Issuu

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi: “These people feel there is no future”

•N GOs: Is foreign assistance a blessing or curse? •M auritius: New life after tax onslaught • New STAR: The Steinhoff shuffle

N ° 9 5 • N O V E M B E R 2 017

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Winnie

“It’s time for a change” Former first lady Winnie Madikizela-Mandela says Zuma has led ANC to its lowest point JEUNE AFRIQUE MEDIA GROUP INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • DOM 8 € • Ethiopia 90 Birr • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 • Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 48 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi: “These people feel there is no future”

• NGOs: Is foreign assistance a blessing or curse? • Mauritius: New life after tax onslaught • New STAR: The Steinhoff shuffle

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Winnie MadikizelaMandela: “It’s time for a change”

• Kenya: Odinga plays the long game • Mauritius: New life after tax onslaught • Nigeria: Lamido Sanusi, the king in the north

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Winnie MadikizelaMandela: “It’s time for a change”

• Kenya: Odinga plays the long game • Mauritius: New life after tax onslaught • NGOs: Foreign assistance, blessing or curse?

N ° 9 5 • N O V E M B E R 2 0 17

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NGOs

Africa wants to break free Blessing or curse? The bitter debate over foreign assistance

Winnie

“These people feel there is no future”

“It’s “I ’ time i ffor a change”

Former first lady Winnie Madikizela-Mandela says Zuma has led ANC to its lowest point

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

JEUNE AFRIQUE MEDIA GROUP

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

THE AFRICA REPORT # 95 - NOVEMBER 2017

JEUNE AFRIQUE MEDIA GROUP

The Emir of Kano seeks a northern renaissance

JEUNE AFRIQUE MEDIA GROUP EAST AFRICA EDITION

WEST AFRICA EDITION Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • DOM 8 € • Ethiopia 90 Birr • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 • Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 48 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

06 EDITORIAL Revolutionary justice

BUSINESS

08 LETTERS 10 THE QUESTION

60 RETAIL The Steinhoff shuffle South African billionaire investor Christo Wiese tries new ways to get companies he has invested in to work closer together

BRIEFING

64 AGRIBUSINESS Food for thought, and for growth

12 SIGNPOSTS

COVER CREDITS: INTERNATIONAL EDITION: VINCENT FOURNIER/JA - EAST AFRICA EDITION: CSA IMAGES/ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES; V.FOURNIER/JA - WEST AFRICA EDITION: VINCENT FOURNIER/JA

14 PEOPLE Winnie Kiiza, leader of the opposition in parliament, Uganda

66 REPUBLIC OF CONGO Gunvor, the Kremlin, oil and corruption

16 INTERNATIONAL

68 LEADERS Tariq Sijilmassi, chief executive, Crédit Agricole du Maroc

18 CALENDAR 20 OPINION Elnathan John, author of Born on a Tuesday, Nigeria

70 FINANCE Rolling out the printing press

FRONTLINE

71 HANNIBAL

24 NGOs Blessing or curse? The debate over the role of non-governmental organisations in development, humanitarian and civil society is raging across the continent

72 Vodacom’s eastern pivot The South African mobile operator is looking to Kenya and Tanzania in its quest to capture new markets 76 SMARTPHONES Your guide to the latest affordable handsets

POLITICS 30 INTERVIEW Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former first lady, South Africa The activist and politician speaks on the rise of racism in the country and corruption in the ruling ANC party 36 INTERVIEW Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, Nigeria 40 KENYA Cruising for a crisis 45 ANANSI Magufuli’s pinch

47 MAURITIUS Change without end Tough new rules on tax havens are forcing the country’s offshore banks to evolve •

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78 SOFTWARE Engineering opportunity

ART & LIFE

36 47

82 DIGITAL ARTS Uncaped crusaders How African comic authors and illustrators are using their talent and technology to tell black people’s stories 86 ART Zeitz shines a light on the contemporary scene 87 FASHION For the love of leather

COUNTRY FOCUS

THE AFRICA REPORT

DOSSIER TELECOMS

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89 TRAVEL Low-rise and laid-back Dahab in Egypt 90 DAY IN THE LIFE US-Nigerian social entrepreneur Angel Adelaja

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Revolutionary justice

CHA I R M A N A ND F O UND E R BÉCHIR BEN YAHMED P UB L I S HE R DANIELLE BEN YAHMED publisher@theafricareport.com

o the barricades as the African sun beats down, comrade judges. You have nothing to lose but your horsehair wigs and billowing black robes. But surely the idea that the courts, deep in pomp, would constitute a revolutionary guard against the global tide of authoritarianism and political crookery is naive in the extreme? Why would this elite cadre of judges flaunting their self-belief as they pass judgements have any interest in challenging the status quo? Yet, for the past few years, the courts have shown a thrillingly robust spirit as better organised activists use them to show governments the limits of their power. In the US, the courts struck down Donald Trump’s ban on Muslim immigrants; in Britain, they forced Prime Minister Theresa May to consult parliament before she signs its divorce with the European Union (EU). This has extended to Africa where lawyers, in and out of court, find themselves on the frontline of political battles. The ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court on 1 September to annul presidential elections because they did not meet the standards set out in the electoral law was held up as a triumph for judicial independence. The court’s decision was also a side-swipe at international observers who had rushed to endorse the election and lecture the losers about the need to move on. It may have been helpful for the court that Kenya’s chief justice, David Maraga, is a conservative and deeply religious figure with no record of radical affiliations. Critics accuse the court of heating up Kenya’s political climate; in fact, it was already on the boil. The judges were doing what they

should do: testing the provisions of the constitution against realities on the ground to make the political system more accountable to the people. Far better that arguments about fair elections and legitimacy should be hammered out in courtrooms or council chambers than settled on the streets. Kenyan activists took a cue from their Ghanaian counterparts, who launched a monumental appeal against the 2012 election results. Although those petitioners failed after eight months of detailed public hearings, the case helped change electoral law. That laid the groundThe courts work for last year’s far more credible and are opening accountable elections. up ways for In South Africa, people to the courts are being dragged into the organise a centre of the political more honest arena. Asked to rule on the reliability of propolitical vincial and the African system National Congress’s elections, they have been handing down verdicts inimical to President Jacob Zuma’s interests. Most of all, the tacticians of the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Democratic Alliance have been scoring successes in their efforts to ensure that the 783 charges of corruption and racketeering against Zuma are tested in court. There is no immutable plan for all this. The activists and petitioners are losing as many cases as they win. But by pushing back against arbitrary power, the courts are opening up ways for people to organise a more honest and accountable political system. That’s radical, if not revolutionary, justice.

