in the sub-region will get behind this intriguing project that has stalled for so long and for too long.”

from page 63

If we are truly independent and sovereign we deserve our own money and that is what I want the eco’s s t a ke h o l d e r s to consider as well.”

Will Ghana and Nigeria forgo CBDCs to make way for the eco?

It remains unclear whether the governments of either country will abandon their respective nascent CBDC projects any time soon to revive hopes for the eco.

Following a ban on cryptocurrency transactions in Nigeria last February, the e-naira has been touted as a viable alternative for cross-border trade and remittance inflows even when it does not possess all the features of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and will likely do ecolittle to dampen enthusiasm for crypto in the country.

Some e-naira critics say similar solutions already exist in the country’s financial system, like online banking and bank card transactions. It’s a similar 64

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https://senegalbgc.org/blog/2021/12/30/hopes-fora-west-african-single-currency-fade-as-ghanaand-nigeria-launch-digital-money Source: https://qz.com/africa/2108317/whathappens-to-the-eco-when-the-e-naira-and-ecedi-launch/ Image credit: mbbaglobal.com, ledgerinsights. com, Dreamstime

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ariff-free Trade Program

American fashion labels such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Mali’s main exports to the US are art and antiques while Guinea’s is aluminum. The AGOA move will force them to cultivate markets elsewhere.

Thirty-eight countries were eligible for AGOA benefits in 2020.

Why Ethiopia, Mali, and Guinea have been cut off from AGOA To be eligible for AGOA, countries must establish or make continual progress towards establishing conducive environments for the democracy and human rights.

Countries have been removed before–this is the second time Mali has been cut off, after former US president Barack Obama removed it in 2013 over a coup.

Ethiopia has been in the midst of a civil war since November 2020 which has already left thousands of people dead and displaced more than 2 million. In Guinea, military officer Mamady Doumbouya has been running the country as interim minister since October after he led the country’s armed forces in a coup the previous month. And in Mali, Assimi Goïta, also a military officer, has been serving as interim president since May 2021 when he led the army to a coup.

The removal of the three countries from the AGOA program and the tensions in the countries threaten economy-driving industries which employ thousands, and will likely rattle investors. Already, the global clothing company PVH Corp, which includes brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and True & Co., has said it is closing its manufacturing facility in Ethiopia due to the crisis in the country. PHV Corp, which

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together with other American companies entered Ethiopia because of the Ethiopian government’s drive to build industrial parks to make apparel and footwear for export, announced its decision two weeks after Biden’s November statement.

Ethiopia’s foreign affairs ministry called Biden’s November statement “misguided” and said cutting off Ethiopia from AGOA would punish more than 200,000 low-income families and 1 million people in the supply chain. “Ethiopia’s citizens have never needed AGOA benefits more than now,” Mamo Mihretu, Ethiopia’s chief trade negotiator, wrote in Foreign Policy in October. https://qz.com/africa/2109230/us-removes-threeafrican-countries-from-agoa-program Image credit: U.S. Trade Representative, agoa. info

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Governance

Climate Change ‘Overtakes Pandemics as Biggest Global Concern’

By August Graham, PA City Reporter

FAILURE TO ACT on climate change has overtaken infectious diseases as the biggest concern for global experts, as the Cop 26 conference in Glasgow and major protest movements put the issue in focus.

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) survey of global risks found that three environmental risks – climate action failure, extreme weather, and biodiversity loss – were what worried experts most.

The world’s insufficient efforts to tackle climate change had been top of the list of worries in early 2020, before the pandemic hit.

It was also the biggest concern in 2016, in a survey shortly after the vital Paris Agreement talks.

Between 2017 and 2019 weapons of mass destruction were the biggest concern among polled experts as North Korea ramped up its nuclear programme.

These worries dropped off the top 10 list entirely this year.

“The climate crisis remains the biggest long-term threat facing humanity,” said Peter Giger, chief risk officer at Zurich Insurance Group.

“Failure to act on climate change could shrink global GDP by one-sixth and the commitments taken at Cop26 are still not enough to achieve the 1.5C goal.

“It is not too late for governments and businesses to act on the risks they face and to drive an innovative, determined and inclusive transition that protects economies and people.”

But UK experts were much more worried about failure of cybersecurity, and climate change did not make it into the top five biggest concerns that UK respondents had.

The annual report also showed signs of the pandemic.

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More than 84% of respondents said they were either worried or concerned about the outlook for the world.

They said that social cohesion and livelihood crises have deteriorated the most since the start of the pandemic, while saying it also heavily impacted climate action, mental health and extreme weather.

The report revealed that only 3.7% of those polled were optimistic about the outlook for the world.

The WEF, which has postponed its annual Davos conference until the summer due to the Omicron variant of coronavirus, said the pandemic has widened the gulf between rich and poor countries, and the technology divide.

It cautioned over a “vaccine inequality” that is causing uneven economic recoveries worldwide and risks stoking social and geopolitical tensions, while it added that 3.6 billion people still do not have sufficient access to the internet.

“Health and economic disruptions are compounding social cleavages,” said WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi.

“This is creating tensions at a time when collaboration within societies and among the international community will be fundamental to ensure a more even and rapid global recovery.

“Global leaders must come together and adopt a co-ordinated multi-stakeholder approach to tackle unrelenting global challenges and build resilience ahead of the next crisis.”

The survey was largely filled out by people in Europe, where 44% of respondents came from.

Some 41% of respondents came from the business world, while others were sourced from,

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Governance

Biden Hailed for Appointing 1st SomaliAmerican Senior Adviser to State Department

By Hassan Isilow, Mohammed Dhaysane THE SOMALI GOVERNMENT and intellectuals hailed US President Joe Biden for appointing Hamse Warfa, a Somali-American, as a senior adviser to the State Department.

“We are happy and welcome the appointment of Warfa by the US President. We extend our congratulatory messages to him and all Somali people," Somali government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu told Anadolu Agency.

Warfa was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. His family fled the Somali civil war and moved to neighboring Kenya, where they lived in refugee camps. He later relocated to the US. He has been working as the Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

Warfa, who has held the position since April 2019, has been the highest-ranking African immigrant in the state government.

“We congratulate Warfa. It’s a fantastic opportunity for a young, well-educated Somali-origin lad,” said Abdurahman Sheikh Azhari, director of the Centre for Analysis and Strategic Studies, a Somalia-based think tank.

He said it is not easy to be appointed to a role in an administration like that of Biden-Harris with the eyes of the world on it, especially for a Black Muslim immigrant from the Horn of Africa.

“It’s a golden opportunity for the Somali diaspora as a community across the world, the US, and Hamse particularly to serve the US’s highest office in which he can influence the policies towards Africa and the Muslim world,” Azhari said.

He said the appointment shows exactly how wellintegrated immigrants and refugees can contribute to a large nation like the US. “If the Somali communities continue to integrate, settle and contribute to the Western world, they will produce more successful leaders who can be role models to young Somalis inside Somalia.

This appointment deserves to be celebrated and commended,” Azhari added.

Prof. Hassan Sheikh Ali Nur, a lecturer at Somali National University in Mogadishu, said “Warfa's nomination for senior adviser on democracy and human rights by President Biden is a milestone in race and religious recognition in the United States of America's political participation and citizenship.”

Warfa said in a tweet that he is “excited and so ready to get to work along with incredible public servants in the Biden-Harris administration.”

According to reports, Warfa has become the first Somali-American presidential appointee in history.

Another Somali immigrant, Ilhan Omar, made history in 2018 when she became the first SomaliAmerican elected to the US Congress. www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/biden-hailed-forappointing-1st-somali-american-senior-adviser-tostate-department/2472510 Image credit: mn.gov

among other places, academia, government and represented. charities. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ Of the respondents, 64% were male, and climate-change-overtakes-pandemicsrespondents were most likely to be in their 40s or biggest-093000812.html 50s.

Source: https://pa.media/ They represented several different fields of Image credit: dissolve.com expertise, with economists being the most 67

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Governance

FYI: The Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS)

PAPSS IS A CENTRALISED payment and settlement infrastructure for intra-African trade and commerce payments. This project which is being developed in collaboration with the African ExportImport Bank, Afreximbank will facilitate payments as well as formalise some of the unrecorded trade due to prevalence of informal cross-border trade in Africa.

It will also provide alternative to current high-cost and lengthy correspondent banking relationships to facilitate trade and other economic activities among African countries through a simple, low-cost and risk-controlled payment clearing and settlement system.

The benefits of PAPPS for crossborder payments include: • cost reduction; • reduction in duration and time variability; • decreasing liquidity requirements of commercial banks; • decreasing liquidity requirements of central banks for settlement as well as its own payments; and • strengthening Central Banks’ oversight of cross border payment systems. https://afcfta.au.int/en/ pan-african-payments-andsettlement-system-papss Image credit: modernghana.com, www.linkedin.com/feed/

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Governance - Grants Opportunity

Development Innovation Ventures (USAID) Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) is USAID’s open innovation program that funds breakthrough solutions to the world's most intractable development challenges. By funding innovation and focusing on rigorous evidence, DIV impacts millions of lives at a fraction of the usual cost.

DIV PROVIDES GRANT FUNDING based on a tiered-evidence approach that maximizes impact per dollar spent. This allows for risk at early stages and mitigates risk at later stages, ensuring that funding is targeted to the most impactful and cost-effective innovations.

DIV believes that the best ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. DIV supports innovators and researchers around the world to test new ideas, take strategic risks, build evidence of what works, and advance the best solutions. DIV looks for solutions that demonstrate rigorous evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and a viable pathway to scale and sustainability. Learn more about DIV’s core principles.

DIV offers the following funding: • Stage 1 Grants: Pilot (Up to $200,000) • Stage 2 Grants: Test and Position for Scale (Up to $1,500,000) • Stage 3 Grants: Transition to Scale (Up to $15,000,000) • Evidence Generation Grants (Up to $1,500,000)

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DIV is driven n by its social return on investment, which is the benefit to society generated

by DIV’s investments. estments.

In its first three years, DIV’s portfolio returned over $17 in social benefit for each dollar awarded—a 17:1 return on investment, according to the research paper, “Is Development Economics a Good Investment?

Evidence on scaling rate and social returns from USAID’s innovation fund(link is external),”

by Michael Kremer, Sasha Gallant, Olga Rostapshova and Milan Thomas.

DIV provides funding through fixed amount awards, a unique type of Federal grant instrument that is designed to pay for results through milestone payments, not just reimbursing costs like traditional grants.

DIV was co-founded in 2010 by Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Kremer(link is external) and USAID's former Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Maura O'Neill(link is external). Hear Dr. Kremer speak about Development Innovation Ventures in his 2019 Nobel Prize Lecture(link is external).

Interested in applying? Read DIV’s Annual Program Statement.

Check out DIV’s Fact Sheet.

Applicants should apply to the level that best matches their current scale and evidence base.

Read more about DIV’s stages and how to apply.

CONNECT WITH US

LEARN MORE

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Since 2010, DIV has funded 252 innovation grants in 47 countries. Explore DIV and its portfolio of innovations on the DIV Portal website.

January-February 2022

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Follow DIV on Twitter at #DIVUSAID (link is external) and @GlobalDevLab (link is external) Contact us at div@usaid.gov. www.usaid.gov/div

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Investment

African Stock Exchange/Bourse • Algeria • Angola • Botswana • Cameroon • Cape Verde Islands • Cote de Ivoire • Egypt • Ethiopia • Ghana • Kenya • Libya • Malawi • Mauritius • Morocco • Mozambique • Namibia • Nigeria

Algiers Stock Market Angola Stock Exchange and Derivatives Botswana Stock Exchange Douala Stock Exchange Bolsa de Valores of Cape Verde Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres UEMOA (Abidjan) The Egyptian Exchange Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Ghana Stock Exchange Nairobi Stock Exchange Libyan Stock Market Malawi Stock Exchange Stock Exchange of Mauritius Casablanca Stock Exchange Bolsa Valores de Mocambique Namibian Stock Exchange Nigerian Stock Exchange

• Rwanda • Seychelles • Somalia • South Africa

Rwanda Stock Exchange Seychelles Securities Exchange Somali Stock Exchange Bond Exchange of South Africa Johannesburg Stock Exchange

• South Sudan • Swaziland • Tanzania • Tunisia • Uganda • Zambia • Zimbabwe • Zimbabwe

Khartoum Stock Exchange Swaziland Stock Exchange Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange Tunisia Stock Exchange Uganda Securities Exchange Lusaka Stock Exchange Victoria Falls Stock Exchange Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

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www.sgbv.dz www.bodiva.ao www.bse.co.bw www.douala-stock-exc www.bvc.cv (in Portug

www.brvm.org www.egx.com.eg www.ecx.com.et www.gse.com.gh www.luse.co.zm www.lsm.gov.ly www.mse.co.mw www.stockexchangeof www.casablanca-bours www.bolsadevalores.co www.nsx.com.na www.nse.com.ng/Page www.abujacomex.com www.rse.rw https://merj.exchange www.somalistockexcha www.bondexchange.co www.jse.co.za/Home.a www.a2x.co.za www.kse.com.sd www.ssx.org.sz www.dse.co.tz www.bvmt.com.tn www.use.or.ug www.luse.co.zm www.vfex.exchange www.zse.co.zw

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change.com guese)

Nairobi, Kenya buzzkenya.com

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

Bad News, London and New York: Finance Hubs Are Becoming Obsolete

By Paul J. Davies

STAND ON THE STEPS of The Royal Exchange in the heart of the City of London and you can picture the churn of people 200 years ago or more in what was becoming the world’s preeminent financial hub. Stock jobbers, traders and financiers would stream between its great limestone columns with the Bank of England to one side and all surrounded by offices of bankers or trading houses and alleyways to the ever-busy coffee shops.

The exchange was where transactions happened, but the coffee shops played an equally important role in the lifeblood of markets as information centers. People hung out there for refreshment and gossip but also all the details of supply and demand. “[T]he coffee men vied with each other in maintaining the supply of a wide variety of domestic and foreign newspapers, news-sheets, journals and bulletins, customs entry forms, auction notices, price-current lists, etc,” according to David Kynaston’s “City of London: The History.”

Today, London’s future as a global financial hub is under threat. In the popular discourse, that’s largely due to Britain’s exit from the European Union and the ongoing fights over trade and regulations. But Brexit is barely half the story, and New York faces similar threats. While, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is expanding its Paris office with new trading floors, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is doing the same in Miami and has been hunting for space in Dallas.

What links these moves is the ways technology and regulations have dramatically changed the flow of information in just the past couple of decades. The Covid pandemic showed just how little physical location now matters for many jobs and businesses in finance and gave executives confidence that more operations could be managed remotely.

