Hamisha Daryani Ahuja’s Postcards on Netflix is centered around real-life stories without pitting both cultures against the other.



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&#8220;This is something that had not been done, and I had always wondered why.&#8221;
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Hamisha Daryani Ahuja&#8217;s path took her through the realm of business ownership before she made her mark in the world of cinema, thus fulfilling a childhood dream.



&#8220;I actually grew up dreaming of the film industry,&#8221; Ahuja reminisces in a conversation with FORBES AFRICA from the heart of Lagos, Nigeria, reflecting on her early aspirations. &#8220;It was something I felt I needed to do.&#8221;



Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to establish and run a successful restaurant business in Lagos for seven years. But she eventually sold it. &#8220;..and that left me very free to pursue my dreams wholeheartedly,&#8221; she explains.



Ahuja&#8217;s debut film production, Namaste Wahala, marked a moment in cinematic history as it brought together the colorful worlds of Bollywood and Nollywood in a way that had never been done before.



&#8220;I had the idea of bringing Bollywood and Nollywood together,&#8221; Ahuja shares. &#8220;This is something that had not been done, and I had always wondered why.&#8221;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hamisha-Ahuja-image-supplied-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61768" style="width:348px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hamisha-Ahuja-image-supplied-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hamisha-Ahuja-image-supplied-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hamisha-Ahuja-image-supplied-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hamisha-Ahuja-image-supplied-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hamisha-Ahuja-image-supplied-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hamisha Ahuja; photo by Akinlabi Akinbulumo</figcaption></figure></div>


Despite her lack of formal educational experience in filmmaking, Ahuja&#8217;s hands-on approach and business acumen, honed through years of entrepreneurship, equipped her to navigate the challenges of the film industry seamlessly.



&#8220;The major challenge was learning&#8230; day one on the set was day one for me in the film industry,&#8221; she reveals. &#8220;But what I was able to learn&#8230; has really helped me grow.&#8221;



Ahuja&#8217;s latest project, the Postcards series, further showcases her commitment to storytelling that transcends cultural boundaries.



&#8220;With Postcards, I had Nollywood go to India for the first time&#8230; centered around real-life stories without pitting both cultures against the other,&#8221; she explains.



Through her work, Ahuja aims to contribute to the evolving landscape of gender representation in both industries, recognizing the pivotal role of women in creative leadership.



&#8220;I think Nollywood has moved really far&#8230; a lot of the stakeholders are women,&#8221; she notes. &#8220;We just need to put out more content from the women&#8217;s perspective.&#8221;



As Ahuja prepares for the global release of Postcards on Netflix, she emphasizes the importance of balancing creativity with commercial viability, ensuring that stories resonate with diverse audiences.



&#8220;If you are completely creative and don&#8217;t think about the business side of things, it may be harder to see the commercial side,&#8221; she advises.



For aspiring creative entrepreneurs, Ahuja offers a message: &#8220;Just do it&#8230; dream big. Be practical. If you have a day job or income from somewhere else, don&#8217;t necessarily quit that job. Back it up with action, education and learning.&#8221;

Hamisha Ahuja (third from left) on location for Postcards; image supplied

Lights, Camera, Collaboration: The Filmmaker Bridging Nollywood And Bollywood

With Baby Boomers aging and nursing home care costs climbing, obscure old sleeper laws on the books in more than half the states could come back to haunt the adult children of seniors who can’t pay for their own care.



In her five years as a Democratic member of Pennsylvania’s State House, Kristine Howard has fought for gun control, abortion rights, environmental protections and greater funding for public education. But this year, after the death of a colleague, Anthony M. DeLuca Sr., she took up his decade-long crusade to change an obscure state law under the provocative bill title: &#8220;Stop Bankrupting Pennsylvanians Over Family Medical Bills” Act.



The law Howard is seeking to change is Pennsylvania’s “filial support” law–a concept dating to colonial days, with the current version written into state law in 1937. It makes those with financial means legally responsible for nursing home, medical and other bills of destitute family members, including aging parents, adult children and a spouse.



“It can be a rude awakening for many people,” says Howard, a 62-year old lawyer representing Chester County in eastern Pennsylvania.



More than half the states and Puerto Rico have such laws on the books, though most of them are what Katherine C. Pearson, an elder law expert and law professor at Pennsylvania State University, refers to as “scarecrow” laws. That means they’re rarely enforced but left in the state code as a warning—in this case, to those who might consider shirking familial responsibility, whether it’s helping to pay parents’ bills or providing hands on care themselves. (An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2023/11/07/forget-national-caregivers-month-think-about-what-family-caregivers-need/?sh=47cc1bcb19cb">estimated 42 million Americans</a>, the largest group of them women in their 50s, but increasingly men and younger folks too, provide caregiving to aging relatives.)



Two significant Pennsylvania cases, combined with the rising costs of long term care nationwide and yawning gaps in coverage for that care, show that these scarecrow laws can turn into a live threat–and not just to Pennsylvanians.



The Keystone state’s law, which provides an exemption if your parents abandoned you for 10 years or more while you were a child–but no break for adult estrangement–gained new relevance in 2012. That’s when the Pennsylvania Superior Court&nbsp;<a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/superior-court/2012/536-eda-2011.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">held John Pittas</a>&nbsp;liable for his mother’s full $93,000 unpaid nursing home bill (resulting from a car accident), after she’d moved to Greece to live with two of her other children.



In 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/2019/78-map-2017.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ruled</a>&nbsp;that a Princeton, N.J. couple could be held liable for an unpaid $205,000 bill for the care of their severely disabled adult son at Melmark, a residential care facility in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. (New Jersey had been paying the tab, but stopped paying because it wanted him moved to a cheaper New Jersey facility. The couple wouldn’t have been liable under New Jersey law, but Pennsylvania’s high court decided it could hit the parents with Pennsylvania’s harsher rules.)



There’s no uniformity in the filial laws. While in Pennsylvania, the potential hit is wholly financial (including a possible lien on your property), in some states failure to support a parent can be prosecuted as a criminal offense. Massachusetts’&nbsp;<a href="https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter273/Section20" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">law</a>, written in 1915, imposes a fine of up to $200 and a prison term of up to one year (or both) for “neglect or refusal to support a parent.”



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“Most adult children do undertake responsibilities for their parents as they age&#8230; They do this without laws obligating them to do so, thank goodness.”Law Professor Katherine C. Pearson
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North Carolina’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_14/gs_14-326.1.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">law</a>, which has been in its current form since 1955, makes it a misdemeanor–which could result in jail time–for a person to &#8220;without reasonable cause, neglect to maintain or support his or her parent or parents, if such parent or parents be sick or not able to work and have not sufficient means or ability to maintain or support themselves.&#8221; The law is still on the books, though recent history suggests it is not often enforced. Ditto in&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=51003" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Kentucky</a>.



Even in states where there hasn&#8217;t been an appetite to enforce filial support laws, there also hasn&#8217;t been much movement to repeal them. Economics–and that desired scarecrow effect—are likely the primary reasons.



While the federal Medicare program pays for the majority of medical care for those over 65, it does not–<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianeomdahl/2023/01/10/warning-medicare-does-not-pay-for-long-term-care/?sh=7e58463d5850">despite what many middle class Baby Boomers think</a>–cover long term custodial care. The confusion over Medicare stems from the fact that the federal program will pay for up to 100 days of rehabilitation in a skilled nursing care facility (after a three-day hospital stay) and some skilled nursing or physical therapists visits at home, but not for custodial care–the kind of help with activities of daily living (such as bathing, dressing and eating) a majority of elders end up needing either in a nursing home or their own or their children’s home.