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E X E CUT I VE P UB L I S HE R JÉRÔME MILLAN M A R K E T I NG & D E VE L O P M E NT ALISON KINGSLEY‑HALL E D I T O R I N CHI E F PATRICK SMITH M A NA G I NG E D I T O R NICHOLAS NORBROOK editorial@theafricareport.com A S S O CI AT E E D I T O R MARSHALL VAN VALEN B US I NE S S E D I T O R MARK ANDERSON R E S E A R CH & P R O D UCT I O N OHENEBA AMA NTI OSEI RE G IO NA L E D I T O R S CRYSTAL ORDERSON (SOUTHERN AFRICA) BILLIE ADWOA MCTERNAN (GHANA) S UB - E D I T O R S ALISON CULLIFORD, ERIN CONROY P R O O F R E A D I NG KATHLEEN GRAY A RT DI R E CT O R MARC TRENSON DESIGN VALÉRIE OLIVIER (LEAD DESIGNER) SYDONIE GHAYEB CHRISTOPHE CHAUVIN (INFOGRAPHICS) CAMILLE CHAUVIN R E S E A R CH SYLVIE FOURNIER P HO T O G R A P HY PIERANGÉLIQUE SCHOULER SAMUEL BOUAROUA SALES SANDRA DROUET Tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com CONTACT FOR SUBSCRIPTION: Webscribe Ltd Unit 4 College Road Business Park College Road North Aston Clinton HP22 5EZ United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 Email: subs@webscribe.co.uk ExpressMag 8275 Avenue Marco Polo Montréal, QC H1E 7K1, Canada T : +1 514 355 3333 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 ‑ $60 ‑ £35 TO ORDER ONLINE: www.theafricareportstore.com A D VE RT I S I NG D I F CO M INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATION AGENCY 57‑BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL 75016 PARIS ‑ FRANCE Tel: (33) 1 44 30 19‑60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com PRINTER: SIEP 77 ‑ FRANCE N° DE COMMISSION PARITAIRE : 0720 I 86885 Dépôt légal à parution / ISSN 1950‑4810 THE AFRICA REPORT is published by GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

SECURITY IN THE SAHEL

Olusegun Obasanjo: “Buhari is the last of the Mohicans”

• South Africa: KZN, the kingmaker province • Sahel: Searching for African solutions • Oil: Kenya’s burst pipe dream

hile foreign assistance and military interventions in the Sahel have been labelled ‘short-term solutions […] driven by the outside world’ in your piece [‘Sahel: Breeding insecurity’, TAR94 Oct 2017], it is important to Raila remember that the 2013 French Opération Serval, Odinga as well as all subsequent multilateral operations “We want the UN tto ensure and initiatives, were negotiated and implemented free and fair elections” in agreement with local governments and ECOWAS. In addition, the G5 Sahel regional initiative is a step in the right direction. Even though financial and coordination issues have slowed implementation of the G5, it has become clearer than ever that Sahel countries want to take full responsibility for their own security. It is now time to strike the right balance between long-term capacity-building of regional military forces and immediate security threats. In this dire context, development, unfortunately, remains a solid runner-up. Kamissa Camara, Founder of Sahel Strategy Forum and African political analyst N ° 9 4 • O C T O B E R 2 0 17

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Nasa push for an overhaul of Kenya’s electoral commission

JEUNE AFRIQUE MEDIA GROUP

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • DOM 8 € Ethiopia 90 Birr • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 Zambia 48 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

villages at the lake’s edge, powered, as one of my fellow passengers explained, by a government-backed solar lamp initiative. While the lamps were initially handed-out freely, villagers who signed up to the scheme were later expected to contribute half their cost. The problem was that few people were paying their contribution. Retribution, I wondered, for being re-located from their initial place of dwelling when the lake came into existence.

Peter Gostelow, UK

DREAMS AND VALUE CHAINS

Before funding agricultural zones or inventing financing mechanisms for new agripreneurs, it is vital to seek comprehensive government support from the countries where the projects disclosure, KPMG will serve as an are intended to take place [‘There’s KEEP PUSHING MIGHTY example for other audit firms in Africa. gold in that dirt’, TAR92 July/August GUPTAS It might also be the only option left 2017]. In many parts of Africa, Your article [‘Who audits the auditors’, for KPMG to salvage whatever little manufacturers have moved their TAR94 Oct 2017] raises far-reaching is left of its reputation in South Africa. plants outside the continent due Jannie Rossouw, Head, Wits School to an unfavorable economic climate. questions about the conduct of external of Economic and Business Sciences A solution is necessary to address auditors. As a fall-out from its audit of companies owned by the Gupta the plight of these investors before family in South Africa, the executive inventing any new financial support management team of KPMG has mechanisms. Another concern is LAKE OF SERENITY AND resigned. However, given the scale of soaring food prices due to the effects RETRIBUTION the suspected rot […], this is insufficient of climate change. It is important This photo essay [‘A queen serene’, action. KMPG should indeed stand for to protect vital water catchment zones TAR94 Oct 2017] reminds me of ‘Keep Pushing Mighty Guptas’. KPMG and rainforests to alleviate any my own journey on the Yapei Queen should lead by example and publish casualty to the agricultural economy, all its dealings with the Gupta family and seven years ago. Under a starlit sky otherwise the dream of removing I remember tracing the silhouette of the Africa from the bottom of the global their companies including conditions shoreline as we chugged north to Kete of appointment, management letters value chain will remain an illusion. Kokil K. Shah, Kenya Krachi. Dim lights flickered out from and audit opinions. Through such HOW TO GET YOUR COPY OF THE AFRICA REPORT