Old hands barely recognize today’s world.

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Until relatively recently, human voices were still Heavy traffic outside the Roy the main vehicle for of London, circa 1880. transactions on trading floors and the chatter was full of market information.

Traders listened in on conversations and talked to each other and clients to absorb market color: that sense of whether investors were confident or fearful, who owned what and who was interested in selling or buying. Outside the office, deals, tips and preferential treatment could be won in restaurants and bars in a way that is now far harder to implement.

The information in all these conversations has become ever more tightly regulated or automated in the 21st century, especially since the financial crisis of 2008. Scandals from insider dealing around takeovers, foreign-exchange trading and the manipulation of the interbank lending rate known as Libor, have revolutionized trading and communication in banks.

Telephone calls, instant messages and emails are all recorded for posterity. Personal communications are ever more tightly controlled: Credit Suisse Group AG is seeking access to employees’ personal devices, while JPMorgan was just fined $200 million for not recording everyone’s WhatsApp messages. Compliance is paramount as a deterrent and as a record of how and why everything was done.

But it’s not just about scandals — it’s also the rules designed to ensure investors get good prices and the regulations to make market-wide risk monitoring easier. The effect has been to push DAWN

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more trading to electronic platforms even in the least liquid securities such as corporate junk bonds.

That electronification has allowed banks to manage their own balance sheets more efficiently. Most big investment banks have been building central risk functions yal Exchange in the City with algorithms and data systems that generate quick tallies of their inventories of stocks or bonds, what they can source from their clients at any given moment and what clients are interested in buying: in other words, a smarter version of the old market color of a noisy trading floor.

Speed and risk mitigation are everything for banks in the post 2008-world of high transparency and low returns. Investment banks are becoming more machine-like and much less dependent on human capital, as Kian Abouhossein, analyst at JPMorgan, put it earlier this year.

Similarly, Mike Mayo, analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., has predicted that U.S. banks could shed 100,000 to 200,000 jobs over the next decade as digital technology helps make efficiency, speed and ease-of-use the main sources of competitive advantage.

The most complex transactions, like buying and selling whole businesses, will probably always need face-to-face negotiation, but the Covid pandemic showed how much could be done by video.

Banks like JPMorgan and Goldman still want staff back in the office, but that office doesn’t need to be in New York or London for everyone to know what’s going on. A team and its leader could just as easily be in Dublin or Frankfurt, Palm Beach or Austin, as New York and London. European cities have some regulatory pull since Brexit, but that’s not their only attractions. Milan has great tax

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incentives as do Florida and Texas.

There might be lifestyle benefits, too: Cheaper housing, more accessible countryside, better schools maybe. And such comforts seem more important to a generation of younger finance workers, whose jobs often involve less risk taking and entrepreneurialism than in the past. They are compliance heavy and less exciting.

The money is still good, but working in technology might be more interesting, private equity might be higher paid and side hustles might even be viable as main careers. Goldman’s CEO David Solomon warned in November that New York needs to work hard to keep itself attractive. Like banks themselves, the great financial hubs face more competition for workers.

The main reason for major city hubs to endure might actually be for the benefit of workers: It is easier to switch jobs when competing offices and the individuals that might hire you are nearby (though this process is now being automated, too). The advantage for a large bank of having a campus where no other banks are based is that staff can’t jump ship without also having to move home.

Human networks and relationships are important for the dissemination of know how and skills. But just because people of Generation X and older have always done this face to face says nothing about whether Gen Z will care to or need to.

The courtyard and walkways of the Royal Exchange were long ago converted into shops and restaurants. Around the world, open outcry trading pits and stock exchanges are mostly museum pieces. Now banks themselves have begun to split operations into smaller pods spread across countries and continents.

Location just doesn’t matter for transactions or information flows like it once did. Financial hubs are in the minds and smart phones and terminals of the participants. This is the real challenge for London and New York. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-04/ bad-news-london-and-new-york-finance-hubsare-becoming-obsolete Image credit: General Photographic Agency/ Hulton Archiverth, foreignpolicyblogs.com

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Investment

Investing in the BAL’s Success: Room for Private Investment in African Sports

By Aubrey Hruby, Luke Tyburski

Africa was ignored by professional basketball, despite producing talent.

But as the NBA wakes up to the market potential of the billion-strong continent, things are changing. An investment by Barack Obama and Nigerian investors brought the inaugural season of BAL to the continent.

NBA STARS CONTINUE to break records garnering excitement from fans around the world as they follow their favorite teams. The NBA fan base has become increasingly global over the past decade and the league recognizes the importance of unlocking new audiences and discovering diverse talent.

Sports represent a $700bn a year industry but entire regions – home to billions – have historically

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been sidelined. This started to change in 2008 when the NBA invested $253 in NBA China—an investment now valued over $5bn.

African countries, though producing strong basketball talent for decades, have been largely ignored as a market.

No longer. In 2019, the NBA announced the creation of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) and in 2021 unveiled the operational entity NBA Africa. Former President Barack Obama joined a group of private investors in backing the new venture, including prominent Nigerian investors Babatunde “Tunde” Folawiyo of Yinka Folawiyo Group and Tope Lawani of Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation.

The inaugural season of the BAL was played in Rwanda in May 2021 and reached a global audience, while attracting high-profile partners.

Investors can be a part of this fast growth story by looking at opportunities in sports infrastructure, DAWN

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Egyp Bask

media and content development, and sports see 15-20% annual returns on top performing US sports franchises: above stock market averages diplomacy projects. and on par with the expectations of major PE firms.

Infrastructure In African markets, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire A core deficit exists in African sports infrastructure, are pushing ahead with blended models. particularly outside of soccer. While a collection The AGORA project in Côte d’Ivoire, a of marquee stadiums are scattered across the partnership between the French and Ivorian continent, the average club team in the BAL played governments, has brought in French corporate in front of a capacity crowd of only 4,600, closer interest, and a sports complex in Dakar has in comparison to a small American college. And attracted 25% equity funding. The potential for facilities matter for performance, brand-building, auxiliary development around stadiums, such as and creating sustainable business models. restaurants or hotels, can support profitability and The BAL teams from the markets with more deepen the development impact of investments in developed basketball infrastructure fared better sports infrastructure. in the inaugural season. Teams from the seven markets the BAL tapped as hosts for the 2021 Media and Content Media is core to the modern sports industry. season (influenced by existing facilities and later The NBA itself is eyeing a $75bn media rights restricted to just Rwanda due to COVID-19) outperformed others 12-1 and North African teams deal starting in 2025 that would more than triple the current value to more than $8bn/year. In went 11-4.

Current facilities have largely been reliant on African markets, advertising, marketing, and public funds built by Turkish construction firms, or merchandising are still nascent industries.

Fortunately for the BAL, other organizations the largesse of China’s ‘stadium diplomacy.’

While public subsidies are the norm in the United have found media success through a similar States too, models for private investment are tournament format. The NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament every year brings in $800m becoming more prominent globally. and over 72% of the NCAA’s total revenue in just a span of weeks, compared to the NBA’s half-year, 82-game regular season and two month playoff period. Thus, even while BAL teams look to build their individual followings and upgrade facilities, the combined product can still be exponentially more lucrative.

Telecom companies and TV stations make up a sizable share of domestic sponsors in Africa, and the BAL successfully aired on ESPN, Canal+, BeIN Sports, NBA TV, and Tencent Video, targeting a global audience across premier sports channels.

But the global trends of digital streaming and shortened attention spans, combined ptian giants Zamalek celebrate after winning the inaugural with a mobile-first young African population ketball Africa League in Kigali on Sunday, May 30, 2021. mean that new media, as opposed to cable subscriptions will open the door to more Private funding has built a handful of California innovative revenue models. With 690m active stadiums, most English Premier League teams smartphone users expected in Africa by 2025, now own their grounds, and private equity funds are innovation will be the name of the game. now investing in NBA team ownership. Funds can see page 76

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Investment also at work in this field, and, for example, the US For the NBA in China, Tencent struck an initial government worked with $500m deal to distribute games and others such Morocco’s BAL affiliate and as Weibo and ByteDance (the parent company of local NGOs to fund $250,000 TikTok) have since inked deals to provide shorter in community basketball form content and highlights, contributing to an programming. The French atmospheric rise in Chinese basketball consumers. Development Agency (AFD) The African market is a decade behind but on has also signed on as a core the same path BAL partner to strengthen American tech and venture firms should move its education and inclusion portfolio, ortfolio strengthening before the Chinese act on their learnings in their its commitments to sports education in the recent home market. Amazon, Hulu, Paramount, Peacock, New Africa France Summit. or YouTube could build on their recent forays Development finance institutions are also into live sports such as ‘Hulu has live sports’ and beginning to get involved. The Africa Investment Major League Baseball’s free game of the week Forum at the African Development Bank on YouTube to find market success. Instagram highlighted investments in sports at the annual could also leverage its bite-sized content to gain forum in Johannesburg in 2019 and the West a larger African audience, especially given the African Development Bank (BOAD) is financing following and prominence of the league’s stars on a $3.2m flagship sports center in Dakar. But the the platform. opportunity for mutually beneficial partnerships The BAL clearly recognizes these media trends remains huge, especially with the United States. based on the announcement of a partnership Given the NBA and BAL ties, the US, through with True Detective producer Richard Brown Prosper Africa and the Development Finance for a documentary series on the league’s first Corporation, could invest more heavily in season. Continuing to add creative distribution facilitating and supporting greater investment in channels like this stands to benefit not just the the African sports sector. league, but also any assortment of US tech giants The Obama investment, the innate celebrity and African startups willing to move first to capture appeal of athletes, the deep people-to-people the growing African media market. ties between the US and African nations built on rich diaspora relations and educational linkages, Human Capital and the reach of American tech giants give US Gains can be made with stadiums and media, investors a strong foundation on which to build but the BAL’s longevity depends on enhancing market success. the product on the court and growing the game of The buy-in of African institutions and the NBA’s basketball on the continent. commitment to the BAL speak to the pent up but This means investing in training camps, palpable demand for sports-centric investment basketball academies, and other programming to on the world’s youngest continent. And while support the next generation of African players, with there is only one winner in a game of basketball, the added bonus of supporting positive education investments in the sports sector are win-win, and citizenship outcomes, a point repeated by providing educational opportunities, creating jobs, many stakeholders within the BAL ecosystem and and spotlighting African talent. a longtime emphasis of BAL President Amadou www.theafricareport.com/155603/investing-inGallo Fall’s Sports for Education and Economic the-bals-success-room-for-private-investment-inDevelopment (SEED) Project in Dakar. african-sports/ The program has not only produced NBA and WNBA talent but has led to jobs or university Image credit: stg-nba.smart.com.ph, acceptance for 92% of its thousands of graduates marocsportsnews.com since 2002. NGOs and player charities are

African Sports

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Investment

Acclaimed Actor Forest Whitaker Becomes Investor in NBA Africa

By Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (NBA) announced recently that Academy Awardwinning actor and social activist Forest Whitaker has become a strategic investor with NBA Africa.

“I’m thrilled to become a strategic investor in NBA Africa as it plans to grow basketball’s presence across the continent,” said Whitaker in a written statement.

“The game of basketball is incredibly inspirational, and my decade working in Africa has shown me how sports can be a transformative method of helping to foster peace, as well as an economic engine for socio-economic development in areas of conflict. I deeply believe in the league’s commitment to youth empowerment and am so excited to work alongside the NBA Africa family.”

The NBA also revealed that New York Times best-selling author Dr. Dambisa Moyo has also joined NBA Africa as another strategic investor.

Moyo, born in Zambia, is a global economist, author and international public speaker. She previously worked as a consultant for the World Bank as a research economist and as strategist at Goldman Sachs, and has written four New York Times best-selling books about macroeconomics, global affairs, and corporate governance.

“We are delighted to welcome Dambisa and Forest to the NBA Africa family,” said NBA Africa CEO Victor Williams.

“They are both accomplished humanitarians whose expertise, resources, and guidance will add tremendous value to our existing investor

group. We thank them for their commitment Forest and belief in our efforts Whitaker to use basketball as an economic growth engine and as a vehicle to positively impact the lives of youth across the continent.”

NBA Africa handles the business affairs for the NBA and their interests in Africa. This includes the newlyformed Basketball Africa League (BAL), which includes the top 12 basketball Dr. Dambisa Moyo teams from 12 African countries. Next year in March 2022, the BAL will tip off its second season.

Whitaker and Moyo join President Barack Obama as a strategic partner in NBA Africa.

Strategic investors in NBA Africa also include a consortium led by Babatunde “Tunde” Folawiyo, chairman and CEO of Yinka Folawiyo Group; and Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation (HFP), led

by Co-CEO Tope Lawani. Additional investors in NBA Africa include former NBA players Junior Bridgeman, Luol Deng (South Sudan), Grant Hill, Ian Mahinmi (France; ties to Benin), Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Joakim Noah (ties to Cameroon). https://www.blackenterprise.com/forest-whitakerjoins-lineup-of-leaders-investing-in-nba-africa/ Image credit: NBA Communications, michaelweinstein.com

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Investment

Streaming Platform Adventr Raises $5M Seed Round, Investors Include John Legend & More

By Ngozi Nwanji Devo Harris ADVENTR — AN INTERACTIVE STREAMING PLATFORM — is looking to disrupt the tech world with its patented voice-control technology.

Founded by Devo Harris, a Grammy-awardwinning producer, Adventr serves as a low-cost, easy-to-use SaaS platform and it’s just closed a $5 million seed round, according to a press release shared with AfroTech.

Adventr’s Seed Funding Round The recent seed round was led by Paladin Capital, a leading global investor that has an extensive portfolio of revolutionary cyber companies. Fellow investors included Reinventure Capital, In/Visible Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Harris’ longtime business collaborator and Grammyaward-winning artist John Legend and Karen JawMadsen.

The funding will go toward Adventr’s technology team and marketing to “educate and inspire creators around the world,” according to Harris.

Interactive Media Tools Adventr is set to promote accessibility for its users with its new voice-powered video streaming technology. The platform will feature techsavvy tools for editing and cross-platform video distribution, ultimately enabling users to securely turn video into an internet of things device.

“We’re so pumped about our patented voicepowered video technology, SmartListen, which allows viewers to select actions within a video like choosing from a selection of options, making 78

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a call or a purchase — all through audio input,” Harris told AfroTech. “It’s a game-changer and is going to open creators’ minds to the possibilities of connected media beyond clicking in a video. We’re preparing to launch it publicly in late Q1 with select partners.”

The Future Of Adventr As Adventr is an online space for seamless interactivity across a wide variety of channels, the streaming company is in the works of taking what it has to offer to social media.