It’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2022/04/15/is-long-term-care-a-predictable-need-or-an-unexpected-one/?sh=1e2daa5a4b87">hard to predict</a>&nbsp;whether any one individual will need extended long term care support–about four in ten of today’s 65-year-olds won’t need such care at all, but more than 20% of Boomers will&nbsp;<a href="https://acl.gov/ltc/basic-needs/how-much-care-will-you-need" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">need five or more years of care</a>. The cost of nursing home care varies based on geography and level of care, but it’s steep: on average, a semi-private room in a nursing home runs around $8,669 per month, while a private room will cost you $9,733 per month, according to Genworth’s annual Cost of Care&nbsp;<a href="https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">survey</a>. Home health care aides now average $33 per hour, with homemaker services running at $30 an hour, the survey found.



At those rates, many seniors who need years of care will run out of money. Private long term care insurance isn’t much of an option these days—a raft of carriers have stopped selling the policies&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2024/02/21/voters-to-decide-on-washingtons-public-long-term-care-insurance-program/?sh=3a7e18ca5ea8">because the risk is so high</a>&nbsp;and healthy consumers aren’t buying policies because they fear premium increases. (The Obama Administration killed plans for a voluntary public insurance program after concluding&nbsp;<a href="https://howardgleckman.com/2011/10/20/what-we-learned-from-the-class-long-term-care-debacle/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">that premiums in them would be unaffordable</a>&nbsp;for most people.)



That is where Medicaid, a joint federal-state program, comes in. It is primarily geared toward low-income families, but picks up long term care costs for elderly once-middle class folks who have exhausted their assets.



The eligibility standards vary from state to state—in Pennsylvania, in 2024, a single nursing home Medicaid applicant must have income under $2,829 per month and assets under $2,000 (not a typo). Assets include stocks, bonds, investments, and bank accounts—and your IRA or 401(k) (fortunately, however, the retirement accounts of a non-applicant spouse are exempt). Assets that aren&#8217;t included are personal belongings, your vehicle, irrevocable burial reserves (up to 25% of the average cost of burial in one&#8217;s area), and often, your primary home.  The State of New York is a bit more generous when it comes to assets. While your income must be under $1,732 monthly, you can retain assets of up to $30,182. Unlike in Pennsylvania,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/medicaid-eligibility-new-york/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">New York exempts</a>&nbsp;your IRA and 401(k) plans if they are in payout status, meaning that you&#8217;re taking required minimum distributions (RMDs).



Bottom line: to afford years of long term care, you typically need to be wealthy enough to cover costs out of your savings, or needy enough to qualify for government assistance.



Some seniors plan to get to the &#8220;needy&#8221; level by giving assets away. Done right, and early enough, with professional help, Medicaid planning works, says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolynrosenblatt/?sh=7f56d1296517">Carolyn Rosenblatt</a>, a California lawyer and nurse (and&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;contributor) who advises families on elder issues.



But the government has tough rules to discourage last minute maneuvers; when someone applies for Medicaid long-term care coverage, the government looks back at any asset transfers the applicant (or the applicant’s spouse) has made during the lookback period, typically 60 months. The government can deny coverage for an extended period based on the amount transferred and the cost of care and rules in each state. So, for example, Pennsylvania’s lookback rate is currently $11,548 per month. If you gave away $100,000 within the lookback window, you would be ineligible for almost 9 months. And there’s no time limit here–if you gave away $2 million, you&#8217;d be ineligible for 173 months. (As a practical matter, that would mean you’d have to wait five years after the transfer to apply at all.)



If an elder enters a nursing home, runs through his money, and then is found ineligible for Medicaid, a nursing home’s best bet is to come after the children with a filial suit (or more commonly, a threat of one) to cover the cost of care. The other alternative is eviction–not a terrific option when 24-hour-a-day care may be needed and no other nursing home will take a prospective resident with neither assets nor Medicaid coverage.



The Medicaid look-back rules might seem fair to taxpayers, who after all, pay the cost of the program. But filial laws are separate from Medicaid planning, good or bad. In Pennsylvania, for example, it doesn’t matter whether an adult child has received a penny of assets from his broke parent—only that the child has the financial resources to pick up unpaid bills. An ailing, aging parent could give all his money to Child A, who gambles it away and ends up busted. Then, if that parent is denied Medicaid because of the transfer, the nursing home could come after Child B, who got nothing from the parent, but has money in the bank because he works hard and saves.



That is where Pennsylvania State Rep Howard and her &#8220;Stop Bankrupting Pennsylvanians Over Family Medical Bills&#8221; Act comes in.



The bill would not repeal filial laws but would tweak them in a way that she thinks sounds fairer. Howard said it would modernize the law &#8220;to ensure spouses, children, and parents are only held liable for outstanding medical bills if the indigent individual has colluded with the family member to hide assets within the past five years, or if the family member fails to cooperate in the Medical Assistance process.&#8221; In other words, it would copy the Medicaid look-back process–kids would be on the hook if parents had recently transferred assets to them, but couldn’t be legally forced to cough up money they’d earned on their own to pay for their aging parents.



Law professor Pearson, no fan of filial laws, has worked for years to protect elders from financial exploitation. She observes she has “often heard from older parents who express worry about the possibility of ‘the government’ imposing a burden on their children,’’ but “has never heard one say they are relying on `the law’ to make their children do their duty.”



“Most adult children do undertake responsibilities for their parents as they age and especially if their parents’ abilities wane,’’ she adds. “They do this because it is the right thing to do. They do this without laws obligating them to do so, thank goodness.”

Calculate drug cost.,doctor is calculating cost of treatment

Why You Might Be Responsible For Paying Your Parents’ Medical Debts

The milestone speaks for itself: it’s the 10th anniversary of FORBES AFRICA’S 30 under 30 list, and just like the honorees who have come before them, the class of 2024 too are driven by impact. Profits aside, it’s about achieving success with innovation, influence and individuality. They aren’t looking to fill big shoes but rather lace up their own and forge ahead with giant strides, leading by example and leaving an indelible path for the changemakers to come.



Words and Curation:&nbsp;Chanel Retief Additional research and reporting:&nbsp;Nicole Pillay&nbsp;With inputs from:&nbsp;Oluwatomisin Amokeoja Art Direction and Layout: Lucy Nkosi |&nbsp;Photography:&nbsp;Katlego Mokubyane |&nbsp;Photography Assistant:&nbsp;Sbusiso Sigidi |&nbsp;Studio:&nbsp;NewKatz Studio, Johannesburg |&nbsp;Styling: Deneal Van Wyk |&nbsp;Outfits supplied by: B Mashilo Designs, DFLO, Franc Elis, Ephymol and Preview Accessories |&nbsp;Hair &amp; Makeup:&nbsp;SnehhOnline Beauty



From East Africa’s largest economy to England, Alex Mativo dared to dream. In 2014, at just 19 years old, he founded E-LAB, a startup aimed at eradicating electronic waste in Africa and transforming it into products used in the fashion and interior design industries.



For Mativo, it wasn’t just about eliminating 4,000 tons of waste from Africa’s communities but also creating thousands of jobs for artisans in the process. 