On sale at your usual outlet. If you experience problems obtaining your copy, please contact your local distributor, as shown below. ETHIOPIA: SHAMA PLC, Aisha Mohammed, +251 11 554 5290, aisham@shamaethiopia.com – GHANA: TM HUDU ENTERPRISE, T. M. Hudu, +233 (0)209 007 620, +233 (0)247 584 290, tmhuduenterprise@gmail.com – KENYA: LASTING SOLUTIONS LIMITED, Anthony Origi, +254 723 320 108, a.origi@yahoo.com – NIGERIA: NEWSSTAND AGENCIES LTD, Marketing manager, +234 (0) 909 6461 000, newsstand2008@gmail.com; MAGAZINE CIRCULATION NIGERIA LIMITED (MCNL), Distribution manager, +234 (0)803 727 5590/805 357 0984, mcnl3@yahoo.com – SIERRA LEONE: RAI GERB ENTERPRISES, Mohammad Gerber, +232 (0)336 72 469, raigerbenterprise@gmail. com – SOUTHERN AFRICA: SALES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS: ALLIED PUBLISHING, Butch Courtney; +27 083 27 23 441, berncourtney@gmail.com – TANZANIA: MWANANCHI COMMUNICATIONS, Milli Makula, +255 716 500 500, mmakula@tz.nationmedia.com – UGANDA: MONITOR PUBLICATIONS LTD, Micheal Kazinda, +256 (0)702 178 198, mkazinda@ug.nationmedia.com – UNITED KINGDOM: COMAG, Mark Swan, +44 (0)1895 433791, Mark.Swan@comag.co.uk – UNITED STATES & CANADA: LMPI, Sylvain Fournier, +1 514 355 5610, lmpi@lmpi.com – ZAMBIA: BOOKWORLD LTD, Shivani Patel, +260 (0)211 230 606, bookworld@realtime.zm – ZIMBABWE: PRINT MEDIA For other regions go to www.theafricareport.com DISTRIBUTION, Ian Munn, +263 778 075 147, ianmunn@mweb.co.zw

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“Room for growth?”

“As far as the eye can see.”

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Where the Beauty of the place inspires

P i c t ure t a ke n at Para d i s B ea c h comb er Gol f Resor t & Sp a

the Beauty of the heart

S TA R T C O L L E C T I N G YO U R B E S T M O M E N T S O N W W W. B E AC H C O M B E R .C O M

Mauritius

Change PICTURE ALLIANCE/BLICKWINKEL/MAXPPP

without end The pro-business state is helping Mauritian companies venture into Africa

Tough new international rules on tax havens are forcing Mauritius’s offshore banks to evolve. Like other parts of the economy, the financial sector is looking to Africa for growth as it also moves away from plain vanilla services to provide more sophisticated financial products By Nicholas Norbrook in Port-Louis

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oracountrythatpridesitselfon being plugged into the global flows of disembodied capital, many parts of the Mauritius economy feel reassuringly solid. A sleek, scarlet-orange Spanish tuna boat sits in the 130-metre dry dock of the Centre Naval de l’Océan Indien (CNOI), a shipyard specialised in servicing fishing fleets plying the Indian Ocean, as well as the French navy. The yard has thrown itself into ship-building, too. A prawn-hunting vessel sits up on blocks. Sparks are flying from busy welders. “It’s the first of a series

48 COUNTRY FOCUS | MAURITIUS

of eight such vessels – and, if all goes well, two dozen, for an Australian client,” says Arnaud Lagesse, chief executive of the island’s largest conglomerate, IBL Group,themajorityshareholderinCNOI. It is just as well that economic diversification has real substance in Mauritius – a country whose top three exports are tuna, clothing and sugar – because the headwinds for its offshore financial sector are mounting. After the 2008/2009 financial crash, several decades of multinational companies using hubs like Mauritius to ingeniously structure their tax strategies, and years of stagnant wages in the West, there has been a populist backlash. Global capitalism, it appears, is not floating all boats. The results can be seen in the Trumps and the Brexits. THE TAXMAN COMETH

But the pushback against opaque international financial centres has also come from new rules driven by the club of rich countries known as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). And also, in the case of Mauritius, in the amendment of a double taxation avoidance agreement signed with India in 1982. While the Indian media often criticises that deal for facilitating tax dodging, the chairman of the State Bank of Mauritius puts up a robust defence: “We are paying the price of our success,” says Kee Chong Li Kwong Wing (see interview page 58). “More than two-thirds of the foreign investment into India was channelled from Mauritius. If today India has been able to achieve development, Mauritius

had a big role to play.” Whatever the case, that money and the associated fees that Mauritius derives from it are drying up, especially from United States investors who had previously used Mauritius to structure investment into India. In 2012, Mauritius represented almost a third of all foreign portfolio flows into India. By 2016, it was not even a fifth. To comply with new OECD directives, Mauritius has to demonstrate that it has a financial sector of ‘economic substance’ – that is to say, not a tax haven littered with anonymous boiler-plate companies that have shopped around to get an advantageous tax rate. The financial system must instead provide real services. Ominously, the list of things that the OECD does not consider ‘substantial’ includes things like providing treasury services and servicing the headquarters of a group of companies. That, says Mauritius’s minister for financial services, Dharmendar Sesungkur, is under discussion with the OECD “because the rules which have been imposed are quite stringent” (see interview page 50). To manage the transition to the OECD rules, the government is drawing up a new 10-year blueprint for the global business sector, a newish term for offshore finance. Here, the government of Mauritius is doing what it does best – leveraging private-sector expertise. “I’m very happy to see that there are work streams by stakeholder,” says Huns Biltoo of KPMG Mauritius, “so then you’ve covered the whole [financial] ecosystem.” Can the local players change their game soon enough? The lifecycle of