“We’re expanding significantly at Adventr, which is a testament to the quality of our product and the diversity of applications our customers are using it for,” Harris shared. “We’re staffing up and recently brought on former Vimeo General Manager Peter Gerard to lead product. We’ll soon be announcing Adventr integrations into popular social media platforms so millions of users will be able to easily create and share bite-sized adventrs natively in their favorite social apps.”

The raise comes after the startup’s initial preseed round and on the heels of becoming one of the 2021 finalists for the Startup Battlefield pitch competition at TechCrunch’s Disrupt, an annual conference introducing the tech world to new, innovative startups. www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/streamingplatform-adventr-raises-5m-seed-round-investorsinclude-john-legend-more/ar-AAS04eq Image credit: afrotech.com DAWN

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Investment

Self-Driving Vehicle Startup Will Make Healthcare Services More Accessible

By BOTWC Staff

THE FOUNDER OF A SELF-DRIVING vehicle startup is looking to mobilize healthcare services, Black Enterprise reports.

Frederick Akphoghene is the founder of JéGO Technologies, Inc., a company that designs and manufactures autonomous vehicles including selfdriving pods that can be used to transport goods and services. A Nigerian immigrant, Akpoghene started his career in tech at just 16-years-old, eventually building and partnering with hundreds of companies and startups including Abovav Technologies and Oddio Tribe Holdings.

Now, he’s launched his own company, “JéGO,” inspired by the African goddess of commerce.

The company's goal is to use its mobile platform to connect users with businesses that provide ondemand services like Flu Testing, COVID testing, IV therapy and other services which can be brought directly to customers using driverless JéGO pods.

“JéGO is here to give entrepreneurs the space to compete and to give service providers the mobility to serve without the burden of large fixed costs like rent...This will lead to more money flowing into our communities as opposed to it flowing outwards to large corporations - because we are just as tired of that normalcy as you are,” said Akpoghene.

With over 15 years of experience in tech development and software engineering, Akpoghene was able to design the patent-pending flagship prototype himself. His autonomous pods come at a time where commerce is everchanging and retail businesses are still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the JéGO

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pods have already been approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and have garnered a number b of partnerships including one with a Miami-based Urgent Care Clinic. Akpoghene is launching the pilot area in Miami with the Clinic, mapping out the Pods course and connecting app users with urgent care services.

“It’s clear now more than ever that people need and continue to need services on the go - starting with COVID testing. Join us in changing the world by building a new commerce infrastructure powered

by JéGO Pods. We’re here to ensure the present and future growth of businesses and access to crucial care services throughout the pandemic and beyond,” said Akpoghene.

Recently, Akpoghene launched a crowdfunding campaign via Start Engine to allow micro angel investors to support JéGO alongside major venture capitalists. The goal is for the pilot JéGO Pod to launch by Q3 2022 with pilots in multiple cities including Miami, Atlanta and Los Angeles within the next five years as well as a fleet of over 100 driverless vehicles operating along various routes around the U.S., Europe and South Africa.

While Akpoghene is starting his product launch with healthcare providers, the autonomous market is expected to reach $367 billion globally by 2030 and JéGO will eventually be open to all vendors looking to get their products and services directly to users and have already partnered with a local manufacturer to produce the Pods.

To invest in JéGO, click here. www.becauseofthemwecan.com/blogs/news/ founder-of-self-driving-vehicle-startup-is-lookingto-mobilize-healthcare-services Image credit: JeGO DAWN

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Investment

4DX Ventures Closes Second Fund with $60M, adds Dikembe Mutombo as Senior Advisor

By Tage Kene-Okafor

PAN-AFRICAN VENTURE CAPITAL FIRM 4DX Ventures has completed the final close of its second fund at $60 million. The second fund, launched in the first quarter of this year, was expected to close at $50 million, but investor and limited partner (LP) interest saw the fund oversubscribed.

The LPs involved are unnamed. They include U.S.-based asset managers, a university endowment, global family offices, tech founders, hedge fund portfolio managers and investors from private equity and venture capital, the firm said.

The effort by the New York, Accra and Cairobased firm, an early investor in African unicorns Flutterwave and Andela, follows large fund closes by the likes of Partech, Novastar, Algebra and TLcom Capital that have sporadically happened on the continent.

With large funds, most of these firms tend to find their sweet spots in growth-stage deals, particularly in Series A and B. But recently, they are beginning to get involved in earlier rounds to gain stakes to help them compete for the late-stage investments.

For instance, TLcom Capital, a $71 million panAfrican fund that initially made investments only in the growth stage, led pre-seed rounds in Nigeria’s Okra and Autochek last year (it co-led the latter with 4DX Ventures).

Pre-seed to Series B are the stages on which 4DX Ventures is focused, founding partners Walter Baddoo and Peter Orth told TechCrunch in an interview.

“The quality of founders and team is really our North Star. And our goal is to partner with the very best teams going after transformative opportunities across the continent,” Orth said. “And you know, Walter and I personally have experienced investing in companies from the idea stage to public markets and, generally speaking, we think that from the 80

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pre-seed to Series B stage, it’s still early enough to deliver the type of returns that we’re looking for as an early-stage fund.”

The founding partners have known each other for more than 20 years. Between them, they have years of operational and financial experience working at Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Bridgewater Associates. They started 4DX Ventures officially in 2017 after three years of investing personal funds in African startups. Global talent marketplace Andela Walte and payments company Flutterwave were part of the firm’s early success, generating significant secondary returns due to their unicorn status.

4DX Ventures’ first fund was a bit over $20 million and it invested in startups such as Ghanaian health tech startup mPharma and Kenyan B2B e-commerce platform Sokowatch. It has welcomed the likes of Autochek, Breadfast, MaxAB, Taager, Trella and Yoco from this second fund of $60 million.

Pan-African VC firms predominantly write their checks to the Big Four markets: Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya because that’s where most of the continent’s opportunities reside.

4DX Ventures is not entirely different, as most of its portfolio companies are based in these four countries. But Orth is quick to add that the firm has begun looking into other countries, especially in the Francophone region; case in point, the investment it co-led into Ivorian fintech CinetPay this month.

As for industries, 4DX Ventures says it is a “generalist,” but most of its investments have taken place in fintech, B2B e-commerce, healthcare and logistics.

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that are building products that solve foundational The close of this second fund also brought problems on the continent and also in the largest additional experience to the firm’s management markets because the size of the market matters team in two general partners, Dan Marlo and Raaid quite a bit for the potential outcome of companies,” Ahmad. Before their appointment, the pair served as senior advisors to the firm since 2017.

Both bring years of experience operating, investing and advising companies in various sectors such as fintech, telco, software, sports, social and health, the firm said in a statement.

“Both Dan Marlo and Raaid have been senior advisors to 4DX since the beginning of the fund.

And prior to them joining as senior advisors, we’ve known each other for a decade. They are both experienced operators who have a scarce combination of skill sets. And going into our next Fund and the future of the company, we couldn’t think of two better people to join to help us, you know, carry the firm into our next chapter here,” said Orth on the appointment.

NBA Hall of Famer and Congolese-American former professional basketball player Dikembe Mutombo, known for his humanitarian and er Baddoo, Peter Orth entrepreneurial work, especially for Africans and Baddoo said about the markets and industries that African Americans, will now serve in the firm’s pique 4DX’s interests. senior advisory role.

“And so we love when folks are building products He joins a current senior advisor roster that in markets that are truly large, and potentially give includes Karen Karniol-Tambour of Bridgewater the companies that opportunity to have a pretty Associates, Jay Zaveri of Social Capital and Sakya dramatic growth path throughout their lifecycle.”

Duvvuru of Nellore Capital.

Baddoo also highlighted that aside from the Baddoo, who is Ghanaian by birth, is bullish on market and industries, 4DX Ventures also seeks his firm’s work and hinted that his association with “strong founders with a growth mindset who have a the continent is part of what drives the deals 4DX lot of grit” and can “marry a very clear vision of what Ventures makes. they’re trying to build with a thoughtful approach to “Growing up in Accra, Ghana, a lot of these strategy and execution.” companies are solving problems that I witnessed, The pan-African firm writes checks of about “a personally firsthand. And so the fact that we can few $100,000 to a few million” across all stages dedicate our time to back some of the greatest (pre-seed to Series B), according to Orth. founders of this generation that are building truly Since launching its first fund, 4DX Ventures has special and important companies on a continent, invested in more than 40 companies across Africa to me, is a dream. And the ability to do that where (its primary market), the Middle East and the U.S., I come from is quite important. So my hope and with a handful of companies. One of its portfolio belief is that 4DX will continue to play a very pivotal companies, U.S.-based Swarm Technologies, role in the ecosystem.” got acquired by SpaceX. https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/15/4dx-ventures4DX Ventures says its portfolio companies have closes-second-fund-with-60m-adds-dikemberaised more than $1.2 billion in funding, one of the mutombo-as-senior-advisor/ largest follow-on investments known for an AfricanImage credit: 4DX Ventures focused fund.

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Investment

Why is the World’s Largest Crypto Exchange Sponsoring the Africa Cup of Nations?

By Carlos Mureithi

BINANCE, THE WORLD’S LARGEST cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has announced a deal with the Africa Cup of Nations to become the official and exclusive cryptocurrency and blockchain sponsor for this year’s tournament, which is ongoing in Cameroon.

Founded in 2017 and registered in the Cayman Islands, Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, processing $76 billion worth of crypto per day.

Its Afcon sponsorship is another move in the company’s quest to strengthen its presence in Africa. In 2018, the company launched a crypto trading platform in Uganda.

“With a population of 1.2 billion Africans and the prevalence of blockchain technology & its use cases, we believe the African continent could lead the future of the blockchain industry,” said Yi He, Binance co-founder and chief marketing officer, in an announcement of the deal.

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Afcon sponsorship is a unique opportunity for Binance The Africa Cup of Nations is the biggest sports tournament in the continent. It is being broadcasted in more than 160 countries around the world, with an audience of more than 300 million. Binance is looking to turn eyeballs on the most popular sport in Africa to drive crypto and blockchain adoption and enable greater access to financial services for the unbanked in the continent.

As part of the deal, Binance will also be the official partner of the Assist of the Day, Binance Assist of the Week, and Binance Assist of the Tournament segments which the Confederation of African Football, the tournament’s organizer, will promote across its social media channels and across all six venues in five cities in the west African country.

Africa is a fast-growing region for

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crypto adoption

Binance is positioning itself for Africa

Africa is the third fastest-growing (pdf) region for crypto adoption, growing by more than 1200% by value received from July 2020 to June 2021, according to Chainalysis, a platform that provides blockchain data.

One trend that’s driving crypto usage in Africa is the growth of peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchanges, where users trade directly with each other, Chainalysis says (pdf). Africa leads the world in the use of P2P, accounting for 1.2% of all African transaction volume and 2.6% of all volume for Bitcoin.

Africans use this type of trading to protect remittances and cross-border businesses from high transfer fees and the risks of weakening currencies. Besides running an exchange platform, Binance has a P2P platform known as Binance B2P. Binance may also be looking to tap into Africa’s youthful and Internet-savvy demographic. Sports could be a lever for crypto adoption as many sports fans are already using their smartphones for sports betting. A 2017 GeoPoll survey found that up to 54% of sub-Saharan African youth between 17 and 35 years have engaged in sports betting. This demographic might be an easier target market for crypto adoption.

Africa is “a hot market” for crypto, blockchain, Web3 startups and Binance is positioning itself for this region, says Michael Kimani, a Nairobibased blockchain analyst. He adds that Binance is special because it has both an exchange and a P2P marketplace.

“They’re in a really good position to be one of the biggest crypto companies across Africa,” says Kimani, who is also co-founder and head of growth for Africa at Fonbnk, a fintech company.

In Africa, Binance is competing with platforms such as Yellow Card, Luno, Buycoins Africa, Paxful, LocalCryptos, LocalBitcoins, and Remitano.

Although crypto is gaining popularity in Africa, most countries in the continent still haven’t regulated it, with some including Nigeria even banning its use. The allure of the currencies and lack of regulation have created a lucrative ground for scams, with Africans losing millions of dollars in swindles.

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Investment

Kelauni Jasmyn’s BTN.vc Raises $25M to Invest in Black-Led Tech Startups

By Ngozi Nwanji

NAVIGATING THE TECH SPACE as a Black entrepreneur requires a certain level of perseverance to ultimately see their innovative ideas turn into reality. It’s this relentless determination that took Kelauni Jasmyn’s paper napkin idea to recently closing in on $25 million for her national technology venture fund — Black Tech Nation Ventures (BTN.vc) — in under a year.

that and apply my personal knowledge to our future portfolio company is probably what I’m most excited about,” Jasmyn told AfroTech. “To be able to use all of the literal blood, sweat, and tears to then hopefully make it a little easier for the next entrepreneur who looks like me.”

Founding Black Tech Nation

Paying It Forward

Before becoming a founding partner of BTN. vc, Jasmyn created Black Tech Nation (BTN), a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping provide Black technologists and entrepreneurs with education, digital media, employment, and funding.

Fast forwarding from its launch in 2017 to 2021, the organization merged with Birchmere Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund, to birth BTN.vc with co-founders and general partners David Motley and Sean Sebastian, as previously reported by AfroTech.

BTN.vc’s mission is to invest in Black and diverse-led startups across the nation.

“I’ve done every single part of building a company [with BTN], so now to be able to take

Coming from a neighborhood right outside of Chicago that has faced tragedies due to gun violence, the Illinois native believes it would be a disservice to not lend a helping hand to innovators that have walked in similar shoes.

“I realized my blessing and privilege in this position and I don’t take it lightly,” Jasmyn shared.

“I realized that my trajectory is not normal. What kind of person would I be coming from that type of neighborhood and background to not pay it forward. To not make sure that people who come from places like where I come from have an opportunity. Who would I be if I didn’t make sure that I was creating space. For me it’s all about paying it forward and using what I’ve gotten to open doors for other people.”

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Black Tech Nation Ventures' Investors While at the halfway mark of their $50 million funding goal, BTN.vc recently held a launch event at PNC Park to celebrate the milestone and officially announced their transition into their investment phase.

To kick off their announcement, David Boone, founder of BlendED, became BTN.vc’s first portfolio investment. Along with Boone are the Pittsburgh Pirates and First National Bank as fellow investors in the fund.

The Trajectory Of Black Tech The BTN.vc team, its networks and supporters all having Jasmyn’s back has heightened her dedication to waking up the industry to see the value of Black and diverse startups and their founders. The fund’s rapid success stands as a win within the collective of Black investors, VCs and entrepreneurs, which Jasmyn believes has become a fruitful collaborative effort in the overall space.