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The late Queen Elizabeth II celebrated Mativo for his work with E-LAB, presenting him with one of the Queen’s Young Leader Awards in 2016. 



“Starting E-LAB at 19 without capital and business experience was my most challenging endeavor,” Mativo tells FORBES AFRICA. 



“While my peers were joining university, I was fighting an environmental hazard in my hometown of Athi River (a town outside Nairobi). Electronic waste was unregulated, which led to factories discarding mountains of e-waste in my backyard.” 



His innovative nature didn’t stop there.Mativo’s latest venture, Duck, is a natural evolution of another one of his businesses – Nanasi, an operating system that helps restaurants seamlessly manage online and offline orders, payments, and operations. Duck expands its reach by tackling a notable challenge: data scarcity in Africa’s vast informal retail sector.



“As a FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 honoree, I would gain a platform to amplify my message and inspire the next wave of changemakers to build ventures that solve real African problems,” Mativo adds. 



As a judge of the Business and Technology categories of the 30 Under 30 list, Amini founder Kate Kallot comments on him: “[Alex is] showing quite a lot of resilience, which is the single-most important attribute in business.”

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Under 30: Kenyan Founder On Building Ventures To Solve Africa’s Problems

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Chef&nbsp;José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen announced it would restart aid operations in Gaza on Monday—four weeks after seven of its employees were killed by an Israeli airstrike condemned globally and described by Israel as “unintentional.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



In a news release on Sunday afternoon, WCK said the organization was ready with 276 trucks filled with 8 million meals for Gaza, where the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/hunger-gaza-famine-findings-dark-mark-world-says-wfp-palestine-country-director" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.N. estimates</a>&nbsp;about 1.1 million people are experiencing “catastrophic hunger.”



The nonprofit said it was also “exploring” other options for expanding operations and delivering more food to Gaza—including using the Israeli port of Ashdod and by sending more trucks from neighboring Jordan.



The organization also said it was building a new “high production kitchen” in the town of Mawasi, which will be named “Damian’s Kitchen” after victim Damian Sobol, and celebrity chef founder Andrés&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgOwYvIvJ_g" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reposted a video</a>&nbsp;of WCK workers building the facility in southern Gaza.



WCK operates two other “high production” facilities in Rafah and Deir al-Balah, as well as 68 more community kitchens across the besieged territory.



The restart comes only three days after Andrés&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKzVWyLpv-8" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">delivered a eulogy</a>&nbsp;at Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral for the aid workers, who he called “the best of humanity.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Seven WCK employees were killed on April 1 while traveling in a convoy near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. According to Andrés, the aid workers were targeted “systematically,” by the Israeli Defense Force, who struck three separate cars transporting the workers. Israel later apologized for the strike, which it called a “grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.” Two senior military officers were fired after the incident. However, WCK called for an independent investigation, stating the Israeli military “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.” On Sunday, the nonprofit’s CEO Erin Gore renewed the organization’s call for an independent investigation, saying, “While we have no concrete assurances, we continue to seek answers and advocate for change with the goal of better protecting WCK and all NGO workers serving selflessly in the worst humanitarian conditions.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“We have been forced to make a decision: stop feeding altogether during one of the worst hunger crises ever, ending our operation that accounted for 62% of all International NGO aid, or keep feeding knowing that aid, aid workers, and civilians are being intimidated and killed,” Gore said in a <a href="https://wck.org/en-us/news/chefs-for-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> on Sunday. “Ultimately, we decided that we must keep feeding, continuing our mission of showing up to provide food to people during the toughest of times.”

Spain Eases Lockdown As Death Rate Slows

José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen Resumes Gaza Aid—4 Weeks After Deadly Strike Killed Staffers

Today marks three decades of a free South Africa. For many South Africans, Freedom Day is significant as it commemorates the end of apartheid in South Africa on April 27, 1994, when the nation held its first democratic elections.



South Africa is heading into election season now with the national polls set to be held on May 29.



The country&#8217;s President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the people from the Union Buildings in the nation’s capital in Tshwane, Pretoria.



“Exactly thirty years ago on this day, freedom’s bell rang across our great land&#8230; On that day, as we cast our votes for the first time, a great heaviness lifted from our shoulders,&#8221; Ramaphosa said. “Even though our backs bore scars of the cruel lashes of those who had whipped and subjected us for more than three hundred years, on that day, as a united people, we stood tall.”



After casting his ballot, the country&#8217;s late President Nelson Mandela described April 27, 1994 as the beginning of a new era for South Africa.



The day holds great significance for the country as it was the first time that all South Africans, no matter their race or color, could vote. Commemorating those who “fought for justice, peace and freedom”, Ramaphosa urged all South Africans to see how far the country has come. As an “ideology”, Ramaphosa said that the apartheid regime was a system that sought to humiliate and degrade.



“Over the course of three centuries, the dignity of the black inhabitants of this land had been deliberately and cruelly denied, first by colonialism and then by apartheid,” Ramaphosa said. “Millions of black South Africans – African, Colored and Indian – were at the mercy of laws and practices that were enforced to serve the interests of a white minority. Their land was taken, their labor was exploited, their prospects were stunted.”



Today was also about remembering Mandela, the country’s first democratically elected president.



“In his memory, we will continue to work tirelessly to achieve the democratic ideals to which he and many other heroes and heroines dedicated their lives,” Ramaphosa told South Africans. “Few days in the life of our nation can compare to that day, when freedom was born.”



The Nelson Mandela Foundation tweeted: “Let’s remember why voting matters. On 29 May we have a chance to shape our future. Every vote counts – let’s make sure our voices are heard.”



According to Ramaphosa, although South Africa has experienced setbacks, the country’s economy has tripled in size since 1994.



Unemployment, however, still remains South Africa’s most pressing challenge, but Ramaphosa stated that the number of South Africans in employment increased from eight million in 1994 to over 16.7 million now.

Nelson Mandela Voting, 1994

Remembering The Day Freedom Was Born, South Africa Celebrates 30 Years Of Democracy

It’s an auditory crisis. The perfect mimicry of the human voice by artificial intelligence (AI) used by criminals to access organizations, discredit governments and leaders, steal data and money, and exploit people and companies. A woman was tricked into thinking her daughter had been kidnapped – the terrified voice on the end of the call was an AI fake. An employee in a multinational enterprise was conned into paying cybercriminals $25 million because he believed he was talking to the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Tom Hanks’ voice was cloned to sell dental plans.



If a fraudster can mimic someone’s voice, they can bypass security checks designed to use voice biometrics. They can fool people into believing that they’re talking to a trusted friend and colleague. They can slide past security barriers and connect with people because their fakes are so good, nobody can tell the difference.



“It’s the trust factor,” explains Adrianus Warmenhoven, cybersecurity expert at NordVPN. “As humans we have implicit trust anchors – I can read your body language when I see you, I can hear inflections and reactions in your voice on the phone and these anchor trust between us. These were developed by being in school, going to work, seeing people. Now they’re being used by criminals to make connections and successful scams.”



Voice is easy to start with. It can be trained easily and there are plenty of applications online. Anyone can download an AI and clone someone’s voice. The technology capable of converting voice to text, text to voice and then applying it to anything from fake bank calls through to scams designed to phish passwords or con family members is readily available.