India-focused funds suggests that a large chunk of them will cash out their investments around 2021, according to Biltoo. Mauritius by then will no longer be quite so appealing on the tax front, so investors would need to have other reasons to stay. The Mauritian economy has evolved before. It is a stalwart of the ‘value-chain’, economic jargon that means creating ever-more-valuable products, analogous to selling refined petroleum instead

Alphabet soup of regulation India is getting serious about tax, too. The double tax avoidance agreement has been revised, changing the economics for India-focused funds that channelled money through Mauritius to avoid paying tax twice – because, for some unscrupulous individuals, it was used to avoid paying tax even once. India is also bringing in its GAAR – General Anti-Avoidance Rules – which will further tighten up the system. Meanwhile, the US has passed the FATCA or Foreign Account

FDI into India, top international ﬁnancial centres (USD million) 18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0

UAE Cyprus Singapore UK

Netherlands Mauritius

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Tax Compliance Act, making it harder for US-based funds to avoid the taxman. Mauritius is responding with its own alphabet soup: a slew of licences to attract a new generation of more

sophisticated offshore service providers. They include the GLAS, or Global Legal Advisory Services licence, and the fintechoriented RSL or Regulatory Sandbox License. N.N.

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SOURCE: GLOBAL FINANCE MAURITIUS

A BLIZZARD OF LETTERS is battering the offshore financial sector across the globe. One of the more existential threats comes from two Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development directives: on BEPS – Base Erosion Profit Shifting – and the other CRS – the Common Reporting Standard. These force offshore hubs like Mauritius to prove that they are an economic jurisdiction of substance, rather than just acting as a place to help companies avoid tax.

MAURITIUS | COUNTRY FOCUS 49

“Big banks are leaving Africa because of the cost of compliance,” he says, leaving a gap in the market for those who can specialise in mergers and acquisitions. He predicts that this will only grow as African companies start to engage in more cross-border trade. And Bundhun adds that Mauritius can score with investors in and around Africa because of its political stability and faith in its court system. Due to an accident of colonial history, the Mauritian final court of appeal is the UK’s Privy Council, formerly the court of appeal for the British Empire. PLAN FOR THE HINTERLAND

of crude oil. Companies in the sugar, textiles and tourism sectors have become more sophisticated or managed to outsource production to cheaper locales, such as Madagascar, often with the help of an Asian-style pro-business state that helped coordinate activities. Now, it is time for the offshore financial sector to do the same and move on from providing plain vanilla services to providing more sophisticated financial offers. And while this may appear daunting, some argue that there are opportunities to be seized during the crisis – in particular, those related to the vast amounts of data thrown up by new anti-money-laundering and compliance procedures that financial services companies now have to follow. “Using that data we will be able to propose new services to our clients and in real time,” says Shamima Mallam-Hassam, chief executive of fund manager Alter Domus Mauritius. CHICKEN-AND-EGG

The transition will also require a new take onskillsdevelopment,accordingtoRama Sithanen, formerly finance minister for a decade under the previous government. “We graduate new chartered accountants every three months,” he says, “but do they have the ‘domain knowledge’ that more sophisticated financial services require?” THE AFRICA REPORT

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SOURCE: GLOBAL FINANCE MAURITIUS

SYDONIE GHAYEB FOR TAR

Mallam-Hassam of Alter Domus Mauritius agrees about the prospects for business in Africa: “Only 15% of our business today is with Africa, but we are seeing lots of our clients heading for the continent now.” And it is not just the banks. All the big conglomerates on the island – there are five, most of which have a colonial-era French sugar estate family as their root – have Africa plans. This is in part due to a small and In spite of the new regulations, shrinking domestic market. Mauritius will suffer serious demographic conMauritius’s stability remains traction in the years to come, with the an attraction to foreign investors population projected to fall from 1.3 million now to 900,000 people over He cites the chicken-and-egg nature of learning about aircraft leasing finance the next three decades. as an example. It’s something that few The old sugar companies are conin Mauritius have any experience of, so verting some of their substantial landno aircraft leasing is done in Mauritius, holdings into property developments, making it hard to gain experience. including projects for universities and Upgrading flexibility in luxury apartments. They higher education will are doing this with the therefore be essential. explicit aim of targeting Finance professionals on African high-net-worth the island say Mauritius individuals and students. can take a leaf out of the “It’s all about getting bums on seats,” says Thierry book of other successful Sauzier, the chief executive hubs. Singapore is often of Medine, which is creatcited, having made its fortune offering commodity ing a university city that trading and treasury serhas already attracted the vices for Southeast Asia Mauritian campus of the Average share of total UK’s Middlesex University. in the 1990s. Many argue FDI into India from Mauritius can do the same “Andthedemandforhigher Mauritius over the for Africa. education in Africa already period 2000 to 2017, Ziyad Bundhun left a outstrips supply by a large ahead of financial factor,” he explains. safe job as chief financial centres such as Singapore and the UK Mauritius’s pro-business officer of Rogers, a large state is already busy copyMauritian fund manager, to bet on the growing need for financial ing what Asian countries have done on the continent – opening special economand advisory services on the continent. He set up New African Advisors partly ic zones with solid infrastructure – in because much of the private-equity a bid to help Mauritian companies money that went into the continent is successfully venture into Africa. “They have comfort because the government now looking for an exit. Another reason:

34%

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RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Meanwhile, some Mauritian com panies are going whole hog: ditching the offshore finance sector to focus on African opportunity. CIM Finance sold its global finance business to SGG this year despite making 40% of its profits in the sector. “The board felt the growth opportunities weren’t there,” explains CIM Group chief executive Mark van Beuningen. Instead, it has managed to crack a nut many have felt was impossible: Ethiopia, where it will be offering lease finance services to Ethiopian and foreign cor porates. Another East African economy also looms large on its radar. Kenya attracts the Mauritian business community. State Bank of Mauritius bought Fidelity Bank in 2016 and fol lowed that up in October of this year with the purchasing of the best assets of the failed Chase Bank. The combina tion of large concentrations of Indian and Chinese investors in Africa’s east, and Mauritius’s geographical position between the two, suggests we will see more of this in the years to come. Many factors could kick against this. Some see the government as not the most credible partner for reform: opacity in a huge light-rail project will be one red flag. Others point to looming debt crises for both the corporate and public sector, and the presence of tough competitors in the financial hub bracket, such as Dubai and Johannesburg. Others worry about the curse of the ‘middle-income trap’. But most Mauritians are relaxed: content to trust in their gift of re-invention.