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and innovators aren’t just the future, they’re the present moment and today is the time to fully invest.

“I feel like its gone from a social justice movement [after the passing of George Floyd] to being seen as a serious investor class,” Jasmyn said. “This is not just for play. It’s not charity. It’s not do good dollars. We’re a real fund with real people who have real ideas who can make real money. I want the industry to see these companies in our fund as an actual player in the overall venture and tech spaces.” https://afrotech.com/kelauni-jasmyn-black-technation-ventures Image credit: Nate Smallwood, btn.vc, newsunrising.org, canviiy.com

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Investment

Rapper Nas Joins Andreessen Horowitz in Africa Gaming Investment

By Abbianca Makoni It wants to use this additional capital to scale interactive content across Africa, build the workforce and acquire new users. The startup will also partner with studios to develop new concepts and build infrastructure for play-to-earn gaming, according to reports.

The team currently has a team of 37 people across 18 countries.

The company ▲Carry1st founders Lucy Hoffman, Cordel Robbin-Coker, Tinotenda initially started as a Mundangepfupfu game studio where ▼Nas it conceptualized, developed, and launched mobile games but over time, it switched to a hybrid model, adopting a publishing role and handling distribution, marketing and operations.

“When we think about Carry1st, we want to be the leading consumer internet company in the region.

And we think that the best kind of wedge would be able to do that is a combination of gaming and micropayments and online commerce,” its CEO told TechCrunch.

RAPPER NAS has joined US private equity “These industries are being pretty significantly firm Andreessen Horowitz and Alphabet Inc.’s disrupted or augmented with web3 and crypto.

Google in an investment round for Africa-focused And as more gaming content starts to integrate mobile gaming platform – Carry1st. with NFTs and cryptocurrencies, we think there’s a Carry1st, a South African publisher of social really big opportunity to partner with those studios games and interactive content across Africa, has the same way we partner with free-to-play studios,” raised $20 million Series A from the investors. he added.

The startup, launched by Cordel Robbin-Coker, https://peopleofcolorintech.com/africa/rapperLucy Hoffman and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu nas-joins-andreessen-horowitz-in-africa-gamingin 2018, also received investments from Avenir investment and the founders of Chipper Cash, Sky Mavis and Yield Guild Games, took part.

Image credit: youtube.com

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Investment

Helping Black Families Build Dream Homes & Secure Land in Ghana

By Parker Diakite

L. NZINGHA SAMUEL has made it her mission to help Black families build their dream homes and secure land in Ghana.

She was inspired by her own building process as well as the turbulent moments in America in 2020 following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor.

“There was a lot of racial social unrest happening in the United States in 2020. I remember driving down the street and thinking, ‘Why are we bumping our heads against this wall that doesn’t seem to want to come down?’ I felt we needed something else to leverage and ground ourselves,” she told Travel Noire.

She wanted to tangibly facilitate change and reached out to Stockbridge, Georgia city leaders. As an educated trainer, she wanted to offer sensitivity training for police officers. That one phone call turned into something bigger, and she began to work with city leaders to create a sister city relationship between Stockbridge and Kumasi, Ghana.

Simultaneously, she was in the process of building a home in the Ashanti region capital with her fiancé. Construction was complete just in time as Ghana officials reopened country borders.

Their home became an oasis for their inner circle, and the next thing she remembers was friend after friend wanting to stay in their home.

The couple’s home served as inspiration for their friends wanting to follow in their footsteps.

Samuel didn’t say no and, two years later, has helped 15 families build homes and purchase land in Ghana — Kumasi to be exact— in what she calls the “Ghanaian Renaissance.”

She says the movement she’s creating is bigger than just ownership for Black diasporans but being in a place that’s safe.

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L. Nzingha Samuel

“I think it’s important that we go to a place where we genuinely and truly feel connected,” she said.

“All people around the world have a home, but for Black Americans, because of the unique situation, we feel a little homeless sometimes. America is our home, but it’s not homebase. It’s a place that we’ve adopted.”

She added, “This is about creating another home base in West Africa. We may not know our full genetic coding, but arguably, we know at some point, someone in our family has touched West Africa at some point.”

As the community she’s helping to create grows in Kumasi, she and her fiancé are investing in other ways, such as building a store. Both are committed to consciously bridging the gap between the communities in Kumasi and Atlanta while creating programs to support Ghana’s social-economic development.

The couple will help families legally obtain land, as their team is situated in Kumasi. They work with local chiefs and architects to help families build their dream homes.

For more information on their work or to reach out to L. Nzingha, follow her on Instagram. https://travelnoire.com/this-woman-is-helpingblack-families-build-dream-homes-secure-landin-ghana Image credit: travelnoire

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Technology/Science

Data & Trust Alliance Group Fighting Artificial Intelligence Bias in the Work Force

By Jeffrey McKinney SUPPORTED BY SEVERAL of the nation’s largest companies, the Data & Trust Alliance Group is battling artificial intelligence bias in the workforce.

The alliance reports that organizations it works with have spotted unfair bias as one of the highest risks in the use of algorithms and AI for workforcerelated decisions. That could include hiring workers.

The drive is aimed to block technology from bringing biased results and halt potential discrimination.

Fourteen companies have committed to adopting criteria—or so-called safeguards—to mitigate data and algorithmic bias in human resources and workforce decisions, including recruiting, pay, and employee development.

Those companies include American Express, CVS Health, Deloitte, Diveplane, General Motors, Humana, IBM, Mastercard, Nike, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Nielsen, Under Armour, and Walmart. The alliance disclosed those companies employ over 3.5 million people.

Plus, more alliance companies are evaluating the safeguards and are expected to adopt them soon.

The alliance pointed out that most of the algorithmic systems used to support workforce decisions are introduced and maintained by vendors, including software providers, professional networking sites, benefits planners, and recruiting firms.

According to the alliance, its Algorithmic Bias Safeguards have four components. They include an evaluation with 55 questions in 13 categories for to be completed by the HR vendor; education and assessment that includes providing detailed guidance for HR teams assessing vendor responses to the evaluation; a scorecard that includes grading and comparing vendors; and, finally, implementing safeguards.

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Kenneth I. Chenault: Former Chairman & CEO, American Express - Board All told, the alliance disclosed there were over 200 experts involved with creating the safeguards.

K e n n e t h Chenault, the group’s co-chairman and former American Express chairman and CEO, said, “This is not just adopting principles, but actually implementing something concrete,” the New York Times reported.

Reflecting on the alliance’s new initiative, Nuala O’Connor, senior vice president, chief counsel, digital citizenship, Walmart, told the alliance, “This is not only an anti-bias tool. It is an improved outcomes tool for a time in which talent recruitment and retention are becoming critical for fairness, opportunity, and future business success.” www.blackenterprise.com/group-supported-largecompanies-fighting-artificial-intelligence-bias-onhiring-front/ Image credit: IBM Corp, linkedin.com

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Technology/Science

FBI Warning: Crooks are Using Fake QR Codes to Steal Your Passwords and Money

By Liam Tung QR CODES ARE USEFUL shortcuts to online resources via a phone's camera, but scammers are now tampering with them to direct victims to phishing pages and cryptocurrency scams.

QR or 'Quick Response' codes have been connecting scanners to real-world objects since the 1990s, but got widely adopted during the pandemic as businesses moved to contactless communication and payments via QR codes on restaurant menus, parking meters and other public spaces.

But scammers are now targeting the QR code's increased familiarity by tampering with the pixelated barcodes and redirecting victims to sites that steal logins and financial information, according to an FBI alert.

"Businesses use QR codes legitimately to provide convenient contactless access and have used them more frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, cybercriminals are taking advantage of this technology by directing QR code scans to malicious sites to steal victim data, embedding malware to gain access to the victim's device, and redirecting payment for cybercriminal use," the FBI notes in its alert.

The FBI refers to the use of QR codes in phishing emails to steal Microsoft 365 credentials in October. The QR codes were useful to attackers because the barcode images bypassed email filters that use URL scanners to block malicious links.

The FBI in October said it had recently started to receive reports about malicious QR codes being used, particularly in cryptocurrency scams.

"Crypto transactions are often made through QR codes associated with crypto accounts… making these transactions easy marks," the FBI noted.

"Do not scan a randomly found QR code," the FBI warned.

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Ars Technica reported about scammers placing fraudulent QR code stickers on parking meters in major Texas cities. These aimed to trick people into paying for parking to a fraudulent website.

The FBI's alert addresses this type of scam, too: "A business provides customers with a QR code directing them to a site where they can complete a payment transaction. However, a cybercriminal can replace the intended code with a tampered QR code and redirect the sender's payment for cybercriminal use."

QR codes can also load malware to steal financial information and then withdraw funds from victim accounts, the FBI warns.

There are parallels between email phishing and malicious QR codes stuck on public spaces. How do people know which ones to trust? Employee cyber-awareness training usually tells users not to click on links from unsolicited email, but they still do.

Some of the FBI's self-defense advice warns against following common practices when using a QR code, but the overall message is to exercise caution when entering information from a website accessed via a QR code.

"Law enforcement cannot guarantee the recovery of lost funds after transfer," it warns. The FBI's tips for smartphone users include: • check the URL after scanning a QR code because the URL may look like the legitimate site; • be careful when entering credentials or financial information on a site visited via a QR code; • avoid downloading an app from a QR code and instead use an official app store; and • call the organization if it sent a bill in email, allowing payment through a QR code in order to verify its authenticity.

Also, don't download a QR code scanner because most phones have one built in to the camera.

Finally, avoid making payments through a site navigated to from a QR code, the FBI warns.

Instead, manually enter a known and trusted URL to complete the payment. www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-warning-crooks-are-usingfake-qr-codes-to-steal-your-passwords-and-money Image credit: master-print.com DAWN

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Technology/Science

Anna An Ekeledo, An Ekelled do, executive executi tive director director di t o

What Tech Hubs Have Achieved in Africa in the Last Decade

By Alexander Onukwue

WHEN ANALYZING PROGRESS in Africa’s startup scene, attention focuses on the startups solving user problems and the investors who fund them. But for the past decade, one of the ecosystem’s most active players have been tech hubs.

The earliest examples, like iHub in Kenya and Co-creation Hub in Nigeria, started as spaces for developer meets and hacker communities, to foster creativity and collaboration. But from 117 hubs in 2015 to 618 in 2019, the number and model of tech hubs in Africa have changed to a point where it is no longer enough for hubs to assist the birth of innovation by merely offering coworking spaces or so-called incubation programs.

Hubs need to actively drive startups towards scale and success.

As the organization that helps coordinate collaboration between tech hubs, AfriLabs has a central place in African tech. Founded in 2011, it has 320 hubs in 51 countries in its network, and undertakes programs and funding initiatives to benefit member hubs. It is currently developing an Africa-focused hub management curriculum in partnership with Strathmore University in Kenya, and recently launched Catalytic Africa, a project to co-invest in startups with African angel investors.

Quartz spoke with Anna Ekeledo, the executive director of AfriLabs, to get a sense of how far tech hubs have come in Africa, and what lies ahead.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

legal services, including access to mentorship and investors.

Obviously these happen in various degrees; hubs in more mature African ecosystems like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt, and the ones in major cities are better able to offer access to venture capital funding to their startups. Quite a number of them increasingly run cohort-based programs that last between 12 and 16 weeks depending on the stage of the startups. Other services include support to the ecosystem such as policy advocacy, and tech talent development.

These seem like important needs, but can it not be said that what businesses really want is to get money and figure the rest out by themselves?

I will beg to disagree. If you are a well-educated startup founder from a mature ecosystem with access to a support system in your industry that can guide you through the way, and the right policy environment, then yes it may be easy to launch.

But in other instances, it will be incredibly difficult.

For example, launching a fintech startup is easier in Kenya than in Botswana because the latter still has to develop its support structures. If you speak to startups that succeed in Africa, they speak of the support they receive from the ecosystem What do hubs in Africa offer at the along the way, by direct funding but also in moment? gaining connection to global accelerators like Y All AfriLabs members have physical spaces that Combinator or guidance in product development. offer basic infrastructure like electricity, internet So money is absolutely needed but there’s more connectivity, and corporate real estate. But hubs to what hubs offer beyond money. also offer services like business advisory and 90

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f Af AfriLabs riL iLab bs

AkiraChix in Kenya founded in 2012, while other hubs run cohorts specific to women. At AfriLabs, we award about 15,000 euros to about 10 to 15 hubs every year. One of the award categories last year was for women support. 7 of the 15 hubs we supported ran women support programs, and some collaborated with each other.

We haven’t gotten there yet in terms of women founders in Africa as data show, but I’m glad that we have funds like FirstCheck Africa that are focused on finding women founders at the idea stage.

And what about the Francophone region? Any dedicated activities for it?

Speaking of Y Combinator, is it a problem for local tech hubs that the typical African startup wants to get into YC as soon as possible?

Some of the hard questions we need to ask ourselves now in the ecosystem is about who owns the startups. One of the main advantages of getting into YC is access to global investors for increased funding. Answering the question of ownership means we need to increase the amount of funding into African startups by African startups.

At the end of the day, the competition between global and African accelerators revolves around funding. We should be focusing on increasing the amount of investments by angel investors and incubators. AfriLabs is driving this with our capacity building programs like Catalytic Africa geared at helping hubs set up their funds and connecting to African investors.

AfriLabs has members in practically all Francophone countries, from Senegal to Madagascar. Yes, a lot of support programs from development organizations or funding opportunities focus largely on the Anglophone region. But for all our programs, we ensure that the francophone region is covered. For example, our hub management curriculum is available in French but certain modules are specific to the region because business operations are different under the OHADA corporate law system.

One thing we plan to do with Catalytic Africa is to have a pool of funds specific to Francophone startups. We plan to ensure that no more than two startups from the same country benefit from the Catalytic Africa funding project so that we don’t keep funding the usual countries.

Will tech hubs as we know them today still be relevant in Africa in five, ten years time?

Our hope is that tech hubs will evolve as infrastructure improves. If the entire continent is wired with fiber cables, people will probably not It sounds like this problem may not be need hubs for internet access but the collaborative element will always be valuable. I really do hope solved anytime soon?

I’m quite optimistic that it will be solved, if we are that in 10 years time, tech skills will be part of every university curriculum to close the current calling it a problem. talent gap, so that hubs can focus on extremely What are hubs doing to have more advanced technologies and not basic skills.

women-founded startups come through?

Africa has a few women-only hubs, like

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Technology/Science

FYI: A Twitter Feature that Banishes Spoilers and Trolls from your Feed

By Adam Benjamin

According to Twitter's description: "When This Twitter privacy setting is a great way to filter topics out of your timeline. you mute words, you won't get any new

notifications for Tweets that include them or TERRIFIED OF SPOILERS for Sonic the see Tweets with those words in your timeline."