“How accurately can you pick up someone’s voice? Are the slight tonal differences not just background noise? What if they’ve told you they’re not feeling well? The last two are the highest contributors, accounting for more than 80% of the threats we are seeing in terms of how voice recognition can be compromised,” says Vukosi Sambo, Executive – Head of Data Insights and AIat AfroCentric. 



“We are also seeing instances where someone records a person’s voice and then uses it to authenticate themselves as that person to gain access to information or systems.” 



Getting hold of a person’s voice isn’t difficult either. Cybercriminals simply turn to the one thing they’ve used to hone their craft for years – social media. As Ryan Mer, CEO of eftsure Africa, points out: “People post videos on social media, they share voice notes on WhatsApp, and in the business space, key people have some form of media, whether it’s an interview on TV, radio or a podcast.”



The technology is capable of generating a legitimate voice profile using only a few seconds of these videos and voice snippets. Then, that voice can be used to get in touch with people in the business, especially the finance team, to swindle them out of sensitive information or get them to perform certain tasks. It’s not always a case of getting someone to transfer millions, it can also be trying to access the system for data that can be sold for millions, or to infiltrate a business to commit long-term fraud from within.



Anyone can go onto the dark web and, for a small fee, ask for a deep fake video saying whatever they want. Nobody is going to ask how this will be used. Nobody will care about the repercussions of its use. It is also very likely the next creator of millionaires and billionaires who have used AI to achieve their financial goals, as nefarious as those may be.



Sambo adds: “It’s important to understand what the organization is entitled to in terms of collecting and storing voice data. If you’re not careful, you could infringe individual rights in light of the AI threat. Can companies that record calls for quality and security purposes really protect themselves from this perspective?”



“Considering how this technology is available to anybody these days for next to nothing, security has to take a multi- layered approach,” says Lance Fanaroff, co-founder of iiDENTIFii. “You need to manage access control based on who has access to what; focus on individual access tools such as two-factor authentication and biometrics; and then invest into technologies designed to identify and mitigate potential threats on a granular, individual, level.”



There is a positive side to the conversation – the technologies designed to tackle the threats are evolving just as rapidly. They’re more resilient and alert, capable of adapting to the potential deep fake risks with agility. However, there is only so much a company can do to protect its people and its systems. As Kabelo Makwane, Managing Executive: Cloud, Hosting &amp; Security at Vodacom Business Africa, concludes: “What has become important now is finding the right balance between leveraging the technology, not locking down systems, and still finding a way of layering security so there remains space for growth and productivity.”

Asian woman using smartphone surrounded by beams of light. Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence

AI Has Stolen Your Voice… And Why It’s An Auditory Crisis

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Google parent Alphabet’s blockbuster earnings report Thursday sent its stock price surging in limited afternoon trading, setting up the search engine giant to achieve a historic milestone.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Alphabet shares soared more than 12% after Thursday’s market close, indicating the company’s market capitalization will jump by more than $200 billion to about $2.2 trillion when normal trading resumes Friday, setting the company up for its first-ever $2 trillion valuation.



The massive surge came after Alphabet&nbsp;<a href="https://abc.xyz/assets/91/b3/3f9213d14ce3ae27e1038e01a0e0/2024q1-alphabet-earnings-release-pdf.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">delivered</a>&nbsp;a first-quarter earnings report well above expectations: Its $80.5 billion in revenue and $1.89 earnings per share were well above respective analyst estimates of $78.8 billion and $1.51, according to FactSet.



That’s the company’s best-ever quarterly profit thanks to the whopping 62% year-over-year growth, with overall net income climbing to nearly $24 billion.



Alphabet is on track to join Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia as the only other companies in the world valued at over $2 trillion.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The company announced its first-ever cash dividend Thursday, which, at about $0.20 per share at an after-hours share price of about $175, indicates a modest 0.5% dividend yield. It does indicate Google’s maturity as a company, as dividends directly reward shareholders of a company’s profits. Rival Meta paid out its first-ever dividend earlier this year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



The massive earnings expansion came as Alphabet trimmed its headcount from 191,000 during 2023’s first quarter to 181,000 last quarter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The final quarter of 2023 was Alphabet’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/01/30/google-earnings-record-profits-as-stock-trades-at-record-high/?sh=5a045a5039ff">best quarter ever</a>&nbsp;by profits and sales in its history. Though Google’s revenue moderated in 2024’s opening stretch from that historic run, it should come as no surprise, as the fourth quarter has been Google’s highest-grossing quarter during each of its 20 years as a public company, according to FactSet data. Alphabet is a massive conglomerate, but it’s an advertising business at its very core, with ads accounting for more than 75% of all revenues. That’s still a smaller share than its closest ads-focused competitor in big tech, Facebook parent Meta, which relies on ads for about 99% of its total sales. Up about 13% this year, Alphabet shares touched a new all-time high earlier this month,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/04/09/google-stock-hits-all-time-high-with-2-trillion-valuation-in-sight/?sh=6a6a47ee2ffa">flirting</a>&nbsp;with a $2 trillion valuation for the first time ever.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent-0">TANGENT</h2>



Google stock’s strong returns come even as users and investors react fairly coldly to its Gemini generative artificial intelligence program, with the company notoriously shedding some&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/02/26/googles-gemini-headaches-spur-90-billion-selloff/?sh=2f2c923372e4">$90 billion</a>&nbsp;in market value on one fateful February day after Google admitted it “missed the mark” and pulled Gemini’s image-generating service offline. Still, Google has maintained its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-18/microsoft-s-bing-market-share-barely-budged-after-adding-chatgpt" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">dominance</a>&nbsp;in online search market share despite Microsoft’s Bing’s earlier integration of generative AI, and Gemini has yet to make a prominent mark on Alphabet’s income statement, though CEO Sundar Pichai&nbsp;<a href="https://abc.xyz/assets/95/eb/9cef90184e09bac553796896c633/2023q4-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">declared</a>&nbsp;2024 the early days of “the Gemini era.”

FRANCE-ECONOMY-TECHNOLOGY-VIVATECH

Google Soars Toward Record $2 Trillion Valuation On Earnings

Today, April 25, marks World Malaria Day, spotlighting the pressing need to “accelerate the fight against malaria for a more equitable world”. Highlighting the day’s global call to action, Dr Daniel Ngamije, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Malaria Programme, in a letter released today, emphasized that &#8220;our strategies aim to reach the most marginalized and at-risk populations&#8221;.



In South Africa, the mosquito-borne infectious disease remains a relatively limited challenge due to high levels of monitoring and reporting, as well as the country’s climate. However, the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga reportedly continue to see high case numbers due to their proximity to malaria-endemic countries. The Notifiable Medical Conditions Surveillance System (NMC-SS) report for the 2022-23 season documents 5,813 malaria cases nationwide, shedding light on the demographic most affected and the timing of case spikes.



Dr Sarah Stacey, Head of Infectious Diseases at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, provides context to FORBES AFRICA: &#8220;It&#8217;s crucial to determine whether the malaria cases we treat are locally acquired or imported. Compared to the global burden of malaria, our case numbers are not significant. We are not an endemic country; we experience seasonal malaria.&#8221;



She elaborates on the climatic factors influencing malaria transmission in the region, &#8220;Our climate is the primary factor distinguishing areas with endemic malaria from those with only seasonal occurrences.&#8221;



On a broader scale, significant advancements in malaria prevention were marked by a milestone in Africa today. Benin, Liberia, and Sierra Leone launched a large-scale rollout of the life-saving malaria vaccine, targeting millions of children across these West African nations. This development brings to eight the number of African countries incorporating the malaria vaccine into their childhood immunization programs, with others poised to follow with the support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.