Dharmendar Sesungkur

KESHIMI PURBHOO

of Mauritius is there, says Yash Manick, the CEO of the Mauritius Africa Fund. A partnership agreement is going through Ghana’s parliament for a technology city outside of Accra, while in Senegal phase one of an industrial park has been com pleted in the new city of Diamniadio. It is not necessarily easy for these Mauritian companies on the continent. AfrAsia Bank, for example, struggled and eventually left Zimbabwe in 2015 after buying Kingdom Bank Zimbabwe in 2012. “We sinned in a lack of prepa ration,” says Lagesse, whose IBL Group has a substantial shareholding in AfrAsia. Likewise,IBL’sagreementwiththeGabon government to create a marine products factory came to nothing. Nevertheless, IBL’ssugarcompanyinTanzaniaisseeing good results, and it is building a new fish canning factory in Côte d’Ivoire.

Minister of financial services and good governance, Mauritius

A blueprint for tomorrow TAR: How will the amended tax deal with India affect your business? DHARMENDAR SESUNGKUR: So far, the feedback we have received on the basis of the new treaty is that there are a number of professionals coming from India. They believe that Mauritius can be an interesting platform for debt structuring because we have leverage. We have advantages compared to countries like Singapore, for instance. So there is hope that large conglomerates will still use Mauritius as a platform to structure their debt to sort of take advantage of what has been negotiated.

which are coming into play. And I know that despite being a new financial centre, Mauritius has acquired a good reputation to service international firms. What are the new services that you might offer? Fintech will be one of the key pillars under the new blueprint which we’re preparing for the financial sector. So we want to become a reference in the fintech sector. There have been workshops. There has been a subcommittee working on that to see what kind of regulatory framework that we need to help those businesses, to help those investors and also what kind of facilities we need to put at their disposal. It is true that Mauritius has made a huge step ahead in terms of telecommunication facilities, where we are sitting today. It’s a cyber city with significant bandwidth, significant power of communication.

What else will there be to convince investors to stay? Look, as I always say, Mauritius is not competing only on tax efficiency. We have a lot of other advantages, a lot of other benefits which we give to businesses – for instance, the ease of doing business, which I’m sure we are much, much better in terms of ease “Mauritius is not competing of doing business only on tax efficiency. We have compared to the Indian a lot of other advantages” administration to get a permit or to exceed your capital. In terms of foreign Does Mauritius feel tossed exchange control, there is no about on the waves of a global exchange control. We don’t have conversation about the merits tax on dividends. We don’t have tax of globalisation? on capital gains. So these are Yes, so it is a matter of concern advantages which will still be there. because a small country like Mauritius And in terms of diversifying has been benefiting from globalisation, our market base, we are not only from the flow of capital. In the case of relying on India. We are also looking the US they feel that China is not at other emerging countries like playing their part in the global trade China, like the African continent process, because they are only taking where I think we, as a member of the advantage. So probably we will need African Union, must learn to work a kind of a new debate, a new together for our mutual benefit. China approach how these issues can be has chosen Mauritius as their centre resolved because personally I don’t for renminbi, the Chinese currency. think that protectionism will be in the So I think I am not so concerned about interest of anyone, it will affect the the new [Organisation for Economic quality of living, it will affect the N.N. Cooperation and Development] rules volume of trade. THE AFRICA REPORT

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Mapping new frontiers in Africa

SBM Holdings Ltd is one of the largest banking and financial services institutions listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius with a market capitalization of approximately USD 700 million as at 31 July 2017 and total assets of over USD 5 billion as at 30 June 2017. It has a Moody’s Ratings of Baa3 and is ranked among the top 1,000 banks in the world by The Banker. SBM Group is present in Mauritius, Madagascar, India and Kenya, and is pursuing its expansion strategy to enter new markets in the Indian Ocean and East Africa. SBM Group is a one-stop-shop provider of banking, non-banking financial services and non-financial investments. SBM is embracing digital banking, making its services accessible anytime, anywhere. – Global Business & International Banking – Investment Solutions – Treasury Services – Cross-Border Financing – E-commerce – Trade Finance – Wealth Management – Investment Banking

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52 COUNTRY FOCUS | MAURITIUS

Harvesh Seegolam

Regulator on a tightrope ARVIND YADAV/HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

The new chief executive of the Financial Services Commission has a challenging task to position Mauritius’s financial services centre as an important jurisdiction while ensuring that local regulations comply with international standards. As the key regulator, Seegolam has to steer the process to create a 10-year blueprint for the industry. Its goal is to identify highervalue niches and tackle current barriers such as skilland infrastructure gaps. With new challenges like Brexit on the horizon, Seegolam has his hands full.

Navin Ramgoolam

Never wants to see another courtroom After his defeat in the 2014 general elections, it seemed to be the end for former prime minister Navin Ramgoolam. More than Rs200m ($5.9m) were seized from the Labour Party leader’s house in 2015, and he has been forced to face justice in 11 cases – 10 of which he has won, with only one remaining. The last charge is for money laundering, and is ongoing. Back in the political arena, he now promises to break with the past if he is re-elected. His support in the rural areas – crucial for winning elections in Mauritius – remains strong. He regularly criticises Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth for his lack of leadership. Ramgoolam is promising to work for poorer Mauritians, saying politics as usual only benefits those who are already rich.