Here's how to cleanse your timeline of unwanted Hedgehog 2? Need a break from people talking topics. about COVID-19? Timeline suddenly hijacked by people talking about a news event you have How to Mute Specific Words on Twitter absolutely zero interest in? Twitter's mute feature 1. Tap on your profile picture in the top left on a can solve all those problems -- it's just a bit buried mobile device. Select More if you're using a in the app's menus. computer.

Twitter can be a great place to interact with 2. Select Settings and privacy friends, brands, celebrities and almost anyone imaginable. The price of admission? Those people 3. Choose Privacy and safety are probably going to tweet things you don't want 4. Go to Mute and block to hear about.

5. Tap Muted words. If you have any terms Movies and TV show spoilers are a frustrating muted, they'll but mostly harmless risk. Reading tweets that display on the include painful or potentially triggering content and next menu. can have a negative impact on your mental wellbeing is a bigger problem. An unfiltered Twitter 6. On iOS, press the feed leaves you vulnerable to both of these risks Add button in the and many in between. bottom right. On Fortunately, there's a way to protect yourself.

Android, press Twitter offers the option to mute terms, the same the + symbol in way you'd mute an account you don't want to hear the bottom right from. (upper right on a 92

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web browser).

7. At the top of the screen, enter the word or phrase you want to mute. If you want to mute multiple terms, which is generally more effective, you'll have to mute them one at a time.

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8. Select your preferred details for muting the term: Whether you want to mute them in your entire timeline or just notifications, whether you want to mute them from anyone or only people you don't follow, and how long you want the term to stay muted.

9. Hit Save at the top right of the screen to mute the word or phrase. If you want to add more terms, repeat again from step six.

Tips for Muting Terms on Twitter Although the muting process is straightforward, in my experience, there's an art to successfully keeping unwanted terms off your timeline. I've learned two major tricks in my time trying to navigate around specific topics.

First, grab a thesaurus. As a longtime James Bond fan, I didn't want to hear anything about No Time to Die before I saw the movie. But I knew muting the title wouldn't be enough. I also muted the terms "Bond," "James Bond," "007" and "Daniel Craig" to shield myself from as many spoiler avenues as possible. Similarly, if you need a break from pandemic talk, I'd recommend muting words like "pandemic," "COVID," "COVID-19," "vaccine," "delta" and "omicron."

Also, choose the timeline that makes sense for you. Sometimes, you just want to dodge a topic for a day. Or maybe you just need to survive spoilers through the weekend until you can watch a movie. But there might be cases where you'll be better off muting a term forever. You can always edit your muted word settings, and your mental health should come first.

For more tweeting tips, check out our guide to Twitter Blue. We can also show you how to delete your entire Twitter history and which privacy settings you should change. www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/howto-mute-words-on-twitter Image credit: stirstuff.com, itunes.apple.com 93

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Agriculture - Busine ss Development - Educa - Commentary tion - Governance Histor y - Investm ent - Lifestyle/Cult ure Technology/Scienc e

"2021"

New Year New Decade New View New Start

Special Feature:

Touri T ourissm mp page age 4 40 0 Special Feature:

Nigeria Enters the World of Crypto

Economics page 32 Holiday Edition

Awakening the Africa n Africa Business

Launch of AfCFTA page 22 Giant Within

Association News November-Decembe r 2020

Promoting Africa-focused News and Commentary

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Lifestyle/Culture

Forbes 50 Over 50: EMEA 2022 (focus on Africa)

By Maggie McGrath with reporting by Nicola Slawson, Samantha Todd, Justin Conklin and Giacomo Tognini

Rebe

Mo Abudu 247ureports.com Judy Dlamini YouTube

Women around the world are proving that 50 and beyond is the new golden age. Here are the founders, business and political leaders, scientists and vanguards leading the way throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Mo Abudu 57 | Founder-CEO, EbonyLife Media | Nigeria A one-time model who saw an opportunity to expand the shows and stories broadcast on the African continent, Abudu founded EbonyLife in 2013 as a pan-Africa television network. As the company has grown, so too have its opportunities.

In 2020, Abudu struck a landmark multi-title film and TV deal with Netflix—the first of its kind for an African media company. She also has projects in the works with Sony and AMC. Her goal is to be the most influential storyteller in Africa—and its most relatable. “I’m a normal woman living in Africa. I’m in my 50s, my heart gets broken, my heart gets mended, I have aspirations,” she said in 2020. “I deserve my story to be told, even if it’s just something day-to-day. It doesn’t have to be about 94

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the slave trade.

Judy Dlamini 62 | Founder-Executive Chair, Mbekani Group | South Africa Dlamini began her career as a medical doctor before transitioning into business and launching her company Mbekani Group, a conglomerate with companies ranging from surgical equipment to luxury fashion, in 1996. Her 2017 book, Equal but Different, investigated the intersection of race, gender and social class in female leaders’ careers.

She serves as chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand and is also on the board of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund.

Rebecca Enonchong 54 | Founder-CEO, AppsTech | Cameroon The Cameroonian technology entrepreneur leads AppsTech, a global provider of enterprise application solutions, which she founded in 1999.

In 2015, Enonchong cofounded I/O Spaces, an inclusive coworking space. She is known for DAWN

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Angelique Kidjo www.ebay.com

ecca Enonchong kampiiproductions.com

her work promoting technology in Africa and has chaired the African Center for Technology, Innovation and Ventures Spaces since 2010. She Dr. Matshidiso Moeti investigative-malawi.org was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. In 2021, Enonchong was confirmed as vice chair of the board of the WHO Foundation.

50 small business circles for young female entrepreneurs that, in turn, saw the launch of 50 Angelique Kidjo new businesses.

61| Singer-Activist | Benin Kidjo is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and Dr. Matshidiso Moeti activist who has seen some of her greatest 57 | Regional Director For Africa, World successes after turning 50. The long list includes Health Organization | Botswana winning three of her four Grammy awards and In 2015, at age 50, Moeti made history as the performing at the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony first woman to be appointed as WHO Regional in 2011, the U.N. General Assembly in 2015, and Director for Africa. Moeti was reelected for a the Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony in second, five-year term that began in 2020, and she 2021. When she is not creating music, Kidjo is an promised to work on accelerating regional efforts avowed activist for women and children in Africa. towards achieving universal health coverage. The She founded Batonga, a charitable foundation Botswana-native joined WHO’s Africa Regional aimed at supporting women’s entrepreneurship Office in 1999 and has held a variety of roles, efforts and girls’ education, in 2006. In 2020, including deputy regional director.

Batonga operated 173 leadership clubs (socially see page 96 distanced) for girls ages 10-18, and established 95

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala politicoghana.com

Louisa Mojela internationalcementexecutive.com

Jennifer Riria womensworldbanking.org

50 over 50 Africa

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Louisa Mojela 65 | Cofounder, Wiphold | South Africa Mojela is one of the architects of Wiphold, South Africa’s first women-owned and women-focused investment platform. Mojela and her cofounders started the fund in 1994 with 500,000 rand in seed money; today, the portfolio is valued at more than 2 billion rand. In 2021, Mojela received an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University for empowering women in Africa. Mojela also recently diversified her business interests: in 2018, she founded Bophelo BioScience & Wellness, a medical cannabis startup in Lesotho.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

also been the Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, since 2016. She is also the founder of Nigeria's first-ever indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls.

Jennifer Riria 71 | Founding member, Kenya Women's Finance Trust | Kenya Riria is the founding member of KWFT Microfinance Bank and has served on the board since 1991. She is also group CEO of Echo Network Africa, formerly Kenya Women Holding, which is a woman-led and women-serving development institution. Riria has led KWFT for more than three decades, and turned it from an unprofitable NGO to Kenya’s largest microfinance bank. KWFT has served more than 3 million women and disbursed more than $3 billion.

66 | Director-general, World Trade Organization | Nigeria Okonjo-Iweala, a global economic expert, is the Fatma Samoura 59 | Secretary General, FIFA | Senegal first woman and first African Director-General of Samoura is a trailblazer in the sports world: In the WTO, a trade regulation body. Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria's Finance June 2016, at the age of 53, she became the first Minister and briefly acted as Foreign Minister– African and woman to hold the position of FIFA the first woman to hold both positions. She has secretary general. Since her appointment, the 96

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Fatma Samoura yawatani.com

number of women employed by the organization has increased, including in senior management positions. In 2021, she joined the board of directors of The Global FoodBanking Network, an international nonprofit organization working towards a hunger-free future in more than 40 countries.

Samia Suluhu Hassan 61 | President, Tanzania | Tanzania Suluhu Hassan is the sixth and current president of Tanzania, and the first woman to hold the position. She took over when former President John Magufuli died in March 2021. Suluhu Hassan, the former VP, began her political career in 2000, when she was elected as a special seat member to the Zanzibar House of Representatives and was appointed as a government minister by President Amani Karume. She was the only high-ranking woman minister in the cabinet. www.forbes.com/sites/ maggiemcgrath/2022/01/18/50-over-50-emea-2022 Image credit: Yahoo, www.discountmags.com/ Forbes

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H. E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President, United Republic of Tanzania mojidelano.com

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In pictures: The Life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu

By BBC News ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU was a much-loved figure around the world principally for his role in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. Here, we look back on the life of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has died aged 90. www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-59793545 Image credit: Getty Images

Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 fo non-violent fight against white minority rule in South Afri GETTY IMAGES

Tutu, with his wife Leah is at his side, laughs after being appointed Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986.

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Tutu, the first black Archbishop of Cape Town, visiting Ka township, west of Johannesburg, circa 1990.

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Tutu applauds as he watches Nelson Mandela and South African President FW de Klerk receive the Nobel Peace Prize for ending Apartheid in South Africa, 1993.

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Archbishop Tutu with the Queen and South African Presi Nelson Mandela (right) in Cape Town in 1995.

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Tutu took to the stage during the London Celebrates A Decade Of South African Freedom celebrations in 2004. He told a cheering crowd: "We are free. We are free."

In 2013, then-US President Barack Obama took a tour of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation Youth Centre in Cape Town. GETTY IMAGES

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or his ica.

Spiritual leader Dalai Lama seen here in 2015 sharing his birthday cake with Tutu at the Tibetan Children's Village School in Dharmsala, India. GETTY IMAGES During the launch of his biography, Tutu: The Authorised Portrait, in 2011, the Archbishop danced at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town - the day before his 80th birthday.

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Archbishop Tutu met Harry and Meghan - the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor in 2019. GETTY IMAGES

Tutu was for decades a friend of former South African President Nelson Mandela, and became emotional while speaking at his funeral in 2013. GETTY IMAGES ► Leah Tutu dances next to her husband (right, seated) during a church service to celebrate his 90th birthday in Cape Town, 2021 GETTY IMAGES

Lifestyle/Culture

The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu - Obituary

By Stanley Uys and Dan van der Vat

IN 1948, when the apartheid regime was voted into office in South Africa, Desmond Tutu was 17. It was not until the late 1960s, as the future Anglican archbishop of Cape Town approached 40, that the concept of black liberation caused him to widen his horizons, and it was only in the mid-70s that he aligned himself with the liberation struggle.

Tutu, who has died aged 90, developed late in this respect because at first he was wholly a man of the church. He never wanted to enter politics: “No, I’m not smart enough. I can’t think quickly on my feet. I also think it’s a very harsh environment. I’m a crybaby … not tough enough for the hurly-burly of politics,” he claimed, perhaps disingenuously.

Church and state were locked in combat, however, and choices had to be made. Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists and others condemned apartheid, while the Dutch Reformed churches in South Africa defended it. When Tutu became the first black Anglican dean of Johannesburg in 1975 he was, according to his biographer, Shirley du Boulay, “less politically aware than one might have expected. His contribution to the liberation of his people [until then] had been in becoming a good priest.”

Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, a predominantly Afrikaner farming town 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg. His father, Zachariah, a Xhosa, was headteacher of the local Methodist primary school.

His mother, Aletta, a Mosotho, was a domestic servant. The children were all given both European and African names and spoke Xhosa, Sotho and Tswana. Later, Tutu also learned Afrikaans and English. At the age of 14 he contracted tuberculosis

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and over the course of 20 months in hospital he developed a lifelong friendship with Father Trevor Huddleston, the Anglican missionary priest from Britain who, as one of the most prominent opponents of apartheid inside and outside South Africa, became his religious inspiration and mentor.

Tutu obtained a teaching diploma in 1953 and a BA degree by correspondence a year later. He taught at high schools in Johannesburg (1954) and Krugersdorp (1955-57), before leaving to train at St Peter’s theological college, Rosettenville.

Ordained a priest in 1961, he served in an African township.

His entry into the liberation struggle followed the years he spent abroad. From 1962 until 1966 he was in London, where he secured a master’s in theology at King’s College. He served as a curate in Golders Green and at Bletchingley, Surrey, where initially standoffish Tories took him to their hearts.

After teaching at the Federal Theological Seminary in the town of Alice in the Eastern Cape province, Tutu went back to Britain from 1972 until 1975 as associate director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches. From 1976 to 1978 he served as Bishop of Lesotho, returning to Johannesburg to take up the high-profile post of General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), from which the pro-apartheid Afrikaans churches had cut themselves loose.

That appointment effectively marked the end of Tutu’s political innocence. He had seen the uglier side of Africa, and although his travels separated him from the struggle in his own country, they also moulded him, giving him a wider outlook, more selfconfidence and a growing revulsion against race discrimination. In spite of passport restrictions, in the early 80s Tutu was probably the most travelled churchman in the world after Pope John Paul II. Britain was always a sanctuary for him. The turning DAWN

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point on that score, said Tutu, came when everyone at King’s College London treated him like anyone else. “So my gratitude to England and my gratitude to King’s is that I have discovered who I am.”

In more than one sense Tutu became Nelson Mandela’s precursor. Both men foresaw the inevitability of liberation. Both were sufficiently above racial issues to know that, ultimately, what mattered (at least for the transition from apartheid to non-racial rule) would be reconciliation among South Africa’s races. Once the apartheid government accepted the inexorability of change, as it began to do in the 80s, the role of the prophet changed. “Demands for justice are replaced by demands for reconciliation.”

However outraged they might have been by their experiences under apartheid, both Tutu and Mandela put their personal feelings aside.

In African terms, both were relatively privileged, Mandela (of Xhosa royalty) even more than the highly educated Tutu. There were differences, of course. Tutu was excitable, passionate, easily hurt; Mandela composed and imperious. In the difficult dying days of apartheid the media, especially the state-controlled broadcasting corporation (SABC), demonised Tutu as the man most white South Africans loved to hate.