&#8220;The introduction of the malaria vaccine in the Expanded Programme on Immunization is a major step forward in the fight against this scourge,&#8221; said Prof Benjamin Hounkpatin, Minister of Health of Benin, in a press statement. This sentiment was echoed by Dr Louise Kpoto, Liberia’s Minister of Health, who remarked, &#8220;For far too long, malaria has stolen the laughter and dreams of our children. But today, with this vaccine and the unwavering commitment of our communities, healthcare workers, and our partners, we break the chain.&#8221;



These efforts are part of a concerted push to expand access to a tool that has shown promise in significantly reducing malaria illness and child mortality, as demonstrated by a pilot program in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi which reached over 2 million children.



On World Malaria Day, the global community is reminded of the critical importance of a concerted effort to tackle this disease. Ngamije’s message is clear: &#8220;Only through a concerted, inclusive effort can we hope to achieve our ultimate goal — a world free of malaria.&#8221; This sentiment is powerfully supported by ongoing international efforts and the expansion of vaccine programs across Africa, underlining a robust global and local commitment to ending malaria.



The celebration of these vaccine rollouts emphasizes the integrated approach to malaria prevention that includes vaccines, insecticide-treated nets, and other measures.



The progress in vaccine rollout and the persistent efforts of countries, NGOs, and international partners encapsulate the dynamic nature of the global fight against malaria. As countries like Benin, Liberia, and Sierra Leone demonstrate, overcoming malaria requires persistent innovation, robust partnerships, and unwavering dedication to saving lives and enhancing public health.

Global Warming and the Spread of Mosquito-borne Diseases in Mozambique

On World Malaria Day, Focus On The Battle Against The Mosquito-Borne Disease In Africa

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Food recalls in 2023 reached the highest levels the U.S. has recorded since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly driven by undisclosed allergens and listeria contamination, according to a new report released Thursday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Some 313 food recalls (impacting products that were still on sale) and alerts (involving products no longer on sale, but may be in consumers’ homes) were announced last year by the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an 8% increase from 2022 and the highest number since the COVID pandemic began in 2020, according to a report released Thursday by the nonprofit U.S. Public Research Interest Group Education Fund.



Contaminated food resulted in six deaths and over 1,100 illnesses last year, though the researchers suspect there were more illnesses since most people recover from food poisoning without medical attention.



The most commonly recalled food items in 2023 were snacks like cookies and granola bars, which accounted for one in five recalls, though other commonly recalled foods included fruit—mainly cantaloupes—beef, soup, salads and greens, poultry, cheese, vegetables, supplements and pet food, according to the report.



Almost half of all recalls (49.3%) in 2023 were related to allergens undeclared on packaging, while other major reasons for recalls were listeria contamination (15%), salmonella contamination (8.6%) and uninspected products (6.1%).



This uptick in undisclosed allergen cases was partially driven by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/allergic-sesame-food-labels-now-must-list-sesame-allergen#:~:text=As%20of%20January%201%2C%202023%2C%20sesame%20is%20required%20to%20be,milk" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">inclusion</a>&nbsp;of sesame—which accounted for 39% of the increase—as a required disclosed allergen, a rule that began in January 2023.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-the-5-biggest-food-recalls-of-2024-so-far">WHAT ARE THE 5 BIGGEST FOOD RECALLS OF 2024 SO FAR?</h2>



<ul>
<li>Dairy products: An investigation into a “multi-year, multistate” <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/02/08/costco-trader-joes-walmart-recall-dairy-products-over-listeria-outbreak-what-to-know/?sh=7902e28a47f5">listeria outbreak</a> was reopened after listeria was found in several food products containing dairy like queso fresco and cotija cheese. This outbreak includes cases dating back to 2014, and the FDA investigated it in 2017 and 2021, though it couldn’t link a specific brand to the outbreak. The most recent investigation was reopened in January, and manufacturer Rizo-Lopez Foods voluntarily recalled around <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/176015/download?attachment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">60</a> dairy products. Major retailers like Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe’s recalled products including salad and taco kits due to potential contamination. As of April 9, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-listeria-monocytogenes-queso-fresco-and-cotija-cheese-february-2024" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> the outbreak is over. The agencies said there were 26 cases, 23 hospitalizations and two deaths across 11 states.</li>



<li>Trader Joe’s Dumplings: Over 61,000 pounds of Trader Joe’s steamed chicken soup dumplings were recalled in March due to potential hard plastic contamination from a permanent marker. The products were voluntarily recalled by manufacturer CJ Foods Manufacturing Beaumont Corporation, <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/cj-foods-manufacturing-beaumont-corporation-recalls-trader-joes-chicken-soup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to the USDA. The problem was discovered after customers submitted complaints of hard plastics in their dumplings, though no adverse reactions were reported.</li>



<li>Ground cinnamon: The FDA issued an <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-alert-concerning-certain-cinnamon-products-due-presence-elevated-levels-lead" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alert</a> in March warning it found unsafe levels of lead in six ground cinnamon products. These products were sold in discount stores like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar across several states. This recall came after the FDA investigated the recall of lead-tainted <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/02/07/lead-poisoned-applesauce-ecuadorian-cinnamon-processor-likely-source-behind-recalled-pouches-fda-says/?sh=27a6e3082618">cinnamon applesauces</a> in 2023 that led to over 500 reports of adverse events in children.</li>



<li>Trader Joe’s cashews: Wenders LLC, the manufacturer of the nuts, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/caileygleeson/2024/03/18/trader-joes-cashews-recall-product-pulled-in-16-states-over-salmonella-concerns/?sh=3ac5e89e58d4">recalled</a> four lots of Trader Joe’s 50% Less Sodium Roasted &amp; Salted Whole Cashews in March due to potential salmonella contamination. Though no illnesses have been reported, the potentially contaminated nuts were sold in 16 states.</li>



<li>Quaker Oats products: Quaker Oats <a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/update-quaker-issues-revised-recall-notice-additional-products-due-possible-health-risk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expanded</a> its list of recalled products in January after it recalled several in December due to possible salmonella contamination. This expanded list included over 20 granola, protein and cereal bars, cereals, instant oatmeals and snack mixes sold in all 50 states. However, no adverse events have been reported.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



48 million. That’s how many Americans the CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/2011-foodborne-estimates.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;get sick annually due to foodborne disease, totaling one out of six Americans. Out of that number, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Food gets recalled in one of four ways, according to the report. One way is consumers get sick, seek medical attention and then local officials or the CDC test fluids and trace an outbreak to a specific food item; another is consumers file a complaint with companies or regulators; a third is local, state or federal officials discover an issue through investigations or routine surveillance; and the other method is by companies self-reporting a problem after testing. The FDA regulates around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/143704/download" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">78%</a>&nbsp;of the country’s food supply, and its oversight includes everything except meat, poultry and some fish and eggs products, which are regulated by the USDA. The FDA was behind 224 recalls in 2023, while the USDA accounted for 89, according to the report. Although the number of recalls via the FDA were virtually unchanged, the number of USDA recalls increased by 31% in 2023 compared with 2022—the highest levels since 2019.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/02/08/costco-trader-joes-walmart-recall-dairy-products-over-listeria-outbreak-what-to-know/?sh=7902e28a47f5">Costco, Trader Joe’s, Walmart Recall Dairy Products Over Listeria Outbreak—What To Know</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/02/07/lead-poisoned-applesauce-ecuadorian-cinnamon-processor-likely-source-behind-recalled-pouches-fda-says/?sh=27a6e3082618">Lead-Poisoned Applesauce: Ecuadorian Cinnamon Processor ‘Likely Source’ Behind Recalled Pouches, FDA Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/caileygleeson/2024/03/18/trader-joes-cashews-recall-product-pulled-in-16-states-over-salmonella-concerns/?sh=3ac5e89e58d4">Trader Joe’s Cashews Recall: Product Pulled In 16 States Over Salmonella Concerns</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