Somaskaran Appavoo

A little turbulence on entry for new Air Mauritius boss

People to watch Tricky times, even for the thickest skins The string of ministerial resignations and corruption scandals of recent years does not necessarily mean the island has a new set of faces Kervin Victor in Port Louis

New ‘Reform Party’ seeks to position itself ahead of elections Roshi Bhadain resigned as financial sevices minister and as a member of parliament this year. He had managed the BAI crisis when he was in office, which he described as the island’s biggest Ponzi scheme. Following his resignation – in part because of the government’s determination to push on with a controversial light-rail project, he created a new party, the Reform Party. He wants to position it as a key political player in the near future. “It’s not just a one-man show,” he assured supporters at a recent rally, and says it will run 60 candidates in the next legislative elections.

Paul Lam Shang Leen

Cleaning up the drug money Paul Lam Shang Leen, a former chief justice, chairs the Commission of Inquiry on DrugTrafficking, set up in 2015 after the seizure of Rs2bn of drugs. He has already interviewed politicians, lawyers, businessmen and prisoners, among others. Many are waiting for his conclusions to find out who is pulling the strings of drug trafficking in Mauritius. He has yet to say whether he will call in Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth for an audience.

KESHINI PURBHOO

Roshi Bhadain

Air Mauritius finally got its new chief executive on 14 July after a six-month wait. As a former pilot, Appavoo will bring a certain perspective to the job. That has started with some industrial relations work – ironing out a pilots’ strike. But he will also concentrate on the fleet overhaul that Air Mauritius has begun, including a large order of planes: two A350-900s before the end of the year and four more longhaul planes in 2018. Mauritius has signed up to certain provisions of global open skies agreements, which should see a greater deal of competition. Certainly, tourism operators have been pushing for more flights for some time. Air Mauritius will have to ensure it maintains cruising speed if it wants to keep up with the continental behemoth, Ethiopian Airlines, or the various Gulf carriers who ply routes across Africa.

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Energy drives performance. Since our establishment in 1899, we have been actively contributing to the economic development of Mauritius and have grown to become an Investment Holding with international ambition. Building on our strong heritage, it is with the same dedication and ardour that we serve our clients from Mauritius and through our network of offices across Africa, the Indian Ocean, Asia, and Europe in four main markets: Hospitality, Travel & Leisure, Property Investments, Logistics and Financial & Business Services.

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54 COUNTRY FOCUS | MAURITIUS

AFRICA

Businesses want access to the bigger markets on the continent, and a number of economic players say Mauritius needs to open up to African immigration

SOURCE: GOVERNMENT OF MAURITIUS

n a Friday afternoon a civil the new city of Diamniadio, is complete, servant hurriedly talks into his with 13ha to be rented out. “The demand phone, making the finishing we have been getting far outstrips suptouches to a framework agreement on ply,” assures Manick. “This is something that we have done before. We know how a new ‘technology park’. It is a legal to industrialise and create special zones.” document that will channel Mauritian investment into a special economic zone ThelogictopushMauritiancompanies (SEZ) outside of the Ghanaian capital, into Africa seems clear. When faced by Accra. The following week, the agreea declining population and a domestic ment will be approved by the Ghanaian market unable to keep pace with the parliament, hence the pressure to finish. ambitions and capital stock of its largest Yash Manick, the chief executive conglomerates, you need to seek a hinof the Mauritius Africa Fund, says he terland. When you add a global push to should have moved offices regulate offshore finance to Ebene, the new busihubs, you create the curness headquarters of the rent climate in Mauritius: island, but for the moment a search for a toehold in is still in downtown PortAfrica across the board. Louis. “I don’t mind!”, says MITIGATING RISKS Manick. “It gives me access to the unlimited powers In the world of finance, this of the government when I push to greater sophisticaneed to get things like this tion is already happening, done in a hurry.” says Rama Sithanen, a forThe Mauritius Africa The Mauritius Africa mer minister of finance Fund’s contribution who is now chairman Fund will be familiar to to the construction students of recent Asian of the Diamniadio of IFS, a trust and fund special economic zone economic development: a administrator recently quasi-governmental agenbought by the Jersey-based cy, run as a public company to streamline Sanne Group. “It’s a work in progress, to decision-making, but whose goal is ecobe fair,” he says, “it’s significantly better nomic-nationalistinscope.Whileinitially than when we started 25 years ago.” That sets up Mauritius, Sithanen argues, to it was set up to take small equity positions act as a hub for investors who want to inMauritiancompaniesthatareinvesting in Africa, that quickly became tough to take advantage of the continent’s growth opportunities but who are wary of getmanage. The new direction is to first get government-to-government support and ting money stuck in unstable countries. then build SEZs into which Mauritian “Investing directly in places like India and other companies can settle. and Africa is no fun. People realise that,” says Sithanen, who also acts as chairman For now, there are zones planned of the Rwanda Development Board. in Senegal, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and “You need to identify and price the risk”. Madagascar. Senegal’s first phase, in

$9.7m

PRÉSIDENCE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE DU SÉNÉGAL

Building a two-way street

Senegal’s President Macky Sall prepares for business at the Diamniadio special economic zone

For Sanjiv Bhasin, the CEO of AfrAsia bank, “the ability to set up special purpose vehicules in Mauritius helps in managing that risk”. Banks like the State Bank of Mauritius say they like the fact that the Mauritian government is giving them back-up at the national level – again, a kind of economic diplomacy that successful Asian developing economies are good at. Relations with African countries work in other ways too, and South Africa is an obvious target for some projects. Mont Choisy is a property company offering a new development around Grand Baie in the north of the country – a Mauritian residency permit is included in the price of the apartment, which is attractive to some South Africans. “They make up about 40% of the new development,” says Jyoti Jeetun, the chief executive of Mont Choisy. But while Africa is the watchword for the government, some say the island needs to think seriously about immigration, from Africa and elsewhere. Arnaud Lagesse of the island’s largest conglomerate, IBL, says: “Look at the demographics. We need to start thinking about selective immigration, at the very least.” Opening up the residency laws would be one option, argues Jeetun, who is also an ardent promoter of the need to think about immigration differently. “Right now it is a taboo subject,” she says, “but Mauritius is too small. We want to be Singapore and Dubai. But we don’t want to open the doors like they have.” Nicholas Norbrook in Port-Louis