But Tutu blazed the trail. When Mandela said the same things 10 years later, his words sounded fitting; when Tutu uttered them he outraged even his Anglican brethren. In 1980, he forecast that South Africa would have a black leader within five to 10 years (it took 14). The reason why many white people were so venomous was not only that Tutu told them that tomorrow would not be theirs, but that he did it with such certainty.

The entertaining, excitable, impish little man was an old-style prophet, but also one with a dry sense of humour. White people, he observed, saw him as a politician trying hard to be a bishop, with “horns under my funny bishop’s hat and my tail tucked away under my trailing cape”. His wry assessment of the impact of their arrival in South Africa was: “We had the land and they had the Bible. Then they said, ‘Let us pray,’ and we closed our eyes.

When we opened them again, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

At times, Tutu was the despair of his friends.

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Once he said that if the Russians came to South Africa, they would be welcomed as liberators. An associate sighed, “He had this habit of going over the top.” Tutu’s support of international sanctions against South Africa caused a huge eruption among white people and also in his own church.

Some liberal white South Africans classified Tutu’s Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 as foreign interference.

Tutu could never execute the politician’s softshoe shuffle. He spoke his mind, was always his own man, never trendy or fully in the political mainstream. Initially, he had been drawn to the Black Consciousness Movement and to American ideas of “black theology”, but he shifted closer to the United Democratic Front (UDF), the exiled ANC’s internal surrogate.

Sparing the sensitivities of white Anglicans was scarcely Tutu’s concern. By the time he arrived at the SACC in March 1978, the organisation was becoming a microcosm of a future, nonracial South Africa. Tutu aired his own opinions, sometimes provocatively, on world affairs. He blasted the Soviet puppet regime in Afghanistan and, simultaneously, the US for supporting the Contras in Nicaragua and Israel for bombing Beirut.

One of his more spectacular outbursts was his condemnation as “nauseating” and “the pits” of a speech by Ronald Reagan in 1988, in which the US president defended the continued involvement of American companies in the South African economy. For his part, said Tutu, “America and the west can go to hell.” Later, in his engaging way, he half-apologised, saying that perhaps he should have used “less salty language”. Patrick Buchanan, Reagan’s chief media adviser, snapped back, “Whatever his moral splendour, the bishop is a political ignoramus.”

By then, Tutu was accustomed to storms breaking over his head. In 1979, on a visit to Denmark, he criticised that country’s purchase of South African coal, thereby signalling his support for sanctions.

On his return to South Africa, he was summoned to a meeting with two cabinet ministers, who asked him to retract or face possible action, not only against himself, but against the SACC as well.

However, the organisation rallied, telling the government of PW Botha that a retraction could see page 102

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constitute a denial of Tutu’s prophetic calling.

It added, though, that it was willing to meet the government to discuss fundamental reform. It was a turning point in the mighty church v state conflict that had rocked the country since the 50s. The Anglican church was flexing its muscles.

Tutu advised the government to stop playing God. During the Christian church’s 2,000-year existence, he said, tyrants had acted against it, arresting its followers, killing them, proscribing their faith.

“If they take the SACC and the churches on, let them know they are taking on the Church of Jesus Christ.”

In 1980, Tutu and fellow clergymen went to Pretoria to meet Botha, six cabinet ministers and two deputy ministers. It was not an easy decision. Critics, clergy among them, warned Tutu’s delegation they were wasting their time, even betraying the struggle. It was Tutu’s intuitive genius to know when meeting an enemy showed strength rather than weakness.

In 1982, the then archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, sent a five-member delegation to South Africa to demonstrate world support for the SACC – “to make the point [to the apartheid government] that you are not simply dealing with a domestic matter. If you touch Desmond Tutu, you touch a world family of Christians.”

Tutu did not meet Botha again until 1986 when, accompanied by the liberal Afrikaner churchman Beyers Naudé, he was received at the state president’s official residence in Cape Town. Tutu met Botha on two further occasions in 1986, around the time the white regime was starting to meet Mandela secretly in prison. The days of apartheid were numbered, even though few realised it.

Tutu thus began his ascent in the Anglican church just as it farsightedly started to adjust to a changing South Africa. Soon after receiving the Nobel peace prize, he left the SACC to become the first black bishop of Johannesburg (1985-86).

The electoral assembly of the diocese consisted of 214 delegates – all the clergy plus one layman from each congregation. The conservative, mostly white, priests blocked Tutu, while the black priests blocked the election of a white bishop. Unable to deliver the required two-thirds majority, the 102

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assembly passed the decision to the synod of bishops, who chose the black candidate.

In April 1986, Tutu was elected to the highest Anglican post in South Africa as Archbishop of Cape Town, and that September was enthroned in St George’s Cathedral.

This was followed by his unanimous election as head of the All-Africa Conference of Churches at its gathering in Togo.

By then Tutu was in the thick of politics. Arrested for taking part in an illegal march, he was fined, imprisoned for a night and had his passport withdrawn. When it was returned, the irrepressible prelate promptly visited the pope, whereupon his passport was temporarily withdrawn again.

Defying the Botha government, Tutu met the ANC-in-exile at its Zambian headquarters, where – ever his own man – he informed it that, while he supported its aim of a non-racial, democratic South Africa, he could not associate himself with the armed struggle. The ANC at first refused to end it but later agreed to suspend it.

Tutu had first met Mandela in the 50s, when the latter was an adjudicator in an inter-school debate in which Tutu was a participant. He did not see Mandela again until the latter’s release from prison in 1990, although they corresponded while Mandela was a prisoner on Robben Island. When Tutu received the Nobel prize, the ANC organised a celebration for him, and on Mandela’s release from prison, he stayed at Tutu’s official archbishop’s residence in Cape Town.

“With calls coming from all over the world, and even the White House,” Tutu said, “it was quite impossible to spend time with him. Even then he was ever gracious with his old-world courtesy ...

His regal dignity is quite humble.” There is just a hint here of the tension that later affected the relationship.

Tutu recalled that, at a state banquet for the president of Uganda, the former president FW de DAWN

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Klerk had not been placed at the top table. Mandela “was genuinely concerned that De Klerk had been treated so offhandedly”.

However, said Tutu, Mandela could also be “horribly stubborn”.

For his part, Mandela remarked, lightheartedly, on the trouble Tutu had caused him.

Tutu married Leah Nomalizo Shinxani in 1955.

They had four children. A journalist noted many years later: “It’s fair to say that only an astute, humorous and strong woman could have survived life with Tutu,” while a close friend said, “I think she has a helluva hard time. Desmond gives himself so much to everybody that I’m not sure whether there is a lot left for Leah.”

As the ANC leaders returned from exile and prison, Tutu modestly withdrew to the wings, returning to his spiritual calling. But Mandela invited him to take the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), with a mandate not to conduct Nuremberg-style trials, but to effect reconciliation by uncovering “gross violations of human rights” committed during the apartheid years – by all sides, including the ANC. It was an offer Tutu could not refuse.

Appointed in December 1995, the TRC delivered its final five-volume report to Mandela in November 1998. By then Tutu had been receiving treatment in the US for prostate cancer. His illness had a profound effect, making him consciously savour his remaining years and turn away from public life, towards his God and his wife.

The TRC – the climax of Tutu’s career – was both praised and disparaged. Historians will long debate what it achieved. It could have investigated an estimated 100,000 violations of human rights, protracting the hearings endlessly, but it focused on the worst cases, finding time to listen to mea culpas and semi-apologies from the business community, the media, churches and others.

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For Tutu, the 1997 hearing at which De Klerk refused to accept political responsibility for the assassinations, kidnappings, torture and assorted crimes committed by agents of the apartheid state was traumatic. De Klerk made the extraordinary submission that apartheid was “a well-intentioned failure” – and that he and his predecessor, Botha, had presided over two final phases of “reform and transformation”. It was quite incorrect, De Klerk told the commission, “to refer to our administrations as the apartheid government. We were primarily concerned with the dismantling of apartheid.”

Tutu confessed that there were times when his Christian charity was strained to the limit.

He described the white regime’s chemical and biological warfare programme under Botha as the “most diabolical aspect of apartheid”. Tutu, however, warmly commended De Klerk’s speech in February 1990 unbanning liberation movements, and when he was consulted by the Norwegian Nobel committee for advice on whether to award a joint peace prize to Mandela and De Klerk in 1993, he endorsed it.

But, he said later, “had I known then what I know now, I would have opposed it vehemently”.

As for Botha, then in retirement and preparing to remarry, the TRC was a “circus” and he would not “perform” before it. Fined for contempt of court, he remained defiant to the end. The ANC’s response to the TRC report was almost as dismaying for Tutu. The report recorded that the ANC, in exile beyond South Africa’s borders for 30 years, had committed gross violations in its detention camps, torturing and executing suspected informers, rebellious members and others, and that, even after its unbanning in 1990, it had committed further crimes, including murder, mainly against black political opponents. Friends said he was saddened and perplexed by the ferocity of the criticism of the TRC by the ANC, the white rightwing and some mainstream liberals.

Tutu saw the party’s attack on the TRC as a betrayal of the ANC’s finest moral traditions. But he was comforted by the knowledge that many ANC members and supporters, including Mandela (no longer president of the ANC though still president of the country when the TRC report was published), see page 104

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were similarly disturbed by their organisation’s official response.

This dissent within the ANC prevented a lasting rupture between Tutu, the country’s “most prominent moral lodestar”, and the ANC. The ANC applied for an injunction to prevent publication of the TRC’s report (Mandela dissented), but the court rejected it. It was an inexplicable blunder by the ANC leadership, and an appalled Tutu exclaimed, “I have struggled against a tyranny. I did not do this in order to substitute another.”

Having stepped down as archbishop in 1996 Tutu left for the US in October 1998 to take up a two-year theology professorship at Emory University in Atlanta. Overwhelmed by invitations to address other gatherings and institutions across the US, he turned most of them down, so that he could carry his workload at Emory, pace himself through his illness and spend more e time with Leah. In Atlanta, he completed his majorr work, No Future Withoutt Forgiveness, published in 1999, while remaining in close e touch with those parts of the e TRC that were still at work.

For all its shortcomings, Tutu’s TRC was an extraordinary episode in South Africa’s history. Even iff 104

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it used controversial methods and failed to deliver universal reconciliation (many white people felt they were simply in the dock), at least it uncovered much of the truth. The “gross violations” were a festering sore that had to be cleansed. Some dozen other countries have conducted their own truth commissions, but South Africa’s was the most remarkable and, for this achievement, the archbishop can take his bow before history.

Tutu was credited with coining the term “rainbow nation” for the non-racial South Africa that he, Mandela and their various supporters wanted to rise from the ashes of apartheid. On his retirement as archbishop, Mandela said of Tutu at a service of thanksgiving: “His joy in our diversity and his spirit of forgiveness are as much part of his immeasurable contribution to our nation as his passion for justice and his solidarity with the poor.”

In his final years, remarkably active in the light of his cancer, Tutu campaigned in many parts of the world for human rights and freedoms, and was often seen in his beloved London. He announced that he would retire from public life on his 79th birthday, in October 2010. But the flow of comments on a wide range of social and political issues continued unabated.

In 2013 he announced he could no longer vote for the ruling ANC because of its corruption, inequality and use of violence, and its failure to tackle violent xenophobia and poverty in the townships. At the time of his 85th birthday, in 2016, he called for the right to assisted dying, and in 2020 he joined other faith leaders in calling for an end to the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people.

He continued in his advanced years to receive honours and awards from many countries, and in 2015 he was made a Companion of Honour by Britain.

The archbishop is survived by wife Leah, their children, Trevor, Theresa, Naomi and Mpho, and his sister Gloria. www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/the-mostrev-desmond-tutu-obituary Image credit: Desmond Tutu in 1998. Photograph: Brian Little/PA, Desmond Tutu with Nelson Mandela in 1994. Photograph: Desmond Boylan/Reuters, Desmond Tutu in July 2016 celebrating Mandela Day. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA

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Lifestyle/Culture

Congolese Chef Dieuveil Malonga Wants to Have the First Michelin Star Restaurant in Africa

By Brunno Braga

CREATED BY MICHELIN TIRE founders Andre Michelin, along with his brother Edouard Michelin— the Michelin Guide is the world’s most renowned restaurant guide. However, Africa has never received a Michelin star badge since the award’s first edition. Congolese chef Dieuveil Malonga wants to change that.

He wants his restaurant Meza Malonga, located in Kigali, Rwanda to become the first Michelin star restaurant in Africa, and with that, draw more attention to the culinary scene across Africa.

“Something is happening now in Africa, and people are interested in knowing more about African cuisine,” assures Malonga. “There is immense diversity. Take the example of Nigeria, in one day you can eat more than 20 types of food,” Malonga told AFP. Born near Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, Malonga spent his teenage years in Münster, Germany after the death of his parents. There, he lived with a family and soon after joined a cooking school. He went on to work in several German restaurants, including the triple Michelinstarred Aqua in Wolfsburg, then in France at the Intercontinental Hotel in Marseille.

Throughout the years, the Congolese chef improved his cuisine skills in Europe’s top

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restaurants but says he owes his success to grandmothers across Africa— where he has visited 38 countries, learning techniques such as smoking and fermentation, combining traditional spices and condiments to his dishes.

“I travel to different countries, I learn from grandmothers, and then I take these old recipes and I bring them to my laboratory here, and I try with my chefs, to bring a touch of modernity there,” he told AFP, adding that he uses small peppers from Côte d’Ivoire, pèbè nuts from Cameroon and other ingredients like mbinzo caterpillars from the Congo to occupy an entire wall of his restaurant.

After being so connected to Africa, Malonga decided to come back to the continent for good.

In 2020, he opened his restaurant Meza Malonga.

The ‘Malonga table’ attracts a clientele of affluent locals, expatriates and tourists— for a total bill of around 130 euros. The 10-course menu includes sweet potato marinated tuna, cassava powdered shrimp and coffee espuma with peanut crumble.

Passionate about products, the chef likes to wander the alleys of the Nyamata farm, an hour from Kigali, where he stocks up on aromatic herbs and edible flowers.

By 2023, he hopes to “create something big” by opening a new restaurant in the rural northern region of Musanze, at the foot of the Virunga Mountain Range.

He revealed that the second incarnation of Meza Malonga will serve as a training ground for the next generation of Africa’s top chefs and, who knows, make Meza Malonga the first Michelin Star restaurant In Africa. www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/ congolese-chef-dieuveil-malonga-wants-to-have-thefirst-michelin-star-restaurant-in-africa/ar-AASHK1m Image credit: africatopsuccess.com, Daily Maverick

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Lifestyle/Culture have been held in the hands of Western companies through their distribution rights, which has created several barriers for screening these films across the continent.