A Safeway Grocery Store Ahead Of Alberston’s Earnings Figures

2023 Had Most Food Recalls Since Start Of COVID-19 Pandemic, Report Finds

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Surgeons at NYU Langone Health&nbsp;<a href="https://nyulangone.org/news/first-ever-combined-heart-pump-gene-edited-pig-kidney-transplant-gives-new-hope-patient-terminal-illness" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;Wednesday they completed the world’s first successful combined heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant surgeries on a 54-year-old woman with end-stage kidney disease, a landmark procedure that closely follows the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/03/21/worlds-first-pig-kidney-transplant-given-to-massachusetts-man/?sh=6ec06fec4052">first successful transplant</a>&nbsp;of a pig kidney in late March.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Lisa Pisano, a 54-year-old woman from New Jersey, was facing heart failure and undergoing routine dialysis for end-stage kidney disease—but was not eligible for heart or kidney transplants given the reduced likelihood of success due to several chronic illnesses, NYU Langone Health&nbsp;<a href="https://nyulangone.org/news/first-ever-combined-heart-pump-gene-edited-pig-kidney-transplant-gives-new-hope-patient-terminal-illness" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>.



The hospital said Pisano was matched to a gene-edited kidney of a pig with an attached thymus from United Therapeutics Corp., called a “<a href="https://ir.unither.com/press-releases/2024/04-24-2024-140050479" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">UThymoKidney</a>.”



Pisano underwent the two procedures over the course of nine days in early April, according to a press release, the first of which involved implanting a heart pump, dubbed a&nbsp;<a href="https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-treatments/l/lvad.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">left ventricular assist device</a>, and the second being a xenotransplant of the pig kidney on April 12.



NYU Langone Health cardiac surgeon Dr. Nader Moazami said in a statement Pisano would not have been eligible for an LVAD without a kidney transplant due to “high mortality in patients on dialysis with heart pumps,” going on to say: “This unique approach is the first time in the world that LVAD surgery has been done on a dialysis patient with a subsequent plan to transplant a kidney.”



Pisano is currently recovering in the ICU and is expected to have at least a month of rehabilitation before she can potentially be discharged, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/24/health/combined-heart-pump-pig-kidney-transplant/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CNN</a>, and transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/24/1246577224/gene-edited-pig-kidney-transplant-nyu" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">NPR</a>&nbsp;Pisano may need several months of rehabilitation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/03/21/worlds-first-pig-kidney-transplant-given-to-massachusetts-man/?sh=6ec06fec4052">announced</a>&nbsp;in late March that the world’s first successful transplant of a kidney was completed on a 62-year-old male patient suffering from end-stage kidney disease.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



More than 89,000. That’s the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">number of people</a>&nbsp;on the national transplant waiting list who are in need of a kidney as of March, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. More than 103,000 people are on the national organ transplant waiting list.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



NYU Langone Health&nbsp;<a href="https://nyulangone.org/news/progress-xenotransplantation-opens-door-new-supply-critically-needed-organs" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">completed</a>&nbsp;the first experimental transplant of a pig kidney on a brain-dead patient in September 2021.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/xenotransplantation" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Xenotransplantation</a>&nbsp;refers to any procedure involving the “transplantation, implantation or infusion” of non-human organs, tissues or cells, according to the Food and Drug Administration. It has become more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2024/january/first-successful-external-liver-perfusion-using-a-porcine-liver" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">frequently&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/health/pig-transplant-drugs-study/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">studied</a>&nbsp;as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/health/pig-organ-transplant-xenotransplantation/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">need for organs grows</a>. The procedure is not currently approved by the FDA, but it is allowed under the agency’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/health/pig-organ-transplant-xenotransplantation/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">expanded access</a>, or “compassionate use,” pathway, which allows patients to seek out experimental treatments under certain conditions, such as life-threatening issues.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Seventeen people</a>&nbsp;die each day while waiting for an organ, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, and a new person is added to the national transplant waiting list every eight minutes. Given the increasing need for organs, doctors hope that xenotransplants will become an alternative to human organs to&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.bio.org/articles/xenotransplantation-benefits-and-risks-special-organ-transplantation#:~:text=While%20still%20in%20the%20experimental,heart%20disease%20and%20kidney%20failure." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">save more lives</a>&nbsp;while also improving&nbsp;<a href="http://i/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">patient quality</a>&nbsp;of life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/03/21/worlds-first-pig-kidney-transplant-given-to-massachusetts-man/?sh=6ec06fec4052">World’s First Pig Kidney Transplant Given To Massachusetts Man</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/09/22/doctors-transplant-pig-heart-into-dying-man-only-the-second-time-its-ever-been-done/?sh=2ae089123fd2">Doctors Transplant Pig Heart Into Dying Man—Only The Second Time It’s Ever Been Done&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)

Obesity surgery, Gastric Bypass surgery surgical instrument table and instruments

Surgeons Perform World’s First Combined Heart Pump And Pig Kidney Transplant—Latest Breakthrough Involving Pig Organ

January 2024. Deloitte Canada signed an agreement with Canada Post as its outsourced IT service provider. Vodafone signed a 10-year deal with Microsoft. Eviden signed a $2.8 billion five-year agreement, also with Microsoft. Welcome to the coming of age of IT outsourcing as companies fill the gaps in talent, tech and growth with service providers that can meet their varied demands. According to Gartner, the growth in IT services spend will see it become the largest segment of IT spend for the first time at 8.7% and $1.5 trillion. &nbsp;



This change in spend and focus is also changing the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Always a strategic and skilled thinker with one foot in the future, the CIO’s value proposition is shifting to become more that of the conductor of a vast IT orchestra of commoditized services, support and talent.



“With technology advancing at speed, the increasing demands on robust cybersecurity, and the cost-cutting demands that come with operating in Africa, outsourcing is definitely gaining traction on the continent,” says Michélle Janse van Rensburg, a digital transformation specialist in South Africa. “It allows for the CIO to gain access to niche skills and services that they can then orchestrate from within.”



CIOs are being given the space to get even closer to the business and address business problems at speed and to deftly navigate the talent challenge that remains just that – a challenge. According to Gartner’s forecast, the cost of salaries is expected to rise by 6% which means CIOs are spending more money on fewer employees at a time when they need more hands on digital decks. Outsourced means access to people when almost 60% of IT pros are looking for jobs other than the ones they currently have under their CIOs.



While this talent shift may yet change in the future – although Gartner predicts this is unlikely to happen – the CIO today has to find a way of modifying their approaches so they can better capture the value within their existing workforce while leveraging the skillsets from an array of service providers.