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PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

return home. “There is a huge shortage of skills in Africa and a real problem with talent-poaching,” says Sauzier. He is trying to persuade corporates to think about sending their local staff for One sugar conglomerate is diversifying into degrees in Mauritius as a way of keeping an education hub, aiming to lure African students expatriate worker costs down. That is often a difficult ask: “Human resources with the promise of a European degree for less directors often have a two-three-year time horizon. They need to start seeing rank – not his real name – is a things over the long term.” sugar cane fields slope gently slope down student from Uganda who is in to the picturesque Flic-en-Flac beach. Medine first had the idea of creating a For the moment Middlesex students ‘smart city’ on the land of its former sugar the second year of a master’s have all this to themselves, but the Uniciti cane plantations. Figuring out who would course in computer network design live there was more difficult: “Building campus is designed to host several edu at the Mauritian campus of the UK’s cational establishments, a city in Singapore and Middlesex University. “It’s kind of quiet,” he says. “I have already done all the bars sharing the sports facilities Mauritius is not the same and restaurant. around here, and it is still the first week of thing,” says Sauzier. “In term.” Whether Frank’s parents approve Singapore, you are in the of the lack of distraction is unknown. NOT JUST middle of a market of 350 A UNIVERSITY But the associate director of Middlesex million people,” whereas University Mauritius, Dominique “There is a wider, proMauritius is in the middle Arlanda, certainly approves of her Africa philosophy here, of the Indian Ocean. new campus. A gaggle of students hang [it’s not] just a university,” The choice of education says Thierry Sauzier, the came from looking to the around the common spaces, two of them riffing on guitar and bass. The smell of newly minted chief execmarket on the doorstep: 1,524 international new building hangs in the air. The lecture utive of Medine Group, continental Africa. To atstudents were in theatre is comfortable and state-of-thetract students, Medine has which is building the Mauritian universities art. “Last year [before they came to the pitched prices at around education hub. An old in 2015, with 236 from South Africa new campus] we were bursting at the half of the cost of a degree Mauritian conglomerseams. We even had to run classes on a in Europe, including living ate, its goal is to create Saturday,” says Arlanda. The expansion costs. Studying at Uniciti will cost around a ‘knowledge cluster’ for Mauritius. Rs250,000 ($7,300) per year, it says. allows the university to offer new courses Medine will make money out of property Frank’s classmate, Nathan Phiri of in law and nursing, and an international surrounding the campus; students will foundation programme to prepare for shop at the mall and live in accommoMalawi, says he is very happy with the a degree-level course. dation created by Medine. tranquillity of his surroundings and the Sauzier says educating African quality of the lectures. “I am working on Across the road from the campus, getting government services to people on workers are racing to finish a sports graduates in Mauritius will benefit the centre before the opening in November, continent. Whereas an African student their mobile phones, and getting cheaper with an Olympic-length pool, basketball who leaves to study in Europe or the US networks are key.” An affordable degree and five-a-side courts and a football should help him reach those goals. will often end up staying on after, those who study in Mauritius are likely to Nicholas Norbrook in Flic-en-Flac pitch. From the top of the club house,

A class of its own

SOURCE: TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION OF MAURITIUS

MEDINE

A smell of fresh wood rather than musty books as students settle in to Middlesex University’s new Mauritius campus

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at the c

i n t e r n a t i o n a l

nfluence of innovation

b a n k i n g

16, Sir William Newton Street, Port Louis, Mauritius T: +230 202 9200 | E: SalesteamIBD@bankone.mu bankone.mu/international

58 COUNTRY FOCUS | MAURITIUS

Kee Chong Li Kwong Wing Chairman, State Bank of Mauritius

Any failure is a good lesson for us The Mauritian bank is taking careful steps in its expansion in East Africa, purchasing two Kenyan assets this year after a few years of turbulence in that market

uying banks in Africa is not easy, and State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) keeps that in mind as it expands its operations in East Africa. SBM has kept its sights trained on Kenya recently. Purchasing Fidelity Bank in May – “a baby step in a long march”, according to SBM chairman Kee Chong Li Kwong, who is widely known as KC – it has since plucked the best assets out of failed Chase Bank. “Any failure, if we can call it so, is a good lesson for us,” says KC, as his institution embarks on an African bank hunt. One recent example of trouble is that of Bob Diamond, the former Barclays CEO, who piled into African banks at the top of the market in 2013, buying a string of financial institutions. The shine has come off Diamond’s Atlas Mara group, leaving investors disappointed at profits of barely $1m in the first half of 2016. As Diamond discovered, purchasing financial institutions on the continent can be tricky because of levels of opacity and questions over ownership. Before KC’s arrival as chairman at SBM,

his predecessor was interested in buying another Kenyan bank, the now infamous Imperial Bank, whose scandalous wreck was the talk of Nairobi in 2015. “When I took over, I said: ‘Is this bank really worth this much? Let’s do some proper due diligence,’” says KC. He recalls being wined and dined by Imperial Bank chairman Alnashir Popat at the Capital Club with Kenya’s political and business elite. The bank’s chief executive, Abdulmalek Janmohamed, however, brushed him off with protestations of too

“We are going [into Africa] eyes wide open, and that’s why we have taken our time” much work: “He said: ‘I’m working overtime. The only time I leave the office is to go to the mosque’. He was so proud. I thought then there must be big problems. One month later, he died, and I found out he was cooking the books.” KC claims his nose also helped avoid purchasing Chase Bank before it collapsed under similar circumstances in 2016. “So, for us it is a risk. We are going [into

Africa] eyes wide open, and that’s why we have taken our time. First of all, we had to make sure that we have enough capital. Secondly, enough management bandwidth so that we know how to run the business. And then we go also when we have a very good risk management framework,” says KC. He adds that Kenya is lucky to have such a good bank governor in Patrick Njoroge – “straight guy, no nonsense” – and that the deals for Fidelity and Chase were eventually straightened out because the governor understood that SBM is there for the long term. LUCK AND COMMON SENSE