As a result, many of them remain unknown to African audiences.

“I think about art as children. If you are going to return something, it should feel safe. It shouldn’t feel as if it’s going to be suffocated or abandoned. I don’t like seeing art in cemeteries–be it libraries that are inaccessible or about to be run down, but I also don’t want to see art suffocated in placelessness. People that don’t fully understand it–the language, the context. Many of these films are decontextualized when they are not available to those whose culture they come from.” This is according to Sheila Chukwulozie, a Nigerian creative producer and artist, who also recently starred in an award-winning short film, Egúngún (Masquerade), which will be showing at Sundance 2022.

As Africa’s Artifacts Start to be Returned, What About its Films?

By Priya Sippy

IN A HAUNTINGLY MEMORABLE closing scene for the film La noire de…, by the “father of African cinema” Ousmane Sembene, a young Senegalese boy hides behind a ceremonial mask as he follows a white man through the streets of Dakar in a newly-independent Senegal. The white man hastens his pace, eventually running, but the young boy, unperturbed, keeps pace with him, always there, always watching.

This image is strangely emblematic of the position that Europe finds itself in right now as calls for the return of Africa’s looted assets escalate. Up Funding is the main explanation for to 90% of southern Africa’s material cultural why African classics are owned by the legacy is outside of the continent, according west to the French government-commissioned 2018 report by Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, and French historian Bénédicte Savoy.

No matter which way the former colonial powers turn, they cannot escape the calls for restitution.

This year, amid fresh scrutiny, several European countries started returning certain art and artifacts taken from Africa during the colonial period. At the end of October, France handed back 26 works of art to Benin. A Cambridge college and Scottish university quickly followed suit. These moves were hailed by activists and officials as turning points in the long battle by African countries to recover their stolen artwork.

African film has recently joined the restitution debate While the focus of the recent debate on African cultural restitution has been on artifacts, some activists are now turning their attention to other works from Africa that remain in the hands of Western institutions: films.

While African artifacts have been housed in European museums, classic African films

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Ousmane Sembene Much of the reason why these films are sometimes virtually unknown to Africans and mostly available in the west has to do with funding. Many postindependence African films were funded, if not partially, then fully, by European governments and

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Bey Bou

production companies, giving them the rights for a film by Senegalese great, Djibril Drop Mambety, screening and distribution. However, experts from which was restored in 2018, is owned by American the film industry in Africa are now calling for these c o m p a n y films to be made accessible to the continent as Metrograph African audiences are missing out on historical P i c t u r e s . films of cultural importance.

Mambety’s “African cinema proliferated between the 1960s first film, Touki and 1980s and it is crucial for these films to be Bouki, recently screened,” says Amil Shivji, a Tanzanian film brought back maker. “We can’t understand where we are and to the global where we are going without understanding where consciousness we have come from.”

by Beyoncé and African directors would agree. Ousmane Jay-Z’s On the Sembene famously said “Europe is not my center.” run II world tour His most renowned film, Mandabi, which was poster, is owned shot entirely in Wolof, was restored this year by by Criterion.

Cameroonian filmmaker Jean Pierre Dikangoue Pipa’s exhibition rights are controlled by Trigon Films, a Swiss company, while Niger filmmaker Oumarou Ganda’s classic Cabascabo exists in the catalogue of Cite Films of Paris.

“Very few people, especially African audiences, know about the continent’s cinematographic heritage,” explains Unesco’s recent report on African film (pdf). “The best surviving elements for historic African films are found in the national film archives of France, the UK, and other European countries, and at various Western universities and African film departments.” yoncé and Jay-Z pay homage to the Senegalese film 'Touki uki' to promote their 2018 On the Run II tour Screening these films in Africa is not only difficult, but expensive–with a oneStudioCanal and released on home entertainment off screening priced anywhere between 200across its territories, including France, UK, 1,000 euros ($225-$1,130). In rural areas, where Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. Criterion audiences often watch films in small, informal Collection, meanwhile, released Blu-ray/DVD cinemas, these screening costs make the film editions of the film in the US. virtually inaccessible. In Tanzania, informal “African films have been owned, distributed, cinema spaces, known as vibanda umiza, charge and copyrighted in the West without looking to $0.10 for entry. Larger cinemas and festivals on the territory of the continent,” continued Shivji. the continent have also found it challenging.

“Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) has “When the rights get bought, they get bought for territories in the West and Africa is not part of the found many difficulties in screening African films,” said Martin Mhando, Chair of ZIFF. “Access to conversation.”

Across Europe and America, companies have many African films is hard because our distributors extensive catalogs of classic African films. Hyenas, see page 108 107

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are still transfixed towards Europe for markets.”

High screening prices are in part to do with the technological work that has gone into digitizing the film or restoration. Film preservation and restoration is expensive, and it is typically only done by a few companies and agencies based in Europe and the US. “Restoring films can cost around 1,000 euros a minute, so it is difficult to give screening rights for free,” said Ellen Schafer, Head of Libraries and Technical Delivery at Argos Films, a French production company. “It is also about technology – if the material is restored and is available on digital it is much easier to share. If not, upgrading it can also have a high cost, and if the demand

Hyenas isn’t there, most companies won’t bother.”

The future of Africa’s oldest films Practitioners argue that a different business model is needed.

“We just need to come up with a suitable income generating model, as our film industry is still maturing,” said Nyambura M. Waruingi, a cultural activist and producer based in Kenya.

“At the very least, there should be affordable educational rights for African learning institutions and these films should be made available online.”

One African film collective is actively experimenting with new models. Ajabu Ajabu, operating out of Tanzania, has recently re-released a classic Swahili film, Maangamizi, screening it across the local, informal cinema spaces where the large majority of the population accesses film.

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Co-founder Jesse Gerard said they have been able to do this as the distribution rights of the film have remained with Ta n z a n i a n d i r e c t o r and chair of ZIFF, Martin Mhando. After the film was digitized to mark its 20th anniversary, Ajabu Ajabu distributed it via flash drives across the country.

“When you talk about history and memory it can’t be a financial argument, it is a moral and emotional argument,” said Gerard. “ W e s t e r n companies have ownership of these films b e c a u s e of a power imbalance and perpetuating that through restriction of access is problematic. These are African stories, voices, and perspectives, which need to be seen.” https://qz.com/africa/2103081/africas-restitutiondebate-should-include-films Image credit: www.ebay.com, top10films.co.uk, www.amazon.com/movies/tv, pinterest.com, cinemasansfrontieres.fr DAWN

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Lifestyle and Culture

Meet the First 10 Winners of Chanel’s ‘Next Prize’ for International Artists

By Angelica Villa for ARTNews

CHANEL HAS NAMED the inaugural winners of its Chanel Next Prize, a new biennial award that the French label founded in March 2021 to support 10 international artists and creatives working across film, music, performance and visual art.

The prize was founded as part of a larger initiative termed the Chanel Culture Fund, established earlier this year (2021) in the wake of the pandemic to expand the luxury label’s backing of the arts.

The award is given to artists who the fashion label believes are redefining their respective fields. In a statement, Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture, explained that the prize falls in line with the legacy of the label’s founder, the late Gabrielle Chanel, who supported avant-garde artists of her era. “We extend Chanel’s deep history of cultural commitment—empowering big ideas and creating opportunities for an emerging generation of artists

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to imagine the next,” she said.

Each winner will receive €100,000 ($113,000).

With it comes access to a network of mentors selected by the brand over the next 20 months.

Each recipient will be allowed to allocate the prize funding to any project of their choosing.

Under the Chanel Culture Fund, Chanel will also partner with a number of institutions to establish other awards and back exhibition programming. Among Chanel’s collaborators are Paris’s Centre Pompidou, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Underground Museum in Los Angeles, and GES-2, a newly opened contemporary art center in Moscow.

The 10 recipients of the prize were selected by actress Tilda Swinton, artist Cao Fei, and architect David Adjaye. Each artist see page 110

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was nominated by an advisory board of 25 international leaders in the cultural sector working in various fields. Below, a look at the winners of the inaugural group of the Chanel Next Prize: • Jung Jae-il, a Seoul-born, Berlin-based composer whose work merges Korean and Western sounds.

• Keiken, a London- and Berlin-based collective comprising artists Hana Omori, Isabel Ramos, and Tanya Cruz, whose work make use of installations, performances, gaming engines, and augmented reality.

• Lual Mayen, a South Sudanese refugee and game designer engineering educational and social impact tools.

• Marlene Monteiro Freitas, a Lisbon-based dancer whose choreography references her native island of Cape Verde.

• Rungano Nyoni, a Zambian-Welsh director and screenwriter based in London who gained recognition for her 2017 film I Am Not a Witch.

• Precious Okoyomon, an artist and poet based in New York, who won the 2021 Frieze Artist Award and is known for their immersive installations that examine the natural world and its ties to racial histories.

• Marie Schleef, a Berlin-based director whose work examines the dynamics of maledominated theatre conventions.

• Botis Seva, a London-based dancer and choreographer whose practice is rooted in hiphop.

• Wang Bing, a filmmaker known for projects that examine people at the margins of Chinese society.

• Eduardo Williams, an artist and filmmaker based in Paris and Buenos Aires whose documentary and fictional works examine the role of the camera. www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/meet-first-10-winnerschanel-220000858.html

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The BAL Wins International Sports Awared!

By Rashid@Afroballers

ON 22ND DECEMBER 2021, the International Sports Convention (ISC) released the names of its 7 total winners of the International Sports Award; A recognition of the most marvelous sport’s efforts across the world. The Basketball Africa League, a partnership league between NBA and FIBA, featuring 12 franchise teams from across Africa, successfully clinched the Innovation Award for utilising basketball as a tool for economic development across the African continent. Moreover, to take cognizance that The BAL has served an active role in improving the health and wellness of the youthful populace within Africa (one of the world’s youngest populations).

In their debut season, earlier this year, The BAL put to use astoundingly innovative solutions such as developing intricate health and safety protocols for over 700 leagues and team personnel from 50 countries. Additionally reaching more than 170 million fans across social media channels of the BAL and NBA combining for an accumulative 33 million views and 3.5 million engagements. Two of the remaining six winners in the other categories of this award included LaLiga for Fan Engagement and Discovery Network for Diversity and inclusion award.

Source: https://robbreport.com/

https://afroballers.com/the-bal-wins-internationalsports-award/

Image credit: vogue.globo.com

Image credit: internationalsportsconvention.com

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Kenya’s Tennis Star Angella Okutoyi A Made History

By QUARZ (QZ.COM) B

KENYA’S TENNIS PRODIGY, Angella Okutoyi, 17, made history at this year’s Australian Open by being the first Kenyan woman to win a match at a junior grand slam tournament.

Despite the Australian Open being Okutoyi’s debut in a junior grand slam event, she progressed to the third round before losing to Serbia’s Lola Radivojevic. On her way, she won two close threeset matches, defeating Italian qualifier Federica Urgesi in the first round and Zara Larke from Australia in the second.

It is the first time in 16 years a Kenyan has played at the Australian Open Juniors, and it is only the second time a Kenyan girl has played a junior grand slam tournament. Okutoyi’s junior ranking now stands at 71 in the world.

Okutoyi’s Australian Open performance has wowed many Some of the country’s icons, like sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala, boxer Christine Ongare, and actress Lupita Nyong’o also showed their support. Tennis legend, Billie Jean King, congratulated Okutoyi on making history. “Love watching our sport grow across the globe,” she posted.

Okutoyi’s journey to become a tennis professional started at age four. She moved to Burundi aged 10 to train at the ITF East Africa Regional Training Centre, before returning to Nairobi two years later to develop her game at the ITF East Africa High Performance Centre in Nairobi.

Okutoyi already has several impressive achievements to her name, having won a number of local and regional titles. In 2018, she became the

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youngest player to win the Kenya Open. At the end of 2021, she won African Junior Championships, beating the top seed Aya El Aouni, in Sousse, Tunisia.

“To make history here in Melbourne has been very special,” Okutoyi told itftennis.com. “I am happy that people in Kenya have been able to see that and they, together with African players more generally, realize they have a chance to do the same.”

“In Kenya, most people who play tennis are not well-off. Their families, like mine, don’t have much and I just want to encourage them and say that situation doesn’t mean they cannot reach here, and it doesn’t define them. It can actually give them a drive and a motivation to do good.”

Tennis Kenya have said that her momentous run at the tournament will inspire other Kenyans to pick up a racket.

“By following Angie’s matches, Kenyans’ interest in tennis has piqued and she has been trending on Twitter,” Tennis Kenya general secretary, Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani, told itftennis.com. “Her performance has inspired Kenyans around the country to sit up and take notice of her and tennis in general.” https://fastobserver.com/2022/01/kenyas-tennisstar-angela-okutoyi-made-history-quartz-africa. html Source: https://qz.com/africa/2118339/australianopen-kenyas-tennis-star-angela-okutoyi-madehistory Image credit: pd.co.ke

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Celebrity Chef Kwame Onwuachi Releasing Cookbook Featuring Dishes from the Diaspora

By Brunno Braga

COOKING FOR CELEBRITIES like Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Cardi B, Ciara, Dave Chappelle, Michelle Obama and Oprah is a dream for many chefs around the world. But, for chef Kwame Onwuachi, that dream has become reality.

The young African-American chef based in n Los Angeles, California, has been recognized as one of the most prestigious chefs in the country.

He has received recognitions like Forbes ’30 Under 30′, and the ‘Best New Chefs’ award from Food & Wine magazine.

Now, he is launching a new book, “My America,” which is set to release in May 2022. In an interview with the Miami Times, the chef said that his philosophy is that if a dish tells a story, it has a soul, which is exemplified in My America.

It will be his first cookbook and will provide his take on the food he grew up on: Afro-American Caribbean food, southern cuisine and a diverse background of dishes that encompass what he believes American cuisine is all about.

Featuring more than 125 recipes, ‘My America’ is a celebration of the food of the African Diaspora, as handed down through Onwuachi’s own family history, spanning Nigeria to the Caribbean, the South to the Bronx, and beyond, according to the press release.

From Nigerian Jollof, Puerto Rican Red Bean Sofrito, and Trinidadian Channa (Chickpea) Curry to Jambalaya, Baby Back Ribs, and Red Velvet Cake, these are global home recipes that represent the best of American cuisine.

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t travels, illuminating the connections between food c and a place, and food and culture. The result is a deeply personal tribute to the food of “a land that belongs to you and yours and to me and mine.”