“The CIO is not just the custodian of IT, but the mind behind how to use these as a catalyst for business growth,” says Vishal Barapatre, Group Chief Technology Officer at In2IT Technologies in South Africa. “It is the CIO who will determine whether the business will manage 10 or more vendors, or if the company will consolidate spend into two. They are ultimately the ones who ensure there is solid engagement and service delivery across all vendors and that timelines are met and costs reduced. Their strength lies in accelerating initiatives across multiple vendors and projects.”



The adjustment to, as CIO puts it ‘Orchestrator in Chief’, is also allowing for the CIO to become more flexible, giving them room to stretch into their own skillsets and capabilities. As outsourced teams take on the admin and support, the CIO has the space to focus on innovation, technology changes, and how the business can benefit from new solutions and approaches.



“There is also the added value of having access to a global IT market,” says Koen Matthijssen, CTO at Fetola in Africa. “Many European companies now look to Africa for their talent, not just because of the rates, but because of their skills and maturity. The same applies in reverse – African companies can capture global talent to boost their own technology innovation and maturity.”



The CIO is then as much a strategic advisor as cultural melting pot manager, a person capable of weaving every personality and nationality into the fabric of the organisation. As Alan Turnley-Jones, CEO of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, concludes: “CIOs are business partners with clear strategic advisory and a deep understanding of what they need their outsourcing partner to provide.”

Application developers at work.

How The IT Outsourcing Trend Is Changing The Role Of The CIO: An Africa Perspective

With its new fund, TLcom Capital plans to deploy additional capital into female-founded African tech startups, building on the firm’s June 2022 co-investment commitment of $2 million to FirstCheck Africa, a female-focused pre-seed fund.



TLcom Capital, the Africa-focused venture capital firm, has announced the final close of TIDE Africa Fund II, its second fund for technology in Africa, at $154 million.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maurizio-Caio-Founder-and-Managing-Partner-at-TLcom-Capital-image-supplied-682x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61726" style="width:297px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maurizio-Caio-Founder-and-Managing-Partner-at-TLcom-Capital-image-supplied-682x1024.jpg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maurizio-Caio-Founder-and-Managing-Partner-at-TLcom-Capital-image-supplied-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maurizio-Caio-Founder-and-Managing-Partner-at-TLcom-Capital-image-supplied-768x1153.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maurizio-Caio-Founder-and-Managing-Partner-at-TLcom-Capital-image-supplied-1023x1536.jpg 1023w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maurizio-Caio-Founder-and-Managing-Partner-at-TLcom-Capital-image-supplied.jpg 1066w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Maurizio Caio, Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom Capital; (image supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


With participation from LPs like European Investment Bank (EIB), Allianz, DEG Impact’s AfricaGrow, Visa Foundation, and Bertelsmann, the TIDE Africa Fund II marks TLcom Capital, known as Africa’s largest Seed and Series A tech investor.



The fund will reportedly maintain its early-stage, multi-sector focus and expand into Egypt, making initial investments of $1 million to $3 million.



&#8220;Egypt is a very attractive large market in Africa capable of generating unicorns in the years ahead,&#8221; notes Maurizio Caio, Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom Capital, to FORBES AFRICA.



&#8220;Our investment strategy is the same in Egypt as anywhere else – partnering with entrepreneurs who create massive value by leveraging technology to serve significant African markets,&#8221; affirms Caio.



TLcom’s early-stage portfolio includes uLesson, Autochek, Pula, Fairmoney, and Andela, one of Africa’s six unicorn companies.



&#8220;We partner with founders who tackle massive opportunities with winning strategies,&#8221; says Caio.



&#8220;Ideally, each of our investments should classify as a fund returner, meaning they hold the potential to return the value of our entire fund from the proceeds of their exit.&#8221;

Casual businessman working late on a laptop computer

‘Massive Opportunities With Winning Strategies’: Venture Capital Firm Closes Africa’s Largest Early-Stage VC Fund At $154 Million

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Patients treated by female doctors fare better than patients treated by male doctors, according to new research published Monday, despite the field struggling to improve female representation in research and among practitioners.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Patients treated by female physicians in the U.S. had lower mortality rates and lower rates of readmission compared to patients treated by male physicians, according to peer reviewed research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.



The findings come after researchers from the University of Tokyo in Japan analyzed data from the medical records of more than 700,000 Medicare patients aged 65 years or older hospitalized and treated between 2016 and 2019 to assess the differences between patients treated by male and female physicians.



Just under a third of the roughly 460,000 female and 320,000 male patients included in the study were treated by female physicians, the researchers said, and there were no significant differences between groups when it came to key metrics for evaluating hospital care including length of stay, spending, how likely a discharge to home was, management claims and the proportion of time spent under intensive evaluation.



While both male and female patients treated by female physicians fared better than those treated by male physicians in terms of lower death and readmission rates, the researchers found the difference was especially large and clinically meaningful for female patients, who are underrepresented in medical research and far more likely to suffer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/medical-mistakes-are-likely-women-minorities-rcna133726" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">misdiagnoses</a>&nbsp;and medical mistakes during treatment than men.



The researchers said multiple reasons could be behind the stark difference in outcomes for female patients when treated by female physicians, such as male physicians potentially underestimating the severity of illnesses in their female patients and female physicians probably having better communication skills and a more patient-centered approach when it comes to female patients.



Being treated by a female physician could also help alleviate the embarrassment, discomfort and social and cultural taboos that can arise for female patients during sensitive examinations, the researchers said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The finding that patients treated by female clinicians fare better than those treated by male clinicians has been repeatedly&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/women-doctors-may-be-better-for-patients-health/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">borne out&nbsp;</a>by research around the world. For example,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/30/female-surgeons-patient-outcomes-better-studies" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">studies</a>&nbsp;published last year from researchers in Sweden and Canada found people operated on by female surgeons had better outcomes and fewer problems during recovery than when male surgeons had been performing the operations. In the U.S., research has shown women who have heart attacks are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45096070" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">more likely to survive</a>&nbsp;when treated by a female doctor. The same is true of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i6808" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">elderly hospital patients</a>. While studies are typically observational and so cannot determine cause and effect,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/well/doctors-male-female-women-men-heart.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">research</a>&nbsp;has shown female doctors tend to listen to their patients more, spend more time with their patients and are more likely to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/21/patients-get-better-care-female-doctors-sexism-persists-medicine/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">follow guidelines and collaborate</a>&nbsp;with specialists. While patients might fare better under female clinicians, women doctors face a variety of issues hindering their ability to enter and remain in the field. Female doctors tend to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gender-identity/women-doctors-earn-2-million-less-than-men-in-their-careers-they-want-to-know-why-is-nothing-being-done/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">paid less</a>&nbsp;than their male counterparts, face&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2018/08/how-discrimination-against-female-doctors-hurts-patients" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">systemic discrimination&nbsp;</a>and struggle with higher&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/how-women-physicians-can-find-balance-and-out-workplace" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">rates of burnout</a>&nbsp;amid efforts to manage brutal medical schedules with other commitments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Despite decades of vowing to address systemic bias against women in healthcare and research, medical research still <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/20/women-health-research-jill-biden-white-house" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">knowingly and consistently overlooks</a> women and women are still <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/27/underrepresentation-women-clinical-trials/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">underrepresented</a> in clinical trials. The bias pervades the entirety of medical research, even down to the laboratory level, with animal <a href="https://nautil.us/which-sex-of-mouse-should-you-ask-for-directions-313331/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subjects</a> like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/science/female-mice-hormones.html#:~:text=But%20a%20large%20sex%20gap,by%20a%20factor%20of%20five." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mice</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/14/health/sex-biological-variable-research-science-drugs-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rats</a> all overwhelmingly male.