Dodging bullets aside, Mauritian banks will continue to look at Africa as a land of opportunity because of two big structural changes. First, Mauritius is being forced to offer more substantial THE AFRICA REPORT

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MAURITIUS | COUNTRY FOCUS 59

BOUYANT BANKER 1974-1975 Worked as a lecturer in public finance at the University of Mauritius 1976-1983 Worked as project manager at Mauritius Cooperative Central Bank 1983-1988 Served as adviser to the finance minister 1989-1991 Was chief executive of the National Mutual Fund

1991-1992 Was chairman of the Stock Exchange Commission

financial services to keep its offshore banking sector because of a raft of new global regulations (see page 48). Second, Western banks are leaving Africa because of a different set of global financial regulations, which make compliance costly. This is why the Mauritian government has announced a shakeup of the industry, with a new overarching vision in the works – the much-heralded Blueprint for the Mauritius International Financial Centre – to set new prior ities. It is being coordinated by the executive director of Harvard Law School, James Shipton. But SBM’s KC – perhaps counterintuitively for a man who was an adviser to the finance minister during the first economic miracle of the 1980s – does not set much store by the government’s ability to shape the coming THE AFRICA REPORT

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transition. Rather, he argues that the island has been blessed by luck and common sense, and benefits from the hardheaded decisions of the private sector. “It’s the people who drive things,” KC says, laughing off the suggestionthatMauritiushasbeen well-served by institutions like the Joint Economic Council, a body that brings together private-sector and public-sector officials to set policy and guide decision-making. “All these people are buffoons. You tell me these fools have contributed anything? It’s just by sheer luck that Mrs [Indira] Ghandi came here. There was a crisis. Mrs Ghandi said: ‘Ok, let us give Mauritius a good deal [the double taxation avoidance agreement]. They are stupid enough. We hate these types of Indians. These are French-speaking Indians who have no culture.’ Mrs Gandhi came

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1993-2010 Served as managing director of Mauritius International Trust May 2010 – October 2014 Worked as a member of the National Assembly June 2015 Chosen as chairman of the SBM board

to exploit Mauritius, because Mrs Gandhi thought of using Mauritius to go into Africa and get their mines, then bring [the money] back into India without tax.” Who would have expected that it was Mauritius who would then be res ponsible for channeling so much investment into India? says KC. BLUEPRINT IS FOR SHOW

The second bit of historical good fortune, says KC, was French fears over socialism breaking out across the Indian Ocean territories of Réunion, Madagascar and the Seychelles. To win Mauritius over, Paris invited the country into the Yaoundé Convention, France’s pan-African market, eventually allowing Mauritius to have early market access into Europe. For KC, the current drive to produce a blueprint for the future of the financial sector in Mauritius is just to keep politicians busy. “Otherwise, we will start fighting each other. We need politicking, we need blueprints, we need masterplans because we like to show off. And also because the Western people want it,” says KC. “Have you seen the Australian fromHarvard school coming here? Doyouthinkhe will teach me, with 30 years’ experience in finance?” Instead, KC argues that greater progress will come from having better coordination between government departments. “We don’t have the right initiatives done from the right quarters because each one has got his own interest – some with the price of sugar falling want to get subsidies, some in offshore finance who have been getting a field day with India wanting to protect India. Who is thinking about the country?” This more long-term thinking may, he concedes, come from a new economic planning department that the government is currently designing. “This is what the population wished all the time,” he says, “so that we know what we are doing and we don’t have haphazard development left, right and centre, which is unsustainable.”

Interview by Nicholas Norbrook in Port-Louis

their crops and sell them, creating income for themselves. When I moved back to Nigeria from the US, I got a job working as a part-time consultant to the Office of Economic Development and Partnerships, Osun State, Nigeria. In this role, I began to understand the degree to which agriculture is a part of the culture of the Nigerian people. I also got to see up close how the government definitely would not be able to solve problems in the sector alone and that it needed the help of the private sector. So I decided to contribute.

FRESH DIRECT/FACEBOOK

ROADBLOCKS

Growing a future Angel Adelaja moved back to Nigeria from the US and started an urban container farming venture that enables young people with relatively little startup capital to rent space and become entrepreneurs in their own right

hough all my training is in the medical sciences – from a BSc in biochemistry to a PhD in epidemiology – I have always loved agriculture. I was born in London, but moved to the US at the age of three. From age 15, I worked every summer. One summer, volunteering at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, I met one of my mentors, who is Russian. From the first day, she gave me a logbook and made sure I documented every activity, every experiment in the lab. I am very interested in the how or why something works or doesn’t work, and this helps me make better decisions for the future. This is one of the things that has helped me build my business – Fresh Direct Nigeria (FDN).

FDN is an urban farming company that makes use of stackable container farms in Abuja. We bring together communities and advanced technology, to grow premium fruits, vegetables and other processed end products in these containers and in urban areas. My goal is to create opportunities to attract young people into profitable agricultural ventures, empower them with employment and finally provide them with the experience to be successful future employers. Young people who cannot afford land or the capital-intensive means to prepare it for crop growing now have an alternative. They can rent space in the container farms at a dramatically reduced cost. There, they grow

I wanted to invest in agriculture, but then realised how difficult it really was to enter a sector that should be so accessible. So, if I faced such challenges, what about other youth? I really was pushed by a need to make it simpler for myself and others. Growing up, my parents used to tell me it was important “to live a life of service”. I have held on to this, and it informs how and why I do what I do today. My days start with prayer, an early morning run, yoga or dance class and a little desk work. Then my day can include supervising and participating in farm work or delivery, talking to staff to see where we can improve, quality control, strategising with my partner on technical improvements, searching for new customers/markets, balancing books, social media, and meetings. It usually proves a very tight schedule. What keeps me going is my personal motto: ‘Even if you give a little, you can change a lot.’ I’m motivated by and driven to do my part to make a difference and shape my community. I’m optimistic about the future, too, and other people contributing to making a difference. I see a productive Nigeria, driven by Nigerians. I moved back to be part of the solution. No one had to ask me. Interview by Ayodeji Rotinwa THE AFRICA REPORT

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