This is the second time that Onwachi shares his experiences in a book. In 2019, he released ‘Notes From a Young Black Chef,‘ in which he described his early life in the projects in the Bronx, his adversities and what led him to become a successful chef. “‘Notes From a Young Black Chef,’ you could really replace that with any profession. We go through many adversities,” said Kwame Onwuachi to the Miami Times. “So it’s really just that story and a story of resilience.”

Onwuachi now serves as Food & Wine’s newly appointed executive producer, which means he’ll collaborate with the magazine’s editorial team to develop content for the brand across print, digital and video channels, as well as play an integral role in signature initiatives and events.

The acclaimed chef has recently partnered with American Express to curate “Savor & Soul,” a brunch at 1 Hotel South Beach. Onwuachi’s menu included classic brunch dishes like chicken and waffles with chili honey, lobster and salmon rolls, and black truffle quiché. https://travelnoire.com/chef-kwame-onwuachireleasing-cookbook-diaspora

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Senegal Celebrates After AFCON Victory

By Isaac Kaledzi

CELEBRATIONS CONTINUE in the West African nation of Senegal following the nation's first finals victory at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The win was a long time coming for the Teranga Lions, who suffered two previous AFCON final defeats in 2019 and 2002.

Their achievement has brought smiles to the faces of thousands of Senegalese fans, with President Macky Sall declaring Monday, February 7th, a public holiday so that celebrations could continue.

President Sall congratulated the Lions in a tweet, saying: "What a game! What a team! You did it.

Beautiful moment of football, beautiful moment of communion and national pride. Congratulations to our heroes!"

and keeping his spirits up throughout the nail-biter.

"You know what made the difference when I missed the first penalty? All my teammates came up to me and said: 'Who cares, we are a team, we win together and we lose together.'"

A Long Wait Comes to an End After gaining independence in 1960, Senegal rarely qualified for AFCON before emerging as a powerful football force in 2002, featuring now-head coach Aliou Cisse.

Following a career playing for English clubs Birmingham City and Portsmouth, Cisse took over as Senegal's head coach in 2015.

"It just shows that if you work hard, if you persevere, you will get what you want," he told First Taste of AFCON success reporters after the match.

Liverpool winger Sadio Mane became Senegal's "I am very emotional because the people of hero on Sunday night, scoring the winning penalty Senegal have wanted this trophy for 60 years." to hand his team a 4 -- 2 victory over Egypt in Winger Mane dedicated the win to Cisse.

Yaounde.

"The Senegalese people have suffered a lot, but Mane told reporters the victory marked not just I dedicate this trophy to Aliou Cisse," he said. the most important trophy of his life, but the most "You can't begin to understand what he has important day of his life. brought to Senegalese football. He deserves "I am living a dream," he said. "I can't believe it. everything."

The wait was long, but finally we did it. We are all https://allafrica.com/stories/202202080082.html happy and proud to win this trophy."

Image credit: CAF Online He thanked his teammates for supporting him

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Five Great Books from A

By Peter

IT’S BEEN A GREAT YEAR for African writing, with Tanzania’s Abdulrazak Gurnah winning the 2021 Nobel prize for Literature. South Africa’s Damon Galgut lifted the Man Booker Prize for his novel, The Promise, and exciting prose continued to sprout. Peter Kimani, leading Kenyan author, journalist, and academic, lists his top five picks.

Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

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ole Soyinka, the greatt Nigerian poet, playwright, activist, and intellectual, released his first novel e in nearly 50 years. He chuckled at CNN’ss precise figure of 48 8 years. The title of his s latest novel is inspired by a 2011 Gallup polll that th t listed li t d Nigerians Ni i att the th top of its annual happiness index, setting Soyinka off in search of utopia in his land of birth.

What he finds is a dystopian world inhabited by charlatans masquerading as Christians; young, skilled professionals lured home to perform nefarious acts; others reinventing themselves to survive the vicissitudes of politics. A sweeping satire of a land that Soyinka began to write about over 60 years ago, this is an important addition to his impressive oeuvre.

Afterlives

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n this multigenerational historical fiction of Tanganyika in the shadow of German occupation at the turn of the 20th century, Abdulrazak Gurnah, the new Nobel laureate for literature, presents the stories of individuals caught on both sides of the

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r racial divide.

There are the locals l lured into the service o the German empire; of y others are invested yet i pursuit of love and in t their optimism that iti can suture broken l lives.

By offering i intimate portraits o of his characters, f foregrounded by l large, historical e epochs, Gurnah a asserts the place of i indigenous narratives in a whitewashed, limiting view of European colonization of Africa.

The House of Rust

I

n an enchanting story from a new w s voice, Bajaber turns a familiar narrative e trope into an invigorating journeyy of discovery. The e main protagonistt sets out to look forr her fisherman father, who is lost at sea.

Her voyage is on a unique contraption made of a skeleton, which morphs into other forms as she journeys deep into the unknown.

Khadija Abdalla Bajaber is the winner of the inaugural Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize, which came with a generous $12,000 advance.

It’s easy to appreciate why the panel, led by the Nigerian author A. Igoni Barrett, settled on The DAWN

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Africa to Read This Year

r Kimani

House of Rust.

people know of the past. Yet seldom do we read the stories of those chroniclers of history. That’s Biubwa Amour Zahor: Mwanamke exactly what Charles Onyango-Obbo, the doyen Mwanamapinduzi of east African journalism, Ugandan by birth, and anzania might pan-African by work—his footprints are to be found be in the news everywhere, from Nairobi to Johannesburg— for producing east seeks to redress. f Africa’s A first Nobel The result: a compelling read that should enrich laureate l for Literature, our understanding of journalism pioneers in the but b there are other region. Written in sprightly diction, the book is as compelling reasons entertaining as it is informative. c that merit attention, t https://qz.com/africa/2110016/five-great-bookslike the pathbreaking l from-africa-to-read-in-2022 biography b

by BBC journalist Zuhura This article is republished from The Conversation j under a Creative Commons license. Read the Yunus.

Y original article. https://theconversation.com/ Biubwa Amour holiday-reading-five-picks-from-a-great-year-forZahor: Mwanamke Z african-writing-173160 Mwanamapinduzi Image credit: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, (Biubwa Amour ( BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING, GRAYWOLF Zahor: The R Revolutionary Woman), written in Z h Th l i PRESS, E&D VISION PUBLISHING, KAS Kiswahili, retrieves from the Tanzanian archives MEDIA, iStock a colorful character whose exploits in the 1960s revolution have largely gone unnoticed. This act of recovery, hopefully, will draw attention to other forgotten heroines and introduce them to a younger generation of readers.

T

Pioneers, Rebels, and a Few Villains: 150 years of Journalism in Eastern Africa

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he adage thatt “journalism is s the first draft off history” affirms the e important workk s done by journalists in shaping whatt

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History

Wreckage of Last Known Slave Ship in U.S. Largely Intact, Could Contain Human DNA

By Jeroslyn Johnson

RESEARCHERS HAVE FOUND that the wreckage from the last known African slave ship to dock in the U.S. is still largely intact and could contain traces of human DNA. The Clotilda has been buried in the mud along the Alabama coast since it was scuttled in 1860, NPR reported. Most of the wooden schooner remains intact, including the pen that was used to imprison African captives during the Atlantic Slave trade.

The upper portion of the ship has eroded, but the section below the deck where the enslaved Africans and stockpiles were held is still primarily in one piece after decades of being buried in a section of the river that wasn’t dredged.

At least two-thirds of the ship remains intact.

With the lower deck where Africans were held as cargo still in place, researchers question if food and water containers, chains, and even human DNA could remain in the hull, Maritime Executive reported.

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discovered,” he said. “It’s because it’s sitting in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta with fresh water and in mud that protected it that it’s still there.”

The Clotilda took aboard 110 individuals in West Africa and set sail for Mobile, Alabama, in 1860, decades after the U.S. banned the transatlantic slave trade. On arrival,the ship illegally sold about two dozen of the enslaved Africans, gave five to eight more to the captain as payment for his services, and divided the ownership of those who remained.

After the captured Africans were transferred to a steamboat for further transport, the Clotilda was burned in shallow water outside of the port. The start of the Civil War ended any investigation into the crime and the perpetrators ended up getting away without any penalties.

William Foster, a wealthy businessman, was behind the secret slave trading of Africans to Alabama nearly half a century after the slave trade was outlawed. Among the Africans sold from the ship were Charlie Lewis and Maggie Lewis, DAWN

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ancestors of Joycelyn Davis, who lives in Africatown and is vice president of the Clotilda Descendants Association.

In November, the ship was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

ABOUT BLACK ENTERPRISE is the premier business, investing, and wealthbuilding resource for African Americans. Since 1970, BLACK ENTERPRISE has provided essential business information and advice to professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers.

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www.blackenterprise.com/wreckage-of-lastknown-slave-ship-to-the-u-s-is-largely-intact-andcould-contain-human-dna/ Image credit: WVTM, ColorLines, Daily Mail>Associated

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To Know About

International Days Martin Luther King Day January 20, 2022 https://thekingcenter.org

Black History Month (USA/Canada) Theme: Black Health and Wellness February 1-28, 2022 https://asalh.org/

International Day of Women & Girls in Science February 11th

International Women's Day (IWD) Theme: #BreakTheBias March 8, 2022 www.internationalwomensday.com

www.pacci.org/prosperityafricaconference

World Water Day Theme: Groundwater - Making the Invisible Visible March 22nd www.worldwaterday.org

Ramadan

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition August 23rd https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/ slavetraderemembranceday

April 2nd - May 1st

World Tourism Day World Fair Trade Day May 14th www.fairtradefederation.org/wftd

September 27th www.unwto.org

International Day of the Girl World Refugee Day June 20th www.unhcr.org/world-refugee-day.html

World Rainforest Day June 22nd www.regnskog.no/en

October 11th www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women November 25th www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violenceagainst-women-day

Nelson Mandela International Day July 18th www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay

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Source: www.linkedin.com/pulse/2022celebrations-around-world-mubashir-nazar/

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Celebrations

African Diaspora Independence Days J 26, 1960 R DJIBOUTI - J 27, 1977 R CAMEROON - J . 1, 1960 R SEYCHELLES - J 29, 1976 R HAITI - J . 1, 1804 R CONGO D R SUDAN - J . 1, 1956 D (KINSHASA) - J 30, 1960 F MOROCCO (I ) - J 30, 1969 G GRENADA - F 07, 1974 J R T GAMBIA - F . 18, 1965 R BURUNDI - J 1, 1962 SAINT LUCIA - F 22, 1979 R RWANDA - J 1, 1962 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - F . 27, 1844 D R SOMALIA - J 1, A R EGYPT - F . 28, 1922 1960 WESTERN SAHARA - F . 28, 1976 D P R M ALGERIA - J 3, 1962 K MOROCCO - M 2, 1956 R CAPE VERDE - J 5, 1975 R GHANA - M 6, 1957 F I R COMOROS S MAURITIUS - M 12, 1968 -J 6, 1975 R TUNISIA - M 20, 1956 R MALAWI - J 6, 1964 R NAMIBIA - M 21, 1990 C THE BAHAMAS - J 10, A 1973 R SENEGAL - A 4, 1960 D R SÃO TOMÉ AND S N Z MOROCCO PRINCIPE - J 12, 1975 (M )-A 7, 1956 R LIBERIA - J 26, 1847 R ZIMBABWE - A 18, 1980 A MOROCCO (S S Z , R BENIN - A . 1, 1960 M )-A 27, 1958 R NIGER - A . 3, 1960 R SIERRA LEONE - A . 27, 1961 P D R BURKINA R TOGO - A 27, 1960 FASO - A . 5, 1960 M JAMAICA - A 06, 1962 P ' D R ETHIOPIA - G R CÔTE D'IVOIRE (I C )M 5, 1941 A . 7, 1960 R CUBA - M 20 ,1902 R CHAD - A . 11, 1960 S ERITREA - M 24, 1993 C R GUYANA - M 26, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - A . 13, 1960 1966 R CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE) R SOUTH AFRICA - M 31, 1910 A . 15, 1960 J GABON - A . 16, 1960 NIGERIA (B C N )-J 1, R R TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - A 1961 31, 1962 A A ' R V S (J )-J 19, 1865 K SWAZILAND - S . 6, 1968 R MOZAMBIQUE - J 25. 1975 see page 120 D R MADAGASCAR -

J

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F S C ST. KITTS AND NEVIS - S 19 1983 G BELIZE - S 21, 1981 R MALI - S . 22, 1960 R GUINEA-BISSAU - S . 24, 1973 R BOTSWANA - S . 30, 1966

O CAMEROON (B C S )O . 1, 1961 F R NIGERIA - O . 1, 1960 R GUINEA - O . 2, 1958 K LESOTHO - O . 4, 1966 R UGANDA - O . 9, 1962 R EQUATORIAL GUINEA - O . 12, 1968 R ZAMBIA - O . 24, 1964 G ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES - O 27, 1979 MOROCCO (I Z ,T )-

O

. 29, 1956

N G ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 01 N 01, 1981 C DOMINICA - N 03, 1978 P ' R ANGOLA - N . 11, 1975 R SURINAME - N 25, 1975 I R MAURITANIA - N . 28, 1960 BARBADOS - N 30, 1966

D U R TANZANIA - D . 9, 1961 R KENYA - D . 12, 1963 LIBYA (S P ' L A J ) - D . 24, 1951 www.thoughtco.com/chronological-list-of-africanindependence-4070467 www.caribbeanelections.com/education/ independence/default.asp

Senegal S l Wins Wi 2022 AFCON https://uknews.cc/mane-converts-decisive-penalty-as-senegal-win-afcon-final/ 120

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DAW

"Awakening the African Giant Within" The Africa Business Association (ABA) is pleased to invite you to be an integral part of our publication the DAWN - Awakening the African Giant Within. DAWN is a voice through which public and private entities and people share pertinent information and market business and investment opportunities in Africa and the African Diaspora. Gain access to these trillion dollar markets via ABA DAWN outreach and advertising opportunities.

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Outreach to Africa Business and Investment Outreach to Diaspora Business and Investment Advertorial/Feature story advertising Profiles Bid and Tender opportunities

Our readers are Diaspora Africans, African small business owners, African American Chambers of Commerce members, business owners, corporate buyers, prime contractor’s, importers-exporters, community organization members, elected officials and civic/social leaders in Africa and the United States. Don’t be left out. Advertise in this door opening publication. 1-240-467-6811

Reserve Your Ad Space Today!

Call: +1 (240) 467-6811 or E-mail: DAWN@AFRICABUSINESSASSOCIATION.ORG

Advertising Opportunities Full Page w/Feature Story Full Page Advertorial or Titled Article Half Page Spot Ad Marketing Massage with website link

US$3,500 US$3,000 US$3,000 US$1,500 US$ 500 US$ 185

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