Doctor soothing senior patient

Patients Fare Better With Women Doctors, Study Finds

The milestone speaks for itself: it’s the 10th anniversary of FORBES AFRICA’S 30 under 30 list, and just like the honorees who have come before them, the class of 2024 too are driven by impact. Profits aside, it’s about achieving success with innovation, influence and individuality. They aren’t looking to fill big shoes but rather lace up their own and forge ahead with giant strides, leading by example and leaving an indelible path for the changemakers to come.



Words and Curation:&nbsp;Chanel Retief Additional research and reporting:&nbsp;Nicole Pillay&nbsp;With inputs from:&nbsp;Oluwatomisin Amokeoja Art Direction and Layout: Lucy Nkosi |&nbsp;Photography:&nbsp;Katlego Mokubyane |&nbsp;Photography Assistant:&nbsp;Sbusiso Sigidi |&nbsp;Studio:&nbsp;NewKatz Studio, Johannesburg |&nbsp;Styling: Deneal Van Wyk |&nbsp;Outfits supplied by: B Mashilo Designs, DFLO, Franc Elis, Ephymol and Preview Accessories |&nbsp;Hair &amp; Makeup:&nbsp;SnehhOnline Beauty



Known to the world as the actress who brought Puleng Khumalo to life in the Netflix original series Blood and Water, Ama Qamata describes this “passion project” as something she wanted to see do really well. 



“I was in varsity, and dropped out in my second year,” Qamata says to FORBES AFRICA. 



“And I really was new to the industry. It was my first time doing something that big. And I just remember the shooting being so stressful. I guess my mentality the whole time was ‘I just need to show up and give my best’. I remember at the Queen Sono premiere, the CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, met me and said, ‘oh, I’m not worried about the show’.”



Sarandos was right. Months later, when the show premiered in May 2020, it ranked number one in South Africa, France, The Bahamas, Libya, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Kenya. It is also the fi rst South African show to reach number one in the United States.



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Under 30: South African Actress On The Raw Power Of Our Stories" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0R_HHgm1a9c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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“When it came out, it was insane. I didn’t even have time to process it because I was working,” Qamata laughs. 



In a 2023 report released by the streaming platform, Netflix stipulated that since entering key countries in sub-Saharan Africa, it has contributed across economic sector value chains within and adjacent to the cultural and creative industries and stakeholder ecosystems. It has contributed “directly” to job creation, skills development, and capacity-building in the local creative industry. 



“It’s about time. I think we have the most creative people in the world,” Qamata adds. “We have such beautiful stories, and what I love about our stories is that they are so raw… what we offer, the world has not seen yet.”

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Under 30: South African Actress On The Raw Power Of Our Stories

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



A class action lawsuit with hundreds of claimants was filed at the High Court in London Monday as plaintiffs accuse the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr of sharing sensitive medical information, including HIV status, with advertisers, who then allegedly sold that data on to other businesses,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj7mxnvz42no" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/22/lawsuit-in-london-to-allege-grindr-shared-users-hiv-status-with-ad-firms" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">outlets</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-22/grindr-sued-in-london-for-sharing-users-hiv-status-with-ad-firms" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



English law firm Austen Hays alleges Grindr breached data protection laws in Britain when it sold information on users’ ethnicity, sexual orientation, HIV status and beyond with ad companies Localytics and Apptimize between spring of 2018 and April 2020.



The lawsuit goes on to allege those companies may have then passed the data on to fourth parties, allowing &#8220;a potentially unlimited number&#8221; of firms to target users online using the information.



Hays said in a statement to Forbes that more than 670 people have already signed up to the claim with potential for thousands of others to join—Grindr had almost 1 million&nbsp;<a href="https://www.them.us/story/grindr-most-popular-dating-app-users-over-54" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.K. users</a>&nbsp;as of last May.



Chaya Hanoomanjee, director of Hays&#8217; firm, said in a statement that clients whose data was shared &#8220;have suffered feelings of fear, embarrassment and anxiety as a result.&#8221;



Grindr did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment Monday but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj7mxnvz42no" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told the BBC</a>&nbsp;the lawsuit &#8220;appears to be based on a mischaracterization of practices from more than four years ago&#8221; and that the company will &#8220;respond vigorously&#8221; to the claim.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“Grindr owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised and have suffered distress as a result, and to ensure all its users are safe while using the app, wherever they are, without fear that their data might be shared with third parties,” Hanoomanjee said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Grindr was first found to be sharing sensitive sexual health data, including HIV status of users, with advertisers and analytics companies back in 2018. Norwegian research organization&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/SINTEF-9012/grindr-privacy-leaks" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">SINTEF</a>&nbsp;first discovered the data was being shared, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/grindr-hiv-status-privacy" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Buzzfeed</a>&nbsp;followed up with its own report that GPS data, phone ID and email addresses were also being shared. In April of 2018, Grindr issued a privacy statement both denying and defending its actions.&nbsp;<a href="https://grindr.tumblr.com/post/172528912083/heres-what-you-should-know-regarding-your-hiv" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CTO Scott Chen</a>&nbsp;said in a statement that Grindr has &#8220;never&#8221; sold HIV status information to third party advertisers, but also said it was clear in the app&#8217;s privacy policy that &#8220;if you choose to include this information in your profile, the information will also become public.&#8221; That same day,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/exclusive-grindr-security-chief-on-hiv-disclosure-b5a64fdb-8c1d-4a08-a94e-67506d4a0d0b.html?utm_source=twitter&amp;amp;utm_medium=social&amp;amp;utm_campaign=organic" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Axios reported</a>&nbsp;Grindr had stopped sharing users’ HIV status. The controversy drew the ire of several regulatory authorities, including the Spanish Data Protection Authority and the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom, which each went on to file data breach complaints. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority ultimately&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2021/norwegian-dpa-imposes-fine-against-grindr-llc_en" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">fined Grindr $6 million</a>&nbsp;for violating data privacy practices.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



13 million. That&#8217;s how many people use Grindr monthly, according to Austen Hays, making it the most popular LGBTQ+ mobile app in the world.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



In 2020, Grindr faced regulatory complaints over its Chinese owner similar to those currently plaguing the popular video app TikTok. Chinese gaming giant Beijing Kunlun acquired Grindr, originally developed in Los Angeles, in 2016 and the app was soon hit with national security concerns stemming from the Chinese government potentially gaining access to the personal data of U.S. users. The company <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/6/21168079/grindr-sold-chinese-owner-us-cfius-security-concerns-kunlun-lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ultimately sold</a> its stake to a U.S.-based company, which allowed Grindr to continue operating. The story is similar to that of TikTok, which is currently under intense scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers because its parent company, ByteDance, has <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3255539/us-lawmakers-want-tiktok-sale-or-ban-chinas-bytedance-wont-give-without-fight" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">refused to divest </a>from the social media app. The House of Representatives on Saturday <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-raises-free-speech-concerns-bill-passed-by-us-house-that-may-ban-app-2024-04-21/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">passed a bill</a> that will ban TikTok if ByteDance doesn&#8217;t sell its stake within a year. The bill now moves to the Senate, where a vote could happen this week, and President Joe Biden has said he will sign the legislation if it makes it to his desk.

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